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Alexis de Tocqueville. Author Th茅odore Chass茅riau.

Top 10 Incredible Facts about Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville was born on 29 July 1805. He was a French aristocrat, diplomat, political scientist, political philosopher and historian. Alexis was Well established for his works Democracy in America.

 His work in Democracy in America is considered an early work of sociology and political science. Moreover, he was also established for the Old Regime and the Revolution in 1856.

Alexis analyzed the living standards and social conditions of individuals. Moreover, their relationship to the market and state in Western Societies.

Alexis was a classical liberal who supported the parliamentary government. He was wary of extreme democracy. Alexis belonged to the centre-left during his time in office. However, due to the nuanced and erratic nature of liberalism, Tocqueville drew supporters from all sides of the political aisle.

Let鈥檚 more about the Top 10 Incredible Facts about Alexis de Tocqueville

1. He was Born into a Long-established Aristocratic 麻豆APPian Family

Portrait d’Alexis de Tocqueville Jeune. Unidentified painter.

Tocqueville’s great-grandfather was an execution victim in 1794, Statesman Malesherbes. His parents, Herve Louis Fran莽ois Jean Bonaventure and Louis Le Peletier de Rosanbo, narrowly avoided guillotine after Maximilien Robespierre was overthrown in 1794.

His father was an officer of the Constitutional Guard of King Louis XVI. Moreover, his father rose to noble peer and the perfect status during the Bourbon Restoration.

2. He Upheld Free Trade and Defended Abolitionist views

In 1839, Tocqueville began his political career. Before that, he detested the July Monarchy. He represented the Manche department in the lower house of parliament from 1839 to 1851.

During this period, Alexis supported free trade and defended abolitionist views. Moreover, he supported the colonisation of Algeria which was carried on by Louis Philippe鈥檚 regime.

3. He Obtained a Mission from the July Monarchy to Investigate prisons United States

Tocqueville and his lifelong friend, Gustave De Beaumont travelled to the United States. This was after obtaining a mission from the July Monarchy to investigate prisons and penitentiaries in the United States.

Thus, he travelled extensively throughout the United States. While he visited the prisons, he made copious notes on his observations. Alexis returned within nine months and released a report.

His tour to the United States resulted in the publishing of his work, Democracy in America in 1835. Additionally, his friend, Beaumont, documented their journey in Jacksonian America:Marie or Slavery in the United States.

4. He Disparaged the French Model of Colonisation

In addition to his Travel in the United States, he travelled to England and observed while writing his memoir on Pauperism. In 1851 and 1846, Alexis travelled to the French colony of Algeria.

His visit catalyzed his essay Travail Sur l’Algerie. The essay Disparaged the French model of colonisation. He stressed the assimilation into Western Culture.

Alexis contended that they should instead implement an indirect form of rule that prevented the mingling of various populations. Additionally, he advocated racial segregation as a form of consociationalism between European colonists and Arabs. This was through the implementation of two different legislative systems for each ethnic group.

5. Alexis Advocated Bicameralism and the Use of Universal Suffrage to Elect the President of the Republic

Tocqueville was chosen to serve in the Constituent Assembly. This was after the fall of the July Monarchy of the French Revolution of 1848. He was on the committee responsible for drafting the second Republic鈥檚 new constitution ( 1848 to 1851).

Tocqueville advocated for toth bicameralism and the use of universal suffrage to choose the President of the Republic. Moreover, Alexis thought of universal suffrage as a way to counteract the revolutionary spirit of 麻豆APP.

Tocqueville supported the suppression of the uprising under General Cavaignac. Moreover, he advocated the regularization of the stage of The siege which was declared by Cavaignac. As well as other actions encouraging the suspension of constitutional order.

Alexis took part in the Constitutional Commission that drafted the new Constitution. His recommendations reflected the knowledge he gained from his time in North America. The recommendations were such as his amendment regarding the president and his re-election.

6. Tocqueville was a Fierce Advocate of Liberty

Alexis de Tocqueville. Author L茅on No毛l.

Joshua Kaplan, a political analyst, claimed that one goal of Tocqueville’s writing Democracy in America was to assist the French people. This was to help them understand their position between a vanishing aristocratic order  Moreover, an emerging democratic order and aid them in sorting out the confusion.

Tocqueville viewed democracy as a system that balanced liberty and equality. Moreover, the concern of both the individual and the community.

In his book about Democracy in America, he stated, 鈥淚 have a passionate love for liberty, law, and respect for rights. I am neither of the revolutionary party nor of the conservative. Liberty is my foremost passion鈥�.

Additionally, he wrote of the Political Consequences of the Social State of the Anglo-Americans by saying, 鈥淏ut one also finds in the human heart a depraved taste for equality, which impels the weak to want to bring the strong down to their level, and which reduces men to preferring equality in servitude to inequality in freedom鈥�.

His stance on politics was consistent with his belief in Liberty. Moreover, the need for people to be able to pursue their interests while respecting the rights of others.

Additionally, Alexis specifically cites inequality as providing an incentive for the poor to become rich. He pointed out that it is uncommon for two generations of a family to maintain success.

He also noted that inheritance laws that split and eventually disintegrate a person鈥檚 estate cause a constant cycle of churn between the poor and rich. This makes the poor rich and the rich-poor over generations.

Interestingly, Alexis cited protective laws in France at the time that protected an estate from being divided up among heirs. This was to preserve wealth and stop a churn of wealth like the one he witnessed in the United States in 1835.

7. He Analyzed the Functioning of Political Society and Various forms of Political Associations

Tocqueville鈥檚 main objective was to examine the functioning of political society. Moreover, various forms of political associations. However, he included some reflections on the society and relations between political and civil society.

Like Georg Wilhelm Frederich Hegel and Karl Marx, Alexis saw civil society as a domain of individual entrepreneurship and domestic affairs governed by a civil code. As a critic of individualism, Tocqueville believed by joining together for a common good, both in public and private, Americans can overcome their selfish desires.

 Thus, resulting in the creation of both a self-conscious and active political society. Moreover, a vibrant civil society that abides by the political and civil laws of the state.

8. He Expressed American Jury System was One of the Effective Examples of Democracy

According to Alexis de Tocqueville, the American Jury system played a crucial role in educating citizens about the self-government and rule of law. Alexis frequently argued that the civil jury was one of the best examples of democracy.

This is because it allowed citizens to interact with the true spirit of the legal system. He explained: 鈥淭he jury, and more especially the civil jury, serves to communicate the spirit of the judges to the minds of all the citizens; and this spirit, with the habits which attend it, is the soundest preparation for free institutions. […] It invests each citizen with a kind of magistracy; it makes them all feel the duties which they are bound to discharge toward society; and the part which they take in the Government鈥�.

9. Tocqueville Predicted that the United States and Russia Would Dominate

 In his Democracy in America, Tocqueville forecast that the United States and Russia as the two main global powers.

In his book, he stated: 鈥淭here are now two great nations in the world, which starting from different points, seem to be advancing toward the same goal: the Russians and the Anglo-Americans. […] Each seems called by some secret design of Providence one day to hold in its hands the destinies of half the world鈥�.

10. One of his Books Analyses French Society before The French Revolution

Ancien R茅gime analyses the period of French Society before the French Revolution. Moreover, factors that contributed to the Revolution.

In this book, he developed his main theory about the French revolution, the theory of continuity. According to it, the French eventually returned to a strong central government. This is despite their attempts to distance themselves from the Past and the autocratic old regime.

Although the French Revolution was anti-clerical, Alexis argued that its main purpose was to overthrow all manifestations of the Ancien R茅gime, of which the established church was a most prominent symbol. He insisted that the revolution should be seen primarily as a movement for political and social change.