About the Author
Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) worked first as a magistrate and then as a government administrator. Because he fell out of political favor due to his perceived Bourbon sympathies during the July Revolution, he was required to fund his nine-month visit to America himself, even though he was ostensibly coming to complete a survey of the American penal system on behalf of the French government. When Tocqueville arrived in America in May of 1831 he was far more interested in his own questions about Americas political future, and Democracy in America is the result of extensive personal research on the subject.
