Figure timeline
Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville, was a French diplomat, political philosopher and historian. He is best known for his works Democracy in America and The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856). In both, he analyzed the living standards and social conditions of individuals as well as their relationship to the market and state in Western societies. Democracy in America was published a…
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
politics · French diplomat, political philosopher and historian (1805–1859) · philosopher · politician · writer · sociologist · jurist · historian · count · opinion journalist · also Alexis de Tocqueville, Tocqueville, Alexis-Charles-Henri Clerel de Tocqueville, Alexis Clérel de Tocqueville
Born 29 July 1805 · Died 16 April 1859 · Q140694
27 published statements · 0 followers
See & hear
8 photos
Media from Wikimedia Commons, hotlinked at the source under its own licence — see each file for author and terms.
Live now
Pulling headlines from trusted outlets — this usually takes a few seconds
Checking the wires…
Feed scan
These are live links, not archived citations — they only join the timeline once a collect run verifies and archives them.
Live pulse
Most recent outstanding titles, awards, and quotes
There 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.
“There 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.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“excels in preventing, not doing”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“in democracies manners are never so refined as amongst aristocratic nations.”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Political Consequences of the Social State of the Anglo-Americans”
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Snopes rated the claim “Alexis de Tocqueville wrote that "America is great because she is good."” Incorrect Attribution.
Shown as reported and rated by a fact checker, not as an established fact.
Translates the meaning to be as stated above
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Died 1859-04-16.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
“Największą chorobą duszy jest jej chłód.”
“Nigdy nie dość powtarzać, że nie istnieje nic bardziej obfitującego we wspaniałe rezultaty niż sztuka wolności i że jednocześnie nie ma nic trudniejszego niż uczenie się jej (...) Wolność rodzi się zwykle wśród burz, utrwala z trudem wśród waśni, a swe dobrodziejstwa pozwala ocenić dopiero wtedy, gdy się zestarzeje.”
“Naszych współczesnych ustawicznie zżerają dwie namiętności: potrzeba, by ktoś prowadził ich za rękę, oraz pragnienie zachowania wolności.”
“I should have loved freedom, I believe, at all times, but in the time in which we live I am ready to worship it.”
“A liberdade da imprensa não faz sentir o seu poder apenas sobre as opiniões políticas, mas também sobre todas as opiniões dos homens. Não modifica somente as leis, mas os costumes (...) Amo-a pela consideração dos males que impede, mais ainda do que pelos bens que produz.”
Tocqueville published The Old Regime and the Revolution
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Tocqueville wrote the following text published by Maria Weston Chapman in the Liberty Bell: Testimony against Slavery: I do not think it is for me, a foreigner, to indicate to the United States the time, the measures, or
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Career landmark: Minister of Foreign Affairs (1849–1849).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Career landmark: president (1849–1852).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Tocqueville sought to found a Young Left (Jeune Gauche) party which would advocate wage increases, a progressive tax, and other labor concerns in order to undermine the appeal of the socialists
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
As he criticized Bugeaud's desire to invade Kabylia in an 1847 speech to the Assembly
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Was elected as a member of the American Philosophical Society
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Career landmark: Seat 18 of the Académie française (1841–1859).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
And 1846, Tocqueville traveled to Algeria which France had invaded and colonised from 1830
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Tocqueville had come to be seen as the parliament's foremost expert on the colony
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Had written of his hope for eventual intermarriage between the French and indigenous Arabs and their amalgamation into a distinct whole
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Awarded Montyon Prize for Democracy in America (1835).
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Tocqueville wrote of the New World and its burgeoning democratic order
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Tocqueville obtained from the July Monarchy a mission to examine prisons and penitentiaries in the United States and proceeded there with his lifelong friend Gustave de Beaumont
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Born 1805-07-29.
Text from Wikipedia, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Connections