Editing Democracy in America (section)

{{Short description|1833 text by Alexis de Tocqueville}}
{{About|the book written by Alexis de Tocqueville|democracy of the United States|Elections in the United States}}
{{Infobox book
| name              = Democracy in America
| image             = Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville title page.jpg
| image_size        = 220px
| caption           = Title page of ''Democracy in America'' by Alexis de Tocqueville, printed at [[New York City]], 1838
| title_orig        = De la démocratie en Amérique
| translator        = 
| author            = [[Alexis de Tocqueville]]
| illustrator       = 
| cover_artist      = 
| country           = America
| language          = French
| series            = 
| subject           = 
| genre             = 
| publisher         = Saunders and Otley (London)
| pub_date          = 1835–1840
| english_pub_date  = 
| media_type        = 
| pages             = 
| isbn              = 
| oclc              = 
| preceded_by       = 
| followed_by       = 
| orig_lang_code    = fr
| native_wikisource = De la démocratie en Amérique
| wikisource        = Democracy in America
| external_url      = https://archive.org/download/democracyiname01tocq/democracyiname01tocq.pdf
| external_host     = Internet Archive
}}
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'''{{lang|fr|De la démocratie en Amérique}}''' ({{IPA|fr|dəla demɔkʁasi ɑ̃n‿ameˈʁik}}; published in two volumes, the first in 1835<ref name="de Tocqueville 1835">{{cite book |last=de Tocqueville|first= Alexis|year=1835 |title= De la démocratie en Amérique |volume= I |edition= 1st|publisher= Librairie de Charles Gosselin |publication-date=1835 |location=Paris |url= http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8626589f/f9.image.r=Tocqueville,%20Alexis%20de.langEN|access-date=24 June 2015}} via Gallica; {{cite book |last=de Tocqueville|first= Alexis|year=1835 |title= De la démocratie en Amérique |volume= II |edition= 1st|publisher= Librairie de Charles Gosselin |publication-date=1835 |location=Paris |url= http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b86265903/f9.image.r=De%20la%20d%C3%A9mocratie%20en%20Am%C3%A9rique.langEN |access-date=24 June 2015}} via Gallica</ref> and the second in 1840)<ref name="de Tocqueville 1840">{{cite book |last=de Tocqueville|first= Alexis|year=1840 |title= De la démocratie en Amérique |volume= III |edition= 1st|publisher= Librairie de Charles Gosselin |publication-date=1840 |location=Paris |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8626592x/f9.image.r=De%20la%20d%C3%A9mocratie%20en%20Am%C3%A9rique.langEN |access-date=24 June 2015}} via Gallica; {{cite book |last=de Tocqueville|first= Alexis|year=1840 |title= De la démocratie en Amérique |volume= IV |edition= 1st|publisher= Librairie de Charles Gosselin |publication-date=1840 |location=Paris |url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8626591h/f11.image.r=De%20la%20d%C3%A9mocratie%20en%20Am%C3%A9rique.langFR |access-date=24 June 2015}} via Gallica</ref> is a classic French work by [[Alexis de Tocqueville]]. In the book, Tocqueville examines the democratic revolution that he believed had been occurring over the previous several hundred years.

In 1831, Tocqueville and [[Gustave de Beaumont]] were sent by the [[July Monarchy|French government]] to study the [[Incarceration in the United States|American prison system]].  In his later letters, Tocqueville indicates that he and Beaumont used their official business as a pretext to study [[Society of the United States|American society]] instead.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Johri|first=Vikram|title='Alexis de Tocqueville': the first French critic of the US|url=http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0410/p15s01-bogn.html|journal=The Christian Science Monitor|access-date=22 April 2011}}</ref> They arrived in [[New York City]] in May of that year and spent nine months traveling the United States, studying the prisons and collecting information on American society, including its [[Religion in the United States|religious]], [[Politics of the United States|political]], and [[Economy of the United States|economic]] character. The two also briefly visited Canada, spending a few days in the summer of 1831 in what was then [[Lower Canada]] (modern-day [[Quebec]]) and [[Upper Canada]] (modern-day [[Ontario]]).

Tocqueville and Beaumont returned to France in February 1832 and submitted their report, {{lang|fr|Du système pénitentiaire aux États-Unis et de son application en France}} (''On the Penitentiary System in the United  States and its Application in France''), the next year. Tocqueville eventually extrapolated this work into the book '''''Democracy in America''''', which was first published in Paris in two volumes. In the work, Tocqueville holds a critical lens to early 19th Century socioeconomic affairs in the United States. He notes the influence of American government and religious history on its entrepreneurial and relatively egalitarian culture. However, Tocqueville criticizes the moral, spiritual, artistic, and interpersonal costs of a society where social mobility and restlessness are organizing expectations.<ref name="de Tocqueville 1835"/><ref name="de Tocqueville 1840"/>  Ultimately, since its publication, the work has had a dramatic impact on American (as well as broader Western) thought and education; especially in history, political science, and the social sciences.