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Democracy in America. Part the Second, The Social Influence of Democracy. By Alexis De Tocqueville, Member of the Institute of France, and of the Chamber of Deputies, Etc., Etc. Translated by Henry Reeve, Esq. With an Original Preface by John C. Spencer, Counselor at Law. New York: J. & H. G. Langley et al. 1840. First American Edition. PART 2 ONLY! 355 p., 9.25 x 6 , 8vo. In fair condition. Cloth boards scuffed at edges and worn/bumped at corners. Heads and tails of spines collapsed; ex-library locator code sticker at tail of spine. Gilt lettering normally dulled, but legible. Soiling and scuffing to cloth binding. Ink stain on rear board. Ex-library ink marginalia on front paste-down: Waterville College Library. Previous ownership signature, in ink, found on front end-page & crossed out in pencil. Ex-library permanent ink stamp on title page as well as ink marginalia. Light foxing throughout text-block, normal toning and some instances of age-staining. Some spares pencil underlining. Binding remains intact. Please see photos and ask questions, if any, before purchasing. Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (1805 1859), was a French aristocrat, diplomat, sociologist, political scientist, political philosopher, and historian. He is best known for his work Democracy in America (appearing in two volumes, 1835 and 1840). 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 after Tocqueville's travels in the United States and is today considered an early work of sociology and political science. Tocqueville wrote of the New World and its burgeoning democratic order. Observing from the perspective of a detached social scientist, Tocqueville wrote of his travels through the United States in the early 19th century when the Market Revolution, Western expansion and Jacksonian democracy were radically transforming the fabric of American life. His view on government reflects his belief in liberty and the need for individuals to be able to act freely while respecting others' rights. Tocqueville explicitly cites inequality as being incentive for the poor to become rich and notes that it is not often that two generations within a family maintain success and that it is inheritance laws that split and eventually break apart someone's estate that cause a constant cycle of churn between the poor and the rich, thereby over generations making the poor rich and the rich poor. He cites protective laws in France at the time that protected an estate from being split apart among heirs, thereby preserving wealth and preventing a churn of wealth such as was perceived by him in 1835 within the United States. Henry Reeve (1813 1895) was an English man of letters and judicial official. FIRST AMERICAN EDITION, PART TWO ONLY! RAREA1840DTVX 01/25 - HK2276.
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