Tocqueville and Beaumont: Aristocratic Liberalism in Democratic Times

Description

This is the first concise study to give full credit to the collaboration of works between French nobleman, writer and politician Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-59) and his travel companion and friend Gustave de Beaumont (1802-66), and puts this collaboration into its social, historical and theoretical context. It accompanies the two friends to the US and analyses the fruitful encounter between the New and the Old World that was the result of that journey, particularly in relation to emerging Atlantic democracies and revolutions. This includes the hopes but also the problems and contradictions that they have come to represent. The book also follows Tocqueville and Beaumont to England, Ireland, and Algeria. It discusses their political careers and their engagement in the abolitionist movement, their fight for liberal social and political reform, as well as their futile attempt to rationalize French colonization in Algeria. Front Matter ....Pages i-v Introduction: A Two-Man Research Machine (Andreas Hess)....Pages 1-18 The Birth Pangs of American Democracy (Andreas Hess)....Pages 19-48 In Search of New Liberal Politics: Reconciling Equality with Liberty (Andreas Hess)....Pages 49-88 Republican by Necessity: The Revolution of 1848 and Beyond (Andreas Hess)....Pages 89-130 What Remains? (Andreas Hess)....Pages 131-141 Back Matter ....Pages 143-153