Tocqueville in the Wilderness: The Tragedy of Aristocracy in the Democratic Age

Abstract

Alexis de Tocqueville distinguished between aristocratic and democratic historiography in Democracy in America, but this distinction can also be traced in his posthumously-published travelogue, "Fortnight in the Wilderness." In it, Tocqueville leverages literary device to represent Native Americans as aristocrats whose way of life is irreconcilable with a democratic worldview. The effect is a tragic mood that ought to inform our reading of Tocqueville's broader political project.