Charles Alexis de Tocqueville was a famous French political theorist, sociologist and historian in the 19th century.He was born on July 29, 1805 in an old and prominent royalist aristocratic family in Verney-sur-Seine, Yvelines, France. He graduated from high school in 1823 and went to Paris to study law. In 1827, he entered the government office as a judge of the Versailles court of first instance. In 1830, the July Revolution in France had a major impact on Tocqueville: on the one hand, he wanted to follow his family to swear allegiance to the New Orleans dynasty; but on the other hand, he believed intellectually that the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty was not possible success.Frustrated by difficult choices, he and his friend Gusta de Beaumont traveled to the United States for nine months from April 1831 to February 1832.Shortly after his return from the United States, Beaumont was fired for refusing to plead a political scandal, and Tocqueville resigned from public office in a rage. In 1833, Tocqueville and Beaumont jointly published the report "The American Prison System and Its Application in France". In 1835, Tocqueville published the first volume of his famous work. In 1839 he was elected to the National Chamber of Deputies for his native Normandy district of Valogne.In the same year, he was also elected as a member of the French Academy of Humanities and Political Sciences. In 1840, the second volume of the book was published. In 1841, he was elected a member of the French Academy. From 1842 to 1848 he was elected MP for Manche. After the February Revolution in 1848, Tocqueville was successively elected as a member of the Constituent Assembly of the Second French Republic and a member of the National Assembly, and served as the chairman of the new constitution drafting committee to lead the formulation of the constitution. From June to October 1849, he served as Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Second French Republic. In December 1851, Tocqueville was arrested for opposing the proclaiming of Louis Bonaparte as emperor, but was soon released.Since then, he ended his political career and began to devote himself to writing behind closed doors. In 1853 he began writing histories of the origins and development of the French Revolution. In 1856, he completed his research on the eighteenth-century background of the revolution and published The Ancien Regime and the Revolution.Later, while writing what follows, he died of illness in Cannes in 1859.

Tocqueville was solemn and serious by nature, with a decent style.Except for his relatives and confidants, he is more reserved and indifferent to others.He is not good at rhetoric, and he does not have the talent for compromise and flexible reply required by a member of parliament.He was too self-indulgent to ever be a true partisan.He was too principled and self-important to take part in the dastardly intrigues of trying to achieve unity and balance under the then-established system.The ongoing political turmoil in France made this liberty-loving and ambitious political philosopher constantly worried.Although his thinking and writing about American democracy has become history, we can rely on his "history" to penetrate into the essence of democracy and continue to feel, think and explore the way of human progress.

Tocqueville had a special preference for liberalism since he was a child, and he had the idea of ​​writing a book on how the American system works very early, and wanted to explain the meaning of democracy in particular. Therefore, during his visit to the United States, he and Beaumont conducted a comprehensive inspection of all aspects of American social life.They went to Washington, New England, the Great Lakes region, Canada, Ohio, Tennessee, New Orleans and Charleston, visited various races including whites, Indians and blacks living in the United States, and met with President Andrew S. Jackson, Albert Gallatin, Kent, John Quincy Adams, Francis Lieber, and Jared Sparks, among many others, and ordinary people representing almost every aspect of American social life.These investigations are of great significance to the writing of Tocqueville and are the main basis of Tocqueville's thought.

Including upper and lower volumes.The first volume has two parts.The first part has eight chapters, mainly about the political system of the United States: the first three chapters mainly introduce the geographical situation and characteristics of the United States, the origin of Americans and their influence on American society and politics; the last five chapters specifically introduce the principle of popular sovereignty in the United States , the administrative system of townships, counties and states, the establishment of the federal executive, judicial and legislative powers, and the federal constitution.The second part consists of ten chapters, mainly a sociological analysis of American democracy: the first four chapters mainly introduce the status of political parties in the United States, the freedom of the press and the characteristics of political associations; the fifth and sixth chapters mainly explain the democratic government and citizens of the United States The relationship between societies; the seventh and eighth chapters mainly discuss the unlimited authority enjoyed by the "majority" in the United States and its consequences, the dangers of the "tyranny of the majority" and the measures and methods to prevent this danger; It discusses some factors that help the United States to maintain the democratic republic system, such as natural geographical factors, legal system, people's sentiments, education and religion; Chapter 10 mainly discusses the current situation of the three races in the United States: blacks, Indians and whites and possible future development trends, and finally briefly analyzed the reasons for the prosperity of American business.

The second volume has four parts, mainly discussing the influence of identity equality and democratic government on the thoughts, emotions, sentiments and civil society of Americans. It is essentially Tocqueville's political philosophy with the United States as the background. and sociological thought.The first part consists of 21 chapters, mainly discussing the influence of democracy on the intellectual activities and thoughts of Americans, which specifically includes the influence on American philosophical thinking, belief, epistemology, religion, morality, science, art, literature, poetry, drama , history and many other aspects; the second part consists of 20 chapters, mainly discussing the influence of democracy on the emotions of Americans. Business, labor, and the principles of correct understanding of interests, etc.; the third part has twenty-six chapters, mainly discussing the influence of democracy on American public sentiment, which specifically includes the increasingly moderate public sentiment, the simplicity of daily relations among Americans, American emotional characteristics, appearance, family relations, female education, gender equality, private life, spiritual characteristics, national pride, social appearance, concept of honor, ideal aspirations, job-seeking intentions, wages, master-servant relationship, rent, revolutionary tendencies, Habits of war, military discipline, and many other aspects; the fourth part has eight chapters, mainly discussing the impact of democracy on civil society and politics. Chapter 1 mainly discusses the characteristics of people in democratic countries in choosing a centralized system and the relationship between centralization and autocracy. Chapters 7 and 8 are the deepening and summary of the aforementioned issues.

It is the first academic monograph in the world that conducts comprehensive research on the political system, social conditions and customs of the United States from the aspects of politics, sociology and anthropology. Once published, it has received rave reviews and has been translated into English and German. , Dutch, Hungarian, Italian, Danish, Russian, Spanish, Swedish, Serbian, Chinese and more than ten languages, Tocqueville also quickly became famous overseas.In France, Tocqueville has been studied to this day, and he still exerts an influence on French political thought.Paul Janett added a conclusion ("Nineteenth Century French Political Science") when he published the third edition of "Political History in Moral Reports" in 1887, in which he wrote: "No one doubts that he ( Tocqueville) is one of the best, perhaps the best political philosophy of our time."In England, Nassau Senior, Henry Reeve, George Cornwell Lewis, John Stuart Mill, Grote, Greg, Acton, Sidgwick, Daisy, Leigh Slee Stephen, Arnold, Leckie, and others all drew nourishment from Tocqueville's thought, and their works were deeply inspired by his spirit.The famous jurist Daisy pointed out: "As a book describing modern America, it will certainly still be of great value in the future. Tocqueville's works contain wisdom that the world has not yet mastered."In the United States, Dunning wrote in his "History of Political Theory from Rousseau to Spencer": "In terms of method, Tocqueville inherited Aristotle, Polybia, Machiavelli, Mendes Dove tradition. Like these great thinkers, Tocqueville observed the facts according to political philosophy. But the difference is that they did not have first-hand information, while Tocqueville based on personal observation.? ?Tocqueville’s analysis of American democracy has given the American people a common and traditional basis for their views on their own system.” In Germany, Italy, Russia and many other countries in the world, Tocqueville and his colleagues have countless Fans, drawing nourishment from the thoughts of this great French man.

It has a wide influence in the world. It not only provides a rare reference material and a precious mirror for Americans to understand themselves, but also provides a more comprehensive perspective and objective basis for people in other countries to understand the United States. The Chinese version of the book has already been published in China, and there have been many versions.Most of them are translated according to the style of the original works, and the language is relatively cumbersome and obscure, inheriting the flaws in the writing and logical structure of the original works, which brings difficulties for readers to read and understand.In the process of translating this book, we are strictly faithful to the content and ideas of the original work, while discarding the rough and keeping the essence, in order to show the essence of the original work through a condensed simplified version, and provide readers with a quick understanding of the content of the whole book and the outline of ideas. convenient.

To this end, the translator went through two procedures of translation and compilation, and according to the principles of clear logic, precise content, and prominent focus, he eliminated some logical confusion in the original work, deleted some red tape in the original work, and reorganized the logic. The structure and content are properly arranged, and the ideas and viewpoints are expressed in a detailed and popular way.We hope that our efforts can lay a solid foundation for readers to conveniently, comprehensively and accurately read masterpieces, learn knowledge and pick up ideas, and create good conditions for seeking knowledge.