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Democracy in America
Alexis de Tocqueville (1835)
The French political scientist's observations on American democracy, law, and society that remain remarkably relevant.
Significance
The most penetrating foreign observation of American legal culture. Still cited for its insights on judicial review and the role of law in democracy.
Selected Excerpt
Scarcely any political question arises in the United States that is not resolved, sooner or later, into a judicial question. The lawyers of the United States form a party which is but little feared and scarcely perceived, which has no badge peculiar to itself, which adapts itself with great flexibility to the exigencies of the time. The power vested in the American courts of justice of pronouncing a statute to be unconstitutional forms one of the most powerful barriers that have ever been devised against the tyranny of political assemblies.
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This text is in the public domain. Original publication: 1835.