Democracy,Civil Society and Antislavery in Tocquevillian Perspective

From his earliest encounter with slavery during his journey to America in 1831 until his death in 1859 Alexis de Tocqueville never ceased to regard slavery as a moral outrage and a fundamental contradiction to the principles of liberty, equality and humanity. In France, he was a charter member of the French Society for the Abolition of Slavery. Yet both his writings and political activity were hedged with significant silences and hesitations from beginning to end.