Working Paper No. 85, Alexis de Tocqueville and the American Wealth Gap

This inquiry seeks to establish that French lawyer and scholar, Alexis de Tocqueville, observed as early as the 1830s, what would later emerge as the American wealth gap. After a nine-month journey that included his traveling through different parts of the nascent United States, Tocqueville wrote a two-volume book titled: Democracy in America [1835]. Over the length of his two volumes, Tocqueville reflects upon his experiences and observations drawn from the American nation in its fifth decade. Throughout this book, Tocqueville described the democratic structure of this country as emblematic of what could be expected from this “New World,” and the relatively equitable social conditions that contributed towards a reduced wealth gap, at least when compared to European nations with traditions of having privileged, noble classes. While relative wealth equity found the United States initially engendered observable economic benefits, Tocqueville introduced concerns regarding the long-term effects of these relatively equal conditions, emphasizing that America’s democratic structure could inevitably lead to an ever-increasing wealth gap over time.