The Surprising M. Tocqueville.

It is the argument of this paper that the thinking of this eminent Frenchman who made himself the keenest observer in history of the American regime may not be as clear to us as we think—that in fact there are at least two and perhaps three Tocquevillian linesof thought that are relevant to the contemporary debate on the proper role for the government of the United—the focus of its attention and the means most suited to its aims—in spreading the truths about liberty that Tocqueville contended were valid at all times and places. That we have inadequately appreciated the variety of counsel that Tocqueville has given us has perhaps been due to our neglect of Tocqueville the political actor as opposed to Tocqueville the author, and to a temptation to concentrate too exclusively on Democracy in America, and particularly on Book One of that seminal work, to the neglect of his other writings. There is more than one Tocquevillian path to liberty, and some of the alternate routes lead over unexpected terrain. Let us unfold the complete map. ..PAT.-Unpublished Manuscript [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]