Alexis de Tocqueville and American Intellectuals: From His Times to Ours (American Intellectual Culture)

276 Pages·2005·2.49 MB·English

by  Matthew Mancini

p
p
M
AMERICAN HISTORY / POLITICAL SCIENCE
A ALEXIS de
American Intellectual Culture
N
Series Editors: Jean Bethke Elshtain, Ted V. McAllister, and Wilfred M. McClay
C
I
“Matthew Mancini’s book is a major contribution to the field of Tocqueville schol- N
TOCQUEVILLE
arship.It is a verybold, ambitious undertaking. Mancini tackles almost all of the major
I
American secondary works, editions, and translations relating to Tocqueville since the
1830s. The focus of this work is to tell the story of Tocqueville’s reception and rep-
Putation in the United States, to survey most of the major writers and scholars who
have studied and interpreted Tocqueville’s writings and ideas, and to recreate the and American Intellectuals
intellectual links among those Americans who have written about, edited, and
translated Tocqueville. Alexis de Tocqueville and American Intellectualsis not only a signif-
icant work of Tocqueville scholarship, but also a fascinating study of American
Pp
intellectualhistory, examined through the particular lens of the American reception
of Tocqueville. Mancini’s work is a project that has been waiting to be done; now he
has done it and done it well.” —JAMES T. SCHLEIFER,
author of The Making of Tocqueville’sDemocracy in America A
L
aE
“Matthew Mancini’s Alexis de Tocqueville and American Intellectuals is a thoughtful and well- n
X
researched analysis of the meaning of Tocqueville to generations of American d
I
thinkers and an important corrective to prior interpretations of this complex A
S
story.” —HAMILTON CRAVENS, Iowa State University m
d
ee
r
“Professor Mancini has done just what he set out to do, that is, show how Tocqueville iT
Pc
has been received, interpreted, and reinterpreted over the last century and a half in the aO
n
United States. A notable contribution to Tocqueville scholarship.” p C P
—ROGER BOESCHE, author of The Strange Liberalism of Alexis de Tocqueville InQ
t
eU
“Mancini offers us an exceptional synthesis of 150 years of scholarship on Tocqueville. l
l
eE
The profession needs more critical studies like this that give us context, interpretation,
c
and a sound thesis.” —JOHN M. BELOHLAVEK, University of South Florida tV
u
I
a
L
MATTHEW MANCINI is professor and chair of the Department of American lsL
Studies at Saint Louis University. He is the author of Alexis de Tocquevilleand One Dies, E
Get Another: Convict Leasing in the American South, 1866–1928.
For orders and information please contact the publisher From His Times to Ours
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
A wholly owned subsidiary of
The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc.
4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200
Lanham, Maryland 20706 R
Lo
1-800-462-6420 itw
www.rowmanlittlefield.com tlm MATTHEW MANCINI
ISBN-13: 978-0-7425-2343-2 e
ISBN-10: 0-7425-2343-8 fa
Cover illustration: Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, 90000 ien
Yale University. ld &
9 780742 523432
Cover design by Jen Huppert Design

Alexis de Tocqueville
and American Intellectuals
American Intellectual Culture
SeriesEditors:JeanBethkeElshtain,TedV.McAllister,
andWilfredM.McClay
WhenAlltheGodsTrembled:Darwinism,Scopes,andAmericanIntellectuals
byPaulK.Conkin
Heterophobia:SexualHarassmentandtheFutureofFeminism
byDaphnePatai
PostmodernismRightlyUnderstood:TheReturntoRealisminAmericanThought
byPeterAugustineLawler
ARequiemfortheAmericanVillage
byPaulK.Conkin
APragmatist’sProgress?RichardRortyandAmericanIntellectualHistory
byJohnPettegrew
TheNextReligiousEstablishment
byEldonJ.Eisenach
AWorldMadeSafeforDifferences:ColdWarIntellectualsandthePoliticsofIdentity
byChristopherShannon
RalphWaldoEmerson:TheMakingofaDemocraticIntellectual
byPeterS.Field
IntellectualsandtheAmericanPresidency:Philosophers,Jesters,orTechnicians?
byTeviTroy
AmericanFeminismandtheBirthofNewAgeSpirituality:SearchingfortheHigherSelf,
1875–1915
byCatherineTumber
TheLostSoulofAmericanProtestantism
byD.G.Hart
TransnationalAmerica:CulturalPluralistThoughtintheTwentiethCentury
byEverettHelmutAkam
CreatingtheAmericanMind:IntellectandPoliticsintheColonialColleges
byJ.DavidHoeveler
SpeciesofOrigins:America’sSearchforaCreationStory
byKarlW.GibersonandDonaldA.Yerxa
ApostleofHumanProgress:LesterFrankWardandAmericanPoliticalThought,1841–1913
byEdwardC.Rafferty
BrahminProphet:PhillipsBrooksandthePathofLiberalProtestantism
byGillisJ.Harp
Culture’sVanities:TheParadoxofCulturalDiversityinaGlobalizedWorld
byDavidSteigerwald
WoodrowWilsonandtheRootsofModernLiberalism
byRonaldJ.Pestritto
FromNaturetoExperience:TheAmericanSearchforCulturalAuthority
byRogerLundin
TheConstantDialogue:ReinholdNiebuhrandAmericanIntellectualCulture
byMartinHalliwell
AlexisdeTocquevilleandAmericanIntellectuals:FromHisTimestoOurs
byMatthewMancini
Alexis de Tocqueville
and American Intellectuals
From His Times to Ours
Matthew Mancini
ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC.
Lanham•Boulder•NewYork•Toronto•Oxford
‘‘TheScientificCloverLeaf’’:tripleportraitofLieber,Bluntschli,andLaboulayeisrepro-
duced in chapter 4 from the Daniel C. Gilman Papers Ms. 1, Special Collections, The
SheridanLibrariesoftheJohnsHopkinsUniversity.Reprintedwithpermissionfromthe
JohnsHopkinsUniversity.
ROWMAN&LITTLEFIELDPUBLISHERS,INC.
PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
byRowman&LittlefieldPublishers,Inc.
AwhollyownedsubsidiaryofTheRowman&LittlefieldPublishingGroup,Inc.
4501ForbesBoulevard,Suite200,Lanham,Maryland20706
www.rowmanlittlefield.com
POBox317
Oxford
OX29RU,UK
Copyright(cid:2)2006byRowman&LittlefieldPublishers,Inc.
Allrightsreserved.Nopartofthispublicationmaybereproduced,
storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmittedinanyformorbyany
means,electronic,mechanical,photocopying,recording,orotherwise,
withoutthepriorpermissionofthepublisher.
BritishLibraryCataloguinginPublicationInformationAvailable
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Mancini,MatthewJ.
AlexisdeTocquevilleandAmericanintellectuals:fromhistimestoours/
MatthewMancini.
p. cm.—(Americanintellectualculture)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN0–7425–2343–8(cloth:alk.paper)—ISBN0–7425–2344–6(pbk.:alk.paper)
1. UnitedStates—Intellectuallife. 2.Tocqueville,Alexisde,1805–1859—Influence.
3. Tocqueville,Alexisde,1805–1859.Delade´mocratieenAme´rique.English. I. Title.
II. Series.
E169.1.M247 2006
973.5’6—dc22 2005018870
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
(cid:3)(cid:2)(cid:4)
ThepaperusedinthispublicationmeetstheminimumrequirementsofAmerican
NationalStandardforInformationSciences—PermanenceofPaperforPrintedLibrary
Materials,ANSI/NISOZ39.48–1992.
In Memoriam
Robert Earle Graham
Townsman of a stiller town.
But of books one can say what Machiavelli said of men, that they are
confronted by Fortune with an irreducible element of opposition,
describedbyhimaschaos,fatality,necessity,andignorance.Andwhile
men can resist Fortune with some hope of success by the exercise of
Virtue,books andmere objetsdevertu, lackingthevirtu` ofmen, arein
themselves wholly vulnerable to loss and decay, neglect, and icono-
clasm.
—FrankKermode,FormsofAttention
Z
Contents
Preface ix
ListofAbbreviations xvii
Chapter1 ReceptionandRenown 1
Chapter2 AtOldMrs.Otis’s 27
Chapter3 TheAmericanOldRegime 55
Chapter4 TheMythofOblivion 99
Chapter5 EnduringSage 151
Chapter6 ACottageIndustry 187
Chapter7 LumpersandSplitters 221
Index 245
AbouttheAuthor 255
vii