《世界大師原典文庫：論美國的民主（套裝上下冊）》是世界學術界第一部對美國社會、政治制度和民情進行社會學研究的著作，也是第一部論述民主制度的專著，19世紀著名的社會學著作之一。上卷的第一部分講述美國的政治制度，第二部分對美國的民主進行社會學的分析。下卷分四個部分，以美國為背景發揮其政治哲學和政治社會學思想。

亞歷克西·德·托克維爾（1805-1859），法國歷史學家、社會學家。出身貴族世家，經歷過五個“朝代”。早期熱心於政治，1838年出任眾議院議員，1848年二月革命後參與制訂第二共和國憲法，1849年出任外交部長。1851年路易·波拿巴建立第二帝國，托克維爾對政治日益失望，逐漸淡出政治舞臺，並意識到自己“擅長思想勝於行動”。主要代表作有《論美國的民主》、《舊制度與大革命》。

Volume 1
上卷導讀
Introductory Chapter
Chapter I Exterior Form of North America
Chapter Ⅱ Origin of the Anglo-Americans
Chapter Ⅲ Social Conditions of the Anglo-Americans
Chapter Ⅳ The Principle of the Sovereignty of the People in America
Chapter Ⅴ Necessity of Examining the Condition of the States
Chapter Ⅵ Judicial Power in the United States
Chapter Ⅶ Political Jurisdiction in the United States
Chapter Ⅷ The Federal Constitution
Chapter Ⅸ Why the People May Strictly Be Said to Govern in the United States
Chapter Ⅹ Parties in the United States
Chapter Ⅺ Liberty of the Press in the United States
Chapter Ⅻ Political Associations in the United States
Chapter ⅫⅠ Government of the Democracy in America
Chapter ⅩⅣ Advantages American Society Derive from Democracy
Chapter ⅩⅤ Unlimited Power of Majority, and Its Consequences
Chapter ⅩⅥ Causes Mitigating Tyranny in the United States
Chapter ⅩⅦ Principal Causes Maintaining the Democratic Republic
Chapter ⅩⅧ Future Condition of Three Races in the United States
Conclusion

Volume 2
下卷 導讀
De Tocqueville’s Praface to the Second Volume
Book OneInfluence of Democracy on the Progress of Opinion in the United States
Chapter I Philosophical Method Among the Americans
Chapter Ⅱ Of the Principal Source of Belief Among Democratic Nations
Chapter Ⅲ Why the Americans Display More Readiness and More Taste for General Ideas Than Their Forefathers, the English
Chapter Ⅳ Why the Americans Have Never Been So Eager as the French for General Ideas in Political Matters
Chapter Ⅴ Of the Manner in Which Religion in the United States Avails Itself of Democratic Tendencies
Chapter Ⅵ Of the Progress of Roman Catholicism in the United States
Chapter Ⅶ Of the Cause of a Leaning to Pantheism Amongst Democratic Nations
Chapter Ⅷ The Principle of Equality Suggests to the Americans the Idea of the Indefinite Perfectibility of Man
Chapter Ⅸ The Example of the Americans Does Not Prove That a Democratic People Can Have No Aptitude and No Taste for Science, Literature, or Art
Chapter Ⅹ Why the Americans Are More Addicted to Practical Than to Theoretical Science
Chapter Ⅺ Of the Spirit in Which the Americans Cultivate the Arts
Chapter Ⅻ Why the Americans Raise Some Monuments So Insignificant, and Others So Important
Chapter ⅫⅠ Literary Characteristics of Democratic Ages
Chapter ⅩⅣ The Trade of Literature
Chapter ⅩⅤ The Study of Greek and Latin Literature Peculiarly Useful in Democratic Communities
Chapter ⅩⅥ The Effect of Democracy on Language
Chapter ⅩⅦ Of Some of the Sources of Poetry Amongst Democratic Nations
Chapter ⅩⅧ Of the Inflated Style of American Writers and Orators
Chapter ⅩⅨ Some Observations on the Drama Amongst Democratic Nations
Chapter ⅩⅩ Characteristics of Historians in Democratic Ages
Chapter ⅩⅪ Of Parliamentary Eloquence in the United States
Book TwoInfluence of Democracy on the Feelings of the Americans
Chapter I Why Democratic Nations Show a More Ardent and Enduring Love of Equality Than of Liberty
Chapter Ⅱ Of Individualism in Democratic CountriesChapter Ⅲ Individualism Stronger at the Close of a Democratic Revolution Than at Other Periods
Chapter Ⅳ That the Americans Combat the Effects of Individualism by Free Institutions
Chapter Ⅴ Of the Use Which the Americans Make of Public Associations in Civil Life
Chapter Ⅵ Of the Relation Between Public Associations and Newspapers
Chapter Ⅶ Connection of Civil and Political Associations
Chapter Ⅷ The Americans Combat Individualism by the Principle of Interest Rightly Understood
Chapter Ⅸ That the Americans Apply the Principle of Interest Rightly Understood to Religious Matters
Chapter Ⅹ Of the Taste for Physical Well-Being in America
Chapter Ⅺ Peculiar Effects of the Love of Physical Gratifications in Democratic Ages
Chapter Ⅻ Causes of Fanatical Enthusiasm in Some Americans
Chapter ⅫⅠ Causes of the Restless Spirit of Americans in the Midst of Their Prosperity
Chapter ⅩⅣ Taste for Physical Gratifications United in America to Love of Freedom and Attention to Public Affairs
Chapter ⅩⅤ That Religious Belief Sometimes Turns the Thoughts of the Americans to Immaterial Pleasures
Chapter ⅩⅥ That Excessive Care of Worldly Welfare May Impair That Welfare
Chapter ⅩⅦ That in Times Marked by Equality of Conditions and Sceptical Opinions, It Is Important to Remove to a Distance the Objects of Human Actions
Chapter ⅩⅧ That Amongst the Americans All Honest Callings Are Honorable
Chapter ⅩⅨ That Almost All the Americans Follow Industrial Callings
Chapter ⅩⅩ That Aristocracy May Be Engendered by Manufactures
Book ThreeInfluence of Democracy on Manners, Properly So Called
Chapter I That Manners Are Softened as Social Conditions Become More Equal
Chapter Ⅱ That Democracy Renders the Habitual Intercourse of the Americans Simple and Easy
Chapter Ⅲ Why the Americans Show So Little Sensitiveness in Their Own Country, and Are So Sensitive in Europe
Chapter Ⅳ Consequences of the Three Preceding Chapters
Chapter Ⅴ How Democracy Affects the Relation of Masters and Servants
Chapter Ⅵ That Democratic Institutions and Manners Tend to Raise Rents and Shorten the Terms of Leases
Chapter Ⅶ Influence of Democracy on Wages
Chapter Ⅷ Influence of Democracy on Kindred
Chapter Ⅸ Education of Young Women in the United States
Chapter Ⅹ The Young Women in the Character of a Wife
Chapter Ⅺ That the Equality of Conditions Contributes to the Maintenance of Good Morals in America
Chapter Ⅻ How the Americans Understand the Equality of the Sexes
Chapter ⅫⅠ That the Principle of Equality Naturally Divides the Americans into a Number of Small Private Circles
Chapter ⅩⅣ Some Reflections on American Manners
Chapter ⅩⅤ Of the Gravity of the Americans, and Why It Does Not Prevent Them from Often Committing Inconsiderate Action
Chapter ⅩⅥ Why the National Vanity of the Americans Is More Restless and Captious Than That of the English
Chapter ⅩⅦ That the Aspect of Society in the United States Is at once Excited and Monotonous
Chapter ⅩⅧ Of Honor in the United States and in Democratic Communities
Chapter ⅩⅨ Why So Many Ambitious Men and So Little Lofty Ambition Are to Be Found in the United States
Chapter ⅩⅩ The Trade of Place-Hunting in Certain Democratic Countries
Chapter ⅩⅪ Why Great Revolutions Will Become More Rare
Chapter ⅩⅫ Why Democratic Nations Are Naturally Desirous of Peace, and Democratic Armies of War
Chapter ⅩⅫⅠ Which Is the Most Warlike and Most Revolutionary Class in Democratic Armies
Chapter ⅩⅪⅤ Causes Which Render Democratic Armies Weaker Than Other Armies at the Outset of a Campaign, and More Formidable in Protracted Warfare
Chapter ⅩⅩⅤ Of Discipline in Democratic Armies
Chapter ⅩⅩⅥ Some Considerations on War in Democratic Communities
Book FourInfluence of Democratic Opinions on Political Society
Chapter I That Equality Naturally Gives Men a Taste for Free Institutions
Chapter Ⅱ That the Notions of Democratic Nations on Government Are Naturally Favorable to the Concentration of Power
Chapter Ⅲ That the Sentiments of Democratic Nations Accord with Their Opinions in Leading Them to Concentrate Political Power
Chapter Ⅳ Of Certain Peculiar and Accidental Causes Which Either Lead a People to Complete Centralization of Government, or Which Divert Them from It
Chapter Ⅴ That Amongst the European Nations of Our Time the Power of Governments Is Increasing, Although the Persons Who Govern Are Less Stable
Chapter Ⅵ What Sort of Despotism Democratic Nations Have to Fear
Chapter Ⅶ Continuation of the Preceding Chapters
Chapter Ⅷ General Survey of the Subject
Appendices

Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of conditions. I readily discovered the prodigious influence which this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society, by giving a certain direction to public opinion, and a certain tenor to the laws; by imparting new maxims to the governing powers, and peculiar habits to the governed. I speedily perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire
over civil society than over the Government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments, suggests the ordinary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not produce. The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that the equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated.
I then turned my thoughts to our own hemisphere, where I imagined that I discerned something analogous to the spectacle which the New World presented to me. I observed that the equality of conditions is daily progressing towards those extreme limits which it seems to have reached in the United States, and that the democracy which governs the American communities appears to be
rapidly rising into power in Europe. I hence conceived the idea of the book which is now before the reader.
It is evident to all alike that a great democratic revolution is consequences. To some it appears to be a novel accident, which as such may still be checked; to others it seems irresistible, because it is the most uniform, the most ancient, and the most permanent tendency which is to be found in history. Let us recollect the situation of France seven hundred years ago, when the territory was divided amongst a small number of families, who were the owners of the soil and the rulers of the inhabitants; the right of
governing descended with the family inheritance from generation to generation; force was the only means by which man could act on man, and landed property was the sole source of power. Soon, however, the political power of the clergy was founded, and began to exert itself: the clergy opened its ranks to all classes, to the poor and the rich, the villein and the lord; equality penetrated into the Government through the Church, and the being who as a serf must have vegetated in perpetual bondage took his place as a priest in the
midst of nobles, and not infrequently above the heads of kings.