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7 Am. Pol. Thought 1 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/ampolth7 and id is 1 raw text is: Reading Tocqueville behind the Veil: African American Receptions of Democracy in America, 1835-1900 ALVIN B. TILLERY JR. ABSTRACT Tocqueville's views on race and race relations as espoused in Democracy in America have received considerable scholarly attention over the past several decades. This article examines the reception of these ideas within the black counterpublic. The analysis fo- cuses on commentary about Democracy in America in black-controlled periodicals be- tween 1835 and 1900. The main finding is that African American intellectuals devel- oped their own distinct interpretations of the text. This finding is significant because extant reception histories have ignored African American voices. The article also shows that African American commentators were far more critical of Tocqueville's ideas about race and race relations before the Civil War. By the close of the nineteenth cen- tury, African American intellectuals began to elevate Democracy in America to the sta- tus of a canonical text on race relations and republicanism. Both of these findings cut against the dominant historiography of the reception of Democracy in America. INTRODUCTION This article examines the reception of Alexis de Tocqueville's ideas about race and race relations as espoused in Democracy in America (1835/1840). Tocqueville's commentary on these issues appears at the end of book 1 of De- mocracy in America, in his chapter entitled The Present and Probable Future Condition of the Three Races Which Inhabit the Territory of the United States.' Although Tocqueville describes his observations on the racial order Alvin B. Tillery Jr. is associate professor of political science, Department of Political Science, Northwestern University, 601 University Place, Evanston, IL 60208 (alvin.tillery@northwestern.edu). I would like to thank Eileen Botting, Sara Monoson, Melvin Rogers, Jack Chip Turner, Inez Valdez, Michael Zuckert, and the four anonymous reviewers for excellent comments on draft versions of this article. 1. Hereafter I will use Three Races as an abbreviation for this chapter. American Political Thought: A Journal of Ideas, Institutions, and Culture, vol. 7 (Winter 2018). 2161-1580/2018/0701-0001$10.00. © 2018 by The Jack Miller Center. All rights reserved.

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