Quote by Alexis de Tocqueville: “Despotism may govern without faith, but liberty cannot.”

Tocqueville argues that a free society needs moral and religious beliefs to function properly. Without shared values, liberty can descend into chaos, unlike a dictatorship that relies purely on force.

Reflects on the moral underpinnings he believed were necessary for a self-governing people, contrasting with authoritarian rule, during a period of burgeoning democracies and revolutions.

French political scientist and historian who traveled the United States in 1831 and produced Democracy in America, one of the most penetrating analyses of American society and democracy ever written. His observations about the tyranny of the majority remain widely cited today.