“Descartes, the greatest democrat“ (DA 3, 700, FN e). Even if this sentence did not make it into the final version of the second volume of Democracy, it probably summarises better than any other (and there are virtually none) Tocqueville’s views on his compatriot René Descartes and his philosophy. The first chapter, in which ”the philosophical method of Americans” is introduced, shows why Descartes’ philosophy – with which Tocqueville probably dealt more closely in 1834, together with his friend Kergorlay (OC XIII, 1, 384–389) – has such great success in America, although very few Americans know Descartes, let alone his works, especially the famous Discours de la méthode.