What Is Equality of Conditions According to Tocqueville?

In his Democracy in America, Toqueville states that equality of conditions "exercising domination over civil society as much as over the government it creates opinions, gives birth to feelings, suggests customs, and modifies whatever it does not create." (p. 9) Clearly, to understand Tocqueville, one must understand what he means by equality of conditions. These conditions are common circumstances, origins, education, and mores.
The settlers of America came primarily from England. They faced the same uncertainty with one another of what they would find upon arriving in the New World.…