Word: 19thcentury
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...have understood the vulnerabilities of American democracy better than Alexis de Tocqueville, the 19thcentury French social theorist who coined the phrase “tyranny of the majority.” Although he distrusted democracies to get things right the first time, he was optimistic that they could learn from their excesses. “Let time do its work; a sense of the evil will enlighten the people and show them what they need,” he said. “The great privilege of the Americans is to be able to make retrievable mistakes...