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Video: John Wilsey On How To Read de Tocqueville’s ‘Democracy In America’
Video: John Wilsey On How To Read de Tocqueville’s ‘Democracy In America’
Mar 15, 2026 7:14 PM

As fall takes hold, it’s time once again for the Acton Lecture Series to take center stage here at the Acton Institute. Last Thursday, John Wilsey, assistant professor of history and Christian apologetics at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, kicked off our fall 2016 series with a lecture on how to read Alexis de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America.Wilsey explores ways that Tocqueville’s background shaped him as an author,and the unique insights into American society that Tocqueville shared in his classic work.

Wilsey has produced Democracy in America: A New Abridgment for Studentswhich will be appearing this November, and is also the author of One Nation Under God: An Evangelical Critique of Christian America, and American Exceptionalism and Civil Religion: Reassessing the History of an Idea.

You can view his lecture in its entirety via the video player below; to hear his appearance on Radio Free Acton, click here.

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