I know of no country, indeed, where the love of money has taken stronger hold on the affections of men and where a profounder contempt is expressed for the theory of the permanent equality of property.

This remark comes from Alexis de Tocqueville’s observations during and after his 1831–32 journey to the United States, later shaped into his study of American democracy. Writing in the early 1830s, Tocqueville was struck by the energy of commerce and the social prestige attached to material success in the young republic. In discussing the “taste for physical gratifications” and the economic restlessness he associated with democratic societies, he contrasts Americans’ practical pursuit of wealth with any ideological commitment to equalizing property. The line reflects his broader effort to explain how democratic equality of conditions could coexist with intense competition, acquisitiveness, and acceptance of economic inequality.

Tocqueville is not claiming Americans uniquely love money, but that in a democratic society where inherited ranks are weaker, wealth becomes a primary marker of distinction and aspiration. The “contempt” for the “permanent equality of property” suggests that while Americans may endorse political equality, they largely reject schemes to level wealth or make property equal by design. The quote captures a tension central to Tocqueville’s analysis: democracy can intensify desire for material improvement, producing both widespread opportunity and relentless comparison. It also hints at his worry that materialism could narrow civic ambition, drawing citizens away from public life toward private gain.