Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville (1805 ? 1859) was a French diplomat, historian, and political philosopher. Much of his writing centered on the living conditions and social norms of Western societies, specifically how these influence the individual's relationship to the market and the state. His most notable works are Democracy in America (1835,1840) and The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856), the former of which is considered a prototypical work of sociology and political science. Tocqueville was born to an aristocratic family that was nearly destroyed in the French revolution. Malesherbes, statesman and grandfather to Tocqueville, faced the guillotine in 1793. His parents were only saved by the fall of Maximilien Robespierre in 1794. His political career saw him oscillating between center-left and center-right beliefs, although he was always a fervent supporter of free trade, universal suffrage, and political liberty. In 1831, he began his travels abroad via a mission to examine prisons and penitentiaries in the United States and continued over the years to England, Ireland, and Algeria. In 1859, he succumbed to tuberculosis at the age of 53 after battling the disease for most of his adult life.