De Tocqueville and Equality

In Democracy in America, I feel that Alexis De Tocqueville confuses equality with democracy and freedom. De Tocqueville states, “I said in the last chapter that a high degree of equality prevailed among the immigrants who first settled on the coast of New England.” If there was equality amongst the immigrants in New England, why didn’t it continue in America? Why were women barred from voting? Why were blacks different from whites? Why were some capable of owning land while others were not? Just because a government is set up with democratic principles does not mean that there is equality for all. In a democratic government people are given freedoms that others cannot infringe upon, but there have been certain groups throughout history where these freedoms have been infringed upon. I think De Tocqueville is able to gloss over equality because he is smitten with the fact that the immigrants started off with nothing and were able to build a new, democratic form of government – moving away from European systems and moving into the future, by themselves. Even if there was not equality for all, the equality presented at this time was a significant step up from the monarchy under which De Tocqueville lived.