This chapter interprets Tocqueville’s thought in the context of the political discussions that took place during the French July Monarchy (1830–1848). It begins by exploring how the ruling liberal elite, including figures like François Guizot and Adolphe Thiers, responded to the radical republicans’ arguments about direct popular sovereignty and democracy. This confrontation sets the stage for understanding Tocqueville’s arguments about the people’s two powers in Democracy in America (1835–1840). In that text, Tocqueville criticized the idea of government by public opinion, which was advocated by his liberal contemporaries. Meanwhile, he rehabilitated direct popular sovereignty, as exercised at the local level in the New England township, interpreting it as the beating heart of political democracy and a source of “public spirit.” The concluding section considers how, faced with the impossibility of recreating the American township in France, Tocqueville began to look for alternative sources to foster “public spirit” in his home country, including the colonization of Algeria and the creation of great opposition parties.