The subtle relationship between the ideas of freedom and equality is a central theme in Tocqueville's Democracy in America. Less appreciated are Tocqueville’s thoughts about the relationship between equality as an idea and as material reality. Yet his book opens with the assertion that material equality in the face of nature is the “generating fact” of the American regime. Mark Lilla will explore the significance of material equality in Tocqueville’s thinking and the implications of growing inequality in American society today.