In May 1831, the 26-year-old French nobleman, Alexis de Tocqueville (1803-1859), arrived in the United States, and departed its shores in February 1832, only nine months late. His analysis of the American way of life which he wrote in 1835 as a result of his visit, remains, even today, one of the great classics in political literature. Tocqueville had this to say about the freedom of the adolescent American girl:
In the United States, the doctrines of Protestantism are combined with great political liberty and a most democratic state of society; and nowhere are young women surrendered so early so completely to their own guidance.
Long before an American girl arrives at the marriageable age, her emancipation from maternal control begins: she has scarcely ceased to be a child, when she already thinks for herself, speaks with freedom, and acts on her own impulse. The great scene of the world is constantly open to her view: far from seeking to conceal it from her, it is every day disclosed more completely, and she is taught to survey it with a firm and calm gaze. Thus the vices and dangers of society are early revealed to her; as she sees them clearly, she views them without illusion, and braves them without fear; for she is full of reliance on her own strength, and her confidence seems to be shared by all around her.
An American girl scarcely ever displays that virginal softness in the midst of young desires, or that innocent and ingenuous grace, which usually attend the European woman in the transistion from girlhood to youth.