POINTS OF VIEW [ 75 ] bers of the New York social elite formed the bulk of Tocqueville's acquaintances in New York.18 Certainly, Tocqueville cannot be condemned for associating with the city's social elite; but, neither can he be excused for his failure to search out the opinions of people outside this one tiny segment of the population. No evidence exists in Tocqueville's published diaries of any effort made by the French visitor to seek out members of other socioeconomic groups or even question many of the fallacious or contradictory statements given to him by his hosts. Tocqueville spoke as an aristocrat among companions when he wrote of New York, "The company with whom we eat is always composed of attractive people!'17 Tocqueville's examination of New York society included attending a ball given by Nicholas Fish; partaking in the festivities of a dance at the home of James Gore King; and traveling to the country estates of people such as the Schermerhorns.18 Although Fish came from a family of relatively new wealth and status, its members were a respected part of New York City's elite. King headed one of New York City's greatest mercantile houses and was the son of Rufus King, the prominent Federalist diplomat and politician. The Schermerhorn family represented old and established wealth and prestige; their spacious townhouse and magnificent country estate represented the best and most lavish of American upper-class residences.19 The life-style of the urban elite in antebellum New York City has been characterized in the following manner: Their lives at home during the workaday year were enlivened by a constant round of expensive parties, dazzling balls, extravagant fetes and excursions, binding more closely together the leading families both within and among the great cities.20 Here was a society that a French aristocrat could not help but find both congenial and appealing. Yet did not such a life style present an obvious contradiction to egalitarianism for any discerning observer? The answer is 18 Other Tocqueville acquaintances among the elite five hundred included Walter Bowne, Albert Gallatin, Nicholas Fish, James G. King, Hugh Maxwell, and Richard Biker; Pessen, "Wealthiest New Yorkers of the Jacksonian Era!' 158-60. Some, but not all, of these men are listed in Appendix C, Pessen, Riches, Class, and Power Before the Civil War, 320-23. The article lists the five hundred richest men while the book lists only the richest two hundred. 17 Tocqueville to his brother Achillc, June 18,1831, in Pierson, Tocqueville and Beaumont in America, 136. 18 Pessen estimates Fish's wealth at between $50,000-100,000, King's wealth at between $25,000-50,000, and Peter Schermerhorn's wealth as over $100,000 in 1828; Pessen, "Wealthiest New Yorkers of the Jacksonian Era!' 157,159, 155. The information on Tocqueville's activities comes from Pierson, Tocqueville and Beaumont in America, 136, 140,141. 19Pessen, Riches, Class, and Power Before the Civil War, 22, 23, 57, 99, 266. 20 Ibid., 24. For an account of social life among the urban elite see Pessen's section on class, 165-247.