In Democracy in America, Tocqueville described the ideal wife of a democratic citizen as a capable domestic helpmeet who enables the citizen‐husband to endure the daily trials of political activity. Tocqueville's biographers have presented Tocqueville's own wife Mary Mottley as having approximated this ideal. Mottley's importance, it is claimed, lay in providing the domestic calm and psychological support that Tocqueville needed to think, act, and write as he did. My aim in this article is to challenge this interpretation by offering an overdue reassessment of Mottley's life and work, uncovering the hidden labors she performed in Tocqueville's circle and giving scope, where possible, to her own political views and activities. Mottley, I argue, refused to confine herself to the domestic‐management and emotional‐support roles typical of a Tocquevillian citizen‐wife. Instead, she carved out a role for herself (albeit limited) as Tocqueville's political and intellectual interlocutor.

中文翻译：

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托克维尔夫人玛丽·莫特利的隐藏劳动

在《美国民主》中，托克维尔将民主公民的理想妻子形容为有能力的家庭聚会，使公民丈夫能够承受日常的政治活动考验。托克维尔的传记作者认为托克维尔自己的妻子玛丽·莫特利（Mary Mottley）接近了这一理想。据说Mottley的重要性在于提供Tocqueville需要像他一样思考，行动和写作的国内冷静和心理支持。我在本文中的目的是通过对Mottley的生活和工作进行过时的重新评估，发现她在Tocqueville圈子中从事的隐性工作并在可能的情况下扩大自己的政治观点和活动来挑战这种解释。我争吵不休 拒绝将自己局限于托克维尔公民妻子典型的家庭管理和情感支持角色。相反，她为自己塑造了自己的角色（尽管有限），成为托克维尔的政治和知识分子对话者。