At the beginning of the nineteenth century, American society was considered the most egalitarian in the world because it did not have the class divisions that had developed over centuries in Europe. The dissolution of classes and estates was also described by liberal writers in Europe. One example is the work of François Guizot, who described the equalization of social conditions as characteristic of the democratic process. This was a worldwide “movement” that “permeated and saturated” everything “within the nations”.