Franco-Scots Creation of .....America?

As presented in lecture, one claim of the continentalist side of present-day Scottish Studies (c.f. the Michael Gardiner essay or book) is the importance of France in Scotland in the creation of America. The Eighteenth century French writer formative in the developing idea of the American democratic model -- whose name escaped me in the ex tempore part of last lecture was Alexis de Tocqueville.