KEY WORDS
Place
Location
Region
Human/Environmental Interaction
Movement

INTENDED AUDIENCE
Middle/High School, College

COURSES FOR WHICH THE MODULE IS MOST APPLICABLE
Geography
U.S. History
Civics/U.S. Government

MATERIALS NEEDED
Map of Tocqueville's journey
Outline maps of United States in 1831 for class
Excerpts from Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America
Video of C-SPAN's Tocqueville series

MODULE DESCRIPTION
From April 1831 to February 1832, French aristocrats Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont made a 7,384-mile journey through the United States ostensibly to study the U.S. penal system. Their nine-month trek took them to 17 of the 24 states, and also to the Wisconsin territory. They traveled on foot, by stage, on horseback, and by steamboat. Before long, the original intent of the journey had expanded to observations of the many facets of American democracy. Tocqueville and Beaumont interviewed not only prominent men such as President Andrew Jackson, Nicolas Biddle, and John Quincy Adams, but also young future leaders such as Salmon P. Chase and J. H. B. Latrobe. Chance encounters brought them into contact with Choctaws crossing the Mississippi on their trail of tears, and Sam Houston. Along the way they battled hordes of mosquitoes in the northern woods of Michigan, the difficulties of travel through the wilderness, and sickness and extremes of weather. When they returned to France, Tocqueville used his notes and journals to write Democracy in America. Although Tocqueville was largely a sympathetic observer of American democracy in the 1830's, he also was prepared to point out "the distant perils which (he believed) democracy threatened to mankind. "The book was an immediate success in both France and the United States. Its popularity has continued into the twentieth century not only in the classroom, but also among political leaders such as Clinton and Gingrich, as well as authors and the media.

LESSON LAUNCHERS
SHOW the excerpt from the movie Born Yesterday in response to a question about Tocqueville responding. "Who's he?" and/or SHOW the first introductory part of C-SPAN's series on Tocqueville. DISCUSS with the students who they think Tocqueville was and why he was quoted in a recent movie and featured in a TV series.

STUDENT ACTIVITIES
Emphasizing the five themes of geography, students will:

Born Yesterday stars Melanie Griffith, John Goodman, Don Johnson, and is directed by Luis Mandoki, rated PG (language, some violence), 1993. In this film, Billie Dawn (Melanie Griffith), interviewed on NPR, is challenged with a quote from Alexis de Tocqueville. Excerpts from this film are a good lesson launcher for this module.

ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Larkin, Jack. The Reshaping of Everyday Life in the United States (1994). Discusses the ordinary, but frequently colorful aspects of daily living in America from 1790 to 1840.

Pierson, George W. Tocqueville and Beaumont in America, 1938. The best book on Tocqueville and Beaumont's trip to America.

Tocqueville, Alexis de. Democracy in America, Knopf, 1994. An inexpensive, hardback recent edition.

Tocqueville, Alexis de. Journey to America. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. 1980. Chapter 13 -- "A Fortnight in the Wilds" is an excellent description of everyday life in the Great Lakes and Canadian part of his journey.

Web Site Source: http//www.c-span.org/alexis/ A source of quotations by and about Tocqueville, also other updated information about the C-SPAN project.