The Alexis de Tocqueville Tour: Exploring Democracy in America

The Alexis de Tocqueville Tour was a series of programs produced by C-SPAN in 1997 and 1998 that followed the path taken by Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont through the United States during their 1831-32 visit. It explored many of the themes that Tocqueville discussed in Democracy in America, the two-volume work that he wrote based on his American travels. A C-SPAN School Bus traveled to each of the stops made by Tocqueville and Beaumont. Many of the Tocqueville programs were segments of C-SPAN's morning news and call-in show, Washington Journal, and they were timed to coincide with the anniversaries of Tocqueville and Beaumont's visits to those places. Typically, they were about 30 minutes long, and incorporated calls, e-mails, and faxes from viewers. Professor John Splaine of the University of Maryland, College Park consulted on the series, and six other historians and academics served as advisors: Peter Lawler of Berry College; Daniel Mahoney of Assumption College; Harvey Mansfield of Harvard University; Ken Masugi of the United States Air Force Academy; Jim Schleifer of the College of New Rochelle; and Delba Winthrop of Harvard University.