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The Beginning
Tocqueville and Beaumont are given an 18-month leave to study the penal system in the United States. -
Period: to
Alexis de Tocqueville: Journey to America and Democracy in America
The beginning of Alexis de Tocqueville's journey to America, to publishing Democracy in America. -
Departure
They embark for America from Le Havre, France.
For a complete chronology of the journey, see "Tocqueville's American Journey". -
Journey
Arrive at Newport, Rhode Island, going on to New York; thereafter they travel as far west as Green Bay, on Lake Michigan, north to Quebec and south to New Orleans. -
Return
Leave for France, arriving home in late March. Beaumont begins writing Du systeme penitentiaire with Tocqueville supplying facts and ideas. -
Begins Writing Volume I
Tocqueville begins writing Democracy in America at his parents' home in Paris, 49 rue de Verneuil. -
Finishes Volume I
Finishes the first part of Democracy in America. -
Publishing Volume I
Gosselin publishes an edition of fewer than 500 copies of Democracy in America. -
Succession and Volume II
The book's success leads to a second edition (the eighth edition, in 1840, will include the second and final part). -
Writing and Publishing of Volume II
Democracy in America, part II, is published simultaneously in Paris and in London, in a translation by Henry Reeve.