Alexis de Tocqueville letters to Alexandre-François Auguste Vivien, 1839-1854, undated.

Format:

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Tocqueville, Alexis de, 1805-1859, creator.

Language:

French

Subjects (All):

France.

France--History.

France--History--Second Republic, 1848-1852.

France--History--Louis Philippe, 1830-1848.

Genre:

Manuscripts, French -- 19th century.

Penn Provenance:

Purchased from William Reese Company with funds from Caroline F. Schimmel, 2024.

Physical Description:

1 box (.2 linear feet)

Place of Publication:

1839-1854, undated.

Language Note:

French

Biography/History:

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) was a French political scientist, historian, writer, and politician.He entered politics under the July Monarchy (1830-1948) as an apprentice magistrate. Despite swearing an oath of loyalty to king Louis-Philippe of Orleans, Tocqueville’s family ties to the former Bourbon king resulted in political tension, prompting Tocqueville to seek permission to go to America to study prison reform. Tocqueville spent nine months in the United States from 1831 to 1832 with Gustave de Beaumont - a trip which resulted in the first part of <emph>Democracy in America</emph> (1835–40). After <emph>Democracy in America</emph>, Tocqueville was named to the Legion of Honor, the Academy of Moral and Political Sciences (1838), and the French Academy (1841). In 1839, Tocqueville was elected to the Chamber of Deputies, where he served until 1848. He was also a member of the National Assembly for Manche from 1848 through 1851 and served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs in 1849.Tocqueville was dismissed from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs by Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte on October 30th of 1849, at which time his health began to suffer. He was imprisoned for opposing Napoleon’s coup d’état on December 2, 1851 before being “deprived of all political offices for refusing his oath of loyalty to the new regime.” (Britannica). After the coup, he quit political life and retired and spent the rest of his life writing and tending to his health in Tocqueville and Touraine, France. During this time, he published <emph>The Old Regime and the Revolution</emph> in 1856.Tocqueville served in the Chamber of Deputies along with Alexandre-François Auguste Vivien starting in 1839 and remained friends until Vivien’s death in 1854. Alexandre-François Auguste Vivien (1799-1854) was a “prominent magistrate and government minister who served with Tocqueville in the Chamber of Deputies during the July Monarchy, and in the Constituent Assembly during the 1848 Revolution” (Kislak Center administrative file). He authored numerous works on social issues, policy, and public administration. Like Tocqueville, Vivien was also forced into retirement after Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte’s coup d’état in December of 1851. Both Tocqueville and Vivien’s careers spanned two of the three major French revolutions, the July Revolution in 1830 and the Revolution of 1848. The July Revolution of 1830 saw King Charles X being ousted in favor of Louis-Philippe, Duc d’Orleans, also known as the Roi Citoyen. The Revolution of 1848 resulted in the end of Louis-Philippe’s rule in favor of Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte leading France as the president of the Second Republic. In 1851, Napoleon carried out a coup d’état which resulted in an extension of his presidency and ultimately becoming emperor of France.

Summary:

This collection contains seventeen letters sent from Tocqueville to Vivien between 1839 and 1854, which is when they started working together until Vivien’s death. Several letters are undated, but are likely from this timeframe as well. The letters are sent both from Paris and from Saint-Cyr-sur-Loire in Touraine, where Tocqueville stayed from June 1853 through the summer of 1854. One of the letters is on Ministère des Affaires Etrangères stationery. The letters range from those inviting Vivien to dinner to discussing writings and mutual acquaintances, including Gustave de Beaumont, to in-depth conversations about Tocqueville’s thoughts and feelings about the political situation in France. Researchers should note that some of the handwriting in this collection is difficult to read.

OCLC:

1451845899