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Alexis de Tocqueville letters to Alexandre-François Auguste Vivien

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Held at: University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts [Contact Us]3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104-6206

This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.

Overview and metadata sections

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 Democracy in America (1835–40). After Democracy in America, 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 The Old Regime and the Revolution 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.

Sources:

Drescher, Seymour. "Alexis de Tocqueville." Encyclopaedia Britannica, 1998, www.britannica.com/biography/Alexis-de-Tocqueville.

"Revolutions in France: 1789, 1830, 1848." Research Guides - France: Women in the Revolution, Library of Congress, guides.loc.gov/women-in-the-french-revolution/revolutions-rebellions/1789-1830-1848. Accessed 12 June 2024.

"Tocqueville, Alexis de : [SEVENTEEN AUTOGRAPH LETTERS, SIGNED, FROM ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE TO ALEXANDRE-FRANCOIS AUGUSTE VIVIEN]." (Kislak Center administrative file)

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.

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

Publisher
University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts
Finding Aid Author
Kelin Baldridge Smallwood
Finding Aid Date
2024 June 12
Access Restrictions

This collection is open for research use.

Use Restrictions

Copyright restrictions may exist. For most library holdings, the Trustees of the University of Pennsylvania do not hold copyright. It is the responsibility of the requester to seek permission from the holder of the copyright to reproduce material from the Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts.

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Letter sent from Paris in which Tocqueville reminds Vivien of an undertaking and discusses a mutual friend, Beaumont, 1839 September 3.
Box 1 Folder 1
Letter in which Tocqueville sends Vivien an attached document, which is not present but was possibly the second installment of Democracy in America, and explains that he does not expect him to read it at this moment and compliments him, 1840 April 25.
Box 1 Folder 2
Letter on Ministère des Affaires Etrangères stationery, circa 1849.
Box 1 Folder 3
Letter sent from Paris in which Tocqueville invites Vivien to his home the following Tuesday, circa 1850.
Box 1 Folder 4
Letter sent from Paris in which Tocqueville discusses his health, his thoughts on the government, and his discouragement in his forced retirement, 1853 March 14.
Box 1 Folder 5
Letter in which Tocqueville expresses concern for Vivien's health, asks about his work, and updates him on an apparent move and his own work, 1853 July 10.
Box 1 Folder 6
Letter in which Tocqueville discusses both his and Vivien's health, the possiblity of Vivien relocating and various climates, several Revue articles, a book he has started, and politics and political strategy concerning the current climate and house of Bourbon, 1853.
Box 1 Folder 7
Letter in which Tocqueville discusses how both men spent the winter, his health, and reports on "Dufame," who seems to be a mutual acquaintance, 1853.
Box 1 Folder 8
Letter in which Tocqueville respond's with enthusiasm and logistics to Vivien's letter saying he intends to visit, 1854 April 23.
Box 1 Folder 9
Letter sent from Paris in which Tocqueville sends Vivien an attached document, which is not present or clearly identified, and explains that he thinks it is good because it paraphrases Vivien's own work, undated.
Box 1 Folder 10
Letter sent in which Tocqueville invites Vivien to dinner and informs him of other people who will attend [possibly "d'Auberville"], undated.
Box 1 Folder 11
Letter in which Tocqueville sends Vivien his academic speech printed before the coup d'etat and asks for his modifications [speech is not present], undated.
Box 1 Folder 12
Letter in which Tocqueville invites Vivien to his house that same day, undated.
Box 1 Folder 13
Letter in which Tocqueville discusses communicating with M. d'Harcourt regarding issues related to the State Council, undated.
Box 1 Folder 14
Letter sent from Paris in which Tocqueville refers to articles the two had discussed and a report written in 1828, possibly related to the Commune, undated.
Box 1 Folder 15
Letter in which Tocqueville invites Vivien to his house for dinner with several others, undated.
Box 1 Folder 16
Letter in which Tocqueville encourages Vivien to meet M. d'Harcourt, undated.
Box 1 Folder 17
Original case, "Half morocco and cloth clamshell case", undated.
Box 1 Folder 18

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