In 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont were sent by the French government to study the American prison system. In his later letters Tocqueville indicates that he and Beaumont used their official business as a pretext to study American society instead. They arrived in New York City in May of that year and spent nine months traveling the United States, studying the prisons, and collecting information on American society, including its religious, political, and economic character.
Democracy in America was one of the products of this trip. It’s available in several translations, some free such as this one and this one, also free in audio format. On March 29, the Political Economy Book Club will discuss volume 1.
PEBC meetings are free and open to everyone who has read and wishes to talk about the book under discussion. Convenor Bob Matter appreciates an RSVP if possible.
Based on Henry George’s Social Problems and additional resources, this course is open to all interested adults. You’re welcome to sit in on the first session free, after which a $25 registration fee applies. Course meets Tuesdays, April 5 thru June 7. Course description is here. It is helpful if you pre-register.
Once again this year, our colleagues from the Public Revenue Education Council will have a booth at the annual conference of the National Council of State Legislators. PREC travel to the host city each year, and in 2016 they’re at McCormick Place in Chicago.
PREC will want assistance from local people who have completed one or more courses at the Henry George School and understand the fundamentals of political economy, especially land value taxation and the “two-rate” or “split rate” tax. If you might like to help out, contact Chuck Metalitz for more details. Because this conference of public officials is closed to the public, this might be you only way to get into the exhibit hall, and requires pre-arrangement. Only a limited number of these volunteer positions is available.
![image credit: Wikimedia Commons]("<a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alexis_de_tocqueville_cropped.jpg#/media/File:Alexis_de_tocqueville_cropped.jpg">Alexis de tocqueville cropped</a>" by <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alexis_de_tocqueville.jpg" title="File:Alexis de tocqueville.jpg">Alexis_de_tocqueville.jpg</a>:<span class="fn" id="creator"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Th%C3%A9odore_Chass%C3%A9riau" class="extiw" title="en:Théodore Chassériau">Théodore Chassériau</a></span> (1819–1856) <span class="wpImageAnnotatorControl wpImageAnnotatorOff"><a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Creator:Th%C3%A9odore_Chass%C3%A9riau" title="Link back to Creator infobox template"></a></span> <span class="wpImageAnnotatorControl wpImageAnnotatorOff"><a href="//www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q342467" title="wikidata:Q342467"></a></span><span class="wpImageAnnotatorControl wpImageAnnotatorOff"><a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Chasseriau-Redingote.jpg" class="image"></a></span>DescriptionFrench painterDate of birth/death<span style="white-space:nowrap">20 September 1819</span>8 October 1856Location of birth/deathEl Limón (<a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dominican_Republic" class="extiw" title="en:Dominican Republic">Dominican Republic</a>)<a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris" class="extiw" title="en:Paris">Paris</a>Work location<span class="locality"><a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris" class="extiw" title="en:Paris">Paris</a>, <a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome" class="extiw" title="en:Rome">Rome</a>, <a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Algiers" class="extiw" title="en:Algiers">Algiers</a></span>Authority control<a href="//en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Authority_File" class="extiw" title="en:Universal Authority File">GND</a>: <span class="uid"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://d-nb.info/gnd/118669125">118669125</a></span><span class="noprint"><a href="//tools.wmflabs.org/persondata/p/Th%C3%A9odore_Chass%C3%A9riau" class="extiw" title="toollabs:persondata/p/Théodore Chassériau">WP-Person</a></span> - <a href="//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Alexis_de_tocqueville.jpg" title="File:Alexis de tocqueville.jpg">Alexis_de_tocqueville.jpg</a>. Licensed under Public Domain via <a href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/">Commons</a>.)