Tocqueville’s work has the local aim of illuminating the origins, commitments, contradictions, and future of the American democratic republic. And in so doing it brings remarkable clarity to the place and significance of the township system, religion, landscape, race, and local associations to American political life in the first third of the 19th century. But the work has more global aims, too, which gradually emerge out of Tocqueville’s discussion of the American case. It stands as a model for how to think and write about political systems generally and helps all students see “the political” in its full complexity.

Teachers joining us for our online seminar will discuss the text in a small, interactive class led by St. John’s faculty. The seminar will be followed by a discussion about ways in which what has been learned and discussed might be integrated into your own classrooms.