Once upon a time, there was a man named Alexis Charles Henri Clérel, comte de Tocqueville, but nobody called him that because it was a nuisance to pronounce and spell.

Besides, “Alexis” is more of a girl’s name.

Despite this handicap, he wrote a magnificent book called “Democracy in America,” which made his name synonymous with the phrase “That French prat who thinks he knows more about us than we do.”

But Tocqueville (we’re not on a first-name basis. I refuse to call him “Alexis”) didn’t just make things up about the United States.

He sailed here to investigate the country and learn more about its peoples, practices, and traditions. Sorry, I needed to get the alliteration in.

So instead of telling you about the profound observations he made about us, I’ll relate the story of his rambles through America.

He wrote a book about those too, “A Fortnight in the Wilderness.” But nobody reads that except me.

Tocqueville and his chum, Comte Gustave Auguste Bonnin de la Bonninière de........

© The Saratogian