MARQUETTE, Mich.—The Beaumier U.P. Heritage Center at Northern Michigan University will open a new speaker series with a presentation titled “Alexis de Tocqueville in the U.P.?: Democracy in America and Tocqueville’s Trip through Michigan.” This free event will be held at 1 p.m. Friday, April 16, in the West Science Building’s Mead Auditorium.

            NMU political science professor Jonathan Allen will discuss the journey of French aristocrat Alexis de Tocqueville and Gustave de Beaumont across the United States in 1831. Part of their goal was to examine the French influence in Michigan and Wisconsin. Allen will recount Tocqueville’s itinerary, discuss his diary entries and impressions of the area and relate them to the central ideas in his classical work, Democracy in America.

            For more information, contact the Beaumier Heritage Center at 227-1219.