 The national broadcasting company in conjunction with the fund for adult education presents democracy in America by a Lexus to Tocqueville Well, Tocqueville, what are you thinking about as you stare at these picturesque shores? Are you thinking about America about America? No, I do not see America. I see more than America I am trying to make out the image of democracy itself with its inclinations, its prejudices, and its passions Where could I be better off? A study in Jacksonian America, item one in the series Democracy in America prepared by the Division of General Education of New York University under the direction of George Probst American Historian a series designed to bring to life the America of 1831 as Recorded by a Lexus to Tocqueville and so to illuminate the image of democracy itself a Study in Jacksonian America Where could I be better off? The month of May 1831 a president old Hickory General Andrew Jackson And this is New York City over 200,000 people live here across the clear fresh water of the East River We look at Brooklyn, New York's dairy a countryside of breezy heights and pasture land and cows and Looking across the beach is a New York clam dealer in an orange check Westcote tight-fitting gray gators and a plug hat as tall and stately as a Belfrey with rips in the sides as if to let the noise of the bells out Clams choice clams here's your rockaway beach clams fine sand clam But his mind is on the New York consolidated lottery to be had in the greatest variety of lucky numbers that Arnold 313 Broadway opposite the Masonic Hall ten years ago the state legislature had forbidden the famous old New York Lotteries, but the proprietors are still finding loopholes to satisfy their customers who swarm through the bright May streets To produce the busiest community that any man could desire to live in In the streets all is hurry and bustle the very carts instead of being drawn by horses at a walking pace are often met at a Gallup always in a brisk trot Omnibuses are racketing and Terry hooting through the New York streets with as much hubbub hullabaloo and general Unmitigated uproar as the most optimistic man might expect in a city seven times the size It is May the 11th 1831 and on the deck of the fine steamboat president just coming into New York Harbor There stand two young men both well-dressed Although both seem very tired. They have been without sleep for some time They are surrounded by luggage and they glance back and forth the sights as if they were strangers from another planet That had never seen the earth before They are strangers come from France to see this curious new land that is supposed to be a democracy This one aged 26 is Alexis Charles Henri Clarell de Tocqueville son of a French count as for the harbor and the city itself Well picture to yourself an attractively varied shoreline the slopes covered by lawns and trees in bloom right down to the water and more than all that an Unbelievable multitude of country houses big as boxes of candy I am much struck by how convenient these little houses must be and by the attractive air They give the countryside such is our impression of this city of New York Beside the young mr. de Tocqueville stands his great friend also a French nobleman, but three years older this young man wearing a clocus 29 his name is Gustave Auguste de la Bonignière de Beaumont at each instant you glimpse great bays Which cut into the shawls and form the most picturesque sides? We were full of real admiration What struck us particularly was the animation given this majestic tableau by the immense number of vessels Briggs gondolas and boats of all kinds which cross and re-cross in every direction Tocqueville and Bourmor plunge into the crowd as though into a bath and are lost in the tumult of activity and motion The carriage is rattled through the streets the carts dance as if they were running races with them and the ladies Trip along in all the colors of the rainbow Lord Mabel skip into that door right smart around to clear that carriage is going to smash us And as for the passes by they look as though they actually had something to do I'm gonna let you in on the ground floor of this development I'm going to let you excuse me take an option in the purchase of some real first straight pardon me Western Pennsylvania Speculations basically, it's a granite quarry Pardon, which can watch where you're going ma'am. I'm sorry. So am I basically like I say the investment is a granite quarry That's financing an india rubber company all excuse me joint stock and all enterprise all pure enterprise excuse me Everybody is working as if he were in a hurry. Well, if you want to find your way around this country You'll have to hurry we firmly believe that of a man means business He better look as if he meant business We Americans are born in a hurry and educated at speed We make a fortune with a wave of a wand and lose it just as fast and then remake and relose the whole thing in a twinkling of an eye Our body is a locomotive ripping along at 30 miles an hour Our spirit is high-pressure engine our life resembles a shooting star and death Surprises us like an electric shock the governor of the state of New York Mr. Throop looks through his boarding house window at everybody in motion and observes They all seem as if they were running away from an indictment and Governor Throop draws out a toothpick and continues to enjoy the May morning and watches the hogs happily rooting around in the gutters indulging in hearty repasse of awful of every description And this too in the midst of coaches horses and pedestrians color up. That's what you're gonna get color up That's what you're asking for right here in New York City I wouldn't give you a marina dogs. Just an experience sir has proven that the most efficacious and powerful method of keeping the streets of a town in a state of perfect and refined cleanliness is Plenty of hogs and if the hogs aren't doing the trick, then you haven't got enough of them Or in 1831 New York City with its 200,000 people and 11 daily newspapers is very unequal in style and quality from one district to another The Great Avenue of Broadway is striking from its continuous and unbroken length of three miles in a straight line But its breadth about 80 feet is not sufficiently ample for the due proportion to its length It is more over wretchedly paved and as for 3rd Avenue and 8th Avenue These are no more than long muddy lanes leading respectively to the remote villages of Harlem and Manhattanville But New York is now and always has been a port a city of ships the side-wheel steamers with their long flaring funnels like post boys trumpets lies side-by-side with the forested sailing ships whose long bow spritz hang over the passers-by Like sabers at a wedding. We must quickly find a boarding house and get some sleep. Do these people never stay still? Look how they chase along the streets Everyone seems to be afraid to let the next man get the head of him and indeed American is always on the lookout lest any of his neighbors get the better of it If 100 Americans were going to be shot they would contend for the priority so strong is our habit of competition In the early 1830s New York was a city of parades here's major downing He calls himself a major from the state of Maine He says his from Maine rode in one of those parades with the seventh president himself and drew Jackson himself old Hickory In person and none other at least he says he didn't I'd like to meet the man that had disbelieved me to my face With my glass in my hand. Yeah, you tell him major if you'd been out that day You'd have seen me in the general figure in considerable large I guess there never was anything like it in New York before I'll swear to that major There's many an accomplished liar sitting outside the tavern drinking his whiskey and telling his stories though Certainly, the great men are a great deal more accessible now in 1831 than they ever became later One thing strikes me at once. What is that look at the people look at their general ease Most of them seem well fed most of them seem well dressed This is a country where men live well by the work of their hands Irish laborers straight off the boat Get as much as 75 cents a day together with lodging three big meals a day and six to eat glasses of whiskey Depending on the state of the weather Bread meat sugar tea fuel are cheaper than in the old country and wages are triple The stores are full of things some startling enough to horrify the casual visitor We observe the open sale of Dirk's bowie knives and a long kind of stiletto called the Arkansas toothpick These are sold by drugists in whose shops or stores these deadly weapons are hung up for public inspection And sold by them as part of the legitimate wares of their carlin thus plainly Indicated that weapons to kill as well as medicine to cure could be had at the same shop A city of green trees and fresh paints a lively new sparkling city for all its roughness and vigor Towards each other the citizens are forthright and breezy as when the clam dealer calls on the governor Of the state hello there brought some fresh clams for the governor. Hey sitting in the parlor picking his teeth go right in Hello there mr. Garrett step right in morning mr. Governor brought you some clams Well, it's just fine pull up a chair and bite yourself off a chew one man's as good as another if not better And people don't forget that elected officers are nothing but their servants Towards women however the attitude is usually very different There are no women around here the females or ladies should be treated accordingly as the precious repositories and fair blossoms of virtue beauty and high morality and anyone who suggests these dainty creatures Should have their innocence sully by too much education or the toil of commercial or political affairs Deserves the act of appropriate mobile decent men equality and easy manners then and pride Such pride boasting is a virtue and a good boaster as a man to be admired when the ancient Respectable and patriotic Tammany society Celebrates its 42nd anniversary tomorrow May 12th. I shall propose the toast to democracy The finest institution devised by the mind of man Especially suited for the greatest people on earth the fortunate inhabitants of the greatest country on earth on the God's special protection America Equality boasting and business This is a city of merchants and men of affairs Even in the streets full of hurrying people business goes on as usual I go 30 cents a pound I can't cover the cost of shipping at that price 32 that takes up all my profit You do better than that now with your mark. There's overhead charges That's what I'll make it And yet amid the bustle there are some who sit calm like this old gentleman here with a white beard and whiskers In the clean-shaven top lip he's reading the mercantile advertiser at the foot of Cortland Street and seems Undisturbed by the bustle. Yeah, what bustle? This is the 11th of May You've been here the first of May it seems a bustle. Oh, why the first of May? What's so special about that? I knew York City the first of May is moving time How do you mean moving time time? Universal flitting time when everybody moves People here are very locomotive in their habits. They are anxious to better themselves See, it's the day of all others in the year when the good people of this town have won and all agreed to play at the game of move-all First of May they're all at it with all their might Second of May everything will be quiet. It'll all be shuttled again Did you move the first of May? Almost certainly did. I moved every May day for the last 40 years Everybody does the same People can't bear not to be like their neighbors or it takes a live fish to swim upstream Well, good idea nice fresh day, and it is a nice fresh day perhaps a little too fresh but down here by the water There's quite a wind look at that poor lady tacking along with the wind behind her skirts and flounces a Lady has a time of it when the wind blows and the dust is flying in clouds as it does in New York almost all day long I Encountered a puff at the corner of one of the streets and there I stood holding my hat with one hand and my cardinal cloak Which is 56 yards of various commodities in it with the other I thought I should have gone up like a balloon and stood stark still until I came near being run over by a great Scampering away from some mischievous boys At last a sailor took compassion on me and set me down at the door of a store as he went away I heard him say to his companion damn my eyes Bill. What a press of canvas the girls carry nowadays But this lady is not the only one to complain of the wind for as we near the waterfront We see the air full of plug hats and people chasing after them But particularly notice this see the pieces of paper sailing about together with a variety of vegetables pieces of linen other materials Entirely interrupting the view Where does all this come from he's at garbage? No, sir. It is not all those commodities Come from hats an old nation on earth uses a hat for so many purposes as a Yankee It serves him at once for a head covering in the right and desk a ladder and a portmanteau In it the merchant deposits patterns of various descriptions. The doctor uses it as an apothecary shop The married man returning from market and it converts it into a depository for potatoes and other vegetables And to the traveler it serves as an absec look 66 Broadway room for rent a boarding house 1831 Now, let me see. I was in New York City at the time my husband had gone to his long reward He used to work as a speculator trading in commodities, you know, you can make a lot of money that way He didn't but he sure tried hard a fine man. I guess that's what killed him So I opened a refined boarding house for ladies and gentlemen of standing and position number 66 Broadway Just down the street from the American hotel These two French gentlemen came in off the steamship president and I never saw two fellas look more tired They just rolled into their beds in the middle of the afternoon And I guess they must have slept clean through until 8 o'clock next morning when I told kitty to ring for breakfast All right kitty all the cold meats are on and the Lobsters will be ready in a moment Might as well. Let him have the girl soon as it's 8 o'clock. Yes, ma'am All right kitty, let him have it Any study in last night I reckon are dead I'm just about proved that the Babylon of the apocalypse refers to the scarlet city of London, England Mr. Graves from Kentucky very keen Bible student though just a piece biased about proving England's downfall Good morning, ma'am. I hope you fast a good night Get the bag wig and the ruffles that gentlemen's a real French marquee. That's the way they call it I believe right now the marquee is teaching dancing to young ladies of refinement and Morning major general morning ma'am. You look fit as a fiddle this fine morning, sir No soldier usually comes out pretty fit ma'am at the major generals from Vermont a regular walk-in in Psychopedia about the war if you ask me Morning, Mr. Ryan. Oh morning, ma'am one moment, mr. O'Brien. I Wondered if we might have something on account on that little bill Well, I tell you ma'am I've got a job this morning at the Hudson River docks checking consignments and whatever I get you can have half of it No, you can't say fairer than that. I'd rather have the whole of it But you can't say too much to the poor fellow with his ribs all sticking out He has to stand up twice to cast a shadow A lot of Irish gentlemen are over here to live cheap even though it costs them a year's wages to get here Morning, mr. Beasley. Morning ma'am any luck yesterday. I thought I saw one of them over now the courthouse Put it give me the slip. Well, I hope and trust you have better luck today Mr. Beasley is from the Carolinas Indigo planter. He's up here on business and keeping his eye open for half a dozen of his slaves that ran away He's had tell they're in New York City at present. I Hope he can make those slaves realize that every time they run away They deprive a gentleman of his lawful property Morning gentlemen morning, ma'am. Good morning. Now. Let me see Which of you gentlemen is which I am mr. The talkville and this is mr. The boomer mr. Talkville's the little one Mr. Beaumont's the big one. Well, I hope I can remember that and you gentlemen are from France That is perfectly correct. Well, you can't start the day in an empty stomach and you will if you don't step lively Well, it must be five past eight if it's a minute the gong here goes at eight o'clock, you know Now I wouldn't answer for the bean many vitals on the board by a quarter after then we had better hurry Sit wherever you like if there's any left. There's fish and be for fouls. We can sit here. Yes Beef. Thank you Potatoes. Thank you Cabbage. No, thanks Coffee. No, not at this time in the morning I'll have brandy boomer Look at the ladies. It is also too early in the morning to look at ladies. No, no I'm serious You notice they are completely to rest all the day Everything complete and finished and here it is only breakfast At this rate a lady would be ready to receive visitors at nine o'clock in the morning Things will be very different here in America See our first you must eat this food is melting away before our eyes a more beef Thank you More potato. Thank you Some of them are leaving already Certainly there seems to be very little formalities democracy then you and I shall go bull our breakfast as though We were Americans and hurry out to see the marbles of New York. Let me see. Where are we? This is the boundary and this is Bayard Street Look at that hotel the North American Hotel One two three four five floors and an exchange table Never mind that look at the roof. What I want you to know that I do mind it I want to notice everything and make make a note look on the roof beside where the American flag is flying There is a wooden statue of a poor boy with ragged knees and elbows No, why should the management put such a thing on their roof? Surely there must be some Instructive story connected with it. Yes, sir. There surely is You'll find it's a tale of American industry American opportunity and American courage all of those things abandoned here, sir Those vacuums and many others besides are always found in America and never found in other countries now sir 38 years ago a poor boy came to this town a poor Yankee boy named a David Reynolds He was 12 or 14 years of age at the time without a crust of bread to feed him without a copper in his pocket We're in Hungary. He leaned against a fine elm tree since cut down made into lumber and sold at a good price That elm tree stood where the North American Hotel now stands While young David Reynolds was leaning against it luxuriating you might say in his beautiful shade He racked his little brains to try and devise some means of procuring for the sustenance of his childish needs a livelihood that should be both honest and honorable While he was thus reflecting how to get his dinner a gentleman came up to him name. I Beg your pardon sir. I wondered if you knew this gentleman's name This gentleman's name sir has not been handed down to posterity May I proceed? Pray do thank you, sir The gentleman whose name has not been transmitted to us Approach this poor friendless boy and asked if he were willing to carry the gentleman's trunk down to the wharf the boy eagerly consented and received for his labor as the sum of 25 cents Now what do you suppose he did with it? Spent it on food perhaps he reserved some to pay for his night lodging or was he prepared to sleep in this Street he was prepared to do anything sir providing it was honest I'll tell you what he did. He did an American thing With a little of the money he bought food and with the rest of it He bought fruit which he offered for sale beneath that same elm tree American initiative sir grasping the opportunity He soon disposed of his little stock to advantage and spent that night richer than he had ever been before On the morrow he repeated the transaction Soon he had a fruit stall under the tree then a small shop then several houses on either side Finally he acquired such an estate that he pulled it all down and built this magnificent hotel On this plaque which he caused to be erected He has set out his own story and you will perceive it concludes with these words The tree was cut down But from its beloved trunk he caused his image to be carved that's it up there as a Memento of his own for lawn beginnings and his grateful recollections From a penniless ragged boy David Reynolds rose to be one of the most prosperous citizens in his community and the owner of the finest hotel in New York City and possibly the world That sir is an American story, and I myself Am David Reynolds at your service sir. I'm enchanted to make your acquaintance delighted But tell me this do not your fellow citizens hold against you in some way these humble origins of yours They do not sir most emphatically not I am a man of property and position and in New York that speaks for itself Oh, I trust by the way gentlemen that you are yourselves not in need of large ins because if you are no, thank you, sir We are already accommodated and in any case we must very shortly leave the city We hear New York is not America, and we want to see all the country You should see it all the finest country in the world Ask any American and he'll tell you where could I be better off? Goodbye gentlemen and remember that little American story. I Think he's right that is an American story a poor boy Rising to be a large property owner enjoying the respect of his community But chiefly because of his money perhaps it is the symbol of position as blood is with us This is indeed the new world and one to which we had better become accustomed I am going to find out about this place for more because I think in this country We can perceive something of the future of our own democracy yes America is only my setting democracy is my subject It appears to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that sooner or later We shall arrive like the Americans at an almost complete equality of condition But first we must collect the facts we must dissect American society and Search out the elements of which it is composed We must ask useful questions The smallest conversations will be instructive There is not a man on whatever rung of society. He finds himself Who cannot teach me something You have just heard where could I be better off a study in Jacksonian America? Item one in a series based on Alexis to Tocqueville's democracy in America This series presented by the national broadcasting company was prepared by the division of general education of New York University Under the direction of George probes to American historian Produced in the studios of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation by Andrew Allen script by Alistair Sinclair music by Lucio Agostini This series democracy in America is made possible by a grant from the fund for adult education As part of a general course of study of the nature of American society For information about the use of these to Tocqueville dramatizations for study or discussion and how to secure these new materials About American democracy at a reasonable charge Right to the American foundation for continuing education post office box seven four nine Chicago night he Illinois Now this has been grower inviting you to join us next week for item two the governor in the boarding house on democracy in America Wherever you travel in the USA stay well informed tuned to radio NBC