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BOOKSgLLKH.1, 
 
 Idontrtal. 
 
 CANADA 
 
 ARCHIVES 
 
 ex lihris 
 
 / 
 
 n 
 
 .-.VJfi-.r^ . 
 
 'w-*-;'' 
 
/ 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 BY 
 
 ALEXIS DE rOC^lUEVILLE. 
 
 TRANSl.ATf.!) HY 
 
 H E N I^L Y R !«: K V E , \l s (,. . 
 
 KDITF.n, WITH NOTES, 
 
 TIIF TKAN-^I.ATION RKVISKI) AND IN (,KKAT I'AHT KKWKII Tr.N. AXl. IIIK AUDI IIONS 
 MADK TO lUK KI-XKNT I'Al;!-. KmilnNS NOW I-IKsT 1 K ANPI. ATKl). 
 
 By FRANCIS BOWEN, 
 
 AI.FORD PKOFKSSOR OK MORAL PIIII.OSOPHY IN HARVARD UMVKFSITY. 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 SI. ( 0\I) r. HIT ION. 
 
 I 
 
 ; 
 
 CAMBRIDGE: 
 SEVER AND FRANCIS. 
 
 1 8 6 ^ 
 
Enteri'ii acconliiig to Act of Congress, in the year 1SG2, by 
 
 John I! a k t i. i: r i , 
 
 In the nerk's Olfice of the District ("ourt of the District of MnssachuaeUs. 
 
 a> i 
 
 U y I VK R s iTY Pn E s a .- 
 Welch. B i o e l o w . and C o m p a s t , 
 
 CAMliHlDlit:. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 
 OF THE AMETUCAN EDITOR. 
 
 TTIE present pu])lication has been ninde to con- 
 form as nearly as possible to the twelffh 
 edition of the original work, the latest whieh 
 appeared at Paris under the direct supervision 
 of the author. De Tocciueville jq)pended to this 
 edition, published in 1850, his essay, written three 
 years before, for the Academy of the Moral and 
 Political Sciences, on Democracy in Switzerland ; a 
 full report of his remarkable Speech in the Cham- 
 ber of Deputies predicting the devolution of 1(S48 
 just a month before its occurrence ; and a feel- 
 ing and eloquent Advertisement, addressed to his 
 countrymen, pointing them to the example of the 
 United States, and urging the study of American 
 institutions as affordinu; the most instructive les- 
 sons for the orffiinization and conduct of the new 
 French republic. These three additions are here 
 tor the first time translated, both because they 
 have an intimate connection with the body of the 
 ■work, and because they reflect much light upon 
 the character and opinions of the writer towards 
 the close of his life. The first of them is specially 
 interesting to American readers, as it contains an 
 able analysis and criticism of the republican in- 
 stitutions of Switzerland, illustrated by frequent 
 
'J 
 
 IV 
 
 KDiToirs n;r.i Aci: 
 
 coiM|)iirlson witli tljo constitutiuiis and liiws of tlio 
 American rcjjiihlic.'s. 
 
 Tlio writci's coiiCkIlmicc in tlic nltiniatc success 
 and ])('act't\il cstal)lislnncnt oi' dcnKJciacy, as the 
 contrtjlliiii;' prir-iple in the "jiovcrnnient ol' all 
 nations, seems t(j have been not only not im])aired, 
 hut strengthened, in the latter ])art of his life, hy 
 the observations which he continuecl to mnke of 
 the trial that it was undergoing in the United 
 States, and of the progress and i)rosperity of this 
 counlry in the years subsecpient to the lii'st pub- 
 lication of his great work. And it' his life had 
 been spared to witness the terrible ordeal to 
 which the ])rovidence of (Jod is now subjecting 
 us, it may confidently be believed that this trust 
 on his ])art would not have been shaken, even if 
 he should have been com})elled to admit, that the 
 Federal tie which once bound our large I'amily of 
 democratic States together would probably never 
 be reunited. JTe would clearly have seen, what 
 most of the politicians of Europe seem at present 
 incapable of perceiving, that it is not re])resenta- 
 tive democracy, but the Federal principle, which 
 is now on trial, and that the only question is, 
 whether any bond is strong enough to hold to- 
 gether a confederacy so populous and extensive 
 as to form in the ay:ij!:regate the largest and most 
 ])owerful empire that the world has ever known. 
 lie who would attempt to mtdvc up his own opin- 
 ion on this great question can find no better guide 
 than in the present work. De Tocqucville is the 
 friend, but Ijy no means the indiscriminate eulo- 
 gist, of American institutions ; and his criticisms, 
 which are shrewd and searching, ought to be even 
 more welcome than his commendations, for they 
 are more instructive. He foresaw, if not the im- 
 
KDiKdis i'i;i;i Aci;. 
 
 iiiiiK'nci', ill li'iist i\w i)i()l);il»ilit V, of the ••rriit 
 com iilsioii wliicli the cuuiitry is now uikIcilio- 
 iiii:' ; i<M(l tlicit* ciiii !)(» MO (jlfiiriT iiidicMt ioii ol' 
 tlir cimsos wliicli lijivc Ml l;is1 iiiduciMl it. tliiin 
 tliiit wliich wjis UMuU' \)y this wise and iiiipin'tial 
 I'oiciLincr lu'iirlv tliictx' scars au'o. 
 
 TliL' notes wliicli I iia\o made, tlioiioli somc- 
 wluit numerous, are u'enei-allv very bricl'. Tlii'V 
 are notes, and not disciuisitions, mv o)»ieet heiii'j: 
 ojdy to (dueidate or eoireet the text, and not to 
 coiitiovert or su])})lement it by foist in;L^' my own 
 oj)inions upon the reader's notice. Most oi' tliem 
 (U'e only corrections ol' sliLilit errors o!i points of 
 detail, sucli as a stranuei' mIio made lait a short 
 stay in the country couhl not he expected to 
 a\()id, or noti(!es tliat some statements now I'c- 
 (piire to ho limited or modified, in conse(pience 
 of the changes that have taken })lace duriuLi,' the 
 last ((uarter of a century. An outline sketch of 
 l)e Toc(juevillc's life is designed only to satisfy 
 curiosity as to the chief points in his career, Avith- 
 out entering into any analysis of his character 
 and labors. Those who seek further information 
 can ol)tain it from the Memoirs and Correspondence 
 that have recently been published by his lile-long 
 friend, M. de Beaumont. 
 
 In accepting an invitatioi. to become the editor 
 of this work, I .supposed that it would only be 
 necessary for me to translate the new matter that 
 had been appended to the recent editions of the 
 original, and to sui)ply such brief annotations as a 
 careful revision of the text might show to be ne- 
 cessary. It was intended to fiu'nisli an exact re- 
 print of the English translation, which passed to a 
 second edition in Lon(h)n, a year ago, under the 
 respectable name of Mr. Henry Keeve. But a 
 
VI 
 
 i;i>iroi!s i'i:i:iA(i; 
 
 coiiipiiiisoM (((' it ^vitll tlic oiiuiiiiil w;is liiirdly 
 hi'^im, hd'orc I IuuikI to iiiv disiiuiy that tliis 
 tnnisl.'ition wjis iittcii}- iiia(l(j(|uati' and untriiht- 
 
 woitliv. As a j)i('tty tlioroii^h t'Xposurc of its 
 (leiiicrits lias reccntlv Itt'cii made in an Kni^Iisli 
 ])('ri()di(.'al, wlicro tliciv can hu iiu snspiciDii of an 
 \inlav()ial>U' bias, 1 can liavc no scrn])lc in spcakiiii^ 
 ol' it as it deserves. It is ucnerallv I'eehle, inele- 
 i^ant, and verbose, and too often «)l)scnre and in- 
 correct. On coinnariiiii; everv line of it \\\\\i the 
 original, the .'dtei'ations which were foniid to he 
 iiecessarv were so iiiinierons and sweeniiiLi-. that 
 j)erhaps the present edition, of the first vcduine at 
 least, niiu'ht more fitly 1)0 called a new translation 
 than an amende(l one. The second volume, 1 
 omrht to sav, is somewhat lietter done ; as it was 
 ])uhlished several years (d'ter the appearance of 
 the first, formini,^ in lact a distin(;t work, the trans- 
 lator had found time to increase his Jamiliaritv 
 with the French languaue, and even to mjd'ie some 
 i)roi!:res.s in his knowled<'e of Enulish. 
 
 This is plain speakinii", and 1 feel hound to vin- 
 dicate it. \)y olferin<^ some specimens of the tians- 
 lation, hoth in its ])rimitive and its amended state. 
 The followiu!'' extra(;ts are taken almost at random 
 from the body of the book, and the original is ])re- 
 iixed to facilitate the labor of comparison. The 
 citations are all from the first volume, and the 
 references for Mr. lleeve's translation are to the 
 second London edition, Lonirmans, 1862. 
 
 Dl's lioninies sacrifient h, unc opinion roli^ieusc Iciirs amis, lour faiiiille 
 ct li'ur pntrii' ; on jx'Ut les croirc ul)sorl)e.s dans la poursuite de co 1)ii'n inti-l- 
 lectui'l qu'ils sont vciuis aclietcr ii si liaut prix. On ics voit (I'pcnilant ro- 
 clierclior d'une ardour proscjue o'^'ale ics rioiiossos matorielies ct los jouissaiioos 
 morales, lo liol dans I'autro moudo, le iiion-otre ot la lihorti' dans colui ci. 
 Sous Icur main los prin(i])os politi(pios, les lois ot los institutimis linniainos 
 semblent clioscs malloables, ciui pcuvent se tourner et sc combiner ii volonte. 
 
EDITOR'S rRi:r.\cK. 
 
 VII 
 
 T)i'vinit f'tix "i'lilmix-;'!!! los ImrriJ'rt'S (\\i\ umpri-onnuiciit la «o(it't<' an Mm A*' 
 la(|ii('lli' iU Koiit '.UM ; K's vifilles (ipiiiiDiis, i|iii (li'|iiii> ih-" su'cli'x iliii^i'aiciit 
 Ic inurnic, H't'vaiioiiisstnt ; mu' nirrit-ro pnsiiiu' nans iKtriu's, un diainp sans 
 hori/oii M' ilt'Vonvre : I'tsprit Iniiiiain s'y |p|f(ipitt' ; il Ifs panoiirt tii tiMw 
 sftis , iiiai>, arrivt' aiix liiniti'-i ilii imiiidc puliiii|tii>, 11 >'airt*li' ili- Iiiiini'iiu' ; 
 il (i('p')-io I'll tri'iiilil.mt I'li^am' iK' sc^ pin-; rcilinitalilt^ fariilii's ; il alpiurf K- 
 floiitf ; ii rt'tKincc an lusriin (rinnuviT ; il ■"'alx.tifiit itii'inc lic ^uuIimt ji- 
 voile tiu sriK'tiiairL' ; i! s'incliiu' avic nsju'it ilevaiil lU's viiitcs cpi'il adiiirt 
 sans lvv< <li<iiJtt'i'. — ]'. .")-'. 
 
 RkEVK's 'rUANSLATION. 
 
 It mij^lit lie iii.a'^iiH'il tliaf tin'ii wlio 
 sai'iitii'i'd iliiir (rii'iiils, their t'atiiily, 
 Hinl tlifir native laiul to a it'liLiiiuis 
 ('(nivictidii, wiTi" ali»(>rlicil in the pur- 
 suit of the iiiti'ilfctnal advantai;!'-. 
 wliicli tlii'v punliMsrd at x) dear a 
 rate. Tlu' I'lU'rL'v, li(i\vi'\('r, with 
 
 \vhirli they strove tor the aeipiiri'- 
 inuiit (if wi'aitli, moral I'lijuyiiieiit, 
 and llie eomfDrt-i a^ well a'* hheriie-; 
 of the wiirld, is scarcely inferior to 
 that wiih wiiieh they de\uted tlK'in- 
 Helves ti) liea\'en. 
 
 Toiitieal principles, and all human 
 laws and institutions were moulded 
 and alteroil at their pleasure ; the 
 harriers of the society in wliidi they 
 were horn were hrnken liown hefore 
 thcin ; the oM jirinciplcs which had 
 jjovi'rned the world for ai_a's were lu) 
 more ; a path without a tirm, and a 
 lielil witlmtit an horizon wi're opened 
 to the expliirinL' and ardent curiosity 
 of man : hut at the limits of tlu' po- 
 litical World he checks his resi'archcs, 
 he discreetly lay^ aside tin.' use of his 
 most formidahle faeulties.he no loHL'er 
 consents to doubt or to imiovati'. hut 
 carefully ahstainiiiL'' from rai-in;; the 
 curtain of the .sanctuary, he yields 
 with sulimissive re-iicct to truths 
 which he will not discuss. — j). M.'3. 
 
 IIeviskd Ti{.\Nsr,.vTH)\. 
 
 One woidd think that men who hail 
 sacriliccil their tVicniU, their fannly, 
 ami their native land to a reliuiuiis 
 ('•mvii'tioii Would he wholly aliMH'lii d 
 in the pursuit of the treasure which 
 they had just puriha«ei| at so lii^h a 
 price. And yet we lind them seeking; 
 with nearly eipial zeal for matcn.d 
 wealth ami tmiral ;:ood, — tor wdl- 
 hein^ and freedom on earth, ami sal- 
 vation in heaven. They moulded and 
 alteri'd at plea-iin' all political prm- 
 eiples. ami all human laws and insti- 
 tutions ; they hroke down the haniers 
 of the society in wliiili they were 
 horn ; they disretrarded thi' (dd |irin- 
 ciples which had i:overned the world 
 for aecs ; a career without lioumls, :i 
 tield without a horizon, was opened 
 hefove them : they precipitate them- 
 s(dves into it. ami traverse it in every 
 direction. Hut, havin;.'' reached the 
 limits of the political world, they stoji 
 of their own accord, and lay a-id*! 
 with awe the use of ilu'ir most formi- 
 dalile faculties; they no loiii^er douht 
 or inmnatc ; they ahstain from rais- 
 ing even the veil of the' sanctmiry, 
 and how with snhmissive respect he- 
 fore truths which they admit without 
 discussion. — p. 54. 
 
 Chez les jictites nations, Pieil de la societe penetre partout ; Tesjirit 
 tl'amelioration descend Ju<iiue dans les moindros details : I'amliition du |ieu- 
 l)le etant fort temjiere'e par sa faihlessc, ses cfft)rts et ses rcssouree.s se tour- 
 nent jire^iiue eiitierement vers son hieii-etre interieiir, et tie sont jioiiit sujets 
 a se dissiper en vaine funiee de jrloirc. I)e plus, les faeult('S de cliacun y 
 otant <:c'n('ralement hornecs, U'S de'sirs le sont e;_Mlement. La mediocritc' des 
 fortunes y rend les eonditioiis ii pen pres eirales ; les imenrs y ont une allure 
 simjile et paisihie. Ainsi, a tout prendre et en faisant etat dcs divers ilegres 
 
Mil 
 
 r.itiToiis i'iM:r.\rK. 
 
 I r 
 
 •1"' inonililr rf lie linnitTc, on rciuoiitn 
 plus il'iii-iiiticf, lie |iii|)ulatiiiii it ili- t 
 |>. I'Ji). 
 
 1{i;i;vi:'m Tiianmlatimn. 
 
 Ill siiiJill nutiuiis till' siriitiiiy of 
 .M)(iilv |priii'liali-< iiilo I'M!)' |i;iil, 
 mill till- >i|iii'it of iiii|iriivi'iTii'iit ciiirri 
 into till- iiio«t trilling' liitail^ ; a^ tin* 
 iiiiiliiiinn of till- |ii'o|ili' is niri'>Mirily 
 rlicrkcci liy its wi'iiktli'ss, III! till' ri- 
 fiirts anil nsoiirri'S of the citi/i'iis an' 
 tniiii'il to till' intrrnal ln'iiilit of tlif 
 I'oininnnity, ami an' not likely to 
 t'Va|ioial<' ill till- lii'clin;,' liiratli of 
 ^lol•y. 'i'hr i|i'»irrs nf I'M'iy inili\iil- 
 iial arc liiniliil, ln'cansi' ■xirannlinary 
 fai'iillii's ail' ranly to lie incl with. 
 'I'lir yifl.H of an r(|iial foitnin' rciiilrr 
 till- various cuniliiions of lift' iiniforni ; 
 anil till' nianiit'i's of tlic inlialiitaiils 
 art' onli'iiy ami siiii|ilc. 'I'liiis, if niic 
 istiinatt' till' ;;iailatiuns of |io|iiiiar 
 morality ami riili^^lilininriit, wi' sliall 
 ;:onei'ally timi that in small nations 
 tliiTc arc more persons in easy i ir- 
 eiimstunees, a more nnmerons pojni- 
 lation, ami a more ti'am|iiil state of 
 Koeiefv, than in [j;reat empires. — p. 
 17*;. ' 
 
 onlinuiremeiit eliez los pctitcs nations 
 raiHpiillite' ipic ehez |es (;ran<K'i». — 
 
 I{|;V|H|.I» 'i'ltwst. \TIOX. 
 
 In small states, the watehfiilnefitt 
 III soeii ly pi iietrales into e\ery part, 
 ami the spirit of improvement enters 
 into the smallest details ; the ainhi- 
 lion of the people lieiny iieees-arilv 
 ehei'keil hy its wiilklli'^s, all the ('}■- 
 fnrt> ami resmirees i,t the eiti/eiis are 
 tiiiiieil to the internal wcll-heiny of 
 the eommiiniiy. ami are not likely to 
 evaporate in tin; tleeiiiiy hii'ath of 
 ;.'lory. The powers of iMry imliviil- 
 nal heia;: ;:enerally liniiteil, his i|(>. 
 sires are propuitioiially >inall. Me- 
 ilioerity oi' fortune makes the various 
 eoiiililions of life nearly eipial, ami 
 the manners of the inlialiilaiits arc 
 oiileiiy ami >imple. 'I'liu^, all thiii;:s 
 eiiii^iili'i'eil, ami allowanei' liein^ made 
 for the Miiioiis (le;;rei's of morality 
 and i'idi;:hteiiim'iit, wi; shall ireiierally 
 find in small iiatiniis more ease, popii- 
 laiion, and trampiiliity than in larj^u 
 ones. — 11. 'J()2. 
 
 On lie rencontrera jamais, fpioi (pi'on fassc, do n'ritahle pnissaneo parnii 
 lew hoinmes, (pie dans lo eonconrs lihre des voloiiK'S. Or, il n'y a an moiide 
 (liie le patriotisme, on la reli;;ion, ipii pnisse faire marcher pendant loiij;- 
 teiiips vers nil nieiiic hut riini\('i>aliti' des eitoyeiis. 
 
 11 lie depend pas dcs lois dc raninier des einyanees (pii s'c'tci;:ni'iit ; niais 
 il depend dos lois d'inte'rosscr les hommes anx destinecs dc leur jiays. II 
 depend des lois de reveiller et ilc diriLrcr ect instinct vamie de la patric qui 
 ii'ahandonne jamais Ic eu'iir dc rhomiiu', et, en le liant anx pensccs, aux 
 pa>sioiis, anx hahitiidcs dc ehaipic jour, d'l n fairc uii sentiment retleehi ct 
 dnrahlc. Et (lu'on nc djsi. point (;u'il est trnp tard ])onr le tenter ; Ics na- 
 tions no vicillisscnt jioint dc la mcine maniere que les homines, ("haipie 
 f^'oneration (|ni nait dans Icnr sein est eomtne un peuple nouvcaii qui vieiit 
 s'olVrir a la main du le^i>lateiir. — pp. ll.'J, 114. 
 
 ItEEVE's TlJANSLATION". RlCVISKl) TjlANSLATIOX. 
 
 Whatever exertions may he made, Do what yon may, there is no true 
 
 no true power can he founded amoiiL: jiuwer anion;; men except in the iVee 
 
 men which docs not depend upon the union of their will; and jiatriotisni op 
 
 free union of their inclinations; and nliuion are the only two motives in 
 
 patriotism or religion arc the only the world which can loii;,Miriro all the 
 
 two motives in the world which can people towards the same end. 
 
F.DiTons rnriACE. 
 
 IX 
 
 Ix'rmiincntly iliroct tin' whole of ii 
 luily |i()liii(' to Olio tnii. 
 
 I.aw* caiiiiiit Mnfr.'il in rfkiinlliii^ 
 tht' iUilur of an cxtiii^ui-licil tailli ; 
 1)111 iiii'ii may In' iiitirt'>tt il iii tlif late 
 ol' their lomiiry hy tlir hiws. Hy this^ 
 iiitlucnci', the vu>;iie iinpulst' of pa- 
 tiii>ii>iii, whiili iifvcr aiianihms the 
 hum. Ill licait, may he iliiected ami 
 VfviMil; ami if it lie riiiiiiecteil with 
 the lliiiii^ht^, the pa>^iniis, ainl the 
 daily haliits of life, it may he eoii^oli- 
 (lateil into a tliirahle ami rational m'II- 
 tiinent. Let it not he ^aid that the 
 time for the expeiimeiit i^ already 
 past ; fur the idd a;;e of nalions is 
 not like the old au'e of men, and 
 every froli generation is a new peo- 
 
 tile ready for tlio cure of the Icyiti- 
 utor. — p. yS. 
 
 Laws cannot nkindie nn e\tin- 
 Ciii'<lied faith ; hut men may he iii- 
 teiv>|rd hy the law> in the fate of 
 their eoiititry. It depends nprni ilie 
 laws to awaken ami ihieci the vauiii) 
 impulse of patriotism, wliieli iie\er 
 iihiimlon.s the human heart ; and if it 
 lie eoniieeted with the thoughts, the 
 passions, and the daily lialut" of lite, 
 il may he euiisolid.ited into a diiraMo 
 and raiional sentiment. Let it not he 
 said that it is too late to make the 
 experiment ; for nations do not ;:iow 
 old as tneti do, and every fresh mu- 
 eiation is ii new people read\ lor the 
 care of the leyi>lator. — p. 1 18. 
 
 La <'oinmnne, prise en masse ct jiar rapport nil (jouverncinent central, 
 n'est qii'iin iiidividii eomnie uii autre, auipiel s'appliipie la tlaiorie (pic je 
 viens d'indiipier. 
 
 La liherte eommnnalo deeoule doiie, aiix Ktais-L'nis, du dojjiiie mOme. 
 de la Huuverainetu du jieuple ; toute.s les repuhliqiies anierieaines unt plus ou 
 moins rcconnu cette indqieiidanee ; inais ehuz les pouples do la Nouvelle- 
 Aiijileterre, les circoiislances eu ont partieulierenient favorise le dcfveloppe 
 nient. 
 
 Datis cette partio de I'Union, la vie politiiiuc a pris naissaneo au sein 
 memo des communes ; on i)ourrait presque dire qu'ii son ori;,Mne cliaeune 
 d'elles etait nne nation inde'peiidante. Lorsipic ensuite les rois d'An^'leterre 
 reelamereiit leur part de la souveiainete, ils se horrierent a premlre la puis- 
 sance ccntrale. Ils laissercnt la commune dans I'ctat oil ils la trouverent ; 
 luaintonant les communes de la Nouvelle-Angleterro sont sujettes ; iiiais 
 dans le prineipe dies ne r(^taient point ou I'etuiont ii peine. Klles n'ont done 
 pas rceu leurs pouvoirs ; ce sont elles au tmitraire (pii semhieiit s'etii! des- 
 saissics, en favcur de I'fjtat, d'une portion de leur inde'pendanee : distinction 
 importantc, et qui doit rcster jM-esente a I'esprit du leeteur. 
 
 Les communes nc sont en j;e'n('ral soumises a I'Ktat que quand il s'aj^it 
 d'un interet que j'appellerai social, e'est-ii-dirc qu'elles partagent avcc d'autres. 
 Pour tout cc qui n'a rapport qu'ii ellcs scales, les communes sont rcstces des 
 corps independants ; et parmi les habitants do la Nouvelle-Angleterre, il ne 
 s'en rencontre aucun, je pense, qui rcconnaisso au gouvcrneinent dc i'iitat le 
 droit d'intervenir dans la direction des interets purement communaux. 
 
 On voit done les communes do la NouvcUe-Anglctorre vemlre et aclicter, 
 attaquer et se defendrc devant les tribunaux, charger leur budget ou le 
 de'grever, sans qu'aucuno autorite' administrative quelconquc songe h, s'y 
 opposcr. 
 
' i 
 
 ■ J 
 
 
 H 
 
 X EDITOR'S PPvKFACE. 
 
 Quant mix devoirs sociaux, dies sont tenucs d'y satisfaire. Ainsi, I'foat 
 a-t-il besoin d'arf,'cnt, la commune n'est pas libre do lui aroordcr ou dc lui 
 refuser son concours. L'Etat veut-il ouvrir une route, la commune n'est pas 
 maitressc dc lui fern)cr son territoire. Fait-il un reglcment de police, la 
 commune doit I'executer. Veut-il organiser I'instruction sur un jjlan uni- 
 formc dans toute I'etenduc du pays, la commune est tenuc de creer les 
 ecoles voulucs par la loi. — pp. 77, 78. 
 
 Keeve's Translatiov 
 
 The township, taken as a whole, 
 and in relation to tlie government of 
 tlie country, may he looked upon as 
 an individual to wiioni the theory 1 
 have just alluded to is applied. Mu- 
 nicipal independence is therefore a 
 natural conse<|ucnce of the principle 
 of the sovereignty of the people in 
 the United States : ail the American 
 republics recogni/e it more or less ; 
 but circumstances have peculiarly 
 favored its growth in New England. 
 
 In tliis part of the Union, the im- 
 pulsion of political activity was given 
 in the townships ; and it may almost 
 he said that each of them originally 
 formed an independent nation. Wlien 
 the kings of England asserted their 
 supremacy, they were contented to 
 assume tiie central power of the State. 
 Tiic townships of New England re- 
 mained as they were before ; and al- 
 though tliey are now subject to the 
 State, tliey were at first scarcely de- 
 pendent upon it. It is important to 
 rememl)er that they have not been 
 invested with privileges, but that tiiey 
 have, on the contrary, forfeited a por- 
 tion of their independence to the State. 
 The townsliips are only subordinate 
 to the State in those interests which 
 I shall term social, as they are com- 
 mon to all tiie citizens. They are 
 independent in all tliat concerns them- 
 selves ; and amongst the inhabitants 
 of New England I believe tliat not a 
 man is to be found who Avould ac- 
 knowledge that the State has any 
 right to interfere in their local inter- 
 ests. The towns of New England 
 buy and sell, prosecute or arc indicted, 
 augment or diminish their rates, with- 
 out the slightest opposition on the 
 part of the administrative authority 
 of the State. 
 
 They are bound, however, to cora- 
 
 Revisfd Traxslatiojt. 
 
 The township, taken as a whole, 
 and in relation to the central govern- 
 ment, is only an individual like any 
 otiier to wiioin tiie theory I huve ju>t 
 d('scril)cd is applical)le. Municipal 
 independence in the United States is, 
 therefore, a natural consetpience of 
 this very principle of the sovereign tv 
 of the people. All the American re- 
 publics recognize it more or less ; i)ut 
 circumstances have peculiarly favored 
 its growth in New England. 
 
 In this pait of the Union, political 
 life has its origin in the townships ; 
 and it may almost be said that each 
 of them originally formed an inde- 
 pendent nation. When tlie kings of 
 England afterwards asserted their 
 supremacy, they were content to as- 
 sume the central power of the State. 
 They left the townships where they 
 were before ; and although they are 
 now subject to the State, they 'were 
 not at first, or were hardly so. They 
 did not receive their powers from the 
 central authority, but, on the contrary, 
 they gave up a portion of their inde- 
 pendence to the State. This is an 
 important distinction, and one which 
 the reads-r must constantly recollect. 
 The townships are generally sui)ordi- 
 nate to the State only in those inter- 
 ests which I shall tenn social, as they 
 are common to all the others. They 
 are independent in all that concerns 
 themselves alone ; and amongst the 
 inhabitants of New England I believe 
 that not a maii is to be found who 
 would acknowledge that the State 
 has any right to interfere in their 
 town affairs. The towns of New 
 England buy and sell, prosecute or 
 are indicted, augment or diminish 
 their rates, and no administrative au- 
 thority ever thinks of offering any 
 opposition. 
 
 . I 
 
 M 
 
EDITOR'S TRKFACE. 
 
 XI 
 
 ply with the ('('mands of the cntnmii- 
 iiity. If the State is in need of itidiu'v, 
 a town can neither (.'ive nor witliiiold 
 the snpplies. If tiie State projects a 
 road, tiie township cannot refuse to 
 let it cross its territory ; if n police 
 repuhition is made hy the State, it 
 must l)e enforced hy the town. A 
 nnifortn system of instruction is orpi- 
 nized all over the country, and every 
 town is hound to cstahlish the schools 
 which the law ordains. — pp. 60, Gl. 
 
 There nro certain social duties, 
 however, which they are hound to 
 fidtil. If the State is in need of 
 money, a town cannot withhold the 
 snpplies; if the State priij(!cts a road, 
 the township cannot refuse to let it 
 cross its territory ; if a police regula- 
 tion is made hy the State, it must he 
 enforced hy the town ; if a uniform 
 system of puhlic instruction is enact- 
 ed, every town is hound to cstahlish 
 the schools which the law ordains. — 
 pp. 80, 81. 
 
 they 
 ey are 
 were 
 They 
 om the 
 trary, 
 inde- 
 is an 
 which 
 ollect. 
 hordi- 
 inter- 
 i they 
 They 
 )ncerns 
 ;st tlie 
 helievo 
 id who 
 State 
 their 
 New 
 ■ute or 
 minish 
 ive au- 
 any 
 
 J 
 
 T)'une autre part, je doute fort qu'un vetement particulier porte les 
 hommes puhlics Ji se respecter eux-memes, quand ils ne sont pas natu- 
 rellement dispose's "i Ic faire ; car je ne saurais croire qu'ils aient plus d'eyard 
 pour leur habit cjue pour leur personne. 
 
 Quand je vols, parmi nous, certains magistrats hrusquer les parties ou 
 leur adrcsser des hons mots, lever les I'paides anx moyens de la defense et 
 sourire avcc complaisance a Tenumeration des charges, je voudrais qu'on 
 essayat de leur oter leur rohe, afin de de'couvrir si, se trouvant vetus commo 
 les simples citoycns, cela ne les rappellerait pas a. la dignite naturclle do 
 I'espece humaine. 
 
 Aucun des fonctionnaires publics des fetats-Unis n'a de costume, mais 
 tons recoivent un salairc. 
 
 Ceci decoule, j)lus naturellement encore que ce qui precede, des prin- 
 cipes democraticiues. Une democratic peut environner de ponipe ses ma- 
 gisirats et les couvrir de sole et d'or sans attaquer directement le principo 
 de son existence. De pareils privile'ges sont passagers ; ils tiennent a la 
 place, et non ii riiomnie. Mais etahlir des fonctions gratuites, c'est cre'er 
 une classe de fonctionnaires riches et independants, c'est former le noyau 
 d'une aristocratic. Si le peujjle conserve encore le droit du choix, rcxercice 
 de ce droit a done des homes ne'cessaires. 
 
 Quand on voit une re'puhlique democratique rendre gratuites les fonc- 
 tions re'tribuees, je crois qu'on peut en conclure qu'elle marche vers la 
 monarchic. Et quand une monarchie commence a retribuer les fonctions 
 gratuites, c'est la marcjue assuree qu'on s'avancc vers un e'tat despotique ou 
 vers un e'tat re'publicain. — pp. 245, 246. 
 
 Reeve's Tilvkslatiox. 
 
 Revised Translation. 
 
 On the other hand, it is very doubt- On the other hand, it is very doubt- 
 ful whether a peculiar dress contrih- ful whether a peculiar dress induces 
 utes to the respect which public char- public men to respect themselves, 
 acters ought to have for their own when they are not otherwise inclined 
 position, at least when they are not to do so. When a magistrate (and 
 otherwise inclined to respect it. When in France such instances are not rare) 
 a magistrate (and in France such snubs the j)arties before him, or in- 
 instances aro not rare) indulges his dulges his wit at their expense, or 
 
» I 
 
 i i 
 
 1 ' 
 
 Xll 
 
 EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 trivial wit at the expense of the pris- 
 oner, or derides the predieament in 
 which a eulprit is placed, it would he 
 well to deprive him of his rohes of 
 ortiee, to see whether he would recall 
 some i)i)rtion of the natural dignity 
 of mankind when he is reduced to the 
 apparel of a private citizen. 
 
 A democracy may, however, allow 
 a certain show of maj;isterial ])omp, 
 and clothe its officers in silks and 
 iiold, without seriously compromising 
 its principles. Privileges of this kind 
 are transitory ; they helonf; to the 
 ))lacc, and are distinct from the indi- 
 vidual : but if puhlie otHeers are not 
 uniformly remunerated by the State, 
 the public charijes must be intrusted 
 to men of opulence and independence, 
 who constitute the basis of an aris- 
 tocracy; and if the people still retains 
 its right of election, that election can 
 only be made from a certain class of 
 citizens. 
 
 When a democratic republic ren- 
 ders offices whieli had formerly been 
 remunerated, gratuitous, it may safely 
 be believed that that state is advan- 
 cing to monarchical institutions ; and 
 when a monarchy begins to remuner- 
 ate such officers as had hitherto been 
 unpaid, it is a sure sign that it is 
 approaching towards a despotic or a 
 republican form of government. — 
 pp. 238, 239. 
 
 shrugs his shoulders at their pleas of 
 defence, or smiles complacently as 
 the charges aie enumerated, I should 
 like to deprive him of his robes of 
 office, to see whetlier, when he is re- 
 duced to the garb of a private citizen, 
 he would not recall some ])ortion of 
 the natural dignity of mankind. 
 
 No public officer in the United 
 States has an official costume, but 
 every one of them receives a salary. 
 And this, also, still more naturally 
 than what precedes, results from dem- 
 ocratic j)rinciples. A democracy may 
 allow some magisterial pomj), and 
 clothe its officers in silks and gold, 
 without seriously compromising its 
 principles. Privileges of this kind are 
 transitory ; they belong to the place, 
 and not to the man : but if public 
 officers are unpaid, a <'lass of rich 
 and independent puldic functionaries 
 will be created, who will constitute 
 the basis of an aristocracy ; and if 
 the people still retain their right of 
 election, the choice can be made only 
 from a lertain class of citizens. 
 
 When a democratic republic ren- 
 ders gratuitous offices which had for- 
 merly been remunerated, it may safely 
 be inferred that the state is advancing 
 towards monarchy. And when a 
 monarchy begins to remunerate such 
 officers as had hitherto been unpaid, 
 it is a sure sign that it is approaching 
 a despotic or a republican form of 
 government. — pp. 263, 264. 
 
 Ce qu'ils aperccvaient d'abord, c'est que le conseil d'Etat, en France, 
 etant un grand tribunal fixe au centre du royaume, il y avail uno sorte de 
 tyrannic h, renvoyer preliminairement devaut lui tous les plaignants. — 
 p. 126. 
 
 Reeve's Traxslatiok. Reviskd Translation. 
 
 They were at once led to conclude 
 that the Conseil d'Etat in France was 
 a great tribunal, established in the 
 centre of the kingdom, which exer- 
 cised a preliminary and somewhat 
 tyrannical jurisdiction in all political 
 causes. — p. 108. 
 
 They at once perceived that, the 
 Council of State in France being a 
 great tribunal established in the cen- 
 tre of the kingdom, it was a sort of 
 tyranny to send all mplainants be- 
 fore it as a prelimina step. — p. 1 3 1 . 
 
 Les pcuples entre eux ne sont quo des individus. C'est surtout pour 
 paraitro avec avantage vis-a-vis des ctrangers qu'uno nation a besoin d'un 
 gouveruement unique. — pp. 137, 138. 
 
 1 i- 
 
 f t 
 
EDITOR'S rUKFACE. 
 
 XI II 
 
 "Rekvk's Transf-ation'. 
 
 RkVISI.K TiJ iNSt.ATION. 
 
 Tlif extprniil relations of a jjcople The poopK' in tliciii'-clvcs arc only 
 
 may Uc coinpared to tliose ot private iiKiividuals ; ami the special reason 
 
 individuals, and they cannot he ad- why tlicy need to be united under 
 
 vantafceously maintained witliout the one government is, that they may 
 
 a^'ency of the sin),de head of a Gov- aj)pear to advanta<;e hetbre foreij^n- 
 
 erument. — p. 121. ers. — p. 144. 
 
 paid, 
 •hinj: 
 rm of 
 
 6 
 
 11 V a des pens en France qui considercnt les institutions repuhlicaincs 
 romnie i'instrument passaj,'er de leur grandeur. lis mesurent des yeux 
 I'espace immense (jui separe leurs vices et leurs miseres do la puissance 
 et des richesses, ct its voudraient entasser des mines dans cct ahime pour 
 cssayer de le comhler. Ceux-15i sent a la lihertc ce que les compngnies 
 franehes du moyen age ctaicnt nux rois ; ils font la guerre pour leur propre 
 compte, alors meme qu'ils portent ses couleurs : la repul)li([ue vivra toujours 
 assez longtemps pour les tirer de leur basscssc presente. Ce n'est pas a eux 
 que je parlc. — p. 3.56. 
 
 Reeve's Traxslatiox. Revised Translation'. 
 
 There are persons in France who 
 look upon republican institutions as a 
 temporary means of power, of wealth, 
 and distinction ; men who are the 
 r.omlottii-ri of liberty, and who tight 
 for their own advantage, whatever be 
 the colors they wear : it is not to 
 these that I address myself. — p. 364. 
 
 There arc persons in France who 
 look upon republican institutions only 
 as a means of obtaining grandeur ; 
 they measure the immense space 
 which separates their vices and mis- 
 ery from |)ower and riclies, and they 
 aim to fill up this gulf with ruins, 
 that they may pass over it. These 
 men are the condottieri of liberty, and 
 fight for their own advantage, what- 
 ever be the colors they wear. The 
 republic will stand long enough, they 
 think, to draw them up out of their 
 present degradation. It is not to 
 the.se that I address myself. — p. 393. 
 
 pour 
 d'un 
 
 Perhaps it is not too much to say of a work 
 which has hitherto been before the Enghsh and 
 American pubhc only in such a translation as this, 
 that it still remains to be perused by them for 
 the first time in a form in which it can be under- 
 stood and appreciated. I have bestowed a good 
 deal of labor upon it, in the hope of aiding the 
 circulation of a book of which it has been justly 
 said by the highest living authority on the science 
 of general politics, Mr. John Stuart Mill, that it is 
 
XIV 
 
 EDITOR'S PREFACE. 
 
 " such as Montesquieu might have written, if to 
 his genius he had superadded good sense, and the 
 hghts which mankind have since gained from the 
 experiences of a period in which they may be said 
 to have hved centuries in fifty years." Especially 
 ought it to be generally studied here in the United 
 States, where no thinking man who exercises the 
 privileges of a voter can fail to derive from it 
 profitable information respecting the nature of the 
 institutions under which he lives, together with 
 friendly warnings and wise counsels to aid him in 
 the proper discharge of his political duties. 
 
 Cambridge, August 5, 1862. 
 
AUTHOR'S ADVERTISEMENT 
 
 TO THE TWELFTH EDITION* 
 
 HOWEVER sudden and momentous the events 
 which we have just beheld so swiftly accom- 
 plished, the author of this book has a right to 
 say that they have not taken him by surprise.f 
 His work was written fifteen years ago, with a 
 mind constantly occupied by a single thought, — 
 that the advent of democracy as a governing 
 power in the world's affiiirs, universal and irre- 
 sistible, was at hand. Let it be read over again, 
 and there will be found on every page a solemn 
 warning, that society changes its forms, humanity 
 its condition, and that new destinies are impend- 
 ing. It was stated in the very Introduction of the 
 work, that " the gradual development of the prin- 
 ciple of Equality is a providential fact. It has all 
 the chief characteristics of such a fact; it is uni- 
 versal, it is durable, it constantly eludes all human 
 
 * The twelfth edition of this work appeared at Paris in 1850, and this 
 Advertisement was prefixed to it by De Tocquevillc in reference to the 
 French Revolution of 1848. — Am. Ed. 
 
 t The writer here alludes to a speech which he made in the Chamber of 
 Deputies, on the 27th of January, 1848, just one moutli before the Revolution 
 was accomplished. He annexed a report of this speech to the twelfth edi- 
 tion of his work, and a translation of it will be found at the end of the 
 second volume. — Am. Ed. 
 
, 
 
 L:. 
 
 n 
 
 .' i 
 
 XVI 
 
 AUTHOR'S ai)Vi;rtisi:mi:nt. 
 
 interference, and all events as well as all men 
 contribute to its progress. Would it be wise to 
 imagine that a social movement, the causes of 
 which lie so far back, can be checked by the ef- 
 forts of one generation ? Can it be believed that 
 the democracy, which has overthrown the feudal 
 system and vanquished kings, will retreat before 
 tradesmen and capitalists? Will it stop now that 
 it is grown so strong and its adversaries so weak?" 
 He who wrote these lines in the presence of a 
 monarchy which had been rather confirmed than 
 shaken by the Revolution of 1830, may now fear- 
 lessly ask again the attention of the public to his 
 work. And he may be permitted to add, that the 
 present state of affairs gives to his book an imme- 
 diate interest and a practical utility which it had 
 not when it was first published. Royalty was then 
 in power; it has now been overthrown. The in- 
 stitutions of America, which were a subject only 
 of curiosity to monarchical France, ought to be a 
 subject of study for republican France. It is not 
 force alone, but good laws, which give stability to 
 a new government. After the combatant, comes 
 the legislator ; the one has pulled down, the 
 other builds up ; each has his office. Though it 
 is no longer a question whether we shall have a 
 monarchy or a republic in France, we are yet to 
 learn whether we shall have a convulsed or a 
 tranquil republic, — whether it shall be regular 
 or irregular, pacific or warlike, liberal or oppres- 
 sive, — a republic which menaces the sacred rights 
 of property and family, or one which honors and 
 
 P 
 
 t 
 
 I I'. 
 
AUTHOR'S ADVKRTISKMF.XT. 
 
 XVII 
 
 protects them both. It is a fearful problem, the 
 solution of which concerns not France alone, but 
 the whole civilized world. If we save oiu'selves, 
 we save at the same time all the nations which 
 surround us. If we perish, we shall cause all of 
 them to perish with us. According as democratic 
 liberty or democratic tyranny is established here, 
 the destiny of the world will be different ; and it 
 may be said that this day it depends upon us, 
 whether the republic shall be everywhere finally 
 established, or everywhere finally overthrown. 
 
 Now this problem, which among us has but 
 just been proposed for solution, was solved by 
 America more than sixty years ago. The prin- 
 ciple of the sovereignty of the people, which we 
 enthroned in France but yesterday, has there 
 held undivided sway for over sixty years. It is 
 there reduced to practice in the most direct, the 
 most unlimited, and the most absolute manner. 
 For sixty years, the people who have made it the 
 common source of all their laws have increased 
 continually in population, in territory, and in opu- 
 lence ; and — consider it w^ell — it is found to have 
 been, during that period, not only the most pros- 
 perous, but the most stable, of all the nations of 
 the earth. Whilst all the nations of Europe have 
 been devastated by war or torn by civil discord, 
 the American people alone in the civilized world 
 have remained at peace. Almost all Europe w^as 
 convulsed by revolutions ; America has not had 
 even a revolt.'^ The republic there has not been 
 
 * Thank God tliat this is liistory, thougli it is not the present fact. TJic 
 
i1 
 
 ■1 
 
 1 
 
 i'f 
 
 XVI 11 
 
 AUTHOR'S ADVKRTISKMKXT. 
 
 tlie assailant, but the guardian, of all vested rights; 
 the property of individuals has had better guaran- 
 ties there than in any other country of the world ; 
 anarchy has there beer, as unknown as despotism. 
 Where else could we find greater causes of 
 hope, or more instructive lessons ? Let us look 
 to America, not in order to make a servile copy 
 of the institutions which she has established, 
 but to f^ain a clearer view of the polity which 
 will be the best for us; let us look there less to 
 find examples than instruction; let us borrow from 
 her the j^rinciples, rather than the details, of her 
 laws. The law^s of the French republic may be, 
 and ought to be, in many cases, different from 
 those which govern the United States ; but the 
 principles on which the American constitutions 
 rest, — those principles of order, of the balance of 
 powers, of true liberty, of deep and sincere respect 
 for right,*— are indispensable to all republics; they 
 ought to be common to all ; and it may be said 
 beforehand, that wherever they shall not be found, 
 
 the republic will soon have ceased to exist. 
 
 1848. 
 
 record of what our country lias been, and of what she accomplished during 
 
 three quarters of a century, is beyond the power even of a gigantic rebellion 
 
 to blot out. Let only the faint-hearted, on looking into the past, exclaim, 
 
 with the great Italian, 
 
 " Nessun tnagglor dolore 
 Che ricordarsi del tempo felice 
 Nella miseria." 
 
 Nobler spirits will say, though the memory of what has been be the only 
 star which shines in the thick darkness that now surrounds us, it shall light 
 us on to mightier eflTorts, and kindle in our hearts a surer hope of the re- 
 appearance of the day, — of a day whose sunshine sliall not be broken even 
 by the one dark cloud that dimmed our former prospcritv Am. Ed. 
 
 {'» 
 
 H-. 
 
CONTENTS OF VOL. 1. 
 
 during 
 
 10 only 
 U light 
 the re- 
 !u even 
 
 Tntkoduction 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 ExTERiou FonM OF North America . 
 
 PAoa 
 1 
 
 19 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 Origix of tub Anglo-Americans, and Importance of this 
 
 Origin in relation to their Future Condition . . 31 
 
 Reasons of certain Anomalies which the Laws and Customs of the 
 
 Anglo-Americans present ....... 55 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 Social Condition op the Anglo-Americans . . . .57 
 
 The striking Characteristic of the Social Condition of the Anglo- 
 Americans is its essential Democracy ..... 57 
 
 Political Consequences of the Social Condition of the Anglo-Amer- 
 icans 67 
 
 CH \PTER IV. 
 The Principle of the SovEit'iiONTT of the People in America 69 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Necessity of Examining the Condition of the States be- 
 fore that of the Union at Large 73 
 
 The American System of Townships ..... 74 
 
 Limits of the To\vnship ........ 77 
 
 Powers of tlie Township in New England . .^ . . 77 
 
 Life in the Township 80 
 
 Spirit of the Townships of New England .... 83 
 
 The Counties of New England 86 
 
XX 
 
 CONTEXTS. 
 
 The Administration of rirovomTnont in New England . 
 General Hcinari^.s on the Administration in the United States 
 
 87 
 99 
 
 Of the State 104 
 
 Lofjislative Power of tlie State ...... 104 
 
 The Executive I'owcr of the State . . . . . .106 
 
 Political Ert'ects of decentralized Administration in the United States 107 
 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Judicial Poweu in the United States, and its Influence 
 
 ON Political Society 123 
 
 Other Powers granted to American Judj^es . . . . 130 
 
 t li I 
 
 1 1 ji! 
 
 i 
 
 I » i 
 
 
 CIIAPTEll VII. 
 Political Jurisdiction in the United States , . . 133 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 The Federal Constitution 140 
 
 History of the Federal Constitution . . . , . 140 
 
 Summary of the Federal Constitution ..... 143 
 
 Powers of the Federal Government . . . . . 144 
 
 Legislative Powers of the Federal Government . . . .147 
 
 A further Difference between the Senate and the House of Repre- 
 sentatives . . . . . . . . . .150 
 
 The Executive Power . . . . . . . . 151 
 
 In what the Position of a President of tiie United States differs 
 
 from that of a Constitutional King of France . . . 153 
 
 Accidental Causes which may increase the Influence of the Execu- 
 tive Government . . . . . . . . 158 
 
 Wliy the President of the United States does not need a Majority 
 
 in the two Houses in Order to carry on the Government . 159 
 Election of tlie President . . . . . . . .160 
 
 Mode of Election 166 
 
 Crisis of the Election . . . . . . . .170 
 
 Re-election of the President 172 
 
 Federal Courts of Justice . . . . . . . .175 
 
 Means of determining the Jurisdiction of the Federal Courts . 179 
 Different Cases of Jurisdiction ....... 181 
 
 Procedure of the Federal Courts 187 
 
 High Rank of the Supreme Court amongst the great Powers of State 190 
 
 |t t 
 
CONTI'.NTS. 
 
 XXI 
 
 . 87 
 99 
 
 . 104 
 
 104 
 . 106 
 
 States 107 
 
 DENCE 
 
 123 
 130 
 
 . 133 
 
 • • 
 
 140 
 
 • 
 
 140 
 
 • • 
 
 143 
 
 • 
 
 144 
 
 , • 
 
 147 
 
 Rcprc- 
 
 
 , • 
 
 150 
 
 , 
 
 151 
 
 differs 
 
 
 . 
 
 153 
 
 Exccu- 
 
 
 . 
 
 158 
 
 lajority 
 
 
 It . 
 
 159 
 
 . 
 
 160 
 
 , 
 
 166 
 
 , , 
 
 170 
 
 , 
 
 172 
 
 ^ , 
 
 175 
 
 s 
 
 179 
 
 a • 
 
 181 
 
 • 
 
 187 
 
 of State 
 
 190 
 
 I 
 
 In what respects the Fodcnil Constitution is superior to that of tho 
 
 States 193 
 
 Characteristics of tho FccU'ral (.'oustitutiou of the I'liited States of 
 
 America as compared with all otiier l-Vderal Constitutions . 198 
 
 Advantai^es of the Federal System in j;enerul, and its special Util- 
 ity in America 202 
 
 Why the Federal System is not practicahlc for all Nations, and how 
 
 tho Anglo-Americans were cnahled to adopt it . . . 209 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 How IT CAN HE STKICTLY SAID THAT THE PEOrLE GOVEUK IN 
 
 THE United States 219 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 Parties in the United States 221 
 
 Remains of the Aristocratic Party in the United States , . 227 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 Liberty of the Press in the United States , . . 230 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 Political Associations in the United States . , . 242 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 Government op the Democracy in America . . . 252 
 
 Universal Suffrapo ...... . 252 
 
 Tho Choice of the People, and the Instinctive Preferences of the 
 
 American Democracy ....... 253 
 
 Causes which may partly correct these Tendencies of the Democracy 257 
 Influence which the American Democracy has exercised on tho Laws 
 
 relatinj? to Elections 261 
 
 Puhlic Officers under the Control of the American Democracy , 262 
 Arhitrary Power of Magistrates under the Rule of the American 
 
 Democracy ......... 265 
 
 Instability of the Administration in the United States . . 268 
 Charges levied by tlie State under the Rule of the American Democ- 
 racy 270 
 
 Tendencies of the American Democracy as regards the Salaries of 
 
 public Officers 275 
 
 Difficulty of distinijuishing the Causes which incline the American 
 
 Government to Economy 279 
 
XXll 
 
 CONTKNTS. 
 
 
 I'll 
 
 K 11 
 
 Whotlicr tlio Expcndituro of the United Sfntos van lie rompjircd 
 
 with tlint of Kiiinco 280 
 
 Corru|)ti()M ami tho VicoH of tlic Hiiiois iti a DcinoiTiicy, nnd con- 
 
 Ht'(iiii'iit Ktli;i'tH ui)Oii Tuhhc Morality .... 286 
 
 I^fforts of which a DcmotTucy iti caiiai)!*? ..... 28U 
 
 Sclf-Control of the Atuuricuii Duiiiocrucy .... 29.'l 
 
 Coiuluct of Foreign AflUirs hy the Aiiiericttn Denioeracy . . 21)6 
 
 CII A I'T i: 11 XIV. 
 What auk the real Advantauks which Ameuican Society 
 
 DERIVES KKOM A DkMOCHATIC GOVERNMENT . . . .302 
 
 General Tendency of the Laws under the American Democracy, 
 
 and Instincts of those who apply them .... .102 
 
 I'uhlie Sjjirit in the United States ...... 308 
 
 Notion of Rights in the United States . . . . .311 
 
 Iles])ect for the Law in the United States . . . . 315 
 
 Activity which pervades all Parts of the Body Politic in the United 
 
 States; Influence wlilch it exercises upon Society . .317 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Unlimited Power of the Majority in the United States, 
 
 AND ITS Consequences 324 
 
 How the Omnijjotence of the Majority increases, in America, the 
 Instal)iiity of Legislation and Administration inherent in De- 
 mocracy .......... 327 
 
 Tyranny of the Majority 330 
 
 Effects of the Omnipotence of the Majority upon the arhitrary Au- 
 thority of American Public OtHcers ..... 335 
 Power exercised hy the Majority in America upon Opinion , . 336 
 Effects of the Tyranny of the Majority upon the National Character 
 
 of the Americans. — The Courtier-spirit in the United States 340 
 The greatest Dangers of the American liepublies proceed from the 
 
 Omnipotence of the Majority ...... 343 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 Causes which mitigate the Tyranny of the Majority in the 
 
 United States 346 
 
 Absence of Centralized Administration ..... 346 
 The Profession of the Law in the United States serves to counter- 
 poise the Democracy 348 
 
 Trial by Jury in the United States considered as a Political Institu- 
 
 tion 358 
 
COSTKXTS. 
 
 XXlll 
 
 m pared 
 
 280 
 1(1 ron- 
 
 286 
 
 . 28'J 
 
 29.1 
 
 . 21)6 
 
 . 302 
 
 . .'J()2 
 3(18 
 
 . 311 
 315 
 
 317 
 
 . 324 
 
 tlio 
 I)c- 
 
 . 327 
 330 
 Au- 
 
 335 
 . 336 
 ractcr 
 iitos 340 
 rn the 
 
 . 343 
 
 THE 
 
 . 346 
 346 
 
 nter- 
 
 itittt- 
 
 CII A I'Ti: U XVII. 
 riiiNCiPAL CAtHKS wiiicii ti;mi H) mvimain mm: I)k.m»)(Hatic 
 
 ItEl'LtlLIC IN TIIK I'n;!!.!* SrATK."* . . . . . 
 
 Aceidelitul '>i" rruviiUiit il Cuiim's wliicli cniitrilnitt' to iiiaiiitaiii tlic 
 
 IViiKtirntir I\i'|iulilic in the I'liitcd StaHS .... 
 Inthhii ' of tlie Liiws ii|m»ii tin.' Maiiittiiaiicc of the Di'iiiocratii- Wv- 
 
 |iiil>li<' ill tlic I'liitcd States ...... 
 
 IiiHiU'tuT of MaiimTS upon the Mainttnaiu c of the Dcmm ralic l{f- 
 
 puMic in thi! riiittd Statts ....... 
 
 I{t'li}j;ioii coiisich'ivd a.s a rolilittii Iii>titiitioii, which powcifnily 
 
 (•(intriliiitcs to tlie Maiiitciiaiue of tho Dciiiocratic I{f|iiilplic 
 
 umoiiyst tlic Ainericans ....... 
 
 Indirect Inthuiice of Heii^nous Opiiiioii.s upon I'olitical Society in 
 
 the United States ........ 
 
 Priiici|ial Causes wiiieh render Hi'iiuioii powerful in Anu'rii'u 
 How the I'.diication, the Iluhits, and the practical F.xperieiice of the 
 
 American.'* promote the Success of their Democratic Institutions 
 The Laws contrilmte more to the Maintenance of the Deinocratic 
 
 KepiiMic in the United Stafe.s than tlic Physical Circuinstances 
 
 of the Country, and the Manners more than the Laws . 
 Whether Laws and Manners arc sudieient to maintain Democratic 
 
 Institutions in other Countries hesides America . 
 Importance of what precedes with Kespeet to the State of Europe . 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 The PiiESENT AND pnouAiJLE FirruRE Condition of the Tiihke 
 Races which inhauit the Tekimtouv of the United 
 States 
 
 The Present and prohahlc Future Condition of the Indian Trilies 
 which inhahit the Territory possessed hy the Union 
 
 Situation of the Black Population in the United States, and Dan- 
 gers with which its Presence threatens the Whites . 
 
 What are the Chances of Duration of the American Union, and 
 what Daiijicrs threaten it ...... . 
 
 Of the liej)ublican Institutions of the United States, and what their 
 Chances of Duration are ....... 
 
 Some Considerations on the Causes of the Commercial Prosperity 
 of the United States ........ 
 
 3«H 
 
 3t'>*.i 
 382 
 
 ;i8;t 
 
 383 
 
 387 
 31>4 
 
 4113 
 
 4oy 
 
 414 
 
 418 
 
 348 
 
 358 
 
 Conclusion . 
 
 424 
 
 431 
 
 456 
 
 491 
 
 535 
 
 543 
 
 552 
 
( I 
 
 s 
 
 I 
 
 n 
 
 ' 1 
 
 m 
 m 
 
 
 'tiii 
 
 i It ' 
 
 • :ii 
 
 I 
 
 f 
 
I N T R D U C T I IV . 
 
 
 A]\IOXGST the novel objects tliat attracted my atten- 
 tion duriniii; my stay in the United States, notliing 
 struck me more forcibly tlian the oeneral equality of con- 
 dition amoiiu' the people. I readily discovered the jirodi- 
 o'ious iuHuencc Avhicli this primary fact exercises on the 
 wliole course of society; it gives a peculiar direction to 
 ])ublic ()})inion, and a peculiar tenor to the laws ; it imparts 
 new maxims to the governing authorities, and peculiar 
 habits to the o;overned. 
 
 I soon perceived that the influence of this fact extends 
 far beyond the political character and the laAvs of th3 coun- 
 try, and that it has no less empire over civil society than 
 over the government ; it creates opinions, gives birth to 
 new sentiments, founds novel customs, and modifies ■what- 
 ever it does not produce. The more I advanced in the 
 study of American society, the more I perceived that this 
 equahtv of condition is the fundamental fact from wliicli 
 all others seem to be derived, and the central point at 
 wliich all my observations constantly terminated. 
 
 I then turned my thoughts to our own hemisphere, and 
 thought that I discerned there something analogous to 
 the s|)('ctacle which the New World presented to me. I 
 ol)ser\rd that e(piality of condition, though it has not 
 there reached the extreme limit which it seems to have 
 attained in tlie United States, is constantly approaching 
 
I 
 
 2 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 it ; and tliat tlio democrary which governs the American 
 communities appears to be rapidly rising into poAver in 
 Europe. 
 
 Hence I conceived the idea of tlie book -wliich is now 
 before tlie reader. 
 
 It is evident to all alike that a jxreat democratic revolu- 
 lion is fjoino; on amongst us : but all do not look at it in 
 the same light. To some it appears to be novel but acci- 
 dental, and, as such, they hope it may still be checked ; to 
 others it seems irresistible, because it is the most uniform, 
 the most ancient, and the most permanent tendency which 
 is to be found in history. 
 
 I look back for a moment on the situation of France 
 seven hundred years ago, when the territory was divided 
 amongst a small number of fomilies, who were the owners 
 of the soil and the rulers of the inhabitants ; the right of 
 governing descended with the family inheritance from gen- 
 eration to generation ; force was the only means by which 
 man co\dd act on man ; and landed property was the sole 
 source of power. 
 
 Soon, liowever, the political power of the clergy was 
 founded, and began to increase : the clergy opened their 
 ranks to all classes, to the poor and the rich, the vassal and 
 the lord ; through the Church, equality penetrated into the 
 Government, and he who a& a serf must have vea-etatcd in 
 per})etual bondage took his place as a priest in the midst 
 of nobles, and not unfrequently above the heads of kings. 
 
 The different relations of men with each other became 
 more complicated and numerous as society gi'adually be- 
 came more stable and civilized. Hence the want of civil 
 laws was felt ; and the ministers of law soon rose from the 
 obscurity of the tribunals and their dusty chambers, to 
 appear at the court of the monarch, by the side of the 
 feudal barons clothed in their ermine and their mail. 
 
 Whilst the kings were ruining themselves by their great 
 
INTnODrCTION. 
 
 3 
 
 ^Lmerican 
 power in 
 
 li Is now 
 
 c revolu- 
 at it in 
 but acci- 
 3cked ; to 
 ; uniform, 
 icy which 
 
 of France 
 IS divided 
 he owners 
 c Yis\\t of 
 from gen- 
 by which 
 s the sole 
 
 ergy was 
 ■ned their 
 vassal and 
 d into the 
 kctatcd in 
 Ithe midst 
 if kings, 
 ■r became 
 ually be- 
 ,t of civil 
 from the 
 mbers, to 
 fie of the 
 
 mail. 
 Iheir o-reat 
 
 'M 
 
 ontcrprises, and the nobles exhausting their resources by 
 ])riv;ite wars, the loAver orders Avere enriching themselves 
 1)V commerce. The influence of money began to 1)0 per- 
 ceptible in state affairs. The transactions of business 
 oj)ened a new road to power, and the financier rose to a 
 station of ])olitical influence in which he was at once flat- 
 tered and despised. 
 
 Gradually the diffusion of Intelligence, and the increas- 
 ing taste for literature and art, caused learning and talent 
 to become a means of o;overnment ; mental al)ilitv led to 
 social power, and the man of letters took a part in the 
 affairs of the state. 
 
 The value attached to hio;h birth declined iust as fast as 
 new avenues to power were discovered. In the eleventh 
 century, nobility was beyond all price ; in the thirteenth, 
 it might be purchased. Nobility was first conferred by gift 
 in 1270 ; and equality was thus introdnce'd into the govern- 
 ment by the aristocracy itself. 
 
 In the course of these seven hundred years. It sometimes 
 happened th;it the nobles, in order to resist the authority 
 of the crown, or to diminish the power of their rivals, 
 granted some political influence to the common })eople. 
 Or, more frequently, the king permitted the lower orders 
 to have a share in the government, with the Intention of 
 depressing the aristocracy. 
 
 In France, the kin^s have alwavs been the most active 
 and the most constant of levellers. When thev were strono; 
 and ambitious, they spared no pains to raise the peojde to 
 the level of the nobles ; when tliey were temperate and 
 feeble, they allowed the peo])le to rise above themselves. 
 Some assisted the democracy by their talents, others bv 
 their vices. Louis XI. and J^ouis XIV. reduced all ranks 
 beneath the throne to the same degree of subjection ; and, 
 finally, Louis XV. descended, himself and all his court, 
 into the dust. 
 
if' 
 
 K „ 
 
 '^i 
 
 St 
 
 
 u 
 
 4 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 As soon as land began to be held on any other than a 
 feudal temn-e, and personal property in its turn became 
 able to confer influence and power, every discovery in the 
 arts, every improvement in commerce or manniactures, 
 created so many new elements of cfpiality among men. 
 Henceforward every new invention, every new want which 
 it occasioned, and every new desire Avhich craved satisfac- 
 tion, was a step towards a general levelling. The taste for 
 luxury, tlie love of war, the empire of fashion, and the most 
 su])erticial as well as the deepest passions of the human 
 heart, seemed to co-operate to enrich the poor and to im- 
 poverisli the rich. 
 
 From the time when the exercise of the intellect became 
 a source of strenn;th and of wealth, we see that every addi- 
 tion to science, e\ery fresh truth, and every new idea 
 became a germ of power placed within the reach of the 
 peo])le. Poetry, *eloquence, and memory, the graces of 
 the mind, the glow of imagination, depth of thought, and 
 all tlie gifts which Heaven scatters at a venture, turned to 
 the advantage of the democracy; and even when they 
 were in the possession of its adversaries, they still served 
 its cause by throwing into bold relief the natural great- 
 ness of man. Its conquests spread, therefore, with tliose 
 of civilization and knowledge ; and hterature became an 
 arsenal o})en to all, where the poor and the weak daily 
 resorted for arms. 
 
 In running over the pages of oiu* history for seven hun- 
 dred years, Ave shall scarcely find a single great event 
 which has not promoted equality of condition. 
 
 The Crusades and the English wars decimated the no- 
 bles and divided their possessions : the municipal corpora- 
 tions introduced democratic liberty into the bosom of feudal 
 monarchy ; the invention of tii'e-arms equalized the vassal 
 and the noble on the field of battle ; the art of printin<T 
 opened the same resources to the minds of all classes ; the 
 
 •1 
 
INTUOnrOTION. 
 
 r than a 
 became 
 y in the 
 uictures, 
 ng men. 
 lit which 
 satisfac- 
 taste for 
 the most 
 e human 
 id to im- 
 
 ;t became 
 -ery addi- 
 new idea 
 3h of the 
 graces of 
 io;1it, and 
 turned to 
 len they 
 11 served 
 al great- 
 th those 
 ccame an 
 
 ak daily 
 
 e;. 
 
 ven hun- 
 iat event 
 
 1 the no- 
 corpora- 
 of feudal 
 
 the vassal 
 printing 
 
 isses; the 
 
 post-offi(>e brought knowledge alike to the d >or of tlio 
 cottaire and to the gate of the palace ; and ProtesiMutism 
 ])r()claimed that all men are alike able to find the road 
 to heaven. The discovery of America opened a thousand 
 new ])aths to l()rtune, and led obscure adventurers to 
 wealth and power. 
 
 ]f, begiiniing witli the eleventh century, we examine 
 what has liaj)pened in France from one half-century to 
 another, we shall not fiiil to jierceive, at the end of each 
 of these ])eriods, that a twofold i\'Volution has taken ])lace 
 in the state of society. The noble has gone down on the 
 social ladder, and the comuKmer has gone up ; the one dcv 
 scends as the other rises. Every haltk'entury brings them 
 nearer to each other, and they will soon meet. 
 
 Nor is this peculiar to France. Whithersoever Ave turn 
 our eves, we ix-rceive the same revolution coinii: on 
 throughout tlie Christian world. The various occiu*- 
 rences of national existence have everywhere turned to 
 tlio advantage of democracy : all men have aided it bv 
 their exertions, both tliose who have intentionally labored 
 in its cause, and those who have served it tmwittingly ; 
 those who have fought for it, and those who have declared 
 themselves its opponents, have all been driven along in the 
 same track, have all labored to one end ; some ignorantly 
 and some unwillingly, all have been blind instruments in 
 the hands of God. 
 
 The gradual development of the principle of equalitv is, 
 therefore, a Providential fact. It has all the chief charac- 
 tci'istics of such a fact : it is imiversal, it is durable, it con- 
 stantly eludes all human interference, and all events as 
 well as all men contrihute to its progress. 
 
 Would it, then, be wise to imagine that a social move- 
 ment, the causes of which lie so far back, can be checked 
 by the efforts of one generation ? Can it be believed that 
 the democracy which has overthrown the feudal system, 
 

 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and vaiKiuisliofl kings, ^vill retreat before tradesmen ana 
 ca[)italists ? Will it stop now that it has grown so strong, 
 and its adversaries so weak ? 
 
 Whitlier, then, arc we tending? No one can say, for 
 terms of comparison already fail ns. The condIti(ins of 
 men are more eqnal in Christian conntries at the i)resent 
 day than they have been at any previous time, or in any 
 part of the world ; so that the magnitude of what already 
 has been done prevents us from foreseeing what is yet to 
 be accom})lished. 
 
 The whole book which is here offered to the public has 
 been written under the impression of a kind of religious 
 terror ju'oduced in the author's mind by the view of that 
 irresistible revolution which has advanced for centuries in 
 spite of every obstacle, and which is still advancing in the 
 midst of the ruins it has caused. 
 
 It is not nec^3ssary that G od himself should speak in or- 
 der that we may discover the uncpiestionable signs of his 
 will. It is enough to ascertain what is the habitual course 
 of nature and the constant tendency of events. I know, 
 without a special revelation, that the planets move in the 
 orbits traced by the Creator's hand. 
 
 If the men of our time should be convinced, by attentive 
 observation and sincere reHection, that the gradual and 
 progressive development of social equality is at once the 
 past and the future of their history, this discovery alone 
 would confer the sacred character of a Divine decree upon 
 the change. To attempt to check democracy would be in 
 that case to resist the will of God ; and the nations would 
 then be constrained to make the best of the social lot 
 awarded to them by Providence. 
 
 The Christian nations of our day seem to me to present 
 a most alarming spectacle ; the movement which impels 
 them is already so strong that it cai'^ot be stopped, but it 
 is not yet so rapid that it cannot be guided. Tlieir fate is 
 
 
INTKODUCTIOX. 
 
 en ana 
 
 
 strong, 
 
 >^J^^K 
 
 say, f<3r 
 ■i(;ns of 
 
 
 j)resent 
 
 ■ ';'JS 
 
 • in any 
 already 
 
 
 is vet to 
 
 
 iblic lias 
 religious 
 
 ^ 
 
 V of that 
 
 -« 
 
 ituries in 
 
 
 ig in the 
 
 
 ak in or- 
 
 
 ns of his 
 
 
 al course 
 
 ■< 
 
 I know, 
 
 
 ve in the 
 
 
 attentive 
 
 
 dual and 
 
 
 once the 
 
 
 iry alone 
 
 
 •ree upon 
 uld be in 
 
 
 US would 
 
 
 social lot 
 
 
 present 
 h impels 
 ed, but it 
 
 
 eir fate is 
 
 
 still in thfir own hands ; yet a Httle while, and it may be 
 
 so no longer. 
 
 The tirst of the duties which arc at this time imposed 
 )()n ihose who direct our aH'airs, is to educate the dcnioc- 
 
 ^11 
 
 racv ; to renovate, if possible, its religious belief; to purity 
 its morals ; to regulate its movements ; to substitute by 
 dciiives a knowledge of business lor its inexperience, and 
 
 an accpiai 
 
 ntance with its true interests tl)r its l)lind i 
 
 n- 
 
 it to time and pi: 
 
 1 
 
 stnicts ; to adapt its government to time ana jjiacc, and 
 to make it conform to the occurrences and the men of the 
 times. A new science of politics is needed for a new 
 world. 
 
 This, however, is what we think of least ; placed in the 
 middle of a rapid stream, we obstinately fix our eyes on 
 the ruins which may still be descried upon the shore we 
 have left, whilst the current hurries us away, and drags us 
 backwartl toward the gulf. 
 
 In no country in Europe has the great social revolution 
 which I have just described made such ra})id progress as 
 in France ; but it has always advanced without guidance. 
 The heads of the state have made no preparation for it, 
 and it has advanced without their consent or without their 
 knowledge. The most powerful, the most intelligent, and 
 the most moral classes of the nation have never attempted 
 to take hold of it in order to guide it. The democracy 
 has consequently been abandoned to its wild instincts, and 
 it has grown up like those children who have no parental 
 guidance, who receive their education in the public streets, 
 and who are acquainted only with the vices and wretched- 
 ness of society. Its existence was seemingly unknown, 
 when suddenly it acquired supreme power. Every one 
 then submitted to its caprices ; it was worshipped as the 
 idol of strength ; and when afterwards it was enfeebled by 
 its own excesses, the legislator conceived the rash project 
 of destroying it, instead of instructing it and correcting its 
 
ii 
 
 I H; 
 
 I i 
 
 
 I , 
 
 '1 
 
 8 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 vioos. No attempt was made to fit it to govern, but all 
 were bent on excludiui!; it from the o;ovornnient. 
 
 The consequence has been, tliat tlic democratic revolution 
 has taken place in the body of society, without tliat con- 
 (;omitant cliangc in the laws, ideas, customs, and inaiuiers, 
 wliicli was necessary to render such a revolution beneliciai. 
 Thus we have a democracy, without anything to lessen its 
 vices and brinjT out its natural advantajies : and ahh()U<>h 
 we ah'eady perceive tlie CA'ils it brings, we are ignorant of 
 the benefits it may confer. 
 
 Wliile the power of the crown, supported by the aris- 
 tocracy, peaceably governed the nations of Euro})e, society, 
 in the midst of its wretchedness, had several sources of 
 happiness which can now scarcely be conceived or ai)pre- 
 ciated. Tlie power of a part of his subjects was an insur- 
 mountable barrier to the tyranny of the prince ; and the 
 monarch, who felt the almost divine cliaracter which ho 
 enjoyed in the eyes of the multitude, derived a motive for 
 tlie just use of his power from the respect which he in- 
 spired. The nobles, high as they were placed above the 
 people, could not but talce that calm and benevolent 
 interest in their fate which the shepherd feels towards 
 his flock ; and without acknowledging the poor as their 
 equals, they watched over the destiny of those whose wel- 
 fare Providence had intnisted to their care. The people, 
 never havino- conceived the idea of a social condition dif- 
 ferent from their own, and never expecting to become 
 equal to tlieii' leaders, received benefits from them without 
 discussing their rights. They became attached to them 
 when they were cl«>ment and just, and submitted to their 
 exactions without resistance or servility, as to the inevitable 
 visitations of the Deitv. Custom and the manners of the 
 time, moreover, had established certain limits to oppression, 
 and put a sort of legal restraint upon violence. 
 
 As the noble never suspected that any one would at- 
 
 
 •H 
 
INTRODUCTION. 
 
 9 
 
 but all 
 
 •olution 
 :dt coii- 
 liiuuers, 
 iiL'tic'ial. 
 .'sscn its 
 iltlioujj^U 
 umnt of 
 
 the ai'ls- 
 , society, 
 urces of 
 ir ai>i)re- 
 m insiir- 
 uikI the 
 A-hich he 
 lotive for 
 ■h he in- 
 .bove the 
 ncvok'iit 
 towards 
 as their 
 lose Avel- 
 e pco})h% 
 itioii thf- 
 bccomc 
 li without 
 to them 
 tl to their 
 nevi table 
 rs of the 
 )prcssion, 
 
 kvoukl at- 
 
 tempt to (li'privc him of tlie ])riviK\ij;('s wlilch lie licllcvcd 
 to 1)0 leiiitiinate, and as the serf looked upon his own 
 inferiority as a consequence of the '-Minutabli! order of 
 nature, it is easy to imagine that soni , mutual exclian<j;o 
 of o'ood-wiil took i)lace hctwcen two classes so dillerentlv 
 «nfred by fiite. Ine(Mialitv and wretchedness wwv then to 
 he found in society ; hut the souls of ni'ither I'aid^ of men 
 were denraded. 
 
 Men are not corrupted by the exercise of power, or 
 debased by the hahit of obedience; but by the exercise 
 of a j)ower which they believe to be iIK';;'itiniate, and by 
 obedience to a ruJL' which they consi(K>r to be usur])ed 
 and oppressive. 
 
 On the one side were wealth, streno-th, aiul leisure, 
 accom])anied by the reHnements of luxury, the elegance 
 of taste, the pleasures of wit, and the cultivation of the 
 arts ; on the other, were labor, clownishness, and igno- 
 rance. But in the midst of this coarse and ionoi'ant multi- 
 tude it was not uncommon to meet with energetic passions, 
 ffenerous sentiments, profound religious convictions, aiul 
 wild virtues. 
 
 The social state thus organized might boast of its sta- 
 bility, its power, and, above all, its glory. 
 
 Ijut the scene is now chann-ed. Gradiiallv the distinc- 
 tions of rank are done away; the barriers which once 
 severed mankind are falling down ; property is tlivided, 
 power is shared by many, the light of intelligence s})reads, 
 and the capacities of all classes are e(pially cultivated. The 
 State becomes democratic, and the empire of democracy is 
 slowly and peaceably introduced into the institutions and 
 the manners of the nation. 
 
 I 'an conceive of a society in whicli all men would feel 
 an equal love and respect for the laws of which they con- 
 sider themselves as the authors ; in which the authority of 
 the government would be respected as necessary, thoufTli 
 1* 
 
10 
 
 INTIJODUCTIOX. 
 
 I i 
 
 ft l! 
 
 
 ■T-l 
 'J 
 
 Is! 
 
 : ''i 
 
 Vh 
 
 not ns divine; and in wliicli tlio loyalty of the suhjuct to 
 tliu cliic'f mM;j;i.strato wonld not bo a i)as-,i()ij, but a (|uiot 
 and rational jK'rsuasion. Evory individual being in the 
 possession of rights ■wliicli he is sure to retain, a kind 
 of manly confidence and reciprocal courtesy would arise 
 between all classes, alike removed from j)ride and serWlity. 
 The ])e()ple, well ac(iuainted with their own true interests, 
 would understand that, in order to profit by the advantages 
 of society, it is necessary to satisfy its requisitions. The 
 voluntary association of the citizens might then take the 
 })lace of the individual exertions of the nobles, and the 
 community would be alike protected from anarchy and 
 from o})})ression. 
 
 I admit that, in a democratic state thus constituted 
 society would not be stationary. But the impulses of the 
 social body might there be regidated and made progressive. 
 If there were less splendor than in the midst of an aris- 
 tocracy, the contrast of miseiy would also be less frequent ; 
 the pleasures of enjoyment might be less excessive, but 
 those of comfort would be more general ; the sciences 
 might be less perfectly cultivated, but ignorance would 
 be less common ; the im^itnuosity of the feelings would 
 be repressed, and the habirs of the nation softened ; there 
 woidd be more vices and fewer great crimes. 
 
 In the absence of enthusiasm and an ardent faith, great 
 sacrifices may be obtained from the members of a conunon- 
 wealth by an appeal to their understandings and their ex- 
 perience ; each individual will feel the same necessity of 
 union W'itli his fellows to protect his own weakness ; and 
 as he knows that lie can obtain their help only on condition 
 of helping them, he will readily perceive that his personal 
 interest is identified witli the interests of the whole commu- 
 nity. The nation, taken as a whole, will be less brilliant, 
 less glorious, and jierhaps less strong ; but the majority of 
 the citizens will enjoy a greater degree of prosperity, and 
 
 
 1 c 
 
ixruoDucrio. 
 
 11 
 
 l)jcct to 
 
 a ([iiict 
 I- ill the 
 
 ji kind 
 lid arise 
 servility. 
 Inteivsts, 
 \aiitn<2;cs 
 IS. The 
 take the 
 
 and the 
 •cliy and 
 
 nstitutcd 
 ses of the 
 oo'ressive. 
 f an aris- 
 f rcquont ; 
 ssive, but 
 sciences 
 cc ^vollld 
 cfs "vvould 
 ed; there 
 
 lith, great 
 
 conunon- 
 
 tlicir ex- 
 
 cessity of 
 
 ncss ; and 
 
 condition 
 
 personal 
 |e commu- 
 
 brilliant, 
 kajority of 
 lerity, and 
 
 the people will remain quiet, not \i> uise the despair •!' a 
 (•liiin"e for the better, but because they are eoiiM-im' uat 
 tlu'V are well otf already. 
 
 If all the conseipieiices of this state of things a\ iit)t 
 ^ood or useful, society would at least have aj)j>ropriated all 
 such as were useful and good ; and having oni-e and tor 
 ever ri'noiii\ced the social advantiiges of aristocracy, niiui- 
 kind would enter into })Osse.ssiou of all the beiielits which 
 democracy can afford. 
 
 r»ut here it may he asked what we have adopti'd in the 
 j)lace of those institutions, those ideas, and those customs 
 of our foreliithers which we have abandoned. 
 
 The spell of royalty is broken, but it has not been suc- 
 ceeded by the majesty of the laws. The ])eople have 
 learned to dopise all authority, but they still fear it ; and 
 fear now extorts more than was formerly paid from rever- 
 ence and love. 
 
 1 perceive that we have destroyed those iiuVn idual pow- 
 ers which were able, single-handed, to cope with tyranny ; 
 but it is the government that has inherited the ])rivileges 
 of which families, cor})oratioiis, and individuals have been 
 dei)rived ; to the jjower of a small number of })ersons — 
 which, if it was sometimes o})pressive, was often conserva- 
 tive — has succeeded the weakness of the whole commu- 
 nity. 
 
 The division of property lias lessened the distance which 
 separated the rich from the poor ; but it would seem that, 
 the nearer they draw to each other, the greater is their 
 mutual hatred, and the more vehement the envy and the 
 dread with which they resist each other's claims to power ; 
 the idea of Right does not exist for either party, and Force 
 aifords to both the only argument for the })resent, and the 
 only guaranty for the future. 
 
 The poor man retains the prejudices of his forefathers 
 without their faith, and their ignorance without their 
 
12 
 
 ixTiJonrcTiox. 
 
 f. 
 
 ! B I 
 
 I ' 
 
 
 I'l; 
 
 i!u, 
 iiiii 
 
 I ii 
 
 'tiilli 
 
 virtues ; lie lias addptcd the doctrino of scll-intorost as 
 tlio rule of Ills actions, witliout uiKliTstandiii^ tlie scictico 
 \\ liicli puts it to use ; and liis scKisIincss is no loss blind 
 tliau was t'di-nicrly iiis dcvotodncss to others. 
 
 If society is trauiniil, it is not because it is conscious of 
 its streuiitli and its well-heinjx, but Ix^'ause it ii'ars its 
 weakness and its inlii-niities ; a siuL;;le ellort may cost it its 
 lite. Everybody feels the evil, i)ut no one has coui'a;j;e or 
 onei'uv enoui-h to seek the cure. 'J1ie di'sii'es, the renin- 
 in^s, the sorrows, and the joys of tlie present time lead to 
 no visible or ])ermanent result, like the passions of oKl n\en, 
 which terminate in im|)otence. 
 
 Wc liave, then, abandoned whatever advantao'os the old 
 state of thiuiis ailbi'ded, without receiving' any comjx'usa- 
 tion from our present condition ; we have di'stroyed an 
 aristocracy, and wo seem inclined to sur\ey its ruins with 
 comj)lacency, and to fix our abode in tlu> midst of them. 
 
 The jdienomena which the intellectual world presents 
 arc not less deplorable. The; democracy of France, ham- 
 pered in its course or abandoned to its lawless passions, has 
 overthi'own whatever crossed its ])ath, and has shaken all 
 that it has not destroyed. Its empire has not been onul- 
 ually introduced, or peaceably established, but it has con- 
 stantly advanced in the midst of the disorders and the 
 aii'itations of a conflict. In the heat of the struii'iile, each 
 partisan is hurried beyond the natural limits of his opinions 
 by the doctrines and the excesses of his o])])onents, until he 
 loses si<2;ht of the end of his exertions, and holds a lauo-uao-e 
 wliicli does not express bis real sentiments or secret in- 
 stincts. Ilence arises the strauiJi-e confusion wliich we are 
 compelled to witness. 
 
 I can recall nothing in history more worthy of sorrow 
 and l>ity, than the scenes which are passino; luider our eyes. 
 It is as if the natural bond which imites the o])ini()ns of 
 man to his tastes, and his actions to his principles, was 
 
 -^ 
 
 M 
 
i 
 
 vest ns 
 
 ■; l)lin(l 
 
 lous of 
 .'iirs its 
 )st it its 
 ira^(! or 
 ' ri'i>in- 
 . Iciid to 
 lUl incn, 
 
 the oltl 
 
 -oyi'il :"i 
 lins with 
 tlu'iu. 
 presents 
 ee, hnm- 
 ions, luis 
 liiken all 
 
 lias eon- 
 aiul tlie 
 
 i-ivU', each 
 opinions 
 
 , nntil he 
 Iani2;nai2;e 
 (>cret in- 
 h Ave are 
 
 )f sorrow 
 
 o\n* eyes. 
 
 kinions of 
 
 [pies, was 
 
 
 INTIfODrcTIOX. 
 
 18 
 
 now lirnkiMi ; the ^ym|)atlly wliich has always been oIh 
 servcil lictween the tet'HuLjs and tim ideas of niaiddnd 
 aj)|»ears to i)e dissolved, and all the laws of moral aiial- 
 
 on;v to Ik' al)i»li>he(l. 
 
 Zealons Christians are still found amongst ns, whoso 
 minds are nnrtni'ed on tlu^ thonyhts which pertain to a 
 hitnre lile, ami who readily espouse the cause of human 
 lihertv r.s the source of all moral •••reatness. Christianity, 
 which has declared that all men are eijual in the sioht of 
 (Joil, will not ivfuse to acknowledni^ that all citi/i'iis are 
 ('(pial in the eye of the law. iJut, hy a singular concourse 
 of cNcnts, reliii'ion has been for a time entangled with those 
 institutions which democracy assails ; and it is not unfrc- 
 (luently bronn'ht to reject the eipiality which it loves, and 
 to curse that cause of liberty as a I'oe, whose etforts it 
 miu'lit hallow by its alliance. 
 
 I'.y the side of these reliifions men, I discern others 
 whose looks are turned to earth rather <lian to heaven. 
 These are the ])artisans of liberty, not only as the source 
 of the noblest virtues, but more especially as the root of all 
 solid advanta<2;es ; and they sincerely desire to secnre its 
 authority, and to im])art its blessinn-s to mankind. It is 
 natural that they should hasten to invoke the assistance of 
 reliuion, for thev must know that liberty cannot be estal)- 
 lished withont morality, nor morality without faith. But 
 they have seen religion in the ranks of their adversaries, 
 and they inqnirc no further ; some of them attack it 
 openly, and the remainder are afraid to defend it. 
 
 In ibrmer an;es, slavery was advocated by the venal and 
 slavish-minded, whilst the independent and the warm- 
 hearted were strnixulinif withont hope to save the liberties 
 of mankind. But men of hiifli and o;enerous characters 
 are now to be met with, whose opinions are at variance 
 with their inclinations, and who praise that servility which 
 they have themselves never known. Others, on the con- 
 
H ' 
 
 5 
 
 iHJi 
 
 * t 
 
 !i 
 
 i< ' 
 
 li'f 
 
 14 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 tr.iiy, spcfik of liberty as if tliey were al)lc to feci its sanc- 
 tity and its majesty, and loudly claim for humanity those 
 rights which they have always refused to acknowledge. 
 
 There are virtuous and peaceful individuals Avhosc pure 
 morality, quiet habits, opulence, and talents fit them to be 
 the lea(l<>rs of the surrounding population. Their love of 
 country is sincere, and they are ready to make the greatest 
 sacrifices for its welfare. But civilization often finds them 
 among its opponents ; they confound its abuses with its 
 benefits, and the idea of evil is inseparable in their minds 
 from that of novelty. 
 
 Near these I find others, whose object is to materialize 
 mankind, to hit upon what is expedient without heeding 
 W'hat is just, to acquire knowledge without faith, and pros- 
 perity apart from virtue ; claiming to be the champions of 
 modern civilization, they place themselves arrogantly at its 
 head, usurping a place which is abandoned to them, and 
 of which they are wholly unworthy. 
 
 Where are we, then ? 
 
 The religionists are the enemies of liberty, and the 
 friends of liberty attack religion ; the high-minded and 
 the nol)le advocate bondage, and the meanest and most 
 servile preach independence ; honest and enlightened citi- 
 zens are opposed to all progress, whilst men without patri- 
 otism and without principle put themselves forward as the 
 a})ostles of civilization and intelligence. 
 
 Has such been the fate of the centuries which have pre- 
 ceded our own ? and has man always inhabited a Avorld 
 like the present, where all things are out of their natural 
 connections, where virtue is without genius, and genius 
 without honor ; where the love of order is confounded 
 with a taste for oppression, and the holy rites of freedom 
 with a contempt of law ; where the light thrown by con- 
 science on human actions is dim, and where nothing seems 
 to be any lono;er forbidden or allowed, honorable or shame- 
 ful, false or true ? 
 
 
IXTi:01)l'CTI(JN. 
 
 15 
 
 ts sanc- 
 ty those 
 Igc. 
 
 )S0 pure 
 n to be 
 • love of 
 greatest 
 ids them 
 with its 
 lir minds 
 
 aterialize 
 heeding 
 md pros- 
 iiplons of 
 itly at its 
 hem, and 
 
 and the 
 
 iided and 
 
 and most 
 
 eiied citi- 
 
 )ut patri- 
 
 rd as the 
 
 [liave prc- 
 a world 
 [ir natural 
 kl scnius 
 )n founded 
 If freedom 
 ^1 by con- 
 lino- seems 
 lor sharae- 
 
 I cannot believe tliat the Creator made man to leave 
 him in an endless struggle with the intellectual miseries 
 which surround us. God destines a calmer and a more 
 certain future to the comnv.inities of Eur()})e. I am igno- 
 rant of his desisins, but I shall not cease to believe in them 
 because I cannot fathom them, and I had rather mistrust 
 my own capacity than his justice. 
 
 There is a country in the world where the great social 
 revolution which I am speaking of seems to have nearly 
 reached its natural limits. It has been effected with ease 
 and quietness ; say rather that this country is rea})ing the 
 fruits of the democratic revolution wliich we are under- 
 Soino;, without havinii" had the revolution itself. 
 
 The emiii'rants who colonized the shores of America in 
 the beginning of the seventeentli century somehow sep- 
 arated the democratic principle from all- the principles 
 which it had to contend with in the old conununities of 
 Europe, and transplanted it alone to the New World. It 
 has there been able to spread in j)erf(.'ct freedom, and 
 peaceably to determine the character of the laws by in- 
 fluencing the maimers of the country. 
 
 It appears to me beyond a doubt that, sooner or later, 
 we shall arrive, like the Americans, at an almost complete 
 equality of condition. But I do not conclude from this, 
 that we shall ever be necessarily led to draw the same po- 
 litical consequences which the Americans have derived 
 from a similar social organization. I am far from sup- 
 posing that they have chosen tlie only form of government 
 which a democracy may adopt; but as the generative 
 cause of laws and manners in the two countries is the 
 same, it is of immense interest for us to know what it has 
 jiroduced in each of them. 
 
 It is not, then, merely to satisfy a legitimate curiosity 
 that I have examined America ; my wish has been to find 
 there instruction by wliich we may ourselves profit. Who- 
 
^1 
 
 r 
 
 if 
 \> 
 
 ■■I 
 
 • ■; 
 ■I 
 
 a 
 
 i: E; 
 
 ( m 
 
 
 (fl ill! 
 
 ■1 
 
 :ii'i: 
 
 liiH 
 
 16 
 
 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 ever should iiniiglne tliat I have iiiteiidod to write a pan- 
 egyric.' Avould be strangely mistaken, and on reading this 
 hook, he will perceive that such was not my design : nor 
 has it been my object to advocate any form of government 
 in particnlar, for I am of opinion that absolute excellence 
 is rarely to be found in any system of laws. I have not 
 even pretended to jndge whether the social revolution, 
 which I believe to be irresistible, is advantageous or preju- 
 dicial to mankind. I have acknowledged this revolution 
 as a fact already accomplished, or on the eve of its accom- 
 plishment ; and I have selected the nation, from amongst 
 those which have undergone it, in which its development 
 has been the most peaceful and the most complete, in order 
 to discern its natural consequences, and to find out, if possi- 
 ble, the means of rendering it profitable to mankind. I con- 
 fess that, in America, I saw more than America ; I sought 
 there the image of democracy itself, with its inclinations, 
 its character, its prejudices, and its passions, in order to 
 learn what we have to fear or to hope from its progress. 
 
 In the first part of this Avork, I have attempted to show 
 the direction given to the laws by the democracy of Amer- 
 ica, which is abandoned almost without restraint to its 
 instinctive propensities ; and to exhib t the course it pre- 
 scribes to the government and the influence it exercises on 
 affairs. I have sought to discover the evils and the advan- 
 tages which it brings. I have examined the precautions 
 used by the Americans to direct it, as well as those which 
 they have not adopted, and I have undertaken to point out 
 the causes which enable it to govern society. I do not 
 know whether I have succeeded in making known Avhat I 
 saw in America, but I am certain that such has been my 
 sincere desire, and that I have never, knowingly, moulded 
 facts to ideas, instead of ideas to facts. 
 
 Whenever a point could be established by the aid of 
 written documents, I have had recour 
 
 I'se 
 
 to tl 
 
 le on (Tin 
 
 al 
 
 :f 
 
 
INTHODUCTION. 1 1 
 
 text, and to the most uiitlientic and approved works.* I 
 Jiave cited ly autliorities in the notes, and any one may 
 refer to tliem. AVlienever opinions, poHtieal customs, or 
 remarks on tlie manners of tlie country were concerned, I 
 liave endeavored to consult tlie most en!ii;htened men I met 
 with. ]f the point in question was important or douhtful, 
 I was not satisfied with one testimony, but I formed my 
 opinion on the evidence of several witnesses. Here the 
 reader must necessarily rely upon my word. I could 
 frequently have quoted names which are either known 
 to him, or which deserve to be so, in proof of what I 
 advance ; but I have carefully abstained from this prac- 
 tice. A stranger frequently hears important truths at the 
 fireside of his host, which the latter would ]>erha])s con- 
 ceal from the ear of friendship ; he consoles himself with 
 his guest for the silence to which he is restricted, and the 
 shortness of the traveller's stay takes away all fear of his 
 indiscretion. I carefully noted every conversation of this 
 nature as soon as it occurred, but these notes will never 
 leave my writing-case. I had rather injure the success of 
 my statements than add my name to the list of those stran- 
 gers ^\]\o repay the generous hospitality they have received 
 by subsequent chagi'in and annoyance. 
 
 I am aware that, notwithstanding my care, nothing will 
 be easier than to criticise this book, if any one ever chooses 
 to criticise it. 
 
 * Lcirislative and executive docunients have been furnislied to me with a 
 kindness wiiieh I shall always reineniher with {iratitude. Anion<i: tlio Anier- 
 ican statesmen who have thus helped my researches, I will mention particu- 
 larly Mr. Edward Livingston, then Secretary of State, afterwards Minister 
 Plenipotentiary at Paris. Durin;:^ my stay at Wasliington, lie was kind 
 enough to give me most of the documents which 1 possess relating to the 
 Federal Government. Mr. Livingston is one of the k'W men whose writings 
 cause us to conceive an aifoction for them, wiiom we admire and respei't 
 even liefore we come to know them personally, and to whom it is a pleasure 
 to owe a debt of gratitude. 
 

 ^ll 
 
 
 Uf 
 
 nrr » 
 
 . ^ I 
 
 < iili 
 
 I 
 
 \M 
 
 I 
 
 I: 
 
 i 1 
 
 it 
 
 i| 
 iiti 
 
 18 
 
 INTPwODUCTION. 
 
 Tliose readers wlio may examine it closely will discover, 
 I think, in the whole work, a dominant thought which 
 binds, so to speak, its several parts together. But the di- 
 versity of the subjects I have had to treat is exceedingly 
 great, and it will not be difficult to oppose an isolated fact 
 to the body of facts which I cite, or an isolated i*lea to the 
 body of ideas I put forth. I hope to be read in the spirit 
 which has guided my labors, and that my book may be 
 judged by the general impression it leaves, as I have 
 formed my own judgment not on any single reason, but 
 upon the mass of evidence. 
 
 It must not be forgotten that the author who wishes to 
 be understood is obliged to push all his ideas to their ut- 
 most theoretical consequences, and often to the verge of 
 what is false or impracticable ; for if it be necessary simie- 
 times to depart from the rules of logic in action, such is 
 not the case in discourse, and a man finds it almost as diffi- 
 cult to be inconsistent in his language, as to be consistent 
 in his conduct. 
 
 I conclude by myself pointing out what many readers 
 will consider the principal defect of the work. This book 
 is written to favor no particular views, and in composing 
 it, I have entertained no desirni of serving or attackino- 
 any party. I have undertaken, not to see diffiirently from 
 others, but to look further than others, and whilst they are 
 busied for the morrow only, I have turned my thoughts to 
 the whole fixture. 
 
 i'iii;! 
 
DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 EXTERIOR FORM OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 North America divided into two vast Eepjiona, one inelininj^ toward the 
 Pok', tlic other toward the E(iuator. — Valley of tlic Mississippi. — 
 Traces found tJiere of the Kevolutions of tlie Glolie. — Shore of tlic 
 Atlantic Ocean, on which the Enjilisli Colonics "were founded. — 
 Different Aspects of North and of South America at the Time of 
 their Discovery. — Forests of North America. — Prairies. — Wandering 
 Tribes of Natives. — Their outward Appearance, Planners, and Lan- 
 guages. — Traces of an unknown People. 
 
 NORTH AjMERICA presents in its external form 
 certain general features which it is easy to discrim- 
 inate at the first glance. 
 
 A sort of methodical order seems to have re<xulated the 
 separation of land and water, mountains and valleys. A 
 simple but grand aiTangement is discoverable amidst the 
 confusion of objects and the prodigious variety of scenes. 
 
 This continent is divided almost equally into two vast 
 regions, one of which is bounded on the north by the Arc- 
 tic Pole, and by the two great oceans on the east and west. 
 It stretches toward the south, forming a triangle, whose 
 irregular sides meet at leno;th above the fji'eat lakes of 
 Canada. The second region begins where the other ter- 
 minates, and includes all the remainder of the continent. 
 The one slopes gently toward the Pole, the other toward 
 the Equator. 
 
t 
 
 llll 
 
 mil 
 
 5f; 
 
 ■I 
 
 I ! 
 
 ill] 
 
 HI J 
 ill 
 
 II 
 
 Hi 
 
 {! |i: 
 
 ' rid 
 1 1 111 I 
 
 !i: 
 
 i ! 
 I i 
 
 m 
 
 1*1)' 
 
 i; 
 
 20 
 
 DEMOt'UACY IN AMKKICA. 
 
 The territory comprcliended in tlie first reo-joii descends 
 toward tlie north with so imperceptible a slope, that it 
 may almost be said to form a ])lain. Within the bounds 
 of this immense level tract there are neither hiij;h moun- 
 tains nor dee}) valleys. Streams meander through it irreg- 
 ularly ; great rivers intertwine, separate, and meet again, 
 sj)read into vast marshes, losing all trace of t'- -ir channels 
 in the labyrinth of waters they have themselves created, 
 and thus at leno-th, after innumeral)le ■svindiiiiis, fall into 
 the Polar seas. The great lakes which bound this first 
 region are not walled in, like most of those in the Old 
 World, between hills and rocks. Their banks are flat, 
 and rise but a few feet above the level of their waters, — 
 each of them thus formino; a vast bowl filled to the brim. 
 The sliiihtest chano-e in the structure of the olobe Avould 
 cause their waters to rush either towards the Pole or to 
 the tropical seas. 
 
 The second region has a more broken surface, and is bet- 
 ter suited for the habitation of man. Two lono; chains of 
 mountains divide it, from one extreme to the other : the 
 one, named the Alleghany, follows the direction of the 
 shore of the Atlantic Ocean ; the other is parallel with 
 the Pacific. 
 
 The sjiace which lies between these two chains of moun- 
 tains contains 1,841,049 square miles.* Its surface is 
 therefore about six thnes as great as that of France. 
 
 This vast territory, however, forms a single valley, one 
 side of which descends from the rounded summits of the 
 Alleghanies, while the other rises in an uninterrupted 
 course to the tops of the Rocky Mountains. At the bot- 
 tom of the valley flows an immense river, into which the 
 various streams issuing from the mountains fall from all 
 parts. In memory of their native land, the French for- 
 merly called tliifl river the St. Louis. The Indians, in 
 
 * 
 
 Darby's View of the United States, p. 499. 
 
EXTERIOR FOIJM OF XOUTIl AMERICA. 
 
 21 
 
 tlu'ir pompous laiin;nao;e, have named it the Fatla-r of 
 Waters, or the ]\lississi})pi. 
 
 The Mississippi takes its source at the boundary of tlie 
 two oreat reirions of Avliich I have; spoken, not far from the 
 hi'diest iKjint of the table-land wliert^ tliev unite. Near 
 the same sj)Ot rises another river [tlie lied River of the 
 North], Avhicli empties itself into llie Polar seas. The 
 course of the jNIississippi is at first did)ious : it wiuds sev- 
 eral times towards the north, whence it rose ; and only at 
 len^'th, after liavinu: been delayed in lakes aud marshes, 
 does it assume its definite direction, and flow slowly on- 
 ward to the south. 
 
 Sometimes quietly gliding along the argillaceous bed 
 which nature has assigned to it, sometimes swollen by 
 freshets, the Mississippi waters over 2,500 miles in its 
 course. At the distance of l,-j()4 miles from its month, 
 this river attains an average dej)th of fifteen feet ; and it is 
 navigated by vessels of oOO tons burden for a course of 
 nearly oOO miles. Fifty-seven large navigable rivers con- 
 trllaite to swell the waters of the jNIississippi ; amongst 
 others, the jSlissouri, which traverses a s])ace of 2,000 
 miles, the Arkansas, 1,300 miles, the Red River, 1,000 
 miles, the Ohio, 9")9 miles ; four whose course is from 800 
 to 1,000 miles in length, viz. the Illinois, the St. Peter's, 
 the St. Francis, and the Des Moines ; besides a countless 
 multitude of rivulets which unite from all parts their trib- 
 utary streams. 
 
 The valley which is watered by the Mississippi seems to 
 have been created fcr it alone, and there, like a god of an- 
 tiquity, the river dispenses both good and exW. Near the 
 stream, natiu'e displays an inexhaustible fertility ; iu pro- 
 portion as you recede fi'om its banks, the powers of vegeta- 
 tion liuiguish, tlie soil becomes poor, and the plants that 
 sui'vd\'e have a sickly growth.* Nowhere have the great 
 
 * This statcmeut is exaggerated, or gives a false impression. The fertile 
 
JtlMilfc Ifclb-MUl 
 
 .-^■.■. . ..^ '-f ' ii- 
 
 22 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 11 m 
 
 
 convulsions of tlic n-loLe loft more evident traces than in 
 the valley of the Mississippi. The whole aspect of the 
 country shows the powerful effects of water, hoth by its 
 fertility and its barrenness. The waters of the primeval 
 ocean accumulated enonnous beds of vecjetable mould in 
 the valley, which they levelled as they retired. Upon the 
 right bank of the river are found immense plains, as 
 smooth as if the husbandman had passed over them with 
 his roller. As you approach the mountains, the soil be- 
 comes more and more unequal and sterile ; the ground is, 
 as it were, pierced in a thousand places by primitive rocks, 
 which appear like the bones of a skeleton whose flesh has 
 been consumed by time. The surface of the earth is cov- 
 ered with a granitic sand, and huge, irregular masses of 
 stone, among which a few plants force their growth, and 
 give the appearance of a green field covered with the ruins 
 of a vast edifice. These stones and this sand discover, on 
 examination, a perfect analogy with those which compose 
 the arid and broken summits of the Rocky jNIountains. 
 The flood of waters which washed the soil to the bottom 
 of the valley, afterwards carried away portions of the 
 rocks themselves ; and these, dashed and bruised against 
 the neifjhborino; cliffs, were left scattered like wrecks at 
 their feet.* 
 
 The valley of the Mississippi is, upon the whole, the 
 most magnificent dwelling-place prepared by God for 
 man's abode ; and yet it may be said that at present it is 
 but a mighty desert.f 
 
 On the eastern side of the Alleghanies, between the 
 base of these mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, there lies 
 
 land " near the stream " is often over five hundred miles broad, and only on 
 the western side, and at a greater distance than this, is found a great sterile 
 tract to which this description is applicable. — Am. Ed. 
 
 * See Appendix A. 
 
 t The population of the valley is now nearly thrice as great as it was 
 when this was written. — Am. Ed. 
 
EXTKHIOR FORM OF NOinil AMKRICA. 
 
 23 
 
 a lono- ridixo of rocks and sand, Avhicli tho soa appears to 
 have left holiind as it retired. The mean breadtli of this 
 territory does not exceed one luindred miles ; but it is 
 al)out nine liundred miles in lenn;tli. This part of tho 
 American continent has a soil which offers every obstacle 
 
 « 
 
 to the husbandman, and its vegetation is scanty and un- 
 varied. 
 
 Upcm this inhospitable coast the first united efforts of 
 human industry were made. This tongue of arid land 
 was the cradle of those English colonies which were des- 
 tined one day to become the United States of America. 
 The centre of power still remains here ; whilst in the rear 
 of it the true elements of the great people to whom the 
 future control of the continent belouiis are. natjicrino; al- 
 most in secrecy together. 
 
 When the Europeans first landed on the shores of the 
 West Indies, and afterwards on the coast of South Amer- 
 ica, they thought themselves transported into those fabu- 
 lous regions of wdiicli poets had sung. The sea sj)arkled 
 with phosphoric light, and the extraordinary transparency 
 of its waters discovered to the view of the naviirator all 
 the depths of the abyss.* Here and there appeared little 
 islands perftimed wnth odoriferous plants, and resembling 
 baskets of flowers floating on the tranquil surface of the 
 ocean. Every object which met the sight, in this en- 
 chanting region, seemed prepared to satisfy the wants or 
 contribute to the pleasures of man. Almost all the trees 
 were loaded with nourishing fruits, and those which were 
 useless as food delighted the eye by the brilliancy and 
 variety of their colors. In groves of fragrant lemon-trees. 
 
 * Maltc Brun tells tis (Vol. III. p. 726) that the water of the Caribbean 
 Sea is so transparent, that corals and fish arc discernihle at a depth of sixty 
 fathoms. The ship seemed to float in air, the naviuator became jriddy as 
 his eye penetrated through the crystal flood, and beheld submarine jrardens, 
 or beds of sliells, or gilded fishes gliding among tufts and thickets of sea- 
 weed. 
 
■2[ 
 
 DEMOCKAiJV IN AMKIilCA. 
 
 wild fi«i;s, floworiii;^; iiiyrtlt's, aciU'Ias, and olciuiders, wlilcli 
 wtTc Imiiii; witli iostooiis of various cliniltiiio-pliints, covorod 
 with ilowciN, a multitude of l»irds uidxiiown in Kiin>[)C? 
 displayed their hiM^ht plmuajio, o;litteriiii;' with jmrple and 
 azure, and niin<;led their warblino; with the haruujuy of a 
 world teemiuo- witli life and motion.* 
 
 Undt-rneatli this hi'illiant exterior, death was concealed. 
 But this fact was uot then known, and the air of these 
 (Tunates had so enervating an influence, that man, ab- 
 sorbed l)j present enjoyment, was rendered regardless of 
 the future. 
 
 Nortli America appeared under a very different aspect : 
 there, everything was grave, serious, and solemn ; it seemed 
 created to be the domain of intelligence, as the South was 
 that of sensual delight. A turbulent and foggy ocean 
 washed its shores. It was girt round by a belt of granitic 
 rocks, or bv wide tracts of sand. The foliajxe of its woods 
 was dark and gloomy ; for they were composed of firs, 
 larches, evergreen oaks, wnld oli\e-trees, and laurels. f 
 
 Beyond this outer belt lay the thick shades of the central 
 foi.^^'^s, where the largest trees which are })roduced in the 
 two hemispheres grow side by side. The jdane, the catalpa, 
 the sugar-maple, and the Virginian ])oplar mingled their 
 branches with those of the oak, the beech, and the lime. 
 
 In these, as in the forests of the Old World, destruction 
 was perpetually going on. The ruins of vegetation were 
 heaj^ed upon each other ; but there was no laboring hand 
 to remove them, and their decay was not rapid enough 
 to make room for the contimial work of reproduction. 
 Climbing plants, grasses, and other herbs forced their way 
 through the mass of dying trees ; they crept along their 
 bending trunks, found nourishment in their dusty cavities, 
 
 * Sec Appendix B. 
 
 t Tliese are not good specimens of the trees on our Atlantic coast. Firs, 
 pines, cypresses, wliite and live oaks, would have been a better enumeration. 
 — Am. Ed. 
 
 - •,!fH 
 
r.xTi:Ki(»u i"<)i;m or noimh ami:i:i«;a. 
 
 25 
 
 iiUi] i\ itijssa;j;i' lu'iu'iith the lit'cK'ss l);irk. 'IMiii-; (U'cny '^a\x* 
 its assistiiiico to lili', and tlu'ir respective' productions were 
 niiiii;led tou'etlier. 'Die dej)tlis of these forests were i;'loonjy 
 and ohscuri', and a thousand rivulets, inidirected in tiieir 
 conrsi' hy lunnan industry, preserved in tiieni a constant 
 moisture. It was rare to meet with Mowers, wild I'ruits, or 
 birds, beneath their shades. The fall of a trei' overthrown 
 by a<ii>, the rushinii; torrent of a cataract, tlie lowini^ of the 
 l)ufi'alo, and the howlin;;- of the ■wind, were the only sounds 
 which broke the silence of nature. 
 
 To the east of the great river, tbe woods almost dis- 
 ai)peared ; in their stead were seen prairies of immense 
 extent. Whether Nature in her infinite \ariety liad denied 
 the germs of trees tj these fertile ])lains, or whether they 
 had once been covered with forests, subs(M|uently destroyed 
 by the hand of man, is a question which neither tradition 
 nor scientific research lia.s been able to answer. 
 
 These immense deserts were not, however, wholly un- 
 tenanted by men. Some wandi ring tribes liad been for 
 ages scattered among the forest shades or the green pas- 
 tures of the prairie. From tlie mouth of the St. Lawrence 
 to the Delta of the Mississippi, and from the Atlantic to 
 the Pacific Ocean, these savages possessed certain points of 
 resemblance which bore witness of their common origin : 
 but at the same time, they differed from all other known 
 races of men ;* they were neither Avhito hke tlie Europeans, 
 
 * With the prorfrcss of discovery, some rosemI)lnncc has l)een foiuid to 
 exist between the ])liysieal eoiiforination, the laii<j;uaLj;e, and tlie liahits of tlic 
 Indians of North America, and those of the Tonj^ous, Mantihous, Mo;iuls, 
 Tatars, and other wanderinj^ trihes of Asia. Tlie land occnjiied hy these 
 trihes is not very distant from Behrinj^'s Strait ; which i.liows of the suppo- 
 sition, that at a remote jicriod they gave inliahitants to the desert continent 
 of America. But this is a point which has not yet been clearly elucidated 
 by science. Sec IMaltc Brun, Vol. V. ; the works of Humboldt ; Fisclier, 
 " Conjecture sur rOrigiue dc8 Americaius " ; Adair, " History of the Amer- 
 ican ludii. IS." 
 
;i , 
 
 20 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMFJMCA. 
 
 nor yt*ll*>w like most of tlic Asnitics, nor Itliick like tlio 
 lu'ixrocs. Tlicir skin was rcildisli hrown, tlicir liaii' loiii; 
 jiiid sliiiiino;, tlicii" li])s fliin, and tlicii* cIu'cklMdH's very 
 jiromiiu'iit. 'I'lu' l;innnjiM;e's sj)ok('ii l)y the North Ameri- 
 can trihos won; viirious as iiir as rcirai'diMl tlicir words, but 
 tlu'V were stdtieet to tlie sam(! m'nmmatieal rules. Tiieso 
 rules (littered in several jioints from sueli as liad been 
 observed to i^overn the orii^in of latiixuaixe. The idiom 
 of the AniiMMcans seeme(l to be; the ])rodu('t of new com- 
 binations ; and bespoke an effort of tbe imderstandino;, of 
 which tbo Indians of our days would be incapable.* 
 
 Tlie social state of these tribes (lifferi'(l also in manv 
 respects from all that was seen in the ( )l(l World. They 
 seem to have multij)lied freely in the midst of their deserts, 
 without cominji in contact witli other races more civilized 
 than their own. Accordingly, they exhibited none of those 
 indistinct, incoherent notions of ritrhr arid wronn;, none of 
 that deep corruption of manners, Avhich is usually joined 
 with ignorance and rudeness amono; nations who, after 
 advancino; to civilization, have relapsed into a state of 
 barbarism. The Indian was indebted to no one but him- 
 self; his virtues, his vices, and his prejudices were his own 
 work ; he had ^'own up in tlie wild independence of his 
 nature. 
 
 If, in polished countries, the lowest of the people are 
 rude and uncivil, it is not merely because they are poor 
 and i(^norant, but that, being so, they are in daily contact 
 with rich and enlifjlitencd men. The sijiht of their own 
 liard lot and their weakness, which is daily contrasted witli 
 the happiness and power of some of their fellow-creatures, 
 excites in their hearts at the same time the sentiments of 
 anger and of fear: the consciousness of their inferiority and 
 their dependence irritates while it humiliates them. This 
 state of mind displays itself in their manners and language •, 
 
 * See Aijpeudix C. 
 
 V 
 
EXTKiMoi: rui!M or N(»i;in ammimca. 
 
 27 
 
 tliov nro nt onco insolent and scrxilc 'I'lic truth of fliis is 
 ciisilv proved 1)V oltscrvatioii : tlie people are more v\u\v in 
 aristocratic countries than els(>where ; in opulent cities than 
 in rural districts. In those places where tl>e rich and 
 ])0\vei't'nl are assenihled to^'ether, the weak and thi' in<H- 
 •Xcnt feci themselves oppressed hy thi'ir infei'ior condition. 
 IJnahU' to perceive a single chance of retrain itiij; their ecpial- 
 ity, thev <xive np to despair, and allow themselves to fall 
 below tile dignity of human nature. 
 
 This nnforttniate etl'ect of the disparity of conditions is 
 not ol)serval)le in savage life: the Indians, altliough they 
 are ignorant and poor, arc ecpial and free. 
 
 When Europeans first came among them, the natives of 
 North America were ignorant of the value of riches, and 
 indifferent to the enjoyments which civilized man procures 
 to himself by their means. Nevertheless there was nothing 
 coarse in their demeanor ; they practised an habitual re- 
 serve, and a kind < aristocratic politene^ss. 
 
 Mild and hospitable when at peace, though merciless in 
 war beyond any known degree of human ferocity, the 
 Indian wonld expose himself to die of hunger in order to 
 succor the stranger who asked admittance by night at tlie 
 door of his hut ; yet he could tear in pieces with his hands 
 the still quivering limbs of his prisoner. The famous re- 
 publics of anti([uity never gave examples of more unslMken 
 courage, more haughty spirit, or more intractable love of 
 independence, than were hidden in former times among 
 the. wild forests of the New World.* The Europeans pro- 
 
 * We learn from President Jefferson's "Notes u])on Vir;;inia," (p. 148,) 
 that ainon<j the Iroquois, when attacked by a superior tone, a<red men re- 
 fused to fly, or to survive tlie destruction of their country ; and they i)raved 
 death lilce tlic ancient Romans when tlieir capital was sacked hy the Gauls. 
 Further on, (p. 150,) lie tells us that there is no example of an Indian, who, 
 liaving fallen into the hands of liis enemies, hcfrfred for liis life; on the 
 contrary, the captive sought to ohtain deatii at the liands of his conquerors 
 by the use of insult and provocation. 
 
I m jui B ijinnmLw y n f* 
 
 28 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AJIERICA. 
 
 if ' 
 
 duoed no (iroixt impression when tliey landed upon the 
 shares of North America ; their presence engendered nei- 
 ther envy nor fear. What influence could they possess 
 over such men as we have described ? The Indian could 
 live without wants, suffer without complaint, and pour out 
 his death-sono; at the stake.* Like all the other members 
 of the great human family, these savages believed in the 
 existence of a better world, and adored, under different 
 names, God, the Creator of the universe. Their notions 
 on the great intellectual truths were in general simple and 
 philosophical, f 
 
 Although we have here traced the character of a prim- 
 itive })e(jj)le, yet it cannot be doubted that another people, 
 more civilized and more advanced in all respects, had pre- 
 ceded it in the same rejj-ions. 
 
 An obscure tradition which prevailed among the Indians 
 on the borders of the Atlantic, informs us that these very 
 tribes formerly dwelt on the west side of the jMississippi. 
 Alonn; the banks of the Ohio, and throun;liout the central 
 valley, there are frequently found, at this day, tiiinuU raised 
 by the hands of men. On exploring these heaps of earth 
 to their centre, it is usual to meet with human bones, 
 strange instruments, arms and utensils of all kinds, made 
 of metal, and destined for purposes unknown to the pres- 
 ent race. 
 
 The Indians of our time are unable to give any infor- 
 mation relative to the history of this unknown people. 
 Neither did those who lived three hundred years ago, when 
 America was first discovered, leave any accounts from 
 
 * Sec " Histoire dc la Lonisiane," by Lepage Dujiratz ; Charlevoix, 
 " Histoire de la Nouvclle Franec " ; " Lettrcs dii Rev. G. Heckeweldcr " ; 
 " Transactions ol' the American Philosophical Society," Vol. I. ; Jeflei-son's 
 "Notes on Virj^inia," pp. 135-190. What is said by Jefferson is of es- 
 pecial weiji'ht, on account of the personal merit of the writer, of his peculiar 
 position, and of the matter-of-fact age in which he lived. 
 
 t Sec Appendix D. 
 
EXTERIOR FORM OF NORTH AMERICA. 
 
 29 
 
 wliich even an liypothesis could be formed. Tradition — 
 that ])erislial>le yet ever renewed monument of the pristine 
 ■^vorld — throws no light upon the subject. It is an un- 
 doubted fact, however, that in this part of the globe thou- 
 sands of our f«.llow-beings once lived. When they came 
 hither, what was their origin, their destiny, their history, 
 when and how they perished, no one can tell. 
 
 How strange does it appear that nations have existed, 
 and afterwards so completely disappeared from the earth 
 that the memory cAen of their names is effaced ! their lan- 
 n;uaa'es are lost ; their olory is vanished like a sound with- 
 out an echo ; though })erhaps there is not one which has 
 not left behind it some tomb in memory of its passage. 
 Thus the most durable monument of human labor is that 
 which recalls the wretchedness and nothinones's of man. 
 
 Although the vast country which we have been de- 
 scribing was inhabited by many indigenous tribes, it may 
 justly be said, at the time of its discovery by Europeans, 
 to have formed one great desert. The Indians occupied, 
 without possessing it. It is by agricultural labor that man 
 appropriates the soil, and the early inhabitants of North 
 America li\ed by the produce of the chase. Their impla- 
 cable prejudices, their uncontrolled passions, their vices, 
 and still more, perhaps, their savage virtues, consigned 
 them to inevitable destruction. The ruin of these tribes 
 began from the day when Europeans landed on their 
 shores : it has proceeded ever since, and we are now wit- 
 nessing the completion of it. They seem to have been 
 placed by Providence amidst the riches of the New World 
 only to enjoy them for a season ; they were there merely 
 to wait till others came. Those coasts, so admirably 
 adapted for commerce and industry ; those wide and deep 
 rivers ; that inexhaustible valley of the Mississip])i ; the 
 whole continent, in short, seemed prepared to be the abode 
 of a great nation yet unborn. 
 
, ■.iii i n.ii | Bi.) i mni i Mj.i i j i 
 
 30 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 In that land the great experiment was to be made, by 
 civihzed man, of the attempt to construct society upon a 
 new basis ; and it was there, for the first time, that theo- 
 ries hitherto unknown, or deemed impracticable, were to 
 exliibit a spectacle for which the world had not been pre- 
 pared by the history of the past. 
 
 
 h lil 
 
ORIGIN OF THE ANGLO-AMEKICANS. 
 
 31 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ORIGIN OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS, AND IMPORTANCE OF THIS 
 ORIGIN IN RELATION TO THEIR FUTURE CONDITION. 
 
 
 Utility of knowing the Origin of Nations, in order to understand their So- 
 cial Condition and their Laws. — America the only Country in which 
 the Scarting-Point of a great People has been clearly observable. — In 
 what Respects all who emigrated to British America were similar. — In 
 what they diifercd. — Remark applicable to all the Europeans who estab- 
 lished themselves on the Shores of the New World. — -Colonization of 
 Virginia. — Colonization of New England. — Original Character of the 
 first Inhabitants of New England. — Their Anlval. — Their first Laws. 
 — Their Social Contract. — Penal Code borrowed from the Hebrew 
 Legislation. — Religious Fervor. — Republican Spirit. — Intimate Union 
 of the Spirit of Religion with the Spirit of Liberty. 
 
 AFTER the birth of a human being, his early years 
 are obscurely spent in the toils or pleasures of child- 
 hood. As he grows up, the world receives him, when his 
 manhood begins, and he enters into contact with his fel- 
 lows. He is then studied for the first time, and it is 
 imagined that the germ of the vices and the virtues of his 
 maturer years is then formed. 
 
 This, if I am not mistaken, is a great error. "We must 
 begin higher up ; we must watch the infant in his mother's 
 arms; we must see the first images which the external 
 world casts upon the dark mirror of his mind, the first oc- 
 currences which he witnesses ; we must hear the first 
 words which awaken the sleeping powers of thought, and 
 stand by his earliest efforts, — if we would understand the 
 prejudices, the habits, and the passions which will rule his 
 

 mi 
 
 m 
 
 1 1 
 
 iJlli Hi 
 
 
 
 '11 
 
 •I ' 
 I 
 
 lit! ! 
 
 m 
 
 il i 
 
 ! !|! 
 
 m 
 111 
 
 32 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 life. The entire man is, so to speak, to be seen in the cra- 
 dle of the cliild. 
 
 The growth of nations presents something analogous to 
 this : they all bear some marks of their origin. The cir- 
 cmnstances which accompanied their birth and contributed 
 to their development affect the whole tenn of their being. 
 
 If we were able to go back to the elements of states, and 
 to examine the oldest inomunents of their history, I doubt 
 not that we should discover in them the primal cause of 
 the prejudices, the habits, the niling passions, and, in short, 
 of all that constitutes what is called the national character. 
 We should there find the explanation of certain customs 
 which now seem at variance with the prevailing manners ; 
 of such law^s as conflict with established principles ; and of 
 such incoherent opinions as are here and there to be met 
 with in society, like those fragments of broken chains 
 which we sometimes see hano-ino- from the vaults of an old 
 edifice, and supporting nothing. This might explain the 
 destinies of certain nations which seem borne on by an un- 
 known force to ends of which they themselves are igno- 
 rant. But hitherto facts have been wanting to researches 
 of this kind: the spirit of inquiry has only come upon 
 communities in their latter days ; and when they at length 
 contemplated their origin, time had already obscured it, 
 or ignorance and pride adorned it with truth-concealing 
 fables. 
 
 America is the only country in which it has been possi- 
 ble to witness the natural and tranquil growth of society, 
 and where the influence exercised on the future condition 
 of states by their origin is clearly distinguishable. 
 
 At the period wdien the peoples of Europe landed in the 
 New World, their national characteristics were already 
 completely .formed ; each of them had a physiognomy of 
 its own ; and as they had already attained that stage of 
 civilization at which men are led to study themselves, they 
 
ORIGIN OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS. 
 
 33 
 
 cra- 
 
 is to 
 
 i cir- 
 
 luted 
 
 ng. 
 
 , and 
 
 loubt 
 
 so of 
 
 diort, 
 
 aoter. 
 
 stoms 
 
 mcrs ; 
 
 ,ik1 of 
 
 )e met 
 
 chains 
 
 an old 
 
 in the 
 
 an un- 
 
 ; iorno- 
 arches 
 upon 
 length 
 ed it, 
 teahng 
 
 possi- 
 lociety, 
 iidition 
 
 in the 
 [il ready 
 )my of 
 la<Te of 
 Is, they 
 
 I 
 
 liave transmitted to us a faithful picture of their opniions, 
 tlieir manners, and their laws. The men of the sixteentli 
 century are almost as well known to us as our contcm})ora- 
 ries. America, consequently, exhibits in the broad light 
 of day the phenomena which the ignorance or rudeness of 
 ciu'lier jiijes conceals from our researches. Near enouoh to 
 tlie time when the states of America were founded, to be 
 accurately acquainted with their elements, and sufficiently 
 removed from that period to judge of some of their results, 
 the men of our own day seem destined to see further than 
 their predecessors into the series of human events. Provi- 
 dence has given us a torch which our forefathers did not 
 possess, and has allowed us to discern fundamental causes 
 in the history of the world which the obscurity of the past 
 ( oncealed from them. 
 
 If we carefully examine the social and political state of 
 America, after having studied its history, we shall remain 
 perfectly convinced that not an opinion, not a custom, not 
 a law, I may even say not an event, is upon record which 
 the origin of that people will not explain. The readers of 
 this book will find in the present chapter the germ of all 
 that is to follow, and the key to almost the whole work. 
 
 The emigrants who came at different periods to occupy 
 the territory now covered by the American Union differed 
 from each other in many respects ; their aim was not the 
 same, and they governed themselves on different principles. 
 
 These men had, however, certain features in common, 
 and they were all placed in an analogous situation. The 
 tie of language is, perhaps, the strongest and the most du- 
 rable that can unite mankind. All the emigrants spoke 
 the same tongue ; they were all offsets from the same peo- 
 ple. Ijorn in a country which had been agitated for cen- 
 turies by the struggles of faction, and in which all parties 
 had been obliged in their turn to place themselves under 
 the protection of the laws, their political education had 
 2* c 
 
f irari MHy* ; 't>-^''».->M-->- •■y^^r,-^' 
 
 34 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 i?' 
 
 ^M 
 
 nil 
 
 vi, 'y\Vv'\ 
 
 \ I ] \'%\\\n 
 
 been i)erfecte(l in tliis rude school ; and they -svcro more 
 conversant Avitli the notions of right, and the principles of 
 true freedom, than the greater part of their Euro})ean con- 
 temporaries. At the period of the first emigrations, the 
 township system, that fraitful germ of free institutions, was 
 deeply rooted in the habits of the English ; and with it 
 the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people had been in- 
 troduced into the bosom of the monarchy of the house 
 of Tudor. 
 
 The religious quarrels which ha\ e agitated the Christian 
 world were then rife. England had plunged into the ncAV 
 order of thino;s with headlong vehemence. The character 
 of its inhabitants, which had always been sedate and reflec- 
 tive, became arijumentative and austere. General informa- 
 tion had been increased by intellectual contests, and the 
 mind had received in tliem a deeper cultivation. Whilst 
 religion was the topic of discussion, the morals of the people 
 became more pure. All these national features are more 
 or less discoverable in the physiognomy of those English- 
 men who came to seek a new home on the opposite shores 
 of the Atlantic. 
 
 Another remark, to which we shall hereafter have occa- 
 sion to recur, is applicable not only to the English, but to 
 the French, the Spaniards, and all the Europeans who 
 successively established themselves in the New World. All 
 these European colonies contained the elements, if not the 
 development, of a complete democracy. Two causes led to 
 this result. It may be said generally, that on leaving the 
 mother country the emigrants had, in general, no notion of 
 superiority one over another. The happy and the powerful 
 do not fjo into exile, and there are no surer guaranties of 
 equality among men than poverty and misfortune. It hap- 
 pened, howev • on several occasions, tijat persons of rank 
 were driven to nerica by political and religious quarrels. 
 Laws \vere m' le *^o establish a gradation of ranks : but it 
 
ORIGIN OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS. 
 
 35 
 
 more 
 los of 
 11 con- 
 is, the 
 IS, was 
 vith it 
 icn in- 
 house 
 
 hristian 
 he new 
 laractcr 
 :l reflcc- 
 intonna- 
 aiul the 
 Whilst 
 ic people 
 fire move 
 English- 
 te shores 
 
 was soon found that the soil of America was opposed to a 
 territorial aristocracy. To bring that refractory land into 
 cultivation, the constant and interested exertions of the 
 owner himself were necessary ; and when the ground wiis 
 prepared, its produce was found to be insufficient to enrich 
 a proprietor and a former at the same time. The land was 
 then naturally broken up into small portions, which the 
 proprietor .,, ted for himself. Land is the basis of an 
 aristocracy, wlu. . clings to tl -^ "^il that su})ports it; for 
 it is not by privileges alone, Uui by birth, but by landed 
 property handed down from generation to generation, that 
 an aristocracy is constituted. A nation may present im- 
 mense fortunes and extreme wretchedness ; but unless those 
 fortunes are territorial, there is no true aristocracy, but 
 simply the class of the rich and that of the poor. 
 
 All the British colonies had then a c;reat decree of family 
 likeness at the epoch of their settlement. All of them, from 
 their beginning, seemed destined to witness the growth, not 
 of the aristocratic liberty of their mother country, but of 
 that freedom of the middle and lower orders of which the 
 histor} of the world had as yet furnished no complete 
 example. 
 
 In this general uniformity, however, several sti"iking 
 differences were discernible, which it is necessary to point 
 out. Two branches may be distinguished in the great 
 Anglo-American family, which have hitherto grown uj) 
 without entirely commingling ; the one in the South, the 
 other in the North. 
 
 Virginia received the first English colony ; the emigrants 
 took possession of it in 1007. The idea that mines of gold 
 and silver are the sources of national wealth was at that 
 time singularly prevalent in Europe ; a fatal delusion, which 
 has done more to impoverish the European nations who 
 adopted it, and has cost more lives in America, than the 
 united influence of war and bad laws. The men sent to 
 
11 
 
 
 ■k :.i:;m ij 
 
 
 I 111 
 
 I 
 
 I'll 
 
 ^11 
 
 30 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN A.MKUICA. 
 
 Virginia* were seekers of gold, adventurers witliout re- 
 sources and witliout character, whose turbulent and rest- 
 less spirit endangered th" infant colony,f and rendered its 
 progress uncertain. Artisans and agriculturists arrived 
 afterwards ; and, although they were a more moral and 
 orderly race of men, they were liardly in any respect 
 above the level of the ipferi^r classes in England. J No 
 lofty views, no spiritual conception, presided over the 
 foundation of these new settlements. The colony was 
 scarcely established when slavery was introduced ; § this 
 was the capital fact which was to exercise an immense in- 
 fluence on the character, the laws, and the whole future 
 of the South. Slavery, as we shall afterwards show, dis- 
 honors labor ; it introduces idleness into society, and with 
 idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and distress. It ener- 
 vates the powers of the mind, and benum^ he activity 
 of man. The influence of slavery, united to the English 
 
 * The diarter granted by tlie crown of England in 1609 stipulated, 
 amongst other conditions, that the adventurers should pay to the crown a 
 fifth of the produce of all gold and silver mines. See Marshall's Life of 
 Washington, Vol. I. pp. 18-66. 
 
 t A large portion of the adventurers, says Stith (History of Virginia), 
 were unprincipled young men of family, whom their i)arents were glad to 
 ship ort' in order to save them from an ignominious fate, discharged ser- 
 vants, fraudulent bankrupts, debauchees, and others of the same class, peo- 
 ple more apt to pillage and destroy than to promote the welfare of the 
 settlement. Seditious leaders easily enticed this band into every kind of 
 extravagance and excess. See for the history of Virginia the following 
 works : — 
 
 "History of Virginia, from the First Settlements in the Year 1624," by 
 Smith. 
 
 " History of Virginia," by William Stith. 
 
 " History of Virginia, from the Earliest Period," by Beverley. 
 
 J It was not till some time later that a certain number of rich English 
 capitalists came to establish themselves in the colony. 
 
 § Slavery was introduced about the year 1620, by a Dutch vessel, 
 which landed twenty negroes on the banks of the James River. See 
 Ciialmers. 
 
 "•■ !■:;' 
 
ORIGIN OF TIIK ANGLO- AMKRICANS. 
 
 87 
 
 character, explains the manners and the social condition of 
 the Southern States. 
 
 In the North, the same English character as the ground 
 received totally different colors. Here I may be allowed 
 to enter into some details. 
 
 In the English colonies of the North, more generally 
 known as the States of New England,* the two or three 
 main ideas which now constitute the basis of the social 
 theory of the United States were first combined. Tlie 
 principles of New England sjtread at first to the neigh- 
 boring States ; they then passed successively to the more 
 distant ones ; and at last, if I may so speak, they inter- 
 penetrated the whole confederation. They now extend 
 their influence beyond its limits, over the whole American 
 world. The civilization of New England has been like a 
 beacon lit upon a hill, which, after it has diffused its 
 warmth immediately around it, also tinges the distant 
 horizon with its glow. 
 
 The foundation of New England w^as a novel spectacle, 
 and all the circumstances attending it were singular and 
 original. Nearly all colonies have been first inhabited, 
 either by men without education and without resources, 
 driven by their poverty and their misconduct from tlie 
 land which gave them birth, or by speculators and adven- 
 turers greedy of gain. Some settlements cannot even 
 boast so honorable an orimn ; St. Domingo was founded 
 by buccaneers ; and, at the present day, the criminal 
 courts of England supply the population of Australia. 
 
 The settlers who established themselves on the shores of 
 New England all belonged to the more independent classes 
 of their native country. Their union on the soil of Amer- 
 
 * Tlic States of New England are those situated to the cast of the Hud- 
 son. They are now six in number: — 1. Counectieut ; 2. Rhode Island ; 
 3. Massachusetts ; 4. New Hampshire ; 5. Vermont ; 6. Maine. [The last 
 two, as distinct States, are of comparatively recent origin.] 
 
 I 
 
m 
 
 i 1 
 
 I'll 
 'I 
 
 iili.i:'!^.,t 
 
 88 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 ica at once presented tlie .siii<^ular plienomenon of a society 
 containinj^ neither lords nor conunon people, and we nuiy 
 almost .say, neither rich nor poor. These men possessed, 
 in pr<)i)ortion to their number, a greater mass of intelli- 
 geiK'o than is to ]je found in any European nation of our 
 own time. All, ))erhaps without a single exception, had 
 received a good education, and many of them were known 
 in Europe for their talents and their accpiirements. The 
 other colonies had been founded by adventurers without 
 families; tiic^ emigrants of New England broui-lit with 
 them the best elements of order and morality ; they landed 
 on the desert coast acconi})aiiied by their wives and chil- 
 dren. But what especially distinguished them from all 
 others was the aim of their imdertaking. They had not 
 been obliged by necessity to leave their country ; the social 
 position they abandoned was one to be regretted, and their 
 means of subsistence were certain. Nor did they cross the 
 Atlantic to improve their situation or to increase their 
 wealth ; it was a purely intellectual craving, which called 
 them from the comforts of their former homes ; and in 
 facing the inevitable suiferings of exile, their object was 
 the triumph of an idea. 
 
 The emigrants, or, as they deservedly styled themselves, 
 the Pilgrims, belonged to that English sect the austerity 
 of whose principles had acquired for them the name of 
 Puritans. Puritanism was not merely a religious doctrine, 
 but it corresponded in many points with the most absolute 
 democratic and republican theories. It was this tendency 
 wdiich had aroused its most dangerous adversaries. Perse- 
 cuted by the government of the mother country, and dis- 
 gusted by the habits of a society which the rigor of their 
 ow^n principles condemned, the Puritans went forth to seek 
 some rude and unfrequented part of the world, where they 
 could live according to their own opinions, and worship 
 God in freedom. 
 
ORIGIN OK TIIF. AN(iLO-AMI.I!ICAXS. 
 
 39 
 
 A f'ow quotations will throw nioiv lii;ht upon the spirit 
 of thcsi' ])ious advcnturors than all that we can say of 
 theni. Nathanii'l Morton,* the historian of the first years 
 of the scttU'nu'nt, thus o[)t'ns Km suhji'ct : — 
 
 "(n'litle Reader, — 1 have for some it'uotli of time 
 looki'd upon it as a duty hicund)ent especially on tlio im- 
 mediate successors of those that have had so lar^e cx})e- 
 rience of those many memorable and signal demonstrations 
 of God's goodness, viz. the first beginners of this Planta- 
 tion in New Enii'land, to commit to writing liis <>raeious 
 dispensations on that bi'luilf ; having so many in(hicenients 
 tliereuuto, not only otherw^ise, but so plentifully in the 
 Sacred Scriptures : that so, what we liave seen, and what 
 our fathers have told us (^Psalm Ixxviii. :>, 4), we may not 
 liide from our children, showing to the generations to come 
 the pi'aises of the Lord ; that especially the seed of Abra- 
 ham his servant, and the children of Jacob his chosen 
 (Psalm cv. 5, 0), may remember his marvellous works in 
 the beginning and progress of the planting of New Eng- 
 land, his wonders and the judgments of his mouth ; how 
 that God brought a vine into this wilderness ; that he cast 
 out the heathen, and planted it ; that ho made room for it 
 and caused it to take deep root ; and it filled the land 
 (Psalm Ixxx. 8, 9). And not only so, but also that he 
 hath guided his people by his strength to his holy habita- 
 tion, and planted them in the mountain of his inheritance 
 in respect of precious Gospel enjoyments : and that as 
 especially God may have the glory of all unto whom ii is 
 most due ; so also some rays of glory may reach the names 
 of those blessed Saints, that were the main instruments 
 and the beginning of this happy enterprise." 
 
 It is impossible to read this opening paragraph without 
 an involuntary feeling of religious awe ; it breathes the 
 
 * " New England's Memorial," p. 13 (Boston, 1826). See also Hutch- 
 iiisou's History, Vol. II. p. 440. 
 
r . 
 , i 
 
 il 
 
 h 
 
 
 40 
 
 DKMOCrtACY IN AMI'.FJrCA. 
 
 very snvor of Gospel !mti(niity. The sinrcrity of tlu? 
 juitlior licin;litons liis j)o\vc'r (»f Iiini!;u;i;i;(\ In our cyt-s, us 
 well as ill his own, it was not a mere party of advi'iiturcrs 
 ^oiK' forth to seek their fbrtune beyond seas, but tin; <;erm 
 of a orejit nation wafted by Providenoo to a predestined 
 shore. 
 
 T\ni author continuos, and thus describes the departure 
 of the first pilfiirims : — 
 
 " So they left that pjoodly and j)leasant city of Leyden,* 
 which had been their restin<^-place for above eleven years ; 
 but they kni'w that they were pilgrims and strangers hero 
 below, and looked not much on these things, but lifted \\\) 
 their eyes to heaven, their dearest country, where God 
 hath prepared for them a city (Ileb. xi. 10), and therein 
 quieted their spirits. When they came to Delts-IIaven 
 they found the ship and all things ready ; and such of their 
 friends as could not come with them followed after them, 
 and sundry came from Amsterdam to see them shi])t, and 
 to take their leaves of them. One night was spent with 
 little sleep with the most, but with friendly entei-tainment 
 and Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true 
 Christian love. The next day they went on board, and 
 their friends with them, where trnly doleful was the sight 
 of that sad and mournful parting, to hear what sighs and 
 sobs and prayers did sound amongst them ; what tears did 
 gush from every eye, and pithy speeches pierced each 
 
 * The cmif^mnts were, for the most part, godly Cliristians from tlio 
 northern [central] part of England, who had quitted their native country he- 
 cause they were " studious of reformation, and entered into covenant to walk 
 •with one another according to the primitive pattern of the Word of God." 
 They emigrated to Holland, and settled in the city of Leydeu in 1610, 
 where they abode, being lovingly respected by the Dutch, for many years : 
 they left it in 1G20 for several reasons, the last of which was, that their pos- 
 terity would in a few generations become Dutch, and so lose their interest in 
 the English nation ; they being desirous rather to enlarge his Majesty's do- 
 minions, and to live under their natural prince. — Translator's Note. 
 
 :i:l 
 
OniGIN OF Tlir AXr.LO-AMKniCAN'S. 
 
 41 
 
 (•tiler's lu'iirt, tliiit Kuiidrv of tlic Diitcli stniiiLicrs that 
 stood oM till' Ki'y as spoctators could not refrain rr(»iii ti'ars. 
 IJiit the tide (which stays tor no man) calling; them away, 
 that were thus loth to depart, their Reverend I*a«<tor, tiilliiiii; 
 down on his knees, and they all with him, with wati'iy 
 cheeks commended them with most fervent ])i'ayers unto 
 the Lord and his hlessino; ; and then with mutual emhraces 
 and many tears they took their leaves one of another, 
 which proved to be the last leave to many of them." 
 
 The eiuiiirants were about 150 in number, includin<i; the 
 women and the children. Their object was to plant a col- 
 ony on the shores of the Hud: m ; but after iiavin<f been 
 driven about for some time in the Atlan/ie Ocean, they 
 were forced to land on the arid coast of I' ew Eiiuland, at 
 the spot which is now the town of riyni'^uth. .he rock 
 is still shown on which the pilgrims disembarked.' 
 
 " But before we pass on," continues our historian, ' Vt 
 the reader with me make a pause, and se loiisly consider niis 
 poor peo})le's present condition, the more to be raised np to 
 admiration of God's goodness towards them in their pres- 
 ervation : for being now passed the vast ocean, and a sea 
 of troubles before them in expectation, they had now no 
 friends to welcome them, no inns to entertain or refresh 
 them, no houses, or much less towns, to repair imto to seek 
 for succour : and for the season it was winter, and they that 
 know the winters of the country know them to be sharp 
 and violent, subject to cruel nd fierce storms, dangerous 
 to travel to known places, muul; more to search unknown 
 coasts. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and 
 
 * This rock has become an ol^joct of veneration in the United States. I 
 have seen hits of it carefully preserved in several towns of the Union. Docs 
 not this sufficiently show how all human power and yrearness are entirely in 
 the soul ? Here i^- a stone which the feet of a few poor fuyilives pressed for 
 an instant, and this stone becomes famous ; it is treasured l)y a ereat nation, 
 a fragment is prized as a relic. But wli.at is become of the dooi'steps of a 
 thousand palaces ? Who troubles himself about them ? 
 
 
42 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 ■:'A 
 
 e«i 
 
 I'll 
 
 nil:!: 
 
 m 
 
 ■ -i 
 
 t-l. 
 
 desolate Avildorncss, full of wildo beasts, and wilde men ? 
 and what multitudes of them there were, they then knew 
 not : for Avhich way soever they turned their eyes (save 
 upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or 
 content in res])ect of any outward object ; for summer 
 being ended, a^' things stand in appearance with a weather- 
 beaten face, and the whole country, full of woods and 
 thickets, represented a wild and savage hew ; if they 
 looked behind them, there was the mighty ocean which 
 they had passed, and was now as a main bar or gulpli to 
 separate them from all the civil parts of the world." * 
 
 It must not be imagined that the piety of the Puritans 
 was merely speculative, or that it took no cognizance of 
 the course of worldly affairs. Puritanism, as I have al- 
 ready remarked, was scarcely less a political than a relig- 
 ious doctrine. No sooner had the emigrants landed on 
 the barren coast described by Nathaniel Morton, than it 
 was their first care to constitute a society, by subscribing 
 the following Act : — 
 
 " In the name of God. Amen. We, whose names 
 are underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign 
 Lord King James, &c. &c.. Having undertaken for the 
 glory of God, and advancement of the Christian Faith, and 
 the honour of our King and country, a voyage to plant the 
 first colony in the northern parts of Virginia ; Do by these 
 presents solemnly and mutually, in the presence of God 
 and one another, covenant and combine ourselves together 
 into a civil body politick, for our better ordering and pres- 
 ervation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid : and by 
 
 * Tliough the work from whicli tlie forcfroing extracts are taken appeared 
 under the title of " New En<!^land's Memorial," as written by Nathaniel 
 Morton, it was compiled by him chiefly from the manuscripts of William 
 Bradford, who wiis one of the leaders of the Pilgrims during their stay in 
 Holland, and was elected the governor of their settlement at Plymouth, 
 whicli ofiice he continued to hold for many years. Tlie language in these 
 extracts is almost entirely that of Bradford. — Am. Ed. 
 
 '■■^ 
 
 
ORIGIN OF THE ANGLO- AMKRICANS. 
 
 43 
 
 men? 
 knew 
 (save 
 .ce or 
 mmer 
 atlier- 
 s and 
 they 
 wliicli 
 \\)\i to 
 [."* 
 iritans 
 lice of 
 ive al- 
 L relig- 
 ied on 
 than it 
 cribing 
 
 names 
 rereign 
 or the 
 th, and 
 xnt the 
 these 
 f God 
 )o;ether 
 1 pres- 
 nd by 
 
 ippcared 
 
 fiithaniel 
 
 iWilliara 
 
 stay in 
 
 rTnouth, 
 
 I ia these 
 
 virtue liereof do enact, constitute, and frame sucli just and 
 equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and offices, from 
 time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient 
 for the general good of the Colony : unto Avhich we prom- 
 ise all due submission and obedience," &c.* 
 
 This happened in 1G20, and from that time forwards the 
 emigi'ation went on. The religious and political passions 
 which ravao'cd the British emjtire durino; the whole reion 
 of Charles I. drove fresh crowds of sectarians every year 
 to the shores of America. In Enoland, the stroiiiihold of 
 I'uritanism continued to be in the middle classes ; and it 
 was from the middle classes that most of the emi<i:rants 
 came. The poj)ulation of New England increased ra})idly ; 
 and whilst the hierarchy of rank despotically classed the 
 inhabitants of the mother country, the colony approximated 
 more and more the novel spectacle of a community homo- 
 geneous in all its parts. A democracy, more perfect than 
 antiquity had dared to dream of, started in full size and 
 pano})ly from the midst of an ancient feudal society. 
 
 The English government "was not dissatisfied with a 
 larce emiivration which removed the elements of fresh 
 discord and further revolutions. On the contrary, it did 
 eveiything to encourage it, and seemed to have no anxiety 
 about the destiny of those who sought a shelter on the soil 
 of America from the rigor of their laws. It appeared as 
 if New England was a region given np to the dreams of 
 fancy, and the unrestrained experiments of innovators. 
 
 The English colonies (and this is one of the main causes 
 of their prosperity) have always enjoyed more internal 
 freedom and more political independence than the colonies 
 
 * The emigrants who founded tlic State of Rhode Island in 1638, tliosc 
 wlio landed at New Haven in 1637, the first settlers in Connecticut in 163'.>, 
 and the founders of Providence in 1640, began in like manner by (h'awing 
 up a social contract, whidi was acceded to by all the interested parties. See 
 Pitkin's History, pp. 42 aud 47. 
 
 1 
 
li i| 
 
 ' 1 M 
 
 ■ir 'I 
 
 4 
 
 I 
 
 
 ijuj 
 
 ^ i. 
 
 U!i:l 
 
 2 i j!; Jl 
 
 i,iil 
 
 11 
 
 « 
 
 I 
 
 u i 
 
 44 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 of other nations ; and this principle of liberty was nowhere 
 more extensively applied than in the States of New Eng- 
 land. 
 
 It was generally allowed at that period, that the territo- 
 ries of the New World belonged to that European nation 
 which had been the first to discover them. Nearly the 
 whole coast of North America thus became a British pos- 
 session towards the end of the sixteenth century. The 
 means used by the English government to people these 
 new domains were of several kinds : the kino- sometimes 
 appointed a governor of his own choice, who ruled a por- 
 tion of the New World in the name and under the imme- 
 diate orders of the crown ; * this is the colonial system 
 adopted by the other countries of Europe. Sometimes, 
 grants of certain tracts were made by the crown to an in- 
 dividunl or to a company,! in which case all the civil and 
 political power fell into the hands of one or more persons, 
 who, under the inspection and control of the crown, sold 
 the lands and governed the inhabitants. Lastly, a third 
 system consisted in allowing a certain number of emigrants 
 to form themselves into a political society under the pro- 
 tection of the mother country, and to govern themselves 
 in whatever was not contrary to her laws. This mode of 
 colonization, so favorable to liberty, was adopted only in 
 New England. $ 
 
 * This was the case in the State of New York. 
 
 t JSIaryland, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey were in this 
 situation. See Pitkin's History, Vol. I. pp. 11-31. 
 
 t See the work entitled " Historical Collection of State Papers and 
 other authentic Documents intended as Materials for an History of the 
 United Stu'os of America, by Ebciiczcr Hazard," (Pliiladelphia, 1792,) for 
 a great number of documents rclatinj^ to the commencement of the colonics, 
 which are valuable from their contents and their .luthenticity : amongst 
 them are the various charters granted by the king of England, and the 
 first acts of the local governments. 
 
 See also the analysis of all these charters given by Mr. Story, Judge of 
 
 .■■e3 
 
ORIGIN OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS. 
 
 45 
 
 In 1028,* a cliartor of tliis kind was granted by Charles 
 I. to the emigrants wlio went to form the eolony of Massa- 
 clnisetts. But, hi general, charters were not given to the 
 coloMies of New England till their existence had become 
 an established fact. Plymouth, Providence, New Haven, 
 Connecticut, and Rhode Island f were founded without the 
 liel}>, and almost without the knowledge, of the mother 
 coinitry. The new settlers did not derive their powers 
 from the head of the empire, although they did not deny 
 its supremacy ; they constituted themselves into a society, 
 and it was not till thirty or forty years afterwards, under 
 Charles II., that their existence was legally recognized by 
 a royal charter. 
 
 This frequently renders it difficult, in studying the ear- 
 liest historical and legislative records of New England, to 
 detect the link wliich connected the emigrants with the 
 land of their forefathers. They continually exercised the 
 rights of sovereignty ; they named their magistrates, con- 
 cluded peace or declared war, made police regulations, and 
 enacted laws, as if their allegiance was due only to God. J 
 Nothing can be more curious, and at the same time more 
 instructive, than the legislation of that period ; it is there 
 that the solution of the great social problem which the 
 United States now present to the world is to be found. 
 
 the Supreme Court of the United States, in the Introduction to his " Com- 
 mentaries on the Constitution of the United States." It is proved by these 
 documents, that the principles of representative {government and the external 
 forms of political liberty were introduced into all the colonies almost from 
 their orijrin. These principles were more fully acted upon in the North 
 than in the South, but they existed everywhere. 
 
 * See Pitkin's History, p. 3^. Also, the " History of the Colony of 
 Massachusetts Bay," by Hutchinson, Vol. I. p. 9. 
 
 t Sec Pitkin's History, pp. 42, 47. 
 
 X The inhabitants of Massachusetts had deviated from the forms which 
 are preserved in the criminal and civil procedure of England ; in ICiO, the 
 name of the kinji^ was not yet put at the head of the decrees of justice. See 
 Hutchinson, Vol. I. p. 452. 
 
i \ 
 
 
 |i 
 
 1 i;' 
 
 3: -y I 
 
 ii!i 
 
 ! >;i 
 
 4G 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 ! ■ V 
 
 Amono;st tliosc tlocnmcnts we shall notice, as especially 
 characteristic, the code of laws promulgated by the little 
 state of Connecticut in 1G50.* 
 
 The legislators of Connecticut! begin with the penal 
 laws, and, strange to say, they borrow their provisions from 
 the text of Holy Writ. 
 
 " Whosoever shall worship any other God than the 
 Lord," says the preamble of the Code, " shall surely be 
 put to death." This is followed by ten or twelv enact- 
 ments of- the same kind, copied verbatim from the books 
 of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Blasphemy, sor- 
 cery, adultery, J and rape were punished with death ; an 
 outrage offered by a son to his parents was to be expi- 
 ated by the same penalty. The legislation of a rude and 
 half-civilized people was thus applied to an enlightened and 
 moral community. The consequence was, that the punish- 
 ment of death was never more frequently prescribed by 
 statute, and never more rarely enforced. § 
 
 The chief care of the legislators, in this body of penal 
 Ir .vs, was the maintenance of orderlv conduct and o;ood 
 morals in the community: thus they constantly invaded 
 
 
 ;:i' 
 
 * Code of 1650, p. 28 (Hartford, 1830). 
 
 t See also in Ilutoliinson's History, Vol. I. pp. 43,'5, 456, tlie analysis 
 of the penal code adopted in 1648 by the colony of Massachusetts: this 
 code is drawn up on the same principles as that of Connecticut. 
 
 \ Adultery was also punished with death by the law of Massachusetts : 
 and Hutchinson (Vol. I. p. 441) says that several persons actually suffered 
 for this crime. He quotes a curious anecdote on this subject, of what took 
 ])lace in the year 1663. A married woman had had criminal intercourse 
 with a younj; man ; her husband died, and she married the lover. Several 
 years had elapsed, when the public lic|?au to suspect the previous intercourse 
 of this couple : they were thrown into prison, put ui)on trial, and very nar- 
 rowly escaped capital punishment. 
 
 § Except in Enn:laud, up to the beginning of tlie present century, where 
 more than one hundred crimes were statutably punishaiile with death, but 
 not more tlian one out of a hundred convicted persons were actually exe- 
 cuted. — Am. Ed. 
 
 ; 
 
 :l 
 
ORIGIN OF TIIK ANGLO-AMKRICANS. 
 
 47 
 
 the domain of conscience, and there Avas scarcely a sin 
 which was not snhject to magisterial censnre. The reader 
 is aware of the rigcn' with Avhich these laws pnnislied rape 
 and adultery ; intercourse between unmarried persons was 
 likewise severely re})ressed. The judge was emj)()wered to 
 inflict either a pecuniary penalty, a whip})ing, or mar- 
 riage,* on the misdemeanants ; and if the records of the 
 old courts of New Haven may be believed, prosecutions 
 of this kind were not unfrequent. We find a sentence, 
 beariug date the 1st of May, lOGO, inflicting a fine and 
 reprimand on a young woman who was accust'd of using 
 improper language, and of allowing herself to be kissed. f 
 The Code of 1G50 abounds in preventive measures. It 
 punishes idleness and drunkenness with severity. ^ Inn- 
 keepers were forbidden to furnish more than a certain 
 quantity of liquor to each consumer ; and sim})le lying, 
 whenever it may be injurious,^ is checked by a fine or a 
 flogging. In other places, the legislator, entirely forget- 
 ting the great principles of religious toleration which he 
 had himself demanded in Europe, makes attendance on 
 divine service compulsory, || and goes so far as to visit with 
 severe punishment,^ and even with death, Christians who 
 
 * Code of 1650, p. 48. It appears sometimes to have liappcned that tho 
 judges inflicted these punisliments cumulatively, as is seen in a sentence 
 pronounced in 1643 (New Haven Antiquities, p. 114), by which Margaret 
 Bedford, convicted of loose conduct, was condemned to be wliipt, and after- 
 wards to marry Nicolas Jemmings, her accomplice. 
 
 t New Haven Antiquities, p. 104. Sec also Hutchinson's History for 
 several causes equally extraordinary. 
 
 t Code of 1650, pp. 50, 57. § Ibid., p. 64. || Ibid., p. 44. 
 
 IT This was not peculiar to Connecticut. See, for instance, the law 
 which, on the 13th of September, 1644, banished the Anal)a]jtists from 
 Massachusetts. (Historical Collection of State Papers, Vol. I. p. 538.) See 
 also the law against the Quakers, passed on the 14tli of October, 1656. 
 " Whereas," says the preamlde, " an accursed race of heretics called Quakers 
 has sprung up," etc. Tiie clauses of the statute inflict a heavy fine on all 
 captains of ships who should import Quakers into the coun? ry. The Quakers 
 
 
 I 
 
I li^^ 
 
 ; 'ft "!l M !■ 
 
 i:;;i mm t 
 
 t' ,«,' 1,!" I 
 
 
 k 
 
 i 
 
 ! ) 
 
 m 
 
 ^1 -.^iri 
 
 48 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 chose to worship God according to a ritual differing from 
 his own.* Sometimes, indeed, the zeal for regulation in- 
 duces him to descend to the most frivolous particulars : 
 thus a law is to he found in the same code which })rohibits 
 the use of tobacco, f It must not be forgotten that these 
 fantastical and vexatious laws were not imj)osed by au- 
 thority, but that they were freely voted by all the persons 
 interested in them, and that the manners of the commu- 
 nity were even more austere and puritanical than the laws. 
 In 1G49, a solemn association was formed in Boston to 
 check the worldly luxury of long hair. ^ 
 
 These errors are no doubt discreditable to human rea- 
 son ; they attest the inferiority of our nature, which is 
 incapable of laying firm hold upon what is true and just, 
 and is often reduced to the alternative of two excesses. 
 In strict connection with this penal legislation, which bears 
 such striking marks of a narrow, sectarian spirit, and of 
 those religious passions which had been warmed by perse- 
 cution and were still fermenting among the people, a body 
 of political laws is to be found, which, though written two 
 hundred years ago, is still in advance of the liberties of 
 our a<j;e. 
 
 The general principles which are the groundwork of 
 modern constitutions — principles which, in the seven- 
 teenth century, were imperfectly known in Europe, and 
 
 who may be found there shall be whipt and imprisoned with hard labor. Those 
 members of the sect wlio should defend their opinions shall be first fined, 
 then imprisoned, and finally driven out of the province. Historical Col- 
 lection of State Papers, Vol. I. p. 630. 
 
 * By the penal law of Massachusetts [1647] any Catholic priest who 
 should set foot in the colony after having been once driven out of it was 
 liable to capital punishment. [This act had a political rather than an eccle- 
 siastical purpose, and was of a piece with the penal legislation of England 
 at al)out the same period, and long afterwards, against the Catholics, 
 — Am. Ed.] 
 
 t Code of le.'JO, p. 96, 
 
 X Xcw England's JMcmorial, p. 316. See Appendix E. 
 
ORIGIN OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS. 
 
 49 
 
 not ('<)mj)lotely triumpliant even in Great Britain — were 
 all rec'o^iii/ed and established by the laws of New En<j;- 
 lund : the intervention of the people in public atfairs, the 
 free voting of taxes, the responsibility of the agents of 
 power, personal liberty, and trial by jury, were all posi- 
 tively established without discussion. 
 
 These fruitful principles were there aj)i)lied and devel- 
 oped to an extent such as no nation hi Eui'ope has yet 
 ventured to attempt. 
 
 In Connecticut the electoral body consisted, from its 
 origin, of the whole number of citizens ; and this is read- 
 ily to be understood,* when we recollect that in this young 
 connnunity there was an almost perfect equality of fortune, 
 and a still greater uniformity of opinions. f In Connecti- 
 cut, at this period, all the executive functionaries were 
 elected, including the Governor of the State. J The citi- 
 zens above the age of sixteen were obliged to bear arms ; 
 they formed a national militia, which appointed its own 
 officers, and was to hold itself at all times in readiness to 
 march for the defence of the country. § 
 
 In the laws of Connecticut, as well as in all those of 
 New England, we find the germ and gradual development 
 of that township independence, which is the life and main- 
 spring of American liberty at the present day. The polit- 
 ical existence of the majority of the nations of Europe 
 commenced in the superior ranks of society, and was 
 gradually and imperfectly communicated to the different 
 members of the social body. In America, on the contrary, 
 
 * Constitution of 1638, p. 17. 
 
 t In 1G41 the General Assembly of Rhode Island unanimously declared 
 that the government of the state was a democracy, and that the power was 
 vested in the body of free citizens, who alone had the right to make the 
 laws and to watch their execution. Code of 1650, p. 70. 
 
 t ritkin's History, p. 47. 
 
 § Constitution of 1638, p. 12. 
 
 3 D 
 
|iig 
 
 i 
 'fl 
 
 ;! 
 
 i! 
 
 Mi 
 U 
 
 \\n 
 
 ,i ; 
 
 ill 
 
 
 60 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKIJICA. 
 
 it may be said tliat the township was organized before the 
 county, the county before the State, the State before the 
 Union. 
 
 In New Enoland, townsliips were conn)k>tely and defini- 
 tively constituted as early as 1050. The independence of 
 the township was the nucleus round which the local inter- 
 ests, passions, rights, and duties collected and clung. It 
 gave scope to the activity of a real political life, thoroughly 
 democratic and republican. The colonies still recognized 
 the suj)remacy of the mother country ; monarchy was still 
 the law of the State ; but the republic was already estab- 
 lished in every township. 
 
 The towns named their own magistrates of every kind, 
 rated themselves, and levied their own taxes.* In the 
 New England toAvn, the law of representation was not 
 adopted ; but the affairs of the community were discussed, 
 as at Athens, in the market-place, by a general assembly 
 of the citizens. 
 
 In studying the laws which were promulgated at this 
 early era of the American republics, it is impossiVle not to 
 be struck by the remarkable acquaintance with the science 
 of government, and the advanced theory of legislation, 
 which they dl.^play. The ideas there formed of the duties 
 of society towards its members are evidently much loftier 
 and more comprehensive than those of European legislators 
 at that time : obligations were there imposed upon it Avhich 
 it elsewhere slio;lited. In the States of New Eno;land, from 
 the first, the condition of the poor was provided for ; f 
 strict measures were taken for the maintenance of roads, 
 and surveyors were appointed to attend to them ; | records 
 were established in every town, in which the results of 
 public deliberations, and the births, deaths, and marriages 
 of the citizens, were entered ; § clerks were directed to 
 
 * Code of 1650, p. 80. t Il)i<l., p. 78. 
 
 § See Ilutchinsou's History, Vol. I. p. 455. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 49. 
 
OIJKIIX OK TIIK AXGLO-AMKHICAXS. 
 
 T)! 
 
 koop these rorords ; * officers were cliar«f(Hl with the ad- 
 ministration of vacant inlioritanccs, and witli tlio arhitra- 
 tion of litigated landmarks ; and many otlicrs were cre- 
 ated, wliosc chief functions were the maintenance of puhlic 
 order in the conununity.f The law enters into a thou- 
 sand vari(ms details to anticipate and satisfy a crowd of 
 social wants which are even now very inadequately felt 
 in France. 
 
 But it is by the mandates relatin<»; to Puhlic Education 
 that the onVinal character of .\merican civilization is at 
 once placed in the clearest lioht. '-'■ It 1)eiii<j;," says the 
 law, " one chief proje(;t of that old deluder, Satan, to keep 
 men from the knowledr^e of the Scri])ture hy j)ersuadiii<i; 
 them from the use of tonmies, to the end that learnini; 
 may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, in 
 church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our en- 
 deavors." J Here follow clauses establishing schools in 
 every township, and obliging the inhabitants, under pain 
 of heavy fines, to support them. Schools of a superior 
 kind were founded in the same manner in the more ])opu- 
 lous districts. The municipal authorities were bound to 
 enforce the sendmg of children to school by their parents ; 
 they were empowered to inflict fines u])on all who ref ^.sed 
 compliance ; and in cases of continued resistance, society 
 assumed the place of the j)arent, took possession of the 
 child, and deprived the fiither of those natural I'ights wliich 
 he used to so bad a purpose. The reader will undoubt- 
 edly have remarked the preamble of these enactments : in 
 America, religion is the road to knowledge, and the obser- 
 vance of the divine laws leads man to ciN'il freedom. 
 
 If, after having cast a rapid glance over the state of 
 American society in 1050, we turn to the condition of 
 Europe, and more especially to that of the Continent, at 
 the same period, we cannot faU to be struck "virli astonish- 
 
 "■S 
 
 * Code of 1G50, p. 86. 
 
 t Ibid., p. 40. 
 
 I Ibid., p. yo. 
 
 m 
 
'f' I 
 
 ,'tlt 
 
 52 
 
 DKMOrnACV IN AMKKICA. 
 
 I 
 
 mcnt. On tlio contiiiont of Europe, at tlio booinninof of 
 tlio sovciiti'ciith c'ontury, absoluto iiKMiarchy had c c-ry- 
 wliorc triiimplu'd over tlic ruins of tlii^ oli^arcliical and 
 I'l'udal lihcrtics of tlic Middle A;j;c's. Never perhaps wore 
 the ideas of ri^'ht more couipleti'Iy overlooked, than in the 
 midst of the splendor and literature of Europe ; never was 
 there less ])()litieal aetivity among tlie peoj)le ; never were 
 the principles of true freedom less widely circulated ; and 
 ut that very time, those princij)les, Avhich were scorned or 
 ludvuown by the nations of JMU'ope, were proclaimed in 
 the deserts of the New World, and were accepted as the 
 i'uture creed of a <j;reat pet)ple. The boldest theories of 
 the Innnan mind were reduced to practice by a community 
 so humble, that not a statesman condescended to attend to 
 it ; and a system of legislation without a precedent was 
 })ro(luced oii'hand by the natural originality of men's 
 imaginations. In the bosom of this obscure democracy, 
 which had as yet brought forth neither generals, nor phi- 
 losophers, nor authors, a man might stand up in the face 
 of a free i)eople, and pronounce with general applause the 
 following tine definition of hberty.* 
 
 " Concerning liberty, I observe a gi'eat mistake in the 
 country about that. There is a twofold liberty, natural 
 (I mean as our nature is now corrupt) and civil or federal. 
 The first is common to man with beasts and other crea- 
 tures. By this, man, as he stands in relation to man 
 simply, hath liberty to do what he lists ; it is a liberty to 
 evil as well as to good. This liberty is incompatible and 
 inconsistent with authority, and cannot endure the least 
 restraint of the most just authority. The exercise and 
 
 * Matlicr's "Miifrnalia Christi Americana," "Vol. II. p. 13. This speech 
 was made by Winthrop ; lie was accused of liaving committed arbitrary ac- 
 tions (luring'' his magistracy, but after having made tlie speech, of wliich the 
 above is a fragment, he was acquitted by acclanuition, and from tliat time 
 forwards lie was always re-elected Governor of the State. See Rlarshall, 
 Vol. 1. p. 166. 
 
 :LLLiilk. 
 
ORIGIN OF Tin: ANCILO-AMKRICAXS. 
 
 58 
 
 ni;iint:iiiiln<i; of tliis liberty makes lueti ^n'ow more evil, and 
 in time to be worse than brute beasts : oinne.H nuntus lici'iitlf 
 Jdt'i'iorrii. This is that oreat enemy of truth and ]»eaee, 
 that wild beast, which all the ordinances of (mxI are bent 
 a"ainst, to restrain and subdue it. The other kind of lib- 
 erty I call civil or federal ; it may also be termetl moral, in 
 reference to the covenant between (i(;(l and man, in the 
 moral law, and the politic covenants anil constitutions, 
 amongst men themselves. This liberty is the proper end 
 and object of authority, and cannot subsist without it ; and 
 it is a liberty to that only wiiich is ^ood, just, and lu)nest. 
 This liberty you are to stand for, with the hazard not only 
 of your goods, but of your lives, if need be. Whatsoever 
 crosseth this, is not authority, but a distem[H'r .hereof. 
 This liberty is maintained and exercised in a way of sub- 
 jection to authority ; it is of the same kind of liberty 
 wherewith Christ liatli made us free."* 
 
 T have said enough to put the character of Anglo- 
 American civilization in its true light. It is the result 
 (and this should be constantly present to the mind) of tAvo 
 distinct elements, which in other places liave been in fre- 
 quent hostility, but which in America have been admirably 
 incorporated and combined with one another. I allude to 
 the spirit of Religion and the spirit of Liberty. 
 
 The settlers of New England were at the same time 
 ardent sectarians and daring innovators. Narrow as the 
 limits of some of their religious opinions were, they were 
 free from all political prejudices. 
 
 Hence arose two tendencies, distinct but not opposite, 
 which are eveiywhere discernible in the manners as w^ell 
 as the laws of the country. 
 
 * Dc To((iiicville f'opieil from tlie "Magnalia" Cotton Matlier's imper- 
 fect and faulty report of this speech. I have suljstituted Wintlirop's own 
 report of it, as he inserted it at tlic time in his " Journal," a corrected 
 edition of which has been recently published by Mr. James Savage. — 
 Am. Ed. 
 
 it 
 
 0: 
 
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 54 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 Ono would tliiiik tliat iiu'ii wlio ]vm] sarriric.'d tlicir 
 irii'iids, tlioir tiimilv, and tlu'ir native ':»> d to a rrlliiious 
 conviction would he wholly ahsorhed in i-u pnisuit of the 
 treasure which they luid just j>urchased at so lii^li a jn'ice. 
 And yet we find them seekiu;!; with nearly c(iual /.eal lor 
 material wi-alth and m(»ral ;^o<id, — for well-l)ein<;' and fi'ee- 
 dom on I'arth, and salvation m heaven. Tlu'V moulded 
 an<l altered at pleasure all ])olitical i)rinciples, ;uid all hu- 
 man laws and institutions ; they hroko down the harriers 
 of the society in which they were horn ; they disrc'uarded 
 the old principK's which had o()verned the world for a<;es ; 
 a career without hounds, a lii'ld without a horizon, was 
 opened hefore them: they j)recipitate themselves into it, 
 and traverse it in every direction. But, having reached 
 the limits of the political world, they stop of their own 
 accord, and lay aside with awe the use of their most for- 
 midahle faculties; they no longer doubt or innovate; they 
 abstain from raising even tlu; veil of the sanctuary, and 
 bow with submisjsive respect before truths which they ad- 
 mit without discussion. 
 
 Thus, in the moral world, everything is classified, sys- 
 tematized, foreseen, and decided beforehand ; in the politi- 
 cal world, everything is agitated, disputed, and uncertain. 
 In the one is a j)assive though a voluntary obedience ; in 
 the other, an independence scornful of experience, and 
 jealous of all authority. These two tendencies, appar- 
 ently so discrepant, are far from conflicting ; they advance 
 together, and mutually support each other. 
 
 Religion perceives that civil liberty affords a noble exer- 
 cise to the faculties of man, and that the political worhl is 
 a field prepared by the Creator for the eflbrts of mind. 
 Free and powerful in its own sphere, satisfied with the 
 ])lace I'cserved for it, religion never more surely establishes 
 its empire than when it reigns in the hearts of men unsup- 
 ported by aught beside its native strength. 
 
OHKJIX OK THK AN(JLO-AMi:Pf<'AN'S. 
 
 00 
 
 LiluTty i>'^;ii'(ls ri'li^ion us its coinpairKdi in ;ill its hattli's 
 and its triiiiii|iiis, — as tlio cradle of its infancy, ami tin- 
 divine soni'cc of its claims. Jt considers relijj-ion as tlie 
 Hufeynai'd of morality, and morality as the hest security of 
 luNV, and thu siu'est pledge of the duration of treedoni.* 
 
 REASON'S OF CKKTAIN ANOMM.IF,?^ WHnil Til 11 I,\W8 AM) 
 CLSTOMS OF Tllli ANGI.O-AMKUIC.VNS rUKSKNT. 
 
 Roniiiiiis of Arirttocratic IiKxtitiitimis ainidiit tlio most coiuplftt! Dcinocnicy. 
 — Why '. — Ciiicriil Distinction to lie drawn iu'twfcn uliat i.s of I'uri- 
 tanical and what of Knj;li,sh Uri;iiu. 
 
 TiiM reader is cautioned not to draw too n-eneral or too 
 absolute an inference from what has been said. The social 
 condition, tlie relioion, and the manners of the first emi- 
 grants nudouhtedly exercised an immense influence on the 
 destiny of their new country. Nevertheless, they could 
 not found a state of things originating solely in them- 
 selves : no man can entirely sliake off the influence of the 
 past ; and the settlers, intentionally or not, mingled habits 
 and notions derived from their education and the traditions 
 of tlieir country with those habits and notions which were 
 exclusively tlieir own. To know and to judge the Anglo- 
 Americans of the present day, it is therefore necessary to dis- 
 tinjiuisli what is of Puritanical and what of Eniilish orioin. 
 
 Laws and customs are frecpiently to be met with in the 
 United States wliicli contrast strongly with all that sur- 
 rounds them. These laws seem to be drawn up in a spirit 
 contrary to the prevailing tenor of American legislation ; 
 and these customs are no less opposed to the general tone 
 of society. If the English colonies had been founded in an 
 age of darkness, or if their origin was already lost in the 
 lapse of years, the problem would be insoluble. 
 
 I shall quote a single example to illustrate my meaning. 
 The civil and criminal procedure of the Americans has 
 
 * See Appendix F. 
 
i 
 
 'I 
 
 . i . 
 
 k ^. 'hi 
 
 
 I! I 'HA 
 
 50 
 
 DEJIOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 only two means of action, — committal or bail. The first 
 act of the magistrate is to exact security from the defend- 
 ant, or, in case of refusal, to incarcerate him : the ground 
 of tlie accusation and the importance of the charges against 
 him are then discussed. 
 
 It is evident that such a legislation is hostile to the poor, 
 and favorable only to the rich. The poor man has not 
 always a security to produce, even m a civil case ; and if 
 he is obliged to wait for justice in prison, he is speedily 
 reduced to distress. A wealthy person, on the contrary, 
 always escapes imprisonment in civil cases ; nay, more, 
 if he has committed a crime, he may readily elude punish- 
 ment by breaking his bail. Thus all the penalties of the 
 law are, for him, reduced to fines.* Nothing can be more 
 aristocratic than this system of legislation. Yet in America, 
 it is the poor who make the law, and they usually reserve 
 the gi'eatest advantages of society to themselves. The ex- 
 planation of the })henomenon is to be found in England ; 
 the laws of which I speak are English, and the Americans 
 have retained them, although repugnant to the general 
 tenor of their legislation and the mass of their ideas. 
 
 Next to its habits, the thing which a nation is least apt 
 to change is its civil legislation. Civil laws are familiarly 
 known only to lawyers, whose direct interest it is to main- 
 tain them as they are, whether good or bad, simply because 
 they themselves are conversant with them. The bulk of 
 the nation is scarcely acquainted with them ; it sees their 
 action only in particular cases, can with difficulty detect 
 their tendency, and obeys them without thought. 
 
 I have quoted one instance where it would have been 
 easy to adduce many others. The picture of American 
 society has, if I may so speak, a surface-covering of de- 
 mocracy, beneath which the old aristocratic colors some- 
 times peep out. 
 
 * Crimes no doubt exist for which bail is inadmissible, but they are few 
 in number. 
 
SOCIAL CONDITION OF TUE ANGLO-AMKIUCANS. 
 
 57 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS. 
 
 SOCIAL condition is commonly the result of cii'cum- 
 stances, sometimes of laws, oftenor still of these two 
 causes united ; but when once established, it may jnstly be 
 considered as itself the source of almost all the laws, the 
 usages, and the ideas which reondate the contluct of na- 
 tions : whatever it does not produce, it modifies. 
 
 If we would become acquainted with the lep;islation and 
 the manners of a nation, therefore, we must begin by the 
 study of its social condition. 
 
 THE STRIKING CHARACTERISTIC OF THE SOCIAL CONDITION 
 OF THE ANGLO-AMERICANS IS ITS ESSENTIAL DEMOCRACY. 
 
 The first Emifrrants of New Eng:lanfl. — Their Equality. — Aristocratic Laws 
 introduced in the South. — Period of the Revolution. — Cliuiioe in the 
 Laws of Inheiitance. — Effects produced hy this Ciianye. — Democracy 
 carried to its utmost Limits in the new States of the West. — Equality of 
 Mental Endowments. 
 
 
 Many important observations suggest themselves upon 
 the social condition of the Anglo-Americans ; but there is 
 one which takes precedence of all the rest. The social 
 condition of the Americans is eminently democratic ; this 
 was its character at the foundation of the colonies, and it is 
 still more strongly marked at the present day. 
 
 I have stated in the preceding chapter that great equal- 
 ity existed among the emigrants who settled on the shores 
 
 3* 
 
ili 
 
 Ml 
 
 
 ^ililj 
 
 58 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 of New Eiigliind. Even the germs of aristocracy were 
 never })lanted in tliat part of the Union. The only influ- 
 ence which obtained tliere was that of intellect ; the people 
 were used to reverence certain names as the emblems of 
 knowledoe and virtue. Some of their fellow-citizens ac- 
 quired a power over the others which might truly have 
 been called aristocratic, if it had been capable of trans- 
 mission from father to son. 
 
 This was the state of things to the east of the Hudson : 
 to the soutliwest of that river, and as far as the Floridas, 
 tlie case was diflPerent. In most of the States situated to 
 the soutliwest of the Hudson some great English propri- 
 etors had settled, who had imported with them aristocratic 
 principles and the English law of inheritance. I have 
 ex])lained the reasons why it was impossible ever to es- 
 tablish a powerful aristocracy in America ; these reasons 
 existed with less force to the southwest of the Hudson. 
 In the South, one man, aided by slaves, could cultivate a 
 great extent of country ; it was therefore common to see 
 rich landed proprietors. But their influence was not alto- 
 gether aristocratic, as that term is understood hi Europe, 
 since they possessed no privileges ; and the cultivation of 
 their estates being carried on by slaves, they had no ten- 
 ants depending on them, and consequently no patronage. 
 Still, the great proprietors south of the Hudson constituted 
 a su[)erior class, having ideas and tastes of its OAvn, and 
 forming the centre of political action. This kind of aris- 
 tocracy sympathized with the body of the people, whose 
 passions and interests it easily embraced ; but it was too 
 weak and too short-lived to excite either love or hatred. 
 This was the class which headed the insurrection in the 
 Soutli, and furnished the best leaders of the American 
 Ke volution. 
 
 At this period, society was shaken to Its centre. The 
 people, in whose name the struggle had taken place, con- 
 
 wi' 
 
SOCLVL CONDITION OF THE ANGLO-AMKKICANS. 
 
 50 
 
 ceivod the desire of exercisinjj!; the authority whieli it luid 
 acquired ; its democratic tendencies were awakened ; and 
 liavinc tin-own oiF the yoke of tlie mother country, it as- 
 pired to independence of every kind. The influence of 
 individuals gradually ceased to be felt, and custom and law 
 united to produce the same result. 
 
 But the law of inheritance was the last step to c(piality. 
 I am surprised that ancient and modern jurists have Jiot 
 attributed to this law a greater influence on Innnan ati'airs.* 
 
 * I undprstaiul hy tlie law of inlicritiuioe iill tliose laws wliosc ])riii(i|ii>l 
 object it is to vogulate tlie distril iitiou of j)ro])('rty after tlio ileatli of its 
 owner. Tlie law of entail is ci this iiuiiilier ; it certainly ])revents the 
 owner from (lis|)Osiiig of his possessions before his death ; hut this is solely 
 witli the view of preserving them entire for the lieir. 'The principal object, 
 therefore, of the law of entail, is to rcj;u!ate the descent of property after the 
 death of its owner : its other provisions are merely means to this end. 
 
 [\Ve have had one modern jurist, Daniel Welister, who anticii)ated l)e 
 Tocqucville in pointing out the i)n)iliL;ious influence, upon so( ial and politi- 
 cal affairs, of laws regulatinf;' the tenure and inheritance of property. In his 
 oration delivered at riymouth, December 22, 1820, Mr. Webster said: "The 
 character of the jiolitical institutions of New England was determined by 
 the fundamental laws respecting property." He enumerated the abolition 
 of the right of j)rimogeniture, the curtailment of entails, long trusts, and 
 other processes for fettering and tying up lands, and the facilities offered for 
 the alienation of estates through subjecting them to every species of debt, 
 througli i)ublic registries and the sini|ilicity of our forms of conveyance, as 
 acts which "Ji.red iJw future frmneiiiid foi .. • f the (jovernmmt ." ' Tl.e con- 
 sequence of all these causes," he said, "ha.- '■ -^ <.\ a L'rcat subdivision of the 
 soil and a groat equality of comlition, — the Uiii' bus!; , most certainly, of a 
 popular government." 
 
 In alluding to the law in France which r nders compulsory an equal di- 
 vision of estates on the death of the;" owners, jNLr. 'V jbster ventured to 
 predict that, "if the government do not (hange the law, the law, in half 
 a century, will change the government; aiul this change will ;:oc be in favor 
 of the ]K)wer of the crown, as some European writers have supposed, but 
 against it." 
 
 This remarkable prophecy, tittered in Deccml)cr, 1820, was fulfilled first 
 by the Revolution of July, 1830, and then, iu a still moie nuvrked degree, by 
 that of February, 1848. —Am. Ed.] 
 
 (1 V 
 
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 iv. 
 
 
 :lr 
 
 
 60 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 It is true that these laws helong to civil affairs ; but they 
 f)un;lit, nevertheless, to be placed at the head of all political 
 institutions ; for they exercise an incredible influence upon 
 the social state of a people, whilst political laws only show 
 what this state already is. They have, moreover, a sure 
 and uniform manner of operating upon society, affecting, 
 as it were, generations yet unborn. Through their means, 
 man acquires a kind of pretern.itiu'al poAver over the future 
 lot of his fellow-creatures. When the leo-islator has once 
 regulated the law of inheritance, he may rest from his la- 
 bor. The machine once put in motion will go on i'or ages, 
 and advance, as if self-guided, towards a point indicated 
 beforehand. When franu'd in a })articular manner, this 
 law unites, <lraws together, and vests property and power 
 in a few hands ; it causes an aristocracy, so to speak, to 
 spring out of the ground. If formed on opposite princi- 
 ples, its action is still more ra})id ; it divides, distributes, 
 and disperses both property and power. Alarmed by the 
 rapidity of its progress, those svho despair of arresting its 
 motion endeavor, at least, to obstruct it by difficulties and 
 impediments. They vainly seek to counteract its effect by 
 contrary efforts ; but it shatters and redur>es to powder 
 every obstacle, imtil we can no longer see anything bvit a 
 moving and imj>alpable cloud of dust, which signals the 
 coming of the Democracy. When the laAv of inheritance 
 permits, still more wLon it decrees, the equal division of a 
 flither's property amxongst all his children, its effects are of 
 two kinds : it is important to distinguish them from each 
 other, although they tend to the same end. 
 
 In virtue of the law of partible inheritance, the death of 
 every proprietor brings about a kind of revolution in the 
 property ; not only do his possessions change hands, but 
 their very nature is altered, since they are parcelled into 
 shares, which become smaller and smaller at each division. 
 Tills is the direct, and as it were the physical, effect of the 
 
 Li m- 
 
SOCIAL CONDIIION OF TIIK ANGLO-AMKIUCANS. 
 
 01 
 
 law. It fijllows, tlion, tlmt, in countries wliero equality of 
 inlieritanee is estal)lislied by law, property, and especially 
 landed j)roperty, nuist constantly tend to division into 
 smaller and smaller })arts. The efiects, however, of such 
 leoislation would only be perceptible after a lapse of time, 
 if the law were abandcmed to its own workini"; ; for, su})- 
 j)osin<i; the family to consist of on^y two children, (and, in 
 u country peo])led as France is, the averaf^e niunber is not 
 above three,) these children, sharing among-st them the 
 fortune of both parents, would not be poorer than their 
 father or mother. 
 
 But the law of equal division exercises its influence not 
 merely upon the property itself, but it affects the minds of 
 the heirs, and brings their })assi(ms into ])lay. These indi- 
 rect consequences tend powerfully to the destruction of 
 large fortunes, and especially of large domains. 
 
 Among nations whose law of descent is founded upon 
 the right of primogeniture, landed estates often pass from 
 ii'eneration to generation without underiioinii; division, — 
 the consequence of which is, that family feeling is to a cer- 
 tain degree incorporated with the estate. The family rep- 
 resents the estate, the estate the famil}, — whose name, 
 together with its origin, its glory, its poAver, and its vir- 
 tues, is thus perpetuated in an imperishable memorial of 
 the ])ast and a sure pledge of the future. 
 
 When the equal partition of property is established by 
 lav/, the intimate (lonnection is destroyed between family 
 feeling and the preservation of the paternal estate ; the 
 })roperty ceases to re})resent the family ; for, as it must 
 inevitably be divided after one or two generations, it has 
 evidently a constant tendency to diminish, and must in the 
 end be completely dispersed. The sons of the great land- 
 ed proprietor, if they are few in number, or if fortun 
 befriends them, mav indeed entertain the hone of beins 
 as wealthy as their father, but not of possessing the same 
 
 
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 DEMornACY IN A:\rEnirA. 
 
 property that lie did ; tlit'ir riclios must lie coinpo'^ofl of 
 otlicr olemiMits than liis. Now, as soon as yon dixcst the 
 land-owner of tliat interest in tlie preservation of liis estate 
 wliicli lie derives from assoeiation, from tradition, and from 
 finiiily pride, you may he certain that, sooner or later, he 
 will disj)()se of it ; for there is a strong pecuniary interest 
 in favor of sellino-, ns floating; capital produces hio;her inter- 
 est than real property, and is more readily available to 
 gratify the passions of the moment. 
 
 Great landed estates which have once been divided 
 never come together again ; for the small })roprietor draws 
 from his land a better revenue, in proportion, than the 
 large owner does from his ; and of course, he sells it at a 
 higher rate.* The calculations of gain, therefore, which 
 decide the rich man to sell his dovnnin, will still more 
 powerfully influence him against buying small estates to 
 unite them into a large (me. 
 
 What is called family pride is often fmnded upon an 
 illusi(m of selt-love. A man wish 's to perpetuate and im- 
 mortalize himself, as it, were, in his great-grandchildren. 
 AVhere family pride ceases to act, individual selHshness 
 comes into play. When the idea of family becomes vague, 
 indeterminate, and uncertain, a man thiidss of his pivsent 
 c(mvenience ; he provides for the establishment of his next 
 succeedin<r ireneration, and no more. Either a man n;ives 
 up the idea of ])erpetuating his family, or at any rate, he 
 seeks to accomplish it by other means than by a landed 
 estate. 
 
 Thus, not only does the law of partible inheritance ren- 
 der it difficult for families to })reserve their ancestral do- 
 mains entire, but it deprives them of the inclination to 
 attempt it, an I < ompels them in some measure to co-operate 
 
 I:! ''I 
 
 * I do not moiui \o isiiy tliat rJiK' snifiil proprietor cultivatos his land better, 
 liiit he cultivates it with more ardor auil care : so that he makes uj) hy his 
 lui)or fur his want ot skill. 
 
 1 «\. 
 
SOCIAL ("oNDnioX OF TIIK AXdI.o-AMKl.'ICANS. 
 
 r,3 
 
 with tlio law ill tlu'ir own extinction. Tlic law of equal 
 flistril)iiti(»n proccn-ds l>y two inetliods : Ity actiiiii; u})oii 
 tliinii's, it acts upon persons ; by iuHiienciiiLi; ])ersoiis, it 
 aft'ects tliini^s. By both these means, the law succeeds in 
 strikinu!; at the root of landed j)roperty, and disj)ersing rap- 
 idly both families and fortunes.* 
 
 Most certainly it is not for us, Frenchmen of the nine- 
 teenth century, who daily witness the ])olitical and social 
 chaniies which the law of partition is briiioino; to pass, to 
 question its influence. It is perpetually cons|»icuous in our 
 country, overthrowing the walls of our dwelliuiis, and re- 
 movinu!; the landmarks of our fields, liut ahhouiih it has 
 produced great effects in France, much still remains for 
 it to do, (^ur recollections, opinions, and habits present 
 powerful obstacles to its progress. 
 
 In the United States, it has nearly completed its work 
 of destruction, and there we can best study its results. 
 The English laws concerning the transmission of [)roi)erty 
 were abolished in almost all the States at the time of the 
 Revolution. The law of entail was so modified as not ma- 
 terially to interrupt the free circulation of })rf)perty.f The 
 first generation having passed away, estates began to be 
 parcelled out ; and the change became more and more 
 
 * Liuid lii'iiit; tlio most stable kind of projiorty, we find, from to time, 
 ricli individuals wlio arc disposed to iiuike fiTcat sacrifiees in order to ol>taiu 
 it, atid who willingly forfeit a eonsiderahlc jiart of tlieir iiieome to make sure 
 of the rest. But these are accidental cases. The ])refi'rei;ce for landed prop- 
 erty is no lonf!:cr found hahitually in any class hut amoi ••• the poor. The 
 small laud-owner, who has less information, less ima<iinatioi,, and fewer pas- 
 sions thati the ureat one, is <renerally occupied with the d<iire of increasing 
 his estate : and it often happens that by iniieritance, hy marriaiic, or by the 
 clmTU'CS of trade, he is <rrailually furnished with the means. Tims, to balance 
 the tendency which leads men to divide their estates, there exists another, 
 which incites them to add to them. 'JMiis tendency, which is suflicient to pre- 
 vent estates from beinuj divided ad injim'litm, is not stpjiiir enoui:h to create 
 great tei-ritorial possessions, certainly not to keep them up in the same family. 
 
 t See Ai)peudix G. 
 
 
64 
 
 DK.MOCUACY IN \MKKICA. 
 
 ■| . 
 
 '^\'^\ 
 
 raj)iil with \]\v |)i'();;res.s of time. And now, after a lapse 
 of a little ni(jre than sixty years, the asj)ect of society is 
 totally altered ; the fiunilies of the great landed |)ropri(Jtors 
 are almost all eonnningled with the general mass. In the 
 State of New York, which formerly contained many of 
 these, there are but two who still keep their heads above 
 the stream ; and they nmst shortJy disappear. The sons 
 of these opulent citizens have become mer'-hants, lawyers, 
 or ])hysicians. Most of them have lapsed into obscurity. 
 The last trace of hereditary ranks and distinctions is de- 
 stroyed, — the law of partition lias reduced all to one level. 
 
 1 do not mean that there is any lack of wealthy individ- 
 uals in the United States ; I know of no country, indeed, 
 where tlie love of money has taken stronger hold on the 
 affections of men, and where a profounder contempt is 
 exj)ressed for the theory of the permanent equality of 
 property. But Avealth circulates with inconceivable ra- 
 pidity, and experience shows that it is rare to find two 
 succeeding generations in the full enjoyment of it. 
 
 This picture, which may, perhaps, be thought to be over- 
 charged, still gives a very im])erfect idea of what is taki)ig 
 place in the new States of the West and Southwest. At 
 the end of the last century, a few bold adventurers began 
 to penetrate into the valley of the Mississipj)! ; and the 
 mass of the i)opulation very soon began to move in that 
 direction : communities nnheard of till then suddenly ap- 
 })eared in the desert. States wdiose names were not in 
 existence a few years before, claimed their place in the 
 American Union ; and in the Western settlements we may 
 behold democracy arrived at its utmost limits. In these 
 States, founded off-hand, and as it were by chance, the 
 inhal)itants are but of yesterday. Scarcely known to one 
 another, the nearest neio;libors are ijinorant of each other's 
 
 ' Oct 
 
 history. In this part of the American continent, therefore, 
 the population has escaped the influence not only of great 
 
SOCIAL CON'DITION OF TIIH AXdl.O-AMKlMC.VNS. 
 
 
 At 
 
 lone 
 ler's 
 
 L-eat 
 
 niinu's and ^ri'ut wi'altli, but even of tlu' nat\iral aristocracy 
 ot* kiiowU'iliie and virtue. Noni; are tlu're aliK; to wield 
 that respectable power wliich nieii willingly o;rant to tlio 
 renieuibrauee of a life s[)ent in doin^ ^rood befoi-e their 
 eyes. The new States of the West are already inhabited ; 
 but society has no existence anion<^ them. 
 
 It is not only the fonunes of men wliicli are equal in 
 America ; even tlieir ac(|uirements })artal<:e in some degree 
 of the same nnitbrmity. I do not believe that there is a 
 country in the world where, in jjroportion to the p()[)ula- 
 tion, there are so few ignorant, and at the same time so 
 few learned, individuals. Primary instruction is within the 
 reach of everybody ; superior instruction is scarcely to be 
 obtained by any.* This is not surj)rising ; it is, in fact, the 
 necessary consequence of what we have advanced above. 
 Almost all the Americans are in easy circumstances, and 
 can, therefore, obtain the first elements of human knowl- 
 edge. 
 
 In America, there are but few wealthy persons ; nearly 
 all Amci leans have to take a profession. Now, every [)ro- 
 fession requires an apprenticeslii[). The Americans can 
 devote to general education only the eai'ly years of life. 
 At fifteen, they enter upon their calJing, and thus their 
 education generally ends at the age wdien ours begins. f 
 
 * Tliis was au cxaggoi'ated statement oven wlieii Dc Tocqueville wrote, 
 tliirry years a<::o. But now, in tlie Atlantic States, throuj^h tlic intluenee of 
 tlie Universities and of seientitic ami literary associations, there are prohalily, 
 in pr()]Mn'tion to the population, as many scholars, men nf science, and high- 
 ly educated men, as in any country of Euro]»e. — A.'m. Ed. 
 
 t Mcni!)ers of what are called the learned professions — law, physic, and 
 diviniiy — do not usually begin practice in .Vmerica before they are twenty- 
 two or twenty-three years old. The average age of the graduates of Ameri- 
 can Colleges is over twenty years, and two or three years after graduation 
 must lie devoted to professional studies. Boys become apprentices to the 
 mechanic trades, it is true, at fourteen years ; but this is the usual age for tho 
 beginning of apprenticeship in England and on the continent of Europe. A8 
 
 K 
 
 >■ r. 
 
t 
 
 &■ "I 
 
 QQ 
 
 iu:m<»(racv in ami;im(ja. 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 WIiMtc'ver is dono af'tcrwiuvls is with i virw to some special 
 and liicnitive oljji'ct ; a science is taken up as a matter of 
 business, and the only branch of it wliidi is attended to is 
 sucli as admits of an innnediatc; [)ractical a|>|)licatiuii. 
 
 In Ami'rica, most of tlie rich men were formerly i)oor; 
 most of those who now enjoy leisure were absorbt-d in 
 business (lurin<j; their youth ; the consequence of which is, 
 that, when they mi<:;ht have had a taste for study, they had 
 no time for it, and when the time is at their dispi- .d, they 
 have no longer the inclination. 
 
 There is no class, then, in America, ' Avliich the taste 
 for intellectual pleasures is transmitted with here(htary or- 
 tune and leisure, and by which the labors c. the inti ilect 
 are held in honor. Accordinirly, there is an equal want of 
 the desire and the power of aj)plication to these ol)ject 
 
 A middlini; standard is fixed in America for ! uman 
 knowledge. All ajjproach as near to it as they can ; some 
 as they rise, others as they descend. Of course, a multi- 
 tude of persons are to be found who entertain the same 
 number of ideas on religion, history, science, political econ- 
 omy, legislation, and government. The gifts of intellect 
 proceed directly from God, and man ctmnot })revent their 
 unequal distribution. But it is at least a consecpience of 
 ^^hul we have just said, that although the capacities of 
 men are different, as the Creator intended they should be, 
 Americans find the means of putting them to use are ecpial. 
 
 In America, the aristocratic element has always been 
 feeble from its birth ; and if at the present day it is not 
 actually destroyed, it is at any rate so completely ilisabled, 
 that we can scarcely assign to it any degree of influencf 
 on the course of afiliir.'^. 
 
 a general rule, children of the poorest parents are not compelled to begin 
 hard labor at so early an age in the United States as in Great Britain. De 
 Tocquevillo's statement is conliisod, because he does not sufficiently indicate 
 which "professions" or "callings" he is speaking of. — Am. Ed. 
 
SOCIAL LUNDIilON 01" TllK ANtil.O-A.MKlMr ANS. 
 
 07 
 
 Tilt' (U'lnocriitii- priiiciplt', on tlie contrarv, liii-; nuiiu'd so 
 much stivnu'tli l»y tiiiu-, hy events, and by Iciiisliition, as 
 to luivc iK'coniu not only jjivdoniinant, l)nt all-jiowert'id. 
 Tlioiv is no i'aniily or corporate autliority, and it is rare to 
 finil even tiie influence of individual character enjoy any 
 durability. 
 
 .Vnierica, tlien, exhibits in her social state an extraor- 
 dinary phenomenon. Men are there seen on a «j;reater 
 e(iuality in point of fortune and intellect, or, in other 
 words, more eipial in their stren^'lh, than in any other 
 country of the world, or in any a^e- of whicli history luis 
 preserved the remembrance. 
 
 POLITICAL CONSEQUENCES OF THE SOCIAL CONDITION OP 
 TIIE ANGLO-AMERICANS. 
 
 The pohtical consequences of such a social condition as 
 this are easily deducible. 
 
 It is impossible to believe that equality will not eventu- 
 ally find its way into the political world, as it does every- 
 where else. To conceive of men remaining forever unecjual 
 upon a single point, yet ecjual on all others, is impossible ; 
 they must come in the end to be equal upon all. 
 
 Now I know of (mly two methods of establishing equality 
 in the political world ; every citizen must be put in posses- 
 sion of his rights, or rights must be granted to no one. 
 For nations which are arrived at the same stage of social 
 existence as the /V nglo-Americans, it is, theivfore, very 
 difficult to discover a medium between the sovereignty of 
 all and the absolute power of one man : and it would be 
 vain to deny that the social condition which I ha\e been 
 describing is just as liable to one of these conseipiences as 
 to the other. 
 
 There is, in fact, a manly and lawful passion for eijuality 
 
 
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 DEMOCRACY IN AMKUICA. 
 
 wliicli incites men to wisli all to be powerful and honored. 
 This passion tends to elevate the humble to the rank of the 
 great ; but there exists also in the human heart a depraved 
 taste for ecjuality, which imj)els the weak to attempt to 
 lower the })owerful to their own level, and reduces men to 
 prefer etpiality in slavery to inecpiality with freedom. Not 
 that those nations whose social condition is democratic 
 naturally despise liberty ; on the contrary, they have an 
 instinctive love of it. But liberty is not the chief and 
 "onstant object of their desires ; equality is iheir idol : they 
 make rapid and sudden efforts to obtain liberty, and, if they 
 miss their aim, resic^n themselves to their disappointment ; 
 but nothing can satisfy them without equality, and they 
 would rather perish than lose it. 
 
 On the other hand, in a state where the citizens are all 
 nearly on an e([uality, it becomes difficult for them to pre- 
 serve their indej)enuence against the aggressions of power. 
 No one amono; them beinn; stronfj enouiih to eno-affe in the 
 struiiixle alone with advantage, nothincj but a general com- 
 bination can protect their liberty. Now, such a union is 
 not always possible. 
 
 From the same social position, then, nations may derive 
 one or the other of two great political results ; these re- 
 sults are extremely different from each other, but they both 
 proceed from the same cause. 
 
 The Ano;lo-Americans are the first nation who, havincp 
 been exposed to this formidable alternative, have been 
 ha})py enough to escape the dominion of absolute power. 
 They have been allowed by their circumstances, their ori- 
 gin, their intelligence, and especially by their morals, to 
 c;stablish and maintain the sovereignty of the people. 
 
 i!! 
 
 
SOVKRLIGNTV Ol" TllK i'KOl'Li:. 
 
 uy 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE PRINCIPLE OF THE SOVEKKKiNTY OF THE PEOPLE IN 
 
 AMKP.ICA. 
 
 It predominates over the whole of Society in America. — Application made 
 of this Principle liy the Americans even liefore their Hcvointion. — De- 
 velopment ^'iveii to it l)y that Revolution. — Gradual ami irresistihle 
 Extension of the Elective (Qualification. 
 
 WHENEVER tlie political laws of the Unitotl States 
 are to be discussed, it is with the doctrine of the 
 sovereignty of the })eople that we nuist boifin. 
 
 The principle of the sovereignty of the peoj)le, which is 
 always to be found, more or less, at the bottom of almost 
 all human institutions, generally remains there concealed 
 from view. It is obeyed without being recognized, or if 
 for a moment it be brought to light, it is hastily cast back 
 into the gloom of the sanctuary. 
 
 " The will of the nation " is one of those phrases which 
 have been most largely abused by the wily and the despotic 
 of every age. Some have seen the expression of it in the 
 purchased suffrages of a few of the satellites of ])ower ; 
 others, in the votes of a timid or an interested minority ; 
 and some have even discovered it in the silence of a j)eople, 
 on the supposition that the fact of submission established 
 the right to command. 
 
 In America, the principle of the sovereignty of the peo- 
 )»le is not either barren or concealed, as it is Avith some 
 other nations ; it is recognized by the customs and pro- 
 claimed by ihe laws ; it spreads freely, and arrives without 
 

 i' i' 
 
 , r 
 
 iiii 
 
 'Mi.i' 
 
 i'\ 
 
 • i 
 
 ^h' 
 
 ro 
 
 DF.MOCHACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 iin)ie(liiiuMit at its most remote coii.soquonccs. If tliorc be 
 a couiitrv ill the world -where the doctrine ol' the sov- 
 ereiixiity of tlie people can be fairly appreciated, where it 
 can be studied in its a])plication to the affairs of society, 
 and where its dangers and its advantages may be judged, 
 that country is assuredly America. 
 
 I have already observed that, from their origin, the sov- 
 ereignty of the j)eople was the fundamental j)rinci])le of 
 most of the British colonies in America. It was far, how- 
 ever, from then exercising as much influence on the gov- 
 ermnent of society as it now does. Two obstacles — the 
 one external, the other internal — checked its invasive 
 progress. 
 
 It could not ostensibly disclose itself in the laws of col- 
 onies which were still constrained to obey the mother 
 country ; it w as therefore obliged to rule secretly in the 
 ])rovincial assemblies, and especially in the townshi})s. 
 
 American society at that time was not yet pre])ared to 
 ado})t it with all its consequences. Intelligence in New 
 England, and wealth in the country to the south of the 
 Hudson, (as I have shown in the preceding chapter,) long 
 exercised a sort of aristocratic influence, which tended to 
 keep the exercise of social power in the hands of a few. 
 Not all the public functionaries were chosen by })opular 
 vote, nor were all the citizens voters. The electoral fran- 
 chise was everywhere somewhat restricted, and made de- 
 })endent on a certain qualification, which was very low in 
 the North, and more considerable in the South. 
 
 The American Revolution broke out, and the doctrine 
 of the sovereignty of the ]>eo[)le came out of the townships, 
 and took possession of the State. Every class was enlisted 
 in its cause ; battles were fought and victories obtained for 
 it ; it became the law of laws. 
 
 A change almost as rapid was effected in the interior of 
 society, where the law of inheritance completed the abo- 
 lition of local influences. 
 
SOVERKIGXTY OF TIIK rr.OPLE. 
 
 71 
 
 As soon as this vfiWt of the laws and of the Ri'voliition 
 bc'canu' ajuiaivnt to every eye, victory was irrevocably i)ro- 
 noiinced in fiivor of the deinocntic canse. All j)ower was, 
 in fjict, in its hands, and resistance was no longer j»ossible. 
 The higher orders submitted without a nun'nnn* and with- 
 out a struggle to an evil which was thenceforth inevitable. 
 The ordinary fate of falling powers awaited them : each of 
 their members followed his own interest ; and as it was 
 impossible to wring the power from the hands of a peo[)lo 
 Avhom they did not detest sufficiently to brave, their only 
 aim was to secure its good-will at any price. The most 
 democratic laws were consequently voted by the very men 
 whose interests they imi)aired : and thus, although the 
 higher classes did not excite the })assions of- the people 
 against their order, they themselves accelerated the tri- 
 umph of the new state of things ; so that, by a singular 
 change, the democratic impulse was found to be most irre- 
 sistible in the very States where the aristocracy had the 
 firmest hold. The State of Maryland, which had been 
 founded by men of rank, was the first to proclaim univer- 
 sal suffrage, and to introduce the most democratic forms 
 into the whole of its oovernment. 
 
 When a nation begins to modify the elective qualifica- 
 tion, it may easily be foreseen that, sooner or later, that 
 qualification will be entirely abolished. There is no more 
 invariable rule in the history of society : the further elec- 
 toral rights are extended, the greater is the need of extend- 
 ing them ; for after each concession the strength of the 
 democracy increases, and its demands increase with its 
 strength. The ambition of those who are below the ap- 
 pointed rate is irritated in exact proportion to the great 
 number of those who are above it. The exception at last 
 becomes the rule, concession follows concession, and no 
 stop can be made short of universal suffrage.* 
 
 * See Appendix H. 
 
72 
 
 Dr.MOClIACV IN AMKiaCA. 
 
 At tlio present day tlic j)rinc'iple of tlic sovori'ignty of 
 the })(.'oj)lu lias actjiiiivd, in the Unitid States, all the j)rac- 
 tieal (levi'lopinent which the imaoinatioii can c(niceive. 
 It is unencumbered hy those fictions which are tlu'own 
 over it in other countries, and it appears in every possible 
 form, according to the exigency of the occasion. Some- 
 times the laws are made l»y the people in a body, as at 
 Athens ; and sometimes its representatives, chosen by uni- 
 versal suffrage, transact business in its name, and under its 
 innnediate su})ervision. 
 
 In some countries, a poAvor exists "which, though it is in 
 a degree foreign to the social body, directs it, and forces it 
 to pursue a certain track. In others, the ruling force is 
 divided, being })artly within and })artly without the ranks 
 of the people. l]ut nothing of the kind is to be seen in 
 the United States ; there society governs itself for itself. 
 All power centres in its bosom; and scarcely an individual 
 is to be met with who would venture to conceive, or, still 
 less, to express, the idea of seeking it elsewhere. The 
 nation participates in the making of its laws by the choice 
 of its leiii slaters, and in the execution of them bv the 
 choice of the agents of the executive government ; it may 
 almost be said to govern itself, so feeble and so restricted 
 is the share left to the administration, so little do the au- 
 thorities forget their po})ular origin and the power from 
 which they emanate. The people reign in the American 
 political world as the Deity does in the universe. They 
 are the cause and the aim of all things ; everything comes 
 from them, and everything is absorbed in them. 
 
 ;i;::.i:.l::i 
 
 'i ,■ ,1 
 
EXAMINATION OF THK CONDITION OF TIIF. STATKS. 73 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 NECESSITY OF EXAMINING THE CONDITION OF THE STATES 
 BEFORE THAT OF THE UNION AT LARGE. 
 
 IT is proposed to examine, in the foUowinn; chapter, what 
 is tlie form of o;overnment estahhslied in America on 
 the principle of tlie sovereiomty of the peo})le ; wliat are 
 its means of action, its liindrances, its advanta<2;es, and its 
 dangers. The first difficnlty which presents itself arises 
 from the complex natnre of the Constitution of the United 
 States, which consists of two distinct social structures, con- 
 nected, and, as it were, encased one within the other ; two 
 governments, completely separate and almost independent, 
 the one fulfilling the ordinary duties, and responding to the 
 daily and indefinite calls, of a comminiity, the other cir- 
 cumscribed within certain limits, and only exercising an 
 exceptional authority over the general interests of the 
 country. In short, there are twenty-four small sovereign 
 nations, whose agglomeration constitutes the body of the 
 Union. To examine the Union before we have studied 
 the States, would be to adopt a method filled with ob- 
 stacles. The form of the Federal Government of the 
 United States was the last to be adopted ; and it is in fact 
 nothing more than a summary of those republican prin- 
 ciples which were current in the whole community before 
 it existed, and independently of its existence. ]\Ioreover, 
 the Federal Government is, as I have just observed, the 
 exception ; the government of the States is the rule. The 
 author who should attempt to exhibit the pictmvi as a 
 
 
 
 I'f 
 
 II 
 
74 
 
 DKMOCUACV IN A.MKHICX. 
 
 ( : « 
 
 whole, liL'fort' lie liad cxidaiiu'd its details, would necessa- 
 rily (iill into ol)si('urity and repetition. 
 
 The <rreat politieal ))nnci))les which now fjovern Ameri- 
 can society undoubtedly took their oi'i^in and their <j;rowth 
 in the State. AV'^e nuist know the St >te, then, in order to 
 o;ain a clew to the n-st. The States which now compose 
 the American Union all present the same features, as I'ar as 
 regards the external aspect of their institutions. Their 
 ])olitical or administrative life is centred in three focuses 
 of action, which may he comi)ared to the different nervous 
 ci'ntres which give motion to the human body. The town- 
 ship is the first hi order, then the county, and lastly the 
 State. 
 
 THE AMERICAN SYSTEM OF TOWNSHIPS.* 
 
 Why the Author begins the Examiiuition of tlie Political Institutions with 
 the Township. — Its Existence in all Nations. — Ditliculty of cstahlishing 
 and preserving Municipal Independence. — Its Importance. — Why the 
 Autlior has selected tlic Townsliip System of New England as the mala 
 Topic of Ids Discussion. 
 
 It is not undesignedly that I begin this subject with the 
 Township. The village or township is the only association 
 which is so perfectly natiu'al, that, wherever a number of 
 men are collected, it seems to constitute itself. 
 
 The town or tithing, then, exists in all nations, whatever 
 their laws and customs may be : it is man who makes mon- 
 archies and establishes republics, but the township seems to 
 
 * It is by this periphrasis that I attempt to render the French expressions 
 Commune and Si/sthne Communal. I am not aware that any English word 
 l)recisely corresponds to tiic general term of the original. In France, every 
 association of human dwellings forms a commune, and cvciy commune is gov- 
 erned by a Maire and a Conscil vmnicipal. In other words, the vmncipium, 
 or mutiicipal privilege, which belongs, in England, to chartered corporations 
 alone, is alike extended to every commune into which the cantons and depart- 
 ments were divided at the Revolution. Theuce the different applicatiou of 
 
TOWNSllIl'S ANU MlNIta'AL llODIlvS. 
 
 75 
 
 come (llri'c'tlv iVoin the luuul of God. But altli()u<rli tlie 
 oxistoiice of till' towiisliip is coeval with that of man, its 
 froc'doin is an iiifri'([iuMit and fragile tiling. A nation can 
 always I'stahlish ^ivat ])olitical assemblies, because it habit 
 ualiy contains a certain number of individuals fitted by 
 tlu'ir talents, if not by their habits, for the direction of 
 affairs. The township, on the contrary, is composed of 
 coarser materials, which are less easily fashioned by the 
 li'^islator. The difficulty of estal)lishing its indepciulence 
 rather aujiments than diminishes with the increasino; intelli- 
 gence of the people. A higldy civilized conmuuiity can 
 hardly toh rate a local independence, is disgusted at its 
 numerous blunders, and is apt to despair of success before 
 the experiment is completed. Again, the immunities of 
 townshii)s, which have been obtained with so much diffi- 
 culty, are least of all protected against the encroachments 
 of till! supreme power. They are unable to struggle, 
 single-handed, against a strong and enterprising govern- 
 ment, and thev cannot defend themselves with success 
 unless they are identified with the customs of tlie nation 
 and supported by ])ublic opinion. Thus, until the inde- 
 pendence of townships is amalgamated with the manners 
 of a people, it is easily destroyed ; and it is only after a 
 lonn existence in the laws that it can be thus amaljxamato^.. 
 IMunicipal freedom is not the fruit of human efforts ; it is 
 rarely created by others ; but is, as it were, secretly self- 
 ju'oduced in the midst of a semi-barbarous state of society. 
 The constant action of the laws and the national habits, 
 
 the exi)rcssion, which is general in one country and restricted in the other. 
 In America, the counties of the Northern States are divided into townships, 
 those of the Soutlicrn into parishes ; besides which, nninicipal bodies, bear- 
 ing the name of corporations, exist as cities. I shall ai)ply these several 
 expressions to render the term commune. The word " parish," now com- 
 monly used in England, belongs exclusively to the ecclesiastical division ; 
 it denotes the limits over which a parson's {persona ecclmm, or perhaps parO' 
 diianus) rights extend. — Translator's Note. 
 
 )!': 
 
 

 I 
 
 1?,! 
 
 
 3 
 
 
 ; '. 
 
 
 ; ■ 
 
 ■; 
 
 *\ 
 ' ^1 
 
 ; 
 
 H 
 
 Kn 
 
 76 
 
 Dr.MocnAcv in amkhica. 
 
 r. I 
 
 U. 
 
 jK'culinr circmnstaMci's, mikI, aliovc all, time, mnv oonsoli- 
 (liitc it; luit tlicrc is ci-rtiiinly no iiutioii on tiio continent 
 of lOnropc wliicli lias experienced its advantages. Vet inu- 
 iiicipal institntions constitute the strenii;tli of tree nations. 
 To\vn-nieetin;;s an* to lihiTty what primary schools are to 
 science; they hrin^- it within the pei)ple's reach, they teach 
 men how to use and how to enjoy it. A nation mav estaln 
 lish a tree ^((vernment, hut without municipal institutions, 
 it caniu>t havi' the spirit of liherty. 'i'ransient passions, 
 till' interests of an hour, or the chance of circumstances, 
 may create the external forms of independence ; hut the 
 despotic tendency which has l)een driven into the interior 
 of the social system, will, sooner or later, reap[)ear on the 
 surfiicc. 
 
 To make the reader undi-rstand the n;eneral principles 
 on which the ])olitical oryani/ation of the counties and 
 townshii)s in the United States rests, I have thought it 
 expedient to choose oni' of the States of New En<j;land as 
 an exami)le, to examine in detail the mechanism of its 
 constitution, and then to cast a general glance over the 
 rest of the country. 
 
 The township and the connty are not organized in the 
 same manner in every part of the Union ; it is easy to 
 perceive, however, that nearly the same principles have 
 ijuided the formation of both of them throuiihout the 
 Union. I am inclined to believe that these principles 
 have been carried furtlier, and have produced greater 
 results, in New England than elsewhere. Conseipiently, 
 they stand out tliere in higher relief, and offer greater 
 facilities to the observations of a stranger. 
 
 The township institntions of New England form a com- 
 plete and regular whole ; they are old ; they have the 
 suj)})ort of the laws, and the still stronger snp[)ort of the 
 manners of the community, over which they exercise a 
 prodigious influence. For all these reasons, they deserve 
 our special attention. 
 
TOWNSIIII'S AND Ml NK'II'AI, UODIKS. «7 
 
 MMITS OF Tin; TOWNSHIP. 
 
 TilF. townsliip of Xcw Iji<;1jim(1 holds a middle placo be- 
 tween the foiiuimm' mid the ruiihiH of Fraiici'. Its avcriiii*' 
 population is irom two to tlirec thousand ; * so that it is 
 not so Iar<i;i', on the one hand, that the interi'sts of its in- 
 liahitants would lu* likely to conflit-t, and not so small. <>u 
 the other, hut that mi'U cajtahle of conduetin*; its atl'airs 
 may always he I'ound amon;^; its citi/.ens. 
 
 the 
 
 to 
 
 lavo 
 
 tllG 
 
 des 
 ater 
 
 'tly, 
 
 ater 
 
 om- 
 the 
 tlio 
 e a 
 
 trve 
 
 POWERS OF TFIF, TOWN'SJllP I\ NKW ENGLAND. 
 
 Tlie I'coitlc till" Source iif all Power in tlii' Towiisliip iis rlM-wlierc. — Miin- 
 iifit's its o-.vii AHiiJrs. — \o Miiiii('i|iiil ( 'oiiiirjl. — The ^retitc'r Part of tlic 
 Aiitliority vested in tlie Selectiiieii. — How the Seleetiiieii act. — 'I'owii- 
 Meetin;:. — Kmiiiieratioii of the Ollieers of the 'lownship. — Ohiipitory 
 mill reimineratetl Fimetioiis. 
 
 In the township, as wcW as ovcrywhero else, the jteople 
 are the source of power; but nowhere do they exercise their 
 j)ower more immediately. In America, the i)eoj)le i'orm a 
 master wlio must he oheyed to the utmost limits of j)()ssihility. 
 
 In New England, the majority act l)y representatives in 
 conductin*; the <>eneral business of the State. It is neces- 
 sary that it should be so. But in the townships, where the 
 leiiislative and administrative action of the government is 
 nearer to the <foverned, the system of rej)resentation is not 
 adopted. There is no municij)al council ; but the body of 
 voters, after ]iavin<i; chosen its maiiistrates, directs them in 
 everythiner that exceeds the simple and ordinary execution 
 of the laws of the State.f 
 
 * In 1S.30 there were 805 towiisliips in the State of Massachusetts, and 
 610,014 inhabitants ; wliich j^ives an averap;e of about 2,000 inliahitants to 
 each townsliip. [Some liave over 10,000 inliahitants each, and some have 
 less tlian 500. — Am. Ed.] 
 
 t The same rules are not applicable to the cities, which generally have a 
 
II 
 
 lii 
 
 1 14- 
 
 78 
 
 DDMOCIJACV IN AMKIMCA. 
 
 Tlii^ stntc (»r tliiiiiis Is so contniry to our I(l«'ns, mikI 
 so diircrciit from our ciistoins, that I niiist fiirnisli some 
 •'Xiunjtli's to immInc it iiitclliiiihli'. 
 
 Tlic j)ul)Ii(' (Intii's ill tlio townsliip arc oxtrcincly nuTnor- 
 0U8, and nilmitciv divided, as wv sliall sco fiirtlicr (»ii ; l)ut 
 most of tlic administrative ])ower is vested in a lew j)er- 
 sons, rliosen annually, cailefl " tlio Selectmen."* 
 
 The ijeneral laws of tlu; State im|)ose certain duties on 
 the selectineti, which they may fulHI without the authority 
 of their townsmen, hut wiiich thev can ni'iilect oidv on 
 their own responsihility. The State law re(|uires them, for 
 instance, to di'aw u]» the list of voters in their townships ; 
 and if they omit this duty, they arc fi'uilty of a misde- 
 meanor. In all the alfairs, however, which are voted in 
 town-meetinn;, the selectmen carry into efiect the popular 
 mandate, as in Fi'ance the Maire executes the decree of 
 the municij)al council. They usually act ui)on their own 
 responsihility, and merely ])ut in practice ])rinciples which 
 have heen ])revionsly recoouized by the majority. I>ut if 
 they wish to make any chanjie in the existini; state of 
 things, or to undertake any new enter] )rise, they nmst re- 
 fer to the source of their power. If, for instance, a school 
 is to be established, the selectmen call a meetino; of the 
 voters on a certain day, at an a])j)ointed place. They 
 ex]>lain the urfrency of the case ; they make known the 
 means of satisfying it, the probable expense, and the site 
 which seems to be most favorable. The meetino; is con- 
 
 iimyor, and a corporation divided into two l)odies ; this, however, is an ex- 
 ception wiiiili retpiires the sanction of a hiw. — Sec tlie Act of the 2:2d 
 Feliruary, 1822, re}i:ulating tlie jxnvers of tlic city of IJoston. It frcqnently 
 happens that small towns, as well as cities, are suhject to a peculiar adminis- 
 tration. In 1832, 104 townships in the State of New York were governed 
 in this numncr. — U7///(j/«a''s Rci/istcr. 
 
 * Three selectmen are apjjointed in the small townships, and nine in the 
 large ones. — See " The Town Officer," p. 186. Sec also the Revised Stat- 
 utes of Massachusetts. 
 
 '1 
 
TOWNSHIPS AND MINFCIIVM, nODIKS. 
 
 79 
 
 suited »»n tliosc scvorul points ; it !i(l(»|>ts tlic ]»i'incij>lt', 
 marks out tlu' sito, votes the tax, and confides tlu" execu- 
 tion of its resolution to the seK'ctnu'U. 
 
 The selectnu'U alone have the ri<jht ^A' calling n towu- 
 meetinir; hut thev nia\ he nMiuired to do so. It' tcii 
 citizens wish to suhniit a new |»roject to the assent of the 
 town, thev may demand si town-meetine; ; the si'Iectmeii 
 nri' ol)li;j;ed to comj)ly, and have only the ri«j;ht of ]tre>idinif 
 at the meetiiif:;. These jxditical forms, thesi' social cus- 
 toms, doid)tU'ss seem stran<j;e to us in Fi-ance. I do not 
 here undertake to Jud^e tht-m, or to make known the secret 
 causes by which they are jtroduced and maintained. I 
 only descrihe them. 
 
 The selectmen arc elected every yi'ar, in the month 
 of March or April. The town-meeting chooses at the 
 same time a multitude of other town ofHcers, who are 
 intrusted with important administrative functions. Tlu; 
 assessors rate the townshij) ; the collectors receive th(> tax. 
 A constable is ap])ointetl to keep the peace, to wtitch the 
 streets, and to execute the laws ; the town cli'rk records 
 the town votes, orders, and f^rants. The treasurer keeps 
 the funds. The overseers of the poor pei*forui the difKcult 
 task of carrying out the poor-laws. Committee-men aro 
 appointed to attend to the schools and public instruction ; 
 and the surveyors of hio;hwavs, who take care of the 
 greater and lesser roads of the township, complete the list 
 of the principal functionaries. But there are other petty 
 officers still ; such as the parish-committee, who audit the 
 expenses of public worship ; fire-wards, who direct the 
 efforts of the citizens in case of fire ; tithinij-men, hoix- 
 reeves, fence- viewers, timber-measurers, and sealers of 
 weifflits and measures.* 
 
 * All these magistrates actually exist ; their different functions are all 
 detailed in a hook ealled " The Town Officer," by Isaac Goodwin, (Wor- 
 cester, 1827,) and in the Revised Statutes. 
 
 ■■]•' 
 
V- 
 
 
 ii 
 
 m i^i 
 
 t 
 
 ■i :':! 
 
 
 iU 
 
 1 i 
 
 :| 
 
 
 1 1 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 ilii 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 H 
 
 i?| , ^ 1 
 
 ! 1; 
 
 1 
 
 
 f 
 
 If' 
 
 
 
 ! i • 
 
 
 80 
 
 DEMOCRACY IX AMKltlCA. 
 
 Tliciv arc, in all, iiinctoon jji'i'iicipal offices in a township. 
 Every inhabitant is constrained, on the i)ain of beinj^ fined, 
 to undertake these different functions ; which, however, are 
 almost all })aid, in order that the })oorer citiy.ens may give 
 time to them without loss.* In general, each official act 
 has its price, and the officers are remunerated i.i proportion 
 to what they have done. 
 
 LIFE IX THE TOWNSHIP. 
 
 Every one the best Judge of his own Interest. — Corollary of the Princi- 
 ple of tiie Sovereignty of tlie People. — Aj)plioation of these Doetrines 
 in the To\\iisliips of America. — Tlic Townsiiii) of New England is Sov- 
 ereign in all that ooneerns itself alone, and Sulyect to the State in all 
 other Matters. — Duties of the Township to the State. — In France, the 
 Government lends its Agents to the Commune. — In America, it is the 
 reverse. 
 
 I HAVE already observed, that the principle of the sov- 
 ereignty of the people governs the whole political system 
 of the Anglo-Americans. Every page of this book will 
 afford new applications of the same doctrine. In the na- 
 tions by which the sovereignty of the people is recognized, 
 every individual has an equal share of power, and })artici- 
 pates equally in the government of the state. Why, then, 
 does he obey the government, and what are the natural 
 limits of this obedience ? Every individual is always sup- 
 posed to be as well informed, as virtuous, and as strong as 
 any of his fellow-citizens. He obeys the government, not 
 because he is inferior to those who conduct it, or because 
 he is less capable than any other of governing himself; 
 but because he acknowledges the utility of an association 
 with his fellow-meri, and he knows that no such association 
 can exist without a regulating force. He is a subject in all 
 
 * This is an en-or : most of then are performed gratuitously ; and when 
 pay is given, it is so small as to be almost nominal. — Am. Ei>. 
 
TOWNsmrs and muxicital hodiks. 
 
 81 
 
 
 kvhcn 
 
 that conconis tlio duties of citizens to Oiicli otlior ; he is free, 
 mid responsible to (rod alone, for all that concerns himself. 
 Hence arises the maxim, that every one is the best and sole 
 judiie of his own })rivate interest, and that society has no 
 right to control ;) man's actions, unless they are prejudicial 
 to the common weal, or unless the common weal demands 
 liis help. This doctrine is universally admitted in the 
 United States. I shall hereafter examine the general in- 
 fluence which it exercises on the ordinary actions of life : 
 I am now speaking of the municipal bodies. 
 
 The township, taken as a whole, and in relation to the 
 central government, is only an individual, like any other 
 to whom the theory I have just described is applicable. 
 Municipal independence in the United States is, .therefore, 
 a natural consecpience of this very principle of the sov- 
 ereignty of the people. All the American republics rec- 
 ognize it more or less ; but circumstances have peculiarly 
 favored its growth in Xew Eiiixland. 
 
 In this part of the Union, political life had its origin in 
 the townships ; and it may almost be said that each of 
 them originally formed an independent nation. When the 
 kings of England afterwards asserted their supremacy, they 
 were content to assume the central power of the state. 
 They left the townshi))s where they were before ; and 
 although they are now sul)Ject to the state, they were 
 not at first, or were hardly so. They did not receive 
 their powers from the central authority, but, on the con- 
 trary, they gave up a portion of their inde})endence to the 
 state. This is an important distinction, and one which 
 the reader must constantly recollect. The townships are 
 generally subordinate to the state only in those interests 
 which I shall term social, as they are common to all the 
 others. They are independent in all that concerns them- 
 selves alone : and amongst the inhabitants of Xew England, 
 I believe that not a man is to be found who would acknowl- 
 
 4* F 
 
 
 I 
 
 1« 
 
-41 
 
 82 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 edrro that the state lias any rio;ht to interfere in their town 
 affairs. Tlie towns of New England bny and sell, prose- 
 cute or are indicted, augment or diminish their rates, and 
 no administrative authority ever thinks of offering any 
 opposition. 
 
 There are certain social duties, however, which they are 
 hound to fulfil. If the State is in need of money, a town 
 cannot withhold the supplies ; if the State projects a road, 
 the township cannot refuse to let it cross its territory ; if a 
 police regulation is made by the State, it must be enforced 
 by the town ; if a uniform system of public instruction is 
 enacted, every town is bound to establish the schools which 
 the law ordains. "When I come to speak of the administra- 
 tion of the laws in the United States, I shall point out how, 
 and by what means, the townships are compelled to obey in 
 these different cases : I here merely show the existence of 
 the oblio;ation. Strict as this oblii^ation is, the o-overnment 
 of the State imposes it in principle only, and in its per- 
 formance the township resumes all its inde])endent rights. 
 Thus, taxes are voted by the State, but they are levied and 
 collected by the township ; the establishment of a school is 
 obligatoiy, but the township builds, pays, and superintends 
 it. In France, the state collector receives the local im- 
 posts ; in America, the town collector receives the taxes of 
 the State. Thus the French o;overnment lends its aixents 
 to the commune; in America, the township lends its agents 
 to the government. This fact alone shows how widely the 
 two nations differ. 
 
 ! 
 
 
Towxsinrs and :\irNirTPAL rodiks. 
 
 83 
 
 SPIRIT OF THE TOWNSinrS OF NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 How tho Townsliij) of New England wins the Aftectioiis of its Iiiliabitants. 
 — Diflioulty of crcatini; local I'uMic Spirit in Europe. — The Hi^'hts 
 and Duties of the American Township favoralile to it. — Sources of local 
 Attachment in the United States. — How Town Sj)irit shows itself in 
 New England. — Its happy EtK-cts. 
 
 In America, not only do municipal bodies exist, but they 
 are kept alive and supported, by town spirit. The town- 
 ship of New England possesses two advaritaiivs, which 
 strongly excite the interest of mankind, — namely, inde- 
 pendence and authority. Its sphere is limited, indeed ; but 
 within that sphere, its action is unrestrained. This inde- 
 pendence alone gives it a real importance, Avhicli its extent 
 and population would not insure. 
 
 It is to be remembered, too, that the affections of men 
 generally turn towards power. Patriotism is not durable 
 in a conquered nation. Tho New-Englander is attached 
 to liis township, not so much because he was born in it, 
 biit because it is a free and strong community, of which he 
 is a member, and which deserves the care spent in man- 
 aging it. In Europe, the absence of local public spirit is 
 a frequent subject of regret to those who are in }))wer ; 
 every one agrees that there is no surer guaranty of order 
 and tranquillity, and yet nothing is more difficult to create. 
 If the municipal bodies were made powerful and indepen- 
 dent, it is feared that they Avould become too strong, and 
 expose the state to anarchy. Yet, without power and in- 
 dependence, a town may contain good subjects, but it can 
 have no active citizens. Another important fact is, that 
 the township of New England is so constituted as to excite 
 the warmest of human affections, without arousing the 
 ambitious passions of the heart of man. The officers of 
 the county are not elected,* and their authority is veiy 
 
 * This is a mistake ; they are chosen by popular vote. — Am. Ed. 
 
 I 
 ii 
 
 ..iif 
 
 m 
 
 t;. 
 
84 
 
 DKMOCRACY IX AMKIilCA. 
 
 ■ N 
 
 liinitcfl. Even the State is only a second-rate community, 
 nliose tran(|uil and obscure administration offers no induce- 
 ment sufHcient to draw men away from the home of their 
 interests into the turmoil of j)ul)lic affairs. The Federal 
 Government confers power and honor on the men who con- 
 duct it ; hut these individuals can never be ver}' numerous. 
 The high station of the Presidency can only be reached at 
 an adxanced period of life ; and the other Federal function- 
 aries of a high class are generally men who have been 
 favored by good luck, or have been distinguished in some 
 other career. Such cannot be the permanent aim of the 
 ambitious. But the township, at the centre of the ordi- 
 nary relations of life, serves as a field for the desire of public 
 esteem, the want of exciting interest, and the taste for au- 
 thority and popularity ; and the passions which commonly 
 embroil society change their character, when they find a 
 vent so near the domestic hearth and the family circle. 
 
 In the American townships, power has been disseminated 
 with a<lmirable skill, for the puq^ose of interesting the 
 greatest possible number of persons in the common weal. 
 Indejiendently of the voters, who are from time to time 
 called into action, the power is divided among innumerable 
 functionaries and officers, "who all, in their several s})heres, 
 represent the powei'fiil community in whose name they act. 
 The local administration thus affords an unfailing source 
 of profit and interest to a vast number of individuals. 
 
 The American system, which divides the local authority 
 among so many citizens, does not scruple to multiply the 
 functions of the town officers. For in the United States, 
 it is believed, and with truth, that patriotism is a kind of 
 devotion which is strengthened by ritual observance. In 
 this manner, the acti\'ity of the township is continually per- 
 ceptible ; it is daily manifested in the fulfilment of a duty, 
 or the exercise of a right ; and a constant though gentle 
 motion is thus kept up in society, which animates without 
 
 11 I 
 
 Sit 
 
 ll 
 
TOWNSHIPS AND MUNICIPAL BODIES. 
 
 85 
 
 disturbino; it. The American attaches himself to liis httle 
 community for the same reason tliat tlie mountaineer chngs 
 to his liills, because tlie characteristic feat ".res of his coun- 
 try arc there more distinctly marked ; it has a niiire strik- 
 ing physiognomy. 
 
 The existence of the townships of New England is, in 
 general, a happy one. Their government is suited to their 
 tastes, and chosen by themselves. In the midst of the 
 profound peace and general comfort which reign in Amer- 
 ica, the commotions of municipal life are luifreciuent. The 
 conduct of local business is easy. The political education 
 of the people has long been complete ; say rather that it 
 was complete, when the people first set foot uj)on the soil. 
 In New England, no tradition exists of a distinction of 
 ranks ; no portion of the community is tempted to o})press 
 the remainder ; and the wrongs which may injure isolated 
 individuals are forootten in the general contentment which 
 prevails. If the government has faults, (and it would no 
 doubt be easy to point out some,) they do not attract 
 notice, for the government really emanates from those it 
 governs, and whether it acts ill or well, this fact casts the 
 protecting spell of a parental pride over its demerits. Be- 
 sides, they have nothing wherewith to compare it. Eng- 
 land formerly governed the mass of the colonies ; but the 
 people was ahvays sovereign in the township, where its 
 rule is not only an ancient, but a primitive state. 
 
 The native of New England is attached to his township 
 because it is independent and free : his co-operation in its 
 affairs insures his attachment to its interest ; the well- 
 being it affords him secures his affection ; and its welfare is 
 the aim of his ambition and of his future exertions. He 
 takes a part in every occurrence in the j)lace ; he practises 
 the art of government in the small sphere within his reach ; 
 he accustoms himself to those forms without wdiicli liberty 
 can only advance by revolutions ; he imbibes their spirit ; 
 
86 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 he acquires a taste for order, comprelientls tlie balance of 
 powers, and collects clear practical notions on the nature 
 of his duties and the extent of his rights. 
 
 THE COUNTIES OF NE:\V ENGLAND. 
 
 The division of the counties in America has considerable 
 analogy with that of the arromUifsenients of France. The 
 limits of both are arbitrarily laid down, and the various 
 districts which they contain have no necessary connection, 
 no common tradition or natural sympathy, no conununity 
 of existence ; their object is simply to facilitate the ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 The extent of the township was too small to contain a 
 system of judicial institutions ; the county, therefore, is the 
 first centre of judicial action. Each county has a court of 
 justice, a sheriff to execute its decrees, and a prison for 
 criminals. There are certain wants which are felt alike by 
 all the townships of a county ; it is therefore natural that 
 they should be satisfied by a central authority. In Mas- 
 sachusetts, this authority is vested in the hands of several 
 magistrates, who are appointed by the Governor of the 
 State, with the advice of his council.* The County Com- 
 missioners have only a limited and exceptional authority, 
 which is applicable to certain predetermined cases. The 
 State and the townships possess all the power requisite for 
 ordinary public business. The budget of the county is 
 only drawn up by its Commissioners, and is voted by the 
 legislature ; there is no assembly which directly or indi- 
 rectly represents the county. It has, therefore, properly 
 speaking, no political existence. 
 
 A twofold tendency may be discerned in most of the 
 
 * Tlie council of the Governor is an elective body. [The County Com- 
 missioners are now elected by popular vote. See Eevised Statutes. — 
 Am. Ed.] 
 
 il 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
TOWNSHIPS ANU MUNICIPAL BODIKS. 
 
 87 
 
 Amcrit-an constitutions, wliicli inipols the legislator to con- 
 centrate the legislative, and to divide the executive power. 
 The township of New England has in itself an indestructi- 
 ble principle of life ; but this distinct existence could only 
 be fictitiously introduced into the county, where the want 
 of it has not been felt. All the townships united have but 
 one representation, which is the State, the centre of all 
 national authority : beyond the action of the townshij) and 
 that of the State, it may be said that there is nothing but 
 individual action. 
 
 m 
 It 
 
 THE ADMINISTRATION OF GOVERNMENT IN NEW ENGLAND. 
 
 Administration not perceived in America. — ^Vliy ? — Tlie Enropcans be- 
 lieve tliat Lil)erty is promoted by deprivinff the Social Autiiority of some 
 of its Rights ; the Americans, by dividing its Exercise. — Almost all 
 the Administration confined to the Townsliip, and divided amongst the 
 Town-Officers. — No Trace of an Administrative Hierarchy perceived, 
 cither in tlie Township or above it. — The Keason of tliis. — How it 
 happens that the Administration of the State is uniform. — Who is em- 
 powered to enforce the Obedience of the Township and tlie County to 
 the Law. — Tiie Introduction of Judicial Power into the Administration. 
 
 — Consequence of the Extension of the Elective Principle to all Func- 
 tionaries. — Tiic Justice of the Peace in New England. — By whom ap- 
 pointed. — County Officer: insures the Administration of the Townships. 
 
 — Court of Sessions. — Its Mode of Action. — Who brings Matters 
 before this Court for Action. — Right of Inspection and Indictment 
 parcelled out like the other Administrative Functions. — Informers en- 
 couraged by the Division of Fines. 
 
 Nothing is more striking to a European traveller in 
 the United States, than the absence of what we term the 
 Government, or the Administration. Written laws exist 
 in America, and one sees the daily execution of them ; but 
 although everything moves regularly, the mover can no- 
 where be discovered. The hand which directs the social 
 machine is invisible. Nevertheless, as all persons must 
 
I 
 
 Ijii 
 
 88 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 V ! 
 
 MMlil^' 
 
 ! ■ i: ^f! 
 
 liiivo recourse to cortuin grammatical forms, which arc the 
 foundation of human language, in order to express their 
 thougiits ; so all connnunities are obliged to secure their 
 existence by submitting to a certain amount of authority, 
 without Avhich they fall into anarchy. This autho"ity may 
 be distributed in several ways, but it must always exist 
 somewhere. 
 
 There are two methods of diminishing the force of au- 
 thority in a nation. The first is to weaken the supreme 
 power in its very principle, by forbidding or preventing 
 society from acting in its own defence under certain cir- 
 cumstances. To weaken authority in this manner is the 
 European way of establishing freedom. 
 
 The second manner of diminishing the influence of au- 
 thority docs not consist in stripping society of some of its 
 rights, nor in paralyzing its efforts, but in distributing the 
 exercise of its powers among various hands, and in multi- 
 plying fiinctionaries, to each of whom is given the degree 
 of power necessary for him to perform his duty. There 
 may be nations whom this distribution of social powers 
 might lead to anarchy ; but in itself, it is not anarchical. 
 The authority thus divided is, indeed, rendered less irre- 
 sistible and less perilous, but it is not destroyed. 
 
 The Revolution of the United States was the result of a 
 mature and reflecting preference of freedom, and not of 
 a vague or ill-defined craving for independence. It con- 
 tracted no alliance with the turbulent passions of anarchy ; 
 but its course was marked, on the contrary, by a love of 
 order and law. 
 
 It was never assumed in the United States, that the citi- 
 zen of a free country has a right to do whatever he pleases ; 
 on the contrary, more social obligations were there imposed 
 upon him than anywhere else. No idea was ever enter- 
 tained of attacking the principle or contesting the rights 
 of society; but the exercise of its authority was divided, 
 
 
iiai 
 
 TOWN'SIIIPS AND MUNICIPAL BODIKS. 
 
 89 
 
 in onli'i tlial. the offir-e ini<:;lit be powi'H'ul and tlio uftici-r 
 insiM;niKc'iuit, aiul that the coinmimity slioukl be at once 
 regulated and free. In no country in tlie world does the 
 law hold so absolute a lauiiuatie as in America; and in no 
 country is the rio;ht of! Jijtplying it vested in so many 
 hands. The administrative j)ower in the United States 
 presents nothino- cither centralized or liierarchical in its con- 
 stitution ; this accoiuits for its passing luiperceived. The 
 power exists, but its representative is nowhere to be seen. 
 
 We have already mentioned, that the indej)endent town- 
 ships of New England were not under guardianship, but 
 took cjire of their own })rivate interests ; and the nuniici}>al 
 magistrates are the persons who either execute the laws of 
 the State, or see that they are executed.* liesides the gen- 
 eral laws, the State sometimes passes general police.! regu- 
 hitions ; but more commonly, the townsliij)S and town 
 officers, conjointly with the justices of the peace, regulate 
 the minor details of social life, according to the necessities 
 of the different localities, and promulgate such orders as 
 concern the health of the comnuuiity, and the peace as 
 well as morality of the citizens. f Lastly, these town 
 magistrates provide, of their own accord and without any 
 impulse from without, for those unforeseen emergencies 
 which frequently occur in society.:}: 
 
 * Sec " The Town-Officer," especially at the words Sklectmen, Asses- 
 sors, Collectors, Schools, Surveyors op Highways. I take one 
 example in a thousand • the State prohibits travelling on Sunday without 
 good reason ; the tythhuj-mm, who arc town-officers, are required to keep 
 watch and to execute the law. 
 
 The selectmen di'aw up the lists of voters for the election of the Governor, 
 and transmit the result of the ballot to the Secretary of the State. 
 
 t Thus, for instance, the selectmen authorize the construction of drains, 
 and point out the proper sites for slaughter-houses and other trades which 
 are a nuisance to the neighborhood. 
 
 X For example, the selectmen, conjoinly with the justices of the peace, 
 take measures for the security of the public in case of contagious diseases. 
 
 4^' 
 

 IH 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 it':. 
 
 1 ! 
 
 
 i' ' 
 
 ; 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 ' 1 
 . 1 
 
 r ! 
 i 
 
 ■: 
 
 I; i 
 
 
 f. I,- .'^ 
 
 i , 1 
 
 i -1 
 \ 
 
 i ,|' 
 
 i! 1 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 yo 
 
 Dr.MocnAcv in amkrica. 
 
 It results i'roiu ^vllilt wo luive said, that, in tlu' State 
 of iMassacliiist'tts, the ailministnitivu authority is ahnost 
 entin'ly restricted to the township,* and tliat it is tlierc 
 distributed anion;:; a iiivat inunber of individuals. Jn tiio 
 Fi'enelj conDiiutie^ there is j)ro})erly but one official func- 
 tionary, — namely, the Maire ; and in Kew England, we 
 have seen that then; are nineteen. These nineteen func- 
 tionaries do not, in general, depend one upon another. 
 The law carefully prescribes a circle of action to each of 
 these ina;;isti-ates ; within that circle, they are all-j)owerful 
 to j)i'rtbrni their functions independently of any other au- 
 thority. Above the townsliip, scarcely any trace of a 
 liierarchy of official dignities is to be found. It sometimes 
 hap[)ens, that tbe county officers alter a decision of the 
 townships, or town magistrates;! but, in general, the au- 
 thorities of the county have no right to interfere with the 
 auth(jrities of the township,^ except in such matters as 
 concern the county. 
 
 The magistrates of the township, as well as those of the 
 
 * I say almost, for there are many incidents in town-life vliicli arc regu- 
 lated I)y the justiees of peace in their individual capacity, or by an assenil)ly 
 of them in tlie chief town of the county ; thus, licenses arc granted by the 
 justices. 
 
 t Thus, licenses are gi'anted only to such persons as can produce a certif- 
 icate of good conduct from the selectmen. If the selectmen refuse to give 
 the ccrtilicate, the party may appeal to the justices assembled in the Court 
 of Sessions ; and they may grant the license. The townships have the right 
 to make by-laws, and to enforce them by tines, which are fixed by law ; but 
 these by-laws nmst be approved by the Court of Sessions. [In several re- 
 spects, these laws and customs have been altered by general legislation since 
 the time when De Tocqueville wrote. But I do not tliink it necessary to 
 specify all these alterations, as generally it is not the principle, but only the 
 details, of the law that have been changed. — Am. Ed.] 
 
 t In Massachusetts the county magistrates are frequently called upon to 
 investigate the acts of the town magistrates ; but it will be shown farther on 
 that this investigation is a consequence, not of their administrative, but of 
 their judicial power. 
 
TOWNSnil'S AND MlXICIl'AI. HoDIKS. 
 
 91 
 
 Court 
 
 |right 
 
 but 
 
 il re- 
 
 biuce 
 
 \y to 
 
 the 
 
 in to 
 |r on 
 
 of 
 
 county, nrc Ixmiid, in a small mnnluT of pri'dcti'nniiu'd 
 cases, to conununicatt' their acts to tlu; central govern- 
 ment.* lint the central govHTiinient is not repri'sented 
 Lv an au'ent mIioso bnsiness it is to pnhlish police I'eo- 
 ulations and ordinances for the execution of the laws, or 
 to keej) nj) a re^idar communication with the othcers of 
 the township and the county, or to insjx'ct their conduct, 
 direct their actions, or reprimand tiieir fiudts. There is 
 110 point M'hich serves as a centre to the radii of the ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 IIow, then, can the government be conducted on a uni- 
 form i)lan ? and how is the com[)liance of the counties and 
 their magistrates, or tlie townshi})s and their officers, 
 enforced ? In the New Enoland States, the lemslativo 
 authority embraces more subjects than it does in France ; 
 the legislator penetrates to the very core of the administra- 
 tion ; the law descends to minute details ; the same enact- 
 ment prescribes the principle and the method of its apj)lica- 
 tion, and tlms imposes a multitude of strict and rigorously 
 defined obligations on the secondary bodies and functiona- 
 ries of the State. The consequence of this is, that, if all 
 the secondary functionaries of the administration conform 
 to the law, society in all its branches proceeds with the 
 greatest uniformity. The difficulty remains, how to compel 
 the secondary bodies and functionaries of the administra- 
 tion to conform to the law. It may be aflfirmed, in general, 
 that society has only two methods of enforcing the execu- 
 tion of the laws : a discretionary power may be intrusted 
 to one of them of directino; all the others, and of removing 
 them in case of disobedience ; or the courts of justice may 
 be required to inflict judicial penalties on the offender. 
 But these two methods are not always available. 
 
 The right of directing a civil officer presupposes that of 
 
 * Thus, tlie town committees of schools are obliged to make an annual 
 report to the Secretary of the State on the condition of the schools. 
 
<l-) 
 
 Hi 
 
 I>1;M(»( IJACV IN AMKIMCA. 
 
 lu 
 
 \\ 
 
 I 
 
 1^ 
 
 (•nsliii-riiio; liiin if lit- docs not olx'V orders, jiiid of I'cward- 
 iii^' liiiii l»y j)i'oinotioii it' lie tullils his duties w itli j»r()j)riety, 
 I'mt ail elected iiiaiiistrate cannot l»e ca^Iiiered or |ii'oiMot- 
 ed. All elective t'linctioiis ai'e iiialieiiaMc until their tei'ni 
 I'Xpires. In liict, the elected n»a;^istrate has nothing' to 
 expect or to fear, except from his constituents; and when 
 all puhlic otKces are filled hy hallot, there can he no serii'S 
 of oflicial dignities, because the <lonhle ri;j;ht of connnand- 
 iny; and of enforcinj'' obedience can never be vested in the 
 same person, and because the power of issuiui:; an order 
 can never be joined to that of inflicting a punishnu'ut or 
 bestowing a reward. 
 
 The conmumities, therefore, in whicli the secondary 
 functionaries of the government arc elected, are perforce 
 obliged to make great use of judicial pi-nalties as a nu>ans 
 of administration. This is not evident at first sight ; for 
 those in ])ower are apt to look upon the institution of elec- 
 tive functionaries as one concession, and the subjection of 
 the elected niairistrate to the iudirt's of the land as another. 
 They are ecjnally a\ erse to both these innovations ; and as 
 they are more jiressingly solicited to grant the former than 
 the latter, they accede to tlie election of the magistrate, and 
 leave him independent of the judicial power. Neverthe- 
 less, the second of these measures is the only thing that 
 can possibly counterbalance the first ; and it will be found 
 that an elective authority which is not subject to judicial 
 power will, sooner or later, either elude all control or be 
 destroyed. The courts of justice are the only possible 
 medium between the central power and the administrative 
 bodies ; they alone can compel the elected functionary to 
 obey, without violating the rights of the elector. The 
 extension of judicial power in the political world ought, 
 therefore, to be in the exact ratio of the extension of elec- 
 tive power: if these two institutions do not go hand in 
 hand, the State must fall into anarchv or into servitude. 
 
TOWN'snil'S AND MINICfrM, nODFKS. 
 
 98 
 
 It li:i.s nlwiiys Ihhmi n'lnai'kiMl tliiit jiidii-ial li:»l»its do not 
 rt'iidi'i- iiu'ii apt to the cxiTci^r "f adiniuisti'Mtixt' aiitliority. 
 Tlic AiMcricaiH liavc l)on'o\vt'<l troiii tlicir fathers, tlic ICii^- 
 lisli, the idea of an institution which is unknown upon the 
 continent of Europe: I alhide to tliat of Justices of the 
 Peace. 
 
 Tiie Justice of tlio Peace is a sort of middle term be- 
 twoon the majiistrate and tlie man of the world, hetween 
 the civil oflicer and tlie judui'. A justici' of thi' peace is a 
 well-intormed citizen, tliouiih he is not neoossarilv learned 
 iu the law. His ofhce simply ol)lii;-es him to execute th(^ 
 police re;j;ulations of society, a task in which oood sense 
 and intenritv are of more avail than Ici-al scienct'. The 
 justice introduces into the administration, when he takes 
 j)art in it, a certain taste for estahlished forms and puln 
 lieity, which renders him a most unserviceahh' instrument 
 for desj)otism ; and, on the other hand, he is not a slave of 
 those lee;al sni)erstitions whicli render judij;es unfit mem])ers 
 of a jjjovernment. The Americans have adopted the Eng- 
 lish system of justices of the })eace, dej)riviniT it of the 
 aristocratic character which distinmiishes it in the mother 
 coimtry. The Governor of ]Massa(diusetts appoints a cer- 
 tain number of justices of the peace in every county, whose 
 functions last seven years. He furtlicr desirrnates three 
 individuals from the wliole body of justices, who form in 
 each county what is called the Court of Sessions.* The 
 justices take a personal share in tlie public administration ; 
 they arc sometimes intrusted with administrative functions 
 in conjunction with elected officers ; f they sometimes cou- 
 
 * Tlic Court of Sessions no longer exists as such ; its functions have been 
 inerpjed iu those of tlie ordinary legal trii)unals. — Am. Ed. 
 
 t Thus, for example, a stranger arrives in a township from a country 
 where a contagious disease prevails, and he falls ill. Two justices of the 
 peace can, with the assent of the selectmen, order the sheriff of the county 
 to remove and take care of him. In general, the justices interfere in all the 
 im[)ortaiit acts of the administration, and give them a semi-judicial character. 
 
i' 
 
 •M 
 
 
 ill ! 
 
 ■IP 
 
 t* I 
 
 §■ 
 
 i i it 
 
 ; ; ,, f; 
 
 H ill 
 
 94 
 
 DK.MOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 stitute a tribunal, befo 
 
 'hich the 
 
 ly 
 
 ifjistrates summar 
 prosecute a refractory citizen, or tlie citizens inform against 
 the abuses of tlie majiistrate. But it is in the Court of 
 Sessions that they exercise tlieir most important functions. 
 This court meets twice a year, in the county town ; in 
 Massacliusetts, it is empowered to enforce the obedience of 
 'Host* of the pubhc officers. f It must be observed that, 
 in ]\Iassacliusetts, tlie Court of Sessions is at the same time 
 an administrative body, properly so called, and a political 
 tribunal. It has been mentioned that the county is a 
 purely administrative division. The Court of Sessions 
 presides over that small number of affairs which, as they 
 concern several townships, or all the townships of the 
 county in common, cannot be intrusted to any one of 
 them in particular. J In all that concerns county business, 
 the duties of the Court of Sessions are purely administra- 
 tive ; and if in its procedure it occasionally introduces judi- 
 cial forms, it is only with a view to its own information, § 
 or as a guaranty to those for whom it acts. But when the 
 administration of the township is brought before it, it acts 
 
 * I say most of them, because certain administrative misflomcanors are 
 brought before tlie ordinary tril)unals. If, for instance, a to\v-iisliip refuses 
 to make the necessary expenditure for its schools, or to name a school-com- 
 mittee, it is liable to a heavy tine. But this penalty is pronounced by the 
 Supreme Judicial Court or the Court of Common Pleas. 
 
 t In their individual capacity, the Justices of the Peace take a part in the 
 busmess of the counties and townships. In general, the most important 
 acts of the town can be performed only with the concurrence of some one of 
 them. 
 
 J These affairs may be brought under the following heads : — 1. The erec- 
 tion of prisons and courts of justice. 2. The county budget, which is after- 
 wards voted by the State legislature. 3. The distribution of the taxes so 
 voted. 4. Grants of certain patents. 5. The laying down and repairs 
 of the county roads. [Most of these acts are now performed by the County 
 Commissioners. — Am. Ed.] 
 
 § Thus, when a road is under consideration, almost all difficulties are dis- 
 posed of liy the aid of the jury. 
 
 V . <iJ 
 
TOWNSHIPS AND JIUXICirAL BODIKS. 
 
 Oo 
 
 Irec- 
 
 ftcr- 
 
 so 
 
 lairs 
 
 Lnty 
 
 lilis- 
 
 as a judicial body, and only in some few cases as an admin- 
 istrative body. 
 
 The first difficulty is, to make the township itself, an 
 almost independent power, obey the general laws of the 
 State. We have stated, that assessors are annually named 
 by the town-meetings to levy the taxes. If a townshij) 
 attempts to evade the payment of the taxes by neglecting 
 to name its assessors, the Court of Sessions condemns it to 
 a heavy fine. The fine is levied on each of the inhabitants ; 
 and the sheriff of the county, who is the officer of justice, 
 executes the mandate. Thus, in the United States, gov- 
 ernment authority, anxious to keep out of sight, hides itself 
 under the forms of a judicial sentence ; and its influence is 
 at the same time fortified by that irresistible power Avhich 
 men attribute to the formalities of law. 
 
 These proceedings are easy to follow and to understand. 
 The demands made upon a township are, in general, plain 
 and accurately defined ; they consist in a simple fact, or in 
 a principle without its application in detail.* But the diffi- 
 culty begins when it is not the obedience of the township, 
 but that of the town officers, which is to be enforced. All 
 the reprehensible actions which a public functionary can 
 commit are reducible to the followino; heads : — 
 
 He may execute the law without energy or zeal ; 
 
 He may neglect what the law requires ; 
 
 He may do what the law forbids. 
 
 Only the last two violations of duty can come before a 
 legal tribunal ; a positive and appreciable fact is the indis- 
 
 * There is an indirect metliod of enforcing tlic obedience of a township. 
 Suppose that the funds which the law demands for the maintenance of the 
 roads have not been voted ; the town surveyor is then authorized, ex officio, 
 to levy the supplies. As he is personally responsible to private individuals 
 for the state of the roads, and indictable before the Court of Sessions, he is 
 sure to employ the extraordinary ri<iht which the law jrives him agaiiist the 
 to\vnship. Tlius, by threatening the officer, the Court of Sessions exacts 
 compliance from tlie town. 
 
 Hi 
 
00 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 , I 11 : 
 
 III 
 
 'i; 
 
 2)ensal)lc foundation of an action at law. Thus, if the 
 selectmen omit the legal formalities usual at town elections, 
 tlu^y may ho fined. But when the officer performs his duty 
 unskilfully, or oheys the letter of the law without zeal or 
 energy, he is out of the reach of judicial interference. The 
 Court of Sessions, even when clothed with administrative 
 powers, is in this case unahle to enforce a more satisfactory 
 obedience. The fear of removal is the only check to these 
 quasi-offences, and the Court of Sessions does not originate 
 the town authorities ; it cannot remove functionaries whom 
 it does not appoint. oNIoreover, a perpetual supervision 
 v.'ould he necessary to convict the officer of negligence or 
 lukewarmness. Now the Court of Sessions sits but twice 
 a year, and then only judges such offences as are brought 
 to its notice. The only security for that active and enlight- 
 ened obedience, which a court of justice cannot enforce 
 upon public functionaries, lies in the arbitrary removal of 
 them from office. In France, this final security is exer- 
 cised by the heads of the administration ; in America, it is 
 obtained through the principle of election. 
 
 Thus, to recapitulate in a few words what I have de- 
 scribed : — 
 
 If a public officer in New England commits a crime in 
 the exercise of his functions, the ordinary courts of justice 
 are always called upon to punish him. 
 
 If he commits a fault in his administrative capacity, a 
 purely administrative tribunal is empowered to punish 
 him ; and, if the affair is important or urgent, the judge 
 does what the functionary should have done.* 
 
 Lastly, if the same individual is guilty of one of those 
 intangible offences which human justice can neither define 
 nor appreciate, he annually appears before a tribunal from 
 
 t ■' 
 
 * If, for instance, a townsliip persists in refusing to name its assessors, tiie 
 Court of Sessions nominates tliem ; and tlic magistrates thus appointed are 
 invested with the same autiiority as elected officers. 
 
TOWNSHIPS AND MUNICIPAL P.ODIKS. 
 
 01 
 
 m 
 
 dee 
 
 L a 
 lisli 
 
 
 )se 
 
 me 
 
 )in 
 
 Itlie 
 arc 
 
 wliic'li tlicre is no ap[)eal, wliicli can at once reduce liim to 
 insiniiificance, and deprive liiin of his charge. This system 
 undouhtedly possesses great advantages, but its execution 
 is attended with a })ractical difficuUy, wliich it is important 
 to point out. 
 
 I liave already observed, that the administrative tribunal, 
 wliich is called the Court of Sessions, has no right of in- 
 spection over the town officers. It can only interfere when 
 the conduct of a magistrate is specially brought under its 
 notice ; and this is tlie delicate part of the system. The 
 Americans of New England have no public prosecutor for 
 the Court of Sessions,* and it may readily be perceived 
 that it would be difficult to create one. If an accusino; 
 magistrate had merely been appointed in the chief town 
 of each comity, and he had been unassisted by agents in 
 the townships, he would not have been better actpiainted 
 with what was ijoino; on in the county than the members 
 of the Court of Sessions. But to a})point his agents in 
 each township would have been to centre in his person the 
 most formidable of powers, that of a judicial administration. 
 Moreover, laws are the children of habit, and nothing of 
 the kind exists in the legislation of Eno;land. The Amer- 
 icans h?ve, therefore, divided the offices of inspection and 
 complaint, as well as all the other functions of the adminis- 
 tration. Grand-jurors are bound by the law to apprise the 
 court to which they belong of all the misdemeanors which 
 may have been committed in their county. f There are 
 certain great offijiices which are officially prosecuted by 
 the State ; | but, more frequently, the task of punishing 
 
 * I say the Court of Sessions, liecause, in common courts, tliere is an offi- 
 cer [the district attorney] who exercises some of tiie functions of a public 
 prosecutor. 
 
 t Tiic Grand-jurors are, for instance, bound to inform tlie court of the 
 bad state of the roads. 
 
 } If, for instance, tiie treasurer of the county holds back his accounts. 
 5 o 
 
 iff 
 
 ■■1.L 
 
98 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 c 'I 
 
 ' U' 
 
 delinquents clevi)lves upon the fiscal officer, avIiosc prov- 
 ince it is to receive the fine : thus, the treasurer of the 
 township is charged with the prosecution of such adminis- 
 trative offences as fall under his notice. But a more espe- 
 cial appeal is made by American legislation to the private 
 interest of each citizen ; * and this great principle is con- 
 stantly to be met with in studying the laws of the United 
 States. American legislators are more apt to give men 
 credit for intelligence than for honesty ; and they rely not 
 a little on personal interest for the execution of the laws. 
 When an individual is really and sensibly injiu'ed by an 
 administrative abuse, his personal interest is a guaranty 
 that he will prosecute. But if a legal formality be re- 
 quired, which, however advantageous to the community, 
 is of small importance to individuals, plaintiffs may be less 
 easily found ; and thus, by a tacit agreement, ilie laws may 
 fall into disuse. Reduced by their system to this extremity, 
 the Americans are obliged to encourage informers by be- 
 stowing on them a portion of the penalty in certain cases ; f 
 and they thus insure the execution of the laAvs by the dan- 
 gerous expedient of degrading the morals of the people. 
 
 * Thus, to take one example out of a thousand, if a private individual 
 breaks his carriage, or is wounded, in consequence of the badness of a road, 
 lie can sue the township or the county for damages at the sessions. 
 
 t In cases of invasion or insurrection, if the town officers neglect to fur- 
 nish the necessary stores and ammunition for the militia, the township may 
 be condemned to a fine of from 200 to 500 dollars. It may readily be im- 
 agined that, in such a case, it might happen that no one would care to pros- 
 ecute; hence the law adds, that any citizen may enter a complaint for 
 offences of this kind, and that half the fine shall belong to the prosecutor. 
 See Act of 6th March, 1810. The same clause is frequently to be met with 
 in the Laws of Massachusetts. Not only are private individuals thus incited 
 to prosecute the public oflicers, but the public officers arc encouraged in the 
 same manner to bring the disobedience of private individuals to justice. If 
 a citizen refuses to perform the work which has been assigned to him upon a 
 road, the road-surveyor may prosecute him, and, if convicted, he receives 
 half the penalty for himself. 
 
TOWNSHIPS AND MUNICIPAL BODIES. 
 
 00 
 
 Above the county magistrates, there is, properly speak- 
 ing, no administrative power, but only a power of gov- 
 ernment. 
 
 'fl 
 It ■ 
 
 fur- 
 may 
 e im- 
 )ros- 
 it for 
 ■utor. 
 with 
 K'itcd 
 11 the 
 If 
 lion a 
 leivcs 
 
 GENERAL REMARKS ON THE ADMINISTRATION IN THE 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 DifFerences of the States of the Union in their Systems of Administration. — 
 Activity and Perfection of tlie Town Authorities decreases towards the 
 South. — Power of tlie ISIayistrates increases; tliat of tlie Voter dimin- 
 ishes. — Administration passes from the Township to the County. — 
 States of New Yorlc : Oliio : Pennsylvania. — Principles of Administra- 
 tion applicable to the whole Union. — Election of PuMic OtHcers, and 
 Inalienability of their Functions. — Absence of Gradation of Hanks. — 
 Introduction of Judicial Procedures into the Administration. 
 
 I HAVE already said that, after examining the constitu- 
 tion of the township and the county of New England in 
 detail, I should take a general view of the remainder of the 
 Union. Townships and town arrangements exist in every 
 State; but in no other part of the Union is a township 
 to be met with precisely similar to those of New England. 
 The farther we go towards the South, the less active does 
 the business of tlie township or parish become ; it has 
 fewer magistrates, duties, and rights ; the population (ex- 
 ercises a less immediate influence on affiiirs ; town-meetings 
 are less frequent, and the subjects of debate less numerous. 
 The power of the elected magistrate is augmented, and 
 that of the voter diminished, whilst the public spirit of 
 the local communities is less excited and less influential.* 
 These differences may be perceived to a certain extent in 
 the State of New York ; they are very sensible in Penn- 
 
 * For details, see the Revised Statutes of the State of New York, Part I. 
 
 Sec, in the Dijxest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, the words Assessors, 
 Collector, Constakles, Overseer of tjie Poor, Scpervisors of 
 Highways : and in the Acts of a general nature of the State of Ohio, the 
 Act of the 25th of February, 1834, relating to townships, p. 412. 
 
 ■■ r> 
 
 < m 
 
ill 
 
 f^ 
 
 :ii 
 
 * ■ 
 
 ! i'l? 
 
 .1. '' 
 
 
 
 '}■ 
 ]■ 
 
 a :,'\ 
 
 too 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMEIUCA. 
 
 sylvniiia ; but tlicy become less striking as we advance to 
 tlie Nortliwcst. Tlie majority of tlie emigrants wlio settle 
 in the Xortliwestern States are natives of New England, 
 and they carry the administrative habits of their mother 
 country with them into the country which they adopt. 
 A township in Ohio is not unlike a township in Massa- 
 chusetts. 
 
 We have seen that, in INIassachusetts, the mainspring of 
 ])ublic administration lies in the township. It forms the 
 conmion centre of the interests and affections of the cit- 
 izens. But this ceases to be the case as we descend to the 
 States in which knowledge is less generally diffused, and 
 where the townsliip consequently offers fewer guaranties 
 of a wise and active administration. As we leave New 
 England, therefore, we find that the importance of the 
 town is gradually transferred to the county, which becomes 
 the centre of administi'ation, and the intermediate power 
 between the government and the citizen. In Massachu- 
 setts, the business of the county is conducted by the Court 
 of Sessions, which is composed of a quorum appointed by 
 the Governor and his Council ; but the county has no rep- 
 resentative assembly, and its expenditure is voted by the 
 State legislature. In the great State of New York, on the 
 contrarv, and in those of Ohio and Pennsvlvania, the in- 
 habitants of each coimty choose a certain number of repre- 
 sentatives, who constitute the assembly of the county.* 
 The county assembly has the right of taxing the inhab- 
 itants to a certain extent ; and it is, in this respect, a real 
 
 * See tlie Revised Statutes of the State of New York, Part I. cliap. xi. 
 Vol. I. p. 340, Id., chap. xii. p. SCG ; also, in the Acts of the State of 
 Ohio, an act relating to county commissioners, 25fh Fehruary, 1824, p. 263. 
 See the Diirest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, at the words County-kates 
 and Levies, p. 170. 
 
 In the State of New York, each township elects a representative, who has 
 a share in the adniinistiaiion of the county as well as in that of the town- 
 ship. 
 
in- 
 Ipre- 
 
 ]iab- 
 ireal 
 
 xi. 
 of 
 1263. 
 
 has 
 jwn- 
 
 TOWNSHirS AND MUNICIPAL DODIKS. 
 
 101 
 
 legislative body : at the same time, it exercises an exec- 
 utive power in the county, frequently directs the admin- 
 istration of the townsliips; and restricts their autliority 
 ^vitllin much narrower bounds than in iMassachusetts. 
 
 Such are the principal differences which the systems of 
 county and town administration present in the Federal 
 States. Were it my intention to examine the subject in 
 detail, I should have to point out still further differences 
 in the executive details of the several communities. But 
 I have said enough to show the general principles on which 
 the administration in the United States rests. These prin- 
 ciples are differently applied : their consequences are moi'e 
 or less numerous in various localities ; but they are al- 
 ^^ays substantially the same. The laws differ, and their 
 outward features change ; but the same spirit animates 
 them. If the township and the county are not everywhere 
 organized in the same manner, it is at least true that, in 
 the United States, the county and the township are always 
 based upon the same princijjle ; namely, that every one is 
 the best judge of what concerns himself alone, and the 
 most proper person to supply his own wants. The town- 
 ship and the county are therefore bound to take care of 
 their special interests : the State governs, but does not 
 execute the laws. Exceptions to this principle may be 
 met with, but not a contrary principle. 
 
 The first consequence of this doctrine has been to cause 
 all the magistrates to be chosen either by the inhabitants, 
 or at least from among them. As the officers are every- 
 where elected or appointed for a certain period, it has been 
 impossible to establish the rules of a hierarchy of author- 
 ities ; there are almost as many independent functionaries 
 as there are functions, and the executive poAver is dissem- 
 inated in a multitude of hands. Hence arose the necessity 
 of introducing the control of the courts of justice over the 
 administration, and the system of pecuniary penalties, by 
 
102 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 ir 
 
 K'l 
 
 wlilch the secondary Ixxlies and their representatives are 
 constrained to obey the laws. Tliis system obtains from 
 one end of the Union to the other. The power of pmi- 
 ishing a(hninistrative misconduct, or of performing;, in 
 urgent cases, achninistrative acts, has not, however, been 
 bestowed on the same iudo;es in all the States. The 
 Anglo-Americans derived the institution of justices of the 
 jK'ace from a conmion source ; but although it exists in all 
 the States, it is not always turned to the same use. The 
 justices of the peace everywhere })articipate in the ad- 
 ministration of the townships and the counties,* either as 
 public officers, or as the judges of public misdemeanors ; 
 but in most of the States, the more important j)ublic 
 offences come under the cognizance of the ordinary tri- 
 bunals. 
 
 Thus, the election of public officers, or the inalienability 
 of their functions, tlie absence of a gradation of powers, 
 and the introduction of judicial action over the secondary 
 branches of the administration, are the principal and uni- 
 versal characteristics of the American system from INIaine 
 to the Floridas. In some States (and that of New York 
 has advanced most in this direction) traces of a centralized 
 administration beo;in to be discernible. In the State of 
 New^ York, the officers of the central government exercise, 
 in certain cases, a sort of inspection or control over the 
 secondary bodies. f At other times, they constitute a sort 
 
 * In some of the Southern States, tlie county courts arc charj^ed with all 
 the detail of the administration. See the Statutes of the State of Tennessee, 
 Art. JuDiciAKT, Taxes, &c. 
 
 t For instance, the direction of public instniction is centralized in the 
 hands of the government. Tiie legislature names the members of the Uni- 
 versity, who are denominated Kegents ; tlie Governor and Lieutenant-Gov- 
 ernor of the State are necessarily of the number. The Regents of the 
 University annually visit the colleges and academies, and make their report 
 to the Icgislatiu'e. Their superintendence is not inefficient, for several rea- 
 sons : the Colleges, in order to become corporations, stand in need of a char- 
 
TOWNSHIPS AND iMUNICIPAL HODIF.S. 
 
 103 
 
 of court of ;ip))i';il for the decision of affiiirs.* In tlie 
 State of New York, judicial penalties arc less used than 
 in other places as a means of administration ; and the right 
 of prosecuving the offences of j)ublic officers is vested in 
 fewer hands. f The same tendency is tliintly observable 
 in some other States ; J but, in general, the prominent 
 feature of the administration in the United States is its 
 excessive decentralization. 
 
 kth all 
 lessee, 
 
 the 
 Uni- 
 -Gov- 
 If the 
 report 
 ll rea- 
 char- 
 
 ter, wliicli is only jrrantnl on the rcoommcmlation of the Ilcpents : every 
 year, funds are distrilmted by tlie State for the cncoiiraffomcnt of learnin}», 
 and the IJej^eiits arc the distril)Utors of tliis money. The school-commis- 
 sioners are ohli^ed to send an annual report to the general Su])erintendent 
 of the Schools. A similar report is annually made to the same person ou 
 the number and condition of the poor. 
 
 * If any one conceives himself to be wronped by the scliool-commission- 
 ers (who arc town officers), he can appeal to tlie Superintendent of the Pri- 
 mary Schools, whose decision is final. 
 
 Provisions similar to those above cited are to be met with from time to 
 time in the laws of the State of New York ; but, in general, these attempts 
 at centralization are feeble and unproductive. The great axithorities of the 
 State have the riglit of watchin,'^ and controlling the subordinate agents, 
 without that of rewarding or punishing them. The same individual is 
 never empowered to give an order and to punish disobedience ; he has, there- 
 fore, the right of commanding, without the means of exacting compliance. 
 In 1830, the Superintendent of Schools, in his aimual report to the legis- 
 lature, complained that several school-commissioners had neglected, notwith- 
 standing his application, to furnish him with the accounts which were due. 
 He added that, if this omission continued, he should be obliged to prosecute 
 them, as the law directs, before the proper tribunals. 
 
 t Thus, the district-attorney is directed to recover all fines below the sura 
 of fifty dollars, unless such a right has been specially awarded to another 
 magistrate. 
 
 J Several traces of centralizat'on may be discovered in Massachusetts ; 
 for instance, tlie committees of the town schools are directed to make an 
 annual report to the Secretary of State. 
 
104 
 
 If 
 
 llm 
 
 iu 
 
 
 DKMOCUACY IN AJIKUICA. 
 
 OF THE STATE. 
 
 I HAVE (It'scrihed the townslnjjs iiiul the adiuiiiistratlon ; 
 it now reiuaiiis tor iiic to spcuk of tlic Statu and tlio ^ov- 
 ommuiit. Tliis i.s nroiind 1 may pass over rapidly, wirlioiit 
 iear of beiii^- misunderstood; for all I have to say is to be 
 found in the vai'ious written constitutions, eo[)ies of which 
 are easily to he procured. These constitutions rest upon 
 II shnple and rational theory ; most of their forms have 
 been adopted by all constitutional nations, and are become 
 familiar to us. 
 
 Here, then, I have only to give a brief account ; I shall 
 endeavor afterwards to pass judgment upon what 1 now 
 describe. 
 
 LEGISLATIVE POWER OF THE STATE. 
 
 Division of the Lc<;islative Body into two Houses. — Senate, — House of 
 Representatives. — Different Functions of these two Bodies. 
 
 The legislative power of the State is vested in two 
 assemblies, the first of which generally bears the iiumc 
 of the Senate. 
 
 The Senate is commonly a legislative body ; but it some- 
 times becomes an executive and judicial one. It takes part 
 in the government in several Avays, according to the con- 
 stitution of tlie different States ; * but it is in the nomina- 
 tion of public functionaries that it most commonly assumes 
 an executive po"\ver. It partakes of judicial power in the 
 tiial of certain political offences, and sometimes also in the 
 decision of certain civil cases. f The number of its mem- 
 bers is always small. 
 
 The other branch of the legislature, which is usually 
 
 * In Massachusetts, the Senate is not invested with any administrative 
 functions. 
 
 t As in the State of New York. 
 
Tin: STATE. 
 
 t»» 
 
 1 
 
 he 
 11- 
 
 h 
 
 called the IIouso of Roprcsontatlvos, luis no sliaro what- 
 ever ill the adiu'mistration, and takes a part in the jiidii-ial 
 ])Ower only as it iuipeaehes pnbHc functionaries before the 
 Senate. 
 
 The members of the two houses are nearly eM'rywhere 
 subject to the same conditions of eli<j;ibility. They are 
 chosen in the same manner, and by the same citizens. 
 The only difference which exists between them is, that the 
 term for which the Senate is chosen is, in general, lonrrer 
 than that of the House of Rej)resentatives. The latter 
 seldom remain in otHce longer than a year ; the former 
 usually sit two or three yeai's. 
 
 By granting to the senators the privilege of being chosen 
 for several years, and being renewed ftcriatliti^ the' law takes 
 care to preserve in the legislative body a nucleus of men 
 already accustomed to public business, and capable of exer- 
 cising a salutary influence upon the new-comers. 
 
 The Americans plaiidy did not desire, by this se})aration 
 of the legislative body into two branches, to make one 
 house hereditary and the other elective, one aristocratic 
 and the other democratic. It was not their object to ere- 
 ate in the one a bulwark to power, whilst the other rej)re- 
 sented the interests and passions of the people. The only 
 advantages which result from the ]»resent constitution of 
 the two houses in the United States are, the division of the 
 legislative power, and the consecpient check upon political 
 movements ; too-ether with the creation of a tribunal of 
 appeal for the revision of the laws. 
 
 Time and experience, however, have convinced the 
 Americans that, even if these are its only advantages, 
 the division of the legislative power is still a principle of the 
 greatest necessity. Pennsylvania was the only one of the 
 United States which at first attempted to establish a single 
 House of Assembly ; and Franklin himself was so far car- 
 ried away by the logical consequences of the principle of 
 
 5* 
 
i-\ 
 
 100 
 
 DKMOCRACV IX AMKHICA. 
 
 the sovoivI;j;Mty of tlio people, as to liavo concunvd in the 
 iiu'iisuri' : hut the I'ennsvlvanijiiis were soon ohlin;cMl to 
 clianoe the hiw, and to create two houses. Tlius the 
 ]»riMcipK' of tlie (hvision of tlie k';;islative powi'i' "was 
 Inially estahhslu-d, and its necessity may lienceforward ho 
 n';;ai'(U'd as a (U'nionstrated trutli. Tin's theory, nearly 
 unknown to the ri'pnhlics of anticpiity, — first introduced 
 into the world ahnost hy accident, like so many other ^reat 
 truths, and misunderstood by several modern nations, — is 
 at length become an axiom in the political science of the 
 present age. 
 
 THE EXECUTIVE POWER OF THE STATE. 
 
 Office of Governor in im Aniericim State. — His Ilclatiou to the Legislature. 
 — His lliglits and his Duties. — His Dcpeudeuco ou the reoplo. 
 
 The executive power of the State is represented by the 
 Governor. It is not by accident that I have used this 
 word; the Governor represents this power, although he 
 enjoys but a portion of its rights. The supreme magis- 
 trate, under the title of Governor, is the official moderator 
 and counsellor of the legislature. He is armed with a 
 veto or suspensive power, which allows him to stop, or at 
 least to retard, its movements at pleasure. He lays the 
 wants of the country before the legislative body, and points 
 out the means which he thinks may be usefully employed 
 in providing for them ; he is the natiu'al executor of its 
 decrees in all the undertakings which interest the nation at 
 large.* In the absence of the legislature, the Governor is 
 bound to take all necessary steps to guard the State against 
 violent shocks and unforeseen dangers. 
 
 * Practically speaking, it is not always the Governor who executes the 
 plans of the Legislature ; it often happens that the latter, in voting a meas- 
 ure, names special agents to superintend the executiou of it. 
 
 I -U 
 
THE STATE. 
 
 107 
 
 Tlio wlioli' inilitai'v power of tlio State is at tlu' disposal 
 of tlio (Jovonmr. llu is tlic couimaiulor of tlie militia, 
 and lu'ad of the armed force. When tlie antliority, whicli 
 is by <j;eneral consent luvurded to tlie hiws, is disreu;ardi'd, 
 the Governor puts himself at the liead of tlie anneil foreo 
 of the State, to (pu'll resistance and restore order. 
 
 I^astlv, the (Jovernor takes no share in the administra- 
 tion of the townships and eountii's, except it be indirectly 
 in the nomination of Justices of the Peace, which nomina- 
 tion he has not the power to cancel.* 
 
 The Governor is sin elected magistrate, and is n;enerally 
 chosen for one or two years only ; so that he always con- 
 tinues to be strictly dependent upon the majority who re- 
 turned hun. 
 
 POLITICAL EFFECTS OF DECENTRALIZED ADMINISTRATION IN 
 
 THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Necessary Distinction between a Centralized Government and a Centralized 
 Administration. — Administration not Centralized in the United States : 
 great Centralization of the Government. — Some bad Consequences re- 
 sultiuj:; to the United States from the extremely decentralized Adminis- 
 tration. — Administrative Advantajics of this Order of Tiiin<;s. — Tiio 
 Power which administers is less Ucyular, less Knlighteiied, less Learned, 
 but much greater than in Europe. — l'oliti<'al Advantages of this (Jrder 
 of Things. — In the United States, the Country makes itself felt every- 
 where. — Support given to the Government by the Community. — Pro- 
 viucial Institutions more necessary in Proportion as the social Condition 
 becomes more Democratic. — Reason of this. 
 
 Centralization is a word in general and daily use, 
 without any precise meaning being attached to it. Never- 
 theless, there exist two distinct kinds of centralization, 
 which it is necessary to discriminate with accuracy. 
 
 * In some of the States, justices of the peace are not appointed by the 
 Govcruor. 
 
108 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 Certain interests are common to all ])arts of a nation, 
 sncli as the enactment of its general laws, and the main- 
 
 tenance of its forei 
 
 irn re 
 
 lat 
 
 ions. 
 
 Otl 
 
 ler interests arc pe- 
 
 culiar to certain parts of the nation ; such, for instance, as 
 the business of the several townships. When the power 
 which directs the former or general interests is concen- 
 trated in one place or in the same persons, it constitutes a 
 centralized government. To concentrate in like manner 
 into one place the direction of the latter or local interests, 
 constitutes what may be termed a centralized adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 Upon some points, these two kinds of centralization co- 
 incide ; but by classitying the objects which fall more par- 
 ticularly within the province of each, they may easily be 
 distinouished. 
 
 It is evident that a centrahzed government acquires 
 immense power when united to centralized administration. 
 Thus combined, it accustoms men to set their own will 
 habitually and completely aside ; to submit, not only for 
 once, or upon one point, but in every respect, and at all 
 times. Not only, therefore, does this union of power sub- 
 due them compulsorily, but it affects their ordinary habits ; 
 it isolates them, and then influences each separately. 
 
 These two kinds of centralization mutually assist and 
 attract each other ; but they must not be supposed to be 
 inseparable. It is impossible to imagine a more comj)letely 
 centralized government than that which existed in France 
 under Louis XIV. ; when the same individual was the 
 author and the interpreter of the laws, and the representa- 
 tive of France at home and abroad, he was justified in 
 asserting that he constituted the state. Nevertheless, the 
 administration was much less centralized under Louis XIV. 
 than it is at the present day. 
 
 In England, the centralization of the government is 
 caiTied to great perfection ; the state has the compact 
 
THE STATE. 
 
 101) 
 
 he 
 
 IS 
 
 lict 
 
 vigor of one man, and its will pnts immense masses in 
 motion, and turns its whole power where it pleases. But 
 Eno-land, which has done so o;reat thino-s for the last fifty 
 years, has never centralized its administration. Indeed, I 
 cannot conceive that a nation can live and prosper without 
 a powerful centralization of government. But I am of 
 opinion that a centralized administration is fit only to ener- 
 vate the nations in which it exists, by incessantly dimin- 
 ishing their local spirit. Although such an administration 
 can bring together at a given moment, on a given j)oint, 
 all the disposable resources of a people, it injures the re- 
 newal of those resources. It may insure a victory in the 
 hour of strife, but it gradually relaxes the sinews of 
 strength. It may help admirably the transient' greatness 
 of a man, but not the durable prosperity of a nation. 
 
 Observe, that whenever it is said that a state cannot act 
 because it is not centralized, it is the centralization of the 
 government which is spoken of. It is frequently asserted, 
 and we assent to the proposition, that the German empire 
 has never been able to bring all its powers into action. 
 But the reason was, that the state was never able to en- 
 force obedience to its general laws ; the several members 
 of that great body always claimed the right, or found the 
 means, of refusing their co-operation to the representatives 
 of the common authority, even in the affairs which con- 
 cerned the mass of the people ; in other words, there was 
 no centralization of government. The same remark is 
 applicable to the jNIiddle Ages ; the cause of all the mis- 
 eries of feudal society was, that the control, not only of 
 administration, but of crovernment, was divided amono;st a 
 thousand hands, and broken up in a thousand different 
 ways. The want of a centralized government prevented 
 the nations of Europe from advancing with energy in any 
 straightforward course. 
 
 We have shown that, in the United States, there is no 
 
 m 
 
110 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 h 1.1 
 
 ' I ■• i 
 
 I' r 
 
 e 1 
 
 centralized administration, and no hierarchy of public func- 
 tionaries. Local authority has been carried farther than 
 any European nation could endure without great incon- 
 venience, and it has even produced some disadvantageous 
 consequences in America. But in the United States, the 
 centralization of the government is perfect ; and it would 
 be easy to prove that the national power is more concen- 
 trated there than it has ever been in the old nations of 
 Europe. Not only is there but one legislative body in 
 each State, — not only does there exist but one source of 
 political authority, — but numerous assemblies in districts 
 or counties have not, in general, been multiplied, lest they 
 should be tempted to leave their administrative duties and 
 interfere w^ith the government. In America, the legisla- 
 ture of each State is supreme; nothing can impede its 
 authority, — neither privileges, nor local immunities, nor 
 personal influence, nor even the empire of reason, since it 
 represents that majority Avhicli claims to be the sole organ 
 of reason. Its own determination is, therefore, the only 
 limit to its action. In juxta])Osition with it, and under its 
 immediate control, is the rej)resentative of the executive 
 power, whose duty it is to constrain the refractory to sub- 
 mit by superior force. The only symptom of weakness 
 lies in certain details of the action of the government. 
 The American republics have no standing armies to in- 
 timidate a discontented minority ; but as no minority has 
 as yet been reduced to declare open war, the necessity of 
 an army has not been felt. The State usually employs the 
 officers of the township or the county to deal with the citi- 
 zens. Thus, for instance, in New England, the town 
 assessor fixes the rate of taxes ; the town collector receives 
 them ; the town treasurer transmits the amount to the pub- 
 lic treasury ; and the disputes which may arise are brought 
 before the ordinary courts of justice. This method of col- 
 lecting taxes is sIoav as well as inconvenient, and it would 
 
 I m 
 
 It lip 
 
THE STATE. 
 
 Ill 
 
 prove a perpetual liiiulrance to a government -vvliose pecu- 
 niary demands were large. It is desirable that, in what- 
 ever materiallv affects its existence, the government should 
 be served by officers of its own, appointed by itself, re- 
 movable at its pleasure, and accustomed to raj)id methods 
 of proceeding. But it will always be easy for the central 
 government, organized as it is in America, to introduce 
 more enero-etic and efficacious modes of action according 
 to its wants. 
 
 The want of a centralized government will not, then, as 
 has often been asserted, prove the destruction of the re- 
 publics of the New World ; far from the American gov- 
 ernments being not sufficiently centralized, I shall prove 
 hereafter that they are too much so. The legislative 
 bodies daily encroach upon the authority of the govern- 
 ment, and their tendency, like that of the French Conven- 
 tion, is to appropriate it entirely to themselves. The social 
 power thus centralized is constantly changing hands, 
 because it is subordinate to the power of the people. It 
 often forgets the maxims of wisdom and foresioht in the 
 consciousness of its strength. Hence arises its danger. 
 Its vigor, and not its impotence, will probably be the cause 
 of its ultimate destruction. 
 
 The system of decentralized administration produces 
 several different eff^ects in America. The Americans seem 
 to me to have outstepped the limits of sound policy, in 
 isolating the administration of the government : for order, 
 even in secondary affairs, is a matter of national impor- 
 tance.* As the State has no administrative functionaries 
 
 * si' 
 
 * The authority wliich represents the State ought not, I tliink, to waive 
 the right of inspecting the local administration, even when it docs not itself 
 administer. Suppose, for instance, that an agent of the government was 
 stationed at some appointed spot in each county, to prosecute tiic misde- 
 meanors of the town and county officers, would not a more uniform order 
 be the result, without in any way compromising the indopendonce of the 
 
}12 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKIJICA. 
 
 of its own, stationed on different points of its territory, to 
 
 fi 
 
 '■■ k; 
 
 h 
 
 )ulse, til 
 
 common ]m})uise, tne conse(iuence is, 
 that it rarely attempts to issue any f^eneral police regula- 
 tions. The want of these regulations is severely felt, and 
 is frefjuc'itly observed by Europeans. The appearance of 
 disoi'der which prevails on the surface leads him at first to 
 imagine that society is in a state of anarchy: nor does he 
 perceive his mistake till he has gone deeper into the sub- 
 ject. Certain undertakings are of importance to the whole 
 State ; but they cannot be put in execution, because there 
 is no State administration to direct them. Abandoned 
 to the exertions of the towns or counties, under the care 
 of elected and temporary agents, they lead to no result, or 
 at least to no durable benefit. 
 
 The partisans of centralization in Europe are wont to 
 maintain that the government can administer the affairs of 
 each locality better than the citizens could do it for them- 
 selves : tljs may be true, when the central power is en- 
 lightened, and the local authorities are ignorant; when it 
 is aleit^ and they are slow ; when it is accustomed to act, 
 and they to obey. Indeed, it is evident that this double 
 tendency must augment with the increase of centralization, 
 and that the readiness of the one and the incapacity of the 
 others must become more and more prominent. But I 
 deny that it is so, wIk i the people are as enlightened, as 
 awake to their interests, and as accustomed to reflect on 
 
 township ? Nothing of the kind, however, exists in America : there is noth- 
 ing above tlie county courts, wliicli liavc, as it were, only an incidental cog- 
 nizance of the administrative oftencos they ought to repress. 
 
 [Mr. Spencer properly remarks, that " such an agent as tlic author liere 
 suggests would soon come to be considered a public informer, the most odi- 
 ous of all characters in the United States ; and he would lose all efficiency 
 and strength." Whereas, as it is, the constant presence of the district attor- 
 ney, and the meeting of a ^rand jury three or four times a year in every 
 county, to whom every aggrieved poison lias free access, are sufficient pre- 
 cautious against the misconduct or neglect of the local otHccrs. — Am. Ed.] 
 
THE STATE. 
 
 113 
 
 or 
 
 Loth- 
 Icog- 
 
 pcrc 
 lodi- 
 picy 
 ttor- 
 [•eiy 
 
 CD.] 
 
 tlicm, as the Americans are. T am persuaded, (^n the con- 
 trary, that, ill this ease, the collective strength of the citi- 
 zens will always conduce more efficaciously to the i)ul)lic 
 welfare than the authority of the government. I know it 
 is difficult to point out with certainty the means of arous- 
 ing a sleeping population, and of giving it passions and 
 knowledge which it does not possess ; it is, I am well 
 aware, an arduous task to persuade men to busy themselves 
 about their own affiiirs. It would frecjuently be easier to 
 interest them in the punctilios of court etiquette, than in 
 the repairs of their common dwelling. But whenever a 
 central administration affects completely to supersede the 
 persons most interested, I believe that it is eitlu r misled, or 
 desirous to mislead. However enlio-htened and -skilful a 
 central power may be, it cannot of itself embrace all the 
 details of the life of a great nation. Such vigilance ex- 
 ceeds the powers of man. And when it attempts unaided 
 to create and set in motion so many complicated springs, it 
 must submit to a very imperfect result, or exhaust itself in 
 bootless efforts. 
 
 Centralization easily succeeds, indeed, in subjecting the 
 external actions of men to a certain uniformity, which we 
 come at last to love for its own sake, inde})endently of the 
 objects to which it is applied, like those devotees who Avor- 
 ship the statue, and forget the deity it represents. Cen- 
 tralization imparts without difficulty an admirable regular- 
 ity to the routine of business ; provides skilfully for the 
 details of the social police ; represses small disorders and 
 petty misdemeanors ; maintains society in a ^iatii quo alike 
 secure from improvement and decline ; and perpetuates a 
 di'owsy regularity in the conduct of affiiirs, which the heads 
 of the administration are wont to call good order and pub- 
 lic tranquillity ; * in short, it excels in prevention, but not 
 
 * China appears to me to present the most perfect instance of that spe- 
 cies of well-being which a highly centraUzed administration may furnish to 
 
 H 
 

 
 v\ 
 
 i 
 
 
 ■,- 
 
 ' 'If 
 
 i. 
 
 Ill 
 
 DEMOCRACY IX AMKUICA. 
 
 in action.* Its force deserts it, wlien society is to be pro- 
 foundly moved, or accelerated in its course ; and if once 
 the co-operation of private citizens is necessaiy to the fur- 
 therance of its measures, the secret of its impotence is dis- 
 closed. Even whilst the centrahzed power, in its des])air, 
 invokes the assistance of the citizens, it says to them: "You 
 shall act just as I please, as much as I j)lease, and in the 
 direction which I please. You are to take charge of the 
 details, without aspiring to guide the system ; you are to 
 work in darkness ; and afterwards you may judge my 
 work bv its results." These are not the conditions on 
 wliicli the alliance of the human will is to be obtained ; it 
 must be free in its gait, and responsible for its acts, or 
 (such is the constitution of man) the citizen had rather 
 remain a passive spectator, than a dependent actor, in 
 schemes with whicli he is unacquainted. 
 
 It is undeniable, that the want of those unifonn rcgida- 
 tions which control the conduct of every inhabitant of 
 France, is not unfrequently felt in the United States. 
 Gross instances of social indifference and neo;lect are to 
 be met wath ; and from time to time, disgi'aceful blemishes 
 are seen, in complete contrast with the surrounding civili- 
 zation. Useful undertakings, which cannot succeed with- 
 out perpetual attention and rigorous exactitude, are fre- 
 quently abandoned ; for in America, as well as in other 
 countries, the people proceed by sudden impulses and 
 momentary exertions. The European, accustomed to find 
 a fiinctionary always at hand to interfere with all he un- 
 its subjects. Travellers assure us that the Chinese have tranquillity without 
 happiness, industry without improvement, stability without strength, and 
 public order without public morahty. The condition of society there is 
 always tolerable, never excellent. I imagine that, when China is opejied 
 to European observation, it will be found to contain the most perfect model 
 of a centralized administration which exists in the universe. 
 
 * This is a lively and faithful description of the system which Dickens has 
 taught U8 to stigmatize by the name of "red-tape." — Am. Ed. 
 
TIIK STATE. 
 
 115 
 
 Hnd 
 lun- 
 
 has 
 
 clertakos, rocoiicik's liimsolf witli (lifficnlty to tlio connilcx 
 mcflianisin of the administration of the townslii])s. In 
 general, it may be affii'med that the kisser details of tlu' 
 police, which render lite easy and comfortal)le, are ne«j;k«ct- 
 ed in America, hut that the essential ijuaranties of man in 
 society are as strong there as elsewhere. In America, the 
 power which conducts the administration is far less regidar, 
 less enlightened, and less skilful, hut a hundred-fold greater, 
 than in Europe. In no country in the world, do the citi- 
 zens make such exerti(ms for the common weal. I kn(tw 
 of no j)eople who have established schools so numerous and 
 efficacious, j)laces of public worship better suited to the 
 wants of the inhabitants, or roads kept in better re])aii'. 
 Uniformity or permanence of design, the mimite arrange- 
 ment of details,* and the perfection of administrative sys- 
 tem, must not be sought for in the United States : what 
 
 * A wTitcr of talent, who, in a comparison of the finances of France witli 
 those of the United States, lias proved tliat in<:enuity cannot always supply 
 the place of t' t knowledge of facts, justly reproaches the Americans for the 
 sort of confi^ion which exists in the accoiuits of the ex|)enditiirc in the town- 
 ships ; and after givinj^ the model of a Departmental Biidiret in France, he 
 adds : " We are indehted to centralization, that admirable invention of a 
 great man, for the order and method which prevail alike in all the municipal 
 budgets, from the largest city to the humblest commune." Whatever may be 
 my admiration of this result, when I see the communes of France, with their 
 excellent system of accounts, plunged into the gros'icst ignorance of their 
 true interests, and abandoned to so incorrigible an apathy that they seem to 
 vegetate rather than to live ; when, on the other hand, I observe the activity, 
 the information, and the spirit of enterprise in those American townships 
 whose liudgetsare neither methodical nor uniform; I see that society there is 
 always at work. I an struck by the spectacle ; for to my mind, the end of a 
 good government is to insure the welfare of a people, and not merely to estab- 
 lish order in the midst of its misery. I am therefore led to suppose, that 
 the prosperity of the American townships and the apparent confusion of their 
 finances, the distress of the French communes and the perfection of their 
 budget, maybe attributalile to the same cause. At any rate, I am suspicious 
 of a good which is united with so many evils, and I am not averse to an evil 
 which is compensated by so many benefits. 
 
 n 
 
 \ 
 
 i<i 
 
110 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKKICA. 
 
 I ; 
 
 M 
 
 we find tlioro is, tlio proscncu of a power wlncli, if it Is 
 somowliat wild, is at least robust, and an existence elieek- 
 ered with accidents, indeed, but full of animation and ef- 
 fort. 
 
 Grantino;, for an instant, that the villaii-es and counties 
 of the United States would be more usefully governed by a 
 central authority, which they had never seen, than by func- 
 tionaries taken from among them, — admitting, for the sake 
 of argument, that there would l)e more security in Amer- 
 ica, and the resources of society would be better employed 
 there, if the whole administration centred in a single arm, 
 — still the j'j'>Z//«m/ advantages which the Americans derive 
 from their decentralized system would induce me to prefer 
 it to the contrary plan. It profits me but little, after all, 
 that a vigilant authority always j)rotects the tranquillity of 
 my pleasures, and constantly averts all dangers from my 
 ])ath, without my care or concern, if this same authority is 
 the absolute master of my liberty and my life, and if it so 
 monopolizes movement and life, that when it languishes 
 everything languishes around it, that when it sleeps every- 
 thing must sleep, and that when it dies the state itself must 
 perish. 
 
 There are countries in Europe, where the natives con- 
 sider themselves as a kind of settlers, indifferent to the fate 
 of the spot which they inhabit. The greatest changes are 
 effected there without their concurrence, and (unless chance 
 may have apprised them of the event) without their knowl- 
 edge ; nay, more, the condition of his village, the police of 
 liis street, the repairs of the church or the parsonage, do 
 not concern him ; for he looks upon all these things as un- 
 connected with himself, and as the property of a powerful 
 stranger whom he calls the government. He has only a 
 life-interest in these possessions, without the spirit of owner- 
 ship or any ideas of improvement. This want of interest 
 in his own affairs goes so far, that if his own safety or that 
 
THE STATE. 
 
 117 
 
 of his cliildivn is at last endan^ored, instead of trying to 
 avert the peril, lie will fold his arms, and wait till the 
 whole nation comes to his aid. This man, who has so 
 completely saeriHced his own free will, does not, more than 
 any other person, love ohedience ; lie cowers, it is true, 
 before the pettiest ofiici'r ; hut he braves the law with the 
 s[)irit of a conquered foe, as soon as its superior force is 
 withdrawn: he perpetually oscillates between servitude and 
 license. 
 
 When a nation has arrived at this state, it must either 
 chanoe its customs and its laws, or j)erish ; for the source 
 of [)ublic virtues is dried u}) ; and tliouoh it may contain 
 subjects, it has no citizens. Such communities are a natu- 
 ral prey to foreign coiKpiests ; and if they do not wholly 
 disa])])ear from the scene, it is only because they are sur- 
 rounded by other nations similar or inferior to themselves ; 
 it is because they still have an indetinable instinct of 
 patriotism ; and an involuntary i)ride in the name of their 
 country, or a vague reminiscence of its bygone fame, suffices 
 to give them an impulse of self-preservation. 
 
 Nor can the prodigious exertions made by certain nations 
 to defend a country in which they had lived, so to speak, 
 as strangers, be adduced in favor of such a system ; for it 
 will be found that, in these cases, their main incitement 
 was religion. The permanence, the glory, or the prosperity 
 of the nation were become parts of their faith ; and in de- 
 fending their country, they defended also that Holy City 
 of which they were all citizens. The Turkish tribes have 
 never taken an active share in the conduct of their affairs ; 
 but they accomplished stupendous enterprises, as long as the 
 victories of the Sultan were triumphs of the Mohammedan 
 faith. In the present age, they are in rapid decay, because 
 their religion is departing, and despotism only remains. 
 Montesquieu, who attributed to absolute power an author- 
 ity peculiar to itself, did it, as I conceive, an undeserved 
 
 * IM 
 
 '! Ill I 
 
118 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 'Iirl '|!|| 
 
 honor ; for (U'S{)f)tlsin, taken by itself, can maintain notliing 
 durahie. On close inspection, we shall find that religion, 
 and not fear, has ever been the cause of the long-lived 
 })ros|)erity of an absolute government. Do what yon may, 
 there is no true power among men except in the free unic^n 
 of their will ; and patriotism or religion are the only two 
 motives in the world which can long urge all the people 
 towards the same end. 
 
 Laws caimot rekindle an extinguished faith ; but men 
 may be interested by the laws in the fate of their country. 
 It de])ends upon the laws to awaken and direct the vague 
 im})ulse of patriotism, which never abandons the human 
 heart ; and if it be connected with the thoughts, the pas- 
 sions, and the daily habits of life, it may be consolidated 
 into a durable and rational sentiment. Let it not be said 
 that it is too late to make the experiment ; for nations do 
 not grow old as men do, and every fresh generation is a 
 new people ready for the care of the legislator. 
 
 It is not the administrative, but the political effects of 
 decentralization, that I most admire in America. In the 
 United States, the interests of the country are everywhere 
 kept in view ; they are an object of solicitude to the })eople 
 of the whole Union, and every citizen is as warmly attached 
 to them as if they were his own. He takes pride in the 
 glory of his nation ; he boasts of its success, to which he 
 conceives himself to have contributed ; and he rejoices in 
 the general prosperity by which he profits. The feeling 
 he entertains toward the state is analogous to that which 
 unites him to his family, and it is by a kind of selfishness 
 that he interests himself in the welfare of his country. 
 
 To the European, a public officer represents a superior 
 force ; to an American, he represents a right. In America, 
 then, it may be said that no one renders obedience to man, 
 but to justice and to law. If the opinion which the citizen 
 entertains of himself is exaggerated, it is at least salutary ; 
 
 -• ■ 'A 
 
 jwwrtvf?- fflt jutt. 
 
jnor 
 L'ica, 
 liiaii, 
 tizen 
 
 THE STATE. 
 
 119 
 
 he unlK'.sitatin;j;ly confides In liis own powors, which appear 
 to liim to lu' aii-suMicicnt. Wiicn a private indivithial 
 meditates an nn(h'i'takinii-, however directly contiected it 
 may he with tlie welfiu'e of society, lie ni'ver thinks of 
 solicitin;^' the eo-operation of the o()verinnent ; hut he puh- 
 hslies his plan, ofl^'ers to execute it, courts the assistance of 
 other hidividuals, and struggles manfully a<2;ainst all obsta- 
 cles. Un(U)ul)tedly he is often less successful than the state 
 might have been in his position ; but in the end, the sum 
 of these private undertakings far exceeds all that the gov- 
 ernment could have done. 
 
 As the administrative authority is within the reacli of 
 the citizens, whom in some degree it represents, .it excites 
 neither their jealousy nor hatred: as its resources are limit- 
 ed, every one feels that he must not rely solely on its aid. 
 Thus, when the administration thinks fit to act within its 
 own limits, it is not aband(med to itself, as in Europe , the 
 duties of privai;e 'citizens are not sui)posed to have lapsed 
 because the state has come into action ; but every one is 
 ready, on the contrary, to guide and support it. This 
 action of individuals, joined to that of the public authori- 
 ties, frequently accomplishes what the most energetic cen- 
 tralized administration would be unable to do.* 
 
 It would be easy to adduce several facts in proof of 
 what I advance, but I had rather give only one, with 
 which I am best acquainted. In America, the means 
 which the authorities have at their disposal for the discov- 
 ery of crimes and the arrest of criminals are few. A state 
 police does not exist, and passports are unknown. The 
 criminal police of the United States cannot be compared to 
 that of France ; the magistrates and public agents are not 
 numerous ; they do not always initiate the measures for 
 arresting the guilty ; and the examinations of prisoners are 
 rapid and oral. Yet I believe that in no country does 
 
 * See Aipcndix I. 
 
 l!:i! 
 
120 
 
 Dli.MUCHACV IN AMIIKICA. 
 
 
 
 n 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 'm™ 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 i ,'1 ■- 
 
 crime more rarely elude ))unislimetit. The retison is, that 
 every one coiu'elves himself to l)e interested in tin'nishin^j; 
 evidence of the crime, and in seizin}^ the dfliii(|in'nt. 
 Durin^i; my •'^ti'y in the United States, I witnessed the 
 spontaneous formation of connnittees in a county foi* the 
 jtursuit and prosecution of a man who had coinmitti'd u 
 ^reat crime. In Kurope, a criminal is an unhappy man 
 who is stru^<;lino; for his lite against the agents of j)o\ver, 
 whilst the peoj)le are merely a spectator of the conflict : in 
 America, he is looked ujjou as an enemy of the human 
 race, and the whole of maid^ind is anainst him. 
 
 I believe that provincial institutions are usefid to all 
 nations, but nowhere do they apj)ear to me to be more 
 necessary than amonost a democratic people. In an aris- 
 tocracy, order can always be maintained in the midst of 
 liberty ; anci as the rulers have a great deal to lose, order 
 is to them a matter of great interest. In like manner, an 
 ai'istocracy protects the })('0])le from the excesses of des- 
 potism, because it always possesses an organized })ower 
 ready to resist a despot. But a democracy without j)ro- 
 vincial institutions has no security against these evils. 
 How can a populace, unaccustomed to freedom in small 
 concerns, learn to use it temperately in great aftairs ? 
 What resistance can be offered to tyranny in a country 
 where each individual is weak, and where the citizens are 
 not united by any common interest? Those who dread 
 the license of the mob, and those who fear absolute power, 
 ought alike to desire the gradual development of pro\'incial 
 liberties. 
 
 I am also convinced, that democratic nations are most 
 likely to fall beneath the yoke of a centralized administra- 
 tion, for several reasons, amongst which is the following. 
 
 The constant tendency of these nations is to concentrate 
 all the strength of the e;overnment in the hands of the 
 only power which directly represents the people ; because. 
 
Tin: siATE. 
 
 121 
 
 I are 
 ?ad 
 XT, 
 :ial 
 
 lost 
 ra- 
 
 late 
 the 
 
 beyond till' j)('()nl(', iiotliln^ is to !)»• [KTci'lvctl hut a mass 
 of i'(|iijil iiidis idiials. Hut wlicii the same jiower already 
 lias all the attrihutes of nijvonuiK'nt, it can seai'eejy re- 
 iVaiu iVoiu peiietratinn- iuto tlie details of the aduiinis- 
 tratioii, and an o|i|»ortuuity of {h)iu^ so is sui'e to presi-ut 
 itself in tile Ion;;' riui, as was the ease in France. Jn the 
 French Uevolution, there were two iinpulst's in opposite 
 directions, which nnist never he confounded ; the one was 
 favorahle to lil)erty, tlie otlier to despotism. Under the 
 ancient monarchy, the kini"- was the sole author of the 
 lawh ; and below the powei" of the sovereifjjn, certain ves- 
 ti«j;es of j)rovincial institutions, half desti'oyed, were still dis- 
 tinyjuishable. 'i'hese ])rovincial institutions were incohe- 
 rent, ill arran^^ed, and fretpiently absurd; in the hands of 
 the aristocracy, they had sometimes been convert-ed into 
 instruments of ojjpression. The Revohitiou declared itself 
 the enemy at once of royalty and of pt incial institutions; 
 it confounded in iiuUscriminate hatred all that had pre- 
 ceded it, — despotic power and the checks to its abuses ; 
 and its tendency was at once to republican ize and to cen- 
 tralize. This double character of the French Revolution 
 is a fact which has been adroitly handled by the friends of 
 absolute })ower. Can they be accused of laboring in the 
 cause of despotism, when they are def.'udino; that central- 
 ized administration Avhich Avas one of the great iiniovations 
 of the Revolution ? * In this manner, popularity may be 
 united with hostility to the rights of the people, and the 
 secret slave of tyranny may be the professed lover of 
 freedom. 
 
 I have visited the two nations in wlilcli the system of 
 provincial liberty has been most perfectly established, and 
 I have listened to the opinions of different parties in those 
 countries. In America, I met with men who secretly 
 aspired to destroy the democratic institutions of the Union ; 
 
 * See Appendix K. 
 
 I 
 
 ; 
 
 1 I 
 
 
 r.; 
 

 If 
 
 1 I, 
 
 i'lH' 
 
 122 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 in England, I found others who openly attacked the aris- 
 tocracy ; but I found no one who did not regard provincial 
 independence as a great good. In both countries, I heard 
 a thousand different causes assigned for the evils of the 
 state ; but the local system was never mentioned amongst 
 them. I heard citizens attribute the power and prosperity 
 of their country to a multitude of reasons ; but they all 
 placed the advantages of local institutions in the foremost 
 rank. 
 
 Am I to suppose that when men, wdio are naturally so 
 divided on religious opinions and on political theories, agree 
 on one point, (and that one which they can best judge, as 
 it is one of which they have daily experience,) they are all 
 in error ? The only nations which deny the utility of pro- 
 vincial liberties are those which have fewest of them ; in 
 other words, those only censm'e the institution who do not 
 know it. 
 
JUDICIAL POWER IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 123 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 JUDICIAL POWER IN THE UNITED STATES, AND ITS INFLU- 
 ENCE ON POLITICAL SOCIETY. 
 
 The Anglo-Americans have retained the Characteristics of Judicial Power 
 wluch are common to other Nations. — They have, however, made it a 
 powerful political Organ. — How. — In what the Judicial System of the 
 Anglo-Americans differs from that of all otlicr Nations. — Why the 
 American Judges have the Right of declaring Laws to he unconstitu- 
 tional. — How they use this Right. — Precautions taken hy the Legisla- 
 tor to prevent its Abuse. 
 
 I HAVE thouglit it r\g\\t to devote a separate chapter 
 to the judicial authorities of the United States, lest 
 their great political importance should be lessened in the 
 reader's eyes by a merely incidental mention of them. 
 Confederations have existed in other countries beside 
 America ; I have seen republics elsewhere than upon the 
 shores of the New World alone : the representative system 
 of government has been adopted in several states of Eu- 
 rope ; but I am not aware that any nation of the globe 
 has hitherto organized a judicial power in the same man- 
 ner as the Americans. The judicial organization of the 
 United States is the institution which a stranjier has the 
 greatest difficulty in understanding. He hears the au- 
 thority of a judge invoked in the political occurrences of 
 every day, and he naturally concludes that, in the United 
 States, the judges are important political functionaries : 
 nevertheless, when he examines the nature of the tribu- 
 nals, they offer at the first glance nothing which is con- 
 trary to the usual habits and privileges of those bodies; 
 
 III ^i 
 
 '■'■}.i 
 
 Ell 
 
I 
 
 tf 
 
 if 
 
 i Ji\ 
 
 ■ El 
 
 1 li 
 
 ^i; 
 
 'Mi;.: nil 
 
 f]:i * 
 
 124 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 and the magistrates seem to him to interfere in pubh'c 
 atf'airs only ))y chance, but by a chance which recurs 
 every day. 
 
 When tlie Parliament of Paris remonstrated, or refused 
 to register an edict, or when it summoned a functionary 
 accused of malversation to its bar, its political influence as 
 a judicial body was clearly visible ; but nothing of the kind 
 is to be seen in the United States. The Americans have 
 retained all the ordinary characteristics of judicial author- 
 ity, and have carefully restricted its action to the ordinary 
 circle of its functions. 
 
 The first characteristic of judicial power in all nations is 
 the duty of arbitration. But rights must be contested in 
 order to warrant the interference of a tribunal ; and an 
 action must be brought before the decision of a judge can 
 be had. As long, therefore, as a law is uncontested, the 
 judicial authority is not called upon to discuss it, and it 
 may exist without being perceived. When a judge in a 
 given case attacks a law relating to that case, he extends 
 the circle of his customary duties, without, however, step- 
 ping beyond it, since he is in some measure obliged to 
 decide upon the law in order to decide the case. But if 
 he pronounces upon a law without proceeding from a case, 
 he clearly steps beyond his sphere, and invades that of the 
 legislative authority. 
 
 The second characteristic of judicial power is, that it 
 pronounces on special cases, and not upon general princi- 
 ples. If a judge, in deciding a particular point, destroys a 
 general principle by passing a judgment which tends to 
 reject all the inferences from that principle, and conse- 
 quently to annul it, he remains within the ordinary limits 
 of his functions. But if he directly attacks a general prin- 
 ciple without having a particular case in view, he leaves 
 the circle in which all nations have ao;reed to confine his 
 authority ; he assumes a more important, and perhaps a 
 
 ■■i: 
 
JUDICIAL PCn'KR IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 12.') 
 
 if 
 
 more usefiil influonco, tliaii tlmt of the maoistrate ; but he 
 ceases to represent the judicial power. 
 
 Tlie tliird cluiracteristic of tlie judicial power is, that 
 it can only act when it is called uj)on, or when, in legal 
 phrase, it has taken cognizance of an atfair. This charac- 
 teristic is less general than the other two ; but, notwith- 
 standing the exceptions, I think it may be regarded as 
 essential. The judicial power is, by its nature, devoid of 
 action ; it must be put in motion in order to produce a 
 result. When it is called upon to repress a crime, it pun- 
 ishes the criminal ; when a wrong is to be redressed, it is 
 ready to redress it ; when an act requires interpretation, it 
 is prepared to interi)ret it ; but it does not pursue criminals, 
 hunt out wrongs, or examine evidence of its own accord. 
 A judicial functionary who should take the initiative, and 
 usurp the censureship of the laws, would in some measure 
 do violence t, he passive nature of his authority. 
 
 The Ann. ■ • have retained these three distinguishing 
 characteristic j. the judicial power : an American judge 
 can only r)ronounce a decision when litigati(m has arisen, 
 he is conversant only with special cases, and he cannot act 
 until the cause has been duly brought before the court. 
 His position is, therefore, perfectly similar to that of the 
 magistrates of other nations ; and yet he is invested with 
 immense political power. How comes that about? If 
 the sphere of his authority and his means of action are 
 the same as those of other judges, whence does he derive 
 a power which they do not possess ? The cause of this 
 difference lies in the simple fact, that the Americans have 
 acknowledged the right of the judges to found their decis- 
 ions on the ConMitution rather than on the laws. In other 
 words, they have not permitted them to apply such laws as 
 may appear to them to be unconstitutional. 
 
 I am aware that a similar rioht has been sometimes 
 claimed — but claimed in vain — by courts of justice in 
 
ii 
 
 \i 
 
 
 ' ; M 
 
 i^; 
 
 
 
 '! 
 
 
 1 
 
 ^ J 
 J 
 
 :iil 
 
 i pr 
 
 i 
 
 II 
 
 il'H; :ll 
 
 
 ; ■ I 
 
 i 
 
 I- 
 1 
 
 ■ ■ J ■ 
 
 126 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 otlior countries ; but in America it is recoo;nizo(I })y all the 
 authorities ; and not a party, not so much as an individual, 
 is found to contest it. This fact can be explained only by 
 the principles of the American constitutions. In France, 
 the constitution is * — or, at least, is supposed to be — im- 
 mutable ; and the received theory is, that no power has the 
 right of changing any part of it. In England, the consti- 
 tution may change continually ; f or rather, it does not in 
 reality exist ; the Parliament is at once a legislative and 
 a constituent assembly. The political theories of America 
 are more simple and more rational. An American consti- 
 tution is not supposed to be immutable, as in France ; nor 
 is it susceptible of modification by the ordinary powers of 
 society, as in England. It constitutes a detached whole, 
 which, as it represents the will of the whole peo}>lo, is no 
 less binding on the legislator than on the private citizen, 
 but which may be altered by the will of the people in pre- 
 determined cases, according to established rules. In Amer- 
 ica, the constitution may therefore vary ; but as long as it 
 exists, it is the origin of all authority, and the sole vehicle 
 of the predominating force. 
 
 It is easy to perceive how these diflPerences must act upon 
 the })osition and the rights of the judicial bodies in the three 
 countries I have cited. If, in France^, the tribunals were 
 authorized to disobey the laws on the ground of their being 
 opposed to the constitution, the constituent power Avould in 
 fact be placed in their hands, since they alone would have 
 the right of interpreting a constitution, of which no author- 
 ity could change the terms. They would, therefore, take 
 the place of the nation, and exercise as absolute a sway 
 over society as the inherent weakness of judicial power 
 would allow them to do. Undoubtedly, as the French 
 judges are incom})etent to declare a law to be unconstitu- 
 tional, the power of changing the constitution is indirectly 
 
 * See Appendix L. 
 
 t See Appendix M. 
 
JUDICIAL VOWEll IN THE UNITED SIATES. 
 
 127 
 
 l>ing 
 
 given to the legislative body, since no legal barrier would 
 oppose the alterations which it might prescribe. But it is 
 still better to grant the power of changing the constitution 
 of the people to men who represent (however imperfectly) 
 the will of the people, than to men who represent no one 
 but themselves. 
 
 It would be still more unreasonable to invest the English 
 judges Avith the right of resisting the decisions of the legis- 
 lative body, since the Parliament which makes the laws 
 also makes the constitution ; and consequently, a law ema- 
 nating; from the three estates of the realm can in no case 
 be unconstitutional. But neither of these remarks is appli- 
 cable to America. 
 
 In the United States, the constitution governs the legis- 
 lator as much as the private citizen: as it is the first of 
 laws, it cannot be modified by a law ; and it is therefore 
 just that the tribunals should obey the constitution in pref- 
 erence to any law. This condition belongs to the very 
 essence of the judicature ; for to select that legal obligation 
 by which he is most strictly bound, is in some sort the 
 natural right of every magistrate. 
 
 In France, the constitution is also the first of laws, and 
 the judges have the same right to take it as the ground of 
 their decisions ; but were they to exercise this right, they 
 must perforce encroach on rights more sacred than their 
 own, namely, on those of society, in whose name they are 
 acting. In this case, reasons of state clearly prevail over 
 ordinary motives. In America, where the nation can 
 always reduce its magistrates to obedience by changing 
 its constitution, no danger of this kind is to be feared. 
 Upon this point, therefore, the political and the logical 
 reason agi'ee, and the people as well as the judges preserve 
 their privileges. 
 
 Whenever a law which the judge holds to be unconsti- 
 tutional is invoked in a tribunal of the United States, he 
 

 m 
 
 
 
 
 !■ N 
 
 ''It;;'' 
 
 t"; 
 
 m 
 
 ■;!:■;-! 
 
 « 
 
 i;ii ... 
 
 128 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AJIEKICA. 
 
 may refuse to admit it as a rule ; this power is the only one 
 which is peculiar to the American magistrate, hut it gives 
 rise to immense })olitical influence. In truth, few laws can 
 escape the searching analysis of the judicial power for any 
 length of time, for there are few which are not prejudicial 
 to some private interest or other, and none which may not 
 be brought before a court of justice by the choice of par- 
 ties, or by the necessity of the case. But as soon as a 
 judge has refused to apply any given law in a case, that 
 law immediately loses a portion of its moral force. Those 
 to whom it is prejudicial learn that means exist of overcom- 
 ing its authority ; and similar suits are multiplied, until it 
 becomes powerless. The alternative, then, is, that the 
 people must alter the constitution, or the legislature must 
 repeal the law. The political power which the Americans 
 have intrusted to their courts of justice is therefore im- 
 mense ; but the evils of this power are considerably dimin- 
 ished by the impossibility of attacking the laws except 
 through the courts of justice. If the judge had been em- 
 powered to contest the law on the ground of theoretical 
 generalities, — if he were able to take the initiative, and to 
 censure the legislator, — he would play a prominent politi- 
 cal part ; and as the champion or the antagonist of a party, 
 he would have brought the hostile passions of the nation 
 into the conflict. But when a judge contests a law in an 
 obscure debate on some particular case, the importance of 
 his attack is concealed from public notice ; his decision 
 bears upon the interest of an individual, and the law is 
 slighted only incidentally. Moreover, although it is cen- 
 sured, it is not abolished ; its moral force may be dimin- 
 ished, but its authority is not taken away ; and its final 
 destruction can be accomplished only by the reiterated 
 attacks of judicial functionaries. It will be seen, also, 
 that by leaving it to private interest 1 --ensure the law, 
 and by intimately uniting the trial of :; law with the 
 
JUDICIAL rOWKU IN Till-: UNITKD SIATKS. 
 
 129 
 
 
 feiion 
 
 is 
 
 \en- 
 
 lin- 
 
 mal 
 
 Ited 
 
 >o, 
 
 hv, 
 
 the 
 
 trial of an individual, legislation is protected from Avanton 
 ass.aults, and from tlie daily aggressions of party s])irit. 
 The errors of the legislator are exposed only to meet a 
 real want ; and it is always a positive and appreciable liict 
 which must serve as the basis of a prosecution. 
 
 I am inclined to believe this practice of the American 
 courts to be at once most favorable to liberty and to public 
 order. If the judge could on'" r'' ': the legislator o})enly 
 and directly, he would sometimes b, fraid to opjxjse him ; 
 and at other times, party spirit might encourage ' m to 
 brave it at every turn. The laws would consecpiently be 
 attacked when the power from which they emanated was 
 weak, and obeyed when it was strong ; — that is to say, 
 when it would be useful to respect them, they would often 
 be contested ; and when it would be easy to convert them 
 into an instrument of oppression, they would be respected. 
 But the American judge is brought into the political arena 
 independently of his own will. He only judges the law 
 because he is obliged to judge a case. The political ques- 
 tion which he is called upon to resolve is connected with 
 the interests of the parties, and he cannot refuse to decide 
 it without a denial of justice. He performs his functions 
 as a citizen, by fulfilling the precise duties which belong to 
 his profession as a magistrate. It is true that, upon this 
 system, the judicial censorship of the courts of justice 
 over the legislature cannot extend to all laws indiscrimi- 
 nately, inasmuch as some of them can never give rise to 
 that precise species of contest which is teraied a lawsuit ; 
 and even when such a contest is possible, it may happen 
 that no one cares to bring it before a court of justice. 
 The Americans have often felt this inconvenience ; but 
 they have left the remedy incomplete, lest they should give 
 it an efficacy which might in some cases prove dangerous. 
 Within these limits, the power vested in the American 
 courts of justice, of pronouncing a statute to be unconsti- 
 
 6* I 
 
 i « 
 
 <!Ml. 
 
 I 
 
130 
 
 DKMOCKACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 • 1 !■ 
 
 tutioiial, forms ono of tlic most powerful biirriers whicli 
 lias ever been devised against the tyranny of political as- 
 semblies. 
 
 OTHER POWERS GRANTED TO AMERICAN JUDGES. 
 
 In the United States, all the Citizens have the Right of i: 'ttiiif,' the Puhlic 
 Functionaries helbrc the ordinary Triliunals. — llow they use this Right. 
 — Art. 75 of the French Constitution of the Year VIII. — The Ameri- 
 cans and the Englisli cannot understand the Purport of this Article. 
 
 It is hardly necessary to say that, in a free country like 
 America, all the citizens have the right of indicting public 
 functionaries before the ordinary tribunals, and that all the 
 judges have the power of convicting public officers. The 
 right granted to the courts of justice of punishing the 
 agents of the executive government, when they violate the 
 laws, is so natural a one, that it cannot be looked upon as 
 an extraordinary privilege. Nor do the springs of govern- 
 ment appear to me to be weakened in the United States, 
 by rendering all public officers responsible to the tribunals. 
 The Americans seem, on the contrary, to have increased 
 by this means that respect whicli is due to the authorities, 
 and at the same time, to have made these authorities more 
 careful not to offi^nd. I was struck by the small number 
 of pohtical trials which occur in the United States ; but I 
 had no difficulty in accounting for this circumstance. A 
 prosecution, of whatever nature it may be, is always a 
 difficult and expensive undertaking. It is easy to attack 
 a public man in the journals, but the motives for bringing 
 him before the tribunals must be serious. A solid ground 
 of complaint must exist, before any one thinks of prosecut- 
 ing a public officer, and these officers are careful not to 
 furnish such grounds of complaint, when they are afraid of 
 being prosecuted. 
 
 I 
 
 m 
 
 .ii 
 
|ys a 
 ttack 
 
 )und 
 pcut- 
 it to 
 of 
 
 JUDICIAL POWER IN THK UNITKD STATKS. 
 
 101 
 
 This does not depend upon the republican form of Amer- 
 ican institutions, for tho same thing happens in England. 
 These two nations do not regard the impeachment of the 
 principal ofHcers of state as the guaranty of their indepen- 
 dence. But they hold that it is rather by minor pros(^cu- 
 tions, which the humblest citizen can institute at any time, 
 that liberty is ])rotected, and not by those great judicial 
 procedures, which are rarely employed luitil it is too late. 
 
 In the ]\Iiddle Ages, when it was very dithcult to reach 
 offenders, the Judges inflicted fi'ightful j)unishnients on the 
 tew who were arrested ; but this did not diminish the num- 
 ber of crimes. It has since been discovered that, when 
 justice is more certain and more mild, it is more eflica- 
 uious. The English and the Americans hold that. tyranny 
 and oppression are to be treated like any other crime, by 
 lessening the penalty and facilitating conviction. 
 
 In the year VIII. of the French Republic, a constitution 
 was drawn up in which the following clause was intro- 
 duced : " Art. 75. All the ajxents of the o;overnment below 
 the rank of ministers can be prosecuted for offences relating 
 to their several functions only by virtue of a decree of the 
 Council of State ; in which case, the prosecution takes 
 place before the ordinary tribunals." This clause survived 
 the " Constitution of the year VIII.," and is still maintained, 
 in spite of the just complaints of the nation. I have always 
 found a difficulty in explaining its meaning to Englishmen 
 or Americans, and have hardly understood it myself. They 
 at once perceived that, the Council of State in France 
 being a c;reat tribunal established in the centre of the kino-- 
 dom, it was a sort of tyranny to send all complainants 
 before it as a preliminary step. But w^hen I told them 
 that the Council of State was not a judicial body, in the 
 common sense of the term, but an administrative council 
 composed of men dependent on the Crown, — so that the 
 king, after having ordered one of his servants, called a 
 
132 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 ^\> : 
 
 Prefect, to commit an injustice, has the power of com- 
 mandini: another of liis servants, called a Councillor of 
 State, to prevent the former from being punished, — when 
 I showed them, that the citizen who lias been injured ')y an 
 order of the sovereign is obliged to ask the sovereign's per- 
 mission to obtain redress, they refused to credit so flagrant 
 an abuse, and were tem})tcd to accuse me of falsehood or 
 ignorance. It frequently happened, before the Revolution, 
 that a Parliament * issued a warrant against a })ublic officer 
 wlio liad committed an offence. Sometimes the royal au- 
 thority intervened, and quashed the proceedings. Despot- 
 ism then sliowed itself openly, and men obeyed it only by 
 submitting to superior force. It is painful to perceive how 
 much lower we are sunk than our forefathers ; since we 
 allow things to pass, under the color of justice and the sanc- 
 tion of law, which violence alone imposed upon them. 
 
 ' i 
 
 * A French "Parliament" was a judicial body. — Am. Ed. 
 
 ! i 
 
roLiiicAL .luuisuicTiuN IN iiiK r.srn;i) siAir.s. li] 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 POLITICAL JURISDICTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Definition of Politirul Jurisdiction. — What is understood by Political Juris- 
 diction in France, in En<^Iaiul, and in the United States. — In America, 
 tlie Political Jud^'c has to do only with I'uhlic Officers. — lie more fre- 
 quently decrees Itemoval from OiHco than an ordinary IVnalty. — Polit- 
 ical Jurisdiction as it exists in the United States is, notwitiistandiu}; its 
 Mildness, and perhaps in Conseciuence of that Mildness, a most Power- 
 ful Instrument in the Hands of the Majority. 
 
 I UNDERSTAND by political jurisdiction, that tem- 
 porary right of pronouncing a legal decision with 
 which a pohtical body may be invested. 
 
 In absolute governments, it is useless to introduce any 
 extraordinary forms of procedure ; the prince, in whose 
 name an offender is prosecuted, is as much the sovereign 
 of the courts of justice as of everything else, and the idea 
 whicli is entertained of liis power is of itself a sufficient 
 security. The only thing he lias to fear is, that tlie ex- 
 ternal formalities of justice should be neglected, and tliat 
 liis authority should be dishonored, from a wish to 
 strenirthen it. But in most free countries, in which tlie 
 majority can never have the same influence over the tri- 
 bunals as an absolute monarch, the judicial power has 
 occasionally been vested for a time in the representatives 
 of the peo])le. It has been thought better to introduce a 
 temporary conftision between the functions of the different 
 authorities, than to violate the necessary principle of the 
 unity of government. 
 
 England, France, and the United States have established 
 
 ll 
 
184 
 
 I)KM()CnA(;V IN AMKKICA. 
 
 this political jurisdiction l»v liiw ; juul it is curious to sec 
 tlio (lill'cri'nt use which these three <jrent natious have 
 made of it. lu FiU;j;lau(l and in 1'' ranee, the ITouso of 
 Lords and the Chaniher of Peers constitute the hinhost 
 criminal court of their respective nations ; and although 
 they do not hahitually try all ])olitical offences, they arc 
 cotnpetent to trv them all. Another ixditical hodv has the 
 riiiht of l)rin«iin<i; the accusation hefore the Peers: the onlv 
 
 dim 
 
 \\ 
 
 liich 
 
 'XI 
 
 its het 
 
 wetMi 
 
 the two 
 
 niti 
 
 in 
 
 th 
 
 « I 
 
 cout 
 
 respect is, that in Eui^land the Commons may ini])eacli 
 whomsoever they please hefore the Lords, wdiilst in 
 France, the Deputies can only employ this mode of pros- 
 ecution ai^ainst the ministers of the Crown. In both 
 countries, the U[)per House may make use of all the ex- 
 istinn; ])enal laws of the nation to punish the delincpients. 
 
 In the United States, as well as in Europe, one branch 
 of the le<^islature is authorized to impeach, and the other to 
 judf^e: the House of Representatives arrai<i;ns the offender, 
 and the Senate punishes him. But the Senate can only 
 try such j)ersons as are brought before it by the ILmse of 
 Representatives, and those })ersons must beloni^ to the 
 class of public functionaries. Thus the jiu'isdiction of the 
 Senate is less extensive than that of the Peers of France, 
 Avhilst the riiiht of impeachment by the Rejiresentatives is 
 more general than that of the Deputies. But the great 
 difference which exists between Europe and America is, 
 that, in Europe, the political tribunals can apply all the 
 enactments of the penal code, whilst in America, wlitn 
 they have deprived the offender of liis official raidv, and 
 have declared him incapable of filling any political office 
 for the fiiture, their jurisdiction terminates, and that of the 
 ordinary tribunals begins. 
 
 Suppose, for instance, that the President of the United 
 States has committed the crime of high-treason ; tlie House 
 of Representatives impeaches him, and the Senate de- 
 
 B au-a-fiwwi 
 
ror.iiK AL iriMsinciioN in tiii: r\rir,i> siatks. 1:»") 
 
 led 
 Ise 
 le- 
 
 pradcs Iiiiii (Voui otlico ; hv must tlicii Itc tv'u-A l»y a Jury, 
 wliicli aloiie I ail (IcjuMvi' liitri of lihcrty or lill'. 'I'liis ac- 
 ruratcly illustrates tlic suliji'ct we are treatiu;;;. 'I'lie ])olit- 
 ical jiu'isdictiou whicli is estal)lislied 1)V tlie laws ot' I'iUnnui 
 is iuteiidcd to reach i^reat ort'euders, wliatever may 1)0 tlieir 
 l)irth, tlu'ir raid\, or their power in the State; and to this 
 end, all the |)ri\ileo;L's of .'i court of justice ai'e temporarily 
 f^iven to a <:;reat political assembly. The len;islator is then 
 transformed into a magistrate ; he is called upon to prove, 
 to classily, and to ])unish the offence ; and as he exercises 
 all the authority of a jud<;i', the law im[)os(>s upon him all 
 the duties of that higli othce, and requires all tl:< foi'mal- 
 ities of justice. When a puhlic functionary is impeached 
 before an Enn;lish or a French political tribunal, and is 
 found jj;uilty, the sentence deprives him ipso faoto of his 
 functions, and may pronounce him incapable of resuminif; 
 them or any others for the future. But in this case, tin 
 political interdict is a consequence of the sentence, and nrt 
 the sentence itself. In Europe, then, the sentence of a 
 political tribunal is a judicial verdict, rather than an ad- 
 ministrative measure. In the United States, the contrary 
 takes place ; and although the decision of the Senate is 
 judicial in its form, since the Senators are obliged to com- 
 ply with the rules and formalities of a court of justice ; 
 although it is judicial, also, in respect to tlu? motives on 
 which it is founded, since the Senate is o;^Mierallv obliged 
 to take an offence at common law as the basis (f its sen- 
 tence ; yet the political judgment is rather an administra- 
 tive than a judicial act. If it had been the intention of 
 the American legislator really to iiivest n political body 
 with great judicial authority, its action would not have 
 been limited to public functionaries, since the most danger- 
 ous enemies of the state may not have any public functions ; 
 and this is especially true in republics, where party influ- 
 ence has the most force, and where the strength of many 
 a leader is increased by his exercising no legitimate power. 
 
i ■' 
 
 
 •I'.i 
 
 •'^ 
 
 1' 
 
 136 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 If tlie American legislator had wished to give society 
 itself the means of preventing great offences by the fear of 
 pnnislnnent, according to the practice of ordinary justice, 
 all the resources of the penal code would have been given 
 to the political tribunals. But he gave them only an 
 imperfect weapon, which can nt v^^r reach the most dan- 
 gerous offenders ; since men who aim at the entire sub- 
 version of the laws are not likely to murmur at a political 
 interdict. 
 
 The main object of the political jurisdiction which ob- 
 tains in the United States is, therefore, to take away the 
 power from him who Avould make a bad use of it, and pre- 
 A'ent him from ever acquiring it again. This is evidently 
 an administrative measure, sanctioned by the formalities 
 of a judicial decision. In this matter, the Americans have 
 created a mixed system ; they have surrounded the act 
 which removes a public functionary with all the securities 
 of a political trial, and they have deprived political con- 
 demnations of their severest penalties. Every link of the 
 system may easily be traced from this point ; we at once 
 perceive why the American constitutions subject all the 
 civil functionaries to the jurisdiction of the Senate, whilst 
 the military, whose crimes are nevertheless more formi- 
 dable, are exempted from that tribunal. In the civil ser^ 
 A-ice, none of the American functionaries can be said to be 
 removable ; the j)laces which some of them occupy are 
 inalienable, and the others are chosen for a tenu which 
 cannot be shortened.* It is, therefore, necessary to try 
 them all in order to deprive them of their authority. But 
 military officers are dependent on the chief magistrate of 
 
 * This is a great mistake. In no country in the world do civil officers 
 lioid their posts by so short and uncertain a tenure as in tiie United States. 
 This is true l)oth of the Federal and tlie State governments, rotation in ofHco 
 being now held up (falsely and injuriously, as we believe) to he a rcpuhlican 
 principle. Every change of administration, every election of a new Gover- 
 nor or a new President, leads to the appointment of a new set of officers, 
 
 fsem 
 
POLITICAL JURISDICTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 137 
 
 Ites. 
 
 Ilic'o 
 
 Iciin 
 
 t'cr- 
 
 3r8, 
 
 the State, who is himself a civil functionary ; and the de- 
 cision which condemns him is a blow upon them all. 
 
 If we now compare the American and the European 
 systems, we shall meet with differences no less striking in 
 the eifects which each of them produces or may produce. 
 In France and England, the jurisdiction of political bodies 
 is looked upon as an extraordinary resource, which is only 
 to be employed in order to rescue society from unwonted 
 dangers. It is not to be denied that these tribunals, as they 
 are constituted in Europe, violate the conservative principle 
 of tlie division of powers in the state, and threaten inces- 
 santly the lives and liberties of the subject. The same 
 political jurisdiction in the United States is only indirectly 
 hostile to the division of powers ; it cannot menace the 
 lives of the citizens, and it does not hover, as in Europe, 
 over the heads of the whole community, since it reaches 
 those only who have voluntarily submitted to its authority 
 by accepting office. It is, at the same time, less formidable 
 and less efficacious ; indeed, it has not been considered by 
 the legislators of the United States as an extreme remedy 
 for the more violent evils of society, but as an ordinary 
 means of government. In this respect, it probably exercises 
 more roal influence on the social body in America than in 
 Europe. We must not be misled by the apparent mildness 
 of American legislation in all that relates to political juris- 
 diction. It is to be observed, in the first place, that in the 
 United States, the tribunal which passes judgment is com- 
 posed of the same elements, and subject lo the same in- 
 fluences, as the body which impeaches the offender, and 
 that this gives an almost irresistible impulse to the vin- 
 
 down even to the lowest clerks in the several departments. Tlie country 
 thus loses all the benefit of experience in the conduct of its affairs, the of- 
 fices heing all iield at any one time by a set of raw hands. The only ex- 
 ception is in the case of the Judges of the Supreme Court, who are now 
 the only functionaries that cannot be removed except by impeacliment. — 
 Am. Ed. 
 
138 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 ! :*i 
 
 dictivc passloiw of parties. If political judges in the United 
 States cannot inflict so heavy penalties as those in Europe, 
 there is the less chance of their acquitting an offender ; the 
 conviction, if it is less formidahle, is more certain. The 
 principal object of the political tribunals of Europe is to 
 punish the offender ; of those in America, to deprive him 
 of his power. A political sentence in the United States 
 may, therefore, be looked upon as a preventive measure ; 
 and there is no reason for tying doAvn the judges to the 
 'exact definitions of criminal law. Nothinjx can be more 
 alarming than the vagueness with which political offences, 
 properly so called, are described in the laws of America. 
 Article II. Section 4 of the Constitution of the United 
 States runs thus : — " The President, Vice-President, and 
 all civil officers of the United States, shall be removed from 
 office on impeachment for, and conviction of, treason, brib- 
 ery, or other ld<jh crimes and misdemeanors.'''' Many of the 
 constitutions of the States are even less explicit. " Public 
 officers," savs the Constitution of Massachusetts, " shall be 
 impeached for misconduct or maladministration." The 
 Constitution of Viro-inia declares that " all the civil officers 
 who shall have offended against the State bv maladmlnis- 
 tration, coiTuption, or other high crimes, may be imj)eached 
 by the House of Delegates." In some of the States, the 
 constitutions do not specify any offences, in order to sub- 
 ject the public functionaries to an unlimited res})onsibility.* 
 I venture to affirm, that it is precisely their mildness which 
 renders the American laws so formidable in this respect. 
 We have shown that, in Europe, the removal of a function- 
 ary and his political discpialification are the consecpiences of 
 the penalty he is to undergo, and that, in America, they 
 constitute the penalty itself. The consequence is, that in 
 Europe, political tribunals are invested with terrible powers 
 which they are afraid to use, and the fear of punishing too 
 
 * See tlie Constitutions of Illinois, Maine, Connecticut, and Georgia. 
 
ft. 
 
 )f 
 [y 
 
 ['S 
 
 io 
 
 POLITICAL JURISDICTION IN THE UNITED STATES. 189 
 
 much lilnders tliem from punishing at all. Cut in Amer- 
 ica, no one hesitates to inflict a penalty from which human- 
 ity does not recoil. T* i )n(lemn a political opponent to 
 death, in order to deprive- liim of his power, is to commit 
 what all the world would execrate as a horrible assassina- 
 tion ; but to declare that opponent unworthy to exercise 
 that authority, and to deprive him of it, leaving him un- 
 injured in life and limb, may seem to be the fair issue of 
 the struggle. But this sentence, which it is so easy to 
 pronounce, is not the less fatally severe to most of those 
 upon whom it is inflicted. Great criminals may undoubt- 
 edly brave its vain rigor; but ordinary oftenders will dread 
 it as a condemnation which destroys their position in the 
 world, casts a blight upon their honor, and condemns them 
 to a shamefld inactivity worse than death. The influence 
 exercised in the United States upon the progress of society 
 by the jurisdiction of political bodies is the more powerful 
 in proportion as it seems less frightful. It does not directly 
 coerce the subject, but it renders the majority more abso- 
 lute over those in power ; it does not give an unbounded 
 authority to the legislature which can only be exerted at 
 some great crisis, but it establishes a temperate and regular 
 influence, which is at all times available. If the power is 
 decreased, it can, (m the other hand, be more conveniently 
 employed, and more easily abused. By preventing political 
 tribunals from inflicting judicial punishments, the Americans 
 seem to have eluded the worst consequences of legislative 
 tyranny, rather than tyranny itself; and I am not sure 
 that political jurisdiction, as it is constituted in the United 
 States, is not, all things considered, the most tomnidable 
 weapon which has ever been placed in the grasji of a ma- 
 jority. When the American republics begin to degenerate, 
 it will be easy to verify the truth of this observation, by 
 remarking whether the number of political impeachments 
 is increased.* 
 
 * See Appendix N. 
 
140 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 I HAVE hitherto considered each State as a separate 
 whole, and have explained the different springs which 
 the people there put in motion, and the different means of 
 action which it employs. But all the States which I have 
 considered as independent are yet forced to submit, in cer- 
 tain cases, to the supreme authority of the Union. The 
 time is now come to examine the portion of sovereignty 
 which has been granted to the Union, and to cast a rapid 
 glance over the Federal Constitution. 
 
 HISTORY OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 ■: i' f ^ 
 
 Origin of the first Union. — Its "Weakness. — Congress appeals to the Con- 
 stituent Au<^'^<"'-ity. — Interval of two Years between this Appeal and the 
 
 Promulgation of the new Constitution. 
 
 The thirteen Colonies, which simultaneously threw off 
 the yoke of England towards the end of the last century, 
 had, as I have already said, the same religion, the same 
 language, the same customs, and almost the same laws ; 
 they were struggling against a common enemy ; and these 
 reasons were sufficiently strong to unite them one to an- 
 other, and to consolidate them into one nation. But as 
 each of them had always had a separate existence, and a 
 government within its reach, separate interests and peculiar 
 customs had sprung up, which were opposed to such a com- 
 pact and intimate union as would have absorbed the indi- 
 
-,.^ ■ — ■ ^1^.^- 
 
 > 
 
 se 
 n- 
 as 
 a 
 ir 
 
 THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 141 
 
 vidiial importance of each in the general importance of all. 
 Hence arose two opposite tendencies, — the one prompting 
 the Anglo-Americans to unite, the other to divide, their 
 streno-tli. 
 
 As long as the war with the mother country lasted, the 
 principle of union was kept alive by necessity ; and al- 
 though the laws which constituted it were defective, the 
 common tie subsisted in spite of their imperfections.* But 
 no sooner was peace concluded, than the faults of this legis- 
 lation became manifest, and the state seemed to be sud- 
 denly dissolved. Each Colony became an independent re- 
 public, and assumed an absolute sovereignty. The Federal 
 government, condemned to impotence by its Constitution, 
 and no longer sustained by the presence of a common dan- 
 ger, witnessed the outrages offered to its flag by the gi'eat 
 nations of Europe, whilst it was scarcely able to maintain 
 its ground against the Indian tribes, and to pay the interest 
 of the debt which had been contracted during the war of 
 independence. It was already on the verge of destruction, 
 when it officially proclaimed its inability to conduct the 
 government, and appealed to the constituent authority.f 
 
 If America ever approached (for however brief a time) 
 that lofty pinnacle of glory to which the proud imagination 
 of its inhabitants is wont to point, it was at this solemn 
 moment, when the national power abdicated, as it were, its 
 authority. All ages have furnished the spectacle of a peo- 
 ple struggling with energy to win its independence ; and 
 the efforts of the Americans in throwing off the English 
 yoKe have been considerably exaggerated. Separated from 
 
 * See the Articles of the first Confederation, formed in 1778. Tiiis Con- 
 stitution was not adopted by all the States until 1781. Sec also the analy- 
 sis ffiveu of this Constitution in the Federalist, from No. 15 to No. 22 inclu- 
 sive, and Story's " Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States," 
 pp. 85-115. 
 
 t Congress made this declaration on the 21st of February, 1787. 
 
 I 
 
 i'Eii 
 

 ) ■ 
 
 
 w i 
 
 '■■-■!! 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 l!^ii : 
 
 
 
 ■'',■' 
 
 
 
 'f i 
 
 
 
 ■■i ■ ■ 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ! 
 
 !' ■' 
 
 
 l-i 
 
 1 
 
 
 142 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 their enemies by three thousand miles of oc^ean, and backed 
 by a powerful ally, the United States owed their victory 
 much more to their geographical position than to the valor 
 of their armies or the patriotism of their citizens. It would 
 be ridiculous to compare the American war to the wars of 
 the French Revolution, or the efforts of the Americans to 
 those of the French, when France, attacked by the whole 
 of Europe, without money, without credit, without allies, 
 threw forward a twentieth part of lier population to meet 
 her enemies, and with one hand curried the torch of revo- 
 lution beyond the frontiers, whilst she stifled with the other 
 a flame that was devouring the country within. But it is 
 new in the history of society, to see a great people turn a 
 calm and scrutinizing eye upon itself, when apprised by the 
 legislature that the wheels of its government are stopped, 
 — to see it carefully examine the extent of the evil, and 
 patiently wait two whole years until a remedy is discov- 
 ered, to which it voluntarily submitted without its costing 
 a tear or a drop of blood from mankind. 
 
 When the inadequacy of the first constitution was dis- 
 covered, America had the double advantage of that calm 
 which had succeeded the effervescence of the Revolution, 
 and of the aid of those great men whom the Revolution 
 had created. The assembly which accepted the task of 
 composing the second constitution was small ; * but George 
 Washington was its President, and it contained the finest 
 minds and the noblest characters which had ever appeared 
 in the New World. This national Convention, after Ions 
 and mature deliberation, offered to the acceptance of the 
 people the body of general laws which still rules the; Union. 
 All the States adopted it successively.! The new Federal 
 
 * It consisted of fifty-five members ; Washington, Madison, Hamilton, 
 and the two Morrises were amongst the number. 
 
 t It was not adopted by tlie legislative bodies, l)ut representatives were 
 elected by tiie people for tliis sole purpose ; and tlie new Constitution was 
 discussed at length iu each of these assemblies. 
 
"irn 
 
 FT 
 
 THE FEDKIUL COXSriTUTlON. 
 
 143 
 
 government commenced its functions in 1780, after an 
 interregnum of two years. The Revolution of America 
 terminated precisely when that of France began. 
 
 SUMMARY OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 pe 
 in. 
 lal 
 
 K 
 
 [re 
 
 las 
 
 Division of Authority between the Federal Govcrnincnt and the States. — 
 The Goveruiiieut of tlic States is the Rule, tiic Federal Govermnent 
 the Exeeption. 
 
 The first question which awaited the Americans was, so 
 to divide the sovereignty that each of the different States 
 which composed the Union should continue to govern 
 itself in all that concerned its internal prosj)erity, whilst 
 the entire nation, represented by the Union, sh.ould con- 
 tinue to form a comj)aci body, and to provide for all gen- 
 eral exigencies. The problem was a complex and difficult 
 one. It was as impossible to determine beforehand, with 
 any degree of accuracy, the share of authority which each 
 of the tw^o governments w^as to enjoy, as to foresee all the 
 incidents in the life of a nation. 
 
 The obligations and the claims of the Federal govern- 
 ment were simple and easily definable, because the Union 
 had been formed with the express purpose of meeting cer- 
 tain great ojeneral wants ; but the claims and obligations of 
 the individual States, on the other hand, were complicated 
 and various, because their government had penetrated into 
 all the details of social life. The attributes of the Federal 
 government %vere therefore carefully defined, and all that 
 was not included among them was declared to remain to 
 the governments of the several States. Thus the gov- 
 ernment of the States remained the rule, and that of the 
 Confederation w^as the exception.* 
 
 * It is to be observed, that, whenever the exclusive right of regulating cer- 
 tain matters is not reserved to Congress by tlie Constitution, the States may 
 
 
 w 
 
144 
 
 DK.MOCRACY IX AMKRICA. 
 
 ' '.'.J't 
 
 \- 
 
 '\ 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 ! ,: 
 
 
 It' 
 
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 ^ip'^t' 
 
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 11 
 
 
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 b u 
 
 ■■•a \ ■ -, 
 
 But as it was foreseen that, in practice, (juestions mi<j;lit 
 arise as to the exact limits of tliis exceptional authority, 
 and it would be dangerous to submit these (juestions to the 
 decision of the ordinary courts of justice, established in the 
 different States by the States themselves, a high Federal 
 court was created,* one of whose duties was to maintain 
 the balance of power between the two rival governments, 
 as it had been established by the Constitution.! 
 
 POWERS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Power of (Icclarinfj War, making Peace, and levyinj:^ General Taxes vested 
 in the Federal Government. — Wliat Part of tlic Internal Policy of the 
 Country it may direct. — The Government of the Union in soum Re- 
 epccts more centralized than the Kiny's Government in the old Prench 
 Monarchy. 
 
 The people in themselves are only individuals ; and the 
 special reason why they need to be imited under one gov- 
 ernment is, that they may appear to advantage before for- 
 
 eigners. 
 
 The exclusive right of making peace and war, of 
 
 legislate concerning them till Congress sees fit to take up the affair. For 
 instance, Congress has the right of making a general law on bankruptcy, 
 which, however, it neglects to do. Each Str.te is then at liberty to make 
 such a law for itself. This point, Iiowcver, has been established only after 
 discussion in the law courts, and may be said to belong more properly to 
 jurisprudence. 
 
 * The action of this court is indirect, as we shall hereafter show. 
 
 t It is thus that the Federalist, No. 45, explains this division of sover- 
 eignty between the Union and the States : " The powers delegated by the 
 Constitution to the Federal government are few and defined. Those which 
 are to remain in the State governments are numerous and indefinite. The 
 former ■will be exercised principally on external objects, as war, peace, nego- 
 tiation, and foreign commerce. The powers reserved to the several States 
 will extend to all the objects which, in the ordinary course of affairs, concern 
 the internal order and prosperity of the State." 
 
 I shall often have occasion to quote the Federalist in this work. ^Vlien 
 
THE FEDKRAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 145 
 
 concliuling troatios of coinmorcG, niislno; armies, and oqnip- 
 pin>i; fleets, was tlieret'ore o;rante(l to tlie Union. The ne- 
 cessitv of a national jiovernnient was less imi)enonslv t'l'lt 
 in the condnet of the internal affairs of soeiety ; but there 
 are ct-rtain general interests which can only he attended to 
 with jidvantaiio hy a ueneral anthoritv. The Union was 
 invested with the nower of controUino; the monetary sys- 
 tern, carrying the mails, and openin<jj the o-reat roads which 
 were to nnite the different parts of the conntry.* The 
 independence of the government of each State in its 
 sphere was recognized ; yet the Federal govermnent was 
 anthorized to interfere in the internal affairs of the States f 
 hi a few predetermined cases, in which an indiscreet use of 
 their independence might compromise the safety of the 
 whole Union. Thus, whilst the power of modifying and 
 changing their legislati<m at pleasure was ])rese)"ved to each 
 of the confederate republics, they are forl)idden to enact 
 ex-pod-fado laws, or to grant jiny titles of nobility. 
 Lastly, as it was necessary that the Federal government 
 should be al)i^' to fulfil its enffagements, it has an unlim- 
 ited power of levying taxes. 
 
 In examining the division of powers, as established by 
 
 the bill, which has since become the Constitution of tlie United States, was 
 hefoii e people, and the discussions were still pending, three men, who had 
 already acquired a portion of that celebrity which they have since enjoyed, 
 — John Jay, Hamilton, IMadison, — undertook together to explain to the na- 
 tion the advantages of the measure which Avas proposed. "With this view, 
 they published in a journal a series of articles, which now form a complete 
 treatise. They entitled their journal " The Federalist," a name which has 
 been retained in the work. The Federalist is an excellent book, which ought 
 to be familiar to the statesmen of all countries, though it specially concerns 
 America. 
 
 * Several other powers of the same kind exist, such as that of legislating 
 on bankruptcy, and grunting patents. The necessity of confiding such mat- 
 ters to the Federal government is obvious enough. 
 
 t Even in these cases, its interference is indirect. The Union interferes 
 by means of the tribunals, as will be hereafter shown. 
 
 7 J 
 
 
140 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 ■ I 
 
 the Fedonil Constitution, remarking on tlie one liand tlio 
 p(trtIon of sovereignty whicli liiis been reserved to tlie sev- 
 eral States, and on the other, the sliare of power wlilch has 
 been given to the Union, It is evident tliat tlie Federal 
 legislators entertained very clear and accurate notions re- 
 S])ectlng the centralization of government. The United 
 States form not only a republic, but a confederation ; yet 
 the national authority is more centralized there than it 
 , was in several of the absolute monarchies of Europe. I 
 will cite only two examples. 
 
 Thirteen supreme courts of justice existed in France, 
 whicli, generally speaking, had the right of interi)retlng 
 tlie law without appeal ; and those provinces which were 
 styled paya d'JEtat were authorized to refuse their assent 
 to an Imjjost whicli had been levied by the sovereign, wdio 
 represented the nation. 
 
 In the Union, there is but one tribunal to interpret, as 
 there is one legislature to make, the laws ; and an impost 
 voted by the representatives of the nation is binding upon 
 all the citizens. In these two essential points, therefore, 
 the Union is more centralized than the French monarchy, 
 although the Union is only an assemblage of confederate 
 republics. 
 
 In Spain, certain provinces had the right of establisliing 
 a system of custom-house duties peculiar to themselves, 
 although that privilege belongs, by its very natm-e, to the 
 national sovereignty. In America, Congress alone has the 
 right of regulating the commercial relations of the States 
 with each other. The government of the confederation is 
 therefore more centralized in this respect, than the kingdom 
 of Spain. It is true, that the power of the cro^vn in 
 France or Spain was always able to obtain by force what- 
 ever the constitution of the country denied, and that the 
 ultimate result was consequently the same ; but I am here 
 discussing the theory of the constitution. 
 
TMK ir.DKRAL CONSTITUTION'. 
 
 14: 
 
 Aftor liMviiii; settled tlio limits within wliicli the Fed- 
 eral governnient was to act, the next point was to deter- 
 mine how it should be put in action. 
 
 LEGISLATIVE POWERS OF THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT. 
 
 Division of the Legislative Body into Two Brnnclies. — DitU'riiHc in the 
 Manner of fonnin;; the Two Houses. — Tiic Principle of the Imlenen- 
 dence of tlio St.'itc;^ pvedominatcs in the Korination of 'he Senate. 
 That of the Sovcrei^rnty of the Nation in the Composition of the Honso 
 of Representatives. — Siiifrular Ktlect of the Faet that a Constitution 
 can be Logical only when the Nation is Young. 
 
 The plan which had been laid down beforehand in the 
 constitutions of the several States was followed,' in many 
 respects, in the organization of the powers of the Union. 
 The Federal legislature of the Union was composed of a 
 Senate and a House of Representatives. A spirit of com- 
 promise caused these two assemblies to be constituted on 
 different principles. I have already shown that tAvo inter- 
 ests were opposed to each other in the estaljlishment of 
 the Federal Constitution. These two interests had given 
 rise to tw^o opinions. It was the wish of one party to 
 convert the Union into a league of independent States, 
 or a sort of congress, at which the representatives of the 
 several nations would meet to discuss certain })oints of 
 common interest. The other party desired to unite the in- 
 habitants of the American Colonies into one and the same 
 people, and to establish a government, which should act iis 
 the sole representative of the nation, although in a limited 
 sphere. The practical consequences of these two theories 
 were very different. 
 
 If the object was, tliat a league should be established 
 instead of a national government, then the majority of 
 the States, instead of the majority of the inhabitant^ of 
 the Union, would make the laws : for every State, great 
 
I. 
 
 
 ■ 
 
 
 ! n 
 
 \n 
 
 if 
 
 i! 
 
 148 
 
 DKMOCKACV IN AMKIMCA. 
 
 or small, would tlu-n remain in full indcpc'iuU'iice, aii«] 
 outer \\iv L'nion ii|i()n a footin*^ of jx'rtl'ct «■ jiality. U\ 
 liowcvc!', till' iiilialiitaiits of the United States wove to be 
 considert'd as lK'lou<:;in^ to oiio and the same nation, it 
 would he natural that the majority of tlie citi/A'Us of the 
 Union should make the law. Of course, the U'sser States 
 could not suhscrihe to the application of this doctrine with- 
 out, in tact, al)dicatin«jj their existence in respect to the 
 sovereit^nty of the C^onfecK'ration ; since they would cease 
 *to be a co-eipial and co-authoritative j)ower, and become an 
 insioiiitic'iiit fraction of a oivat people. The former sys- 
 tem would have invested them with excessive authority, 
 the latter wcmld have destroyed their influence altogether. 
 Under these circumstances, the result was, that the rules 
 of Ionic were broken, as is usually the case when interests 
 are op[)osed to areuments. A middle course was hit u})on 
 by the legislators, whi(di brought together by force two 
 systems theoretically irreconcilable. 
 
 The princi[)le of the independence of the States tri- 
 umphed in the formation of the Senate, and that of the 
 sovereignty of the nation iri the composition of the House 
 of l{ej)resentatives. Each State was to send two Senators 
 to Congress, and a number of Representatives proportioned 
 to its population.* It results from this arrangement that 
 
 * Every ten years, Congress fixes anew the number of Representatives 
 which each State is to furnish. Tlie total number was 69 in 1789, and 240 
 in 18.33. 
 
 Tiie Constitution decided that there sliould not be more tlian one Repre- 
 sentative for every 30,000 persons ; but no minimum Avas fixed on. Con- 
 gress lias not thouglit fit to augment the number of Representatives in i)ro- 
 portion to the increase of popidation. The first Act which was passed on 
 the subject (14th of April, 1792) decided that there should 1)C one Represent- 
 ative for every 33,000 inhabitants. Tlie Act which was passed in 18.52 fixes 
 tlie proportion at one for 93,423, and made the House consist of 234 mem- 
 bers. The population represented is composed of all the freemen, and of 
 three fil'tlis of the slaves. 
 
n 
 
 TIIK FKDKIiAl, CONSTmmOX. 
 
 141) 
 
 rea 
 NO 
 
 re- 
 lu- 
 ro- 
 
 [)U 
 
 |it- 
 
 es 
 
 thu Stati' of New York lias at the j)iV!*ont day tliirty-tliriM^ 
 Representatives, and only two Senators ; the State of Del- 
 aware lias two Senators, and oidy one lle|iresentative ; tho 
 State of Delaware is therefore e([nal to tlii' State of New 
 York in tlu' Senate, whilst the latter has thirty-three times 
 t».c inHiience of the former ii' tho llonse of Representa- 
 tives. Thns, the minority of the ..:'Hon in the Stiuito 
 may i)araly/e the decisions of the majority ivpresented in 
 the other Housi', which is contrary to the spirit of coiisti 
 tutional jj-overnment. 
 
 These fiicts show how rare and dirtienlt it is i-atioiudly 
 and loy;ieallv t(» comhiiu' all the several i)arts of leoislation. 
 The conrse of time always o;ives hirth to diti'erent inti'rests, 
 and sanctions different ])rinciples, amon^j; the same people; 
 and when a <<;eneral constitntion is to be cstahlished, tlu'se 
 interests and princij)les are so many natnral obsta(des to 
 the riooi'ons application of any political system with all its 
 consecinences. The early stages of national existence are 
 the only periods at whicdi it is possible to make legislation 
 strictly logical ; and when we perceixe a nation in the en- 
 joyment of this advantage, we should not hastily con(dude 
 that it is wise, but only remember that it is young. When 
 the Federal Constitution was formed, the interest of inde- 
 pendence for the separate States, and the interest of union 
 for the whole peo})le, were the only two conflicting inter- 
 ests which existed amongst the Anglo-Americans ; and a 
 com])romise was necessarily made between them. 
 
 It is, however, j st to acknowledge, that this part of the 
 Constitution has not hitherto produced those evils which 
 miii'ht liave been feared. All the States are youno; and 
 contiguous ; their customs, their ideas, and their wants are 
 not dissimilar ; and the diflferences which result from their 
 size are not enough to set their interests much at variance. 
 The small States have consequently never leagued them- 
 pelves together in tlie Senate to oj)pose the designs of the 
 
U' V 
 
 150 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN A.MERICA. 
 
 h 
 
 larger ones. Besides, there is so irresistible an authority 
 in the legal expression of the will of a people, that the 
 Senate could offer but a feeble opposition to the vote of the 
 majority expressed by the Plouse of Representatives. 
 
 It must not be forgotten, moreover, that it Avas not in 
 the power of the American legislators to reduce to a single 
 nation the peo})le for whom they were making laws. The 
 object of the Federal Constitution was not to destroy the 
 independence of the States, but to restrain it. By acknowl- 
 edging the real power of these secondary communities, (and 
 it was impossible to deprive them of it,) they disavowed 
 beforehand the habitual use of constraint in enforcino- the 
 decisions of the majority. This being laid down, the intro- 
 duction of the influence of the States into the mechanism 
 of the Federal government was by no means to be won- 
 dered at ; since it only attested the existence of an acknowl- 
 edged j>ower, which was to be humored, and not forcibly 
 checked. 
 
 A FURTHER DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE SENATE AND THB 
 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES. 
 
 The Senate named by tlie State Legislatnres ; tlie Representatives by the 
 People. — DouI)le Election of the former ; single Election of the latter. 
 — Term of the different Otiices. — Peculiar Functions of each House. 
 
 The Senate differs from the other House, not only in the 
 very principle of representation, but also in the mode of its 
 election, in the term for which it is chosen, and in the 
 nature of its functions. The Hoise of Representatives 
 is chosen by the people, the Senate by the legislatures of 
 each State ; the former is directly elected, tlie latter is 
 elected by an elected body ; the term for which the Rep- 
 resentatives are chosen is only two years, that of the Sena- 
 tors is six. The functions of the House of Representatives 
 ai'e purely legislative, and the only share it takes in th<» 
 
 m 
 
 f ItH 
 
 jl 
 
 \ \ f9f if ''Vf1!fS. 
 
THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 151 
 
 judicial power is in the impeacliinent of puljlic officers. 
 The Senate co-operates in the work of legishition, and tries 
 those political offences wliicli the House of Representatives 
 submits to its decision. It also acts as the great executive 
 council of the nation ; the treaties which are concluded by 
 the President must be ratified by the Senate ; and the 
 appointm(ints he may make, in order to be definitive, must 
 be approved by the same body. 
 
 I 
 
 
 THE EXECUTIVE POWER. 
 
 Dcpemloucc of the President. — He is Elective and Responsible. — Free ia 
 liis own Spliere, under tlie Inspection, but not under the Direction, of 
 tlie Senate. — His Salary fixed at liis Entry into Olfiee. — Suspensive 
 Veto. 
 
 The American legislators undertook a difficult task in 
 attempting to create an executive power dependent on the 
 majority of the people, and nevertheless sufficiently strong 
 to act without restraint in its own sphere. It was indis- 
 pensable to the maintenance of the republican form of 
 government, that the representative of the executive power 
 should be subject to the will of the nation. 
 
 The President is an elective magistrate. His honor, his 
 property, his liberty, and his life are the securities which 
 the people have for the temperate use of his power. But in 
 the exercise of his authority, he is not perfectly indepen- 
 dent : the Senate takes coiinizance of his relations with 
 foreign powers, and of his distribution of public appoint- 
 ments, so that he can neither corrupt nor be corrupted. 
 The leo;islators of the Union acknowledge that the exec- 
 utive power could not fulfil its task with dignity and 
 advantage, unless it enjoyed more stability and strength 
 than had been granted it in the separate States. 
 
 The President is chosen for four years, and he may be 
 re-elected ; so rliat the chances of a future administration 
 
 I 
 
 «'i 
 
 J 
 
t 
 
 fi- 
 
 ! ; 
 
 152 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKIIICA. 
 
 i I ! ! 
 
 may Inspire liim witli hopeful undertakings for tlie public 
 good, and give liim tlie means of carrying them into execu- 
 tion. Tlie President was made the sole representative of the 
 executive power of the Union ; and care was taken not to 
 render liis decisions subordinate to the vote of a council, — 
 a dan<i;erous measure, wliich tends at the same time to clon; 
 the action of the government and to diminish its responsi- 
 bility. Tlie Senate has the right of annulling certain acts 
 of the President ; but it cannot compel him to take any 
 steps, nor does it participate in the exercise of the executive 
 })ower. 
 
 The action of the legislariire on the executive power 
 may be direct, and we have just shown that the Ameri- 
 cans carefidly obviated this influence ; but it may, on the 
 other hand, be indirect. Leo-islative assemblies which 
 have the j)Ower of depriving an officer of state of his sal- 
 ary encroach upon his independence ; and as they are free 
 to make the laws, it is to be feared lest they should gradu- 
 ally appropriate to themselves a portion of that authority 
 which the Constitution had vested in his hands. This 
 dependence of tlie executive power is one of the defects 
 inherent in republican constitutions. The Americans have 
 not been able to counteract the tendency which legislative 
 assemblies have to get possession of the governmen.^ but 
 they have rendered this propensity less irresistible. The 
 salary of the President is fixed, at the time of his enterino; 
 upon office, for the whole period of his magistracy. The 
 President is, moreover, armed with a suspensive veto, 
 which allows him to o})])ose the passing of such laws as 
 might destroy the portion of independence which the Con- 
 stitution award;-: him. Yet the strugi^le between the Presi- 
 dent and the legislature must always be an uneipial one, 
 since the latter is certain of bearing down all resistance by 
 persevering in its plans ; but the suspensive veto forces it, 
 at least, to reconsider the matter, and, if the motion be 
 
 
 jlL 
 
 fcl 
 
PHI 
 
 
 THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 153 
 
 persisted in, it must then Le 1)a('ke(I by n majority of two 
 thirds of the wliole house. The veto is, moreovei", a sort 
 of appeal to the people. The executive power, which, 
 M'ithout this security, might have been secretly ()j)[)resscd, 
 ado})ts this means of pleading its cause and stating its mo- 
 tives. But if the legislature })erseveres in its design, can 
 it not always overpower all resistance? ] reply that in 
 the constitutions of all nations, of whatever kind they may 
 be, a certain point exists at Avhich the legislator must have 
 recourse to the n-ood sense and the virtue of liis fellow-citi- 
 zens. This point is nearer and more jjromineiit in repub- 
 lics, whilst it is more remote and more carefully concealed 
 in monarchies ; but it always exists somewhere. 'J'liere is 
 no country in which everything can be provided for by the 
 laws, or in which political institutions can prove a substi- 
 tute for common sense and p iblic morality. 
 
 IN WHAT Til'': POSITION OF A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED 
 STATES DIFFERS FROM THAT OF A CONSTITUTIONAL KING 
 OF FRANCE. 
 
 Executive Power in the United States as limited and cxcejitional as tlic 
 Sovereif^nty wliicli it represents. — Executive I'cjwcr in I'ran ;', like tlic 
 State Sovereifj;nty, extends to everythinfj^. — Tiie Kin*;: a l?rai" i: ^^f tiie 
 Lcfrislature. — Tiie President tlie mere Executor of tlic I a-.v. — ! itlie; 
 Ditierences resulting;' from the Duration of the two Powi'rs. — T' c i'res- 
 ident checked in the Exercise of tlie Executive Autliority. — 'llie King 
 Independent in its Exercise. — In si)ite of these Ditlerences, France is 
 more akin to a Republic than the Union to a Monarchy. — Cvunporisor 
 of the Nunrher of Public, Officers depending upon the Executive Pover 
 iu the two Countries. 
 
 The executive power has so important an influence on 
 the destinies of nations, that I wish to dwell for an instant 
 on this portion of my subject, in order more clearly to ex- 
 plain the part it sustains in America. In order to form a 
 clear and precise; idea of the position of the President of 
 
 ifi! 
 
 M 
 
 |i:! 
 
 i 
 
 ill 
 
 is 
 
 Pi 
 
 31 i 
 
 ;; 
 
i/) 
 
 
 fli:!::,.| 
 I;-, I 
 
 ' 
 
 154 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 the United States, it may be well to compare it witli that 
 of one of the constitutional kings of Europe. In this com- 
 parison, I shall j)ay but little attention to the external signs 
 of power, which are more apt to deceive the eye of the 
 observer than to guide his researches. When a monarchy 
 is being gradually transformed into a republic, the execu- 
 tive power retains the titles, the honors, the etiquette, and 
 even the funds of royalty, long after its real authority has 
 disappeared. The English, after having cut off the head 
 • of one king, and expelled another from his throne, were 
 still wont to address the successors of those princes only 
 upon their knees. On the other hand, when a republic 
 falls under the sway of a single man, the demeanor of the 
 sovereign remains as simple and unpretending as if his au- 
 thority was not yet paramount. When tlie Emperors ex- 
 ercised an unlimited control over the fortunes and the lives 
 of their fellow-citizens, it was customary to call them 
 Cicsar in conversation ; and they were in the habit of 
 supping without formality at their friends' houses. It is 
 therefore necessary to look below the surface. 
 
 The sovereignty of the United States is shared between 
 the Union and the States, whilst, in France, it is undivided 
 and compact : hence arises the first and most notable dif- 
 ference which exists between the President of the United 
 States and the King of France. In the United States, the 
 executive poAver is as limited and exceptional as the sover- 
 eignty in whose name it acts ; in France, it is as universal 
 as the authority of the State. The Americans have a Fed- 
 eral, and the French a national government. 
 
 This cause of inferiority results from the nature of 
 things, but it ie not the only one ; the second in impor- 
 tance is as follows. Sovereignty may be defined to be the 
 right of making laws. In France, the King really exercises 
 a portion of the sovereign power, since the laws have no 
 weight if he refuses to sanction them ; he is, moreover, the 
 
 hi 
 
he 
 
 le 
 
 r 
 |o 
 
 THE FEDKRAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 155 
 
 executor of all they ordain. The President is also the ex- 
 eciit(jr of the laws ; but he does not really co-operate in 
 making them, since the refusal of his assent does not pre- 
 vent their passage. He is not, therefore, a part of the sov- 
 ereign power, but only its agent. ]5ut not only does the 
 King of France constitute a portion of the sovereign 
 power ; he also contributes to the nomination of the legis- 
 lature, which is the other portion. ITe })articii)ates in it 
 through appointing the members of one chamber, and dis- 
 solving the other at his pleasure ; whereas the President 
 of the United States has no share in the formation of the 
 legislative body, and cannot dissolve it. The King has the 
 same right of bringing forward measures as the Chambers, 
 — a right which the President does not possess. The King- 
 is represented in each assembly by his ministers, who ex- 
 plain his intentions, support his opinions, and maintain the 
 principles of the government. The President and his 
 ministers are alike excluded from Congress, so that his 
 influence and his o])ini(ms can only })enetrate indirectly 
 into that great body. The King of France is, therefore, 
 on an equal footing with the legislature, which can no more 
 act without him than he can without it. The President is 
 placed beside the legislature like an inferior and dependent 
 poAver. 
 
 Even in the exercise of the executive power, properly 
 so called, — the ] cint upon which Ills ])0:>ition seems to be 
 most analogous to that of the King of France, — the Pres- 
 ident labors under several causes of inferiority. The au- 
 thority of the King, in France, has, in the first place, the 
 adA'antage of duration over that of the President ; and 
 durability is one of the chief elements of streno;th ; noth- 
 ing is either loved or feared but what is likely to endure. 
 The President of the United States is a magistrate elected 
 for four years. The King, in France, is an hereditary sov- 
 
 ereign. 
 
 ni 
 
 I 
 
 
 I 'S 
 
 Vi 
 
 lUlii 
 
ii 
 
 1^ 
 
 ■jir ! ;. 
 
 s: < 
 
 i I'v 
 
 i ii 
 
 156 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKUICA. 
 
 Ill tlie exercise of the executi\'e power, the President of 
 the United States is constantly sulyect to a jeahjus super- 
 vision. He may prepare, but lie cannot conclude, a treaty ; 
 lie may nominate, but he cannot a])poiiit, a public officer.* 
 The King of France is absolute within the sphere of exec- 
 utive power. 
 
 The President of the United States is responsible for 
 liis actions ; but the person of the King is declared invi- 
 olable by French huv. 
 
 Nevertheless, public opinion as a directing power is no 
 less above the head of the one than of the other. This 
 power is less definite, less evident, and less sanctioned by 
 the laws in Fraii'^'e than in America ; but it really exists 
 there. Iv America,- it acts by elections and decrees ; in 
 France, iv p^'oceeds by revolutions. Thus, notwithstanding^ 
 the diftcriMit constitutions of these two countries, public 
 opinii^n is \\)V predominant authority in both of them. 
 The fiuuhi'iicntal principle of legislation — a prijici])lv^ 
 essentiall^" re? ublican — is the same in both countries, 
 although its developments may be more or less free, and 
 its consequ^'iices different. Whence I am led to conclude, 
 
 * The Constitution has left it doubtful wliether tiie President is ol)li;j;'('d 
 to consult the Senate in tlie removal as well as in the apiiointinent of lY-d- 
 cral officers. The Federalist (No. 77) seemed to estalilish the affirmative; 
 but in 1789, Congress formally decided, tliat, as the President was responsil)lo 
 for his actions, he ouo-ht not to be forced to employ acents who had forfeited 
 his esteem. Sec Kent's Commentaries, Vol. I. p. 289. [See also Daniel 
 Webster's speech on the Appointing and liemoving Power, Webster's Works, 
 IV. 185; Marshall's Washin.!,'on, V. I'JG; Sergeant & Kawle's Keports, V, 
 451. The decision of Congress upon this sul)jcct in 1789 was by a very 
 small majority in tlie House, and in the Senate it passed only by tiie casting 
 vote of the Vice-President. And this decisi •" is oiiiy by iiifrtr-nre from the 
 Act thus passed, which provides, that, when the Secretary of ilio Treasury 
 should be removed by the President, his assistmU shall disciiarge the duties 
 of the office. Mr. Spencer rightly observes, that the power has been 
 " repeatedly denied iu and out of Congress, am* snust be conside: ed as yet 
 an unsettled question." — Am. Ed.] 
 
 ilr 
 
 (I 1 
 
;c(l 
 
 •y 
 
 le 
 
 V 
 
 la 
 i't 
 
 TIIK FKDKHAL COXSTITUTION. 
 
 157 
 
 that Franco with its Kini>; is nearer akin to a repiihlie, than 
 the Union with its President is to a monareliy. 
 
 In all that ju'ecedes, I have tonched only npon the main 
 points of distinction ; it* T conld have entered into details, 
 the contrast wonld have heen still more strikino-. 
 
 I have remarked that the anthoritv of the President in 
 the United States is oidy exercised within the limits of a 
 partial sovereignty, whilst that of the King in France is 
 undivided. I miiiht ha\e gone on to show that tlie ])ower 
 of the Kino-'s tvovernment in France exceeds its natiiral 
 limits, however extensive these may he, and ])enetrates in 
 a thousand different ways into the administration of pri- 
 vate interests. Amongst the examj)les of this influence 
 may ))e quoted that wliicli results from the great numher 
 of public functionaries, who all derive their appointments 
 from the executive govcrmnent. This numher now ex- 
 ceeds all previous limits ; it amounts to lo8,000 * nomina- 
 tions, each of which may be considered as an element of 
 power. The President of the United States has not the 
 exclusiA^e right of making any public appointments, and 
 their whole number scarcely exceeds 12,000. f 
 
 * The sums aTniually ])ai(l by the state to these ofKocrs amount to 
 200,000,000 tVaiR'S (ei-rlit inillioiis sttrlinj,'). 
 
 t Tliis uuml)er is extracted from tlie "National Calendar" for 1833. 
 
 It results from iiiis eomparison, tliat the King of France has eleven times 
 as many places at his disposal as the President, altliouf^h the po|)ulution of 
 France is not much more than double that of the Union. 
 
 [The vast increase of tlie population of the United States, since Dc 
 Tocqueville wrote, from thirteen millions to nearly thirty millions, and the 
 conseciuent necessary eularjxcment of the machinery of <j,overnment, has 
 nearly reversed these jiroportions. The patronafje of the President of the 
 United States is now enormous, and has l)ecome a domiiumt feature in the 
 operation of our national j^overnment. Reckoninj^ tlie subordinate officers 
 in the Post-OfHce and C\istoms departments, all of wlu)m derive their ap- 
 pointments eitiier directly or indirectly from thj President, and continue in 
 office only duvintr liis i)leasure, and most of -.vhom, in fact, j^ive i)lace to new 
 incumbents at every cluin^e of administration, it i.^ easy to see that the iu- 
 
 I' 
 
 !i « 
 
 !i I: 
 
 ) m 
 
 
 
 in 
 
 ill 
 
 t I' 
 
 
 
 !ili 
 
 J^'^k^ 
 
I ( 
 
 158 
 
 DEMUCKACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 I i 
 
 ACCIDENTAL CAUSES WHICH MAY INCREASE THE INFTUENCE 
 OF THE EXECUTIVE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 External Security of the Union. — Army of six thousand Men. — Few 
 Ships. — The President has i^reat rrero<,'atives, but no Opportunity of 
 cxereising tliem. — In the Preroyatives which he does exercise, lie is 
 Weak. 
 
 If the executive government is feebler in America than 
 'in France, the cause is perhaps more attributable to the 
 circumstances than to the laws of the country. 
 
 It is chiefly in its foreign relations that the executive 
 power of a nation finds occasion to exert its skill and its 
 strength. If the existence of the Union were perpetually 
 threatened, if its chief interests were in daily connection 
 with those of other powerful nations, the executive gov- 
 ernment would assume an increased importance in propor- 
 tion to the measures expected of it, and to those which it 
 would execute. The President of the United States, it is 
 true, is the commander-in-chief of the army, but the army 
 is composed of only six thousand men ; he commands the 
 fleet, but the fleet reckons but few sail ; he conducts the 
 foreign relations of the Union, but the United States are 
 a nation Avithout neighbors. Separated from the rest of 
 the world by the ocean, and too weak as yet to aim at the 
 dominion of the seas, they have no enemies, and their in- 
 terests rarely come into contact with those of any other 
 nation of the globe. This proves that the practical opera- 
 tion of the government must not be judged by the theory 
 of its constitution. The President of the United States 
 possesses almost royal prerogatives, which he has no op- 
 portunity of exercising, and the privileges which he can at 
 
 flucncc of the executive government, through tlie number of places at its 
 disposal, has become excessive, and imperils both the moral character and the 
 stability of our republican institutions. — .\m. Ed.] 
 
 I '■ 
 
~1 
 
 THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 109 
 
 present use arc very circumseril)ccl. Tlic laws allow him 
 to 1)0 strong, but circumstance ^ keep him weak. 
 
 On the other hand, the great strength of the royal pre- 
 rogative in France arises from circumstances flu* more than 
 from the laws. There the executive government is con- 
 stantly struggling against immense obstacles, and has im- 
 mense resources in order to overcome them ; so that it is 
 eidarged by the extent of its achievements, and by the 
 importance of the events it controls, without modifying its 
 constitution. If the laws had made it as feeble and as 
 circumscribed as that of the American Union, its influence 
 would soon become still more preponderant. 
 
 WHY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES DOES NOT 
 NEED A MAJORITY IN THE T^VO HOUSES IN ORDER TO 
 CARRY ON THE GOVERNMENT. 
 
 It is an established axiom in Europe, that a constitution- 
 al king cannot govern when opposed by the two branches 
 of the legislature. Rut several Presidents of the United 
 States have been know^i to lose the majority in the legisla- 
 tive body, Avithout being obliged to abandon the su])reme 
 power, and without inflicting any serious evil upon society. 
 I have heard this fact quoted to prove the indejiendence 
 and the power of the executive government in America : 
 a moment's reflection Avill convince us, on the contrary'', 
 that it is a proof of its weakness. 
 
 A king in Europe recpiires the support of the legislature 
 to enable him to peiform the duties imposed upon him by 
 the constitution, because those duties ure enormous. A 
 constitutional king in Europe is not merely the executor 
 of the laAV, but the execution of its provisions devolves so 
 completely upon him, that he has the power of paralyzing 
 its force if it opposes his designs. He requires the assist- 
 ance of the legislative assemblies to make the law, but those 
 
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 100 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN A.MKUICA. 
 
 assi'iuMios noi*(l his aid to i-xecuto it. Those two iiuthor- 
 itic'S caiinot subsist witliout oacli otluT, niul ihe nicrlmn- 
 ism ot' <^ovt'riiineiit is stoj)pL'd as soon as tiny are at 
 variance. 
 
 In Aincrica, the President cannot prevent any law from 
 beiu^- passed, nor can lu" evade the obligation of enforcinf]j 
 it. His sincere and zealous co-oj»eration is no doubt useful, 
 but is not indisj)ensal>le, in carryiiiii; on public affairs. In 
 all his important acts, he is directly or indirectly subject to 
 'the legislature ; and of his own free authority, he can do 
 but little. It is tlierefore his weakness, and not his power, 
 which enables him to remain in opposition to Couifress. In 
 Euroj)e, harmony must reign between the crown and the 
 legislature, because a collision between them may prove 
 serious ; in America, this harmony is not indispensable, 
 because such a collision is impossible. 
 
 ELECTION OF THE PRESIDENT. 
 
 The Dangers of the Elcptivc Syst(>m increase in Proportion to the Extent 
 of tlie IVoro^ative. — This System possil)le in America, becanse no 
 powerful Executive Auuiority is required. — IIow Circumstances favor 
 the Estiil)lisliment of the Elective System. — Wliv tlie Election of the 
 President does not clian},^e the i'rinciples of the Uovcrnuient. — Intlu- 
 enee of the Election of the President ou Secondary Functional ics. 
 
 The dangers of the system of election, applied to the 
 chief of the executive government of a great ])eople, have 
 been sufficiently exemplified by experience and by his- 
 tory. I wish to speak of them in reference to America 
 alone. 
 
 These dangers may be more or less formidable in pro- 
 portion to the place which the executive power occupies, 
 and to the importance it possesses in the state ; and they 
 may vary according to the mode of election, and tlie cir- 
 
le 
 le 
 
 THK I'KDKRAL CONSTITUTIOX. 
 
 161 
 
 cnnistiinrcs in wlilcli tlio electors are [ilaced. Tlio most 
 welirlity ar;j;unu'nt aoaitist tlie election of a cliifl' niat!;istrate 
 is, tliat it otK'rs so splendid a lure to privjite anihltion, and 
 is so a})t to inllanu' men in the })nrsnit of power, lli- , when 
 leoitimate means are wantin^j;, force may not unfre<piently 
 seizi' wliat ri<;ht denie<l. It is cK-ar tiiat, thi' greai m* tiie 
 ])rei'o;;ativi's of execntive antliority ari', the ^I'l'ater i.' the 
 temptation ; the more the amitition of the candidates is ex- 
 cited, the more warmly are their intei'csts esj>onsed by a 
 tln'onf;; of j)artisans, who hope to shai'c the power when 
 their patron has won the }»rize. 'J'he danu' is of the elec- 
 tive system increase, therefore, in the i-xn atio of the 
 inflnence exercised hy the cxecuti\e power , . ihe atlairs of 
 the state. The revolutions of Poland are not solely attrib- 
 II table to the elective system in general, Imt to the flict 
 that the elected monarch was the sovereign of a powerful 
 kinodom. 
 
 Before we can discuss the absolute advantages of tlie 
 elective system, we must make ])reliminary in([uii'ies as to 
 Avhether the geographical position, the laws, tlie habits, the 
 manners, and the opinions of the j)eoj)le, amongst wdiom it 
 is to be introduced, will admit of the establishment of a 
 weak and dependent executive govenuiient ; for to attempt 
 to render the representative of the state a powerful sover- 
 eign, and at the same time elective, is, in my o{)ini()n, to 
 entertain two incompatible designs. To reduce hereditary 
 royalty to the condition of an elective authority, the only 
 means that I am acquainted with are to circumscribe its 
 ^. lere of action beforehand, gradually to diminish its pre- 
 rogatives, and to accustom the ])e()ple l)y degrees to live 
 without its protection. But this is what the rej)ublicans 
 of Euroi)e never think of doino; : as manv of them hate 
 tyranny only because they are exposed to its severity, it is 
 opj)ression, and not the extent of the executive power, 
 which excites their hostility ; and they attack the former, 
 
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162 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 witliout perceiving liow nearly it is connected with the 
 latter. 
 
 Hitherto, no citizen has cared to expose his honor and his 
 life in order to become the President of tlie United States, 
 because tlie power of that office is temporary, limited, and 
 subordinate. The prize of fortune must be great to en- 
 courage adventurers in so desperate a game. No candi- 
 date has as yet been able to arouse the dangerous enthusi- 
 asm or the passionate sympathies of the people in his favor, 
 for the simple reason that, when he is at the head of the 
 government, he has but little power, little wealth, and little 
 glory to share amongst his friends ; and his influence in the 
 state is too small for the success or the ruin of a faction to 
 depend upon his elevation to power. 
 
 The great advantage of hereditary monarchies is, that, 
 as the private interest of a family is always intimately 
 connected with the in<^erests of the state, these state inter- 
 ests are never neglected for a moment ; and if the affiiirs 
 of a monarchy are not better conducted than those of a 
 republic, at least there is always some one to conduct them, 
 well or ill, according to his capacity. In elective states, on 
 the contrary, the wheels of government cease to act, as it 
 were, of their own accord, at the approach of an election, 
 and even for some time previous to that event. The laws 
 may, indeed, accelerate the operation of the election, which 
 may be conducted with such simplicity and rapidity that 
 the seat of power will never be left vacant ; but, notwith- 
 standing these precautions, a break necessarily occurs in 
 the minds of the people. 
 
 At the approach of an election, the head of the execu- 
 tive government thinks only of the strufffjle which is com- 
 ing on ; he no longer has anything to look forward to ; he 
 can undertake nothing new, and he will only prosecute 
 with indifference those designs which another will perhaps 
 terminate. " I am so near the time of my retirement from 
 
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M 
 
 'S 
 
 •h 
 It 
 1- 
 
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 le 
 le 
 
 THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 163 
 
 office," said President Jefferson, on the 21st of Jiiniiary, 
 1809, (six weeks before tlie election,*) " tliat I feel no 
 passion, I take no part, I express no sentiment. It appears 
 to me just to leave to my successor the commencement of 
 those measures which he will have to prosecute, and for 
 which he will be responsible." On the other hand, the 
 eyes of the nation are centred on a single point ; all are 
 watching the rrradual birth of so important an event. 
 
 The wider the influence of the executive power extends, 
 the greater and the more necessary is its constant action, 
 the more fatal is the term of suspense ; and a nation 
 which is accustomed to the goverimient, or, still more, 
 one used to the administration of a powerful executive 
 authority, would be infallibly convulsed by an election. 
 In the United States, the action of the government may 
 be slackened with impunity, because it is ahvays weak and 
 circumscribed. 
 
 One of the principal vices of the elective system is, that 
 it always introduces a certain degree of instability into the 
 internal and external policy of the state. But this disad- 
 vantage is less sensibly felt if the share of power vested in 
 the elected magistrate is small. In Rome, the principles 
 of the government underwent no variation, although the 
 Consuls were changed every year, because the Senate, 
 which was an hereditary assembly, possessed the directing 
 authority. In most of the European monarchies, if the 
 kino; were elective, the kingdom would be revolutionized 
 at every new election. In America, the President exercises 
 a certain influence on state affairs, but he does not conduct 
 
 * De Tocqucville is in error here. The election was really determined 
 three months before, in November, 1808; and Jefferson, writing: six weeks 
 before his successor, already chosen, was to come into office, merely ex{)resses 
 liis intention to leave Mr. Madison to initiate his own ])olicy, instead of em- 
 barrassing him by leaving projects or measures begun, I)ut not completed. 
 — Am. Ed. 
 
1(U 
 
 DKMOCUACY IN AMKHICA. 
 
 them ; the projJoiKlc'ratiiiii; power is vested in tlic represent- 
 atives of tlie whole niition. The j)olitieal maxims of the 
 country <lepen(l, tlierefore, on the mass of the })eoj)le, not 
 on tlie President alone ; and consequently, in America, the 
 elective system has no very prejudicial influence on the 
 fixity of the oovernment. But the want of fixed principles 
 is an evil so inherent in the elective svstem, that it is still 
 very ])erceptil)le in the narrow sphere to which the author- 
 ity of the President extends. 
 
 The Americans have admitted that the head of the exec- 
 utive power, in order to discharge liis duty and bear the 
 whole weight of responsibility, ought to be free to choose 
 his own agents, and to remove them at pleasure : the legis- 
 lative bodies watch the conduct of the President more than 
 they direct it. The consec^uence is, that, at every new 
 election, the fate of all the Federal })ublic officers is in 
 suspense. It is sometimes made a subject of complaint, 
 that, in the constitutional monarchies of Europe, the fate of 
 the humbler servants of an administration often depends 
 upon that of the ministers. But in elective governments 
 this evil is far greater ; and the reason of it is very obvious. 
 In a constitutional monarchv, successive ministries are 
 rapidly formed ; but as the principal representative of the 
 executive power is never changed, the spirit of innovation 
 is ke})t within bounds ; the changes which take place are 
 in the details, rather than in the principles, of the adminis- 
 trative system : but to substitute one system for another, 
 as is done in America every four years by law, is to cause 
 a sort of revolution. As to the misfortunes which may fidl 
 upon individuals in consequence of this state of things, it 
 must be allowed that the uncertain tenure of the public 
 offices does not produce the evil consequences in America 
 which might be expected from it elsewhere. It is so easy 
 to acquire an independent position in the United States, 
 that the public officer who loses his place may be de- 
 
THE FEDKUAL CUN'STITUTION. 
 
 IGo 
 
 prived of tlie comforts of life, but not of the means of 
 subsistence. 
 
 I remarked at the beginning of this cliapter, that tlie 
 dangers of the elective system, aj)[)lied to the head of the 
 state, are auijmented or decreased by the i)eculiar circum- 
 stances of the people which adopts it. llcnvevi'i- the func- 
 tions of the executive power may be restricted, it nuist 
 always exercise a great influence u}ton the foreign policy 
 of the country; for a negotiation cannot be oju-ned, or 
 successfully carried on, otherwise than by u single agent. 
 The more precarious and the more }>erilous the position of 
 a people becomes, the more absolute is the want of a flxed 
 and consistent external policy, and the metre dangerous 
 does the system of electing the chief magistrate become. 
 The policy of the Americans in relation to the whole 
 world is exceedingly simple ; and it may almost be said 
 that nobody stands in need of them, nor do they stand in 
 need of anybody. Their independence is never threat- 
 ened. In their })resent condition, therefore, the functions 
 of the executive power aie no less limited by circum- 
 stances than by the laws ; and the President may fre- 
 quently change his policy, without involving the state in 
 difficulty or destruction. 
 
 Whatever the prerogatives of the executive power may 
 be, the period which immediately precedes an election, and 
 that during which the election is taking ])lace, must always 
 be considered as a national crisis, which is perilous in pro- 
 portion to the internal embarrassments and the external 
 dangers of the countiy. Few of the nations of EiM'o})e 
 conld escape the calamities of anarchy or of con([uest 
 every time they might have to elect a new sovereign. In 
 America, society is so constituted that it can stand without 
 assistance, upon its own basis ; nothing is to be feared from 
 the pressure of external dangers ; and the election of the 
 President is a cause of agitation, but not of ruin. 
 
160 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 MODE OF ELECTION. 
 
 Skill of the American Le^^islutors shown iu tlio Mode of Election adopted 
 by them. — Creation of a special Electoral Body. — Separate Votes of 
 these Electors. — Case in wliich the Ilonse of l{ei)resentativcs is called 
 upon to clioose the President. — llesults of the twelve Elections which 
 have taken place since the Constitution has been estal)lishe<l. 
 
 Besides tlie dangers ^vliicli are inherent in the system, 
 
 in: 
 
 my 
 
 otl 
 
 lers nii 
 
 ly 
 
 ar 
 
 ise from tlie mode of election : but 
 
 tliese may be obviated by the precautions of the leoislator. 
 Wlien a i)eoi)le met in arms, on some pubhc s})ot, to clioose 
 its head, it ^vas exposed to all the chances of civil war re- 
 sultiuii' from such a mode of ])roceedino;, besides the dan- 
 gers of the elective system in itself. The Polish laws, 
 which subjected the election of the sovereign to the veto 
 of a sinole individual, suooested the murder of that indi- 
 vidual, or pre})ared the way for anarchy. 
 
 In the examination of the institutions, and the political 
 as well as social condition of the United States, we are 
 struck by the admirable harmony of the gifts of fortune 
 and the efforts of man. That nation possessed two of the 
 main causes of internal peace ; it Avas a new country, but it 
 was inhabited by a peo})le grown old in the exercise of free- 
 dom. Besides, America had no hostile neighbors to dread ; 
 and the American legislators, pio.iting by tliese favorable 
 circumstances, created a weak and subordinate executive 
 powder, which could without danger be made elective. 
 
 It then only remained for them to choose the least dan- 
 gerous of the various modes of election ; and the rules 
 which they laid down upon this point admiribly correspond 
 to the securities which the physical and political constitu- 
 tion of the country already aftbrded. Their object was to 
 find the mode of election which would best express the 
 choice of the people with the least possible excitement and 
 suspense. It was admitted, in the first place, that the 
 
THE FKDKUAL CUN6iri'UHUN. 
 
 167 
 
 sini])le majority should decide tlic point ; Lut the difficulty 
 was, to obtain this majority \vithout an interval of delay, 
 which it was most imi)ortant to avoid. It rarely lia|)[)ens 
 that an individual can receive at the first trial a majority 
 of the sulfrages of a great j)e()j)le ; and this ilitHculty is 
 enhanced in a re])ublic of confederate states, where local 
 influences are far more develcjped and more powerful. 
 The nn'ans by which it was j)r()j)osed to obviate this sec- 
 ond obstacle was, to delegate the electoral powers of the 
 nation to a body which should represent it. This mode of 
 election rendered a majority more j)robab!e ; for the fewer 
 the electors are, the greater is the chance tA' tlieir coming 
 to an agreement. It also ottered an additional i)robaijility 
 of a judicious choice. It then remained to be -decided 
 whether this right of election was to be intrusted to the 
 legislature itself, the ordinary representative of the nation, 
 or whether a special electoral college should be formed for 
 the sole purpose of choosing a President. The Americans 
 chose the latter alternative, from a belief that those who 
 were chosen only to make the laws would represent but 
 imperfectly the wishes of the nation in the election of its 
 chief magistrate ; and that, as they are chosen for more 
 than a year, the constituency they represented might have 
 changed its opinion in that time. It was thought that, if 
 the legislature was empowered to elect the head of the 
 executive power, its members would, for some time before 
 the election, be exposed to the manceuvres of corruption 
 and the tricks of intrigue ; whereas the special electors 
 would, like a jury, remain mixed up with the crowd till 
 the day of action, when they would appear for a moment 
 only to give their votes. 
 
 It was therefore determined that every State should 
 name a certain number of Electors,* who in their turn 
 
 * As many as it sends members to Congress. Tlie number of Electors at 
 the election of 1833 was 288. 
 
168 
 
 DEMOCRACY IX AMKIMC \. 
 
 !■! 
 
 sliould t'loc't the I'rcsidi'iit ; and as it liad Ix't'ii observed, 
 that the assembhes to which tlie choice ot" a chief maiiistrato 
 had been intrusted in elective countries ine vital »ly became 
 the centres of })assion and cabal ; that 'hey sonietinies 
 iisurpeil powers which did not belon<f to them ; and that 
 their proceedings, or the uncertainty which icsulted from 
 them, were sometinu'S j)rolon<j;ed so nnich as to endanner 
 the welliu'e of the state, — it was determined that the I'^lec- 
 tors should all vote uj)on the same da\ , without beinu; con- 
 voked to the same place.* This doid)le election rendered 
 a majority })robable, though not certain ; for it was possible 
 that the Electors might not, any more than their constituents, 
 come to an agreement. In this case, it would hi' necessary 
 to have recourse to one of three measures ; either to appoint 
 new Electors, or to consult a second time those already ap- 
 pointed, or to give the election to another authority. The 
 first two of these alternatives, inde})endently of the uncer- 
 tiiinty of their results, were likely to delay the final de- 
 cision, and to perpetuate an agitation which must always 
 be accompanied with danger. The third expedient was 
 therefore adopted, and it was agreed that the votes should 
 be transmitted, sealed, to the President of the Senate, and 
 that they should be opened and counted on an appointed 
 day, in the presence of the Senate and the House of Rep- 
 resentatives. If none of the candidates has received a 
 majority, the House of Representatives then proceeds im- 
 mediately to elect the President ; but with the condition 
 that it must fix upon one of the three candidates who have 
 the highest number of votes in the Electoral College. f 
 
 * The Electors of the same State assemble, but they transmit to the cen- 
 tral government the list of their individual votes, and not the mere result 
 of the vote of the majority. 
 
 t In this case, it is the majority of the States, and not the majority of the 
 members, which decides the question ; so that New York has not more influ- 
 ence in the debate than Rhode Island. Thus the citizens of the Union are 
 first consulted as members of one and the same community ; and, if they 
 
TIIK FKDKKAL CONSllTUTION. 
 
 1G9 
 
 Thus, it is only in ruse of an event wliich cannot often 
 happen, and which can never be foreseen, that the i-li'ction 
 is intrusted to the ordiiuiry Representatives of tlu' nation ; 
 and even then, \]\vy are ohlim'd to dioose a citi/cu who lias 
 ahvadv l>eeu designated l)y a ixiwerful niinorifv (tf tlie 
 special I'^lectors. It is by this happy expedient that the 
 respect which is due to the popular voice is coud)inetl with 
 the utmost celerity of execution, and >vith those jtrecautions 
 which the interests of the c(»untry demand. Hut the de- 
 cision of the (piestion by the House of Keprescntativi's 
 does not necessarily oH'er an inunediate solution of the 
 difficultv ; for the maioritv oi' that assi'mblv may still be 
 doubtfid, and in this case the Constitution prescribes no 
 remedy. Nevertheless, l)y restricting the number of can- 
 didates to three, and by referring the matter to the judg- 
 ment of an enlightened public body, it has smoothed all 
 the obstacles * which are not inherent in the elective svs- 
 tern itself. 
 
 In the forty-foiu' years which have elapsed since the pro- 
 mulgation of the Federal Constitution, the United States 
 have twelve times chosen a President. Ten of these elec- 
 tions took i)lace at once by the simultaneous votes of the 
 special Electors in the different States. The House of 
 Re[)resentatives has only twice exercised its conditioi >! 
 privilege of deciding in cases of uncertainty: the first time 
 was at the election of Mr. Jefferson in 1801 ; the second 
 was in 1825, when Mr. J. Quincy Adams was named.f 
 
 cannot agree, recourse is liad to the division of the States, each of which has 
 a sc[)arate and independent vote. This is one of the singularities of the 
 Federal Constitution, which can bo explained only by the jar of conflicting 
 interests. 
 
 * Jcfll-rson, in 1801, was not elected until the thirty-sixth time of bal- 
 loting. 
 
 t Seventy-two years having now elapsed, there have been nineteen Presi- 
 dential elections, and still the House of Keprescntatives has been rcciuircd to 
 act in the election only twice. — Am. Ed. 
 
 8 
 
 
170 
 
 DKMOCHACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 CRISIS OF THE ELKCTION. 
 
 
 I i 
 
 The Election may lie coiisiilcrcd ua a MonieiU of Nutioiml Crisis. — Wliy. 
 — l'a».>ioiis of tlio IVopic. — Aiixii-ty of tlic I'rcsiJcut. — Culm which 
 Buccccdtj the A^itutioii of the ICIection. 
 
 I TiAVF, sliown what tlie cirenmstancos arc wliicli favored 
 the a(l()j)ti()ii of tlie elcctivo system iii tlic United States, 
 and wliat precautions were taken by the len;islators to ob- 
 viate its (hinii'ers. The Americans are accustomed to all 
 kinds of elections ; and they knew by experience the ut- 
 most deo;rco of excitement which is compatible with securi- 
 ty. Tlie vast extent of the country and the dissemination 
 of the inhabitants render a collision between parties less 
 probable and less dangerous there than elsewhere. The 
 })olitical circumstances under which the elections have been 
 carried on have not, as yet, caused any real danger. Still, 
 the epoch of the election of the President of the United 
 States may be considered as a crisis in the affairs of the 
 nation. 
 
 The influence which the President exercises on public 
 business is no doubt feeble and indirect ; but the choice of 
 the President, though of small importance to each individ- 
 ual citizen, concerns the citizens collectively ; and however 
 trifling an interest may be, it assumes a great degree of 
 importance as soon as it becomes general. The President 
 possesses, in comparison with the kings of Europe, but few 
 means of creating partisans ; but the places whicli are at 
 his disposal are sufficiently numerous to interest, directly 
 or indirectly, several thousand electors in his success.* 
 Moreover, political parties in the United States are l.ed to 
 rally round an individual in order to acquire a more tangi- 
 
 * Owing to the increase of patronage already referred to as necessarily 
 produced by the vast increase of the population, this influence has now be- 
 come excessive, and very dangerous. — Am. Ed. 
 
 ! 
 
TIIK IKDKUAL CONSTIHTIoN. 
 
 171 
 
 Lie shape in tin- eyes of the crowd ; an*! tlic name of tlio 
 candidate for tlu- Pri'sidency is jtut forwanl as the symbol 
 and personipH-ation of tlicir theories. For these reasons, 
 j)arties are strongly interested in gainin*;; the election, not so 
 nnich with a view to the trinniph of tlicir j)rinci|>li's under 
 the anspices of the President eli'ct, as to show, hy liis eU'c- 
 tion, that the snpporters of those principh's now I'orni the 
 majority. 
 
 For a lonj:; while hefore thi- appointed time is conu', tlio 
 election becomes the imj)ortant, and (so to speak) the all- 
 enii'rossino;, topic of discnssion. The ardor of fiction is 
 redoubled ; and all the ai'tiHcial passions which the imagi- 
 nation can create in a happy and peaceful huid are agitati-d 
 and bntuirht to lioht. The President, moreover, is ab- 
 sorbi'd by the cares of self-defence, lie no longi'r governs 
 for the interest of tlie state, but for that of his re-election ; 
 he does homage; to the maioritv, and instead of checkinij 
 its passions, as his duty connnands, he freijuently courts its 
 worst caprices. As the election draws near, the activity 
 of intrigue and the agitation of the j)opulace increase ; the 
 citizens are divided into hostile camps, each of which as- 
 sumes the name of its favorite candidate ; the whole nation 
 glows with feverish excitement ; the election is the daily 
 theme of the public jjapers, the subject of private conver- 
 sation, the end of every tlujught and every action, the sole 
 interest of the present. It is true, that, as soon as the 
 choice is determined, this ardor is dispelled ; the calm re- 
 turns ; and the river, which had nearly broken its banks, 
 sinks to its usual level : but who can refrain from astonish- 
 ment that such a storm should have arisen ? 
 
172 
 
 nr.MOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 i{i;-i;T,r.(Tio\ of thk puksidknt. 
 
 Wlii'ii tlic \ln\i\ nl' ilif K\4'( iitivc INiwtr is iv-t'li;;ililf, it is tln^ Stiitc which 
 it* thi- Sdiifif (if Iiitii;:ii(! mill Cinrii|iti()ii. — 'V\\v Dcsiir of liciiij; rc- 
 clectni is the rhiff Aim nf a I'ri'siih'iit of the I'liiltMl States. — Disail- 
 vaii(a),'t' of the l{f-<'h'<tioii |H>ciiliiir to Amcricn. — Tlic Natural Kvil of 
 Di'mo(ra<y is, that it ^'radmiliy Hiilionliiiatt's all Aiitiiority to tlio sliyht- 
 CHt Desires of tlic Majority. — Tiic Kc-cloilioii of llio rn-sidoiit eiicour- 
 u;4i'!i tiiiii Evil. 
 
 Wi'H' tlio Icmslators of tlic TTiiItcd Stiitcs riolit or wronjj 
 in allowiiiij; the rc-t'lrction of tlio Pri'sidriit ? It seems, at 
 first slolit, ooiitrary to all rejison, to prevent the liead of 
 the exeeiitive power from Leino; eleeti'd a second time. 
 The iiifliienee which the talents and the character of a 
 sinolc indixidtial may exercise upon the fate of a whole 
 j)e()pl(», esj)ecially in critical circtunstances or ardtious 
 times, is well known. A law preventinjj; the re-election 
 of the chief map'strate would deprive the citizens of their 
 best means of insurin<ji; the prosj)erity and the security of 
 the conunonwealth ; and, by a sini:fular inconsistency, a 
 man would be excluded from the government at tlie very 
 time when he had proved his ability to govern well. 
 
 But if these arguments arc strong, perhaps still more 
 poweiful reasons may be advanced against them. Intrigue 
 and corruption are the natural vices of elective govern- 
 ment ; but when the head of the state can be re-elected, 
 these evils rise to a great height, and compromise the very 
 existence of the country. When a simple candidate seeks 
 to rise by intrigue, his mana?uvres must be limited to a 
 very narrow sphere ; but when the chief magistrate enters 
 the lists, he borrows the strensth of the covernment for 
 his own purposes. In the former case, the feeble resources 
 of an individual are in action ; in the latter, the state 
 itself, with its innuense influence, is busied in the work of 
 corruption and cabal. The private citizen, who employs 
 
Tin; riKKKAL CUNSIIirilttN. 
 
 17:3 
 
 rnl|t!il)l(» ]»ra('tI<'os to acriuiiv power, can net In a marinor 
 only iiMlIrcctly prcjiidiiial to tlic j»iil)li(' pro^iKTity. JJnt it' 
 tile nprt'sciitativt' nt' tlu; executive dt'sccnds into tin* com- 
 bat, tiic cares of ;;ovcnnncnt dwindK' for iiiin into second- 
 rate importance, and tlie success of jiis I'K-ction is liis fnst 
 concern. All pnlilic neeotiations, ns well as all laws, are to 
 him n(»tliin^ m(»re than I'lectioneei'inu; schemes; jdaces 
 lu'come the rewanl of services rendered, not to tlie nation, 
 bnt to its chii'f ; and the inlhu'nce of the lioxci'innent, it' 
 not ininrions to tlie conntrv, is at least no longer benelicial 
 to the conunnnity for which it was created. 
 
 Jt is imj)ossil»le to consider the ordinary conr«ie of all'airs 
 in the L'nited States withont perceivini; that the desire of 
 hein^ re-elected is the chief aim of the I'resident ; that tho 
 Avhole j)olicy of his administration, and even his most in- 
 ditferent measnres, tend to this object ; and that, especially 
 as till' crisis apjjroaches, his personal interest takes tho 
 j)lace of his inteivst in the pnblic oood. The principle of 
 re-elii:ibilitv renders the corrnittini; infhience of elective 
 i^overnments still more extensive and j)ernicions. It ti'iids 
 to derrrade the political morality of tlie ju'ople, and to snb- 
 stitnie mana<iement and intrigne for i)atriotisni. 
 
 In America, it injnres still more directly the very sources 
 of national existence. Every <j;overnment seems to be 
 atHicted by some evil wliich is inherent in its nature, and 
 the iienius of the lemslator consists in liaviuijj a clear view 
 of this evil. A state may survive the inHuence of a host 
 of bad laws, and the mischief they cause is fretiuently ex- 
 ajTo-erated ; but a law which encourae;es the j^rowth of the 
 canker within must prove fatal in the end, althouiih its 
 bad consequences may not be immediately perceived. 
 
 The princijde of destruction in absolute monarcliies lies 
 in the unlimited and unreasonable extension of the royal 
 power ; and a measure tending to remove the constitutional 
 provisions wliich counterbalance this influence would be 
 
174 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN a:\ii:rica. 
 
 radically Lad, even if its immediate consequences were 
 unattended with evil. By parity of reasoning, in coun- 
 tries governed by a democracy, where the people is per- 
 petually drawing all authority to itself, the laws Avhich 
 increase or accelerate this action directly attack the very 
 principle of the government. 
 
 The greatest merit of the American legislators is, that 
 they clearly discerned this truth, and had the courage to 
 act up to it. They conceived thai a certain authority 
 above the body of the people was necessary, which should 
 enjoy a degree of independence in its sphere, without being 
 entirely beyond the popular control ; an authority which 
 would be forced to comply with the p6'rwa?*('n^ determina- 
 tions of the majority, but which would be able to resist its 
 caprices, and refuse its most dangerous demands. To this 
 end, they centred the whole executive power of the nation 
 in a single arm ; they granted extensive prerogatives to the 
 President, and armed him with the veto to resist the en- 
 croachments of the leo-islature. 
 
 But by introducing the principle of re-election, they 
 partly destroyed their work ; they conferred on the Presi- 
 dent a great power, but made him little inclined to use it. 
 If inelio-ible a second time, the President would not be in- 
 dependent of the people, for his responsibility would not 
 cease ; but the favor of the people woidd not be so neces- 
 sary to him as to induce him to submit in every respect to 
 its desires. If re-eligible, (and this is especially true at 
 the present day, when political morality is relaxed, and 
 when gi'eat men are rare,) the President of the United 
 States becomes an easy tool in the hands of the majority. 
 He adopts its likings and its animosities, he anticipates its 
 wishes, he forestalls its complaints, he yields to its idlest 
 cravings, and instead of guiding it, as the legislature in- 
 tended that he should do, he merely follows its bidding. 
 Thus, in order not to deprive the state of the talents of an 
 
THE I'EDKRAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 17o 
 
 individual, tliosc talents have been rendered almost useless ; 
 and to keep an expedient for extraordinary perils, the 
 country has been exposed to continual dangers. 
 
 FEDERAL COURTS OF JUSTICE. 
 
 * 
 
 Political Importance of the Judiciary in the United States. — Difficulty of 
 treating this Sulijcct. — Utility of Judicial Power in Ci>nfctk'rations. — 
 "What Triliunals could l)c introduced into the Union. — Necessity of cs- 
 tahlisliinj^ Federal Courts of Justice. — Orj:aTii/,ation of tlie NatioTial 
 Judiciary. — The Supreme Court. — In what it diflers from all known 
 Tribunals. 
 
 I HAVE examined the legislative and executive power 
 of the Union, and the judicial power now remains to be 
 considered ; but here I cannot conceal mv fears from the 
 reader. Their judicial institutions exercise a great influ- 
 ence on the condition of the Anglo-Americans, and they 
 occupy a very important place amongst political institu- 
 tions, properly so called : in this respect, they are pe- 
 culiarly deservino; of our attention. But I am at a loss 
 how to explain the political action of the American tribu- 
 nals without entering into some technical details respecting 
 their constitution and their forms of proceeding; and I 
 cannot descend to these minutijn without wearying the 
 reader by the natural dryness of the subject, or falling into 
 obscurity through a desire to be succinct. I can scarcely 
 hope to escape these diiferent evils. Ordinary readers will 
 complain that I am tedious, lawyers that I am too concise. 
 But these are the natural disadvantages of my subject, and 
 especially of the point which I am now to discuss. 
 
 Ihe great difficulty was, not to know how to constitute 
 the Federal government, but to find out a method of en- 
 forcing its laws. Governments have generally but two 
 
 * See Cliapter VI., entitled "Judicial Power in the United States." This 
 chapter explains the general principles of the American judiciary. 
 
170 
 
 DKMOCUACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 i''; 
 
 means of overcoming tlio opposition of the governed ; 
 namely, tlie j)liysical force wliicli is at their own disposal, 
 and the moral force which tliey derive from the decisions 
 of the courts of justice. 
 
 A government which should have no other means of 
 exacting obedience than open war, must he very near its 
 ruin, for one of two things would then probably happen to 
 it. If it was weak and tem})erate, it would resort to vio- 
 lence only at the last extremity, and would connive at 
 many partial acts of insubordination ; then the state would 
 gradually fall into anarchy. If it was enterprising and 
 powerful, it would every day have recourse to physical 
 strength, and thus would soon fall into a military despot- 
 ism. Thus its activity and its inertness would be equally 
 prejudicial to the community. 
 
 The great end of justice is, to substitute the notion of 
 right for that of violence, and to place a legal barrier be- 
 tween the government and the use of physical force. It is 
 a strange thing, the authority which is accorded to the in- 
 tervention of a court of justice by the general opinion of 
 mankind! It clings even to the mere formalities of justice, 
 and gives a bodily influence to the mere shadow of the 
 law. The moral force which courts of justice possess ren- 
 ders the use of physical force very rare, and is frequently 
 substituted for it ; but if force proves to be indispensable, 
 its power is doubled by the association of the idea of law. 
 
 A federal government stands in greater need than any 
 other of the support of judicial institutions, because it is 
 naturally weak, and exposed to formidable opposition.* If 
 
 * Federal laws arc those which most require courts of justice, and those, 
 at the same time, wliich have most rarely established them. The reason is, 
 that confederations have usually been formed by independent states, which 
 had no real intetition of obeying the central government ; and though they 
 readily ceded the right of cominand to the central government, they care- 
 fully reserved the right of non-compliance to themselves. 
 
 » 
 
THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 I i 
 
 it Avorc always ol)lin;c(l to resort to violence in the first in- 
 stance, it conld not fulfil its task. The I'nion, therefore, 
 stood in special need of a judiciary to make its citizens 
 ohcv the laws, and to renel the attacks which niiiiht bo 
 
 rej 
 
 directed against tliem. But what tribunals were to exer- 
 cise tliese privileges ? Were they to be intrusted to the 
 courts of justice which were already organized in every 
 State ? Or was it necessary to create Fedei'al courts ? It 
 may easily be proved that the Union could not adajtt to its 
 wants the judicial power of the States. The separation of 
 the judiciary from the other powers of the state is neces- 
 sary f()r the security of each, and the liberty of all. But 
 it is no less important to the existence of the nation, 
 that the several powers of the state should have the same 
 origin, follow the same principles, and act in the same 
 s])liere ; in a word, that they should be correlative and ho- 
 mogeneous. No one, I presume, ever thought of causing 
 offences committed in France to be tried by a foreign court 
 of justice, in order to insure the impartiality of the judges. 
 The Americans form but one people in relation to their 
 Federal government ; but in the bosom of this people di- 
 Acrs political bodies have been allowed to subsist, which 
 are dependent on the national government in a few points, 
 and independent in all the rest, — which have all a distinct 
 origin, maxims peculiar to themselves, and special means 
 of carrvino; on their affairs. To intrust the execution of 
 the laws of the Union to tribnnals instituted by these 
 political bodies, would be to allow foreign judges to preside 
 over the nation. Nay, more ; not only is each State for- 
 eign to the Union at large, but it is a perpetual adversary, 
 since whatever authority the Union loses turns to the ad- 
 vantage of the States. Thus, to enforce the laws of the 
 Union by means of the State tribunals would be to allow 
 not only foreign, but partial, judges to preside over the 
 
 nation. 
 
 8* 
 
ti 
 
 u 
 
 i 
 
 !.i 
 
 tm ' 
 
 178 
 
 DEJIOCKACY IN A:\IERICA. 
 
 But the numbor, still more than tlic mere cliaractor, of 
 th'' State tribunals, made them unfit for tlie service of the 
 nation. When tlie Federal Constitution was formed, tliere 
 were already thirteen courts of justice in the United States, 
 wliicli decided causes without appeal. That number is 
 now increased to twenty-four [thirty-four]. To suppose 
 that a state can subsist, when its fundamental laws are 
 subjected to four-and-twenty different interpretations at 
 the same time, is to advance a proposition alike contrary 
 to reason and to experience. 
 
 The American leojislators therefore agreed to create a 
 Federal judicial power to apply the laws of the Union, and 
 to determine certain questions affecting general interests, 
 which were carefully defined beforehand. The entire judi- 
 cial power of the Union was centred in one tribunal, called 
 the Supreme Court of the United States. But, to facili- 
 tate the expedition of business, inferior courts were ap- 
 pended to it, which were empowered to decide causes of 
 small importance without appeal, and, with appeal, causes 
 of more magnitude. The members of the Supreme Court 
 are appointed neither by the people nor the legislature, but 
 by the President of the United States, acting Avith the 
 advice of the Senate. In order to render them indepen- 
 dent of the other authorities, their office was made inalien- 
 able ; and it was determined that their salary, when once 
 fixed, should not be diminished by the legislature.* It 
 was easy to proclaim the principle of a Federal judiciary, 
 but difficulties multiplied when the extent of its jurisdiction 
 was to be determined. 
 
 * Tlie Uiiiou was divided into districts, in cadi of whicli a resident Fed- 
 eral judge was appointed, and the <.'ourt in wliich he presided was termed a 
 " District Court." Each of the judges of the Supreme Court annually visits 
 a certain portion of the country, in order to try the most important causes 
 upon the spot : the court jiresided over by this magistrate is styled a " Cir- 
 cuit Court." Lastly, all the most serious cases of litigation are brought, 
 either primarily or by appeal, before tiie Supreme Court, which holds a 
 
 •*■ 
 
TIIK FEDKRAL CONSTI lUTION. 
 
 17i> 
 
 MEANS OF DETERMINING THE JURISDICTION OF THE 
 
 FEDERAL COURTS. 
 
 Am 
 
 Difficulty of determining the Jurisdiction of the different Courts of Justice 
 in Confederations. — The Courts of the Union obtained tlie Ri^^iit of 
 fixing their own Jurisdiction. — In what respects tliis Kulc attacks the 
 Portion of Sovereignty reserved to tlie several States. — The Sover- 
 eignty of these States restricted by the Laws and by the Interi)retation 
 of the Laws. — Danger thus incurred by tlie several States more ajipar- 
 ent than real. 
 
 As the constitution of the United States recocrnized two 
 distinct sovereignties, in presence of each otlier, repre- 
 sented in a judicial point of view by two distinct classes of 
 courts of justice, the utmost care taken in dcfiniiio; their 
 separate jurisdictions would have been insufficient to ])re- 
 vent frequent collisions between those tribunals. Tlie 
 question then arose, to whom the right of deciding the 
 competency of each court was to be referred. 
 
 In nations which constitute a single body politic, when a 
 question of jurisdiction is debated between two courts, a 
 third tribunal is generally within reach to decide the dif- 
 ference ; and this is effected without difficulty, because, 
 in these nations, questions of judicial competency have no 
 connection with questions of national sovereignty. But it 
 was impossible to create an arbiter between a superior 
 court of the Union and the superior court of a se])arate 
 State, which would not belong to one of these two classes. 
 It was therefore necessary to allow one of these courts to 
 
 solemn session once a year, at which all the judges of the Circuit Courts must 
 attend. The jury was introduced into the Federal courts, in the same 
 manner, and for the same cases, as into the courts of the States. 
 
 It will be observed tliat no analogy exists between the Supreme Court of 
 the United States and the French Conr de Cassation, since the latter only 
 hears appeals. Tiie Supreme Court judges of the fact, as well as the law, 
 of the case ; the Cour de Cassation does not pronounce a decision of its 
 own, but refers the cause to another tril)unal. 
 
It 
 
 180 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 «■ 
 
 jii(lii;(> its own cause, aiifl to take or to retain rop;ni/.anre of 
 the ])(>iiit wliicli was contested. To grant tliis privilege to 
 tlio different courts of tlio States would have heen to de- 
 stroy the sovereignty of the Union de fdcto^ after having 
 estahlished it ih jure; for the interpretation of the Consti- 
 tution would soon have restored to the States that portion 
 of indej)endence of which the terms of the Constitution 
 dej)iMved them. The ohject of creating a Federal trihunal 
 Avas to prevent the State courts from deciding, each after 
 its own fashion, questions affecting the national interests, 
 and so to form a uniform body of jurisprudence for the 
 interj)retation of the laws of the Union. This end would 
 not have been attained if the courts of the several States, 
 even while they abstained from deciding cases avowedly 
 Federal in their nature, had been able to decide them by 
 pretending that they were not Federal. The Supreme 
 Court of the United States was therefore invested with 
 the right of determining all questions of jurisdiction.* 
 
 This was a severe blow to the sovereignty of the States, 
 M'hich was thus restricted not only by the laws, but by the 
 interpretation of them, — by one limit which was know- n, 
 and by another which was dubious, — by a rule which was 
 certain, and one which was arbitrary. It is true, the Con- 
 stitution had laid down the precise limits of the Federal 
 supremacy ; but whenever this supremacy is contested by 
 one of the States, a Federal tribunal decides the question. 
 Nevertheless, the dangers with which the independence of 
 the States is threatened by this mode of proceeding are less 
 serious than they appear to be. We shall see hereafter, 
 
 * In order to diminish tiie number of these suits, however, it was decided 
 that, in a great many Federal causes, the courts of the States should be em- 
 powered to decide conjointly with those of the Union, the losing party hav- 
 ing then a right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. Tiie 
 Supreme Court of Virginia contested the right of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States to judge an appeal from its decisions, but unsuccessfully. See 
 Kent's Commentaries, Vol. I. pp. 300, 370, et seq. 
 
 
fl 
 
 y 
 
 THE ri:i)i:uAL constitution. 
 
 181 
 
 that, in America, tlie real ])0\ver is vested in tlie States far 
 more than in the Federal (government. The Federal 
 iudfes are conscious of the rehitiw weakness of tlie 
 power in whose name they act ; and tliey are more in- 
 cHned to abandon the right of juris(Uction, in casi's wliere 
 the law gives it to them, than to assert a })rivilege to 
 which they have no legal claim. 
 
 DIFFERENT CASES OF JUIIISDICTION. 
 
 The Matter aud the Party arc tlic First Conditions of tlic Federal Jurisdic- 
 tion. — Suits iu wiiicli Amlia.ssadurs are ciij;aj.'eil. — Or the Union. — 
 Or a separate State. — I}y whom tried. — Causes resuhin;: from tiie 
 Laws of the Union. — Wiiy jncljied \)y the FeiU'ral Trilmnals. — Causes 
 relating to the Non-performaiiee of Contracts tried l)y the Federal Courts. 
 — Couscquences of this ^\j.'ranf;eincnt. 
 
 After establishing the competency of the Federal courts, 
 the legislators of the Union defined the cases which should 
 come within their jim.sdiction. It was determined, on the 
 one hand, that certain parties must always be brought 
 before the Federal courts, without regard to the .special 
 natnrc of the suit ; and, on the other, that certain causes 
 must always be brought before the same courts, no mat- 
 ter who were the parties to them. The party and the 
 canse were therefore admitted to be the two bases of Fed- 
 eral jurisdiction. 
 
 Ambassadors represent nations in amity with the Union, 
 and whatever concerns these personages concerns in some 
 degree the whole Union. When an ambassador, therefore, 
 is a party in a suit, its issue affects the welfare of the 
 nation, and a Federal tribunal is naturally called upon to 
 decide it. 
 
 The Union itself may be involved in legal proceedings, 
 and, in this case, it w^ould be contrary to reason and to the 
 customs of all nations to appeal to a tribunal representing 
 
182 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKUU'A. 
 
 I I !^^ 
 
 any other soveroirrnty than its own : tlie Federal courts 
 alone, therefore, tiike cognizance of these affairs. 
 
 When two parties belonging to two difierent States are 
 engaged in a suit, the case cannot with jjropriety bo 
 brouglit before. a court of either State. The surest expe- 
 dient is to select a tribunal wliicli can excite the suspicions 
 of neither party, and this is naturally a Federal court. 
 
 When the two parties are not private individuals, but 
 States, an important political motive is added to the same 
 consideration of equity. The quality of the parties, in 
 this case, gives a national importance to all their disputes ; 
 and the most trifling litigation between two States may be 
 said to involve the peace of the whole Union.* 
 
 The nature of the cause frequently prescribes the rule 
 of com])etency. Thus, all questions which concern mari- 
 time affairs evidently fall under the cognizance of the Fed- 
 eral tribunals.! Almost all these questions depend on the 
 interpretation of the law of nations ; and, in this respect, 
 they essentially interest the Union in relation to foreign 
 powers. Moreover, as the sea is not included within the 
 limits of any one State jurisdiction rather than another, 
 only the national courts can hear causes which originate in 
 maritime affairs. 
 
 The Constitution comprises under one head almost all 
 the cases which, by their very nature, come before the 
 
 * Tlic Constitution also says tliat the Federal courts shall decide " con- 
 trovcrsies between a State and the citizens of another State." And here a 
 most important question arose, — -.vhether the jurisdiction given by the Con- 
 stitution, in cases in which a State is a party, extended to suits brought 
 tujainst a State as well as hi) it, or was exclusively confined to the latter. 
 The question was most elaliorately considered in the case of Chishohn v. 
 Gcorrjin, and was decided by the majority of the Supreme Court in the af- 
 firmative. The decision created general alarm among the States, and an 
 amendment was proposed and ratified, by which the power was entirely 
 taken away so far as it regards suits brought a<jamst a State. 
 
 t As, for instance, all cases of piracy. 
 
 J 
 
R 
 
 THE I'EDKRAL CONSTITl ilOX. 
 
 183 
 
 » 
 
 Fedeiu- courts. The rule ■svliicli it lays dowu is simple, 
 but pre(^nant with nu entire system of ideas, and with a 
 multitude of facts. It declares that the judicial power of 
 the Supreme Court shall extend to all cast's in law and 
 equity arislmj niitlr the lutvs of (he United IStittes. 
 
 Two examples will put the intention of the legislator in 
 the clearest lijilit. 
 
 The Constitution prohibits the States from making laws 
 on the value and circulation of money. If, notwithstand- 
 ing this prohibition, a State jiasses a law of this kind, with 
 which the interested i)arties refuse to comply because it is 
 contrary to the Constitution, the case must come before a 
 Federal court, because it arises mider the Lnvs of the 
 United States. Again, if difficulties arise in the levying 
 of import duties which have been voted by Congress, the 
 Federal court must decide the case, because it arises under 
 the interpretation of a law of the United States. 
 
 This rule is in perfect accordance with the fundamental 
 principles of the Federal Constitution. The Union, as it 
 was established in 1789, possesses, it is true, a limited sov- 
 ereignty ; but it was intended that, within its limits, it 
 should form one and the same people.*' Within those 
 limits, the Union is sovereign. When this point is es- 
 tablished and admitted, the inference is easy ; for if it be 
 acknowledged that the United States, w^ithin the bounds 
 prescribed by their Constitution, constitute but one people, 
 it is impossible to refuse them the rights which belong to 
 other nations. But it has been allowed, from the origin of 
 society, that every nation has the right of deciding by its 
 own courts those questions which concern the execution 
 
 * Thia priuciple was, in some measure, restricted by the introduetion of 
 the several States as independent powers into the Senate, and l»y allowing 
 them to vote separately in the House of Representatives when the President 
 is elected i)y that body. But these are exceptions, and the contrary principle 
 is the rule. 
 
184 
 
 DKMOCKACY IN AMKUICA. 
 
 of its own laws. To this it is unswcivd, tliut the Union is 
 
 s: 
 
 in .so sin;j;iihir a ])osition 
 
 tluit, 
 
 in relation to sonic matters. 
 
 it constitntc's hut one people, and in relation to all the rest, 
 it is a nonentity. lUit the inference to be drawn is, that, 
 in the laws relating to these matters, the Union possesses 
 all the rights of absolute sovereignty. The dilKeulty is to 
 know what these matters are ; and when once it is re- 
 solved, (and we have shown how it was resolved, in speak- 
 ino; of the means of determining; the iurisdietion of the 
 Federal courts,) no further doubt can arise ; for as soon as 
 it is established that a suit is Federal, that is to say, that it 
 belongs to the share of sovereignty reserved by the Consti- 
 tution to the Union, the luitural consequence is, that it 
 should come within the jurisdiction of a Federal court. 
 
 Whenever the laws of the United States are attacked, 
 or whenever they are resorted to in self-defence, the Fed- 
 eral courts must be a])pealed to. Thus the jurisdiction of 
 the tribunals of the Union extends and narrows its limits 
 exactlv in the same ratio as the sovereignty of the Union 
 augments or decreases. We have shown that the pi'incipal 
 aim of the legislators of 1789 was to divide the sovereign 
 authority into two parts. In the one, they placed the con- 
 trol of all the general interests of the Union, in the other, 
 the control of the special interests of its component States. 
 Their chief solicitude was, to arm the Federal government 
 with sufficient power to enable it to resist, within its sphere, 
 the encroachments of the several States. As for these 
 communities, the general principle of independence within 
 certain limits of their own was adopted in their behalf; 
 there the central government cannot control, nor even 
 inspect, their conduct. In speaking of the division of au- 
 thority, I observed that this latter principle had not always 
 been respected, since the States are prevented from passing 
 certain laws, which apparently belong to their own partic- 
 ular sphere of interest. When a State of the Union passes 
 
 T 
 
 ,1 • 
 
Tin: iLi)i:i{AL conshtuiton. 
 
 185 
 
 a law of tliis kind, the citi/cns who aiv iiijuivtl by its cx- 
 ecutiim can appeal to the Ft-deral courts. 
 
 Thus the jurisiliction of the Federal eourts extends, not 
 only to all the cases which uise undiT tlu' laws <»f the 
 Union, but also to those which arisi- under laws inadi' by 
 the several States in op[)()sition to the Ctinstitution. The 
 States are prohibited from making cx-jioxt-l'itcto laws in 
 criminal cases ; and any person condi'unied by \ irtue of a 
 law of this kind, can appeal to the judicial powi'r of the 
 Union. The States are likewise |)rohibiti'(l from makin;^ 
 laws -which mav impiiir tlu' obligation of contracts.* If iv 
 citizen thiidvs that an obliij;ation of this kind is impairi'tl by 
 a law passed in his State, he may refuse to obey it, and 
 may a}>pe;d to the Federal courts. f 
 
 ♦ It is perfectly clfftr, says Mr. Story, (Commentaries, p. 50.1, or in tlio 
 larpc edition § l.'J7'J,) tliat any law wliieli eniar;ies, aliridjios, or. in any man- 
 ner elian^es tho intention of the i)artie!), resulting from llie siipulations in 
 the contract, Jiecessariiy impairs it. lie gives in tlie same i)lace a very care- 
 ful (lellnitioii of what is understood l>y a contract in Federal jurisprudence. 
 The definition is verv hroad. A craut made liv tla^ Siatc to a privat(! indi- 
 vidua), and accei»tod hy him, is a contract, and caimot lie revoked hy any 
 future law. A charter uninti'd hy the State to ii company is a cfintract, and 
 eipially hindin;; on the State as on the grantee. The clause of the Constitu- 
 tion here referred to insures, therefore, tho existence of a great part of ac- 
 quired rights, hut not of all. Property may legally lie held, though it may 
 not have jiassed into tho possessor's hands hy means of a contract ; and its 
 possession is an ac([uired right, not guaranteed hy the Federal Constitution. 
 
 t A renuu'kal)le instance of this is given hy Mr. Stor\' (p. .^OS, or in tho 
 large edition § 1388). "Dartmouth College in New l[anii)shire had heeii 
 founded hy a charter granted to certain individuals hefore the American 
 lievolution, and its trustees formed a corporation under this charter. Tho 
 legislature of New llami)shire had, without the consent of tliis corjioration, 
 passed an act changing the terms of the original charter of the College, and 
 transferring all the rights, privileges, and franchises derived from the old 
 charter to new trustees appointed under the act. The constitutionality of 
 the act wa^ contested, and the cause was carried n\) ro the Supremo (Fed- 
 oral) Court, wiicre it was held, that the Provincial charter was a contract 
 within the meaning of the Constitution, and that tho amendatoiy act was 
 utterly void, as impaiiing the ohligatiou of that charter." 
 

 i 
 
 )!,. 
 
 18G 
 
 DKMOCKACY IN AMKKlCA. 
 
 Tills provision a))|)i':irs to mc to 1k' tlie most sorioiis 
 attack upon tliu iiKli-pondiMicc of tliu States. Tin; ri;;lit.s 
 accorded to the Fi'diTal ^"ovcnnucnt for purposes obviously 
 natiouid arc definite and easily understood : l)ut those n itii 
 >vliicli tliis clause invi'sts it are neither clearly api)reciablo 
 nor accin'ately defined. For there are many political laws 
 ■which allcct the existence of contracts, which mioht thus 
 i'lu'uish a pretext for the encroachments of the central au- 
 thority.* 
 
 * Tlic npprclipnsions cxprossod in tliis pnrnfrmph seem to Itc unfoundofl. 
 The ol)j('ct of till! cliiusi! in the Constitution rospiictiiij; contracts is not so 
 niudi to sticii;;tiicii tlic Federal {;ovci'nincut us to protect j)rivate individuals 
 against hurnit'ul and unjust State le^^isiation. It duos not limit the power 
 of tlio States, except by pruhiliitin;^ thcin from couimittin;,' positive wrong. 
 Thoy can still Icj^ishito ujion the suliject of future contracts; tliey can pre- 
 Bcrilio what contracts shall ho forniiMl, and liow ; hut they cannot imjiair any 
 that are alrtrnJij made. Any law which shouiil autiiorize the lircach of a con- 
 tract already nuule, or in any way impair its obligation, would bo obviously 
 unjust. 
 
 Moreover, as Mr. Si)encer observes, tlic author is in error " in supposing 
 the judiciary of tlie United States, and particularly the Supreme Court, to 
 be a ])art of the political Federal government, and a ready instrument to ex- 
 ecute its desifriis upon tlic State authorities. Altl)ou,<j;li the jud^^os arc in 
 form commissioned by the United States, yet they are in fact appointed by 
 the delofiates of the States, in the Senate of the United States, concurrently 
 with and acting upon the uomiiuitiou of the President. In truth, the ju- 
 diciary have no political duties to perform ; they arc arbiters chosen by the 
 Federal and State governments jointly, and, when appointed, as indei)cndent 
 of one as of the other. They cannot be removed without the consent of 
 the States represented in the Senate ; and they can be removed without tho 
 consent of the President, and against his wishes. Such is the theory of the 
 Constitution. And it has been felt practically, in the rejection by the Senate 
 of persons nominated as judges by a President of the same political party 
 with a majority of the Senators. Two instances of tliis kind occurred dur- 
 ing the administration of Mr. Jefferson." — Am. Ed. 
 
THK IKDKIJAL CONSTITl'TION. 
 
 187 
 
 rnOCKDURE OP THE FIOKUAL COURTS. 
 
 Natural Wciikiirss of tlic Juiliciiil Powit in CDiiri'dtTiitiiiiis. — Lcyi.slatora 
 ou;^lit, Its iiiticli a.s pussihlc, to I riiii; I'rivatu Iiidiviiliials, and not StatoD, 
 before tlic Fetli-ral Courts. — llow tlio Amcrirans have sucrfCfU-il in thin. 
 — Dirt'ft I'rosocution of I'rivato IndiviiluaLs in tlio I'Vdcral (ourl.i. — 
 Indirect I'rostM ution of tin* States wliidi violate tlie I.invs of the Union. 
 — 'I'he Decrees of tlie iSuprenie Court enervate, hut do not distroy, the 
 Stato Lawd. 
 
 I HAVK .shown what tlic rlolits of tlio FihUmmI coiirt.s are, 
 and it is no k'ss ini})()ftant to sliow liow they are exiTcisctl. 
 The invsistible autliurity of justit'o in coiinti'ios in wliich 
 the sovc'ivio;nty is undivided, is derived from the lact, that 
 the tril)inials of those countries I'epresi'ut the entire nation 
 at iss'ie with the intUvidual auainst whotn their decree is 
 directed ; and tlie idea of power is thus introduced to cor- 
 roborate the idea of ri^lit. But it is not always so in 
 countries in which the sovereignty is divided ; in them, the 
 judicitd power is more frequently oj)})osed to a fraction of 
 the nation, than to an isolated individual, and its moral 
 authority and physical strength are conse(|uently dimin- 
 ished. In Federal states, the power of the judge is natu- 
 rally decreased, and that of the justiciable parties is aug- 
 mented. The aim of the legislator in confederate states 
 ought therefore to be, to render the position of the courts 
 of justice analogous to that which they occupy in coun- 
 tries where the sovereignty is undivided ; in other words, 
 his efforts ought constantly to tend to maintain the judi- 
 cial power of the confederation as the representative of the 
 nation, and the justiciable party as the representative of 
 an individual interest. 
 
 Every government, whatever may be its constitution, 
 requires the means of constraining its subjects to discharge 
 their obligations, and of protecting its privileges from their 
 assaults. As far as the direct action of the government on 
 
1.88 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 
 the community is conceriiod, the Constitution of the United 
 States contrived, by a niaster-stroi^e of policy, tluit the 
 Federal courts, acting in the name of the ^aws, should take 
 cognizance only of parties in an individual capacity. For, 
 as it had been declared that the Union consisted of one and . 
 the same people within the limits laid down by the Con- 
 stitution, the inference was that the government created 
 by tins constitution, and acting within these limits, was 
 in Nested with all the privileges of a national government, 
 one of the princi})al of which is the right of transmitting 
 its injunctions directly to the private citizen. When, for 
 instance, the Union votes an impost, it does not apply to 
 the States for the levying of it, but to every American cit- 
 izen, in proportion to his assessment. The Supreme Court, 
 which is empowered to enforce the execution of this law 
 of the Union, exerts its influence not upon a refractory 
 State, but upon the private tax-payer ; and, like the judi- 
 cial power of other nations, it acts only upon the person of 
 an individual. It is to be observed that the Union chose 
 its own antagonist ; and as that antagonist is feeble, he is 
 naturally worsted. 
 
 But the dirticulty increases when the proceedings are not 
 brought forward bi/, but against^ the Union. Tlie Consti- 
 tution recognizes the legislative power of the States ; and 
 a law enacted by that power may violate the rights of the 
 Union. In this case, a collision is unavoidable between 
 that body and the State which has passed the law : and it 
 only remains to select the least dangerous remedy. The 
 general principles which I have before established show 
 what this remedy is.* 
 
 It may be conceived that, in the case under considera- 
 tion, the Union might have sued the State before a Federal 
 court, which would have annulled the act ; this would have 
 been the most natural proceeding. But the judicial power 
 
 * See Chapter VI., on Judieuil Tower in America. 
 
THE FEDKRAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 189 
 
 would tlins have been placed in direct oi)position to the 
 State, and it was desirable to avoid -this predicament as 
 much as possible. The Americans hold that it is nearly 
 impossible that a new law should not injure some private 
 interests by its provisions. These private interests are as- 
 sumed by the American legislators as the means of assail- 
 ing such measures as may be prejudicial to the Union, and 
 it is to these interests that the protection of the Supreme 
 Court is extended. 
 
 Su])pose a State sells a portion of its public lands to a 
 com})any, and that, a year afterwards, it passes a law by 
 which the lands are otherwise disposed of, and that clause 
 of the Constitution Avhich ju'ohibits laws impairing the 
 obligation of contracts is thereby violated. When the pur- 
 chaser under the second act aj)pears to take possession, the 
 possessor under the first act brings his action before the 
 tribunals of the Union, and causes the title of the claimant 
 to be pronounced nvdl and void.* Thus, in point of fact, 
 the judicial ])Ower of the Union is contesting tlie claims of 
 the sovereignty of a State ; but it acts only indirectly, and 
 vipon an application of detail. It attacks the law in its 
 consequences, not in its principle, and rather weakens than 
 destroys it. 
 
 The last c^asc to be provided for was, that each State 
 formed a corporation enjoying a separate existence and dis- 
 tinct civil rights, and that it could therefore sue or be sued 
 before a tribunal. Thus, a State could bring an action 
 against another State. In this instance, the Union was 
 not called uj)on to contest a State law, but to try a suit in 
 wliich a State was a party. This suit was perfectly sim- 
 ilar to any other cause, except that the quality of the par- 
 ties was ditferent ; and here the danger j)ointed out at the 
 beo-innino- of this chai)ter still exists, with less chance of 
 being avoided. It is inherent in the very essence of Fed- 
 
 * See Kent's Coniinentaries, Vol. I. p. .387. 
 
■JN 
 
 IDO 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKIIICA. 
 
 eral constitutions, that tliey slumld create parties in the 
 bosom of the nation, Vv-hich present powerful obstacles to 
 the free course of justice. 
 
 HIGH RANK OF THE SUPREME COURT AMONGST THE GREAT 
 
 POWERS OF STATE. 
 
 No Nation ever constituted so great a Judicial Power as the Americans. — 
 Extent of its Prerogatives. — Its Political Influence. — Tiic Tranquillity 
 and the very Existence of tlie Union depend on the Discretion of the 
 seven Federal Judges. 
 
 When we have examined in detail the oro-anization of 
 the Supreme Court, and the entire prerogatives which it 
 exercises, we shall readily admit that a more imposing 
 judicial power was never constituted by any people. The 
 Supreme Court is placed higher than any known tribunal, 
 both by the nature of its rights and the class of justiciable 
 parties which it controls. 
 
 In all the civilized countries of Europe, the government 
 has alwavs shown the greatest reluctance to allow the cases 
 in which it was itself interested to be decided by the ordi- 
 nary course of justice. This repugnance is naturally 
 greater as the government is more absolute ; and, on the 
 other hand, the privileges of the courts of justice are ex- 
 tended with the increasing liberties of the people : but no 
 European nation has yet held that all judicial controversies, 
 without regard to their origin, can be left to the judo-es of 
 common law. 
 
 In America, this theory has been actually put in prac- 
 tice ; and the Supreme Court of the United States is the 
 sole tribunal of the nation. Its power extends to all cases 
 arising under laws and treaties made bv the national au- 
 thorities, to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction, 
 and, in general, to all points which affect the law of nations. 
 
 i 
 
 ■M 
 
THE FEDI-RAL COXSTITUTION. 
 
 191 
 
 It may even be affirmed that, although its cdustitutlon is 
 essentially judicial, its prerogatives are almost entirely })o- 
 litical. Its sole object is to enforce the execution of the 
 laws of the Union ; and the Union only regulates the rela- 
 tions of the government with the citizens, and of the na- 
 tion with foreign powers : the relations of citizens amongst 
 themselves are almost all regulated by the sovereignty of 
 the States. 
 
 A second and still greater cause of the preponderance 
 of this court may be adduced. In the nations of Europe, 
 the courts of justice are only called upon to try the con- 
 troversies of private individuals ; but the Supreme Court 
 of the United States summons sovereign powers to its bar. 
 When the clerk of the court advances on the ste})s of the 
 tribunal, and simply says, " The State of New York versus 
 The State of Ohio," it is impossible not to feel that the 
 court which he addresses is no ordinary body ; and when 
 it is recollected that one of these parties represents one 
 million, and the other two millions of men, one is struck 
 by the responsibility of the seven judges, whose decision is 
 about to satisfy or to disappoint so large a number of their 
 fellow-citizens. 
 
 The peace, the prosperity, and the very existence of the 
 Union are vested in the hands of the seven Federal judges. 
 Without them, the Constitution would be a dead letter : 
 the Executive appeals to them for assistance against the 
 encroachments of the legislative power ; the Legislature 
 demands their protection against the assaults of the Exec- 
 utive ; they defend the Union fi-om the disobedience of the 
 States, the States from the exaggerated claims of the Union, 
 the public interest against private interests, and the con- 
 servative spirit of stability against the fickleness of the de- 
 mocracy. Their power is enormous, but it is the power of 
 public o})inion. They are all-poweiful as long as the people 
 respect the law ; but they would be impotent against pop- 
 
 4 
 
 < 
 
.h 
 
 
 192 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKl.'ICA. 
 
 ular noi^lcct or contempt of the law. Tlic force of public 
 opinion is the most intractable of agents, because its exact 
 limits cannot be defined ; and it is not less danoerous to 
 exceed, than to remain below, the boundary prescribed. 
 
 The Federal judges must not only be good citizens, and 
 men of that information and integrity Avhieh are indispen- 
 sable to all magistrates, but they must be statesmen, wise 
 to discern the signs of the times, not afraid to brave the 
 obstacles which can be subdued, nor slow to turn away 
 from the current when it threatens to sweep them off, and 
 the su])remacy of the Union and the obedience due to the 
 laws along with them. 
 
 The President, who exercises a limited power, may err 
 without causing m'eat mischief in the state. Cono;ress 
 may decide amiss without destroying the Union, because 
 the electoral botly in which the Congress originates may 
 cause it to retract its decision by clianging its members. 
 But if the Supreme Court is ever com})osed of imprudent 
 or bad men, the Union may be plunged into anarchy or 
 civil war. 
 
 The original cause of this danger, however, does not lie 
 in the constitution of the tribunal, but in the very nature 
 of federal governments. We have seen that, in confed- 
 erate states, it is especially necessary to strengthen the judi- 
 cial power, because in no other nations do those indepen- 
 dent persons who are able to contend with the social body 
 exist in greater power, or \a a better condition to resist the 
 physical strength of the government. But the more a 
 power requires to be strengthened, the more extensive and 
 independent it must be made ; and the dangers which its 
 abuse may create are heightened by its independence and 
 its strength. The source of the evil is not, therefore, in 
 the constitution of the power, but in the constitution of 
 the state Avhich renders the existence of such a power 
 necessary. 
 
 i 
 
fi 
 
 THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 loa 
 
 IN WHAT RESPECTS THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION 13 SUPE- 
 IlIOR TO THAT OE THE STATES. 
 
 11- 
 
 How the Constitution of the Union can be compari'd with that of the States. 
 — Superiority of tiie Constitution of tl>e Union attrihutalile to tlie Wis- 
 dom of the Federal LegisUitors. — Legislature of tiie Union less depen- 
 dent on the IV'ople than that of the States. — Executive Power more 
 independent in its Spliere. — Juilicial Power less suIijccU'd to the Will 
 of the Majority. — Practieal Consequence of these Facts. — The Dan- 
 gers inherent in a Democratic Government diminished hy the Federal 
 Legislators, lUid increased by the Legislators of tiie States. 
 
 The Federal Constitution diflers essentially from that of 
 the States in the ends whieh it is intended to acconij)lish ; 
 but in the means by whieh these ends are attained, a 
 greater analogy exists between them. The objects of the 
 governments are different, but their forms are the same ; 
 and in this special point of view, there is some advantage 
 in com})aring them with each other. 
 
 I am of opinion, for several reasons, that the Federal 
 Constitution is superior to any of the State constitutions. 
 
 The present Constitution of the Union was formed at a 
 later period than those of the majority of the States, and it 
 may have profited by this additional experience. But we 
 shall 1)0 convinced that this is only a secondary cause of its 
 superiority, when we recollect that eleven [twenty-one] 
 new States have since been added to the Union, and that 
 these new re})ublics have almost always rather exaggerated 
 than remedied the defects which existed in the former con- 
 stitutions. 
 
 The chief cause of the superiority of the Federal Con- 
 stitution lav in the character of the lemslators who com- 
 posed it. At the time when it was formed, the ruin of the 
 Confederation seemed imminent, and its danger was univer- 
 sally known. In this extremity, the people chose the men 
 who most deserved the esteem, rather than those who had 
 
 9 M 
 
 m 
 
 1 
 
I 
 
 it 
 
 
 tl 
 
 ' ; !i 
 
 194 
 
 DEMOCRACY IX AMKIIICA. 
 
 ountiy. I liavo already ob- 
 most 
 
 all tlio k'ii'islators of the 
 
 gained the affections, of tlie 
 served, that, distinguished as al 
 Union were for their intelligence, they were still more so 
 for their patriotism. They had all been nurtured at a time 
 when the spirit of liberty was braced by a contiiuial strug- 
 gle against a powerful and dominant authority. \\'hen the 
 contest was terminated, whilst the excited passions of the 
 po])nlace persisted, as usual, in warring against dangers 
 which had ceased to exist, these men stopped short ; they 
 cast a calmer and more penetrating look upon their coun- 
 try ; they perceived that a definitive revolution had been 
 accomplished, and that the only dangers which America 
 had now to fear were those which miolit result from the 
 abuse of freedom. They had the courage to say what they 
 believed to be true, because they were animated by a warm 
 and sincere love of liberty ; and they ventured to ])ropose 
 restrictions, because they were resolutely opposed to de- 
 struction.* 
 
 Most of the State constitutions assign one year for the 
 duration of the House of Representatives, and two years 
 for that of the Senate ; so that members of the lemslative 
 body are constantly and narrowly tied down by the slight- 
 
 * At this time, Alexander Hamilton, who was one of the principal found- 
 ers of the Constitution, ventured to express the following sentiments in the 
 Federalist, No. 71 : — 
 
 " There are some who would be inclined to regard the servile pliancy of 
 the Executive to a prevailing current, either in the community or in the 
 legislature, as its best recommendation. But such men entertain very crude 
 notions, as well of the purposes for which government was instituted, as of 
 tlie true means by which the public happiness may be promoted. The re- 
 publican principle demands, that the deliberative sense of the community 
 should govern the conduct of those to ^vhom they intrust the management 
 of their affairs ; but it does not rcipiire an unqualified complaisance to every 
 sudden breeze of passion, or to every transient impulse which the people 
 may receive from the arts of men Avho flatter their prejudices lo betray their 
 interests. It Is a just observation, that the people commonly intend tlt< public 
 good. This often applies to thcii- very errors. But their good sense would 
 
 
THK FKDKRAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 195 
 
 bv of 
 
 the 
 
 I'rudc 
 
 IS of 
 
 he re- 
 
 [iiiity 
 
 lent 
 
 ivcry 
 
 pnjile 
 
 their 
 
 luhlic 
 
 3uld 
 
 
 est (losiros of their ooiistituonts. The legislators of tlio 
 Union wore of opinion that this excessive dejx'ndence of 
 the legislatnre altered the natnre of the main eonsefpienecs 
 of the representative system, since it vested not oidy the 
 source of authority, hut the o;overnment, in the j)eople. 
 Thev increased the lenjxth of the term, in order to »'ive the 
 re])resentatives freer scope for the exercise of their own 
 judii'ment. 
 
 I'he Federal Constitution, as well as the State constitu- 
 tions, divided the legislative body into two branches. IJut 
 in the States, these two hrnnches avimv composed of the 
 same elements, and elected in the same maimer. The 
 consequence was, that the ])assions and inclinations of the 
 populace were as rapidly and easily represented in one 
 chamber as in the other, and that laws were made with 
 violence and precipitation. By the Federal Constituticm, 
 the two houses orimnate in like manner in the choice of 
 the people ; but the conditions of elirribility and the mode 
 of election were changed, in order that, if, as is the case in 
 certain nations, one branch of the legislature should not 
 represent the same interests as the other, it might at least 
 represent more wisdom. A mature age was necessary to 
 
 despise the adulator who should pretend that they always irasnn riijht about 
 the means of promotin<j it. They know from experience that they some- 
 times err ; and the wonder is, that they so seldom err as they do, beset, as 
 they continually are, by the wiles of parasites and sycophnnts ; by the snares 
 of the ambitious, the avaricious, the desperate ; by the artifices of men who 
 possess their confidence more than they deserve it, and of tliose who seek to 
 possess rather than to deserve it. When occasions present themselves iu 
 which the interests of the people arc at variance with tiieir inclinations, it is 
 the duty of the persons whom they have appointed to be the tjuardians of 
 those interests to withstand the temporary delusion, in order to pive them 
 time and opportunity for more cool and sedate reflection. Instances miuht 
 be cited, in which a conduct of this kind has saved tlie ])eople from very 
 fatal consequences of their own mistakes, and has procurcil hustin;; monu- 
 ments of their jjratitudc to the men who had courajxe and ma^^ianimity 
 enough to serve them at the peril of their displeasure." 
 
 
It 
 
 ■ i' 
 
 il 
 
 i II' 
 
 li! 
 
 19(3 
 
 DEMOCRACV IN AMKHICA. 
 
 i ! 
 
 become a Senator, and tlie Senate was chosen by an elect- 
 ed assembly of a limited number of members. 
 
 To concentrate the whole social force in the hands of the 
 legislative body is the natural tendency of democracies ; for 
 as tliis is the })ower which emanates the most directly from 
 the j)eople, it has the greater siiare of the people's over- 
 whelming power, and it is naturally led to monopoH/.e 
 every species of influence. This concentration of power 
 is at once very })rejudicial to a well-conducted administra- 
 tion, and favorable to the despotism of the majoi'ity. Tlie 
 legislators of the States fre(]uently yielded to these demo- 
 cratic propensities, which were invariably and courageously 
 resisted by the founders of the Union. 
 
 In the States, the executive power is vested in the hands 
 of a magistrate, who is apparently placed upon a level with 
 the legislature, but who is in reality only the blind agent 
 and the passive instrument of its will. He can derive no 
 ])ower from the duration of his office, which terminates 
 in one year, or from the exercise of prerogatives, for he 
 can scarcely be said to have any. The legislature can 
 condemn him to inaction by intrusting the execution of its 
 laws to special committees of its own members, and can 
 aniud his temporary dignity by cutting down his salary.* 
 The Federal Constitution vests all the privileges and all the 
 responsibility of the executive power in a single individual. 
 The duration of the Presidency is fixed at four years ; the 
 salarv cannot be altered durino- this term ; the President is 
 protected by a body of official dependents, and armed with 
 a suspensive veto : in short, every effort was made to con- 
 fer a strong and independent position upon the executive 
 authority, within the limits which were prescribed to it. 
 
 * Not always. In several of the States, tlie compensation of the Governor 
 cannot be lessened during his term of office. So, also, the Governor's term 
 is not always for a single year. In many of the States it is two, in some 
 it is three, years. — Am. Ed. 
 
 fii I 
 
THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 191 
 
 In tlio State constitutions, tlio judicial power is that 
 whicli is tlie most independent of the leoislative autliorlty ; 
 nevertheless, in all the States, the legislature has reserved 
 to itself the right of rei;-ulating the emoluments of the 
 jud'Tcs, a practice which necessarily suhjects them to its 
 immediate influence. In some States, the judges are ap- 
 ])ointed only temjiorarily, which deprives them of a great 
 portion of their })Ower and their freedom. In others, the 
 legishitive and ju<licial powers arc entirely confounded. 
 The Senate of New York, for instance, constitutes in cer- 
 tain cases the superior court of the State. The FecK'ral 
 Constitution, on the other hand, carefully separates the 
 judicial power from all the others ; and it ])rovides for the 
 independence of the judges, by declaring that their salary 
 shall not be diminished, and that their functions shall be 
 inalienable. 
 
 The practical consequences of these different systems 
 may easily be perceived. An attentive observer will soon 
 remark that the business of the Union is incomjtarably bet- 
 ter conducted than that of any individual State. The 
 conduct of the Federal government is more fair and tem- 
 perate than that of the States ; it has more prudence and 
 discretion, its projects are more durable and more skilfully 
 combined, its measures are executed with more vioor and 
 consistency. 
 
 I recapitulate the substance of this chapter in a few 
 words. 
 
 The existence of democracies is threatened by tw^o prin- 
 cipal dangers, viz. the complete subjection of the legisla- 
 ture to the will of the electoral body, and the concentration 
 of all the other powers of the government in the legislative 
 branch. 
 
 The development of these evils has been favored by the 
 leo;islators of the States ; but the legislators of the Union 
 have done all they could to render them less formidable. 
 

 198 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 oharactkuistics of the fiidkhai, constitution of thk 
 unitj:i) statks of amkkiua as comi'aukd with all 
 
 OTIIKR FKDKUAL CONriTlTLTIOXS. 
 
 The American Union api)ears to resemble uU otiier Confederations. — Yet 
 its Ktleets are dillerent. — Heuson of tiiis. — In what this Union (litlers 
 from all other ContiMlerations. — Tiie American Govenuncnt not a i'eil- 
 cnil, i)Ut an iinjierfeet National Government. 
 
 The United States of Anu'ricu do not aft'ord the first or 
 tlie oiilv instance of a confederation, several of wliich liave 
 existed in modern Europe, without advertino' to tlioso of 
 anti(juity. Switzerland, the Germanic Em]»ire, ami tlie 
 Republic of the J^ow Countries, eitlier have been, or still 
 are, confederations. In studying the constitutions of these 
 difleivnt countries, one is surprised to sec that the powers 
 with which they invested the federal govermnent are 
 nearly the same with those awarded by the American Con- 
 stitution to the government of the United States. They 
 conter upon the central power the same rights of making 
 j)eace and war, of raising money and troops, and of pro- 
 vi(Uni>- for the general exioencies and the common inteiests 
 of the nation. Nevertheless, the federal government of 
 these different states has always been as remarkable for its 
 weakness and inefHciencv as that of the American Union 
 is for its vigor and capacity. Again, the first American 
 Confederation perished through the excessive weakness of 
 its government ; and yet this weak government had as 
 large rights and privileges as those of the Federal govern- 
 ment of the present day, and in some respects even larger. 
 But the present Constitution of the United States contains 
 certain novel })rinciples, which exercise a most important 
 influence, although they do not at once strike the observer. 
 
 This Constitution, which may at first sight be con- 
 founded with the federal constitutions which have preceded 
 it, rests in truth upon a wholly novel theory, which may 
 
THE FKDKKAL CUNSTITLTIUX. 
 
 in> 
 
 be consldorc'd as a ^rrat discovery in inodoni political sii- 
 ence. In all tlic contcdcnitions which preceded the iVnier- 
 ican Constitution of 1T!S!>, tiie alhed states tor a connnoii 
 object a;j;reed to obey tiie injunctions of a I'cdci'a! govern- 
 ment ; but they reserved t(j themselves tlie ri^ht of oi'dain- 
 inji and enforcin<i the execution of the laws of the union. 
 The American States which combined in ITS'.) auri'ed, that 
 the Federal <Tovernment should not only dictate the laws, 
 but should execute its own enactnu-nts. In both cases, 
 the rii;ht is the same, but the exercise of the rii;ht is dit- 
 ferent ; and this ditference produced tlu' most momentous 
 conse(picnces. 
 
 In all the confederations which preceded the American 
 Union, the federal government, in order to })rovide for 
 its wants, had to a])))ly to the separate governnients ; and 
 if what it })rescril)ed was disagreeable to any one of them, 
 means were found to evade its claims. If it was power- 
 ful, it then had recourse to arms ; if it was weak, it con- 
 nived at the resistance which the law of the iniion, its 
 sovereign, met with, and did nothing, under the plea of 
 inability. Under these circumstances, one of two results 
 invariably followed : either the strongest of the allied states 
 assumed the privileges of the federal authority, and ruled 
 all the others in its name ; * or the federal government 
 was abandoned by its natural sui)porters, anarchy arose 
 between the confederates, and the union lost all power of 
 action. f 
 
 In America, the subjects of the Union are not States, 
 
 * This was the rase in Greece, when Piiilip undertook to oxeeutc the de- 
 crees of the Aniphictyons ; in the Low Countries, wlicre the province of 
 Holland always ftave the law ; and, in our own time, in the Germanic Con- 
 federation, in which Austria and Prussia make themselves the agents of tlie 
 Diet, and rule the wiiole confederation in its name. 
 
 t Such lias always been tlie situation of the Swiss Confederation, which 
 would have perished ages ago but for the mutual jealousies of its neigh- 
 bors. 
 
200 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN' AMI'.HICA. 
 
 1 ,1 
 
 !l ! 
 
 Iml piMNiitc citi/ciis : tlic national ^ovcrnnu'nt lovics a tax, 
 rtot u|M)n till' State til' Massacluisi'tts, l»ut npoii cadi inlial)- 
 itant (il Mas>aclnisi'tts. The oM coMfldiTatc ;j;()\(.'riniu'nts 
 jtri'sidcil over coinnuinitii's, but that ot' the Union pri'sidcs 
 over in(li\ idiials. Its forco is not horrowi'd, hut srlt-dc- 
 rivi'd ; and it is served hy its own civil and military otHciTs, 
 its own arniv, and its own courts of" iustice. It cainiot he 
 douhted that the national spirit, the passions of the niulti- 
 tuile, and the provincial prejudices of each Stati', still ti'ud 
 sin^iularly to diminish tlu' extent of the Federal authority 
 thus constituted, and to facilitate resistance to its nian(hiti's; 
 but the comparati\e weakness of a restricted sovereiiiiity is 
 an evil inhei'ent in the Federal system. In AnuM'ica, each 
 State has fewer opportunities and tem[»tations to resist: 
 nor can such a (lesi;j;n be put in execution, (if indeed it be 
 entertained,) without an open violation of the laws of the 
 Union, a direct inti'rrui)tion of the ordinary course of jus- 
 tice, and a bold declaration of revolt ; in a word, witlu)ut 
 taking the decisive step wliieli men always hesitate to 
 adopt. 
 
 In all former confederations, the privileges of the Union 
 furnished more elements of discord than of power, since 
 they multiplied the claims of the nation without augment- 
 ing tlie means of enforcino; them : and hence the real we.ik 
 ness of federal governments has almost always been in the 
 exact ratio of their nominal power. Such is not the case 
 in the American Union, in which, as in ordinary govern- 
 ments, the Federal power has the means of enforcing all 
 it is empowered to demand. 
 
 The human understanding more easily invents new 
 things than new words, and we are hence constrained to 
 employ many improper and inadequate expressions. When 
 several nations form a permanent league, and establish a 
 supreme authority, which, although it cannot act upon pri- 
 vate individuals, like a national government, still acts upon 
 
 -r ') 
 
TIIF, FF'.DKKAI- fOXSTITrTIOX. 
 
 201 
 
 lew 
 to 
 Ihen 
 
 eacli of tlie coiiKMK'nitc states in a Ixxly, this ;;<)vt'rnin(>Mt, 
 which is so i'>-<tiifialiy ditlrfi'iit from all othrrs, is called 
 Federal. Another foi'ni of society is afterwards discoxci'ed, 
 in whicii several states are fnsed into one with regard to 
 certain connnoii interests, althon;j;h they remain di>tinct, or 
 only confederate, with I'e^ard to all other concerns. In 
 this case, the central power acts directly ujioii the <j;ov- 
 erned, whom it rules and judges in the same uunnu'r as a 
 national crovennnent, but in a more* limite(l '-ircle. ICvi- 
 dently this is no longer a tederal e;()vt'rnmi'nt, hut an 
 incomj)lete national govermnent, which is m-ither exactly 
 national nor exactly fe<leral ; but the new woi'd which 
 ouiiht to exiiress this novel thinn; does not vet exist. 
 
 Ignorance of this new species of confederation has been 
 the cause which has brought all nnions to civil wai", to ser- 
 vitude, or to inertness ; and the states which formed these 
 leagues have been either too dull to discern, or too })usil- 
 lanimous to apply, this givat remedy. The first American 
 confederation ])erished by the same defects. 
 
 But in America, the confederate States had been long 
 accustomed to form a portion of one empire before they 
 had won their independence ; they hiul not contracted the 
 habit of governing themselves comj)letely ; and their na- 
 tional prejudices had not taken deep root in their minds. 
 Superior to the rest of the world in political knowledge, 
 and sharing tliat knowledge e(pially amongst themselves, 
 they were little agitated by the passions which generally 
 o|>pose the extension of federal authority in a nation, and 
 those passions were checked by the wisdom of their great- 
 est men. The Americans applied the remedy with firm- 
 ness, as soon as they were conscious of the evil ; they 
 amended their laws, and saved tiie country. 
 
 9* 
 
f I 
 
 f h 
 
 'I 
 
 ■ li 
 
 I I 
 
 ill; 
 
 
 • 'if 
 
 202 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 ADVANTAGES OF THE FEDERAL SYSTEM IN GENERAL, AND 
 ITS SPECIAL UTILITY IN AMERICA. 
 
 Happiness and Freedom of small Nations. — Power of great Nations. — 
 Great Empires favorable to tlio Growl' of Civilization. — Strength of- 
 ten tlic first Element of National Prosperity. — Aim of the Federal Sys- 
 tem to nnite the twofold Advantages resulting from a small and from a 
 large Territory. — Advantages derived by the United States from this 
 System. Tiic Law adajjts itself to the Exigeneies of the Population ; 
 Population does not conform to the Exigencies of the Law. — Activity, 
 Progress, the Love and Enjoyment of Freedom, in American Commu- 
 nities — Public Spirit of the Union is only the Aggregate of Provincial 
 Patriotism. — Principles and Things circulate freely over the Territory 
 of the United States. — The Union is happy and free as a little Nation, 
 and respected as a grcac one. 
 
 In small states, the watclifulness of society penetrates 
 into every part, and the spirit of improvement enters into 
 the smallest details ; the ambition of the people being 
 necessarily checked by its weakness, all the efforts and 
 resources of the citizens are turned to the internal well- 
 being of the community, and are not likely to evaporate in 
 the fleeting breath of glory. The powers of every individ- 
 ual being generally limited, his desires are proportionally 
 small. jMediocrity of fortune makes the various conditions 
 of life nearly equal, and the manners of the inhabitants are 
 orderly and simple. Thus, all things considered, and al- 
 lowance being made for the various degrees of morality 
 and enlightenment, we shall generally find in small na- 
 tions more persons in easy circumstances, more content- 
 ment and tranquillity, than in large ones. 
 
 When tyranny is established in the bosom of a small 
 state, it is more galling than elsewhere, because, acting in 
 a narrower circle, everything in that circle is affected by 
 it. It supplies the place of those great designs which it 
 cannot ent'jrtain, by a violent or exasperating interference 
 in a multitude of minute details ; and it leaves the political 
 
 :li. 
 
THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 203 
 
 world, to wliicli it properly belongs, to meddle with the 
 arrangements of private lite. Tastes as well as actions are 
 to be reo-ulated : and the families of the citizens, as well as 
 the state, are to be governed. This invasion of rights 
 occurs, however, but seldom, freedom being in truth the 
 natural state of small communities. The temptations 
 which the government offers to ambition are too weak, 
 and the resources of private individuals are too slender, 
 for the sovereign power easily to fidl into the grasp of a 
 single man ; and should such an event occur, the subjects 
 of the state can easily unite and overthrow the tyrant and 
 the tyranny at once by a common effort. 
 
 Small nations ha\e therefore ever been the cradle of 
 political liberty ; and the fact that many of them have lost 
 their liberty by becoming larger, shows that their freedom 
 was more a consequence of their small size than of the 
 character of the people. 
 
 Tlie history of the world affords no instance of a great 
 nation retaining the form of republican government for a 
 long series of years ; * and this has led to the conclusion 
 that such a thing is impracticable. For my own part, I 
 think it imprudent to attempt to limit wdiat is possible, and 
 to judge the future, for men who are every day deceived in 
 relation to the actual and the present, and often taken by 
 surprise in the circumstances with which they are most 
 familiar. But it may be said with confidence, that a great 
 republic will always be exposed to more perils than a small 
 one. 
 
 All the passions which are most fatal to republican insti- 
 tutions increase with an increasing territoiy, whilst the 
 virtues which favor them do not augment in the same 
 proportion. The ambition of private citizens increases 
 with the power of the state ; the strength of parties, with 
 
 * I do not speak of a confederation of small republics, but of a f^reut con- 
 solidated republic. 
 

 ' i 
 
 i ' '■ i 
 
 204 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 the importance of the ends they have in A'iew ; but the 
 love of country, which ouo'ht to check tlicse destructive 
 agencies, is not stronger in a harge tlian in a small repidjlic. 
 It might, indeed, he easily proved that it is less powerfid 
 and less developed. Great wealth and extreme poverty, 
 capital cities of la.'ge size, a lax morality, selfishness, and 
 antagonism of interests, are the dano;ers which almost in- 
 variably arise from the magnitude of states. Several of 
 these evils scarcely injure a mo.iarchy, and some of them 
 even contribute to its streniith and duration. In monarch- 
 ical states, the government has its peculiar strength ; it 
 may use, but it does not depend on, the comnnniity ; and 
 the more numerous the people, the stronger is the j)rince. 
 But the oidy security which a republican government pos- 
 sesses against these evils lies in the support of the majority. 
 This support is not, however, proportionably greater in a 
 large republic than in a small one ; and thus, whilst the 
 means of attack perpetually increase, both in number and 
 influence, the power of resistance remains the same ; or it 
 may rather be said to diminish, since the inclinations and 
 interests of the people are more diversified by the increase 
 of the population, and the difficulty of forming a compact 
 majority is constantly augmented. It has been observed, 
 moreover, that the intensity of human passions is height- 
 ened not only by the importance of the end which they 
 propose to attain, but by the multitude of individuals who 
 are animated by them at the same time. Every one has 
 had occasion to remark, that his emotions in the midst of 
 a sympathizing crowd are far greater than those which he 
 would have felt in solitude. In great republics, political 
 passions become irresistible, not only because they aim at 
 gigantic objects, but because they are felt and shared by 
 millions of men at the same time. 
 
 It may, therefore, be asserted as a general proposition, 
 that nothing is more opposed to the well-being and the 
 
Tin: rKDERAL COXSTITUTION. 
 
 205 
 
 freedom of men tli;in vast empires. Xevcrtlieless, it is 
 important to acknowledge the pecidiar advantages of great 
 states. For tlie very reason tliat the desire of power is 
 more intense in these connnunities tlian amongst onhnary 
 men, tlie love of glory is also more developed in the hearts 
 of certain citizens, who regard the applause of a gi'eat peo- 
 ple as a reward worthy of their exertions, and an elevating 
 encourajxement to man. If \ve Avonld learn whv ^I'eat na- 
 tions contrihute more powerfully to the increase of knowl- 
 edge and the advance of civilization than small states, we 
 shall discover an adequate cause in the more rapid and 
 eneroetic circulation of ideas, and in those o;reat cities 
 which are the intellectual centres where all the rays of 
 human genius are reflected and combined. To this it may 
 be added, that most im})ortant discoveries demand a use of 
 national })ower which the government of a small state is 
 unable to make : in great nations, the government has 
 more enlarged ideas, and is more completely disengaged 
 from the routine of precedent and the selfishness of local 
 feeling ; its designs are conceived Avith more talent, and 
 executed with more boldness. 
 
 In time of peace, the well-being of small nations is un- 
 doubtedly more general and complete ; but they are apt to 
 suffer more acutely from the calamities of Avar than those 
 great empires wdiose distant frontiers may long avert the 
 presence of the danger from the mass of the pcoj)le, wdio 
 are therefore more frequently afHicted than ruined by the 
 contest. 
 
 But in this matter, as in many others, the decisive argu- 
 ment is the necessity of the case. If none but small na- 
 tions existed, I do not doubt that mankind w-ould be more 
 hap})y and more free ; but the existence of gre^it nations is 
 unavoidable. 
 
 Political streno;th thus becomes a condition of national 
 prosperity. It profits a state but little to be affluent and 
 
206 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 M' 131 
 
 Ml: 
 
 free, if it is perpetuiilly exposed to be pillaged or subju- 
 gated ; its manufactures and commerce are of small ad- 
 vantage, if another nation lias the emj)ire of the seas and 
 gives the law in all the markets of the globe. Small na- 
 tions are often miserable, not because they are small, but 
 because they ai'e weak ; and great empires prosper, less 
 because they are great, than because they are strong. 
 Phvsical strenn;th is therefore one of the first conditions of 
 the happiness, and even of the existence, of nations. Hence 
 it occurs, that, unless very peculiar circumstances intervene, 
 small nations are always united to large empires in the end, 
 either by force or by their own consent. I know not a 
 more deplorable condition than that of a people unable to 
 defend itself or to provide for its own wants. 
 
 The Federal svstem was created with the intention of 
 combinino; the different advantages which result from the 
 man;nitude and the littleness of nations ; and a glance at 
 the United States of America discovers the advantages 
 wliich they have derived from its adoption. 
 
 In m'cat centralized nations, the leoislator is oblioed to 
 give a character of uniformity to the laws, Avhich does not 
 always suit the diversity of customs and of districts ; as he 
 takes no cognizance of special cases, he can only proceed 
 upon general principles ; and the population are obliged to 
 conform to the exigencies of the legislation, since the 
 legislation cannot ada] t itself to the exigencies and the 
 customs of the population ; which is a great cause of 
 trouble and misery. This disadvantage does not exist in 
 confederations ; Congress regulates the principal measures 
 of the national government ; and all the details of the ad- 
 ministration are reserved to the provincial legislatures. 
 One can hardlv imagine how much this division of sov- 
 ereigntv contributes to the well-being of each of the States 
 which compose the Union. In these small communities, 
 which are never agitated by the desire of aggrandizement 
 
 ■l-'\ 
 
TIIK FEDKRAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 207 
 
 or the c.ire of self-defence, all public aiitliority niul j)rivate 
 enero;y are turned towards internal improvements. The 
 central «>-overnment of each State, which is in innnediate 
 juxtaposition to the citizens, is daily apprised of the wants 
 which arise in society ; and new projects are proposed 
 every year, which are discussed at town-meetings or by 
 the legislature, and which are transmitted hy the press to 
 stimulate the zeal and to excite the interest of the citizens. 
 This spirit of improvement is constantly alive in the Amer- 
 ican republics, without compromising their tranquillity ; 
 the ambition of power yields to the less retined and less 
 dangerous desire for well-being. It is generally belicAed 
 in America, that the existence and the permanence of the 
 republican form of government in the New World di'pend 
 upon the existence and the duration of the Federal system ; 
 and it is not unusual to attribute a laro;e share of the mis- 
 fortunes which have befillen the new States of South 
 America to the injudicious erection of great republics, 
 instead of a divided and confederate sovereignty. 
 
 It is incontestably true, that the tastes and the habits 
 of republican government in the United States were first 
 created in the townships and the provincial assemblies. 
 In a small State, like that of Connecticut, for instance, 
 where cutting a canal or laving down a road is a (vreat 
 political question, where the State has no army to })ay and 
 no w'ars to carry on, and where much wealth or much 
 honor cannot be given to the rulers, no form of govern- 
 ment can be more natural or more a})})ropriate than a re- 
 public. But it is this same republican sjiirit, it is these 
 manners and customs of a free people, which have been 
 created and nurtured in the different States, which must 
 be afterwards applied to the country at large. The public 
 spirit of the Union is, so to speak, nothing more than an 
 aggregate or summary of the patriotic zeal of the se])arate 
 provinces. Every citizen of the United States transports, 
 
208 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 i'^: 
 
 SO to speak, liis attacliniont to his little republic into the 
 common store of ^Vmerlcun patriotism. In defending the 
 Union, he defends the increasing prosperity of his own 
 State or county, the right of conducting its affairs, and the 
 hope of causing measures of improvement to he adopted in 
 it which may be favorable to his own interests ; and these 
 are motives which are wont to stir men more than the gen- 
 eral interests of the coimtry and the glory of the nation. 
 
 On the other hand, if the temper and the manners of 
 the inhabitants especially fitted them to promote the wel- 
 fare of a great re})ublic, the federal system renders their 
 task less difficult. The confederation of all the American 
 States presents none of the ordinary inconvenienees re- 
 sultini}; from great ago-lomerations of men. The Union is 
 a great republic in extent, but the paucity of objects for 
 which its oovernment acts assimilates it to a small State. 
 Its acts are important, but they arc rare. As the sov- 
 ereignty of the Union is limited and incomplete, its exer- 
 cise is not dangerous to liberty ; for it does not excite those 
 insatiable desires of fame and power which have proved so 
 fatal to great republics. As there is no common centre to 
 the country, great capital cities, colossal wealth, abject pov- 
 erty, and sudden revolutions are alike unknown ; and polit- 
 ical passion, instead of spreading over the land like a fire 
 on the prairies, spends its strength against the interests and 
 the individual passions of every State. 
 
 Nevertheless, tangible objects and ideas circulate through- 
 out the Union as freely as in a country inhabited by one 
 people. Nothing checks the spirit of enterprise. The 
 government invites the aid of all who have talents or 
 knowdedo-e to serve it. Inside of the frontiers of the 
 Union, profound peace prevails, as within the heart of 
 some great empire ; abroad, it ranks with the most power- 
 ful nations of the earth : two thousand miles of coast are 
 open to the connnerce of the world ; and as it holds the 
 
 ^■1 
 
THK FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 209 
 
 keys of a New World, its fla<^ is rospocted in the most 
 remote seas. The Union is lui])})y and free as a small peo- 
 ple, and glorious and strong as a great nation. 
 
 WHY THE FEDERAL SYSTEM 13 NOT PllACTICABLE FOR ALL 
 NATIONS, AND HOW THE ANGLO- AMERICANS WERE EN- 
 ABLED TO ADOPT IT. 
 
 Every Federal Sj'stcin has inherent Faults wliieh baffle the EtVurts of tlie 
 Legislator. — The Federal System is complex. — It demands a daily 
 Exercise of the Intelli^^ence of the Citizens. — I'racticul Knowledge of 
 Government common amongst the Americans. — Hclative Weakness of 
 the Government of the Union another Defect iidierent in the Federal 
 System. — The Americans have diminished without remedying it. — Tlie 
 Sovereignty of the separate States apparently weaker, hut really strong- 
 er, than that of the Union. — Why. — Natural Causes of Union then 
 must exist between Confederate Nations beside the Laws. — What these 
 Causes are amongst the Anglo-Americans. — Maine and Georgia, sepa- 
 ••ated by a Distance of a tliousand Miles, more naturally united than Nor- 
 mandy and Brittany. — W^ar the main Peril of Confederations. — This 
 proved even by the Example of the United States. — The Union has no 
 great Wars to fear. — Why. — Dangers which Europeans would incur if 
 they adopted the Federal System of the Americans. 
 
 When ^ lemslaior succeeds, after manv efforts, in exer- 
 cising an indirect influence upon the destiny of nations, his 
 genius is lauded by mankind, whilst, in point of fact, the 
 geographical position of the country which he is unable to 
 change, a social condition which arose without his co-oper- 
 ation, manners and opinions which he cannot trace to tlieir 
 source, and an origin with which he is unacquainted, exer- 
 cise so irresistible an influence over the courses of society, 
 that he is himself borne away by the current after an inef- 
 fectual resistance. Like the navigator, he may direct the 
 vessel which bears him, but he can neither chaufje its 
 structure, nor raise the winds, nor lull the waters which 
 swell beneath him. 
 
 I have shown the advantages which the Americans de- 
 
 N 
 
210 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 I t 
 
 : !i 
 
 rive from tlioir Federal system ; it remains for mc to point 
 out tlie circumstances wliich enabled them to adopt it, as 
 its benefits cannot be enjoyed by all nations. The acci- 
 dental defects of the federal system which originate in the 
 laws may be corrected by the skill of the legislator, but 
 there are evils inherent in the system which cannot bo 
 reiaedied by any eilfbrt. The people must therefore find in 
 themselves the strength necessary to bear the natural im- 
 perfections of their government. 
 
 The most prominent evil of all federal systems is the 
 complicated nature of the means they employ. Two sov- 
 ereignties are necessarily in presence of each other. The 
 legislator may simplify and equalize, as far as possible, the 
 action of these two sovereignties, by limiting each of them 
 to a sphere of authority accurately defined ; but he cannot 
 combine them into one, or prevent them from coming into 
 collision at certain points. The federal system, therefore, 
 rests upon a theory which is complicated, at the best, and 
 which demands the daily exercise of a considerable share 
 of discretion on the part of those it governs. 
 
 A proposition must be plain, to be adopted by the under- 
 standing of a people. A false notion which is clear and 
 precise will always have more power in the world than a 
 true principle which is obscure or involved. Hence it 
 happens that parties, which are like small communities in 
 the heart of the nation, invariably adopt some principle or 
 name as a symbol, which very inadequately represents the 
 end they have in view and the means which they employ, 
 but without which they could neither act nor subsist. The 
 governments which are founded upon a single principle or 
 a single feeling, which is easily defined, are perhaps not 
 the best, but they are unquestionably the strongest and the 
 most durable in the world. 
 
 In examining the Constitution of the United States, 
 which is the most perfect federal constitution that ever 
 
 (Hi 
 
 m 
 
THE FEDKRAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 211 
 
 existed, one is startled at the variety of information and 
 the amount of discernment wliich it presupposes in the 
 people whom it is meant to govern. The government of 
 the Union depends almost entirely upon legal fictions ; the 
 Union is an ideal nation, which exists, so to speak, only in 
 the mind, and whose limits and extent can only be dis- 
 cerned by the understanding. 
 
 After the general theory is comprehended, many difHcul- 
 tles remain to be solved in its application ; for the sover- 
 eignty of the Union is so involved in that of the States, 
 that it is impossible to distinguish its boundaries at the first 
 glance. The whole structure of the government is arti- 
 ficial and conventional ; and it would be ill adapted to a 
 people which has not been long accustomed to conduct its 
 own affairs, or to one in which the science of politics has 
 not descended to the humblest classes of society. I have 
 never been more struck by the good sense and the practical 
 judgment of the Americans, than in the manner in which 
 they elude the numberless difficulties resulting from their 
 Federal Constitution. I scarcely ever met with a i)lain 
 American citizen who could not distinguish with surprising 
 facility the obligations created by the laws of Congress 
 from those created by the laws of his ow^n State, and who, 
 after having discriminated between the matters wliich 
 come under the cognizance of the Union and those Avhich 
 the local legislature is competent to regulate, could not 
 point out the exact limit of the separate jurisdictions of 
 the Federal courts and the tribunals of the State. 
 
 The Constitution of the United States resembles those 
 fine creations of human industry which insure wealth and 
 renown to their inventors, but wliich are profitless in other 
 hands. This truth is exemplified by the condition of Mex- 
 ico at the present time. The Mexicans were desirous of 
 establishing a federal system, and they took the Federal 
 Constitution of their neighbors, the Anglo-Americans, as 
 
 ff. 
 
212 
 
 DKMO'KACY IN AMIJUCA. 
 
 ihcir iiKxK'l, inid copit d it almost t'litiivly.* But, altliouo;!! 
 tlicy liad l){)iTo\ve(l the letter of the law, they could not in- 
 troduce the spirit and the sense which ^ive it life. They 
 were involved in ceaseless eniharrassnients by the mechan- 
 ism of their douhle ^(jvernment ; the sovereignty of the 
 States and that of the Union perpetually exceeded their 
 resj)ective })rivile«i;es, and came into collision ; and to the 
 j)resent day jNIexico is alternately the victim of anarchy 
 and the slave of military desj)otisni. 
 
 The second and most fatal of all defects, and that which 
 I believe to be inherent in the federal system, is the rel- 
 ative weakness of the government of the luiion. Tho 
 princij)le u[)on which all confederations rest is that of a 
 divided sovereignty. Legislators may render this partition 
 less perceptible, they may even conceal it for a time from 
 the i)ublic eye, but they cannot prevent it from existing ; 
 and a divided must always be weaker than an entire sov- 
 ereignty. The remarks made on the Constitution of the 
 United States have shown with what skill the Americans, 
 while restraining the power of the Union within the nar- 
 row limits of a federal government, have given it the sem- 
 blance, and to a certain extent the force, of a national 
 government. By this means, the legislators of the Union 
 have diminished the natural danger of confederations, but 
 have not entin-ly obviated it. 
 
 The American government, it is said, does not address 
 itself to the States, but transmits its injunctions directly to 
 the citizens, and compels them by isolation to comply w^ith 
 its demands. But if the Federal law were to clash with 
 the interests and the prejudices of a State, it might be 
 feared that all the citizens of that State would conceive 
 themselves to be interested in the cause of a single indi- 
 vidual who should refuse to obey. It all the citizens of 
 the State were aggrieved at the same time and in the same 
 
 * See the Mexican Coastitution of 1824. 
 
 m1 ii 
 
 S 1' 
 
TIIE FKDKRAL COXSTITirriOX. 
 
 213 
 
 manner hy tin* aiitliority of tlie Union, tlic Frdcral i^ovcrn- 
 inent would vainly attempt to subdue tliem individually ; 
 tliev would instinctively unite in a coniuion defence, and 
 would find un organization already ])re|)ared for them in 
 the sovereignty which their State is allowed to enjoy. Fic- 
 tion would give way to reality, and an or>iani/ed portion of 
 the nation might then contest the central authority. 
 
 'J'he same observation holds <>()()d with i-ei-ard to the 
 Federal jurisdiction. ]f the courts of the Union violated 
 an important law of a State in a private case, the real, 
 though not the apparent contest, would be between the 
 aggrieved State represented by a citi/en, and the Union 
 re])resented by its courts of justice.* 
 
 Ho would have but a partial knowledge of the world 
 who should imagine that it is possible, by the aid of legid 
 fictions, to prevent men from finding (-ut and emj)loying 
 those means of gratifying their passions which have been 
 left open to them. The American legislators, though they 
 have rendered a collision between the two sovereignties 
 less probable, have not destroyed the causes of such a mis- 
 fortune. It miy even be affirmed, that, in case of such a 
 collision, they have not been able to insure the victory of 
 the Federal element in a case of this kind. The Union is 
 possessed of money and troops, but the States have kept 
 
 * For instance, the Union possesses by the Constitution tlie ri<;lit of sell- 
 ing anoccnpied lands for its o\vn profit. Suppose that the State of Ohio 
 should claim the same right in behalf of certain tracts lying within its 
 own boundaries, upon the plea that the Constitution refers to those lands 
 alone which do not belong to the jurisdiction of any particular State, and 
 consequently should choose to dispose of them itself. The litigation would 
 be carried on, it is true, in the names of the purchasers from the State of 
 Ohio and the purchasers from the Union, and not in the names of Ohio 
 and the Union. But what would become of this legal fiction, if the Fed- 
 end purchaser was confirmed in his right by the courts of the Union, 
 whilst the other competitor was ordered to retain possession by the tribunals 
 of the State of Ohio ? 
 
214 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 I 
 
 i i 
 
 the affoctions nnd the pivjutlices of the people. The sov- 
 efeio;iity of the Union is an abstract being, which is con- 
 nected with hut few external objects ; the sovereitrnty of 
 the States is perceptible by the senses, easily understood, 
 and constantly active. The former is of recent creation, 
 the latti'r is coeval with the ])eople itself. The sovereio;nty 
 of tile Union is factitious, that of the States is natural and 
 selt-existent, without etlbrt, like the authority of a parent. 
 Tiie sovereignty of the nation affects a few of the chief 
 interests of society ; it represents an immense but remote 
 country, a vague and ill-defined sentiment. The authority 
 of the States controls every individual citizen at every 
 hour and in all circumstances ; it protects his property, his 
 freedom, and his life ; it affects at every UKMnent his well- 
 being oi Ills misery. When we recollect the traditions, 
 the customs, the prejudices of local and familiar attachment 
 with which it is connected, we cannot doubt the superiority 
 of a power which rests on the instinct of patriotism so nat- 
 ural to the human heart. 
 
 Since legislators cannot prevent such dangerous collis- 
 ions as occur between the two sovereignties which coexist 
 in the federal system, their first object must be, not only 
 to dissuade the confederate states from warfare, but to 
 encourage such dispositions as lead to peace. Hence it is 
 that the federal compact cannot be lasting unless there 
 exist in the communities which are leaffued together a 
 certain number of inducements to union which render their 
 common dependence agreeable, and the task of the govern- 
 ment light. The federal system cannot succeed without 
 the presence of favorable circumstances added to the in- 
 fluence of good laws. All the nations which have ever 
 formed a confederation have been held together by some 
 common interests, which served as the intellectual ties of 
 association. 
 
 But men have sentiments and principles, as well as mate- 
 
THE Fl'DKHAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 215 
 
 rial intoivsts. A certain uniformity of civiliziition is not 
 less necc'ssiiry to tlic dni'iibility of ti confotU'rution, than a 
 uniformity of interests in tiiu states wliieli compose it. In 
 Swit/A'rland, tlie (litt'erenco between tlie civilization of the 
 Canton of Uri and that of the Canton of Vaud is like tlio 
 ditference between the fifteenth and the nineteenth centu- 
 ries ; therefore, })roj)erly s])eakln<j;, Switzerland has never 
 had a federal government. The union between these two 
 Cantons subsists only upon the map ; and this would soon 
 be i)erceived if an attempt were made by a central author- 
 ity to i)rescribe the same laws to the whole territory. 
 
 The circumstance which makes it easy to maintain a 
 Federal government in America is, that the States not only 
 have similar interests, a common origin, and a common 
 language, but that they are also arrived at the same stage 
 of civilization ; which almost always > uders a union fea- 
 sible. I do not know of any European nation, however 
 small, which does not present less uniformity in its ditFerent 
 })rovinces than the American people, which occupies a ter- 
 ritory as extensive as one half of Europe. The distance 
 from ]\Iaine to Georgia is about one thousand miles ; but 
 the difference between the civilization of Maine and that of 
 Georgia is sliohter than the difference between the habits 
 of Normandy and those of Brittany. Maine and Georgia, 
 which are placed at the o])posito extremities of a great 
 em])ire, have therefore more real inducements to form a 
 confederation than Normandy and Brittany, which are 
 separated only by a brook. 
 
 The geographical position of the country increased the 
 facilities which the American legislators derived from the 
 manners and customs of the inhabitants ; and it is to this 
 circumstance that the adoption and the maintenance of the 
 Federal system are mainly attributable. 
 
 The most important occurrence in the life of a nation 
 is the breaking out of a war. In war, a people act as one 
 
216 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKKICA. 
 
 man against foroiirn nations, in defence of their very ex- 
 istence. Tlie skill of the government, the good sense of 
 the community, and the natural fondness which men al- 
 most always entertain for their country, may be enough, as 
 long as the only object is to maintain peace in the interior 
 of the state, and to fiivor its internal prosperity ; but that 
 the nation may carry on a great war, the people must make 
 more numerous and painful sacrifices ; and to suppose that 
 a great number of men will, of their own accord, submit 
 to these exigencies, is to betray an ignorance of human 
 nature. All the nations which have been oblio;ed to sus- 
 tain a long and serious warfare have consequently been led 
 to augment the power of their government. Those who 
 have not succeeded in this attempt have been subjugated. 
 A long war almost always reduces nations to the wretched 
 alternative of being abandoned to ruin by defeat, or to des-- 
 potism by success. War therefore renders the weakness 
 of a government most apparent and most alarming ; and 
 I have shown that the inherent defect of federal govern- 
 ments is that of being weak. 
 
 The federal system not only has no centralized adminis- 
 tration, and nothing which resembles one, but the central 
 government itself is imperfectly organized, which is always 
 a great cause of weakness when the nation is opposed to 
 other countries which are themselves governed by a single 
 authority. In the Federal Constitution of the United 
 States, where the central government has more real force 
 than in any other confederation, this evil is still extremely 
 sensible. A single example will illustrate the case. 
 
 The Constitution confers upon Congress the right of 
 *' calling forth the militia to execute the laws of the Union, 
 suppress insurrections, and repel invasions " ; and another 
 article declares that the President of the United States is 
 the commander-in-chief of th.e militia. In the war of 
 1812, the President ordered the militia of the Northern 
 
 . iisi!;. 
 
THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTION. 
 
 217 
 
 ^iiiillc 
 
 States to march to the frontiers ; but Connecticut and 
 Massachusetts, wliose interests were impaired by the war, 
 reflised to obey the command. They argued that the Con- 
 stitution authorizes the Federal government to call forth 
 the militia in case of inaurredion or invasion ; but in the 
 present instance, there was neither invasion nor insurrec- 
 tion. They added, that the same Constitution which con- 
 ferred upon the Union the right of calling the militia into 
 active service, reserved to the States that of naming the 
 officers ; and consequently (as they understood the clause) 
 no officer of the Union had any right to command the 
 miUtia, even during war, except the President in person : 
 and in this case, they were ordered to join an army com- 
 manded by another individual. These absurd and perni- 
 cious doctrines received the sanction not only of the Gov- 
 ernors and the legislative bodies, but also of the courts 
 of justice in both States ; and the Federal government 
 was constrained to raise elsewhere the troops which it re- 
 
 * 
 
 quired. 
 
 How happens it, then, that the American Union, with 
 all the relative perfection of its laws, is not dissolved by 
 the occurrence of a great war ? It is because it has no 
 great wars to fear. Placed in the centre of an immense 
 continent, ■'A'liich offers a boundless field for human indus- 
 try, the Union is almost as much insulated from tlic world 
 as if all its frontiers were girt by the ocean. Canada con- 
 
 * Kent's Commentaries, Vol. I. p. 244. I have selected an example 
 wliicli relates to a time lonj^ after the promulgation of the present Constitu- 
 tion, If I had gone back to the days of the Confederation, I might liavo 
 given still more striking instances. The wliolc nation was at that time in a 
 state of entlnisiastic excitement ; the Revohition was represented by a man 
 wlio was the idol of the people ; hut at that very period, Congress li.id, to 
 say the truth, no resources at all at its disposal. Troops and supplies Wv^re 
 perpetually wanting. The best-devised projects failed in the execution, and 
 the Union, constantly on the verge of destruction, was saved by the weak- 
 ness of its enemies far more than by its own strength. 
 10 
 
 " "■ 
 
 1,11 
 
 " 1 
 
IP^ 
 
 218 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 \ 1 
 
 tains only a million of inhabitants, and its population is di- 
 vided into two inimical nations. The rigor of the climate 
 limits the extension of its territory, and shuts up its ports 
 during; the six months of winter. From Canada to the 
 Gulf of Mexico a few savage tribes are to be met with, 
 which retire, perishing in their retreat, before six thousand 
 soldiers. To the south, the Union has a point of contact 
 with the empire of Mexico ; and it is thence that serious 
 hostilities may one day be expected to arise. But for a 
 long while to come, the uncivilized state of the Mexican 
 people, the depravity of their morals, and their extreme 
 poverty, will prevent that country from ranking high 
 amongst nations. As for the powers of Europe, they are 
 too distant to be formidable.* 
 
 The great advantage of the United States does not, then, 
 consist in a Federal Constitution which allows them to 
 carry on great wars, but in a geographical position which 
 renders such wars extremely improbable. 
 
 No one can be more inclined than I am to appreciate the 
 advantages of the Federal system, which I hold to be one 
 of the combinations most favorable to the prosperity and 
 freedom of man. I envy the lot of those nations which 
 have been able to adopt it ; but I cannot believe that any 
 confederate people could maintain a long or an equal con- 
 test with a nation of similar strength in which the eov- 
 ernment is centralized. A people which should divide its 
 sovereignty into fractional parts, in the presence of the 
 great military monarchies of Europe, would, in my opin- 
 ion, by that very act abdicaL its power, and perhaps its 
 existence and its name. But such is the admirable posi- 
 tion of the New World, that man has no other enemy than 
 himself; and that, in order to be happy and to be free, he 
 has only to determine that he will be so. 
 
 * See Appendix O. 
 
TUE PEOPLE GOVERN IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 219 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 hitjh 
 
 THUS far, I have examined the institutions of the 
 United States ; I have passed their legislation in re- 
 view, and have described the present forms of political 
 society in that country. But above these institutions, and 
 beyond all these characteristic forms, there is a sovereign 
 power — that of the people — which may destroy or mod- 
 ity them at its pleasure. It remains to be shown in what 
 manner this power, superior to the laws, acts ; what are its 
 instincts 'wv. its passions, what the secret springs which 
 retard, acc< ' » j, or direct its irresistible course, what the 
 effects of kn unbounded authority, and what the destiny 
 which is reserved for it. 
 
 HOW IT CAN BE STRICTLY SAID THAT THE PEOPLE GOVERN 
 IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 e gov- 
 
 ■ 
 
 ^ide its 
 of the 
 
 i 
 
 r opin- 
 aps its 
 
 1 
 
 } posi- 
 Y than 
 •ee, he 
 
 ■'\r 
 
 In America, the people appoint the legislative and the 
 executive power, and furnish the jurors who punish all in- 
 fractions of the laws. The institutions are democratic, not 
 only in their principle, but in all their consequences ; and 
 the people elect their representatives directly^ and for the 
 most part annually^ in order to insure their dependence. 
 The people are, therefore, the real directing power ; and 
 although the form of government is representative, it is 
 evident that the opinions, the prejudices, the interests, and 
 even the passions of the people are hindered by no perma- 
 nent obstacles from exercising a perpetual influence on 
 
 [1 
 
220 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 the daily conduct of affairs. In tlie United States, the 
 majority governs in the name of the people, as is the case 
 in all countries in which the people are supreme. This 
 majority is principally composed of peaceable citizens, who, 
 either by inclination or by interest, sincerely wish the wel- 
 fare of their country. But they are surrounded by the 
 incessant agitation of parties, who attempt to gain their 
 co-operation and support. 
 
 I ') 
 
I'AliTIES IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 901 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 PARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Great Distinction to be made between Parties. — Parties which are to each 
 other as rival Nations. — Parties properly so called. — Difference be- 
 tween great and small Parties. — Epochs which produce them. — Their 
 Characteristics. — America has had prcat Parties. — They are extinct. — 
 Federalists. — Republicans. — Defeat of the Federalists. — Difficulty of 
 creating Parties in the United States. — What is done with this Inten- 
 tion. — Aristocratic or Democratic Character to be met with in all Par 
 ties. — Struggle of General Jackson against the Bank. 
 
 A GREAT distinction must be made between parties. 
 Some comitries are so large that the different pop- 
 ulations which inhabit them, although united under the 
 same government, have contradictory interests ; and they 
 may consequently be in a perpetual state of opposition. 
 In this case, the different fractions of the people may more 
 properly be considered as distinct nations than as mere 
 parties ; and if a civil war breaks out, the struggle is car- 
 ried on by rival states rather than by factions in the same 
 state. 
 
 But when the citizens entertain different opinions upon 
 subjects which affect the whole country alike, — such, for 
 instance, as the principles upon which the government is 
 to be conducted, — then distinctions arise which may cor- 
 rectly be styled parties. Parties are a necessary evil in 
 free governments ; but they have not at all times the same 
 character and the same propensities. 
 
 At certain periods, a nation may be oppressed by such 
 
 li 
 
222 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 !i! 
 
 insupportable evils as to conceive the design of effecting a 
 total change in their political constitution ; at other times, 
 the mischief lies still deeper, and the existence of society 
 itself is endangered. Such are the times of great revolu- 
 tions and of great parties. But between these epochs of 
 misery and confusion there are periods during which hu- 
 man society seems to rest, and mankind to take breath. 
 This pause is, indeed, only apparent ; for time does not stop 
 its course for nations any more than for men ; they are all 
 advancing every day towards a goal with whicli they are 
 unacquainted. We imagine them to be stationary only 
 when their progress escapes our observation, as men who 
 are going at a foot-pace seem to be standing still to those 
 who run. 
 
 But however this may be, there are certain epochs at 
 which the changes that take place in the social and politi- 
 cal constitution of nations are so slow and insensible, that 
 men imagine they have reached a final state ; and the 
 human mind, believing itself to be firmly based upon sure 
 foundations, does not extend its researches beyond a cer- 
 tain horizon. These are the times of small parties and of 
 
 mtrigue. 
 
 The political parties which I style great are those which 
 cling to principles rather than to their consequences ; to 
 general, and not to special cases ; to ideas, and not to 
 men. These parties are usually distinguished by nobler 
 features, more generous passions, more genuine convic- 
 tions, and a more bold and open conduct, tlian the others. 
 In them, private interest, which always plays the chief 
 part in political passions, is more studiously veiled under 
 the pretext of the public good ; and it may even be some- 
 times concealed from the eyes of the very persons whom it 
 excites and impels. 
 
 Minor parties, on the other hand, are generally deficient 
 in political good faith. As they are no. stained or digni- 
 
PARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 223 
 
 fied by lofty purposes, they ostensibly display the selfish- 
 ness of their character in their actions. They glow with 
 a flictitious zeal ; their language is vehement ; but their 
 conduct is timid and irresolute. The means which they 
 employ are as wretched as the end at which they aim. 
 Hence it happens, that, when a calm state succeeds a 
 violent revolution, great men seem suddenly to disappear, 
 and the powers of the human mind to lie concealed. So- 
 ciety is convulsed by great y" *^' *t is only agitated by 
 minor ones ; it is torn by the for r, by the latter it is 
 degraded; and if the first sometimes save it by a '^airy 
 perturbation, the last invariably disturb it to no good end. 
 
 America has had great parties, but has them no longer ; 
 and if her happiness is thereby considerably increased, her 
 morality has suffered. When the war of independence 
 was terminated, and the foundations of the new govern- 
 ment were to be laid down, the nation was divided be- 
 tween two opinions, — two opinions which are as old as 
 the world, and which are perpetually to be met with, under 
 different forms and various names, in all free communities, 
 — the one tending to limit, the other to extend indefinitely, 
 the power of the people. The conflict between these two 
 opinions never assumed thui degree of violence in America 
 which it has frequently displayed elsewhere. Both parties 
 of the Americans were agreed upon the most essential 
 points ; and neither of them had to destroy an old consti- 
 tution, or to overthrow the structure of society, in order to 
 triumph. In neither of them, consequently, were a great 
 number of private interests affected by success or defeat : 
 but moral principles of a high order, such as the love of 
 equality and of independence, were concerned in the 
 struggle, and these suflSced to kindle violent passions. 
 
 The party which desired to limit the power of the 
 people, endeavored to apply its doctrines more especially 
 to the Constitution of the Union, whence it derived its 
 
 i 
 
 y 
 
 m 
 
224 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 4 1 ! 
 
 name of Federal. The otlior party, wliicli affected to bo 
 exclusively attached to the cause of liberty, took that of 
 llepuhliean. America is the land of democracy, and the 
 Federalists, therefore, were always in a minority ; but they 
 reckoned on their side almost all the great men whom the 
 war of indej)endencc had produced, and their moral power 
 was very considerable. Their cause was, moreover, favored 
 by circumstances. The ruin of the first Confedcn-ation bad 
 impressed the people witb a dread of anaichy, aiid the 
 Federalists profited by this transient disposition of the mul- 
 titude. For ten or twelve years, tliey were at the bead of 
 affairs, and they were able to apply some, tliougb not all, 
 of their principles ; for the hostile current was becoming 
 from day to day too violent to be checked. In 1801, the 
 Republicans got possession of the government : Thomas 
 Jefferson was elected President ; and he increased the in- 
 fluence of their party by the weight of his great name, the 
 brilliancy of his talents, and his immense popularity. 
 
 The means by which the Federalists had maintained 
 their position were artificial, and their resources were tem- 
 porary : it was by the virtues or the talents of their leaders, 
 as well as by fortunate circumstances, that they had risen 
 to power. When the Republicans attained that station in 
 their turn, their opponents were overwhelmed by utter 
 defeat. An immense majority declared itself against the 
 retiring party, and the Federalists found themselves in so 
 small a minority, that they at once despaired of future suc- 
 cess. From that moment, the Republican or Democratic 
 party has proceeded from conquest to conquest, until it has 
 acquired absolute supremacy in the country. The Fed- 
 eralists, perceiving that they were vanquished without re- 
 source, and isolated in the midst of the nation, fell into two 
 divisions, of which one joined the victorious Republicans, 
 and the other laid down their banners and changed their 
 name. Many years have elapsed since they wholly ceased 
 to exist as a party. 
 
r.^r.TIKS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 225 
 
 iaders, 
 
 risen 
 
 tion in 
 
 utter 
 
 ist the 
 
 in so 
 
 e suc- 
 
 ocratic 
 
 it has 
 
 Fed- 
 
 ut re- 
 
 ;o two 
 
 icans, 
 
 their 
 
 eased 
 
 The accession of the Federahsts to power was, in my 
 opinion, one of tlie most fortunate incidents wlilch accom- 
 panied the formation of the j^reat American Union : they 
 resisted tlie inevitable ])ropensities of tlieir country and 
 tiieir aije. But Avliether their theories were good or bad, 
 tliey had the fludt of bein<^ inappHcabh', as a whole, to the 
 society which they wished to govern, and that which 
 occurred under the auspices of Jefferson must theivfore 
 have taken place sooner or later. But their government 
 at least gave the new republic time to acquire a certain 
 stability, and afterwards to sup})ort without inconvenience 
 the raj)id growth of the very doctrines which they had 
 combated. A considerable number of their principles, 
 moreover, were embodied at last in the political creed of 
 their opponents ; and the Federal Constitution, which sub- 
 sists at the present day, is a lasting monument -of their 
 patriotism and their wisdom. 
 
 Great political parties, then, are not to be met with in 
 the United States at the present time. Parties, indeed, 
 may be found which threaten the future of the Union ; 
 but there are none which seem to contest the present form 
 of government, or the present course of society. The 
 parties by which the Union is menaced do not rest upon 
 principles, but upon material interests. These interests 
 constitute, in the different provinces of so vast an empii'e, 
 rival nations rather than parties. Thus, upon a recent 
 occasion [1832], the North contended for the system of 
 commercial prohibition, and the South took up arms in 
 favor of free trade, simply because the North is a manufac- 
 turing and the South an agricultural community ; and the 
 restrictive system which was profitable to the one, was 
 prejudicial to the other. 
 
 In the absence of great parties, the United States swarm 
 with lesser controversies ; and public opinion is divided 
 into a thousand minute shades of difference upon questions 
 
 10* o 
 
 i 
 
22G 
 
 DEMOCRACV IN AMKUICA. 
 
 of detail. The pains wliicli aro taken to create parties are 
 inconceivable, and at the present day it is no easy task. 
 In tlie United States, tliere is no religious animosity, be- 
 cause all religion is respected, and no sect is predonrnant ; 
 tliere is no jealousy of rank, because the people are every- 
 tliing, and none can contest their authority ; lastly, there is 
 no i)ultlic misery to serve as a means of agitation, hecause 
 the }»liysical position of the country opens so wide a field 
 to industry, that man only needs to bo let alone to be able 
 to accomplish prodigies. Nevertheless, amljitious men will 
 succeed in creating parties, since it is difficult to eject a 
 person from authority upon the mere ground that his place 
 is coveted by others. All the skill of the actors in the 
 political world lies in the art of creating parties. A })olit- 
 ical as[)irant in the United States begins b^ diseerning his 
 own interest, and discovering those other interests which 
 may be collected around, and amalgamated with it. lie 
 then contrives to find out some doctrine or princij)le which 
 may suit the purposes of this new association, and which 
 he adopts in order to bring forward his party and secure its 
 popularity : just as the inqyrimatnr of the king was in for- 
 mer days printed upon the title-page of a volume, and was 
 thus incorporated with a book to which it in no wise be- 
 longed. This being done, the new party is ushered into 
 the political world. 
 
 All the domestic controversies of the Americans at first 
 appear to a stranger to be incomprehensible or puerile, and 
 he is at a loss whether to pity a people who take such ar- 
 rant trifles in good earnest, or to envy that happiness which 
 enables a community to discuss them. But when he comes 
 to study the secret propensities which govern the factions 
 of America, he easily perceives that the greater part of 
 them are more or less connected with one or the other of 
 those two great divisions which have always existed in free 
 communities. The deeper we penetrate into the inmost 
 
 # I ^t 
 
 ^lJ. .1 
 
TARTIES IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 227 
 
 thou^lit of those parties, the more do we jx'rcoive that tlio 
 ohject of tlie one is to limit, aiid tliat of the otlior to ex- 
 tend, tiie autliority of tlie people. I do not assert that the 
 ostensible pin'pose, or even that the secret aim, of Amer- 
 ican ])arties is to promote the nde of aristocracy or de- 
 mocracy in the country ; but I affirm tliat aristocratic or 
 democratic passions may easily be detected at the bottom 
 of all i)arties, and that, although they escape a superficial 
 observation, they are the main point and soul of every tac- 
 tion in the United States. 
 
 To quote a recent exam[)le : — when President -Tackson 
 aiiiicked the Bank, the country was excited, and parties 
 were fonned ; the well-informed classes rallied round the 
 Bank, the common people round the President.. But it 
 must not be imagined that the pco])le had formed a rational 
 opinion upon a question which offers so many difticulties to 
 the most experienced statesmen. By no means. The 
 Bank is a great establishment, which has an indej)endent 
 existence ; and the people, accustomed to make and un- 
 make whatsoever they please, are startled to meet with this 
 obstacle to their authority. In the midst of the perpetujd 
 fluctuation of society, the community is irritated by so 
 permanent an institution, and is led to attack it, in order 
 to see whether it can be shaken, like everything else. 
 
 1. 
 
 REMAINS OF THE ARISTOCRATIC PARTY IN THE UNITED 
 
 STATES. 
 
 Secret Opposition of wealthy Individuals to Democracy. — Their Retire- 
 ment. — Their Taste for exclusive Pleasures and for Luxury at Home. 
 — Their Simplicity abroad. — Their affected Condescension towards the 
 People. 
 
 It sometimes happens, in a people amongst whom various 
 opinions prevail, that the balance of parties is lost, and one 
 of them obtains an irresistible preponderance, overpoAvers 
 
 I ir|p> 
 
 4 
 
 i 
 
J 
 
 !' ■ l^ 
 
 s 
 
 
 I ' i 
 
 If 
 
 i li 
 
 ii 
 
 228 
 
 nKMoriJACV IN AMKKICA. 
 
 all olistacK's, .itmiliiliitc's its opponents, and appropriates all 
 the resources of society to its own use. The van(piislu'(l 
 {lesj)air of success, hide their heads, and are silent. The 
 nation seems to be governed by a sin<fU^ princi])le, univer- 
 sal stillness prevails, and the prevailin;^ pi^i'^y assumes the 
 credit of havin<^ restored j>eace and unanimity to the coun- 
 try. But under this apparent unanimity still exist pro- 
 found differences of oj)inion, and real oppositicm. 
 
 This is what occurred in America ; when the democratic 
 party <^ot the upper hand, it took exclusive possession of 
 the conduct of aftliirs, and from that time, the laws and the 
 customs of society have been adapted to its caprices. At 
 the present day, the more affluent classes of society have 
 no iuHuence in political affairs ; and wealth, far from con- 
 ferring a right, is rather a cause of unj)opularity than a 
 means of attaining power. The rich abandon the lists, 
 through unwillingness to contend, and frequently to con- 
 tend in vain, against the poorer classes of their fellow-citi- 
 zens. As they cannot occupy in public a position equiva- 
 lent to what they hold in private life, they abandoii the 
 former, and give themselves up to the latter; and tliey 
 constitute a private society in the state, which has its own 
 tastes and pleasures. They submit to this state of things 
 as an irremediable evil, but they are careful not to show 
 that they are galled by its continuance ; one often liears 
 them laud the advantages of a republican government and 
 democratic institutions when they are in public. Next to 
 hating their enemies, men are most inclined to flatter them. 
 
 Mark, for instance, that opulent citizen, who is as anx- 
 ious as a Jew of the Middle Ages to conceal his wealth. 
 His dress is plain, his demeanor unassuming ; but the in- 
 terior of his dwelling glitters with luxury, and none but a 
 few chosen guests, whom he haughtily styles his equals, are 
 allowed to penetrate into this sanctuary. No European 
 noble is more exclusive in his pleasures, or more jealous of 
 
PARTIKS IX TIIF-: INITKn STATF.S. 
 
 229 
 
 the smjilK'st advantnjjcs wliicli a j>rlvlK'<i;»'(l station conft'rs. 
 But tlie same individual crosses tho city to rcacli a dark 
 count inu-liouse in tlic centre of traffic, where every one 
 may accost him who pleases. If he meets his cohhler 
 upon the way, tliey stop and converse ; tlie two citizens 
 discuss the attairs of the state, and shake hands before 
 they part. 
 
 lint herieath this artificial enthusiasm, and these ohsecpii- 
 ous attentions to the preponderating power, it is easy to 
 perceive that the rich have a hearty dislike of the demo- 
 cratic institutions of their country. The pe()|)le lonn a 
 power which they at once tear and desj)ise. It' • le mal- 
 administration of the democracy ever brings about a revo- 
 lutionary crisis, and monarchical institutions ever bccduie 
 practicable in the United States, the truth of what I ad- 
 vance will become obvious. 
 
 The two chief weapons which parties use in order to ob- 
 tain success are the newspapers and public associations. 
 

 ', 
 
 T 
 
 li 
 
 
 ! 
 J 
 
 i 
 
 
 i 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 1 
 
 ! 
 ll 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 i :! 
 
 'r 
 
 
 1 ; 
 
 !l 
 
 1 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 !l I 
 
 I ! 
 
 230 
 
 DEMOCKACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 LIBERTY OF THE PRESS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Difficulty of restraining tlie Liberty of the Press. — Particular Reasons 
 which some Nations have for cherishing this Liberty. — The Lil)erty 
 of the Press a necessary Consei^uence of the Sovereignty of the People 
 as it is understood in America. — Violent Language of the Periodical 
 Press in tlie United States. — The Periodical Press has some peculiar 
 Instincts, proved by the Example of the United States. — Opinion of 
 the Americans uj)on the Judicial Repression of the Abuses of the Pres.s 
 — Why tlie Press is less powerful in America than in France. 
 
 T!HE influence of the liberty of the press does not affect 
 political opinions alone, but extends to all the opinions 
 of men, and modifies customs as well as laws. In another 
 part of this work, I shall attempt to determine the degree 
 of influence which the liberty of the press has exercised 
 upon civil society in the United States, and to point out 
 the direction which it has given to the ideas, as well as the 
 tone which it has imparted to the character and the feel- 
 ings, of the Anglo-Americans. At present, I purpose only 
 to examine the effects produced by the liberty of the press 
 in the political world. 
 
 I confess that I do not entertain that firm and complete 
 attachment to the lioerty of the press which is wont to be 
 excited by things that are supremely good in their very 
 nature. I approve of it from a consideration more of the 
 evils it prevents, than of the advantages it insures. 
 
 If any one could point out an intermediate and yet a 
 tenable position between the complete independence and 
 the entire servitude of opinion, I should, perhaps, be in- 
 
LIBEKTY OF THE PRESS IN THE UNITED STATES. 231 
 
 cliiied to adopt it ; but the difficulty is, to discover tliis in- 
 teniicdiate positiou. luteudiuo; to correct the hcentiousuess 
 of tlie press, aud to restore the use of orderly lauguage, 
 you first try the offender by a jury ; but if ti;? jury accjuits 
 him, the opinion which was that of a single individual be- 
 comes the opinion of the whole country. Too much and 
 too little has therefore been done ; go farther, then. You 
 bring the delinquent before permanent magistrates ; but 
 even here, the cause must be heard before it can be decid- 
 ed ; and the very princi})les which no book would have 
 ventured to avow are blazoned forth in the pleadings, and 
 what was obscurely hinted at in a single com})osition is 
 thus repeated in a multitude of other ])ul)lications. The 
 language is only the expression, and (if I may so sj)eak) 
 the body, of the thought, but it is not the thought itself. 
 Tribunals may condemn the body, but the sense, the spirit, 
 of the work is too subtile for their authority. Too nmch 
 has still been done to recede, too little to attain your end ; 
 you must go still farther. Establish a censorship of the 
 ])ress. But the tongue of the public speaker will still 
 make itself heard, and your purpose is not yet accom- 
 plished ; you have only increased the mischief. Thought 
 is not, like physical strength, dependent upon the number 
 of its agents ; nor can authors be counted like the troops 
 which compose an army. On the contrary, the authority 
 of a princi})le is often increased by the small number of 
 men by whom it is expressed. The words of one strong- 
 minded man, addressed to the passions of a listening assem- 
 bly, have more power than the vociferations of a thousand 
 orators ; and if it be allowed to speak freely in any one 
 public place, the consequence is the same as if free speak- 
 ing was allowed in every village. The liberty of speech 
 must therefore be destroyed, as well as the liberty of the 
 press. And now you have succeeded, everybody is re- 
 duced to silence. But your object was to repress the 
 
 £!3 
 
232 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 !l ill 
 
 abuses of liLorty, iiiul you are brought to the feet of a 
 despot. You have been led from the extreme of indepen- 
 dence to the extreme of servitude, without finding a single 
 tenable position on the way at which you could stop. 
 
 There are certain nations which have peculiar reasons 
 for cherishing the liberty of the press, independently of 
 the general motives which I have just pointed out. For in 
 certain countries which profess to be free, every indi\idual 
 agent of the government may violate the laws with impu- 
 nity, since the constitution does not give to those who are 
 injured a right of complaint before the courts of justice. 
 In this case, the liberty of the press is not merely one of 
 the guaranties, but it is the only guaranty, of their liberty 
 and security which the citizens possess. If the rulers of 
 these nations proposed to abolish the independence of the 
 press, the whole people might answer, Give us the right 
 of prosecuting your offences before the ordinary tribunals, 
 and perhaps we may then waive our right of appeal to 
 the tribunal of public opinion. 
 
 In countries where the doctrine of the sovereignty of the 
 people ostensibly prevails, the censorship of the press is not 
 only dangerous, but absurd. When the right of every citi- 
 zen to a share in the government of society is acknowl- 
 edged, every one must be presumed to be able to choose 
 between the various opinions of his contemporaries, and to 
 appreciate the different facts from which inferences may be 
 drawn. The sovereignty of the people and the liberty of 
 the press may therefore be regarded as correlative ; just as 
 the censorship of the press and universal suffrage are two 
 things which are irreconcilably opposed, and which cannot 
 long be retained among the in titutions of the same people. 
 Not a single individual of the [thirty] millions who inhabit 
 the United States has, as yet, dared to propose any restric- 
 tions on the liberty of the press. The first newspaper 
 over which I cast my eyes, uptm my arrival in America, 
 contained the following article : — 
 
 \i 
 
LIBERTY OF THE PRESS IN THE UNITED STATES. 233 
 
 " In all tliis affair, the language of Jackson [the President] 
 has been that of a heartless despot, solely occu[)ie(l with the 
 preservation of his own authority. Ambition is his erinie, and 
 it will be his punishment, U'>: ntrigue is his native element, and 
 intrigue will confound his i/loKs, and deprive him of his jjower. 
 He governs by means of corrui)tion, and his immoral [)ractices 
 will redound to his shame and confusion. His conduct in the 
 political arena has been tliat of a shameless and lawless game- 
 ster. He succeeded at the time ; but the hour of retribution ap- 
 ])roaches, and he will be obliged to disgorge his winnings, to throw 
 aside his false dice, and to end his days in some retirement, where 
 he may curse his madness at his leisure ; for repentance is a 
 virtue with which his heart is likely to remain forever unac- 
 quainted." 
 
 Many persons in France think, that the violence of the 
 press originates in the instabihty of the social state, in oui 
 political passions, and the general feeling of uneasiness 
 Avliich consequently prevails ; and it is therefore supposed 
 that, as soon as society has resumed a certain degree of 
 composure, the press will abandon its present vehemence. 
 For my own part, I would willingly attribute to these 
 causes the extraordinary ascendency which the press has 
 acquired over the nation ; but I do not think tliat they do 
 exercise much influence upon its language. The periodi- 
 cal press appears to me to have passions and instincts of 
 its own, independent of the circumsttmces in which it is 
 placed ; and the present condition of America corroborates 
 this opinion. 
 
 America is perhaps, at this moment, the country of the 
 whole world which contains the fewest germs of revolu- 
 tion ; but the press is not less destructive in its principles 
 there than in France, and it displays the same violence 
 without the same reasons for indignation. In America, as 
 in France, it constitutes a singular power, so strangely 
 composed of mingled good and evil, that liberty could not 
 
 iM 
 
234 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 i't :!:| 
 
 I !l' 
 
 I! 1 M 
 
 Hi 
 
 J! »;i I " 
 
 live witliout it, and public order can hardly bo maintained 
 against it. Its power is certainly much greater in France 
 than in the United States ; though nothing is more rare in 
 the latter country than to hear of a prosecution being insti- 
 tuted against it. The reason of this is perfectly simple : 
 the Americans, having once admitted the doctrine of the 
 sovereignty of the people, apply it with perfect sincerity. 
 It was never their intention out of elements which are 
 changing every day to create institutions which should last 
 forever ; and there is consequently nothing criminal in an 
 attack upon the existing laws, provided a violent infraction 
 of them is not intended. They are also of opinion that 
 courts of justice are powerless to check the abuses of the 
 press ; and that, as the subtilty of human language perpet- 
 ually eludes judicial analysis, offences of this nature some- 
 how escape the hand which attempts to seize them. They 
 hold that, to act with efficacy upon the press, it would be 
 necessary to find a tribunal, not only devoted to the exist- 
 ing order of things, but capable of surmounting the influ- 
 ence of public opinion ; a tribunal which should conduct 
 its proceedings without publicity, which should pronounce 
 its deci. -J witliout assigning its motives, and punish the 
 intentions, even more than the language, of a writer. 
 Whoever should be able to create and maintain a tribu- 
 nal of this kind, would waste his time in prosecuting the 
 liberty of the press ; for he would be the absolute master 
 of the whole community, and would be as free to rid him- 
 self of the authors as of their writings. In this question, 
 therefore, there is no medium between servitude and 
 license ; in order to enjoy the inestimable benefits which 
 the liberty of the press insures, it is necessary to submit to 
 the inevitable evils which it creates. To expect to acquire 
 the former, and to escape the latter, is to cherish one of 
 those illusions which commonly mislead nations in their 
 times of sickness, when, tired with faction and exhausted 
 
LIBERTY OF THE PRESS IN THE UNITED STATES. 235 
 
 by effort, tlioy attempt to make hostile opinions and con- 
 trary principles coexist upon the same soil. 
 
 The small influence of the American journals is attrib- 
 utahle to several reasons, amono;st which are the foUowinii. 
 
 The liberty of writing, like all other liberty, is most for- 
 midable when it is a novelty ; for a people who have never 
 been accustomed to hear state atfairs discussed before them, 
 place im})licit confidence in the first tribune who presents 
 himself. The Anglo-Americans have enjoyed this liberty 
 ever since the foundation of the Colonies ; moreover, the 
 press cannot create human passions, however skilfully it 
 may kindle them where they exist. In America, political 
 life is active, varied, even agitated, but is rarely affected by 
 those deep passions which are excited only when material 
 interests are impaired: and in the United States, these 
 interests are prosperous. A glance at a French and an 
 American newspaper is sufficient to show the difference 
 which exists in this respect between the two nations. In 
 France, the space allotted to commercial advertisements is 
 very limited, and the news-intelligence is not considerable ; 
 but the essential part of the journal is the discussion of the 
 politics of the day. In America, three quarters of the 
 enormous sheet are filled with advertisements, and the re- 
 mainder is frequently occupied by political intelligence or 
 trivial anecdotes: it is only from time to time, that one 
 finds a corner devoted to passionate discussions, like those 
 vhich the journalists of France every day give to their 
 readers. 
 
 It has been demonstrated by observation, and discovered 
 by the sure instinct even of the pettiest despots, that the 
 influence of a power is increased in proportion as its direc- 
 tion is centralized. In France, the press combines a two- 
 fold centralization ; almost all its power is centred in the 
 same spot, and, so to speak, in the same hands ; for its 
 organs are far from numerous. The influence of a public 
 
 ^IWI 
 
 wis 
 
23G 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 Ml 
 
 I 
 
 I ,' 
 
 i:l; 
 
 ";! 
 
 lii ! 
 
 press thus constituted, upon a sceptical nation, must be al- 
 most unbounded. It is an enemy with whom a government 
 may sign an occasional truce, but which it is difficult to 
 resist for any length of time. 
 
 Neither of these kinds of centrali/^ation exists in Amer- 
 ica. The United States have no metropolis ; the intel- 
 ligence and the power of the people are disseminatetl 
 through all the parts of this vast country, and instead of 
 radiating from a common point, they cross each otlier in 
 every direction ; the Americans have nowliere established 
 any central direction of opinion, any more than of the 
 conduct of affairs. This difference arises from local cir- 
 cumstances, and not from human power ; but it is owing 
 to the laws of the Union that there are no licenses to be 
 granted to printers, no securities demanded from editors, as 
 in France, and no stamp duty, as in France and. Ejigland. 
 The consequence is, that nothing is easier than to set up a 
 newspaper, as a small number of subscribers suffices to de- 
 fi'ay the expenses. 
 
 Hence the number of periodical and semi-periodical pub 
 lications in the U:'iited States is almost incredibly large. 
 The most enlijxhtened Americans attribute the little in 
 fluence of the press to this excessive dissemination of its 
 power ; and it is an axiom of political science in that coun- 
 try, that the only Avay to neutralize the effect of the public 
 journals is to multiply their mnnber. I cannot see how a 
 truth which is so self-evident should not already have been 
 more generally admitted in Europe. I can see why the 
 persons who hope to bring about revolutions by means of 
 the press, should be desirous of confining it to a few power- 
 fiil organs ; but it is inconceivable that the official partisans 
 of the existing state of things, and the natural supporters 
 of the laws, should attempt to diminish the influence of the 
 press by concentrating its power. The governments of 
 Europe seem to treat the press with the courtesy which 
 
 i' : 
 
 'iiUL^ 
 
LIBERTY OF THE TRESS IN THE UNITED STATES. 207 
 
 llOW a 
 
 e been 
 liy tlie 
 ;in.s of 
 )owei'- 
 
 tisans 
 )orters 
 
 of the 
 its of 
 which 
 
 the kniiilits of old showed to their opponents ; having 
 found from tlieir own experience that centralization is a 
 powerful weapon, they have furnislied tlieir enemies with 
 it, in order doubtless to have more glory for overcoming 
 them. 
 
 In America, there is scarcely a hamlet which has not its 
 newspaper. It may readily be imagined, that neither dis- 
 cipline nor unity of action can be established among so 
 many combatants ; and each one consequently tights under 
 his own standard. All the political journals of the United 
 States are, indeed, arrayed on the side of the administration 
 or against it ; but they attack and defend it in a thousand 
 different ways. They cannot form those great currents of 
 opinion which sweep away the strongest dikes. This di- 
 vision of the influence of the press produces other conse- 
 quences scarcely less remarkable. The fu iUty with which 
 newspapers can be established produces a multitude of 
 them ; but as the competition prevents any considerable 
 profit, persons of much cai)acity are rarely led to engage in 
 these undertakings. Such is the number of the public 
 prints, that, even if they were a source of wealth, writers 
 of ability could not be found to direct them all. The jour- 
 nalists of tlie United States are generally in a very humble 
 position, with a scanty education and a vulgar turn of 
 mind. The will of the majority is the most general of 
 laws, and it establishes certain habits to which every one 
 must then conform ; the assreo-ate of these common habits 
 is what is called the class-spirit (esprit de corps) of each 
 profession ; thus there is the class-spirit of the bar, of the 
 court, &c. The class-spirit of the French journalists con- 
 sists in a violent, but frequently an eloquent and lofty, 
 manner of discussing the great interests of the state ; and 
 the exceptions to this mode of writing are only occasional. 
 The characteristics of the American journalist consist in 
 an open and coarse appeal to the passions of his readers ; 
 
 ill 
 
 M 
 
238 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 i 
 
 I Jit I 
 
 m « 
 
 1 1 ' 
 
 ho abandons principles to assail the characters of individ- 
 uals, to track them into private life, and disclose all their 
 weaknesses and vices. 
 
 Nothing can be more deplorable than this abuse of the 
 powers of thought ; I shall have occasion to point out here- 
 after the influence of the newspapers upon the taste and 
 the morality of the American people ; but my present sub- 
 ject exclusively concerns the political world. It cannot be 
 denied, that the political eflfects of this extreme license of 
 the press tend indirectly to the maintenance of public or 
 der. The individuals who already stand high in the esteem 
 of their fellow-citizens are afraid to write in the newspa- 
 pers, and they are thus deprived of the most powerful in- 
 strument which they can use to excite the passions of the 
 multitude to their own advantage.* 
 
 The personal opinions of the editors have no weight in 
 the eyes of the public : what they seek in a newspaper is a 
 knowledge of facts, and it is only by alteiing or distorting 
 those facts, that a journalist can contribute to the support 
 of his own views. 
 
 But although the press is limited to these resources, its 
 influence in America is immense. It causes political life to 
 circulate through all the parts of that vast territory. It» 
 eye is constantly open to detect the secret springs of polit 
 ical designs, and to summon the leaders of all parties in 
 turn to the bar of public opinion. It rallies the interests 
 of the community round certain principles, and draws up 
 the creed of every party ; for it affords a means of inter- 
 course between those who hear and address each other, 
 without ever coming into immediate contact. When many 
 organs of the press adopt the same line of conduct, their 
 influence in the long run becomes irresistible ; and public 
 
 * They only write in the papers when they choose to address the people 
 in their o^^^^ name ; as, for instance, when they are called upon to repel 
 calumnious imputations, or to correct a misstatement of facts. 
 
 1 I 
 
LIBERTY OF THE TIMiSS IX THE UNITED STATES. ioO 
 
 oj)ini()n, perpetually assailed from the same side, eveiituallv" 
 yields to the attack. In the United States, eaeh separate 
 journal exercises but little authority ; but the power of the 
 periodical press is second only to that of the people.* 
 
 The Opinions established in the United States, under the Influence of the 
 Lilierty of the Press, arc frequently more tinnly rooted than those wliich 
 are formed elsewhere under the ISunetioa of a Censor. 
 
 In the United States, the democracy perpetually brinn;3 
 new men to the conduct of public affairs ; and the ad- 
 ministration consequently seldom preserves consistency or 
 order in its measures. But the general princii)les of the 
 government are more stable, and the chief opinions which 
 regulate society are more durable, there than in many other 
 countries. When once the Americans have taken up an 
 idea, whether it be well or ill founded, nothing is more 
 difficult than to eradicate it from their minds. The same 
 tenacity of ( ^ anion has been observed in England, where, 
 for the last century, greater freedom of thought and more 
 invincible prejudices have existed than in any other coun- 
 try of Europe. I attribute this to a cause Avhich may, at 
 first '^ight, appear to have an opposite tendency, namely, to 
 the liuerty of the press. The nations amongst whom this 
 liberty exists cling to their opinions as much from pride as 
 from conviction. They cherish them because they hold 
 them to be just, and because they chose them of their own 
 free Avill ; and they adhere to them, not only because they 
 are true, but because they are their OAvn. Several other 
 reasons conduce to the same end. 
 
 It was remarked by a man of genius, that " ignorance 
 lies at the two ends of knowledge." Perhaps it would have 
 been more correct to say, that strong convictions are found 
 only at the two ends, and that doubt lies in the middle. 
 
 * See Appendix P. 
 
 t iJ«E 
 
\l 
 
 )) 
 
 i II 
 
 i! 
 
 Ki ')!l 
 
 II! I 
 i ' 
 
 I 
 
 i i 
 
 ii! 
 
 V 
 
 I. 
 
 i :f! 
 
 240 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKKICA. 
 
 Tlio linnian Intellect, in truth, may l)e coiisuleri'd In three 
 distinct states, which fre(juently succeed one anotlior. 
 
 A man believes firmly, because he adopts a proposition 
 ■without inquiry. He doubts as soon as objections })resent 
 themselves. But he fre(iuently succeeds in satisfying these 
 doid)ts, and then he begins ajiain to believe. This time, 
 he has not a dim and casual glim})se of the truth, but sees 
 it clearly before liim, and advances by the light it gives.* 
 
 AVhen the liberty (jf the press acts upon men who are in 
 the first of these three states, it does not immediately dis- 
 turb their habit of believing imj)licitly without investigation, 
 but it changes every day the objects of their unreflecting 
 convictions. The human mind continues to discern but 
 one poijit at a time upon the whole intellectual horizon, 
 and tliat point is constantly changing. This is the j)eriod 
 of sudden revolutions. Woe to the generations which first 
 abruptly adopt the freedom of the press. 
 
 The cii'cle of novel ideas, however, is soon travelled 
 over. Experience comes to undeceive men, and plunges 
 them into doubt and general mistrust. We may rest 
 assured that the majority of mankind will always stop in 
 one of these two states, will either believe they know not 
 wherefore, or will not know what to believe. F'ew are 
 those who can ever attain to that other state of rational 
 and independent conviction, which true knowledge can 
 produce out of the midst of doubt. 
 
 It has been remarked that, in times of great religious 
 fervor, men sometimes change their religious opinions ; 
 whereas, in times of general scepticism, every one clings to 
 his old persuasion. The same thing takes place in politics 
 under the liberty of the press. In countries where all the 
 theories of social science have been contested in their turn, 
 
 * It may, liowever, be doubted whether this rational and self-guiding con- 
 viction arouses as much fervor or enthusiastic devotedness in men, as their 
 first dogmatical belief. 
 
I.II5KRTY OF Tin: TRKSS IN THK UNUKI) STATKS. 241 
 
 men who hii\c iidoptcd one of tlioiii stick to it, not so 
 much bociiuso thuy uro suro of its triitli, us because tliey 
 are not sure that there is any better to be luid. In the 
 present a^e, men are not very ready to die for tlieir opin- 
 ions, but tliey are rarely inclined to change them ; there 
 are tew martyrs, as well as few apostates. 
 
 Another still more valid reason may be adduced : w lien 
 no opinions are looked upon as certain, men cliuff to the 
 mere instincts and material interests of their position, 
 wliicli are naturally more tajigible, dehnite, and permanent 
 than any o})inions in the world. 
 
 It is a very difiicult (juestion to decide, whether an aris- 
 tocracy or a democracy governs the best. But it is certain 
 that democracy annoys one part of the community, and 
 that aristocracy oppresses another. It is a truth which is 
 self-established, and one which it is needless to discuss, 
 that " you are rich and I am poor." 
 
 n 
 
 f*J 
 
 V 
 
 'I- 
 
 Mo- 
 
 ^f 
 
242 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Daily Use which tho Aii(;Io-Amoriciin8 tmiice of the Ripht of Association. — 
 Tlircc Kinds of I'olitical Assoi'iations. — How tlic Americans apply the 
 Representative System to Associations. — I)an};er!j resultinj; to the State. 
 — Great Convention of IS.'Jl relative to the Tarilf. — Lef^islative Character 
 of this Convention. — Why tlie unlimited Exercise of the Rijfht of As- 
 sociation is less danjierous in the United States .han elsewhere. — Why 
 it may be looked upon as necessary. — Utility of Associations among a 
 democratic People. 
 
 IN no country in the world lias the principle of associa- 
 tion beer more successfully used, or ap])lied to a jjjreater 
 multitude of objects, than in America. Besides the per- 
 manent associations, which are established by law, under 
 the names of townships, cities, and counties, a vast number 
 of others are formed and maintained by the agency of pri- 
 vate individuals. 
 
 The citizen of the United States is taught from infancy 
 to rely upon his own exertions, in order to resist the evils 
 and the difficulties of life ; he looks upon the social author- 
 ity with an eye of mistrust and anxiety, and he claims its 
 assistance only when he is unable to do without it. This 
 habit may be traced even in the schools, where the children 
 in their games are wont to submit to rules which they have 
 themselves established, and to punish misdemeanors which 
 they have themselves defined. The same spirit pervades 
 eveiy act of social life. If a stoppage occurs in a thor- 
 oughfare, and the circulation of vehicles is hindered, the 
 neighbors immediately form themselves into a deliberative 
 
 1 '■:• 
 
 PI! 
 
POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS IN THE UXITKD STATKS. 243 
 
 assoc'ia- 
 
 liody ; and this cxte'inporaiicous ahsoml)Iy gives riso to aii 
 executive power, whieli remedies the iueoiiveuience before 
 anyl)ody hiis thought of recurring to a pre-existing autiior- 
 ity superior to tliat of tiie persons iunuediately concerned. 
 If some puUic i)Ieasure is concerned, an association is 
 formed to give more sjilendor and I'eguhu'ity to tlie enter- 
 tainment. Societies are formed to ri'sist evils wlu(;li are 
 exclusively of a moral nature, as to (limini>h the vice of 
 intempi-rance. In the United States, associations are es- 
 tablished to promote the public sal'ety, coinnicrce, industry, 
 morality, and religion. There is no end which the human 
 Avill despairs of attaining through the combined power of 
 individuals united into a society. 
 
 I shall have occasion hereafter to show the effects of 
 asscw'iation in civil life ; I confine myself for the present to 
 the political world. When once the right of association is 
 recognized, the citizens may use it in different ways. 
 
 An association consists simply in the public assent which 
 a number of individuals give to certain doctrines ; and in 
 the engagement which they contract to promote in a cer- 
 tain manner the s})read of those doctrines. The right of 
 associating with such views is very analogous to the liberty 
 of unlicensed printing ; but societies thus formed possess 
 more authority than the press. When an opinion is rep- 
 resented by a society, it necessarily assumes a more exact 
 and explicit form. It numbers its partisans, and compro- 
 mises them in its cause : they, on the other hand, become 
 acquainted with eacl other, and their zeal is increased by 
 their number. An association unites into one channel the 
 efforts of diverging minds, and urges them vigorously 
 towards the one end which it clearly points out. 
 
 The second decree in the exercise of the right of asso- 
 ciation is the power of meeting. When an association is 
 allowed to establish centres of action at certain important 
 points in the country, its activity is increased, and its in- 
 
244 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 |: 
 
 liil' 
 
 Ih '■'; 
 
 iiii 
 
 J' f^ 
 
 
 fliionce cxtendod. Men have the oppoi'tunity of seeing 
 each other ; means of execution are combined ; and opin- 
 ions are maintained with a warmth and energy which 
 written huimia<j!;e can never attain. 
 
 Lastly, in the exercise of the right of pohtical associa- 
 tion, there is a tliird degree : the partisans of an opinion 
 may unite in electoral bodies, and choose delegates to repre- 
 sent them in a central assembly. This is, properly speak- 
 ing, the application of the representative system to a party. 
 
 Thus, in the first instance, a society is formed between 
 individuals professing the same opinion, and the tie which 
 keeps it together is of a purely intellectual nature. In the 
 second case, small assemblies are formed, which represent 
 only a fraction of the party. Lastly, in the third case, 
 they constitute, as it Avere, a separate nation in the midst 
 of the nation, a government witlnn the government. 
 Their delegates, like the real delegates of the majority, 
 represent the whole collective force of their party ; and, 
 like them, also, have an appearance of nationality and all 
 the moral power which results from it. It is true that 
 they have not the right, like the others, of making the 
 laws ; but they have the power of attacking those which 
 are in force, and of drawing up beforehand those which 
 ought to be enacted. 
 
 If, among a people who are imperfectly accustomed to 
 the exercise of freedom, or are exposed to violent political 
 passions, by the side of the majority who make the laws 
 be placed a minority who only deliberate and get laws 
 ready for adoption, I cannot but believe that public tran- 
 quillity would there incur very great risks. There is 
 doubtless a wide difference between proving that one law 
 is in itself better than another, and proving that the former 
 ought to be substituted for the latter. But the imagina- 
 tion of the multitude is very apt to overlook this differ- 
 ence, which is so apparent to the minds of thinking men. 
 
 ii; 
 
 :;i,h 
 
POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 245 
 
 It somotimos linppens that a nation is divided into two 
 nearly e(|ual parties, each of whieli affects to represent tlie 
 majority. If, near the directing power, anotlier power he 
 estahlished, wliich exercises ahiiost as mncli moral autlior- 
 ity as tlie former, we are not to fjelieve that it will long he 
 content to speak without acting ; or that it will always he 
 restrained hy the ahstract consideration that associations 
 are meant to direct opinions, but not to enforce them, — 
 to suggest, hut not to make, the laws. 
 
 The more I consider tlie indejiendence of tlie press in its 
 princii)al consequences, the more am I convinced that, in 
 the modern world, it is the chief, and, so to speak, the con- 
 stitutive element of liherty. A nation which is deterniiiied 
 to remain free is therefore riglit in dem.anding, at any })rice, 
 the exercise of this independence. But tlie unUmifed lil>- 
 crty of political association cannot be entirely assimilated 
 to the liberty of the press. The one is at the same tim*^ less 
 necessary, and more dangerous, than the other. A nation 
 may confine it Avithin certain limits without forfeiting any 
 part of its self-directing power ; and it may sometimes bo 
 obliged to do so, in order to maintain its own authority. 
 
 In America, the liberty of association for political pur- 
 poses is unlimited. An example will show in the clearest 
 light to what an extent this privilege is tolerated. 
 
 The question of a tariff or free trade has much agitated 
 the minds of Americans. The tariff was not only a sub- 
 ject of debate as a matter of opinion, but it affected some 
 great material interests of the States. The North attrib- 
 uted a portion of its prosperity, and the South nearly all 
 its sufferings, to this system. For a long time, the tariff 
 was the sole source of the political animosities which agi- 
 tated the Union. 
 
 In 1831, when the dispute was raging with the greatest 
 violence, a private citizen of Massachusetts proposed, liy 
 means of the newspapers, to all the enemies of the tai'ilV, 
 
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 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
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 to send (It>len;ates to Philadelphia, in order to consult to- 
 gether upon the best means of restoring freedom of trade. 
 This proposal circulated in a few days, by the power of the 
 press, from IMaine to New Orleans : the opponents of the 
 tariff adopted it with enthusiasm ; meetings were held in 
 all quarters, and delegates were appointed. The majority 
 of these delegates were well known, and some of them 
 had earned a considerable degree of celebrity. South Car- 
 olina alone, which afterwards took up arms in the same 
 cause, sent sixty-three delegates. On the 1st of October, 
 1831, this assembly, which, according to the American 
 custom, had taken the name of a Convention, met at Phil- 
 adelphia ; it consisted of more than two hundred members. 
 Its debates were public, and they at once assumed a legis- 
 lative character ; the extent of the powers of Congress, 
 the theories of free trade, and the different provisions of 
 the tariff were discussed. At the end of ten days, the 
 Convention broke up, having drawn up an address to the 
 American people, in which it declared: — 1. That Con- 
 gress had not the right of making a tariff, and that the ex- 
 isting tariff was unconstitutional. 2. That the prohibition 
 of free trade was prejudicial to the interests of any nation, 
 and to those of the American people especially. 
 
 It must be acknowledged that the unrestrain 'I liberty 
 of political association has not hitherto produced, in the 
 United States, the fatal results which might perhaps be 
 expected from it elsewhere. Tlie right of association was 
 imjjorted from England, and it has always existed in 
 America; the exercise of this privilege is now incorpo- 
 rat'^d with the manners and customs of the j><'0[)le. At 
 the present time, the liberty of association has become a 
 necessary guaranty against the tyranny of the majority. 
 In the United States, as soon as a party has become dom- 
 inant, all public authority passes into its hands : its private 
 supporters occupy all the offices, and have all the force of 
 
 ■ft 
 
POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS IN ITIE UNITED STATES. 247 
 
 the administration at their disposal. As the most distin- 
 gnislu'd members of the opposite party cannot surmount 
 tlie l)arrier which exckides them from power, tliey must 
 estahlish themselves outside of it, and oppose tlie whole 
 moral authority of the minority to the j^liysical power 
 which domineers over it. Thus a dangerous expedient is 
 used to (jbviate a still more formidable dano;er. 
 
 The omnipotence of the majority appears to me to be so 
 full of peril to the American republics, that the dangerous 
 means used to bridle it seem to be more advantageous tlian 
 prejudicial. And here I will express an opinion which 
 mav remind the reader of wdiat I said when speakino- of 
 tlie freedom of townships. There are no countries in 
 Avhich associations are more needed, to prevent the despot- 
 ism of faction or the arbitraiy power of a prince, than 
 those which are democratically constituted. In aristocratic 
 nations, the body of the nobles and the wealthy are in 
 themselves natural associations, which check the abuses of 
 power. In countries where such associations do not exist, 
 if private individuals cannot create an artificial and tem])o- 
 rary substitute for them, I can see no permanent })rotection 
 against the most galling tyranny ; and a great people may 
 be oppressed with impunity by a small faction, or by a 
 sino;le individual. 
 
 The meeting of a great political convention, ffor +Jk re 
 are conventions of all kinds,) which may frequently bei-orrie 
 a necessary measure, is always a serious occurrence, r'von in 
 America, and one which judicious patriots canii' !" regard 
 without alarm. This was very percej)tible in tlie r()nven- 
 tion of 1881, at which all the most distinguished members 
 strove to moderate its language, and to restrain its objects 
 within certain limits. It is probable that this Convention 
 exercised a great influence on the minds of the malcon- 
 tents, and prepared them for the open revolt against the 
 commercial laws of the Union which took place in 1832. 
 
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 DEMOCRACY IN AMKHICA. 
 
 It cannot Lo denied that the unrestrained liherty of asso- 
 ciation for political purposes is the privilege whicli a people 
 is longest in learnino; how to exercise. If it does not 
 throw the nation into anarchy, it perpetually augments the 
 chances of that calamity. On one point, however, this 
 ]:)orilous liberty offers a security against dangers of another 
 kind ; in countries where associations are free, secret soci- 
 eties are unknown. In America, there are factions, but no 
 conspiracies. 
 
 Different Ways in wliieh the Right of Association is understood in Europe 
 and in the United States. — Different Use which is made of it. 
 
 The most natural privilege of man, next to the riglit of 
 acting for himself, is that of combininci: his exertions with 
 those of his fellow-creatures, and of actino; in common 
 with them. The right of association therefore apj)ears to 
 me almost as inalienable in its nature as the riglit of per- 
 sonal liberty. No legislator can attack it without im})airing 
 the foundations of society. Nevertheless, if the liberty 
 of association is only a source of advantage and pros])erity 
 to some nations, it may be perverted or carried to excess 
 by others, and from an element of life may be changed 
 into a cause of destruction. A comparison of the differ- 
 ent methods which associations pursue, in those countries 
 in which liberty is well understood, and in those where 
 liberty degenerates into license, may be useful both to gov- 
 ernments and to parties. 
 
 Most Europeans look upon association as a weapon 
 which is to be hastily fashioned, and immediately tried in 
 the conflict. A society is formed for discussion, but the 
 idea of impending acti(m prevails in tlie minds of all those 
 who constitute it. It is, in fact, an army ; and the time 
 given to speech serves to reckon up the strength and to 
 animate the courage of the host, after which they march 
 
POLITICAL ASSOCIATIONS IN THE UNITED STATES. 240 
 
 against the enemy. Resources which He -within the homifls 
 of law may suggest themselves, to the persons who com- 
 pose it, as means, but never as tlie only means, of success. 
 
 Such, however, is not the manner in whicli the right of 
 association is understood in the United States. In Amer- 
 ica, tlie citizens who form the minority associate, in order, 
 first, to show their numerical strength, and so to diminish 
 the moral power of the majority ; and, secondly, to stimu- 
 late competition, and thus to discover those arguments 
 which are most fitted to act upon the majority : for they 
 ahvays entertain hopes of drawing over the majority to 
 their own side, and then disposing of the supreme power in 
 its name. Political associations in the United States are 
 therefore peaceahle in their intentions, and strictly legal in 
 the means whicli they employ; and they assert with ])erfect 
 truth, that they aim at success only Ly lawful expedients. 
 
 The difference which exists in this respect between 
 Americans and Europeans depends on several causes. In 
 Europe, there are parties which differ so much from the 
 majority, that they can never liope to acquire its support, 
 and yet they think they are strong enough in themselves 
 to contend against it. When a party of this kind forms an 
 association, its object is, not to convince, but to fight. In 
 America, the individuals who liold opinions nuich opposed 
 to those of the majority can do nothing against it ; ami all 
 otlier parties hope to win it oxer to their own principles. 
 The exercise of tb- iio;ht of association becomes dangerous, 
 then, in proportion as great parties find themselves wholly 
 unable to acquire the majority. In a country like the 
 United States, in which the differences of o])inion are 
 mere diflferences of hue, the right of association may re- 
 main unrestrained without evil consequences. Our inex- 
 perience of liberty leads us to regard the liberty of associa- 
 tion only as a right of attacking the government. The 
 
 first notion which })resents itself to a party, as well as to 
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 250 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 an individual, when it has acquired a consciousness of its 
 own strength, is that of violence : the notion of persuasion 
 arises at a later period, and is derived from exj)erience. 
 The English, who are divided into parties which differ es- 
 sentially from each other, rarely abuse the right of associa- 
 tion, because they have long been accustomed to exercise 
 it. In France, the passion for war is so intense, that there 
 is no undertaking so mad, or so injurious to the welfare of 
 the state, that a man does not consider himself honored in 
 defendino; it at the risk of his life. 
 
 But perhaps the most powerful of the causes which tend 
 to mitigate the violence of political associations in the 
 United States is universal suffrage. In countries in Avhich 
 universal suffrage exists, the majority is never doubtful, 
 becau-c neither party can reasonably pretend to represent 
 th:it } ,>rt (iU of the community which has not voted. The 
 qssiJciatioTis know as well as the nation at large, that they 
 do ni!t rf;j>resent the majority. This results, indeed, from 
 the voy ■ : 't of their existence; for if tliey did represent 
 the pre|.:-!!derating power, they would change the law in- 
 stead of soliciting its reform. The consequence of this is, 
 that the moral influence of the , government which they 
 attack is much increased, and their own power is much 
 enfeebled. 
 
 In Europe, there are few associations which do not affect 
 to re])resent the majority, or which do not believe that they 
 represent it. This conviction or this pretension tends to 
 augment their force amazingly, and contributes no less to 
 legalize their meosares. Violence may seem to be ex- 
 cus! ble, in defence of the cause of oppressed right. Thus 
 it is, in the vast comphcation of ]mm;u laws, that extreme 
 liberty sometimes corrects the abuses of liberty, and that 
 extreme democracy obviates t!)e dangers of democracy. 
 In Europe,) associirtions consider themselves, in some de- 
 gree, as the legislative and executive council of the people, 
 
POLITICAL ASSOCTATIOXS IN THE T'NITF.D STATES. 2")1 
 
 wliieli is unal)le to speak for itself; moved l)y this lK>lief, 
 tliev aet and they command. In America, wliere they 
 represent in tlie eyes of all only a minority of the nation, 
 thev argue and petition. 
 
 The means which associations in Europe employ, are in 
 accordance with the end which they propose to obtain. 
 As the princi])al aim of these bodies is to act, and not to 
 debate, to fio;ht rather than to convince, thev are naturally 
 led to adopt an organization which is not civic and peace- 
 able, but partakes of the habits and maxims of mihtary 
 life. They centralize, also, the direction of their forces as 
 much as possible, and intnist the power of the whole party 
 to a small number of leaders. 
 
 The members of these associations respond to a watch- 
 word, like soldiers on duty ; they profess the doctrine of 
 passive obedience ; say rather, that in uniting together they 
 at once abjure the exercise of their own judgment and free 
 will : and the tyrannical control which these societies exer- 
 cise, is often far more insupportable than the authority pos- 
 sessed over society by the government which they attack. 
 Their moral force is much diminished by these proceedings, 
 and they lose the sacred character which always attaches 
 to a struggle of the oppressed against their oppressors. He 
 who in given cases consents to obey his fellows with ser- 
 vility, and who submits his will, and even his thoughts, to 
 tlieir control, how can he pretend that he wishes to be free ? 
 
 The Americans have also estabHshed a gOMH'nment in 
 their associations, but it is invariably borrowed fi'om the 
 forms of the civil administration. Th'^ independence of 
 each individual is formally recognized ; as in society, all the 
 members advance at the same time towards the same end ; 
 but thev are not all oblio;ed to follow the same track. No 
 one abjures the exercise of his reason and fr^e will ; but 
 every one exerts that reason and will to promote a common 
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 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
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 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 I AM well aware of the difficulties which attend this 
 part of my siihject ; but although every expression 
 which I am about to use may clash, upon some points, 
 with the feeh'no;s of the different j)arties which divide my 
 country, I shall still speak my whole thought. 
 
 In Europe, we are at a loss how to judge the true char- 
 acter and the permanent instincts of democracy, because 
 in Europe two conflicting principles exi^t, and we do not 
 know what to attribute to the principles themselves, and 
 what to the passions which the contest produces. Such, 
 however, is not the case in America ; there the people 
 reign without impediment, and they have no perils to 
 dread, and no injuries to avenge. In America, democracy 
 is given up to its own propensities ; its course is natural, 
 and its activity is unrestrained ; there, consequently, its 
 real character must be judged. And to no people can this 
 inquiry be more vitally interesting than to the French 
 nation, who are blindly driven onwards, by a daily and 
 irresistible impulse, towards a state of things which may 
 prove either despotic or republican, but which will assur- 
 edly be democratic. 
 
 UNIVERSAL SUFFRAGE. 
 
 I HAVE already observed that universal suffrage has 
 been adopted in all the States of the Union : it conse- 
 
GOVERNMENT OF THE DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 253 
 
 <iuently exists in ooinmunities which oc('uj)y very different 
 j)()sitions in the social scale. I have had o})portunitios of 
 ohservino; its effects in different localities, and amonsst 
 races of men who are nearly strangers to eacli otlier in 
 their language, their religion, and their modes of life ; in 
 Louisiana as well as in New England, in Georgia as in 
 Canada. I have remarked that universal suffrage is far 
 from producing in America either all the good or all the 
 evil consequences which may be expected from it in En- 
 rope, and that its effects generally difl'er very much from 
 those which are attributed to it. 
 
 THE CHOICE OF THE PEOPLE, AND THE INSTINCTIVE PREF- 
 ERENCES OF THE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY. 
 
 In the United States, the ablest Men are rarely placed at the Head of Affairs. 
 — Reason of this Peculiarity. — The Envy which prevails in the lower 
 Orders of France against the higher Classes is not a French, but a purely 
 democratic Feeling. — Wliy the most distinguished Men in America fre- 
 quently seclude themselves from public Affairs. 
 
 Many people in Europe are apt to believe without say- 
 ing it, or to say without believing it, that one of the great 
 advantages of universal suffrage is, that it intrusts the 
 direction of affairs to men who are worthy of the public 
 confidence. They admit that the people are unable to 
 govern of themselves, but they aver that the people always 
 wish the welfare of the state, and instinctively designate 
 those who are animated by the same good wishes, and who 
 are the most fit to wield the supreme authority. I confess 
 that the observations I made in America by no means coin- 
 cide with these opinions. On my arrival in the United 
 States, I was surprised to find so much distinguished talent 
 among the subjects, and so little among the heads of the 
 government. It is a constant fact, that, at the present day, 
 the ablest men in the United States are rarely placed at the 
 
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 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 lu'iid of affairs ; jind it must be acknowled^od tliat such 
 has been the result, in projiortiun as democracy has out- 
 stcjjped all its former limits. The race of American states- 
 men has evidently dwindled most remarkably in the course 
 of the last fifty years. 
 
 Several causes may be assigned for this phenomenon. 
 It is impossible, after the most strenuous exertions, to 
 raise the intelligence of the people above a certain level. 
 Whatever may be the facilities of ac(piiring information, 
 whatever may be the profusion of easy methods and cheap 
 science, the human mind can never be instructed and 
 developed without devoting considerable time to these 
 )bjects. 
 
 The greater or the less possibility of subsisting without 
 labor is therefore the necessary boundary of intellectual 
 inij)rovement. This boundary is more remote in some 
 countries, and more restricted in others ; but it nnist exist 
 somewhere, as long as the peojile are constrained to work 
 in order to procure the means of subsistence, that is to say, 
 as long as they continue to be the ])eople. It is therefore 
 quite as difficult to imag'ae a state in which all the citizens 
 should be ^ery well informed, as a state in which they 
 should all be wealthy ; tliese two difficulties are correlative. 
 I readily admit that the mass of the citizens sincerely wish 
 to promote the welfare of the country ; nay, more, I even 
 allow that the lower classes mix fewer considerations of 
 personal interest with their patriotism than the higher 
 orders ; but it is always more or less difficult for them to 
 discern the best means of attaining the end which they 
 sincerely desire. Long and patient observation and much 
 acquired knowledge are requisite to form a just estimate of 
 the character of a single individual. Men of the greatest 
 genius often fiiil to do it, and can it be supposed that the 
 vulgar will always succeed ? The people have neither the 
 time nor the means for an investigation of this kind. Their 
 
GOVKliNMKNT OF TIIK DEMOCRACY IN AMKUICA. 1^55 
 
 conclusions are liastily fonned I'roni a suj)orH('iul insj)octi()U 
 of the nioru })r()niint'nt features of a ([uostion. Hence it 
 often ha^jpens that niomitebanks of all sorts are able to 
 please the j)e()|)le, wiiilst their truest friends frc([uently 
 fail to gain their confidi'nce. 
 
 ISIoreover, the democracy not only lack that soundness 
 of judgment ^vhicll is necessary to select men really de- 
 servino; of their confidence, but often have not the desire 
 or tJif inclination to find them out. It caimot be denied 
 that democratic institutions strongly tend to promote the 
 feeling of envy in the human heart ; not so i h because 
 they afford to every one the means of rising >* tiie same 
 level Avith others, as because those means per}>etually disap- 
 point the persons who emi)loy them. Democratic institutions 
 awaken and foster a passion for equality which they can 
 never entirely satisfy. This complete equality eludes the 
 grasp of the people at the very moment when they think 
 they have grasped it, and " flies," as Pascal says, " with an 
 eternal flight " ; the peo])le are excited in the pursuit of 
 an adA'antage, which is more precious because it is not suf- 
 ficiently remote to be unknown, or sufficiently near to be 
 enjoyed. The lower orders are agitated by the chance of 
 success, they are irritated by its uncertainty ; and they 
 pass from the enthusiasm of pursuit to the exhaustion of 
 ill-success, and lastly to the acrimony of disapi)ointment. 
 Whatever transcends their own limits appears to be an ob- 
 stacle to their desires, and there is no superiority, however 
 le^^ timate it may be, which is not irksome in their sight. 
 
 It has been supposed that the secret instinct, which leads 
 the lower orders to remove their superiors as much as pos- 
 sible from the direction of public affairs, is peculiar to 
 France. This, however, is an error ; the instinct to which 
 I allude is not French, it is democratic ; it may have been 
 heightened by peculiar political circumstances, but it owes 
 its origin to a higher cause. 
 
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 In tilt' United States, tlio j)('oj)lo do not liato the ]ii<j;lier 
 classes of society, but are not favorably inclined towards 
 tlu in, and carefully exclude them from the exercise of au- 
 thority. 'J'hey do not dread distinguished talents, but are 
 rari'ly fond of them. In <j;eneral, every one who rises 
 without their aid seldom obtains their favor. 
 
 AVhilst the natural instincts of democracy induce the 
 ])eoj)le to ri'ject distinguislied citizens as their rulers, an 
 instinct not less strouij induces able men to retire from the 
 political arena, in Avhich it is so difficult to retain their 
 inde})endence, or to advance without becomin<i; servile. 
 This opinion has been candidly expressed by Chancellor 
 Kent, who says, in speaking with high praise of that part 
 of the Constitution which empowers the executive to nom- 
 inate the judges : " It is indeed probable that the mi'U who 
 are best fitted to discharge the duties of this hii-h office 
 would have too much reserve in their manners, and too 
 much austerity in their jn'inciples, for them to be returned 
 by the majority at an election where universal suffrage is 
 adopted." Such were the opinions which were printed 
 without contradiction in America in the year I80O ! 
 
 I hold it to be sufficiently demonstrated, that universal 
 suffrage is by no means a guaranty of the wisdom of the 
 popular choice. AVliatever its advantages may be, tliis is 
 not one of them. 
 
 I:;l 
 
GOVKUNMF.NT OF TlIK DKNKJCHACY IN AMKIMCA. 
 
 
 OAUSKS WllU'H MAY I'AHTI.Y COKUKCT THK.SF TJ;NI)KN( 1K3 
 
 OF THK DEMOCRACY. 
 
 Contrary Elll-cts produced on Nati(»ns as on Individiuils \>y f,'rcat Dan^'ors. 
 — Why so many distiii^,niisli('d -Men stood at flic Head of AHiiirs in 
 America fifty Years apt. — Iiitiuciicc wliicli Intc!ii;:<'ncc and Morality 
 exercise upon the popular Choice. — F.xamjile of New l'',n_i:lund. — States 
 of the Southwest. — How certain Laws intiiu'iice the Choice of the IVo- 
 j)le. — Fileetiou hy an elected Body. — Its Fltlccts upon the Composition 
 of the Senate. 
 
 WiiF.N' serious (lnnn;t'rs tliroatcn tlie stati>, the j)ec)[)le fre- 
 (piently suereecl in selecting; the eitizens who are tlie most 
 ahle to save it. It has been observed that man rari-ly re- 
 tains liis customary level in very critical circumstances ; lie 
 rises above, or sinks below, his nsii;il condition, and the 
 same tiling is true of nations. Extreme jierils sometimes 
 <|iit'iich the enertry of a ])eoj>le, instead of stiimdatinif it ; 
 they exeite, without direetinn; its j)assi()ns ; and instead of 
 clearinii, they confuse its powers of ))ercej)tion. The 
 Jews f()uo;ht and killed each other amid the smokiiiii; ruins 
 of their temple. But it is more common, both with na- 
 tions and individuals, to find extraordinary virtues devel- 
 o]u'd from the very imminence of the danger. Great 
 chnracters are then brouoht into relief, as the edifices 
 which are usiiallv concealed bv the jtIoo"^ of niclit are 
 illuminated b\- the rjlare of a conflaoration. At those dan- 
 oerous times, genius no longer hesitates to come forward ; 
 an<l the people, alanned by the j)erils of their situation, 
 buiT their envious passions in a short oblivion. Great 
 names may tben be drawn from the urn of election. 
 
 I have already observed, that the American statesmen 
 of the present day are very interior to those who stood at 
 the head of affairs fifty years ap;o. This is as much a 
 consefjuence of the circumstances, as of the laws, of the 
 countrv. Wlicn America was strujxo-lina; in the liish 
 
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 258 
 
 DKMOCRACY IX AMKHICA. 
 
 cause of iii(lt'j)Cii(l('ncc, to throw off' the yoke of another 
 country, and when it was about to uslier a now nation into 
 tlie world, the s})irits of its inhabitants were roused to tlie 
 liei^^lit which their great objects required. In tliis general 
 excitement, distinguished men were ready to anticipate tlie 
 call of the community, and the people clung to them for 
 support, and placed them at their head. But such events 
 are rare ; and it is from the ordinary course of affiiirs that 
 our judgment must be formed. 
 
 If passing occurrences sometimes check the passions of 
 democracy, the intelligence and the morals of the commu- 
 nity exercise an influence on them which is not less power- 
 ful, and far more permanent. This is very perceptible in 
 the United States. 
 
 In New England, wliere education and liberty are the 
 daughters of morality and religion, — where society has ac- 
 quired age and stability enough to enable it to form princi- 
 ples and hold fixed habits, — the common peoj)le are accus- 
 tomed to respect intellectual and moral su{)eriority, and to 
 submit to it without com})laint, although they set at naught 
 all those privileges which wealth and birth have introduced 
 among mankind. In New England, consequently, the de- 
 mocracy makes a more judicious choice than it does else- 
 wliere. 
 
 But as we descend toAvards the South, to those States in 
 ■which the constitution of society is more recent and less 
 strong, where instruction is less general, and the principles 
 of morality, religion, and liberty are less happily combined, 
 we perceive that talents and virtues become more rare 
 among those who are in authority. 
 
 Lastly, when we arrive at the new Southwestern States, 
 in which the constitution of society dates but from yester- 
 day, and presents only an agglomeration of adventurers 
 and speculators, we are amazed at the persons who are m- 
 vested with public p.uthority, and we are led to ask by what 
 
GOVEKN.Mr.NT UV TMK DK.MOCHACV IN AMKKILA. 2i')0 
 
 torce, iiuk'poiident of the legislation and of the men who 
 (liri'ct it, the state can be protected and society be made to 
 flourisli. 
 
 There are certain laws of a democratic nature which 
 contribute, nevertheless, to correct, in some measure, these 
 dani^erous tendencies of democracy. ^n ejitcrini; the 
 House of Representatives at Washino;ton, one is struck 
 bv the vulgar demeanor of that great assembly. ( )ften 
 there is not a distin<iiiished man in the whole number. Its 
 members are almost all obscure individuals, whoso names 
 brinir no associations to mind. Thev are mostlv villaire 
 lawyers, men in trade, or even persons belonging to the 
 lower classes of society. In a country in which education 
 is very general, it is said that the represi-ntatives-of tiie 
 people do not always know how to write correctly. 
 
 At a few yards' distance is the door of the Senate, 
 which contains within a small space a large proportion of 
 the celebrated men of America. Scarcely an individual is 
 to be seen in it who has not had an active and illustrious 
 career: the Senate is com})Osed of eloquent advocates, dis- 
 tinijuished generals, wise mamstrates, and statesmen of 
 note, whose arsnunents would do honor to the most re- 
 markable parliamentary debates of Europe. 
 
 How comes this strange contrast, and why are the ablest 
 citizens found in one assembly rather than in the other? 
 Why is the former body remarkable for its vulgar elements, 
 whilst the latter seems to enjoy a monopoly of intelligence 
 and talent? Both of these assemblies emanate from the 
 ])e<)ple ; both are chosen by universal sutfrage ; and no 
 voice has hitherto been heard to assert, in America, that 
 the Senate is hostile to the interests of the peo))le. From 
 what cause, then, does so startling a difference arise ? The 
 only reason w^hich apjiears to me adequately to account 
 for it is, that the House of Representatives is elected by 
 the people directly, while the Senate is elected by elected 
 
'4 
 
 200 
 
 DKMOCKACY IN AMKKllA. 
 
 i' 
 
 nil 
 
 i'\ 
 
 Itodit's. Tlio wlioli' l)o(lv of tlie citi/ens name tlio lo<rislature 
 of t'ucli State, and tlie Fetleral Constitntion converts tliese 
 li'jiiislatuivs into so many electoral botlies, which return the 
 members oi' the Senate. The Senators are elected by an 
 indirect aj)|>lication of the jtopular vote: for the legisla- 
 tures which aj)])oint them are not aristocratic or j»rivile<»;ed 
 bodies, which elect in their own rioht ; but they are chosen 
 by the totality of the citizens ; they are generally elected 
 every year, and new mi'mbers may be chosen every year 
 enough to determine the Senatorial ai)[)ointments. But 
 this transmission of the popular autlu)rity through an as- 
 sembly of chosen men operates an important change in it, 
 by refining its discretion and improving its choice. Men 
 who are chosen in this manner accurately represent the 
 majority of the nation which governs them ; but they rej> 
 I'esent only the elevated thoughts which are current in the 
 conununity, and the generous propensities which prompt 
 its nobler actions, rather than the petty passions which 
 disturb, or the vices which disirrace it. 
 
 The time must come when the American republics will 
 be obliged more frequently to introduce the j)lan of elec- 
 tion by an elected body into their system of representation, 
 or run the risk of i)erishing miserably amongst the shoals 
 of democracy. 
 
 I do not hesitate to avow, th.at i look upon this pecuhar 
 system of election as the only means of brinfjino; the exer- 
 cise of political power to the level of all classes of the peo- 
 ple. Those who hope to convert this institution into the 
 exclusive weapon of a party, and those who fear to use it, 
 seem to me to be equally in error. 
 
 1. i: 
 
 M 
 
 J i! \ 
 
 i !i 
 
ioi!;Islaturo 
 crts these 
 eturn tlie 
 ted l)y an 
 le le<fisla- 
 l)ri\ile«ji;ed 
 ire cliosen 
 lly elected 
 very year 
 iits. IJut 
 Li'li an as- 
 iige in it, 
 ce. Men 
 •esent the 
 tliey re})- 
 3nt in the 
 li j)rompt 
 ns wliich 
 
 bhcs will 
 
 I of olec- 
 
 sentation, 
 
 le shoals 
 
 peculiar 
 le exer- 
 the peo- 
 into the 
 use it, 
 
 G0VEI{NM1:NT of THIC DEMOCHACV IX AMKIIICA. 2(J1 
 
 IN'IIX'KNCE WHICH THK AMKKICAN DKMOCUACY HAH KXKR- 
 (I.SKI) ON THE LAWS RELATING TO ELECTIONS. 
 
 Wliiii Klcctions nrt' rare, they expose tlie State to a violets Crisis. — Wlirii 
 they are frp<iuoiit, they keep up a feverisli Exriteinent. — The Americans 
 have preferred the second of these two Kvils. — Miitaliility of the Laws. 
 — Ui)inions of Hamilton, Madison, and Jetlerson on this Suiijeet. 
 
 When elections recur only at lon<^ intervals, the state is 
 exposed to violent a<:;itation every time they take ])lace. 
 Parties then exert themselves to the utmost, in onU'r to 
 gain a prize which is so rarely within their reach ; and as 
 the evil is almost irremediahle for the candidates who tail, 
 evervthino; is to be feared from their disap])ointed ambition. 
 If, on the other hand, the Ico-al stnioole is soon to .be re- 
 peated, the defeated parties take patii'uce. 
 
 When elections occur frequently, their recurrence keeps 
 society in a feverish excitement, and gives a c "iitinnal in- 
 stability to public affairs. Thus, on the one hand, the state 
 is ex})osed to the perils of a revolution, — on the other, to 
 perpetual mutability ; the fonner system threatens the very 
 existence of the government, the latter prevents any steady 
 and consistent policy. The Americans have preferred the 
 second of these e^ils to the first ; but thev were led to this 
 conclusion by instinct more than by reason, for a taste for 
 variety is one of the characteristic passions of democracy. 
 Hence their legislation is strangely mutable. 
 
 ]\Ianv Americans consider the instaljility of their laws as 
 a necessary cousequence of a system whose general results 
 are beneficial. But no one in the United States affects to 
 deny the fact of this instability, or contends that it is not a 
 ffreat evil. 
 
 Hamilton, after having demonstrated the utility of a 
 power which might prevent, or at least impede, the pro- 
 midgation of bad laws, adds: "It may perhaps be said, that 
 the power of preventing bad laws includes that of prevent- 
 
 ^ 
 
 \ 
 
'A 
 
 I 'I 
 
 2<;2 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 iii<r n;()()(l oiu's, ;ui(l may l)o used to tlic one ])ur])().s(.' jis well 
 as to the otiuT. IJut this objection will have little wei<:;ht 
 with those who can properly estimate the mischief's of that 
 inconstancy lyul mutahility in the laws vhich form the 
 ij-reatest blemish in the character and jienius of our ifovern- 
 ments." ( Federalist, No. T*).) 
 
 And an;ain, in No. 02 of the same work, he observes : 
 " The tiicility and excess of law-makin<i seem to be the dis- 
 e«ses to which our i;overnments are most liable." 
 
 Jefferson himself, the greatest democrat whom the de- 
 mocracy of America has as yet produced, pointed out the 
 same danj^ers. 
 
 " The instability of our laws," said he, " is really a very 
 serious inconvenience. I think that we ouijht to have ob- 
 viatetl it by deciding that a whole year should always be 
 allowed to elaj^se between the bringing in of a bill and the 
 final ])assing of it. It should afterwards be discussed and 
 put to the vote without the possibility of making any al- 
 teration in it ; and if the circumstances of the case recpiired 
 a more sjieedy decision, the question should not be decided 
 by a simjjle majority, but by a majority of at least two 
 thirds of both houses." 
 
 ii.'. 
 
 iji: 
 
 
 
 ^-^b 
 
 I"' 
 
 'I 
 
 i^ 
 
 ^r. 
 
 
 L k 
 
 PUBLIC OFFICERS UNDER THE CONTROL OF THE AMERICAN 
 
 DEMOCRACY. 
 
 Simple Exterior of American public Officers. — No official Costume. — All 
 pul)lic Officers are remuuerated. — Political Consequences of this Sys- 
 tem. — No public Career exists in America. — Results of this Fact. 
 
 Public officers in the United States are confounded with 
 the crowd of citizens ; they have neither palaces, nor 
 guards, nor ceremonial costumes. This simple exterior of 
 persons in authority is connected, not only with the pecu- 
 liarities of the American character, but with the funda- 
 mental principles of society. In the estimation of the 
 
govi;hnmi:xt of thf: dk.mociiacy ix ammkica. 2tvl 
 
 VIERICAN 
 
 ik'Hiocracy, ;v iiovc'riuncnt is not a benefit, l)Ut a noccssarj* 
 evil. A certain <le<^i'ec of j)o\ver nuist be oranted to \ni\)~ 
 lie (tllicers, tor they would be of no use without it. liut 
 tJie ostensible semblance of authority is by n<» means in- 
 (lisjtensable to the conduct of alfairs ; and it is needlessly 
 ofl'ensive to the susceptibility of the j)ul)lic. The public 
 officers themselves are well aware, that they enjoy the su- 
 periority over their fellow-citizens which they derive from 
 their authority, only on condition of j)uttinf; themselves 
 on a level with the whole community by their manners. 
 A })ublic officer in the United States is uniforndy simple in 
 his manners, accessible to all the world, attentive to all re- 
 quests, and obliging in his replies. I was pleasetl by these 
 characteristics of a democratic government ; I admired 
 the manly independence which respects the office more 
 than the officer, and thinks less of the emblems of author- 
 ity than of the man who bears them. 
 
 I believe that the influence which costumes really exer- 
 cise, in an age like that in which we live, has been a good 
 deal exaggerated. I never perceived that a public officer 
 in America was the less respected, whilst in the discharge 
 of his duties, because his own merit was set oflf by no ad- 
 ventitious signs. On the other hand, it is very doubtful 
 whether a pecuhar dress induces public men to respect 
 themselves, when they are not otherwise inclined to do so. 
 AVhen a magistrate (and in France such instances are not 
 rare) snubs the parties before him, or indulges his wit at 
 their expense, or shrugs his shoulders at their pleas of de- 
 fence, or smiles complacently as the charges are enumer- 
 ated, I should like to deprive him of his robes of office, to 
 see Avhether, when he is reduced to the garb of a private 
 citizen, be would not recall some portion of the natural 
 dignity of mankind. 
 
 No public officer in the United States has an official cos- 
 tume, but every one of them receives a salary. And this, 
 
l\ 
 
 
 till I '» 
 
 i 
 
 \ II 
 
 ' It 
 
 i 
 
 I Mi; 
 
 I'i I 
 
 !i; 1 
 
 2«;4 
 
 DKMOCWACV IN A.Mi;iU(JA. 
 
 also, still nioro naturally than what })ivce(K's, results from 
 (U'Uiocratic priucipk's. A dcuiocracy may allow souk- uia;;- 
 istcrial pouij), and clotlic its ofKixTs in silks and ^'old, with- 
 out seriously ('onipi'oniisin;:; its |)rin('i|»U's. l*ri\ilrocs of 
 this kind are transitory ; they helono- to the jdaco, and not 
 to the man. IJut it' puhlic olKcers are nnjiaid, a elass of 
 rieh and independent |)ui)Iie funetionaries will he created, 
 who will constitute the basis of an aristoeraey ; and if the 
 people still retain their ri^ht of election, the choice can 
 be made otdy from a certain class of citizens. 
 
 When a democratic republic renders gratuitous offices 
 which had formerly been renuuierated, it may safely be 
 inferred that the state is advancing towards njonarchv. 
 And when a monarchy begins to remunerate such officers 
 as had hitherto been uni)aid, it is a sure sign that it is a})- 
 j»roaching a despotic or a republican form of '.';overnment. 
 The substitution of ])aid for unpaid functionaries is of it- 
 self, in my opinion, sufficient to constitute a real revolution. 
 
 I look uj)on the entire absence of uni)aid offices in 
 America as one of the most prominent signs of the abso- 
 lute dominion which democracy exercises in that country. 
 All pulvUc services, of whatsoever nature they may be, are 
 paid ; so that every one has not merely a right, but also 
 the means, of performing them. Although, in democratic 
 states, all the citizens are qualified to liold offices, all are 
 not tempted to try for them. The number and the capaci- 
 ties of the candidates, more than the conditions of the can- 
 didateship, restrict the choice of the electors. 
 
 In nations where the principle of election extends to 
 everything, no political career can, properly speaking, be 
 said to exist. Men arrive as if by chance at the post 
 Avhich they hold, and they are by no means sure of retain- 
 ing it. This is especially true when the elections are held 
 annually. The consequence is, that, in tranquil times, 
 public functions offer but few lures to ambition. In the 
 
CJOVKirNMKN'T OF TIIK l)i;M<)CllAt:\ IN AMKKICA. _•».) 
 
 T'liiti'"! States, tlioso who c'npa<i;o in tlic pen ii'xitics of 
 political lite are jK'rsoiis of very moderate id'eti'iisions. 
 Till- pursuit of wealtli n;enerally diverts men of ;i;reat tal- 
 ents antl stron^f passions from tiie jxM'suit of power ; and 
 it trt'ipiently liappens tluit a man dot.- not nndi'rtak*' to 
 direct the fortunes (tf tliu state nntil he hiis shown himself 
 incompetent to conduct liis own. The vast nunilter of 
 very ordinary men who occuj)y puhlic stations is (piitu as 
 attrihutahle to these causes, as to tlie bad choice of the 
 democracv. In tlie United States, I am not sure that thc^ 
 peoj)le would clioose men of superior abilities, even if they 
 wished to be elected ; but it is certain that cancUdates of 
 this description do not come forward. 
 
 ARHITRARY POWER OF MAGISTRATES* UNDER TIIE RULE OP 
 THE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY. 
 
 |nds to 
 ing, bo 
 le ])ost 
 
 •etain- 
 re lield 
 [times, 
 
 'n the 
 
 For what Reiisou the arbitrary Power of Mairislruti-s is frrcater in Absolute 
 ^loiiarcliit'S and in DLMUocratic llepulilics than it is in Uniited Monar- 
 chies. — i^jhitrary Tower of the Magistrates in New Knyhmd. 
 
 In two kinds of government the magistrates exercise 
 considerable arbitrary power, — namely, under the abso- 
 hite government of an indivi(hial, and under tliat of a de- 
 mocracy. This identical resuh proceeds from very simihu* 
 causes. 
 
 Ill despotic states, tlie fortune of no one is secure ; pub- 
 lic officers are not more safe than private persons. The 
 sovereign, who has under his control the lives, the proper- 
 ty, and sometimes the honor, of the men whom he employs, 
 thinks he has nothing to fear from them, and allows them 
 great latitude of action, because he is convinced that they 
 will not use it against him. In despotic states, the sover- 
 
 * I here use the word vuujistnUes in its widest sense ; I apply it to all 
 oflBccrs to whom the execution of the laws is intrusted. 
 12 
 
r 
 
 h« 
 
 n 
 
 I 
 
 
 1 
 
 m 
 
 i 
 1 
 
 
 2tJ0 
 
 DKMOCKACY IN AMKIJItA. 
 
 fi^;!! is so iiuH'li attiiclu'tl to Ills |)ow('r, tlint lu; dislikosi tlie 
 (•oll^tnliIlt »'\i'U of liin own n';j;ul;ilions, ami likus to si'c his 
 ti^cnts iH'tin;; irrt'i;iilarly, and, as it were, Ity cliaiici', in 
 order to l»' siirt' tliat tlicir actions will luniT couiittTact lii.s 
 desires. 
 
 In di'inorraeies, as tho majority lias every year the ri«;ht 
 of takini; away tliu j)ower of the oflieers >vh(tiM it had ap- 
 pointed, it has no reason to fear any ahuse of their anthor- 
 ity. As the |»eoj)lc are always ahio to sin;nity their will to 
 those who eondnet the e()vernnient, they prefer leaving 
 them to their own free action, instead of prescrihing an 
 invariable rule of conduct, which would at onco fetter 
 their activity and the popular authority. 
 
 It may even he ohserved, on attentive consideration, that, 
 under the rule of a democracy, the arhitrary action of tho 
 ma;j;istrate must he still greater than in despotic states. 
 In the latk'r, tho sovereign can immediately punish all the 
 faults with which he becomes acipiainted, hut he cannot 
 hoj)e to become ac(juainted with all those which are com- 
 mitted. In democracies, on the contrary, the sovereign 
 power is not only supreme, but universally present. The 
 American functionaries are, in fact, much more free in the 
 sphere of action wliich the law traces out for them tlian 
 any public officer in Europe. Vciy frequently, the object 
 which they are to accomplish is simply pointed out to them, 
 and the choice of the means is left to their own discretion. 
 
 In New England, for instance, the selectmen of each 
 township are bound to draw up the list of persons who are 
 to serve on the jury ; the only rule wliich is laid down to 
 guide them in their choice is, that they are to select citizens 
 possessing the elective franchise and enjoying a fair repu- 
 tation.* In France, the lives and liberties of the subjects 
 would be thought to be in danger, if a public officer of any 
 
 * It sliould be added, that the jurors are afterwards drawn from these 
 lists by lot. 
 
 il 
 
GOVi,HNMi:Nr oi nil; in:M(Xi!Arv in a.mi;i:i»a. iJix 
 
 kind was iiitrustfd witli so junnidalilf a riiilit. In Xrw 
 Kn;;laii(l, till" saiiK' ina^iistratcs nvc iiniiowi'iiMl to post tlio 
 iiaiMcs of liaititual (Ininkai'ds in |iu1)li<' lioiiscs, and to |iro- 
 liiljit till' inhabitants of a town fVoni Mi|i|>lyin;j; tlu-in uitli 
 li<jUor.* Sncli a censorial j)o\vcr would In- I'l-voltin;^ to tin? 
 |io|inlation of tlie most ahsolutc inonarcliii's ; In-iv, liow- 
 t'ViT, it is snhmitti'd to without ditlicultv. 
 
 Nowhere has so nincli Ikh'H left hv the law to the arhi- 
 trary determination of tho ma;;istrate as in demoeratic re- 
 ])ul)li(s, heeause they have nothini:' to tear I'roni arhitrarv 
 power. It may even he asserted that the freedom of the 
 ma<;istrate increases as the elective lranchi>e is extended, 
 and as the duration of the time of othce is shortened. 
 Ileiici' arises the i>reat ditlicultv of convi'rtinii a tK-mo- 
 cratic ri'j>ul)lic into a monarchy. The mai^isti'ate ceases to 
 be elective, but lie retains the ri;;hts and thi' habits of an 
 elected officer, which lead directly to despotism. 
 
 It is only in limited monarchies tliat the law, which pro- 
 scribes the sphere in which p\iblic officers are to act, super- 
 intends all their measures. The cause of this may be easily 
 detected. In limited monarchies, the power is divided be- 
 tween the kinn and the ])eople, both of whom are interest- 
 ed in the stability of the mnoistrate. The kinrr doe>« not 
 venture to place the public officers under the control of the 
 people, lest they should be temi)ted to betray his interests ; 
 on the other hand, the peo])le fear lest the magistrates 
 should serve to oppress the liberties of the country if they 
 were entirely dependent upon the crown : they cannot, 
 
 * Sec Aft of 28th Feliniaiy, 1787. [But tliis luw is obsolete. And M. 
 do Tocciueville's other instuiuc is not liaiipily chosen. In Kn;:hiiid, wliieli 
 is a limited monarcliy, the jury lists arc drawn up by tlio sheritt", and such a 
 power is more formidable in the hands of one man than of several. In 
 truth, the doctrine of the author here is a very questionable one. Alaj^is- 
 trates in America do not have so much trusted to their discretiou a^ iu 
 England or Trance. Their modes of action are prescribed beforehand by 
 law, and defined with jealous care. — Asi. Ed.] 
 
2G8 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
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 therofore, be said to depend on either the one or tlie other. 
 Tlie same cause which induces the king and tlie people to 
 render public officers independent, suggests the necessity of 
 such seciu'ities as may prevent their independence from 
 encroaching upon the authority of the former, or upon the 
 liberties of the latter. They consequently agree as to the 
 necessity of restricting the functionary to a line of conduct 
 laid doAvn beforehand, and find it for their interest to im- 
 pose upon him certain regulations Avhich he cannot evade. 
 
 INSTABILITY OF THE ADMINISTRATION IN THE UNITED 
 
 STATES. 
 
 In America, tlie Public Acts of a Community frequently leave fewer Traces 
 .than the Occurrences in a Family. — Newspapers the only Historical 
 Eemains. — lustahility of the Administration prtjudicial to the Art of 
 Government. 
 
 The authority which public men possess in America is 
 so brief, and they are so soon commingled with the ever- 
 changing population of the country, that the acts of a 
 community frequently leave fewer traces than the ev^ents 
 in a private family. The public administration is, so to 
 speak, oral and traditionary. But little is committed to 
 writing, and that little is soon wafted away forever, like 
 the leaves of the Sibyl, by the smallest breeze. 
 
 The only historical remains in the United States are the 
 newspapers ; if a number be wanting, the chain of time is 
 broken, and the present is severed from the past. I am 
 convinced that, in fifty years, it will be more difficult to 
 collect authentic documents concernino; the social condition 
 of the Americans at the present day, than it is to find re- 
 mains of the administration of France durino; the Middle 
 Ages ; and if the United States were ever invaded by 
 barbarians, it would be necessaiy to have recourse to the 
 
GOVERXMKN'T OF THE DEMOCRACY IX AMERICA. 
 
 2(j0 
 
 history of other nations, in order to learn anything of the 
 peoj)le wlio now inluibit them. 
 
 Tlie instabihty of the administration has penetrated into 
 the luibits of tlie people ; it even appears to suit the general 
 taste, and no one cares for what occurred before his thne ; 
 no methodical system is pursued ; no archives arc formed ; 
 and no documents are brouo;lit tooetlier when it would be 
 very etisy to do so.* Where they exist, little store is set 
 upon them. I have amongst my papers several original 
 public documents, which were given to me in the public 
 otlices, in answer to some of my inquiries. In America, 
 society seems to live fi'om hand to mouth, like a)i army 
 in the field. Nevertheless, the art of administration is 
 undoubtedly a science, and no sciences can be im})roved 
 if the discoveries and observations of successive generations 
 are not connected together, in the order in which they 
 occur. One man, in the short space of his life, remarks 
 a fact, another conceives an idea ; the former invents a 
 means of execution, the latter reduces a truth to a formula ; 
 and mankind gather the fruits of individual experience on 
 their way, and gradually fonn the sciences. But the per- 
 sons who conduct the administration in America can sel- 
 dom afford any instruction to each other ; and when they 
 assume the direction of society, thev simply possess those 
 
 * One would think that M. de Tocqucvillc had never seen tlic vohimi- 
 nous documents which are printed every year, here in America, by the order 
 of the State legislatures and of Congress. In the aggregate, they already 
 f;rni a respe('tal)le hbrary, so that the future historian will suH'er rather from 
 tlic eniharrassment of riches than from the want of materials. Instead of 
 complaining that " little is committed to v.-riting," in America, and that 
 " that little is soon wafted away forever," he ought to censure the inordi- 
 nate loquacity of Presidents, Governors, legislators, and other public of- 
 licers, whose interminable messages, reports, and supplementary documents 
 arc preserved by the public printers in many huge volumes, which nobody, 
 indeed, ever thinks of perusing, but which are even difficult to consult on 
 account of their number and magnitude. — Am. Ed. 
 
 \ '4 
 
 ill 
 
 \ ii 
 
270 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMITJCA. 
 
 attainments wliich are wicloly disseminated in tlie commu- 
 nity, and no knowledge peculiar to themselves. Democ- 
 racy, pushed to its furthest limits, is therefore prejudicial to 
 the art of government ; and, for this reason, it is better 
 adapted to a people already versed in the conduct of ad- 
 ministration, than to a nation which is uninitiated in public 
 affairs. 
 
 This remark, indeed, is not exclusively applicable to the 
 science of administration. Althouo;h a democratic jrovern- 
 ment is founded u|)on a very simple and natural principle, 
 it always presupposes the existence of a high degree of 
 culture and enlightenment in society.* At first, it might 
 be supposed to belong to the earliest ages of the world ; 
 but maturer observation will convince us that it could only 
 come last in the succession of human history. 
 
 CHARGES LEVIED BY THE STATE UNDER THE RULE OF THE 
 AMERICAN DEMOCRACY. 
 
 
 In all Communities, Citizens are divisible into certain Classes. — IlaMts of 
 each of these ("lasses in the Direction of Public Finances. — "Why Pub- 
 lic Expenditure must tend to increase when the People povern. — What 
 renders the Extravagance of a Democracy less to be feared in America. 
 — Public Expenditure under a Democracy. 
 
 Before we can tell whether a democratic government is 
 economical or not, we must establish a standard of com- 
 parison. The question would be of easy solution, if we 
 were to draw a parallel between a democratic republic and 
 tax absolute monarchy. The public expenditure in the for- 
 mer would be found to be more considerable than under 
 the latter ; such is the case with all free states compared 
 with those which are not so. It is certain that despotism 
 
 * It is needless to observe, that I speak here of the democratic form of 
 goveriuneut as applied to a people, and not merely to a tribe. 
 
GOVERNMKNT OF THK DKMOCRACV IN AMKRICA. 
 
 271 
 
 ruins Individuals by preventing,!; them from produeing 
 wealth, nnicli more tlian by dej)rivin<]; tliem of what they 
 liave ah'eady j)roduced ; it dries up the source of rielies, 
 whilst it usually respects acquired property. Freedom, on 
 the contrary, produces far more goods than it destroys ; 
 and the nations which are favored by free institutions in- 
 variably find that their resources increase even more ra|)- 
 idly than their taxes. 
 
 ]My i)resent object is to compare free nations with each 
 other, and to point out the influence of democracy upon 
 the finances of a state. 
 
 Communities, as well as organic bodies, are subject in 
 their formation to certain fixed rules, from which they can- 
 not depart. They are comj)Osed of certain elements which 
 are common to them at all times and under all circum- 
 stances. The people may always be mentally divided into 
 three classes. The first of these classes consists of the 
 wealthy ; the second, of those who are in easy circum- 
 stances ; and the third is composed of those who have little 
 or no property, and who subsist by the work which they 
 perform for the tw^o superior orders. The [)roportion of 
 the individuals in these several divisions may vary accord- 
 ing to the condition of society ; but the divisions them- 
 selves can never be obliterated. 
 
 It is evident that each of these classes will exercise an 
 influence peculiar to its own instincts upon the administra- 
 tion of the finances of the state. If the first of the three 
 exclusively possesses the legislative power, it is probable 
 that it will not be sparing of the public funds, because the 
 taxes which are levied on a large fortune only diminish the 
 SI m of superfluities, and are, in fiict, but little felt. If the 
 si ()nd class has the power of making the laws, it will cer- 
 tainly not be lavish of taxes, because nothing is so onerous 
 as a large impost levied upon a small income. The goA^- 
 ernment of the middle classes appears to me the most eco- 
 
I : ' I 
 
 . • 
 
 272 
 
 DKMOCUACY IN AMF.KICA. 
 
 uUm 
 
 noniical, I will not say the most enliglitoned, and cortaliily 
 not ihe most <|enc'rous, of free govern monts. 
 
 Let us now suj)poso that the le<^islative authority is 
 vested in tlie hiwest order: there are two strikiu"; reasons 
 whicli sliow tliat tlie tendency of the expenditures will be 
 to increase, not to diminish. 
 
 As the great majority of those who create the laws have 
 no taxable pro})erty, all the money which is spent for the 
 conmiunity ai)pears to be spent to their advantage, at no 
 cost of their own ; and those who have some little prop- 
 erty readily find means of so regulating the taxes, that they 
 weigh upon the wealthy and profit the poor ; although the 
 rich cannot take the same advantage when they are in pos- 
 session of the tiovernment. 
 
 In countries in which the poor * should have the exclu- 
 sive power of making the laws, no great economy of pub- 
 lic expenditure ought to be expected : that expenditure 
 will always be considerable ; either because the taxes can- 
 not weigh upon those who levy them, or because they are 
 levied in such a manner as not to reach these poorer 
 classes. In other words, the government of the democ- 
 racy is the only one under which the power which votes 
 the taxes escapes the payment of them. 
 
 In vain will it be objected, that the true interest of the 
 people is to spare the fortunes of the rich, since they must 
 suffer in the long run from the general impoverishment 
 which will ensue. Is it not the true interest of kings, also, 
 to render their subjects happy, and of the nobles to admit 
 recruits into their order on suitable grounds ? If remote 
 advantages had power to prevail over the passions and the 
 
 i 
 
 * Tlie worrl pooi- is used here, and tliroughout the remainder of this chap- 
 ter, in a relative, not in an absolute sense. Poor men in America would 
 often appear rich in comparison with the poor of Europe ; but they may 
 >vith propriety be styled poor in comparison with their more affluent coun- 
 trvmcn. 
 
 i 
 
GOVKIJNMKXT OF THE DEMOCRACY IX AMEIMCA. 273 
 
 exiLionc'ics of the moment, no siicli tliino; as a tyrannical 
 Koveivioii or an exclusive aristocracy could ever exist. 
 
 Again, it may be objected that the poor never havf the 
 sole ])Ower of making the laws ; but I reply, that, wlu'rever 
 universal suffrage has been established, the majority un- 
 questionably exercises the legislative authority ; and if it 
 be proved that the poor always constitute the majority, 
 may it not be added, with perfect truth, that, in the coun- 
 tries in which they possess the elective franchise, they pos- 
 sess the sole power of making the laws ? It is certain 
 that, in all the nations of the world, the greater number lias 
 always consisted of those persons who hold no property, 
 or of those whose property is insufficient to exempt them 
 from the necessity of working in order to procure a com- 
 fortable subsistence. Universal suffrage does, therefore, 
 in point of fact, invest the poor with the government of 
 societv. 
 
 The disastrous influence which popular authority may 
 sometimes exercise upon the finances of a state was clearly 
 seen in some of the democratic republics of antiquity, in 
 which the public treasure was exhausted in order to relieve 
 indigent citizens, or to supply games and theatrical amuse- 
 ments for the populace. It is true, that the representative 
 system was then almost unknov»n, and that, at the present 
 time, the influence of popular passions is less felt in the 
 conduct of public affairs ; but it may well be believed that, 
 in the end, the delegate will conform to the principles of 
 his constituents, and favor their j)ropensities as much as 
 their interests. 
 
 The extravagance of democracy is, however, less to be 
 dreaded in proportion as the people acquire a share of 
 property, because, on the one hand, the contributions of 
 the rich are then less needed, and, on the other, it is more 
 difficult to impose taxes which shall not reach the imposers. 
 On this account, universal suffrage would be less dangerous 
 
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 ii 
 
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 1. 
 
 274 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMI-RICA. 
 
 in FnincG tlian in England, whoro nearly all the taxable 
 property is vested in tlie hands of a few. America, where 
 the great majority of the citi/.ens possess some fortune, is 
 in a still more favorable position than France. 
 
 There are further causes which may increase the amount 
 of j)ublic expenditure in democratic countries. When an 
 aristocracy governs, those who conduct the affairs of state 
 are exemj)ted, by their very station in society, from any 
 want : content with their lot, power and renown are the 
 only objects for which they strive ; placed far above the 
 obscure crowd, they do not always clearly perceive how 
 the well-being of the mass of the people will redound to 
 their own grandeur. They are not, indeed, callous to the 
 sufferings of the poor ; but they cannot feel those miseries 
 as acutely as if they were themselves partakers of them. 
 Provided that the people appear to submit to their lot, 
 the rulers are satisfied, and demand nothino; further fi'om 
 the government. An aristocracy is more intent upon the 
 means of maintaining than of improving its condition. 
 
 When, on the contrary, the people are invested with the 
 supreme authority, they are perpetually seeking for some- 
 thing better, because they feel the hardships of their lot. 
 The thirst for improvement extends to a thousand different 
 objects ; it descends to the most trivial details, and especial- 
 ly to those changes which are accompanied with considera- 
 ble expense, since the object is to improve the condition of 
 the poor, who cannot pay for the improvement. More- 
 over, all democratic communities are agitated by an ill- 
 defined excitement, and a kind of feverish impatience, that 
 creates a multitude of innovations, almost all of which are 
 expensive. 
 
 In monarchies and aristocracies, those who are ambitious 
 flatter the natural taste which the rulers have for power 
 and renown, and thus often incite them to very costly 
 undertakings. In democracies, where the rulers are poor 
 
GOVF.r.NMKNT OF THK DEMOCRACY IN AMKKICA. 275 
 
 and In want, tlicy ci\n he courted only by such mcnis as 
 will improve their well-bcino;, and these improvements can- 
 not take place without money. When a [)eople hi'ijin to 
 reflect on their situation, they discover a nndtitude of 
 wants which they had not before been conscious of, and to 
 satisfy these exio;cncies recourse must be had to the cotters 
 of the state. Hence it happens that the public charges 
 increase in proportion to the civilization of the country, 
 and imposts are augmented as knowledge becomes more 
 diffused. 
 
 The last cause which renders a democratic government 
 dearer than any other is, that a democracy does not always 
 lessen its expenditures even when it wishes to do so, be- 
 cause it does not understand the art of beinjx economical. 
 xVs it frequently changes its purposes, and still more fre- 
 quently its agents, its undertakings are often ill conducted 
 or left unfinished : in the former case, the state spends 
 sums out of all proportion to the end which it })roposes to 
 accomplish ; in the latter, the expense brings no return. 
 
 TENDENCIES OF THE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY AS REGARDS 
 THE SALARIES OF PUBLIC OFFICERS. 
 
 In Democracies, tliose who cstablisli lii}i:h Salaries have no chance of profit- 
 ing by them. — Tendency of the American Democracy to increase the 
 Salaries of subordinate Officers, and to lower those of the more impor- 
 tant Functionaries. — Reason of this. — Comparative Statement of the 
 Salaries of Public Officers in the United States and in France. 
 
 There Is a powerful reason which usually induces de- 
 mocracies to economize upon the salaries of public officers. 
 Those who fix the amount of the salaries, being very nu- 
 merous, have but little chance of obtainino; office so as to 
 be in receipt of those salaries. In aristocratic countries, 
 on the contrary, the individuals who ap})oint high salaries 
 have almost always a vague hope of profiting by them. 
 
1 
 
 iiiii 
 
 ! . I 
 
 270 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKUICA. 
 
 Tliose ai)j)()intiu('nts may bo looked upon as a capital which 
 they create for their own use, or at least as a resource for 
 their cliilch'en. 
 
 It must l)e allowed, moreover, that a democratic state is 
 most parsimonious towards its princij)al agents. In Amer- 
 ica, the secondary officers are much better, and the higher 
 functionaries much worse paid, than elsewhere. 
 
 These oj)posite efi'ects result from the same cause : the 
 peoj)le fix the salaries of the public officers in both cases ; 
 and the scale of rennmeration is determined by the com- 
 parison of their own wants. It is held to be fiiir, that the 
 servants of the public should be placed in the same easy 
 circumstances as the public themselves ; * but when the 
 question turns ui)on the salaries of the great officers of 
 state, this rule fails, and chance alone guides the popular 
 decision. The poor have no adequate conception of the 
 wants which the higher classes of society feel. The sum 
 which is. scanty to the rich appears enormous to him 
 whose wants do not extend beyond the necessaries of life ; 
 and in his estimation, the Governor of a State, with his 
 twelve hundred or two thousand dollars a year, is a fortu- 
 nate and enviable being.f If you try to convince him 
 that the representative of a great people ought to appear 
 with some splendor in the eyes of foreign nations, he will 
 at first assent to your assertion ; but when he reflects on 
 
 * Tlie easy circumstances in which secondary functionaries are placed in 
 the United States result, also, from another cause, which is independent 
 of the general tendencies of democracy : every kind of private business is 
 very lucrative, and the state would not be served at all if it did not pay its 
 servants well. The country is in the position of a commercial house, which 
 is obliged to sustain a costly competition, notwithstanding its tastes are eco- 
 nomical. 
 
 t The State of Ohio, which contains a million of inhabitants, gives its 
 Governor a salary of only 1 ,200 dollars a year. [Now that its population 
 exceeds two millions, the Governor's salary has been raised to 1,800 dollars 
 — Am. Ed.J 
 
GOVERNMENT OF THE DEMOCRACY IX AMERICA. 
 
 lit I 
 
 higher 
 
 liis own humble u .<]hn<2;, iiiid tlie small earniniiis of his 
 jianl toil, he remembers all that he could do with a salary 
 which you judge to be insufficient, and he is startled and 
 almost t'riiihtened at the view of so nuich wealth. He- 
 sides, the secondary public officer is almost on a level with 
 the people, whilst the others are raised above them. The 
 former may therefore excite his symi)athy, but the latter 
 begin to arouse liis envy. 
 
 This is clearly seen in the United States, where the sal- 
 aries seem, if I may so speak, to decrease as the authority 
 of those who receive them is auiiniented.* 
 
 Under the rule of an aristocracy, on the contrary, the 
 hiiih officers receive munificent salaries, while the inferior 
 
 * To render tliis assertion perfectly evident, it will sutlice to examine the 
 Bcalc of salaries of tlic a;^ents of the Federal },'ovennnent. I have added 
 the salaries of the eorresponding offieera in France, to complete the eora- 
 parisou. 
 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 Trea<mry Department. 
 
 Messenger, $ 700 
 
 Clerk with lowest salary, . . 1,000 
 
 Clerk with hi;,fhest salary, . 1,600 
 
 Chief Clerk, 2,000 
 
 Secretary of State, . . . 6,000 
 
 The President, 25,000 
 
 FRANCE. 
 
 Miiii'stire de Finances. 
 Huissier, . . . 1,500 fr. (S300) 
 Clerk with lowest sala- 
 ry, 1,000 to 1,800 fr. ($200-360) 
 Clerk with hij^hest sala- 
 ry, 3,200 to 3,600 fr. (S 640 - 720) 
 Seeretaire-yeneral, 20,000 fr. (S 4,000) 
 The INIinistcr, 80,000 fr. (S 16,000) 
 The King, 12,000,000 fr. ($2,400,000) 
 
 [Since M. de Tocquevillc wrote, all these salaries of American officers, 
 except that of the President, have been somewhat enlarged ; but the addi- 
 tion made to them is not more than enough to make up for the increased 
 expenses of living. — Am. Ed.] 
 
 I have perhaps done wrong in selecting France as my standard of com- 
 parison. In France, as the democratic tendencies of the nation exercise an 
 ever-increasing influence upon the government, the Chambers show a dispo- 
 sition to raise the low salaries, and to lower the principal ones. Thus, the 
 Minister of Finance, who received 160,000 fr. under the Empire, receives 
 80,000 fr. in 1835; the Directeurs-G^ne'raux of Finance, who then received 
 50,000 fr., now receive only 20,000 fr. 
 
 •■i 
 

 278 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMF.RICA. 
 
 ones often have not more tlian enouf^li to procure the 
 iiecessiu'ieis of life. Tlio reason of tliis fact is easily dis- 
 coverable from causes very analogous to those wlii(;h I 
 have just pointed out. As a democracy is unable to con- 
 ceive the pleasures of the ricli, or to witness them without 
 envy, so an aristocracy is slow to understand the })rivation3 
 of the poor, or rather is unaccpiainted with tliem. The 
 poor man is not, properly speaking, of the same kind as 
 the rich one ; but he is a beino; of another s])ecies. An 
 aristocracy therefore cares but little for the condition of its 
 subordinate agents ; and tlieir salaries are raised only when 
 they refuse to serve for too scanty a remuneration. 
 
 It is the ))arsimonious conduct of democracy towards its 
 princij)al ofhcers, wliich has caused more economical i)ro- 
 pensities to be attributed to it tlian it really j)ossesses. It 
 is true that it scarcely allows the means of decent main- 
 tenance to those who conduct its affairs ; but it lavishes 
 enormous sums to succor the wants or facilitate the enjoy- 
 ments of the people.* The money raised by taxation may 
 be better emjjloyed ; but it is not economically used. In 
 general, democracy gives largely to the people, and very 
 sparingly to those who govern them. The reverse is the 
 case in aristocratic countries, where the money of the state 
 profits the persons who are at the head of affairs. 
 
 * See the American budgets for tlie support of paupers, and for gratui- 
 tous instruction. In 1831, over $250,000 were spent in the State of New 
 York for tlie maintenance of the poor ; and at least $ 1 ,000,000 were de- 
 voted to pultlic instruction. [In 1858, the total expenditure for the relief of 
 the poor in the State of New York was $1,491,391; and for coramoa 
 eohools, $ 3,653,995. — Aji. Ed.] The State of New York contained ouly 
 1,900,000 inhabitants in the year 1830, which is not more than double the 
 amount of population in the De'partement du Nord iu France. [lu 1855, the 
 population of New York was 3,466,212.] 
 
GOVKHNMKNT OF Till: DKMOCKACY IN AMI.IMCA. '2~\) 
 
 DIFFICULTY OF mSTINfJUISHIXO THE CAUSES WHTCII INCLINE 
 THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT TO ECONOMY. 
 
 We are liablo to ti'e(iiient errors iii seeking; anion*; tacts 
 for tlio real inHuencc wliieh laws exercise u[)on the late of 
 mankind, since nothing is more dilHcult to appreciate than 
 a liK't. (Jne nation is naturally fickle and enthusiastic ; 
 another is sober and calculatino; ; and these characteristies 
 originate in their physical constitution, or in remote causes 
 with which we are unaccjuainted. 
 
 There are nations which are fond of })arade, bustle, and 
 festivity, and which do not regret millions s})ent u})on the 
 gayeties of an hour. Others, on the contrary, are attached 
 to more quiet enjoyments, and seem almost ashamed of 
 aj)pearing to be pleased. In some countries, high \alue is 
 set upon the beauty of public edifices ; in others, the pro- 
 ductions of art are treated with indifference, and every- 
 thing which is un})roductive is regarded with contempt. 
 In some, renown, in others, money, is the ruling passion. 
 
 Independently of the laws, all these causes exercise a 
 powerful influence upon the conduct of the finances of 
 the state. If the Americans never spend the money of 
 the })eople in public festivities, it is not merely because the 
 taxes are under the control of the peo})le, but because the 
 people take no delight in festivities. If they repudiate all 
 ornament from their architecture, and set no store on any 
 but j)ractical and homely advantages, it is not because they 
 live under democratic institutions, but because they are a 
 commercial nation. The habits of private life are con- 
 tinued in public ; and we ought carefully to distinguish 
 that economy which depends upon their institutions fi*om 
 that which is the natural result of their habitudes and 
 manners. 
 
 rii 
 
m 
 
 H 
 
 280 
 
 DEMUCUACV IN AMllUCA. 
 
 
 M 
 
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 ■'v ^ 
 
 ' 
 
 WIIETHKIl TIIK KXPFNDITURK OK TUV. T'MTF.D STATK3 CAN 
 UK COMrAUKl) WITH THAT OK KIIANCK. 
 
 Two I'oiiitH to Iw fstiildislied in onUsr to cstiiiiato the KxU'fit of the I'ulilic 
 Cliarj;c.s, viz. tlio Nutioiml VVniltii, iind tliu Hutu of Taxation. — Tlio 
 Wcallli anil tlio Char^a-H of Fiance not accurately known. — Why the 
 Wciillh ami f!linrp'S of the riiioii cannot \<i' aciiiratciy known. — Uo 
 scaii'hcs of the Author to di.scovcr the Amount of Taxation of IVnn.><yl- 
 vania. — (iencral Syinptoins which may hcvo to indicate the Amount 
 of the I'uhlic Charges in a |;iven Nation. — Kcsult of tlii.s Investigation 
 for the Union. 
 
 Maxy attempts liavo recently been made in Franco to 
 compare the jmhlic e.xpenilitni'e of that country witli tlie 
 expenditure of the United States. All these attempts 
 have, however, been fruitless ; and a few words will suffice 
 to show that they could not have a satisfactory result. 
 
 In order to estimate the amount of the public charoes of 
 a peoi)le, two pri'liminaries are indispens;d)le : it is neces- 
 sary, in the first ])lace, to know the wealth of that people ; 
 and, in the second, to learn what portion of that wealth is 
 devoted to the expenditure of the state. To show the 
 amoinit of taxation without showino; the resources which 
 are destined to meet it, would be a futile task ; for it is not 
 the expenditure, but the relation of the expenditure to the 
 revenue, which it is desirable to know. The same rate of 
 taxation which may easily be supported by a wealthy con- 
 tributor will reduce a poor one to extreme misery. 
 
 The wealth of nations is composed of several elements ; 
 real property is the first of these, and personal property the 
 second. It is difficult to know precisely the amount of 
 cultivable lan'l in a country, and its natural or acquired 
 value ; and it is still more difficult to estimate the whole 
 personal property which is at the disposal of a nation, and 
 which eludes the strictest analysis by the diversity and the 
 number of shapes under which it may occur. And, in- 
 
in- 
 
 GOVKHN'MKN'T OF TIIK DKMOCKACY IN AMlilUCA. 281 
 
 (1('»'(1, wi> find tli;it tlic iiati()n>< (tf Kiiropo ulilcli luivf Im-ch 
 tlic IfdiLTt'^t civili/.iMl, incliidiii^' even tli(c>o in wiiifii the ml- 
 ministnition is most criitriili/i'd, have not succcidtMl, as yet, 
 in (Icti'rniinino; tlio exact amount of tiu'ir wealtii. 
 
 In /Vmerica, tiie atteinj»t has never been nii'le; tor liow 
 would bucli an investi<j;ation hi' |tossil)li' ii a new oiuitry, 
 where society has not yet settled into tixed and tran<|uil 
 liMl)its, — where the national i;overnnient is not a>si>ti'd hv 
 a Muiltitude of aijents whose exertions it can connnand and 
 direct to one end, — and wheri^ statistics an* not studied, 
 hecause no one is al»K' to collect the lU'cessarv <locumi'nts, 
 or find timi' to peruse them ? Thus the j»i-iniary eli'jnents 
 of the calculations w hich have heen niadi' in France can- 
 not be obtained in the Union ; the relatixc wealth of the 
 two countries is unknown : the property of the former is 
 not yet accurately determined, and no means exist of com- 
 putiuLi' that of the latter. 
 
 I consent therefore, for tlio moment, to al»andon this 
 necessary term of the comparison, and I confine myself to 
 a computation of the actual amount of taxation, without 
 investiiiatino; the ratio of tlie taxation to the revenue. 
 But the reader will perceive that my task lias not been 
 facilitated bv thus narrowini; the cinde (»f mv researches. 
 
 It cannot be doubted that the central administration of 
 France, assisted ])y all the public otttcers w ho are at its dis- 
 posal, might determine precisely the amount of the direct 
 and indirect taxes levied u})on the citizens. But this in- 
 vestigation, which no })rivate individual can inidertake, has 
 not hitherto been C(mipleted by the French government, 
 or, at least, its results have not been made public. We 
 are acquainted with the sum total of the charges of the 
 state ; we know the amonnt of the departmental expendi- 
 ture ; but the expenses of the communes have not been 
 computed, and the total of the public expenses of F'rance 
 is consequently unknown. 
 
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 282 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 If we now turn to America, we perceive that the diffi- 
 culties are multiplied and enhanced. Th . Union publishes 
 an exact return of the amount of its expenditure ; the 
 brtlgets of the four and twenty States publish similar re- 
 turns ; but the expenses of the counties and the townships 
 are unknown.* 
 
 * The Americans, as we have seen, have four separate budgets, — the 
 Union, the States, the counties, and the townships liaving each severally 
 their own. During my stay in America, I made every endeavor to dis- 
 cover tlie amount of the public expenditure in the townships and counties 
 of the principal States of the Union ; and I readily obtained the budget 
 of the larger townships, but found it quite impossible to procure that of the 
 smaller ones. I possess, however, some documents relating to county ex- 
 penses which, although incomplete, are still curious. I have to thank Mr. 
 Richards, former Mayor of Philadelphia, fur the budgets of thirteen of the 
 counties of Pennsylvania, — viz. Lebanon, Centre, Franklin, Fayette, Mont- 
 gomery, Luzerne, Dauphin, Butler, Alleghany, Columbia, Northampton, 
 Northumberland, and Philadelphia, — for the year 1830. Their population 
 at that time consisted of 495,207 inhabitants. On looking at the map of 
 Pennsylvania, it will be seen that these thirteen counties are scattered in 
 every direction, and so generally affected by the causes which usually influ- 
 ence the condition of a country, that they may fairly be supposed to turuish 
 a correct average of the financial state of the counties of Pennsylvania in 
 general. The expenses of these counties amounted, in the 3, ear 18.30, to 
 about $ 342,900, or nearly 69 cents for each inhabitant ; and, calculating 
 that each of them contributed in the same year about $ 2.43 towards the 
 Union, and about 72 cents to the State of Pennsylvania, it appears that they 
 each contril)utcd, as their share of all the public expenses (except those of 
 the townships), the sum of $3.84. This calculation is doubly incomplete, 
 as it applies only to a single year and to one part of the public charges ; but 
 it has at least the merit of not being conjectural. 
 
 [This estimate probably errs by excess. In the American Almanac for 
 1847, a careful computation, founded on numerous returns, makes the aggre- 
 gate of national expenditure for each inhabitant 97 cents ; of State expen- 
 diture, 50 cents ; of town or city, including county, expenditure, 92 cents ; 
 — making the total cost of government for each person $ 2.39. Mr. Liv- 
 ingston, in a calculation made in 1832, estimated the cost of government ia 
 the United States at an average of $2.15 for each person. In 1838, Mr. 
 H. C. Carey of Philadelphia estimated it at $2.19. Allowing for the dif- 
 ferences created by the lapse of years, these three estimates, founded oa in- 
 dependent data, agree remarkably well. — Am. Ed.] 
 
GOVERNMENT OF THE DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 283 
 
 The Foderiil authority cannot oLhge the State govern- 
 ments to throw any hght upon this point ; and even if 
 these o;ovcrnments were inclined to oive their simultaneous 
 aid, it may be doubted whetlier they are able to furnish a 
 satisfactory answer. Independently of the natural difficul- 
 ties of the task, the })olitical organizjition of the country 
 would hinder the success of their efibrts. The county and 
 town magistrates are not appointed by the authorities of 
 the State, and are not subjected to their control. It is 
 therefore allowable to suppose, that, even if the State was 
 desirous of obtaining the returns which we re(][uire, its de- 
 siiin would be counteracted by the neglect of those subor- 
 dinate officers whom it would be obliged to employ.* It is 
 
 * Tliose wlio have attempted to compare tlie expenses of France and 
 America have at once perceived, tliat no sucii comparison could he drawn 
 hutwcen tiie total expenditm-cs of tlie two countries ; hut they have endeav- 
 ored to contrast detached portions of this expenditure. It may readily ho 
 shown, that this second system is not at all less defective than the first. 
 
 If I attempt to compare the French hudjret with the hudf^et of the Union, 
 it must he rcinemhered that the latter cmhvaces much fewer ohjects than the 
 centralized government of the former country, and that the American expen- 
 diture must consequently he much smaller. If I contrast the hudgets of the 
 departments with those of tlie States wliich constitute the Union, it must he 
 ohserved, that, as the States have the supervision of more numerous and 
 important interests tlian the departments, their expenditure is naturally 
 more considcrahle. As for the hudgets of the counties, nothing of the kind 
 occurs in the French system of finances ; and it is douhtful whether the cor- 
 responding expenses in France should he referred to the hudget of the state, 
 or to those of the municipal divisions. 
 
 ISIunicipal expenses exist in hotli countries, hut they are not always analo- 
 gous. In America, the townships discharge a variety of ofKces which are 
 rcscn'cd in France to the departments, or to the state. It nuiy, moreover, 
 l)e asked what is to he understood hy the municipal expenses of America. 
 The organization of the municipal hodies or townships dift'ers in the several 
 States. Are we to he guided by what occurs in New England or in 
 Georgia, in Pennsylvania or in Illinois 1 
 
 A kind of analogy may very readily he perceived between certain budgets 
 in the two countries ; but as the elements of which they are composed al- 
 ways ditler more or less, uo fair comparison can be instituted between them. 
 
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 28-1 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 in fact useless to inquire what tlie Americans might do to 
 forward this incjuiry, since it is certain that they liave hith- 
 erto done notliino;. Tliere does not exist a single individ- 
 ual at the present day, in America or in Europe, Avho can 
 inform us what each citizen of the Union annually con- 
 tributes to the public charges of the nation.* 
 
 Hence Ave must conclude, that it is no less difficult to 
 coni[)are the social expenditure, than it is to estimate the 
 relative wealth, of France and America. I will even add, 
 that it would be dangerous to attempt this comparison ; 
 for when statistics are not based upon computations which 
 
 * Even if we knew the exact pecuniary contrihutions of every French 
 and American citi/en to the coffers of the state, we slioukl only come at a 
 portion of tiie trutli. Governments not only demand su))plies of money, 
 but call for personal services, which may he looked upon as equivalent to a 
 given sum. When a state raises an army, besides the pay of tiie troops 
 which is furiiislied by the entire nation, each soldier must give up his time, 
 the value of which depends on the use he might make of it if he were not 
 in the service. Tlie same remark applies to the militia ; the citizen who is 
 in the militia devotes a certain portion of valuable time to the maintenance 
 of the public security, and in reality surrenders to the state those earnings 
 which he is prevented from gaining. Many other instances might be cited. 
 Tlie governments of France and America both levy taxes of this kind, which 
 weigh upon the citizens ; but who can estimate with accuracy their relative 
 amount in the two countries 1 
 
 This, however, is not the last of the difficulties which prever., us from 
 comparing the expenditure of the Union with that of France. The French 
 government contracts certain obligations which are not assumed by the state 
 in America, and vim vcrsu. The French government pays the clergy ; in 
 America, the voluntary principle prevails. In America, there is a legal pro- 
 vision for the poor ; in France, they are abandoned to the charity of the 
 public. The French public officers are paid by a fixed salary ; in America, 
 they are allowed certain perquisites. In France, contributions in labor take 
 place on very few roads, — in America, upon almost all the thoroughfare? : 
 in the former country, the roads are free to all travellers ; in the latter, turn- 
 pikes abound. All these differences in the manner in which taxes are levied 
 in the two countries enhance the difficulty of comparing their expenditure ; 
 for there are certain expenses which the citizens would not be subject to, or 
 which would at any rate be less considerable, if the state did not undertake 
 to act in their name. 
 
 _w^j. A- * 
 
GOVERNMENT OF THE DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 28-") 
 
 are strictly accurate, they mislead instead of guiding aright. 
 The mind is easily imposed upon by the affectation of ex- 
 actitude which marks even the misstatements of statistics ; 
 and it adopts with confidence the errors which are appar- 
 elled in the forms of mathematical truth. 
 
 AVe abandon, therefore, the numerical investigation, with 
 the hoj)e of meeting with data of another kind. In the 
 absence of positive documents, we may form an oj)inion as 
 to the ])roportion which the taxation of a ])eople bears to 
 its real wealth, by observing whether its external appear- 
 ance is flourishing; whether, after having paid the dues of 
 the state, the poor man retains the means of subsistence, 
 and the rich the means of enjoyment ; and whether both 
 classes seem contented with their })osition, seeking,- how- 
 ever, to ameliorate it by perpetual exertions, so that industry 
 is never in want of capital, nor capital unemployed by in- 
 dustry. The observer who draws his inferences from these 
 signs w^ill, undoubtedly, be led to the conclusion, that the 
 American of the United States contributes a much smaller 
 portion of his income to the state than the citizen of 
 France. Nor, indeed, can the result be otherwise. 
 
 A portion of the French debt is the consequence of tw^o 
 invasions ; and the Union has no similar calamity to fear. 
 The position of France obliges it to maintain a large stand- 
 ing army ; the isolation of the Union enables it to have 
 only six thousand soldiers. The French have a fleet of 
 three hundred sail ; the Americans have [18o2] only fifty- 
 two vessels. How, then, can the inhabitant of the Union 
 be taxed as heavily as the inhabitant of France ? No i)ar- 
 allel can be drawn between the finances of two countries 
 so differently situated. 
 
 It is by examining what actually takes place in the Un- 
 ion, and not by comparing the Union with France, that we 
 can judge whether the American government is really 
 economical. On casting my eyes over the different re- 
 
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 286 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
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 publics which form the confederation, I perceive that their 
 governments often lack perseverance in their undertakings, 
 and that they exercise no steady control over the men 
 whom they employ. I naturally infer that they must often 
 spend the money of the people to no purpose, or consume 
 more of it than is really necessary for their enterprises. 
 Faithful to its popular origin, the government makes great 
 efforts to satisfy the wants of the lower orders, to open to 
 them the road to power, and to diffuse knowledge and 
 comfort among them. The poor are maintained, immense 
 sums are annually devoted to public instruction, all services 
 are remunerated, and the humblest agents are liberally 
 paid. This kind of government appears to be useful and 
 rational, but I am constrained to admit that it is expensive. 
 
 Wherever the poor direct public affairs, and dispose of 
 the national resources, it appears certain that, as they profit 
 by the expenditure of the state, they will often augment 
 that expenditure. 
 
 I conclude, therefore, without having recourse to inaccu- 
 rate statistics, and without hazarding a comparison which 
 might prove incorrect, that the democratic government of 
 the Americans is not a cheap government, as is sometimes 
 asserted ; and I fear not to predict that, if the United States 
 are ever involved in serious difficulties, taxation will speed- 
 ily be raised as high there a 5 in most of the aristocracies or 
 the monarchies of Europe. 
 
 CORRUPTION AND THE VICES OF THE RULERS IN A DEMOCRA- 
 CY, AND CONSEQUENT EFFECTS UPON PUBLIC MORALITY. 
 
 Iq Aristocracies, Rulers sometimes endeavor to corrupt the People. — In 
 Democracies, Rulers frequently show themselves to be corrupt. — In the 
 former, their Vices are directly prejudicial to the Morality of the People. 
 — In the latter, their indirect Influence is still more pernicious. 
 
 A DISTINCTION must be made, when aristocracies and 
 democracies mutuallv accuse each other of facilitatino; cor- 
 
•acies or 
 
 GOVERNMENT OF THE DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 287 
 
 riiption. In aristocratic governments, those wlio are placed 
 at tlie lieatl of affairs are rich men, wlio are desirous only 
 of power. In democracies, statesmen are poor, and have 
 tlieir fortunes to make. The consequence is, that, in aris- 
 tocratic states, the rulers are rarely accessihle to corrup- 
 tion, and have little craving for money ; whilst the reverse 
 is the case in democratic nations. 
 
 But in aristocracies, as those who wish to attain the head 
 of affairs possess considerable wealth, and as the number 
 of persons by whose assistance they may rise is compara- 
 tively small, the government is, if I may so speak, put up 
 at auction. In democracies, on the contrary, those who 
 are covetous of power are seldom wealthy, and the number 
 of those who confer power is extremely great. Perhaps, in 
 democracies, the number of men who miMit be bouiiht is 
 
 " or? 
 
 not smaller, but buyers are rarely to be found ; and, be- 
 sides, it would be necessary to buy so many persons at 
 once, that the attempt would be useless. 
 
 Many of the men who have governed France during the 
 last forty years have been accused of making their fortunes 
 at the expense of the state or its allies ; a reproach which 
 was rarely addressed to the public men of the old mon- 
 archy. But in France, the practice of bribing electors is 
 almost unknown, whilst it is notoriously and publicly car- 
 ried on in England. In the United States, I never heard 
 any one accused of spending his wealth in buying votes ; 
 but I have often heard the probity of public officers ques- 
 tioned ; still more frequently have I heard their success 
 attributed to low intrigues and immoral practices. 
 
 If, then, the men who conduct an aristocracy sometimes 
 endeavor to corrupt the people, the heads of a democracy 
 are themselves corrupt. In the former case, the morality 
 of the people is directly assailed ; in the latter, an indirect 
 influence is exercised which is still more to be dreaded. 
 
 As the rulers of democratic nations are almost always 
 
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 DKMOCRACY IX AMEIHCA. 
 
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 suspected of dislionorable coiuluct, they in some measure 
 lend tlie autliority of tlie government to tlie base practices 
 of wliicli they are accused. They thus afford dangerous 
 exanij)les, wliicli discourage the struggles of virtuous inde- 
 pendence and cloak with authority the secret designs of 
 wickedness. If it be asserted that evil passions are found 
 in all raid-cs of society ; that they ascend the throne by 
 hereditary right ; and that we may find despicable charac- 
 ters at the head of aristocratic nations, as well as in the 
 bosom of a democracy, — the plea has but little weight in 
 my estimation. The corruption of men who have casually 
 risen to power has a coarse and vulgar infection in it, 
 which renders it dangerous to the multitude. On the con- 
 trary, there is a kind of aristocratic refinement, and an air 
 of grandeur, in the depravity of the gi-eat, which frequently 
 prevent it from spreading abroad. 
 
 The people can never penetrate into the dark labyrinth 
 of court intrigue, and will always have difficulty in detect- 
 ing the turpitude which lurks under elegant manners, re- 
 fined tastes, and gracefld language. But to pillage the 
 public pui'se, and to sell the favors of the state, are arts 
 which the meanest villain can understand, and hope to 
 practise in his turn. 
 
 Besides, what is to be feared is, not so much the immo- 
 rality of the great, as the fact that immorality may lead to 
 greatness. In a democracy, private citizens see a man of 
 their own rank in life, who rises from that obscure position 
 in a few years to riches and power ; the spectacle excites 
 their surprise and their cnvj ; and they are led to inquire 
 how the person who was yesterday tlieir equal, is to-day 
 their ruler. To attribute his rise to his talents or his vir- 
 tues is unpleasant ; for it is tacitly to acknowledge that 
 they are themselves less virtuous or less talented than he 
 was. They are therefore led, and often rightly, to im])ute 
 his success mainly to some of his vices ; and an odious 
 
GOVERNMENT OF THE DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 280 
 
 connoetion is thus formed between the ideas of turpi- 
 tude and power, unwortliiness and success, utility and 
 disl)onor. 
 
 EFFORTS OF WHICH A DEMOCllACY IS CAPABLE. 
 
 The Union lias only had one Struf.'<;le hitiicrto for its Existence. — Knthu- 
 siusin at the Comment'cnicut of the War. — Iiiditference towards its 
 Close. — Difficulty of cstahlishinj^ Military Conscription or Iniprcss- 
 nieiit of Seamen in America. — Why a Democratic I'eople is less capa- 
 ble than any other of sustained Etibrt. 
 
 I WARN the reader that I here speak of a government 
 wliich follows the real will of the people, and not of a gov- 
 ernment which simply commands in their name. Nothing 
 is so irresistible as a tyrannical power commanding in the 
 name of the peo})le, because, whilst wielding the moral 
 ]K)wer Avhich belongs to the will of the greater number, it 
 acts at the same time with the quickness and persistence of 
 a single man. 
 
 It is difficult to say what den;ree of effort a democratic 
 government may be capable of making on the occurrence 
 of a national crisis. No great democratic republic has 
 hitherto existed in the world. To style the oligarchy 
 wl.'i^'h ruled over France in 1793 by that name, woidd be 
 an insult to the republican form of government. The 
 United States afford the first example of the kind. 
 
 The American Union has now subsisted for half a cen- 
 tury, and its existence has only once been attacked, 
 namely, during the War of Independence. At the com- 
 mencement of that long war, extraordinary efforts were 
 made with enthusiasm for the service of the country.* 
 
 ♦ One of the most singular, in my opinion, was the resolution which the 
 Americans took of temporarily abandoning the use of tea. Those who 
 know that men usually cling more to their habits than to their life, will 
 doubtless admire this great though obscure sacrifice, wliich was made by a 
 whole people. 
 
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 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 But as the contest was prolonged, private selfishness began 
 to reappear. No money was brought into the public treas- 
 ury ; few recruits could be raised for the army ; the jjcople 
 still wished to acquire independence, but would not em- 
 ploy the only means by which it could be obtained. "Tax 
 laws," says Hamilton, in the Federalist (No. 12), "• have in 
 vain been multi})lied ; new methods to enforce the collec- 
 tion have in vain been tried ; the public expectation has 
 been uniformly disappointed ; and the treasuries of the 
 States have remained empty. The popular system of ad- 
 ministration inherent in the nature of popular government, 
 coinciding with the real scarcity of money incident to a 
 languid and mutilated state of trade, has hitherto defeated 
 every experiment for extensive collections, and has at 
 length taught the different legislatures the folly of attempt- 
 ing them." 
 
 Since that period, the United States have not had a shi- 
 gle serious war to carry on. In order, therefore, to know 
 what sacrifices democratic nations may impose upon them- 
 selves, we must wait until the American people are obliged 
 to put half their entire income at the disposal of the gov- 
 ernment, as was done by the English ; or to send forth a 
 twentieth part of its population to the field of battle, as 
 was done by France. 
 
 In America, the conscription is unknown, and men are 
 induced to enlist by bounties.* The notions and habits of 
 the people of the United States are so opposed to compul- 
 sory recruiting, that I do not think it can ever be sanc- 
 tioned by the laws. What is termed the conscription in 
 France, is assuredly the lieaviest tax upon the people ; yet 
 how could a great Continental war be carried on without 
 
 * It is not entirely correct to say that the conscription is unknown in the 
 United States. Troops were drafted from the militia occasionally during 
 the Revolution, and in the course of the war with England in 1812. — Am. 
 Eo. 
 
GOVERNMENT OF THE DEMOCRACY IX AMERICA. 201 
 
 it ? The Americans liave not adoptovl tlio Britisli practice 
 of impressing seamen, and tliey liave notliing wliicli cor- 
 responds to the French system of maritime conscription ; 
 tlie navy, as well as the merchant service, is sui)[»hed by 
 volnnteers. But it is not easy to conceive liow a ju-ople 
 can sustain a great maritime W!ir, witliout having recourse 
 to one or tlie other of these two systems. Indeed, the 
 Union, which has already fought with honor u})on tlie seas, 
 has never had a numerous fleet, and the ec^uipment of its 
 few vessels has always been very expensive. 
 
 I have heard American statesmen confess, that the Un- 
 ion will with difficulty maintain its power on tlie seas, 
 without adopting the system of impressment or maritime 
 conscription; but the difficulty is to induce the people, 
 who exercise the supreme authority, to submit to such 
 measures. 
 
 It is incontestable that, in times of danger, a free people 
 display far more energy than any other. But I incline to 
 believe that this is especially true of those free nations in 
 which the aristocratic element preponderates. Democracy 
 appears to me better adapted for the conduct of society in 
 times of peace, or for a sudden effort of remarkable vigor, 
 than for the prolonged endurance of the great storms 
 which beset the political existence of nations. The reason 
 is very evident ; enthusiasm prompts men to expose them- 
 selves to dangers and privations ; but without reflection, 
 they will not support them long. There is more calcula- 
 tion even in the imi)ulses of bravery, than is generally 
 supposed ; and although the iirst eftbrts are made by pas- 
 sion alone, perseverance is mainiained only by a distinct 
 view of Avhat one is fighting for. A portion of what is 
 dear to us is hazarded, in order to save the remainder. 
 
 But it is this clear perception of the future, founded 
 upon judgment and experience, which is freipiently want- 
 ing in democracies. The people are more apt to feel than 
 
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 DKMOCUACV IN AMKHICA. 
 
 to reason ; and if tlieir prosent sufforinrjs are gi'cat, it is to 
 be feared tliat tlio still greater sufferings attendant upon 
 defeat will be foro-otten. 
 
 Anotlier cause tends to render tbe efforts of a demo- 
 cratic government less persevering than tliose of an aris- 
 tocracy. Not only are the lower less awake than the 
 higher orders to the good or evil chances of the future, but 
 they suffer more acutely from j)resent privations. The 
 U'tble exposes his life, indeed, but the cliance of f^lory is 
 ecjual to the chance of liarm. If lie sacrifices a large por- 
 tion of his income to the state, he deprives himself for a 
 time of some of tlie pleasures of affluence ; but to the poor 
 man, death has no glory, and the imposts which are 
 merely irksome to the rich often deprive him of the neces- 
 saries of life. 
 
 This relative weakness of democratic republics in critical 
 times is, perhaps, the greatest obstacle to the foundation of 
 such a republic in Europe. In order that one such state 
 should exist in the European world, it would be necessary 
 that similar institutions should be simultaneously intro- 
 duced into all the other nations. 
 
 I am of opinion that a democratic government tends, in 
 the long run, to increase the real strength of society ; but 
 it can never combine, upon a single point and at a given 
 time, so much power as an aristocracy or an absolute mon- 
 archy. If a democratic country remained during a whole 
 century subject to a republican government, it would prob- 
 ably, at the end of that period, be richer, more populous, 
 and more prosperous, than the neighboring despotic states. 
 But during that century, it would often have incurred the 
 risk of being conquered by them. 
 
GOVERNMENT OF THE DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 1^1)3 
 
 SELF-CONTROL OF THE AMERICAN DEMOCRACY. 
 
 The American People accjuiescc slowly, and sometimes do not acquiesce, in 
 wliat is benciicittl to its Interests. — Tiio Faults of tlio Anicriean De- 
 mocracy are, for the most part, reparal)le. 
 
 The difficulty which a democracy finds in conqiu'rini; 
 tlie passions and subduing the desires of the moment fnjm 
 a view to tlie future, is obsei'vable in the United States in 
 the most trivial things. Tiie [)eo]>le, surrounded l)y flat- 
 terers, find great difficulty in surmounting their inclina- 
 tions ; whenever they are required to undergo a jtrivation 
 or any inconvenience, even to attain an end sanctioni-d by 
 their own rational conviction, they almost always refuse at 
 first to comply. The deference of the Americans' to the 
 laws has been justly applauded ; but it must be added, that, 
 in America, the legislation is made by the peoi)le and for 
 the people. Consequently, in the United States, the law 
 favors those classes which elsewhere are most interested in 
 evading it. It may therefore be supposed, that an offen- 
 sive law, of which the majority should not see the imme- 
 diate utility, would either not be enacted or not obeyed. 
 
 In America, there is no law against fraudulent bank- 
 ruptcies, not because they are few, but because they are 
 many. The dread of being prosecuted as a bankrupt is 
 greater in the minds of the majority than the fear of being 
 ruined by the bankruptcy of others ; and a sort of guilty 
 tolerance is extended by the public conscience to an offence 
 which every one condemns in his individual capacity. In 
 the new States of the Southwest, the citizens generally 
 take justice into their own hands, and murders are of fre- 
 quent occurrence. This arises from the rude manners and 
 the io;norance of the inhabitants of those deserts, who do 
 not perceive the utility of strengthening the law, and who 
 prefer duels to prosecutions. 
 
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 DEMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 Soino Olio ()bsorvt!(l to mo ono diiy, in Phihulolpliiji, tliat 
 almost all (rimes In Amorica aro causod by tho abiiso of 
 intoxicating liijuors, wliicii the; lowor olasso.s can procnro in 
 ^roat abundance from tlioir clieapness. " How comes it," 
 said I, " tliat you do not put a (hity upon brandy V " 
 "■Our leo;islators," rejoined my informant, " liave fre- 
 (juently thoun;lit of this expedient ; l)ut tiie task is dilH- 
 cuit : a revolt mi^lit bo ap[)reliended ; and the members 
 who should vote for such a law would bo sure of losinu- 
 their seats." " Whence I am to infer," replied I, '' that 
 drunkards aro tho majority in your country, and that tem- 
 ])oranco is unpopular." 
 
 AVlien these thin<;s are pointed out to tho American 
 statesmen, they answer, " Leave it to time, and experi- 
 ence of tho evil will teach tho people their true interests." 
 This is frequently true : though a democracy is more liable 
 to error than a monarch or a body of nobles, the chances 
 of its regaining tho right path, when once it has acknowl- 
 edged its mistake, are greater also ; because it is rarely 
 embarrassed by interests which conflict with those of the 
 majority, and resist tho authority of reason. But a de- 
 mocracy can obtain truth only as the result of experience ; 
 and many nations may perish whilst they are awaiting tho 
 consequences of their errors. The great privilege of the 
 Americans does not consist in being more enlightened than 
 other nations, but in being able to repair the faults they 
 may commit. 
 
 It must be added, that a democracy cannot profit by 
 past experience, unless it has arrived at a certain pitch of 
 knowledge and civilization. There are nations whose first 
 education has been so vicious, and whose character pre- 
 sents so strange a mixture of passion, ignorance, and erro- 
 neous notions upon all subjects, that they are unable to 
 discern the causes of their own wretchedness, and they fall 
 a sacrifice to ills of which they are ignorant. 
 
 «itiii 
 
GOVr.nNMKXT OF THE DKMOCKACY IN AMKIMCA. 295 
 
 I liavi' crossi'd vast tracts of country foriuci'ly iiiliahitcd 
 hy ]M>\vcrrul Indian nations wlio ai'i' now extinct ; I liave 
 passed sonic time anion;^ rcnniants of tril)cs, wliicli wit- 
 ness tlie daily decline of tlieir iiunilxTs, and of tlie ;:;lory 
 of tlieii* indei>i'ndcnce ; and I have lu-ard these Indians 
 tiienisi'lves anticipate the imp* iidin;:; doom of their race. 
 Every lOuropean can ])erceive means which would rescue 
 tlieso unfortunate heings from tlu» destruction otherwises 
 inevitahle. They alone are insensihle to the ri'mcdy ; they 
 Icel the woes which year after year hca]»s uj)on their 
 heads, but they will pi-rish to a man without accepting 
 the cure. Force wcjuld liave to bo employed to compel 
 them to live. 
 
 Tiie incessant revohitions whicli have convulsed the 
 South American states for the last quarter of a century 
 are regarded with astonishment, and we are constantly 
 jiopino; that, erelong, they will retiu'n to -what is called 
 their natural state. But who can affirm tbat revolutions 
 arc not, at the present time, the most natural state of the 
 South American Spaniards ? In that country, society is 
 struofilino; in the dei)ths of an abyss wlience its own efforts 
 are insufficient to rescue it. The inhabitants of that fliir 
 portion of the Western hemisphere seem obstinately bent 
 on the work of destroying each other. If they fall into 
 momentary quiet, from exhaustion, that repose soon pre- 
 pares them for a new frenzy. When I consider their con- 
 dition, alternating between misery and crime, I am tempt- 
 ed to believe that despotism itself would be a blessing to 
 them, if it were possible that the words despotism and 
 blessing could ever be united in my mind. 
 
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 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
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 CONDUCT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS BY THE AMERICAN 
 
 DEMOCRACY. 
 
 Direction jfivcn to tho Foreign Policy of tlic Uiiltcd States by Wasliinfrton 
 and Jefferson. — Almost all the Defects inherent in Democratic Institu- 
 tions arc hroug-ht to Lijiht in the Conduct of Foreign Aflairs; their Ad- 
 vantages are less perceptible. 
 
 We liave seen that the Federal Constitution intrusts the 
 permanent direction of tlie external interests of the nation 
 to the President and the Senate,* Avhicli tends in some de- 
 gree to detach the general foreign jiolicy of the Union from 
 the direct control of the people. It cannot, therefore, be 
 asserted with truth, that the foreign affairs of the state are 
 conducted by the democracy. 
 
 The jiolicy of America received a direction from two 
 men, — Washington and Jefferson, — which it observes to 
 the present day. Washington said, in the admirable Fare- 
 well Address which he made to his fellow-citizens, and 
 which may be regarded as his political testament : — 
 
 " Tho oreat rule of conduct for us in reo-ard to foreion 
 nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have 
 with them as little ^)t>?«V/ca? connection as possible. So far 
 as we have already formed engagements, let them be ful- 
 filled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. 
 
 " Europe has a set of primary interests, which to us 
 have none, or a very remote relation. Hence she must 
 be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which 
 are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, 
 it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves, by artifi- 
 cial ties, in the ordinaiy vicissitudes of her politics, or the 
 
 * " The President," says the rionstitution, Art. II. sect. 2, § 2, " sliall 
 have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to make 
 treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators prcscnt concur." The reader 
 is reminded that the Senators arc returned for a term of six years, and that 
 they arc chosen by the legislature of each State. 
 
GOVERXMKXT OF THE DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 297 
 
 orcHnaiy combinations vind collisions of licr friendships or 
 enmities. 
 
 " Onr detached and distant situation invites and enables 
 us to pursue a dift'erent course. If we remain one people, 
 under an efficient government, the period is not far off 
 when we may defy material injury from external annoy- 
 ance ; when we may take such an attitude as will cause 
 the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be 
 scrupulously respected ; Avhen bellio-erent nations, under 
 the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, Avill not 
 lightly hazard the giving us provocation ; when we may 
 choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, 
 shall counsel. 
 
 " Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation ? 
 Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground ? Why, 
 by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Eu- 
 I'ope, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of 
 European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor, or caprice ? 
 
 " It is our true policy to steer clear of j)ermanent alli- 
 ances with any portion of the foreign world, — so far, I 
 mean, as we are now at liberty to do it ; for let me not be 
 T- iderstood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing 
 engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to j)ub- 
 lic than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best 
 policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be 
 observed in their genuine sense ; but in my opinion it is 
 unnecessary, and would be unwise, to extend them. 
 
 " Taking care always to keep ourselves, by suitable es- 
 tabliohments, in a respectable defensive posture, we may 
 safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emer- 
 gencies." 
 
 In a previous part of the same Address, Washington 
 makes this admirable and just remark : " The nation which 
 indulges towards another an habitual hatred, or an habit- 
 ual fondness, is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its 
 
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 298 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 animosity or to its affection, either of wliicli is sufficient to 
 lead it astray from its duty and its interest." 
 
 Tiie political conduct of Washington was always guided 
 by these maxims. Ho succeeded in maintaining his coun- 
 try in a state of peace whilst all the other nations of the 
 globe were at war ; and he laid it down as a fundamental 
 doctrine, that the true interest of the Americans consisted 
 in a i)erfect neutrality with regard to the internal dissen- 
 sions of the European powers. 
 
 Jefferson went still further, and introduced this other 
 maxim into the policy of the Union, — that "the Amer- 
 icans ought never to solicit any privileges from foreign 
 nations, in order not to be obliged to grant similar privi- 
 leges themselves. 
 
 These two principles, so plain and just as to be easily 
 understood by the people, have greatly simplified the for- 
 eign policy of the United States. As the Union takes no 
 part in the affairs of Europe, it has, properly speaking, no 
 foreign interests to discuss, since it has, as yet, no powerful 
 neighbors on the American continent. The country is as 
 much removed from the passions of the Old World by its 
 position as by its wishes, and it is neither called upon to 
 repudiate nor to espouse them ; whilst the dissensions of 
 the New World are still concealed within the bosom of the 
 future. 
 
 The Union is free from all pre-existing obligations ; it 
 can profit by the experience of the old nations of Europe, 
 without being obliged, as they are, to make the best of the 
 past, and to adapt it to their present circumstances. It is 
 not, like them, compelled to accept an immense inheritance 
 bequeathed by their forefathers, — an inheritance of glory 
 mingled with calamities, and of alliances conflicting with 
 national antipathies. The foreign policy of tlie United 
 States is eminently expectant ; it consists more in abstain- 
 ing than in acting. 
 
GOVERNMENT OF THE DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 299 
 
 It is therefore very difficult to ascertain, at present, what 
 degree of sagacity the American democracy will display in 
 the conduct of the foreign policy of the country ; u})on 
 this point, its adversaries as well as its friends must sus- 
 pend their judgment. As for myself, I do not hesitate to 
 say that it is especially in the conduct of their foreign rela- 
 tions that democracies appear to me decidedly inferior to 
 other governments. Experience, instruction, and habit al- 
 most always succeed in creating in a democracy a homely 
 species of practical wisdom, and that science of the l)etty 
 occurrences of life which is called j>ood sense. Good sense 
 may suffice to direct the ordinary course of society ; and 
 amongst a people whose education is comjjleted, the advan- 
 tages of democratic liberty in the internal affiiirs of the 
 country may more than compensate for the evils inherent 
 in a democratic government. But it is not always so in 
 the relations with foreign nations. 
 
 Foreign politics demand scarcely any of those qualities 
 which are peculiar to a democracy ; they require, on the 
 contrary, the perfect use of almost all those in which it is 
 deficient. Democracy is favorable to the increase of the 
 internal resources of a state ; it diffuses w^ealth and com- 
 fort, promotes public spirit, and fortifies the respect for law 
 in all classes of society : all these are advantages which 
 have only an indirect influence over the relations which 
 one people bears to another. But a democracy can only 
 with great difficulty regulate the details of an important 
 undertaking, persevere in a fixed design, and work out its 
 execution in spite of serious obstacles. It cannot combine 
 its measures with secrecy, or await their consequences with 
 patience. These are qualities which more especially be- 
 long to an individual or an aristocracy ; and they are pre- 
 cisely the qualities by which a nation, like an individual, 
 attains a dominant position. 
 
 If, on the contraiy, we observe the natural defects of 
 
 IV; 
 
300 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AJIKRICA. 
 
 11 
 
 M l 
 
 aristocracy, we shall find that, comparatively speaking, 
 they do not injure the direction of the external affairs of 
 the state. The capital fault of which aristocracies may be 
 accused is, that they work for themselves, and not for the 
 people. In foreign politics, it is rare for the interest of the 
 aristocracy to be distinct from that of the people. 
 
 The propensity which induces democracies to obey im- 
 I)ulse rather than prudence, and to abandon a mature de- 
 sign for the gratification of a momentary passion, was 
 clearly seen in America on the breakino; out of the French 
 Revolution. It was then as evident to the simplest capaci- 
 ty, as it is at the present time, that the interest of the 
 Americans forbade them to take any part in the contest 
 which was about to deluge Europe with blood, but which 
 could not injure their own country. But the sympathies 
 of the people declared themselves with so much violence in 
 favor of France, that noining but the inflexible character 
 of Washington, and the immense popularity which he en- 
 joyed, could have prevented the Americans from declaring 
 war against Englar.d. And even then, the exertions which 
 the austere reason of that great man made to repress the 
 generous but imprudent passions of his fellow-citizens near- 
 ly deprived him of the sole recompense which he ever 
 claimed, — that of his coi iitry's love. The majority rep- 
 robated his policy, but it was afterwards approved by the 
 whole nation * 
 
 * See the fifth volume of Marshall's " Life of Washington." " In a 
 government constituted Uke that of the United States," he says, "it is im- 
 possible for tlie chief magistrate, however firm he may be, to oppose for any 
 length of time the torrent of popular opinion ; and the prevalent opinion of 
 that day seemed to incline to war. In fact, in the session of Congress held 
 at the time, it was frequently seen that Washington had lost the majority in 
 the House of Representatives." The violence of the language used against 
 him in public was extreme, and, in a political meeting, they did not scruple 
 to compare him indirectly with the traitor Arnold. " By the opposition," 
 says Marshall, " the friends of the administration were declared to be an 
 
 
GOVERNMENT OK THE DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 30l 
 
 If the Constitution and the flivor of the puhlic liad not 
 intrusted the direction of the forei<^n afi'airs of tlie country 
 to Wasliington, it is certain tliat the American nation 
 would at that time have adopted the very measures which 
 it now condemns. 
 
 Almost all the nations which have exercised a powerful 
 influence upon the destinies of the world, by conceivino;, 
 followino; out, and executincj vast desio;ns, from the Romans 
 to the Enolish, have been governed bv aristocratic insti- 
 lutions. Nor will this be a subject of wonder, when we 
 recollect that nothing in the world has so absolute a fixity 
 of puri)0se as an aristocracy. The mass of the people may 
 be led astray by ignorance or passion ; the mind of a king 
 may be biassed, and made to vacillate in his designs', and, 
 besides, a king is not immortal. But an aristocratic body 
 is too numerous to be led astray by intrigue ; and yet not 
 numerous enough to yield readily to the intoxication of 
 unreflecting passion. An aristocracy is a firm and en- 
 lightened individual that never dies. 
 
 % 
 
 *, 
 
 aristocratic and corrupt faction, who, from a desire to introduce monarchy, 
 were hostile to France, and under the influence of Britain ; that they were 
 a paper nobility, whose extreme .sensibility at every measure which thi'cat- 
 cned the funds induced a tame su])mission to injuries and insults which the 
 interests and honor of the nation required them to resist." 
 
302 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKIilCA. 
 
 ■I if 
 
 II 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 i 
 
 h'i 
 
 ■ ' [ 
 
 1 
 
 ■♦■;■ 
 
 J, it . 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 WHAT ARE THE REAL ADVANTAGES WHICH AMERICAN SOCI- 
 ETY DERIVES FROM A DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT. 
 
 BEFORE entering upon the present cliapter, I must 
 remind tlie reader of what I have more than once ob- 
 served in tliis book. The pohtical constitution of the United 
 States appears to me to be one of tlie forms of government 
 which a democracy may adopt ; but I do not regard the 
 American Constitution as the best, or as the only one, 
 which ii democratic people may establish. In showing the 
 advantages which the Americans derive fi'om the govern- 
 ment of democracy, I am therefore very far from affirming, 
 or believing, that similar advantages can be obtained only 
 from the same laws. 
 
 GENERAL TENDENCY OF THE LAWS UNDER THE AMERICAN 
 DEMOCRACY, AND INSTINCTS OF THOSE WHO APPLY 
 THEM. 
 
 Defects of a Democratic Government easy to be discovered. — Its Advan- 
 tages discerned only by long Observation. — Democracy in America 
 often inexpert, but the general Tendency of tlie Laws is advantageous. 
 — In the American Democracy, Public Officers have no Permanent In- 
 terests distinct from those of the Majority. — Results of this State of 
 Things. 
 
 The defects and weaknesses of a democratic govern- 
 ment may readily be discovered ; they are demonstrated by 
 flagrant instances, whilst its salutary influence is insensible, 
 and, so to speak, occidt. A glance suffices to detect its 
 
ADVANTAGES OF DEMOCIiACY. 
 
 803 
 
 faults, but its good qualities can bo cliscorned only by lono- 
 observation. The laws of the American democracy are 
 frequently defective or incomplete ; they sometimes attack 
 vested rin;lits, or sanction others which are dangerous to 
 the community ; and even if they were good, their fre- 
 quency would still be a great evil. How comes it, then, 
 that the American republics prosper and continue ? 
 
 In the consideration of laws, a distinction must be care- 
 fully observed between the end at which they aim, and the 
 means by which they pursue that end ; between their txh- 
 solute and their relative excellence. If it be the intention 
 of the legislator to favor the interests of the minority at 
 the expense of the majority, and if the measures he takes 
 are so combined as to accomplish the object he has in view 
 with the least possible expense of time and exertion, the 
 law may be well drawn up, although its purpose is bad ; 
 and the more efficacious it is, the more dangerous it 
 will be. 
 
 Democratic laws ':enerally tend to promote the welfare 
 of the greatest po&sible number ; for they emanate from 
 the majority of the citizens, who are subject to error, but 
 who cannot have an interest opposed to their own advan- 
 tage. The laws of an aristocracy tend, on the contrary, 
 to concentrate wealth and power in the hands of the 
 minority ; because an aristocracy, by its very nature, con- 
 stitutes a minority. It may therefore be asserted, as a 
 general proposition, that the purpose of a democracy in 
 its legislation is more useful to humanity than that of an 
 aristocracy. This is, however, the sum total of its ad- 
 
 vantages. 
 
 Aristocracies are infinitely more expert in the science of 
 k^gislation than democracies ever can be. They are pos- 
 sessed of a self-control which protects them from the errors 
 of temporary excitement ; and they form far-reaching de- 
 signs, which they know how to mature till a favorable 
 
s 
 
 1 
 
 ml 
 
 
 ' 
 
 
 304 
 
 DK.MOCKACY IX AMl'.IilCA. 
 
 opfjortuiilty arrives. Aristocratic <j;()verninent proceeds 
 witli tliu dexterity of art; it understands liow to make tlie 
 collective force of all its laws convero;e at the same time to 
 a given point. Such is not the case with democracies, 
 whose laws are almost always ineti'ective or inop])ortune. 
 The means of democracy are therefore more imperfect than 
 those of aristocracy, and the measures which it unwittingly 
 adopts are frequently opposed to its own cause ; but the 
 object it has in view is more useful. 
 
 Let us now imagine a community so organized by na- 
 ture, or by its constitution, that it can sup])ort the transi- 
 tory action of bad laws, and that it can await, without 
 destruction, the (jeneral tendenci/ of its legislation : we shall 
 then conceive how a democratic government, notwithstand- 
 ing its faults, may be best fitted to produce the })rosperity 
 of this community. This is precisely what has occurred 
 in the United States ; and I repeat, what I have before 
 remarked, that the great advantage of the Americans con- 
 sists in their being able to commit faults which they may 
 afterAvards repair. 
 
 An analogous observation may be made respecting pub- 
 lic officers. It is easy to perceive that the American de- 
 mocracy frequently errs in the choice of the individuals to 
 whom it intrusts the power of the administration ; but it 
 is more difficult to say why the state prospers under their 
 rule. In the first place, it is to be remarked, that if, in a 
 democratic state, the governors have less honesty and less 
 capacity than elsewhere, the governed are more enlight- 
 ened "nd more attentive to their interests. As the people 
 in democracies are more constantly vigilant in their affiiirs, 
 and more jealous of their rights, they prevent their repre- 
 sentatives from abandoning that general line of conduct 
 which their own interest prescribes. In the second place, 
 it must be remembered, that, if the democratic magistrate is 
 more apt to misuse his power, he possesses it for a shorter 
 
ADVANTAGES OF DEMOCRACY. 
 
 005 
 
 by na- 
 
 tinic. But tliero is yet anotlior reason wliicli is still more 
 gviienil iiiul conclusive. It is no doubt of importance to 
 the welfare of nations that they should be ^^overned l)y 
 men of talents and virtue; but it is perhaps still more im- 
 portant for tliem tbat the interests of those men sliould not 
 (litfer from the interests of the community at laro;t' ; for if 
 such were the case, their virtues might become almost use- 
 less, and their talents might be turned to a bad account. I 
 have said that it is important that the interests of the per- 
 sons in autliority sliould not differ from or oppose the in- 
 terests of the community at large ; but 1 (h) not insist upon 
 tiieir having the same interests as the ivhole ponulation, 
 becaiise I am not aware that such a state of things ever 
 existed in any country. 
 
 No poHtical form lias hitherto been discovered wliich is 
 equally favorable to the prosperity and the development of 
 all the classes into which society is divided. These classes 
 continue to form, as it were, so many distinct communities 
 in the same nation ; and experience has shown that it is no 
 less dangerous to place the fate of these classes exclusively 
 in the hands of any one of them, than it is to make one 
 people the arbiter of the destiny of another. When the 
 rich alone govern, the interest of the poor is always endan- 
 gered ; and when the poor make the laws, that of the rich 
 incurs very serious risks. The advantage of democracy 
 does not consist, therefore, as has sometimes been asserted, 
 in favoring the prosperity of all, but simply in contributing 
 to the well-being of the greatest number. 
 
 The men who are intrusted with the direction of public 
 affairs in the United States are frequently inferior, both in 
 capacity and morality, to those wdiom an aristocracy would 
 raise to power. But their interest is identified and con- 
 founded with that of the majority of their fellow-citizens. 
 They may frequently be faithless, and frequently mistaken ; 
 but they will never systematically adopt a line of conduct 
 
 T 
 
 ■M 
 
 W: li 
 
 -;*■ 
 
Ill 'i 
 
 lis 
 
 im 
 
 m 
 
 
 ':(' 
 
 n 
 
 30G 
 
 DKMOCKACV IX AMKUICA. 
 
 ^ ii' JW: 
 
 III 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 ■ I r:i 
 
 I ! 
 
 liostilo to tlie majority ; and tlu-y cannot give a tlangcrous 
 or exclusivo tonclt'iicy to tlie governniunt. 
 
 Tlic nialathninistration of a democratic magistrate, more- 
 over, is an isolated fact, whidi lias influence only durinn- 
 the short period for Avhich he is elected. Corruption and 
 incapacity do not act as common interests, which may con- 
 nect men permanently with one another. A corrupt or 
 incapable magistrate will not concert his measures with 
 another magistrate, simply because the latter is as corru])t 
 and incapable as himself; and these two men will never 
 unite their endeavors to promote the corrujjtion and inap- 
 titude of their remote posterity. The ambition and the 
 manoeuvres of the one will serve, on the contrarv, to un- 
 mask the other. The vices of a magistrate, in democratic 
 states, are usually wholly personal. 
 
 But under aristocratic governments, public men are 
 swayed by the interest of their order, which, if it is some- 
 times confounded with the interests of the majority, is very 
 frequently distinct from them This interest is the com- 
 mon and lastino; bond which unites them together ; it in- 
 duces them to coalesce and combine their efforts to attain 
 an end which is not always the happiness of the greatest 
 number : and it serves not only to connect the persons in 
 authority with each other, but to unite them with a consid- 
 erable portion of the commurity, since a numerous body 
 of citizens belong to the aristocracy, without being invested 
 with official functions. The aristocratic majxistrate is there- 
 fore constantly supported by a portion of the community, 
 as well as by the government of v/hich he is i member. 
 
 The common purpose which, in aristocracies, connects 
 the interest of the magistrates with that of a portion of their 
 contemporaries, identifies it also with that of future genera- 
 tions ; they labor for the future as well as for the present. 
 The aristocratic magistrate is urged at the same time, 
 tow^ards the same point, by the passions of the community, 
 
ADVANTAGKS OF DKMOC'RAin'. 
 
 no: 
 
 1,\ Ills own. Mild, I mny almost ;ul(l, l»y tliosc* of liis postcr- 
 itv. Is it, then, woiidci'tul tliat ho docs not resist such 
 repeated im[)ulses? And, indeed, aristocracies are ol'tcn 
 carried away hy tlicir class-spirit, witiiout heinj^ corrui>ted 
 by it ; and they unconsciously fashion society to their own 
 ends, and preyiare it f()r their own descendants. 
 
 The En<xlis]i aristocracy is ])erhaps the most liheral 
 wiiich has over existed, and no body of men has ever, 
 unintorruptodly, furnisliod so many honorable and onliixht- 
 ened individuals to the government of a country. It can- 
 not, however, escape observation, that, in the leiiislation <»f 
 England, the interests of tb.o poor have boon often sacri- 
 ficed to the advantage of the rich, and the riirhts of the 
 majority to the privileges of a few. The conse(pu'nce is, 
 that England, at the present day, combines the extremes 
 of good and evil fortune in tlie bosom of her society ; and 
 the miseries and privations of her poor almost equal lior 
 power and renown. 
 
 In the United States, where the public officers have no 
 class-interests to promote, the general and constant influ- 
 ence of the government is beneficial, altbon<:!;li the individ- 
 uals who conduct it are frequently nnskilfiil, and sometimes 
 contemptible. There is, indeed, a secret tendency in dem- 
 ocratic institutions, which makes the exertions of the citi- 
 zens subservient to the prosperity of the community, in 
 spite of their vices and mistakes ; whilst in aristocratic 
 institutions, there is a secret bias, which, notwithstanding 
 the talents and virtues of those who conduct the o-overn- 
 ment, leads them to contribute to the evils wdiich oppress 
 their fellow-creatures. In aristocratic governments, public 
 men may frequently do harm without intending it ; and in 
 democratic states, they bring about good results which they 
 never thought of. 
 
 ^ 1 
 
m 
 
 iii 
 
 
 808 
 
 DKMOCKACY IN AMKIMCA. 
 
 rUHIJC SPIRIT IN THK UNITMI) STATKS. 
 
 Iii>tinrtivo Patriotism. — T'atriotiHtn of HcflcctiDn. — 'I'licir ilifliicut Cliiir- 
 acferihticH. — Nations ()ii;;lit to strive to aifiiiiro tlio sccoiiil wlicii tlic first 
 lias (lisappcarcMl. — Kllorts of tlio Atncricaiis to aci|iiiro it. — Interest of 
 tlic Individual intimately eonneeted with tliat of the Country. 
 
 Tiir.UK is one sort of patriotic Jittncliuicnt, wliicli princi- 
 piilly arises from tliat itistiiictivc, (iisiiitcivstt'd, and nndi'- 
 liiiahlc ft'i'Iitiff wliicli coiniocts the jiH'octioiis of man with 
 his hirthplace. Tliis natural foiKhiess is united witli a taste 
 for ancient customs, and a reverence for traditions of the 
 piist ; those wlu) clierish it love tlieir country as they love 
 tlie mansion of tlieir fathers. They love the tranquillity 
 which it affords them ; they clinn; to the ])eaceful hahits 
 which they luv • contracted within its bosom ; they are 
 attached to the reminiscences Avhich it awakens ; and they 
 are even pleased by living there in a state of obedience. 
 This ])atriotisni is sometimes stinuilated by relioious enthu- 
 siasm, and then it is capable of makini; prodiii;ious efforts. 
 It is in itself a kind of relin;ion : it does not reason, but it 
 acts from the impidse of faith and sentiment. In some na- 
 tions, the monarch is rej^arded as a personification of the 
 country ; and, the fervor of patriotism being converted into 
 the fervor of loyalty, they take a sympathetic pride in his 
 conquests, and glory in his power. There was a time, 
 under the ancient monarchy, when the French felt a sort 
 of satisfaction in the sense of their dependence upon the 
 arbitrary will of their king ; and they were wont to say 
 with pride, " We live under the most powerful king in the 
 world." 
 
 But, like all instinctive passions, this kind of patriotism 
 incites great transient exertions, but no continuity of effort. 
 It may save the state in critical circumstances, but often al- 
 lows it to decline in times of peace. Whilst the manners 
 of a people are simple, and its faith unshaken, — whilst 
 
AI)VANiA(ii;.S OF I)i;M(t(KA(;V. 
 
 801) 
 
 society is stciulily based ujioii traditioniil iii>titiitinti«;, wIkisc 
 K'lritiinacv lias lu'vei* been coiitcstt'd, — tills instin(ti\t' pa- 
 tri(»tisin is wont to fiidurc. 
 
 IJut tlicMV is aiiotiior species of attacliiiuiit to cnunti'v, 
 uliicli is mon' rational tlian *lu' one wc liavi- lu'cn dcscril)- 
 in^. It is, jicrliaps, less generous and less ai'dent. hut it is 
 more f'ruitt'isl and more lastin<j;: it sj)rin;j;s from knowled;;*' : 
 it is nnrtnred by the laws ; it n;rows by the exercisi' «)f ci\il 
 rights; and, in the end, it is confonnded with the ju'rsonal 
 interests of tlu' citizen. A man coinprelu'iids the intlnence 
 which the well-bein^ of his conntry has n])on his own ; he is 
 aware that the laws permit him to contribnte to tiiat ])ros- 
 perity, and he labors to promote it, at first becanse it Itene- 
 fits him, and secondly bi-canse it is in i)art his own work. 
 
 But epochs sometimes occur in the life ol' a natio!), 
 wlien the old customs of a })eople are chanued, pnbli<- mo- 
 rality is destroyed, reli<^ious belief shaken, and tli >j»ell of 
 tradition broken, whilst the diffusion of knowlediic is vet 
 imperfect, and the civil rij^hts of the connnunity are ill 
 secured, or confined within narrow limits. The country 
 then assumes a dim and dubious shape in the eves of the 
 citizens ; they no lonjj;er behold it in the soil which they 
 inhabit, for that soil is to them an inanimate clod ; nor in 
 the usages of their forefathers, which they have learned to 
 regard as a debasing yoke ; nor in religion, for of that they 
 doubt ; nor in the laws, which do not originate in their 
 own authority ; nor in the legislator, whom they fear and 
 despise. The country is lost to their senses ; they can 
 neither discover it under its own nor under borrowed fea- 
 tures, and they retire into a narrow and unenlightened 
 selfishness. They are emancipated from prejudice, with- 
 out having acknowledged the empire of reason ; they have 
 neither the instinctive patriotism of a monarchy, nor the 
 reflecting patriotism of a republic ; but they have stopped 
 between the two in the midst of confusion and distress. 
 
 h p (i 
 
 * M 
 
 %• iM 
 
310 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 i% 
 
 WM 
 
 ill 
 
 In tliis predicament, to retreat is impossible ; for a people 
 cannot recover the sentiments of their youth, any more 
 than a man can return to the innocent tastes of childhood : 
 such things may be regretted, but they cannot be renewed. 
 Tliey must go forward, and accelerate the union of private 
 with public interests, since the period of disinterested pa- 
 triotism is gone by forever. 
 
 I am certainly far from affirming, that, in order to obtain 
 this result, the exercise of political rights should be imme- 
 diately granted to all men. But I maintain that the most 
 powerful, and perhaps the only, means which we still pos- 
 sess of interesting men in the welfare of their country, is 
 to make them partakers in the government. At the pres- 
 ent time, civic zeal seems to me to be inseparable from the 
 exercise of political rights ; and I think that the number 
 of citizens will be found to augment or decrease in Europe 
 in proportion as those rights are extended. 
 
 How happens it that in the United States, w^liere the 
 inhabitants arrived but as yesterday upon the soil which 
 they now occupy, and brought neither customs nor tradi- 
 tions with them there ; where they met each other for the 
 first time with no previous acquaintance ; where, in short, 
 the instinctive love of country can scarcely exist ; — how 
 happens it that every one takes as zealous an interest in 
 the affairs of his township, his county, and the whole State, 
 as if they were his own ? It is because every one, in his 
 sphere, takes an active part in the government of society. 
 
 The lower orders in the United States understand the 
 influence exercised by the general prosperity upon their 
 own welfare ; simple as this observation is, it is too rarely 
 made by the people. Besides, they aie wont to regard this 
 prosperity as the fruit of their own exertions. The citizen 
 looks upon the fortune of the public as his own, and he 
 labors for the good of the State, not merely from a sense 
 of pride or duty, but from what I venture to term cupidity. 
 
 !,-ii| 
 
 «l:p|i!i: 
 
ADVANTAGES OF DEMOCRACY. 
 
 311 
 
 It is unnecessary to study the institutions and the history 
 of the Americans in order to know tlie truth of this re- 
 mark, for their manners render it sujfficiently evident. As 
 the American participates in all that is done in his country, 
 he thinks himself obliged to defend whatever may be cen- 
 sured in it ; tor it is not only his country which is then 
 attacked, it is himself. The consequence is, that his na- 
 tional pride resorts to a thousand artifices, and descends to 
 all the petty tricks of personal vanity. 
 
 Nothing is more embarrassing, in the ordinary inter- 
 course of life, than this irritable patriotism of the Ameri- 
 cans. A stranger may be well inclined to praise many of 
 the institutions of their country, but he bogs permission to 
 blame some things in it, — a permission which is inexorably 
 refused. America is therefore a free country, in which, 
 lest anybody should be hurt by your remarks, you are not 
 allowed to speak freely of private individuals, or of the 
 state ; of the citizens, or of the authorities ; of public or 
 of private undertakings ; or, in short, of anything at all, 
 except, perhaps, the climate and the soil ; and even then, 
 Americans will be found ready to defend both, as if they 
 had concurred in producing them. 
 
 In our times, we must choose between the patriotism 
 of all and the government of a few ; for the social force 
 and activity which the first confers are irreconcilable with 
 the pledges of tranquillity which are given by the second. 
 
 i fi 
 
 NOTION OF RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 No p:reat People witliout a Notion of Eight. — How the Notion of Eight 
 cau be given to a People. — Eespect for Eight in the United States. — 
 Whence it arises. 
 
 After the general idea of virtue, I know no higher 
 principle than that of right ; or rather these two ideas are 
 united in one. The idea of right is simply that of virtue 
 
' I 
 
 312 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKKICA. 
 
 m%'i\ 
 
 <ir't 
 
 introduced into the political "world. It was tlie idea of right 
 which enabled men to define anarchy and tyranny ; and 
 which taught them how to be independent without arro- 
 gance, and to obey without servility. The man who sub- 
 mits to violence is debased by his compliance ; but when 
 he submits to that right of authority which he acknowl- 
 edges in a fellow-creature, he rises in some measure above 
 the person who gives the command. There are no great 
 men without virtue ; and there are no great nations, — it 
 may almost be added, there would be no society, — without 
 respect for right ; for what is a union of rational and in- 
 telligent beings who are held together only by the bond of 
 force ? 
 
 I am persuaded that the only means which we possess, 
 at the present time, of inculcating the idea of right, and 
 of rendering it, as it were, palpable to the senses, is to en- 
 dow all with the peaceful exercise of certain rights : this is 
 very clearly seen in children, who are men without the 
 strength and the experience of manhood. When a child 
 begins to move in the midst of the objects which surround 
 him, he is instinctively led to appropriate to himself every- 
 thing which he can lay his hands upon ; he has no notion 
 of the property of others ; but as he gradually learns the 
 value of things, and begins to perceive that he may in his 
 turn be despoiled, he becomes more circumspect, and he 
 ends by respecting those rights in others which he wishes 
 to have respected in himself. The })rinciple whicli the 
 child derives from the possession c ' his toys is taught to 
 the man by the objects which he may call his own. In 
 America, the most democratic of nations, those complaints 
 against property in general, which are so frequent in 
 Europe, are never heard, because in America there are no 
 paupers. As every one has property of his own to defend, 
 every one recognizes the principle upon which he holds it. 
 
 The same thing occurs in the political world. In Amer- 
 
ADVANTAGES OF DEMOCRACY. 
 
 01 o 
 oLo 
 
 ica, the lowest classes have conceived a very liigli notion 
 of political rights, because they exercise those riglits ; and 
 they refrain from attacking the rights of others, in order 
 that their own may not be violated. Whilst in Euro})e, the 
 same classes sometimes resist even the supreme power, the 
 American submits without a murmur to the authority of 
 the pettiest magistrate. 
 
 This truth appears even in the trivial details of national 
 life. In France, few pleasures are exclusively reserved for 
 the higher classes ; the poor are generally admitted wher- 
 ever the rich are received ; and they consecpiently behave 
 with propriety, and respect whatever ])rom()tes the enjoy- 
 ments which they themselves share. In England, where 
 wealth has a monopoly of amusement as well as of ])ower, 
 complaints are made, that, whenever the poor happen to 
 enter the places reser"':d ^or the })leasures of the rich, they 
 do wanton mischiet * ■ i this be wondered at, since care 
 has been taken that t. t " liould have nothino; to lose ? 
 
 The government of the democracy brings the notion of 
 political rights to the level of the humblest citizens, just as 
 the dissemination of wealth brings the notion of property 
 within the reach of all men ; to my mind, this is one of its 
 greatest advantages. I do not say it is easy to teach men 
 how to exercise political rights ; but 1 maintain that, when 
 it is possible, the effects which result from it are highly im- 
 portant ; and I add, that, if there ever was a time at which 
 such an attempt ought to be made, that time is now. Do 
 you not see that religious belief is shaken, and the divine 
 notion of right is declining ? — that morality is debased, 
 and the notion of moral right is therefore fading away ? 
 Argument is substituted for faith, and calculation for the 
 impulses of sentiment. If, in the midst of this general 
 disruption, you do not succeed in connecting the notion 
 of right with that of private interest, which is the only 
 immutable point in the human heart, what means will you 
 
 «p. 
 
I f 
 
 
 yi 
 
 
 
 
 
 11 
 
 
 1 ' 
 
 
 
 i; 
 
 1 
 
 li 
 
 ij 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 314 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 have of governing the world except by fear ? Wlien I am 
 told that the laws are weak and the peojjle are turbulent, 
 that passions are excited and tlie authority of virtue is par- 
 alyzed, and therefore no measures must be taken to increase 
 the rights of the democracy, I reply, that, for these very 
 reasons, some measures of the kind ought to be taken ; and 
 I believe that governments are still more interested in tak- 
 ing them than society at large, for governments may perish, 
 but society cannot die. 
 
 But I do not wish to exaggerate the example which 
 America furnishes. There the people were invested with 
 political rights at a time when they could not be abused, 
 for the inhabitants were few in number, and simple m their 
 manners. As they have mcreased, the Americans have 
 not augmented the power of the democracy ; they have 
 rather extended its domain. 
 
 It cannot be doubted that the moment at which political 
 rights are granted to a people that had before been without 
 them is a very critical one, — that the measure, though 
 often neces&ary, is always dangerous. A child may kill 
 before he is aware of the value of hfe ; and he may de- 
 prive another person of his property, before he is aware 
 that his own may be taken from him. The lower orders, 
 when first they are invested with political rights, stand, in 
 relation to those rights, in the same position as the child 
 does to the whole of nature ; and the celebrated adage 
 may then be applied to them. Homo puer robustus. This 
 truth may be perceived even in America. The States in 
 which the citizens have enjoyed their rights longest, are 
 those in which they make the best use of them. 
 
 It cannot be repeated too often, that nothing is more fer- 
 tile in prodigies than the art of being free ; but there is 
 nothing more arduous than the apprenticeship of liberty. 
 It is not so with despotism : despotism often promises to 
 make amends for a thousand previous ills ; it supports the 
 
ADVANTAGES OF DEMOCRACY. 
 
 315 
 
 right, It protects the oppressed, and It maintains public or- 
 der. The nation Is lulled by the temporary prosperity 
 which It produces, until it Is roused to a sense of its mis- 
 ery. Liberty, on the contrary, Is generally- established 
 with difficulty In the midst of storms ; it is perfected by 
 civil discord ; and Its benefits cannot be appreciated until It 
 is already old. 
 
 RESPECT FOR THE LAW IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Respect of the Americans for the Law. — Parental Affection which they 
 entertain for it. — Personal Interest of every one to increase the Power 
 of the Law. 
 
 It Is not always feasible to consult the whole people, 
 either directly or Indirectly, in the formation of the law ; 
 but It cannot be denied that, when this is possible, the au- 
 thority of the law Is much augmented. This popular ori- 
 gin, which impairs the excellence and the wisdom of legis- 
 lation, contributes much to Increase Its power. There is 
 an amazing strength in the expression of the will of a 
 whole people ; and when It declares Itself, even the Imagi- 
 nation of those who would wish to contest it is overawed. 
 The truth of this fact Is well known by parties ; and they 
 consequently strive to make out a majority whenever they 
 can. If they have not the greater number of voters on 
 their side, they assert that the true majority abstained from 
 voting ; and If they are foiled even there, they have re- 
 course to those persons who had no right to vote. 
 
 In the United States, except slaves, servants,* and pau- 
 pers supported by the townships, there is no class of per- 
 sons who do not exercise the elective franchise, and who 
 do not Indirectly contribute to make the laws. Those 
 
 * This is a strange mistake ; in the United States, servants liave as goixl 
 a right to vote as tlicir employers, and often vote against them. — Am. Ed. 
 
 tigpi 
 
 1?' ■ 
 
 i': 
 
 iM 
 
 I: ■>'' 
 
 »:l 
 
 '1^ H; 
 
111 
 
 11 
 
 III 
 
 : § ^^ 
 
 : \M 
 
 316 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 who wisli to attack the laws must consequently either 
 change tlie opinion of the nation, or trample upon its 
 decision. 
 
 A second reason, which is still more direct and weighty, 
 may he adduced : in the United States, every one is per- 
 sonally interested in enforcing the ohedience of the whole 
 community to the law ; for as the minority may shortly 
 rally the majority to its principles, it is interested in pro- 
 fessing that respect for the decrees of the legislator which 
 it may soon have occasion to claim for its own. However 
 irksome an enactment may he, the citizen of the United 
 States complies with it, not only because it is the work of 
 the majority, but because it is his own, and he regards it as 
 a contract to which he is himself a party. 
 
 In the United States, then, that numerous and turbulent 
 multitude does not exist, who, regarding the law as their 
 natural enemy, look upon it with fear and distrust. It is 
 impossible, on the contrary, not to perceive that all classes 
 display the utmost reliance upon the legislation of their 
 country, and are attached to it by a kind of parental af- 
 fection. 
 
 I am wrong, however, in saying all classes ; for as, in 
 America, the European scale of authority is inverted, the 
 wealthy are there placed in a position analogous to that of 
 the poor in the Old World, and it is the opulent classes 
 who frequently look upon the law with suspicion. I have 
 already observed that the advantage of democracy is not, 
 as has been sometimes asserted, that it protects the inter- 
 ests of all, but simply that it protects those of the majority. 
 In the United States, where the poor rule, the rich have 
 always something to fear from the abuse of their power. 
 This natural anxiety of the rich may produce a secret dis- 
 satisfaction ; but society is not disturbed by ^or the same 
 reason which withholds the confidence of the .h from the 
 legislative authority, makes them obey its r .^nuates : their 
 
ADVANTAGES OF DEMOCRACY, 
 
 317 
 
 wealtli, Avhioli prevents tliem from makino; the law, pri'- 
 vents tliem from witlistaiuliiiix it. Amono-st civili/A'd nsi- 
 tions, only those who have nothing to lose ever revolt ; 
 and if the laws of a democraey are not always worthy of 
 respect, they are always respected ; for those who usually 
 infringe the laws cannot fail to ohey those which they have 
 themselves made, and by which they are benefited ; whilst 
 the citizens who mio;ht be interested '" \^' ^ 'nf ruction of 
 them are induced, by their character anu str n, to submit 
 to the decisions of the legislature, whatever they may be. 
 Besides, the people in America obey the law, not only be- 
 cause it is their work, but because it may be changed if it 
 be harmful ; a law is observed because, first, it is a sell- 
 imposed evil, and, secondly, it is an evil of transient dura- 
 tion. 
 
 ACTIVITY WHICH PERVADES ALL PARTS OF THE BODY POL- 
 ITIC IN THE UNITED STATES ; INFLUENCE WHICH IT EX- 
 ERCISES UPON SOCIETY. 
 
 More difficult to conceive the Political Ac. 'ity which pervades the United 
 States, than the Freedom and Equality which reign there. — The great 
 Activity which perpetually agitates the Legislative Bodies is only an Epi- 
 sode, a Prolongation of the general Activity. — Difficult for an Ameri- 
 can to confine himself to his own Bu.siness. — Political Agitation extends 
 to all social Intercourse. — Commercial Activity of the Americans partly 
 attributable to this Cause. — Indirect Advantages which Society derives 
 from a Democratic Government. 
 
 On passing from a free country into one which is not 
 free, the traveller is struck by the change ; in the former, 
 all is bustle and activity ; in the latter, everything seems 
 calm and motionless. In the one, amelioration and pro- 
 gress are the topics of inquiry ; in the other, it seems as 
 if the community wished only to repose in the enjoyment 
 of advantages already acquired. Nevertheless, the country 
 
 
 §4 
 
 ^'1 
 
I 
 
 I 
 
 h 
 
 n 
 
 
 i 
 
 iiiii^ 
 
 
 I I ^ J 
 
 
 318 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKUICA. 
 
 wliich exerts itself so strenuously to become liappy, is gen- 
 erally more wealthy and prosperous than that wliich aj)- 
 pcars so contented with its lot ; and when wo ( )in[)are 
 them, we can scarcely conceive how so many new wunts 
 are daily felt in the former, whilst so few seem to exist in 
 the latter. 
 
 If this remark is aj)plicable to those free countries ,.hich 
 have preserved monarchical forms and aristocratic institu- 
 tions, it is still more so to democratic republics. In these 
 States, it is not a portion only of the j)eo[)le who endeavor 
 to improve the state of society, but the whole community 
 is engaiied in the task ; and it is not the exioencies and 
 convenience of a single class for which provision is to be 
 made, but the exigencies and convenience of all classes at 
 once. 
 
 It is not impossible to conceive the surprising liberty 
 which the Americans enjoy ; some idea may likewise be 
 formed of their extreme equality ; but the political activity 
 which pervades the United States must be seen in order to 
 be understood. No sooner do you set foot upon American 
 ground, than you are stunned by a kind of tunndt ; a con- 
 fused clamor is heard on every side ; and a thousand simul- 
 taneous voices demand the satisfaction of their social wants. 
 Everything is in motion around you ; here, the people of 
 one quarter of a town are met to decide upon the build- 
 ing of a church ; there, the election of a representative is 
 going on ; a little further, the delegates of a district are 
 posting to the town in order to consult upon some local 
 improvements ; in another place, the laborers of a village 
 quit their ploughs to deliberate upon the project of a road 
 or a public school. Meetings are called for the sole pur- 
 pose of declaring their disapprobation of the conduct of 
 the government ; whilst in other assemblies, citizens salute 
 the authorities of the day as the fathers of their coun- 
 try. Societies are formed which regard drunkenness as the 
 
 v.- !!!:-'"' 
 
ADVANTAGKS OF DKMOCRACY. 
 
 319 
 
 principal cause of the evils of tlic state, and solennily bijid 
 themselves to give an example of tem[)erance.* 
 
 The great political agitation of American k'gislativo 
 bodies, which is the only one that attracts the attention of 
 foreigners, is a mere episode, or a sort of continuation, of 
 that universal movement which oriiiinates in tlie lowest 
 classes of the people, and extends successively to all the 
 ranks of society. It is impossible to spend more effort it\ 
 the pursuit of happiness. 
 
 The cares of politics engross a prominent place in the 
 occupations of a citizen in the United States ; and almost 
 the only pleasure which an American knows is to take a 
 part in the government, and to discuss its measures. This 
 feeling pervades the most trifling habits of life ; even the 
 women frequently attend public meetings, and listen to 
 political harangues as a recreation fi'om their household 
 labors. Debating clubs are, to a certain extent, a substi- 
 tute for theatrical entertainments : an American cannot 
 converse, but he can discuss ; and liis talk falls into a dis- 
 sertation. He speaks to yon as if he was addressing a 
 meetino; ; and if he should chance to become warm in the 
 discussion, he Avill say " Gentlemen " to the person with 
 whom he is conversing. 
 
 In some countries, the inhabitants seem unwilling to 
 avail themselves of the political privileges which the law 
 gives them ; it would seem that they set too high a value 
 upon their time to spend it on the interests of the commu- 
 nity ; and they shut themselves up in a narrow selfishness, 
 marked out by four sunk fences and a quickset hedge. 
 But if an American were condemned to confine his activity 
 to his own affairs, he would be robbed of one half of his ^ 
 
 ■; I 
 
 * At the time of my stay in the United States, the Temperance Societies 
 already consisted of more than 270,000 members ; and their ettect had been 
 to diminish the consumption of strong liquors by 500,000 gallons per annum 
 in Pennsylvania alone. 
 
y2o 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMlilMCA. 
 
 'ilfi 
 
 i m: :if 
 
 existence ; he would feel an immense void In tlie life 
 wliieli lie is accustomed to leacl, and his wretchedness 
 would be unbearable.* I nm persuaded, that, if ever a des- 
 ])otism should be established in America, it will be more 
 difficult to overcome the habits which freedom has formed, 
 than to conquer the love of freedom itself. 
 
 This ceaseless a<!;itation which democratic ffovernmont 
 has introduced into the political world, influences all social 
 intercourse. I am not sure that, upon the whole, this is 
 not the greatest advantage of democracy ; and I am less 
 inclined to applaud it for what it does, than for what it 
 causes to be done. 
 
 It is incontestable that the people frequently conduct 
 public business very ill ; but it is impossible that the lower 
 orders should take a part in public business without ex- 
 tending the circle of their ideas, and (putting the ordinary 
 routine of their thoughts. The humblest individual who 
 co-operates in the government of society acquires a certain 
 degree of self-respect ; and as he possesses authority, he 
 can command the services of minds more enlightened than 
 his own. He is canvassed by a multitude of applicants, 
 and, in seeking to deceive him in a thousand ways, they 
 really enlighten him. He takes a part in political under- 
 takings which he did not originate, but which give him a 
 taste for undertakings of the kind. New improvements 
 are daily pointed out to him in the common property, and 
 this gives him the desire of improving that property which 
 is his own. He is perhaps neither happier nor better than 
 those who came before him, but he is better informed and 
 more active. I have no doubt that the democratic institu- 
 tions of the United States, joined to the physical constitu- 
 
 * The same remark was made at Rome under the first Caesars. Mon- 
 tesquieu somewhere alhides to the excessive despondency of certain Roman 
 citizens, who, after the excitement of political life, were all at once flung back 
 into the stagnation of private life. 
 
 
ADVANTAGES OF DEMOCUACV. 
 
 321 
 
 tion of tho country, are the cause (not the direct, as is so 
 often asserted, but the indirect cause) of the prodigious 
 conunercial activity of the inhabitants. It is not created 
 by the laws, but the people learn how to promote it by 
 the experience derived from leoislation. 
 
 When the op})onents of democracy assert that a single 
 man performs what he undertakes better than the u;overn- 
 ment of all, it appears to me that they are right. Tho 
 oovernment of an individual, suj)posing an equality of 
 knowledge on either side, is more consistent, more perse- 
 vering, more uniform, and more accurate in details, than 
 that of a multitude, and it selects w ith more discrimination 
 the men whom it employs. If any deny this, they have 
 never seen a democratic government, or have judged upon 
 partial evidence. It is true that, even when local circum- 
 stances and the dispositions of the })eople allow democratic 
 institutions to exist, they do not display a regular and me- 
 thodical system of government. Democratic liberty is far 
 from accomplishing all its projects with the skill of an 
 adroit despotism. It frequently abandons them before they 
 have borne their fruits, or risks them when the conse- 
 quences may be dangerous ; but in the end, it produces 
 more than any absolute government ; if it does fewer 
 things well, it does a greater number of things. Under 
 its sway, the grandeur is not in what the public adminis- 
 tration does, but in what is done without it or outside of it. 
 Democracy does not give the people the most skilful gov- 
 ernment, but it produces what the ablest governments are 
 frequently unable to create ; namely, an all-pervading and 
 restless activity, a superabundant force, and an energy 
 which is inseparable from it, and which may, however un- 
 favorable circumstances may be, produce wonders. These 
 are the true advantages of democracy. 
 
 In the present age, when the destinies of Christendom 
 seem to be in suspense, some hasten to assail democracy as 
 u* u 
 
822 
 
 DKMOCUACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 I Hi 
 
 i| '1 
 
 a hostile powor, wliilst it is yet o;rowin«T ; and others al- 
 ready adore this new deity which is spriii^inj^ forth from 
 chaos. But both parties are imperfectly accpiainted with 
 the ol)je(!t of their liatred or their worship ; they strike in 
 the dark, and distribute their blows at random. 
 
 We must first understand what is wanted of society and 
 its government. Do you wish to give a certain elevation 
 to the human mind, and teach it to regard the things of 
 this world with generous feelings, to inspire men with a 
 scorn of mere temporal advantages, to form and nourish 
 strong convictions, and keep alive the spirit of lionorable 
 devotedness ? Is it your object to refine the habits, embel- 
 lish the manners, and cultivate the arts, to promote the 
 love of poetry, beauty, and glory ? AVould you constitute 
 a })eople fitted to act powerfully upon all other nati(ms, and 
 l)repared for those high enterprises which, whatever be 
 their results, will leave a name forever famous in history ? 
 If you believe such to be the principal object of society, 
 avoid the government of the democracy, for it would not 
 lead you with certainty to the goal. 
 
 But if you hold it expedient to divert the moral and in- 
 tellectual activity of man to the production of comfort, and 
 the promotion of general well-being ; if a clear understand- 
 ing be more profitable to man than genius ; if your object 
 be not to stimulate the virtues of heroism, but the habits 
 of peace ; if you had rather witness vices than crimes, and 
 are content to meet with fewer noble deeds, provided of- 
 fences be diminished in the same proportion ; if, instead of 
 living in the midst of a brilliant society, you are contented 
 to have prosperity around you ; if, in short, you are of 
 opinion that the principal object of a government is not 
 to confer the greatest possible power and glory upon the 
 body of the nation, but to insure the greatest enjoyment, 
 and to avoid the most misery, to each of the individuals 
 who compose it, — if such be your desire, then equal- 
 
ADVANTAGKS OF DEMOCRACY. 
 
 82a 
 
 izp the oonJitions of men, unJ establish democratic in- 
 stitutions. 
 
 But if tlic time ho past at whicli such a choice was pos- 
 sible, and if souk; power superior to that of man already 
 Imrries us, without consulting our wishes, towards one or 
 the other of these two govenunents, let us endeavor to 
 make the best of that which is allotted to us, and, by find- 
 ing out both its good and its evil tendencies, be able to fos- 
 ter the former and repress the latter to the utmost. 
 
 il 
 
 II 
 
 :,:^i 
 
 I 
 
 I 
 
 ■iMi 
 
324 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 UNLIMITED POWER OF THE MAJORITY IN THE UNITED STATES, 
 AND ITS CONSEQUENCES. 
 
 1 
 
 Natural Strength of the Majority in Democracies. — Most of the Americiin 
 Constitutions have increased tliis Strength by artificial Means. — How 
 this has been done. — Pledged Delegates. — Moral Power of the Ma- 
 jority. — Opinion as to its Infallibility. — Respect for its Eights, how 
 augmented in the United States. 
 
 THE very essence of democratic government consists in 
 the absolute sovereignty of the majority ; for there is 
 nothing in democratic states which is capable of resisting 
 it. Most of the American constitutions have souo;ht to 
 increase this natural strength of the majority by artificial 
 means.* 
 
 The legislature is, of all political institutions, the one 
 which is most easily swayed by the will of the majority. 
 The Americans determined that the members of the legis- 
 lature should be elected by the people directly^ and for a 
 very brief term, in order to subject them, not only to the 
 general convictions, but even to the daily passions, of their 
 constituents. The members of both houses are taken 
 fi'om the same classes in society, and nominated in the 
 same manner ; so that the movements of the legislative 
 
 * We have seen, in examining the Federal Constitution, that tlie eflforts 
 of the legislators of the Union were directed against this absolute power. 
 The consequence has been, that the Federal government is more independ- 
 ent in its sphere than that of the States. But the Federal government 
 scarcely ever interferes in any but foreign affairs ; and the governments of 
 the States in reality direct society in America. 
 
 iiifi 
 
THE UXLIMITKD POWKR OF TIIK MAJORITY. 
 
 325 
 
 bodies are almost as rapid, and quite as irresistible, as those 
 of a single assembly. It is to a legislature thus constituted, 
 that almost all the authority of the government has been 
 intrusted. 
 
 At the same time that the law increased the streno;th of 
 those authorities which of themselves were strong, it enfee- 
 bled more and -more those which were naturally weak. It 
 deprived the representatives of the executive power of all 
 stability and independence ; and, by subjecting them com- 
 pletely to the caprices of the legislature, it robbed them 
 of the slender influence which the nature of a democratic 
 jTOvernment mijiht have allowed them to exercise. In 
 several States, the judicial power was also submitted to the 
 election of the majority ; and in all of them, its existence 
 was made to depend on the pleasure of the legislative au- 
 thority, since the representatives were empowered annually 
 to regulate the stipend of the judges. 
 
 Custom has done even more than law. A proceeding is 
 becoming more and more geperal in the United States, 
 which will, in the end, do away with the guaranties of 
 representative government : it frequently happens that the 
 voters, in electing a delegate, point out a certain line of 
 conduct to him, and impose upon him certain positive obli- 
 gations which he is pledged to fulfil. With the exception 
 of the tumult, this comes to the same thing as if the major- 
 ity itself held its deliberations in the market-place. 
 
 Several other circumstances -concur to render the power 
 of the majority in America not only preponderant, but ir- 
 resistible. The moral authority of the majority is partly 
 based upon the notion, that there is more intelligence and 
 wisdom in a number of men united than in a sinole indi- 
 vidual, and that the number of the legislators is more im- 
 portant than their quality. The theory of equality is thus 
 applied to the intellects of men ; and human pride is thus 
 assailed in its last retreat by a doctrine which the minority 
 
326 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 ill 
 
 Mil li^'i 
 
 hesitate to admit, and to which they will bnt slowly assent. 
 Like all other powers, and perhaps more than any other, 
 the authority of the many requires the sanction of time in 
 order to appear legitimate. At first, it enforces obedience 
 by constraint ; and its laws are not respected until they have 
 been lono; maintained. 
 
 The right of governing society, which the majority sup- 
 poses itself to derive from its superior intelligence, was in- 
 troduced into the United States bv the first settlers ; and 
 this idea, which of itself would be sufficient to create a free 
 nation, has now been amalgamated with the manners of the 
 people and the minor incidents of social life. 
 
 The French, under the old monarchy, held it for a 
 maxim that the kino; could do no wrono; : and if he did 
 do wrong, the blame was imputed to his advisers. This 
 notion made obedience very easy ; it enabled the subject 
 to complain of the law, without ceasing to love and honor 
 the lawgiver. The Americans entertain the same opinion 
 with respect to the majority. 
 
 The moral power of the majority is founded upon yet 
 another principle, which is, that the interests of the many 
 are to be preferred to those of the few. It will readily 
 be perceived that the respect here professed for the rights 
 of the greater number must naturally increase or diminish 
 according to the state of parties. When a nation is divided 
 into several great irreconcilable interests, the privilege of 
 the majority is often overlooked, because it is intolerable to 
 comply with its demands. 
 
 If there existed in America a class of citizens whom the 
 legislating majority sought to deprive of exclusive privi- 
 leges which they had possessed for ages, and to bring down 
 from an elevated station to the level of the multitude, it is 
 probable that the minority would be less ready to submit to 
 its laws. But as the United States were colonized by men 
 holding equal rank, there is as yet no natural or perma- 
 
THE UNLIMITED POWER OF THE MAJORITY. 
 
 327 
 
 nent cUsaoreemciit between the in*r^rests of its different in- 
 habitants. 
 
 There are communities in which the members of the 
 minority can never hope to draw over the majority to their 
 side, because they must then give up the very point which 
 is at issue between tliem. Thus, an aristocracy can never 
 become a majority whilst it retains its exclusive privileges, 
 and it cannot cede its privileges without ceasing to be an 
 aristocracy. 
 
 In the United States, political questions cannot be taken 
 up in so general and absolute a manner ; and all parties are 
 willing to recognize the rights of the majority, because 
 they all hope at some time to be able to exercise them to 
 their own advantage. The majority, therefore, in that 
 country, exercise a prodigious actual authority, and a 
 power of opinion which is nearly as great ; no obstacles 
 exist which can impede or even retard its progress, so as 
 to make it heed the complaints of those whom it crushes 
 upon its path. This state of things is harmful in itself, 
 and dangerous for the future. 
 
 ^ I 
 
 HOW THE OMNIPOTENCE OF THE MAJORITY INCREASES, IN 
 AMERICA, THE INSTABILITY OF LEGISLATION AND ADMIN- 
 ISTRATION INHERENT IN DEMOCRACY. 
 
 The Americans increase the Mutability of Law which is inherent in a Democ- 
 racy by changinjj the LcfrisUiture every Year, and invcstinp; it with almost 
 unbounded Authority. — The same Effect is produced upon the Admin- 
 istration. — In America, the Pressure for social Improvements is vastly 
 greater, but less continuous, than in Europe. 
 
 I HAVE already spoken of the natural defects of dem- 
 ocratic institutions ; each one of them increases in the same 
 ratio as the power of the majority. To begin with the 
 most evident of them all, the mutability of the laws is an 
 

 m 
 
 % 
 
 1 
 
 P 
 
 QtK 
 
 
 
 i ' !i 
 
 328 
 
 DEMOCRACY IX AMERICA. 
 
 evil inherent in a democratic government, because it is nat- 
 ural to democracies to raise new men to power. But this 
 evil is more or less sensible in proportion to the authority 
 and the means of action which the legislature possesses. 
 
 In America, the authority exercised by the legislatures is 
 supreme ; nothing prevents them from accomplishing their 
 wishes with celerity, and with irresistible power, and they 
 are supplied Avith new representatives every year. That is 
 to say, the circumstances which contribute most power- 
 fully to democratic instability, and which admit of the free 
 application of caprice to the most important objects, are 
 here in full operation. Hence America is, at the present 
 day, the country of all others where laws last the shortest 
 time. Almost all the American constitutions have been 
 amended within thirty years : there is therefore not one 
 American State which has not modified the principles of 
 its legislation in that time. As for the laws themselves, 
 a sino-le o-lance at the archives of the different States of 
 the Union suffices to convince one, that in America the 
 activity of the legislator never slackens. Not that the 
 American deniocracy is naturally less stable than any 
 other, but it is allowed to follow, in the formation of the 
 laws, the natural instability of its desires.* 
 
 The omnipotence of the majority, and the rapid as well 
 as absolute manner in which its decisions are executed in 
 the United States, not only render the law unstable, but 
 exercise the same influence upon the execution of the law 
 and the conduct of the administration. As the majority is 
 
 * The legislative acts promulgated by the State of Massachusetts alone, 
 from the year 1780 to the present time, already fill three stout volumes ; and 
 it must not be forgotten that the collection to which I allude was revised in 
 1823, when many old laws whicli had fallen into disuse were omitted. The 
 State of Massachusetts, which is not more populous than a department of 
 France, may be considered as the most stable, the most consistent, and the 
 most sagacious in its undertakings, of the whole Union. 
 
THE UNLIMITED POWER OF THE MAJORITY. 
 
 329 
 
 the only power whicli it is important to court, all its pro- 
 jects are taken up with the greatest ardor ; but no sooner 
 is its attention distracted, than all this ardor ceases ; whilst 
 in the free states of Europe, where the administration is at 
 once independent and secure, the projects of the legislature 
 continue to be executed, even when its attention is directed 
 to other objects. 
 
 In America, certain improvements are prosecuted with 
 much more zeal and activity than elsewhere ; in Eiu'ojje, 
 the same ends are promoted by much less social eftbrt 
 more continuously applied. 
 
 Some years ago, several pious individuals undertook to 
 ameliorate the condition of the prisons. The public were 
 moved by their statements, and the reform of criminals be- 
 came a popular undertakhig. New prisons were built ; and, 
 for the first time, the idea of refonning as well as punishing 
 the delinquent formed a part of prison disci])line. 
 
 But this happy change, in which the public had taken so 
 hearty an interest, and which the simultaneous exertions of 
 the citizens rendered irresistible, could not be completed in 
 a moment. Whilst the new penitentiaries were being 
 erected, and the will of the majority was hastening the 
 work, the old prisons still existed, and contained a great 
 number of offenders. These jails became more unwhole- 
 some and corrupt in proportion as the new establishments 
 were reformed and improved, forming a contrast which 
 may readily be understood. The majority was so eagerly 
 employed in founding the new prisons, that those which 
 already existed were forgotten ; and, as the general atten- 
 tion was diverted to a novel object, the care which had 
 hitherto been bestowed upon the others ceased. The sal- 
 utary regulations of discipline were first relaxed, and after- 
 wards broken ; so that, in the immediate neighborhood of 
 a prison which bore witness to the mild and enlightened 
 spirit of our times, dungeons existed which reminded one 
 of the barbarism of the Middle Ages. 
 
 ^A'J 
 
 i 
 
 111 
 
ill 
 
 330 DKMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY. 
 
 How the Principle of the Sovereignty of tlie People is to be understood. — 
 Impossil)ility of conceiving a Mixed Government. — The Sovereign 
 Power must exist somewhere. — Precautions to be taken to control its 
 Action. — These Precautions have not been taken in the United States. 
 — Consequences. 
 
 I HOLD it to be an impious and detestable maxim, that, 
 politically speaking, the people have a right to do any- 
 thing ; and yet I have asserted that all authority originates 
 in the will of the majority. Am I, then, in contradiction 
 with myself? 
 
 A general law, which bears the name of justice, has 
 been made and sanctioned, not only by a majority of this 
 or that people, but by a majority of mankind. The rights 
 of every people are therefore confined within the limits of 
 what is just. A nation may be considered as a jury which 
 is empowered to represent society at large, and to apply 
 justice, which is its law. Ought such a jury, which rep- 
 resents society, to have more power than the society itself, 
 whose laws it executes ? 
 
 When I refuse to obey an unjust law, I do not contest 
 the right of the majority to command, but I simply appeal 
 from the sovereignty of the people to the sovereignty of 
 mankind. Some have not feared to assert that a people 
 can never outstep the boundaries of justice and reason in 
 those affairs which are peculiarly its own ; and that conse- 
 quently full power may be given to the majority by which 
 they are represented. But this is the language of a slave. 
 
 A majority taken collectively is only an individual, 
 whose opinions, and frequently' whose interests, are op- 
 posed to those of another individual, who is styled a 
 minority. If it be admitted that a man possessing abso- 
 lute power may misuse that power by wronging his adver- 
 saries, why should not a majority be liable to the same 
 
 I\ 
 
THE UNLIMITED POWER OF THE MAJORITY. 
 
 
 has 
 
 reproach? Mon do not change their characters by uniting 
 with eacli other ; nor does their patience in tlie presence 
 of obstacles increase with their strength.* For my own 
 part, I cannot beheve it ; the power to do everytliing, 
 which I should refuse to one of my equals, I will never 
 grant to any number of them. 
 
 I do not think that, for the sake of preserving liberty, it 
 is possible to combine several principles in the same gov- 
 ernment so as really to oppose them to one another. The 
 form of government which is usually termed mixed has al- 
 ways appeared to me a mere chimera. Accurately sj)eak- 
 ing, there is no such thing as a mixed government., in the 
 sense usually given to that word, because, in all comnumi- 
 ties, some one principle of action may be discovered which 
 preponderates over the others. England, in the last cen- 
 tury, — which has been especially cited as an example of 
 this sort of government, — was essentially an aristocratic 
 state, although it comprised some great elements of democ- 
 racy ; for the laws and customs of the country were such 
 that the aristocracy could not but preponderate in the long 
 run, and direct public affairs according to its own will. 
 The error arose from seeino; the interests of the nobles 
 perpetually contending with those of the people, without 
 considering the issue of the contest, which was really 
 the important point. When a community actually has 
 a mixed government, — that is to say, when it is equally 
 divided between adverse principles, — it must either expe- 
 rience a revolution, or fall into anarchy. 
 
 I am therefore of opinion, that social power superior to 
 all others must always be placed somewhere ; but I think 
 
 i^n M 
 
 * No one \y\\\ assort that a people cannot forcibly wrong another })eople ; 
 but parties may be looked upon as lesser nations within a {^reat one, and 
 they are aliens to each other : if, therefore, it be admitted tliat a nation can 
 act tyrannically towards another nation, it cannot be denied that a party 
 may do the same towards another party. 
 
: i 11 
 
 i 
 
 332 
 
 DKMOCHACV IN AMKKMCA. 
 
 that lilK'i'ty is endangered wlicn tins power finds no obsta- 
 cle which can retard its course, and give it time to moder- 
 ate its own vehemence. 
 
 Unlimited power is in itself a bad and dangerous thing. 
 Unman beings are not competent to ex'ercise it with dis- 
 cretion. God alone can be omnipotent, because his wisdom 
 and his justice are always equal to his power. There is no 
 j)ower on earth so worthy of honor in itself, or clothed 
 with rights so sacred, that I would admit its uncontrolled 
 and all-predominant authority. When I see that the right 
 and the moans of absolute command are conferred on any 
 power whatever, be it called a people or a king, an aristoc- 
 racy or a democracy, a monarchy or a republic, I say there 
 is the germ of tyranny, and I seek to live elsewhere, under 
 other laws. 
 
 In my opinion, the main evil of the present democratic 
 institutions of the United States does not arise, as is often 
 asserted in Europe, from their weakness, but from their 
 irresistible strength. I am not so much alarmed at the 
 excessive liberty which reigns in that country, as at the in- 
 adequate securities which one finds there against tyranny. 
 
 When an individual or a party is wronged in the United 
 States, to whom can he apply for redress ? If to public 
 opinion, public opinion constitutes the majority ; if to the 
 legislature, it represents the majority, and implicitly obeys 
 it ; if to the executive power, it is appointed by the major- 
 ity, and serves as a passive tool in its hands. The public 
 force consists of the majority under arms ; the jury is the 
 majority invested with the right of hearing judicial cases ; 
 and in certain States, even the judges are elected by the 
 majority. However iniquitous or absurd the measure of 
 which you complain, you must submit to it as well as you 
 
 can. 
 
 * 
 
 * A striking instance of the excesses wliich may be occasioned by the 
 despotism of the majority occurred at Baltimore during the war of 1812. 
 
 - ^^:!| 
 
THE UNLIMITKD TOWKR OF THE MAJORITY. 
 
 If, on the other hand, a legislative power could he so 
 constituted as to represent the majority without necessarily 
 being the slave of its passions, an executive so as to retain 
 a proper share of authority, and a judii-iary so as to i-e- 
 main independent of the other two powers, a government 
 
 At that time, the war was very i)Oj)ular in Bahiinoro. A journal which 
 hud taken tlio other side excited by its oi)i)osition the indij,'nation of tiic 
 inliabitants. The mob asbcnibled, broive the j)rintinj,'-i)rcsse6i, and attatked 
 tlie iiouse of the editors. Tlie militia was called out, but did not t)bcy 
 the call ; and the only means of savinp: the wretches who were threatened 
 by the frenzy of the mob, was to throw them into prison as common male- 
 factors. But even this precaution was ineftectual ; the mob collected again 
 during the night; the magistrates again made a vain attemi)t to call out the 
 militia; the prison was forced, one of the newspaper editors wus killed 
 upon the spot, and the others were left for dead. The guilty parties, when 
 they were brought to trial, were acfjuitted by the jury. 
 
 I said one day to an inhabitant of Pennsylvania, " Be so good as to ex- 
 plain to me hoAV it happen> that in a State founded by Quakers, and cele- 
 brated for its toleration, free Blacks are not allowed to exercise civil rights. 
 Thjy pay taxes; is it not fair that they should vote?" 
 
 " You insult us," replied my informant, " if you imagine that our leg- 
 islators could have committed so gross an act of injustice and intoler- 
 ance." 
 
 " Then the Bi -s possess the right of voting in this country ? " 
 
 "Without doubt." 
 
 " How comes it, then, that at the polling-booth, this morning, I did not 
 perceive a single Negro in the meeting 1 " 
 
 " This is not the fault of the law : the Negroes liave an undisputed right 
 of voting ; but they voluntarily abstain from making their appearance." 
 
 " A very pretty piece of modesty on their part! " rejoined I. 
 
 " Why, the truth is, that they are not disinclined to vote, but they aro 
 afraid of being maltreated ; in this country, the law is sometimes unable to 
 maintain its authority, without the support of the majority. But in this 
 case, the majority entertains very strong prejudices against the Blacks, and 
 the magistrates are unable to protect them in the exercise of their legal 
 rights." 
 
 " Then the majority claims the right not only of making the laws, but 
 of breaking the laws it has made ? " 
 
 [In Massachusetts, and some other States, free Blacks vote as regularly 
 as any other class of citizens. — Am. Ed.] 
 
 
 ii-f 
 
 jf 
 
 iii i 
 
if 
 
 V. ' 
 
 334 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 m 
 
 
 would 1)0 foriTipd wliicli would still bo democratic, without 
 incurring hardly any risk of tyranny. 
 
 I do not say that there is a frecjuent use of tyranny in 
 Amerif'a at the present day ; but I maintain that there is 
 no sure barrier a;jjalnst it, and that the causes which miti- 
 gate the government there are to be found in the circum- 
 stiiiices and the manners of the country, more than in its 
 laws.* 
 
 * Tliis whole chapter is a glowing description of tiie evils which are to 
 be feared in the United States from an abuse of the immense jjower of the 
 majority. In the main, it is a truthful pirture ; and yet the author allows 
 himself to he so far licatcd hy his own rliotoric i\s to forget the chocks and 
 limitations of this dominant power which he lias himself elsewhere noticed. 
 The very complexity of our frame of government enables us to set off and 
 balance the strength of one majority against another. Thus the Federal 
 and the State governments mutually restrain and limit each other, while each 
 is restricted hy many provisions in its o\vn written Constitution, which are 
 of the nature of a Bill of Rights. No law can be passed by the Federal 
 Legislature without the concurrence of a majority of tlie States represented 
 in the Senate, wherein little Delaware, with only one hundred tliousand 
 inhabitants, has as poter a voice as the Empire State of New York, with, 
 its three and a half millions. Even the sturdy little New England town- 
 ship, so admirably described elsewhere by M. (h; Tocquevillc, succeeds iu 
 causing its rights to be respected in the State Legislature, where it is im- 
 mensely outnumbered, because the other to^vnships would make common 
 cause with it against any crying injustice, fearing that its case may become 
 their own at some future day. Moreover, the majority in a State, or even 
 in the United States, though a mighty, is also au unwiehly power, acting 
 only at long intervals, once a year, or once in four years, and then tlirough 
 80 many agents, and so much machinery, that the force of its blows is 
 greatly impaired before they reach their object. It is only a figure of 
 speech to say that the majority of the people make tiie laws, because they 
 choose the members of the Legislature. The delegates thus chosen respect 
 their constituents, it is true, and strive in the main to conform to their 
 wishes ; and yet they act very differently from what those constituents 
 would do, if allowed to come together whenever they pleased, and directly 
 enact any law that pleased them, upon any subject. The necessary delays 
 in law-mak.ng, the compliance with established forms, the suspensive veto 
 of a Governor or a President, the fear which each individual legislator 
 entertains lest the proposed enactment, though it may gratify his present 
 
TIIK UNLIMITKD TOWKR Of THK MA.IOItlTV. 
 
 335 
 
 EFFECTS OF THE OMNIPOTENCE OF THE MAJORITY UPON 
 THE AlimTllARY AUTHOllITY OF AMERICAN rUHEIC OP- 
 FICEUS. 
 
 Liberty left by the American Laws to Public Officers withiu a cortaiu 
 Sphere. — Their Power. 
 
 A DISTINCTION must be drawn between tyranny and 
 arbitrary power. Tyranny may be exercised by means ol 
 the law itself, and in that case it is not arbitrary ; arl)itrary 
 power may be exercised tor the })ublic ^ood, in which case 
 it is not tyraimical. 'lyranny nsually employs arbitrary 
 means, bnt, if necessary, it can do without them. 
 
 In the United States, the omnij)otence of the majority, 
 which is favorable to the lecjal despotism of the le«:;islature, 
 likewise favors the arbitrary authority of the mairistrate. 
 
 passion or tlio present passions of his constituents, may work harm to him 
 or them in the long run, — all these are salutary sjafcj^uards against tho 
 abuse of a mighty power. 
 
 Again, it is only a figure of speech to represent tho majority and the 
 minority as two individuals contending with each other, though very un- 
 equally matched. A majority is not one man, but a nmltitude of men, and 
 a multitude which cannot, by any degree of political skill and discijilinc, 
 be made to think or act as one man. The individuals who compose it are 
 the majority only on this or that subject ; on half a dozen other subjects, 
 every one of them may be a member of a minority ; on some points — 
 his own private interests, for example — he may stand alone. Thus situ- 
 ated, he is not at all likely to make an unscrupulous use of the vast strength 
 of the greater number, but will generally favor moderate and conciliatory 
 counsels. He will also reflect, that the change of a very few votes may 
 place the majority on the other side in respect to the very subjects on which 
 it is now with him ; and any violent expedient which he may now adopt 
 will then be a formidable precedent to be used against him. 
 
 As to the riots in Baltimore and elsewhere, or the prejudice which so 
 generally operates in America to the disadvantage of the Negroes, M. de 
 Tocqueville forgets that such things are not peculiar to democracies. Wit- 
 ness the No-Popery riots of 1780, the Bristol riots on occasion of tho 
 Reform Bill, the frequent emeutes at Paris, and a thousand other historical 
 cases. — Am. Ed. 
 
 iM[ 
 
 1 I 
 
 !< fl 
 
 i 
 
 p 
 
 
 . t- 
 
 \t'<;' , 
 
 li'i '' 
 
830 
 
 DKMOCIJACY IN AMKIJICA. 
 
 Tlu' majority lias altsoluto powor botlj to make the law and 
 to wutcli over its (.'xccutioii ; and as it lias ('(iiial authority 
 over those who are in power, and the coinnmnity at lar^c, 
 it considers puhlic ofKcers as its passive agents, and readily 
 confides to them the task of carryinj^ out its desio;iis. The 
 details of their otKce, and the })rivileyes which they are to 
 enjoy, are rarely defined beforehand. It treats them as a 
 master does his servants, since they arc always at work in 
 his sight, and he can direct or reprimand them at any 
 instant. 
 
 In p;eneral, the American functionaries are far more in- 
 dependent within the sjjhere which is prescribed to them 
 than the French civil officers. Sometimes, even, they are 
 allowed by the popular authority to exceed those bounds ; 
 and as they are protected by the opinion, and backed by 
 the power, of the majority, they dare do thino;s which 
 even a European, accustomed as he is to arbitrary ])ower, 
 is astonished at. liy this means, habits arc formed in the 
 heart of a free country which may some day prove fatal to 
 its liberties. 
 
 POWER EXERCISED BY THE MAJORITY IN AMERICA UPON 
 
 OPINION. 
 
 i ! 
 
 In America, wlicn tlic JMajority lias once irrevocably dccidccl a Question, nil 
 Discussion censes. — Reason of this. — Moral Power exercised by the 
 Majority upon Opinion. — Democratic Republics have applied Desnot- 
 ism to the Minds of Men. 
 
 It is in the examination of the exercise of thought in 
 tlie United States, that we clearly perceive how far the 
 power of tiie majority surpasses all the powers with which 
 we are acquainted in Europe. Thought is an invisible and 
 subtile power, that mocks all the efforts of tyranny. At 
 the present time, the most absolute monarchs in Europe 
 cannot prevent certain opinions hostile to their authority 
 
THE UNMMITKl) I'oWT.U OF Til!'. MArttlMTY. 
 
 
 from clnMiliitln;; in si'civt tliroiiifli tlicir (lominions, and 
 ('I'M ill tlu'ir ('(Hirts. It is not so in Anu'ricii ; as lon^; as 
 tiu' niiii(»ritv if* still undccidi'd, discnssidii is cjiiTicd on : hnt 
 as soon as its decision is irivvocaltly iminonnccd, I'vory ono 
 is silent, and the friends as well as tlie o|H»onents of tlio 
 nieasnre nnito in assenting!; to its jn'opriety. Tlie reason 
 of tins is perfectly clear : no nionareli is so nUsoInte in to 
 combine all tlu' powers of society in liis own hands, and 
 to coiKjner all o]»position, as a majority is ahle to do, wliicli 
 has the riiiht both of makinjj; and ot" execiitinu the laws. 
 
 The authority of a kini; is jthysical, and controls tlio 
 actions of men without sul)(luin<; their will, lint the ma- 
 jority possesses a power which is pliysical and moral at the 
 same time, wliicli acts upon tlie will us nuicli as u})on the 
 actions, and represses not oidy all contest, but all con- 
 troversy. 
 
 I know of no country in which there is so little inde- 
 })endence of mind and real freedom of discussion as in 
 America. In any constitutional state in Europe, every sort 
 of relig'ious and })olitical theory may be freely preached 
 and disseminated ; for there is no coujitiy in Europe so 
 subdued by any sino;lo authority, as not to protect the man 
 who raises his voice in the cause of truth from the conse- 
 (piences of his hardihood. If he is unfortunate enough to 
 live under an absolute government, the peoi)le are often 
 upon his side ; if he iidiabits a free country, he can, if 
 necessary, find a shelter b( 'lind the throne. The aristo- 
 cratic part of society supports him in some countries, and 
 the democracy in others. But in a nation where demo- 
 cratic institutions exist, organi/x'd like those of the United 
 vStates, there is but one authority, one element of strcnfjth 
 and success, with nothing beyond it. 
 
 In America, the majority raises formidable baiTiers 
 arounil the liberty of opinion : w ithin these barriers, an 
 author may write what he pleases ; but ^yoe to him if he 
 
 15 V 
 
 ' f. 
 
 >! ' 
 
1 
 
 i . Ji 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 
 •If 
 
 
 ■4\ 
 
 
 33 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 goes beyond them. Not that he is in danger of an auto- 
 da-fe, hut lie is exposed to continued obloquy and per- 
 secution. His pohtical career is closed forever, since he 
 has offended the only authority which is able to open 
 it. Every sort of compensation, even that of celebrity, is 
 refiised to him. Before publishing his opinions, he im- 
 agined that he held them in common with others ; but no 
 sooner has he declared them, than he is loudlv censured bv 
 his opponents, whilst those who think like him, without 
 having the courage to speak out, abandon him in silence. 
 He yields at length., overcome by the daily effort which he 
 has to make, and subsides into silence, as if he felt remorse 
 for having spoken the truth. 
 
 Fetters and headsmen were the coarse instniments which 
 tyranny formerly employed ; but the civilization of our age 
 has perfected despotism itself, though it seemed to have 
 nothing to learn. Monarchs had, so to speak, materialized 
 oppression : the democratic republics of the present day 
 have rendered it as entirely an affair of the mind, as the 
 will Avhicli it is intended to coerce. Under the absolute 
 sway of one man, the body was attacked in order to sub- 
 due the soul ; but the soul escaped the blows which were 
 directed against it, and rose proudly superior. Such is not 
 the course adopted by tyranny in democratic republics ; 
 there the body is left free, and the soul is enslaved. The 
 master no longer says, " You shall think as I do, or you 
 shall die " ; but he says, " You are free to think differently 
 from me, and to retain your life, your property, and all 
 that you possess ; but you are henceforth a stranger among 
 your people. You may retain your civil rights, but they 
 will be useless to you, for you will never be chosen by 
 your fellow-citizens, if you solicit their votes ; and they will 
 affect to scorn you, if you ask for their esteem. You will 
 remain among men, but you will be deprived of the rights 
 of mankind. Your fallow-creatures will shun you like an 
 
THE UNLIMITED POWER OF THE MAJORITY, 
 
 339 
 
 impure ueinfi; , 
 
 rio-lits 
 ike an 
 
 beinji; : and even those ^v]lo believe in vonr inno- 
 cence Avill abandon yon, lest they shonid be shunned in 
 their turn. Go in peace ! I have given you your life, 
 but it is an existence worse than death." 
 
 Absolute monarchies had dishonored despotism ; let us 
 beware lest democratic republics should reinstate it, and 
 render it less odious and degrading in the eyes of the many, 
 by making it still more onerous to the few. 
 
 Works have been published in the proudest nations of 
 the Old World, expressly intended to censure the vices 
 and the follies of the times: l^abrnyere inhabited the pal- 
 ace of Louis XIV., when he composed his chapter n[)()n 
 the Great, and Moliere criticised the courtiers in the pieces 
 which were acted before the court. But the ruliivg power 
 in the United States is not to be made oanie of. The 
 smallest reproach irritates its sensibility, and the slightest 
 joke which has any foundation in truth renders it iudig- 
 nant ; from the forms of its language up to the solid vir- 
 tues of its character, evervthino; must be made the subject 
 of encomium. No writer, whatever be his eminence, can 
 escape paying this tribute of adulation to his fellow-citizens. 
 The majority lives in the perpetual uUerance of self-ap- 
 plause; and there are certain truths which the Americans 
 can only learn from strangers or from expoi'ience. 
 
 If America has not as yet had any great writers, the 
 reason is given in these facts : there can be no literarv 
 genius without freedom of opinion, and freedom of o})inion 
 does not exist in America. The Inquisition has never 
 been able to prevent a vast number of anti-religious books 
 from circulating in Spain. The em[)ire of the majority 
 succeeds much better in the United States, since it actually 
 removes any wish to publish them. Unbelievers are to be 
 met with in America, but there is no public organ of 
 infidelity. Attempts have been made by some govern- 
 ments to protect molality by prohibiting licentious books. 
 
 \ B:'' '■' y 
 
 &'-^~. 
 
 JVi-ts 
 
 '■m n 
 
 -.A- 
 
:}40 
 
 Df:MOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 In the Unitofl States, no one is pnnlslied for this sort of 
 books, but no one is induced to write them ; not because 
 all the citizens are inunaciilate in conduct, but because the 
 majority of the connnunity is decent and orderly. 
 
 In this case the use of the power is unquestionably good ; 
 and I am discussing the nature of the power itself. This 
 irresistible authority is a constant fact, and its judicious 
 exercise is only an accident.* 
 
 EFFECTS OF THE TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY UPON THE 
 NATIONAL CHARACTER OF THE AMERICANS. THE COUR- 
 TIER-SPIRIT IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 !.i 
 
 ': ? 
 
 Eftbcts of tlic Tyranny of the Majority more sensibly felt liitlierto on the 
 Manners than on the Conduct of Society. — They dicck the Develop- 
 ment of f^rcat Characters. — Democratic Repuhlics, or<j;anize(l like the 
 United States, infuse the Courtier-spirit into the Mass of the People. — 
 Proofs of this Spirit in the United States, — Why there is more Patriot- 
 ism in the People than in those who govern in their Name. 
 
 The tendencies which I have just mentioned are as 
 yet but slightly perceptible in political society ; but they 
 already exercise an untiivorable influence upon the national 
 character of the Americans. I attribute the small number 
 of distinguished men in political life to the ever-increasing 
 despotism of the majoi'ity in the United States. 
 
 When the American Revolution broke out, they arose 
 in great numbers ; for public opinion then ser>^ed, not to 
 tyrarmize over, but to direct the exertions of individuals. 
 Those celebrated men, sharino; the agitation of mind com- 
 
 * De Tocqneville's remarks on this subject arc rhetorical, and altogether 
 too highly colored. It is notorious, that, in politics, morality, and religion, 
 the most ortcnsive opinions are preached and printed every week liere in 
 America, apparently for no other j)urpose than that of shocking the senti- 
 ments of the great bulk of the community. Instead of complaining of tho 
 bondage of thought, the judicious observer will rather grieve at the extreme 
 licentiousness of the rostrum and the press. — Am. Ed. 
 
THE UXLLMITKI) TOWKIt OF TlIK MAIORITV. 
 
 841 
 
 mon at that period, had a grandcMir })C'c'uliai' to thoiusolvos, 
 whicli was reflected back upon the nation, but was by no 
 means borrowed from it. 
 
 In absolute goverinnents, the great nobles who are neat- 
 est to the throne flatter the passions of the sovereign, and 
 voluntarily truckle to his cajjrices. lint the mass of the 
 nation does not degrade itself bv servitude ; it often sub- 
 mits from weakness, from habit, or from ignorance, and 
 sometimes from loyalty. Some nations have been known 
 to sacrifice their own desires to those of the soMTcign with 
 pleasure and i)nde, thus exhibiting a sort of indi'pcndence 
 of mind in the very act of submission. 'I'hese nations are 
 miserable, but thev are not deo-raded. There is it civat 
 ditference betweer^ doing what one does noi approxc, and 
 feigning to approve what one does ; he one is the weakness 
 of a feeble person, the other befits the temjx'r of a lackev. 
 
 In free countries, where every one is more or less called 
 upon to give his o[)inion on afl^'airs of state, — in (h'mocratic 
 republics, where public life is incessantly mingled witli (h)- 
 mestic affairs, where the sovereion authoritv is accessible 
 on every side, and where its attention can always be at- 
 tracted by vociferation, — more persons arc to be met wiili 
 who speculate upon its weaknesses, and live u])ou minis- 
 tering to its passions, than in absolute monarchies. Not 
 because men are naturally worse in these states than e!s.>- 
 Avhere, but the temptation is stronger and of easier access 
 at the same time. The result is a more extensive dL-'jas«'- 
 ment of character. 
 
 Democratic republics extend the practice of currying 
 favor with the many, and introduce it into all classes 
 at once : this is the most serious reproach that can be 
 addressed to them. This is especially true in democratic 
 states organized like the American republics, where the 
 power of the majority is so absolute and irresistible that 
 one must give up his rights as a citizen, and almost abjure 
 
 
 mvU^ 
 
 
 f4 '' 
 
 i *■ 
 
 i ■bl 
 
 n 
 
342 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKUICA. 
 
 IM 
 
 ii; 
 
 m 
 
 Itfci 
 
 
 %:'( 
 
 his qualities as a man, if lie intends to stray from the track 
 which it })rescribes. 
 
 In that immense crowd which thrones the avenues to 
 power in the United States, I found very few men who 
 dis])laved that manly candor and masculine independence 
 of opinion wiiich trecjuently distinguished the Americans 
 in former times, and which constitutes the leading feature 
 in distinguished characters wheresoever they may l>e found. 
 It seems, at first sight, as if all the minds of the Ameri- 
 cans were formed upon (me model, so accurately do tluy 
 follow the same route. A stranger does, indeed, sometimes 
 meet with Americans who dissent from the rigor of these 
 fonnularies, — with men who de})lore the defects of the 
 laws, the nmtahility and the ignorance of democracy, — 
 who even 2:0 so far as to observe the evil tendencies Avhich 
 impair the national character, and to point out such reme- 
 dies as it might be possible to api)ly ; but no one is there to 
 hear them except yourself, and you, to whom these secret 
 reflections are confided, are a stranger and a bird of pas- 
 sage. They are very ready to communicate truths which 
 are useless to you, but they hold a different language in 
 public. 
 
 If ever these lines are read in America, I am well as- 
 sured of two things ; — in the first place, that all who 
 peruse them will raise their voices to condemn me ; and, 
 in the second place, that many of thom will acquit me at 
 the bottom of their conscience. 
 
 I have heard of patriotism in the United States, and I 
 have found true patriotism among the people, but never 
 among the leaders of the people. This may be explained 
 by analogy : despotism debases the oppressed much more 
 than the oppressor : in absolute monarchies, the king often 
 has great virtues, but the courtiers are invariably servile. 
 It is true that Anv^rican courtiers do not say " Sire," or 
 " Your ]\Iajesty," — a distinction without a difference. 
 
THE UNLIMITKD POWKR OF THE JIAJOKITY. 
 
 343 
 
 They are forever talking of the natural intelligence of the 
 people whom they serve : they do not debate the question 
 which of the virtues of their master is pre-eminently wor- 
 thy of admiration, for they assure him that he possesses all 
 the virtues without having acquired them, or without caring 
 to acquire them ; they do not give him their daughters and 
 their wives to he raised at his pleasure to the rank of his 
 concubines ; but, by sacrificing their opinions, they prosti- 
 tute themselves. Moralists and philoso})hers in America 
 are not obliged to conceal their opinions under the veil of 
 allegory ; but before they venture upon a harsh truth, they 
 say, " We are aware that the people whom we are address- 
 ing are too superior to the weaknesses of human nature to 
 lose the connnand of their temper for an instant. We 
 should not hold this language if we were not speaking to 
 men whom their \ irtues and their intelliiicnco render more 
 worthy of freedom than all the rest of the world." The syc- 
 ophants of Louis XIV. could not flatter more dexterously. 
 For my part, I am persuaded that, in all governments, 
 whatever their nature may be, servility will cower to force, 
 and adulation will follow power. The only means of pre- 
 venting men from degrading themselves is to inv^est no one 
 with that unlimited authority which Is the sure method of 
 debasino; them. 
 
 m- \ 
 
 THE GREATEST DANGERS OF THE AMERICAN RErUBLTCS 
 PROCEED FROM THE OMNIPOTENCE OF THE MAJORITY. 
 
 ; : I- 
 
 Democratic Republics liable to perish from a Misuse of their Power, and 
 not from Impotence. — The Governments of the American ltci)uljlic& 
 are more Centralized and more Enerfretic than those of the Monarchies 
 of Europe. — Dangers resulting from this. — Opinions of Madison and 
 Jefferson upon this Point. 
 
 Governments usually perish from impotence or from 
 tyranny. In the former case, their p<.)\\cr escapes from 
 
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 544 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
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 them ; it is wrested from their <^rasp in the latter. ]\Iany 
 observers who have witnessed the anarcliy of democratic 
 states, have imagined that the government of tliose states 
 was naturally weak and impotent. The truth is, that, 
 when war is once begun between parties, the government 
 loses its control over society. But I do not think that a 
 democratic power is naturally without force or resources ; 
 say, rather, that it is almost always by the abuse of its 
 force, and the misem})loy)nent of its resources, that it be- 
 comes a failure. Anarchy is almost always produced by 
 its tyranny oi- it.-^ mistakes, but not by its want of strength. 
 
 It is im})L'itant not to confound stability with force, or 
 the greatn<.->s -f a thing with its duration. In democratic 
 republic'^-, the j.ower which directs* society is not stable; 
 for it often c.i mges hands, and assumes a new direction. 
 But, wiiich^-ivv • way it turns, its force is almt> ;t irresistible. 
 The govermw:ui;s of the American republics appear to me 
 to be as much centralized as those of the absolute monarch- 
 ies of Euro})e, and more energetic than they are. I do not, 
 therefore, imagine that they will perish from weakness. f 
 
 If ever the free institutions of America are destroyed, 
 that event may be attributed to the omnipotence of the 
 majority, which may at some future time urge the minor- 
 ities to desperation, and oblige them to have recourse to 
 physical force. Anarcliy Avill then be the result, but it 
 will have been brought jiuout by despotism. 
 
 Mr. Madison expresses the same opinion in the Federal- 
 ist, No. 51. " It is of great importnjice iv. a republic, not 
 
 * Tl'is power may be t'eiitnilizcd iu an asscnibly, in which case it will be 
 strong without being stable ; or it may be centralized in an individual, iu 
 ■which case it v/ill bo less strong, but more stable. 
 
 t I presume that it is scarcely necessary to remind the reader here, as well 
 as throughout this chapter, that I am speaking, not of the Federal govern- 
 ments, but of the several governments of each State, which the majority 
 controls at its pleasure. 
 
 I ;!. 
 
THE UNLDnTKD TOWKR OF TIIK MAJORITY. 
 
 04 
 
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 only to rriiard tlic society against the oppression of its rul- 
 ers, but to guard one part of the society against the injus- 
 tice of the other part. Justice is the end of government. 
 It is the end of civil society. It ever has been, and ever 
 ■will be, pursued until it be obtained, or until liberty be 
 lost in the pursuit. In a society, under the forms of which 
 the stronger faction can readily imite and o])[)ress the 
 weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reig ' as in a 
 state of nature, where the weaker individual is not secured 
 against the violence of the stronger: and as, in the lattm* 
 state, even the stronger individuals are prompted by the 
 uncertainty of their condition to submit to a government 
 which may protect the weak as well as themselves, so, in 
 tlie former state, will the more powerful factions ])(• gi'ad- 
 uallv iiiduced bv a like motive to wish for a government 
 Ashich will protect all parties, the weaker as well as the 
 more powerful. It can be little doubted, that, if the State 
 of Rhode Island was se|)arated from the Confederacy and 
 left to itself, the insecurity of right under the popular form 
 of ovvernmeiit within such narrow limits would b(» dis- 
 played by such reiterated op])ressions of the factious major- 
 ities, that some power altogether inde})ondent of the people 
 would soon be called for by the voice of tiie very factions 
 whose misrule had proved the necessity of it." 
 
 Jefferson also said : " The executive power in our gov- 
 ernment is not the only, perhaps not even the ])rincij)al, 
 object of my solicitude. The tyranny of the legislature is 
 really the danger most to be feared, and will continue to be 
 so for many years to come. The tjTanny of the executive 
 power will come in its turn, but at a more distant ])eriod." 
 
 I am glad to cite the opinion of Jefferson upon this sub- 
 ject rather than that of any other, because I consider him 
 the most powerflil advocate democracy has e\ er had. 
 
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540 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 CAUSES WHICH MITIGATE THE TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY 
 
 IN THE UNITED STATES. ' 
 
 ABSENCE OF CENTRALIZED ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 lf>' I 
 
 The National Majority does uot pretend to do cverytliing. — Is obliged to 
 employ the Town and County Magistrates to execute its sovereign Will. 
 
 I HAVE already pointed out the distinction between 
 a centralized government and a centralized adminis- 
 tration. The former exists in America, hut the latter is 
 nearly unknown there. If the directing power of the 
 American communities had both these instruments of gov- 
 ernment at its disposal, and united the habit of executing 
 its commands to the rifjht of commandino; ; if, after havino; 
 established the general principles of government, it de- 
 scended to the details of their application ; and if, having 
 regidated the great interests of the country, it could de- 
 scend to the circle of individual interests, freedom would 
 soon be banished fi'om the New World. 
 
 But in the United States, the majority, which so fre- 
 quently displays the tastes and the propensities of a despot, 
 is still destitute of the most perfect instruments of tyranny. 
 
 In the American republics, tlie central government has 
 never as yet busied itself but with a small number of 
 objects, sufficiently prominent to attract its attention. The 
 secondary affairs of society have never been regulated by 
 its authority ; and nothing has hitherto betrayed its desire 
 of even interfering in them. The majority is become 
 
MITIGATIONS OF THE TYRANNY OF TIIK MAJOUITY. o47 
 
 more and more absolute, but lias not increased the prerog- 
 atives of the central government ; those great prerogatives 
 have been confined to a certain s})here ; and, although the 
 desi)otism of the majority may be galling upon one point, 
 it cannot be said to extend to all. However the j)redomi- 
 jiant party in the nation may be carried away by its j)as- 
 sions, however ardent it may be in the })ursuit of its 
 j)rojects, it cannot oblige all the citizens to comply with its 
 desires in the same manner, and at the same time, through- 
 out the country. When the central government which 
 represents that majority has issued a decree, it nuist in- 
 trust the execution of its will to agents, over whom it fre- 
 quently has no control, and whom it cannot per})etually 
 direct. The townshi})S, municipal bodies, and counties 
 form so many concealed breakwaters, which check or part 
 the tide of popular determination. If an 0})pressive law 
 were passed, liberty would still be protected by the mode 
 of executing that law ; the majority cannot descend to the 
 details and what may be called the puerilities of adnn'nis- 
 trative tyranny. It does not even imagine that it can do 
 so, for it has not a full consciousness of its authority. It 
 knows only the extent of its natural powers, but is unac- 
 quainted with the art of increashig them. 
 
 This })oint deserves attention ; for if a democratic re- 
 public, similar to that of the United States, were ever 
 founded in a country where the power of one man had 
 previously established a centralized administration, and had 
 sunk it deep into the habits and the laws of the people, I 
 do not hesitate to assert, that, in such a republic, a more 
 insufferable despotism would prevail than in any of the 
 absolute monarchies of Europe ; or, indeed, than any 
 which could be found on tliis side of Asia. 
 
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 348 
 
 DI'MOCUACY IN AMKHICA. 
 
 THE PROFESSION OF THE LAW IN IIIK UNITED STATES 
 SERVES TO COUNTERPOISE THE DEMOCRACY. 
 
 I liijli ! 
 
 Utility of lusccrtiiiniii^x wliiit urc tlic imtural Instincts of tlic Legal Pro- 
 fciision. — Tlii'sc Mi-n arc to act a iPioiniiicnt i'art in future SiMJcty. — 
 How the peculiar I'ursuit.s of Lawyers >;ive an aristocratic Turn \(P 
 their Ideas. — Accidental l.'auses wiiich nu>y clicck this Tench'iicy. — 
 Euso with whidi tiie Aristocracy coalesces witii Lv<s,a[ Men. — Use of 
 Lawyers to a Despot. — Tiie I'rotessiou of the l^asv constitutes the only 
 aristocratic Klenieut witii which the natural Elements of Democracy 
 will comhine. — Peculiar Causes wiiich tciul to j^ive an arislocratic J'urn 
 of JMind to En^^lish and American Lawyers. — Tlie Arist(}iracy of 
 /.merica is on the IJench and at tlie liar. — Inliuenee of Lawyers upon 
 American Society. — Tlieir j)eeuliar Magisterial Spirit alll'cts the Legis- 
 lature, the Administration, and even tiie I'eople. 
 
 In visiting the Aiiiei'icans and studying tlieir liiws, we 
 perceive that the authority they have intrusted to members 
 of tlie legal j)ro{ession, and the iiiflnence which these indi- 
 viduals exercise in the government, is the most ])Owei'ful 
 existing security against the excesses of democracy. This 
 effect seems to me to result- from a general cause, which it 
 is useful to investigate, as it may be reproduced elsewliei'e. 
 The members of the legal profession have taken a ])art 
 in all the movements of political society in Euro})e i'uv the 
 last five hundred years. At one time, they have l)een the 
 iistruments of the political authorities, and at another, 
 they have succeeded in converting the political authorities 
 into their instruments. In the jNIiddle Ages, they afforded 
 a powerful support to the Crown ; and sin(,'e that period, 
 they have exerted themselves effectively to limit the royal 
 prerogative. In England, they have contracted a close 
 alliance with the aristt)cracy : in France, they have shown 
 themselves its most dangerous enemies. Under all these 
 circumstances, have the members of the legal profession 
 been swayed by sudden and fleeting impulses, or have ihey 
 been more or less impelled by instincts which are natural 
 
MlTKiATlUNS OF Till: IVKANNV uF IIIK MAMJlUTY. .'UO 
 
 to tlu'm, juk! uliicli will iilways ivciir in history? I am 
 iiiciti'd to tills invc'sti^^iitioii, lor pcrliiips this [)articiiliir cltiss 
 of iiu'ii will [Any a promiiiriit part in the })«)litical society 
 which is soon to ou created. 
 
 !Men who have made a special stndy of the laws derive 
 ironi this occupation certain hahits of order, a taste f!)r for- 
 malities, and a kind of instincti\e regard tor the I'eoular 
 connection of ideas, which naturally render them very hos- 
 tile I') the revolutionary spirit and the unrellectin^ passions 
 of the nndtitude. 
 
 'J he special information which lawyers derive I'roi 'leir 
 stu- lies insures them a separate rank in society, ai liey 
 constitute a sort of privileged hody in the scale of intellect. 
 This notion of their superiority })erj)etually recurs .to them 
 in the })ractice of their profession : they are the masters of 
 a science which is necessary, but which is not very <|en- 
 erally known : iliey serve as arbiters between the citizens ; 
 and the habit of directing to their })urpose the blind [»as- 
 sions of parties in litigation, ins})ires them with a certain 
 contempt for the judgment of the nndtitude. Add to this, 
 that they naturally constitute a hotly ; not by any previous 
 understanding, or by an agreement which directs them to a 
 common end; but the analogy of their stuilies and the uni- 
 formity of their methods connect their minds together, as 
 II common interest might unite their endeavors. 
 
 Some of tlie tastes and the habits of the aristocracy may 
 conseq""ntly be discovered in the characters of lawyers. 
 They participate in tlie same instinctive love of order and 
 tbrmalities ; and they entertain the same repugnance to the 
 actions of the multitude, and tlie same secret contempt of 
 the government of the people. I do not mean to say that 
 the natural propensities of lawyers are sufficiently strong 
 to sway them irresistibly ; for they, like most other men, 
 are governed by their private interests, and especially by 
 the interests of the moment. 
 
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 DK.MOCnACY IN AMKI.'KA. 
 
 In a state, of society in wliicli the meniluTs of tlie IciXid 
 profession cannot hold tliat rank in tlie j>oHtical world 
 wliich they enjoy in ])rivate Hfe, we may rest assured that 
 tliey will he the foremost agents of revolution. Jiut it 
 must then be in({uired, whether the cause which then 
 induces them to iiniovate and destroy results from a per- 
 manent disposition or from an accident. It is true that 
 lawyers mainly contributed to the overthrow of the French 
 monarchy in 1781); but it remains to be seen whether they 
 acted thus because they had studietl the laws, or because 
 they were prohibited from makhig them. 
 
 Five hundred years ago, the English nobles lieaded the 
 people, and spoke in their name ; at the present time, the 
 aristocracy su})port the throne, and defend the royal pre- 
 rogative. But aristocracy has, notwithstanding this, its 
 peculiar instincts and })ropensities. We must be careful 
 not to confound isolated members of a body with the body 
 itself. In all free iiovernments, of whatsoever form thev 
 may be, members of the legal })rotession will be found in 
 the front ranks of all parties. The same remark is also 
 api)licable to the aristocracy ; almost all the tlemocratlc 
 movements wliich ht.ve amtated the world have been di- 
 rected by nobles. A privileged body can never satisfy 
 the ambition of all its members : it has always more tal- 
 ents and more passions than it can find places to content 
 and employ ; so that a considerable number of individuals 
 are usually to be met with, who are inclined to attack 
 those very privileges which they cannot soon enough turn 
 to their own account. 
 
 I do not, then, assert that all the members of the legal 
 profession are, at all times, the friends of order and the 
 opponents of innovation, but merely that most of them are 
 usually so. In a comnumity in which lawyers are allowed 
 to occupy without opposition that high station which natu- 
 rally belongs to them, their general spirit will be eminently 
 
MITIGATIONS (»F TIIK TYRANNY OF Till: MA.KMMIY. '■)•'>[ 
 
 conservative nnd imti-deiiioerntlc. AVlicii an aristctcracy 
 excludes tlie leaders of tliat })r(»fessi()n iVoni its i-anks, it 
 excites enemies wlio are the more formidaMe as tln-y are 
 independent of the nobility by their lahors, and feel tlu-m- 
 selves to be their equals in intelligence, though inferior in 
 opulence and power. But wlu-ncver an aristocracy con- 
 sents to impart some of its privilet^es to these same individ- 
 uals, the two classes coalesce very readily, and assume, as 
 it were, family interests. 
 
 I am, in like manner, inclined to believe that a monarcli 
 will always be able to convert le<i;al practitioners into tlu; 
 most serviceable instruments of his authority. 'I here is a 
 far greater affinity between this class of persons and the 
 executive power, than there is between them and the peo- 
 ple, thougli they have often aided to overturn the former ; 
 just as there is a greater natural affinity between the nobles 
 and the monarch, than between the nobles and tlu' people, 
 althouo;h the hicjlier orders of society have often, in con- 
 cert with the lower classes, resisted the prerogative of the 
 crown. 
 
 Lawyers are attached to public order beyond every other 
 consideration, and the best security of public order is au- 
 thority. It must not be forgotten, also, that, if they prize 
 freedom much, they generally value legality still more: 
 thev are less afraid of tyranny than of arbitrary power; 
 and, provided the legislature undertakes of itself to deprive 
 men of their independence, they are not dissatistied. 
 
 I am therefore convinced that the })rince who, in pres- 
 ence of an encroachinii democracy, should endeavor to 
 impair the judicial authority in his dominions, and to 
 diminish the political influence of la\\Tt'rs, would commit 
 a great mistake : he would let slip the substance of au- 
 thority to grasp the shadow. He would act more wisely 
 in introducinrr lawyers into the o;overnment ; and if he 
 intrusted despotism to them under the form of violence, 
 
 
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 DKMOCKACY IN' AMKIMCA. 
 
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 pcrlijips In* would find it iiii;aln in tlieir hands under the 
 extciMial features of justico and law. 
 
 The <|ov('rninent of democracy is favorable to tno polit- 
 ical power (jf lawyers ; for when the wealthy, the noble, 
 and the prince are excluded from the government, the law- 
 yers take possession of it, in their own right, as it were, 
 since thev are the oidy men of information and sao;ficitv, 
 beyond the sphere of the ])eople, who can be the object of 
 the popular choice. If, then, they are led by their tastes 
 towards the aristocracy and the prince, they are brought 
 in contact with the people by their interests. They like 
 the government of democracy, without participating in its 
 pro[)ensities and without imitating its weaknesses ; whence 
 they derive a twofold authority from it and over it. The 
 people in democratic states do not mistnist the members of 
 the legal profession, because it is known that they are in- 
 terested to serve the popular cause ; and the people listen 
 to them without irritation, because they do not attribute 
 to them any sinister designs. The lawyers do not, in- 
 deed, svish to overthrow the institutions of democracy, 
 but they constantly endeavor to turn it away from its 
 real direction by means which are foreign to its nature. 
 Lawyers belong to the people by birth and interest, and 
 to the aristocracy by habit and taste ; they may be looked 
 upon as the connecting link of the two great classes of 
 society. 
 
 The profession of the law is the only aristocratic element 
 which can be amalgamated without violence with the nat- 
 ural elements of democracy, and be advantageously and 
 permanently combined with them. I am not ignorant of 
 the defects inherent in the character of this body of men ; 
 but without this admixture of lawyer-like sobriety with 
 the democratic principle, I question whether democratic 
 uistitutions could long be maintained ; and I cannot be- 
 lieve that a republic could hope to exist at the present 
 
MITIGATIONS OF Tlir: TYRANNY OF Till; MA.IOIMTY. 3o3 
 
 time, if the iiifliionce of lawyers in j)iil)lic l)usliies.s did not 
 increase in ])r()])orti()n to tlie power of tlie j)LM)|)le. 
 
 Tiiis aristocratic character, whicli 1 liold to be connnon 
 to the legal })rofession, is nuich more distinctly mai'ked in 
 the United States and in England than in any other conn- 
 try. This i)roceeds not only from the legal stndies of the 
 English and American lawyers, but from the nature of the 
 law, and the position which these interpreters of it occupy, 
 in the two countries. The Endish and the Americans 
 have retained the law of precedents ; that is to say, they 
 continue to found their legal oj>inions and the decisions of 
 their courts upon the ojiinions and decisions of their j)rede- 
 cessors. In the mind of an Englisli or American lawyi'r, 
 a taste and a reverence for what is old is almost always 
 united with a love of reiadar and lawi'ul i)ro(ei'dinus. 
 
 This predisposition has another effect upon the character 
 of the legal ])rofession and u})on the general course of soci- 
 ety. The Englisli and American lawyers investigate what 
 has been done ; the French advocate incpiires what should 
 have been done : the former j)roduce precedents ; the lat- 
 ter, reasons. A French observer is sur})rised to hear how 
 often an English or an American lawyer quotes the opin- 
 ions of others, and how little he alludes to his own ; whilst 
 the reverse occurs in France. There the most triflinff liti- 
 gation is never conducted without the introduction of an 
 entire system of ideas peculiar to the counsel emphwed ; 
 and the fimdamental princi})les of law are discussed in 
 order to obtain a perch of land by the decision of the 
 court. This abnegation of his own o[)inion, and this im- 
 plicit deference to the opinion of his forefathers, which are 
 common to the English and American lawyer, this servi- 
 tude of thought which he is obliged to profess, necessarily 
 give him more timid habits and more conservative inclina- 
 tions in England and America than in France. 
 
 The French codes are often difficult of comprehension, 
 
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 UI.MOCKACY IN AM1;KIlA. 
 
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 but tlu'V ciin be read by every one; notliiii^s on tlie otlicr 
 lianJ, can be more obscure and strange to tlie uninitiated, 
 than a li'gislation f'()un<led upon jtrecedents. The absohite 
 need of legal aid wliich is telt in England and the United 
 States, and the high o])ini()n which is entertained ot" the 
 ability of the legal profession, tend to separate it nioiv 
 and more From the people, and to erect it into a distinct 
 class. The French lawyer is simi»ly a man extt'iisivciy 
 acfjuainted with the statuttis of his country ; but the Eng- 
 lish or American lawyer resembles the hieronhants of 
 Egypt, for, like them, he is the sole interpreter of an 
 occult science. 
 
 The position which lawyers occu})y in England and 
 America exercises no less influence upon their habits and 
 opinions. The English aristocracy, which has taken care 
 to attract to its sphere whatever is at all analogous to itself, 
 has conferred a high degree of importance and authority 
 upon the members of the legal profession. In English 
 society, lawyers d<j not occupy the first rank, but they are 
 contented with the station assio;ncd to them : tliev consti- 
 tute, as it were, the vouno;er branch of the Enolish aris- 
 tocracy ; and they are attached to their elder brothers, 
 although they do not enjoy all their privileges. The Eng- 
 lish lawyers consequently mingle the aristocratic tastes and 
 ideas of the circles in which they move, with the aristo- 
 cratic interests of their profession. 
 
 And, indeed, the lawyer-like character which I am en- 
 deavoring to depict is most distinctly to be met with in 
 England : there, laws are esteemed not so much because 
 they are good as because they are old ; and if it be neces- 
 sary to modify them in any respect, to adapt them to the 
 changes which time operates in society, recourse is had to 
 the most inconceivable subtUties in order to uphold the 
 traditionary fabric, and to maintain that nothing has been 
 done which does not square with the intentions, and com- 
 
MITIGATIONS OF TIIK TYRANNY OF TIIK MAIOIMTY. 
 
 ><M 
 
 plc'te tlie labors, of former <i;ont'r!itioiis. 'J'lu' vimt iiull- 
 vicluuls wlio ('onduct tlu'se chaiiiics disclaim any (K-sire ot" 
 imiovation, and had ratiiur resort to absurd exjiedients than 
 j)lead f^uilty to so ^reat a crime. This spirit apjii-rtains 
 more es])ecially to the Eniilisii lawyci's ; they appear indif- 
 ferent to the real meaning; of \\ hat they treat, and they 
 direct all their attention to the letter, — sccmino; inclined 
 to abandon reason and humanity, rather than to swerve 
 one tittle from the law. Endish lejj;islation mav bi' com- 
 pared to the stock of an old tree, u[)on which lawyers have 
 inirrafted the most dissimilar shoots, in the hope that, 
 althoun;h their fruits may dilfer, their f()liaLje at least will 
 be confounded with the venerable truidv which su])port.s 
 them all.* 
 
 In America, there are no nobles or literary men, and the 
 people are apt to mistrust the wealthy ; lawyers conse- 
 quently form the highest political class, and the most cul- 
 tivated portion of society. They have therefore uothing 
 to gain by innovation, wliich adds a conservative interest 
 to their natural taste for public order. If I were asked 
 where I place the American aristocracy, I should rej)ly, 
 without hesitation, that it is not among the rich, who are 
 united by no common tie, but that it occupies the judicial 
 bench and the bar. 
 
 The more we reflect upon all that occurs in the United 
 States, the more shall we be persuaded that the lawyers, as 
 a body, form the most powerful, if not the only, counter- 
 poise to the democratic element. In that country, we 
 easily perceive how the legal profession is qualified by its 
 attributes, and even by its faults, to neutralize the vices 
 
 * All this is the criticism of a lively and intelligent Frenchman, unfa- 
 miliar with the principles and modes of procedure peculiar to the English 
 Common Law, and exaggerating these very peculiarities of it, because they 
 are so unlike the legal maxims and methods in which he has himself been 
 nurtured from childhood. — Am. Ed. 
 
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 DKMOCUACY IN AMKKICA. 
 
 iiiliiTi'iit in |)()jtular <4<)venmu'nt. Wlion tlie AnK'i'icaii 
 jK'oplu are intoxicated l)y passion, or carried away by tlie 
 inipetnosity (»t" their ideas, they are checked and sto|)|)ed 
 hy tile almost invisible infhience of their le<^al counsellors. 
 Tlu'se secri'tly opjxjse their aristocratic pro})ensities to the 
 nation's denioi-ratie instincts, their superstitious attachment 
 to what is old to its love of novelty, their narrow views to 
 its innnense desiirns, and their liabitual procrastination to 
 its ardent impatience. 
 
 The courts of justice are the visible organs by which the 
 lejxal i»rofession is enabled to control the democracy. 'J'he 
 judiie is a lawyer, who, independently of the taste for re;>- 
 ularity and order which he has contracted in the study of 
 law, derives an additional love of stability from the inalien- 
 ability of his own functions. Ilis lejral attainnu'uts have 
 already raised him to a distinguished rank amongst his fel- 
 lows ; his political power completes the distinction of his 
 station, and gives him the instincts of the privileged classes. 
 
 Armed with the power of declaring the laws to be un- 
 constitutional,* the American magistrate per})etually inter- 
 fere;-: in political atlairs. He cannot force the peoj)le to 
 make laws, but at least ho can oblige them not to disobey 
 their own enactments, and not to be inconsistent with 
 themselves. I am aware that a secret tendency to dimin- 
 ish the judicial power exists in the United States ; and by 
 most of the Constitutions of the several States, the gov- 
 ernment can, upon the demand of the two houses of the 
 legislature, remove the judges from their station. Some 
 other State Constitutions make the members of the judi- 
 ciary elective, and they are even subjected to frequent 
 re-elections. I venture to predict that these innovations 
 will sooner or later be attended with fatal consequences ; 
 and that it will be found out at some future period, that, by 
 thus lessening the independence of the judiciary, they have 
 
 * Ste Chapter VI. p. 125, ou the Judicial Power in the United States. 
 
MITIGATIONS OF TIIK TYI5.\XNV 0|" TIIi: MAIOIMTV. .".)( 
 
 )tates. 
 
 attacked not onlv tlic judicial power, hut tlie dt'm()crati<' 
 rej)ul>Iic itself. 
 
 Jt must not, moreover, be supposed that tlie le;^al sj)irit 
 is confined, in the United States, to tlie courts of justice ; 
 it extends flir beyond them. As the lawyers form tlie oidy 
 enliiihtened class whom the people do not mistiMist, they 
 are naturally called upon to o'ccupy most of the puhlic 
 stations. They fill the leo;islative assemhiies. and are at 
 the head of the administration ; tliev conseciuentlv exercise 
 a poweiful influence upon the formation of the law, and 
 njxm its execution. The lawyers are, however, ohiin-eil to 
 yield fo the current of puhlic opinion, which is too sti-cii*^ 
 for them to resist ; but it is easy to find indications of what 
 thev would do, if they were free to act. The Americans. 
 Avho have made so many innovations in their political laws, 
 have introduced verv sparinui: alterations in their ci\il laws. 
 and that with ijreat difficult v, althoush niauv of these laws 
 are repugnant to their social condition. The reason of this 
 is, that, in matters of civil law, the majority are oblin;cd to 
 defer to the authority of the leo;al profession, and the 
 American lawyers are disinclined to innovate when thev 
 are left to their own choice. 
 
 It is curious for a Frenchman to hear the comj)laints 
 which are made in the United States, aujainst the stM'.onary 
 spirit of legal men, and their prejudices in favor of ex stinj; 
 institutions. 
 
 The influence of leixal habits extends beyond the ])recisp 
 limits I have pointed out. Scarcely any j)olitical question 
 arises in the United States wdiich is not resolved, sooner 
 or later, into a judicial question. Hence all parties arc 
 oblicred to borrow, in their daily controversies, the ideas, 
 and even the lano;uao;e, peculiar to judicial proceediutis. As 
 most public men are, or have been, leo;al j^ractitioners, they 
 introduce the customs and technicalities of their profession 
 into the maiiaoement of public affairs. The jury extends 
 
 ^T: ;:! 
 
i 
 
 J{;3H 
 
 DllMOCUACY IN AMKIJICA. 
 
 this liahitudc to all classes. Tiu- lanixiiaijic of tlio law thus 
 ht'comcs, ill some mcasuri', a vulnai- toiiniic ; tlio sj>int of 
 tilt' law, which is jjroduccd in the sciiools ami court,s of 
 justice, o^i-adiiaily penetrates l)ey<»nd tlicii" walls into the 
 hosoni of society, where it descends to the lowest classes, 
 so that at last the whole people ctjiitract the habits and 
 the tastes of the Judicial nia<xistrate. The lawyers of the 
 United States form a l)arty which is but little feared and 
 scarcely jierceived, which has no bad<i;e peculiar to itself, 
 which adajits itself with ^reat Hexibility to tlie exifjeucies 
 of the time, and acconnnodates itself without resistance to 
 all the movements of the social body. I>ut this J)arty 
 extends over the whole community, and penetrates into 
 all the classes which compose it ; it acts upon the coun- 
 try imperceptibly, but finally fashions it to suit its own 
 purposes. 
 
 TRIAL 1$Y JURY IN THE UNITED STATES CONSIDERED AS A 
 POLITICAL INSTITUTION. 
 
 Trial l)y Jury, which is one of the Forms of tlie Sovereignty of the People, 
 OH;:^l,t to I)C compared with tlie other Laws which estal)lish that Sov- 
 crcif^nty. — Composition of the Jury in the United States. — Effect of 
 Trial hy Jury upon the National Character. — It educates the People. 
 — How it tends to estal)lish the Influence of the Magistrates, and to 
 extend the Le^jal Sjjirit amoii<; the People. 
 
 Since my subject has led me to speak of the administra- 
 tion of justice in the United States, I will not pass over it 
 without adverting to the institution of the jury. Trial by 
 jury may be considered in two separate points of view ; as 
 a judicial, and as a political institution. If it was my pur- 
 pose to inquire how far trial by jury, especially in civil 
 cases, insures a good administration of justice, I admit that 
 its utility might be contested. As the jury was first estal)- 
 lished when society was in its infancy, and when courts of 
 
MITICIATIONS OF TIIK TVKANNV W TIIK MAIOKHV. o'jO 
 
 justice merely decided simple (juestioiis of Hut, it is not :in 
 ea>y ta>k to iidapt it to tlie wants of a liiifidy civili/ed cou)- 
 munity, when the mutual relations (»t' im-n an- nudtiplietl 
 to a surprising; extent, and have assumed an enli<^iiti'ned 
 and intellectual character.* 
 
 My present purj)ose is to cojisider the jury as a political 
 institution ; any other course would divert me t'r(»m mv 
 suhject. ( )f' trial by jury, considered as a judicial insti- 
 tution, I shall here sav but little. When tiie Ijinlish 
 adopted trial by jury, they were a semi-barbai'ous peoj)le ; 
 thev have since become one of the most enli'diti'iied na- 
 tions of the earth ; and their attachmt'iit to this institution 
 seems to have increased with their increasiuL:; cultivation. 
 They have emigrated and coloni/ed every part of the 
 habitable globe ; some have formed colonies, others inde- 
 jH'iident states ; the mother country has msuntained its 
 monarchical constitution ; many of its offspring have 
 founded powerful republics ; but everywhere they have 
 boasted of the privilege of trial by jury.f They have 
 established it, or hastened to re-establish it, in all their 
 settlements. A judicial institution whicli thus obtains the 
 
 * Tlie consideration of trial by jury as a Judicial institution, and tho 
 appreciation of its etfects in the United States, tof^etlier with an inquiry 
 into the manner in which the Americans have used it, would suflice to form 
 a hook, and a hook upon a very useful and curious suliject. The State of 
 Louisiana would throw the most li^^ht upon the suhject, as it has a minirled 
 population of French and Enfrlish. The two systems of law, as well as 
 the two nations, are there found side hy side, and are gradually coml)ininff 
 with each other. The most useful hooks to consult would he the Ditjixle 
 din Loi'i de In Louisiana ; and the Traite sitr les Rhjh-.s dis Actions civilts, 
 jjriiited in French and Enjrlish at New Orleans, in 18.'U). 
 
 t All the Enfrlish and American jtu-ists arc unanimous upon this head. 
 Mr. Story, Judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, speaks, in 
 his Commentaries on the Constitution, of the advantages of trial hy jury 
 in civil cases : " The inestimahlc privilege of a trial by jury in civil cases," 
 says he, " a privilege scarcely inferior to that in criminal cases, which is 
 counted by all persons to be essential to political and civil liberty." 
 
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 Hi 
 
 
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 Mi". I Vf 
 
 Is 
 
3(10 
 
 lU'.MOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 Rufrnj;^('S of a «^r('at people for so loiirr a sories of n^^cs, wlilclj 
 is /caloiislv r('|»r(t(lu('«'(l at t'\t'rv staixo of civili/ation, in all 
 the cliinalc"* ol' tlic earth, and under ov«'rv form of Imnian 
 government, cannot lie contrary to tlie spli'it of justice.* 
 
 liut to leave tliis part of the suljject. Tt would l)e a 
 very narrow view to look upon the jury as ji iniMV Judicial 
 institutioti ; for, however jjreat its infliuMice may he ujton 
 the decisions of the courts, it is still n;reater on the desti- 
 
 * If it were our province to point out the utility of tlic jury ns a Judicial 
 institution, mnny nr{.Mimonts nii<;ht l>e hroujjht fonvanl, and ninon},'St others 
 the followinfr : — 
 
 In j)rop()rti()n us you introduce the jury into the business of the courts, 
 you arc eutiMcd to diniiuisli the nunilicr of judj,a's , which is a peat advau- 
 taf^e. When ju(l;;cs are very numerous, tleath is perpetually thinning the 
 ranks of the judicial functionaries, and leaviiij; places vacant for new-comers. 
 The amtiifion of the ma^^istrates is therefore continually excited, and they 
 are naturally made dependent upon the majority, or the person who fills up 
 the vacant appointments : the ollicers of the courts then rise like the officers 
 of an army. This state of tliin);s is entirely contrary to the sound admin- 
 istration of justice, and to the intenticuis of the lcj;islator. The office of 
 a judfre is made inalienable in order that lie may Remain independent; but 
 of what advantafro is it that his independence should l)c protected, if he be 
 tempted to sacrifice it of his own accord ? When jud{.'es are very numer- 
 ous, many of them must necessarily be incapable ; for a jireat ma^ristratc 
 is a man of no common jiowers : I know not if a half-enlit:htened tril>unal 
 is not the worst of all combinations for attaining those objeits which it is 
 the purpose of courts of justice to accomplish. For my own jiart, I had 
 rather submit the decision of a ca.sc to ignorant jurors directed by a skilful 
 judge, than to judges a majority of whom are imperfectly acquainted with 
 jurisprudence and with the laws. 
 
 [I venture to remind the reader, lest tliis note should appear somewhat 
 redundant to an English eye, that the jury is an institution which has only 
 been naturalized in France within the present century ; that it is even now 
 exclusively applied to those criminal causes which come before the Courts 
 of Assize, or to the prosecutions of the public press ; and that the judges 
 and counsellors of the numerous local tribunals of France — forming a 
 body of many thousand judicial functionaries — try all civil causes, appeals 
 from criminal causes, and minor offences, without the jury. — English 
 Translator's Note] 
 
MIIICATKtNS OK TIIK TVKANNY (H* Till: MAForMTV. 3»ll 
 
 nil's of society at lar^o. Tin* jury is, al)ovi' mII, a politicjil 
 institiitiofi, and it must be iv<far(K'(l in tliis lin-lit in order to 
 })(• duly a|i|ii'e«'iated. 
 
 liv the jury, I mean n certain numluT of citizens cliosen 
 ])V lot, and invested witli a ti'mpovarv riirlit of Indiriin'. 
 'I'rial l>y jury, as aj)|»lied to the repression of crime, appears 
 to me an eminently repul)lican element in the <joverinnetit, 
 for the tolI()\vin(r reasons. 
 
 The institution of the jury may he aristocratic or (K-mo- 
 ei'atie, accordiuif to the class from which the jurors are 
 taken ; but it always preserves its repJiblican character, in 
 that it places the real direction of society in the hands (»f 
 the ^ovei'iH'd, (»r of a jiortion of the <2;overned, and not in 
 that of the o;overnment. Force is never more than a tran- 
 sient element of success, and after force, comes the notion 
 (»f riiiht. A iiovcrmnent which should be able to reach 
 its enemies only upon a field of battle would soon bo de- 
 stroyed. The true sanction of political laws is to be found 
 in penal legislation ; and if that sanction be wantini;, the 
 law will sooner or later lose its corjoncy, ?Ie who pun- 
 ishes the criminal is therefore the real master of society. 
 Now, the institution of the jury raises the people itself, or 
 at least a class of citizens, to the bench of judixes. The 
 institution of the jury conse([uently invests the ])eople, or 
 that class of citizens, witli tlie direction of society.* 
 
 In Enjrland, the jury is returned from the aristocratic 
 portion of the nation ; f the aristocracy makes the laws, 
 
 ♦ An important remark must, however, 1)C made. Trial by jury does 
 uiiquo!stional)ly invest the people with a general control over the actions of 
 tlie citizens, hut it docs not furnish means of exercising this control in all 
 cases, or with an absolute authority. When an absolute monarch has the 
 right of trying offences by his representatives, the fate of the prisoner is, 
 as it were, decided beforehand. But even if the peojde were jjredisposed 
 to convict, the composition and the non-responsibility of the jury would 
 siiil afford some chances favorable to the protection of innocence. 
 
 t In France, the qualification of the jurors is the same as the electoral 
 16 
 
 w\ 
 
 i!t; 
 
 11 
 
) r 
 
 ■m 
 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 t , 
 
 
 ! 
 
 ap[)li('s tlie laws, and puiiislics infriK'tions of the laws 
 evorvtliin<^ is established upon a consistent footing, and 
 I'^ndiind may with truth be said to constitute an aristo- 
 c'i'atic republic. In the United States, the same system is 
 aj)j)lied to the whole })eoi)le. Every American citizen is 
 (pialified to be an elector, a juror, and is eligible to office.* 
 The system of the jury, as it is understood in America, 
 ai)i)ears to me to be as direct and as extreme a consequence 
 of the sovereignty of the people as universal suffrage. 
 They are two instruments of equal power, which contrib- 
 ute to the supremacy of the majority. All the sovereigns 
 who have chosen to govern by their ow^n authority, and to 
 direct society instead of obeying its directions, have de- 
 stroyed or enfeebled the institution of the jury. The 
 Tudor monarchs sent to prison jurors who refused to 
 convict, and Napoleon caused them to be selected by his 
 awnts. 
 
 However clear most of these truths may seem to be, 
 they do not command universal assent ; and, in France at 
 least, the trial by jury is still but imperfectly understood. 
 If the question arises as to the proper qualification of jurors, 
 it is confined to a discussion of the intelligence and knowl- 
 edge of the citizens who may be returned, as if the jury 
 was merely a judicial institution. This appears to me the 
 
 qualification, namely, the payment of 200 francs per annum in direct taxes : 
 they are chosen by lot. In Enjjland, they are returned by the sherifl^"; the 
 qualifications of jurors were raised to £10 per annum in England, and j£6 
 iu Wales, of freehold lands or copyhold, by the statute W. and M., c. 24 ; 
 leaseholders for a time determinable upon life or lives, of the clear yearly 
 value of £20 per annum over and at)Ove the rent reserved, are qualified to 
 serve on juries ; and jurors in the courts of Westminster and City of London 
 must be householders, and possessed of real and personal estate of the value 
 of £100. The qualihcations, however, prescribed in different statutes vary 
 accordinf^ to the object for which the jury is impanelled. See Blackstone's 
 Commentaries, Book III. c, 23. — English Translator's Note. 
 * See Appendix Q. 
 
MITIGATIONS OF THE TYRANNY OF THK MAJORITY. 868 
 
 k'ast important part of the subject. The jury is pre-emi- 
 nently a nohtieal institution ; it sliould be rejiarded as one 
 form of the sovereignty of tlie people : wlien that sover- 
 eignty is repudiated, it must be rejected, or it must be 
 adapted to the laws by -svhich that sovereignty is estab- 
 lished. The jury is that portion of the nation to wliieh 
 the execution of the laws is intrusted, as the legislature is 
 that part of the nation which makes the laws ; and in or- 
 der that society may be governed in a fixed and uniform 
 manner, the list of citizens qualified to serve on juries nnist 
 increase and diminish with the list of electors. This I hold 
 to be the point of viev^ most worthy of the attention of the 
 legislator ; all that remains is merely accessory. 
 
 I am so entirely convinced that the jury is pre-eminently 
 a political institution, that I still consider it in this light 
 when it is applied in civil causes. Laws are always unsta- 
 ble unless they are founded upon the manners of a nation : 
 manners are the only durable and resisting ])Ower in a peo- 
 ple. When the jury is reserved for criminal offences, the 
 people only witness its occasional action in particular cases : 
 they become accustomed to do without it in the ordinary 
 course of life ; and it is considered as an instrument, but 
 not as the only instrument, of obtaining justice. This is 
 true a fortion^ when the jury is applied oidy to certain 
 criminal causes. 
 
 When, on the contrary, the jury acts also on civil causes, 
 its application is constantly visible ; it affects all the inter- 
 ests of the community ; every one co-operates in its work : 
 it thus penetrates into all the usages of life, it fashions the 
 human mind to its peculiar fonns, and is gradually associ- 
 ated with the idea of justice itself. 
 
 The institution of the jury, if confined to criminal 
 causes, is always in danwr : but when once it is intro- 
 duced into civil proceedings, it defies the aggressions of 
 time and man. If it had been as easy to remove the jury 
 
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 3G4 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 from the manners as from the laws of England, It would 
 have perished under the Tudors ; and the civil jury did in 
 reality, at that period, save the liberties of England. In 
 whatever manner the jury be applied, it cannot fail to exer- 
 cise a j^owerful influence upon the national character ; but 
 this influence is prodigiously increased when it is intro- 
 duced into civil causes. The jury, and more especially the 
 civil jury, serves to communicate the spirit of the judges to 
 the minds of all the citizens ; and this spirit, Avith the halv 
 its which attend it, is the soundest preparation for free 
 institutions. It imbues all classes with a respect for the 
 thing judged, and with the notion of right. If these two 
 elements be removed, the love of independence becomes 
 a mere destructive passion. It teaches men to practise 
 equity ; every man learns to judge his neighbor as he 
 would himself be judged. And this is especially true of 
 the jury in civil causes ; for, whilst the number of persons 
 who have reason to apprehend a criminal prosecution is 
 small, every one is liable to have a lawsuit. The jury 
 teaches every man not to recoil before the responsibility 
 of his own actions, and impresses him with that manly 
 confidence without which no political virtue can exist. It 
 invests each citizen with a kind of magistracy ; it makes 
 them all feel the duties which they are bound to discharge 
 towards society, and the part which they take in its gov- 
 ernment. Bv oblio-ing men to turn their attention to other 
 affairs than their own, it rubs off that private selfishness 
 which is the rust of society. 
 
 The jury contributes powerfully to form the judgment 
 and to increase the natural intelligence of a people ; and 
 this, in my opinion, is its greatest advantage. It may be 
 regarded as a gratuitous public school, ever open, in which 
 every juror learns his rights, enters into daily communica- 
 tion with the most learned and enliffhtened members of the 
 upper classes, and becomes practically acquainted with the 
 
MITIGATIONS OF THE TYRANNY OF TUK MAJUKITY. oho 
 
 laws, wliicli are brought within the reach of his cajjacity 
 Ly the efforts of the bar, tlie advice of the judge, and even 
 by the passions of the parties. I think that the practical 
 intelligence and political good sense of the Americans are 
 mainly attributable to the long use which they have made 
 of the jury in civil causes. 
 
 I do not know whether the jury is useful to those who 
 have lawsuits ; but I am certain it is highly beneficial to 
 those who judge them ; and I look upon it as one of the 
 most efficacious means for the education of the people 
 which society can onij^loy. 
 
 What I have said applies to all nations ; but the remark 
 I am about to make is peculiar to the Americans and to 
 democratic communities. I have already observed that, in 
 democracies, the members of the legal profession, and the 
 judicial magistrates, constitute the only aristocratic body 
 which can moderate the movements of the people. This 
 aristocracy is invested with no physical power ; it exercises 
 its conservative influence upon the minds of men : and the 
 most abundant source of its authority is the institution 
 of the civil jury. In criminal causes, when society is con- 
 tending against a single man, the jury is apt to look upon 
 the judge as the passive instrument of social power, and 
 to mistrast his advice. Moreover, criminal causes turn en- 
 tirely upon simple facts, which common sense can readily 
 appreciate : upon this ground, the judge and the jury are 
 equal. Such, however, is not the case in civil causes ; 
 then the judge appears as a disinterested arbiter between 
 the conflicting passions of the parties. The jurors look up 
 to him with confidence, and listen to him with respect, for 
 in this instance, his intellect entirely governs theirs. It is 
 the judge who sums up the various arguments which have 
 wearied their memory, and who guides them through the 
 devious course of the proceedings ; he points their atten- 
 tion to the exact question of fact, which they are called 
 
366 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 I^i.: 
 
 ■ ■ .' 
 
 upon to decide, and tells them how to answer the question 
 of law. His influence over them is almost unlimited. 
 
 If I am called upon to explain why I am but little 
 moved by tho arguments derived from the ignorance of 
 jurors in civil causes, I reply, that in these proceedings, 
 whenever the question to be solved is not a mere ques- 
 tion of fact, the jury has only the semblance of a judi- 
 cial body. The jury only sanctions the decision of the 
 judge ; they sanction this decision by the authority of 
 society which they represent, and he, by that of reason 
 and of law.* 
 
 In England and in America, the judges exercise an in- 
 fluence upon criminal trials which the French judges have 
 never possessed. The reason of this difference may easily 
 be discovered ; the English and American magistrates have 
 established their authority in civil causes, and only transfer 
 it afterwards to tribunals of another kind, where it was not 
 first acquired. In some cases, and they are frequently the 
 most important ones, the American judges have the right 
 of deciding causes alone.t Upon these occasions, they are 
 accidentally placed in the position which the French 
 judges habitually occupy : but their moral power is much 
 greater; they are still surrounded by the recollection of 
 the jury, and their judgment has almost as much authority 
 as the voice of the community represented by that institu- 
 tion. Their influence extends far beyond the limits of the 
 courts ; in the recreations of private life, as well as in the 
 turmoil of public business, in public and in the legislative 
 assemblies, the American judge is constantly surrounded 
 by men who are accustomed to regard his intelligence as 
 superior to their own ; and after having exercised his 
 power in the decision of causes, he continues to influence 
 
 * See Appendix K. 
 
 t The Federal judges act alone upon almost all the questions most impor- 
 tant to the government of the country. 
 
 km- 
 
JHTIGATIONS OF THE TYRANNY OF THE MAJORITY'. 367 
 
 tlio liabits of tlioiiirht, and even the liaracters, of those 
 wlio acted witli liini in his official capacity. 
 
 The jury, then, which seems to restrict the rights of the 
 judiciary, does in reality consolidate its power ; and in no 
 country are the judges so powerful as where the jjcople 
 share their i)rivileges. It is especially by means of the 
 jury in civil causes, that the American magistrates imbue 
 even the lower classes of society with the spirit of their 
 profession. Thus the jury, which is the most energetic 
 meaps of making the people rule, is also the most effica- 
 cious means of teachinjx it how to rule well. 
 
 ■i 
 
 Ml 
 
 in 
 
 most impor- 
 
3G8 
 
 UKMOCHACY IX AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 PRINCIPAL CAUSES WHICH TEND TO MAINTAIN THE DEMO- 
 CRATIC REPUBLIC IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 J Ji..,, 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 
 m 
 
 f •fi 
 
 A DEMOCRATIC republic exists in the United 
 States ; and the principal object of this book has 
 been to explain the causes of its existence. Several of 
 these causes have been involuntarily passed by, or only 
 hinted at, as I was borne along by my subject. Others I 
 have been unable to discuss at all ; and those on which I 
 have dwelt most are, as it were, buried in the details of 
 this work. 
 
 I think, therefore, that, before I proceed to speak of 
 the future, I ought to collect within a small compass the 
 reasons which explain the present. In this retrospective 
 chapter I shall be brief; for I shall take care to remind the 
 reader only very summarily of what he already knows, 
 and shall select only the most prominent of those facts 
 which I have not yet pointed out. 
 
 All the causes which contribute to the maintenance of 
 the democratic republic in the United States are reducible 
 to three heads : — 
 
 I. The peculiar and accidental situation in which Prov- 
 idence has placed the Americans. 
 
 II. The laws. 
 
 III. The manners and customs of the people. 
 
CAUSES WHICH TEND TO MAINTAIN DEMOCRACY. 
 
 3GD 
 
 '< X 
 
 'HE DEMO- 
 
 \rrTT)KNTAL OR PROXqDENTIAL CAUSES WTlirH CONTRTBUTE 
 TO MAINTAIN THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC IN THE UNITED 
 STATES. 
 
 Tlie Union has no Ncighl)ors. — No Metropolis. — The Americans have liad 
 tiie Chance of Birth in their Favor. — America an empty C(>untry. — 
 How this Circumstance contril)Utes powerfully to iiuiintain the Demo- 
 cratic Repuhlic in America. — How the American Wilds are peo|)le(l. — 
 Avidity of the Anglo-Americans in takinj^ I'ossession of the Solitudes 
 of the New World. — Influence of Physical Prosperity upon the Politi- 
 cal Opinions of the Americans. 
 
 A THOUSAND circumstances, independent of the will of 
 man, facilitate the maintenance of a democratic- republic in 
 the United States. Some of these are known, the others 
 may easily be pointed out ; but I shall confine myself to 
 the principal ones. 
 
 The Americans have no neighbors, and consequently they 
 have no great wars, or financial crises, or inroads, or con- 
 quest, to dread ; they require neither great taxes, nor large 
 armies, nor great generals ; and they have nothing to fear 
 from a scourge which is more formidable to republics than 
 all these evils combined, namely, military glory. It is im- 
 possible to deny the inconceivable influence Avhich military 
 glory exercises upon the spirit of a nation. General Jack- 
 son, whom the Americans have twice elected to be the 
 liead of their government, is a man of violent tcm})er and 
 very moderate talents ; nothino; in his whole career ever 
 })roved him qualified to govern a free people ; and in- 
 deed, the majority of the enlightened classes of the Union 
 has always opposed him. But he was raised to the Pres- 
 idency, and has been maintained there, solely by the recol- 
 lection of a victory which he gained, twenty years ago, 
 under the walls of New Orleans ; a victory which was, 
 lujuever, a very ordinary achievement, and which could 
 only be remembered in a country where battles are rare. 
 16* X 
 
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 si'''"'. H 
 
 til 
 
370 
 
 DKMOrRACY IN AMKRK'A. 
 
 v\ ": 
 
 Now tlic |)(M>|)1(> wlu) arc tlnis carrlcci away by tlic illusioTis 
 of j^lory arc iiiKiucstionaUly the most cold and calculatin*;, 
 tlu' most mimilitary, if I may so speak, and tlic most pro- 
 saic, of all the nations of the earth. 
 
 America has no <ireat capital * city, whose direct or 
 indirect inHncnce is felt over the wliole extent of the conn 
 try ; this I held to be one of the first canses of the main 
 tcnance of re])nhlican institntions in the United States, 
 In cities, men cannot he prevented from concerting to- 
 gether, and awakening a mntnal excitement which prompts 
 sndden and passionate resolntions. Cities may he looked 
 upon as large assemblies, of which all the inhabitants are 
 members ; their populace exercise a prodigious influence 
 upon the magistrates, and frequently execute their own 
 wishes without the intervention of public officers. 
 
 * The United States liave no metropolis ; but they nlrcndy contain sev- 
 eral very lar^re cities. Philadelphia reckoned 161,000 inhal)itants, and New 
 York 202,000, in the year 1830. The lower orders which inhabit these 
 cities constitute a ral)l)lc even more formidable than tiie populace of Euro- 
 pean towns. They consist of freed blacks, in the first place, who are con- 
 demned by the laws and by pul)lic opinion to an hereditary state of misery 
 and de<rradation. They also contain a multitude of Europeans, wlio have 
 been driven to the shores of the New World by their misfortunes or their 
 misconduct ; and these men inoculate the United States with all our vices, 
 without bringin<5 with them any of those interests which counteract their 
 baneful influence. As inhabitants of a country where they Iiave no civil 
 ri<;^hts, they arc ready to turn all the passions which ajxitate the community 
 to their own advantage ; thus, within the last few months, serious riots have 
 broken out in Philadelphia and in New York. Disturbances of this kind 
 are unknown in the rest of the country, which is nowise alarmed by them, 
 because the population of the cities has hitherto exercised neither power nor 
 influence over the rural districts. 
 
 Nevertheless, I look upon the size of certain American cities, and especially 
 on the nature of their population, as a real danger which threatens the future 
 security of the democratic republics of the New World ; and I venture to 
 predict that they will perish from this circumstance, unless the government 
 succeeds in creating an armed force, which, while it remains under the con- 
 trol of the majority of the nation, will be independent of the town-popula- 
 tion, and able to repress its excesses. 
 
CAUSES WHICH TKNl) TO MAINTAIN DKMuCKACY. ol\ 
 
 To siil)jc('t tlie })r()viiu't'S to tlio in('tro|H»Iis is, tlici-crorc, 
 to place tlie destiny of tlie eini)iiv in tlic liaiuls, imt only 
 of a portion of tlie connnunity, which is unjust, hut in the 
 luuuls of a populace carrying; out its own impulses, whicli 
 is very dan<ferous. The preponderance of ca|)ital cities is 
 therefore a serious injury to the repri'sentatixe system ; 
 and it exjuises modern ri'j)ul)lics to the same defect as tin* 
 re]»ul>Iics of antitpiity, whch all perished from not having 
 known this system. 
 
 It would he easy tor mc to enumerate many secondary 
 causes which have contributed to establish, and now con- 
 cur to maintain, the democratic republic of the United 
 States. But amon<f these favorable circum.>*tances I dis- 
 cern two principal ones, which I hasten to point out. I 
 have already observed that the origin of the Americans, or 
 what I have called their i)oint of departure, may be looked 
 upon as the first and most efficacious cause to which the 
 ])resent prosperity of the United States may be attributed. 
 The Americans had the chances of birth in their favor; 
 and their forefathers imported that equality of condition 
 and of intellect into the country whence the democratic 
 republic has very naturally taken its rise. Nor was this 
 all ; for besides this republican condition of society, the 
 early settlers bequeathed to their descendants the customs, 
 manners, and opinions which contribute most to the suc- 
 cess of a republic. When I reflect ujxm the consequences 
 of this primary fact, methinks I see the destiny of America 
 embodied in the first Puritan who landed on those shores, 
 just as the whole human race was represented by tlie first 
 man. 
 
 The chief circumstance which has favored the establish- 
 ment and the maintenance of a democratic republic in the 
 United States, is the nature of the territory whicli the 
 Americans inhabit. Their ancestors o-ave them the love of 
 eipiality and of freedom ; but God himself gave them the 
 
 Ml 
 
 
 i' •.■ ■': 
 
 J 
 
 I 
 
 I'" ^1 
 
872 
 
 DKMOCHACY IN' AMKKU A. 
 
 means of I'diiiiiiiiiio; chjiuiI and free, l)y placiiij^ tlicm upon 
 a l)ouii(lli'ss coiitiiK'iit. General prosperity is favorable to 
 the stahility of all j^overnnients, but more jjarticularly of 
 a (lemoeratie one, >vliieh depeiuls upon the wilT of the 
 majority, and esj)eeially upon the will of that portion of 
 the eonnnunity which is most e.\j)osed to want. When 
 the people rule, they must be rendered hapi)y, or they will 
 overturn the state : and misery stimulates them to tliose 
 excesses to which ambition rouses kin<5s. The physical 
 causes, independent of the laws, which }>romote general 
 ])rosj)erity, are more numerous in America than they ever 
 have been in any other country in the world, at any other 
 })eriod of history. In the United States, not only is legis- 
 lation democratic, but Nature herself favors the cause of 
 the people. 
 
 In what part of human history can be found anything 
 similar to what is passing before our eyes in North Amer- 
 ica? The celebrated communities of antiquity were all 
 founded in the midst of hostile nations, which they were 
 obliged to subjugate, before they could flourish in their 
 place. Even the moderns have found, in some parts of 
 South America, vast regions inhabited by a people of infe- 
 rior civilization, but who had already occupied and culti- 
 vated the soil. To found their new states, it was necessary 
 to extirpate or subdue a numerous poj)ulation, and they 
 made civilization blush for its own success. But North 
 America was inhabited only by wandering tribes, wdio had 
 no thought of profiting by the natural riches of the soil ; 
 that vast country was still, properly speaking, an empty 
 continent, a desert land awaiting its inhabitants. 
 
 Everything is extraordinary in America, the social con- 
 dition of the inhabitants, as well as the laws ; but the soil 
 upon which these institutions are founded is more extraor- 
 dinary than all the rest. When the earth was given to 
 men by the Creator, the earth was inexhaustible ; but men 
 
CAUSKS WHICJI TKN'I) TO MAINTAIN DF.MOrHACV. 
 
 f> t •} 
 
 were wciik smd li;norant ; and wlicn tlii'V li:ul learned to 
 take a<l\aiita<j;(' of tlic tivasurt's which it ('((iitaiiicd. thcv 
 ah'i'ady covered its surface, and were soon ohhiicd to earn 
 l)y tlic sword an asyhnn for repose and freedom. Jnst tlien 
 Nortii Anu'rica was (lisco\-ered, as if it lia<l lu'cn i\e|»t in 
 reserve hv tlie Deity, and luid just risen from heni'atii the 
 waters of tlie dehiLje. 
 
 That continent still presents, as it did in tlu' primeval 
 time, ri\ers which rise from ni'ver-fiiilin;:; sources, ereen 
 and moist solitudes, and limitless fields which the jilou^h- 
 share of the hushandman has never turned. In this state, 
 it is otfert'd to man, not Karliarous, iiiuorant, and isolated, 
 as lie was in the early anx's, Imt ah'eadv in- i»ossession of 
 the most important seeri'ts of nature, united to his fellow- 
 iiieu, and instructed Ijy the experience of fifty centuries. 
 At this very time, thirteen [twenty-five] millions of civil- 
 ized Euro})eans are })eaceaLly spreading over those fertile 
 j)lains, with whose resources and extent they are not yet 
 themselves accurately acciuainted. Three or four thousand 
 soldiers drive before them tlie wandering races of the abo- 
 rigines ; these are followed by tlie j)ioneers, who pierce the 
 ■woods, scare off the beasts of prey, explore the courses of 
 the inland streams, and make ready the triumphal march 
 of civilization across the desert. 
 
 Often, in the course of this work, I have alluded to the 
 favorable influence of the material prosperity of America 
 upon the institutions of that country. This reason had 
 already been given by many others before me, and is the 
 only one which, being palpable to the senses, as it were, is 
 familiar to Europeans. I shall not, then, enlarge upon a 
 subject so often handled and so well understood, beyond 
 the addition of a few facts. An erroneous iiotiim is cen- 
 erally entertained, that the deserts of America are i)eopled 
 by European emigrants, who annually disembark ujx>n the 
 coasts of the New World, whilst the American population 
 
 i 
 
 I ;.*F 
 
 fiy 
 
mi 
 
 . I'M 
 
 1 ; 
 
 ) : 
 
 a74 
 
 DKMOCKACY IN AMKUICA. 
 
 iiK r(';is»' iiiid iiiiiltl|tlv upoi) tlio soil wliicli tln'ir forffatluTH 
 till('«l. Tilt' iMiropfim srttlcr usually arrivi's in the United 
 States witliuiit iVieiuls, and often witlioiit resources; in 
 order to subsist, lie is ohlinjcd to work for hire, an<l ho 
 rai'ely |»i'oeeeds ln'y«»n<l that helt of industrious pojtulatioii 
 which adjoins the ocian. The desert cannot be explored 
 without capital or cre(lit ; and tlie body must he aecus- 
 tonied to the i"i;iors of a new climate, before it can be 
 exjjosed in the midst of the tltri'st. It is thi' Americans 
 themsel\t's who daily (juit the spots which ^ave tliem birth, 
 to acquire extensive (h)mains in a ri-mote re;;ion. Thus tile 
 European leaves liis cottage tor the Transatlantic shori's, 
 and the American, who is born on tiiat very coast, plunjiies 
 in liis turn into the wilds of central America. This double 
 emiiii'ation is incessant ; it be«fins in the middle of Ein'oj)e, 
 it crosses the Atlantic Ocean, and it advances over the soli- 
 tudes of the New World. ^lillions of men arc marchinjj 
 at once towards the same horizon : tlieir ]an;i;uage, their 
 reli*2;ion, their manners ditt'er ; their object is the same. 
 Fortune lias been ])romised to tluni somewdiere in the 
 West, and to the West thev j;o to find it. 
 
 No event can be compared with this continuous removal 
 of the human race, except perhaps those irruptions which 
 caused the fall of the Roman Empire. Then, as well as 
 now, crowds of men were impelled in the same direction, 
 to meet and struggle on the same spot ; but the designs of 
 Providence were not tlie same. Then, every new-comer 
 brought with him destruction and death ; now, each one 
 brings the elements of prosj)erity and life. The future 
 still conceals from us the remote conse([uences of this mi- 
 gration of the Americans towards the West ; but we can 
 readily aj)])reliend its immediate results. As a portion of 
 the inhabitants annually leave the States in which they 
 were born, the population of these States increases very 
 slowly, although they have long been established. Thus, 
 
\rn 
 
 CAL'SKS WllK'fl TKXU 10 MAINTAIN lUi.MOi KACV. '6^>} 
 
 Ml Ccuinfcticut, wlilcli vi't ('((iita'ms omIv fil'tv-iiiiK' iiili;il)it- 
 ;iiits to tlic M{ii:ii'(> mill the popiil.itloii has not lirtii iii« 
 (•ivasi'd l)v iiioi't' tliaii one uiiarttr in Hdtv vi-ars, wliilst 
 tliat ot' lCii;:laii<l lias liccii aii<:iiii'iit«'(l 1»\- uiu' tliif'l in tlio 
 saiiK' |)i'rit«l. I'hi' IlnroiK-au ciui^ii'ant always lands, tlu-fc- 
 f'oiv, ill a country wliicli is hut halt' lull, and whcff hands 
 arc in rc(|uc>t : he hccoincs a woikinan in easy cii'cnni- 
 .staiiccs ; his son eoes to sci'k his t'ortniu' in un|»eo|(led 
 re^iions, and heconies a rich land-owner. The lorincr 
 amasses the capital which the latter invests ; and the 
 stran^Xcr as well as the natixc is unaccpiainted with want. 
 
 'IMk' laws of tlu' I'nited States are extremely tavorahle 
 to tlu' di\ isioii of property ; hut a cause more j)owerful 
 than the laws pre\ents jtrojierty from lieinn' di\i(|ed to 
 excess.* This is very perci-ptihle in the States which iiro 
 at hist heiiinninii to be thickly peopled ; Massachusetts is 
 the most jtopulous ])art of tlic Union ; hut it contains oidy 
 ci;;hty inhabitants to the s([uare mile, which is nuich less 
 than in France, where one lumdred and sixty-two are 
 reckoned to the same extent of country. But in jMassu- 
 chusetts, estates are very rarely divided ; the eldest son 
 generally takes the land, and the others go to seek their 
 fortune in tlieir desert. The law lias abolished the riiilit 
 of primogeniture, but circumstances liave concurred to re- 
 establisli it under a form of wliich none can coni[)lain, and 
 by which no just rights are impaired. 
 
 A single fact will suffice to show the prodigious number 
 of individuals who thus leave New England to settle in 
 the w ilds. We were assured in I80O, that thirt3^-six of the 
 members of Couiiress were born in the little State of Con- 
 necticut. The po})ulation of Connecticut, which consti- 
 tutes only one forty-third part of that of the United States, 
 thus furnished one eighth of the whole body of representa- 
 
 * In New England, estates are very small, but they are rarely sulyeeted 
 to further division. 
 
 ! il 
 
 ■It 
 
 ti 
 
370 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 i! i 
 
 ;> < ' 
 
 lives. Tlje State of Conivctlcut of itself, however, sends 
 only five delegates to Congress ; and the thirty-one others 
 sit for the new Western States. If these thirty-one indi- 
 vidnals had remained in Connecticut, it is probable that, 
 instead of becoming rich land-owners, they would have 
 remained humble laborers, that they would have lived in 
 obscurity without being able to rise into public life, and 
 that, far fivmi becomino; useful lemslators, thcv might have 
 been uiu'ulv citizens. 
 
 These reflections do not escape the observation of the 
 Americans any more than of ourselves. " It cannot be 
 doubted," says Chancellor Kent, in his Treatise on Amer- 
 ican Law, " that the division of landed estates must pro- 
 duce great evils, when it is carried to such excess as that 
 each parcel of land is insufficient to support a family , but 
 these disadvantaijes have never been felt in the United 
 States, and many generations must elapse before they can 
 be felt. The extent of our inhabited tei'ritory, the abun- 
 dance of adjacent land, and the continual stream of emi- 
 ijration flowino; from the shores of the Atlantic towards 
 the interior of the country, suffice as yet, and will long 
 suffice, to prevent the parcelling out of estates." 
 
 It would be difficult to describe the avidity with which 
 the American rushes forward to secure this immense booty 
 which fortune offers. In the pursuit, he fearlessly braves 
 the arrow of the Indian and the diseases of the forest ; ht 
 is unimpressed by the silence of the woods ; the approach 
 of beasts of prey does not disturb him ; for he is goaded 
 onwards by a passion stronger than the love of life. Be- 
 fore him lies a boundless continent, and he urges onward 
 as if time pressed, and he was afraid of finding no room 
 for his exertions. I have s])oken of the emigration from 
 the older States ; but how shall I describe that which takes 
 place from the more recent ones? Fifty years have 
 scarcely elapsed since that of Ohio was founded ; the 
 
CAUSES WHICH TKXD TO MAINTAIN Dl'.MOCKACV. 
 
 'j< < 
 
 greater part of its inliabitants were not born witliin its 
 confines ; its capital has been built only thirty years, and 
 its territory is still covered by an immense extent of 
 uncultivated fields ; yet already the population of ( )hio is 
 proceeding westward, and most of tlie settlers who de- 
 scend to the fertile prairies of Illinois are citizens of Ohio. 
 Tliese men left their first country to improve tlieir condi- 
 tion ; they quit their second, to ameHorate it still more ; 
 fortune awaits them everywhere, but not hai)piness. The 
 desire of })rosperity is become an ardent and restless pas- 
 sion in their minds, which «»;rows by what it feeds on. 
 They early broke the ties wliich bound them to their natal 
 earth, and they have contracted no fresh ones "on their way. 
 Emigration was at first necessary to them ; and it soon 
 becomes a sort of game of chance, which they pursue for 
 the emotions it excites, as much as for the gain it procures. 
 
 Sometimes the progress of man is so rapid that the des- 
 ert reappears behind him. The woods stoop to give him a 
 passage, and spring up again when he is past. It is not 
 uncommon, in crossing the new States of the AVest, to 
 meet with deserted dwellings in the midst of the wilds ; 
 the traveller frequently discovers the vestiges of a log- 
 house in the most solitary retreat, which bear witness to 
 the power, and no less to the inconstancy, of man. In 
 these abandoned fields, and over these ruins of a day, the 
 primeval forest soon scatters a fresh vegetation ; the beasts 
 resume the haunts which were once tlieir own ; and Na- 
 ture comes smilino; to cover the traces of man with iireen 
 branches and flowers, which obliterate his ephemeral track. 
 
 I remember, that, in crossing one of the woodland dis- 
 tricts which still cover the State of New York, I reached 
 the shores of a lake which was embosomed in forests co- 
 eval with the world. A small island, covered with woods 
 whose thick foliage concealed its banks, rose from the 
 centre of the waters. Upon the shores of the lake, no 
 
 if!' 
 
 ■s . i: 
 
 
 ■ i ' M t 
 
 ■H!. I( 
 
 
 nut Yi 
 
 mi' 
 
I 
 
 lli 
 
 
 ::'l'i^ ■ 
 
 
 ;in 
 
 jij I 
 
 i I 
 
 
 ; :' 
 
 ^T8 
 
 Oi 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMEUICA. 
 
 object attested the presence of nuiii, except a column of 
 smoke, wliicli mio;lit be seen on the horizon risin<'- from the 
 to])s of tlie trees to the ck)U(ls, and seeming to liang from 
 lieaven ratlier than to be mountinij; to it. An Indian canoe 
 was liauled up on tlie sand, which tempted me to visit tlie 
 islet that had first attracted my attention, and in a few 
 minutes I set loot u])o;i its banks. The whole island 
 formed one of those delicious solitudes of the Xew World, 
 which almost lead civilized man to reo;ret the haunts of the 
 savaoe. A luxuriant veo-etation bore witness to the incom- 
 parable fruitfulness of the soil. The deep silence, which is 
 common to the wilds of North America, was only broken 
 by the mcjnotonous cooing of the wood-pigeons, and the 
 ta})])ing of the woodpecker upon the bark of trees. I was 
 far from sup})osing that tliis spot had ever been inhabited, 
 so completely did Nature seem to be left to herself; but 
 when I reached the centre of the isle, I thought that I dis- 
 covered some traces of man. I then proceeded to examine 
 the surrounding objects with care, and I soon perceived 
 that a European had undoubtedly been led to seek a refuge 
 in this place. Yet what changes had taken place in the 
 scene of his labors ! The logs which he had hastily hewn 
 to build himself a shed had sprouted afresh ; the very 
 props w^ere intertwined with living verdure, and his cabin 
 was transformed into a bower. In the midst of these 
 shrubs, a few stones w^ere to be seen, blackened with fire 
 and spriidded with thin ashes ; here the hearth had no 
 doubt been, and the chinmey in falling had covered it with 
 rubbish. I stood for some time in silent admiration of the 
 resources of Nature and the littleness of man ; and when 
 I was obliged to leave that enchanting solitude, I exclaimed 
 with sadness, " Are ruins, then, already here ? " 
 
 In Europe, we are wont to look upon a restless disposi- 
 tion, an unbounded desire of riches, and an excessive love 
 of independence, as propensities very dangerous to society. 
 
CAUSES WHICH TEND TO MAINTAIN DEMOCHACY. 379 
 
 Yet these are the very elements whieli insure a long and 
 peaceful future to the republics of America. Without 
 these unquiet passions, the population would collect in cer- 
 tain spots, and would soon experience wants like those of 
 the Old World, which it is difficult to satisfy ; for such is 
 the i)resent good fortune of the New World, that the vices 
 of its inhabitants are scarcely less favorable to society than 
 their virtues. These circumstances exercise a iiivat inHu- 
 ence on the estimation in which human actions are hold in 
 the two hemispheres. W^hat we should call cupidity, the 
 Americans frequently term a laudable industry ; and they 
 blame as faint-heartedness what we consider to be the vir- 
 tue of moderate desires. 
 
 In France, simple tastes, orderly manners, domestic 
 aft'ections, and the attachment which men feel to the place 
 of their birth, are looked upon as great guaranties of the 
 tranquillity and happiness of tlie state. But in America, 
 nothing seems to be more prejudicial to society than such 
 virtues. The French Canadians, who have faithfully pre- 
 served the traditions of their ancient manners, are already 
 embarrassed for room upon their small territory ; and this 
 little community, which has so recently begun to exist, will 
 shortly be a prey to the calamities incident to old nations. 
 In Canada, the most enlightened, j)atriotic, and humane 
 inhabitants make extraordinary eftbrts to render the peo- 
 ple dissatisfied with those simple enjoyments wliicli still 
 content them. There the seductions of wealth are vaunt- 
 ed with as much zeal as the charms of a moderate compe- 
 tency in the Old World ; and more exertions are made to 
 excite the passions of the citizens there, than to calm them 
 elsewhere. If we listen to their accounts, we shall hear 
 that nothing is more praiseworthy than to exchange the 
 })ure and tranquil jjleasures which even the poor man tastes 
 in his own country, for the sterile delights of pros})erity 
 under a foreign sky ; to leave the patrimonial hearth, and 
 
 # i 
 
 
mi 
 
 ;'. 
 
 r 'i 
 
 380 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 the turf beneatli wliicli one's forefatliers sleep, — in short, 
 to abandon tlie hving iind tlie dead, in quest of fortune. 
 
 At tlie present time, America presents a field for human 
 effort far more extensive than any sum of labor whieh can 
 be applied to work it. In America, too much knowledge 
 cannot be diffused ; for all knowledge, whilst it may serve 
 him who possesses it, turns also to the advantage of those 
 who are without it. New wants are not to be feared there, 
 since they can be satisfied without difficulty ; the growth 
 of human passions need not be dreaded, since all })assions 
 may find an easy and a legitimate object ; nor can men 
 there be made too free, since they are scarcely ever tempt- 
 ed to misuse their liberties. 
 
 The American re])ublics of the present day are like com- 
 panies of adventurers, formed to explore in common the 
 waste lands of the New World, and busied in a flourishino- 
 trade. The passions which agitate the Americans most 
 deeply are not their political, but their commercial, pas- 
 sions ; or, rather, they introduce the habits of business into 
 their political life. They love order, without which affairs 
 do not prosper ; and they set an especial value upon regu- 
 lar conduct, which is the foundation of a solid business. 
 They prefer the good sense which amasses large fortunes 
 to that enterprising genius which frequently dissipates 
 them ; general ideas alarm their minds, which are accus- 
 tomed to positive calculations ; and they hold practice in 
 more honor than theory. 
 
 It is in America that one learns to understand the influ- 
 ence which physical prosperity exercises over political ac- 
 tions, and even over opinions which ought to acknowledge 
 no sway but that of reason ; and it is more especially 
 among strangers that this truth is perceptible. Most of 
 the European emigrants to the New World carry with 
 them that wild love of independence and change which 
 our calamities are so apt to produce. I sometimes met 
 
CAUSKS WHICH TEND TO MAINTAIN DKMOCRACY. 
 
 nsi 
 
 u'itli Europeans in tlie United States, who had heen ohli^ed 
 to leave tlieir country on account of their jxditical ojtinions. 
 Tliey all astonished me by the lan<j;uaii;e they held, hut ono 
 of them surprised mo more than all the rest. As I was 
 crossino; one of the most remote districts of Pennsylvania, 
 I was benin-hted, and obliiied to beo; for hospitality at the 
 mite of a wealthy i)lanter, who was a Frenchman by birth. 
 He bade me sit down beside his fire, and we beoan to talk 
 Avith that freedom which l)efits persons who meet in the 
 backwoods, two thousand leafjnes from tlieir native coun- 
 try. I was aware that my host had been a frwut leveller 
 and an ardent demaffofjue forty years aiio, and that his 
 name was in history. I was therefore not a little surprised 
 to hear him discuss the rights of })ro})erty as an economist 
 or a land-owner might have done : he s})oke of the neces- 
 sary gradations which fortune establishes among men, of 
 obedience to established laws, of the influence of o-ood 
 morals in conmionwealths, and of the su])port which relig- 
 ious opinions give to order and to freedom ; he even went 
 so far as to quote the authority of our Saviour in sui)port 
 of one of his political opinions. 
 
 I listened, and marvelled at the feebleness of human rea- 
 son. How can we discover whether a proposition is true 
 or false, in the midst of the uncertainties of science and the 
 conflicting lessons of experience ? A new fact disperses all 
 my doubts. I was poor, I have become rich ; and I am 
 not to expect that prosperity will act upon my conduct, 
 and leave my judgment free. In truth, my opinions 
 change with my fortune ; and the haj)py circumstances 
 which I turn to my advantage furnish me with that deci- 
 sive aro-ument which was before wantino;. 
 
 The influence of prosperity acts still more freely upon 
 Americans than upon strangers. The Amei'ican has al- 
 ways seen public order and public prosperity intimately 
 united, and proceeding side by side before his eyes ; he 
 
 D 
 
 
A 
 
 ml 
 
 I ; r 
 
 382 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 cannot ovon iman-ino that one can subsist without tlie 
 other : lie has tlierefore nothing to forget ; nor lias he, 
 like so many Europeans, to unlearn the lessons of his early 
 education. 
 
 influp:nce of the laws upon the maintenance of the 
 democratic republic in the united states. 
 
 Three principal Ctuiscs of the Maintcnanre of the Dcmorratic Republic. — 
 Federal Union. — Township Institutions. — Judicial I'owor. 
 
 The principal aim of this book has been to make known 
 the laws of the United States ; if tliis purpose has been 
 accomplished, the reader is already enabled to judge for 
 himself which are the laws that really tend to maintain 
 the democratic republic, .ind which endanger its existence. 
 If I have not succeeded in explaining this in the whole 
 course of my work, I cannot hope to do so in a single 
 chapter. It is not my intention to retrace the path I have 
 already pursued ; and a few lines will suffice to recapitu- 
 late what I have said. 
 
 Three circumstances seem to me to contribute more than 
 all others to the maintenance of the democratic republic in 
 the United States. 
 
 The first is that federal form of jjovernment which the 
 Americans have adopted, and which enables the Union to 
 combine the power of a great republic with the security 
 of a small one ; 
 
 The second consists in those township institutions which 
 limit the despotism of the majority, and at the same time 
 impart to the people a taste for freedom, and the art of 
 being free ; 
 
 The third is to be found in the constitution of the 
 judicial power. I have shown how the courts of justice 
 serve to repress the excesses of democracy, and how they 
 check and direct the impulses of the majority without stop- 
 ping its activity. 
 
CAUSKS Wllirir TKXn TO MAIXTAIX l>i:MOfnACY. 883 
 
 NCE OF THK 
 
 INFLUENCE OF MANNF,T18 UPON THE MAINTENANCE OF THE 
 DEMOCRATIC IIEI'UIJLIC IN THE UNITED SIATES. 
 
 I HAVE previously remarked tliat tlie manners of tlio 
 people may be considered as one of tlio p'eat ii;eneral 
 causes to wliieh the maintenance of a democratic rej)ul»lic 
 in the United States is attrii)ntable. I liere use the word 
 manners with the meanino; which the ancients attached to 
 tlie word mores ; for I apply it not only to manners proper- 
 ly so called, — that is, to what might be termed tlte habits 
 of the hearty — but to the various notions and opinions cur- 
 rent amono; men, and to the mass of those ideas which con- 
 stitute their character of mind. I comprise under this 
 term, therefore, the whole moral and intellectual condition 
 of a people. j\Iy intention is not to draw a })icture of 
 American manners, but simply to point out such features 
 of them as are favorable to the maintenance of their politi • 
 cal institutions. 
 
 RELIGION CONSIDERED AS A POLITICAL INSTITUTION, WHICH 
 POWERFULLY CONTRIBUTES TO THE MAINTENANCE OF THE 
 DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC AMONGST THE AMERICANS. 
 
 North Amerifa peopled l)y Men wlio professed a Democratic and Republican 
 Christianity. — Arrival of the Catholics. — Why the Catholics uow form 
 the most Democratic and most Republican Class. 
 
 By the side of every rehgion is to be found a political 
 opinion, which is connected with it by affinity. If the 
 human mind be left to follow its own bent, it will regulate 
 the temporal and spiritual institutions of society in a uni- 
 form manner ; and man will endeavor, if I may so speak, 
 to harmonize earth with heaven. 
 
 The greatest part of British America was peoj)led by 
 men who, after having shaken off the authority of the 
 
 ^ 1\ , 
 
 
 fi ; 
 
i 
 
 m 
 I 
 
 III 
 
 ,1'i 
 
 I'i 
 
 
 ' . ia 
 
 ■i-i 
 
 384 
 
 I)i:mo( racy i\ ami:i.mca. 
 
 P(t|K% acl<n()wl('(lo;('(l no other roliojions sii]»romnoy: tliey 
 brought w itli them into tlu' New AVorld a t'oi'in of Cliris- 
 tiaiiitv, wliicli I cannot bottor dcsoribo tlian by stylinii; it 
 a (Icnioci'atic and republican reli;:;ion. Tliis contributed 
 powerfully to the establishment of a republic and a de- 
 mocracy in public affairs ; and from the beginning, politics 
 and religion contracted an alliance which has never been 
 dissolved. 
 
 About fifty years ago, Ireland began to pour a Catholic 
 j)oj)Tdation into the United States ; and on their part, the 
 Catholics of America made ])roselytes, so that, at the j)res- 
 ent moment, more than a million of Christians, professing 
 the truths of the Church of Rome, are to be found in the 
 Union. These Catholics arc faithful to the observances of 
 their religion ; they are fervent and zealous in the belief 
 of their doctrines. Yet they constitute the most repub- 
 lican and the most democratic class in the United States. 
 This fact may surprise the observer at first, but the causes 
 of it may easily be discovered upon reflection. 
 
 I think that the Catholic religion has erroneously been 
 regarded as the natural enemy of democracy. Amongst 
 the various sects of Christians, Catholicism seems to me, 
 on the contrary, to be one of the most favorable to equality 
 of condition amonrj men. In the Catholic Church, the 
 religious community is composed of only two elements ; 
 the priest and the people. The priest alone rises above 
 the rank of his flock, and all below him are equal. 
 
 On doctrinal points, the Catholic fliith places all human 
 capacities upon the same level ; it subjects the wise and 
 io-norant, the man of o-enius and the vulgar crowed, to the 
 details of the same creed ; it imposes the same observances 
 upon the rich and needy, it inflicts the same austerities 
 U])on the strong and the weak ; it listens to no compromise 
 with mortal man, but, reducing all the human race to the 
 same standard, it confounds all the distinctions of society 
 
CAUSES WHICH TKND TO MAINTAIN' DKMOCRACV. o8;") 
 
 at the foot of tlie same altar, ovon as tliov are oonf(»uii'' ' 
 in the siolit of God. If Catliolicisni j)ri'(lisj)oses tlu' tiiitn- 
 fiil to ohodicnce, it certainly docs not prepare them lor in- 
 equality : but the contrary may be said of Protestantism, 
 which <j;enerally tends to make men in<le|)endent, more 
 thau to render them eipial. Catholicism is like an abso- 
 lute monarchy ; if the sovereio;n be removed, all the other 
 classes of society are more ecpial than in rej)nblics. 
 
 It has not unfrequently occurred that the Catholic priest 
 has left the service of the altar to mix with the oovcrninjjj 
 powers of society, and to take his ])lace amongst the civil 
 ranks of men. This relioious influence lias sometimes 
 been used to secure the duration of that political state of 
 thin<rs to which he belouijed. Thus we have seen Cath- 
 olics takino; the side of aristocracy from a relio-ious motive. 
 But no sooner is the priesthood entirely separated from 
 the government, as is the case in the United States, than 
 it is found that no class of men are more naturally disposed 
 than the Catholics to transfer the doctrine of the equality 
 of condition into the political world. 
 
 If, then, the Catholic citizens of the United States are 
 not forcibly led by the nature of their tenets to adopt dem- 
 ocratic and republican princij)les, at least they are not 
 necessarily opposed tt) them ; and their social position, as 
 well as their limited nundjer, obliges them to adopt these 
 o})inions. Most of the Catholics are })Oor, and they have 
 no chance of taking a part in the government unless it be 
 o|>en to all the citizens. They constitute a minority, and 
 all rights must be respected in order to insnre to them the 
 free exercise of their own privileges. These two causes 
 induce them, even unconsciously, to adopt political doc- 
 trines which they would perhaps support with less y.eal if 
 they were rich and preponderant. 
 
 The Catholic clergy of the United States have never 
 attempted to oppose this political tendency ; but they seek 
 
 17 Y 
 
 '!»' 
 
380 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 ! ! f 
 
 ii ii 
 
 ratlier to justify it. The Catliolic i)ri('sts in Amcncii liave 
 dividc'tl tlio intt'llt'ctual world into two parts: in tlic one, 
 they place the doctrines of revealed religion, wliicli they 
 assent to without discussion ; in the other, they leave those 
 political truths, which they believe the Deity has left open 
 to free incpiiry. Thus the Catholics of the United States 
 are at the same time the most submissive believers and the 
 most independent citizens. 
 
 It may be asserted, then, that in the United States no 
 relio;i()us doctrine dis})lays the slightest hostility to demo- 
 cratic and repul)lican institutions. The clergy of all the 
 different sects there hold the same language ; their opinions 
 are in agreement wn'tli the laws, and the human mind rlaws 
 onwards, so to speak, in one undivided current. 
 
 I happened to be staying in one of the largest cities in 
 the Union, when I was invited to attend a public meeting 
 in favor of the Poles, and of sending them sup})lies of 
 arms and money. I found two or three thousand persons 
 collected in a vast hall, which had been prepared to receive 
 them. In a short time, a priest, in his ecclosiastical robes, 
 advanced to the front of the platform : the spectators rose, 
 and stood uncovered in silence, whilst he spoke in the fol- 
 lowing terms : — 
 
 " Abnighty God ! the God of armies ! Thou who didst 
 strengthen the hearts and guide the arms of our fathers 
 when they were fighting for the sacred rights of their 
 national independence ! Thou who didst make them tri- 
 umph over a hateful oppression, and hast gi'anted to our 
 people the benefits of liberty and peace ! turn, () Tjord, a 
 favorable eye upon the other hemisphere ; pitifully look 
 down upon an heroic nation which is even now struggling 
 as we did in the former time, and for the same rights. 
 Thou, who didst create man in the same image, let not 
 tyranny mar thy work, and establish inequality upon the 
 earth. Almighty God ! do thou watch over the destiny 
 
 i« 
 
CAUSF.S WHICH TKNI) TO MAINTAIN IH.MOCHACV. 
 
 • )0( 
 
 t Cities 111 
 
 of tlio Pol«'s, and inako tliom wortliy to be freo. Mwy tlir 
 wisdom diivc't their councils, may tliy stivn^tli sustain 
 tlicir arms I Slicd forth thy tvrror over tlicir enemies ; 
 scatter tlie ])oweiN wliicli take counsel ap;ainst tliem ; and 
 permit not tlie injustice wliich the worhl has witnessed tor 
 fifty years to he consummated in our tiini>, O Lord, who 
 lioltk'st ahke the hearts of nations and of men in thy pow- 
 erful hand, raise up allies to the sacred cause of rii^ht : 
 arouse the French nation from the apathy in which its 
 rulers retain it, that it may go forth again to tight for the 
 liherties of the world. 
 
 " Lord, turn not thou thy fiice from us, and grant that 
 we may always be the most religious, as wei.l as the freest, 
 people of the earth. Almighty God, hear our supplica- 
 tions this day. Save the Poles, we beseech thee, in the 
 name of thy well-beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, who 
 died upon the cross for the salvation of all men. Amen." 
 
 The whole meeting responded, " Amen ! " with devotion. 
 
 INDIRECT INFLUENCE OF KELIGIOUS OriNIONS UPON POUT- 
 ICAL SOCIETY IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 Christian Morality common to all Sects. — Influence of Kclijjion upon the 
 Manners of the Americans. — Respect for the Marriapc Tie. — How 
 Religion confines the Imafiination of the Americans within certain Lim- 
 its, and checks tlie Passion for Innovation. — Opinion of the Americans 
 on the political Utility of Religion. — Their Exertions to extend and 
 secure its Authority. 
 
 I HAVE just shown what the direct influence of religion 
 upon politics is in the United States ; but its indirect in- 
 fluence appears to me to be still more considerable, and it 
 never instructs the Americans more fully in the art of 
 being free than when it says nothing of freedom. 
 
 The sects which exist in the United States are innu- 
 
 :; ? 
 
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 '!f 
 
 
 
i* 
 
 f »■ 
 i i 
 
 w 
 
 ;j«8 
 
 miMOCltACY IN AMKIJICA. 
 
 iiuTuhK'. 'I'lu-y ill! dim r in ri'spccL to the worslilp wlilch 
 is (liii- to till' Creator; l)Ut tlioy all a^jivo in n'spect to the 
 (lutii's which aiv iliic from man to man. Each sect adori's 
 till' Di'ity in its own peculiar maniu'r; hnt all socts preach 
 the same nioi'al law in the nanu' of (lod. li' it he of the 
 highest iin|iortance to man, as an individual, that his reli<f- 
 ion slioidd he true, it is not so to society. Society has no 
 I'nture life to hope lor or to tear; and j)rovideil the citizi-ns 
 jirofess a reli<;;ion, the peculiar tenets of that religion are 
 of little importance to its interests. Moreover, all the 
 sects of the I'nited States are comprised within the (fi'eat 
 unity of Christianity, and Christian morality is everywhere 
 the same. 
 
 It may fairly he helieved, that a certain numher of 
 Americans pursue a peculiar form of worship from habit 
 more than from conviction. In the United States, the 
 sovereign authority is relitrious, and consecjuently hypocrisy 
 nuist he common ; hut there is no country in the world 
 where the Christian relijiion retains a mvater influence 
 over the souls of men than in America ; and tliere can be 
 no greater proof of its utility, and of its conformity to 
 human nature, than that its influence is powerfully felt 
 over the most enliu-htened and free nation of the earth. 
 
 I have remarked that the American clero;y in general, 
 without even excepting those who do not admit religious 
 liberty, are all in favor of civil freedom ; but they do not 
 su})port any })articular political system. They keep aloof 
 from parties, and from public affairs. In the United 
 States, religion exercises but little hifluence upon the laws, 
 and u})on the details of public opinion ; but it directs the 
 manners of the community, and, by regulating domestic 
 life, it regulates the state. 
 
 I do not question that the great austerity of manners 
 which is observable in the United States arises, in the first 
 instance, from religious faith. Religion is often unable to 
 
CAUSES WHICH TKNI) TO MAINTAIN DUMOCRACV. 
 
 ;5hl» 
 
 restrain man from tlio nnmlH-rlcss tiini»tiiflon«< which 
 ciianci' (tVcrs ; n»>r can it check tliat passion for ;;ain which 
 cvcrvtiiinir contril)Utcs to aronsi' : hnt its inlhicn 
 
 i'i' over 
 
 tlic mni( 
 
 I of 
 
 \\ 
 
 oman is snprcinc, and women are the pro 
 
 ti'ctors of morals. There is cei'tainly no conntry in the 
 world where the tie of marriani' is more respected than in 
 America, or where conjnual iiapi)iness is more hiiihiv or 
 wortiiily ai)preeiated. In I'lnrop(>, almost all the tlistnrln 
 ances of society arise from the irreunlarities of domestic 
 life. To derpise the natural honds and legitimate jde.isnres 
 of home, is to contract ii taste lor excesses, ji restlessness 
 of heart, and Hnctnatini]; (U'sires. A^'itated hy the tnnnil- 
 tnons passions which frecpiently distnrh his dwellini:', the 
 Enntpean is «j;alled by the obedience which tlu' Iciii^lative 
 powers of the state exact. lint when the American 
 retires from the turmoil of pnblic life to the bosom of liis 
 family, he finds in it the imau;e of order and of peace. 
 There his ])leasnn'S are simple and natnral, his joys are 
 intiocent and calm ; and as he finds thtit an orderly lite is 
 the snrest path to ha])j)iness, lie acenstoms himself easily 
 to moderate his opinions as well as his tastes. A\'hilst tlio 
 Enroijcan endeavors to forjiet his domestic tronbles bv aiii- 
 tatinn; society, the American derives from his own home 
 that love of order whicli he afterwards carries with him 
 into public affairs. 
 
 In the United States, the influence of relii^ion is not 
 confined to the manners, but it extends to the intelliifence, 
 of the people. Amoncrst the Aniilo-Americans, some ])r(H 
 less the doctrines of Christianity fi'om a sincere belit'f in 
 them, and others do the same because they fear to l)e sus- 
 pected of unbelief. Christiaiiity, therefore, reigns without 
 obstacle, by universal consent ; the consetpience is, as I 
 have before observed, that every principle of the moral 
 world is fixed and determinate, althouoh the political world 
 is abandoned to the debates and the experiments of men. 
 
 ':• ■ ' 
 
 ii:W: 
 
.' i 'i ' 
 
 390 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 :tr' 
 
 % 
 
 Tlius the human mind is never left to wander over a 
 boundless field; and, whatever may be its pretensions, it 
 is checked from time to time by barriers whi(;li it can- 
 not surmount. Before it can innovate, certain primary 
 princi])les are laid down, and the boldest conceptions are 
 subjected to certain forms Avliich retard and stop their 
 conipleti(jn. 
 
 The imaiiination of the Americans, even in its o;reatest 
 filo'hts, is circumspect and undecided ; its impulses are 
 checked, and its works unfinished. These habits of re- 
 straint recur in political society, and are singularly favora- 
 ble both to the tranquillity of the people and the durability 
 of the institutions they have established. Nature and cir- 
 (;umstances have made the inhabitants of the United States 
 bold, as is sufficiently attested by the enterprising spirit 
 with which they seek for fortune. If the mind of the 
 Americans were fi'ee from all trammels, they would shortly 
 become the most daring innovators and the most persistent 
 disputants in the world. But the revolutionists of Amer- 
 ica are obliged to profess an ostensible respect for Christian 
 morality and equity, which does not permit them to violate 
 wantonly the laws that oppose their designs ; nor woulr. 
 they find it easy to surmount the scruples of their ])arti- 
 sans, even if they were able to get over their own. Hith- 
 erto, no one in the United States has dared to advance the 
 maxim that everything is permissible for the interests of 
 society, — an impious adage, wliich seems to have been 
 invented in an aoe of freedom to shelter all future tyrants. 
 Thus, whilst the law permits the Americans to do what 
 they please, religion prevents them from conceiving, and 
 forbids them to commit, what is rash or unjust. 
 
 Religion in America takes no direct part in the govern- 
 ment of society, but it must be regarded as the first of 
 their political institutions ; for if it does not impart a taste 
 for freedom, it facilitates the use of it. Indeed, it is in 
 
CAUSES WHICH TEND TO MAINTAIN DEMOCRACY. 391 
 
 this same pi)iiit of view that the inliahitants of the United 
 States themselves look upon religious belief. I do not 
 know whether all the Amerieans have a sincere faith in 
 tlieir relin-ion, — for who can search the human heart? — 
 hut T am certain that they hold it to be indispensable to 
 the maintenance of republican institutions. This opinion 
 is not peculiar to a class of citizens, or to a party, but it 
 belongs to the whole nation, and to every rank of society. 
 
 In the United States, if a politician attacks a sect, this 
 may not prevent the partisans of that very sect from sup- 
 porting him ; but if he attacks all the sects together, every 
 one abandons him, and he remains alone. 
 
 AVhilst I was in America, a witness, wlioliappened to be 
 called at the Sessions of the county of Chester (State of 
 New York), decUired that he did not beheve in the exist- 
 ence of God, or in the hnmortahty of the soul. The judge 
 refused to admit his evidence, on tlie o-round that the wit- 
 ness had destroyed beforehand all the confidence of the 
 court in what ho was about to say.* The newspapers 
 related the fact without any further comment. 
 
 * The New York Spectator of August 2,3, 1831, relates the fact in the 
 following terms : " The Court of Common Pleas of Chester County (New 
 York) a few days since rejected a witness who declared his disl)elief in the 
 existence of God. Tlie presiding judge remarked, that he had not before 
 been aware that there was a man living who did not believe in the existence 
 of God ; that this belief constituted the sanction of all testimony in a court 
 of justice ; and tliat he knew of no cause in a Christian country where a 
 witness had been permitted to testify without such belief." 
 
 [The exclusion of the testimony of atheists is not a peculiarity of Amer- 
 ican jurisprudence, but is a principle of the English Conmion Law, which 
 is still enforced in England as well as in this country. It is not upheld as 
 a Tnavk of respect for the Christian religion, or because an atheist is unwor- 
 thy of belief, but because no man is allowed to testify in a court of justice 
 except he is under oath, and an oath has no meaning, because it has no 
 sanction, in the mouth of one who does not believe in a just God and a 
 future retribution. The atheist is excluded, therefore, not because he does 
 not believe what others believe, but because he cannot be sworn. — Am. Ed.] 
 
 ili 
 
 f 1 ci 
 
 Vi ; 
 
 
 'iiLilMjll 
 
f, 
 
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 ■) i 
 
 r 
 
 392 
 
 DE.MUCKACY IN A.MKKICA. 
 
 The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and 
 of hberty so intimately in tlieir minds, that it is impossible 
 to make them conceive the one without the other ; and 
 with them, this conviction does not spring from that bar- 
 ren, traditionary faith which seems to vegetate rather than 
 to live in the soul. 
 
 I have known of societies formed by tlie Americans to 
 send out ministers of the Gospel into the new Western 
 States, to found schools and churches there, lest religion 
 should be suffered to die away in those remote settlements, 
 and the rising States be less fitted to enjoy free histitutions 
 than the people from whom they came. I met with w^eal- 
 thy New-Englanders who abandoned the country in which 
 they were born, in order to lay the foundations of Chris- 
 tianity and of freedom on the banks of the Missouri, or in 
 the prairies of Illinois. Thus religious zeal is perpetually 
 warmed in the United States by the fires of patriotism. 
 These men do not act exclusively from a consideration of a 
 future life ; eternity is only one motive of their devotion 
 to the cause. If you converse with these missionaries of 
 Christian civilization, you will be surprised to hear them 
 speak so often of the goods of this world, and to meet a 
 politician where you expected to find a priest. They w ill 
 tell you, that " all the American republics are collectively 
 involved with each other ; if the republics of the West 
 were to fall into anarchy, or to be mastered by a despot, 
 the republican institutions which now flourish upon the 
 shores of the Atlantic Ocean would be in great peril. It 
 is therefore our interest that the new States should be re- 
 ligious, in order that they may permit us to remain free." 
 
 Such are the opinions of the Americans : and if any 
 hold that the religious spirit which I admire is the very 
 thing most amiss in America, and that the only element 
 wanting to the freedom and happiness of the human race 
 on the other side of the ocean is to beheve with Spinoza in 
 
CAUSES WHICH TKXD TO MAINTAIN DEMOCRACY. 893 
 
 the eternity of the Avorkl, or with Cabiinis thut thouglit is 
 secreted by the bruin, I can only re])ly, that those who 
 hold this language have never been in iVmerica, and that 
 they have never seen a religions or a free nation. When 
 they return from a visit to that country, we shall hear what 
 they have to say. 
 
 There are persons in France who look uj)on republican 
 institutions only as a means of obtaining grandeur ; they 
 measure the immense space which separates their vices 
 and misery from power and riches, and they aim to fill up 
 this gulf with ruins, that they may pass over it. These 
 men are the cotuhttieri of liberty, and fight for their own 
 advantage, whatever be the colors they wear. The re- 
 public will stand long enough, they think, to draw them 
 up out of tlieir present degradation. It is not to these that 
 I address myself. But there are others who look forward 
 to a republican form of government as a tranquil and last- 
 ing state, towards which modern society is daily impelled 
 by the ideas and manners of the time, and who sincerely 
 desire to prepare men to be free. When these men attack 
 religious opinions, they obey the dictates of their passions, 
 and not of their interests. Despotism may govern without 
 faith, but liberty cannot. Religion is much more necessary 
 in the republic which they set forth in glowing colors, than 
 in the monarchy which they attack ; it is more needed in 
 democratic republics than in any others. How is it possible 
 that society should escape destruction, if the moral tie be 
 not strengthened in proportion as the political tie is re- 
 laxed ? and what can be done with a people who are their 
 own masters, if they be not submissive to the Deity ? 
 
 ^;ri 
 
 m 
 
 
 17* 
 
894 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 PRINCIPAL CAUSES WHICH RENDER 
 
 IN AMERICA. 
 
 REIJGION POWERFUL 
 
 ii 
 
 Care taken by tlie Americans to separate tho Cliureli from the State. — The 
 Laws, Public Opiuion, and even tiic Exertions of tlic Clergy, concur to 
 promote tliis End. — Influence of Religion upon the ^lind in the United 
 States attributable to this Cause. — Reason of this. — What is the Nat- 
 ural State of Men with regard to Religion at the Present Time. — Wiiat 
 arc the Peculiar and Incidental Causes wliich prevent Men, in certain 
 Countries, from arriving at this State. 
 
 The pliilosophers of the eigliteenth century explained in 
 a very sini})le manner the gradual decay of religious faith. 
 Keligious zeal, said they, must necessarily fail the more 
 generally liberty is established and knowledge diffused. 
 Unfortunately, the facts by no means accord with their 
 theory. There are certain populations in Europe whose 
 unbelief is only equalled by then' ignorance and debase- 
 ment ; whilst in America, one of the freest and most 
 enlightened nations in the world fulfil with fervor all the 
 outward duties of religion. 
 
 On my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect 
 of the country was the first thing that struck my attention ; 
 and the lo; ger I stayed there, the more I perceived the 
 great political consequences resulting from this new state 
 of things. In France, I had almost always seen the spirit 
 of religion and the spirit of freedom marching in opposite 
 directions. But in America, I found they were intimately 
 united, and that they reigned in common over the same 
 country. My desire to discover the causes of this phe 
 nomenon increased from day to day. In order to satisfy 
 it, I questioned the members of all the different sects ; I 
 sought especially the society of the clergy, who are the 
 depositaries of the different creeds, and are especially in- 
 terested in their duration. As a member of the Roman 
 Catholic Church, I was more particularly brought into 
 
OWERFUL 
 
 CAUSKS WHICH TEND TO MAINTAIN DEMOCRACY. 39o 
 
 contact with several of its priests, witli whom I became 
 Ultimately acquainted. To each of these men I expressed 
 my astonishment and ex])lained my doubts : I found that 
 they differed upon matters of detail ahme, and that they all 
 attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their coun- 
 try mainly to the se[)aration of church and state. I do not 
 hesitate to affirm, that, during my stay in America, 1 did 
 not meet a single individual, of the clergy or the laity, who 
 was not of the same opinion upon this point. 
 
 This led me to examine more attentively than I had 
 hitherto done the station which the American clergy oc- 
 cupy in political society. I learned with sur})rise that they 
 filled no public aj)pointnients ; * I did not see one of them 
 in the administration, and they are not even represented in 
 the legislative assemblies.! In several States,^ the law 
 excludes them from political life, ])ublic opinion in all. 
 And when I came to inquire into the prevailing spirit of 
 the clero;v, I found that most of its members seemed to 
 retire of their own accord from the exercise of power, and 
 that they made it the pride of their profession to abstain 
 from politics. 
 
 * Uiilcss this term be applied to the functions which many of them fill in 
 the schools. Almost all education is intrusted to the clergy. [This is tuo 
 sweeping. Clergymen often serve upon school committees, or fill professor- 
 ships in colleges, as tlicy frecjuently do in Europe. But they arc not so 
 numerous as the laity iii cither of these offices. — Am. Ed.] 
 
 + They are not represented as such. But they are often elected to repre- 
 sent their townships, or even their States in Congress. — Am. Ed. 
 
 t See the " Constitution of New York," Art. VII. § 4 : — 
 
 " And whereas the ministers of the Gospel are, by their profession, dedi- 
 cated to the service of God and the care of souls, and ought not to be di- 
 verted from the great duties of their functions ; therefore no minister of the 
 Gospel, or priest of any denomination whatsoever, shall at any time here- 
 after, under any pretence or description whatever, be eligible to, or capable 
 of holding, any civil or military office or place within this State." 
 
 Sec also tlic Constitutions of North Carolina, Art. XXXI. ; Virginia ; 
 South Carolina, Art. I. § 2.3 ; Kentucky, Art. II. § 26 ; Tennessee, Art. 
 Vm. § 1 ; Louisiana, Art. II. § 22. 
 
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 ct:;- 
 
 ! ■ i-1 
 
 396 
 
 DEMOCRACA' IN AMKRICA. 
 
 I hoard them invoiiili against am])iti()ii and deceit, under 
 whatever })oliti('al oj)inions tliese vices miglit cliafice to 
 lurk ; but I learned from tlieir discourses that men are 
 not guilty in tlie eye of God for any opinions concerning 
 political governmcMit which they may profess with sincer- 
 ity, any more than they are for their mistakes in builvimg 
 a house, or in driving a furrow. I perceived that these 
 ministers of the Gospel eschewed all parties, with the anxi- 
 ety attendant upon ])ersonal interest. These facts con- 
 vinced me that what I had been told was true ; and it then 
 became my object to investigate their causes, and to intpiiro 
 how it ha])pened that the real authority of religion was 
 increased by a state of things which diminished its aj)par- 
 ent force : these causes did not long escape my researches. 
 
 The short space of threescore years can never content 
 the imagination of man ; nor can the imperfect joys of this 
 world satisfy his heart. Man alone, of all created beings, 
 displays a natural contempt of existence, and yet a bound- 
 less desire to exist ; he scorns life, but he dreads annihila- 
 tion. These ditferent feelings incessantly urge his soul to 
 the contemplation of a future state, and religion directs his 
 musings thither. Religion, then, is simply another form 
 of hope ; and it is no less natural to the human heart than 
 hope itself. Men cannot abandon their religious faitli 
 without a kind of aberration of intellect, and a sort of ^ io- 
 lent distortion of their true nature ; they arc invincibly 
 brought back to more pious sentiments. Unbelief is nn 
 accident, and faith is the only permanent state of mankind. 
 If we consider religious institutions merely in a human 
 point of view, they may be said to derive an inexhaustible 
 element of strength from man himself, since they belong lo 
 one of the constituent principles of human nature. 
 
 I am aware that, at certain times, religion may strengthen 
 this influence, which originates in itself, by the artificial 
 power of the laws, and by the support of those teinj»oral 
 
CAUSKS WHICH TF.NI) TO MAINIAIN DF-MOCnACY. o'JT 
 
 institutions wliifli cliroct society. Ki-liiiions intimately 
 united with tlie ixovernments of tlie eartli liave heeii 
 known to exercise sovereinn power founded on terror and 
 faitli ; but wlien a religion contracts an alliance of this 
 nature, I do not hesitate to affirm that it connnits the same 
 error as a man who sliould sacrifice his future to his pres- 
 ent welfare ; and in ol)tainino; a })ower to whicli it has no 
 claim, it risks that authority wliich is rightfully its own. 
 "When a religion founds its em])ire only u])on tlie desire of 
 immortality which lives in every human heart, it may 
 aspire to universal dominion ; but when it coiuiects itself 
 witli a o()vernment, it must ado])t maxims whicli are appli- 
 cable only to certain nations. Thus, in forming an alliance 
 with a political power, religion augments its authority over 
 a few, and forfeits the hope of reigning over all. 
 
 As long as a religion rests only upon those sentiments 
 whicli are the consolation of all affliction, it may attract 
 the affections of all mankind. But if it be mixed up with 
 fl ^ bittei passions of the Avorld, it may be constrained to 
 defend allies whom its interests, and not the princi})le of 
 love, have given to it ; or to repel as antagonists men who 
 are still attached to it, however opposed they may be to the 
 powers with which it is allied. The church cannot share 
 the temporal power of the state, without being the object 
 of a portion of that animosity which the latter excites. 
 
 The political powers which seem to be most firmly estab- 
 lished have frequently no better guaranty for their duration 
 than the opinions of a generation, the interests of the time, 
 or the life of an individual. A law may modify the social 
 condition which seems to be most fixed and determinate ; 
 and with the social condition, everything else must chanire. 
 The powers of society are more or less fugitive, like the 
 years which we spend upon earth ; they succeed each 
 other with rapidity, like the fleeting cares of life ; and no 
 government has ever yet been founded upon an invariable 
 
 -r 
 
 
 
 M '^ 
 
398 
 
 DKMOCIiACY IN AMKItlCA. 
 
 '1!t 
 
 
 i 
 
 
 
 
 t^~..'' 
 
 !i:P I 
 
 tu 
 
 disposition of tlic liumaii heart, or' upon an imperishable 
 interest. 
 
 As lonrr as a reh'gion is sustained by those feehno;s, pro- 
 pensities, and passions which are found to occur vmder tlie 
 same forms at all periods of history, it may defy the efforts 
 of time ; or, at least, it can be destroyed only by another 
 relio;ion. But when reliixion clino:s to the interests of the 
 world, it becomes almost as fragile a thing as the powers 
 of enrth. It is the only one of them all which can ho])e 
 for immortality ; but if it be connected with their ephem- 
 eral power, it shares their fortunes, and may fall with those 
 transient passions which alone supported them. The alli- 
 ance which religion contracts with political powers must 
 needs be onerous to itself, since it does not require their 
 assistance to live, and by giving them its assistance it may 
 be exposed to decay. 
 
 The danger which I have just pointed out always exists, 
 but it is not always equally visible. In some ages, govern- 
 ments seem to be imperishable ; in others, the existence of 
 society appears to be more precarious than the life of man. 
 Some constitutions plunge the citizens into a lethargic som- 
 nolence, and others rouse them to feverish excitement. 
 When governments seem so strong, and laws so stable, 
 men do not perceive the dangers which may accrue from a 
 union of church and state. When governments appear 
 weak, and laws inconstant, the danger is self-evident, but 
 it is no longer possible to avoid it. We must therefore 
 learn how to perceive it from afar. 
 
 In proportion as a nation assumes a democratic condition 
 of society, and as communities display democratic propen- 
 sities, it becomes more and more dangerous to connect 
 religion with political institutions ; for the time is coming 
 when authority vv^ill be bandied from hand to hand, when 
 political theories Avill succeed each other, and when men, 
 laws, and constitutions will disappear or be modified from 
 
CAUSES WHICH TKNl) TO MAINTAIN DKMOCRACV. 
 
 noo 
 
 day to (lay, and tliis not for a sca'ion only, Imt nnr'(>asino;ly. 
 Agitation and miitahility are inlieront in tlu' natnro of 
 doniorratic, roi)ul)li('s, just as stagnation and sleepinoss are 
 the law of absolute monarcliies. 
 
 If the Americans, who clianiie the head of the <xovern- 
 ment once in four years, who elect new legislators eveiy 
 two years, and renew the State officers everv twelve- 
 
 t' A. 
 
 month, — if the Americans, who have given up the pohtical 
 world to the attempts of innovators, had not j)]a('ed relig- 
 ion beyond their reach, where could it take firm hold in 
 the ebb and flow of human opinions ? where would be that 
 respect which belongs to it, amidst the struggles of fac- 
 tion ? and what would become of its immortality, in the 
 midst of universal decay ? The American clergy were the 
 first to perceive this truth, and to act in conformity with it. 
 They saw that they must renounce their religious influence, 
 if they were to strive for political power ; and they chose 
 to give up the support of the state, rather than to share its 
 vicissitudes. 
 
 In America, religion is perhaps less powerfiil than it has 
 been at certain periods and among certain nations ; but its 
 influence is more lasting. It restricts itself to its own 
 resources, but of these none can deprive it : its circle is 
 limited, but it pervades it and holds it under undisputed 
 control. 
 
 On every side in Europe, we hear voices complaining of 
 the absence of religious faith, and inquiring the means of 
 restoring to religion some remnant of its former authority. 
 It seems to me that we must first attentively consider what 
 ought to be the natural state of men, with regard to relig- 
 ion, at the present time ; and when vre know what we 
 have to hope and to fear, we may discern the end to which 
 our efforts ought to be directed. 
 
 The two great dangers which threaten the existence of 
 religion are schism and indifference. In ages of fervent 
 
 t ': 
 
 J). 
 
 
 it; ^if 
 
 m 
 
 
 M:J 
 
400 
 
 DKMOCHACY IX AMKKICA. 
 
 
 iii : 
 
 devotion, men somotlmcs abandon tlicir rdii^ion, l)ut tlicy 
 only shako one aW in ovdvv to ado[)t another. Their tliith 
 changes its ohiects, but sufft'rs no decline. The old reliy;- 
 ion then excites enthusiastic attachment or bitter enmity 
 in either party; some leave it with an^-cr, others cling to it 
 with increased devotedness, and although persuasions dif- 
 fer, irreligion is unknown. Such, however, is not the case 
 when a religious belief is secretly undermined by doctrines 
 which may be termed negative, since they deny the truth 
 of one religion without alKrming that of any other. Pro- 
 digious revolutions then take place in the human mind, 
 ■without the ai)parent co-o])eration of the passions of man, 
 and almost without his knowledge. Men lose the objects 
 of their fondest hopes, as if through forgetfulness. They 
 are carried away by an imperceptible current, Avhich they 
 have not the courage to stem, but which they follow with 
 regret, since it boars them away from a faith they love, to 
 a scepticism that plunges them into despair. 
 
 In ages A\b::'h answer to this description, men desert 
 their religious opinions from lukewarmnoss rather than 
 from dislike ; they are not rejected, but they fall away. 
 But if the unbeliever does not admit religion to be true, ho 
 still considers it useful. Regarding religious institutions 
 in a human point of view, he acknowledges their influence 
 upon manners and legislation. He admits that they may 
 serve to make men live in peace, and prepare them gently 
 for the hour of death. He regrets the faith which he has 
 lost ; and as he is deprived of a treasure of which he knows 
 the value, he fears to take it away from those who still 
 possess it. 
 
 On the other hand, those who continue to believe are 
 not afraid openly to avow their faith. They look upon 
 those who do not share their persuasion as more worthy 
 of pity than of opposition ; and they are aware, that, to 
 acquire the esteem of the unbelieving, they are not obliged 
 
CAUSES wmcii ti:ni) TU MAINIAIN DKMOCIJAL'V, 
 
 401 
 
 leve are 
 
 to follow tlu'ir C'XiimpK'. Tlicy are not lio>tilt', tlicii, to any 
 one ill till' world; and us tlicy do not consider tin* society 
 in which they live as an arena in which religion is honnd 
 to face its tlionsand deadly foes, they love their contem- 
 poraries, whilst they condemn their weaknesses and la- 
 ment their ei-rors. 
 
 As tliose who do not believe conceal tlu'ir incredulity, 
 and as those who believe display their fiiith, public opinion 
 j)ronounces itself in favor of reliuion : love, support, and 
 liouor are bestowed upon it, and it is oidy by searchiiii;' the 
 human soul that we can detect the wounds which it has 
 received. The mass of mankind, wlio are ne\t'r without 
 the feelint^ of religion, do not })erceive anything- at variance 
 with the established liiith. Tiie instinctive desire of a 
 future life brings the crowd about the altar, and opens the 
 hearts of men to the precepts and consolations of religion. 
 
 Bv.t this picture is not a[)})licable to us ; for there are 
 men amongst us who have ceased to believe in Christianity, 
 without adopting any other religion ; others are in the 
 perplexities of doubt, and already affect not to believe ; 
 and others, again, arc afraid to avow that Christian faith 
 which they still cherish in secret. 
 
 Amidst these lukewarm partisans and ardent antagonists, 
 a small number of believers exists, who are ready to brave 
 all obstacles, and to scorn all dangers, in defence of their 
 faith. They have done violence to human weakness, in 
 order to rise superior to public opinion. Excited by the 
 effort they have made, they scarcely know where to stop ; 
 and as they know that the first use which the French made 
 of independence w^as to attack religion, they look upon 
 their contemporaries with dread, and recoil in alarm from 
 the liberty which their fellow-citizens are seeking to obtain. 
 As unbelief appears to them to be a novelty, they comprise 
 all that is new in one indiscriminate animosity. They are 
 at war with their age and country, and they look upon 
 
 :;i Wv 
 
 MW 
 
 
40: 
 
 DKMOUUACY IN AMKKICA. 
 
 I ( 
 
 I ' 
 
 evory opinion wliicli is put fortli tlit're as the nefossuiy 
 I'Mt'iny of faitli. 
 
 Sucli is not the natural state of men witli ivjiard to re- 
 ]'\i^uu\ at tlie [)resent day ; and some extraordinary or inci- 
 dental cause nnist he at work in France, to prevent the 
 human mind from foUowin*;- its natural inclination, and 
 drive it heyond the limits at which it ought naturally to 
 sto]». 
 
 1 am I'ully convinced that this extraoi'dinary and inci- 
 dental cause is the close connection of politics and religion. 
 The uidjelievers of Euroi)e attack the (Christians as their 
 political opj)()nents, rather than as their religious adversa- 
 ries ; they hate the Christian religion as the opinion of 
 a i)arty, much more than as an error of belief; and they 
 ]\'ject the clergy less because they are the representatives 
 of the Deity, than because they arc the allies of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 In Europe, Christianity has been intimately united to 
 the powers of the earth. Those powers are now in decay, 
 and it is, as it were, buried under their ruins. The living 
 body of religion has been bound down to the dead corpse 
 of superannuated polity ; cut but the bonds which restrain 
 it, and it will rise once more. I know not what could re- 
 store the Christian Church of Europe to the energy of its 
 earlier days ; that power belongs to God alone ; but it may 
 be for human policy to leave to faith the full exercise of 
 the strength which it still retains. 
 
CAUSES WHICH tkxd to maintain m:.M(>ci{acy. 408 
 
 HOW Tin; F.nrcsTioN, 'iiir. iiAiUTrt, and tin; 1'ua(ti(;al 
 i;xim;uii;n(k of tiik amkkk'ans pkomotk tiik auccKss 
 
 OF TIIFIU DFMOCRATIC INriTITUTIONd. 
 
 What is to i»o lUKltTHtood liy tlui KiliKiUion (if tlio Aiiicrican IVoplc. — Tlio 
 Iluiniiii ISIiml inoro .siipiTticially iiiHtnictL'tl in tli<- IJiiitcMl States than ia 
 Kuropc. — No one cuniiilt'tfiy uniiihtnittud. — Hnisnii of this. — Hapid- 
 ity with which Opinions art; ditVuscd I'vun in tiic half-cultivated .Staled 
 of the West. — Tractical Kxpericncc more scrviceuidc to the Americana 
 tiian nnok-Leari\in;;. 
 
 I havf: but littler to add to wliat I liuve alivady said, coii- 
 (•erniiiif the iiiHiu'iico which tlic instruction and tlie habits 
 of tlic Americtins exercise u[)on the niaintenan{;e of their 
 political institutions. 
 
 Americii hits hitherto produced very tew writers of dis- 
 tinction ; it possesses no ^reat liistorians, anil not a sinj^lo 
 eminent poet.* The inhabitii is of that coinitry look uj)on 
 literature proi)erly so called with a kind of disa))i)robation ; 
 and there are towns of second-rate importance in Eurojie, 
 in which more litertuy works are anniudly published than 
 in the twenty-four States of the Union put tooether.f 
 Tlie spirit of the Americans is averse to general ideas ; it 
 
 * This statement was rather too sweeping; even in 18.3.3, wFTcn M. do 
 Tocqueville wrote. But now, when tlic list of our historians contains the 
 names of Prcscott, Sparks, Bancroft, Motley, I'alfrey, and Ilildreth, and 
 that of our poets includes those of Lonj;fellow, Bryant, Dana, Spraj^ue, 
 Lowell, and a crowd of others, our author's remark is only curious as 
 evincing the suddenness and rapidity with which literary talent has hecn 
 developed in the United States. — Am. Ed. 
 
 t It is not too much to say, tliat as many books arc now annually printed 
 and sold in the United States as in England. Certainly, what is now called 
 " the reading public " is larger in America, in proportion to the jjopulation, 
 than in any other country in the world. This is a conse(iuence partly of 
 the wide diffusion of education, wliich enables so many to read books, and 
 partly of the general prosperity of the people, which enables still more to 
 buy them. Literary pursuits arc also held in high honor in society ; a suc- 
 cessful author is second to no one in estimation with the upper classes, or ia 
 favor with the common people. — Am. Ed. 
 
 
Ill 11 
 
 ■ i 
 
 404 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN A^IERICA. 
 
 docs not seek tlicoretical discoveries. Neither politics nor 
 manufactures direct tliem to such speculations ; and al- 
 though new laws are per[)etually enacted in the United 
 States, no great writers there have hitherto inquired into 
 the general principles of legislation. The Americans have 
 lawyers and commentators, but no jurists ; and they fur- 
 nish examples rather than lessons to the world. The same 
 observation applies to the mechanical arts. In Am.erica, 
 the inventions of Europe are adopted with sagacity ; they 
 are perfected, and adaj)ted with admirable skill to the 
 wants of the country. Manufactures exist, but the science 
 of manufacture is not cultivated ; and they have good 
 workmen, but very few inventors.* Fulton was obliged 
 to proffer his services to foreign nations for a long time, 
 before he was able to devote them to his own country. 
 
 The observer who is desirous of forming an opinion on 
 the state of instruction amoufjst the Anolo-Americans must 
 consider the same object from two diflt'erent points of view. 
 If he singles out only the learned, he will be astonished to 
 find how few they are ; but if he counts the ignorant, the 
 American people will appear to be the most enlightened in 
 the world. The whole population, as I observed in another 
 place, is situated between these two extremes. 
 
 In New England, every citizen receives the elementary 
 notions of human knowledge ; he is taught, moreover, the 
 doctrines and the evidences of his religion, the history of 
 his country, and the leading features of its Constitution. 
 In the States of Connecticut and Massachusetts, it is ex- 
 tremely rare to find a man imperfectly acquainted with 
 all these things, and a person wholly ignorant of them is 
 a sort of phenomenon. 
 
 * This assertion is the very reverse of the truth. In no country in the 
 world, during the hist tifty years, lias inventive industry becu so far devel- 
 oped or so successful as in America. Europe copies and adopts American 
 inventions, but furnishes very '"•jw comparatively in return — Am. Ed. 
 
CAUSES WHICH TEND TO MAINTAIN DEMOCRACY. 
 
 105 
 
 When I ('oin]>aro the Greek ami Roman repuhhcs wltli 
 these American States ; tlie manuscript lihraries of the 
 former, and tlieir rude popuhition, witli the imunnerahle 
 journals and the enh<j;litened people of the latter ; when I 
 rememher all the attem})ts wliich are made to judge the 
 modern republics by the aid of those of antitpiity, and to 
 infer what will happen in oin* time from Avhat took })laco 
 two thousand years ago, — I am tempted to burn my 
 books, in order to api)ly none but novel ideas to so novel 
 a condition of society. 
 
 What I have said of New England must not, however, 
 be applied indistinctly to the whole Union : as we advance 
 towards the West or the South, the instruction of the peo- 
 ple diminishes. In the States which border on the Gulf 
 of ]Mexico, a certain number of individuals may be found, 
 as in France, who are devoid even of the rudiments of in- 
 struction. But there is not a single district in the United 
 States sunk in complete ignorance, and for a very simple 
 reason. The nations of Europe started from the darkness 
 of a barbarous condition, to advance towards tlie light of 
 civilization : their progress has been unequal ; some of 
 them have improved apace, whilst others have loitered in 
 iheir course, and some have stopped, and are still sleeping 
 upon the way. 
 
 Such has not been the case in the United States. The 
 Anglo-Americans, already civilized, settled upon that terri- 
 tory which their descendants occujiy ; they had not to 
 beo;in to learn, and it w%as sufficient for them not to foro;et. 
 Now the children of these same Americans are the persons 
 who, year by year, transport their dwellings into the wilds, 
 and, with their dwellings, their acquired informaticm and 
 their esteem for knowledo-e. Education has tauoht them 
 the utility of instruction, and has enabled them to transmit 
 that instruction to their posterity. In the United States, 
 society has no infancy, but it is born in man's estate. 
 
 
 
 
Ill 
 
 b 
 
 ■n 
 
 406 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 i' 
 
 Tlip Amorlcans never use the word " peasant," because 
 they have no idea of the class which that term denotes • 
 the ignorance of more remote ages, the simplicity of rural 
 life, and the rusticity of the villager, have not been pre- 
 served amongst them ; and they are alike unacquainted 
 with the virtues, the vices, the coarse habits, and the sim- 
 ple graces of an early stage of civilization. At the extreme 
 borders of the Confederate States, upon the confines of 
 society and the Avilderness, a population of bold adventur- 
 ers have taken up their abode, who pierce the solitudes of 
 the American woods, and seek a country there, in order to 
 escape the poverty which awaited them in their native 
 home. As soon as the pioneer reaches the place which is 
 to serve him for a retreat, he fells a few trees and builds a 
 log-house. Nothing can offer a more miserable aspect than 
 these isolated dwellings. The traveller who approaches 
 one of them towards nimitfall sees the flicker of the hearth- 
 flame through the chinks in the walls ; and at night, if the 
 wind rises, he hears the roof of boughs shake to and fro in 
 the midst of the great forest-trees. Who would not sup- 
 pose that this poor hut is the asylum of rudeness and igno- 
 rance ? Yet no sort of comparison can be drawn between 
 the pioneer and the dwelling which shelters him. Every- 
 thing about him is primitive and wild, but he is himself the 
 result of the labor and experience of eighteen centuries. 
 He wears the dress and speaks the language of cities ; he 
 is acquainted with the past, curious about the future, and 
 ready for argument upon the present ; he is, in short, a 
 highly civilized being, who consents for a time to inhabit 
 the backwoods, and avIio penetrates into the wilds of the 
 New World with the Bible, an axe, and some newspapers. 
 It is difficult to imagine the incredible rapidity with which 
 thoucrht circulates in the midst of these deserts.* I do not 
 
 * I travelled along a portion of the frontier of the United States in a 
 sort of cart, whi'.h was termed the mail. We passed, day and night, with 
 
CAUSES WHICH TEND TO MAINTAIN DEMOCRACY. 407 
 
 think that so much intellectual activity exists in the most 
 enlightened and populous districts of France.* 
 
 It cannot be doubted that, in the United States, the 
 instruction of the people powerfully contributes to the 
 suj)port of the democratic republic ; and such must always 
 be the case, I believe, where the instruction which en- 
 lightens the understanding is not separated from the moral 
 education which amends the heart. But I would not exag- 
 gerate this advantage, and I am still further from thinking, 
 as so many people do think in Europe, that men can be 
 instantaneously made citizens by teaching them to read and 
 write. True information is mainly derived from exju-ri- 
 ence ; and if the Americans had not been o;raduallv accus- 
 tomed to govern themselves, their book-learning would not 
 help them much at the present day. 
 
 i ^inve lived much Avith the people in the United States, 
 ai . ■ annot express how much I admire their experience 
 and their crood sense. An American should never be led 
 to speak of Europe ; for he will then probal)ly display 
 
 great rapidity, alonj; the roads, wliidi were scarcely marked out tiirou<i;h 
 immense forests. Wlieu the gloom of the woods hecanie iiiipciictralile, the 
 driver lighted hranches of i)iiic, and we journeyed along hy the light they 
 cast. From time to time, we came to a hut in tlic midst of the forest ; this 
 was a post-office. The mail dropped an enormous l»undle of letters at the 
 door of this isolated dwelling, and we pursued our way at full gallop, leav- 
 ing the inhabitants of the neighboring log-houses to send for their share of 
 the treasure. 
 
 * In 1832, each inhabitant of ^Michigan paid 23 cents to the post-office 
 revenue ; and eadi inhabitant of the Floridas paid 20 cents. (Sec National 
 Calendar, 1833, p. 244.) In the same year, each inhal)itant of the Ih'partp- 
 ment du Nord paid not quite 20 cents to the revenue of the French post- 
 office. (Sec the Compte rendu de I' Administration des Finances, 1833, p. 623.) 
 Now the State of Michigan only contained at that time 7 inliaiiitants per 
 square league, and Florida only 5. The instruction and the commercial 
 activity of these districts are inferior to those of most of the States in the 
 Union ; whilst the Departement du Nord, which contains 3,400 inhabitants 
 per square league, is one of the most enlightened ai»'^ manufacturing parts 
 of France. 
 
 'r* 
 
 If. ii . . II 
 
 ': 'im 
 
 v. ■" I'-W i\ 
 
 ■i:dH 
 
 
ilill 
 
 II 
 
 m 
 
 IB ' 
 
 im 
 
 m 
 
 if ■: 
 
 ■!l. 
 
 *. 
 
 HI 
 
 -: • 
 
 i : ■> r 
 
 ^^ 
 
 \ • 
 
 i t 
 
 
 
 408 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 much presumption and very foolish pride. He will take 
 up with those crude and vague notions which are so useflil 
 to the ignorant all over the world. But if you question 
 him respecting his own country, the cloud which dimmed 
 his intelligence will immediately disperse ; his language 
 will become as clear and precise as his thoughts. He will 
 inform you what his rights are, and by what means he 
 exercises them ; he will be able to point out the customs 
 which obtain in the political world. You will find that he 
 is well acquainted with the rules of the administration, and 
 that he is familiar with the mechanism of the laws. The 
 citizen of the United States does not acquire his practical 
 science and his positive notions from books; the instruc- 
 tion he has acquired may have prepared him for receiving 
 those ideas, but it did not furnish them. The American 
 learns to know the laws by participating in the act of 
 legislation ; and he takes a lesson in the forms of govern- 
 ment from governing. The great work of society is ever 
 going on before his eyes, and, as it were, under his hands. 
 
 In the United States, politics are the end and aim of 
 education ; in Europe, its principal object is to fit men for 
 private life. The interference of the citizens in public 
 afftiirs is too rare an occurrence to be provided for before- 
 hand. Upon casting a glance over society in the two 
 hemispheres, these differences are indicated even by their 
 external aspect. 
 
 In Europe, we frequently introduce the ideas and habits 
 of private life into public affairs ; and as we pass at once 
 from the domestic circle to the government of the state, 
 we may frequently be heard to discuss the great interests 
 of society in the same manner in which we converse with 
 our friends. The Americans, on the other hand, transport 
 the habits of public life into their manners in private ; in 
 their country, the jury is introduced into the games of 
 schoolboys, and parliamentary forms are observed in the 
 order of a feast. 
 
CAUSES WHICH TKND TO MAINTAIN DEMOCRACY, 
 
 409 
 
 THE LAWS CONTRIBUTE MORE TO THE MAINTENANCE OF 
 THE DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC IN THE UNITED STATES 
 THAN THE PHYSICAL CIRCUMSTANCES OF THE COUNTRY, 
 AND THE MANNERS MORE THAN THE LAWS. 
 
 All the Nations of America liave a Democratic State of Society. — Yet 
 Democratic Institutions are supported only ainonj; the Anirlo-Amcri- 
 oans. — The Spaniards of South America, as mucli favored l)y Pliysical 
 Causes as the Anj^lo-Americans, unable to maintain a Democratic Ue- 
 public. — Mexico, which has adopted tiie Constitution of the United 
 States, in tiie same Predicament. — The Anglo-Americans of tiie West 
 less able to maintain it than those of the East. — Reason of these Dif- 
 ferences. 
 
 I HAVE remarked that the maintenance of democratic 
 institutions in the United States is attributable to tlie cir- 
 cumstances, the laws, and the manners of that country.* 
 INIost Europeans are acquainted with only the tirst of these 
 three causes, and they are apt to o;ive it a preponderant 
 importance which it does not really possess. 
 
 It is true that the Ano;lo-Americans settled in the New 
 World in a state of social equality ; the low-born and the 
 noble were not to be found amongst them ; and profes- 
 sional prejudices were always as unknown as the preju- 
 dices of birth. Thus, as the condition of society was 
 democratic, the rule of democracy was established without 
 difficulty. But this circumstance is not peculiar to the 
 United States ; almost all the American colonies were 
 fdunded by men equal amongst themselves, or who became 
 so by inhabiting them. In no one part of the New World 
 have Europeans been able to create an aristocracy. Never- 
 theless, democratic institutions prosper nowhere but in the 
 United States. 
 
 * I remind the reader of the general signification which I give to the 
 word manners, — namely, the moral and intellectual characteristics of men 
 in society. 
 
 18 
 
 V : '\ 
 
 n,\iW. 'i 
 
 
410 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 Tlie American Union has no enemies to contend with ; 
 it stands in the wilds like an island in the ocean. But the 
 Spaniards of South Americ^a were no less isolated by na- 
 ture ; yet their position has not relieved them from the 
 charge of standin<^ armies. They make war upon each 
 other when they have no foreign enemies to oppose ; and 
 the Anglo-American democracy is the only one which has 
 hitherto been able to maintain itself in per\ce. 
 
 The territory of the Union presents a boundless field to 
 human activity, and inexhaustible materials for labor. The 
 passion for wealth takes the place of ambition, and the heat 
 of faction is mitigated by a consciousness of prosperity. 
 But in what portion of the globe shall we find more fertile 
 plains, mightier rivers, or more unexplored and inexhaust- 
 ible riches, than in South America ? Yet South America 
 has been unable to maintain democratic institutions. If 
 the welfare of nations depended on their being placed in 
 a remote position, with an unbounded space of habitable 
 teri'itory before them, the Spaniards of South America 
 would have no reason to complain of their fate. And 
 although they might enjoy less prosperity than the inhab- 
 itants of the United States, their lot might still be such as 
 to excite the envy of some nations in Europe. There are, 
 however, no nations upon the face of the earth more miser- 
 able than those of South America. 
 
 Thus, not only are physical causes inadequate to produce 
 results analogous to those wdiich occur in North America, 
 but they cannot raise the population of South America 
 above the level of European states, where they act in a 
 contrary direction. Physical causes do not therefore aflPect 
 the destiny of nations so much as has been supposed. 
 
 I have met with men New Eno-land who were on 
 the point of leaving a cf a. ♦^ry where they might have re- 
 mained in easy circum? ances, to seek their fortune in the 
 wilds. Not far from . iiat region, I found a French popu- 
 
CAUSES WHICH TKND TO MAINTAIN DKMOCKACY. 411 
 
 lation in Canada, closely crowded on a narrow territory, 
 a]thou(^h the same wilds were at hand ; and whilst the 
 emio;rant from the United States purchased an extensive 
 estate with the earnings of a short term of labor, the 
 Canadian paid as much for land as he would have done in 
 France. Thus Ni'*- »" Ters the solitudes of the New 
 World to Europeans ah hut they do not always know 
 how to make use of her gifts. Other ink "' ..rnts of Amer- 
 ica have the same physical conditions of prosperity as the 
 Anglo-Americans, but without their laws and their man- 
 ners ; and these people are miserable. The laws and 
 manners of the Anglo-Americans are therefore that special 
 and predominant cause of their greatness which is the 
 object of my inquiry. 
 
 I am far from supposing that the American laws are pre- 
 eminently good in themselves : I do not hold them to be 
 applicable to all democratic nations ; and several of them 
 seem to me to be dangerous, even in the United States. 
 But it cannot b' denied that American lemslation, taken as 
 a whole, is extreinely well adapted to the genius of the peo- 
 ple and the nature of the country which it is intended to 
 govern. The American laws are therefore good, and to 
 them must be attributed a large portion of the success 
 which attends the government of democracy in America : 
 but I do not believe them to be the princijial cause of that 
 success ; and if they seem to me to ha\e more influence 
 than the nature of the country upon the social hap])iness 
 of the Americans, there is still reason to believe that their 
 effect is inferior to that produced by the manners of the 
 people. 
 
 The Federal laws undoubtedly constitute the most impor- 
 tant part of the legislation of the United States. ^Mexico, 
 which is not less fortunately situated than the Anglo- 
 American Union, has adopted these same laws, but is un- 
 able to accustom itself to the government of democracy. 
 
 
 <'M i[ 
 
 
412 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 m 
 
 Soiiu' other cause is tlierefor'^ at work, independently of 
 j)liysi('al circumstances and peculiar laws, which enables 
 tlie democracy to rule in the United States. 
 
 Another still more striking proof may be adduced. Al- 
 most all the inhabitants of the teriitory ot the Union are 
 the descendants of a common stock ; they speak the same 
 language, they worship God in the same manner, they are 
 affected by the same physical causes, and they obey the 
 same laws. Whence, then, do their characteristic differ- 
 ences arise ? Why, in the Eastern States of the Union, 
 does the republican government display vigor and regular- 
 ity, and proceed with mature deliberation ? Whence does 
 it derive the wisdom and the durability which mark its 
 acts, whilst in the Western States, on the contrarv ciety 
 seems to be ruled by chance ? There, public busiiiess is 
 conducted with an irregidarity, and a passionate, almost 
 feverish excitement, which do not announce a long or 
 sure duration. 
 
 I am no longer comparing the Anglo-Americans with 
 foreign nations ; but I am contrasting them with each 
 other, and endeavoring to discover why they are so un- 
 like. The arguments which are derived from the nature 
 of the country and the difference of legislation are here 
 all set aside. Recourse must be had to some other cause ; 
 and what other cause can there be, except the manners of 
 the people ? 
 
 It is in the Eastern States that the Anglo-Americans 
 have been longest accustomed to the government of de- 
 mocracy, and have adopted the habits and conceived the 
 opinions most favorable to its maintenance. Democracy 
 has gradually penetrated into their customs, their opinions, 
 and their forms of social intercourse ; it is to be found in 
 all the details of daily life, as well as in the laws. In the 
 Eastern States, the book instruction and practical education 
 of the people have been most perfected, and religion has 
 
CAUSES WHICH TKXI) TO MAINTAIN DKMOCRACY. 4U' 
 
 been most thoroughly amalgamated with lihcrty. Now, 
 these habits, o[)inioiis, customs, aud convictions arc pre- 
 cisely what I have denominated manners. 
 
 In the Western States, on the contrary, a portion of the 
 same advantages are still wanting. Many of the Ameri- 
 cans of the West were born in the woods, and they mix 
 the ideas and customs of savage life with the civilization 
 of their fathers. Their passions are more intense, their 
 religious morality less authoritative, and their convictions 
 less firm. The inhabitants exercise no sort of conh'ol over 
 their fellows, for they aie scarcely ac(juainted with each 
 other. The nations of the West display, to a certain 
 extent, the inexperience and the rude habits of a people 
 in their infancy ; for, although they are composed of old 
 elements, their assemblage is of recent date. 
 
 The manners of the Americans of the United States are, 
 then, the peculiar cause which renders that people the oidy 
 one of the American nations that is able to support a dem- 
 ocratic government ; and it is the influence of manners 
 Avhich produces the different degrees of order and pros- 
 perity that may be distinguished in the several Anglo- 
 American democracies. Thus the effect which the jjeo- 
 graphical position of a country may have upon the duration 
 of democratic institutions is exaggerated in Europe. Too 
 much importance is attributed to legislation, too little to 
 manners. These three great causes serve, no doubt, to 
 regulate and direct the American democracy ; but if they 
 were to be classed in their proper order, I should say that 
 physical circumstances are less efficient than the laws, and 
 the laws infinitely less so than the manners of the people. 
 I am convinced that the most advantajieous situation and 
 the best possible laws cannot maintain a constitution in 
 spite of the manners of a country ; whilst the latter may 
 turn to some advantage the most unfavorable positions and 
 the worst laws. The importance of manners is a common 
 
 !'■' 
 
 ill' i: 
 
 :■■■ i' 
 
 t '.'{ 
 
 I.- 
 
 
 
 'Mm 
 
4U 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 tnitli to which study and expcrioncu inoossantly direct our 
 attention. It may be rej^arded as a cen'^ral point in the 
 ranoi' of o])sei'vation, and tlie common termination of all 
 my iuijuiries. So seriously do I insist upon tliis head, that, 
 it' I liave liitherto failed in makinj; the reader feel the im- 
 portant influence of the practical experience, the luibits, 
 the o})lnions, in short, of the manners of the Americans, 
 upon the maintenance of their institutions, I have tailed in 
 the i)rincij)al object of my work. 
 
 ii :i 
 
 WHKTHER LAWS AND MANNERS ARE SUFFICIENT TO MAIN- 
 TAIN DEMOCRATIC INSTITUTIONS IN OTHER COUNTRIES 
 BESIDES AMERICA. 
 
 iy 
 
 S ' 
 
 !': 
 
 h 1 
 
 Tlic Aiif^lo-Ainuricuns, if transported into Eurojjc, would be obliged to 
 modify tlieir Laws. — Distinction to be made between Democratic In- 
 stitutions and American Institutions. — Democratic Laws may be con- 
 ceived better tiian, or at least ditferent from, tliose wbidi the American 
 Democracy has adopted. — The Example of America only proves tiiat 
 it is possible, by the Aid of Manners and Legislation, to regulate De- 
 mocracy. 
 
 I HAVE asserted that the success of democratic institu- 
 tions in the United States is more attributable to the laws 
 themselves, and the manners of the j)eople, than to the 
 nature of the country. But does it follow that the same 
 causes would of themselves produce the same results, if 
 they were put in operation elsewhere ; and if the country 
 is no adequate substitute for laws and manners, can laws 
 and manners in their turn take the place of a country? It 
 will readily be understood that the elements of a reply to 
 this question are wanting: other inhabitants are to be 
 found in the New World besides the Anglo-Americans, 
 and, as these are affected by the same physical circumstan- 
 ces as the latter, they may fairly be compared with them. 
 
CAUSKS WHICH TKND TO MAINTAIN DLMOCKACV. 41.J 
 
 But tlicrc arc no natiDns out of Aiucricii wliii-li liavo 
 iulopti'd tlu' siUUL' laws and niainnTs, thouu'li (K'stitute of 
 till' physical a(l\anta«;i'S peculiar to the An^lo-Ainericans. 
 No standard of comparison therefore exists, and we <'aii 
 only hazard an o[)ini()n. 
 
 It appears to nie, in the first }>lace, that a careful distinc- 
 tion must he made l)etw(>en the institutiojis of the U'uted 
 States and democratic institutions in general. When I 
 reHect upon tlie state of KunnK-, its mighty nations, its 
 j)oj»ulous cities, its formidahle armies, and the complex 
 nature of its politics, I caiuiot supj)ose that even the Annlo- 
 Amei'icans, if they were transported to our hemisphere, 
 witli their ideas, their religion, and tlu'ir .maimers, could 
 exist without considerahly alteriuii" tlu'ir laws. l>ut a 
 democratic nation mav he imaiiined, oriiani/ed diiferi'utlv 
 from the American peo])le. Is it then impossihle to con- 
 ceive a government really estahlished upon the will of tlie 
 majoi'ity, hut in which the majority, repressing- its natural 
 instinct of equality, should consent, with a view to t'.c order 
 and the stahllity of the state, to invest a family or an indi- 
 vidual with all the attributes of executive ])ower ? Might 
 not a democratic society be imagined, in which the forces 
 of the nation woukl be more centralized than they are in 
 the United States ; where the j)eople would exercise a less 
 direct and less irresistible influence upon public affairs, and 
 yet every citizen, invested with certain rights, would par- 
 tici})ate, within his sphere, in the conduct of the govei'u- 
 ment. What I have seen amongst the Ann-lo-Americans 
 induces me to believe that democratic institutions of this 
 kind, prudently introduced into society, so as gradually to 
 mix with the habits, and to be interfused with the opin- 
 ions of the people, might exist in other countries besides 
 America. If the laws of the United States were the only 
 imaginable democratic laws, or the most perfect which it 
 is possible to conceive, I should admit that their success 
 
 , « 
 
410 
 
 DEMOCBACY IN AMLKICA. 
 
 m'' 
 
 :t\ t. 
 
 i: f 
 
 i I 
 
 \:;ii 
 
 :i 
 
 in AiiU'ricji iitlurcls no proof of the success of ilcnKK^'iitic 
 iiislitutioiis in j:;cm'nil, in a country less liivorcd hy nutare. 
 Hut as the laws of America a[>|)ear to \nv, to he defective 
 in several respects, and as I cau readily imagine others, 
 the j)ecidiar advaiita«:;es of that country do not prove to 
 me that democratic institutions cannot succeed in a na- 
 tion less favored by circumstances, if ruled by better 
 laws. 
 
 If human nature were different in America from what 
 it is elsewhere, or if the social condition of the Anuricans 
 created habits and opinions amon<j;st them different from 
 those which oriy;inate in the same social condition in the 
 Old AVorld, the American democracies would affoi'd no 
 means of predicting what may occur in other democracies. 
 If the Americans displayed the same propensities as all 
 other democrratic nations, and if their legislators had relied 
 uj)on the nature of the country and the favor of circum- 
 stances to restrjiin those ])ropensities within due limits, the 
 prosperity of the United States, being attributable to purely 
 physical causes, would afford no encouragement to a peo- 
 ple inclined to imitate their example, without sharing their 
 natural advantages. But neither of these suppositions is 
 borne out by facts. 
 
 In America, the same passions are to bo met with as 
 in Europe, — some originating in human nature, others in 
 the democratic condition of society. Thus, in the United 
 States, I found that restlessness of heart which is natural 
 to men when all ranks are nearly equal, and the chances 
 of elevation are the same to all. I found there the demo- 
 cratic feeling of envy expressed under a thousand different 
 forms. I remarked that the people there frequently dis- 
 played, in the conduct of affairs, a mixture of ignorance 
 and presumption ; and I inferred that, in America, men 
 are liable to the same failings and exposed to the same 
 evils as amongst ourselves. But, upon examining the state 
 
 M 
 
CAUSKS WIIK'M TKNl) iO MAINTAIN DliMOlKACV. 
 
 41' 
 
 )ositions IS 
 
 of socii'tj moiv Jitti'iitivfly, I sptrdily (li.scovcri'tl tliat tlio 
 Ann'ricaiis liad tiiiidi' orcat and succi'ssriil ctlurts to coiin- 
 WviU't these iin|)i'i'l'i'('ti(»iis of luiiiiaii nature, and to correct 
 tho natnral detects of democracy. Their divers nuniicii)al 
 laws a|)[)earod to nie so many means of resti'ainintr the rest- 
 less amhition of the citizens within a nari'ow spheri', and 
 of tnrninii; tjjoso same passions wiiicli mi^ht Iiave workeil 
 havoc in tlie state, to the nood of the townsliip or tliu 
 ])arisli. The American le<^isIators seem to iiavo sncceoc'ed 
 to some extent in opposin<2; the idea of rijdit to the feelini^s 
 of envy ; the permanence of religions inoi-ality to th- con- 
 tinnal sliifting of politics; the ex])erience of the j)e »|ile to 
 tlieir theoretical ignorance; and their pra('ical kN'>vvK'dgc, 
 of hnsiness to tho impatience of their desires. 
 
 Tho Americans, then, have not relietl npon the natiTy 
 of tlieir country to counterpoise those dangers w'.ich origi- 
 nate in their Constitution and their political 1 jws. To 
 evils which are common to all democratic nations, they 
 have applied remedies which none hut themselves had ever 
 thought of; and, although they were the first to make the 
 experiment, they have succeeded in it. The manners and 
 laws of the Americans are not the only ones which may 
 suit a democratic people ; but the Americans have shown 
 that it would be wrong to despair of regulating democracy 
 bv the aid of manners and laws. If other nations slumld 
 borrow this general and pregnant i.^ ;• from the Ameri- 
 cans, without, however, intending to imitate them in the 
 peculiar application which they lune made of it; if they 
 should attempt to fit themselves for that social condition 
 which it seems to be the will of Providence to inij)ose 
 upon the generations of this age, and so to escajie from 
 the despotism or the anarchy which threatens them, — 
 what reason is there to suppose that their efforts would 
 not be crowned with success ? The organization and the 
 establishment of democracy in Christendom is the great 
 
 18* AA 
 
 'I 
 
 I 
 
 
 '»iM; i j; 
 
 • '• f' 
 
 I 
 
1 '^ 
 
 418 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 1 ' f 
 
 ! b 
 
 I* ■ 
 
 
 
 political problem of our times. Tlie Americans, unques- 
 tionably, have not resolved this problem, but they furnish 
 useful data to those who undertake to resolve it. 
 
 IMPORTANCE OF WHAT PRECEDES WITH RESPECT TO THE 
 
 STATE OF EUROPE. 
 
 It may readily be discovered with what intention I 
 undertook the foregoing inquiries. The question here dis- 
 cussed is interestincr not onlv to the United States, but to 
 the whole world ; it concerns, not a nation only, but all 
 mankind. If those nations whose social condition is demo- 
 cratic could remain free only while they inhabit uncultivated 
 regions, we must despair of the future destiny of the human 
 race ; for democracy is rapidly acquiring a more extended 
 sway, and the wilds are gradually peopled with men. If 
 it were true that laws and manners are insufficient to main- 
 tain democratic institutions, what reftige would remain open 
 to the nations, except the despotism of one man ? I am 
 aware that there are many worthy persons at the present 
 time who are not alarmed at this alternative, and who are 
 so tired of liberty as to be glad of repose far from its 
 storms. But these persons are ill acquainted with the 
 haven towards which they are bound. Preoccupied by 
 their remembrances, they judge of absolute power by what 
 it has been, and not by what it might become in our times. 
 
 If absolute power were re-established amongst the demo- 
 cratic nations of Europe, I am persuaded that it would as- 
 sume a new form, and appear under features unknown to 
 our fathers. There was a time in Europe when the laws 
 and the consent of the people had invested princes with 
 almost unlimited authority, but they scarcely ever availed 
 themselves of it. I do not speak of the prerogatives of 
 the nobility, of the authority of high courts of justice, of 
 
r TO THE 
 
 CAUSKS WHICH TEND TO MAINTAIN DKMOCRACY. 419 
 
 corporations and their cliartcrorl ri<i;lits, or of pr.o^^n^ial 
 privileges, which served to break tlie Idows of* sovereign 
 autliority, and to kecj) np a spirit of resistance in tlie na- 
 tion. Independently of these political institutions, — Avhich, 
 however opposed they might be to personal liberty, served 
 to keep alive the love of freedom in the mind, and which 
 may be esteemed useful in this respect, — the manners and 
 opinions of the nation confined the royal authority within 
 barriers which were not less powerful because less conspic- 
 uous. Religion, the affections of the people, the benevo- 
 lence of the prince, the sense of honor, family ])ride, 
 })rovincial prejudices, custom, and pidjlic opinion limited 
 the power of kings, and restrained their authority within 
 an invisible circle. The constitution of nations was des- 
 potic at that time, but their manners were free. Princes 
 had the right, but they had neither the means nor the de- 
 sire, of doing whatever they pleased. 
 
 But what now remains of those barriers which formerly 
 arrested tyranny ? Since religion has lost its empire over 
 the souls of men, the most prominent boundary which 
 divided ffood from evil is overthrown ; evervthino; seems 
 doubtful and indeterminate in the moral world ; kings and 
 nations are guided bv chance, and none can sav where are 
 the natural limits of despotism and the bounds of license. 
 Long revolutions have forever destroyed the resj)ect which 
 surrounded the rulers of the state ; and, since they have 
 been relieved from the burden of public esteem, })rinces 
 may henceforward surrender themselves without fear to 
 the intoxication of arbitrary power. 
 
 When kings find that the hearts of their subjects are 
 turned towards them, they are clement, because they are 
 conscious of their strength ; and they are chary of the 
 affection of their people, because the affection of their 
 ])eople is the bulwark of the throne. A mutual inter- 
 change of good-will then takes place between the prince 
 
 :■ !! 
 
 ;ii 
 
 ■ill'!. 
 
 J! i 
 
 ii 
 II f 
 
 ... ■! 
 
 1!: :: 
 
 
 fill ■ ¥ 
 
 
 ill 
 
 II 
 
 I:; 
 
420 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 h^'v:-' 
 
 I' , 
 
 ii; • "1 !i! 
 
 Hi 'i\ 
 
 ii M 
 
 and tlie people, which resembles the gracious Intercourse 
 of domestic life. The sul)jects may murmur at the sover- 
 eign's decree, but they are grieved to displease him ; and 
 the sovereign chastises his subjects with the light hand of 
 parental affection. 
 
 But when once the spell of royalty is broken in the 
 tumult of revolution, — when successive monarchs have 
 crossed the throne, so as alternately to display to the peo- 
 ple the weakness of their right, and the harshness of their 
 power, — the sovereign is no longer regarded by any as the 
 father of the state, and he is feared by all as its master. If 
 he is Aveak, he is despised ; if he is strong, he is detested. 
 lie is himself full of animosity and alarm ; he finds that 
 he is a stranger in his own country, and he treats his sub- 
 jects like conquered enemies. 
 
 When the provinces and the towns formed so many dif- 
 ferent nations in the midst of their common country, each 
 of them had a will of its own, which was opj)Osed to the 
 general spirit of subjection ; but, now that all the parts of 
 the same empire, after having lost their immunities, their 
 customs, their prejudices, their traditions, and even their 
 names, have become accustomed to obey the same laws, it 
 is not more difficult to oppress them all together than it 
 was formerly to oppress one of them separately. 
 
 Whilst the nobles enjoyed their power, and indeed long 
 after that power was lost, the honor of aristocracy con- 
 ferred an extraordinary degree of force upon their personal 
 opposition. Men could then be found who, notwithstand- 
 ing their weaki. ss, still entertained a high opinion of their 
 personal value, and dared to cope single-handed with the 
 public authority. But at the present day, when all ranks 
 are more and more confounded, — when the individual dis- 
 a})pears in the throng, and is easily lost in the midst of 
 a common obscurity, when the honor of monarchy has 
 almost lost its power, without being succeeded by virtue, 
 
CAUSES WHICH TEND TO MAINTAIN DEMOCRACY. 
 
 421 
 
 and when nothing can enable man to rise above hiuiseU*, — 
 who shall say iv what point the exigencies of power and 
 the servility of weakness will stop ? 
 
 As long as family feeling was kept alive, the antagonist 
 of o})pression was never alone ; he looked about him, and 
 found his clients, his hereditary friends, and his kinsfolk. 
 If this support was wanting, he felt himself sustained by 
 his ancestors, and animattvd by his posterity. But \\\\vn 
 patrimonial estates are divided, and when a few years suf- 
 fice to confound the distinctions of race, where can familv 
 feelino- be found ? What force can there be in the customs 
 of a country which has changed, and is still })ei*petually 
 changing, its aspect, — in which every act of tyranny al- 
 ready has a precedent, and every crime an exam})le, — in 
 which there is nothing so old that its antiquity can save it 
 from destruction, and nothing so unparalleled that its n(}v- 
 elty can prevent it from being done? What resistance 
 can be offered by manners of so pliant a make that they 
 have already often yielded ? What strength can even 
 public opinion have retained, when no twenty persons are 
 connected by a common tie, — when not a man, nor a 
 family, nor chartered corporation, nor class, nor free insti- 
 tution, has the power of representing or exerting that opin- 
 ion, — and when every citizen, being equally weak, equally 
 poor, and equally isolated, has only his personal impotence 
 to oppose to the organized force of tlie government? 
 
 The annals of France furnish nothing analooous to the 
 condition in which that country might then be thrown. 
 But it may more aptly be assimilated to the times of old, 
 and to those hideous eras of Roman oppression, when the 
 manners of the people were corrupted, their traditions 
 obliterated, their habits destroyed, their opinions shaken, 
 and freedom, expelled from the laws, could find no refuge 
 in the land ; when nothing protected the citizens, and the 
 citizens no longer protected themselves ; when human 
 
 «f 
 
 
 '-••ntJ; f 
 
 I m I 
 
 
 
422 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 II '!ii 
 
 ili ill 
 
 nature was the sport of man, and princes wearied out the 
 clemency of Heaven before tliey exhausted the patience 
 of their subjects. Those wlio hope to revive the mon- 
 arc;]iy of Henry IV. or of Louis XIV. appear to me to 
 be aflBicted with mental blindness ; and when I consider 
 the present condition of several European nations, — a 
 condition to which all the others tend, — I am led to 'je- 
 lieve that thev will soon be left with no other alternative 
 than democratic liberty or the tyranny of the Ctesars. 
 
 Is not this deservino; of consideration ? If men must 
 really come to this point, that they arc to be entirely 
 emanci})ated or entii'ely enslaved, — all their rij^hts to be 
 made equal, or all to be taken away from them ; if the 
 rulers of society were compelled either gradually to raise 
 the crowd to their own level, or to allow all the citizens 
 to fall below that of humanity, — would not the doubts 
 of many be resolved, the consciences of many be con- 
 firmed, and the community prepared to make great sac- 
 rifices with little difficulty ? In that case, the gradual 
 2;rowth of democratic manners and institutions should be 
 regarded, not as the best, but as the only means of pre- 
 serving fi'eedom ; and, without liking the government of 
 democracy, it might be adopted as the most applicable, 
 and the fairest remedy for the present ills of society. 
 
 It is difficult to make the people participate in the gov- 
 ernment ; but it is still more difficult to supply them with 
 experience, and to inspire them with the feelings which 
 they need in order to govern well. I grant that the 
 wishes of the democracy are capricious, its instruments 
 rude, its laws imperfect. But, if it were true that soon 
 no just medium would exist between the rule of democ- 
 racy and the dominion of a single man, should we not 
 rather incline towards the former, than submit voluntarily 
 to the latter ? And if complete equality be our fate, is 
 it not better to be levelled by free institutions than by a 
 despot ? 
 
 mt 
 
CAUSES WHICH TEND TO MAINTAIN DEMOCRACY. 423 
 
 Those who, after havino; read this book, should iinao-lno 
 that my intention in writing it was to propose tlie hiws 
 and manners of the Anolo-Americans for the imitation of 
 all democratic communities, would make a great mistake ; 
 they must have paid more attention to the form than to 
 the substance of my thought. My aim has been to show, 
 by the example of America, that laws, and es})eeially man- 
 ners, may allow a democratic people to remain free, lint 
 I am very i'ar from thmking that we ought to follow the 
 example of the American democracy, and copy the means 
 which it has employed to attain this end ; for I am well 
 aware of the influence which the nature of a country and 
 its political antecedents exercise upon its political consti- 
 tution ; and I should regard it as a great misfortune for 
 mankind if liberty were to exist all over the world under 
 the same features. 
 
 But I am of opinion that, if we do not succeed in gradu- 
 ally introducing democratic institutions into France ; if we 
 despair of imparting to all the citizens those ideas and sen- 
 timents which first prepare them for freedom, and after- 
 wards allow them to enjoy it, — there will be no indepen- 
 dence at all, either for the middling classes or the nobility, 
 for the poor or for the rich, but an equal tyranny over 
 all ; and I foresee that, if the peaceable dominion of the 
 majority be not founded amongst us in time, we shall 
 sooner or later fall under the unlimited authority of a 
 single man. 
 
 .:A 
 
 
 ,.:>| 
 
 m ^ 
 
 >t.;iis. ii 
 
 
 mi 
 
 ■'{■■ !n -^ "!■ 
 
 :!• -'"I^ 
 
 ■i.>ii 
 
 f h\ 
 
 . Ml 
 
 .!.1B! 
 
424 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 THE PRESENT AND PROBABLE FUTURE CONDITION OF THE 
 THREE RACES WHICH INHABIT THE TERRITORY OF THE 
 UNITED STATES. 
 
 THE principal task which I had imposed upon myself 
 is now performed : I have shown, as far as I was able, 
 the laws and the manners of the American democracy. 
 Here I might stop ; but the reader would perhaps feel that 
 I had not satisfied his expectations. 
 
 An absolute and immense democracy is not all that we 
 find in America ; the inhabitants of the New World may 
 be considered from more than one point of view. In the 
 course of this work, my subject has often led me to speak 
 of the Indians and the Negroes : but I have never had time 
 to stop in order to show what place these two races occupy 
 in the midst of the democratic people whom I was engaged 
 in describing. I have shown in what spirit and according 
 to what laws the Anglo-American Union was formed ; but 
 I could give only a hurried and imperfect glance at the 
 dangers which menace that confederation, and could not 
 furnish a detailed account of its chances of duration in- 
 dependently of its laws and manners. When speaking 
 of the united repviblics, I hazarded no conjectures upon 
 the permanence of republican forms in the New World ; 
 and when making frequent allusion to the commercial 
 activity which reigns in the Union, I was unable to in- 
 quire into the future of the Americans as a commercial 
 people. 
 
THE THREE RACES IN THE UNITED STATES. 
 
 4-25 
 
 Tlicse topics are collaterally connected with my sul)ject 
 without forming a part of it ; they are American, without 
 being democratic ; and to portray democracy has heen my 
 principal aim. It was therefore necessary to j)ostpone 
 these questions, Avhich I now take up as the proper termi- 
 nation of my work. 
 
 The territory now occupied or claimed by the American 
 Union spreads from the shores of the Atlantic to those of 
 the Pacific Ocean. On the east and west, its limits are 
 those of the continent itself On the south, it advances 
 nearly to the Tropics, and it extends u})ward to the icy 
 regions of the North. 
 
 The human beings who are scattered over this space do 
 not form, as in Eurojie, . o many branches of the same 
 stock. Three races, naturally distinct, and, I might almost 
 say, hostile to each other, are discoverable amongst them at 
 the first glance. Almost insiu'mountable barriers had been 
 raised between them by education and law, as well as by 
 their origin and outward characteristics ; but fortune has 
 brought them together on the same soil, where, although 
 they are mixed, they do not amalgamate, and each race 
 fulfils its destiny a])art. 
 
 Amongst these widely differing families of men, the first 
 which attracts attention — the superior in intelligence, in 
 power, and in enjoyment — is the White, or European, the 
 MAN pre-eminently so called ; below him appear the Negro 
 and the Indian. These two unhappy races have nothing 
 in common, neither birth, nor features, nor language, nor 
 habits. Their only resemblance lies in their misfortunes. 
 Both of them occupy an equally inferior position in the 
 country they inhabit ; both suffer from tyranny ; and if 
 their wrongs are not the same, they originate from the 
 same authors. 
 
 If we reasoned from what passes in the world, we should 
 
 1 
 
 fir: r; 
 
 :I'. !• I'-l- 
 
 
 T'' ! 
 
 ;.M 1^ 
 
 I' 
 
 
 j'i^,U 
 
42G 
 
 DKMOCUACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 i?.ii ■ 
 
 ,!.;> 
 
 ": i: 
 
 almost say tliat the European is to tlie other races of man- 
 kind wliat man himself is to the lower animals : he makes 
 them subservient to his use, and when he cannot subdue, 
 lie destroys them. Oppression has, at one stroke, deprived 
 the descendants of the Africans of almost all the privileges 
 of humanity. The Negro of the United States has lost 
 even the remembrance of his country ; the language which 
 his ibretiithers spoke is never heard around him ; he ab- 
 jured their religion and forgot th<^ir customs when he 
 ceased to belong to Africa, without acquiring any claim 
 to European privileges. But he remains half-way between 
 the two communities, isolated between two races ; sold by 
 the one, rei)ulsed by the otiier ; finding not a spot in the 
 uni\erse to call by the name of country, except the taint 
 imajre of a home which the shelter of his master's roof 
 affords. 
 
 The Negro has no family : woman is merely the tem- 
 porary com])anion of his pleasures, and his children are on 
 an e(j[uality with himself from the moment of their bir*;h. 
 Am 1 to call it a proof of God's mercy, or a visitation of 
 his wrath, that man, in certain states, appears to be insen- 
 sible to his extreme wretchedness, and almost obtains a 
 depraved taste for the cause of his misfortunes ? The 
 Negro, plunged in this abyss of evils, scarcely feels his 
 own calamitous situation. Violence made him a slave, 
 and the habit of servitude gives him the thoujihts and 
 desires of a slave ; he admires his tyrants more than he 
 hates them, and finds his joy and his pride in the servile 
 imitation of those who oppress him. His understanding 
 is degraded to the level of his soul. 
 
 The Negro enters upon slavery as soon as he is born ; 
 nay, he may have been purchased in the womb, and have 
 begun his slavery before he began his existence. Equally 
 devoid of wants and of enjoyment, and useless to himself, 
 he learns, with his first notions of existence, that he is the 
 
THK TIIRKK RACKS IN TIIK INnKI) STATKS. 
 
 427 
 
 j)r()[)orty of anotlicr, who lias an intori'st in pivsi-rviiig Ins 
 liti', and that tliu care of it doos not devolve npon himself; 
 even the power of thonght appeal's to him a iisi'Iess gift 
 of Providen('(?, and he qnietly enjoys all the privileges of 
 liis dehasenient. 
 
 If he becomes free, independence is often felt hy him 
 to be a heavier burden than slavery ; for, having learned, 
 in the course of his life, to submit to everything excejit 
 reason, he is too unacquainted with her dictates to obey 
 them. A thousand new desires beset him, and he has not 
 the knowledge and energy necessary to resist tliein : these 
 are masters which it is necessary to contend with, and he 
 has learnt only to submit and obey. In short, he is sunk 
 to such a depth of wretchedness, that, while servitude bru- 
 talizes, liberty destroys him. 
 
 ()j)pression has been no less fatal to the Indian than 
 to the Negro race, but its effects are diiferent. Before 
 tlie arrival of white men in the New World, the inhab- 
 itants of North America lived quietly in their woods, en- 
 during the vicissitudes and practising the virtues and vices 
 common to savage nations. The Europeans, having dis- 
 persed the Indian tribes and driven them into the deserts, 
 condemned them to a wandering life, full of inexpressible 
 sufferinrjs. 
 
 Savage nations are only controlled by .opinion and cus- 
 tom. When the North American Indians had lost the 
 sentiment of attachment to their country ; when their fami- 
 lies were dispersed, their traditions obscured, and the chain 
 of their recollections broken ; when all their habits were 
 changed, and their wants increased beyond measure, — 
 European tyranny rendered them more disorderly and 
 less civilized than they were before. The moral and 
 physical condition of these tribes continually grew worse, 
 and they became more barbarous as they became more 
 wretched. Nevertheless, the Europeans have not been 
 
 i iV;: 
 
 I'm V 
 
 
 ,■;:;•.; , 
 
 
 
 
 fi;.<l 
 
 '■■M 
 
 luft;-,.ii 
 
i 
 
 I't 1 i 
 
 
 I u 
 
 ; 11 
 
 \ i 
 
 428 
 
 DKMOCRACV IN AMKRICA. 
 
 able to ('linnn;o the cliiiriictcM' of tlie Indians ; and, tliouf;li 
 they have had power to destroy, tliey liave never been 
 able to subdue and eivili/.e them. 
 
 The lot of the Nei^ro is placed on the extreme limit 
 of ser\ itude, while that of the Indian lies on the utter- 
 most ver^e of liberty ; and slavery does not produce more 
 fatal effects upon the first, than independence ujxm the 
 second. The Nef>;ro has lost all pro])erty in his own 
 person, and he cannot dispose of his existence without 
 conunittino; a sort of fraud. But the savaoe is his own 
 master as soon as he is able to act ; parental authority 
 is scarcely known to him; he has never bent his will to 
 that of any of his kind, nor learned the difference between 
 voluntary obedience and a shameful subjection ; and the 
 very name of law is unknown to him. To be free, with 
 him, siiTiiifies to escape from all the shackles of society. 
 As he deli<:hts in this barbarous independence, and would 
 rather perish than sacrifice the least part of it, civilization 
 has little hold over him. 
 
 The Negro makes a thousand fruitless efforts to insinuate 
 himself amongst men who repulse him ; he conforms to the 
 tastes of his oppressors, adopts their opinions, and hopes by 
 imitating them to form a part of their community. Hav- 
 ing been told from infancy that his race is natiu'ally inferior 
 to that of the Avhites, he assents to the proposition, and is 
 ashamed of his own nature. In each of his features he 
 discovers a trace of slavery, and, if it were in his power, 
 he would willingly rid himself of everything that makes 
 him what he is. 
 
 The Indian, on the contrary, has his imagination inflated 
 with the pretended nobility of his origin, and li\es and dies 
 in the midst of these dreams of pride. Far from desiring 
 to conform his habits to ours, he loves his savage life as the 
 distinguishing mark of his race, and repels every advance 
 to civilization, less, perhaps, from hatred of it, than from 
 
TIIF. TIIRKF, RACKS IN Till: VNIIKD STATUS. 
 
 120 
 
 a (Irond of ivsi'iiihlinj; tlio Europoans.* Wliil** lie lias 
 iKttliiii^ to ()]){)()so to our porli'ctioTi in flu* arts Imt tlu? 
 rosources of tlio dcsiTt, to our tactics notliiuii' l)Ut undisci- 
 plincd coui'aiic, — whilst our \v('li-(lio;('stc(l plans arc met 
 only liv the sjiontancous instincts of savaii'c life, — who 
 can wondci" if he fiiils in this nne(|ual contest ? 
 
 The Neijro, who carni'stly desires to niinLi'le his i-ace 
 with that of the Euroj)ean, cannot <1" so ; while the In- 
 dian, who miiiht succeed to a certain extent, disdains to 
 make tho atteni^jt. The servility of the one dooms him 
 to slavery, the pride of the other to death. 
 
 I renu'inher that, while I was travellinjj^ throni;li tho 
 forests which still cover tlie State of Alahama. I arrived 
 
 i:t 
 
 * 'I'lic niitive of North Amerira retains his opinions and tlie most insip- 
 niticuiit of iiis hal)its witli a di';;rec of tenacity which has no imnillel in 
 liistory. For more than two Imndred years, the wanderinj.^ trihcs of North 
 America have liad daily intercourse witli the wliites, and tlicy have never 
 derived from tliem a custom or an idea. Yet the Europeans have exercised 
 a powerful infhience over tlie sava<jes : tiiey liavc made them more licen- 
 tious, hut not more European. In the summer of 1831, I happened to 1)6 
 lieyond Lake Michij^an, at a place called Green-Bay, wliieli serves as the 
 extreme frontier hetv/een the United States and the Indians of the North- 
 west. Here I hecame acfpuiinted with an American ofticer, Major II., who, 
 after talkintr to me at lenj^th about the iiiHcxiliility of the Indian character, 
 related the followinj; fact: "I formerly knew a younj^ Indian," said ho, 
 " who had heeii educated at a eolleij;e in New Enj;land, when' lie had ^a-eatly 
 distiii<^uished himself, and had ac(inired the external appearance of a civil- 
 ized man. When the war hroke out lietwcen ourselves and tlie Enj,^lish in 
 1812, I saw this young man ayain ; he was serving; in our anny, at the head 
 of the warriors of his tribe; for the Iiulians were admitted amon<:st the 
 ranks of the Americans, on condition only that they would al)stain from 
 tiieir horrible custom of scalpinj:: their victims. On the evening of the battle 
 of * * *^ (J. came, and sat himself down t)y the tire of our bivouac. I 
 asked him what had been his fortune that day : he related his exploits ; and 
 growing warm and animated l»y the recollection of them, he concluded by 
 suddenly opcTiing the breast of his coat, saying, ' You must not betray 
 me: — sec here!' And I actually beheld," said the Major, "between hi» 
 body and his sliirt, the skin and hair of an English head, still drii)ping with 
 blood." 
 
 SMik\ ii 
 
 :ii :;■'!' II-. 
 1 t 
 
 
480 
 
 DIMoriJACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 m 
 
 ;i:' 
 
 one (lay at tlu; l(>«;-li()use of a pioneer. I did n visli to 
 peiietrnte into tin* dw('iliii<; of the Ameriran, l)iit retired 
 to rest myself for a while oti the margin of a sj)rin^, which 
 was not far oft', in the woods. While I was in this plaee, 
 (which was in the nei^hhorhood of the Creek territory,) 
 an Indian woman api)i'ared, followed hy a Nen;rcss, and 
 holding hy the hand a little white girl of five or six years 
 old, who)n I took to be the daughter of the pioneer. A 
 sort of harharons Inxnry set off" the costume of the Indian ; 
 rino;s of metal were hann-ino; from her nostrils and ears ; 
 her hair, which was adorned with glass beads, fell loosely 
 upon her shoulders ; and I saw that she was not married, 
 for she still wore that necklace of shells which the bride 
 always deposits on the nuptial couch. The Negress was 
 clad in squalid European garments. All three came and 
 seated themselves upon the banks of the fountain ; and the 
 }oung Indian, taking the child in her anns, lavished upon 
 her such fond caresses as mothers give ; while the Negress 
 endeavored, by various little artifices, to attract the atten- 
 tion of the young Creole. The child displayed in her 
 slightest gestures a consciousness of superiority which 
 formed ji strange contrast with her infantine weakness ; 
 as if she received the attentions of her companions with 
 a sort of condescension. The Negress was seated on the 
 ground before her mistress, watching her smallest desires, 
 and apparently divided between an almost maternal affec- 
 tion for the cliild and servile fear ; whilst the savage dis- 
 played, in the midst of her tenderness, an air of freedom 
 and pride which was almost ferocious. I had approached 
 the group, and was contemplating them in silence ; but 
 my curiosity was probably displeasing to the Indian wo- 
 man, for she suddenly rose, pushed the child roughly 
 from her, and, giving me an angry look, plunged into the 
 thicket. 
 
 I had often chanced to see individuals together in the 
 
rRFSKNT AND ITTrRK CONDITIDX OF TIIK INDIAN'S. 4ol 
 
 siimc iil.'U'c, wlio licloiirfcd to tlic tliroo races wlildi pcoplo 
 North America. I had perceivefl from many ditKrent 
 traits tlie preponderaiire of tlie wliites. But in the pic- 
 ture wliicli T luive just l)een (U'scrihiu^, tliei-e was some- 
 thin*; peculiarly touchinf];; a bond of ailectiou lu'ro miited 
 the oppressors with the oppr(>ssed, and the effort of Nature 
 to hrinii them totfether rendered still more striking the 
 immense distance placed between them by prejudico and 
 the laws. 
 
 ,/H. 
 
 1 1 
 
 i came an( 
 
 THE PRESENT AND rROTIABT.E FUTUllE CONDTTION OF THE 
 INDIAN TRIBES WHICH INHARIT THE TERRITORY POS- 
 SESSED BY THE UNION. 
 
 Gradual Disappearance of tlic Native Tribes. — Manner in which it takes 
 place. — Miseries accompanyin;^ the forced Miij;rations of the Indians. — 
 The Sava;^es of North Amorira had only two Ways of escapint; Destruc- 
 tion, War or Civilization. — Thoy arc no Ioniser able to make War. — 
 Reasons why they refused to become Civilized when it was in their 
 Power, and why they cannot become so now that they desire it. — In- 
 stance of the Creeks and Cherokees. — Policy of the particular States 
 towards these Indians, — Policy of the Federal Government. 
 
 None of the Indian tribes which formerly inhabited the 
 territory of New Encjland — the Narragansetts, the Mo- 
 hicans, the Peqiiods — have any existence but in the rec- 
 ollection of man. The Lenapes, who received AVilliam 
 Penn, a bimdred and fifty years ago, upon the banks of 
 the Deln ^ are, bave disappeared ; and I myself met with 
 the last of the Iroquois, who were begging alms. The 
 nations I have mentioned formerly covered the country 
 to the sea-coast ; but a traveller at the present day must 
 penetrate more than a hundred leagues into the interior 
 of the continent to find an Indian. Not only have these 
 wild tribes receded, but they are destroyed ; * and as they 
 
 * In the tiiirtcen original States, there are only 6,273 Indians remaining. 
 
km 
 
 h' i\ 
 
 ir 
 
 wmm 
 
 m ' 
 
 ^01 
 !;: ■ i 
 
 ill 
 
 432 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 I'-- 
 
 give way or perish, an iininense and increasing people fill 
 their place. There is no instance upon record of so pro- 
 digious a growth or so ra})id a destruction : the manner 
 in which tlie latter change takes j)lace is not difficult to 
 describe. 
 
 When the Indians were the sole inhabitants of the wilds 
 whence they have since been expelled, their wants were 
 few. Their arms were of their own manufacture, their 
 only drink wa.s the water of the brook, and their clothes 
 consisted of the skins of animals, whose flesh furnished 
 them with food. 
 
 The Europeans introduced amongst the savages of North 
 America fire-arms, ardent s})irits, and iron : they taught 
 them to exchano;e for manufactured stuffs the rouo;h ear- 
 nients which had ])reviously satisfied their untutored sim- 
 })licity. Having acquired new tastes, without the arts 
 l)y which they could be gratified, the Indians were obliged 
 to have recourse to the workmanship of the whites ; but 
 in return for their ])roducti(ms, the savage had nothing to 
 offer except the rich furs which still abounded in his woods. 
 Hence the chase became necessaiy, not merely to provide 
 for his subsistence, but to satisfy the frivolous desires of 
 Europeans. He no longer hunted merely to obtain food, 
 but to ])rocure the only objects of barter which he could 
 offer.* Whilst the wants of the natives were thus increas- 
 ing, their resources continued to diminish. 
 
 * Messrs. Clarke and Cass, in their report to Cont^ress, the 4th of Feb- 
 ruary, 1829, p. 2;5, remarked : " The time wlien tlie Indians <j;enerally could 
 supply tliem.selves with food and clotliin<r, without any of the articles of civ- 
 ilized life, has lonjf since passed away. The more remote tril)es, beyond the 
 Mississipjii, who live where immense herds of buffalo are yet to be found, 
 and who follow those animals in their periodical mij;rations, could more 
 easily than any others recur to the hal)its of their ancestors, and live with- 
 out the white man or any of his manufactures. But the buffalo is constantly 
 recedinj;. The smaller animals — the bear, the deer, the beaver, the otter, 
 the musk-rat, etc. — principally minister to the comfort and support of the 
 
 IJ t 
 
 m 
 
 I Ih't!' 
 
PRESENT AND FU 1 URE CONDITION OF THE INDIANS. 4:13 
 
 [}0})le fil\ 
 r so pro- 
 manner 
 fficult to 
 
 the wilds 
 mts were 
 ire, their 
 ir clothes 
 furnished 
 
 of North 
 ey tanght 
 ongli gar- 
 ored sim- 
 the arts 
 're obliged 
 lutes ; but 
 nothing to 
 his woods, 
 to provide 
 
 desires of 
 
 itain food, 
 he could 
 
 LIS increas- 
 
 4tli of Feb- 
 jncrally could 
 Irtifles of civ- 
 Is, beyond the 
 to be found, 
 I, could more 
 Ind live with- 
 is constantly 
 lor, the otter, 
 Ipport of the 
 
 From the moment when a European settlement is 
 formed in the neighborhood of the territory occu])ied by 
 tJie Indians, the beasts of chase take the alarm.* Thou- 
 sands of savacjes, wanderinji in the forests, and destitute 
 of any fixed dwelling, did not disturb them ; but as so(m 
 as tlie continuous sounds of European labor are heard in 
 their neighborhood, they begin to flee away, and rcti-H' to 
 the West, where their instinct teaches them that they will 
 still find deserts of immeasurable extent. "The butiiilo 
 is constantly receding," say ^Messrs. Clarke and Cass in 
 their Report of the year 1829 ; " a few years since they 
 nj)i)roached the base of the Alleghany ; and a few years 
 hence they may even be rare upon the .immense plains 
 which extend to the base of the Rocky Mountains." I 
 have been assured that this effect of the approach of the 
 whites is often felt at two Inmdred leamies' distance from 
 their frontier. Their influence is thus exerted over tribes 
 whose name is unknown to them ; and who suffer the evils 
 
 Indiims ; and these cannot be taken without guns, aninuinition, and traps. 
 Among the "\orthwcstern Indians, particularly, the labor of sui)i)lyiiig 
 a family with food is excessive. Day after day is spent by the hunter with- 
 out success, and during thi^ interval his family must subsist upon bark or 
 roots, or perish. Want and misery arc around them and among them, 
 ilauy die every winter from actual starvation." 
 
 Tlie Indians will not live as Europeans live ; and yet they can neither 
 snbsi:>t without them, nor exactly after the fasiiion of their fathers. This is 
 (lcn\onstrated by a fact which I likewise give upon oflicial authority. Some 
 Indians of a tribe on the 1)anks of Lake Superior had killed a European ; 
 the American government intei dieted all tralHc with the tribe to wh'wh the 
 guihy parties i)eloiiged, until they were delivered up to justice. This mca;;- 
 urc had the desired eticct. 
 
 * "Five years ago," says Volney in his Tableau dcs Ktats-Unis, p. 370, 
 " in lioing from Vineennes to Kaskaskia, a territory which now furms part 
 of the State of Illinois, but which at the time I mention was completely 
 wild (1797), you "ould not cross a prairie without seeing herds of from 
 tour to five hundred butlaloes. There are now none remaining ; they swam 
 ucru. s ! be Mississippi, to escape from the himtcrs, and more particularly from 
 the bells of the American cows." 
 
 19 «B 
 
 ■■rU 
 
 'ii,:iiVfiliiM, 
 
 'Wm 
 
434 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 H ' n' 
 
 ;»!■ ' r 
 
 of usurpation long before thoy are acquainted with the 
 authors of their distress.* 
 
 Bold adventurers soon penetrate into the country the 
 Indians have deserted, and when they have advanced about 
 fifteen or twenty leagues from the extreme frontiers ol' tlie 
 wliites, they begin to build hnbitations for civilized beings 
 in the midst of the wilderness. This is done without dif- 
 ficulty, as the territory of a hunting nation is ill defined ; 
 it is the common property of the tribe, and belongs to no 
 one in particidar, so that individual interests are not con- 
 cerned in protecting any part of it. 
 
 A few European families, occupying points very remote 
 from each other, soon drive away the wild animals which 
 remain between their places of abode. The Indians, who 
 had previously lived in a sort of abundance, then find it 
 difficvdt to subsist, and still more difficult to procure the 
 articles of barter which they stand in need of. To drive 
 away their game has the same effect as to render sterile the 
 fields of our agriculturists ; deprived of the means of sub- 
 sistence, they are reduced, like famished wolves, to prowl 
 through the forsaken w^oods in quest of prey. Their in- 
 stinctive love of countrv attaches <^hem to the soil which 
 gave them birth, f even after it has ceased to yield anything 
 
 * The truth of wliat I here advance may be easily proved l)y consulting? 
 the tahuhir statcmei>t of Indian tribes inhabitinj? tlie United States and tiieir 
 territories. (Legislative Documents, 2Uth Congress, No. 117, pp. 90-105.) 
 It is there sliown tl. it the tril)es in the centre of America are rapidly de- 
 creasing, although the Eurojicans are still at a considerable distance from 
 them. 
 
 t " The Indians," say Messrs. Clarke and Cass, in their Keport to Con- 
 gress, p. 15, "are atta<'fied to their country by the same feelings which l)ind 
 U8 to ours ; and, besides, tliere are certain superstitious notions connected 
 with the alienation of what the Great spirit gave to their ancestors, which 
 operate strongly upon tiie tril)es who have made few or no cessions, but 
 which are gradually weakened as our intercourse with them is extended. 
 'We will not sell the spot which contains the bones of otu' fathers,' is almost 
 always the lirst answer to a proposition for a sale." 
 
fm 
 
 nih the 
 
 itry the 
 jd about 
 
 rs oC the 
 
 liont (lif- 
 defined ; 
 cTs to no 
 not con- 
 
 y remote 
 ills which 
 ians, \vho 
 m find it 
 ocvu'e the 
 To drive 
 sterile the 
 lis of sub- 
 to prowl 
 Their in- 
 soil which 
 I anything 
 
 In- consnltiriK 
 litcs and their 
 L). 90-105.) 
 |e rapidly dc- 
 llistance from 
 
 [port to Con- 
 Is which bind 
 [ns connected 
 lestors, which 
 [cessions, hut 
 is extended. 
 Ivs,' is almost 
 
 PRESFA'T AND FUTT'RE CONDITTOX OK TIIi: INDIANS. 43') 
 
 but miserv and death. At lenjjth, thev arc conipcllcd to 
 a<'([nicsce and depart : they follow tlie traces of tiu' elk, 
 the buffalo, and the beaver, and are miided b\- tlicsc wild 
 animals in the choice of their future country. I'roju'iiy 
 speakincr, therefore, it is not the Europeans who dfi\c awav 
 the natives of America ; it is famine; — a liapjiy distiiu - 
 tion, which had escaped the casuists of former times, and 
 for which Ave are indebted to modern discovery I 
 
 It is impossible to conceive the frio-htfid suiferin<]^s wliich 
 attend these forced mi<i;rations. They ari» undertakeu by a 
 peoy)le already exhausted and reduc(.'d ; and the countries 
 to which the new-comers betake themselves arc inhabited 
 by other tribes, which receive them with jt'alons hostility. 
 Hunger is in the rear, war awaits them, and misciy begets 
 them on all sides. To escape from so many enemies, ihey 
 separate, and each indi\idual endeavors to procure secretly 
 the means of supporting his existence by isolating himself, 
 living in the immensity of the desert like an outcast in civ- 
 ili/x'd society. The social tie, which distress had long sine-- 
 weakened, is then dissolved ; they have no longer a coun- 
 try, and soon they will not be a pe()j)le ; their very families 
 are obliterated ; their conunon name h forgotten ; theij 
 language perishes ; and all traces of theli '-igiu disappear. 
 Their nation has ceased to exist, excrpt iii ;he lecoliection 
 of the antiquaries of America, and a i'cw of tlie learned of 
 Europe. 
 
 I shoidd be sorry to have my readier suppose that I am 
 coloring the picture too highly : I saw with my own -^yes 
 many of the miseries which I have just described, and was 
 the witness of sufferings wdiicli I have not the })ower to 
 ])ortray. 
 
 At the end of the year 18ol, wdiilst I was on the left 
 bank of the Mississippi, at a })lace named by Euroj)eans 
 Memjihis, there arrived a numerous band of (Miocuinvs (or 
 Chactas, as they are called by the French in Louisiana). 
 
 'I ! 
 
 Ill 
 
'! ' ,•11 
 
 'ii ! 
 
 436 
 
 UEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 These savages had left their country, and were endeavor- 
 ing to gain tlie right bank of the Mississippi, wliere they 
 lioped to find an asylum which had been promised tliem 
 by the American government. It was then the middle of 
 winter, and the cold was unusually severe ; the snow had 
 frozen hard uj)on the ground, and the river was driftino- 
 huge masses of ice. The Indians had their families with 
 them ; and they brought in their train the wounded and 
 the sick, with children newly born, and old men upon the 
 verge of death. They possessed neither tents nor wugons, 
 but only tlieir arms and some provisions. I saw them em- 
 bark to pass the mighty river, and never will that solemn 
 spectacle fade from my remembrance. No cry, no sob, 
 was heard amongst the assembled crowd ; all were silent. 
 Their calamities were of ancient date, and they knew them 
 to be irremediable. The Indians had all stepped into the 
 bark which wan to carry them across, but their dogs 
 remained upon the bank. As soon as these animals per- 
 ceived that their masters were finally leaving the shore, 
 they set up a dismal howl, and, plunging all together into 
 the icy w^aters of the Mississippi, swam after the boat. 
 
 The ejectment of the Indians often takes place at the 
 present day in a regular, and, as it were, a legal manner. 
 When the European population begins to approach, the 
 limit of the desert inhabited by a savage tribe, the gov- 
 ernment of the United States usually sends forward en- 
 voys, who assemble the Indians in a large plain, and, 
 having first eaten and drunk with them, address them 
 thus : " What have you to do in the land of your 
 fathers? Before long, you must dig up their bones in 
 order to live. In what respect is the country you inhabit 
 better than another ? Are there no w^oods, marshes, or 
 prairies, except where you dwell ? And can you live 
 nowhere but under your own sun ? Beyond those moun- 
 tains which you see at the horizon, beyond the lake which 
 
 um 
 
PRESENT AND FUTURE CONDITION OF THE INDIANS. 4o7 
 
 l)(iuntls your territory on the west, there lie vast conn- 
 tries where beasts of chase are yet found in great ahun- 
 dance ; sell us your lands, then, and o;o to live hap{)ilv 
 in those solitudes." After holdino; this lanouage, they 
 sj)read before the eyes of the Indians fire-arms, woollen 
 garments, kegs of brandy, glass necklaces, bracelets of 
 tinsel, ear-rino-s. and lookinn;-oiasses.* If, when thev have 
 beheld all these riches, thev still hesitate, it is insinuated 
 that they cannot refuse the required c(msent, and that 
 the o'overnment itself will not Ions have the power of 
 protecting them in their rights. What are they to do ? 
 Half convinced and half compelled, they go to inhabit 
 new deserts, Avhere the importunate whites will not let 
 them remain ten years in peace. In this manner do the 
 Americans obtain, at a very low ])rice, whole provinces, 
 which the richest sovereigns of Europe could not pur- 
 chase, f 
 
 * See, ill the Lefrislative Documents of Conaress (Doc. 117), tlie iiiirni- 
 tivc of what takes phiee on these occasions. This curious passaue is i'mm 
 the formerly mentioned Report, made to Congress by Messrs. Clarke and 
 Cass, in February, 1829. 
 
 "The Indians," says the Report, "rcich the treaty-ground poor, and al- 
 most naked. LarLT q\iaiititles of Lioods arc taken there by the traders, and 
 are seen and (examined by the Indians. '!'he women and eliiidren l)ecomo 
 importunate to have tiieir wants supplied, and their influence is soon exerted 
 to indr . ■•. sale. Their improvidence is habitual and uncoiKjuerable. 'J'lie 
 gratification of his immeiliaic wants and desires is the ruling luission of an 
 Indian. The expectation of future advnntages seldom ])r(jduecs inmli etierr. 
 Tiie experience of the past is lost, and the [irospccts of tiie future disre^iard- 
 ed. It would be utterly hopeless to demand a cession of land, uid^'ss the 
 means were at hand of gratifying their immediate wants ; and when tiieir 
 condition and circumstances are fairly considered, it ought not to surprise us 
 that they are so anxious to relieve themselves." 
 
 t On the 19th of May, 1850, Mr. Edward Everett afflrmod licfcre the 
 House of Representatives, that the Americans had already ac()uirod by ticctti/, 
 to the east and west of the Mississippi, 2.30,000,000 of acres. In 1808, the 
 Osages gave up 48,000,000 acres for an annual payment of 1 ,000 d(illiu<. 
 Li 1818, the Quapaws yielded up 20,000,000 acres for 4,000 dollars. They 
 
 
 ::^ 
 
 m 
 
438 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 Tliose are m'cat evils ; and it must be added that tlicy 
 appear to me to be irremediable. I believe that the 
 Indian nations of North America are doomed to j)erish ; 
 and that whenever the Europeans shall be established 
 on the shores of the Pac^ific Ocean, that race of men will 
 have ceased to exist.* The Indians had only the alter- 
 nati/e of war or civilization ; in other words, they must 
 either destroy the Euro})eans or become their equals. 
 
 At the first settlement of the colonies, they might have 
 found it possible, by uniting their forces, to deliver them- 
 selves from the small bodies of strangers who landed on 
 their continent.! They several times attempted to do it, 
 
 M 
 
 i: 
 
 f ! 
 
 !■ i 
 
 • ' 
 
 ,'ii 1 
 
 reserved for themselves a territory of 1,000,000 acres for u hunti»i<i;-<;roiiii(l. 
 A solemn oath was taken tlmt it should he respeeted : but; before !on<^ it wiis 
 invaded like the rest. 
 
 Mr. Bell, in his " Report of the Committee on Indian Affiiirs," February 
 24, isyo, has these words: "To pay an Indian tiihe what thei.. ancient 
 huntin<;-ti;ronnds are worth to them after the {ianie is fled or destroyed, as a 
 mode o*^ ,vppro]iriatin<i; wild lands claimed by Indians, has been found more 
 conveiiioiit, and certainly it is more afyreeable to the forms of justice, as well 
 as more merciful, than to assert the poss(!Ssion of them by the sword. Tims 
 the practice of buyiuj^ Indian titles is but the substitute which humanity and 
 expediency have imposed, in place of the sword, in arriving at the actual 
 enjoyment of projjerty claimed by the right of discovery, and sanctioned i)y 
 the luitural superiority allowed to tlie claims of civilized communities over 
 those of savage tribes. Up to the present time, so invariable has been the 
 operation of certain causes, lirst in diminishing the value of forest lands to 
 the Indians, and secondly, in disposing them to sell readily, that the plan of 
 bu} ing tlieir right of occupancy has never threatened to retard, in any per- 
 ceptible degree, the prosperity of any of the States." (IjCgislative Docu- 
 ments, 21st Congres;-, No. 237, p. 6). 
 
 * This seems, i'.:uc.jd, to be the opinion of almost all American states- 
 men. "Judging 01 tl'C future by the jiiist," says Mr. Cass, "we cannot 
 err in anticipating a progressive diminution of their numbers, and their 
 eventual extinction, uidess our border should become stationary, and they 
 be removed beyond it, or unless some radical cliange should take place in 
 the principles of our intercourse with them, which it is easier to hope for 
 than to expect." 
 
 i Amongst other warlike enterprises, there was one of the Wampanoags, 
 
 
ntiu'v-ii'i"!)! 
 
 PRKSKNT AXD FUTUUK CONDITION 01' TllK INDIANS. -ISl) 
 
 and wore on the point of succeeding ; but the dis})ropoi- 
 tion of tlieir resources at tlie present day, wlien compared 
 witli those of the wliites, is too great to allow such an 
 enterprise to be thou«j;ht of. But from time to time amonii 
 the Indians, men of sagacity and energy foresee the final 
 destiny which awaits the native population, and exert 
 themselves to unite all the tribes in conunon hostility to 
 the Euroj)eans ; but their efforts are unavailing. The 
 tribes which are in the Uv^'ghborhood of the whites ai'e 
 too much weakened to oli'er an effectual resistance ; whilst 
 the others, giving way to that childish carelessness of the 
 morrow which characterizes savaoe life, wait for the near 
 approach of danger before tlu'y })repare to meet it : some 
 are unable, others are unwilling, to act. . 
 
 It is easy to foresee that the Indians will never civilize 
 themselves, or that it w'ill be too late when they may be 
 inclined to make the experiment. 
 
 Civilization is the result of a long social process, whicii 
 takes place in the same spot, and is handed down from one 
 generation to another, each one profiting by the experience 
 of the last. Of all nations, those submit to civilization 
 with ihe most difficulty who habitually live by the chase. 
 Pastoral tribes, indeed, often change their place of abode ; 
 but they follow a regular order in tlieir nn'grations, and 
 often return to their old stations, whilst the dwelling of the 
 hunter varies with that of the animals he pursues. 
 
 Several attempts have been made to diffuse knowledge 
 amono;st the Indians, leavhio- uncliecked their wanderino; 
 propensities, by the Jesviits in Canada, and by the Puritans 
 in New England ; * but none of these endeavors have been 
 
 1 
 
 'tk 
 
 
 
 
 Wampanoags, 
 
 and other coufederate tribes, under Metaconi, in 1675, against the colonists 
 of New England ; the English were also engaged in war with them in Vir- 
 ginia in 1(522. 
 
 * See the historians of New England, the Histoire de la Nouvdle France,, 
 by Charlevoix, and tlie work entitled Lettrts cJijianhs. 
 
I.: fJil 
 
 HI;; 
 
 M 
 
 0: 
 
 '!,!■ 
 
 440 
 
 DKMOCliACY IN AMKUICA. 
 
 crowned by any lasting success. Civilization bef^an In tlie 
 cabin, but soon retired to expire in the woods. The great 
 error of these ley:islators ol' the Indians was their not un- 
 derstanding that, in order to succeed in civilizing a i)eo])le, 
 it is first necessary to fix them, which cannot be done with- 
 out induciuii' them to cultivate the soil ; the Indians ouiiht 
 in the first place to have been accustomed to agriculture. 
 But not only are they destitute of this indis[)ensable pre- 
 liminary to civilization, — they would even have great dif- 
 ficulty in acquiring it. Men who have once abandoned 
 themselves to the restle^is and adventurous life of the 
 hunter feel an insurmountable disgust for the constant 
 and regular labor which tillage requires. We see this 
 proved even in our own societies ; but it is far more 
 visible among races whose partiality for the chase is a part 
 of their national character. 
 
 Independently of this general difficulty, tliere is another, 
 which ap})lies peculiarly to the Indians. They consider 
 labor not merely as an evil, but as a disgrace ; so that their 
 pride contends against civihzation as obstinately as their 
 indolence.* 
 
 There is no Indian so wretched as not to retain under 
 his hut of bark a lofty idea of his personal worth ; he con- 
 siders the cares of industry as degrading occupations ; he 
 compares the husbandman to the ox wdiich traces the fur- 
 row ; and in each of our handicrafts, he can see only the 
 labor of slaves. Not that he is devoid of admiration for 
 the power and intellectual greatness t)f the whites ; but, 
 although the result of our efforts surprises him, he con- 
 
 * "In all the tri'>cs," says Volncy, in his Tableau des Etats-Unis, (p. 
 423,) "tliere still exists a generation of old warriors, who cannot fovbcar, 
 when they sec their countrymen using the hoe, from exclaiming against the 
 degradation of ancient manners, and asserting that the savages owe tiieir 
 decline to these iuiiovatious ; adding, that they have only to return to their 
 primitive habits, in oaler to recover their power and glory." 
 
 If' ' i^i- 
 
 .1 y^'.^ 
 

 PRESENT AND FUTURE CONDITION OF THE INDIANS. 441 
 
 toiiins the meuns l)v whicli we obtain it ; and wliilo lie 
 acknowledges our ascendeney, he still helieves in his own 
 superiority. War and hiuiting are the only pursuits which 
 appear to liim worthy of a man.* The Indian, in the 
 dreary solitudes of hi-, woods, cherishes the same ideas, 
 the same opinions, as the nohle of the Middle A^cs in his 
 castle; and he only needs to become a con(|ueroi* to com- 
 plete the resend)lanci'. Thus, however strange it may 
 seem, it is in the forests of the New World, and not 
 amongst the Europeans who people its coasts, that t'le 
 ancient prejudices of l-^urope still exist. 
 
 More than once, in the course of this Avork, I have 
 endeavored to exj)lain the prodigious influence -which the 
 social condition appears to exercise uj)on the laws and 
 the manners of men : and I beo; to add a few words on 
 the same subject. 
 
 When I perceive the resemblance which exists between 
 the political institutions of our ancestors, the Germans, 
 and the wanderino; tribes of North America, — between 
 the customs described by Tacitus, and those of which I 
 have sometimes been a witness, — I cannot help thinking 
 that the same cause has brouoht about the same results in 
 both hemispheres ; and that, in the midst of the apparent 
 
 n 
 
 If-. 
 
 * The following dcscrii)tion occurs in an ofKciiil document : " Until a 
 young man lias been engaged with an enemy, and has performed some atts 
 of valor, he gains no consideration, but is regarded nearly as a woman. In 
 their great war-dances, all the warriors in succession strike the post, as it is 
 called, and recount their exploits. On these occasions, their auditory lon- 
 sists of the kinsmen, friends, and comrades of the narrator. The profound 
 impression which bis discourse produces on them is manifested by the silcMit 
 r,ttention it receives, and by the loud shouts which hail its termination. The 
 young man who finds himself at such a meeting without anything to re- 
 count is very unhappy ; and instances have sometimes occurred of young 
 warriors, whose passions had beeu thus inflamed, quitting the war-dance 
 suddenly, and going otf alone to seek for trophies which they might exhibit- 
 and adventures which they might be allowed to relate." 
 19* 
 
 ■1 ' 
 
442 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN' AMKRICA, 
 
 i'iff 
 
 (liviTsity of Iminaii afliiiis, (M.'i'tain jM'iiiiaiy flicts may 1k» 
 (lisrovoivd, from wliicli all the others ai'o (K'rived. In 
 what we usually call tlie (iermau institutions, then, I am 
 inclined to perceive only harharian haliits, and the opinions 
 of savages in what wi' style feudal principh... 
 
 However stronuly the vices and ]>rejudices of the North 
 American Indians may be ()})posed to their becoming agri- 
 cultural and civili/ed, necessitv sometimes dri\('s them to 
 it. Several of the (Southern tribes, considei' My numerous, 
 and amongst (others the Cherokees and the Creeks,* fuum! 
 themselves, as it were, surrounded by European , who bao 
 landed on ihe shores of the Atlantic, and, either descend- 
 ing tlie Ohio, or proceeding up the ^lississippi, arrived 
 sinudtaneously u})on their borders. These tribes had not 
 been dri\en fnmi place to place, like their Northern breth- 
 ren ; but they had been gradually shut up within narrow 
 limits, like game driven into an enclosure before the hunts- 
 men plunge among them. The Indians, wlio were thus 
 placed between civilization and death, found themselves 
 obliged to li\'e ignominiously by labor, like the whites. 
 They to' k to agriculture, and, without entirely forsaking 
 their old lud)its or manners, sacrificed only as much as was 
 necessary to their existence. 
 
 The Cherokees went further ; they created a written 
 
 * These nations are now swallowed up in the States of Georgia, Tennes- 
 see, Alabama, and Mississippi, There were formerly in the South four 
 great nations (remnants of wliich still exist), the Choctaws, the Chickasaws, 
 tlie Creeks, and the Cherokees. The remnants of these four nations 
 amounted in 1830 to altout 7o,t)00 individuals. It is computed that there 
 are now remaining in the territory OfeUj)ied or claimed by the Anglo-Amer- 
 ican Union about 300,000 Indians. (See "Proceedings of t])e Indian Board 
 in the City of New York.") The official documents supplied to Congress 
 make the number amount to 313,130. The reader who is curious to know 
 the names and numerical strength of all the tribes which inhabit the Anglo- 
 American territory should consult the documents I have just referred to. 
 (Legislative Documents, 20th Congress, No. 117, pp. 90-105.) 
 
 Mi^ 
 
ts may l)o 
 •ivc'd. Ill 
 hell, I am 
 le opinions 
 
 tlie Nortli 
 >miu«' a;;ri- 
 's tlicm to 
 
 n\nn('rou>, 
 .'ks,* found 
 ^, wlio lui«l 
 n* clescpntl- 
 ipi, arrivt ,[ 
 L^s had i.ot 
 licrn brotli- 
 liin narrow 
 ! tlic Imnts- 
 
 \vere thus 
 
 themselves 
 the whites, 
 forsaking 
 mch as was 
 
 a written 
 
 orgia, Tcnnos- 
 10 South four 
 c Chickasaws, 
 
 lour nations 
 ted tiiat there 
 
 Anglo-AiTier- 
 
 Iiidian Board 
 to Congress 
 irious to know 
 bit the Anglo- 
 st referred to. 
 
 05.) 
 
 PKESKNT AND FUTLUE CONDITION OF THF INDIANS. 443 
 
 lan^iia<j;e, cstahlislu'd a permanent form of o^ovi'rnmcnt, 
 and, as I'Vi'rytliing proceeds rapidly in tlie New \\'orld, 
 ])ef(»re they all t»l' them had clothes, they set up a news- 
 j)aper.* 
 
 'J'he di'vi'lopment of European liahits has hci-n nuieh 
 accelerated among these Indians hy the mixed ra<'*' wliitdi 
 has sprung up.f Deriving iiitelligenci' from the tiither's 
 side, without entirely losing the savage customs of the 
 mother, the liull-hlood forms tlu; natural link hrtwci'ii 
 ci\ ilization and harhai'isiu. Wherever this raei- lias unil- 
 ti|)lied, the savam' state has hcc 'ic uiodilied, and a iireat 
 <'haiige has taken })lace in the m is of tlu' pco[)le.J 
 
 * I lirought hack with nie to France one or two copies of tiiis singuhir 
 ])ul)lication, 
 
 t See, ill the lioport of the Coniniittee on Indian Atfairs, 2Ist Congress, 
 No. 2:27, p. 2.'}, the reasons for tlie niultipiication of Indians of mixed Mood 
 among tlie Cherokees. The principal cause dates from the War of Iiidc- 
 l)endence. Many Anglo-Americans of (Jeorgia, having taken the side of 
 Knghind, were ohiiged to retreat among the Indians, where they nuuTicd. 
 
 t Uniiappily, the mixed race has heen less numerous and Icjs inlluential 
 in North America than in any other country. Tiie American continent 
 was j)eopled hy two great nations of Europe, the FriMich and tlic English. 
 The former were not slow in connecting themselves with the daughters of 
 the natives ; hut there was an unfortunate afHnity hctwccn the Indian char- 
 acter and their own : instead of giving the tastes and hahits of civili/tMl life 
 to the savages, the French too often grew jtassionately fond of Indian life. 
 They became the most dangerous inhabitants of the desert, and won the 
 friendship of the Indian by exaggerating his vices and his virtues. M. de 
 Kenonville, the Governor of Canada, wrote thus to Louis XIV. in IG8.') : 
 " It has long been believed that, in ortler to civilize the savages, we ought to 
 draw them nearer to us. IJut there is every reason to suppose we have been 
 mistaken. Those which have been brought into contaet with us have not be- 
 come F''rench, and the i'rench who have lived among them are changed into 
 savages, affecting to dress and live like them." ("History of New France," 
 by Charlevoix, Vol. II. p. 345.) The Englishman, on the contrary, con- 
 tinuing ol)Stinately attached to the customs and the most insignificant habits 
 of his forefathers, has remained in the midst of the American solitudes just 
 what he was in the bosom of European cities ; he would not allow of any 
 communication with savages whom he despised, and avoided with care the 
 
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 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
 
 
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 444 
 
 DF.MOCRACV IN AMERICA. 
 
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 Tlie success of the Clierokees proves that the Indians 
 are cajjahle of civilization, Init it does not prove tliat they 
 will succeed in it. This difficulty which the Indians find 
 in suhmittini!; to civilization proceeds from a general cause, 
 the influence of which it is almost iini)ossil)le for them to 
 escape. An attentive survey of liistory demonstrates that, 
 in general, harharous nations have raised themselves to 
 civilization by degrees, and by their own elforts. When- 
 ever they derived knowledge from a foreign ])eople, they 
 stood towards them in the relation of conquerors, and not 
 of a con([uered nation. AVhen the conipiered nation is 
 enlightened, and the con([uerors are half savage, as in the 
 invasion of the Roman em})ire by the Northern nations, 
 or that of China by the Mongols, the ])ower which victory 
 bestows upon the barbarian is sufficient to keej) uj) his 
 importance among civilized men, and permit him to rank 
 as their e(pial until he becomes their rival. The one has 
 miiiht on his side, the other has intellio-ence ; the former 
 admires the knowledge and the arts of the concpiered, the 
 latter envies the power of the conquerors. The barbarians 
 at length admit civilized man into their palaces, and he in 
 turn opens his schools to the barbarians. But when the 
 side on which the physical force lies also possesses an intel- 
 lectual superiority, the conquered party seldom become 
 civilized ; it retreats, or is destroyed. It may therefore 
 be said, in a o;eneral wav, that savaws 0:0 forth in arms 
 to seek knowledo;e, but do not receive it when it comes 
 to them. 
 
 If the Indian tribes which now inhabit the heart of the 
 continent could summon up energy enough to attempt to 
 civilize themselves, they might possibly succeed. Superior 
 already to the barbarous nations which surround them, 
 
 union of his race with theirs. Thus, while the French exercised no salutary 
 influence over the Indians, the English have always remained alien Irom 
 them. 
 
PliKSKNT AND FUlUUfc: COXDITION Or HIK INDIANS. 445 
 
 they would n;riulu;illy "j^uin stivngth and exporionoo, and 
 wlien tlie Europeans should appear upon tlioir borders, 
 they would be in a state, if not to maintain tlieir indepen- 
 dence, at least to assert their right to the soil, and to 
 incorporate themselves with the conipierors. But it is 
 the nn'sfbrtune of Indians to be brouiiht into contact with 
 a civilized people, who are also (it must be owned) tlie 
 most n;ras|)ini£ nation on the o-lobe, whilst thev are still 
 semi-barbarian ; to find their muoters in their instructors, 
 and to receive knowledge and op})ression at once. Living 
 in the freedom of the woods, the Nortli American Indian 
 was destitute, but he had no feelin<i of inferioritv towards 
 any one; as soon, however, as he desires to j)enetrate into 
 the social scale of the whites, he can only take the lowest 
 rank in society, for he enters, ignorant and j)oor, witliin 
 the i)ale of science and wealth. After having led a life 
 of aiiitation, beset with evils and danwrs, but at the same 
 time filled with proud emotions,* he is obliged to submit 
 
 * There is in tiie adventurous life of tlie hunter a certain irre.sistil)le 
 charm, which seizes the iieart of man, and carries him away in spite of rea- 
 son and experience. This is plainly shown by the " IVIenioirs of Tanner." 
 Tanner was a European who was carried away at the ajrc of six hy the In- 
 dians, and remained thirty years with them in the woods. Xothinj; can lie 
 conceived more appallinp: than the miseries which he descrihes. lie tells us 
 of trii)es witliout a chief, families without a nation to call their own, men in 
 a state of isolation, wrecks of powerful trilies wandering' at random amid the 
 ice anil snow and desolate .solitudes of Canada. llunj;er and cold pursue 
 tli«.Mii ; every day their life is in jeopardy. Amon^-'st these men, manners 
 lia-e lost their empire, traditions are without power. They become more 
 and more savajjre. Tanner shared in all these miseries ; he was aware of 
 Ills European orij:in ; he was not kept away from the whites by force ; on 
 the contrary, he came every year to trade witii theia, entered their dwellin;:s, 
 and witnes.sed their enjoynu'nts ; he knew tiiat whenever he chose to return to 
 civilized life, he was perf(;ctly able to do so, — and he remained thirty years 
 in the deserts. When he came into civilized society, he declared that the 
 rude existence, the miseries of which he described, had a secret charm for 
 him which he could not define : he returned to it aL'aiii and ajrain ; at lenj^th 
 he abandoned it with poignant regret ; and when he was at length fixed 
 
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^ : 
 
 '.. I .!. 
 
 fii li 
 
 m 
 
 m 
 
 m\ 
 
 446 
 
 DKMOcnACY IN AMFRICA. 
 
 to a wearisome, ohscurc, and (li'i^rafled state. To oain the 
 bread which noiii'islies him hy liard and ii;iiohK' lahor, — 
 tliis is in liis eyes tlie only residt of wliieli (■i\ilization can 
 boast ; and even this lie is not always sure to obtain. 
 
 When the Indians undertake to imitate their Euro))ean 
 neighbors, and to till the earth like them, they are imme- 
 diately exposed to a formidable eom[)etition. The white 
 man is skilled in the craft of agriculture ; the Indian is a 
 rouiili be<rinner in an art with which he is unac<|uainted. 
 The former reaps abundant crops without difficulty, the 
 latter meets with a thousand obstacles in raisinix the fruits 
 of the earth. 
 
 The European is placed amongst a population whose 
 wants he knows and partakes. The -ivage is isolated in 
 the midst of a liostile people, with whose manners, lan- 
 guage, and laws he is imj)erfectly acquainted, but without 
 whose assistance he cannot live. He can only procure the 
 materials of comfort by bartering his commodities for the 
 goods of the European, for the assistance of his country- 
 men is wholly insufficient to supply his wants. Thus, 
 when the Indian wishes to sell the i)roduce of his labor, 
 lie cannot always find a purchaser, whilst the European 
 readily obtains a market ; the former can only produce at 
 considerable cost what the latter sells at a low rate. Thus 
 the Indian has no sooner escaped those evils to which bar- 
 barous nations are exposed, than he is subjected to the still 
 greater miseries of civilized communities ; and he finds it 
 scarcely less difficult to live in the midst of our abundance, 
 than in the depth of his own forest. 
 
 among the whites, several of his children refused to share his tranquil and 
 easy situation. I saw Tanner myself at the lower end of Lake Superior : 
 he seemed to me more like a savajre than a civilized heing. His hook 
 is written without eitlier taste or order ; hut he gives, ev^n unconsciously, a 
 lively picture of the prejudices, the passions, the vices, and, aliove all, the 
 destitution, iu the midst of which he lived. 
 
 
 <. 
 
 1 
 
PRF.SF.XT ANi> irni.'r. (•o:\-i)rii(tN of tiii; fndians. -147 
 
 lie liiis not yot lost tlio habits of liis orrntic lill' ; tlio 
 traditions of liis fatlu-rs aiul liis passion for \\\v cliaso are 
 still alivf within liiin. The wild cnjoyinciits which fnr- 
 morly aiiiniated him in the woods painfully excite his 
 troubled imagination ; the j)rivations which he endun-d 
 there appear less keen, his fbrmi'r perils less appallini;. 
 He contrasts the inde])endence which he possessed am(»nii;st 
 his (Mjuals with the si-rvile position which he occu])ies in 
 civili/ed society. On the other hand, the solitudes which 
 were so lonij; his free home are still at hantl : a few hours' 
 inarch will hrinij; him hack to them once mort'. The 
 whites otter hiin a siun, which seems to him considerable, 
 for the half-cleared nround whence he obtains sustenance 
 with ditticulty. This money of the Europeans may possibly 
 enable him to live a happy and tranquil life far away from 
 them ; and he (puts the i)louL!;h, resumes his native arms, 
 and returns to the wilderness forever.* The condition of 
 
 * Tliis destructive influence of hijilily civilized nations upon otiiers wiiicli 
 are less so, lisis lieen observed unionj^ tlie Eurojieuns themselves. Aliout u 
 eontury niso, the French founded the town of VinccTines upon the Walmsh, 
 in the middle of the desert ; and thoy lived there in preat plenty, until the 
 arrival of the American settlers, who first ruined the previous iidialutants hy 
 their competition, and afterwards purchased their lands at a very low rate. 
 At the time when M, de Volney, from whom I borrow tiiese details, jtassed 
 tiu'ou^di Vincennes, the immher of the Freiu'h was reduced to a hundred 
 individuals, most of whom were about to migrate to Louisiana or to Can- 
 ada. These French settlers were worthy people, hut idle and uninstructed : 
 they had contracted many of the habits of sava^^es. The Americans, who 
 were ])erhaps their inferiors in a moral point of view, were innueasurably 
 superior to them iu intelligence : they were industrious, well informed, rich, 
 and accustomed to govern their own community. 
 
 I myself saw in Canada, where the intellectual difference between the two 
 races is le.ss striking, that the English arc the masters of commerce and man- 
 ufacture in the Caiuidian country, that they spread on all sides, and confine 
 tlie French within limits wliic h scarcely suffice to contain them. In like 
 manner, in Louisiana, almost all activity iu commerce and manufacture cen- 
 tres in the hands of the Anglo-Americans. 
 
 But the case of Te.\as is still more striking : the State of Texas is a part 
 
 ma 
 
 
 ■'^'' 
 
 I: 
 
 :(■; ii 
 
448 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKIUCW. 
 
 tlie Crocks and Cherokees, to wlildi I have already alhuk'd, 
 sufiicioiitly corroborates tlic trutli of this sad picture. 
 
 The Indians, in tlie little which they have done, luive un- 
 questionahly displayed as much natural j^enius as the })e()- 
 j)lcs of Eurojie in their greatest undertakin<5s ; but nations 
 as well as men reipiire time to learn, whatever may be 
 their intcllioence and their zeal. Whilst the savages were 
 endeavoring to civilize themselves, the Europeans contin- 
 ued to surroiuid them on every side, and to confiJie them 
 within narrower limits ; the two races (i-radnallv met, and 
 they are now in innnediate contact with each other. The 
 Indian is already superior to his barbarous parent, but lie 
 is still far below his white nei<fhbor. With their resour- 
 ces and accpiired knowledge, the Euro})eans soon appro- 
 )»nated to themselves most of the advantages which the 
 nati\es might have derived from the possession of the soil: 
 tlu'v have settled among them, have piu'chased land at a 
 low rate, or have occupied it by force, and the Indians 
 ha\e been ruined by a competition which they had not 
 the means of sustaininfj. Thev were isolated in their own 
 country, and their race oidy constituted a little colony of 
 troublesome strangers in the midst of a numerous and 
 dominant people.* 
 
 of Mexico, iiiul is upon the frontier between that country and tlie United 
 State:). In the course of tiic hist few years, tlie Ani^lo-Aiiiericans have 
 penetrated into this province, which is still thinly peopled ; they purchase 
 land, tiicy produce the commodities of the country, and supplant the origi- 
 nal population. It may easily he foreseen, that, if JNIexico takes no stops to 
 check this change, the province of Texas will very shortly cease to belong 
 to t'lat governineut. 
 
 If the different degrees — comparatively slight — which exist iu Euro- 
 pean civilization produce results of such magnitude, it is easy to understand 
 wliat must happen when the most perfect European civilization comes iu 
 contact with Indian l)arlmrism. 
 
 * See in tlie Legislative Documents (21st Congress, No. 89) instances of 
 excesses of every kind committed by the whites upon the territory of the 
 Indians, either in taking possession of a part of their lands, until compelled 
 
 lii 
 
y alliulod, 
 lire. 
 
 , have un- 
 !, the pec)- 
 iit nations 
 r may be 
 •a lies were 
 ns contin- 
 ifine tlieni 
 Y met, and 
 her. Tlie 
 ■nt, but lie 
 v\y resour- 
 )on api)ro- 
 whieli the 
 jf the soil : 
 land at a 
 he Indians 
 ■V had not 
 I their own 
 colony of 
 erous and 
 
 id the United 
 lionciiiis have 
 dicy puirlmsc 
 hint the ori;.^i- 
 |es no stt'its to 
 ISC to belong 
 
 kist iu Euro- 
 \o understand 
 Ion comes iu 
 
 1 instances of 
 rritory of the 
 Itil coiupelled 
 
 rRESF.NT AND rUTUIIK CONDITION OF niK INDIANS. 440 
 
 AVasliinirton said, in one of his mossajjes to Cotiiiross, 
 " We are more enli<jjhtened and more j)o\verrid than the 
 Indian nations ; we are therefore bonnd in honor to tri'at 
 them with kindness, and even with n;(.>nerosiry." lint this 
 virtiious and hi^h-minded ])()li('y has not ht'cn followed. 
 The rapaoitv of the settlers is nsnallv hacked hv the 
 tvraimy of the government. Althoudi the Cherokees 
 and the Creeks are established ni)on tcrritorv which thcv 
 inhabiti'd bt'fore the arrival of the Kuro])eans, and although 
 the Americans have frerpiently treated with them as with 
 foreii^n nations, the snrronndinuj States have not been w ill- 
 ini>; to acknowledge them as an independent people, and 
 ha\'e nndi'rtaken to snbject these children of the woods to 
 Aniilo-American ma»fistrates, laws, and cnstoms.* Desti- 
 tntion had driven these nnibrtnnate Indians to civilization, 
 and oppression now drives them back to barbarism : many 
 
 to retire hy the troops of Congress, or carrying off their cattle, burning their 
 houses, cutting down their corn, and doing violence to tiieir persons. 
 
 The Union has a rcpresciuative agent contiinuilly employed to reside 
 among the Indians ; and the rejmrt of the Cherokee agent, which is among 
 the documents I have referred to, is almost always favorable to the Indians. 
 " The intrusion of whites," he says, " upon the lamls of the Cherokees will 
 cause ruin to the poor, helpless, and inoffensive inhal)itants." And he fur- 
 ther remarks ujion the attempt of the State of Georgia to establish a boun- 
 dary line for the country of the Cherokees, that the line, having i>cen made 
 by the whites alone, and entirely upon ex parte evidence of their several 
 rights, was of no validity whatever. 
 
 * In 1820, the State of Alabama divided the Creek territory into counties, 
 and subjected the Indian population to Kin'o]ican magistrates. 
 
 In 1830, the State of Mississippi assimilated the Choctaws and Chicka- 
 saws to the white population, and dei'lared that any of them wiio should 
 take the title of chief should be punished by a tine of 1,000 dollars and 
 a year's imprisonment. When these laws were announced to the Choc- 
 taws, who inhabited that district, the trilie assembled, their chief commu- 
 nicated to them the intentions of the whites, and read to them some of 
 the laws to which it was intended that they should submit ; and they 
 unanimously declared that it was better at once to retreat again into the 
 wilds. 
 
 CO 
 
 
 
 I 
 
4:)0 
 
 DKMOrRACV IN AMKIJICA. 
 
 I- 
 
 of tlicm ahnndnn tlie soil wliicli tliey liad begun to clear, 
 and return to the habits of savan-e life. 
 
 If we consider t..e tyrannical measures which have been 
 adopted l»y the legislatures of the Southern States, the con- 
 duct of their Governors, and the decrees of their courts of 
 justice, we shall be convinced that the entire expidsion of 
 the Indians is the final result to which all the eft'orts of their 
 j)olicy arc directed. The Americans of that part of the 
 Union look with jealousy u})()n the lands which the natives 
 still possess ; * they are aware that these tribes have not yet 
 lost the traditions of savajje life, and before civilization has 
 })ermanently fixed them to the soil, it is intended to force 
 them to depart by reducing them to despair. The Creeks 
 and Cherokees, oppressed by the several States, have ap- 
 pealed to the central government, which is by no means 
 insensible to their misfortunes, and is sincerely desirous 
 of saving the remnant of the natives, and of maintaininn; 
 them in the free possession of that territory which the 
 Union has guaranteed to thc^m.f But the several States 
 oppose so formidable a resistance to the execution of this 
 design, that the government is obliged to consent to the ex- 
 tirpation of a few barbarous tribes, already half destroyed, 
 in order not to endanger the safety of the American Union. 
 
 But the Federal government, which is not able to pro- 
 tect the Indians, would fain mitigate the hardships of their 
 lot; and, with this intention, it has undertaken to trans- 
 port them into remote regions at the public cost. 
 
 * The Georfiians, who are so much troubled by the proximity of tlie In- 
 dians, inhabit a territory which docs not at present contain more than seven 
 inhabitants to the square mile. In France, there are one hundred and sixty- 
 two inhabitants to the same extent of country. 
 
 t In 1818, Congress appointed commissioners to visit the Arkansas ter- 
 ritory, accompanied by a dei)utation of Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws. 
 This expedition was commanded by Messrs. Kennerly, M'Coy, Wash Hood, 
 and John Bell. See the different Rei)orts of the Commissioners, and their 
 journal, in the Documents of Congress, No. 87, House of Representatives. 
 
to dear, 
 
 Ikivc been 
 <, the con- 
 courts of 
 pulsion of 
 rts of tlioir 
 lart of the 
 the natives 
 ivc not yet 
 ization has 
 0(1 to force 
 riic Crocks 
 i, have ap- 
 ' no moans 
 'ly desirous 
 maintaining 
 which the 
 v-eral States 
 tion of this 
 it to the ex- 
 f destroyed, 
 lican Union, 
 ble to pro- 
 ips of their 
 n to trans- 
 ost. 
 
 lity of the In- 
 here than seven 
 Ircd and sixty- 
 Arkansas tcr- 
 ^d Chickasaws. 
 Wash Hood, 
 Incrs, and their 
 [preseutatives. 
 
 PKKSKNT AND FUTUHK rONI)niON OF THK INDIANS. -I")l 
 
 rJetwoon tlio -^'mI and fJTtli doirrees of north latitu(h', a 
 vast tract of country Hcs, wliich lias taken the name of 
 Arkansas, from the j)rincij>al river that waters it. It is 
 Lounde(l on thi' one side hy the confines of Mexico, on tlu* 
 otlier hy the Mississippi. Numherless stroiuns cross it in 
 every direction ; the climate is mild, and the soil jirodiic- 
 tive, and it is inhabited only by a few wanderini;' hordes 
 of savam's. The o;o\ernment of the l^nion wishes to 
 transport the broken remnants of tlie indigenous popida- 
 tion of the South to tlie portion of this country which 
 is nearest to Miwico, and at a irreat distanci' from the 
 American settlements. 
 
 We were assured, towards the end of the yi'ar IS:}!, 
 that 10,000 Indians had alreadv ^.^nw to the shores of thc^ 
 Arkansas, and fresh detachments were constantly follow- 
 in<; them. But Conj^ress has been unable to create a unan- 
 imous determination in those whom it is disposed to protect. 
 Some, indeed, Joyfully consent to quit the seat of o[)pres- 
 sion ; but the most enhVhtened members of the connnunitv 
 refuse to abandon their recent dwelliuijs and their spring- 
 ing croj)s ; they are of o])inion that the work of civiliza- 
 tion, once interrupted, will never be resumed ; they fear 
 that those domestic habits which hav been so recently 
 contracted may be irrevocably lost in the midst of a coun- 
 try which is still barbarous, and where nothing is pre})ared 
 for the subsistence of an agricultural people ; they know 
 that their entrance into those wilds will be o])posed by 
 hostile hordes, and that they have lost the energy of bar- 
 barians, without having yet acquired the resources of civ- 
 ilization to resist their attacks. IMoreover, the Indians 
 readily discover that the settlement which is proposed to 
 them is merely temporary. Who can assure them that 
 they will at length be allowed to dwell in peace in their 
 new retreat ? The United States pledge themselves to 
 maintain them there ; but the territory wdiich they now 
 
 WB 
 
 ^*!r ii; 
 
 L'ltory 
 
a 
 
 u 
 
 ■n 
 
 \'^^ 
 
 
 452 
 
 I)i;.M()('l{A("Y IN* A.MKIMCA. 
 
 occupy was fonucrly secured to tlicin liy tlu' most solcnui 
 oatlis.* Tiic Auu'ricaii <^ovcrMnK'Ut docs not indeed now 
 roll them of tlieir lands, hut it allows perpetual encroach- 
 ments on them. In a few years, the same white jiopida- 
 tion which now flocks aroimd them will douhtkss track 
 them anew to the solitudes of the iVrkansas ; they will 
 then he exjiosed to the same evils, without the same reme- 
 dies ; and as the limits of the earth will at last fail them, 
 their only refu<j;(.' is the <j;rave. 
 
 'J'he Union treats the Indians with less cu})idity and 
 vi«)lence than the several States, hut the two ^overmnents 
 are alike deticient in }i;ood liiith. The States extend what 
 they call the henefits of their laws to the Indians, heliev- 
 inii; that the trihes will recede rather than suhmit to them ; 
 and the central government, which jiromises a permanent 
 refuse to these unhapjiy beings in the West, is well aware 
 of its inability to secure it to them.f Thus the tyranny 
 
 * Tlie fifth article of the treaty made witli the Creeks in Au;;ust, 1790, is 
 in the followinj^ words : " The United States solemnly {rnarantee to the 
 Creek nation all their land within the limits of the United States. 
 
 The seventli article of the treaty concluded in 1791 with the Cherokees 
 says : " The United States solemnly guarantee to tiie Cherokee nation all 
 their lands not hereby ceded." The following article declared that, if any 
 citizen of the United States, or other settler not of the Indian race, should 
 estalili.sli himself upon the territory of the Cherokees, the United States 
 would withdraw their protection from that individual, and give him up to be 
 punislied as the Cherokee nation should think tit. 
 
 t This does not prevent them from promising in the most solemn manner 
 to do so. See the letter of the President addressed to the Creek Indians, 
 23d March, 1829. "Beyond the great river Mississippi, where a part of 
 your nation has gone, your father has provided a country large enough for 
 all of you, and he advises you to remove to it. There your white brothers 
 will not troul)le you ; they will have no claim to the land, and you can live 
 upon it, you and all your children, as long as the grass grows, or the water 
 runs, in peace and plenty. It will be yours forever." 
 
 The Secretary of War, in a letter written to the Cherokees, April 18th, 
 1829, declares to them that they cannot expect to retain possession of the 
 
t solemn 
 oi'd now 
 'Hcroiich- 
 
 • J)0|Hlltl- 
 
 L'ss track 
 tlicy will 
 UK' n-nie- 
 •ail tliein, 
 
 idity and 
 .ornnRMits 
 tend what 
 lis, boliov- 
 to tluMn ; 
 pi'mianont 
 veil awaro 
 ,e tyranny 
 
 •just, 1790, is 
 Viintce to the 
 :es. 
 
 le Clicrokees 
 ec nation all 
 il tliat, if any 
 \\ race, should 
 nited States 
 him up to be 
 
 llemn manner 
 
 Ircek Indians, 
 
 [re a part of 
 
 Tc enough for 
 
 ^hite brothers 
 
 you can live 
 
 or the water 
 
 I, April 18th, 
 Icssion of the 
 
 rHKSKNT AND rLilKi; CONIUTION OF 1111'. INDIANS. [')'.) 
 
 of tile States obli^i's the savages to retii'e ; the rnioii, hv 
 its jironiises and resources, fiicilitates their retri'at ; and 
 these ineasnres tend to precisidv the same end.* 
 
 *' By tlie will of oiu* Father in llcavi'n, the (Inv- 
 ernor of the whole world," said the Cheroki-es, in their 
 petition to Conuri'ss,! ''the ri'd man of America has 
 become small, and the white man oreat and I'eiiowned. 
 When the ancestors of tlu; pi'ople of thesi' Uniti'd States 
 first came to the shores of America, they fonnd tiie re(l 
 man stroma: thon^h he was ignorant and savage, yet he 
 received them kindly, and jiave them drv land to rest 
 their wearv feet. 'I'hey met in peace, and shook hands 
 in token of friendshij). AVhaU'vc* the .white man wanted 
 and asked of the Intlian, the latter williniilv iiave. At 
 that time, the Indian was the lord, and the white man 
 the snj)j)liant. Bnt now the scene has changed. The 
 streniith of the red man has become weakness. As his 
 nuiii'hbors increased in nnmbers, his j)ower becami' less 
 and less ; and now, of the many and ))owerful tribes who 
 once covered these United States, only a few are to be 
 seen, — a few whom a sweeping pestilence has left. The 
 Northern tribes, who were once so nnmerons and pow- 
 erful, are now nearly extinct. Thus it has happened to 
 
 lands at tliat time occupied by them, but {z;ivcs them the most positive assur- 
 ance of uninterrupted peace if they would remove beyond the Mississipiii : 
 as if tlic i)0wcr which could not grant them protection then, would lie al)le 
 to att'ord it tiiem hereafter ! 
 
 * To obtain a correct idea of tlie policy pursued by the several States and 
 the Union with respect to the Indians, it is necessary to consult, — 1st. " The 
 Laws of the Colonial and State Governments relating to the Indian Inhab- 
 itants." (See the Legislative Documents, 21st Congress, No. 319.) 2d. 
 " The Laws of the Union on the same subject, and especially that of March 
 30th, 1802." (See Story's "Laws of the United States.") 3d. « The 
 Eeport of Mr. Cass, Secretary of War, relative to Indian Aftiiirs, November 
 29th, 1S23." 
 
 t December 18th, 1829. 
 
 
 
 '■'■' \ V 
 
 
 1 f" 
 
 
 % I 
 
 ■ i< c 
 
 |j; 
 
 ': 
 
 1' i^ 
 
4:>4 
 
 I)i:m(jci:acy in amkuica. 
 
 I i 
 
 the n'd man of Aiiu'rica. Shall wo, who iiru ri'iiuiaiits, 
 Bhari' th»! >aine late ? 
 
 "The land on winch wo stand wo have rocoivod as an 
 inJH'i'itanci' IVoin onr latluTs, who jiossossod it from time 
 innncnioi'Iai, as a ^ii't from onr connnon Fathrr in Heaven. 
 They hi(|ni'athod it to ns as their eiiildren, and wo liaNo 
 saci'edly kept it, as containin;;' the remains of onr heloNed 
 men. This ri^iit of iniii-ritaneo wo havo novor coded, nor 
 over forfeited. i*erniit ns to ask, what hotter ri^ht can tho 
 })eo|>Ie havi' to a conntry than the ri<:;ht of iidieritanci* and 
 innneinorial peaceahU; possession ? Wo know it is saiil 
 of late hy tho State of Oeornia and hy tho Exocutivo of 
 the I'nited States, that wo havo I'orfoited tliis ri^ht ; hut 
 wo think tiiis is said jiratnitcmsly. At what time havo wo 
 made ti 10 forfeit ? What eroat crime liav(^ wo committod, 
 wiierehy wi; must forovor be divested of our country and 
 riii'lits ? Was it when wo wore hostile to the United 
 States, and took part with tho king of Groat Britain, 
 dui'ino; tlio strn<i<rlo for independence? If so, why was 
 not this forfeiture declared in tho first treaty of i)eaco 
 between the United States and our beloved men ? Why 
 was not such an article as the followinn; inserted in the 
 treaty : ' Tho United States give peace to the Cherokeos, 
 but, for the part they took in the late war, declare them 
 to be but tenants at will, to be removed when the conven- 
 ience of the States within whose chartered limits they live 
 shall recpiire it ' ? That was the i)roper time to assume 
 such a })ossession. But it was not thought of; nor would 
 our foretiithers have agreed to any treaty whose tendency 
 was to deprive them of their rights and their country." 
 
 Such is the language of the Indians: what they say 
 is true ; what they foresee seems inevitable. From which- 
 ever side we consider the destinies of the aborigines of 
 North America, their calamities appear irremediable : if 
 they continue barbarous, they are forced to retire ; if they 
 
 m 
 
riJLSr.NT AND FiniHIi COXDinOX OK tin: INDIANS. 4o5 
 
 att('iii|)t to ('In ili/A' tlu'iiiM'lvos, tlu* (•(intact ot' a iikuh' civ- 
 ilizi'd cuiiunuMity •^ulijccts tlu'in to oppri'ssioii and di'stitu- 
 tion. riii'y prrisli it' tlii'V continni' to wander from waste 
 to waste, and it' tlu-y attempt to settle, tlu'V still nnist pei- 
 isli. 'I'lie assistance (»!' Hm"o|)eans is necessary to instrni't 
 them, hut tlu; apin'oaeh of Europeans eoiTupts and n-pels 
 them into savai^e life. Thev refuse to chany-e their hahits 
 as loni;- as their solitudes are their own, and it is too 
 late to change tlu-m when at last they are constrained 
 to suhmit. 
 
 The Spaniards pursued the Indians with hlood-hounds, 
 like wild heasts ; they sacked the New AVorld like a city 
 taki'ii hy storm, witli no discermnent or compassion ; hut 
 destruction must cease at last, and fren/y has a limit: 
 the riMunant of the Indian ])opulation which hail escaped 
 the massacre mixed with its concinerors, and adoi)ted in the 
 
 'ud tl 
 
 len* reliii'ion anc 
 
 I their maimers.* The conduct of 
 
 the Americans of the United States towards the ahorii^ines 
 is characterized, on the other hand, bv a sino;ular attach- 
 ment to the formalities of law. Pro\ided that the Indians 
 retain their barbarous condition, the Americans take no 
 l)art in their affairs ; they treat them as Independent 
 natious, and do not possess themselves of their hunting- 
 grounds without a treaty of purchase ; ,md if an Indian 
 nation happen to be so encroached upon as to be imahle 
 to subsist upon tlieir territory, they kindly take them by 
 the hand and transport them to a grave far from the land 
 of their fathers. 
 
 The Spaniards were unable to exterminate the Indian 
 race by those unparalleled atrocities which brand them 
 with indelible shame, nor did they even succeed in wholly 
 
 * The honor of this result is, however, by no means due to the Spaniards. 
 If tiie Indian tribes had not been tillers of the ground at the time of the 
 ai'rival of the Europeans, they would unciuestiouably Jiave been destroyed in 
 South as well as in North America. 
 
 
!, ! 
 
 456 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKKICA. 
 
 (Ic'jtriving it of its ri^lits ; but the Americans of tlie United 
 States liave accomj>lished tliis twofold j)urj)()se with singu- 
 hir fehcity, tranquilly, legally, philanthro])ic'ally, without 
 shedding Llood, and without violating a single great prin- 
 ci[)le of morality in the ej^es of the world.* It is impos- 
 sible to destroy men with more respect for the laws of 
 humanity. 
 
 SITUATION OF THE BLACK POPULATION IN THE UNITED 
 STATES, AND DANGERS WITH WHICH ITS PRESENCE 
 THREATENS THE WHITES. 
 
 Why it is more difficult to abolish Slavery, and to efface all Vestiges of it 
 amongst the Moderns, than it was amongst the Ancients. — In the United 
 States, the Prejudices of tlie Whites against the Blacks seem to increase 
 in Proportion as Slavery is abolished. — Situation of the Negroes in the 
 Northern and Southern States. — Why the Americans abolisii Slavery. 
 — Servitude, which dcbu'^es the Slave, impoverishes the Master. — Con- 
 trast between the left and the right Bank of the Ohio. — To what at- 
 tributable. — The Black Race, as well as Slavery, recedes towards the 
 South. — Explanation of this Fact. — Difficulties attendant upon the 
 Abolition of Slavery in the South. — Dangers to come. — General Anx- 
 iety. — Foundation of a Black Colony in Africa. — Why the Americans 
 of the South increase the Hardships of Slavery, whilst they are distressed 
 at its Continuance. 
 
 The Indians will perish in the same isolated condition in 
 which they have lived ; but the destiny of the Negroes is 
 in some measure interwoven with that of the Europeans. 
 
 * See, amongst other documents, tlie Report made by Mr. Bell in the 
 name of the Committee on Indian Affiiirs, February 24th, 1830, in which it 
 is most logically estal)lished, and most learnedly proved, that " the funda- 
 mental principle, that the Indians had no right, by virtue of their ancient 
 possession either of soil or sovereignty, has never been abandoned either ex- 
 pressly or by implication." 
 
 In perusing this Report, which is evidently drawn up by a skilful hand, 
 
TRKSEXT AND FCTURE CONDITION OF TIIK NKGROES. 457 
 
 These two mees are fastened to eacli otlier without inter- 
 minghiig ; and they are ahke unable to separate entirely or 
 to cond)iue. The most fonnidable of all the ills which 
 threaten the future of the Union arises from the presence 
 of a black })opulation upon its territory ; and in contem- 
 plating the cause of the present embarrassments, or the 
 ftiture dangers of the United States, the obscr\ er is inva- 
 riably led to this as a [)rimary fact. 
 
 Generally sijeakiuii;, men must make great and unceasin"" 
 efforts before permanent evils are created ; but there is one 
 calamity which penetrated furtively into the world, and 
 which was at Hrst scarcely distinguishable amidst the ordi- 
 nary abuses of ])ower : it originated with an individual 
 wdiose name history has not preserved ; it was wafted like 
 some accursed germ u])on a portion of the soil ; but it 
 afterwards nurtured itself, grew without effort, and spn^ad 
 naturally with the society to which it belonged. This 
 calamity is slavery. Christianity suppressed slavery, but 
 the Christians of the sixteenth century re-established it, — 
 as an exception, indeed, to their social system, and restrict- 
 ed to one of the races of mankind ; but the wound thus 
 inflicted upon humanity, though less extcnsi^'e, was far 
 more difficult of cure. 
 
 It is important to make an accurate distinction between 
 slavery itself and its consequences. The immediate evils 
 produced by slavery were very nearly the same in antiqui- 
 ty as they are amongst the moderns ; but the consequences 
 of these evils were different. The slave, atnongst the 
 ancients, belonged to the same race as his master, and 
 
 
 !1 
 
 one is astoiiishccl at the facility with wliich the author p^cts rid of all arjiu- 
 ments founded upon reason and natural rifrht, whicli he designates as ah- 
 stract and theoretical principles. The more I contemplate the dinbrcncG 
 between civiliz.cd and uncivilized man with regard to'the principles of jus- 
 tice, the more I ohserve that the former contcst8 the foundation of those 
 rights, which the latter simply violates. 
 20 
 
 it 
 
458 
 
 DEMOCRACY IX AMERICA. 
 
 ■'/ ! 
 
 I",. - (J 
 
 was often the superior of tlie two in education * and intel- 
 ligence. Freedom was the only distinction between them ; 
 and when freedom was conferred, they were easily con- 
 founded together. The ancients, then, had a very simple 
 means of ridding themselves of slavery and its conse- 
 quences, — that of enfranchisement ; and they succeeded 
 as soon as they adopted this measure generally. Not but 
 that, in ancient states, the vestiges of servitude subsisted 
 for some time after servitude itself was abolished. There 
 is a natural prejudice which prompts men to despise whom- 
 soever has been their inferior lono; after he is become their 
 e(j[ual ; and the real inequality which is produced by for- 
 tune or by law is always succeeded by an imaginary in- 
 equality which is implanted in the manners of the people. 
 But, among the ancients, this secondary consequence of 
 slavery liad a natural limit ; for the freedman bore so en- 
 tire a resemblance to those born free, that it soon became 
 impossible to distinguish him from them. 
 
 The greatest difficulty in antiquity was that of altering 
 the law ; amongst the moderns, it is that of altering the 
 manners ; and, as far as we are concerned, the real obsta- 
 cles beo;in where those of the ancients left off. This arises 
 from the circumstance that, amongst the moderns, the ab- 
 stract and transient fact of slavery is fatally united with 
 the physical and permanent fact of color. The tradition 
 of slavery dishonors the race, and the peculiarity of the 
 race perpetuates the tradition of slavery. No African has 
 ever voluntarily emigrated to the shores of the New World, 
 whence it follows that all the blacks who are now found 
 there are either slaves or freedmen. Thus the Newro 
 transmits the eternal mark of his ignominy to dl his de- 
 
 * It is well known that several of the most distinguished authors of an- 
 tiquity, and amongst them JEsop and Terence, were, or had been, slaves. 
 Slaves were not always taken from barbarous nations ; the chances of war 
 reduced highly civilized men to servitude. 
 
 11' i ]Ji 
 
PRKSENT AND FUTURE CONDITION OF THE NEGROES. 459 
 
 scendants ; and although the law may abolish slavery, God 
 alone can obliterate the traces of its existence. 
 
 The modern slave differs from his master not only in his 
 condition, but in his origin. You may set the Negro free, 
 but you cannot make him otherwise than an alien to the 
 European. Nor is this all ; we scarcely acknowledge the 
 common features of humanity in this stranger whom slav- 
 ery has brought amongst us. His ])hysiognomy is to our 
 eyes hideous, his understanding weak, his tastes low ; and 
 we are almost inclined to look upon him as a being inter- 
 mediate between man and the brutes.* The moderns, 
 then, after they have abolished slavery, have three l)reju- 
 dices to contend against, which are less easy to attack, and 
 far less easy to conquer, tiian the mere -fact of servitude, 
 — the prejudice of the master, the prejudice of the race, 
 and the prejudice of color. 
 
 It is difficult for us, who have had the good fortune to 
 be born amongst men like ourselves by nature, and our 
 equals by law, to conceive the irreconcilable differences 
 which separate the Negro from the European in America. 
 But we may derive some faint notion of them from anal- 
 ogy. France was formerly a country in which numerous 
 inequalities existed, that had been created by law. Noth- 
 ing can be more fictitious than a purely legal inferiority, — 
 nothing more contrary to the instinct of mankind than 
 these permanent divisions established between beings evi- 
 dently similar. Yet these divisions subsisted for ages ; 
 they still subsist in many places ; and everywhere they 
 have left imaginary vestiges, which time alone can efface. 
 If it be so difficult to root out an inequality which origi- 
 nates solely in the law, how are those distinctions to be 
 destroyed which seem to be based upon the immutable 
 
 
 i'!M 
 
 * To induce the wliites to abandon the opiuon they have conceived of the 
 moral and intellectual inferiority of their former slaves, the Negroes must 
 change ; but as long as this opinion subsists, they cannot change. 
 
 1 
 
 II 
 
 
 It 
 
 
 If 
 
 
 K I| 
 
 
 mi f 
 
 'WR'iiii p 
 
 ;:, llli 
 
 .IaMj 
 
 i^ 
 
■I •■V 
 
 'r '■'■ 
 
 m 
 
 "I'M; 
 
 4C0 
 
 DKMOCRACY IX AMERICA. 
 
 laws of Nature horsclf ? AVlien I rcmeml)er the extreme 
 difficulty with which aristocratic bodies, of whatever na- 
 ture they may be, are comminuled with the mass of the 
 peo})le, and the exceeding care which they take to preserA'e 
 for ao-es the ideal boundaries of their caste inviolate, I de- 
 spair of seeing an aristocracy disa])pear which is founded 
 upon visible and indelible signs. Those who hope that the 
 Europeans Avill ever be amalgamated with the Negroes 
 ap])ear to me to delude themselves : I am not led to any 
 such conclusion by my reason, or by the evidence of facts. 
 Hitherto, wherever the whites have been the most power- 
 ful, they have held the blacks in degradation or in slavery ; 
 wherever the Negroes have been strongest, they have de- 
 stroyed the whites : this has been the only balance which 
 has ever taken place between the two races. 
 
 I see that, in a certain portion of the ten'itory of the 
 United States, at the present day, the legal barrier which 
 separated the two races is falling away, but not that which 
 exists in the manners of the country ; slavery recedes, but 
 the prejudice to which it has given birth is immovable. 
 Whoever has inhabited the United States must have per- 
 ceived, that, in those parts of the Union in which the 
 Negroes are no longer slaves, they have in no wise drawn 
 nearer to the whites. On the contrary, the prejudice of 
 race appears to be stronger in the States which have abol- 
 ished slavery, than in those where it still exists ; and no- 
 where is it so intolerant as in those States where servitude 
 has never been known. 
 
 It is true, that in the North of the Union marriages mav 
 be legally contracted between Negroes and whites ; but 
 public opinion would stigmatize as infamous a man who 
 should connect himself with a Negress, and it would be 
 difficult to cite a single instance of such a union. The 
 electoral franchise has been conferred upon the Negroes in 
 almost all the States in which slaveiy has been abolished ; 
 
 III 
 
'!-,.»■ 1, 
 
 rRKSKNT AND 1 TTrUi: CONDITION OF THE NKGKOKS. 4G1 
 
 but if tlu'V nnnv forwtirtl to vote, their lives are in danirer. 
 If ()i)|)resse(l, tliev mav brin^; an action at law, but they 
 will find none but whites amouiist their iudm's ; and al- 
 thouiih they may legally serve as jurors, prcjudiee repels 
 them from that olKce. The same schools do not receive 
 the children of the black and of the European.* In the 
 theatres, oold cannot })rocure a seat for the servilcj race 
 beside their former masters ; in the hos))itals, they lie 
 apart ; and idthough they are allowed to invoke the same 
 (lod as the whites, it must be at a different altar, and in 
 their own churches, Avith their own cler<i:y. The gates of 
 Heaven are not closed against them ; but their inferior- 
 ity is continued to the very confines of the other world. 
 When the Negro dies, liis bones are cast aside, and the 
 distinction of condition prevails even in the equality of 
 death. f Thus the Negro is free, but he can share neither 
 the rights, nor the pleasures, nor the labor, nor the afflic- 
 tions, nor the tomb of him whose equal he has been de- 
 clared to be ; and he cannot meet him upon fair terms in 
 life or in death. 
 
 In the South, where slavery still exists, the Negroes are 
 less carefully kept apart ; they sometimes share the labors 
 and the recreations of the whites ; the whites consent to 
 intermix with them to a certain extent, and although legis- 
 lation treats tlieui more harshly, the habits of the people 
 are more tolerant and compassionate. In the South, the 
 master is not afraid to raise his slave to his own standing, 
 because he knows that he can in a moment reduce him to 
 the dust, at pleasure. In the North, the white no longer 
 
 * This is a mistake. In most of the public schools in the Northern 
 States, black and wliitc children may be found side I)y side in the same class- 
 room. Blacks may also be found in many of the churches, though in sepa- 
 rate scats. — Am. Ed. 
 
 t Tliis is eloquent, but it is not true. Negroes are buried in the same 
 graveyards, and often in the same tombs, with whites. — Am. Ed. 
 
!:J 
 
 i'K] 
 
 ! 
 i 
 
 
 '■■»»:■ 
 
 V 
 
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 il 'M 
 
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 11 
 
 462 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 (listinetly perceives the ])arrler wliich separates liim from 
 tlie (lef^racled race, and he shuns the Neijro with the more 
 pertinacity, since lie fears lest they should some day be 
 confounded tofjether. 
 
 Amongst the Americans of the South, Nature some- 
 times reasserts her rights, and restores a transient equality 
 between the blacks and the whites ; but in the North, 
 pride restrains the most imperious of human passions. The 
 American of the Northern States would, perhaps, allow 
 the Negress to share his licentious pleasures, if the laws 
 of his conntry did not declare that she may aspire to be 
 the legitimate partner of his bed ; but he recoils with hor- 
 ror from her who mifjht become his wife. 
 
 Thus it is, in the United States, that the prejudice which 
 repels the Negroes seems to increase in proportion as they 
 are emancipated, and inequality is sanctioned by the man- 
 ners whilst it is effaced from the laws of the country. But 
 if the relative position of the two races which inhabit the 
 United States is such as I have described, why have the 
 Americans abolished slavery in the North of the Union, 
 why do they maintain it in the South, and why do they 
 aggravate its hardships ? The answer is easily given. It 
 is not for the good of the Negroes, but for that of the 
 whites, that measures are taken to abolish slavery in the 
 United States. 
 
 The first Negroes were imported into Virginia about the 
 year 1621.* In America, therefore, as well as in the rest 
 of the globe, slavery originated in the South. Thence it 
 spread from one settlement to another ; but the number of 
 slaves diminished towards the Northern States, and the Ne- 
 gro population was always very limited in New England.f 
 
 * See Beverley's History of Virginia. See also in Jefferson's Memoirs 
 some curious details concerning the introduction of Negroes into Virginia, 
 and the first Act which prohibited the importation of them, in 1778. 
 
 t The number of slaves was less considerable in the North, but the ad- 
 
hut tlio :ul- 
 
 rHKSKXT AND FUTL-RH CONDIIIOX OF TIIK NKiJROKS. 4(>:] 
 
 A rontury liad scarcely elapsed since the foiiiKhition of 
 the Colonies, when the attention of the planters was struck 
 by the extraordinary fact, that the provinces which were 
 comparatively destitute of slaves increased in jxiptdation, 
 in wealth, and in })rosperity more rapidly than th(jse which 
 contained many of them. In the former, however, the 
 inhabitants were obliji'ed to cultivate the soil themselves, 
 or bv hired laborers ; in the latter, tliev were furnished 
 with hands for which they paid no wages. Yet, though 
 labor and expense were on the one side, and ease with 
 economy on the other, the former had the more advanta- 
 geous system. This result seemed the more difHcult to 
 explain, since the settlers, who all belonged to the same 
 Euro})ean race, had the same habits, the. same civilization, 
 the same laws, and their shades of diffin'ence were ex- 
 tremely slight. 
 
 Time, however, continued to advance ; and the Anglo- 
 Americans, spreading beyond the coasts of the Atlantic 
 Ocean, penetrated farther and farther into the solitudes 
 of the West ; they met there w'ith a new soil and an 
 unwonted climate ; they had to overcome obstacles of the 
 most various character ; their races intermingled, tlie in- 
 habitants of the South going up towai'ds the North, those 
 of the North descendinij to the South. But in the midst 
 of all these causes, the same result occurred at every step ; 
 
 vantages resulting from slavery were not more contested there tlian in the 
 Sonth. In 1740, the Legislature of the State of New York declared that the 
 direct importation of slaves ought to be encouraged as much as possible, and 
 smuggling severely punished, in order not to discourage the fair trader. 
 (Kent's Commentaries, Vol. II. p. 206.) Curious researches, by JJelknap, 
 upon slavery in New England, are to be found in the Historical Collections 
 of Massachusetts, Vol. IV. p. 193. It appears that Negroes were introduced 
 there iu 16.30, but that the legislation and nuinners of the people were op- 
 posed to slavery from the first; see also, in the same work, the manner iu 
 which public opinion, and afterwards the laws, finally put an end to 
 slavery. 
 
 
 ■; -r 
 
 i! U 
 
 :H It 
 
 ■mn 
 
404 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 m 
 
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 ?\w 
 
 ' , , I 
 
 ! I 
 
 rl 
 
 in general, the colonies in which there were no slaves be- 
 canu' more populous and more prosperous than those in 
 which slavery Hourished. The farther they went, the 
 more was it shown that slavery, which is so cruel to the 
 slave, is prejudicial to the master. 
 
 But this truth was most satisfactorily demonstrated when 
 civilization reached the hanks of the Ohio. The stream 
 which the Indians had distinguished by the name of Ohio, 
 or the Beautiful River, waters one of the most magnificent 
 valleys which has ever been made the abode of man. Un- 
 dulating lands extend upon both shores of the Ohio, whose 
 soil affords inexhaustible treasures to the laborer ; on either 
 bank, the air is equally wholesome and the climate mild ; 
 and each of them forms the extreme frontier of a vast 
 State : that which follows the numerous windings of the 
 Ohio upon the left is called Kentucky ; that upon the 
 right bears the name of the river. These two States 
 differ only in a single respect ; Kentucky has admitted 
 slavery, but the State of Ohio has prohibited the existence 
 of slaves within its borders.* Thus the traveller who 
 floats down the current of the Ohio, to the spot where 
 that river falls into the Mississippi, may be said to sail be- 
 tween liberty and servitude ; and a transient inspection 
 of surrounding objects will convince him which of the 
 two is more favorable to humanity. 
 
 Upon the left bank of the stream, the population is 
 sparse, — from time to time, one descries a troop of 
 slaves loitering in the half-desert fields ; the primeval 
 forest reappears at every turn ; society seems to be asleep, 
 man to be idle, and nature alone offers a scene of activ- 
 ity and life. 
 
 From the right bank, on the contrary, a confused hum 
 is heard, which proclaims afar the presence of industry ; 
 
 * Not only is slavery prohibited in Ohio, but no free Negroes are [were] 
 allowed to enter the territory of that State, or to hold property in it. 
 
 •i: 
 
\ f; 
 
 liwcs be- 
 thosc in 
 x'lit, the 
 el to the 
 
 ted wlien 
 le strejim 
 I of Ohio, 
 a'l'nificent 
 un. Un- 
 lio, whose 
 on either 
 irtte mild ; 
 of a vast 
 iicrs of the 
 upon the 
 Avo States 
 5 admitted 
 B existence 
 eller who 
 lot where 
 to sail be- 
 inspection 
 ch of the 
 
 lulation is 
 troop of 
 primeval 
 be asleep, 
 
 |e of activ- 
 
 ised hum 
 industry ; 
 
 Lcs are [were] 
 iu it. 
 
 riJESKNl' AND FUrrKK COXDHION of TlIK NKOnOF.S. 4G5 
 
 the fields are covered with ahundiiiit liarvests; the eli'u;anco 
 ot" the dwelliniis aiiiiounees the taste and activity of tlie 
 laborers ; and man appears to be in the (>njnynieiit of that 
 weahh and contentment whicli is tlie reward (»f labor.* 
 
 The State of Kentucky was founded in 177'), the State 
 of Ohio onlv twelve vears later ; but twelve vi'ars are 
 more in America than half a century in iMn'ope ; and, at 
 the j)reseiit day, the po|)nlation of ( )liio exceeds that of 
 Kentuckv bv two hundred and Hftv thousand souls. f 
 These different effects of slavery and free-dom may read- 
 ily be understood ; and they suffice to explain many of 
 the differences which we remark l)etween the civilization 
 of antiquity and that of our own time. 
 
 Upon the left bank of the Ohio, labor is confounded 
 with the idea of slavery, while upon the rioht bank, it is 
 identified with that of prosperity and improvement ; on 
 the one side, it is degraded, on the other, it is honored ; 
 on the former territory, no white laborers can be found, 
 for thev would be afraid of assimilatinfj themselves to the 
 Ne<i;roes, — all the work is done bv slaves ; on the latter, 
 no one is idle, for the white population extend their activ- 
 ity and intelligence to every kind of employment. Thus, 
 the men whose task it is to cultivate the rich soil of Ken- 
 tucky are ignorant and a])athetic ; whilst those who are 
 active and enlightened either do nothing, or pass over into 
 Ohio, where they may work without shame. 
 
 * The activity of Ohio is not confined to individuals, but the undertakings 
 oi' the State are surprisingly great : a canal has been established between 
 Lake Va-'ic and the Ohio, by means of which tlie valley of the Mississippi 
 conununicates with the river of the North, and the European commodities 
 which arrive at New York may be forwarded by water to New Orleans 
 across five hundred leagues of continent. 
 
 t The exact numbers given by the census of 1830 were: Kentucky, 
 688,844 ; Ohio, 937,679. [The disproportion has become vastly greater. 
 In 18.")0, tlie population of Kentucky was 982,405; of Ohio, 1,980,329; 
 their areas are respectively 37,680 and 39,9t)4 square miles. — Am. Eu.] 
 
 20* DD 
 
400 
 
 DK.MOCUACY IX AMKRICA. 
 
 '¥ 
 
 It is true tliiit, in Kentucky, tlie planters are not f»l)li<i;('(l 
 to pny tlie slaves whom tliey employ ; but they derive 
 small profits from their labor, whilst the waj^es paid to 
 free workmen would be returned with interest in the value 
 of their services. The free workman is paid, but he doi-s 
 liis work (juicker than the slave; and ra[)idity of execution 
 is one of the OTt^nt elements of econcmiv. The white sells 
 his services, but they are oidy purchased when tliey may 
 be useful ; the black can claim no remuneration for his toil, 
 but the expense of his maintenance is perpetual ; he must 
 be supported in his old age as well as in manhood, in his 
 profitless infancy as well as in the productive years of 
 youth, in sickness as well as in health. Payment must 
 equally be made in order to obtain the services of either 
 class of men : the free workman receives liis waces in 
 money ; the slave in education, in food, in care, and in 
 clothing. The money which a master spends in the main- 
 tenance of his slaves goes gradually and in detail, so that 
 it is scarcely perceived ; the salary of the free workman 
 is paid in a round snm, and appears to enrich only him 
 who receives it ; but in the end, tlie slave has cost more 
 than the free servant, and his labor is less productive.* 
 
 * Independently of these causes, which, wherever free workmen ahound, 
 render tlieir labor more productive and more economical than that of slaves, 
 another cause may be pointed out which is peculiar to the United States : 
 the suijar-cane has liitherto been cultivated with success only upon the banks 
 of the Mississippi, near the mouth of that river in the Gulf of Mexico. In 
 Louisiana, the cultivation of the sugar-cane is exceedingly lucrative ; nowhere 
 does a laborer earn so much by his work ; and, as there is always a certain 
 relation between the cost of production and the value of the produce, the 
 price of slaves is veiy high in Louisiana. But Louisiana is one of the con- 
 federate States, and slaves may be carried thither from all parts of the 
 Union ; the price given for slaves in New Orleans consequently raises the 
 value of slaves in all the other markets. The consequence of this is, that, in 
 the countries where the land is less productive, the cost of slave-labor is still 
 very considerable, which gives an additional advantage to the competition of 
 free labor. 
 
 ii4 4 
 
o\)Vni;»'(l 
 J derive 
 
 paid to 
 he value 
 I he does 
 xociition 
 hite sells 
 hey may 
 r his toil, 
 
 he must 
 
 od, iu his 
 
 years of 
 
 lent must 
 
 of either 
 wages in 
 e, and in 
 the main- 
 lil, so that 
 
 workman 
 
 only liim 
 cost more 
 tive. 
 
 |men abound, 
 ;liat of slaves, 
 nitcd States : 
 )on the hanks 
 ^lexico. In 
 rive ; nowhere 
 rays a certain 
 produce, the 
 ic of the con- 
 parts of the 
 itty raises the 
 [his is, that, in 
 le-labor is still 
 )mpetition of 
 
 PRKSKNT AND 1 Til IM". CONDITION OF 1111: NKtJRoKS. 407 
 
 The influence of slaverv extends still furtlier : it alfects 
 the cliaracti'r of the master, and imparts a jieculiar ten- 
 dency to his ideas and tastes. Upon hoth hanks of tlie 
 Ohio, the character of the inliahitants is entei-jtrisinn' and 
 cneriietic ; hut this vi^or is verv ditferentlv exercised in 
 the two States. The white inhahitant of Oliio, ol)ii<;ed 
 to suhsist hy his own exertions, regards teni]»oi'aI prosper- 
 ity as the chief aim of his existence; and as \\\v country 
 whi(di \\(\ occupies presents inexhaustihie resources to iiis 
 industry, and ever-varying lur(s to his activity, his accpiis- 
 itive ardor suri)asses the ordinary limits of liuman cuj»id- 
 ity : he is tormented hy the desire of wealth, and he holdly 
 enters upon every path which fortune o[)ens to him ; he 
 hecomes a sailor, a j)i(meer, an artisan, or a cultivator, with 
 the same indifference, and supports with e(pial constancy 
 the fatiinies and the dangers incidental to these various 
 professions ; the resources of his intelligence are astonish- 
 ing, and his avidity in the pursuit of gain amounts to a 
 species of heroism. 
 
 But the Kentuckian scorns not only lahor, but all the 
 undertakings wdiich lahor promotes ; as he lives in an idle 
 independence, his tastes are those of an idle man ; money 
 has lost a portion of its value in his eyes ; he covets wealth 
 much less than pleasure and excitement ; and the energy 
 which his neiiihbor devotes to c;ain, turns with him to a 
 passionate love of field sports and militaiy exercises ; he 
 delights in violent bodily exertion, he is familiar with the 
 use of arms, and is accustomed from a very early ao-e to 
 expose his life in single combat. Thus slavery not only 
 prevents the whites from becoming opulent, but even from 
 desirino; to become so. 
 
 As the same causes have been continually producing 
 opposite effects for the last two centuries in the British 
 colonies of North America, they have at last established 
 a striking difference between the commercial capacity of 
 
 
 1 
 
408 
 
 I)KMocra(;y in amkimca. 
 
 the iiiliabitants oC the South and those of \\\o Nortli. At 
 tlie present day, it is only the Northern States wliicli are in 
 j)ossession of shippinij;, manufactures, raih'oads, and eanai>. 
 This (hH'eivnee is jK-rceptiiile, not oidy in eonipariim tiie 
 Kortii with the South, hut in eonipariuij; tiie several South- 
 ern States. Ahnost all those who carry on conunercial 
 operations, or endi-avor to turn slave lahor to account, in 
 the most southern districts of tlie Union, have emigrated 
 from the North. 'J'he natives of the Northern States are 
 constantly spreading over that j)ortion of the American 
 territory, where they have less to fear from comjii-tition ; 
 they discover rt'sources there which escaped the notice of 
 the inhahitants ; and, as they comply with a system which 
 they do not approve, they succeed in turnino; it to better 
 advantage than those who first founded, and who still 
 maintain it. 
 
 Were I inclined to continue this j)arallel, I could easily 
 prove that almost all the differences which may be re- 
 marked between the characters of the Americans in the 
 Southern and in the Northern States have originated in 
 slavery ; but this would divert me from my subject, and 
 my ])resent intention is not to point out all the consetjuen- 
 ces of servitude, but those effects which it has produced 
 u])on the material prosperity of the countries which have 
 admitted it. 
 
 The influence of slaveiy upon tlie production of wealth 
 must have been very imperfectly known in anticjuity, as 
 slavery then obtained throughout the civilized world ; and 
 the nati(ms wliicli were unacquainted with it were barba- 
 rians. And, indeed, Christianity only abolished slavery by 
 advocating the claims of the slave ; at the present time, it 
 may be attacked in the name of the master ; and, upon this 
 point, interest is reconciled with morality. 
 
 As these truths became ap])arent in the United States, 
 slavery receded before the progress of experience. Servi- 
 
rni:sr,\r and iin im: coxnnioN of tin: NM'ciUor.s. I'll) 
 
 tiido liiid iK'miii ill till' Soutli, :iM(l had tliciirf «.pi'i'ad to- 
 ward till' Nortli ; l)iit it now ri'tircs ai;aiii. l-'rccdoin, 
 Avliicli >-tarti'd fVom tlio Noi'tli, now descends niiiiiter- 
 ruptedlv to ird the >oilth. Amongst tile ureat States, 
 Pennsylvania now eonstitntes the extreme limit i»t' sla\eiy 
 to tho Noi'th ; iuit, e\eii within those limit>, the >la\e 
 system is shaken : Marvland, whitdi is iinmediatt-K' helow 
 I'emisylvania, is pi'i-pariiiiX l<»i' it^ abolition ; and X'ir^inia, 
 which comes next to Marvland, is ali'eadv discnssinn- its 
 utility and its dan«j;ers.* 
 
 No e;reat chaniff takes place in hninan institutions, with- 
 out involvine; amongst its causes the law of iiihei'itance. 
 When the law of primogeniture ohtained in tlu' South, 
 each linnily was ri'presented hy a wealthy iiidi\idnal. who 
 was neither compelled nor induced to lahor; and he was 
 surrounded, as by jiarasitic j)huits, liy the other members 
 of his family, who were tiieii excluded by law from sharin 
 tlie common inheritaiu'e, and who led the same kind of 
 life as himself. The same thinii; then occurred in all tho 
 families of the Soutli whiidi still haj)])ens in tlu' nobh; 
 
 in Europe, namely, that the 
 
 (f 
 
 the same state of idleness as 
 
 families of some countries 
 
 youniior sons remain i 
 
 their elder brother, without beino; as rich as he is. This 
 
 * A peculiar reason contrildites to detach the two last-mentioned States 
 from the cause of slavery. The former wealth of this part of the Union was 
 principally derived from the cultivation of tohacco. This cultivation is spe- 
 cially carried on by slaves ; but within the last few years, the nuirket-pricc 
 of tobacco has diminished, whilst the value of the slaves remains the same. 
 Thus the ratio between the cost of production and the value of the produce 
 is chauf^ed. The inhal)itants of Maryland and Vir;,nnia are therefore more 
 disposed than they were thirty years ago to give up slave-labor in the culti- 
 vation of tobacco, or to give up slavery and tobacco at the same time. 
 
 [It is hardly necessary to remind the American reader that the text here 
 was written nearly thirty years ago, and was a tolcral>Iy accurate description 
 of the state of affairs then, though circumstances have greatly changed 
 since. — Am. Ed.] 
 
 I ii 
 
 ^ ii 
 
 4. ,v 
 
470 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 Ill 
 
 I 
 
 ! U 
 
 f'fH' 
 
 Hv 
 
 identical result scorns to be produced in Europe and in 
 America by who]!y analogous causes. In the South of 
 the United States, the whole race of whites formed an 
 aristocratic body, headed by a certain number of privi- 
 leged individuals, whose wealth was permanent, and whose 
 leisure was hereditary. These leaders of the American 
 nobility kept alive the traditional prejudices of the white 
 race in the body of which they were the representatives, 
 and maintained idleness in honor. This aristocracy con- 
 tained many who were poor, but none who would work ; 
 its members preferred want to labor ; consecpiently, Negro 
 laborers and slaves met with no competiticTi ; and, what- 
 ever opinion might be entertained as to the utility of their 
 industry, it was necessary to employ them, since there was 
 no one else to work. 
 
 No sooner was the law of primogenitu • e abolished, than 
 fortunes began to diminish, and all the families of the 
 country were simultaneously reduced to a state in which 
 labor became necessary to existence, — several of them 
 have since entirely disappeared, — and all of them learned 
 to look forward to the lime when it would be necessary 
 for every one to provide for his own wants. Wealthy 
 individuals are still to be met- with, but they no longer 
 constitute a compact and hereditary body, nor have they 
 been able to adopt a line of conduct in which they could 
 persevere, and which they could infuse into all ranks 
 of society. The prejudice which stigmatized labor was, 
 in the first place, abandoned by common consent, the 
 number of needy men was increased, and the needy were 
 allowed to gain a subsistence by labor without blushing 
 for their toil. Thus, one of the most immediate conse- 
 quences of the equal division of estates has been, to create 
 a class of free laborers. As soon as competition began 
 between the free laborer and the slave, the inferiority of 
 the latter became manifest, and slavery was attacked in 
 
PRESENT AND FUTURE CONDITION OF THE NEGROES. 471 
 
 its tuntlamental principle, which is, the interest of the 
 master. 
 
 As slavery recedes, the black po})ulation follows its ret- 
 rograde course, and returns with it towards those tropical 
 regions whence it originally came. However singular this 
 fact may at first appear to be, it may readily be ex])lained. 
 Although the Americans abolish the ])rinci])le of slavery, 
 they do not set their slaves free. To illustrate this ivmark, 
 I will quote the example of the State of New York. In 
 17f^8, this State })rohibited the sale of slaves within its 
 limits, which was an indirect method of prohibiting the 
 importation of them. Thenceforward the number of Ne- 
 groes could only increase according to the ratio of the 
 natural increase of population. But eight years later, a 
 more decisive measui'e was taken, and it was enacted that 
 all children born of slave parents after the 4th of July, 
 1709, should be free. No increase could then take })lace, 
 and, although slaves still existed, slavery might be said to 
 be abolished. 
 
 As soon as a Northern State thus prohibited the impor- 
 tation, no slaves were brought from the South to be sold in 
 its markets. On the other hand, as the sale of slaves was 
 forbidden in that State, an owner could no lonjier wt rid 
 of his slave (who thus became a burdensome possessi(m) 
 otherwise than by transporting him to the South. But 
 when a Northern State declared that the son of the slave 
 should be born free, the slave lost a large portion of his 
 market-value, since his posterity was no longer included 
 in the bargain, and the owner had then a strono; interest in 
 transporting him to the South. Thus the same law j)re- 
 vents the slaves of the South from coming North, and 
 drives those of the North to the South. 
 
 But there is another cause more powerful than any that 
 I have described. The want of free hands is felt in a State 
 in proportion as the number of slaves decreases. But in 
 
 i a:: 
 
 JIfe 
 
 \ I 
 
 is 
 1^ 
 

 t 
 
 . t' 
 
 H 
 
 it 
 
 fN 
 
 472 
 
 DKMOCKACV IN AMKRICA. 
 
 ])ropoi'tion as labor is })C'rforinc'(l by free hands, slave-labor 
 becomes less productive ; and the slave is then a useless or 
 onerous })ossession, whom it is important to export to the 
 Soutii, where tlie same competition is not to be feared. 
 Thus the abolition of slavery does not set the slave free, 
 but merely transfers him to another master, and from the 
 North to the South. 
 
 The emancipated Negroes, and those born after the abo- 
 lition of slavery, do not, indeed, migrate from the North to 
 the Soutli ; but their situation with rei^ard to the Euro- 
 peans is not unlike that of the Indians ; they remain half 
 civilized, and de})rivcd of their rights in the midst of a 
 })opulation which is far superior to them in wealth and 
 knowledge, where they are exposed to the tyranny of the 
 laws * and the intolerance of the people. On some ac- 
 counts they are still more to be pitied than the Indians, 
 since they are haunted by the reminiscence of slavery, and 
 they cannot claim possession of any part of the soil : many 
 of them perish miserably,! and the rest congregate in the 
 great towns, where they perform the meanest offices, and 
 lead a wretched and precarious existence. 
 
 But even if the number of Neo;roes continued to increase 
 as rapidly as when they were still ai slavery, as the num- 
 ber of whites augments with twofold rapidity after the abo- 
 lition of slavery, the blacks vfould soon be, as it were, lost 
 in the midst of a strange population. 
 
 * The States in which slavery is aboHshcd usually do what they can to 
 render their territory disagreeable to the Negroes as a place of residence ; 
 and as a kind of emulation exists between the diftereiit States in this respect, 
 the unliappy blacks can only choose the least of the evils which beset them. 
 
 t There is a great difference between the mortality of the blacks and of 
 the whites in the States in which slavery is abolished; from 1820 to 1831, 
 only one out of forty-two individuals of the white population died in Phila- 
 delphia ; but one out of twenty-one of the black population died in the same 
 time. The mortality is I)y no means so great amongst the Negroes who are 
 still slaves. (Sec Emerson's ^ledical Statistics, p. 28.) 
 
PRESENT AND FUTURE CONDITION OF THE NEGROES. 473 
 
 A district wliicli is cultivated bv slaves is in m'lieral less 
 populous than a district cultivated by free labor : moreover, 
 America is still a new country, and a State is therefore not 
 half peopled when it abolishes slavery. No sooner is an 
 end put to slavery, than the want of free labor is felt, and 
 a crowd of enterprising adventurers inunediately arrive 
 from all i)arts of the country, who hasten to jiroHt by the 
 fresh resources which arc then opened to industry. The 
 soil is soon divided amono;st them, and a familv of Avhite 
 settlers takes possession of each })ortion. Besides, Euro- 
 pean emiii;rati(m is exclusively directed to the free States ; 
 for what would a poor emigrant do who crosses the Atlan- 
 tic in search of ease and Ii!ip})iiu'ss, if he were to land in 
 a country where labor is stigmatized as degrading? 
 
 Thus the white population grows by its natural incivase, 
 and, at the same time, by the immense influx of emigrants ; 
 whilst the black population receives no emigrants, and is 
 upon its decline. The proportion which existed between 
 the two races is soon inverted. The Neo-roes constitute a 
 scanty remnant, a poor tribe of vagi'ants, 'lost in the midst 
 of an immense people who own the land ; and the presence 
 of the blacks is only marked by the injustice and the hard- 
 ships of Avhicli they are the victims. 
 
 In several of the Western States, the Negro race never 
 made its appearance ; and in all the Xorthern States, it is 
 rapidly declining. Thus the great question of its futiu'e 
 condition is confined within a narrow circle, where it be- 
 comes less formidable, though not more easy of solution. 
 The more we descend towards the South, the more diffi- 
 cult does it become to abolish slavery with advantage ; and 
 this arises from several physical causes which it is impor- 
 tant to point out. 
 
 The first of these causes is the climate : it is well known 
 that, in proportion as Europeans approach the tropics, la- 
 bor becomes more difficult to them. Many of the Ameri- 
 
 1 
 
 111' 
 
 
 
 
 ;- -|' 
 
 
 '•' . ji" ■ 
 
 
 ':! '% 
 
 
 "t ■■■'■; 
 
 lis 
 
474 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 I"'+"1! 
 
 cans cvon assert that, within a certain latitude, it is fatal to 
 them, while the Ne<Tr()es can woi'k there without dani;er ; * 
 but I do not think that this oj)inion, which is so favcn'able 
 to the indolence of the iidiahitants of the South, is con- 
 firmed hy ex])erience. The southern parts of the Union 
 are not hotter than the south of Italy and of Spain ; f «nd 
 it may be asked why the European cannot work as well 
 there as in the latter two countries. If slavery has been 
 abolished in Italy and in Sj)ain, without causinj^' the de- 
 struction of the masters, why should not the same thing 
 take place in the Union ? I cannot believe that Nature 
 has prohibited the Europeans in Georgia and the Floridas, 
 under pain of death, fn 'u raising the means of subsistence 
 from the soil ; but their labor would unquestionably be 
 more irksome and less productive J to them than to the in- 
 habitants of New Eno;land. As the free workman thus 
 loses a portion of his superiority over the slave in the 
 Southern States, there are fewer inducements to abolish 
 slavery. 
 
 All the plants of Europe grow in the northern parts of 
 the Union ; the South has special productions of its own. 
 It has been observed that slave labor is a very expensive 
 
 * This is true of the spots iu which rice is cultivated ; rice-grounds, which 
 nrc unwholesome in all countries, are psirticularly dangerous iu those regions 
 which are exposed to the beams of a tropical sun. European" would not 
 find it easy to cultivate the soil in that part of the New World, if it must 
 necessarily be made to produce rice ; but may they not subsist without rice- 
 grounds 1 
 
 t These States are nearer to the equator than Italy and Sjiain, but the 
 temperature of the continent of America is much lower than that of Eu- 
 rope. 
 
 J The Spanish government formerly caused a certain number of peasants 
 from tiie Azores to be transported into a district of Louisiana called Attaka- 
 pas, l)y way of experiment. These settlers still cultivate the soil without 
 the assistance of slaves, but their industry is so languid as scarcely to sup- 
 ply their most necessary wants. 
 
TRKSENT AND FUTURE CONDITION OF THE NEGUOES. 475 
 
 method of cultivatinrr cereal grain. The fanner of corn- 
 land, in a country where slavery is unknown, habitually 
 retains only a small number of laborers in his service, and 
 at seed-time and harvest he hires additional hands, who 
 only live at his cost for a short })eriod. But the agricul- 
 turist in a slave state is obliged to kee]) a large number of 
 slaves the whole year round, in order to sow his tiulils and 
 to gather in his crops, although their services are recjuired 
 only i\)V a few weeks ; for slaves are unable to wait till 
 they are hired, and to subsist by their own labor in the 
 mean time, like free laborers ; in order to have their ser- 
 vices, they must be bouiiht. Slavery, independently of its 
 general disadvantages, is therefore still more ina})[)licable to 
 countries in which corn is cultivated, than to those which 
 produce crops of a different kind. Tlie cultivation of to- 
 bacco, of cotton, and especially of the sugar-cane, demands, 
 on the other hand, unremitting attention : and women and 
 children are employed in it, whose services are of little use 
 in the cultivation of wheat. Thus slavery is naturally 
 more fitted to the countries from which these productions 
 are derived. 
 
 Tobacco, cotton, and the sugar-cane are exclusively 
 grown in the South, and they form the principal sources 
 of the wealth of those States. If slavery were abolished, 
 the inhabitants of the South would be driven to this alter- 
 native : they must either change their system of cultiva- 
 tion, — and then they would come into competition with 
 the more active and more experienced inhabitants of the 
 North ; or, if they continued to cultivate the same pro- 
 duce without slave labor, they would have to support the 
 competition of the other States of the South, which might 
 still retain their slaves. Thus, peculiar reasons for main- 
 taining slavery exist in the South Avliich do not operate 
 in the North. 
 
 But there is vet another motive, which is more coo;ent 
 
 tol I 
 
 'ilf'i-' 
 
 1- §; 
 
 
 [| 
 
 il, ; 
 
 i: 
 
 !:■!■ N.rn |!i 
 
 im ; 
 
 in 
 
 li 
 
 1 
 
 H^^^H t 
 
 |i 
 
 NMRIPl-i 
 
 
 TaSwr' 
 
 K'- !■« 
 
 
 |:i 
 
 ,M 
 
 ill 1 
 
476 
 
 DKMOCUACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 tr? p'?!' 
 
 i**.:'' 
 
 i;. ' i liM 
 
 tlian all tlio otliers : tlio South miglit, indocd, rigorously 
 speaking, abolish slavery; but how should it rid its terri- 
 tory of tiie black po])ulation ? Slaves and slavery are 
 driven from the North by the same law ; but this two- 
 fold result cannot be hoped for in the South. 
 
 In proving that slavery is more natural and more advan- 
 tageous in the South than in the North, I have shown that 
 the number of slaves must be far greater in the formei-. 
 It was to the southern settlements that the first Africans 
 were brought, and it is there that the greatest number of 
 them have always been imported. As we advance towards 
 the South, the prejudice which sanctions idleness increases 
 in power. In the States nearest to thp tropics, there is 
 not a single Avhite laborer ; the Negroes arc consequently 
 much more numerous in the South than in the North. 
 And, as I Jiave already observed, this disproportion in- 
 creases daily, since the Negroes are transferred to one part 
 of the Union as soon as slavery is abolished in the other. 
 Thus, the black population augments in the South, not 
 only by its natural fecundity, but by the compulsory emi- 
 gration of the Negroes from the North ; and the African 
 race has causes of increase in the South very analogous to 
 those which accelerate the growth of the European race 
 in the North. 
 
 In the State of Maine there is one Necro in three hun- 
 dred inhabitaiits ; in Massachusetts, one in one hundred ; 
 in New York, two in one hundred ; in Pennsylvania, throe 
 in the same number ; in Maryland, thirty-four ; in Vir- 
 ginia, forty-two ; and lastly, in South Carolina,* fifty-five 
 
 * We find it asserted in an Amcrian work, entitled " Letters on tlie Colo- 
 nization Society," by Mr. Carej-, 1833, "That for the last forty years, the 
 black race has increased more rapidly than the w'iite Uioe in the State of 
 South Carolina; and that, if we take the avcra<j:c population of the five States 
 of the South into whidi slaves were first introduced, viz. Maryland, Vir- 
 yiuia, Soutli Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, we shall find that from 
 
riJKSKNT AND FrUIJH CONDITION OF THi: NKOKOKS. 477 
 
 per cent of tlio iiiliabltants tire black. Such was the pro- 
 portion of the black population to the whites in the year 
 I80O. lint this proj)orti()n is jjcrpetually chaniiinu;, as it 
 constantly decreases in the North, and aumnents in the 
 South. 
 
 It is evident that the most southern States of the Union 
 cannot abolish slavery without incurrinn; o;reat danti-ers, 
 which the North had no reason to apprehend when it 
 emancipated its black population. We have already shown 
 how the Northern States made the transition from slavery 
 to freedom, by keepin<i; the present jreneration in chains, 
 and setting their descendants free ; by this means, the 
 Negroes are only gradually introduced into the society ; 
 and wliilst the men who might abuse .their freedom are 
 ke})t in servitude, those who are emancipated may learn 
 the art of being free before they become their own masters. 
 But it would be difHcult to apply this method in the South. 
 To declare that all the Negroes born after a certain period 
 shall be free, is to introduce the principle and the notion 
 of liberty into the heart of slavery ; the blacks whom the 
 law thus maintains in a state of slavery from which their 
 children are delivered, are astonished at so unequal a iiite, 
 and their astonishment is only the prelude to their im- 
 patience and irritation. Thenceforward slavery loses, in 
 their eyes, that kind of moral power which it derived from 
 time and habit ; it is reduced to a mere palpable abuse of 
 force. The Northern States had notliing to fear from the 
 contrast, because in them the blacks were few in number, 
 and the white population was veiy considerable. But if 
 
 
 
 
 i if 
 
 '■!'''*t. 
 
 I^ : 
 
 i4 
 
 
 i:''il 
 
 1790 to 1830 the wliitcs have augmented in the iiroportion of 80 to 100, and 
 the Wacks in that of 100 to 112. 
 
 In the United States, in 1830, the popuUitioii of tho two races stood as 
 follows : — 
 
 States where slavery is aholished, 6,505,434 wliites ; 120,520 blacks. 
 Slave States 3,960,814 wliites; 2,208,102 hlacks. 
 
 'M 
 
478 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 :i?-l 
 
 m 
 
 tills fiiiiit (liiwn of freedom wore to show two million^ of 
 men tlieir true ])osltion, the oppressors woiiUl h;iv(; reason 
 to tremble. After liavini: eiifninehised the children of their 
 slaves, the Eurojx'ans of the Southern States would very 
 shortly be obliired to extend the same benefit to the whole 
 black population. 
 
 In the North, as I have already remarked, a twofold 
 migration ensues upon the abolition of slavery, or even 
 precedes that event when circumstances have rendered it 
 probable ; the slaves quit the country to be transported 
 southwards ; and the whites of the Northern States, as well 
 as the emigrants from Euroj)e, hasten to fill their place. 
 But these two causes cannot operate in the same manner 
 in the Southern States. On the one hand, the mass of 
 slaves is too great to allow any expectation of their being 
 removed from the country ; and on the other hand, the 
 Europeans and Anglo-Americans of the North are afraid 
 to come to inhabit a country in which labor has not vet 
 been reinstated in its rio;htful honors. Besides, they very 
 justly look upon the States in which the number of the 
 Negroes equals or exceeds that of the whites, as exposed 
 to very great dangers ; and they refrain from turning their 
 activity in that direction. 
 
 Thus the inhabitants of the South would not be able, 
 Avhile abolishing slavery, like their Northern countrymen, 
 to initiate the slaves gradually into a state of freedom ; 
 they have no means of })erceptibly diminishing the black 
 population, and they would remain unsuj)})orted to re|)ress 
 its excesses. Thus, in the course of a few years, a great 
 people of free Negroes would exist in the heart of a white 
 nation of equal size. 
 
 The same abuses of poAver which now maintain slavery 
 would then become the source of the most alarming ])erils 
 to the white population of the South. At the present 
 time, the descendants of the Europeans are the sole own- 
 
 Mi 
 
rRF.SI.NT AND FUTURE CONDriTON OF THK NKlUHM'.S. 479 
 
 ers of tlic land, and the .11)8011110 masters of all lahor; tluy 
 alom' possess wi-alth, kno\vlu(lo;o, and arms. 'lUv Mack is 
 destitntc of all those a(lvanta<fos, but can s.osist without 
 thom bocauso he is a slave. W ho wore froo, and oblip-d 
 to pro\ido for his own sul)sistonoo, would it bo possible for 
 him to roniain without those thin<^s and to sujipoi't lito? 
 Or would not the very insti'unionts of the ])ri'sent suj)ori- 
 ority of the white, whilst slavery o.xists, expose him to a 
 thousand daniiors if it wore abolished ? 
 
 As lon^ as the Negro remains a slave, ho may bo kept 
 in a condition not far removed from that of the brutes ; 
 but, with his liberty, he cannot but acquiri' a di'ureo of 
 instruction which will enable him to ap})rociate his mis- 
 fortunes, and to discern a remedy for thom. Moreover, 
 there exists a singular principle of relative justice, which 
 is firmly implanted in the human heart. Men are much 
 more forcibly struck by those inequalities which exist 
 within the same class, than with those which may bo 
 remarked between different classes. One can understand 
 slavery ; but how allow several millions of citizens to exist 
 under a load of eternal infamy and hereditary wretched- 
 ness ? In the North, the population of freed Negroes 
 feels these hardships and indignities, but its numbers and 
 its powers are small, whilst in the South it would be 
 numerous and strono;. 
 
 As soon as it is admitted that the whites and the eman- 
 cipated blacks are jdacod upon the same territory in the 
 situation of two foreign communities, it will readily be 
 understood that there are but two chances for the future ; 
 the Negroes and the whites must either wholly [)art, or 
 wholly mingle. I have already expressed my conviction 
 as to the latter event.* I do not believe that the white 
 
 * This opinion is sanctioned by authorities infinitely weijihtier tlian any- 
 thing that I can say : thus, for instance, it is stated in the Memoirs of Jef- 
 ferson, " Notiiing is more clearly written in the book of destiny than the 
 
 iV 
 
 
 M', 
 
 
Jill 
 
 i4 
 
 in 
 
 480 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKHICA. 
 
 ;:t. 
 
 : 1 ii 
 
 and Mack races will ever live in any country nj)nn an 
 e(|nal fixftini;. But I believe the difficulty to be still 
 jjjreatcr in the United States than elsewhere. An isolated 
 individual may surmount the })rejudices of reli<;i(m, of his 
 country, or of his race ; and if this individual is a kini;, 
 lie may effect surprisiui; chano-es in society ; but a whole 
 people cannot rise, as it were, above itself. A desjK)t who 
 should subject the Americans and their former slaves to 
 the same yoke, might perha})S succeed in commin»j;lin<f 
 their races ; but as long as the American democracy 
 remains at the head of affairs, no one will undertake 
 so dilHcult a task; and it maybe foreseen that, the freer 
 the white population of the United States becomes, the 
 more isolated will it remain.* 
 
 I have previously observed that the mixed race is the 
 true bond of union between the Europeans and the In- 
 dians ; just so, the Mulattoes are the true means of transi- 
 tion between the white and the Negro ; so that, wherever 
 INIulattoes abound, the interrri ture of the two races is not 
 im}»ossible. In some parts of America, the Euroj)ean and 
 the Negro races are so crossed by one another, that it is 
 rare to meet with a man wdio is entirely black, or entirely 
 white : when they are arrived at this point, the two races 
 may really be said to be combined, or, rather, to have been 
 absorbed in a third race, which is connected with both 
 without beino; identical with either. 
 
 Of all Europeans, the English are those who have 
 mixed least w^ith the Negroes. More Mulattoes are to be 
 
 emancipation of the blacks ; and it is equally certain, that the two races will 
 never live in a state of equal freedom under the same government, so insur- 
 mountable are the ban-iers which nature, habit, and opinion have established 
 l)etween them." 
 
 * If the Britisii West India planters had governed themselves, they would 
 assuredly not have passed the Slave Emancipation Bill which the mother 
 country has recently imposed upon them. 
 
PRKSENT AND FUTURE CONDITION OF TIIi; NF.GIMI 
 
 f 
 
 scon in tlic Soutli of the Union tlmn in the Xortli, Imji 
 intiniti'Iv fl'wcr tli;ni in nnv other Kuroncan colony: Mu- 
 lattocs arc hy no means nnnierons in tiic Unitrd States; 
 they have no force peculiar to tliemselves, and wlu'ii (piar- 
 rcls ori^iinatinji; in (hfVcrences of color taki' ])laci', thev i^cn- 
 orally side with the whites, — just as tlu? Iack(>ys of tlui 
 o;reat in Euro])e assnnie the contcniptnons airs of nohility 
 toward the lower orders. 
 
 T\\o pride of ori^^in, which is natnral to tlie English, 
 is sini^nlarly an<:;niented l)y the [)ersonal ])ride which demo- 
 cratic liberty fosters amon<Tst the Amei-icans : the white 
 citizen of the United States is prond of his race, and [)rond 
 of himself Bnt if the whites and tlie Ncixroes do not 
 interminiile in the North of the Union, how shonld they 
 mix in the South? Can it bo snpposed for an instant, that 
 an .American of the Southern States, placcfl, as he imist 
 forever be, between the white man, with all his ])hysical 
 and moral superiority, and the Nofi^ro, will ever think of 
 beino; confounded with the latter ? The Americans of the 
 Southern States have two powerful passions, which will 
 always keep them aloof; — the first is the fear of being 
 assimilated to the Negroes, their former slaves ; and the 
 second, the dread of sinking below the whites, their 
 neighbors. 
 
 If I were called upon to predict the future, I should say 
 that the abolition of slavery in the South will, in the com- 
 mon course of things, increase the repugnance of the white 
 population for the blacks. I found this oj)inion u])on the 
 analofjous observation I have alreadv made at the North. 
 I have remarked that the white inhaV)itants of the North 
 avoid the Negroes with increasing care, in proportion as 
 the legal barriers of separation are removed by the legisla- 
 ture ; and why should not the same result take place in 
 the South ? In the North, the whites are deterred from 
 interminglino; with the blacks bv an imaginarv dano-er ; in 
 
 21 KE 
 
 '•MS' 
 
 .Hi 
 
 I 
 I. 
 
 
 > I 
 
482 
 
 PKMOrRArV IN AMERICA. 
 
 I 
 
 ;>' 
 
 till' Soutli, wlicrc tlio (liin;,(T would l)i' n':il, I cannot 
 lu'Iicvc tliiit tlu' fi'iir would he less. 
 
 If, on the one hand, it Ih' admitted (and tlic fact is un- 
 qn»'stional)l(') tliat the colored population porjx'tually accu- 
 nudatc in the extreme Soutli, and increase more ra|>idly 
 tlian tlie whites ; and if, on the otlier liand, it In- allowed 
 that it is inipossihle to foresee a time at which the whites 
 and the hlacks will he m) int(>rmin<!;led as to derive the 
 same henefits from society, — must it not he inferred that 
 tlie hlacks and the whites will, sooner or later, come to 
 open strife in the Southern States ? Rut if it he asked 
 what the issue of tlie strufi^le is liki'ly to he, it will readily 
 be understood that we are here left to van;ue conjectures. 
 The human mind may succeed in traciii":; a wide circle, as 
 it were, which includes the future ; but, within that circle, 
 chance rules, and eludes all our foresight. In every pic- 
 ture of the future there is a dim spot which the eye of 
 the nnd(>rstandino; cannot p(>netrate. It appears, however, 
 extremely j)rohable that, in the West India Islands, the 
 white race is destined to be subdued, and, upon the conti- 
 nent, the hlacks. 
 
 In the West India Islands, the white planters are isolated 
 amidst an immense black population ; on the continent, the 
 l»lacks are placed between the ocean and an iimumerable 
 people, who already extend above them, in a compact mass, 
 from the icy confines of Canada to the frontiers of Vir- 
 o;inia, and from the banks of the Missouri to the shores 
 of the Atlantic. If the white citizens of North America 
 remain united, it is difficult to believe that the Negroes 
 will escape the destruction which menaces them ; they 
 must be subdued by want or by the sword. But the 
 black popidation accumulated along the coast of the Gulf 
 of INIexico have a chance of success, if the American Union 
 should be dissolved Avhen the strugo;le between the two 
 races begins. The Federal tie once broken, the people 
 
rRKSKNT .\\i> rriTRK ('(>xi)mo\ or riir. N'r<;T!OKs. AHi^ 
 of tlu' Soutli could not ri'lv upon aiiv lastin"" succor from 
 
 we 
 
 a wan* 
 
 tlu'ir Nortlicru countrvnu-u. Tlic latter arc 
 
 ft 
 
 that tlic (lau;;or can never reach thcni : and tMilcs«< they 
 ure eonstraiiu'(l to march to the assistance of the South hy 
 a T)ositive ()hliij,ation, it may he foreseen tliat tlie svnipatliv 
 
 • ft/ I I fr 
 
 of race will he powerless. 
 
 Vet, at whatever period tlie strife mav hrcak out. the 
 whites of the South, even if they are ahandoned to their 
 own resources, will enter the lists with an iini 
 
 nense sune- 
 
 rioritv of knowledire and the means ctf warf:iri> : hut the 
 blacks will have numerical strenifth and the enei'iiy of 
 desj)air npon their side ; and these are powerful I'csources 
 
 to men w 
 
 ho I 
 
 lave 
 
 tak 
 
 (Ml Up arms. 
 
 Tire fite of the white 
 
 population of the Sontliern States will, pei'haps, Ik- similar 
 to that of the ISfoors in Spain. After lia\in<;' occupied 
 tlie land for centuries, it will, perhaps, retire hy deiri'ees 
 to tlie country whence its ancestors came, and fhandon to 
 the Neiiroes the possession of a territory which I'lvtvideiice 
 seems to have destined fen* them, since they can subsist and 
 labor in it more easily than the Avhites. 
 
 The danger of a conflict between the white and the 
 black inhabitants of the Southern States of the Union — 
 
 hi(di, h 
 
 b 
 
 'itabU 
 
 ever remote it it 
 perpetually haunts the imaixination of the Americans, like 
 a painful dream. The inhabitants of th(^ Xorth make it a 
 common topic of conversation, altlioiiii;li directly they have 
 nothiiif; to fear fr<mi it ; but they vainly endeavor to devise 
 some means of obviatinii- the misfortunes Avhich they fore- 
 see. In the Southern States, the subject is not discussed : 
 the planter does not allude to the future in conversinj:; with 
 straiiijjers ; he does not communicate his apprehensions to 
 his friends, — he seeks to conceal them from hims(>]f. Hut 
 there is somethinn; more alarminn; in the tacit forebodinirs 
 of the South, than in the clamorous fears of the North. 
 This all-pervading disquietude has given birth to an un- 
 
 
 ;H', 
 
 ,■1: 
 
 '! t 
 
 H 
 
484 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 dertaking as yet but little known, but wliicli may change 
 the fate of a portion of the human race. Fi-om apj)re- 
 hension o'' the dangers which I have just described, some 
 American citizens have formed a society for the purpose 
 of exporting to the coast of Guinea, at their own expense, 
 such free Negroes as may be willing to escape from the 
 op))ression to whicli they are subject.* 
 
 In 1820, the society to which I allude formed a settle- 
 ment in Africa, upon the seventh degree of north latitude, 
 which bears the name of Liberia. The most recent intelli- 
 o-ence informs us that two thousand five hundred Negroes 
 are collected there. They have introduced the democratic 
 institutions of America into the country of their forefath- 
 ers. Liberia has a representative system of government, 
 Negro jurymen, Negro magistrates, and Negro j)riests ; 
 churches have been built, newspapers established, and, by 
 a singular turn in the vicissitudes of the world, wdiite men 
 are prohibited from establishing themselves within the set- 
 tlement.! 
 
 This is indeed a strange caprice of fortune. Two hun- 
 dred years have now elapsed since the inhabitants of Eu- 
 roj)e undertook to tear the Negro from his family and his 
 home, in order to transport him to the shorf^ of North 
 America. Now the European settlers are engaged in 
 sending back the descendants of those very Negroes to 
 
 * This society assumed the name of " The Society for the Colonization of 
 tlie Blacks." See its Annual Reports ; and more particularly the fifteenth. 
 See also the pamphlet, to which allusion has already been made, entitled, 
 " Letters on the Colonization Society, and on its probable Results," by Mr. 
 Carey, Pliiiadclphia, April, 1833. 
 
 t This last regulation was laid down by the founders of the settlement ; 
 they apprehended that a state of things might arise in Africa, similar to 
 that which exists on the frontiers of the United States, and that if the Ne- 
 groes, like the Indians, were brought into collision wth a people more 
 enlightened than themselves, they would be destroyed before they could 
 be civilized. 
 
PRESENT AND FUTURE CONDITION OF THE NEGROES. 485 
 
 the continent whence thev were orliiinally tuki'n : tlu? bar- 
 barons Africans have learned civilization in the midst of 
 bondage, and have become acquainted with tree j)olitical 
 institutions in slavery. Up to the present time, Africa 
 has been closed against the arts and sciences of the whites : 
 but the inventions of Europe will perhaps ])enetrate into 
 those ren-ions, now that they are introduced bv Africans 
 themselves. The settlement of Liberia is founded \\\nn\ a 
 lofty and fruitful idea ; but, whatever mav be its results 
 with regard to Africa, it can afibrd no remedy to the New 
 World.^ 
 
 In twelve years, the Colonization Society has transported 
 two thousand five hundred Neoroes to Africa ; in tlie same 
 space of time, about seven hundred thousand blacks were 
 born in the United States. If the colony of J^iberia 
 were able to receive thousands of new inhabitants every 
 year, and if the Negroes were in a state to be sent thither 
 with advantage ; if the Union were to supply the society 
 with annual subsidies,* and to transport the Negroes to 
 Africa in the vessels of the state, — it would still be un- 
 able to counterpoise the natural increase of population 
 amongst the blacks ; and, as it could not remove as many 
 men in a year as are born upon its territory within that 
 time, it could not prevent the growth of the evil which is 
 daily increasing in the States.f The Negro race will 
 
 * Nor would these be the only difficulties attendant upon the undertak- 
 ing ; if the Union undertool< to huy up the Negroes now in America, in 
 order to transport tliem to Africa, the price of shives, increasing with their 
 scarcity, would soon become enormous ; and the States of the Nortii would 
 never consent to expend such great sums for a purpose wliich would profit 
 them but little. If the Union took possession of tlie slaves in the Soutliern 
 States by force, or at a rate determined by law, an insurmountable resistance 
 would rise in that part of the country. Both courses are eqiuiUy im- 
 possible. 
 
 t In 1830 there were in the United States 2,010,327 slaves and 319,439 free 
 blacks, in all 2,329,766 Negroes : which formed about one fifth of the total 
 
 
 i '" "1 
 
 Pi 
 
 
 ■ I 
 
 
 l| 
 
 '. '^ 
 
 1 ^ 
 
 
 y 
 
48G 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 m::' v. 
 
 '»»:■ 
 
 never leave those sliores of tlie American continent to 
 whicli it was brouglit by the passions and tlie vices of Eu- 
 ro])eans ; and it will not disap])ear from the New World 
 as long as it continues to exist. The inhabitants of the 
 United States may retard the calamities which they appre- 
 hend, but they cannot now destroy their efficient cause. 
 
 I am obli<i;ed to confess that I do not ren;ard the aboli- 
 tion of slavery as a means of warding off the struggle of 
 the two races in the Southern States. The Negroes may 
 long remain slaves without complaining ; but if they are 
 once raised to the level of freemen, they will soon revolt 
 at being deprived of almost all their civil rights ; and, as 
 they cannot become the equals of the whites, they will 
 speedily show themselves as enemies. In the North, 
 everything facilitated the emancipation of the slaves ; and 
 slavery was abolished without rendering the free Negroes 
 formidable, since their number was too small for them 
 ever to claim their rights. But such is not the case in 
 the South. The question of slavery was a commercial 
 and manufacturing question for the slave-owners in the 
 North ; for those of the South, it is a question of life 
 and death. God forbid that I should seek to justify the 
 principle of Negro slavery, as has been done by some 
 American writers ! I say only, that all the countries 
 which formerly adopted that execrable principle are not 
 e(pially able to abandon it at the present time. 
 
 When I contemplate the condition of the South, I can 
 only discover two modes of action for the white inhab- 
 itants of those States ; viz. either to emancipate the Ne- 
 groes, and to intermingle with them, or, remaining isolated 
 fi'om them, to keep them in slavery as long as possible. 
 All intermediate measures seem to me likely to terminate, 
 and that shortly, in the most horrible of civil wars, and 
 
 population of the United States at that time. [In 1850, the numbers were 
 3,204,313 slaves and 434,495 free colored; in all, 3,638,808. — Am. Ed.] 
 
PRKSKNT VXD FUTURE CONDITION OF TlIF NlXillUKS. 487 
 
 perhaps in the extirpation of one or the other of the two 
 races. Sueli is the view which tlie Americans of the 
 South take of the question, and tliey act consistently with 
 it. As they are determined not to mingle with the Ne- 
 groes, tliey refuse to emancipate them. 
 
 Not that the inhabitants of the South regard slavery as 
 necessary to the wealtli of the planter ; on this point, 
 many of tliem agree with their Northern countrymen, in 
 freely admitting that slavery is ])rejudicial to their inter- 
 ests ; but they are convinced that the removal of this 
 evil would peril their own existence. The instruction 
 which is now diffused in the South has convinced the 
 inhabitants that slavery is injurious to the slave-owner, 
 but it has also shown them, more clearly than before, 
 that it is almost an impossibility to get rid of it. Hence 
 arises a singular contrast ; the more the utility of slavery 
 is contested, the more firmly is it established in the laws ; 
 and wdiilst its principle is gradually abolished in the North, 
 that self-same principle gives rise to more and more rigor- 
 ous consequences in the South. 
 
 The leoislation of the Southern States with regard to 
 slaves presents at the present day such unparalleled atroci- 
 ties as suffice to show that the laws of humanity have 
 been totally perverted, and to betray the desperate position 
 of the community in which that legislation has been pro- 
 mulgated. The Americans of this portion of the Union 
 have not, indeed, augmented the hardships of slavery ; 
 they have, on the contrary, bettered the physical condi- 
 tion of the slaves. The only means by which the ancients 
 maintained slavery were fetters and death ; the Americans 
 of the South of the Union have discovered more intellect- 
 ual securities for the duration of their power. They have 
 employed their despotism and their violence against the 
 human mind. In antiquity, precautions were taken to pre- 
 vent the slave from breaking his chains ; at the present 
 
 
 ,m n 
 
488 
 
 DEJIOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 day, measures are adopted to deprive liim even of the 
 desire of freedom. Tlie ancients kept the bodies of their 
 sUives in bondage, but placed no restraint upon the mind 
 and no check u[)on education ; and they acted consistently 
 with their established principle, since a natural termination 
 of slavery then existed, and one day or other the slave 
 might be set free, and become the ec^ual of his master. 
 But the Americans of the South, who do not admit that 
 the Ne(j;roes can ever be commin<iled with themselves, 
 have forbidden them, under severe penalties, to be taught 
 to read or write ; and, as they will not raise them to their 
 own level, tiiey sink them as nearly as possible to that of 
 the brutes. 
 
 The hope of liberty had always been allowed to the 
 slave, to cheer the hardships of his condition. But the 
 Americans of the South are well aware that emancipation 
 cannot but be dangerous, when the freed man can never 
 be assimilated to his former master. To give a man his 
 freedom, and to leave him in wretchedness and ignominy, 
 is nothing loss than to prepare a future chief for a revolt 
 of the slaves. Moreover, it has long been remarked, that 
 the presence of a free Negro vaguely agitates the minds 
 of his less fortunate brethren, and conveys to them a dim 
 notion of their rights. The Americans of the South have 
 consequently taken away from slave-owners the right of 
 emancipating their slaves in most cases, — not indeed by 
 positive prohibition, but by subjecting that step to various 
 formalities which it is difficult to comply with. 
 
 I happened to meet with an old man, in the South of 
 the Union, who had lived in illicit intercourse with one 
 of his Negresses, and had had several children by her, 
 who were born the slaves of their father. He had, indeed, 
 frequently thought of bequeathing to them at least their 
 liberty ; but years had elapsed before he could surmount 
 the legal obstacles to their emancipation, and in the mean 
 
 » :i 
 
PRESENT AND FUTURE CONDITION OF THE NEGROES. 4^9 
 
 various 
 
 wliile liis old age was come, and he was about to die. lie 
 pictured to himself his sons drugged from market to mar- 
 ket, and passing from the authority of a parent to the rod 
 of the stranger, until these horrid anticipations worked his 
 expiring imagination into frenzy. When I saw him, he 
 was a prey to all the anguish of despair ; and I then un- 
 derstood how awful is the retribution of Nature upon those 
 who have broken her laws. 
 
 These evils are unquestionably great, but they are the 
 necessary and foreseen consequences of the very })riii('i{)le 
 of modern slavery. When the Europeans chose their 
 slaves from a race differino; from their own, — which 
 many of them considered as interior to the other races 
 of mankind, and any notion of intimate union with which 
 they all repelled with horror, — they must have believed 
 that slavery would last forever, since there is no interme- 
 diate state which can be durable between the excessive 
 inequality produced by servitude and the complete equal- 
 ity which originates in independence. The Europeans did 
 imperfectly feel this truth, but without acknowledging it 
 even to themselves. Whenever they have had to do Avith 
 Negroes, their conduct has either been dictated by their 
 interest and their pride, or by their compassion. They 
 first violated every right of humanity by their treatment 
 of the Negro, and they afterwards informed him that 
 those rights were precious and inviolable. They aifected 
 to open their ranks to the slaves, but the Negroes who 
 attempted to penetrate into the community were driven 
 back with scorn ; and they have incautiously and invol- 
 untarily been led to admit freedom instead of slavery, 
 without having the courage to be wholly iniquitous, or 
 wholly just. 
 
 If it be impossible to anticipate a period at which the 
 Americans of the South will mingle their blood with that 
 of the Negroes, can they allow their slaves to become free 
 
 21* 
 
490 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 i¥'n 
 
 :l til 
 
 ( ;' 
 
 :iii 
 
 witliout compromising their own security ? Arcl if thoy 
 are obliged to keep that race in bondage in order to save 
 their own flimihes, may they not be excused for avaihng 
 themselves of the means best adapted to that end ? The 
 events which are taking place in the Southern States ap- 
 pear to me to be at once the most horrible and the most 
 natural results of slavery. When I see the order of nature 
 overthrown, and when I hear the cry of humanity in its 
 vain struggle against the laws, my indignation does not 
 light upon the men of our own time who are the instru- 
 ments of these outrages ; but I reserve my execration for 
 those who, after a thousand years of freedom, brought 
 back slavery into the world once more. 
 
 Whatever may be the efforts of the Americans of the 
 South to maintain slavery, they will not always succeed. 
 Slavery, now confined to a single tract of the civilized 
 earth, attacked by Christianity as unjust, and by political 
 economy as prejudicial, and now contrasted with demo- 
 cratic liberty and the intelligence of our age, cannot sur- 
 vive. By the act of the master, or by the will of the 
 slave, it will cease ; and, in either case, great calamities 
 may be expected to ensue. If liberty be refused to the 
 Negroes of the South, they will, in the end, forcibly 
 seize it for themselves ; if it be given, they will, erelong, 
 abuse it. 
 
 t tt--- 
 
i ' 'I 
 
 CIIAN'CKS OF DURATION OF TIIF UNION. 
 
 401 
 
 WHAT ARE THE CHANCES OF DURATION OF THE AMERICAN 
 UNION, AND WHAT DANGERS THREATEN IT. 
 
 What makes the preponilerant Force lie in the States rather than in the 
 Union. — Tiic Union \vill last only as lonj; as all the Status choose to 
 belong to it. — Causes wliirli tend to keep tliem united. — Utility of the 
 Union to resist fbreiji;n Enemies, and to e.M hale Forei^qiers from Amer- 
 ica. — No natural Harriers between the several States. — No conl!i(tiii<; 
 Interests to divide them. — Heeiproeal Interests of tlie Nortlierii, South- 
 ern, and Western States. — Intellectual Ties (f Union. — Uniformity of 
 Opinions. — Danjxors of the Union resultinj; from tlie ditU'rcnt C'hiirnc- 
 ters and the Passions of its (Citizens. — Cliaracter of the Citi/cns in the 
 South and in the Nortii. — Tiie rapid Growth of the Union one of its 
 greatest IJangers. — Progress of the Population to the Nortliwest. — 
 Power gravitates in the same Direction. —7 Passions origiuiiting from 
 sudden Turns of Fortune. — Wiiether the existing Government of the 
 Union tends to gain Strength, or to lose it. — Various Signs of its ])e- 
 creasc. — Internal Improvements. — Waste Lands. — Indians. — The 
 Bank. — The Taritt'. — General Jackson. 
 
 The maintenance of the existin"; institutions of the sev- 
 eral States depends in part upon the maintenance of the 
 Union itself. We must therefore first inquire into the 
 probable fate of the Union. One point may be assumed 
 at once : if the present confederation were dissolved, it 
 appears to me to be incontestable that the States of which 
 it is now composed would not return to their original iso- 
 lated condition, but that several Unions would then be 
 formed in the place of one. It is not my intention to in- 
 quire into the principles upon which these new Unions 
 would probably be established, but merely to show what 
 the causes are which may effect the dismemberment of the 
 existing confederation. 
 
 With this object, I shall be obliged to retrace some of 
 the steps which I have already taken, and to revert to 
 topics which I have before discussed. I am aware that 
 the reader may accuse me of repetition, but the impor- 
 tance of the matter which still remains to be treated is my 
 
 11] 
 
 1' ! t 
 
I?.' 
 
 492 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKHICA. 
 
 f 
 
 „ ;: It 
 
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 I- 
 
 
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 excuse : I had rather say too much, than not he thoroughly 
 understood ; and I prefer injuring tlie author to shghting 
 the subject. 
 
 Tlie legislators who formed the Constitution of 1789 
 endeavored to confi'r a se})arate existence and superior 
 strength upon the federal power. But they were con- 
 fined by the conditions of the task which they had under- 
 taken to perform. They were not appointed to constitute 
 the government of a single people, but to regulate the 
 association of several States ; and, whatever their inclina- 
 tions might be, they could not but divide the exercise of 
 sovereignty. 
 
 In order to understand the consequences of this division, 
 it is necessary to make a short distinction between the 
 ftmctions of government. There are some objects which 
 are national by their very nature, — that is to say, which 
 affect the nation as a whole, and can only be intrusted 
 to the man or the assembly of men who most completely 
 represent the entire nation. Amongst these may be reck- 
 oned war and diplomacy. There are other objects which 
 are provincial by their very nature, — that is to say, which 
 only affect certain localities, and which can only be prop- 
 erly treated in that locality. Such, for instance, is the 
 budget of a municipality. Lastly, there are objects of 
 a mixed nature, which are national inasmuch as they affect 
 all the citizens who compose the nation, and which are 
 provincial inasmuch as it is not necessary that the nation 
 itself should provide for them all. Such arc the rights 
 which regulate the civil and political condition of the citi- 
 zens. No society can exist without civil and political 
 rights. These rights, therefore, interest all the citizens 
 alike ; but it is not always necessary to the existence and 
 the prosperity of the nation that these rights should be 
 uniform, nor, consequently, that they should be regulated 
 by the central authority. 
 
 ■t,+- ;• 
 
CIIAXCKS OF DUHATION OF TIIP: UNION. 
 
 493 
 
 There are, then, two distinct categories of ohjects whicli 
 are submitted to tlie sovereign power ; and these are found 
 in all well-constituted cunnnunities, whatever may be the 
 basis of the j)olitical constitution. Between these two 
 extremes, the objects which I have termed mixed may be 
 considered to lie. As these are neither exclusivi'ly national 
 nor entirely })rovincial, the care of them may be given to 
 a national or a provincial government, according to the 
 agreement of the contracting parties, without in any way 
 inn)airing the object of association. 
 
 The sovereign power is usually formed by the uni(m 
 of individuals, who compose a })eo})le ; and individual 
 powers or collective forces, each representing a small 
 fraction of the sovereign, are the only elements which are 
 found under the general goveriunent. In this case, the 
 general government is more naturally called upon to regu- 
 late, not only those affairs which are essentially national, 
 but most of those which I have called mixed ; and the 
 local governments are reduced to that small share of 
 sovereign authority which is indispensable to their well- 
 beino;. 
 
 But sometimes the sovereign authority is composed of 
 pre-organized political bodies, by virtue of circumstances 
 anterior to their union ; and, in this case, the provincial 
 governments assume the control, not only of those affairs 
 which more peculiarly belong to them, but of all or a part 
 of the mixed objects in question. For the confederate na- 
 tions, which were independent sovereignties before their 
 union, and which still represent a considerable share of 
 the sovereign power, have consented to cede to the gen- 
 eral government the exercise only of those rights wdiicli 
 are indispensable to the Union. 
 
 When the national government, independently of the 
 prerogatives inherent in its nature, is invested with the 
 right of regulating the mixed objects of sovereignty, it 
 
 ^ ./ •? j 
 
 m 
 
494 
 
 DF.MOrRACY IN AMF.RICA. 
 
 '■H 
 
 r " 
 
 possesses a preponderant influence. Not only are its own 
 rights extensive, hut all the rifjhts which it does not pos- 
 sess exist hv its sufferance ; and it is to he feared that the 
 provincial govennnents may he deprived hy it of their 
 natiu'al and necess;>.ry prero<ratives. 
 
 When, on the other hand, the ])rovincial orovernments 
 are invested with the power of regulating those same af- 
 fairs of mixed interest, an oj)posite tendency prevails in 
 society. The preponderant force resides in the province, 
 not in the nation ; and it may he aj)j)rehended that the 
 national government may, in the end, he stripped of the 
 privileges which are necessary to its existence. 
 
 Single nations have therefore a natural tendency to cen- 
 tralization, and confederations to dismemherment. 
 
 It now^ remains to apply these general principles to the 
 American Union. The several States necessarily retained 
 the right of regulating all purely provincial affairs. More- 
 over, these same States kept the rights of determining the 
 civil and political competency of the citizens, of regulating 
 the reciprocal relations of the members of the community, 
 and of dispensing justice, — rights which are general in 
 their nature, but do not necessarily appertain to the na- 
 tional covernment. We have seen that the government 
 of the Union is invested with the power of acting in the 
 name of the whole nation, in those cases in which the na- 
 tion has to appear as a single and undivided power ; as, 
 for instance, in foreign relations, and in offering a common 
 resistance to a common enemy ; in short, in conducting 
 those affairs which I have styled exclusively national. 
 
 In this division of the rights of sovereignty, the share 
 of the Union seems at first sight more considerable than 
 that of the States, but a more attentive investigation shows 
 it to he less so. The undertakings of the government of 
 the Union are more vast, but it has less frequent occasion 
 to act at all. Those of the provincial governments are 
 
 f \ •!■ 
 
CHANeKs OF DLUATlUN UK lllK I NION. 
 
 •ll>o 
 
 comparativi'ly sinall, \n\\ tlity are iiici'ssaiit, and tlicy keep 
 alive tlu' autlmrity wliicli they repivseiit. The govern- 
 ment of the Union watciies over tlie mineral interests of 
 the eonntry ; hut tlie general interests of a j)eo|»le have hut 
 a questionahle influence n[)on nulividual happiness, whilst 
 j)rovin('ial interests produce an innnediate I'll'ect upon the 
 welfare of the iidiahitants. The Union secures thi' in(U'- 
 pendence and the greatness of the nati(»n, whicii do not 
 immediately affect private citizens ; hut the several States 
 maintain tho liherty, regulate the rights, j)rotect the tor- 
 tune, and secure the life and the whole future prosperity, 
 of every citizen. 
 
 The Federal government is far removed from its suh- 
 jects, whilst the provincial governments are ^^ithin the 
 reach of them all, and are ready to attend to the smallest 
 appeal. The central government has upon its side the 
 passions of a few superior men who aspire to conduct it ; 
 but upon the side of the provincia governments are the 
 interests of all those second-rate individuals who can onlv 
 hope to obtain power within their own State, and who 
 nevertheless exercise more authority over the people be- 
 cause they are nearer to them. 
 
 The Americans have, therefore, much more to lutpe and 
 to fear from the States than from the Union ; and, accord- 
 ing to the natural tendency of the human mind, tliey are 
 more likely to attach themselves strongly to the former 
 than to the latter. In this respect, their habits and feel- 
 ings harmonize with their interests. 
 
 When a compact nation divides its sovereignty, and 
 adopts a confederate form of government, the traditions, 
 the customs, and the manners of the people for a long time 
 strutriile aoainst the laws, and give an influence to the cen- 
 tral government wdiich the laws forbid. But when a num- 
 ber of confederate states unite to form a single nation, the 
 same causes operate in an opposite direction. I have no 
 
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 DKMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
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 (loiilit tliat, if Fraiu'o were to becumo a confi'dcratt' rcpiilt- 
 lic like iliat of tlie United States, the ^overinneiit would 
 at fust l)e more energetic than that of tlie [Jiiioii ; and if 
 the I'nion were to aher its eonstitution to a monarchy like 
 that of France, I tliink that the American o;()vernmeiit 
 would louii' remain wi-aker tlian the Kn-nch. When tlie 
 national existence of the A njilo- Americans hetraii, tln'ir 
 provincial I'xistence was already of lono; standin<; : neces- 
 sary relations were estahlished between the townshij)s and 
 the individual citizens of tlu> same States ; and they were 
 accnstometl to consider some objects as common to tlicin 
 uU, and to conduct other athurs as exclusively relatin<^ to 
 their own special interests. 
 
 The Union is a vast body, which presents no definite 
 object to i)atriotic feelintf. The forms and limits of tlu; 
 state are distinct and circumscribed, since it represents 
 a certain number of objects whicli are familiar to the citi- 
 zens, and dear to them all. It is identified with the soil ; 
 with the right of property and the domestic affections ; 
 with the recollections of the past, the labors of the })res- 
 ent, and the ho})es of the future. Patriotism, then, which 
 is fretpiently a mere extension of individual selfishness, is 
 still directed to the State, and has not })assed over to the 
 Union. Thus, the tendency of the interests, the habits, 
 and the feelings of the people is to centre political activity 
 in the States in preference to the Union. 
 
 It is easy to estimate the different strength of the two 
 governments, by remarking the manner in which they ex- 
 ercise their respective powers. Whenever the government 
 of a State addresses an individual or an assembly of indi- 
 viduals, its language is clear and imperative, — and such is 
 also the tone of the Federal government when it speaks 
 to individuals ; but, no sooner has it anvthino; to do with 
 a State, than it begins to parley, to explain its motives and 
 justify its conduct, to argue, to advise, and, in short, any- 
 
ciiAN("i;s OF i>ri!Aii(>\ or nii; isios. 
 
 4'.)7 
 
 tliiiiii l)ut to romiMMtul. Tf douUts nro raisi'd ih to tlic 
 limits of the coiistitiitioMiil |)o\vits of citlicr ^iovcrmiu'iit, 
 till' |tro\iiiciiil !:;ov( rninciit prcfrrs its clMiiu with liolilncss, 
 iiiid takes |ti'(»m|tt mih! cncrm'tic steps to sn|)|i(»rt it. Mean- 
 while tlii' jioNcnimeiit of the I'liioii reasons; if a|»|>e;ils to 
 tlu' interests, the iiood sense, the y;loi'v of the nation ; it 
 tt'n»|)ori/.es, it neiiotiates, and doi's not consent to act mitil 
 it is redneed to the last extremity. At fii'st sinht, it ini^ht 
 reailily he imauiiit'd that it is the |)ro\ineial n()\ei-nn»ent 
 which is iM'inetl with the authority of tiie nation, and that 
 Couiiress represents a sinn;le State. 
 
 The Federal ii'overnment is, therefore, notwithstandinir 
 the precautions of those who founded it, naturally so wn-ak, 
 that, more than any other, it reijuires -the i'roo conseiit of 
 the governed to enable it to subsist. It is easy to perceive 
 that its ol)J(>ct is to enable the States to reali/.i' with tiicility 
 their determination ' ninainiiuj; unite(l ; and, as loniv us 
 this ])reliniinary condition exists, it is wise, stronii;, and 
 active. The Constitution fits the m)vernment to control 
 individuals, and easily to surmount such obstacles as they 
 may be inclini'd to offer, but it was by no means establislied 
 with a A'iew to the possible voluntary sejjaration of one or 
 more of the States from the Union. 
 
 If the sovereiijnty of the IJ^nion were to enija<:;e ^ 
 a struireK' with that of the States, at the present ihi.\\, its 
 defeat may be confidi'Utly ])redicted ; and it is not probable^ 
 that such a strugii'le would be seriously undertaken.* As 
 
 * The prcat struggle which is now going on (1862), and a greater one is 
 nowiiere recorded in liistory, proves tiiat M. de Tocciuevillc overlooked one 
 great ol)stacle to the dismeinl)ernicnt of the Union. Tiiis is found in tiic 
 strong attachment of tlic remaining members of tlie federation, who resist 
 to the dcatli tlie attempt of tlieir sister States to withdraw, first, because tlie 
 original compact between them made no provision for such withdrawal except 
 by the voluntary consent of tlie greater numlier ; and secondly and chiefly, 
 because tlic remaining States, who are the large majority, are not willing to 
 allow the intcnsts, the power, and the glory of all to be sacrificed by the act 
 
 1 • i- 
 
 i 
 
 f . 
 
 * 
 
 li 
 
 I 
 
498 
 
 DKMOCRACY IX AMERICA. 
 
 ■■' \ 
 
 .v'f 
 
 '}>■'' 
 
 often as a steady resistance is offered to the Federal 2;ov- 
 ernment, it will be found to yield. Experience lias hith- 
 erto shown that, whenever a State has demanded anvthino: 
 with perseverance and resolution, it has invariably sue 
 ceeded ; and that, if it has distinctly refused to act, it was 
 left to do as it thought fit.* 
 
 But even if the government of the Union had any 
 strength inherent in itself, the physical situation of the 
 country would render the exercise of that strength very 
 difficult.! The United States cover an immense territory, 
 they are separated from each other by great distances, and 
 the population is disseminated over the surfiice of a coun- 
 try which is still half a wilderness. If the Union were 
 to undertake to enforce by arms the allegiance of the 
 confederate States, it would be in a position very analo- 
 gous to that of England at the time of the war of in- 
 dependence. 
 
 However strong a government may be, it cannot easily 
 escape from the consequences of a principle which it has 
 once admitted as the foundation of its constitution. The 
 Union was formed by the voluntary agi*eement of the 
 States ; and these, in uniting together, have not forfeited 
 their nationality, nor have they been reduced to the con- 
 
 of a few. They thus act in strict accordance with their own republican prin- 
 ciple, that the will of the majority, duly ascertained and expressed in the 
 manner and under the limitations prescribed by the Constitution, shall be 
 the ultimate and supreme law, from which there can be no appeal. And this 
 determination they are now manifcstinj; with a xmanimity and enerpy such 
 as no nation has ever before shown in defence of its f^overnment. — Am. Ed. 
 
 * See tli^ conduct of the Northern States in the war of 1812. " During 
 that war," says Jefferson in a letter to General Lafayette, " four of the East- 
 ern States were only atta^'hed to the Union like so many inanimate bodies to 
 living men." 
 
 t Tiie profound peace of the Union affords no pretext for a standing army ; 
 and witiiout a standing army, a government is not prepared to profit by a 
 favorable opportunity to conquer resistance, and take the sovereign power by 
 surprise. 
 
CHANCES OF DURATION OF THi: UNION. 
 
 499 
 
 dition of one and the same people. If one of the States 
 cliose to withdraw its name from tlie contract, it would 
 be difficult to disprove its right of doing so,* and the 
 Federal government would have no means of nuiintainino; 
 its claims directly, either by force or by right. In order 
 to enable the Federal government easily to conquer the 
 resistance which may be offered to it by any of its sub- 
 jects, it would be necessary that one or more of them 
 should be specially interested in the existence of the 
 Union, as has frequently been the case hi the history 
 of confederations. 
 
 If it be supposed that amongst the States which are 
 united by the Federal tie there are some which exclusively 
 enjoy the principal advantages of union, or whose prosper- 
 ity entirely depends on the duration of that union, it is 
 unquestionable that they will always be ready to sui)port 
 the central government in enforcino; the obedicMice of the 
 others. But the government would then be exerting a 
 force not derived from itself, but from a princijjle contrary 
 to its nature. States form confederations in order to de- 
 rive equal advantages from their union ; and in the case 
 just alluded to, the Federal govennnent would derive 
 its power from the unequal distribution of those benefits 
 amongst the States. 
 
 If one of the confederate States have acquired a prepon- 
 derance sufficiently great to enable it to take exclusive pos- 
 session of the central authority, it will consider the other 
 States as subject provinces, and will cause its own suprem- 
 acy to be respected under the borrowed name of the sov- 
 ereignty of the Union. Great things may then be done 
 in the name of the Federal government, but, in reality, 
 
 * It is enoup:h here to say in reply, that the opinion of our fxrcatest law- 
 yers and statesmen, fortified l>y repeated judf^mcnts of tiie Siiprenic Court, 
 is, tliat a State has no right under the Coustitutiou voluntarily to secede 
 from the Union. — Am. Ed. 
 
 ■m 
 
 I 
 
 '! :l 
 
 :,;;,i . ij 
 
 m !!« 
 
 ; >•'•. 
 
600 
 
 DOIOCRACY IN AMKKICA. 
 
 '*t >.i 
 
 
 that government will have ceased to exist.* In both these 
 cases, the power which acts in the name of the confedera- 
 tion becomes stroriiier tlie more it abandons the natural 
 state and the acknowledged principles of confederations. 
 
 In America, the existinji; Union is advantageous to all 
 the States, but it is not indispensable to any one of them. 
 Several of them might break the Federal tie without com- 
 promising the weltiire of the others, although the sum of 
 their joint prosperity would be less. As the existence and 
 the ha})piness of none of the States are wholly dependent 
 on the present Constitution, they would none of them be 
 disposed to make great personal sacrifices to maintain it. 
 On the other hand, there is no State which seems hitherto 
 to have its ambition much interested in the maintenance 
 of the existing Union. They certainly do not all exercise 
 the same influence in the Federal councils ; but no one 
 can hope to domineer over the rest, or to treat them as 
 its inferiors or as its subjects. 
 
 It appears to me unquestionable, that, if any portion of 
 the Union seriously desired to separate itself from the other 
 States, they would not be able, nor indeed would they 
 attempt, to prevent it ; and that the present Union will 
 only last as long as the States which compose it choose 
 to continue members of the confederation. If this pouit 
 be admitted, the question becomes less difficult ; and our 
 object is, not to inquire whether the States of the existing 
 Union are capable of separating, but whether they will 
 choose to remain united. 
 
 Amongst the various reasons which tend to render the 
 existing Union useful to the Americans, two principal 
 ones are especially evident to the observer. Although the 
 
 * Thus the province of Holland, in the republic of the Low Countries, and 
 the Emperor in the Germanic Confederation, have sometimes put themselves 
 in the place of the Union, and have employed the federal autliority to tiicir 
 own advantage. 
 
 
 -^iif 
 
CHAXCKS 01' DURATKJN or TIIK UNION. 
 
 501 
 
 t ' 
 
 Americans are, as it were, alone upon tlieir continent, com- 
 merce i!;ives tlieni for neiiilibors all the nations with which 
 they trade. Notwithstanding their apparent isolation, then, 
 the Americans need to be strong, and thev can be stron;:; 
 only by remaining united. It" the Sttites wei'e to split, 
 tliey would not only diminish the strength which they now 
 have against foreigners, but they would soon create foreign 
 powers upon tlieir own territory. A system of inland cus- 
 tom-houses would then be established; the valleys would 
 be divided by imaginary boundary lines ; the courses of 
 the rivers would be impeded, and a nuiltitude of hin- 
 drances would })revent the Americans from using that vast 
 continent which Providence has given *hem for a iloininion. 
 At present, they have no invasion to fear, and conscMiuently 
 no standing armies to maintain, no taxes to levy. If the 
 Union were dissolved, all these burdensome things would 
 erelong be required. The Americans are, then, most 
 deeply interested in the maintenance of their Union. On 
 the other liand, it is almost impossible to discover any 
 private interest wdiicli might now tem])t a portion of the 
 Union to separate from the other States. 
 
 When we cast our eyes upon the map of the United 
 States, we perceive the chain of the Alleghany Mountains, 
 running from the northeast to the southwest, and cross- 
 ing nearly one thousand miles of country ; and we are led 
 to imagine that the design of Providence Avas to raise, be- 
 tween the valley of the Mississippi and the coasts of the 
 Atlantic Ocean, one of those natural barriers which break 
 the mutual intercourse of men, and form the necessary 
 limits of different States. But the averajxe heio-ht of the 
 Alleohanies does not exceed 2,500 feet. Their rounded 
 summits, and the spacious valleys which they enclose with- 
 in tlieir passes, are of easy access in several directions. 
 Besides, the principal rivers which fall into the Atlantic 
 Ocean, the Hudson, the Sus(juelianna, and the Potomac, 
 
 Hi 
 
 m 
 
 ;«,]: :| 
 
 
 'f >■;•:'. 
 
502 
 
 DEJIOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 m 
 
 n'i 
 
 ^:rl! 
 
 '"t'1 i': 
 
 fi mi 
 
 mi 
 
 i:r 
 
 take their rise beyond the Alleghanies, in an open elevated 
 plain, which borders upon the valley of the Mississi})pi. 
 These streams quit this tract of country, make their way 
 throuMi the barrier which would seem to turn them west- 
 ward, and, as they wind through the mountains, open an 
 easy and natural passage to man. 
 
 No natural barrier divides the regions which are now 
 inhabited by the Anglo-Americans ; the Alleghanies are 
 so far from separating nations, that they do not even divide 
 different States. New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia 
 comprise them within their borders, and extend as nuich 
 to the west as to the east of the line. 
 
 The territory now occupied by the twenty-four States 
 of the Union, and the three great districts which have not 
 yet acquired the rank of States, although they already 
 contain inhabitants, covers a surface of 1,002,000 square 
 miles,* which is about equal to five times the extent of 
 France. Within tliese limits the quality of the soil, 
 the temperature, and the produce of the country, are ex- 
 tremely various. The vast extent of territory occupied by 
 the Anglo-American republics has given rise to doubts as to 
 the maintenance of their Union. Here a distinction must 
 be made ; contrary interests sometimes arise in the differ- 
 ent provinces of a vast empire, which often terminate in 
 open dissensions ; and the extent of the country is then 
 most prejudicial to the duration of the state. But if the 
 inhabitants of these vast regions are not divided by con- 
 trary interests, the extent of the territory is favorable to 
 
 * See Darliy's View of the United States, p. 435. [In 1860 the nunihtT 
 of States has increased to 34 ; tlie population to 31,000,000, and tlie area of 
 the States, 3,189,000 square miles. — Eiu/lish Translator's Note,] [And now 
 that the United States comprise a vast region bordering on the Pacific Ocean, 
 the liocky Mountains, and the barren and mountainous country adjacent to 
 them, form a great natural barrier between the eastern and western portions 
 of the Union. — Am. Ed.] 
 
CHANCES OF DURATION OF THE UNION. 
 
 m 
 
 their prosperity ; for tlie unity of the government pro- 
 motes tlie interchange of tlie different })roduc'tions of the 
 soil, and increases their vahie by tiiciUating tlieir con- 
 sumption. 
 
 It is indeed easy to discover different interests in the 
 different parts of the Union, but I am unacquainted with 
 any whicli are hostile to each other. The Southern States 
 are almost exclusively agricultural. The Northern States 
 are more j)eculiarly commercial and manufacturing. The 
 States of the West are, at the same time, aiiricultural and 
 manuflicturing. In the South, the crops consist of tobac<'o, 
 rice, cotton, and sugar ; in the North and the AV^est, of 
 wheat and maize : these are different sources of wealth ; 
 but union is the means by which these sources are opened 
 and rendered e([ually advantageous to all. 
 
 The North, which ships the produce of the Anglo- 
 Americans to all parts of the world, and brings back the 
 produce of the globe to the Union, is evidently interested 
 in maintaining the confederation in its present condition, 
 in order that the number of American producers and con- 
 sumers may remain as large as possible. The North is the 
 most natural agent of communication between the South 
 and the West of the Union on the one hand, and the rest 
 of the world upon the other ; the North is therefore inter- 
 ested in the union and prosperity of the South and the 
 West, in order that they may continue to furnish raw ma- 
 terials for its manufactures, and cargoes for its shipping. 
 
 The South and the West, on their side, are still more 
 directly interested in the preservation of the Union and 
 the prosperity of the North. The produce of the South 
 is, for the most part, exported beyond seas ; the South and 
 the West consequently stand in need of the commercial 
 resources of the North. They are likewise interested in 
 the maintenance of a powerful fleet by the Union, to pro- 
 tect them efficaciously. The South and the West have no 
 
 ! ' 'II. 
 
 m 
 
504 
 
 DK.MOCRACY L\ AMKUICA. 
 
 ji ill 
 
 \'. 
 
 vessels, but willinfily contribute to tlie ex})eiise of a navy; 
 for if the fleets of Euroi)e were to blockade the ports of 
 the South and the delta of the Mississij)])i, what would 
 become of the rice of the Carolinas, the tobacco of Vir- 
 ilinia, and the suoar and cotton which m'<>w in the vallcv 
 of the Mississippi ? Every portion of the Federal bud«ivt 
 does, therefore, contribute to the maintenance of material 
 interests which are connnon to all the confederate States. 
 
 Independently of this commercial utihty, the South :uid 
 tiie West derive great jjolitical advantages from their union 
 with each other and with the North. The South contains 
 an enormous slave population, — a population which is al- 
 ready alarming, and still more formidable for the futuri'. 
 The States of the West occupy a single valley ; the rivers 
 which intersect their territory rise in the Ivocky Mountains 
 or in the Alleghanies, and fall into the JNIississippi, wl)ich 
 bears them onwards to the Gulf of Mexico. The Western 
 States are conse(piently entirely cut off, by their position, 
 from the traditions of Europe and the civilization of the 
 Old World. The inhabitants of the South, then, are in- 
 duced to su])port the Union in order to avail themselves 
 of its protection against the blacks ; and the inhabitants of 
 the West, in order not to be excluded from a free commu- 
 nication with the rest of the globe, and shut up in the wilds 
 of central America. The North cannot but desire the 
 maintenance of the Union, in order to remain, as it now 
 is, the connecting link between that vast body and the 
 other parts of the world. 
 
 The material interests of all the parts of the Union are, 
 then, intimately connected ; and the same assertion holds 
 true respecting those opinions and sentiments which may 
 be termed the ui- aterial interests of men. 
 
 The inhabitar of the United States talk much of their 
 attachment to neir country ; but I confess that I do not 
 rely upon tl at calculating patriotism which is founded 
 
CHANCES OF DlliATION OF TIIK INIUN. 
 
 oO.J 
 
 , are in- 
 
 commu- 
 
 upon interest, and wliieli a change in tlii' interests may 
 destroy. Nor do 1 attach nuich inijxtrtance to the hm- 
 gnage of the Americans, wlicn they manifest, in their daily 
 conversation, the intention of maintalnino- tlie Federal sns- 
 tem ado})ted by their forefathers. A govennnciit retains 
 its swi<^ Mv > a ;i;i'oat number of citizens far less hv tlie 
 volunta^^ a' rational consent of tlie nndtitude, than by 
 that instinctive, and to a cei Mt extent invohuitary, agive- 
 ment "svliich results from simihu'ity of feehni;s and resem- 
 blances of opinion. I will never admit that men constitute 
 a social body sim})ly because they obey tlie same head and 
 the same laws. Society can oidy exist when a great luim- 
 ber of men consider a oreat ninnber of thiniis under the 
 same aspect, when they hold the same opinions upon many 
 subjects, and when the same occurrences suggest the same 
 thoughts and impressions to their minds. 
 
 The observer who examines what is passing in the 
 United States upon this princi})le, will readily discover 
 that their inhabitants, though divided into twenty-four 
 disti.ict sovereignties, still constitute a single ])eople ; and 
 he may perhaps be led to think that the Anglo-American 
 Union is more truly a united society than some nations of 
 Europe which live under the same legislation and the same 
 prince. 
 
 Althouo;h the Anolo- Americans have several relio-ious 
 sects, they all regard religion in the same manner. They 
 are not always agreed upon the measures which are most 
 conducive to good government, and they vary upon some 
 of the forms of government which it is expedient to adopt ; 
 but they are unanimous upon the general princi})les which 
 ought to rule human society. From Maine to the Flor- 
 idas, and from the Missouri to the Atlantic Ocean, the 
 people are held to be the source of all legitimate power. 
 The same notions are entertained respecting liberty and 
 equality, the liberty of the press, the right of association, 
 
 22 
 
 m 
 
506 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 i t' 
 
 tlie juiy, and the rosponsibility of the agents of govern- 
 ment. 
 
 If we turn from tlieir political and religious opinions to 
 the moral and philosophical principles which regulate the 
 daily actions of life, and <xovern tneir conduct, we still tind 
 the same uniformity. The Anglo-Americans* acknowl- 
 edge the moral authority of the reason of the community, 
 as they acknowledge the pohtical authority of the mass of 
 citizens ; and they hold that i)ublic opinion is the surest 
 arbiter of what is lawful or forbidd( n, true or false. The 
 majority of them believe that a man, by following his own 
 interest rightly understood, will be led to do what is just 
 and good. They hold that every man is born in posses- 
 sion of the right of self-government, an'^' *hat no one has 
 the right of constraining his fellow-creatd'es to be happy. 
 They have all a lively iiiitli in the perfectibility of man ; 
 they judge that the diffusion of knowledge must necessa- 
 rily be advantageous, and the consequences of ignorance 
 flital ; they all consider society as a body in a state of im- 
 provement, humanity as a changing scene, in Avhicli noth- 
 ing is, or ought to be, permanent ; and they admit that 
 what appears to them to-day to be good, may be superseded 
 by something better to-morrow. I do not give all these 
 opinions as true, but as American opinions. 
 
 The Anglo-Americans are not only united by these com- 
 mon opinions, but they are separated from all other nations 
 by a feeling of pride. For the last fifty years, no pains 
 have been spared to convince the inhabitants of the United 
 States that they are the only religious, enlightened, and 
 free people. They perceive that, for the present, their 
 own democratic institutions prosper, whilst those of other 
 countries fail ; hence they conceive a high opinion of their 
 
 * It is scarcely necessary for me to observe that, by the expression Aiujlo- 
 Americans, I mean to designate only the great majority of the nation ; for 
 Bome isolated individuals, of course, hold very different opinions. 
 
 I ti.. .-; 
 
CHANCKS 01' DUUATIUN 01" Till:; UNION. 
 
 i07 
 
 superiority, and are not very remote from believing them- 
 selves to be ji distinct species of mankind. 
 
 Thus, the dangers which threaten the American Union 
 do not originate in diversity of interests or of o})inions ; 
 but in the various characters and passions of the Ameri- 
 cans. The men who inhabit the vast territory of the 
 United States are almost all the issue of a conunon stock ; 
 but climate, and more especially slavery, have gradually 
 introduced marked ditferences between the Jiritish settler 
 of the Southern States and the Jiritish settler of the Mortli. 
 In Europ(j, it is generally believed that slavery has ren- 
 dered the interests of one part of the Union contrary to 
 those of the other ; but 1 have not found tiiis to be the 
 case. Slavery has not created interests in the South con- 
 trary to those of the North, but it has modified the char- 
 acter and chanoed the habits of the natives of the South. 
 
 I have already explained the inHueuce of slavery upon 
 the commercial ability of the Americans in the South ; and 
 this same influence equally extends to their manners. The 
 slave is a servant who never remonstrates, and who sub- 
 mits to everything without complaint. He may sometimes 
 assassinate, but he never withstands, his master. In the 
 South, there are no families so poor as not to have slaves.* 
 The citizen of the Southern States becomes a sort of do- 
 mestic dictator from infancy ; the first notion he acquires 
 in life is, that he is born to command, and the first habit 
 which he contracts is that of ruling without resistance. 
 His education tends, then, to give him the character of a 
 haughty and hasty man, — irascible, violent, ardent in his 
 desires, impatient of obstacles, but easily discouraged If he 
 cannot succeed upon his first attempt. 
 
 jr 
 
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 ili 
 
 
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 * This is not strictly true. There are many " poor whites," as they are 
 termed, in the Soutlierii States, who own no slaves, and earn a scanty sub- 
 sistence by the labor of their hands, though they labor very unwillingly, — 
 Am. Ed. 
 
 :1 1 ¥ 
 
 m ! 
 
 i:<r 
 
508 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 ■)§.:!.' 
 
 Till' Anu'ricati of tlie North sees no sluvos siround him 
 ill liis cliildhood ; he is even ui attended hy free siTviints, 
 for he is usually obliged to provide tor his own wants. As 
 soon as he enters the world, the idi'a of necessity assails 
 him on vvi.n'y side : he soon learns to know exactly the 
 natural limits of his power ; lu' never exjK'cts to suhdue 
 by force those who withstand him ; and he knows that the 
 surest means of obtain i no' the su|)[)ort of his fellow-creatures 
 is to win their favor, lie therefore be(;omes j)atient, reflect- 
 ing, tolerant, slow to act, and persevering in his designs. 
 
 In the Southern States, the more pressing wants of life 
 are always snpplii'tl ; the inhabitants, therefore, are not 
 occuj)ied with t)ie material cares of life, from which they 
 are relieved by others ; and their imagination is diverted 
 to more ca})tivating and less definite objects. The Ameri- 
 can of the South is fond of grandeur, luxury, and renown, 
 of gayety, pleasure, and, above all, of idleness ; nothing 
 obliiies him to exert himself in order to subsist; and ts he 
 has no necessary occu})ations, he gives way to indolence, 
 and does not even attempt what would be useful. 
 
 But the etpiality of fortunes and the absence of slavery 
 in the North plunge the inhabitants in those material cares 
 which are disdained by the white population of the South. 
 They are taught from infancy to combat want, and to place 
 wealth above all the pleasures of the intellect or the heart. 
 The imagination is extinguished by the trivial details of 
 life ; and the ideas become less numerous and less general, 
 but far more practical, clearer, and more precise. As pros- 
 })erity is the sole aim of exertion, it is excellently well at- 
 tained ; nature and men are turned to the best pecuniary 
 advantage ; and society is dexterously made to contribute 
 to the welfare of each of its members, whilst individnal 
 selfishness is the source of general happiness. 
 
 The American of the North has not only experience, but 
 knowledge ; yet he values science not as an enjoyment, bnt 
 
CUANUKS OF IHIJ.MION OK Illl': INIoN. 
 
 :>o!) 
 
 1 cares 
 Soutli. 
 to place 
 heart, 
 ails of 
 eneral, 
 s pros- 
 -ell at- 
 
 an a uu'aiis, and is only anxious to sci/A' its usi't'ul aj)plica- 
 tions. 'riic iVnicrican of the South is nioi'i' t:;ivi'U to act 
 upon iinj)ulsc! ; he is more ("lever, nion; i'rank, more ircner- 
 ous, nioiv intellectual, and more l)rilliant. Tlie former, with 
 a ^ri'ater degree of activity, conunon sense, information, and 
 general aptitutU*, has tiie characteristic good and evil (jual- 
 ities of tile middle classes. The lattt-r lias the tastes, tiie 
 prejudices, the weaknesses, and the magnanimity of all aris- 
 tocracies. 
 
 If two men aie united in society, who have the samo 
 interests, and, to a certain extent, the same opinions, hut 
 different characters, different actpiirements, ami a dilferent 
 style of civilization, it is most prohahle that these men will 
 not agree. The same remark is applicable to a society of 
 nations. 
 
 Slavery, then, does not attack the American Union di- 
 rectly in its interests, but indirectly in its maimers. 
 
 The States which ijave their assent to the Federal con- 
 tract in 1700 were thirteen in number ; the Union now 
 consists of twenty-four [thirty-four] members. Tiie j)oj)- 
 ulation, wdiich amounted to nearly four millions in 171)0, 
 had more than tripled in the space of forty years ; in 
 18-)0, it amounted to nearlv thirteen millions.* Chauiics 
 of such maiinitude cannot take ])lace without dauixer. 
 
 A society of nations, as well as a society of individuals, 
 has three princij)al chances of duration, — namely, the wis- 
 dom of its members, their individual weakness, and their 
 limited number. The Americans who ([uit tlu' coasts of 
 the xVtlantic Ocean to })lunge into the Western wilderness 
 are adventurers, imj)atient of restraint, greedy of wealth, 
 and frequently men expelled from the States in which they 
 were born. When they arrive in the deserts, they are 
 
 * Ccnsuri of 1 790 
 " 1830 
 " 1860 
 
 12,8r)6,165. 
 31,134,066. 
 
 I 
 
 St 
 
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r>io 
 
 DKMOCISACV IN AMKIMCA. 
 
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 unknown to cacli other ; tlicy liiivc ni'itluT triulitions, Him- 
 ily li'('Iin<:;, nor tlu' torce of cxiunjdc to clicfk tluir ox- 
 ci'sscs. 'I'lic iuitlioritv of till' h\\\s is tl-clili' ainonn;st tlicni, 
 — that of morality is still wcaki-r. Tlu' settlors who aro 
 constantly pcoplino; the valley of the Mississipjii are, then, 
 in every ri's|)eet, inferior t(» the Americans who inlialiit 
 the older i)arts of the Cnion. I5nt thev alri'adv exei'cise 
 a oi\'at influence in its councils ; and they ari'i\ e at the 
 jfoM'rnment of the conunonwealth bel'ore they have learnt 
 to <jjo\'eru themselves.* 
 
 The o-reater the individual weakness of the contractinii; 
 ])arties, the <:;reater are the chances of the dnration of the 
 contract ; for their safety is then dt'|)endent upon their 
 union. When, in 17*.H), the most popnlons of the Ameri- 
 can rej)ul)lics did not contain 500,000 inhal)itants,f each 
 of them felt its own insio;nificance as an independent peo- 
 ple, and this feelinii; rendered compliance with the Federal 
 authority more easy. liut, when one of the coni'ederato 
 States reckons, like the State of New York, two millions 
 [three and a half millions] of inhabitants, and covers an 
 extent of territory eijual to a (juarter of France, :j: it feels 
 its own strength ; and, although it may still support the 
 Union as useful to its prosj)erity, it no lojiger regards 
 it as necessary to its existence ; and, while consenting to 
 continue in it, it aims at preponderance in the Federal 
 councils. The mere increase in number of the States 
 weakens the tie that holds them together. All men who 
 are placed at the same point of view do not look at the 
 same objects in the same manner. Still less do they do 
 so when the point of view is different. In proportion, 
 
 * Tins indeed is only a temporary dant,fer. I have no doubt that in time 
 society will assume as much staliility and re<rularity in the West as it has 
 already done upon the coast of the Atlantic Ocean. 
 
 t rcnnsylvania contained 431,373 inlial)itants in 1790. 
 
 t The area of the State of New York is ahout 4G,000 square miles. 
 
cuANcKs or Dn.'AiioN- (ii' iiii; r\i(>\. 
 
 Ml 
 
 tlii'ii, as tlic AiiKM'iciUi i"fj)iilili(s Iiccoiiu' iiiofc numerous, 
 flicrc is less cliimcc (»t' tlu'ir imaiiiiiiity in matters dt' K'^is- 
 liition. At pivsc'Mt, till' interests of the tliU'erent parts ot' 
 tlio Tnion are not at variance; l)Ut who can t'oi'esee tlio 
 various changes of tlio future in a couiitrv in w hich new 
 towns i le fouii<U'(l every day, and new States almost every 
 vear ? 
 
 Since the first settlement of the Ri'itish Colonies, the 
 mimher of inhahitants has ahout douhled ('veiy twenty- 
 two years. I perceive no can es which are rifely to check 
 
 this ratio of inc 
 
 >f the An<rlo-A 
 
 ilati 
 
 crease or nie An<j;io-AiT -.'rican po|>ulatU)ii 
 for the next hundred years ; and hef tvi' that time has 
 elapsed, I believe that the territories. .•■ d (h'|i< : deiu es of 
 the United States will bo covered by more th;'. a hundred 
 millions of inhabitants, and divided into foi v State>: f I 
 admit that these hundred millions of ''ic>i have no di.; rent 
 interests. I sujipose, on the contra /y, that they are all 
 ecpially interested in the maintenance of the Union ; but 
 I still say that, for the very reason that they are a hundred 
 millions, forming forty distinct nations uiuMpially strone;, 
 the continuance of the Federal m)vernment can only bo 
 a fortunate accident. 
 
 Whatever faith I may have in the perfectibility of man, 
 
 * If tlie i)0[)ulation coiitiiuios tr 'louhlc every twenty-two yenrs, as it lias 
 done for the last two limulred j-ea/- -n numl)cr of inlialiitants in the United 
 States in 1852 will l)e twenty-fonr millions; in 1874, forty-eitrht millions; 
 and in 1896, ninety-six millions. This may still he the case, even if the 
 lands on the eastern slope of liie lioeky Mountains should lie found unlit for 
 cultivation. The territory whicii is already occupied can easily contain this 
 numlier of inhahitants. One hundred millions of men spread over the sinfaco 
 of the twenty-f ;'ar States, and the three dependencies, which now constitute the 
 Union, would only give 762 inhahitants to the square lea<;ue ; this would I)e 
 far helow the mean population of France, which is 1,006 to the s(|uare lcaj:iie ; 
 or (if Eiiiiland, which 1,4.')7 ; an<l it would even he helow the population of 
 Switzerland, for that country, notwithstanding its lakes and mountains, eci 
 tains 783 inhahitants to the square league. 
 
 11. 
 
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 m: 
 
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 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
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 until Imnian nature is altered, and men wholly transformed, 
 I sliall refuse to believe in the duration of a n;overnment 
 which is called upon to hold togetlier forty diflerent nations, 
 spread o ' <• a territory equal to one half of Europe, to 
 avoid all rivalry, ambition, and struggles between them, 
 and to direct their inde])endent activity to the accomphsh- 
 ment of the same desions. 
 
 But the greatest peril to which the Union is exposed by 
 its increase arises ft'om the continual displacement of its 
 internal forces. The distance from Lake Superior to tlie 
 Gulf of Mexico is more than twelve hundred miles, as the 
 crow flies. The frontier of the United States winds aloncj 
 the whole of this immense hne ; sometimes falling within 
 its limits, but more frequently extending far beyond it, into 
 the waste. It has been calculated that the whites advance 
 every year a mean distance of seventeen miles along the 
 whole of this vast boundary. Obstacles, such as an un- 
 ]>r()ductive district, a lake, or an Indian nation, are some- 
 times encountered. The advancino; column then halts for 
 a while ; its two extremities curve round upon themselv^es, 
 and, as soon as they are reunited, they proceed onwards. 
 This gradual and continuous progress of the European 
 race towards the Rocky Mountains has the solemnity of a 
 providential event ; it is like a deluge of men rising una- 
 batedly, and daily driven onwards by the hand of God. 
 
 Within this front line of conquering settlers, towns are 
 built, and vast States founded. In 1790, there were only 
 a few thousand pioneei's sprinkled along the valleys of the 
 Mississippi ; at the present day, these valleys contain as 
 many inhabitants as were to be found in the whole Union 
 in 1790. Their population amounts to nearly four millions. 
 The city of Washington was founded in 1800, in the very 
 centre of the Union ; but such are the changes which have 
 taken place, that it now stands at one of the extremities ; 
 and the delegates of the most remote Western States, in 
 
 I : ■ 
 
mselves. 
 
 CHANCES OF DURATION OF TIIF UXIOX. 
 
 518 
 
 order to take tlioir seats in Cono;ress, are already ol)lio;(Hl 
 to perform a journey as long as that from Vienna to Paris.* 
 
 All the States are home onwards at the same time in the 
 patli of fortune, hut they do not all increase and prosper 
 in the same proportion. In the North of the Union, the 
 detached ])ranches of the Alleghany chain, extending as 
 far as the Atlantic Ocean, form spacious roads and [)orts, 
 constantly accessihle to the largest vessels. lint from the 
 Potomac, following the shore, to the mouth of the ]Missis- 
 sippi, the coast is sandy and flat. In this part of the 
 Union, the months of almost all the rivers are ohstructed ; 
 and the few harhors which exist amono-st these lamnies 
 afFoi'd shallo\\er water to vessels, and much fewer com- 
 mercial advantao;es, than those of the North. 
 
 This first and natural cause of inferiority is united to 
 another cause proceeding fi-om the laws. We have seen 
 that slavery, which is aholished in the North, still exists in 
 the South ; and I have pointed out its fatal consequences 
 upon the prosperity of the planter himself. 
 
 The North is therefore superior to the South both in 
 commerce f and manufacture ; the natural consequence of 
 
 * Tlic distance from Jefferson, the capital of the State of Missouri, to 
 Washinjjton, is 1,019 miles. 
 
 t The following statements will show the difference between the commer- 
 cial activity of the South and of the North. 
 
 In 1829 the tonnajre of all the merchant-A'cssels helonjjiii}]^ to Virfrinia, the 
 two Carolinas, and Georjria (the four jjreat Southern States), amouTitod to 
 only 5,24.3 tons. In the same year, the tonnape of the vessels of the State 
 of Massachusetts alone amounted to 17,.'322 tons. (See Legislative l^ocu- 
 moiits, 21st Congress, 2d Session, No. 140, p. 214.) Thus Massachusetts 
 had three times as much shipping as the four above-mentioned States. Nev- 
 ertheless, the area of the State of IVrassachusctts is only 7,.3.'}.') square miles, 
 and its population amounts to r)10,014 inhabitants ; wliilst the area of the 
 four otlicr States I have (juoted is 210,000 s(|uare miles, and their population 
 .3,047, "()7. Thus the area of the State of Massachusetts forms only one 
 thirtictii ])art of the area of the four States; and iis population is but ono 
 fifth of theirs. [In 18.')8, the tonnage of the these four Southern States was 
 22* GO 
 
 I ■ 
 
 nn 
 
 4 
 
 1 i 
 
 
 1^ 
 
 
 i ^m 
 
514 
 
 DEJIOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 i'v! 
 
 II 
 
 '■: ( 
 it ,: 
 
 which is the more rapid increase of population and wealtli 
 within its borders. The States on the shores of the Atlan- 
 tic Ocean are already half peopled. Most of the land is 
 held by an owner ; and they cannot therefore receive so 
 many emigrants as the Western States, where a boundless 
 field is still open to industry. The valley of the Missis- 
 sippi is far more fertile than the coast of the Atlantic 
 Ocean. This reason, added to all the others, contributes 
 to drive the Europeans westward, — a fact which may be 
 rigorously demonstrated by figures. It is found that the 
 sum total of the population of all the United States has 
 about tripled in the course of forty years. But in the new 
 States adjacent to the Mississippi, the population has in- 
 creased thirty-one fold within the same time. 
 
 The centre of the Federal power is continually displaced. 
 Forty years ago, the majority of the citizens of the Union 
 was established upon the coast of the Atlantic, in the envi- 
 rons of the spot where Washington now stands ; but the 
 great body of the people are now advancing inland and to 
 the North, so that, in twenty years, the majority will un- 
 questionably be on the western side of the Alleghanies. 
 If the Union continues, the basin of the Mississippi is evi- 
 dently marked out, by its fertility and its extent, to be the 
 permanent centre of the Federal government. In thirty 
 or forty years, that tract of country will have assumed its 
 natural rank. It is easy to calculate that its population, 
 
 but 4,765, while that of Massachusetts was 32,599.] Slavery is prejudicial 
 to the commercial prosperity of the South in several diftcrcnt ways; l»y di- 
 miuishi' ; the spirit of enterprise amongst the whites, and by preventing them 
 from obtaining the sailors whom they require. Sailors arc usually taken 
 only from the lowest ranks of the population. But in the Southern States, 
 these lowest ranks are composed of slaves, and it is very difficult to employ 
 them at sea. They are unaljle to serve as well as a white crew, and ap- 
 prehensions would always be entertained of their mutinying in the middle 
 of the ocean, or of their escaping in the foreign countries at which they 
 might touch. 
 
CIIANCKS OF DURATION OF THE UNION. 
 
 515 
 
 compared with that of the coast of the Atlantic, will then 
 be u round numbers, as 40 to 11, In a few years, the 
 Stales wdiich founded the Union will lose the direction of 
 its policy, and the population of the valley of the Missis- 
 sippi will preponderate in the Federal assemblies. 
 
 This constant gravitation of the Federal power and in- 
 fluence towards the Northwest is shown every ten years, 
 when a general census of the population is made, and the 
 number of deleo-ates wdiich each State sends to Cono;ress is 
 settled anew.* In 1790, Virginia had ninetcH'u representa- 
 tives in Conm'ess. This number continued to increase 
 until 1813, when it reached tw^enty-three ; from that 
 time it began to decrease, and, in 1883, Virginia elected 
 only twenty-one. f During the same period, the State of 
 
 * It may be seen that, in the course of the last ten years (1820-1830), 
 the population of one district, as, for instance, the State of Delaware, lias 
 increased in the proportion of five per cent ; whilst that of another, as the 
 Territory of jNIichifian, has increased 250 per cent. Thus the poi)ulation of 
 Virginia had augmented 13 per cent, and that of the ijorder State of Ohio 
 61 per cent, in the same time. The general tahle of these changes, which 
 is given in the National Calendar, is a striking picture of the unequal fortunes 
 of the different States. 
 
 t It has just been said, that, in the course of the la.st term, the population 
 of Virginia has increased 13 per cent ; and it is necessary to explain how 
 the number of representatives for a State may decrease, wlien the po])ulation 
 of that State, far from diminishing, is actually upon the increase. I take 
 the State of Virginia, to which I have already alluded, as nn- term of com- 
 parison. The number of representatives of Virginia in 1823 was propor- 
 tionate to the total number of the representatives of the Union, and to the 
 I'elation which its population bore to that of the whole Union ; in 1 83.'? the 
 number of representatives of Virginia was likewise proportionate to the total 
 number of the representatives of the Union, and to the relation which its 
 population, augmented in the couse of ten years, bore to the augmented 
 population of the Union in the same space of time. The new number of 
 Virginian representatives will then be to the old number, on the one hand, 
 as the new numl)er of all the rei)rcse!itativcs is to the old number ; and, on 
 the other hand, as the augmentation of the population of Virginia is to that 
 of the whole population of the country. Thus, if the increase of the popu- 
 
 
 II' 
 
 ii3 
 
 ;Ji 
 
 !* I 
 
 liif 
 
 n- 
 
 m 
 
 Is 
 
 ^1 
 
 II 
 
 if 
 
516 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 
 New York followed the contrary direction : in 1790, it had 
 ten representatives in Congress ; in I8I0, twenty-seven ; 
 in 1823, thirty-four; and in 1833, forty. The State of 
 Oliio had only one re})resentative in 1803 ; and in 1833, 
 it had already nineteen. [Virginia now has thirteen. New 
 York thirty-three, and Ohio twenty-one representatives.] 
 
 It is difficult to imagine a durable unior of a nation 
 which is rich and strong with one which is poor and 
 weak, even if it were proved that the strength and wealth 
 of the one are not the causes of the weakness and poverty 
 of the other. But union is still more difficult to maintain 
 at a time when one party is losing strength, and the other 
 is gaining it. This rapid and disproportionate increase of 
 certain States threatens the independence of the others. 
 New York might perhaps succeed, with its two millions 
 of inhabitants and its forty representatives, in dictating to 
 the other States in Congr'^ss. But, even if the more pow- 
 erful States make no attempt to oppress the smaller ones, 
 the danger still exists ; for there is almost as much in the 
 possibility of the act as in the act itself. The weak gen- 
 erally mistrust the justice and the reason of the strong. 
 The States which increase less rapidly than the others look 
 upon those which are more favored by fortune with envy 
 and suspicion. Hence arise the deep-seated uneasiness and 
 ill-defined agitation which are observable in the South, and 
 which form so striking a contrast to the confidence and 
 prosperity which are common to other parts of the Uuion. 
 I am inclined to think that the hostile attitude taken 
 
 lation of the lesser country be to that of the greater in an exact inverse ratio 
 of tlie proportion between the new and the old numbers of all the representa- 
 tives, the number of the representatives of Virginia will remain stationary ; 
 and if the increase of the Virginian population be to that of the whole 
 Union in a feebler ratio than the new number of tlie representatives of the 
 Union to the old number, the number of the representatives of Virginia must 
 decrease. 
 
CHANCES OF DURATION OF THE UNION. 
 
 517 
 
 bv tlic Soutli recently, is attributable to no otlier cause. 
 The inliabitants of the Southern States are, of all the 
 Americans, those who are most interested in the main- 
 tenance of the Union : thev would assuredly suffer most 
 from beino; left to themselves; and yet thev are the dulv 
 ones who threaten to break the tie of confederation. It 
 is easy to perceive that the South, which has given four 
 Presidents — Washington, Jefferson, IMadison, and MdU- 
 roe — to the Union, which j)erceives that it is losing its 
 Federal influence, and that the number of its representa- 
 tives in Congress is diminishing from year to year, whilst 
 those of the Northern and Western States are increasing, 
 — the South, which is peoi)led with ardent and irascible 
 men, is becoming more and more irritated and alarmed. 
 Its inhabitants reflect upon their present position, and re- 
 member their past influence, with the melancholy inieasi- 
 iiess of men who suspect oppression. If they discover a 
 law of the Union which is not unequivocally favorable 
 to their interests, they protest against it as an abuse of 
 force ; and if their ardent remonstrances are not listened 
 to, they threaten to quit an association which loads them 
 with burdens whilst it deprives them of the profits. " The 
 Tariff," said the iidiabitants of Carolina in 1882, " enriches 
 the North and ruins the South ; for, if this were not the 
 case, to what can we attribute the continually increasing 
 power and wealth of the North, with its inclement skies 
 and arid soil ; whilst the South, which may be styled the 
 garden of America, is rapidly declining." * 
 
 If the changes which I have described were gradual, so 
 that each generation at least might have time to disappear 
 with the order of things under which it had lived, the 
 danger would be less ; but the progress of society in Amer- 
 ica is precipitate, and almost revolutionary. The same 
 
 * See the re])oit of its coininittee to the coiiveiitioii whiili proeliiinicd 
 the uullification of tlic Tariff" iu Soutli Ctiroiiiia. 
 
 liii 
 
 /; 'i 
 
 S" 
 
G18 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 w 
 
 
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 y~:i 
 
 » 'A'- 
 
 if:':: 
 
 
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 :t|!!^ 
 
 i 
 
 citizen may luivo lived to see his State take the lead in the 
 Union, and afterwards become powerless in the Federal 
 assemblies ; and an Anglo- American republic has been 
 known to grow as rapidly as a man, passing from birtli 
 and infancy to maturity in the course of thirty years. It 
 must not be imagined, however, that the States which lose 
 their ])reponderance also lose their population or their 
 riches : iio stop is put to their prosperity, and they even 
 go on to increase more ra})idly than any kingdom in 
 Europe.* But they believe themselves to be impover- 
 ished because their wealth does not augment as ra})idly as 
 that of their neighbors ; and they think that their power 
 is lost because they suddenly come in contact with a 
 power greater than their own : f thus they are more hin-t 
 in their feelings and tlieir passions than in their interests. 
 But this is amply sufficient to endanger the maintenance 
 of the Union. If kings and peoples had only had their 
 true interests in view, ever since the beo-innino; of the 
 world, war would scarcely be known among mankind. 
 
 Thus the prosj)erity of the United States is the source 
 of their most serious dangers, since it tends to create in 
 some of the confederate States that intoxication which 
 accompanies a rapid increase of fortune ; and to awaken 
 in others those feelings of envy, mistrust, and regret which 
 
 * The population of a country assuredly constitutes tlie first element of 
 its wealtli. In the ten years (1820-1830) during which Virginia lost two 
 of its representatives in Congress, its population increased in the proportion 
 of 13.7 percent; that of Carolina, in the proportion of 15 percent; and 
 timt of Georgia, 15.5 per cent. But the population of Kussia, which increases 
 more rapidly than that of any other Em'opean country, only augments in 
 ten years at the rate of 9.5 per cent ; of France, at the rate of 7 per cent ; 
 and of Europe altogether, at the rate of 4.7 per cent. 
 
 t It must be admitted, however, that the depreciation which lias taken 
 place in the value of tobacco, during the last fifty years, has notably dimin- 
 ished the opulence of the Southern planters : but this circumstance is as in- 
 dependent of the will of their Northern brethren as it is of their own. 
 
CHANCES OF DUHATIOX OF TIIF UNION. 
 
 ol9 
 
 usiuilly titti'iul tliL' loss of it. Tlie Aniericiins contem- 
 l)latc! tliis extniordinary progress witli exultation ; but they 
 "vvould he wiser to consider it with sorrow and alarm. The 
 Americans of the United States must inevitahly hecome 
 one of the greatest nations in the world ; their otfspring 
 will cover almost the whole of North America ; the conti- 
 nent which they inhabit is tlieir dominion, and it cannot 
 escape them. What lu'ges them to take ])ossession of it so 
 soon ? Riches, power, and renown cannot fail to be theirs 
 at some future time ; but they rush upon this innnense 
 fortune as if but a moment remained for them to make it 
 their own. 
 
 I think that I have demonstrated, that the existence of 
 tlie present confederation depends entirely on the contin- 
 ued assent of a^l the confederates ; and, starting from this 
 principle, I have inquired into the causes which may in- 
 duce some of the States to separate from the others. The 
 Union may, however, perish in two different ways : one of 
 the confederate States may choose to retire from the com- 
 pact, and so forcibly to sever the Federal tie ; and it is to 
 this sup})Osition that most of the remarks that I have made 
 apply : or the authority of the Federal government may be 
 gradually lost by the simultaneous tendency of the united 
 republics to resume tlieir independence. The central pow- 
 er, successively stripped of all its })rerogatives, and reduced 
 to impotence by tacit consent, would become incompetent 
 to fulfil its purpose ; and the second union woidd perish, 
 like the first, by a sort of senile imbecility. The gradual 
 wx'akening of the Federal tie, which may finally lead to 
 the dissolution of the Union, is a distinct circumstance,, 
 that may produce a variety of minor consequences before 
 it operates so violent a change. The confederation might 
 still subsist, although its o;overnment were reduced to such 
 a degree of inanition as to paralyze the nation, to cause 
 internal anarchy, and to check the general prosperity of 
 the country. 
 
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 if 
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520 
 
 DEMOCRACY IX AMKUICA. 
 
 fi..) ■ 
 
 a--' ' ;l 
 
 V:^-^l' 
 
 <:' 
 
 After luiving invostioatoJ tlie causes wliicli may iiulure 
 the Anglo-Americans to disunite, it is imi)urtant to iiKiuire 
 wlietlier, if the Union continues to subsist, their n;(>vern- 
 ment will extend or contract its sphere of acttion, and 
 whether it will become more energetic or more weak. 
 
 The Americans are evidently disposed to look upon their 
 condition with alarm. They perceive that, in most of the 
 nations of the world, the exercise of the rights of sover- 
 eignty tends to fall into a few hands, and they are dis- 
 mayed by the idea that it may be so in their own country. 
 Even the statesmen feel, or alfect to feel, these fears ; I'or 
 in America centralization is by no means })opular, and 
 tliere is no surer means of courting the majority than by 
 invciiihino; aijainst the encroachments of the central i)o\vei'. 
 The Americans do not perceive that the countries in which 
 this alarming tendency to centralization exists are inhabited 
 by a single people ; whilst the Union is composed of diti'er- 
 ent comnumities, — a fact w Inch is sufficient to baliie all 
 the inferences which might be drawn from rjialogy. I 
 confess that I am inclined to consider these fears of a great 
 number of Americans as purely imaginary. Far from par- 
 ticipating in their dread of the consolidation of power in 
 the hands of the Union, I think that the Federal govern- 
 ment is visibly losing strength. To prove this assertion, I 
 shall not have recourse to any remote occurrences, but to 
 circumstances which I have myself witnessed, and which 
 beloncT to our own time. 
 
 An attentive examination of what is going on in the 
 United States will easily convince us that two opposite 
 tendencies exist there, like two currents flowing in con- 
 trary directions in the same channel. The Union has 
 now existed for forty-five years, and time has done away 
 with many provincial prejudices which w^ere at first hostile 
 to its power. The patriotic feeling which attached each of 
 the Americans to his own State is become less exclusive ; 
 
CHANCES OF DURATION OF TIIK I'NION. 
 
 r^'ii 
 
 great 
 
 and the diftl'iviit })iirts of tlio Union have lu-cdine more 
 amicable as tliey have beeome better accjnainted with eaeh 
 otlier. Tlie post, that great instrument of intercourse, now 
 reaches into the backwoods ; and steamboats lia\i' estab- 
 lislied (hiily means of comnuniication between tlie (Hlfi'i'ent 
 })oints of tlie coast. An inland navigation of unexami»led 
 rapidity conveys commodities up and tlown 'lie rivers of 
 the country. And to these facilities of nature and art may 
 bo added those restless cravings, that busy-miudeduess, and 
 love of pelf, which are constantly urging the' Amei-icau into 
 active lite, and bringing him into contact witli his fellow- 
 citizens, lie cr()ss(}s the country in e\ery dirt'ction ; he 
 visits all the various ])oj)ulations of the land. There h 
 not a province in France in which the natives are so well 
 known to each other as the thirteen nnlll >ns of men who 
 cover the territory of the United States. 
 
 Whilst the Americans intermingle, they as.imilate ; the 
 differences resulting from their climate, their origin, and 
 their institutions diminish; and they all draw learer and 
 nearer to the common type. Every year thousands of 
 men leave the North to settle in different pans of the 
 Union: they bring w^ith them their faith, their opinions, 
 and their manners ; and as they are more enlightened than 
 the men amongst whom they arc about to dwell, they soon 
 rise to the head of affairs, and adapt society to their own 
 advantaiie. This continual emigration of the North to the 
 South is peculiarly favorable to the fusion of all the difi'er- 
 ent provincial characters into one national character. 1'lie 
 civilization of the North appears to be the common stand- 
 ard, to which the whole nation wall one day be assimi- 
 lated. 
 
 The commercial ties which unite the confederate States 
 are strengthened by the increasing manufactures of the 
 Americans ; and the union which began in their oj)inions 
 gradually forms a part of their habits : the course of time 
 
 ' I' Si:' 
 
 ! I; 
 
 i ^'i^: 
 

 UKMUCUACY IN AMKUICA. 
 
 luis swept away the bn^l)C'iir tliou^hts wliicli liauiited tlie 
 imii^iiiiitioiis of the citizens in 1781*. The Fi'thM'iil })()wer 
 is not become oppressive ; it has not destroyed the iiidc- 
 pench'iice of tlie States ; it l»as not sul)je('ted the confe(h'r- 
 ates to nionar(;iiical institutions ; and tlie Union has not 
 rendered tlie lesser States dependent upon the lar<;er ones. 
 The confederation has contiiuied to increase in po])ulation, 
 in wealth, and in power. I am therefore convinced that 
 the natural obstacles to the continuance of the American 
 Union are not so })owerful now as they were in 1781), and 
 that the enemies of the Union are not so numerous. 
 
 And yet a careful examination of the history of the 
 United States for the last forty-five years will readily con- 
 vince us that the Federal power is declinin<^ ; nor is it 
 difficult to explain the causes of this phenomenon. When 
 the Constitution of 1781) was })ronuilgated, the nation was 
 a prey to anarchy ; the Union, which succeeded this con- 
 fusion, excited much dread and hatred, but it was warmly 
 suj)ported because it satisfied an imperious want. iVl- 
 though it was then more attacked than it is now, the Fed- 
 eral power soon reached th(3 maxinuun of its authority, as 
 is usually the case with a government which triumphs after 
 having braced its strength by the struggle. At that time, 
 the interpretation of the Constitution seem-^d to extend, 
 rather than to repress, the Federal sovereignty ; and the 
 Union offered, in several respects, the appearance of a 
 single and undivided people, directed in its foreign and 
 internal policy by a single government. But to attain 
 this point the people had risen, to seme extent, above 
 itself. 
 
 The Constitution had not destroyed the individuality 
 of the States ; and all communities, of whatever nature 
 they may be, are impelled by a secret instinct towards in- 
 dependence. This propensity is still more decided in a 
 country like America, in which every village forms a sort 
 
 U' .; 
 
CIIANCKS OF DIRATION OK Till; INION. 
 
 523 
 
 of ivj)iil)lic', accustoincd to <i<)vern itsi'll". It tlKTcfore cost 
 tliu States an cH'ort to sul)niit to tlic Fi'derul siipri'iniicy ; 
 and all t'tforts, however .succcsstul tlicy may Ik-, ncci'ssa- 
 rily subside with the causes in wliich tlu'y ori<;inated. 
 
 As the Fedei'al iiovennnent consolidated its authoritv, 
 America resumed its rank amongst the nations, peace r*'- 
 turned to its frontiers, and puMic credit was restored; ((in- 
 fusion was succeeded hv a fixed state of things, which 
 permitted the full and live exercise of industi'ioiis enter- 
 prise. It was this very prosperity which made the iVineri- 
 cans forget the cause wiiich had produced it ; and when 
 once the dan«i;er was passed, the eni'r^y and the patriot- 
 ism which had enabled them to brave it disa])peared from 
 amongst them. Delivered fnjin the cares which oppresse(l 
 them, they easily returned to their ordinarv habits, and 
 gave themselves up without resistance to theii" natni'al 
 inclinations. Wlien a powerful ooNcrmnent no longer 
 appeared to be necessary, they once more began to think 
 it irksome. Everything prospered under the Uiiion, and 
 the States were not inclined to abandon the Union : but 
 they desired to render the action of the power which 
 re})reseiited it as light as possible. The general j)rinciple 
 of union was ado[)ted, but in every minor detail there was 
 a tendency to independence. The princij)le of confedera- 
 tion was every day more easily admitted, and more rarely 
 applied ; so tiiat the Fefleral government, by creating order 
 and peace, brought about its own decline. 
 
 As soon as this tendency of public opinion began to be 
 manifested externally, the leaders of })arties, who live by 
 the passions of the people., began to work it to their own 
 advantage. The position of the Federal government then 
 became exceedingly critical. Its enemies were in posses- 
 sion of the popular favor ; and they obtained the right of 
 conducting its policy by pledging themselves to lessen its 
 influence. From that time forwards, the government of the 
 
 I 
 
 i: 
 
 t 
 
 :; I 
 
 I 
 
 I' 
 
624 
 
 DKMOL'KACY IN AMFFM"" \. 
 
 um 
 
 V- .'1 
 
 Union, as often as it lias ontoivd tlie ^' is With the p;ov('rn- 
 nients of tlie Stati's, lias almost invanahlv been oljjiocd to 
 rcccdi'. And whenever an interpretation of the terms of 
 tlie Federal Constitntion has heen pronounced, that inter- 
 pretation has <j;en('rally heen ojiposcd to the Union, and 
 tiivorahle to the States.* 
 
 Tlu' Constitntion mive to the Fedi'ral <rovermni'nt the 
 ri^ht of ))ro\idinn; lur the national interests; and it had 
 heen held that no other authority was so fit to superintend 
 the "internal improvements" which atfected the j)ros])»'r- 
 ity of the whole Union ; sncli, lor instance, as tlie cuttiiiL!; 
 of canals. lint the State's were alai'ined at a power uiiicli 
 could thus dispose of a portion of their territory ; they 
 were afraid that the central <i;overnment would hv tiiis 
 means acquire a formidable })atrona<fe within their own 
 limits, and exercise influence which they wished to reserve 
 excluslvelv to their own a<;ents. The Democratic party, 
 which has constantly opposed the increase of the Federal 
 authority, accused Congress of usuri)ation, and the Chief 
 Mamstrate of ambition. The central <j;overnment was in- 
 timidated by these clamors ; and it finally acknowledged 
 i's error, promising to confine its influence for the future 
 v'ithin the circle which was prescribed to it. 
 
 The Constitution confers upon the Union the right of 
 treating with foreign nations. The Indian tribes, which 
 border upon the frontiers of the United States, had usually 
 been regarded in this lioht. As lonii as these savajies con- 
 
 * This assertion may he douhtcd. The only authorized interpreter of the 
 Constitution is the Supreme Court of the United States ; and in most of tiio 
 suits hefore this tril)unal, wliiih have involved a question as to the limits of tlie 
 Federal and the State authority, tlie decision has heen in favor of tlie former. 
 See the Dartmouth College case, that of Ciiisholm v. Georgia, Gii)i)oiis i". Og- 
 den, Ogden v. Saunders, the Cherokee Land case, and many others. Sev- 
 eral of the cases which our author goes on to cite are instances of hf/islatire, 
 not judicial, interpretation; that is, legally they are no iiiteri)retation at till, 
 being all liahle to be overruled l»y the Supreme Court. — Am. Eu. 
 
ciIANrKS ()!• DIIJAIION <»r Till; iNIoN. 
 
 irs} 
 
 8( 
 
 ntcd to retire lu'foiv tin- civili/i'd sottlcrs, the I'nltMuI 
 
 of tlio 
 
 of tlio 
 
 of tlie 
 
 ibniu'r. 
 
 ■ V. (\- 
 Scv- 
 \sl<itiir, 
 .at all, 
 
 riti'lit Uiis ii(»t coiitcsti'd 
 
 Kilt 
 
 as soon ns an 
 
 IikI 
 
 i;in trilio 
 
 attrm|)t»'(l t(» fix its ri'sideiice' iij)Oii a ^ijivcn spot, the ailja- 
 cejit States claimed possession of the lands, and a rii;lit of 
 
 8oveivio;iity over tln' natives 
 
 'I'l 
 
 le eenti'al eovei'iinient 
 
 soon recooiii/.ed hotli these (dainis ; and alter if had con- 
 cluded ti'eaties with the Intlians as independent nations, 
 it o;ave theni up as sui>jects to the legislative t\ rainiy of the 
 States.* 
 
 Some of the States whicli had heon founded upon the 
 coast of the Atlantic; extended iiidelinitely to the Wi'st, 
 into wild regions where no ICuropean had yet j)enet rated. 
 Tiie States whose confines were irrcvocahly Hxed looked 
 with a jealous eye uj)on the unhounded regions which were 
 thus opened to their neie;hl)ors. Tlu' latter then agreed, 
 with a \ iew to conciliate the otliers, and to facilitate the 
 act of Union, to lay down their own Ixnuidaries, and to 
 abandon all the territory wliich lay beyond them to the 
 confederation at hir^e. f Thenceforward the Federal ,i;'ov- 
 ennnent became tlie owner of all the uncultivated lands 
 which lie beyond the boi'ders of the thirteen States first 
 confederated. It had the ritflit of parcellinii' and selliuix 
 them, and the sums derived fnmi this source were paid 
 into the public treasury to furnish the means of purchasing 
 tracts of land from the Indians, openine; roads to the re- 
 
 * See, in the Lcjiislativc Docmneiits already quoted in speakiiif,^ of the 
 Indians, tlie letter of the I'resident of the United States to the Cherokees, 
 his correspondence on this suhject with his apents, and his niessafjjes to Con- 
 gress. [In the case here referred to, Cj!eor;;ia did not claim a riyht of sov- 
 ereignty over the Indians as her own suhjects, hut only denumdcd that they 
 should leave a tract of country, the Indian title to which the Federal )j;ov- 
 ernment had pledj;ed itself to extin;:iiish. — Am. Kd.] 
 
 t The first act of cession was made hy the State of New York in 1780 ; 
 Virjrinia, Massaehu.setts, Coiuiecticut, South and North Carolina, followed 
 this example at ditK'rent times, and, lastly, the act of cession of (jeorj^ia was 
 made as recentlv as 1802 
 
 i: 
 
 
 !\h 
 
 Y 
 
 m 
 
i2G 
 
 DK.MOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 mote settlcTiionts, and accelerating the advance of civiliza- 
 tion. New States have l)een formed in the course of time, 
 in the midst of tliose wilds which were formerly ceded hy 
 the Atlantic States. Congress has gone on to sell, for the 
 profit of the nation at large, the uncultivated lands which 
 those new States contained. But the latter at length as- 
 serted that, as they were now fully constituted, they ouglit 
 to have the right of converting the produce of these sales 
 exclusively to their own use. As their remonstrances he- 
 came moi'e and more threateniuff, Cono-ress thought tit 
 to deprive the Union of a portion (>f the privileges which 
 it had hitherto enjoyed; and, at the end of 18o2, it passed 
 a law hy which the greatest part of the n^veiuie derived 
 from the sale of lands was made over to the new Western 
 republics, although the lands themselves were not ceded 
 to them.* 
 
 The slightest observation in the United States enables 
 one \> appreciate the advantages which the country de- 
 rives from the Rank. These advantao;es are of several 
 kinds, but one of them is peculiarly striking to the stran 
 ger. The iiotes of the Bank of the United States are 
 taken upon the borders of the desert for the same value as 
 at Philadelphia, where the Bank conducts its operations.! 
 
 But the Bank of the United States is the object of great 
 animosity. Its directors proclaimed their hostility to the 
 
 * It is true that tlie President refused his assent to this law ; but he com- 
 pletely adopted it in prindplc. See Message of 8th December, 183.'J. [This 
 is overstated again. The Western States never claimed the lands, Imt only 
 that they should be sold at a low price, so as to encourage their settlement, 
 aTid that a fair portion of the purchase-money should be devoted to opening 
 roads and other internal improvements. — Am. Ed.] 
 
 t The Bank of the United Slates was established in 1816, with a capital of 
 35,000,000 dollars ; its charter expired in 18.'JtJ. In 1832, Congress passed 
 a law to renew it, but the I'resident put his veto upon the bill. The struggle 
 continued with great violence on either side, and the sjjcedy fall of the Hank 
 might iiave been foreseen. 
 
CIIAXCRS OF DURATION OI' TlIK IXIOX. 
 
 'ri: 
 
 President; and tliey were accused, not witliout j)r()1)a1>ility, 
 of liaviuii; abused tlieir influence to tliwart liis election. 
 The President therefore attacked the estabhslnneiit Avith 
 all the warmth of pei'sonal enmity; and he was encouraui'd 
 in the pursuit of his revenge by the conviction that he was 
 supported by the secret inclinations of the majority. The 
 Bank may be regarded as the great monetary tie of tlu; 
 Union, just as Congress is the great legislative tii' ; and 
 the same passions which tend to render the States indepen- 
 dent of the central power contributed to the overthrow of 
 the liank. 
 
 The Bank of the United States always lield a gi'eat num- 
 ber of the notes issued by the })rovincial baidvs, which it can 
 at any time oblio;e them to convert into crsh. It has itself 
 nothing to fear from a similar demand, as the extent of its 
 resources enables it to meet all claims. But the existence 
 of the provincial banks is thus threatened, and their op- 
 erations are restricted, since they are able to issue only 
 a quantity of notes duly proportioned to their capital. 
 They submitted Avith impatience to this salutary control. 
 The newspapers which they bought over, and the Presi- 
 dent, whose interest rendered him their instrument, at- 
 tacked the Bank with the o-reatest vehemence. They 
 roused the local passions and tlie blind democratic instinct 
 of the country to aid their cause ; and they assertt'd that 
 the Bank directors formed a ])ermanent aristocratic body, 
 whose influence would ultimately be felt in the govern- 
 ment, and att'ect those principles of equality upon which 
 society rests in America. 
 
 The contest botw^een the Bank and its opponents was 
 only an incident in the great struggle wdiich is going on 
 in America between the })rovinces and the central ])ower, 
 — between the spirit of democratic inde])endence, and that 
 of a proper distribution and subordination of power. I do 
 not mean that the enemies of the Bank were identically 
 
 ■ i 1 ! 
 
 I 
 
 51 
 
 '11 
 
 ii^ 
 
 I 
 
 'lli 
 .Mi 
 
 m 
 
528 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 ^1 
 
 I i 
 
 ' I 
 
 ;* I 
 
 tlio same individuals who, on other points, attacked the 
 Federal government ; but I assert that the attacks directed 
 against the Bank of the United States originated in the 
 same propensities which militate against the Federal gov- 
 ennnent, and that the very numerous opponents of the 
 foi'mer afford a deplorable symptom of the decreasing 
 streniith of the latter. 
 
 But the Union has never shown so much weakness as 
 on the celebrated question of the Tariff'.* The wars of 
 the French Revolution and of 1812 had created manufic- 
 tiiring establishments in the Noi'th of the Union, by cut- 
 ting off free communication between America and Eurojie. 
 When peace was concluded, and the channel of intercourse 
 reopened, by which the })roduce of Europe was transmit- 
 ted to the New World, the Americans thought fit to estal)- 
 lish a system of im])ort duties, for the twofold purpose of 
 protecting their inci])ient manufactures and of pnyiug off 
 the amount of the debt contracted during the war. The 
 Southern States, which have no manufactures to encour- 
 age, and which are exclusively agricultural, soon com- 
 plained of this measure. I do not pretend to examine 
 here whether their complaints were well or ill founded, 
 but only to recite the i..cts. 
 
 As early as 1820, South Carolina declared, in a petition 
 to Congress, that the Tariff was " unconstitutional, oppres- 
 sive, and unjust.'" And the States of Georgia, Virginia, 
 North Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi subsequently 
 remonstrated against it with more or less vigor. But 
 Congress, far frcm lending an ear to these complaints, 
 raised the scale of Tariff duties in the vears 1821 and 
 1828, and recognized anew the })rinci])le on which it was 
 founded. A doctrine was then proclaimed, or rather re- 
 vived, in the South, which took the name of Nullification. 
 
 * See ])riiH'ijmIIy, for tlic details of tliia ufltair, the Legislative Doeumetits, 
 22d Couyrcss, 2d Sessiou, No. 3U. 
 
 r ; 
 
CHANCKS OF DURATION OF THK UNION. 
 
 (".O 
 
 29 
 
 I liavc sliown in tlio proper place tlmt tlie oliject of tlie 
 Federal Constitution was not to t'onn a leairue, Itut to cre- 
 ate a national »j;overnment. The Americans ol' the United 
 States form one and the same people, in all the casi's wliieh 
 are specified hy that Constitution ; and upon thc^e points, 
 the will of the nation is exj)ressed, as it is in all constitu- 
 tional nations, by the voice of the majority. Wlu'ii the 
 majority has once spoken, it is the duty of the minority to 
 snhmit. Such is the sound leual doctrine, and the oidy 
 one which aorees with the text of the Constitution, and 
 the known intention of those who framed it. 
 
 The partisans of Nullification in the South maintain, 
 on the contrary, that the intention of the Americans in 
 uniting was not to comhine themselves into one and the 
 same people, hut that they meant only to form a league of 
 lnde})endent States ; and that each Stave, consequently, 
 retains its entire sovereignty, if not Je facto, at least de 
 jure, and has the right of putting its own construction 
 u])on the laws of Congress, and of suspending their exe- 
 cution within the limits of its own territory, if they seem 
 unconstitutional and iwijust. 
 
 The entire doctrine of Nullification is comprised in a 
 sentence uttered hy Vice Vr-'sident Calhou'i, -he head of 
 that ]>arty in the South., bv.^>)'^ the Senate of the United 
 States, in 18o3 : " Tli' CouMi + ution is a eom])act to which 
 the States were parties in I'.ieir sovereign capacity: now, 
 whenever a com])act is L'uiered in!o l)y parties which ac- 
 knowledge no connnoii arltiter to decith- in the last resort, 
 each of them has a right to judge (or its^if in ivlation to 
 the nature, extent, and, obligations of the instrument." It 
 is evident that such a doctrine destroys the "\"ery basis of 
 the Federal Constitution, and brings back the anarchy 
 from which the Americans were delivered by the act of 
 17811. 
 
 When South Carolina perceived \hat Congress turned 
 23 mi 
 
 
 M 
 
 ■4 
 
 If!; 
 
 
580 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AJIERICA. 
 
 !i 
 
 !., I I 
 
 a deaf oar to its remonstrances, it tlireatened to apply tlic 
 doctrine of Nullification to the Federal Tariff' law. Con- 
 gress persisted in its system, and at length the storm broke 
 out. In the course of 1882, the })eop!c of South Carolina* 
 named a national convention, to consult upon the extraor- 
 dinary measures Avliich remained to he taken ; and on the 
 24th of Novemljer of the same year, this convention pro- 
 j-iulgated a law, under the form of a decree, wiiicii an- 
 nulled the Federal law of the Tariff, forbade the levy of 
 the imposts which tliat law commands, and refused to rec- 
 ognize the appeal which might be made to the Federal 
 courts of law.f This decree was only to be put in execu- 
 tion in the ensuing mouth of February ; and it was inti- 
 mated that, if Conn-ress modified the Tariff' before that 
 period. South Carolina might be induced to proceed no 
 further with her menaces : and a va2;ue desire was after- 
 wards expressed of submitting the question to an extraor- 
 dinary assembly of all the confederate States. In the 
 
 * That is to say, the majority of the people ; for the opposite party, 
 called the Union party, always formed a very strong and active minority. 
 Carolina may contain about 47,000 voters ; 30,000 were in favor of nullifica- 
 tion, and 17,000 opposed to it. 
 
 t This decree wa^ preceded hy a Bcport of the Committee In' which it 
 was framed, containing the explanation of the motives and object of the 
 law. The following passage occurs in it (p. 34) : " When the rights re- 
 served by the Constitution to the different States are deliberately violated, it 
 is the duty and the right of those States to interfere, in order to check the 
 progress of the evil ; to resist usurpation, and to maintain, within their re- 
 spective limits, those jiowers and privileges whii'h belong to them as indepen- 
 dent, fiovereign States. If tliey were destitute of tliis right, they Avould not be 
 sovereign. South Carolina declares that she acknowledges no tribunal upon 
 earth above her authority. She has indeed entered into a solemn compact 
 of union with the other States ; but she demands, and will exercise, the right 
 of putting her own construction upon it ; and when this compact is violated 
 by her sister States, and by the government which they have created, she is 
 determined to avail herself of the unquestionable right of judging what is 
 the extent of the infraction, and what are the measures best fitted to obtain 
 justice." 
 
CIIAXCKS OF Dl'RATION OF TIIK TNIOX. 
 
 531 
 
 mean time, South Carolina armed licr militia, and pro- 
 pared for war. 
 
 But Congress, wliieh had sliglited its su})pliant suhjects, 
 listened to their com])laints as soon as they ai)peare(l witii 
 arms in their hands.* A law was passed, l)y wliicli tlu; 
 tariff duties were to be o-raduallv redueed for ten years, 
 luitil they were brouo;ht so low as not to exceed tlie 
 supplies necessary to the government. Thus Congress 
 completely abandoned the principle of the Tariff", and 
 substituted a mere fiscal impost for a system of pi-otec- 
 tive duties. f The government of the Union, to conceal 
 its defeat, had recourse to an exjx'dient which is nuich in 
 vogue with feeble governments. ' It yielded the jjoint <le 
 facto, but remained inflexible upon the j)rincij)les ; and 
 whilst it was altering the Tariff law, it })assed anotiier 
 bill, by which the President was invested with extraor- 
 dinary powers, enabling him to overcome by force a resist;- 
 ance which was then no longer to be feared. 
 
 But South Carolina did not consent to leave the Union 
 m tlie enjoyment of these scanty appearances of success : 
 the same national convention which had annulled the 
 Tariff bill, met again, and accepted the profi'ered conces- 
 sion ; but, at the same time, it declared its unabated per- 
 severance in thi doctrine of nullification ; and, to prove 
 what it said, it annulled the law investing the President 
 with extraordinary powers, although it was very certain 
 that the law would ne'^er be carried into effect. 
 
 Almost all the ccmtroversies of which I have been s])eak- 
 ing have taken place under the Presidency of General 
 
 1 f 
 
 III' \ 
 ill. 
 
 'it' 
 
 * Coii<rrcss was ritiitlly decifloil to take this step hy tlie cou ■ ict of the 
 powerful State of Virginia, whose Legislature cftere.l to serve as a mediator 
 between the Union anil South Carolina. Hitherto the latter State had ap- 
 peared to be entirely abandoned, even by the States whieh had joined in her 
 remonstrances. 
 
 t This bill \va^ lirought in by Mr. Clay, and it passeil in four days through 
 both houses of < 'oiigress, by an immense majority. 
 
 a 
 
532 
 
 DKMOCKACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 -i' / 
 
 [ 'H*! 
 
 ; i' 
 
 h 
 
 
 m 
 
 Jackson ; and it cannot be denied tliat, in tlie question 
 of the Tarirt', he has supported the rigiits of the Union 
 witli energy and skill. I think, however, that the con- 
 duct of this President of the Federal ifovernment may 
 be reckoned as one of the dangers which threaten its 
 continuance. 
 
 Some ])ersons in Europe have formed an opinion of the 
 influence of General Jackson upon tlie affairs of his coun- 
 try which a})pears highly extravagant to those who have 
 seen the subject nearer at hand. We have been told that 
 General »lackson has won battles ; that he is an energetic 
 man, ])rone by nature and habit to the use of force, cov- 
 etous of power, and a despot by inclination. All this may 
 be true ; but the inferences which have been di.Avn from 
 these truths are very erroneous. It has been imagined 
 that General Jackson is bent on establishing a dictatorship 
 in America, introducing a military spirit, and giving a 
 degree of influence to the central authority which cannot 
 but be dangerous to })rovincial liberties. But in AmeiicT 
 the time for similar undertakin<is, and the ao-e for men of 
 this kind, is not yet C(mie : if General Jackson had thought 
 of exercising his authority in tliis manner, he would infalli- 
 bly have forfeited his political station, and compromised his 
 life, — he has not been so impiaident as to attempt any- 
 thing of the kind. 
 
 Far from wishing to extend the Federal power, the 
 President belongs to the party which is desirous of lim- 
 iting tl)at })'>wer to the clear and precise letter of the 
 Constiiiirion, and which never puts a construction upon 
 that ai't favorable to the government of the Union ; far 
 from standing forth as the champion of centralization, Gen- 
 eral Jackson is the agent of the State jealousies ; and he 
 was placed in his lofty station by the passions which are 
 most o])posed to the central government. It is by per- 
 petually flattering these passions that he maintains his sta- 
 
 r-r 
 
 t:. i ji 
 
 W: I 
 
CHAN'CKS OF DURATION OF THK IXloN. 
 
 tion and his popularity. General Jackson is the slave 
 of the majority : he yields to its wishes, its j)ropensities, 
 and its demands, — say, rather, antiei})ates and forestalls 
 them. 
 
 Whenever the governments of the States come into col- 
 lision with that of the Union, the President is ^eiu'rally 
 the fir't to question his own rights, — he ahuost aiwiiys 
 outstri])s the legislature ; and when the exti'iit of the Fed- 
 eral ])ower is controverted, he takes j)art, as it were, 
 against himself, — he conceals his ofHcial inti'i'ests, and 
 labors to diminish his own dignity. Not, indeed, that he 
 is naturally weak or hostile to the Union ; for wlu-n the 
 majority decided against the chiims of nulHHcation, he j)ut 
 himself at their head, asserted the doctrines which the na- 
 tion held distinctly and energetically, and was the tii'st to 
 recommend force ; but General Jackson appears to me, if 
 I may use the American exjjression, to be a Federalist by 
 taste and a Republican by calculation. 
 
 General Jackson stoops to gain the favor of the major- 
 ity ; but when he feels that his po])ularity is secure, he 
 overthrows all obstacles in the ])vu'suit of the objects which 
 the community apj)roves, or of those which it does not 
 regard with jealousy. Su])ported by a power which his 
 predecessors never had, he tramj)les on his personal i-ne- 
 mies, whenever they cross his path, with a facility williout 
 example; he takes upon himself the responsibility of meas- 
 ures which no one before him would have ventured to 
 attempt: he even treats the national representatives with 
 a disdain ap])roaching to insult; he puts his veto upon the 
 laws of Congress, and frerpiently neglects even to reply 
 to that powerful body. He is a fiivorite who sometimes 
 treats his master roughly. The })ower <jf General -fackson 
 perpetually increases, but that of the President declines; 
 in his hands, the Federal government is strong, but it will 
 pass enfeebled into the hands of his successor. 
 
 I 
 
 
684 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMKRICA. 
 
 I am strangely mistaken if the Federal government of 
 the United States be not constantly losing strength, retiring 
 gradnally from pnblic affairs, and narrowing its circle of 
 action. It is natnrally feeble, but it now abandons even 
 the a})})earance of strength. On the other hand, I thought 
 that I remarked a more lively sense of independence, and 
 a more decided attachment to their separate governments, 
 in the States. The Union is desired, but only as a shadow ; 
 they wish it to be strong in certain cases, and weak in all 
 others ; in time of warfare, it is to be able to concentrate 
 all the forces of the nation, and all the resources of the 
 country, in its hands ; and in time of peace, its existence 
 is to be scarcely perce[)tible ; as if this alternate debility 
 and vigor were natural or possible. 
 
 I do not see anything for the present which can check 
 this general tendency of opinion : the causes in which it 
 originated do not cease to operate in the same direction. 
 The change will therefore go on, and it may be predicted 
 tliat, unless some extraordinary event occurs, the govern- 
 ment of the Union will grow weaker and weaker every 
 day. 
 
 I think, however, that the period is still remote, at Avliich 
 the Federal power will be entirely extinguished by its ina- 
 bility to protect itself, and to maintain peace in the country. 
 The Union is sanctioned bv the manners and desires of 
 the ])eople ; its results are palpable, its benefits visible. 
 When it is perceived that the weakness of the Federal 
 government compromises the existence of the Union, I do 
 not doubt that a reaction will take place with a view to 
 increase its strength. 
 
 The government of the United States is, of all the Fed- 
 eral governments which have hitherto been established, the 
 one which is most naturally destined to act. As long as it 
 is only indii'ectly assailed by the interpretation of its laws, 
 and as long as its substance is not seriously im})aired, a 
 
 II 
 
 i, ! 
 
 , I 
 
rR015A15LK DUUATIOX OF llIK UKl'inLIC. 
 
 535 
 
 low ; 
 
 change of opinion, iin internal crisis, or a war, may restore 
 ail tlie vii^or wiiicli it recjuires. Wjiat I liavc hccn most 
 anxious to establisii is simply this: ^lany })ropl(' in France 
 imaoine that a chanov of opinion is goin<j; on in the United 
 States, which is favorable to a centralization of jxiwcr in 
 the hands of the President and the Congress. 1 hold that 
 a contrary tendency may distinctly be ol)si'rve(,. So liu' 
 is the Federal government, as it grows old, from aciiuir- 
 incT strenii'th, and from threatening the s(nerei!>iity of the 
 States, that I maintain it to be o-i'owinii' weaker, and that 
 the sovereignty of the Union alone is in danger. Such 
 are the facts which the present time discloses. Tiie future 
 conceJs the final result of this "tendency, and the events 
 which mav check, retard, or accelerate the chauiies I have 
 described ; I do not affect to be able to remove the \eil 
 which hides them. 
 
 II 
 
 
 very 
 
 Inch 
 ina- 
 
 ntry. 
 I?s of 
 
 sible. 
 leral 
 I do 
 
 w to 
 
 laws, 
 ^d, a 
 
 OF THE REPUBLICAN INSTITUTIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, 
 AND WHAT THEIR CHANCES OF DURATION ARE. 
 
 The Union is only an Accident. — Repub'licau Institutions liavc more Pcr- 
 miinence. — A Republic for tlic Present is the nivtunil State of the An- 
 glo-Americans. — Reason of tliis. — In order to destroy it, all the Laws 
 must be ciiangt.d at the same Time, and a great Aheration take place 
 in Manners. — Uifticuliics wliich the Amcrieaus would experience in 
 creating an Aristocracy. 
 
 The dismemberment of the Union, by introducing war 
 into the heart of those States which are now confederate, 
 with standing armies, a dictatorship, and a heavy taxation, 
 might eventually com})romise the fate of re})ub!ican insti- 
 tutions. But we ought not to confound the future pros- 
 pects of the republic with those of the Union. The Unicm 
 is an accident, which will only last as long as circumstances 
 favor it ; but a republican form of govs^rnment seems to 
 
 i: 
 
 H\l 
 
 'iii 
 
 Mi 
 
 H 
 
530 
 
 UKMOCUACV IX AMLUICA. 
 
 i: 
 
 V I 
 
 mo tlie ntitural state (jf tlio Amuriciins, wliicli notliliiu; l>iit 
 tlio coiitiiuu'd action of liostilc caib 
 
 st's, ahvays ac'tinu- in tne 
 
 lid 
 
 munu direction, could cliaii^i' into a inonaivliy 
 
 Tiic r 
 
 iiiun 
 
 exists ]ii'iiici|»ally in tlic law wiiich flinicd it ; one revolu- 
 tion, (»ne clian^t; in public oj)iinon, niinlit di-stroy it for- 
 ever ; but the ivj>ublic has a deeper tbundatioii to rest 
 
 upon. 
 
 What is understood by a re})ublii an govt'rnmeiit in the 
 United States, is the slow and (juiet acti'>n of socii-ty upon 
 itself. It is a regular state of things n-ally founded n])()ii 
 the enlii;litened will of the }te(iple. It is a c< iciliatmy 
 governnieiit, under which resolutions are allow d time t(t 
 ripen ; and in which they are deliberately discussed, and 
 are executed only wlieii mature. The rej)ublicans in the 
 United States s(;t a high value upon morality, respect re- 
 litiious belief, and acknowlediie the existence of riiihts. 
 They profess to think that a })eople ought to be nioi-al, 
 religious, and tem})erate, in proportion as it is free. What 
 is called the rej)ublic in the United States is the traiKpiil 
 ride of the majority, which, after having Imd time to ex- 
 amine itself, and to give prv)of of its existence, is the com- 
 mon source of all the powers of the State. But the ])ower 
 of the majority itself is not unlimited. Above it, in the 
 moral world, are humanity, justice, and reason ; and in the 
 political world, vested rights. The majority recognizes 
 these two barriers ; and if it now and then overste}) them, 
 it is because, hke indivitluals, it has passions, and, ke 
 them, it is prone to do what is wrong, wdiilst it discerns 
 what is right. 
 
 But the demagogues of Europe have made strange dis- 
 coveries. A republic is not, according to them, the rule 
 of the majority, as has hitlierto been tliought, but the rule 
 of those who are strenuous partisans of the majority. It 
 is not the people who preponderate in this kind of govern- 
 ment, but those who know what is good for the people ; — 
 
iM;on.\iu,F. DiuATioN OF iiii: iir.i'i lu.u'. 
 
 
 a lin]i|)y distinctioii, wliicli allows nu'ii t(» act in tli'' iiamo 
 of nations without (•«)ii>iiltiiii;' thi-m, aiul to claiiii tlicir 
 ji;ratitii(li' wliil-t tiicir i-ii:lits aiv tfanipK-il uikIit foot. A 
 ivpuhlicaii j;(»\('rnint'iit, mon'oNcr, thoy hold, is the onI\' 
 one which has the ri^lit (tf (loin^- whatever it (•hoos^'^, and 
 despisiiiu- what men have hitherto respected, iVoni th" hiiiii- 
 est moral laws to the \uli;'ar rules of eoiuuion sell•^c. It 
 had heeu siipposi'd, until our time, that (les|)otI-?ii was 
 odious, under whatever lorm it a|»]iearcd. i»ut it i-. a 
 disco\erv of ukmIci days that there are such thinii's as 
 leoitimate tyranny . holy injustice, |tro\ided they are 
 exercised in the name of the people. 
 
 The ideas which the Americans- have adopted respcctini;' 
 the republic, render it easy for them to live under it, and 
 insiu'c its duration. With them, if the republic he ofti'u 
 j)ractieally had, at least it is theoretically wood ; and, in the 
 end, the peoj)le always act in contbrmlty to it. 
 
 It was impossible, at the foundation of the States, and it 
 would still be ditKeult, to establish a central administration 
 in America. The inhabitants are dis])ersed over too ereat 
 a space, and se[)arated by too many natural obstiudes, for 
 one man to undertake to direct the details of their exist- 
 once. America is therefore pre-eminently the country 
 of provincial and miniici|)al ojovornment. To this cause, 
 whicdi Avas })lainly felt by all the Kuroj)eans of the Xew 
 World, the Antfio-Americans added several others pecu- 
 liar to themselves. 
 
 At tlie time of the settlement of the North American 
 Colonies, municipal liberty bad already ])enetrated into the 
 laws as well as the manners of the English, and the emi- 
 grants adopted it, not only as a necessary thing, but as a 
 benefit wdiich they knew how to appreciate. We have 
 already seen how the Colonies were founded : every })rov- 
 ince, and almost every district, w^as peopled separately by 
 men who were strano;ers to each other, or were associated 
 
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 23 WEST MAIN STREET 
 
 WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580 
 
 (716) 872-4503 
 
 .-! 
 

538 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 m. 
 
 with very difFureiit purposes. The Enghsh settlers in the 
 United States, therefore, early perceived that tliey were 
 divided into a creat number of small and distinct connnu- 
 nities, which belonged to no common centre ; and that 
 each of these little communities must take care of its own 
 affairs, sint^e there was not any central authority which 
 was naturally bound and easily enabled to provide for 
 them. Thus, the nature of the country, the manner in 
 which the British Colonies were founded, the habits of the 
 first emigrants, in short, everything, united to promote, 
 in an extraordinary degree, municipal and provincial lib- 
 erties. 
 
 In the United States, therefore, the mass of the institu- 
 tions of the country is essentially republican ; and, in order 
 permanently to destroy the laws which form the basis of 
 the republic, it would be necessary to abolish all the laws 
 at once. At the present day, it would be even more diffi- 
 cult for a party to found a monarchy in the United States, 
 than for a set of men to convert France into a republic. 
 Royalty would not find a system of legislation prepared 
 for it beforehand ; and a monarchy would then really exist, 
 surrounded by republican institutions. The monarchical 
 principle would likewise have great difficulty in penetrat- 
 ing into the manners of the Americans. 
 
 In the United States, the sovereignty of the people is 
 not an isolated doctrine, bearing no relation to the pre vail- 
 ing habits and ideas of the people ; it may, on the con- 
 trary, be regarded as the last link of a chain of opinions 
 which binds the whole Anglo-American world. That 
 Providence has given to every human being the degree 
 of reason necessary to direct himself in the affairs which 
 interest him exclusively, is the grand maxim upon which 
 civil and political society rests in the United States. The 
 father of a family applies it to his children, the master to 
 his servants, the township to its officers, the province to 
 
PUOBABLE DURATIOX OF THK KKl'l.BLIC. 
 
 ,'>:.d 
 
 its towiisliips, the State to tlie provinces, the Union to the 
 States ; and, when extended to the nation, it becomes the 
 doctrine of the sovereignty'^ of the people. 
 
 Thus, in the United States, the fundamental })rin('ii)le 
 of the republic is the same which governs the greater part 
 of human actions ; republican notions insinuate themselves 
 into all the ideas, opinions, and habits of the Americans, 
 and are formally recognized by the laws ; and, before the 
 laws could be altered, the whole connnunity nmst be revo- 
 lutionized. In the United States, even the religion of most 
 of the citizens is republican, since it submits the truths of 
 the other world to private judgment : as in politics, the 
 care of their tem})oral interests is abandoned to the good 
 sense of the people. Thus, every man is allowed freely 
 to take that road which he thinks will lead him to heaven, 
 — just as the law permits every citizen to have the right 
 of choosiufj his own ijovernment. 
 
 It is evident that nothing but a long series of events, all 
 having the same tendency, could substitute for this com- 
 bination of laws, opinions, and manners, a mass of opposite 
 opinions, manners, and laws. 
 
 If republican principles are to perish in America, they 
 can yield only after a laborious social process, often inter- 
 rupted, and as often resumed ; they will have many appar- 
 ent revivals, and will not become totally extinct until an 
 entirely new people shall have succeeded to those who now 
 exist. There is no symptom or presage of the aj)proach 
 of such a revolution. There is nothinji more strikin*; to 
 a person newly arrived in the United States, than the kind 
 of tumultuous agitation in which he finds political society. 
 The laws are incessantly changing, and at first sight it 
 seems impossible that a people so fickle in its desires should 
 avoid adopting, within a short space of time, a completely 
 new form of government. But such apprehensions are pre- 
 mature ; the instability which affects political institutions 
 
540 
 
 DK.MOCHACY IN AMKKICA. 
 
 
 ii' 
 
 M 
 
 is of two kinds, wliicli ought not to he t'onfoundrd. 
 Tlie first, wliicli niodities secondiiry laws, is not inconi- 
 ])atil)K' with a vcrv st-ttlcd state of socictv. 'J'lu' otiu-r 
 shakes tlie very founchitions of the Constitution, and at- 
 tacks the fundamental j)rin('i))les of leiiislation ; this sj)e( it-s 
 of instability is always followed hy troubles and revolu- 
 lions, and the nation which suffers under it is in a violent 
 and transitoiy state. 
 
 Experience shows that these two kinds of legislative in- 
 stabilitv have no necessary connt'ction ; for thev have been 
 
 %,' i' •/ 
 
 found united or separate, accordiuiji: to tinu-s and circum- 
 stances. The first is conunon in the United States, but 
 not the second : the Americans often chauii'e tlu-ir laws, 
 but the foundations of the Constitution art' respected. 
 
 In our days, the republican j)rinciple rules in ^Vnu'rica, 
 as the m(»narchical princi])le did in France under i^ouis 
 XIV. The French of that period were not (tidy friends 
 of the monarchy, but thought it imj)ossible to put anything 
 in its place ; they received it as we reci'ive the rays of the 
 sun and the return of the seasons. Amongst them the 
 royal power had neither advocates nor opponents. In like 
 manner does the republican government exist in America, 
 without contention or op])osition, without proofs or argu- 
 ments, by a tacit aiiroement, a sort of com^cnsiis uiiioersalis. 
 
 It is, however, my oj)inion, that, by changing tlu-ir ad- 
 ministrative forms as often as they do, the iidiabitants of 
 the United States compromise the stidtility of their gov- 
 ernment. It may be a})prehended that men, perpetually 
 thwarted in their designs by the nuitability of K'gislation, 
 will learn to look upon the republic as an inconvenient 
 form of society ; the evil resulting from the instability of 
 the secondary enactments might then raise a doubt as to 
 the nature of tlie fundamental prii? iples of the Constitu- 
 tion, and indirectly bring about a revolution ; but this 
 epoch is still very remote. 
 
I'1{015A1jm: duration of THi; ur.i'i r.Lic. 
 
 :4i 
 
 It may Ik' Ibi't'srcii I'Vfii now, tlmt, w licii tlu' AmcricMiis 
 Jose tl>'ir ri'j)ul)lifan institutions, tlu-y will sjx'cdily ;inl\(^ 
 at a (lesj)oti(' (jjoviTnuu-nt, witlumt a lonn' intiT\al ot" lim- 
 ited nionaivliv. Montt'siniicu ivniarki'd, that uotliinLi is 
 more absolute tlian the autiioi-ity of a prince who innu''- 
 diately succeeds a republic, since the indctinite powci-s 
 wliii'h had fearlessly been intrusted to an elected niai:i<- 
 trate are then transferred to an hereditary soNcrei^n. This 
 is true in <:;eneral, but it is more pi'culiarly apjdicable to a 
 democratic republic. In the United States, tin: magistrates 
 are not elected by a particidar class of citi/.ens, but by the 
 majttrity of the nation ; as they are the innnediate re[)re- 
 sentatixes of the passions of the multitude, and are wholly 
 dependent upon its j)leasure, they excite neithei" hatred nor 
 fear: hence, as 1 have already shown, veiy little cari' has 
 been taken to limit their authority, and they are left in 
 possession of a vast deal of arbitrary ]>ower. This state 
 of tliin<fs has created haljits which would outlive itself: the 
 American matristrate would retain his indefinite })owi'r, but 
 would cease to be res[)onsible for it ; and it is impossible to 
 say what bounds could then be set to tyranny. 
 
 Some of our Euroj)ean politicians ex])ect to see an aris- 
 tocracy arise in America, and already predict the exact 
 period at which it will assume the reins of government. I 
 have jnvviously observed, and I repeat it, that the present 
 tendency of American society appears to me to become 
 more and more democratic. Nevertheless, I do not assert 
 that the Americans will not, at some future time, resti'ict 
 tlie circle of political rii^hts, or confiscate those ri^lits to 
 the advantaiie of a sino-le man ; but I cannot believe that 
 they will ever give tlie exclusive use of them to a privi- 
 leged class of citizens, or, in other words, that they will 
 ever found an aristocracy. 
 
 An aristocratic body is comjiosed of a certain number 
 of citizens, who, without beini;; verv fi.ir removed from the 
 
 ;!i 
 
A'2 
 
 DKMOCHACY IN AMKI.'K'A. 
 
 ili 
 
 'I. !■ 
 
 ii;. 
 
 mass of the peojjlf, arc, lu'vcrtlu'lcss, jxTinaiU'iitly sta- 
 tioned above tlicm : — a hodv wliicli it is casv to toiidi, 
 and dilHcult to strike, — with wliicli the )»e(»|ile are ix 
 daily contact, hut with wliich thev can ne\i'r c(»Miliine. 
 N<)thiii<f can he iniaLjined nioiv contrary to nature and to 
 the secret instincts of the human lieart, tlian a sulijection 
 of tliis kind ; and men who are left to follow their own 
 hent will always j)refer the arbitrary power of a kinij; to 
 the ri'ii:ular administration of an aristocracy. Aristocratic 
 institutions cannot subsist without layino; down the in- 
 equality of men as a fundamental principle, lenali/,iii<r it 
 beforehand, and introducinji it into the fimily as wi'll as 
 into society ; but these are things so repu«j;nant to natural 
 equity, that they can only be extorted from men by con- 
 straint. 
 
 I do not think a single people can be quoted, since 
 human society began to exist, which has, by its own free 
 will and its own exertions, created an aristocracy within 
 its own bosom. All the aristocracies of the ]\Iiddle Ai>;es 
 were founded by military conquest ; the concpieror was 
 the noble, the yanquished became the serf. Inecpiality 
 ^vas then im})osed by force ; and after it had be n once 
 introduced into the manners of the country, it maintained 
 itself, and })assed naturally into the laws. Communities 
 haye existed Ayhich were aristocratic from their earliest 
 origin, owing to circumstances anterior to that event, and 
 which became more democratic in each succeedino; ao;e. 
 Such was the lot of the Romans, and of the barbarians 
 after them. But a people, having taken its rise in civili- 
 zation and democracy, ^vhich should gradually establish 
 inequality of condition, until it arrived at inviolable privi- 
 leges and exclusive castes, would be a novelty in the world; 
 and nothing indicates that America is likely to be the first 
 to furnish such an example. 
 
COMMKIHIAI, I'HOSl'ERITV Ml' HIK I NIH:!) STAIKS. 'A-\ 
 
 Ao;os 
 
 it, and 
 g age. 
 )arians 
 civili- 
 tablish 
 
 * 
 
 SOME roN'sini;u\TT()\>! n\ tfik cmv^fs of the commiiiu i vl 
 
 I'KOSPr.lUTY OK TMK INITKl) HTATKS. 
 
 The Arncricuns (U'stined liy Nature to In' a j.'iTiit Mariliine IVoplc — Kxictit 
 of tlioir Coiisfs. — Dcptli of tlit-ir Torts. — Size of their Kivcrs. — The 
 Commercial Superiority of the AiiLrln-Americ atis less attril>utalile, liow- 
 ever, to Physical ("ircums^^nc('s, than to Moral ami Iiitelleciual Causes. 
 — Reason of thi.s (>])iiiioti. — Future <if the An;^lo-Amcricaii.> as a ( om- 
 mereial Nation. — Tlie Dissolution of the Cnion uuulil not check the 
 Maritime Vi;^or of the States. — I'easou of this. — Anulo-Anicricans nnIII 
 naturally supply tiie Wants of the Inhahitants of South America. — They 
 will hecome, like the Knylisli, the Factors of a great J'ortion of the 
 World. 
 
 The coast of the United States, from tlie I>av of Fiindv 
 to the Sabine River in the (iuH' of Me.xicb, is ni(.iv tlian 
 two tlionsand miles in extent.* These shores form an nn- 
 broken line, and are all subject to the same o-overnment. 
 No nation in the world possesses vaster, deeper, or more 
 secure i»orts for connnerce tluui the Americans. 
 
 The inhabitants of the United Sttites constitute a oreat 
 civilizetl peo[)le, which ibrtune has j)laced in the midst of 
 an uncultivated country, at a disttuice of three thoiisaiul 
 miles from the central ])oint of civilization. America con- 
 sequently stands in dtiily need ot" Kiu'ope. The .Americans 
 will, no doubt, ultimately succeed in producino- (»r maiui- 
 facturing at home most of the articles which they rt'ipiire ; 
 but the two continents can never be indepenilent of each 
 other, so numerous are the natural ties between their 
 wants, their ideas, their habits, jnid their manners. 
 
 The Union has peculiar connnodities which have now 
 become necessary to us, as thev cjuuiot be cultivated, or 
 can be raised only at an enormous expense, upon the soil 
 
 * It is hardly necessary to remind the American reader that tlu- annexa- 
 tion of Texas, and the aeccssion of Orejron and California on the Pacitie, since 
 M. de Tocfiiicvillc wrote, have made this coast-line half as Ion;; ai^ain. — 
 Am. Ed. 
 
 f 
 
 I 
 
544 
 
 I)I;M()C1!A(:Y im amkimca. 
 
 ):,: 
 
 of Eiiroj)!'. Tlio Amorii-ans consunu' only u sniiill portion 
 of this ])ro(lii('c', and tlicy arc willing to sell us tlu' rest. 
 Eui'ojx; is tliiTcfoi ' tlu' niai'ki't of America, as America is 
 the market of Imu'ojx' ; and maritime commerce is no less 
 necessary to cnaMe the iniialiitants of the United Stati-s to 
 transport tlieir raw matt-rials to the ports of Enropt", than 
 it is to enahle ns to snj)j>ly them with onr manntiictnred 
 j)rodnce. The United States mnst therefoie either fnr- 
 nish mnch hnsiness to other maritime nations, even if they 
 shonld themselves renonnce connnerce, as the Spaniards of 
 Mexico have hithei'to done, or they mnst hecome one of 
 the first maritime powers of tlio glohe. 
 
 The Ano-lo-Americans have alwavs dis])laye(l a decidecl 
 taste for the sea. The Declaration of Inde])endence, hy 
 hreakinjj: the commercial bonds which imited them to Enii- 
 land, oave a fresh and ])owerfnl stimulns to their mai'itimo 
 ofnius. Ever since that time, the shii)})ing of the Union 
 has increased almost as rapidly as the iinmher of its inhab- 
 itants. The Americans themselves now transport to their 
 own shores nine tenths of the European })ro(luce which 
 they consume. And thev also brino; thi'ee (luai'ters of the 
 ex[)orts of the New World to the Euroj)ean consumer. 
 The ships of tlie United States fill the docks of Havre 
 and of Liverpool, whilst tlic number of English and 
 French vessels at New York is comparatively small. 
 
 Thus, not only does tlie American merchant brave com- 
 j)etition on his own ground, but even successftdly sup})orts 
 that of foreign nations in their own ports. This is readily 
 explained by the fact, that the vessels of the United States 
 cross the seas at a cheaper rate. As long as tlie mercantile 
 shipping of the United States preserves this superiority, 
 it will not only retain what it has acquired, but will con- 
 stantly increase in prosperity. 
 
 It is difficult to say for what reason the Americans can 
 navigate at a lower rate than other nations ; one is at first 
 
coMMKiJciAL I'ltosi'r.inrY OF Tin; rNin;i) statks. .")4'> 
 
 led to attril)iiti' tliis sujx'riority to the pliysical ii<lvanta;;»'s 
 
 wliich nature (rives tliciii : but it is not 
 
 S(». 
 
 Tin- Aiut'iMcau 
 
 vessels cost almost as much to l)uil(l as our own ; * tlicy ai'i- 
 not better built, and they y;eiierallv last a shorti-r tiun-. 'rh.' 
 
 () 
 
 t' the i\merican sailor is more considfrable than I Ik 
 
 pay 
 
 pay on board Kui'opoan sliips, which is pi-oxcd by the ^rcat 
 number of Europeans who arc to be Ibund in the mci'chaut- 
 
 vessels of the Uniti'tl Stater 
 
 II 
 
 o\\ liai>i»('ns It, then. 
 
 that 
 
 tlie Americans sail their vessels at a cheaper I'ate than W(! 
 can ours ? I am of opinion, that the true cause <>f their 
 superiority must not be sought for in physical adsantam's, 
 but that it is wliollv attributable to moral and intellectual 
 qualities. 
 
 The fi)llowinn; com|)arison will illustrate mv meaninii". 
 Durinj;- the cam[)aijfns of the Revolution, the l^'rench 
 introduced a lU'W system of tactics into the ai't of war, 
 wliich perplexed the oldest generals, and very nearly de- 
 stroyed the most ancient monarchies of Europe. Tlicy 
 first undertook to make shift without a number of thini;s 
 which had always been held to be indisj)ensable in wartiire ; 
 they required novel exertions of their troops, which no 
 civilized nations had ever th()un;ht of; tliev achieved o;reat 
 actions in an incredibly short time, jmuI risked human life 
 without hesitation to obtain the ((bj'ct in view. The 
 French had less money and fewer men than their ene- 
 mies ; their resources were infinitely inferior ; neverthe- 
 less, they were constantly victorious, until their adversaries 
 chose to imitate their example. 
 
 The Americans have introduced a similar system into 
 commerce, — they do for cheapness what the French did 
 for concjuest. The European sailor naviu;ates with pru- 
 dence ; he sets sail only when the weather is favorable ; 
 if an unforeseen accident befalls him, he puts into port ; at 
 
 * Materials are, fjeiierally speaking, less expeusive iu America tliau ia 
 Europe, but the price of labor is much higher. 
 
 IZ 
 
 
 1 
 
r>i(; 
 
 J)|;mo(1iacy in amkimca. 
 
 
 <IH 
 
 tt''> 
 
 iii;ilit, Ih' furls a jiurtiuij of liis caiiNas ; ami wlicii tin- 
 wliitciiiii;:; Mlluws iiitiiiiatr flic \ icinity <tt" land, Ik- clu'cks 
 his i-ctui'sc, and takes an olisiTNation ol' tin- sun. Tlic 
 Aini'rican ncult-cts tlicsi' |iri'cauti(>ns, and liravi-s tlu'sc dan- 
 pTs. lie wcitilis anchor hfliti'c th(- ti'mpcst is u\cr; hv 
 ni^iit :nid ity day iu' sprcadN his sheets to tiie ^vind ; lie 
 repairs as lie ^oes alon;^' such dani;i;j,'e as his vessel may 
 lia\c> su>tained iVoiu tiie storm ; and when he at last 
 approaehes tlu* term of his vovm^c, In- <larts onward to 
 the sliori' as il' he already (K'seried a port. The ^\meri- 
 cans are often shi|)\vri'('ke(l, hut no trader crosses the seas 
 so rapidly. And, as they pei'lorm the same distance in 
 a shoi'ter time, they can jierform it at a <'heaper rate. 
 
 The I'^ui'opean navigator touches at ilitieri'Ut ports in tho 
 course of a lonj; voya^^e ; he loses precious time in uiakin^; 
 tlie haihor, or in waitin^f for a lavorahle wind to leave it ; 
 and 111' |tays daily thies to he alhnved to remain tiiere. 
 The American starts from I>ost(»n to [lurchase tea in 
 China : he arrives at Canton, stays there a few days, and 
 then returns. In less than two v»'ars, lie has sailed as lar 
 as the entire circunderence of the ^lobe, and has seen land 
 but once. It is true that, during a voyat;e of eit^ht or ten 
 months, he has drunk brackish water, and lived upon salt 
 meat ; that he has been in a continual contest with the sea, 
 with disease, and with weariness ; but, upon his return, he 
 can sell a pound of his tea for a halt-p<^'ii"y l<-'«'^ than the 
 En»i;lish merdiant, and his purpose is accomplished. 
 
 I cannot better explain my meaning, than by saying that 
 the Americans show a sort of heroism in their manner of 
 trading. The Euro})ean merchant will always find it dif- 
 ficult to imitate his American competitor, who, in adopting 
 the system which I have just described, does not follow 
 calculation, but an impulse of his nature. 
 
 The iidiabitants of the United States experience all the 
 wants and all the desires wliicn result from an advanced 
 
(•(>.MMi;i:(IAI- I'KdSI'KIUTY (U- IHi; l.MIKK MA IKS. .047 
 
 ri\ ili/,iiti(»n : ;>ii(l as tlu'V an* not sui'numdfd, ;i> in I^ninpt', 
 l»_v ji cnnnnnnitv skillnlly oriinni/fd tn •>;iti>l\ tlnni, llu-y 
 Miu' I'l'trn iililim'd to jirttcnrc t*<»r tlu'niscIs»-< tlif Niii'itMis Mi'fi- 
 ch's wliicli I'diicatiun and lial»it have iH-mUiH-d n»'C('»ai"ics. 
 In Ann j-ica, it sfunctinit's lia|t|»»'ns tliat tlir ^anif |nr>(iri 
 rills liis Held, laiilds Ids dwcllini:, contrivrs Ids tools, niaki's 
 Ids sliocs, and wcaxcs tlu' coarx' stntl' of wlddi his (li'c» is 
 
 coinuosi'd 
 
 '11 
 
 ^vo|•k, hnt it powi- 
 
 •ifnil 
 
 •r till 
 V contnljntcs to a\\al\i'n the nitclli 
 
 MS is prc'indicial t<» tlic cxci'ljcncf 
 
 gcncc of tlic workman. Notldnii ti-nds to niatt'riali/.c man, 
 and to d('|»i"i\(' Ids work of the fainti'st ti'aci- of nund. mort- 
 than the t'xtrcini' division of lahor. In a coinitiy lik*- 
 Anirrica, whci'i' men devoted to sjieeial occupations are 
 
 ran-, a loni: ajiprenticeslnp caiUKit be re(|nM-c(i irom any 
 one who endti'aces a |)n»fession. Ulu' Americans theretltre 
 clianii'e their means of uainin^ a livelihood \erv readily. 
 
 an( 
 
 I th 
 
 lev sint their occupations 
 
 to tl 
 
 le exiuencii's of tin- nu 
 
 n 
 
 nient. Men are to be met with wlio have successively hee 
 lawyers, ianners, nu-rcliants, miiusters of the GosjkI, and 
 pliysicians. If the American be less perfect in each craft 
 than till' luiropean, at least there is scarcely any trade with 
 whicli he is utterly unaccpiainted. His ca})acity is more 
 general, and tlie circle of his intellioeiu'e is on'jiter. 
 
 Till' inhabitants of the United States are never fettered 
 by the axioms of their profession ; they escajje Irom all the 
 ])rejudices of their j)reseiit station ; they are not more at- 
 tached to one line of operation than to another ; they are 
 not more })rone to emjdoy an old method than a new one ; 
 they have no rooted habits, and they easily shake off' the 
 influence which the habits of other nations niiiiht exercise 
 upon them, from a conviction that their country is unlike 
 any other, and that its situation is without a precedent in 
 the world. America is a land of wonders, in whicli every- 
 thing is in constant motion, and every change seems an 
 improvement. The idea of novelty is there indissolubly 
 
r>4H ' 
 
 DKMOCRAcn' IN AMF.niCA. 
 
 
 coiinccttMl with tlif i(ic;i of amelioration. No iiatiiial 
 l)()iiii<lai'y >(('ins to Ua srt to tlic i-tlorts of man ; and, in 
 liis eyes, wliat is not yet tlonu is only wliut lie has not yi-t 
 utti-niptcd to (h). 
 
 Tliis piTjii'tnal chaii;^!' wliich ;^oi's on in tlic Unitefl 
 States, these tViMinent vieissitndes of I'ortnne, these un- 
 f'oreseiMi fhictnations in jirivati* and |)nl)lie wealtli, serve 
 to keej) the minds (»!' the peopK' in a perpetnal t'l-verish 
 agitation, wliieli achniiahly in\i<:;orates tlieir exertions, and 
 keeps tliein, so to speak, ahove till' ofdinary level of hu- 
 manity. 'I'lie whole life of an American is passed like a 
 ^ame of chance, a iwolntionary crisis, (tr a hattle. As 
 the same causes are contimially in oi)i'rati()n throii;;liout 
 the country, they ultimati'ly impart an irri'sistiiile impulse 
 to the national character. Tin; American, taki'U as a 
 chance specimen of his countrymen, nnist then bi* a man 
 of sinn'ular warmth in his desires, I'uterprisin;^, Ibnd of 
 adventure, and, ahove all, of novelty. 'I'he .same bent is 
 manifest in all that he does : he introduces it into his polit- 
 ical laws, his relio'ioiis doctrines, his theories of social econ- 
 omy, and his domestic occu})ations ; he bears it with him 
 in the depth of the backwoods, as well as In the business 
 of the city. It is this same passion, ap}»lied to maritime 
 commerce, which makes him the cheaj)est and the ([uickest 
 trader in the work!. 
 
 As louii as the sailors of the United States retain these 
 mental advantages, and the practical superiority which they 
 derive from them, they will not only continue to supply the 
 wants of the producers and consumers of their own coun- 
 try, but they will tend more and more to become, like the 
 English, the factors of other nations.* This prediction lias 
 
 * It must not he supposed that Englisli vessels are exclusively employed 
 in transporting foreif^n produce into En<^land, or British produce to foreij:;u 
 countries : at the present day, the merchant ship|)ing of Ku<^hind nniy he 
 regarded in the light of a vast system of public conveyances, ready to serve 
 
(■((.MMKUCIA'. I'noSI'lJJIiV o| nil. IMIIM SIATKS .'4!> 
 
 tliese 
 
 I they 
 
 tlie 
 
 loun- 
 
 tho 
 
 lias 
 
 bloyed 
 
 proi;!;ii 
 
 [ay be 
 
 serve 
 
 nlrcady Iic^mim t«» Ik- rciili/.cd ; we jn'rcfivr that tlif Airwr- 
 icaii tradt'i's ai'r iiitrodiiciiii' tlifin-rl\fs ;i> iMtfi'iiit'iliutc 
 a;ji'iits ill the coimiU'rcc ot' several l^iifdin-aii nations:* imd 
 America will oMer a still wider field t<» tlieir eiiter|iri>e. 
 
 Tlu' iireat ('(i|(»iiies wliicli were rounded in Soiitli Auier- 
 ica l)V the Spaniards and the l'ortn<Mii'se have sinee lucdine 
 I'inpii'es. ('i\il wai* and o|t|iression now la\' \\a>te tho^e 
 extensive rei;ions. {'opnlatioii does not inei'i-a^e, inid th" 
 thinlv scattei'eil inhahitaiits arc too mneii alworhed in the 
 cares of selt-dereiiei' i'\cn to attempt anv amelionition (•!' 
 thi'ir condition. IJnt it will not alwavs he so. l'!ni'o[ie 
 lias siK'ceeded hv her own ell'orts in iiierein!"' the ^looni of 
 the Middle Aijes. South America has the same (hristian 
 laws and usages as we ha\e ; she contains all the ^^.t'rm- of 
 civilization which have e;r()wn amidst tlie nati(»ns of l^n'ope 
 or their offsets, added to the athantajjvs to he derived from 
 our examjde : why, then, should she always remain unciv- 
 ilized ? It is clear that the ([uestion is sim]»ly one o| time ; 
 at some future period, which may he more or less remote, 
 the inhabitants of South America will form flourishin<i; and 
 enli<i;htened nations. 
 
 But when the Spaniards and Portn<i;uese of South Amer- 
 ica l)en;in to feel the wants common to all cixilizi'd nations, 
 they will still he unable to satistV those wants fi»r them- 
 selves ; as the youiieest children of civilizati(»n, they must 
 perforce admit the superiority of their elder hrt'thivn. 
 They will be aiiriculturists loni; bi'fore thev succeed in 
 manufactures or commerce ; and they will reipiire the me- 
 diation of strantfers to excdian^e their jtroduce beyond seas 
 for those articles for which a demand will beoin to be felt. 
 
 It is unquestionable that the Americans of the North 
 
 all the prodncors of tlio world, and to often commiuiieations between all na- 
 tions. The niiiritime f;cniiis of the vVniericaiis pronijtts them to enter into 
 eoiniK'titioii with the Knj;'lisli. 
 
 * I'art of the couniieree of the Mediterranean is already earried on by 
 Amcriean vessels. 
 
650 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 will one day l)e called upon to supply tlie wants of the 
 Americans of the South. Nature has placed them in c(m- 
 ti<j;uity, and has furnished the former with every means of 
 knowino; and appreciating those demands, of establishing 
 permanent relations with tliose States, and gradually filling 
 their markets. The mercliant of the United States could 
 only forfeit these natural advantages if he were very infe- 
 rior to the merchant of Europe ; but he is superior to him 
 in several respects. The Americans of the United States 
 already exercise a great moral influence upon all the na- 
 tions of the New World. They are the source of intelli- 
 gence ; and all those who inhabit the same continent are 
 already accustomed to consider them as the most enlight- 
 ened, the most powerful, and the most wealthy members 
 of the great American flimily. All eyes are therefore 
 turned towards the United States : these are the models 
 which the other communities try to imitate to the best of 
 their power ; it is from the Union that they borrow their 
 political principles and their laws. 
 
 Tile Americans of the United States stand in precisely 
 the same position with regard to the South Americans as 
 their fathers, the English, occupy with regard to the Ital- 
 ians, the Spaniards, the Portuguese, and all those nations 
 of Europe which receive their articles of daily consumj)- 
 tion fro!n England, because they are less advanced in civil- 
 ization and trade. England is at this time the natural 
 emporium of almost all the nations which are within its 
 reach ; the American Union will perform the same part 
 in the other hemisphere ; and every community which is 
 founded or which prospers in the New World, is founded 
 and prospers to the advantage of the Anglo-Americans. 
 
 If the Union were to be dissolved, the conunerce of 
 the States which now compose it would undoubtedly be 
 checked for a time ; but less than one would think. It is 
 evident that, whatexer may happen, the commercial States 
 
FUTURF PROSPKCTS OF THE UNirKD STATKS. 
 
 ")')! 
 
 Ital- 
 
 ions 
 
 uin])- 
 
 ivil- 
 
 tnral 
 
 11 its 
 
 part 
 
 ■li is 
 
 led 
 
 t IS 
 
 tatcs 
 
 will remain united. They are contiguous, 
 same o})inions, interests, and maimers ; : 
 
 , they have tlie 
 md thev alone 
 
 form a great maritime power. Even if the South of tiie 
 
 U 
 
 to ht 
 
 independent of the North, it 
 
 Id 
 
 oome 
 still require the services of those States. 1 have already 
 observed that the South is not a commercial country, and 
 nothing indicates that it will become so. The Amei-icans 
 of the South of the United States will therefore long be 
 obliged to have recourse to strangers to export their pro- 
 duce, and supply them with the commodities whicli satisfy 
 their wants, liut the Northern States are undoubtedly 
 able to act as their intermediate an;ents cheaper than any 
 other merchants. They will therefore retain that employ- 
 ment, for chea})ness is the sovereign law of commerce. 
 Sovereign will and national prejudices cannot long resist 
 the influence of cheapness. Nothing can be more virulent 
 than the hatred whicli exists between the Americans of the 
 United States and the English. But in sj)ite of these 
 hostile feelings, the Americ;ins derive most of their manu- 
 factured commodities from Ensi-land, because Eniiland sun- 
 plies them at a cheaper rate than any other nation. Thus 
 the increasing prosperity of America turns, notwithstand- 
 ing the crrudiie" of the Americans, to the advantaoe of 
 British manufiictures. 
 
 Reason and experience prove that no commercial pros- 
 perity can be durable if it cannot be united, in case of 
 need, to naval force. This trutli is as well understood in 
 the United States as anywhere else : the Americans are 
 already able to make their flag respected ; in a few years 
 they will make it feared. I am convinced that the dis- 
 memberment of the Union would not have the effect of 
 diminishing the naval power of the Americans, but would 
 powerfully contribute to increase it.* At present, the 
 
 * This proplu'cy has ahrady hccii fullillcd in a rcmarkaiile inaiiner Iiy 
 the trroat struggle wiiieh is uuw going on between tlie North and tiie South. 
 — Am. Ed. 
 
r)52 
 
 DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 If 
 ll 
 
 commercial States are connected with others which are 
 not commercial, and which unwillingly beliold tlie Increase 
 of a maritime power by Avhich they are only indirectly 
 benefited. If, on the contrary, the commercial States of 
 the Union formed one and the same nation, commerce 
 would become the foremost of their national Interests ; 
 they 'would consequently be willing to make gi*eat sacri- 
 fices to protect their shipping, and nothing would prevent 
 them from pursuing their desires upon this point. 
 
 Nations, as Avell as men, almost always betray the prom- 
 inent features of their future destiny In their earliest years. 
 When I contemplate the ardor with which the Anglo- 
 Americans prosecute commerce, the advantages wliich aid 
 them, and the success of their undertakings, I cannot help 
 believing that they will one day become the first maritime 
 power of the globe. They are born to rule the seas, as 
 the Romans were to conquer the world. 
 
 CONCLUSION. 
 
 I AM approaching the close of my inquiry : hitherto, in 
 speaking of the future destiny of the United States, I have 
 endeavored to divide my subject into distinct portions, in 
 order to study each of them with more attention. My 
 present object is to embrace tlip whole from one point of 
 view ; the remarks I shall make will be less detailed, but 
 they wmII be more sure. I shall perceive each object less 
 distinctly, but I shall descry the principal facts Avith more 
 certainty. A traveller, who has just left a vast ci . climbs 
 the neighboring hill ; as he goes flirther off, he loses sight 
 of the men whom he has just quitted ; their dwellings are 
 confused in a dense mass ; he can no longer distinguish 
 the public squares, and can scarcely trace out the great 
 thoroughfares ; but his eye has less difficulty in following 
 
FUTT'RK PROSrECTS OF TIIK UNITKD STATES. 
 
 55:'. 
 
 .'ing 
 
 •the boundarios of tlie oitv, and for tlie first tiiiu' he soos 
 the shape of tlie whok". Such is the future (h'stiny of tlic 
 British race in North America to my eve ; the (U-tails of 
 the immense picture are k)st in the shade, hut I conceive 
 a clear idea of the entire subject. 
 
 The territory now occupied or possessed by the United 
 States of America forms about one twentieth part of the 
 habitable earth. But extensive as these bounds are, it 
 must not be supposed that the Anglo-American race will 
 always remain within them ; indeed, it has already gone 
 far beyond them. 
 
 There was a time when we also might have created a 
 great French nation in the American wilds, to counter- 
 balance the influence of the English upon the destinies of 
 the New World. France formerly possessed a territory ia 
 North America scarcely less extensive than the whole of 
 Europe. The three greatest rivers of that continent then 
 flowed within her dominions. The Indian tribes which 
 dwelt between the mouth of the St. Lawrence and the 
 delta of the Mississippi were unaccustomed to any other 
 tongue than ours ; and all the European settlements scat- 
 tered over that immense region recalled the traditions of 
 our country. Louisburg, Montmorency, Duquesne, Saint- 
 Louis, Vincennes, New Orleans, (for such were the names 
 they bore,) are words dear to France and familiar to our 
 ears. 
 
 But a course of circumstances, which it would be tedious 
 to enumerate,* have deprived us of this magnificent inher- 
 itance. Wherever the French settlers were numerically 
 weak and partially established, they have disappeared : 
 
 * The foremost of these circumstances is, that nations whicli are accus- 
 tomed to township institutions and municipal f^overnment arc l^etter alile 
 than any others to found prosperous colonies. The hahit of thinkinji; and 
 governin<^ for one's self is indispensable in a new country, where su<'ccss ne- 
 cessarily depends in a great measure upon the individual exertions of the 
 settlers. 
 
 24 
 
554 
 
 1)i:m(KI{Ac;v in am;;i:ica. 
 
 m 
 
 those wlio remain are coUectt'd on a small extent of coun- 
 try, and are now .snhject to other laws. The 400,000 
 Freneh inhabitants of Lower Canada constitute at the 
 present time the remnant of an old nation lost in the 
 midst of a new people. A foreign jjopulation is increas- 
 inij around them imceasinnlv and on all sides, who already 
 penetrate amongst the former masters of the country, j)re- 
 dominate in their cities, and corrupt their language. This 
 population is identical wirh that of the United States ; it 
 is therefore with truth that I asserted that the British race 
 is not confined within the frontiers of the Uiiion, since it 
 alivady extends to the northeast. 
 
 To the northwest, nothing is to be met with but a few 
 insignificant Russian settlements ; but to the southwest, 
 JVIexico presents a barrier to the Anglo-Americans. Thus, 
 tlie Spaniards and the Anglo-Americans are, properly 
 speaking, the two races which divide the possession of the 
 New World. The limits of separation between them have 
 been settled by treaty ; but although the conditions of that 
 treaty are flivorable to the Anglo-Americans, I do not 
 doubt that they will shortly infringe it. Vast provinces, 
 extendino; beyond the frontiers of the Union towards Mex- 
 ico, are still destitute of inhabitants. The natives of the 
 United States will people these solitary regions before their 
 rightful occupants. They will take possession of the soil, 
 and establish social institutions, so that, when the legal 
 owner at length arrives, he will find the wilderness under 
 cultivation, and strangers quietly settled in the midst of 
 his inheritance. 
 
 The lands of the New World belono; to the first occu- 
 pant ; they are the natural reward of the swiftest pioneer. 
 Even the countries which are already peopled will have 
 some difficulty in securino; themselves from this invasiim. 
 I have already alluded to what is taking ]>lace in the jirov- 
 ince of Texas. The inhabitants of the United States are 
 
FUTURE PROSPKCTS OF TIIK UNIIKl) STATKS. 
 
 i>.)0 
 
 liuler 
 of 
 
 porj)ctually niii2;r;i^inii; t(^ Texas, wluTc thoy purcliasf land ; 
 and altliouiili tlicv contorni to the laws of the countrv, tliev 
 are gradually founding the empire of their own language 
 and their own manners.* The province of 'i\'.\as is still 
 }>art of the Mi'xiean dominions, but it will soon contain 
 no ^Mexicans ; the same thing has occurred wherever the 
 .\71glo-Americans have come in contact with a j)eople of a 
 ditferent origin. 
 
 It cannot be denied that the liritish race has ac([uired an 
 amazing preponderance over all other European races in 
 the New \\'^orld ; and it is very superior to them in ci\il- 
 i/ation, industry, and })ower. As long as it is surrounded 
 only by desert or thiidy-])eopled countries, as long as it 
 encounters no dense population uj)on its route, through 
 which it cannot work its way, it will assuredly continue to 
 spread. The lines marked out by treaties will not stop it ; 
 but it will everywhere overleap these imaginary barriers. 
 
 The geograj)hical position of the P)ritish race in the New 
 World is })eculiarly favorable to its ra[>id increase. Above 
 its northern frontiers the icy rejxions of the Pole extend ; 
 and a few degrees below its southern confines lies tlie burn- 
 ing climate of the Equator. The Anglo-Americans are 
 therefore placed in the most temperate and habitable zone 
 of the continent. 
 
 It is generally supposed that the prodigious increase of 
 population in the United States is posterior to their Decla- 
 ration of Independence. P>ut this is an error : the po{)u- 
 lation increased as rapidly under the colonial s^'stem as at 
 the present day ; that is to say, it doubled in about twenty- 
 tv/o years. Put this proportion, which is now aj)plied to 
 millions, was then apjdied to thousands, of inhabitants ; 
 and the same fact, which was scarcely noticeable a century 
 aso, is now evident to e\erv observer. 
 
 * III loss than ten years after De Toequcville wrote, the auuexatiou of 
 Texas fulHlled tins prophecy. — Am. Ed. 
 
656 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 The English in Canada, wlio arc dependent on a kinir, 
 augment and spread almost as ra})idly as the British settlers 
 of the United States, who live under a re})ubliean govern- 
 ment. During the war of Independence, which lasted 
 eight years, the population continued to increase without 
 intermission in the same ratio. Although powerful Indian 
 nations allied with the English existed, at that time, u]>on 
 the western frontiers, the emigration westward was never 
 checked. Whilst the enemy laid waste the shores of the 
 Atlantic, Kentucky, the Avestern parts of Pennsylvania, 
 and the States of Vermont and of Maine, were filling with 
 inhabitants. Nor did the unsettled state of thiniis which 
 succeeded the war prevent the increase of the pf)pulation, 
 or stop its progress across the wilds. Thus, the difference 
 of laws, the various conditions of peace and war, of order 
 or anarchy, have exercised no perceptible influence upon 
 the continued development of the Anglo-Americans. This 
 may be readily understood, for no causes are sufficiently 
 general to exercise a simultaneous influence over the whole 
 of so extensive a territory. One portion of the country 
 always offers a sure retreat from the calamities which afflict 
 another part ; and however great may be the evil, the 
 remedy which is at hand is greater still. 
 
 It must not, then, be imagined that the impulse of the 
 British race in the New World can be arrested. The dis- 
 memberment of the Union, and the hostilities which micht 
 ensue, the abolition of republican institutions, and the ty- 
 rannical government which miixht succeed, mav retard this 
 impulse, but they cannot prevent the people from ultimately 
 fulfilling their destinies. No power upon earth can shut 
 out the emigrants from that fertile wilderness which offers 
 resources to all industry, and a refuo;e from all want. Fu- 
 ture events, whatever they may be, will not deprive the 
 Americans of their climate or their inland seas, their great 
 rivers or their exuberant soil. Nor will bad laws, revo- 
 
FUTrni: i'iiosri:cTS of the united states. 
 
 OOI 
 
 this 
 itelv 
 shut 
 )ffers 
 Fu- 
 tile 
 
 lutioiis, and aiuin.-liy be abU' to obliterate that love of 
 prosperity and spirit of enterj)rise which sei-ni to be the 
 distinctive characteristics of their race, or e.\tin>;uisli al- 
 together the knowledoe which jiuides them on their way. 
 
 Thus, in the midst of the uncertain future, one event at 
 least is sure. At a period whicjj may be said to be near, 
 — lor we are speakinii of the life of a nation, — the Aniilo- 
 Americans alone will cover the innnense space contained 
 between the })oha' regions and tiie tropics, extending from 
 the coasts of the Atlantic to those of the Pacific Ocean. 
 The territory which will j)robably be occnpieil by the 
 Anglo-Americans may })erhaps efjual three (piarters of 
 Euro})e in extent. The climate of the Union is, upon the 
 whole, preferable to that of Europe, and its natural advan- 
 tages are as great ; it is therefore evident that its population 
 will at some future time be proportionate to our own. Eu- 
 rope, divided as it is between so many nations, and torn as 
 it has been by incessant wars growing out of the barbarous 
 manners of the Middle Ages, has yet attained a population 
 of 410 inhabitants to the square league. What cause can 
 prevent the United States from having as numerous a pop- 
 ulation in time ? 
 
 Many ages must elapse before the different oflPsets of 
 the British race in America will cease to present the same 
 physiognomy ; and the time cannot be foreseen at which a 
 permanent inequality of condition can be established in the 
 New World. Whatever differences may arise, from peace 
 or war, freedom or oppression, prosperity or want, between 
 the destinies of the dift'erent descendants of the great An- 
 glo-American family, they will all preserve at least a simi- 
 lar social condition, and will hold in common the customs 
 and opinions to Avhich that social condition has given birth. 
 
 In the Middle Ages, the tie of religion was sufficiently 
 powerful to unite all the different populations of Euroj)e 
 in the same civilization. The British of the New World 
 
558 
 
 DKMOCRACY IN AMERICA. 
 
 have a thousand other reei})rocal ties ; and they live at 
 a time when the tendeney to e(juahty is general amongst 
 mankind. The Middle Ages were a period when every- 
 thing was broken up, — when eaeh })eople, eaeh })rovinee, 
 each eitv, and each family tended stroiiiily to maintain its 
 distinct indiviiluality. At the present time, an opjiosite 
 tendency seems to prevail, and the nations seem to he ad- 
 vancing to unity. Our means of intellectual intercourse 
 imite the remotest parts of the earth ; and men cannot 
 renuiin strangers to each other, or be ij^norant of what is 
 taking j)lace in any corner of the globe. The conse(pience 
 is, tliat there is less difference at the ])resent day between 
 the Euro]»eans and their descendants in the New World, 
 in spite of the ocean which divides them, than there was 
 between certain towns in the thirteenth century, which 
 were separated only by a river. If this tendency to as- 
 similation brings foreign nations closer to each other, it 
 must a fortiori prevent the descendants of the same peo- 
 ple from becoming aliens to each other. 
 
 The time will therefore come, when one hundred and 
 fifty millions of men will be living in North America,* 
 equal in condition, all belonging to one family, owing their 
 origin to the same cause, and preserving the same civiliza- 
 tion, the same language, the same religion, the same habits, 
 the same manners, and imbued with the same opinions, 
 propagated under the same forms. The rest is uncertain, 
 but this is certain ; and it is a fact new to the world, — a 
 fact wdiich the imagination strives in vain to grasp. 
 
 m* 
 
 There are at the present time two great nations in the 
 world, w^hicli started from different points, but seem to tend 
 towards the same end. I allude to the Russians and the 
 Americans. Both of them have grown up unnoticed ; 
 
 * Tliis would be a population proportionate to that of Europe, taken at a 
 mean rate of 410 inhabitants to the square league. 
 
FUTrRF, rROSI'KCTS OF TIIK INITKl) STATKS. 
 
 559 
 
 }ry- 
 
 * 
 
 aiul wliilst tlu' iitti'iition of iiiJinkiiid wjis diivcti'd dsc- 
 wluMV, tlu'v liiive suddenly jdact'd tlji'insclvcs in tlu- IVont 
 rank anionu' the nations, and tlu* world li-anu'd tlu'ir exist- 
 ence and their t^reatness at almost the same time. 
 
 All other nations seem to have nearly reached their nat- 
 ural limits, and they have only to maintain their jiowci- ; 
 hut these are still in the act of orowth.* All the otiiers 
 have stop})ed, or continue to advance with extivme dilli- 
 culty ; these alone are })roceedinii' with ease and celerity 
 along a ])ath to which no limit can he j)erceive(l. The 
 American struiiii'les auainst the ohstacles which nature oi>- 
 })()ses to him ; the adversaries of the Russian are men. 
 The former comhats the wilderness and savage life ; the 
 latter, civilization with all its arms. The conquests of the 
 American are therefore gained bv the i)loui'hshare ; those 
 of the Russian by the sword. The Anglo-American re- 
 lies upon personal interest to accomplish his ends, and gives 
 free scope to the unguided strength and common sense of 
 the people ; the Russian centres all the authority of society 
 in a single arm. The i)rincipal instrument of the former 
 is freedom ; of the latter, servitude. Their starting-point 
 is different, and their courses are not the same ; yet each 
 of them seems marked out by the will of Heaven to sway 
 the destinies of half the o-lobe. 
 
 * The population of Russia increases more rapidly than that of any other 
 country in the Old World. 
 
 END OF VOLUME I. 
 
 1 at a 
 
 Cumbridge : Stcrcotj'ped and Printed by Welch, Bigelow, & Co.