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+*The Project Gutenberg Etext of Democracy In America, Volume 1*
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+Democracy In America, Volume 1
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+by Alexis de Toqueville
+
+February, 1997  [Etext #815]
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+
+Democracy In America
+Alexis De Tocqueville
+Translator - Henry Reeve
+
+
+
+
+Book One
+
+
+Introduction
+
+Special Introduction By Hon. John T. Morgan
+
+In the eleven years that separated the Declaration of the
+Independence of the United States from the completion of that act
+in the ordination of our written Constitution, the great minds of
+America were bent upon the study of the principles of government
+that were essential to the preservation of the liberties which
+had been won at great cost and with heroic labors and sacrifices. 
+Their studies were conducted in view of the imperfections that
+experience had developed in the government of the Confederation,
+and they were, therefore, practical and thorough.
+
+When the Constitution was thus perfected and established, a
+new form of government was created, but it was neither
+speculative nor experimental as to the principles on which it was
+based.  If they were true principles, as they were, the
+government founded upon them was destined to a life and an
+influence that would continue while the liberties it was intended
+to preserve should be valued by the human family.  Those
+liberties had been wrung from reluctant monarchs in many
+contests, in many countries, and were grouped into creeds and
+established in ordinances sealed with blood, in many great
+struggles of the people.  They were not new to the people.  They
+were consecrated theories, but no government had been previously
+established for the great purpose of their preservation and
+enforcement.  That which was experimental in our plan of
+government was the question whether democratic rule could be so
+organized and conducted that it would not degenerate into license
+and result in the tyranny of absolutism, without saving to the
+people the power so often found necessary of repressing or
+destroying their enemy, when he was found in the person of a
+single despot.
+
+When, in 1831, Alexis de Tocqueville came to study Democracy
+in America, the trial of nearly a half-century of the working of
+our system had been made, and it had been proved, by many crucial
+tests, to be a government of "liberty regulated by law," with
+such results in the development of strength, in population,
+wealth, and military and commercial power, as no age had ever
+witnessed. 
+
+[See Alexis De Tocqueville]
+
+De Tocqueville had a special inquiry to prosecute, in his
+visit to America, in which his generous and faithful soul and the
+powers of his great intellect were engaged in the patriotic
+effort to secure to the people of France the blessings that
+Democracy in America had ordained and established throughout
+nearly the entire Western Hemisphere.  He had read the story of
+the FrenchRevolution, much of which had been recently written in
+the blood of men and women of great distinction who were his
+progenitors; and had witnessed the agitations and terrors of the
+Restoration and of the Second Republic, fruitful in crime and
+sacrifice, and barren of any good to mankind.
+
+He had just witnessed the spread of republican government
+through all the vast continental possessions of Spain in America,
+and the loss of her great colonies.  He had seen that these
+revolutions were accomplished almost without the shedding of
+blood, and he was filled with anxiety to learn the causes that
+had placed republican government, in France, in such contrast
+with Democracy in America.
+
+De Tocqueville was scarcely thirty years old when he began
+his studies of Democracy in America.  It was a bold effort for
+one who had no special training in government, or in the study of
+political economy, but he had the example of Lafayette in
+establishing the military foundation of these liberties, and of
+Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Hamilton, all of whom were
+young men, in building upon the Independence of the United States
+that wisest and best plan of general government that was ever
+devised for a free people.
+
+He found that the American people, through their chosen
+representatives who were instructed by their wisdom and
+experience and were supported by their virtues - cultivated,
+purified and ennobled by self-reliance and the love of God - had
+matured, in the excellent wisdom of their counsels, a new plan of
+government, which embraced every security for their liberties and
+equal rights and privileges to all in the pursuit of happiness. 
+He came as an honest and impartial student and his great
+commentary, like those of Paul, was written for the benefit of
+all nations and people and in vindication of truths that will
+stand for their deliverance from monarchical rule, while time
+shall last.
+
+A French aristocrat of the purest strain of blood and of the
+most honorable lineage, whose family influence was coveted by
+crowned heads; who had no quarrel with the rulers of the nation,
+and was secure against want by his inherited estates; was moved
+by the agitations that compelled France to attempt to grasp
+suddenly the liberties and happiness we had gained in our
+revolution and, by his devout love of France, to search out and
+subject to the test of reason the basic principles of free
+government that had been embodied in our Constitution.  This was
+the mission of De Tocqueville, and no mission was ever more
+honorably or justly conducted, or concluded with greater eclat,
+or better results for the welfare of mankind.
+
+His researches were logical and exhaustive.  They included
+every phase of every question that then seemed to be apposite to
+the great inquiry he was making.
+
+The judgment of all who have studied his commentaries seems
+to have been unanimous, that his talents and learning were fully
+equal to his task.  He began with the physical geography of this
+country, and examined the characteristics of the people, of all
+races and conditions, their social and religious sentiments,
+their education and tastes; their industries, their commerce,
+their local governments, their passions and prejudices, and their
+ethics and literature; leaving nothing unnoticed that might
+afford an argument to prove that our plan and form of government
+was or was not adapted especially to a peculiar people, or that
+it would be impracticable in any different country, or among any
+different people.
+
+The pride and comfort that the American people enjoy in the
+great commentaries of De Tocqueville are far removed from the
+selfish adulation that comes from a great and singular success. 
+It is the consciousness of victory over a false theory of
+government which has afflicted mankind for many ages, that gives
+joy to the true American, as it did to De Tocqueville in his
+great triumph.  
+
+When De Tocqueville wrote, we had lived less than fifty
+years under our Constitution.  In that time no great national
+commotion had occurred that tested its strength, or its power of
+resistance to internal strife, such as had converted his beloved
+France into fields of slaughter torn by tempests of wrath.
+
+He had a strong conviction that no government could be
+ordained that could resist these internal forces, when, they are
+directed to its destruction by bad men, or unreasoning mobs, and
+many then believed, as some yet believe, that our government is
+unequal to such pressure, when the assault is thoroughly
+desperate. 
+
+Had De Tocqueville lived to examine the history of the
+United States from 1860 to 1870, his misgivings as to this power
+of self- preservation would, probably, have been cleared off.  He
+would have seen that, at the end of the most destructive civil
+war that ever occurred, when animosities of the bitterest sort
+had banished all good feeling from the hearts of our people, the
+States of the American Union, still in complete organization and
+equipped with all their official entourage, aligned themselves in
+their places and took up the powers and duties of local
+government in perfect order and without embarrassment.  This
+would have dispelled his apprehensions, if he had any, about the
+power of the United States to withstand the severest shocks of
+civil war.  Could he have traced the further course of events
+until they open the portals of the twentieth century, he would
+have cast away his fears of our ability to restore peace, order,
+and prosperity, in the face of any difficulties, and would have
+rejoiced to find in the Constitution of the United States the
+remedy that is provided for the healing of the nation.
+
+De Tocqueville examined, with the care that is worthy the
+importance of the subject, the nature and value of the system of
+"local self-government," as we style this most important feature
+of our plan, and (as has often happened) when this or any subject
+has become a matter of anxious concern, his treatment of the
+questions is found to have been masterly and his preconceptions
+almost prophetic.
+
+We are frequently indebted to him for able expositions and
+true doctrines relating to subjects that have slumbered in the
+minds of the people until they were suddenly forced on our
+attention by unexpected events.
+
+In his introductory chapter, M. De Tocqueville says:
+"Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my
+stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than
+the general equality of conditions." He referred, doubtless, to
+social and political conditions among the people of the white
+race, who are described as "We, the people," in the opening
+sentence of the Constitution.  The last three amendments of the
+Constitution have so changed this, that those who were then negro
+slaves are clothed with the rights of citizenship, including the
+right of suffrage.  This was a political party movement, intended
+to be radical and revolutionary, but it will, ultimately, react
+because it has not the sanction of public opinion.
+
+If M. De Tocqueville could now search for a law that would
+negative this provision in its effect upon social equality, he
+would fail to find it.  But he would find it in the unwritten law
+of the natural aversion of the races. He would find it in public
+opinion, which is the vital force in every law in a free
+government.  This is a subject that our Constitution failed to
+regulate, because it was not contemplated by its authors.  It is
+a question that will settle itself, without serious difficulty. 
+The equality in the suffrage, thus guaranteed to the negro race,
+alone - for it was not intended to include other colored races -
+creates a new phase of political conditions that M. De
+Tocqueville could not foresee.  Yet, in his commendation of the
+local town and county governments, he applauds and sustains that
+elementary feature of our political organization which, in the
+end, will render harmless this wide departure from the original
+plan and purpose of American Democracy. "Local Self-Government,"
+independent of general control, except for general purposes, is
+the root and origin of all free republican government, and is the
+antagonist of all great political combinations that threaten the
+rights of minorities.  It is the public opinion formed in the
+independent expressions of towns and other small civil districts
+that is the real conservatism of free government.  It is equally
+the enemy of that dangerous evil, the corruption of the
+ballot-box, from which it is now apprehended that one of our
+greatest troubles is to arise.
+
+The voter is selected, under our laws, because he has
+certain physical qualifications - age and sex.  His
+disqualifications, when any are imposed, relate to his education
+or property, and to the fact that he has not been convicted of
+crime.  Of all men he should be most directly amenable to public
+opinion.
+
+The test of moral character and devotion to the duties of
+good citizenship are ignored in the laws, because the courts can
+seldom deal with such questions in a uniform and satisfactory
+way, under rules that apply alike to all.  Thus the voter,
+selected by law to represent himself and four other non-voting
+citizens, is often a person who is unfit for any public duty or
+trust.  In a town government, having a small area of
+jurisdiction, where the voice of the majority of qualified voters
+is conclusive, the fitness of the person who is to exercise that
+high representative privilege can be determined by his neighbors
+and acquaintances, and, in the great majority of cases, it will
+be decided honestly and for the good of the country.  In such
+meetings, there is always a spirit of loyalty to the State,
+because that is loyalty to the people, and a reverence for God
+that gives weight to the duties and responsibilities of
+citizenship.
+
+M. De Tocqueville found in these minor local jurisdictions
+the theoretical conservatism which, in the aggregate, is the
+safest reliance of the State.  So we have found them, in
+practice, the true protectors of the purity of the ballot,
+without which all free government will degenerate into
+absolutism.
+
+In the future of the Republic, we must encounter many
+difficult and dangerous situations, but the principles
+established in the Constitution and the check upon hasty or
+inconsiderate legislation, and upon executive action, and the
+supreme arbitrament of the courts, will be found sufficient for
+the safety of personal rights, and for the safety of the
+government, and the prophetic outlook of M. De Tocqueville will
+be fully realized through the influence of Democracy in America. 
+Each succeeding generation of Americans will find in the pure and
+impartial reflections of De Tocqueville a new source of pride in
+our institutions of government, and sound reasons for patriotic
+effort to preserve them and to inculcate their teachings.  They
+have mastered the power of monarchical rule in the American
+Hemisphere, freeing religion from all shackles, and will spread,
+by a quiet but resistless influence, through the islands of the
+seas to other lands, where the appeals of De Tocqueville for
+human rights and liberties have already inspired the souls of the
+people.
+
+
+Hon. John T. Morgan
+
+Special Introduction By Hon. John J. Ingalls
+
+Nearly two-thirds of a century has elapsed since the
+appearance of "Democracy in America," by Alexis Charles Henri
+Clerel de Tocqueville, a French nobleman, born at Paris, July 29,
+1805.
+
+Bred to the law, he exhibited an early predilection for
+philosophy and political economy, and at twenty-two was appointed
+judge-auditor at the tribunal of Versailles.
+
+In 1831, commissioned ostensibly to investigate the
+penitentiary system of the United States, he visited this
+country, with his friend, Gustave de Beaumont, travelling
+extensively through those parts of the Republic then subdued to
+settlement, studying the methods of local, State, and national
+administration, and observing the manners and habits, the daily
+life, the business, the industries and occupations of the people.
+
+"Democracy in America," the first of four volumes upon
+"American Institutions and their Influence," was published in
+1835.  It was received at once by the scholars and thinkers of
+Europe as a profound, impartial, and entertaining exposition of
+the principles of popular, representative self-government.
+
+Napoleon, "The mighty somnambulist of a vanished dream," had
+abolished feudalism and absolutism, made monarchs and dynasties
+obsolete, and substituted for the divine right of kings the
+sovereignty of the people.
+
+Although by birth and sympathies an aristocrat, M. de
+Tocqueville saw that the reign of tradition and privilege at last
+was ended.  He perceived that civilization, after many bloody
+centuries, had entered a new epoch.  He beheld, and deplored, the
+excesses that had attended the genesis of the democratic spirit
+in France, and while he loved liberty, he detested the crimes
+that had been committed in its name.  Belonging neither to the
+class which regarded the social revolution as an innovation to be
+resisted, nor to that which considered political equality the
+universal panacea for the evils of humanity, he resolved by
+personal observation of the results of democracy in the New World
+to ascertain its natural consequences, and to learn what the
+nations of Europe had to hope or fear from its final supremacy.
+
+That a youth of twenty-six should entertain a design so
+broad and bold implies singular intellectual intrepidity.  He had
+neither model nor precedent.  The vastness and novelty of the
+undertaking increase admiration for the remarkable ability with
+which the task was performed.
+
+Were literary excellence the sole claim of "Democracy in
+America" to distinction, the splendor of its composition alone
+would entitle it to high place among the masterpieces of the
+century.  The first chapter, upon the exterior form of North
+America, as the theatre upon which the great drama is to be
+enacted, for graphic and picturesque description of the physical
+characteristics of the continent is not surpassed in literature:
+nor is there any subdivision of the work in which the severest
+philosophy is not invested with the grace of poetry, and the
+driest statistics with the charm of romance. Western emigration
+seemed commonplace and prosaic till M. de Tocqueville said, "This
+gradual and continuous progress of the European race toward the
+Rocky Mountains has the solemnity of a providential event; it is
+like a deluge of men rising unabatedly, and daily driven onward
+by the hand of God!"
+
+The mind of M. de Tocqueville had the candor of the
+photographic camera. It recorded impressions with the
+impartiality of nature.  The image was sometimes distorted, and
+the perspective was not always true, but he was neither a
+panegyrist, nor an advocate, nor a critic.  He observed American
+phenomena as illustrations, not as proof nor arguments; and
+although it is apparent that the tendency of his mind was not
+wholly favorable to the democratic principle, yet those who
+dissent from his conclusions must commend the ability and courage
+with which they are expressed.
+
+Though not originally written for Americans, "Democracy in
+America" must always remain a work of engrossing and constantly
+increasing interest to citizens of the United States as the first
+philosophic and comprehensive view of our society, institutions,
+and destiny.  No one can rise even from the most cursory perusal
+without clearer insight and more patriotic appreciation of the
+blessings of liberty protected by law, nor without encouragement
+for the stability and perpetuity of the Republic.  The causes
+which appeared to M. de Tocqueville to menace both, have gone. 
+The despotism of public opinion, the tyranny of majorities, the
+absence of intellectual freedom which seemed to him to degrade
+administration and bring statesmanship, learning, and literature
+to the level of the lowest, are no longer considered.  The
+violence of party spirit has been mitigated, and the judgment of
+the wise is not subordinated to the prejudices of the ignorant.
+
+Other dangers have come.  Equality of conditions no longer
+exists. Prophets of evil predict the downfall of democracy, but
+the student of M. de Tocqueville will find consolation and
+encouragement in the reflection that the same spirit which has
+vanquished the perils of the past, which he foresaw, will be
+equally prepared for the responsibilities of the present and the
+future.
+
+The last of the four volumes of M. de Tocqueville's work
+upon American institutions appeared in 1840.
+
+In 1838 he was chosen member of the Academy of Moral and
+Political Sciences.  In 1839 he was elected to the Chamber of
+Deputies.  He became a member of the French Academy in 1841. 
+In 1848 he was in the Assembly, and from June 2nd to October
+31st he was Minister of Foreign Affairs.  The coup d'etat of
+December 2, 1851 drove him from the public service.  In 1856 he
+published "The Old Regime and the Revolution." He died at Cannes,
+April 15, 1859, at the age of fifty-four.
+
+Hon. John J. Ingalls
+
+
+Introductory Chapter
+
+Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during
+my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly
+than the general equality of conditions.  I readily discovered
+the prodigious influence which this primary fact exercises on the
+whole course of society, by giving a certain direction to public
+opinion, and a certain tenor to the laws; by imparting new maxims
+to the governing powers, and peculiar habits to the governed.  I
+speedily perceived that the influence of this fact extends far
+beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and
+that it has no less empire over civil society than over the
+Government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments, suggests
+the ordinary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not
+produce.  The more I advanced in the study of American society,
+the more I perceived that the equality of conditions is the
+fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived, and
+the central point at which all my observations constantly
+terminated.
+
+I then turned my thoughts to our own hemisphere, where I
+imagined that I discerned something analogous to the spectacle
+which the New World presented to me.  I observed that the
+equality of conditions is daily progressing towards those extreme
+limits which it seems to have reached in the United States, and
+that the democracy which governs the American communities appears
+to be rapidly rising into power in Europe.  I hence conceived the
+idea of the book which is now before the reader.
+
+It is evident to all alike that a great democratic
+revolution is going on amongst us; but there are two opinions as
+to its nature and consequences. To some it appears to be a novel
+accident, which as such 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. 
+Let us recollect the situation of France seven hundred years ago,
+when the territory was divided amongst a small number of
+families, who were the owners of the soil and the rulers of the
+inhabitants; the right of governing descended with the family
+inheritance from generation to generation; force was the only
+means by which man could act on man, and landed property was the
+sole source of power.  Soon, however, the political power of the
+clergy was founded, and began to exert itself: the clergy opened
+its ranks to all classes, to the poor and the rich, the villein
+and the lord; equality penetrated into the Government through the
+Church, and the being who as a serf must have vegetated in
+perpetual bondage took his place as a priest in the midst of
+nobles, and not infrequently above the heads of kings.
+
+The different relations of men became more complicated and
+more numerous as society gradually became more stable and more
+civilized.  Thence the want of civil laws was felt; and the order
+of legal functionaries 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 in their ermine and
+their mail.  Whilst the kings were ruining themselves by their
+great enterprises, and the nobles exhausting their resources by
+private wars, the lower orders were enriching themselves by
+commerce.  The influence of money began to be perceptible in
+State affairs.  The transactions of business opened a new road to
+power, and the financier rose to a station of political influence
+in which he was at once flattered and despised.  Gradually the
+spread of mental acquirements, and the increasing taste for
+literature and art, opened chances of success to talent; science
+became a means of government, intelligence led to social power,
+and the man of letters took a part in the affairs of the State. 
+The value attached to the privileges of birth decreased in the
+exact proportion in which new paths were struck out to
+advancement.  In the eleventh century nobility was beyond all
+price; in the thirteenth it might be purchased; it was conferred
+for the first time in 1270; and equality was thus introduced into
+the Government by the aristocracy itself.
+
+In the course of these seven hundred years it sometimes
+happened that in order to resist the authority of the Crown, or
+to diminish the power of their rivals, the nobles granted a
+certain share of political rights to the people. Or, more
+frequently, the king permitted the lower orders to enjoy a degree
+of power, with the intention of repressing the aristocracy.  In
+France the kings have always been the most active and the most
+constant of levellers.  When they were strong and ambitious they
+spared no pains to raise the people to the level of the nobles;
+when they were temperate or weak they allowed the people to rise
+above themselves.  Some assisted the democracy by their talents,
+others by their vices.  Louis XI and Louis XIV reduced every rank
+beneath the throne to the same subjection; Louis XV descended,
+himself and all his Court, into the dust.
+
+As soon as land was held on any other than a feudal tenure,
+and personal property began in its turn to confer influence and
+power, every improvement which was introduced in commerce or
+manufacture was a fresh element of the equality of conditions. 
+Henceforward every new discovery, every new want which it
+engendered, and every new desire which craved satisfaction, was a
+step towards the universal level.  The taste for luxury, the love
+of war, the sway of fashion, and the most superficial as well as
+the deepest passions of the human heart, co-operated to enrich
+the poor and to impoverish the rich.
+
+From the time when the exercise of the intellect became the
+source of strength and of wealth, it is impossible not to
+consider every addition to science, every fresh truth, and every
+new idea as a germ of power placed within the reach of the
+people.  Poetry, eloquence, and memory, the grace of wit, the
+glow of imagination, the depth of thought, and all the gifts
+which are bestowed by Providence with an equal hand, 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 relief the natural greatness of man; its conquests
+spread, therefore, with those of civilization and knowledge, and
+literature became an arsenal where the poorest and the weakest
+could always find weapons to their hand.
+
+In perusing the pages of our history, we shall scarcely meet
+with a single great event, in the lapse of seven hundred years,
+which has not turned to the advantage of equality.  The Crusades
+and the wars of the English decimated the nobles and divided
+their possessions; the erection of communities introduced an
+element of democratic liberty into the bosom of feudal monarchy;
+the invention of fire-arms equalized the villein and the noble on
+the field of battle; printing opened the same resources to the
+minds of all classes; the post was organized so as to bring the
+same information to the door of the poor man's cottage and to the
+gate of the palace; and Protestantism proclaimed that all men are
+alike able to find the road to heaven.  The discovery of America
+offered a thousand new paths to fortune, and placed riches and
+power within the reach of the adventurous and the obscure. If we
+examine what has happened in France at intervals of fifty years,
+beginning with the eleventh century, we shall invariably perceive
+that a twofold revolution has taken place in the state of
+society.  The noble has gone down on the social ladder, and the
+roturier has gone up; the one descends as the other rises.  Every
+half century brings them nearer to each other, and they will very
+shortly meet.
+
+Nor is this phenomenon at all peculiar to France. 
+Whithersoever we turn our eyes we shall witness the same
+continual revolution throughout the whole of Christendom.  The
+various occurrences of national existence have everywhere turned
+to the advantage of democracy; all men have aided it by their
+exertions: those who have intentionally labored in its cause, and
+those who have served it unwittingly; 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 equality of conditions is
+therefore a providential fact, and it possesses all the
+characteristics of a divine decree: it is universal, it is
+durable, it constantly eludes all human interference, and all
+events as well as all men contribute to its progress. Would it,
+then, be wise to imagine that a social impulse which dates from
+so far back can be checked by the efforts of a generation?  Is it
+credible that the democracy which has annihilated the feudal
+system and vanquished kings will respect the citizen and the
+capitalist?  Will it stop now that it has grown so strong and its
+adversaries so weak?  None can say which way we are going, for
+all terms of comparison are wanting: the equality of conditions
+is more complete in the Christian countries of the present day
+than it has been at any time or in any part of the world; so that
+the extent of what already exists prevents us from foreseeing
+what may be yet to come. 
+
+The whole book which is here offered to the public has been
+written under the impression of a kind of religious dread
+produced in the author's mind by the contemplation of so
+irresistible a revolution, which has advanced for centuries in
+spite of such amazing obstacles, and which is still proceeding in
+the midst of the ruins it has made.  It is not necessary that God
+himself should speak in order to disclose to us the
+unquestionable signs of His will; we can discern them in the
+habitual course of nature, and in the invariable tendency of
+events: I know, without a special revelation, that the planets
+move in the orbits traced by the Creator's finger.  If the men of
+our time were led by attentive observation and by sincere
+reflection to acknowledge that the gradual and progressive
+development of social equality is at once the past and future of
+their history, this solitary truth 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 age seem to me to present a
+most alarming spectacle; the impulse which is bearing them along
+is so strong that it cannot be stopped, but it is not yet so
+rapid that it cannot be guided: their fate is in their hands; yet
+a little while and it may be so no longer.  The first duty which
+is at this time imposed upon those who direct our affairs is to
+educate the democracy; to warm its faith, if that be possible; to
+purify its morals; to direct its energies; to substitute a
+knowledge of business for its inexperience, and an acquaintance
+with its true interests for its blind propensities; to adapt its
+government to time and place, and to modify it in compliance with
+the occurrences and the actors of the age. A new science of
+politics is indispensable to a new world.  This, however, is what
+we think of least; launched in the middle of a rapid stream, we
+obstinately fix our eyes on the ruins which may still be
+described upon the shore we have left, whilst the current sweeps
+us along, and drives us backwards towards the gulf.
+
+In no country in Europe has the great social revolution
+which I have been describing made such rapid progress as in
+France; but it has always been borne on by chance.  The heads of
+the State have never had any forethought for its exigencies, and
+its victories have been obtained 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
+connect themselves with it in order to guide it.  The people has
+consequently been abandoned to its wild propensities, and it has
+grown up like those outcasts who receive their education in the
+public streets, and who are unacquainted with aught but the vices
+and wretchedness of society.  The existence of a democracy was
+seemingly unknown, when on a sudden it took possession of the
+supreme power. Everything was then submitted to its caprices; it
+was worshipped as the idol of strength; until, when it was
+enfeebled by its own excesses, the legislator conceived the rash
+project of annihilating its power, instead of instructing it and
+correcting its vices; no attempt was made to fit it to govern,
+but all were bent on excluding it from the government.
+
+The consequence of this has been that the democratic
+revolution has been effected only in the material parts of
+society, without that concomitant change in laws, ideas, customs,
+and manners which was necessary to render such a revolution
+beneficial.  We have gotten a democracy, but without the
+conditions which lessen its vices and render its natural
+advantages more prominent; and although we already perceive the
+evils it brings, we are ignorant of the benefits it may confer.
+
+While the power of the Crown, supported by the aristocracy,
+peaceably governed the nations of Europe, society possessed, in
+the midst of its wretchedness, several different advantages which
+can now scarcely be appreciated or conceived.  The power of a
+part of his subjects was an insurmountable barrier to the tyranny
+of the prince; and the monarch, who felt the almost divine
+character which he enjoyed in the eyes of the multitude, derived
+a motive for the just use of his power from the respect which he
+inspired.  High as they were placed above the people, the nobles
+could not but take that calm and benevolent interest in its fate
+which the shepherd feels towards his flock; and without
+acknowledging the poor as their equals, they watched over the
+destiny of those whose welfare Providence had entrusted to their
+care.  The people never having conceived the idea of a social
+condition different from its own, and entertaining no expectation
+of ever ranking with its chiefs, received benefits from them
+without discussing their rights.  It grew attached to them when
+they were clement and just, and it submitted without resistance
+or servility to their exactions, as to the inevitable visitations
+of the arm of God.  Custom, and the manners of the time, had
+moreover created a species of law in the midst of violence, and
+established certain limits to oppression.  As the noble never
+suspected that anyone would attempt to deprive him of the
+privileges which he believed to be legitimate, and as the serf
+looked upon his own inferiority as a consequence of the immutable
+order of nature, it is easy to imagine that a mutual exchange of
+good-will took place between two classes so differently gifted by
+fate. Inequality and wretchedness were then to be found in
+society; but the souls of neither rank of men were degraded.  Men
+are not corrupted by the exercise of power or debased by the
+habit of obedience, but by the exercise of a power which they
+believe to be illegal and by obedience to a rule which they
+consider to be usurped and oppressive.  On one side was wealth,
+strength, and leisure, accompanied by the refinements of luxury,
+the elegance of taste, the pleasures of wit, and the religion of
+art.  On the other was labor and a rude ignorance; but in the
+midst of this coarse and ignorant multitude it was not uncommon
+to meet with energetic passions, generous sentiments, profound
+religious convictions, and independent virtues. The body of a
+State thus organized might boast of its stability, its power,
+and, above all, of its glory.
+
+But the scene is now changed, and gradually the two ranks
+mingle; the divisions which once severed mankind are lowered,
+property is divided, power is held in common, the light of
+intelligence spreads, and the capacities of all classes are
+equally 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 can conceive a
+society in which all men would profess an equal attachment and
+respect for the laws of which they are the common authors; in
+which the authority of the State would be respected as necessary,
+though not as divine; and the loyalty of the subject to its chief
+magistrate would not be a passion, but a quiet and rational
+persuasion. Every individual being in the possession of rights
+which he is sure to retain, a kind of manly reliance and
+reciprocal courtesy would arise between all classes, alike
+removed from pride and meanness.  The people, well acquainted
+with its true interests, would allow that in order to profit by
+the advantages of society it is necessary to satisfy its demands. 
+In this state of things the voluntary association of the citizens
+might supply the individual exertions of the nobles, and the
+community would be alike protected from anarchy and from
+oppression.
+
+I admit that, in a democratic State thus constituted,
+society will not be stationary; but the impulses of the social
+body may be regulated and directed forwards; if there be less
+splendor than in the halls of an aristocracy, the contrast of
+misery will be less frequent also; the pleasures of enjoyment may
+be less excessive, but those of comfort will be more general; the
+sciences may be less perfectly cultivated, but ignorance will be
+less common; the impetuosity of the feelings will be repressed,
+and the habits of the nation softened; there will be more vices
+and fewer crimes. In the absence of enthusiasm and of an ardent
+faith, great sacrifices may be obtained from the members of a
+commonwealth by an appeal to their understandings and their
+experience; each individual will feel the same necessity for
+uniting with his fellow-citizens to protect his own weakness; and
+as he knows that if they are to assist he must co-operate, he
+will readily perceive that his personal interest is identified
+with the interest of the community.  The nation, taken as a
+whole, will be less brilliant, less glorious, and perhaps less
+strong; but the majority of the citizens will enjoy a greater
+degree of prosperity, and the people will remain quiet, not
+because it despairs of amelioration, but because it is conscious
+of the advantages of its condition.  If all the consequences of
+this state of things were not good or useful, society would at
+least have appropriated all such as were useful and good; and
+having once and for ever renounced the social advantages of
+aristocracy, mankind would enter into possession of all the
+benefits which democracy can afford.
+
+But here it may be asked what we have adopted in the place
+of those institutions, those ideas, and those customs of our
+forefathers which we have abandoned.  The spell of royalty is
+broken, but it has not been succeeded by the majesty of the laws;
+the people has learned to despise all authority, but fear now
+extorts a larger tribute of obedience than that which was
+formerly paid by reverence and by love.
+
+I perceive that we have destroyed those independent beings
+which were able to cope with tyranny single-handed; but it is the
+Government that has inherited the privileges of which families,
+corporations, and individuals have been deprived; the weakness of
+the whole community has therefore succeeded that influence of a
+small body of citizens, which, if it was sometimes oppressive,
+was often conservative.  The division of property has 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 notion
+of Right is alike insensible to both classes, and Force affords
+to both the only argument for the present, and the only guarantee
+for the future.  The poor man retains the prejudices of his
+forefathers without their faith, and their ignorance without
+their virtues; he has adopted the doctrine of self-interest as
+the rule of his actions, without understanding the science which
+controls it, and his egotism is no less blind than his
+devotedness was formerly.  If society is tranquil, it is not
+because it relies upon its strength and its well-being, but
+because it knows its weakness and its infirmities; a single
+effort may cost it its life; everybody feels the evil, but no one
+has courage or energy enough to seek the cure; the desires, the
+regret, the sorrows, and the joys of the time produce nothing
+that is visible or permanent, like the passions of old men which
+terminate in impotence.
+
+We have, then, abandoned whatever advantages the old state
+of things afforded, without receiving any compensation from our
+present condition; we have destroyed an aristocracy, and we seem
+inclined to survey its ruins with complacency, and to fix our
+abode in the midst of them.
+
+The phenomena which the intellectual world presents are not
+less deplorable.  The democracy of France, checked in its course
+or abandoned to its lawless passions, has overthrown whatever
+crossed its path, and has shaken all that it has not destroyed. 
+Its empire on society has not been gradually introduced or
+peaceably established, but it has constantly advanced in the
+midst of disorder and the agitation of a conflict.  In the heat
+of the struggle each partisan is hurried beyond the limits of his
+opinions by the opinions and the excesses of his opponents, until
+he loses sight of the end of his exertions, and holds a language
+which disguises his real sentiments or secret instincts.  Hence
+arises the strange confusion which we are witnessing. I cannot
+recall to my mind a passage in history more worthy of sorrow and
+of pity than the scenes which are happening under our eyes; it is
+as if the natural bond which unites the opinions of man to his
+tastes and his actions to his principles was now broken; the
+sympathy which has always been acknowledged between the feelings
+and the ideas of mankind appears to be dissolved, and all the
+laws of moral analogy to be dissolved, and all the laws of moral
+analogy to be abolished. 
+
+Zealous Christians may be found amongst us whose minds are
+nurtured in the love and knowledge of a future life, and who
+readily espouse the cause of human liberty as the source of all
+moral greatness.  Christianity, which has declared that all men
+are equal in the sight of God, will not refuse to acknowledge
+that all citizens are equal in the eye of the law.  But, by a
+singular concourse of events, religion is entangled in those
+institutions which democracy assails, and it is not unfrequently
+brought to reject the equality it loves, and to curse that cause
+of liberty as a foe which it might hallow by its alliance.
+
+By the side of these religious men I discern others whose
+looks are turned to the earth more than to Heaven; they are the
+partisans of liberty, not only as the source of the noblest
+virtues, but more especially as the root of all solid advantages;
+and they sincerely desire to extend its sway, and to impart its
+blessings to mankind.  It is natural that they should hasten to
+invoke the assistance of religion, for they must know that
+liberty cannot be established without morality, nor morality
+without faith; but they have seen religion in the ranks of their
+adversaries, and they inquire no further; some of them attack it
+openly, and the remainder are afraid to defend it.
+
+In former ages slavery has been advocated by the venal and
+slavish-minded, whilst the independent and the warm-hearted were
+struggling without hope to save the liberties of mankind.  But
+men of high and generous 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 contrary, speak in the name of liberty, as if they were
+able to feel its sanctity and its majesty, and loudly claim for
+humanity those rights which they have always disowned.  There are
+virtuous and peaceful individuals whose pure morality, quiet
+habits, affluence, and talents fit them to be the leaders of the
+surrounding population; their love of their country is sincere,
+and they are prepared to make the greatest sacrifices to its
+welfare, but they confound the abuses of civilization with its
+benefits, and the idea of evil is inseparable in their minds from
+that of novelty.
+
+Not far from this class is another party, whose object is to
+materialize mankind, to hit upon what is expedient without
+heeding what is just, to acquire knowledge without faith, and
+prosperity apart from virtue; assuming the title of the champions
+of modern civilization, and placing themselves in a station which
+they usurp with insolence, and from which they are driven by
+their own unworthiness.  Where are we then?  The religionists are
+the enemies of liberty, and the friends of liberty attack
+religion; the high- minded and the noble advocate subjection, and
+the meanest and most servile minds preach independence; honest
+and enlightened citizens are opposed to all progress, whilst men
+without patriotism and without principles are the apostles of
+civilization and of intelligence.  Has such been the fate of the
+centuries which have preceded our own?  and has man always
+inhabited a world like the present, where nothing is linked
+together, 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 conscience on human actions is dim, and
+where nothing seems to be any longer forbidden or allowed,
+honorable or shameful, false or true?  I cannot, however, believe
+that 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 communities of Europe; I
+am unacquainted with His designs, 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 revolution
+which I am speaking of seems nearly to have reached its natural
+limits; it has been effected with ease and simplicity, say rather
+that this country has attained the consequences of the democratic
+revolution which we are undergoing without having experienced the
+revolution itself.  The emigrants who fixed themselves on the
+shores of America in the beginning of the seventeenth century
+severed the democratic principle from all the principles which
+repressed it in the old communities of Europe, and transplanted
+it unalloyed to the New World. It has there been allowed to
+spread in perfect freedom, and to put forth its consequences in
+the laws by influencing the manners 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 conditions.  But I do not conclude from this that we shall
+ever be necessarily led to draw the same political consequences
+which the Americans have derived from a similar social
+organization.  I am far from supposing that they have chosen the
+only form of government which a democracy may adopt; but the
+identity of the efficient cause of laws and manners in the two
+countries is sufficient to account for the immense interest we
+have in becoming acquainted with its effects 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
+instruction by which we may ourselves profit.  Whoever should
+imagine that I have intended to write a panegyric will perceive
+that such was not my design; nor has it been my object to
+advocate any form of government in particular, for I am of
+opinion that absolute excellence is rarely to be found in any
+legislation; I have not even affected to discuss whether the
+social revolution, which I believe to be irresistible, is
+advantageous or prejudicial to mankind; I have acknowledged this
+revolution as a fact already accomplished or on the eve of its
+accomplishment; 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, if it be possible, to distinguish the
+means by which it may be rendered profitable. I confess that in
+America I saw more than America; I sought 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 work I have attempted to show the
+tendency given to the laws by the democracy of America, which is
+abandoned almost without restraint to its instinctive
+propensities, and to exhibit the course it prescribes to the
+Government and the influence it exercises on affairs. I have
+sought to discover the evils and the advantages which it
+produces. 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
+what 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 recourse to the original text, and to the
+most authentic and approved works.  I have cited my authorities
+in the notes, and anyone may refer to them.  Whenever an opinion,
+a political custom, or a remark on the manners of the country was
+concerned, I endeavored to consult the most enlightened men I met
+with.  If the point in question was important or doubtful, I was
+not satisfied with one testimony, but I formed my opinion on the
+evidence of several witnesses.  Here the reader must necessarily
+believeme 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
+practice.  A stranger frequently hears important truths at the
+fire-side of his host, which the latter would perhaps conceal
+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 strangers who repay the generous hospitality
+they have received by subsequent chagrin and annoyance.
+
+I am aware that, notwithstanding my care, nothing will be
+easier than to criticise this book, if anyone ever chooses to
+criticise it.  Those readers who may examine it closely will
+discover the fundamental idea which connects the several parts
+together.  But the diversity 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 quote, or an isolated
+idea 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 utmost
+theoretical consequences, and often to the verge of what is false
+or impracticable; for if it be necessary sometimes to quit the
+rules of logic in active life, such is not the case in discourse,
+and a man finds that almost as many difficulties spring from
+inconsistency of language as usually arise from inconsistency of
+conduct.
+
+I conclude by pointing out myself 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 designs of serving or attacking any party; I have
+undertaken not to see differently, but to look further than
+parties, and whilst they are busied for the morrow I have turned
+my thoughts to the Future.
+
+
+Chapter I: Exterior Form Of North America
+
+Chapter Summary
+
+North America divided into two vast regions, one inclining
+towards the Pole, the other towards the Equator - Valley of the
+Mississippi - Traces of the Revolutions of the Globe - Shore of
+the Atlantic Ocean where the English Colonies were founded -
+Difference in the appearance of North and of South America at the
+time of their Discovery - Forests of North America - Prairies
+-Wandering Tribes of Natives - Their outward appearance, manners,
+and language - Traces of an unknown people.
+
+Exterior Form Of North America
+
+North America presents in its external form certain general
+features which it is easy to discriminate at the first glance.  A
+sort of methodical order seems to have regulated the separation
+of land and water, mountains and valleys.  A simple, but grand,
+arrangement 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 Arctic Pole, and by the two great oceans on the
+east and west. It stretches towards the south, forming a triangle
+whose irregular sides meet at length below the great lakes of
+Canada.  The second region begins where the other terminates, and
+includes all the remainder of the continent.  The one slopes
+gently towards the Pole, the other towards the Equator.
+
+The territory comprehended in the first region descends
+towards the north with so imperceptible a slope that it may
+almost be said to form a level plain.  Within the bounds of this
+immense tract of country there are neither high mountains nor
+deep valleys.  Streams meander through it irregularly: great
+rivers mix their currents, separate and meet again, disperse and
+form vast marshes, losing all trace of their channels in the
+labyrinth of waters they have themselves created; and thus, at
+length, after innumerable windings, 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 forming a vast bowl filled to the
+brim.  The slightest change in the structure of the globe would
+cause their waters to rush either towards the Pole or to the
+tropical sea.
+
+The second region is more varied on its surface, and better
+suited for the habitation of man.  Two long chains of mountains
+divide it from one extreme to the other; the Alleghany ridge
+takes the form of the shores of the Atlantic Ocean; the other is
+parallel with the Pacific.  The space which lies between these
+two chains of mountains contains 1,341,649 square miles. *a Its
+surface is therefore about six times as great as that of France. 
+This vast territory, however, forms a single valley, one side of
+which descends gradually from the rounded summits of the
+Alleghanies, while the other rises in an uninterrupted course
+towards the tops of the Rocky Mountains.  At the bottom 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 formerly called this river the St.
+Louis.  The Indians, in their pompous language, have named it the
+Father of Waters, or the Mississippi.
+
+[Footnote a: Darby's "View of the United States."]
+
+The Mississippi takes its source above the limit of the two
+great regions of which I have spoken, not far from the highest
+point of the table-land where they unite.  Near the same spot
+rises another river, *b which empties itself into the Polar seas. 
+The course of the Mississippi is at first dubious: it winds
+several times towards the north, from whence it rose; and at
+length, after having been delayed in lakes and marshes, it flows
+slowly onwards to the south.  Sometimes quietly gliding along the
+argillaceous bed which nature has assigned to it, sometimes
+swollen by storms, the Mississippi waters 2,500 miles in its
+course. *c At the distance of 1,364 miles from its mouth this
+river attains an average depth of fifteen feet; and it is
+navigated by vessels of 300 tons burden for a course of nearly
+500 miles.  Fifty-seven large navigable rivers contribute to
+swell the waters of the Mississippi; amongst others, the
+Missouri, which traverses a space of 2,500 miles; the Arkansas of
+1,300 miles, the Red River 1,000 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 Moingona; besides a countless
+multitude of rivulets which unite from all parts their tributary
+streams.
+
+[Footnote b: The Red River.]
+
+[Footnote c: Warden's "Description of the United States."] 
+The valley which is watered by the Mississippi seems formed
+to be the bed of this mighty river, which, like a god of
+antiquity, dispenses both good and evil in its course.  On the
+shores of the stream nature displays an inexhaustible fertility;
+in proportion as you recede from its banks, the powers of
+vegetation languish, the soil becomes poor, and the plants that
+survive have a sickly growth.  Nowhere have the great convulsions
+of the globe left more evident traces than in the valley of the
+Mississippi; the whole aspect of the country shows the powerful
+effects of water, both by its fertility and by its barrenness. 
+The waters of the primeval ocean accumulated enormous beds of
+vegetable mould in the valley, which they levelled as they
+retired.  Upon the right shore of the river are seen immense
+plains, as smooth as if the husbandman had passed over them with
+his roller. As you approach the mountains the soil becomes 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 is partly consumed.  The surface
+of the earth is covered with a granite 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 Mountains.  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 neighboring cliffs, were left scattered
+like wrecks at their feet. *d 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.
+
+[Footnote d: See Appendix, A.]
+
+On the eastern side of the Alleghanies, between the base of
+these mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, there lies a long ridge
+of rocks and sand, which the sea appears to have left behind as
+it retired.  The mean breadth of this territory does not exceed
+one hundred miles; but it is about nine hundred miles in length. 
+This part of the American continent has a soil which offers every
+obstacle to the husbandman, and its vegetation is scanty and
+unvaried.
+
+Upon this inhospitable coast the first united efforts of
+human industry were made.  The tongue of arid land was the cradle
+of those English colonies which were destined one day to become
+the United States of America.  The centre of power still remains
+here; whilst in the backwoods the true elements of the great
+people to whom the future control of the continent belongs are
+gathering almost in secrecy together.
+
+When the Europeans first landed on the shores of the West
+Indies, and afterwards on the coast of South America, they
+thought themselves transported into those fabulous regions of
+which poets had sung.  The sea sparkled with phosphoric light,
+and the extraordinary transparency of its waters discovered to
+the view of the navigator all that had hitherto been hidden in
+the deep abyss. *e Here and there appeared little islands
+perfumed with odoriferous plants, and resembling baskets of
+flowers floating on the tranquil surface of the ocean.  Every
+object which met the sight, in this enchanting 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, wild figs, flowering myrtles, acacias, and
+oleanders, which were hung with festoons of various climbing
+plants, covered with flowers, a multitude of birds unknown in
+Europe displayed their bright plumage, glittering with purple and
+azure, and mingled their warbling with the harmony of a world
+teeming with life and motion. *f Underneath this brilliant
+exterior death was concealed.  But the air of these climates had
+so enervating an influence that man, absorbed by present
+enjoyment, was rendered regardless of the future.
+
+[Footnote e: Malte Brun tells us (vol. v. p. 726) that the water
+of the Caribbean Sea is so transparent that corals and fish are
+discernible at a depth of sixty fathoms.  The ship seemed to
+float in air, the navigator became giddy as his eye penetrated
+through the crystal flood, and beheld submarine gardens, or beds
+of shells, or gilded fishes gliding among tufts and thickets of
+seaweed.] 
+
+[Footnote f: See Appendix, B.]
+
+North 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 granite rocks, or by wide tracts of sand. 
+The foliage of its woods was dark and gloomy, for they were
+composed of firs, larches, evergreen oaks, wild olive-trees, and
+laurels. Beyond this outer belt lay the thick shades of the
+central forest, where the largest trees which are produced in the
+two hemispheres grow side by side. The plane, the catalpa, the
+sugar- maple, and the Virginian poplar 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 heaped upon each other; but
+there was no laboring hand to remove them, and their decay was
+not rapid enough to make room for the continual 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, and a
+passage beneath the lifeless bark.  Thus decay gave its
+assistance to life, and their respective productions were mingled
+together.  The depths of these forests were gloomy and obscure,
+undirected in their course by human industry, preserved in them a
+constant moisture.  It was rare to meet with flowers, wild
+fruits, or birds beneath their shades.  The fall of a tree
+overthrown by age, the rushing torrent of a cataract, the lowing
+of the buffalo, and the howling of the wind were the only sounds
+which broke the silence of nature.
+
+To the east of the great river, the woods almost
+disappeared; in their stead were seen prairies of immense extent. 
+Whether Nature in her infinite variety had denied the germs of
+trees to these fertile plains, or whether they had once been
+covered with forests, subsequently destroyed by the hand of man,
+is a question which neither tradition nor scientific research has
+been able to resolve.
+
+These immense deserts were not, however, devoid of human
+inhabitants. Some wandering tribes had been for ages scattered
+among the forest shades or the green pastures of the prairie. 
+From the 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: *g they were neither
+white like the Europeans, nor yellow like most of the Asiatics,
+nor black like the negroes.  Their skin was reddish brown, their
+hair long and shining, their lips thin, and their cheekbones very
+prominent. The languages spoken by the North American tribes are
+various as far as regarded their words, but they were subject to
+the same grammatical rules. These rules differed in several
+points from such as had been observed to govern the origin of
+language.  The idiom of the Americans seemed to be the product of
+new combinations, and bespoke an effort of the understanding of
+which the Indians of our days would be incapable. *h
+
+[Footnote g: With the progress of discovery some resemblance has
+been found to exist between the physical conformation, the
+language, and the habits of the Indians of North America, and
+those of the Tongous, Mantchous, Mongols, Tartars, and other
+wandering tribes of Asia.  The land occupied by these tribes is
+not very distant from Behring's Strait, which allows of the
+supposition, that at a remote period they gave inhabitants to the
+desert continent of America.  But this is a point which has not
+yet been clearly elucidated by science.  See Malte Brun, vol. v.;
+the works of Humboldt; Fischer, "Conjecture sur l'Origine des
+Americains"; Adair, "History of the American Indians."]
+
+[Footnote h: See Appendix, C.]
+
+The social state of these tribes differed also in many
+respects from all that was seen in the Old World.  They seemed to
+have multiplied freely in the midst of their deserts without
+coming in contact with other races more civilized than their own. 
+Accordingly, they exhibited none of those indistinct, incoherent
+notions of right and wrong, none of that deep corruption of
+manners, which is usually joined with ignorance and rudeness
+among nations which, after advancing to civilization, have
+relapsed into a state of barbarism.  The Indian was indebted to
+no one but himself; his virtues, his vices, and his prejudices
+were his own work; he had grown up in the 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 ignorant,
+but that, being so, they are in daily contact with rich and
+enlightened men.  The sight of their own hard lot and of their
+weakness, which is daily contrasted with 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 of their dependence irritates while it
+humiliates them.  This state of mind displays itself in their
+manners and language; they are at once insolent and servile.  The
+truth of this is easily proved by observation; the people are
+more rude in aristocratic countries than elsewhere, in opulent
+cities than in rural districts.  In those places where the rich
+and powerful are assembled together the weak and the indigent
+feel themselves oppressed by their inferior condition.  Unable to
+perceive a single chance of regaining their equality, they give
+up to despair, and allow themselves to fall below the dignity of
+human nature.
+
+This unfortunate effect of the disparity of conditions is
+not observable in savage life: the Indians, although they are
+ignorant and poor, are equal and free.  At the period 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 reserve and a kind of aristocratic
+politeness.  Mild and hospitable when at peace, though merciless
+in war beyond any known degree of human ferocity, the Indian
+would expose himself to die of hunger in order to succor the
+stranger who asked admittance by night at the door of his hut;
+yet he could tear in pieces with his hands the still quivering
+limbs of his prisoner. The famous republics of antiquity never
+gave examples of more unshaken courage, more haughty spirits, or
+more intractable love of independence than were hidden in former
+times among the wild forests of the New World. *i The Europeans
+produced no great impression when they landed upon the shores of
+North America; their presence engendered neither 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-song at the stake. *j 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. *k
+
+[Footnote i: We learn from President Jefferson's "Notes upon
+Virginia," p. 148, that among the Iroquois, when attacked by a
+superior force, aged men refused to fly or to survive the
+destruction of their country; and they braved death like the
+ancient Romans when their capital was sacked by the Gauls.
+Further on, p. 150, he tells us that there is no example of an
+Indian who, having fallen into the hands of his enemies, begged
+for his life; on the contrary, the captive sought to obtain death
+at the hands of his conquerors by the use of insult and
+provocation.]
+
+[Footnote j: See "Histoire de la Louisiane," by Lepage Dupratz;
+Charlevoix, "Histoire de la Nouvelle France"; "Lettres du Rev. G.
+Hecwelder;" "Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,"
+v. I; Jefferson's "Notes on Virginia," pp. 135-190.  What is said
+by Jefferson is of especial weight, on account of the personal
+merit of the writer, of his peculiar position, and of the matter-
+of-fact age in which he lived.]
+
+[Footnote k: See Appendix, D.]
+
+Although we have here traced the character of a primitive
+people, yet it cannot be doubted that another people, more
+civilized and more advanced in all respects, had preceded it in
+the same regions.
+
+An obscure tradition which prevailed among the Indians to
+the north of the Atlantic informs us that these very tribes
+formerly dwelt on the west side of the Mississippi.  Along the
+banks of the Ohio, and throughout the central valley, there are
+frequently found, at this day, tumuli 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, or destined for purposes unknown to the
+present race. The Indians of our time are unable to give any
+information 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 which even an
+hypothesis could be formed.  Tradition - that perishable, yet
+ever renewed monument of the pristine world - throws no light
+upon the subject. It is an undoubted fact, however, that in this
+part of the globe thousands of our fellow-beings had lived.  When
+they came hither, what was their origin, their destiny, their
+history, 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 remembrance of their very
+names is effaced; their languages are lost; their glory is
+vanished like a sound without an echo; though perhaps there is
+not one which has not left behind it some tomb in memory of its
+passage!  The most durable monument of human labor is that which
+recalls the wretchedness and nothingness of man.
+
+Although the vast country which we have been describing 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 lived by the produce of the chase.
+Their implacable prejudices, their uncontrolled passions, their
+vices, and still more perhaps their savage virtues, consigned
+them to inevitable destruction.  The ruin of these nations began
+from the day when Europeans landed on their shores; it has
+proceeded ever since, and we are now witnessing the completion of
+it.  They seem to have been placed by Providence amidst the
+riches of the New World to enjoy them for a season, and then
+surrender them. Those coasts, so admirably adapted for commerce
+and industry; those wide and deep rivers; that inexhaustible
+valley of the Mississippi; the whole continent, in short, seemed
+prepared to be the abode of a great nation, yet unborn.
+
+In that land the great experiment was to be made, by
+civilized man, of the attempt to construct society upon a new
+basis; and it was there, for the first time, that theories
+hitherto unknown, or deemed impracticable, were to exhibit a
+spectacle for which the world had not been prepared by the
+history of the past.
+
+
+Chapter I: Exterior Form Of North America
+
+Chapter Summary
+
+North America divided into two vast regions, one inclining
+towards the Pole, the other towards the Equator - Valley of the
+Mississippi - Traces of the Revolutions of the Globe - Shore of
+the Atlantic Ocean where the English Colonies were founded -
+Difference in the appearance of North and of South America at the
+time of their Discovery - Forests of North America - Prairies
+-Wandering Tribes of Natives - Their outward appearance, manners,
+and language - Traces of an unknown people.
+
+Exterior Form Of North America
+
+
+North America presents in its external form certain general
+features which it is easy to discriminate at the first glance.  A
+sort of methodical order seems to have regulated the separation
+of land and water, mountains and valleys.  A simple, but grand,
+arrangement 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 Arctic Pole, and by the two great oceans on the
+east and west. It stretches towards the south, forming a triangle
+whose irregular sides meet at length below the great lakes of
+Canada.  The second region begins where the other terminates, and
+includes all the remainder of the continent.  The one slopes
+gently towards the Pole, the other towards the Equator.
+
+The territory comprehended in the first region descends
+towards the north with so imperceptible a slope that it may
+almost be said to form a level plain.  Within the bounds of this
+immense tract of country there are neither high mountains nor
+deep valleys.  Streams meander through it irregularly: great
+rivers mix their currents, separate and meet again, disperse and
+form vast marshes, losing all trace of their channels in the
+labyrinth of waters they have themselves created; and thus, at
+length, after innumerable windings, 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 forming a vast bowl filled to the
+brim.  The slightest change in the structure of the globe would
+cause their waters to rush either towards the Pole or to the
+tropical sea.
+
+The second region is more varied on its surface, and better
+suited for the habitation of man.  Two long chains of mountains
+divide it from one extreme to the other; the Alleghany ridge
+takes the form of the shores of the Atlantic Ocean; the other is
+parallel with the Pacific.  The space which lies between these
+two chains of mountains contains 1,341,649 square miles. *a Its
+surface is therefore about six times as great as that of France. 
+This vast territory, however, forms a single valley, one side of
+which descends gradually from the rounded summits of the
+Alleghanies, while the other rises in an uninterrupted course
+towards the tops of the Rocky Mountains.  At the bottom 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 formerly called this river the St.
+Louis.  The Indians, in their pompous language, have named it the
+Father of Waters, or the Mississippi.
+
+[Footnote a: Darby's "View of the United States."]
+
+The Mississippi takes its source above the limit of the two
+great regions of which I have spoken, not far from the highest
+point of the table-land where they unite.  Near the same spot
+rises another river, *b which empties itself into the Polar seas. 
+The course of the Mississippi is at first dubious: it winds
+several times towards the north, from whence it rose; and at
+length, after having been delayed in lakes and marshes, it flows
+slowly onwards to the south.  Sometimes quietly gliding along the
+argillaceous bed which nature has assigned to it, sometimes
+swollen by storms, the Mississippi waters 2,500 miles in its
+course. *c At the distance of 1,364 miles from its mouth this
+river attains an average depth of fifteen feet; and it is
+navigated by vessels of 300 tons burden for a course of nearly
+500 miles.  Fifty-seven large navigable rivers contribute to
+swell the waters of the Mississippi; amongst others, the
+Missouri, which traverses a space of 2,500 miles; the Arkansas of
+1,300 miles, the Red River 1,000 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 Moingona; besides a countless
+multitude of rivulets which unite from all parts their tributary
+streams.
+
+[Footnote b: The Red River.]
+
+[Footnote c: Warden's "Description of the United States."] 
+
+The valley which is watered by the Mississippi seems formed
+to be the bed of this mighty river, which, like a god of
+antiquity, dispenses both good and evil in its course.  On the
+shores of the stream nature displays an inexhaustible fertility;
+in proportion as you recede from its banks, the powers of
+vegetation languish, the soil becomes poor, and the plants that
+survive have a sickly growth.  Nowhere have the great convulsions
+of the globe left more evident traces than in the valley of the
+Mississippi; the whole aspect of the country shows the powerful
+effects of water, both by its fertility and by its barrenness. 
+The waters of the primeval ocean accumulated enormous beds of
+vegetable mould in the valley, which they levelled as they
+retired.  Upon the right shore of the river are seen immense
+plains, as smooth as if the husbandman had passed over them with
+his roller. As you approach the mountains the soil becomes 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 is partly consumed.  The surface
+of the earth is covered with a granite 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 Mountains.  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 neighboring cliffs, were left scattered
+like wrecks at their feet. *d 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.
+
+[Footnote d: See Appendix, A.]
+
+
+On the eastern side of the Alleghanies, between the base of
+these mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, there lies a long ridge
+of rocks and sand, which the sea appears to have left behind as
+it retired.  The mean breadth of this territory does not exceed
+one hundred miles; but it is about nine hundred miles in length. 
+This part of the American continent has a soil which offers every
+obstacle to the husbandman, and its vegetation is scanty and
+unvaried.
+
+Upon this inhospitable coast the first united efforts of
+human industry were made.  The tongue of arid land was the cradle
+of those English colonies which were destined one day to become
+the United States of America.  The centre of power still remains
+here; whilst in the backwoods the true elements of the great
+people to whom the future control of the continent belongs are
+gathering almost in secrecy together.
+
+When the Europeans first landed on the shores of the West
+Indies, and afterwards on the coast of South America, they
+thought themselves transported into those fabulous regions of
+which poets had sung.  The sea sparkled with phosphoric light,
+and the extraordinary transparency of its waters discovered to
+the view of the navigator all that had hitherto been hidden in
+the deep abyss. *e Here and there appeared little islands
+perfumed with odoriferous plants, and resembling baskets of
+flowers floating on the tranquil surface of the ocean.  Every
+object which met the sight, in this enchanting 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, wild figs, flowering myrtles, acacias, and
+oleanders, which were hung with festoons of various climbing
+plants, covered with flowers, a multitude of birds unknown in
+Europe displayed their bright plumage, glittering with purple and
+azure, and mingled their warbling with the harmony of a world
+teeming with life and motion. *f Underneath this brilliant
+exterior death was concealed.  But the air of these climates had
+so enervating an influence that man, absorbed by present
+enjoyment, was rendered regardless of the future.
+
+[Footnote e: Malte Brun tells us (vol. v. p. 726) that the water
+of the Caribbean Sea is so transparent that corals and fish are
+discernible at a depth of sixty fathoms.  The ship seemed to
+float in air, the navigator became giddy as his eye penetrated
+through the crystal flood, and beheld submarine gardens, or beds
+of shells, or gilded fishes gliding among tufts and thickets of
+seaweed.] 
+
+[Footnote f: See Appendix, B.]
+
+North 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 granite rocks, or by wide tracts of sand. 
+The foliage of its woods was dark and gloomy, for they were
+composed of firs, larches, evergreen oaks, wild olive-trees, and
+laurels. Beyond this outer belt lay the thick shades of the
+central forest, where the largest trees which are produced in the
+two hemispheres grow side by side. The plane, the catalpa, the
+sugar- maple, and the Virginian poplar 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 heaped upon each other; but
+there was no laboring hand to remove them, and their decay was
+not rapid enough to make room for the continual 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, and a
+passage beneath the lifeless bark.  Thus decay gave its
+assistance to life, and their respective productions were mingled
+together.  The depths of these forests were gloomy and obscure,
+and a thousand rivulets, undirected in their course by human
+industry, preserved in them a constant moisture.  It was rare to
+meet with flowers, wild fruits, or birds beneath their shades. 
+The fall of a tree overthrown by age, the rushing torrent of a
+cataract, the lowing of the buffalo, and the howling of the wind
+were the only sounds which broke the silence of nature.
+
+To the east of the great river, the woods almost
+disappeared; in their stead were seen prairies of immense extent. 
+Whether Nature in her infinite variety had denied the germs of
+trees to these fertile plains, or whether they had once been
+covered with forests, subsequently destroyed by the hand of man,
+is a question which neither tradition nor scientific research has
+been able to resolve.
+
+These immense deserts were not, however, devoid of human
+inhabitants. Some wandering tribes had been for ages scattered
+among the forest shades or the green pastures of the prairie. 
+From the 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: *g they were neither
+white like the Europeans, nor yellow like most of the Asiatics,
+nor black like the negroes.  Their skin was reddish brown, their
+hair long and shining, their lips thin, and their cheekbones very
+prominent. The languages spoken by the North American tribes are
+various as far as regarded their words, but they were subject to
+the same grammatical rules. These rules differed in several
+points from such as had been observed to govern the origin of
+language.  The idiom of the Americans seemed to be the product of
+new combinations, and bespoke an effort of the understanding of
+which the Indians of our days would be incapable. *h
+
+[Footnote g: With the progress of discovery some resemblance has
+been found to exist between the physical conformation, the
+language, and the habits of the Indians of North America, and
+those of the Tongous, Mantchous, Mongols, Tartars, and other
+wandering tribes of Asia.  The land occupied by these tribes is
+not very distant from Behring's Strait, which allows of the
+supposition, that at a remote period they gave inhabitants to the
+desert continent of America.  But this is a point which has not
+yet been clearly elucidated by science.  See Malte Brun, vol. v.;
+the works of Humboldt; Fischer, "Conjecture sur l'Origine des
+Americains"; Adair, "History of the American Indians."]
+
+[Footnote h: See Appendix, C.]
+
+The social state of these tribes differed also in many
+respects from all that was seen in the Old World.  They seemed to
+have multiplied freely in the midst of their deserts without
+coming in contact with other races more civilized than their own. 
+Accordingly, they exhibited none of those indistinct, incoherent
+notions of right and wrong, none of that deep corruption of
+manners, which is usually joined with ignorance and rudeness
+among nations which, after advancing to civilization, have
+relapsed into a state of barbarism.  The Indian was indebted to
+no one but himself; his virtues, his vices, and his prejudices
+were his own work; he had grown up in the 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 ignorant,
+but that, being so, they are in daily contact with rich and
+enlightened men.  The sight of their own hard lot and of their
+weakness, which is daily contrasted with 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 of their dependence irritates while it
+humiliates them.  This state of mind displays itself in their
+manners and language; they are at once insolent and servile.  The
+truth of this is easily proved by observation; the people are
+more rude in aristocratic countries than elsewhere, in opulent
+cities than in rural districts.  In those places where the rich
+and powerful are assembled together the weak and the indigent
+feel themselves oppressed by their inferior condition.  Unable to
+perceive a single chance of regaining their equality, they give
+up to despair, and allow themselves to fall below the dignity of
+human nature.
+
+This unfortunate effect of the disparity of conditions is
+not observable in savage life: the Indians, although they are
+ignorant and poor, are equal and free.  At the period 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 reserve and a kind of aristocratic
+politeness.  Mild and hospitable when at peace, though merciless
+in war beyond any known degree of human ferocity, the Indian
+would expose himself to die of hunger in order to succor the
+stranger who asked admittance by night at the door of his hut;
+yet he could tear in pieces with his hands the still quivering
+limbs of his prisoner. The famous republics of antiquity never
+gave examples of more unshaken courage, more haughty spirits, or
+more intractable love of independence than were hidden in former
+times among the wild forests of the New World. *i The Europeans
+produced no great impression when they landed upon the shores of
+North America; their presence engendered neither 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-song at the stake. *j 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. *k
+
+[Footnote i: We learn from President Jefferson's "Notes upon
+Virginia," p. 148, that among the Iroquois, when attacked by a
+superior force, aged men refused to fly or to survive the
+destruction of their country; and they braved death like the
+ancient Romans when their capital was sacked by the Gauls.
+Further on, p. 150, he tells us that there is no example of an
+Indian who, having fallen into the hands of his enemies, begged
+for his life; on the contrary, the captive sought to obtain death
+at the hands of his conquerors by the use of insult and
+provocation.]
+
+[Footnote j: See "Histoire de la Louisiane," by Lepage Dupratz;
+Charlevoix, "Histoire de la Nouvelle France"; "Lettres du Rev. G.
+Hecwelder;" "Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,"
+v. I; Jefferson's "Notes on Virginia," pp. 135-190.  What is said
+by Jefferson is of especial weight, on account of the personal
+merit of the writer, of his peculiar position, and of the matter-
+of-fact age in which he lived.]
+
+[Footnote k: See Appendix, D.]
+
+Although we have here traced the character of a primitive
+people, yet it cannot be doubted that another people, more
+civilized and more advanced in all respects, had preceded it in
+the same regions.
+
+An obscure tradition which prevailed among the Indians to
+the north of the Atlantic informs us that these very tribes
+formerly dwelt on the west side of the Mississippi.  Along the
+banks of the Ohio, and throughout the central valley, there are
+frequently found, at this day, tumuli 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, or destined for purposes unknown to the
+present race. The Indians of our time are unable to give any
+information 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 which even an
+hypothesis could be formed.  Tradition - that perishable, yet
+ever renewed monument of the pristine world - throws no light
+upon the subject. It is an undoubted fact, however, that in this
+part of the globe thousands of our fellow-beings had lived.  When
+they came hither, what was their origin, their destiny, their
+history, 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 remembrance of their very
+names is effaced; their languages are lost; their glory is
+vanished like a sound without an echo; though perhaps there is
+not one which has not left behind it some tomb in memory of its
+passage!  The most durable monument of human labor is that which
+recalls the wretchedness and nothingness of man.
+
+Although the vast country which we have been describing 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 lived by the produce of the chase.
+Their implacable prejudices, their uncontrolled passions, their
+vices, and still more perhaps their savage virtues, consigned
+them to inevitable destruction.  The ruin of these nations began
+from the day when Europeans landed on their shores; it has
+proceeded ever since, and we are now witnessing the completion of
+it.  They seem to have been placed by Providence amidst the
+riches of the New World to enjoy them for a season, and then
+surrender them. Those coasts, so admirably adapted for commerce
+and industry; those wide and deep rivers; that inexhaustible
+valley of the Mississippi; the whole continent, in short, seemed
+prepared to be the abode of a great nation, yet unborn.
+
+In that land the great experiment was to be made, by
+civilized man, of the attempt to construct society upon a new
+basis; and it was there, for the first time, that theories
+hitherto unknown, or deemed impracticable, were to exhibit a
+spectacle for which the world had not been prepared by the
+history of the past.
+
+
+Chapter II: Origin Of The Anglo-Americans - Part I
+
+Chapter Summary
+
+Utility of knowing the origin of nations in order to
+understand their social condition and their laws - America the
+only country in which the starting-point of a great people has
+been clearly observable - In what respects all who emigrated to
+British America were similar - In what they differed - Remark
+applicable to all Europeans who established 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 arrival - 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.
+
+Origin Of The Anglo-Americans, And Its Importance In Relation To
+Their Future Condition
+
+After the birth of a human being his early years are
+obscurely spent in the toils or pleasures of childhood.  As he
+grows up the world receives him, when his manhood begins, and he
+enters into contact with his fellows.  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 its mother's arms; we must see the first
+images which the external world casts upon the dark mirror of his
+mind; the first occurrences 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
+life.  The entire man is, so to speak, to be seen in the cradle
+of the child.
+
+The growth of nations presents something analogous to this:
+they all bear some marks of their origin; and the circumstances
+which accompanied their birth and contributed to their rise
+affect the whole term of their being.  If we were able to go back
+to the elements of states, and to examine the oldest monuments of
+their history, I doubt not that we should discover the primal
+cause of the prejudices, the habits, the ruling passions, and, in
+short, of all that constitutes what is called the national
+character; we should then find the explanation of certain customs
+which now seem at variance with the prevailing manners; of such
+laws 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 hanging from the vault of an edifice, and supporting nothing.
+This might explain the destinies of certain nations, which seem
+borne on by an unknown force to ends of which they themselves are
+ignorant.  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 possible to
+witness the natural and tranquil growth of society, and where the
+influences exercised on the future condition of states by their
+origin is clearly distinguishable. At the period when 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 have
+transmitted to us a faithful picture of their opinions, their
+manners, and their laws. The men of the sixteenth century are
+almost as well known to us as our contemporaries. America,
+consequently, exhibits in the broad light of day the phenomena
+which the ignorance or rudeness of earlier ages conceals from our
+researches.  Near enough to the 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. 
+Providence 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 concealed
+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 the germ of all that is to follow in the present
+chapter, 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 durable that can unite mankind.  All the
+emigrants spoke the same tongue; they were all offsets from the
+same people.  Born in a country which had been agitated for
+centuries 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 been
+perfected in this rude school, and they were more conversant with
+the notions of right and the principles of true freedom than the
+greater part of their European contemporaries.  At the period of
+their first emigrations the parish system, that fruitful 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 introduced into the bosom of the monarchy of the
+House of Tudor.
+
+The religious quarrels which have agitated the Christian
+world were then rife.  England had plunged into the new order of
+things with headlong vehemence.  The character of its
+inhabitants, which had always been sedate and reflective, became
+argumentative and austere.  General information had been
+increased by intellectual debate, and the mind had received a
+deeper cultivation.  Whilst religion was the topic of discussion,
+the morals of the people were reformed.  All these national
+features are more or less discoverable in the physiognomy of
+those adventurers who came to seek a new home on the opposite
+shores of the Atlantic.
+
+Another remark, to which we shall hereafter have occasion 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 safely be
+advanced, that on leaving the mother-country the emigrants had in
+general no notion of superiority over one another.  The happy and
+the powerful do not go into exile, and there are no surer
+guarantees of equality among men than poverty and misfortune.  It
+happened, however, on several occasions, that persons of rank
+were driven to America by political and religious quarrels. Laws
+were made to establish a gradation of ranks; but it 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 was prepared, its produce was
+found to be insufficient to enrich a master and a farmer at the
+same time. The land was then naturally broken up into small
+portions, which the proprietor cultivated for himself.  Land is
+the basis of an aristocracy, which clings to the soil that
+supports it; for it is not by privileges alone, nor by birth, but
+by landed property handed down from generation to generation,
+that an aristocracy is constituted.  A nation may present immense
+fortunes and extreme wretchedness, but unless those fortunes are
+territorial there is no aristocracy, but simply the class of the
+rich and that of the poor.
+
+All the British colonies had then a great degree of
+similarity at the epoch of their settlement.  All of them, from
+their first 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 history of
+the world had as yet furnished no complete example.
+
+In this general uniformity several striking differences were
+however discernible, which it is necessary to point out.  Two
+branches may be distinguished in the Anglo-American family, which
+have hitherto grown up 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 1607.  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 nations which adopted it, and has cost
+more lives in America, than the united influence of war and bad
+laws. The men sent to Virginia *a were seekers of gold,
+adventurers, without resources and without character, whose
+turbulent and restless spirit endangered the infant colony, *b
+and rendered its progress uncertain.  The artisans and
+agriculturists arrived afterwards; and, although they were a more
+moral and orderly race of men, they were in nowise above the
+level of the inferior classes in England. *c No lofty
+conceptions, no intellectual system, directed the foundation of
+these new settlements.  The colony was scarcely established when
+slavery was introduced, *d and this was the main circumstance
+which has exercised so prodigious an influence on the character,
+the laws, and all the future prospects of the South.  Slavery, as
+we shall afterwards show, dishonors labor; it introduces idleness
+into society, and with idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and
+distress.  It enervates the powers of the mind, and benumbs the
+activity of man.  The influence of slavery, united to the English
+character, explains the manners and the social condition of the
+Southern States.
+
+[Footnote a: The charter granted by the 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.] 
+[Footnote b: A large portion of the adventurers, says Stith
+("History of Virginia"), were unprincipled young men of family,
+whom their parents were glad to ship off, discharged servants,
+fraudulent bankrupts, or debauchees; and others of the same
+class, people more apt to pillage and destroy than to assist the
+settlement, were the seditious chiefs, who easily led 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.] 
+
+[Footnote c: It was not till some time later that a certain
+number of rich English capitalists came to fix themselves in the
+colony.] 
+
+[Footnote d: Slavery was introduced about the year 1620 by a
+Dutch vessel which landed twenty negroes on the banks of the
+river James.  See Chalmer.]
+
+In the North, the same English foundation was modified by
+the most opposite shades of character; and here I may be allowed
+to enter into some details.  The two or three main ideas which
+constitute the basis of the social theory of the United States
+were first combined in the Northern English colonies, more
+generally denominated the States of New England. *e The
+principles of New England spread at first to the neighboring
+states; they then passed successively to the more distant ones;
+and at length they imbued 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 around,
+tinges the distant horizon with its glow.
+
+[Footnote e: The States of New England are those situated to the
+east of the Hudson; they are now six in number: 1, Connecticut;
+2, Rhode Island; 3, Massachusetts; 4, Vermont; 5, New Hampshire;
+6, Maine.]
+
+The foundation of New England was a novel spectacle, and all
+the circumstances attending it were singular and original.  The
+large majority of colonies have been first inhabited either by
+men without education and without resources, driven by their
+poverty and their misconduct from the land which gave them birth,
+or by speculators and adventurers greedy of gain. Some
+settlements cannot even boast so honorable an origin; St. Domingo
+was founded by buccaneers; and the criminal courts of England
+originally supplied 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 America at once
+presented the singular phenomenon of a society containing neither
+lords nor common people, neither rich nor poor. These men
+possessed, in proportion to their number, a greater mass of
+intelligence than is to be found in any European nation of our
+own time. All, without a single exception, had received a good
+education, and many of them were known in Europe for their
+talents and their acquirements.  The other colonies had been
+founded by adventurers without family; the emigrants of New
+England brought with them the best elements of order and morality
+-they landed in the desert accompanied by their wives and
+children.  But what most especially distinguished them was the
+aim of their undertaking.  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; the call which summoned them from the
+comforts of their homes was purely intellectual; and in facing
+the inevitable sufferings 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 which had aroused its
+most dangerous adversaries.  Persecuted by the Government of the
+mother-country, and disgusted by the habits of a society opposed
+to the rigor of their own principles, 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.
+
+A few quotations will throw more light upon the spirit of
+these pious adventures than all we can say of them.  Nathaniel
+Morton, *f the historian of the first years of the settlement,
+thus opens his subject:
+
+[Footnote f: "New England's Memorial," p. 13; Boston, 1826.  See
+also "Hutchinson's History," vol. ii. p. 440.]
+
+"Gentle Reader, - I have for some length of time looked upon
+it as a duty incumbent, especially on the immediate successors of
+those that have had so large experience of those many memorable
+and signal demonstrations of God's goodness, viz., the first
+beginners of this Plantation in New England, to commit to writing
+his gracious dispensations on that behalf; having so many
+inducements thereunto, not onely otherwise but so plentifully in
+the Sacred Scriptures: that so, what we have seen, and what our
+fathers have told us (Psalm lxxviii. 3, 4), we may not hide from
+our children, showing to the generations to come the praises of
+the Lord; that especially the seed of Abraham his servant, and
+the children of Jacob his chosen (Psalm cv. 5, 6), may remember
+his marvellous works in the beginning and progress of the
+planting of New England, 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 he made room for it
+and caused it to take deep root; and it filled the land (Psalm
+lxxx. 8, 9).  And not onely so, but also that he hath guided his
+people by his strength to his holy habitation 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 it 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 very savor
+of Gospel antiquity. The sincerity of the author heightens his
+power of language.  The band which to his eyes was a mere party
+of adventurers gone forth to seek their fortune beyond seas
+appears to the reader as the germ of a great nation wafted by
+Providence to a predestined shore.
+
+The author thus continues his narrative of the departure of
+the first pilgrims: -
+
+"So they left that goodly and pleasant city of Leyden, *g
+which had been their resting-place for above eleven years; but
+they knew that they were pilgrims and strangers here below, and
+looked not much on these things, but lifted up their eyes to
+Heaven, their dearest country, where God hath prepared for them a
+city (Heb. xi. 16), and therein quieted their spirits. When they
+came to Delfs- Haven 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 shipt, and
+to take their leaves of them.  One night was spent with little
+sleep with the most, but with friendly entertainment and
+Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Christian
+love.  The next day they went on board, and their friends with
+them, where truly 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 other's heart, that sundry of the Dutch
+strangers that stood on the Key as spectators could not refrain
+from tears.  But the tide (which stays for no man) calling them
+away, that were thus loth to depart, their Reverend Pastor
+falling down on his knees, and they all with him, with watery
+cheeks commended them with most fervent prayers unto the Lord and
+his blessing; and then, with mutual embraces and many tears they
+took their leaves one of another, which proved to be the last
+leave to many of them."
+
+[Footnote g: The emigrants were, for the most part, godly
+Christians from the North of England, who had quitted their
+native country because 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 Leyden in 1610, where they abode,
+being lovingly respected by the Dutch, for many years: they left
+it in 1620 for several reasons, the last of which was, that their
+posterity 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 dominions, and to live under their
+natural prince. - Translator's Note.]
+
+The emigrants were about 150 in number, including the women
+and the children.  Their object was to plant a colony on the
+shores of the Hudson; but after having been driven about for some
+time in the Atlantic Ocean, they were forced to land on that arid
+coast of New England which is now the site of the town of
+Plymouth.  The rock is still shown on which the pilgrims
+disembarked. *h
+
+[Footnote h: This rock is become an object of veneration in the
+United States. I have seen bits of it carefully preserved in
+several towns of the Union. Does not this sufficiently show how
+entirely all human power and greatness is in the soul of man? 
+Here is a stone which the feet of a few outcasts pressed for an
+instant, and this stone becomes famous; it is treasured by a
+great nation, its very dust is shared as a relic: and what is
+become of the gateways of a thousand palaces?]
+
+"But before we pass on," continues our historian, "let the
+reader with me make a pause and seriously consider this poor
+people's present condition, the more to be raised up to
+admiration of God's goodness towards them in their preservation:
+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 unto 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 and fierce storms,
+dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown
+coasts.  Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate
+wilderness, full of wilde beasts, and wilde men?  and what
+multitudes of them there were, they then knew not: for which way
+soever they turned their eyes (save upward to Heaven) they could
+have but little solace or content in respect of any outward
+object; for summer being ended, all 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 gulph to separate them from all the
+civil parts of the world."
+
+It must not be imagined that the piety of the Puritans was
+of a merely speculative kind, or that it took no cognizance of
+the course of worldly affairs.  Puritanism, as I have already
+remarked, was scarcely less a political than a religious
+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 passing the following Act:
+
+"In the name of God.  Amen.  We, whose names are
+underwritten, the loyal subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King
+James, etc., etc., 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 preservation, and furtherance of the ends aforesaid:
+and by virtue hereof do enact, constitute and frame such just and
+equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and officers, from
+time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for
+the general good of the Colony: unto which we promise all due
+submission and obedience," etc. *i 
+
+[Footnote i: The emigrants who founded the State of Rhode Island
+in 1638, those who landed at New Haven in 1637, the first
+settlers in Connecticut in 1639, and the founders of Providence
+in 1640, began in like manner by drawing up a social contract,
+which was acceded to by all the interested parties. See "Pitkin's
+History," pp. 42 and 47.]
+
+This happened in 1620, and from that time forwards the
+emigration went on.  The religious and political passions which
+ravaged the British Empire during the whole reign of Charles I
+drove fresh crowds of sectarians every year to the shores of
+America.  In England the stronghold of Puritanism was in the
+middle classes, and it was from the middle classes that the
+majority of the emigrants came.  The population of New England
+increased rapidly; and whilst the hierarchy of rank despotically
+classed the inhabitants of the mother-country, the colony
+continued to present the novel spectacle of a community
+homogeneous in all its parts.  A democracy, more perfect than any
+which antiquity had dreamt of, started in full size and panoply
+from the midst of an ancient feudal society.
+
+
+Chapter II: Origin Of The Anglo-Americans - Part II
+
+
+The English Government was not dissatisfied with an
+emigration which removed the elements of fresh discord and of
+further revolutions.  On the contrary, everything was done to
+encourage it, and great exertions were made to mitigate the
+hardships of those who sought a shelter from the rigor of their
+country's laws on the soil of America.  It seemed as if New
+England was a region given up 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 of other nations;
+but this principle of liberty was nowhere more extensively
+applied than in the States of New England.
+
+It was generally allowed at that period that the territories
+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 possession towards the end of the
+sixteenth century.  The means used by the English Government to
+people these new domains were of several kinds; the King
+sometimes appointed a governor of his own choice, who ruled a
+portion of the New World in the name and under the immediate
+orders of the Crown; *j this is the colonial system adopted by
+other countries of Europe.  Sometimes grants of certain tracts
+were made by the Crown to an individual or to a company, *k 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 constitute a political society under the protection
+of the mother-country, and to govern themselves in whatever was
+not contrary to her laws.  This mode of colonization, so
+remarkably favorable to liberty, was only adopted in New England.
+*l
+
+[Footnote j: This was the case in the State of New York.]
+
+[Footnote k: Maryland, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, and New
+Jersey were in this situation.  See "Pitkin's History," vol. i.
+pp. 11-31.]
+
+[Footnote l: See the work entitled "Historical Collection of
+State Papers and other authentic Documents intended as materials
+for a History of the United States of America, by Ebenezer
+Hasard.  Philadelphia, 1792," for a great number of documents
+relating to the commencement of the colonies, which are valuable
+from their contents and their authenticity: 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 the Supreme Court of the United States, in the
+Introduction to his "Commentary on the Constitution of the United
+States." It results from these documents that the principles of
+representative government and the external forms of political
+liberty were introduced into all the colonies at their origin.
+These principles were more fully acted upon in the North than in
+the South, but they existed everywhere.]
+
+In 1628 *m a charter of this kind was granted by Charles I
+to the emigrants who went to form the colony of Massachusetts. 
+But, in general, charters were not given to the colonies of New
+England till they had acquired a certain existence.  Plymouth,
+Providence, New Haven, the State of Connecticut, and that of
+Rhode Island *n were founded without the co-operation and almost
+without the knowledge of the mother-country.  The new settlers
+did not derive their incorporation from the seat of the empire,
+although they did not deny its supremacy; they constituted a
+society of their own accord, and it was not till thirty or forty
+years afterwards, under Charles II. that their existence was
+legally recognized by a royal charter.
+
+[Footnote m: See "Pitkin's History," p, 35.  See the "History of
+the Colony of Massachusetts Bay," by Hutchinson, vol. i. p. 9.] 
+[Footnote n: See "Pitkin's History," pp. 42, 47.]
+
+This frequently renders its it difficult to detect the link
+which connected the emigrants with the land of their forefathers
+in studying the earliest historical and legislative records of
+New England.  They exercised the rights of sovereignty; they
+named their magistrates, concluded peace or declared war, made
+police regulations, and enacted laws as if their allegiance was
+due only to God. *o 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.
+
+[Footnote o: The inhabitants of Massachusetts had deviated from
+the forms which are preserved in the criminal and civil procedure
+of England; in 1650 the decrees of justice were not yet headed by
+the royal style.  See Hutchinson, vol. i. p. 452.]
+
+Amongst these documents we shall notice, as especially
+characteristic, the code of laws promulgated by the little State
+of Connecticut in 1650. *p The legislators of Connecticut *q
+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 twelve
+enactments of the same kind, copied verbatim from the books of
+Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy.  Blasphemy, sorcery,
+adultery, *r and rape were punished with death; an outrage
+offered by a son to his parents was to be expiated 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 punishment of death was never more
+frequently prescribed by the statute, and never more rarely
+enforced towards the guilty. 
+
+[Footnote p: Code of 1650, p. 28; Hartford, 1830.]
+
+[Footnote q: See also in "Hutchinson's History," vol. i. pp. 435,
+456, the 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.]
+
+[Footnote r: 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, which occurred in the year 1663.  A
+married woman had had criminal intercourse with a young man; her
+husband died, and she married the lover. Several years had
+elapsed, when the public began to suspect the previous
+intercourse of this couple: they were thrown into prison, put
+upon trial, and very narrowly escaped capital punishment.]
+
+The chief care of the legislators, in this body of penal
+laws, was the maintenance of orderly conduct and good morals in
+the community: they constantly invaded the domain of conscience,
+and there was scarcely a sin which was not subject to magisterial
+censure.  The reader is aware of the rigor with which these laws
+punished rape and adultery; intercourse between unmarried persons
+was likewise severely repressed.  The judge was empowered to
+inflict a pecuniary penalty, a whipping, or marriage *s 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 bearing date the first of May, 1660,
+inflicting a fine and reprimand on a young woman who was accused
+of using improper language, and of allowing herself to be kissed.
+*t The Code of 1650 abounds in preventive measures.  It punishes
+idleness and drunkenness with severity. *u Innkeepers are
+forbidden to furnish more than a certain quantity of liquor to
+each consumer; and simple lying, whenever it may be injurious, *v
+is checked by a fine or a flogging.  In other places, the
+legislator, entirely forgetting the great principles of religious
+toleration which he had himself upheld in Europe, renders
+attendance on divine service compulsory, *w and goes so far as to
+visit with severe punishment, ** and even with death, the
+Christians who chose to worship God according to a ritual
+differing from his own. *x Sometimes indeed the zeal of his
+enactments induces him to descend to the most frivolous
+particulars: thus a law is to be found in the same Code which
+prohibits the use of tobacco. *y It must not be forgotten that
+these fantastical and vexatious laws were not imposed by
+authority, but that they were freely voted by all the persons
+interested, and that the manners of the community were even more
+austere and more puritanical than the laws.  In 1649 a solemn
+association was formed in Boston to check the worldly luxury of
+long hair. *z
+
+[Footnote s: Code of 1650, p. 48.  It seems sometimes to have
+happened that the judges superadded these punishments to each
+other, as is seen in a sentence pronounced in 1643 (p. 114, "New
+Haven Antiquities"), by which Margaret Bedford, convicted of
+loose conduct, was condemned to be whipped, and afterwards to
+marry Nicholas Jemmings, her accomplice.]
+
+[Footnote t: "New Haven Antiquities," p. 104.  See also
+"Hutchinson's History," for several causes equally
+extraordinary.] 
+
+[Footnote u: Code of 1650, pp. 50, 57.]
+
+[Footnote v: Ibid., p. 64.]
+
+[Footnote w: Ibid., p. 44.]
+
+[Footnote *: This was not peculiar to Connecticut.  See, for
+instance, the law which, on September 13, 1644, banished the
+Anabaptists from the State of Massachusetts.  ("Historical
+Collection of State Papers," vol. i. p. 538.) See also the law
+against the Quakers, passed on October 14, 1656: "Whereas," says
+the preamble, "an accursed race of heretics called Quakers has
+sprung up," etc.  The clauses of the statute inflict a heavy fine
+on all captains of ships who should import Quakers into the
+country.  The Quakers who may be found there shall be whipped and
+imprisoned with hard labor.  Those members of the sect who should
+defend their opinions shall be first fined, then imprisoned, and
+finally driven out of the province. - "Historical Collection of
+State Papers," vol. i. p. 630.]
+
+[Footnote x: By the penal law of Massachusetts, any Catholic
+priest who should set foot in the colony after having been once
+driven out of it was liable to capital punishment.]
+
+[Footnote y: Code of 1650, p. 96.]
+
+[Footnote z: "New England's Memorial," p. 316.  See Appendix, E.] 
+
+These errors are no doubt discreditable to human reason;
+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 persecution 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 ahead of the
+liberties of our age.  The general principles which are the
+groundwork of modern constitutions - principles which were
+imperfectly known in Europe, and not completely triumphant even
+in Great Britain, in the seventeenth century - were all
+recognized and determined by the laws of New England: the
+intervention of the people in public affairs, the free voting of
+taxes, the responsibility of authorities, personal liberty, and
+trial by jury, were all positively established without
+discussion.  From these fruitful principles consequences have
+been derived and applications have been made such as no nation in
+Europe has yet ventured to attempt.
+
+In Connecticut the electoral body consisted, from its
+origin, of the whole number of citizens; and this is readily to
+be understood, *a when we recollect that this people enjoyed an
+almost perfect equality of fortune, and a still greater
+uniformity of opinions. *b In Connecticut, at this period, all
+the executive functionaries were elected, including the Governor
+of the State. *c The citizens 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. *d
+
+[Footnote a: Constitution of 1638, p. 17.]
+
+[Footnote b: In 1641 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.]
+
+[Footnote c: "Pitkin's History," p. 47.]
+
+[Footnote d: Constitution of 1638, p. 12.]
+
+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 mainspring of
+American liberty at the present day.  The political 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
+other hand, it may be said that the township was organized before
+the county, the county before the State, the State before the
+Union.  In New England townships were completely and definitively
+constituted as early as 1650.  The independence of the township
+was the nucleus round which the local interests, passions,
+rights, and duties collected and clung.  It gave scope to the
+activity of a real political life most thoroughly democratic and
+republican.  The colonies still recognized the supremacy of the
+mother-country; monarchy was still the law of the State; but the
+republic was already established in every township. The towns
+named their own magistrates of every kind, rated themselves, and
+levied their own taxes. *e In the parish of New England 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.
+
+[Footnote e: Code of 1650, p. 80.]
+
+In studying the laws which were promulgated at this first
+era of the American republics, it is impossible not to be struck
+by the remarkable acquaintance with the science of government and
+the advanced theory of legislation which they display.  The ideas
+there formed of the duties of society towards its members are
+evidently much loftier and more comprehensive than those of the
+European legislators at that time: obligations were there imposed
+which were elsewhere slighted.  In the States of New England,
+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; *g registers were
+established in every parish, in which the results of public
+deliberations, and the births, deaths, and marriages of the
+citizens were entered; *h clerks were directed to keep these
+registers; *i officers were charged with the administration of
+vacant inheritances, and with the arbitration of litigated
+landmarks; and many others were created whose chief functions
+were the maintenance of public order in the community. *j The law
+enters into a thousand useful provisions for a number of social
+wants which are at present very inadequately felt in France. 
+[Footnote f: Ibid., p. 78.]
+
+[Footnote g: Ibid., p. 49.]
+
+[Footnote h: See "Hutchinson's History," vol. i. p. 455.]
+
+[Footnote i: Code of 1650, p. 86.]
+
+[Footnote j: Ibid., p. 40.]
+
+But it is by the attention it pays to Public Education that
+the original character of American civilization is at once placed
+in the clearest light. "It being," says the law, "one chief
+project of Satan to keep men from the knowledge of the Scripture
+by persuading from the use of tongues, to the end that learning
+may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, in church and
+commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors. . . ." *k 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 populous districts.  The municipal authorities were
+bound to enforce the sending of children to school by their
+parents; they were empowered to inflict fines upon all who
+refused compliance; and in case of continued resistance society
+assumed the place of the parent, took possession of the child,
+and deprived the father of those natural rights which he used to
+so bad a purpose.  The reader will undoubtedly have remarked the
+preamble of these enactments: in America religion is the road to
+knowledge, and the observance of the divine laws leads man to
+civil freedom.
+
+[Footnote k: Ibid., p. 90.]
+
+If, after having cast a rapid glance over the state of
+American society in 1650, we turn to the condition of Europe, and
+more especially to that of the Continent, at the same period, we
+cannot fail to be struck with astonishment.  On the Continent of
+Europe, at the beginning of the seventeenth century, absolute
+monarchy had everywhere triumphed over the ruins of the
+oligarchical and feudal liberties of the Middle Ages.  Never were
+the notions of right more completely confounded than in the midst
+of the splendor and literature of Europe; never was there less
+political activity among the people; never were the principles of
+true freedom less widely circulated; and at that very time those
+principles, which were scorned or unknown by the nations of
+Europe, were proclaimed in the deserts of the New World, and were
+accepted as the future creed of a great people.  The boldest
+theories of the human reason were put into practice by a
+community so humble that not a statesman condescended to attend
+to it; and a legislation without a precedent was produced offhand
+by the imagination of the citizens.  In the bosom of this obscure
+democracy, which had as yet brought forth neither generals, nor
+philosophers, nor authors, a man might stand up in the face of a
+free people and pronounce the following fine definition of
+liberty. *l
+
+[Footnote l: Mather's "Magnalia Christi Americana," vol. ii. p.
+13.  This speech was made by Winthrop; he was accused of having
+committed arbitrary actions during his magistracy, but after
+having made the speech of which the above is a fragment, he was
+acquitted by acclamation, and from that time forwards he was
+always re- elected governor of the State.  See Marshal, vol. i.
+p. 166.] 
+
+"Nor would I have you to mistake in the point of your own
+liberty. There is a liberty of a corrupt nature which is effected
+both by men and beasts to do what they list, and this liberty is
+inconsistent with authority, impatient of all restraint; by this
+liberty 'sumus omnes deteriores': 'tis the grand enemy of truth
+and peace, and all the ordinances of God are bent against it. But
+there is a civil, a moral, a federal liberty which is the proper
+end and object of authority; it is a liberty for that only which
+is just and good: for this liberty you are to stand with the
+hazard of your very lives and whatsoever crosses it is not
+authority, but a distemper thereof. This liberty is maintained in
+a way of subjection to authority; and the authority set over you
+will, in all administrations for your good, be quietly submitted
+unto by all but such as have a disposition to shake off the yoke
+and lose their true liberty, by their murmuring at the honor and
+power of authority."
+
+The remarks I have made will suffice to display the
+character of Anglo-American civilization in its true light.  It
+is the result (and this should be constantly present to the mind
+of two distinct elements, which in other places have been in
+frequent 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 entirely free from
+political prejudices.  Hence arose two tendencies, distinct but
+not opposite, which are constantly discernible in the manners as
+well as in the laws of the country.
+
+It might be imagined that men who sacrificed their friends,
+their family, and their native land to a religious conviction
+were absorbed in the pursuit of the intellectual advantages which
+they purchased at so dear a rate.  The energy, however, with
+which they strove for the acquirement of wealth, moral enjoyment,
+and the comforts as well as liberties of the world, is scarcely
+inferior to that with which they devoted themselves to Heaven.
+
+Political principles and all human laws and institutions
+were moulded and altered at their pleasure; the barriers of the
+society in which they were born were broken down before them; the
+old principles which had governed the world for ages were no
+more; a path without a turn and a field without an horizon were
+opened to the exploring and ardent curiosity of man: but at the
+limits of the political world he checks his researches, he
+discreetly lays aside the use of his most formidable faculties,
+he no longer consents to doubt or to innovate, but carefully
+abstaining from raising the curtain of the sanctuary, he yields
+with submissive respect to truths which he will not discuss. 
+Thus, in the moral world everything is classed, adapted, decided,
+and foreseen; in the political world everything is agitated,
+uncertain, and disputed: in the one is a passive, though a
+voluntary, obedience; in the other an independence scornful of
+experience and jealous of authority. 
+
+These two tendencies, apparently so discrepant, are far from
+conflicting; they advance together, and mutually support each
+other. Religion perceives that civil liberty affords a noble
+exercise to the faculties of man, and that the political world is
+a field prepared by the Creator for the efforts of the
+intelligence.  Contented with the freedom and the power which it
+enjoys in its own sphere, and with the place which it occupies,
+the empire of religion is never more surely established than when
+it reigns in the hearts of men unsupported by aught beside its
+native strength.  Religion is no less the companion of liberty in
+all its battles and its triumphs; the cradle of its infancy, and
+the divine source of its claims.  The safeguard of morality is
+religion, and morality is the best security of law and the surest
+pledge of freedom. *m
+
+[Footnote m: See Appendix, F.]
+
+Reasons Of Certain Anomalies Which The Laws And Customs Of The
+Anglo-Americans Present
+
+Remains of aristocratic institutions in the midst of a complete
+democracy -Why? - Distinction carefully to be drawn between what
+is of Puritanical and what is of English origin.
+
+The reader is cautioned not to draw too general or too
+absolute an inference from what has been said.  The social
+condition, the religion, and the manners of the first emigrants
+undoubtedly exercised an immense influence on the destiny of
+their new country.  Nevertheless they were not in a situation to
+found a state of things solely dependent on themselves: no man
+can entirely shake off the influence of the past, and the
+settlers, intentionally or involuntarily, mingled habits and
+notions derived from their education and from the traditions of
+their country with those habits and notions which were
+exclusively their own.  To form a judgment on the Anglo-Americans
+of the present day it is therefore necessary to distinguish what
+is of Puritanical and what is of English origin.
+
+Laws and customs are frequently to be met with in the United
+States which contrast strongly with all that surrounds them. 
+These laws seem to be drawn up in a spirit contrary to the
+prevailing tenor of the American legislation; and these customs
+are no less opposed to the 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 what I advance. 
+The civil and criminal procedure of the Americans has only two
+means of action -committal and bail.  The first measure taken by
+the magistrate is to exact security from the defendant, or, in
+case of refusal, to incarcerate him: the ground of the accusation
+and the importance of the charges against him are then discussed. 
+It is evident that a legislation of this kind is hostile to the
+poor man, and favorable only to the rich.  The poor man has not
+always a security to produce, even in a civil cause; and if he is
+obliged to wait for justice in prison, he is speedily reduced to
+distress.  The wealthy individual, on the contrary, always
+escapes imprisonment in civil causes; nay, more, he may readily
+elude the punishment which awaits him for a delinquency by
+breaking his bail.  So that all the penalties of the law are, for
+him, reducible to fines. *n 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 greatest social
+advantages to themselves.  The explanation of the phenomenon is
+to be found in England; the laws of which I speak are English, *o
+and the Americans have retained them, however repugnant they may
+be to the 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 only familiarly
+known to legal men, whose direct interest it is to maintain them
+as they are, whether good or bad, simply because they themselves
+are conversant with them.  The body of the nation is scarcely
+acquainted with them; it merely perceives their action in
+particular cases; but it has some difficulty in seizing their
+tendency, and obeys them without premeditation.  I have quoted
+one instance where it would have been easy to adduce a great
+number of others.  The surface of American society is, if I may
+use the expression, covered with a layer of democracy, from
+beneath which the old aristocratic colors sometimes peep.
+
+[Footnote n: Crimes no doubt exist for which bail is
+inadmissible, but they are few in number.]
+
+[Footnote o: See Blackstone; and Delolme, book I chap. x.] 
+
+Chapter III: Social Conditions Of The Anglo-Americans
+
+Chapter Summary
+
+A Social condition is commonly the result of circumstances,
+sometimes of laws, oftener still of these two causes united; but
+wherever it exists, it may justly be considered as the source of
+almost all the laws, the usages, and the ideas which regulate the
+conduct of nations; whatever it does not produce it modifies.  It
+is therefore necessary, if we would become acquainted with the
+legislation and the manners of a nation, to begin by the study of
+its social condition.
+
+The Striking Characteristic Of The Social Condition Of The Anglo-
+Americans In Its Essential Democracy
+
+The first emigrants of New England - Their equality -
+Aristocratic laws introduced in the South - Period of the
+Revolution - Change in the law of descent - Effects produced by
+this change - Democracy carried to its utmost limits in the new
+States of the West - Equality of education.
+
+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 is still more strongly marked at
+the present day.  I have stated in the preceding chapter that
+great equality existed among the emigrants who settled on the
+shores of New England. The germ of aristocracy was never planted
+in that part of the Union.  The only influence which obtained
+there was that of intellect; the people were used to reverence
+certain names as the emblems of knowledge and virtue.  Some of
+their fellow-citizens acquired a power over the rest which might
+truly have been called aristocratic, if it had been capable of
+transmission from father to son.
+
+This was the state of things to the east of the Hudson: to
+the south-west of that river, and in the direction of the
+Floridas, the case was different. In most of the States situated
+to the south- west of the Hudson some great English proprietors
+had settled, who had imported with them aristocratic principles
+and the English law of descent.  I have explained the reasons why
+it was impossible ever to establish a powerful aristocracy in
+America; these reasons existed with less force to the south-west
+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
+altogether aristocratic as that term is understood in Europe,
+since they possessed no privileges; and the cultivation of their
+estates being carried on by slaves, they had no tenants depending
+on them, and consequently no patronage.  Still, the great
+proprietors south of the Hudson constituted a superior class,
+having ideas and tastes of its own, and forming the centre of
+political action.  This kind of aristocracy 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 for itself.  This was the class which
+headed the insurrection in the South, and furnished the best
+leaders of the American revolution.
+
+At the period of which we are now speaking society was
+shaken to its centre: the people, in whose name the struggle had
+taken place, conceived the desire of exercising the authority
+which it had acquired; its democratic tendencies were awakened;
+and having thrown off the yoke of the mother-country, it aspired
+to independence of every kind.  The influence of individuals
+gradually ceased to be felt, and custom and law united together
+to produce the same result.
+
+But the law of descent was the last step to equality.  I am
+surprised that ancient and modern jurists have not attributed to
+this law a greater influence on human affairs. *a It is true that
+these laws belong to civil affairs; but they ought nevertheless
+to be placed at the head of all political institutions; for,
+whilst political laws are only the symbol of a nation's
+condition, they exercise an incredible influence upon its social
+state.  They have, moreover, a sure and uniform manner of
+operating upon society, affecting, as it were, generations yet
+unborn.
+
+[Footnote a: I understand by the law of descent all those laws
+whose principal object is to regulate the distribution of
+property after the death of its owner.  The law of entail is of
+this number; it certainly prevents the owner from disposing of
+his possessions before his death; but this is solely with the
+view of preserving them entire for the heir.  The principal
+object, therefore, of the law of entail is to regulate the
+descent of property after the death of its owner: its other
+provisions are merely means to this end.]
+
+Through their means man acquires a kind of preternatural
+power over the future lot of his fellow-creatures.  When the
+legislator has regulated the law of inheritance, he may rest from
+his labor.  The machine once put in motion will go on for ages,
+and advance, as if self-guided, towards a given point. When
+framed in a particular manner, this law unites, draws together,
+and vests property and power in a few hands: its tendency is
+clearly aristocratic.  On opposite principles its action is still
+more rapid; it divides, distributes, and disperses both property
+and power.  Alarmed by the rapidity of its progress, those who
+despair of arresting its motion endeavor to obstruct it by
+difficulties and impediments; they vainly seek to counteract its
+effect by contrary efforts; but it gradually reduces or destroys
+every obstacle, until by its incessant activity the bulwarks of
+the influence of wealth are ground down to the fine and shifting
+sand which is the basis of democracy.  When the law of
+inheritance permits, still more when it decrees, the equal
+division of a father's property amongst 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 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. This is the direct and, as
+it were, the physical effect of the law.  It follows, then, that
+in countries where equality of inheritance is established by law,
+property, and especially landed property, must have a tendency to
+perpetual diminution.  The effects, however, of such legislation
+would only be perceptible after a lapse of time, if the law was
+abandoned to its own working; for supposing the family to consist
+of two children (and in a country people as France is the average
+number is not above three), these children, sharing amongst 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 passions into play.  These indirect
+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 generation to generation without
+undergoing division, the consequence of which is that family
+feeling is to a certain degree incorporated with the estate.  The
+family represents the estate, the estate the family; whose name,
+together with its origin, its glory, its power, and its virtues,
+is thus perpetuated in an imperishable memorial of the past and a
+sure pledge of the future.
+
+When the equal partition of property is established by law,
+the intimate connection is destroyed between family feeling and
+the preservation of the paternal estate; the property ceases to
+represent 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 landed proprietor, if they are few in number, or if
+fortune befriends them, may indeed entertain the hope of being as
+wealthy as their father, but not that of possessing the same
+property as he did; the riches must necessarily be composed of
+elements different from his.
+
+Now, from the moment that you divest the landowner of that
+interest in the preservation of his estate which he derives from
+association, from tradition, and from family pride, you may be
+certain that sooner or later he will dispose of it; for there is
+a strong pecuniary interest in favor of selling, as floating
+capital produces higher interest 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 proprietor 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. *b The
+calculations of gain, therefore, which decide the rich man to
+sell his domain will still more powerfully influence him against
+buying small estates to unite them into a large one.
+
+[Footnote b: I do not mean to say that the small proprietor
+cultivates his land better, but he cultivates it with more ardor
+and care; so that he makes up by his labor for his want of
+skill.] 
+
+What is called family pride is often founded upon an
+illusion of self-love.  A man wishes to perpetuate and
+immortalize himself, as it were, in his great-grandchildren. 
+Where the esprit de famille ceases to act individual selfishness
+comes into play.  When the idea of family becomes vague,
+indeterminate, and uncertain, a man thinks of his present
+convenience; he provides for the establishment of his succeeding
+generation, and no more. Either a man gives up the idea of
+perpetuating his family, or at any rate he seeks to accomplish it
+by other means than that of a landed estate.  Thus not only does
+the law of partible inheritance render it difficult for families
+to preserve their ancestral domains entire, but it deprives them
+of the inclination to attempt it, and compels them in some
+measure to co-operate with the law in their own extinction.
+
+The law of equal distribution proceeds by two methods: by
+acting upon things, it acts upon persons; by influencing persons,
+it affects things.  By these means the law succeeds in striking
+at the root of landed property, and dispersing rapidly both
+families and fortunes. *c
+
+[Footnote c: Land being the most stable kind of property, we
+find, from time to time, rich individuals who are disposed to
+make great sacrifices in order to obtain it, and who willingly
+forfeit a considerable part of their income to make sure of the
+rest.  But these are accidental cases.  The preference for landed
+property is no longer found habitually in any class but among the
+poor. The small landowner, who has less information, less
+imagination, and fewer passions than the great one, is generally
+occupied with the desire of increasing his estate: and it often
+happens that by inheritance, by marriage, or by the chances of
+trade, he is gradually furnished with the means.  Thus, to
+balance the tendency which leads men to divide their estates,
+there exists another, which incites them to add to them.  This
+tendency, which is sufficient to prevent estates from being
+divided ad infinitum, is not strong enough to create great
+territorial possessions, certainly not to keep them up in the
+same family.]
+
+Most certainly it is not for us Frenchmen of the nineteenth
+century, who daily witness the political and social changes which
+the law of partition is bringing to pass, to question its
+influence.  It is perpetually conspicuous in our country,
+overthrowing the walls of our dwellings and removing the
+landmarks of our fields.  But although it has produced great
+effects in France, much still remains for it to do.  Our
+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 property were
+abolished in almost all the States at the time of the Revolution. 
+The law of entail was so modified as not to interrupt the free
+circulation of property. *d The first generation having passed
+away, estates began to be parcelled out, and the change became
+more and more rapid with the progress of time.  At this moment,
+after a lapse of a little more than sixty years, the aspect of
+society is totally altered; the families of the great landed
+proprietors are almost all commingled 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 must shortly disappear.  The sons of these opulent
+citizens are become merchants, lawyers, or physicians.  Most of
+them have lapsed into obscurity.  The last trace of hereditary
+ranks and distinctions is destroyed - the law of partition has
+reduced all to one level. [Footnote d: See Appendix, G.]
+
+I do not mean that there is any deficiency of wealthy
+individuals in the United States; I know of no country, indeed,
+where the love of money has taken stronger hold on the affections
+of men, and where the profounder contempt is expressed for the
+theory of the permanent equality of property. But wealth
+circulates with inconceivable rapidity, 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
+overcharged, still gives a very imperfect idea of what is taking
+place in the new States of the West and South-west.  At the end
+of the last century a few bold adventurers began to penetrate
+into the valleys of the Mississippi, and the mass of the
+population very soon began to move in that direction: communities
+unheard of till then were seen to emerge from the wilds: States
+whose 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 extreme. In these
+States, founded off-hand, and, as it were, by chance, the
+inhabitants are but of yesterday.  Scarcely known to one another,
+the nearest neighbors are ignorant of each other's history.  In
+this part of the American continent, therefore, the population
+has not experienced the influence of great names and great
+wealth, nor even that of the natural aristocracy of knowledge and
+virtue.  None are there to wield that respectable power which men
+willingly grant to the remembrance of a life spent in doing good
+before their eyes.  The new States of the West are already
+inhabited, but society has no existence among them. *e
+
+[Footnote e: This may have been true in 1832, but is not so in
+1874, when great cities like Chicago and San Francisco have
+sprung up in the Western States.  But as yet the Western States
+exert no powerful influence on American society.  - Translator's
+Note.] 
+
+It is not only the fortunes of men which are equal in
+America; even their requirements partake in some degree of the
+same uniformity.  I do not believe that there is a country in the
+world where, in proportion to the population, there are so few
+uninstructed 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
+surprising; 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 knowledge.
+
+In America there are comparatively few who are rich enough
+to live without a profession.  Every profession requires an
+apprenticeship, which limits the time of instruction to the early
+years of life.  At fifteen they enter upon their calling, and
+thus their education ends at the age when ours begins.  Whatever
+is done afterwards is with a view to some special and lucrative
+object; a science is taken up as a matter of business, and the
+only branch of it which is attended to is such as admits of an
+immediate practical application.  In America most of the rich men
+were formerly poor; most of those who now enjoy leisure were
+absorbed in business during their youth; the consequence of which
+is, that when they might have had a taste for study they had no
+time for it, and when time is at their disposal they have no
+longer the inclination. 
+
+There is no class, then, in America, in which the taste for
+intellectual pleasures is transmitted with hereditary fortune and
+leisure, and by which the labors of the intellect are held in
+honor.  Accordingly there is an equal want of the desire and the
+power of application to these objects.
+
+A middle standard is fixed in America for human knowledge. 
+All approach as near to it as they can; some as they rise, others
+as they descend.  Of course, an immense multitude of persons are
+to be found who entertain the same number of ideas on religion,
+history, science, political economy, legislation, and government. 
+The gifts of intellect proceed directly from God, and man cannot
+prevent their unequal distribution.  But in consequence of the
+state of things which we have here represented it happens that,
+although the capacities of men are widely different, as the
+Creator has doubtless intended they should be, they are submitted
+to the same method of treatment.
+
+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 disabled that we can
+scarcely assign to it any degree of influence in the course of
+affairs.  The democratic principle, on the contrary, has gained
+so much strength by time, by events, and by legislation, as to
+have become not only predominant but all-powerful.  There is no
+family or corporate authority, and it is rare to find even the
+influence of individual character enjoy any durability.
+
+America, then, exhibits in her social state a most
+extraordinary phenomenon.  Men are there seen on a greater
+equality in point of fortune and intellect, or, in other words,
+more equal in their strength, than in any other country of the
+world, or in any age of which history has preserved the
+remembrance.
+
+Political Consequences Of The Social Condition Of The Anglo-
+Americans
+
+The political consequences of such a social condition as
+this are easily deducible.  It is impossible to believe that
+equality will not eventually find its way into the political
+world as it does everywhere else.  To conceive of men remaining
+forever unequal upon one single point, yet equal on all others,
+is impossible; they must come in the end to be equal upon all.
+Now I know of only two methods of establishing equality in the
+political world; every citizen must be put in possession 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
+Anglo-Americans, it is therefore 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 have been describing is equally liable to each of these
+consequences.
+
+There is, in fact, a manly and lawful passion for equality
+which excites men to wish 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
+equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful
+to their own level, and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery
+to inequality 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 constant object of their desires; equality is
+their idol: they make rapid and sudden efforts to obtain liberty,
+and if they miss their aim resign themselves to their
+disappointment; but nothing can satisfy them except equality, and
+rather than lose it they resolve to perish.
+
+On the other hand, in a State where the citizens are nearly
+on an equality, it becomes difficult for them to preserve their
+independence against the aggressions of power.  No one among them
+being strong enough to engage in the struggle with advantage,
+nothing but a general combination can protect their liberty.  And
+such a union is not always to be found.
+
+From the same social position, then, nations may derive one
+or the other of two great political results; these results are
+extremely different from each other, but they may both proceed
+from the same cause.
+
+The Anglo-Americans are the first nations who, having been
+exposed to this formidable alternative, have been happy enough to
+escape the dominion of absolute power.  They have been allowed by
+their circumstances, their origin, their intelligence, and
+especially by their moral feeling, to establish and maintain the
+sovereignty of the people.
+
+
+Chapter IV: The Principle Of The Sovereignty Of The People In
+America
+
+Chapter Summary
+
+It predominates over the whole of society in America -
+Application made of this principle by the Americans even before
+their Revolution - Development given to it by that Revolution -
+Gradual and irresistible extension of the elective qualification.
+
+The Principle Of The Sovereignty Of The People In America
+
+Whenever the political laws of the United States are to be
+discussed, it is with the doctrine of the sovereignty of the
+people that we must begin. The principle of the sovereignty of
+the people, which is to be found, more or less, at the bottom of
+almost all human institutions, generally remains 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
+expressions which have been most profusely abused by the wily and
+the despotic of every age.  To the eyes of some it has been
+represented by the venal suffrages of a few of the satellites of
+power; to others by the votes of a timid or an interested
+minority; and some have even discovered it in the silence of a
+people, on the supposition that the fact of submission
+established the right of command.
+
+In America the principle of the sovereignty of the people is
+not either barren or concealed, as it is with some other nations;
+it is recognized by the customs and proclaimed by the laws; it
+spreads freely, and arrives without impediment at its most remote
+consequences.  If there be a country in the world where the
+doctrine of the sovereignty of the people can be fairly
+appreciated, where it can be studied in its application to the
+affairs of society, and where its dangers and its advantages may
+be foreseen, that country is assuredly America.
+
+I have already observed that, from their origin, the
+sovereignty of the people was the fundamental principle of the
+greater number of British colonies in America.  It was far,
+however, from then exercising as much influence on the government
+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 colonies which were
+still constrained to obey the mother-country: it was therefore
+obliged to spread secretly, and to gain ground in the provincial
+assemblies, and especially in the townships.
+
+American society was not yet prepared to adopt it with all
+its consequences.  The intelligence of New England, and the
+wealth of 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 retain the exercise of social
+authority in the hands of a few.  The public functionaries were
+not universally elected, and the citizens were not all of them
+electors. The electoral franchise was everywhere placed within
+certain limits, and made dependent on a certain qualification,
+which was exceedingly low in the North and more considerable in
+the South.
+
+The American revolution broke out, and the doctrine of the
+sovereignty of the people, which had been nurtured in the
+townships and municipalities, took possession of the State: every
+class was enlisted in its cause; battles were fought, and
+victories obtained for it, until it became the law of laws.
+
+A no less rapid change was effected in the interior of
+society, where the law of descent completed the abolition of
+local influences.
+
+At the very time when this consequence of the laws and of
+the revolution was apparent to every eye, victory was irrevocably
+pronounced in favor of the democratic cause.  All power was, in
+fact, in its hands, and resistance was no longer possible.  The
+higher orders submitted without a murmur and without a struggle
+to an evil which was thenceforth inevitable.  The ordinary fate
+of falling powers awaited them; each of their several members
+followed his own interests; and as it was impossible to wring the
+power from the hands of a people which 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 impaired; and thus, although
+the higher classes did not excite the passions of the people
+against their order, they accelerated the triumph of the new
+state of things; so that by a singular change the democratic
+impulse was found to be most irresistible 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 universal suffrage, and to introduce the most democratic
+forms into the conduct of its government.
+
+When a nation modifies the elective qualification, 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 electoral rights are extended,
+the greater is the need of extending 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 appointed 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.
+
+At the present day the principle of the sovereignty of the
+people has acquired, in the United States, all the practical
+development which the imagination can conceive.  It is
+unencumbered by those fictions which have been thrown over it in
+other
+countries, and it appears in every possible form according to the
+exigency of the occasion.  Sometimes the laws are made by the
+people in a body, as at Athens; and sometimes its
+representatives, chosen by universal suffrage, transact business
+in its name, and almost under its immediate control.
+
+In some countries a power 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 partly within and partly without the ranks of the people. 
+But 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 meet 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 legislators, and in the execution
+of them by 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 authorities forget their popular origin and the power from
+which they emanate. *a 
+[Footnote a: See Appendix, H.]
+
+
+Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States -
+Part I
+
+Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States Before That Of
+The Union At Large
+
+It is proposed to examine in the following chapter what is
+the form of government established in America on the principle of
+the sovereignty of the people; what are its resources, its
+hindrances, its advantages, and its dangers.  The first
+difficulty which presents itself arises from the complex nature
+of the constitution of the United States, which consists of two
+distinct social structures, connected 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 community, the
+other circumscribed 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 obstacles. The form of the Federal Government
+of the United States was the last which was adopted; and it is in
+fact nothing more than a modification or a summary of those
+republican principles which were current in the whole community
+before it existed, and independently of its existence.  Moreover,
+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 picture as a whole before he
+had explained its details would necessarily fall into obscurity
+and repetition.
+
+The great political principles which govern American society
+at this day undoubtedly took their origin and their growth in the
+State.  It is therefore necessary to become acquainted with the
+State in order to possess a clue to the remainder.  The States
+which at present compose the American Union all present the same
+features, as far as regards the external aspect of their
+institutions.  Their political or administrative existence is
+centred in three focuses of action, which may not inaptly be
+compared to the different nervous centres which convey motion to
+the human body.  The township is the lowest in order, then the
+county, and lastly the State; and I propose to devote the
+following chapter to the examination of these three divisions.
+
+The American System Of Townships And Municipal Bodies
+
+Why the Author begins the examination of the political
+institutions with the township - Its existence in all nations -
+Difficulty of establishing and preserving municipal independence
+- Its importance - Why the Author has selected the township
+system of New England as the main topic of his 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 natural that wherever a number of men are
+collected it seems to constitute itself.
+
+The town, or tithing, as the smallest division of a
+community, must necessarily exist in all nations, whatever their
+laws and customs may be: if man makes monarchies and establishes
+republics, the first association of mankind seems constituted by
+the hand of God.  But although the existence of the township is
+coeval with that of man, its liberties are not the less rarely
+respected and easily destroyed.  A nation is always able to
+establish great political assemblies, because it habitually
+contains a certain number of individuals fitted by their talents,
+if not by their habits, for the direction of affairs.  The
+township is, on the contrary, composed of coarser materials,
+which are less easily fashioned by the legislator.  The
+difficulties which attend the consolidation of its independence
+rather augment than diminish with the increasing enlightenment of
+the people.  A highly civilized community spurns the attempts of
+a local independence, is disgusted at its numerous blunders, and
+is apt to despair of success before the experiment is completed.
+Again, no immunities are so ill protected from the encroachments
+of the supreme power as those of municipal bodies in general:
+they are unable to struggle, single- handed, against a strong or
+an enterprising government, and they cannot defend their cause
+with success unless it be identified with the customs of the
+nation and supported by public opinion.  Thus until the
+independence of townships is amalgamated with the manners of a
+people it is easily destroyed, and it is only after a long
+existence in the laws that it can be thus amalgamated.  Municipal
+freedom is not the fruit of human device; it is rarely created;
+but it is, as it were, secretly and spontaneously engendered in
+the midst of a semi-barbarous state of society.  The constant
+action of the laws and the national habits, peculiar
+circumstances, and above all time, may consolidate it; but there
+is certainly no nation on the continent of Europe which has
+experienced its advantages.  Nevertheless local assemblies of
+citizens constitute the strength of free nations.  Town-meetings
+are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it
+within the people's reach, they teach men how to use and how to
+enjoy it.  A nation may establish a system of free government,
+but without the spirit of municipal institutions it cannot have
+the spirit of liberty.  The transient passions and the interests
+of an hour, or the chance of circumstances, may have created the
+external forms of independence; but the despotic tendency which
+has been repelled will, sooner or later, inevitably reappear on
+the surface.
+
+In order to explain to the reader the general principles on
+which the political organization of the counties and townships of
+the United States rests, I have thought it expedient to choose
+one of the States of New England as an example, to examine the
+mechanism of its constitution, and then to cast a general glance
+over the country.  The township and the county are not organized
+in the same manner in every part of the Union; it is, however,
+easy to perceive that the same principles have guided the
+formation of both of them throughout the Union.  I am inclined to
+believe that these principles have been carried further in New
+England than elsewhere, and consequently that they offer greater
+facilities to the observations of a stranger.  The institutions
+of New England form a complete and regular whole; they have
+received the sanction of time, they have the support of the laws,
+and the still stronger support of the manners of the community,
+over which they exercise the most prodigious influence; they
+consequently deserve our attention on every account.
+
+Limits Of The Township
+
+The township of New England is a division which stands
+between the commune and the canton of France, and which
+corresponds in general to the English tithing, or town.  Its
+average population is from two to three thousand; *a so that, on
+the one hand, the interests of its inhabitants are not likely to
+conflict, and, on the other, men capable of conducting its
+affairs are always to be found among its citizens.
+
+[Footnote a: In 1830 there were 305 townships in the State of
+Massachusetts, and 610,014 inhabitants, which gives an average of
+about 2,000 inhabitants to each township.]
+
+Authorities Of The Township In New England
+
+The people the source of all power here as elsewhere - Manages
+its own affairs - No corporation - The greater part of the
+authority vested in the hands of the Selectmen - How the
+Selectmen act - Town-meeting - Enumeration of the public officers
+of the township -  Obligatory and remunerated functions.
+
+In the township, as well as everywhere else, the people is
+the only source of power; but in no stage of government does the
+body of citizens exercise a more immediate influence.  In America
+the people is a master whose exigencies demand obedience to the
+utmost limits of possibility.
+
+In New England the majority acts by representatives in the
+conduct of the public business of the State; but if such an
+arrangement be necessary in general affairs, in the townships,
+where the legislative and administrative action of the government
+is in more immediate contact with the subject, the system of
+representation is not adopted.  There is no corporation; but the
+body of electors, after having designated its magistrates,
+directs them in everything that exceeds the simple and ordinary
+executive business of the State. *b
+
+[Footnote b: The same rules are not applicable to the great
+towns, which generally have a mayor, and a corporation divided
+into two bodies; this, however, is an exception which requires
+the sanction of a law. - See the Act of February 22, 1822, for
+appointing the authorities of the city of Boston. It frequently
+happens that small towns as well as cities are subject to a
+peculiar administration.  In 1832, 104 townships in the State of
+New York were governed in this manner. - Williams' Register.]
+
+This state of things is so contrary to our ideas, and so
+different from our customs, that it is necessary for me to adduce
+some examples to explain it thoroughly.
+
+The public duties in the township are extremely numerous and
+minutely divided, as we shall see further on; but the larger
+proportion of administrative power is vested in the hands of a
+small number of individuals, called "the Selectmen." *c The
+general laws of the State impose a certain number of obligations
+on the selectmen, which they may fulfil without the authorization
+of the body they represent, but which they can only neglect on
+their own responsibility.  The law of the State obliges them, for
+instance, to draw up the list of electors in their townships; and
+if they omit this part of their functions, they are guilty of a
+misdemeanor.  In all the affairs, however, which are determined
+by the town-meeting, the selectmen are the organs of the popular
+mandate, as in France the Maire executes the decree of the
+municipal council.  They usually act upon their own
+responsibility, and merely put in practice principles which have
+been previously recognized by the majority.  But if any change is
+to be introduced in the existing state of things, or if they wish
+to undertake any new enterprise, they are obliged to refer to the
+source of their power.  If, for instance, a school is to be
+established, the selectmen convoke the whole body of the electors
+on a certain day at an appointed place; they explain the urgency
+of the case; they give their opinion on the means of satisfying
+it, on the probable expense, and the site which seems to be most
+favorable.  The meeting is consulted on these several points; it
+adopts the principle, marks out the site, votes the rate, and
+confides the execution of its resolution to the selectmen.
+
+[Footnote c: Three selectmen are appointed in the small
+townships, and nine in the large ones.  See "The Town-Officer,"
+p. 186.  See also the principal laws of the State of
+Massachusetts relative to the selectmen:
+
+Act of February 20, 1786, vol. i. p. 219; February 24, 1796,
+vol. i. p. 488; March 7, 1801, vol. ii. p. 45; June 16, 1795,
+vol. i. p. 475; March 12, 1808, vol. ii. p. 186; February 28,
+1787, vol. i. p. 302; June 22, 1797, vol. i. p. 539.]
+
+The selectmen have alone the right of calling a
+town-meeting, but they may be requested to do so: if ten citizens
+are desirous of submitting a new project to the assent of the
+township, they may demand a general convocation of the
+inhabitants; the selectmen are obliged to comply, but they have
+only the right of presiding at the meeting. *d
+
+[Footnote d: See Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 150, Act of
+March 25, 1786.]
+
+The selectmen are elected every year in the month of April
+or of May. The town-meeting chooses at the same time a number of
+other municipal magistrates, who are entrusted with important
+administrative functions.  The assessors rate the township; the
+collectors receive the rate.  A constable is appointed to keep
+the peace, to watch the streets, and to forward the execution of
+the laws; the town-clerk records all the town votes, orders,
+grants, births, deaths, and marriages; the treasurer keeps the
+funds; the overseer of the poor performs the difficult task of
+superintending the action of the poor-laws; committee-men are
+appointed to attend to the schools and to public instruction; and
+the road-surveyors, who take care of the greater and lesser
+thoroughfares of the township, complete the list of the principal
+functionaries.  They are, however, still further subdivided; and
+amongst the municipal officers are to be found parish
+commissioners, who audit the expenses of public worship;
+different classes of inspectors, some of whom are to direct the
+citizens in case of fire; tithing-men, listers, haywards,
+chimney-viewers, fence-viewers to maintain the bounds of
+property, timber-measurers, and sealers of weights and measures.
+*e
+
+[Footnote e: All these magistrates actually exist; their
+different functions are all detailed in a book called "The
+Town-Officer," by Isaac Goodwin, Worcester, 1827; and in the
+"Collection of the General Laws of Massachusetts," 3 vols.,
+Boston, 1823.]
+
+There are nineteen principal officers in a township.  Every
+inhabitant is constrained, on the pain of being fined, to
+undertake these different functions; which, however, are almost
+all paid, in order that the poorer citizens may be able to give
+up their time without loss.  In general the American system is
+not to grant a fixed salary to its functionaries.  Every service
+has its price, and they are remunerated in proportion to what
+they have done. 
+
+Existence Of The Township
+
+Every one the best judge of his own interest - Corollary of the
+principle of the sovereignty of the people - Application of those
+doctrines in the townships of America - The township of New
+England is sovereign in all that concerns itself alone: subject
+to the State in all other matters - Bond of the township and the
+State - In France the Government lends its agent to the Commune -
+In America the reverse occurs.
+
+I have already observed that the principle of the
+sovereignty of the people governs the whole political system of
+the Anglo- Americans.  Every page of this book will afford new
+instances of the same doctrine.  In the nations by which the
+sovereignty of the people is recognized every individual
+possesses an equal share of power, and participates alike in the
+government of the State.  Every individual is, therefore,
+supposed 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 the authorities which conduct it, or that he is
+less capable than his neighbor of governing himself, but because
+he acknowledges the utility of an association with his
+fellow-men, and because he knows that no such association can
+exist without a regulating force.  If he be a subject in all that
+concerns the mutual relations of citizens, he is free and
+responsible to God alone for all that concerns himself.  Hence
+arises the maxim that every one is the best and the sole judge of
+his own private interest, and that society has no right to
+control a man's actions, unless they are prejudicial to the
+common weal, or unless the common weal demands his co-operation. 
+This doctrine is universally admitted in the United States.  I
+shall hereafter examine the general influence which it exercises
+on the ordinary actions of life; I am now speaking of the nature
+of municipal bodies.
+
+The township, taken as a whole, and in relation to the
+government of the country, may be looked upon as an individual to
+whom the theory I have just alluded to is applied.  Municipal
+independence is therefore a natural consequence of the principle
+of the sovereignty of the people in the United States: all the
+American republics recognize it more or less; but circumstances
+have peculiarly favored its growth in New England.
+
+In this part of the Union the impulsion of political
+activity was given in the townships; and it may almost be said
+that each of them originally formed an independent nation.  When
+the Kings of England asserted their supremacy, they were
+contented to assume the central power of the State.  The
+townships of New England remained as they were before; and
+although they are now subject to the State, they were at first
+scarcely dependent upon it.  It is important to remember that
+they have not been invested with privileges, but that they have,
+on the contrary, forfeited a portion of their independence to the
+State.  The townships are only subordinate to the State in those
+interests which I shall term social, as they are common to all
+the citizens.  They are independent in all that concerns
+themselves; and amongst the inhabitants of New England I believe
+that not a man is to be found who would acknowledge that the
+State has any right to interfere in their local interests.  The
+towns of New England buy and sell, sue or are sued, augment or
+diminish their rates, without the slightest opposition on the
+part of the administrative authority of the State.
+
+They are bound, however, to comply with the demands of the
+community. If the State is in need of money, a town can neither
+give nor 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.  A uniform system of instruction is organized all over
+the country, and every town is bound to establish the schools
+which the law ordains.  In speaking of the administration of the
+United States I shall have occasion to point out the means by
+which the townships are compelled to obey in these different
+cases: I here merely show the existence of the obligation. Strict
+as this obligation is, the government of the State imposes it in
+principle only, and in its performance the township resumes all
+its independent rights.  Thus, taxes are voted by the State, but
+they are levied and collected by the township; the existence of a
+school is obligatory, but the township builds, pays, and
+superintends it.  In France the State- collector receives the
+local imposts; in America the town-collector receives the taxes
+of the State.  Thus the French Government lends its agents to the
+commune; in America the township is the agent of the Government. 
+This fact alone shows the extent of the differences which exist
+between the two nations.
+
+Public Spirit Of The Townships Of New England
+
+How the township of New England wins the affections of its
+inhabitants -Difficulty of creating local public spirit in Europe
+-  The rights and duties of the American township favorable to it
+- Characteristics of home in the United States - Manifestations
+of public spirit in New England - Its happy effects.
+
+In America, not only do municipal bodies exist, but they are
+kept alive and supported by public spirit.  The township of New
+England possesses two advantages which infallibly secure the
+attentive interest of mankind, namely, independence and
+authority.  Its sphere is indeed small and limited, but within
+that sphere its action is unrestrained; and its independence
+gives to it a real importance which its extent and population may
+not always ensure. 
+
+It is to be remembered that the affections of men generally
+lie on the side of authority.  Patriotism is not durable in a
+conquered nation.  The New Englander is attached to his township,
+not only because he was born in it, but because it constitutes a
+social body of which he is a member, and whose government claims
+and deserves the exercise of his sagacity.  In Europe the absence
+of local public spirit is a frequent subject of regret to those
+who are in power; everyone agrees that there is no surer
+guarantee of order and tranquility, and yet nothing is more
+difficult to create.  If the municipal bodies were made powerful
+and independent, the authorities of the nation might be disunited
+and the peace of the country endangered.  Yet, without power and
+independence, 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 country are not elected, and
+their authority is very limited.  Even the State is only a
+second-rate community, whose tranquil and obscure administration
+offers no inducement sufficient to draw men away from the circle
+of their interests into the turmoil of public affairs.  The
+federal government confers power and honor on the men who conduct
+it; but these individuals can never be very numerous. The high
+station of the Presidency can only be reached at an advanced
+period of life, and the other federal functionaries are generally
+men who have been favored by fortune, or distinguished in some
+other career. Such cannot be the permanent aim of the ambitious. 
+But the township serves as a centre for the desire of public
+esteem, the want of exciting interests, and the taste for
+authority and popularity, in the midst of the ordinary relations
+of life; 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 States power has been disseminated with
+admirable skill for the purpose of interesting the greatest
+possible number of persons in the common weal.  Independently of
+the electors who are from time to time called into action, the
+body politic is divided into innumerable functionaries and
+officers, who all, in their several spheres, represent the same
+powerful whole 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 activity
+of the township is continually perceptible; 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 disturbing it.
+
+The American attaches himself to his home as the mountaineer
+clings to his hills, because the characteristic features of his
+country are there more distinctly marked than elsewhere.  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 America the commotions of municipal
+discord are unfrequent.  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 upon
+the soil.  In New England no tradition exists of a distinction of
+ranks; no portion of the community is tempted to oppress the
+remainder; and the abuses which may injure isolated individuals
+are forgotten in the general contentment which prevails.  If the
+government is defective (and it would no doubt be easy to point
+out its deficiencies), the fact that it really emanates from
+those it governs, and that it acts, either ill or well, casts the
+protecting spell of a parental pride over its faults.  No term of
+comparison disturbs the satisfaction of the citizen: England
+formerly governed the mass of the colonies, but the people was
+always 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 ensures 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 place; he practises the art of government
+in the small sphere within his reach; he accustoms himself to
+those forms which can alone ensure the steady progress of
+liberty; he imbibes their spirit; he acquires a taste for order,
+comprehends the union or the balance of powers, and collects
+clear practical notions on the nature of his duties and the
+extent of his rights.
+
+The Counties Of New England
+
+The division of the countries in America has considerable
+analogy with that of the arrondissements of France.  The limits
+of the counties are arbitrarily laid down, and the various
+districts which they contain have no necessary connection, no
+common tradition or natural sympathy; their object is simply to
+facilitate the administration of justice.
+
+The extent of the township was too small to contain a system
+of judicial institutions; each county has, however, a court of
+justice, *f 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 the State of
+Massachusetts this authority is vested in the hands of several
+magistrates, who are appointed by the Governor of the State, with
+the advice *g of his council. *h The officers of the county have
+only a limited and occasional authority, which is applicable to
+certain predetermined cases. The State and the townships possess
+all the power requisite to conduct public business.  The budget
+of the county is drawn up by its officers, and is voted by the
+legislature, but there is no assembly which directly or
+indirectly represents the county.  It has, therefore, properly
+speaking, no political existence. 
+
+[Footnote f: See the Act of February 14, 1821, Laws of
+Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 551.]
+
+[Footnote g: See the Act of February 20, 1819, Laws of
+Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 494.]
+
+[Footnote h: The council of the Governor is an elective body.] 
+A twofold tendency may be discerned in the American
+constitutions, which impels the legislator to centralize the
+legislative and to disperse the executive power.  The township of
+New England has in itself an indestructible element of
+independence; and this distinct existence could only be
+fictitiously introduced into the county, where its utility has
+not been felt. But all the townships united have but one
+representation, which is the State, the centre of the national
+authority: beyond the action of the township and that of the
+nation, nothing can be said to exist but the influence of
+individual exertion.
+
+Administration In New England
+
+Administration not perceived in America - Why? - The Europeans
+believe that liberty is promoted by depriving the social
+authority of some of its rights; the Americans, by dividing its
+exercise - Almost all the administration confined to the
+township, and divided amongst the town-officers - No trace of an
+administrative body to be perceived, either in the township or
+above it -The reason of this - How it happens that the
+administration of the State is uniform - Who is empowered to
+enforce the obedience of the township and the county to the law -
+The introduction of judicial power into the administration -
+Consequence of the extension of the elective principle to all
+functionaries - The Justice of the Peace in New England - By whom
+appointed - County officer: ensures the administration of the
+townships - Court of Sessions - Its action - Right of inspection
+and indictment disseminated like the other administrative
+functions - Informers encouraged by the division of fines.
+
+Nothing is more striking to an 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
+that they are daily executed; but although everything is in
+motion, the hand which gives the impulse to the social machine
+can nowhere be discovered.  Nevertheless, as all peoples are
+obliged to have recourse to certain grammatical forms, which are
+the foundation of human language, in order to express their
+thoughts; so all communities are obliged to secure their
+existence by submitting to a certain dose of authority, without
+which they fall a prey to anarchy.  This authority may be
+distributed in several ways, but it must always exist somewhere.
+
+There are two methods of diminishing the force of authority
+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 circumstances.  To weaken authority in
+this manner is what is generally termed in Europe to lay the
+foundations of freedom.  The second manner of diminishing the
+influence of authority does not consist in stripping society of
+any of its rights, nor in paralyzing its efforts, but in
+distributing the exercise of its privileges in various hands, and
+in multiplying functionaries, to each of whom the degree of power
+necessary for him to perform his duty is entrusted.  There may be
+nations whom this distribution of social powers might lead to
+anarchy; but in itself it is not anarchical. The action of
+authority is indeed thus rendered less irresistible and less
+perilous, but it is not totally suppressed.
+
+The revolution of the United States was the result of a
+mature and dignified taste for freedom, and not of a vague or
+ill-defined craving for independence.  It contracted no alliance
+with the turbulent passions of anarchy; but its course was
+marked, on the contrary, by an attachment to whatever was lawful
+and orderly. 
+
+It was never assumed in the United States that the citizen
+of a free country has a right to do whatever he pleases; on the
+contrary, social obligations were there imposed upon him more
+various than anywhere else.  No idea was ever entertained of
+attacking the principles or of contesting the rights of society;
+but the exercise of its authority was divided, to the end that
+the office might be powerful and the officer insignificant, and
+that the community should be at once regulated and free.  In no
+country in the world does the law hold so absolute a language as
+in America, and in no country is the right of applying it vested
+in so many hands.  The administrative power in the United States
+presents nothing either central or hierarchical in its
+constitution, which accounts for its passing, unperceived.  The
+power exists, but its representative is not to be perceived.
+
+We have already seen that the independent townships of New
+England protect their own private interests; and the municipal
+magistrates are the persons to whom the execution of the laws of
+the State is most frequently entrusted. *i Besides the general
+laws, the State sometimes passes general police regulations; but
+more commonly the townships and town officers, conjointly with
+justices of the peace, regulate the minor details of social life,
+according to the necessities of the different localities, and
+promulgate such enactments as concern the health of the
+community, and the peace as well as morality of the citizens. *j
+Lastly, these municipal magistrates provide, of their own accord
+and without any delegated powers, for those unforeseen
+emergencies which frequently occur in society. *k
+
+[Footnote i: See "The Town-Officer," especially at the words
+Selectmen, Assessors, Collectors, Schools, Surveyors of Highways. 
+I take one example in a thousand: the State prohibits travelling
+on the Sunday; the tything-men, who are town-officers, are
+specially charged to keep watch and to execute the law. See the
+Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 410.
+
+The selectmen draw up the lists of electors for the election
+of the Governor, and transmit the result of the ballot to the
+Secretary of the State. See Act of February 24, 1796: Id., vol.
+i. p. 488.]
+
+[Footnote j: Thus, for instance, the selectmen authorize the
+construction of drains, point out the proper sites for slaughter-
+houses and other trades which are a nuisance to the neighborhood. 
+See the Act of June 7, 1785: Id., vol. i. p. 193.]
+
+[Footnote k: The selectmen take measures for the security of the
+public in case of contagious diseases, conjointly with the
+justices of the peace.  See Act of June 22, 1797, vol. i. p.
+539.]
+
+It results from what we have said that in the State of
+Massachusetts the administrative authority is almost entirely
+restricted to the township, *l but that it is distributed among a
+great number of individuals.  In the French commune there is
+properly but one official functionary, namely, the Maire; and in
+New England we have seen that there are nineteen.  These nineteen
+functionaries do not in general depend upon one another.  The law
+carefully prescribes a circle of action to each of these
+magistrates; and within that circle they have an entire right to
+perform their functions independently of any other authority. 
+Above the township scarcely any trace of a series of official
+dignitaries is to be found.  It sometimes happens that the county
+officers alter a decision of the townships or town magistrates,
+*m but in general the authorities of the county have no right to
+interfere with the authorities of the township, *n except in such
+matters as concern the county.
+
+[Footnote l: I say almost, for there are various circumstances in
+the annals of a township which are regulated by the justice of
+the peace in his individual capacity, or by the justices of the
+peace assembled in the chief town of the county; thus licenses
+are granted by the justices.  See the Act of February 28, 1787,
+vol. i. p. 297.]
+
+[Footnote m: Thus licenses are only granted to such persons as
+can produce a certificate of good conduct from the selectmen.  If
+the selectmen refuse to give the certificate, the party may
+appeal to the justices assembled in the Court of Sessions, and
+they may grant the license.  See Act of March 12, 1808, vol. ii.
+p. 186.
+
+The townships have the right to make by-laws, and to enforce
+them by fines which are fixed by law; but these by-laws must be
+approved by the Court of Sessions.  See Act of March 23, 1786,
+vol. i. p. 254.]
+
+[Footnote n: In Massachusetts the county magistrates are
+frequently called upon to investigate the acts of the town
+magistrates; but it will be shown further on that this
+investigation is a consequence, not of their administrative, but
+of their judicial power.] 
+
+The magistrates of the township, as well as those of the
+county, are bound to communicate their acts to the central
+government in a very small number of predetermined cases. *o But
+the central government is not represented by an individual whose
+business it is to publish police regulations and ordinances
+enforcing the execution of the laws; to keep up a regular
+communication with the officers of the township and the county;
+to inspect their conduct, to direct their actions, or to
+reprimand their faults. There is no point which serves as a
+centre to the radii of the administration.
+
+[Footnote o: The town committees of schools are obliged to make
+an annual report to the Secretary of the State on the condition
+of the school.  See Act of March 10, 1827, vol. iii. p. 183.]
+
+
+Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States -
+Part II
+
+What, then, is the uniform plan on which the government is
+conducted, and how is the compliance of the counties and their
+magistrates or the townships and their officers enforced?  In the
+States of New England the legislative authority embraces more
+subjects than it does in France; the legislator penetrates to the
+very core of the administration; the law descends to the most
+minute details; the same enactment prescribes the principle and
+the method of its application, and thus imposes a multitude of
+strict and rigorously defined obligations on the secondary
+functionaries 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 of compelling the secondary
+functionaries of the administration to conform to the law.  It
+may be affirmed that, in general, society has only two methods of
+enforcing the execution of the laws at its disposal: a
+discretionary power may be entrusted to a superior functionary of
+directing all the others, and of cashiering them in case of
+disobedience; or the courts of justice may be authorized 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
+cashiering him if he does not obey orders, and of rewarding him
+by promotion if he fulfils his duties with propriety.  But an
+elected magistrate can neither be cashiered nor promoted.  All
+elective functions are inalienable until their term is expired. 
+In fact, the elected magistrate has nothing either to expect or
+to fear from his constituents; and when all public offices are
+filled by ballot there can be no series of official dignities,
+because the double right of commanding and of enforcing obedience
+can never be vested in the same individual, and because the power
+of issuing an order can never be joined to that of inflicting a
+punishment or bestowing a reward.
+
+The communities therefore in which the secondary
+functionaries of the government are elected are perforce obliged
+to make great use of judicial penalties as a means of
+administration.  This is not evident at first sight; for those in
+power are apt to look upon the institution of elective
+functionaries as one concession, and the subjection of the
+elected magistrate to the judges of the land as another.  They
+are equally averse to both these innovations; and as they are
+more pressingly solicited to grant the former than the latter,
+they accede to the election of the magistrate, and leave him
+independent of the judicial power.  Nevertheless, 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 elective
+offices: if these two institutions do not go hand in hand, the
+State must fall into anarchy or into subjection.
+
+It has always been remarked that habits of legal business do
+not render men apt to the exercise of administrative authority. 
+The Americans have borrowed from the English, their fathers, the
+idea of an institution which is unknown upon the continent of
+Europe: I allude to that of the Justices of the Peace.  The
+Justice of the Peace is a sort of mezzo termine between the
+magistrate and the man of the world, between the civil officer
+and the judge. A justice of the peace is a well-informed citizen,
+though he is not necessarily versed in the knowledge of the laws. 
+His office simply obliges him to execute the police regulations
+of society; a task in which good sense and integrity are of more
+avail than legal science.  The justice introduces into the
+administration a certain taste for established forms and
+publicity, which renders him a most unserviceable instrument of
+despotism; and, on the other hand, he is not blinded by those
+superstitions which render legal officers unfit members of a
+government.  The Americans have adopted the system of the English
+justices of the peace, but they have deprived it of that
+aristocratic character which is discernible in the
+mother-country.  The Governor of Massachusetts *p appoints a
+certain number of justices of the peace in every county, whose
+functions last seven years. *q He further designates three
+individuals from amongst the whole body of justices who form in
+each county what is called the Court of Sessions.  The justices
+take a personal share in public business; they are sometimes
+entrusted with administrative functions in conjunction with
+elected officers, *r they sometimes constitute a tribunal, before
+which the magistrates summarily prosecute a refractory citizen,
+or the citizens inform against the abuses of the magistrate.  But
+it is in the Court of Sessions that they exercise their most
+important functions.  This court meets twice a year in the county
+town; in Massachusetts it is empowered to enforce the obedience
+of the greater number *s of public officers. *t It must be
+observed, that in the State of Massachusetts the Court of
+Sessions is at the same time an administrative body, properly so
+called, and a political tribunal.  It has been asserted 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 entrusted to any one of them in
+particular. *u In all that concerns county business the duties of
+the Court of Sessions are purely administrative; and if in its
+investigations it occasionally borrows the forms of judicial
+procedure, it is only with a view to its own information, *v or
+as a guarantee to the community over which it presides.  But when
+the administration of the township is brought before it, it
+always acts as a judicial body, and in some few cases as an
+official assembly.
+
+[Footnote p: We shall hereafter learn what a Governor is: I shall
+content myself with remarking in this place that he represents
+the executive power of the whole State.]
+
+[Footnote q: See the Constitution of Massachusetts, chap. II.
+sect. 1. Section 9; chap. III. Section 3.]
+
+[Footnote r: 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. - Act of June 22, 1797, vol. i. p. 540.
+
+In general the justices interfere in all the important acts
+of the administration, and give them a semi-judicial character.] 
+[Footnote s: I say the greater number, because certain
+administrative misdemeanors are brought before ordinary
+tribunals.  If, for instance, a township refuses to make the
+necessary expenditure for its schools or to name a
+school-committee, it is liable to a heavy fine.  But this penalty
+is pronounced by the Supreme Judicial Court or the Court of
+Common Pleas.  See Act of March 10, 1827, Laws of Massachusetts,
+vol. iii. p. 190.  Or when a township neglects to provide the
+necessary war-stores. - Act of February 21, 1822: Id., vol. ii.
+p. 570.]
+
+[Footnote t: In their individual capacity the justices of the
+peace take a part in the business of the counties and townships.] 
+[Footnote u: These affairs may be brought under the following
+heads: - 1. The erection of prisons and courts of justice.  2.
+The county budget, which is afterwards voted by the State.  3.
+The distribution of the taxes so voted. 4. Grants of certain
+patents.  5. The laying down and repairs of the country roads.]
+
+[Footnote v: Thus, when a road is under consideration, almost all
+difficulties are disposed of by the aid of the jury.]
+
+The first difficulty is to procure the obedience of an
+authority as entirely independent of the general laws of the
+State as the township is. We have stated that assessors are
+annually named by the town-meetings to levy the taxes.  If a
+township attempts to evade the payment of the taxes by neglecting
+to name its assessors, the Court of Sessions condemns it to a
+heavy penalty. *w 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 it is that in the United States the
+authority of the Government is mysteriously concealed under the
+forms of a judicial sentence; and its influence is at the same
+time fortified by that irresistible power with which men have
+invested the formalities of law.
+
+[Footnote w: See Act of February 20, 1786, Laws of Massachusetts,
+vol. i. p. 217.]
+
+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 without any complication,
+or in a principle without its application in detail. *x But the
+difficulty increases when it is not the obedience of the
+township, but that of the town officers which is to be enforced. 
+All the reprehensible actions of which a public functionary may
+be guilty are reducible to the following heads:
+
+[Footnote x: There is an indirect method of enforcing the
+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 right which the
+law gives him against the township.  Thus by threatening the
+officer the Court of Sessions exacts compliance from the town. 
+See Act of March 5, 1787, Id., vol. i. p. 305.]
+
+He may execute the law without energy or zeal;
+
+He may neglect to execute the law;
+
+He may do what the law enjoins him not to do.
+
+The last two violations of duty can alone come under the
+cognizance of a tribunal; a positive and appreciable fact is the
+indispensable foundation of an action at law.  Thus, if the
+selectmen omit to fulfil the legal formalities usual at town
+elections, they may be condemned to pay a fine; *y but when the
+public officer performs his duty without ability, and when he
+obeys the letter of the law without zeal or energy, he is at
+least beyond the reach of judicial interference.  The Court of
+Sessions, even when it is invested with its official powers, is
+in this case unable to compel him to a more satisfactory
+obedience.  The fear of removal is the only check to these
+quasi-offences; and as the Court of Sessions does not originate
+the town authorities, it cannot remove functionaries whom it does
+not appoint. Moreover, a perpetual investigation would be
+necessary to convict the officer of negligence or lukewarmness;
+and the Court of Sessions sits but twice a year and then only
+judges such offences as are brought before its notice. The only
+security of that active and enlightened obedience which a court
+of justice cannot impose upon public officers lies in the
+possibility of their arbitrary removal.  In France this security
+is sought for in powers exercised by the heads of the
+administration; in America it is sought for in the principle of
+election.
+
+[Footnote y: Laws of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 45.]
+
+Thus, to recapitulate in a few words what I have been
+showing: 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 pass sentence upon him.  If he commits a
+fault in his official capacity, a purely administrative tribunal
+is empowered to punish him; and, if the affair is important or
+urgent, the judge supplies the omission of the functionary. *z
+Lastly, if the same individual is guilty of one of those
+intangible offences of which human justice has no cognizance, he
+annually appears before a tribunal from which there is no appeal,
+which can at once reduce him to insignificance and deprive him of
+his charge.  This system undoubtedly possesses great advantages,
+but its execution is attended with a practical difficulty which
+it is important to point out.
+
+[Footnote z: If, for instance, a township persists in refusing to
+name its assessors, the Court of Sessions nominates them; and the
+magistrates thus appointed are invested with the same authority
+as elected officers.  See the Act quoted above, February 20,
+1787.] 
+
+I have already observed that the administrative tribunal,
+which is called the Court of Sessions, has no right of inspection
+over the town officers.  It can only interfere when the conduct
+of a magistrate is specially brought under its notice; and this
+is the delicate part of the system.  The Americans of New England
+are unacquainted with the office of public prosecutor in the
+Court of Sessions, *a and it may readily be perceived that it
+could not have been established without difficulty.  If an
+accusing magistrate had merely been appointed in the chief town
+of each county, and if he had been unassisted by agents in the
+townships, he would not have been better acquainted with what was
+going on in the county than the members of the Court of Sessions. 
+But to appoint 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 England.  The
+Americans have therefore divided the offices of inspection and of
+prosecution, as well as all the other functions of the
+administration. 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. *b There are certain great
+offences which are officially prosecuted by the States; *c but
+more frequently the task of punishing delinquents devolves upon
+the fiscal officer, whose province it is to receive the fine:
+thus the treasurer of the township is charged with the
+prosecution of such administrative offences as fall under his
+notice. But a more special appeal is made by American
+legislation to the private interest of the citizen; *d and this
+great principle is constantly 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 cupidity for the execution of the laws.  When
+an individual is really and sensibly injured by an administrative
+abuse, it is natural that his personal interest should induce him
+to prosecute.  But if a legal formality be required, which,
+however advantageous to the community, is of small importance to
+individuals, plaintiffs may be less easily found; and thus, by a
+tacit agreement, the laws may fall into disuse.  Reduced by their
+system to this extremity, the Americans are obliged to encourage
+informers by bestowing on them a portion of the penalty in
+certain cases, *e and to insure the execution of the laws by the
+dangerous expedient of degrading the morals of the people.  The
+only administrative authority above the county magistrates is,
+properly speaking, that of the Government.
+
+[Footnote a: I say the Court of Sessions, because in common
+courts there is a magistrate who exercises some of the functions
+of a public prosecutor.]
+
+[Footnote b: The grand-jurors are, for instance, bound to inform
+the court of the bad state of the roads. - Laws of Massachusetts,
+vol. i. p. 308.]
+
+[Footnote c: If, for instance, the treasurer of the county holds
+back his accounts. - Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 406.] 
+[Footnote d: Thus, if a private individual breaks down or is
+wounded in consequence of the badness of a road, he can sue the
+township or the county for damages at the sessions. - Laws of
+Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 309.]
+
+[Footnote e: In cases of invasion or insurrection, if the town-
+officers neglect to furnish the necessary stores and ammunition
+for the militia, the township may be condemned to a fine of from
+$200 to $500.  It may readily be imagined that in such a case it
+might happen that no one cared to prosecute; hence the law adds
+that all the citizens may indict offences of this kind, and that
+half of the fine shall belong to the plaintiff.  See Act of March
+6, 1810, vol. ii. p. 236.  The same clause is frequently to be
+met with in the law of Massachusetts.  Not only are private
+individuals thus incited to prosecute the public officers, but
+the public officers are 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 he receives half
+the penalty for himself.  See the Laws above quoted, vol. i. p.
+308.]
+
+General Remarks On The Administration Of The United States 
+Differences of the States of the Union in their system of
+administration -Activity and perfection of the local authorities
+decrease towards the South -Power of the magistrate increases;
+that of the elector diminishes -Administration passes from the
+township to the county - States of New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania -
+Principles of administration applicable to the whole Union -
+Election of public officers, and inalienability of their
+functions -Absence of gradation of ranks - Introduction of
+judicial resources into the administration.
+
+
+I have already premised that, after having examined the
+constitution 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 a local activity exist in every State; but
+in no part of the confederation is a township to be met with
+precisely similar to those of New England.  The more we descend
+towards the South, the less active does the business of the
+township or parish become; the number of magistrates, of
+functions, and of rights decreases; the population exercises a
+less immediate influence on affairs; town meetings are less
+frequent, and the subjects of debate less numerous.  The power of
+the elected magistrate is augmented and that of the elector
+diminished, whilst the public spirit of the local communities is
+less awakened and less influential. *f These differences may be
+perceived to a certain extent in the State of New York; they are
+very sensible in Pennsylvania; but they become less striking as
+we advance to the northwest.  The majority of the emigrants who
+settle in the northwestern States are natives of New England, and
+they carry the habits of their mother country with them into that
+which they adopt.  A township in Ohio is by no means dissimilar
+from a township in Massachusetts.
+
+[Footnote f: For details see the Revised Statutes of the State of
+New York, part i. chap. xi. vol. i. pp. 336-364, entitled, "Of
+the Powers, Duties, and Privileges of Towns."
+
+See in the Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, the words
+Assessors, Collector, Constables, Overseer of the Poor,
+Supervisors of Highways; and in the Acts of a general nature of
+the State of Ohio, the Act of February 25, 1834, relating to
+townships, p. 412; besides the peculiar dispositions relating to
+divers town-officers, such as Township's Clerk, Trustees,
+Overseers of the Poor, Fence Viewers, Appraisers of Property,
+Township's Treasurer, Constables, Supervisors of Highways.]
+
+We have seen that in Massachusetts the mainspring of public
+administration lies in the township.  It forms the common centre
+of the interests and affections of the citizens.  But this ceases
+to be the case as we descend to States in which knowledge is less
+generally diffused, and where the township consequently offers
+fewer guarantees 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 administration, and the intermediate power between the
+Government and the citizen.  In Massachusetts the business of the
+county is conducted by the Court of Sessions, which is composed
+of a quorum named by the Governor and his council; but the county
+has no representative assembly, and its expenditure is voted by
+the national legislature.  In the great State of New York, on the
+contrary, and in those of Ohio and Pennsylvania, the inhabitants
+of each county choose a certain number of representatives, who
+constitute the assembly of the county. *g The county assembly has
+the right of taxing the inhabitants to a certain extent; and in
+this respect it enjoys the privileges of a real legislative body:
+at the same time it exercises an executive power in the county,
+frequently directs the administration of the townships, and
+restricts their authority within much narrower bounds than in
+Massachusetts.
+
+[Footnote g: See the Revised Statutes of the State of New York,
+part i. chap. xi. vol. i. p. 340.  Id. chap. xii. p. 366; also in
+the Acts of the State of Ohio, an act relating to county
+commissioners, February 25, 1824, p. 263. See the Digest of the
+Laws of Pennsylvania, at the words County-rates and Levies, p.
+170. 
+In the State of New York each township elects a
+representative, who has a share in the administration of the
+county as well as in that of the township.]
+
+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 provisions of American law
+minutely, I should have to point out still further differences in
+the executive details of the several communities.  But what I
+have already said may suffice to show the general principles on
+which the administration of the United States rests.  These
+principles are differently applied; their consequences are more
+or less numerous in various localities; but they are always
+substantially the same. The laws differ, and their outward
+features change, but their character does not vary.  If the
+township and the county are not everywhere constituted 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 principle,
+namely, that everyone is the best judge of what concerns himself
+alone, and the most proper person to supply his private wants. 
+The township and the county are therefore bound to take care of
+their special interests: the State governs, but it does not
+interfere with their administration.  Exceptions to this rule 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 or at least from amongst
+the citizens. As the officers are everywhere elected or appointed
+for a certain period, it has been impossible to establish the
+rules of a dependent series of authorities; there are almost as
+many independent functionaries as there are functions, and the
+executive power is disseminated in a multitude of hands. Hence
+arose the indispensable necessity of introducing the control of
+the courts of justice over the administration, and the system of
+pecuniary penalties, by which the secondary bodies and their
+representatives are constrained to obey the laws. This system
+obtains from one end of the Union to the other.  The power of
+punishing the misconduct of public officers, or of performing the
+part of the executive in urgent cases, has not, however, been
+bestowed on the same judges in all the States.  The
+Anglo-Americans derived the institution of justices of the peace
+from a common source; but although it exists in all the States,
+it is not always turned to the same use.  The justices of the
+peace everywhere participate in the administration of the
+townships and the counties, *h either as public officers or as
+the judges of public misdemeanors, but in most of the States the
+more important classes of public offences come under the
+cognizance of the ordinary tribunals.
+
+[Footnote h: In some of the Southern States the county courts are
+charged with all the details of the administration.  See the
+Statutes of the State of Tennessee, arts.  Judiciary, Taxes,
+etc.] 
+
+The election of public officers, or the inalienability of
+their functions, the absence of a gradation of powers, and the
+introduction of a judicial control over the secondary branches of
+the administration, are the universal characteristics of the
+American system from Maine to the Floridas. In some States (and
+that of New York has advanced most in this direction) traces of a
+centralized administration begin 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. *i
+
+[Footnote i: For instance, the direction of public instruction
+centres in the hands of the Government.  The legislature names
+the members of the University, who are denominated Regents; the
+Governor and Lieutentant-Governor of the State are necessarily of
+the number. - Revised Statutes, vol. i. p. 455.  The Regents of
+the University annually visit the colleges and academies, and
+make their report to the legislature.  Their superintendence is
+not inefficient, for several reasons: the colleges in order to
+become corporations stand in need of a charter, which is only
+granted on the recommendation of the Regents; every year funds
+are distributed by the State for the encouragement of learning,
+and the Regents are the distributors of this money.  See chap.
+xv. Instruction," Revised Statutes, vol. i. p. 455.
+
+The school-commissioners are obliged to send an annual
+report to the Superintendent of the Republic. - Id. p. 488.
+
+A similar report is annually made to the same person on the
+number and condition of the poor. - Id. p. 631.]
+
+At other times they constitute a court of appeal for the
+decision of affairs. *j In the State of New York judicial
+penalties are less used than in other parts as a means of
+administration, and the right of prosecuting the offences of
+public officers is vested in fewer hands. *k The same tendency is
+faintly observable in some other States; *l but in general the
+prominent feature of the administration in the United States is
+its excessive local independence.
+
+[Footnote j: If any one conceives himself to be wronged by the
+school-commissioners (who are town-officers), he can appeal to
+the superintendent of the primary schools, whose decision is
+final. - Revised Statutes, vol. i. p. 487.
+
+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 weak and
+unproductive.  The great authorities of the State have the right
+of watching 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
+therefore the right of commanding, without the means of exacting
+compliance.  In 1830 the Superintendent of Schools complained in
+his Annual Report addressed to the legislature that several
+school-commissioners had neglected, notwithstanding 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.]
+
+[Footnote k: Thus the district-attorney is directed to recover
+all fines below the sum of fifty dollars, unless such a right has
+been specially awarded to another magistrate. - Revised Statutes,
+vol. i. p. 383.]
+
+[Footnote l: Several traces of centralization may be discovered
+in Massachusetts; for instance, the committees of the
+town-schools are directed to make an annual report to the
+Secretary of State.  See Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 367.]
+
+Of The State
+
+I have described the townships and the administration; it
+now remains for me to speak of the State and the Government. 
+This is ground I may pass over rapidly, without fear of being
+misunderstood; for all I have to say is to be found in written
+forms of the various constitutions, which are easily to be
+procured.  These constitutions rest upon a simple and rational
+theory; their forms have been adopted by all constitutional
+nations, and are become familiar to us.  In this place,
+therefore, it is only necessary for me to give a short analysis;
+I shall endeavor afterwards to pass judgment upon what I now
+describe. 
+
+Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States -
+Part III
+
+Legislative Power Of The State
+
+Division of the Legislative 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 name of the
+Senate.  The Senate is commonly a legislative body; but it
+sometimes becomes an executive and judicial one.  It takes a part
+in the government in several ways, according to the constitution
+of the different States; *m but it is in the nomination of public
+functionaries that it most commonly assumes an executive power.
+It partakes of judicial power in the trial of certain political
+offences, and sometimes also in the decision of certain civil
+cases. *n The number of its members is always small.  The other
+branch of the legislature, which is usually called the House of
+Representatives, has no share whatever in the administration, and
+only takes a part in the judicial power inasmuch as it impeaches
+public functionaries before the Senate.  The members of the two
+Houses are nearly everywhere subject to the same conditions of
+election. 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 longer than
+that of the House of Representatives. The latter seldom remain in
+office longer than a year; the former usually sit two or three
+years.  By granting to the senators the privilege of being chosen
+for several years, and being renewed seriatim, the law takes care
+to preserve in the legislative body a nucleus of men already
+accustomed to public business, and capable of exercising a
+salutary influence upon the junior members.
+
+[Footnote m: In Massachusetts the Senate is not invested with any
+administrative functions.]
+
+[Footnote n: As in the State of New York.]
+
+The Americans, plainly, did not desire, by this separation
+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 create in the one a
+bulwark to power, whilst the other represented the interests and
+passions of the people.  The only advantages which result from
+the present constitution of the United States are the division of
+the legislative power and the consequent check upon political
+assemblies; with the creation of a tribunal of appeal for the
+revision of the laws.
+
+Time and experience, however, have convinced the Americans
+that 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 carried away by the necessary consequences of
+the principle of the sovereignty of the people as to have
+concurred in the measure; but the Pennsylvanians were soon
+obliged to change the law, and to create two Houses.  Thus the
+principle of the division of the legislative power was finally
+established, and its necessity may henceforward be regarded as a
+demonstrated truth.  This theory, which was nearly unknown to the
+republics of antiquity - which was introduced into the world
+almost by accident, like so many other great truths - and
+misunderstood by several modern nations, is at length become an
+axiom in the political science of the present age.
+
+[See Benjamin Franklin]
+
+The Executive Power Of The State
+
+Office of Governor in an American State - The place he occupies
+in relation to the Legislature - His rights and his duties - His
+dependence on the people.
+
+The executive power of the State may with truth be said to
+be represented by the Governor, although he enjoys but a portion
+of its rights. The supreme magistrate, 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 natural executor of its
+decrees in all the undertakings which interest the nation at
+large. *o 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.  The whole military power
+of the State is at the disposal of the Governor.  He is the
+commander of the militia, and head of the armed force.  When the
+authority, which is by general consent awarded to the laws, is
+disregarded, the Governor puts himself at the head of the armed
+force of the State, to quell resistance, and to restore order. 
+Lastly, the Governor takes no share in the administration of
+townships and counties, except it be indirectly in the nomination
+of Justices of the Peace, which nomination he has not the power
+to cancel. *p The Governor is an elected magistrate, and is
+generally chosen for one or two years only; so that he always
+continues to be strictly dependent upon the majority who returned
+him.
+
+[Footnote o: Practically speaking, it is not always the Governor
+who executes the plans of the Legislature; it often happens that
+the latter, in voting a measure, names special agents to
+superintend the execution of it.]
+
+[Footnote p: In some of the States the justices of the peace are
+not elected by the Governor.]
+
+Political Effects Of The System Of Local Administration In The
+United States
+
+Necessary distinction between the general centralization of
+Government and the centralization of the local administration -
+Local administration not centralized in the United States: great
+general centralization of the Government - Some bad consequences
+resulting to the United States from the local administration -
+Administrative advantages attending this order of things - The
+power which conducts the Government is less regular, less
+enlightened, less learned, but much greater than in Europe -
+Political advantages of this order of things - In the United
+States the interests of the country are everywhere kept in view -
+Support given to the Government by the community - Provincial
+institutions more necessary in proportion as the social condition
+becomes more democratic - Reason of this.
+
+Centralization is become a word of general and daily use,
+without any precise meaning being attached to it.  Nevertheless,
+there exist two distinct kinds of centralization, which it is
+necessary to discriminate with accuracy. Certain interests are
+common to all parts of a nation, such as the enactment of its
+general laws and the maintenance of its foreign relations.  Other
+interests are peculiar to certain parts of the nation; such, for
+instance, as the business of different townships.  When the power
+which directs the general interests is centred in one place, or
+vested in the same persons, it constitutes a central government. 
+In like manner the power of directing partial or local interests,
+when brought together into one place, constitutes what may be
+termed a central administration.
+
+Upon some points these two kinds of centralization coalesce;
+but by classifying the objects which fall more particularly
+within the province of each of them, they may easily be
+distinguished.  It is evident that a central government acquires
+immense power when united to administrative centralization.  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 subdue them compulsorily, but
+it affects them in the ordinary habits of life, and influences
+each individual, first separately and then collectively.
+
+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 completely
+central 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 representative of France at home and abroad,
+he was justified in asserting that the State was identified with
+his person. 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 carried
+to great perfection; the State has the compact vigor of a man,
+and by the sole act of its will it puts immense engines in
+motion, and wields or collects the efforts of its authority. 
+Indeed, I cannot conceive that a nation can enjoy a secure or
+prosperous existence without a powerful centralization of
+government.  But I am of opinion that a central administration
+enervates the nations in which it exists by incessantly
+diminishing their public spirit. If such an administration
+succeeds in condensing at a given moment, on a given point, all
+the disposable resources of a people, it impairs at least the
+renewal of those resources.  It may ensure a victory in the hour
+of strife, but it gradually relaxes the sinews of strength.  It
+may contribute admirably to the transient greatness of a man, but
+it cannot ensure the durable prosperity of a nation. 
+
+If we pay proper attention, we shall find that whenever it
+is said that a State cannot act because it has no central point,
+it is the centralization of the government in which it is
+deficient.  It is frequently asserted, and we are prepared to
+assent to the proposition, that the German empire was never able
+to bring all its powers into action.  But the reason was, that
+the State was never able to enforce obedience to its general
+laws, because 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 concerned the mass of the people; in other
+words, because there was no centralization of government.  The
+same remark is applicable to the Middle Ages; the cause of all
+the confusion of feudal society was that the control, not only of
+local but of general interests, was divided amongst a thousand
+hands, and broken up in a thousand different ways; the absence of
+a central government prevented the nations of Europe from
+advancing with energy in any straightforward course.
+
+We have shown that in the United States no central
+administration and no dependent series of public functionaries
+exist.  Local authority has been carried to lengths which no
+European nation could endure without great inconvenience, and
+which has even produced some disadvantageous consequences in
+America.  But in the United States the centralization of the
+Government is complete; and it would be easy to prove that the
+national power is more compact 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 district assemblies and county courts have not in
+general been multiplied, lest they should be tempted to exceed
+their administrative duties, and interfere with the Government. 
+In America the legislature 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 which claims to be the sole organ of
+reason.  Its own determination is, therefore, the only limit to
+this action.  In juxtaposition to it, and under its immediate
+control, is the representative of the executive power, whose duty
+it is to constrain the refractory to submit 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 intimidate 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. *q The State usually
+employs the officers of the township or the county to deal with
+the citizens.  Thus, for instance, in New England, the assessor
+fixes the rate of taxes; the collector receives them; the
+town-treasurer transmits the amount to the public treasury; and
+the disputes which may arise are brought before the ordinary
+courts of justice.  This method of collecting taxes is slow as
+well as inconvenient, and it would prove a perpetual hindrance to
+a Government whose pecuniary demands were large.  It is desirable
+that, in whatever materially affects its existence, the
+Government should be served by officers of its own, appointed by
+itself, removable at pleasure, and accustomed to rapid methods of
+proceeding.  But it will always be easy for the central
+government, organized as it is in America, to introduce new and
+more efficacious modes of action, proportioned to its wants. 
+[Footnote q: [The Civil War of 1860-65 cruelly belied this
+statement, and in the course of the struggle the North alone
+called two millions and a half of men to arms; but to the honor
+of the United States it must be added that, with the cessation of
+the contest, this army disappeared as rapidly as it had been
+raised. - Translator's Note.]]
+
+The absence of a central government will not, then, as has
+often been asserted, prove the destruction of the republics of
+the New World; far from supposing that the American governments
+are not sufficiently centralized, I shall prove hereafter that
+they are too much so.  The legislative bodies daily encroach upon
+the authority of the Government, and their tendency, like that of
+the French Convention, is to appropriate it entirely to
+themselves. Under these circumstances the social power is
+constantly changing hands, because it is subordinate to the power
+of the people, which is too apt to forget the maxims of wisdom
+and of foresight in the consciousness of its strength: hence
+arises its danger; and thus its vigor, and not its impotence,
+will probably be the cause of its ultimate destruction.
+
+The system of local administration produces several
+different effects 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 second-rate
+affairs, is a matter of national importance. *r As the State has
+no administrative functionaries of its own, stationed on
+different points of its territory, to whom it can give a common
+impulse, the consequence is that it rarely attempts to issue any
+general police regulations.  The want of these regulations is
+severely felt, and is frequently observed by Europeans. The
+appearance of disorder 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 subject. 
+Certain undertakings are of importance to the whole State; but
+they cannot be put in execution, because there is no national
+administration to direct them.  Abandoned to the exertions of the
+towns or counties, under the care of elected or temporary agents,
+they lead to no result, or at least to no durable benefit.
+
+[Footnote r: The authority which represents the State ought not,
+I think, to waive the right of inspecting the local
+administration, even when it does not interfere more actively. 
+Suppose, for instance, that an agent of the Government was
+stationed at some appointed spot in the country, to prosecute the
+misdemeanors of the town and county officers, would not a more
+uniform order be the result, without in any way compromising the
+independence of the township?  Nothing of the kind, however,
+exists in America: there is nothing above the county-courts,
+which have, as it were, only an incidental cognizance of the
+offences they are meant to repress.] 
+
+The partisans of centralization in Europe are wont to
+maintain that the Government directs the affairs of each locality
+better than the citizens could do it for themselves; this may be
+true when the central power is enlightened, and when the local
+districts are ignorant; when it is as alert as 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 such is the case when the people is as
+enlightened, as awake to its interests, and as accustomed to
+reflect on them, as the Americans are.  I am persuaded, on the
+contrary, that in this case the collective strength of the
+citizens will always conduce more efficaciously to the public
+welfare than the authority of the Government.  It is difficult to
+point out with certainty the means of arousing 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 affairs; and it would
+frequently 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 to supersede the
+persons most interested, I am inclined to suppose that it is
+either misled or desirous to mislead.  However enlightened and
+however skilful a central power may be, it cannot of itself
+embrace all the details of the existence of a great nation.  Such
+vigilance exceeds the powers of man.  And when it attempts to
+create and set in motion so many complicated springs, it must
+submit to a very imperfect result, or consume itself in bootless
+efforts.
+
+Centralization succeeds more easily, indeed, in subjecting
+the external actions of men to a certain uniformity, which at
+least commands our regard, independently of the objects to which
+it is applied, like those devotees who worship the statue and
+forget the deity it represents.  Centralization imparts without
+difficulty an admirable regularity to the routine of business;
+provides for the details of the social police with sagacity;
+represses the smallest disorder and the most petty misdemeanors;
+maintains society in a status quo alike secure from improvement
+and decline; and perpetuates a drowsy precision in the conduct of
+affairs, which is hailed by the heads of the administration as a
+sign of perfect order and public tranquillity: *s in short, it
+excels more in prevention than in action.  Its force deserts it
+when society is to be disturbed or accelerated in its course; and
+if once the co-operation of private citizens is necessary to the
+furtherance of its measures, the secret of its impotence is
+disclosed.  Even whilst it invokes their assistance, it is on the
+condition that they shall act exactly as much as the Government
+chooses, and exactly in the manner it appoints.  They are to take
+charge of the details, without aspiring to guide the system; they
+are to work in a dark and subordinate sphere, and only to judge
+the acts in which they have themselves cooperated by their
+results.: These, however, are not conditions on which the
+alliance of the human will is to be obtained; its carriage must
+be free and its actions responsible, or (such is the constitution
+of man) the citizen had rather remain a passive spectator than a
+dependent actor in schemes with which he is unacquainted.
+
+[Footnote s: China appears to me to present the most perfect
+instance of that species of well-being which a completely central
+administration may furnish to the nations among which it exists. 
+Travellers assure us that the Chinese have peace without
+happiness, industry without improvement, stability without
+strength, and public order without public morality.  The
+condition of society is always tolerable, never excellent.  I am
+convinced that, when China is opened to European observation, it
+will be found to contain the most perfect model of a central
+administration which exists in the universe.]
+
+It is undeniable that the want of those uniform regulations
+which control the conduct of every inhabitant of France is not
+unfrequently felt in the United States.  Gross instances of
+social indifference and neglect are to be met with, and from time
+to time disgraceful blemishes are seen in complete contrast with
+the surrounding civilization.  Useful undertakings which cannot
+succeed without perpetual attention and rigorous exactitude are
+very frequently abandoned in the end; for in America, as well as
+in other countries, the people is subject to sudden impulses and
+momentary exertions. The European who is accustomed to find a
+functionary always at hand to interfere with all he undertakes
+has some difficulty in accustoming himself to the complex
+mechanism of the administration of the townships.  In general it
+may be affirmed that the lesser details of the police, which
+render life easy and comfortable, are neglected in America; but
+that the essential guarantees of man in society are as strong
+there as elsewhere.  In America the power which conducts the
+Government is far less regular, less enlightened, and less
+learned, but an hundredfold more authoritative than in Europe. 
+In no country in the world do the citizens make such exertions
+for the common weal; and I am acquainted with no people which has
+established schools as numerous and as efficacious, places of
+public worship better suited to the wants of the inhabitants, or
+roads kept in better repair. Uniformity or permanence of design,
+the minute arrangement of details, *t and the perfection of an
+ingenious administration, must not be sought for in the United
+States; but it will be easy to find, on the other hand, the
+symptoms of a power which, if it is somewhat barbarous, is at
+least robust; and of an existence which is checkered with
+accidents indeed, but cheered at the same time by animation and
+effort.
+
+[Footnote t: A writer of talent, who, in the comparison which he
+has drawn between the finances of France and those of the United
+States, has proved that ingenuity cannot always supply the place
+of a knowledge of facts, very justly reproaches the Americans for
+the sort of confusion which exists in the accounts of the
+expenditure in the townships; and after giving the model of a
+departmental budget in France, he adds: - "We are indebted to
+centralization, that admirable invention of a great man, for the
+uniform order and method which prevail alike in all the municipal
+budgets, from the largest town 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
+grossest 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 which keep society in
+perpetual labor, in those American townships whose budgets are
+drawn up with small method and with still less uniformity, I am
+struck by the spectacle; for to my mind the end of a good
+government is to ensure the welfare of a people, and not to
+establish order and regularity in the midst of its misery and its
+distress. I am therefore led to suppose that the prosperity of
+the American townships and the apparent confusion of their
+accounts, the distress of the French communes and the perfection
+of their budget, may be attributable to the same cause.  At any
+rate I am suspicious of a benefit which is united to so many
+evils, and I am not averse to an evil which is compensated by so
+many benefits.]
+
+Granting for an instant that the villages and counties of
+the United States would be more usefully governed by a remote
+authority which they had never seen than by functionaries taken
+from the midst of them - admitting, for the sake of argument,
+that the country would be more secure, and the resources of
+society better employed, if the whole administration centred in a
+single arm - still the political advantages which the Americans
+derive from their system would induce me to prefer it to the
+contrary plan.  It profits me but little, after all, that a
+vigilant authority should protect the tranquillity of my
+pleasures and constantly avert all dangers from my path, without
+my care or my concern, if this same authority is the absolute
+mistress of my liberty and of my life, and if it so monopolizes
+all the energy of existence that when it languishes everything
+languishes around it, that when it sleeps everything must sleep,
+that when it dies the State itself must perish.
+
+In certain countries of Europe the natives consider
+themselves as a kind of settlers, indifferent to the fate of the
+spot upon which they live.  The greatest changes are effected
+without their concurrence and (unless chance may have apprised
+them of the event) without their knowledge; nay more, the citizen
+is unconcerned as to the condition of his village, the police of
+his street, the repairs of the church or of the parsonage; for he
+looks upon all these things as unconnected with himself, and as
+the property of a powerful stranger whom he calls the Government. 
+He has only a life-interest in these possessions, and he
+entertains no notions of ownership or of improvement. This want
+of interest in his own affairs goes so far that, if his own
+safety or that of his children is endangered, instead of trying
+to avert the peril, he will fold his arms, and wait till the
+nation comes to his assistance. This same individual, who has so
+completely sacrificed his own free will, has no natural
+propensity to obedience; he cowers, it is true, before the
+pettiest officer; but he braves the law with the spirit of a
+conquered foe as soon as its superior force is removed: his
+oscillations between servitude and license are perpetual.  When a
+nation has arrived at this state it must either change its
+customs and its laws or perish: the source of public virtue is
+dry, and, though it may contain subjects, the race of citizens is
+extinct. Such communities are a natural prey to foreign
+conquests, and if they do not disappear from the scene of life,
+it is because they are surrounded by other nations similar or
+inferior to themselves: it is because the instinctive feeling of
+their country's claims still exists in their hearts; and because
+an involuntary pride in the name it bears, or a vague
+reminiscence of its bygone fame, suffices to give them the
+impulse of self- preservation.
+
+Nor can the prodigious exertions made by tribes in the
+defence of a country to which they did not belong 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 defending the country they inhabited they defended that
+Holy City of which they were all citizens.  The Turkish tribes
+have never taken an active share in the conduct of the affairs of
+society, but they accomplished stupendous enterprises as long as
+the victories of the Sultan were the 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 authority peculiar to itself,
+did it, as I conceive, an undeserved honor; for despotism, taken
+by itself, can produce no durable results.  On close inspection
+we shall find that religion, and not fear, has ever been the
+cause of the long-lived prosperity of an absolute government. 
+Whatever exertions may be made, no true power can be founded
+among men which does not depend upon the free union of their
+inclinations; and patriotism and religion are the only two
+motives in the world which can permanently direct the whole of a
+body politic to one end. 
+
+Laws cannot succeed in rekindling the ardor of an
+extinguished faith, but men may be interested in the fate of
+their country by the laws.  By this influence the vague impulse
+of patriotism, which never abandons the human heart, may be
+directed and revived; and if it be connected with the thoughts,
+the passions, and the daily habits of life, it may be
+consolidated into a durable and rational sentiment.
+
+Let it not be said that the time for the experiment is
+already past; for the old age of nations is not like the old age
+of men, 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
+the local system 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 people 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 towards the State is
+analogous to that which unites him to his family, and it is by a
+kind of egotism that he interests himself in the welfare of his
+country.
+
+The European generally submits to a public officer because
+he represents a superior force; but to an American he represents
+a right.  In America 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; he unhesitatingly confides in his own powers, which
+appear to him to be all-sufficient.  When a private individual
+meditates an undertaking, however directly connected it may be
+with the welfare of society, he never thinks of soliciting the
+co-operation of the Government, but he publishes his plan, offers
+to execute it himself, courts the assistance of other
+individuals, and struggles manfully against all obstacles. 
+Undoubtedly 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 Government could have done.
+
+As the administrative authority is within the reach of the
+citizens, whom it in some degree represents, it excites neither
+their jealousy nor their hatred; as its resources are limited,
+every one feels that he must not rely solely on its assistance. 
+Thus, when the administration thinks fit to interfere, it is not
+abandoned to itself as in Europe; the duties of the private
+citizens are not supposed to have lapsed because the State
+assists in their fulfilment, but every one is ready, on the
+contrary, to guide and to support it.  This action of individual
+exertions, joined to that of the public authorities, frequently
+performs what the most energetic central administration would be
+unable to execute.  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 more thoroughly acquainted. *u In America the means
+which the authorities have at their disposal for the discovery of
+crimes and the arrest of criminals are few.  The 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 prosecutors are not numerous, and the
+examinations of prisoners are rapid and oral.  Nevertheless in no
+country does crime more rarely elude punishment.  The reason is,
+that every one conceives himself to be interested in furnishing
+evidence of the act committed, and in stopping the delinquent. 
+During my stay in the United States I witnessed the spontaneous
+formation of committees for the pursuit and prosecution of a man
+who had committed a great crime in a certain county. In Europe a
+criminal is an unhappy being who is struggling for his life
+against the ministers of justice, whilst the population is merely
+a spectator of the conflict; in America he is looked upon as an
+enemy of the human race, and the whole of mankind is against him.
+
+[Footnote u: See Appendix, I.]
+
+I believe that provincial institutions are useful to all
+nations, but nowhere do they appear to me to be more
+indispensable than amongst a democratic people.  In an
+aristocracy order can always be maintained in the midst of
+liberty, and as the rulers have a great deal to lose order is to
+them a first-rate consideration.  In like manner an aristocracy
+protects the people from the excesses of despotism, because it
+always possesses an organized power ready to resist a despot. 
+But a democracy without provincial institutions has no security
+against these evils.  How can a populace, unaccustomed to freedom
+in small concerns, learn to use it temperately in great affairs? 
+What resistance can be offered to tyranny in a country where
+every private individual is impotent, and where the citizens are
+united by no common tie? Those who dread the license of the mob,
+and those who fear the rule of absolute power, ought alike to
+desire the progressive growth of provincial liberties.
+
+On the other hand, I am convinced that democratic nations
+are most exposed to fall beneath the yoke of a central
+administration, for several reasons, amongst which is the
+following.  The constant tendency of these nations is to
+concentrate all the strength of the Government in the hands of
+the only power which directly represents the people, because
+beyond the people nothing is to be perceived but a mass of equal
+individuals confounded together.  But when the same power is
+already in possession of all the attributes of the Government, it
+can scarcely refrain from penetrating into the details of the
+administration, and an opportunity of doing so is sure to present
+itself in the end, as was the case in France.  In the French
+Revolution there were two impulses in opposite directions, which
+must never be confounded - the one was favorable to liberty, the
+other to despotism. Under the ancient monarchy the King was the
+sole author of the laws, and below the power of the sovereign
+certain vestiges of provincial institutions, half destroyed, were
+still distinguishable.  These provincial institutions were
+incoherent, ill compacted, and frequently absurd; in the hands of
+the aristocracy they had sometimes been converted into
+instruments of oppression. The Revolution declared itself the
+enemy of royalty and of provincial institutions at the same time;
+it confounded all that had preceded it -despotic power and the
+checks to its abuses - in indiscriminate hatred, and its tendency
+was at once to overthrow and to centralize.  This double
+character of the French Revolution is a fact which has been
+adroitly handled by the friends of absolute power.  Can they be
+accused of laboring in the cause of despotism when they are
+defending that central administration which was one of the great
+innovations of the Revolution? *v In this manner popularity may
+be conciliated with hostility to the rights of the people, and
+the secret slave of tyranny may be the professed admirer of
+freedom.
+
+[Footnote v: See Appendix K.]
+
+I have visited the two nations in which 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; in England I
+found others who attacked the aristocracy openly, but I know of
+no one who does not regard provincial independence as a great
+benefit.  In both countries I have heard a thousand different
+causes assigned for the evils of the State, but the local system
+was never mentioned amongst them.  I have 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
+who are naturally so divided on religious opinions and on
+political theories agree on one point (and that one of which they
+have daily experience), they are all in error?  The only nations
+which deny the utility of provincial liberties are those which
+have fewest of them; in other words, those who are unacquainted
+with the institution are the only persons who pass a censure upon
+it.
+
+
+Chapter VI: Judicial Power In The United States
+
+Chapter Summary
+
+The Anglo-Americans have retained the characteristics of judicial
+power which are common to all 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 other nations -
+Why the American judges have the right of declaring the laws to
+be unconstitutional - How they use this right -Precautions taken
+by the legislator to prevent its abuse.
+
+Judicial Power In The United States And Its Influence On
+Political Society
+
+I have thought it essential 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, and republics have not been
+established upon the shores of the New World alone; the
+representative system of government has been adopted in several
+States of Europe, but I am not aware that any nation of the globe
+has hitherto organized a judicial power on the principle now
+adopted by the Americans. The judicial organization of the United
+States is the institution which a stranger has the greatest
+difficulty in understanding.  He hears the authority 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 tribunals, they offer nothing which is contrary
+to the usual habits and privileges of those bodies, and the
+magistrates seem to him to interfere in public affairs of chance,
+but by a chance which recurs every day.
+
+When the Parliament of Paris remonstrated, or refused to
+enregister 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 authority, 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 to obtain the decision of a judge.  As long, therefore,
+as the 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
+stepping 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 resting upon 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 principles.  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 consequently to annul it, he
+remains within the ordinary limits of his functions.  But if he
+directly attacks a general principle without having a particular
+case in view, he leaves the circle in which all nations have
+agreed to confine his authority, he assumes a more important, and
+perhaps a more useful, influence than that of the magistrate, but
+he ceases to be a representative of the judicial power.
+
+
+The third characteristic of the judicial power is its
+inability to act unless it is appealed to, or until it has taken
+cognizance of an affair. This characteristic is less general than
+the other two; but, notwithstanding 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
+punishes the criminal; when a wrong is to be redressed, it is
+ready to redress it; when an act requires interpretation, it is
+prepared to interpret it; but it does not pursue criminals, hunt
+out wrongs, or examine into evidence of its own accord. A
+judicial functionary who should open proceedings, and usurp the
+censorship of the laws, would in some measure do violence to the
+passive nature of his authority.
+
+The Americans have retained these three distinguishing
+characteristics of the judicial power; an American judge can only
+pronounce a decision when litigation has arisen, he is only
+conversant 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 magistrate of other
+nations; and he is nevertheless invested with immense political
+power.  If the sphere of his authority and his means of action
+are the same as those of other judges, it may be asked whence he
+derives 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 decisions on
+the constitution rather than on the laws.  In other words, they
+have left them at liberty not to apply such laws as may appear to
+them to be unconstitutional. 
+
+I am aware that a similar right has been claimed - but
+claimed in vain -by courts of justice in other countries; but in
+America it is recognized by all authorities; and not a party, nor
+so much as an individual, is found to contest it.  This fact can
+only be explained by the principles of the American constitution. 
+In France the constitution is (or at least is supposed to be)
+immutable; and the received theory is that no power has the right
+of changing any part of it.  In England the Parliament has an
+acknowledged right to modify the constitution; as, therefore, the
+constitution may undergo perpetual changes, 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 constitution 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
+determination of the whole people, is no less binding on the
+legislator than on the private citizen, but which may be altered
+by the will of the people in predetermined cases, according to
+established rules.  In America 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. *a
+
+[Footnote a: [The fifth article of the original Constitution of
+the United States provides the mode in which amendments of the
+Constitution may be made. Amendments must be proposed by
+two-thirds of both Houses of Congress, and ratified by the
+Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States.  Fifteen
+amendments of the Constitution have been made at different times
+since 1789, the most important of which are the Thirteenth,
+Fourteenth, and Fifteenth, framed and ratified after the Civil
+War.  The original Constitution of the United States, followed by
+these fifteen amendments, is printed at the end of this edition.
+- Translator's Note, 1874.]] 
+
+It is easy to perceive in what manner these differences must
+act upon the position 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 supreme power would in fact be
+placed in their hands, since they alone would have the right of
+interpreting a constitution, the clauses of which can be modified
+by no authority.  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 incompetent to declare a
+law to be unconstitutional, the power of changing the
+constitution is indirectly given to the legislative body, since
+no legal barrier would oppose the alterations which it might
+prescribe.  But it is 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 with the right of resisting the decisions of the
+legislative body, since the Parliament which makes the laws also
+makes the constitution; and consequently a law emanating from the
+three powers of the State can in no case be unconstitutional. 
+But neither of these remarks is applicable to America.
+
+In the United States the constitution governs the legislator
+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 preference to any law. 
+This condition is essential to the power of the judicature, for
+to select that legal obligation by which he is most strictly
+bound is 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
+the State- motive clearly prevails over the motives of an
+individual.  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 reasons agree, and the people as well
+as the judges preserve their privileges.
+
+Whenever a law which the judge holds to be unconstitutional
+is argued in a tribunal of the United States he may refuse to
+admit it as a rule; this power is the only one which is peculiar
+to the American magistrate, but it gives rise to immense
+political influence.  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 parties, or by the necessity of the case.  But from the
+time that a judge has refused to apply any given law in a case,
+that law loses a portion of its moral cogency. The persons to
+whose interests it is prejudicial learn that means exist of
+evading its authority, and similar suits are multiplied, until it
+becomes powerless. One of two alternatives must then be resorted
+to: 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 immense,
+but the evils of this power are considerably diminished by the
+obligation which has been imposed of attacking the laws through
+the courts of justice alone.  If the judge had been empowered to
+contest the laws on the ground of theoretical generalities, if he
+had been enabled to open an attack or to pass a censure on the
+legislator, he would have played a prominent part in the
+political sphere; and as the champion or the antagonist of a
+party, he would have arrayed the hostile passions of the nation
+in the conflict.  But when a judge contests a law applied to some
+particular case in an obscure proceeding, the importance of his
+attack is concealed from the public gaze, his decision bears upon
+the interest of an individual, and if the law is slighted it is
+only collaterally.  Moreover, although it is censured, it is not
+abolished; its moral force may be diminished, but its cogency is
+by no means suspended, and its final destruction can only be
+accomplished by the reiterated attacks of judicial functionaries. 
+It will readily be understood that by connecting the censorship
+of the laws with the private interests of members of the
+community, and by intimately uniting the prosecution of the law
+with the prosecution of an individual, legislation is protected
+from wanton assailants, and from the daily aggressions of party
+spirit.  The errors of the legislator are exposed whenever their
+evil consequences are most felt, and it is always a positive and
+appreciable fact which serves as the basis of a prosecution. 
+
+I am inclined to believe this practice of the American
+courts to be at once the most favorable to liberty as well as to
+public order.  If the judge could only attack the legislator
+openly and directly, he would sometimes be afraid to oppose any
+resistance to his will; and at other moments party spirit might
+encourage him to brave it at every turn.  The laws would
+consequently be attacked when the power from which they emanate
+is weak, and obeyed when it is strong.  That is to say, when it
+would be useful to respect them they would 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 question which he is called upon to resolve is
+connected with the interest of the suitors, and he cannot refuse
+to decide it without abdicating the duties of his post.  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 which is
+exercised by the courts of justice over the legislation cannot
+extend to all laws indiscriminately, inasmuch as some of them can
+never give rise to that exact species of contestation which is
+termed a lawsuit; and even when such a contestation is possible,
+it may happen that no one cares to bring it before a court of
+justice.  The Americans have often felt this disadvantage, 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 unconstitutional forms one of the
+most powerful barriers which has ever been devised against the
+tyranny of political assemblies.
+
+Other Powers Granted To American Judges
+
+The United States all the citizens have the right of indicting
+public functionaries before the ordinary tribunals - How they use
+this right - Art. 75 of the French Constitution of the An VIII -
+The Americans and the English cannot understand the purport of
+this clause.
+
+It is perfectly natural that in a free country like America
+all the citizens should have the right of indicting public
+functionaries before the ordinary tribunals, and that all the
+judges should have the power of punishing public offences.  The
+right granted to the courts of justice of judging the agents of
+the executive government, when they have violated the laws, is so
+natural a one that it cannot be looked upon as an extraordinary
+privilege. Nor do the springs of government appear to me to be
+weakened in the United States by the custom which renders all
+public officers responsible to the judges of the land.  The
+Americans seem, on the contrary, to have increased by this means
+that respect which is due to the authorities, and at the same
+time to have rendered those who are in power more scrupulous of
+offending public opinion.  I was struck by the small number of
+political trials which occur in the United States, but I had no
+difficulty in accounting for this circumstance.  A lawsuit, of
+whatever nature it may be, is always a difficult and expensive
+undertaking.  It is easy to attack a public man in a journal, but
+the motives which can warrant an action at law must be serious. 
+A solid ground of complaint must therefore exist to induce an
+individual to prosecute a public officer, and public officers are
+careful not to furnish these grounds of complaint when they are
+afraid of being prosecuted.
+
+This does not depend upon the republican form of American
+institutions, for the same facts present themselves in England. 
+These two nations do not regard the impeachment of the principal
+officers of State as a sufficient guarantee of their
+independence.  But they hold that the right of minor
+prosecutions, which are within the reach of the whole community,
+is a better pledge of freedom than those great judicial actions
+which are rarely employed until it is too late.
+
+In the Middle Ages, when it was very difficult to overtake
+offenders, the judges inflicted the most dreadful tortures on the
+few who were arrested, which by no means diminished the number of
+crimes.  It has since been discovered that when justice is more
+certain and more mild, it is at the same time more efficacious. 
+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 introduced: "Art. 75. 
+All the agents of the government below the rank of ministers can
+only be prosecuted for offences relating to their several
+functions by virtue of a decree of the Conseil d'Etat; in which
+the case the prosecution takes place before the ordinary
+tribunals." This clause survived the "Constitution de l'An VIII,"
+and it is still maintained in spite of the just complaints of the
+nation.  I have always found the utmost difficulty in explaining
+its meaning to Englishmen or Americans.  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 exercised a
+preliminary and somewhat tyrannical jurisdiction in all political
+causes.  But when I told them that the Conseil d'Etat 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
+Prefect, to commit an injustice, has the power of commanding
+another of his servants, called a Councillor of State, to prevent
+the former from being punished; when I demonstrated to them that
+the citizen who has been injured by the order of the sovereign is
+obliged to solicit from the sovereign permission to obtain
+redress, they refused to credit so flagrant an abuse, and were
+tempted to accuse me of falsehood or of ignorance.  It frequently
+happened before the Revolution that a Parliament issued a warrant
+against a public officer who had committed an offence, and
+sometimes the proceedings were stopped by the authority of the
+Crown, which enforced compliance with its absolute and despotic
+will.  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 sanction of the law which violence alone could
+impose upon them.
+
+
+Chapter VII: Political Jurisdiction In The United States
+
+Chapter Summary
+
+Definition of political jurisdiction - What is understood by
+political jurisdiction in France, in England, and in the United
+States - In America the political judge can only pass sentence on
+public officers - He more frequently passes a sentence of removal
+from office than a penalty - Political jurisdiction as it exists
+in the United States is, notwithstanding its mildness, and
+perhaps in consequence of that mildness, a most powerful
+instrument in the hands of the majority.
+
+Political Jurisdiction In The United States
+
+I understand, by political jurisdiction, that temporary
+right of pronouncing a legal decision with which a political body
+may be invested.
+
+In absolute governments no utility can accrue from the
+introduction of 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 which
+is entertained of his power is of itself a sufficient security. 
+The only thing he has to fear is, that the external formalities
+of justice should be neglected, and that his authority should be
+dishonored from a wish to render it more absolute.  But in most
+free countries, in which the majority can never exercise the same
+influence upon the tribunals as an absolute monarch, the judicial
+power has occasionally been vested for a time in the
+representatives of the nation.  It has been thought better to
+introduce a temporary confusion 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 this
+political jurisdiction by law; and it is curious to examine the
+different adaptations which these three great nations have made
+of the principle.  In England and in France the House of Lords
+and the Chambre des Paris *a constitute the highest criminal
+court of their respective nations, and although they do not
+habitually try all political offences, they are competent to try
+them all. Another political body enjoys the right of impeachment
+before the House of Lords: the only difference which exists
+between the two countries in this respect is, that in England the
+Commons may impeach whomsoever they please before the Lords,
+whilst in France the Deputies can only employ this mode of
+prosecution against the ministers of the Crown.
+
+[Footnote a: [As it existed under the constitutional monarchy
+down to 1848.]]
+
+In both countries the Upper House may make use of all the
+existing penal laws of the nation to punish the delinquents. 
+
+In the United States, as well as in Europe, one branch of
+the legislature is authorized to impeach and another to judge:
+the House of Representatives arraigns the offender, and the
+Senate awards his sentence. But the Senate can only try such
+persons as are brought before it by the House of Representatives,
+and those persons must belong to the class of public
+functionaries.  Thus the jurisdiction of the Senate is less
+extensive than that of the Peers of France, whilst the right of
+impeachment by the Representatives is more general than that of
+the Deputies.  But the great difference which exists between
+Europe and America is, that in Europe political tribunals are
+empowered to inflict all the dispositions of the penal code,
+while in America, when they have deprived the offender of his
+official rank, and have declared him incapable of filling any
+political office for the future, 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; the House of
+Representatives impeaches him, and the Senate degrades him; he
+must then be tried by a jury, which alone can deprive him of his
+liberty or his life.  This accurately illustrates the subject we
+are treating.  The political jurisdiction which is established by
+the laws of Europe is intended to try great offenders, whatever
+may be their birth, their rank, or their powers in the State; and
+to this end all the privileges of the courts of justice are
+temporarily extended to a great political assembly.  The
+legislator is then transformed into the magistrate; he is called
+upon to admit, to distinguish, and to punish the offence; and as
+he exercises all the authority of a judge, the law restricts him
+to the observance of all the duties of that high office, and of
+all the formalities of justice.  When a public functionary is
+impeached before an English or a French political tribunal, and
+is found guilty, the sentence deprives him ipso facto of his
+functions, and it may pronounce him to be incapable of resuming
+them or any others for the future.  But in this case the
+political interdict is a consequence of the sentence, and not the
+sentence itself.  In Europe the sentence of a political tribunal
+is to be regarded as a judicial verdict rather than as an
+administrative 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 comply with the practices
+and formalities of a court of justice; although it is judicial in
+respect to the motives on which it is founded, since the Senate
+is in general obliged to take an offence at common law as the
+basis of its sentence; nevertheless the object of the proceeding
+is purely administrative. If it had been the intention of the
+American legislator to invest a political body with great
+judicial authority, its action would not have been limited to the
+circle of public functionaries, since the most dangerous enemies
+of the State may be in the possession of no functions at all; and
+this is especially true in republics, where party influence is
+the first of authorities, and where the strength of many a reader
+is increased by his exercising no legal power.
+
+If it had been the intention of the American legislator to
+give society the means of repressing State offences by exemplary
+punishment, according to the practice of ordinary justice, the
+resources of the penal code would all have been placed at the
+disposal of the political tribunals.  But the weapon with which
+they are intrusted is an imperfect one, and it can never reach
+the most dangerous offenders, since men who aim at the entire
+subversion of the laws are not likely to murmur at a political
+interdict.
+
+The main object of the political jurisdiction which obtains
+in the United States is, therefore, to deprive the ill-disposed
+citizen of an authority which he has used amiss, and to prevent
+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 the securities of a political trial; and they
+have deprived all political condemnations 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
+formidable, are exempted from that tribunal.  In the civil
+service none of the American functionaries can be said to be
+removable; the places which some of them occupy are inalienable,
+and the others are chosen for a term 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 the State, who is himself a civil
+functionary, and the decision 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 different
+effects which each of them produces or may produce.  In France
+and in 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, are apt to violate the conservative principle of the
+balance of power in the State, and to threaten incessantly the
+lives and liberties of the subject.  The same political
+jurisdiction in the United States is only indirectly hostile to
+the balance of power; it cannot menace the lives of the citizens,
+and it does not hover, as in Europe, over the heads of the
+community, since those only who have submitted to its authority
+on accepting office are exposed to the severity of its
+investigations.  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 a remedy for the more violent
+evils of society, but as an ordinary means of conducting the
+government.  In this respect it probably exercises more real
+influence on the social body in America than in Europe. We must
+not be misled by the apparent mildness of the American
+legislation in all that relates to political jurisdiction.  It is
+to be observed, in the first place, that in the United States the
+tribunal which passes sentence is composed of the same elements,
+and subject to the same influences, as the body which impeaches
+the offender, and that this uniformity gives an almost
+irresistible impulse to the vindictive passions of parties.  If
+political judges in the United States cannot inflict such heavy
+penalties as those of Europe, there is the less chance of their
+acquitting a prisoner; and the conviction, if it is less
+formidable, is more certain.  The principal object of the
+political tribunals of Europe is to punish the offender; the
+purpose of those in America is to deprive him of his authority. 
+A political condemnation in the United States may, therefore, be
+looked upon as a preventive measure; and there is no reason for
+restricting the judges to the exact definitions of criminal law. 
+Nothing can be more alarming than the excessive latitude with
+which political offences 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, bribery, or other
+high crimes and misdemeanors." Many of the Constitutions of the
+States are even less explicit.  "Public officers," says the
+Constitution of Massachusetts, *b "shall be impeached for
+misconduct or maladministration;" the Constitution of Virginia
+declares that all the civil officers who shall have offended
+against the State, by maladministration, corruption, or other
+high crimes, may be impeached by the House of Delegates; in some
+constitutions no offences are specified, in order to subject the
+public functionaries to an unlimited responsibility. *c But I
+will venture to affirm that it is precisely their mildness which
+renders the American laws most formidable in this respect.  We
+have shown that in Europe the removal of a functionary and his
+political interdiction are the consequences 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 rights which they are afraid to use, and that
+the fear of punishing too much hinders them from punishing at
+all. But in America no one hesitates to inflict a penalty from
+which humanity does not recoil.  To condemn a political opponent
+to death, in order to deprive him of his power, is to commit what
+all the world would execrate as a horrible assassination; but to
+declare that opponent unworthy to exercise that authority, to
+deprive him of it, and to leave him uninjured in life and limb,
+may be judged 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 the majority of those upon whom it is
+inflicted.  Great criminals may undoubtedly brave its intangible
+rigor, but ordinary offenders will dread it as a condemnation
+which destroys their position in the world, casts a blight upon
+their honor, and condemns them to a shameful inactivity worse
+than death. The influence exercised in the United States upon the
+progress of society by the jurisdiction of political bodies may
+not appear to be formidable, but it is only the more immense.  It
+does not directly coerce the subject, but it renders the majority
+more absolute over those in power; it does not confer an
+unbounded authority on the legislator which can be exerted at
+some momentous crisis, but it establishes a temperate and regular
+influence, which is at all times available.  If the power is
+decreased, it can, on 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
+the most formidable weapon which has ever been placed in the rude
+grasp of a popular majority.  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 augments.*d
+
+[Footnote b: Chap. I. sect. ii. Section 8.]
+
+[Footnote c: See the constitutions of Illinois, Maine,
+Connecticut, and Georgia.]
+
+[Footnote d: See Appendix, N.
+
+[The impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in 1868 - which
+was resorted to by his political opponents solely as a means of
+turning him out of office, for it could not be contended that he
+had been guilty of high crimes and misdemeanors, and he was in
+fact honorably acquitted and reinstated in office - is a striking
+confirmation of the truth of this remark. - Translator's Note,
+1874.]]
+
+
+Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution - Part I
+
+I have hitherto considered each State as a separate whole,
+and I have explained the different springs which the people sets
+in motion, and the different means of action which it employs. 
+But all the States which I have considered as independent are
+forced to submit, in certain cases, to the supreme authority of
+the Union.  The time is now come for me to examine separately the
+supremacy with which the Union has been invested, and to cast a
+rapid glance over the Federal Constitution.
+
+Chapter Summary
+
+Origin of the first Union - Its weakness - Congress appeals to
+the constituent authority - Interval of two years between this
+appeal and the promulgation of the new Constitution.
+
+History Of The Federal Constitution
+
+
+The thirteen colonies which simultaneously threw off the
+yoke of England towards the end of the last century professed, as
+I have already observed, 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 another, and to consolidate them into
+one nation.  But as each of them had enjoyed a separate existence
+and a government within its own control, the peculiar interests
+and customs which resulted from this system were opposed to a
+compact and intimate union which would have absorbed the
+individual 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 strength.  As
+long as the war with the mother-country lasted the principle of
+union was kept alive by necessity; and although the laws which
+constituted it were defective, the common tie subsisted in spite
+of their imperfections. *a But no sooner was peace concluded than
+the faults of the legislation became manifest, and the State
+seemed to be suddenly dissolved.  Each colony became an
+independent republic, and assumed an absolute sovereignty.  The
+federal government, condemned to impotence by its constitution,
+and no longer sustained by the presence of a common danger,
+witnessed the outrages offered to its flag by the great 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 of the nation. *b If America ever
+approached (for however brief a time) that lofty pinnacle of
+glory to which the fancy of its inhabitants is wont to point, it
+was at the solemn moment at which the power of the nation
+abdicated, as it were, the empire of the land.  All ages have
+furnished the spectacle of a people 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 their enemies by three thousand miles of ocean,
+and backed by a powerful ally, the success of the United States
+may be more justly attributed 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 was to the wars of
+the French Revolution, or the efforts of the Americans to those
+of the French when they were attacked by the whole of Europe,
+without credit and without allies, yet capable of opposing a
+twentieth part of their population to the world, and of bearing
+the torch of revolution beyond their frontiers whilst they
+stifled its devouring flame within the bosom of their country. 
+But it is a novelty 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 government are
+stopped; to see it carefully examine the extent of the evil, and
+patiently wait for two whole years until a remedy was discovered,
+which it voluntarily adopted without having wrung a tear or a
+drop of blood from mankind.  At the time when the inadequacy of
+the first constitution was discovered America possessed the
+double advantage of that calm which had succeeded the
+effervescence of the revolution, and of those great men who had
+led the revolution to a successful issue.  The assembly which
+accepted the task of composing the second constitution was small;
+*c but George Washington was its President, and it contained the
+choicest talents and the noblest hearts which had ever appeared
+in the New World.  This national commission, after long 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. *d The new Federal Government commenced
+its functions in 1789, after an interregnum of two years.  The
+Revolution of America terminated when that of France began. 
+
+[Footnote a: See the articles of the first confederation formed
+in 1778. This constitution was not adopted by all the States
+until 1781.  See also the analysis given of this constitution in
+"The Federalist" from No. 15 to No. 22, inclusive, and Story's
+"Commentaries on the Constitution of the United States," pp.
+85-115.]
+
+[Footnote b: Congress made this declaration on February 21,
+1787.] 
+
+[Footnote c: It consisted of fifty-five members; Washington,
+Madison, Hamilton, and the two Morrises were amongst the number.] 
+
+[Footnote d: It was not adopted by the legislative bodies, but
+representatives were elected by the people for this sole purpose;
+and the new constitution was discussed at length in each of these
+assemblies.]
+
+Summary Of The Federal Constitution
+
+Division of authority between the Federal Government and the
+States - The Government of the States is the rule, the Federal
+Government the exception.
+
+The first question which awaited the Americans was
+intricate, and by no means easy of solution: the object was so to
+divide the authority of the different States which composed the
+Union that each of them should continue to govern itself in all
+that concerned its internal prosperity, whilst the entire nation,
+represented by the Union, should continue to form a compact body,
+and to provide for the general exigencies of the people.  It was
+as impossible to determine beforehand, with any degree of
+accuracy, the share of authority which each of two governments
+was to enjoy, as to foresee all the incidents in the existence of
+a nation.
+
+The obligations and the claims of the Federal Government
+were simple and easily definable, because the Union had been
+formed with the express purpose of meeting the general exigencies
+of the people; but the claims and obligations of the States were,
+on the other hand, complicated and various, because those
+Governments had penetrated into all the details of social life.
+The attributes of the Federal Government were therefore carefully
+enumerated and all that was not included amongst them was
+declared to constitute a part of the privileges of the several
+Governments of the States.  Thus the government of the States
+remained the rule, and that of the Confederation became the
+exception. *e
+
+[Footnote e: See the Amendment to the Federal Constitution;
+"Federalist," No. 32; Story, p. 711; Kent's "Commentaries," vol.
+i. p. 364.
+
+It is to be observed that whenever the exclusive right of
+regulating certain matters is not reserved to Congress by the
+Constitution, the States may take up the affair until it is
+brought before the National Assembly.  For instance, Congress has
+the right of making a general law on bankruptcy, which, however,
+it neglects to do.  Each State is then at liberty to make a law
+for itself.  This point has been established by discussion in the
+law-courts, and may be said to belong more properly to
+jurisprudence.] 
+
+But as it was foreseen that, in practice, questions might
+arise as to the exact limits of this exceptional authority, and
+that it would be dangerous to submit these questions to the
+decision of the ordinary courts of justice, established in the
+States by the States themselves, a high Federal court was
+created, *f which was destined, amongst other functions, to
+maintain the balance of power which had been established by the
+Constitution between the two rival Governments. *g
+
+[Footnote f: The action of this court is indirect, as we shall
+hereafter show.]
+
+[Footnote g: It is thus that "The Federalist," No. 45, explains
+the division of supremacy 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,
+negotiation, 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.  When the bill which has since
+become the Constitution of the United States was submitted to the
+approval of the 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, and Madison -
+formed an association with the intention of explaining to the
+nation the advantages of the measure which was proposed.  With
+this view they published a series of articles in the shape of a
+journal, 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, although it
+especially concerns America.]
+
+Prerogative Of The Federal Government
+
+Power of declaring war, making peace, and levying general taxes
+vested in the Federal Government - What part of the internal
+policy of the country it may direct - The Government of the Union
+in some respects more central than the King's Government in the
+old French monarchy.
+
+The external relations of a people may be compared to those
+of private individuals, and they cannot be advantageously
+maintained without the agency of a single head of a Government. 
+The exclusive right of making peace and war, of concluding
+treaties of commerce, of raising armies, and equipping fleets,
+was granted to the Union. *h The necessity of a national
+Government was less imperiously felt in the conduct of the
+internal policy of society; but there are certain general
+interests which can only be attended to with advantage by a
+general authority.  The Union was invested with the power of
+controlling the monetary system, of directing the post office,
+and of opening the great roads which were to establish a
+communication between the different parts of the country. *i The
+independence of the Government of each State was formally
+recognized in its sphere; nevertheless, the Federal Government
+was authorized to interfere in the internal affairs of the States
+*j in a few predetermined cases, in which an indiscreet abuse of
+their independence might compromise the security of the Union at
+large.  Thus, whilst the power of modifying and changing their
+legislation at pleasure was preserved in all the republics, they
+were forbidden to enact ex post facto laws, or to create a class
+of nobles in their community. *k Lastly, as it was necessary that
+the Federal Government should be able to fulfil its engagements,
+it was endowed with an unlimited power of levying taxes. *l
+
+[Footnote h: See Constitution, sect. 8; "Federalist," Nos. 41 and
+42; Kent's "Commentaries," vol. i. p. 207; Story, pp. 358-382;
+Ibid. pp. 409-426.]
+
+[Footnote i: Several other privileges of the same kind exist,
+such as that which empowers the Union to legislate on bankruptcy,
+to grant patents, and other matters in which its intervention is
+clearly necessary.]
+
+[Footnote j: Even in these cases its interference is indirect. 
+The Union interferes by means of the tribunals, as will be
+hereafter shown.]
+
+[Footnote k: Federal Constitution, sect. 10, art. I.]
+
+[Footnote l: Constitution, sects. 8, 9, and 10; "Federalist,"
+Nos. 30-36, inclusive, and 41-44; Kent's "Commentaries," vol. i.
+pp. 207 and 381; Story, pp. 329 and 514.]
+
+In examining the balance of power as established by the
+Federal Constitution; in remarking on the one hand the portion of
+sovereignty which has been reserved to the several States, and on
+the other the share of power which the Union has assumed, it is
+evident that the Federal legislators entertained the clearest and
+most accurate notions on the nature of the centralization of
+government.  The United States form not only a republic, but a
+confederation; nevertheless the authority of the nation is more
+central than it was in several of the monarchies of Europe when
+the American Constitution was formed.  Take, for instance, the
+two following examples.
+
+Thirteen supreme courts of justice existed in France, which,
+generally speaking, had the right of interpreting the law without
+appeal; and those provinces which were styled pays d'etats were
+authorized to refuse their assent to an impost which had been
+levied by the sovereign who 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 exercises
+more central authority than the French monarchy possessed,
+although the Union is only an assemblage of confederate
+republics.
+
+In Spain certain provinces had the right of establishing a
+system of custom-house duties peculiar to themselves, although
+that privilege belongs, by its very nature, to the national
+sovereignty.  In America the Congress alone has the right of
+regulating the commercial relations of the States. 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 Crown in France or in Spain was always able to obtain by
+force whatever 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.
+
+Federal Powers
+
+After having settled the limits within which the Federal
+Government was to act, the next point was to determine the powers
+which it was to exert.
+
+Legislative Powers *m
+
+[Footnote m: [In this chapter the author points out the essence
+of the conflict between the seceding States and the Union which
+caused the Civil War of 1861.]]
+
+Division of the Legislative Body into two branches - Difference
+in the manner of forming the two Houses - The principle of the
+independence of the States predominates in the formation of the
+Senate - The principle of the sovereignty of the nation in the
+composition of the House of Representatives - Singular effects of
+the fact that a Constitution can only be logical in the early
+stages of a nation.
+
+The plan which had been laid down beforehand for the
+Constitutions of the several States was followed, in many points,
+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 conciliation prescribed the
+observance of distinct principles in the formation of these two
+assemblies.  I have already shown that two contrary interests
+were opposed to each other in the establishment of the Federal
+Constitution.  These two interests had given rise to two
+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 peoples would meet to discuss
+certain points of their common interests.  The other party
+desired to unite the inhabitants of the American colonies into
+one sole nation, and to establish a Government which should act
+as the sole representative of the nation, as far as the limited
+sphere of its authority would permit.  The practical consequences
+of these two theories were exceedingly different.
+
+The question was, whether a league was to be established
+instead of a national Government; whether the majority of the
+State, instead of the majority of the inhabitants of the Union,
+was to give the law: for every State, the small as well as the
+great, would then remain in the full enjoyment of its
+independence, and enter the Union upon a footing of perfect
+equality. If, however, the inhabitants of the United States were
+to be considered as belonging to one and the same nation, it
+would be just that the majority of the citizens of the Union
+should prescribe the law.  Of course the lesser States could not
+subscribe to the application of this doctrine without, in fact,
+abdicating their existence in relation to the sovereignty of the
+Confederation; since they would have passed from the condition of
+a co-equal and co-legislative authority to that of an
+insignificant fraction of a great people.  But if the former
+system would have invested them with an excessive authority, the
+latter would have annulled their influence altogether.  Under
+these circumstances the result was, that the strict rules of
+logic were evaded, as is usually the case when interests are
+opposed to arguments.  A middle course was hit upon by the
+legislators, which brought together by force two systems
+theoretically irreconcilable.
+
+The principle of the independence of the States prevailed in
+the formation of the Senate, and that of the sovereignty of the
+nation predominated in the composition of the House of
+Representatives.  It was decided that each State should send two
+senators to Congress, and a number of representatives
+proportioned to its population. *n It results from this
+arrangement that the State of New York has at the present day
+forty representatives and only two senators; the State of
+Delaware has two senators and only one representative; the State
+of Delaware is therefore equal to the State of New York in the
+Senate, whilst the latter has forty times the influence of the
+former in the House of Representatives.  Thus, if the minority of
+the nation preponderates in the Senate,. it may paralyze the
+decisions of the majority represented in the other House, which
+is contrary to the spirit of constitutional
+government.
+
+[Footnote n: Every ten years Congress fixes anew the number of
+representatives which each State is to furnish.  The total number
+was 69 in 1789, and 240 in 1833.  (See "American Almanac," 1834,
+p. 194.) The Constitution decided that there should not be more
+than one representative for every 30,000 persons; but no minimum
+was fixed on.  The Congress has not thought fit to augment the
+number of representatives in proportion to the increase of
+population.  The first Act which was passed on the subject (April
+14, 1792: see "Laws of the United States," by Story, vol. i. p.
+235) decided that there should be one representative for every
+33,000 inhabitants.  The last Act, which was passed in 1832,
+fixes the proportion at one for 48,000. The population
+represented is composed of all the free men and of three-fifths
+of the slaves.
+
+[The last Act of apportionment, passed February 2, 1872,
+fixes the representation at one to 134,684 inhabitants.  There
+are now (1875) 283 members of the lower House of Congress, and 9
+for the States at large, making in all 292 members.  The old
+States have of course lost the representatives which the new
+States have gained. -  Translator's Note.]]
+
+These facts show how rare and how difficult it is rationally
+and logically to combine all the several parts of legislation. 
+In the course of time different interests arise, and different
+principles are sanctioned by the same people; and when a general
+constitution is to be established, these interests and principles
+are so many natural obstacles to the rigorous application of any
+political system, with all its consequences.  The early stages of
+national existence are the only periods at which it is possible
+to maintain the complete logic of legislation; and when we
+perceive a nation in the enjoyment of this advantage, before we
+hasten to conclude that it is wise, we should do well to remember
+that it is young.  When the Federal Constitution was formed, the
+interests of independence for the separate States, and the
+interest of union for the whole people, were the only two
+conflicting interests which existed amongst the Anglo-Americans,
+and a compromise was necessarily made between them.
+
+It is, however, just to acknowledge that this part of the
+Constitution has not hitherto produced those evils which might
+have been feared.  All the States are young and contiguous; their
+customs, their ideas, and their exigencies are not dissimilar;
+and the differences which result from their size or inferiority
+do not suffice to set their interests at variance.  The small
+States have consequently never been induced to league themselves
+together in the Senate to oppose the designs of the larger ones;
+and indeed there is so irresistible an authority in the
+legitimate expression of the will of a people that the Senate
+could offer but a feeble opposition to the vote of the majority
+of the House of
+Representatives.
+
+It must not be forgotten, on the other hand, that it was not
+in the power of the American legislators to reduce to a single
+nation the people 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 acknowledging the real
+authority of these secondary communities (and it was impossible
+to deprive them of it), they disavowed beforehand the habitual
+use of constraint in enforcing g the decisions of the majority.
+Upon this principle the introduction of the influence of the
+States into the mechanism of the Federal Government was by no
+means to be wondered at, since it only attested the existence of
+an acknowledged power, which was to be humored and not forcibly
+checked.
+
+A Further Difference Between The Senate And The House Of
+Representatives
+
+The Senate named by the provincial legislators, the
+Representatives by the people - Double election of the former;
+single election of the latter - Term of the different offices -
+Peculiar functions of each House.
+
+The Senate not only differs from the other House in the
+principle which it represents, but also in the mode of its
+election, in the term for which it is chosen, and in the nature
+of its functions.  The House of Representatives is named by the
+people, the Senate by the legislators of each State; the former
+is directly elected, the latter is elected by an elected body;
+the term for which the representatives are chosen is only two
+years, that of the senators is six.  The functions of the House
+of Representatives are purely legislative, and the only share it
+takes in the judicial power is in the impeachment of public
+officers.  The Senate co-operates in the work of legislation, and
+tries those political offences which 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 appointments he
+may make must be definitely approved by the same body. *o
+
+[Footnote o: See "The Federalist," Nos. 52-56, inclusive; Story,
+pp. 199-314; Constitution of the United States, sects. 2 and 3.] 
+The Executive Power *p
+
+[Footnote p: See "The Federalist," Nos. 67-77; Constitution of
+the United States, art. 2; Story, p. 315, pp. 615-780; Kent's
+"Commentaries," p. 255.]
+
+Dependence of the President - He is elective and responsible - He
+is free to act in his own sphere under the inspection, but not
+under the direction, of the Senate - His salary fixed at his
+entry into office - 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 indispensable 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 has for the temperate use of his power.  But in the
+exercise of his authority he cannot be said to be perfectly
+independent; the Senate takes cognizance of his relations with
+foreign powers, and of the distribution of public appointments,
+so that he can neither be bribed nor can he employ the means of
+corruption.  The legislators of the Union acknowledged that the
+executive power would be incompetent to fulfil its task with
+dignity and utility, unless it enjoyed a greater degree of
+stability and of strength than had been granted to it in the
+separate States.
+
+The President is chosen for four years, and he may be
+reelected; so that the chances of a prolonged administration may
+inspire him with hopeful undertakings for the public good, and
+with the means of carrying them into execution.  The President
+was made the sole representative of the executive power of the
+Union, and care was taken not to render his decisions subordinate
+to the vote of a council - a dangerous measure, which tends at
+the same time to clog the action of the Government and to
+diminish its responsibility.  The Senate has the right of
+annulling g certain acts of the President; but it cannot compel
+him to take any steps, nor does it participate in the exercise of
+the executive power. 
+
+The action of the legislature on the executive power may be
+direct; and we have just shown that the Americans carefully
+obviated this influence; but it may, on the other hand, be
+indirect.  Public assemblies which have the power of depriving an
+officer of state of his salary encroach upon his independence;
+and as they are free to make the laws, it is to be feared lest
+they should gradually appropriate to themselves a portion of that
+authority which the Constitution had vested in his hands. This
+dependence of the 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 government, but they have rendered this
+propensity less irresistible.  The salary of the President is
+fixed, at the time of his entering upon office, for the whole
+period of his magistracy. The President is, moreover, provided
+with a suspensive veto, which allows him to oppose the passing of
+such laws as might destroy the portion of independence which the
+Constitution awards him.  The struggle between the President and
+the legislature must always be an unequal 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 persisted in, it must then be
+backed by a majority of two-thirds of the whole house.  The veto
+is, in fact, a sort of appeal to the people. The executive power,
+which, without this security, might have been secretly oppressed,
+adopts this means of pleading its cause and stating its motives.
+But if the legislature is certain of overpowering all resistance
+by persevering in its plans, I reply, that in the constitutions
+of all nations, of whatever kind they may be, a certain point
+exists at which the legislator is obliged to have recourse to the
+good sense and the virtue of his fellow-citizens.  This point is
+more prominent and more discoverable in republics, whilst it is
+more remote and more carefully concealed in monarchies, but it
+always exists somewhere.  There is no country in the world in
+which everything can be provided for by the laws, or in which
+political institutions can prove a substitute for common sense
+and public morality.
+
+Differences Between The Position Of The President Of The United
+States And That Of A Constitutional King Of France
+
+Executive power in the Northern States as limited and as partial
+as the supremacy which it represents - Executive power in France
+as universal as the supremacy it represents - The King a branch
+of the legislature - The President the mere executor of the law -
+Other differences resulting from the duration of the two powers -
+The President checked in the exercise of the executive authority
+- The King independent in its exercise - Notwithstanding these
+discrepancies France is more akin to a republic than the Union to
+a monarchy -Comparison of the number of public officers depending
+upon the executive power in the two countries.
+
+The executive power has so important an influence on the
+destinies of nations that I am inclined to pause for an instant
+at this portion of my subject, in order more clearly to explain
+the part it sustains in America. In order to form an accurate
+idea of the position of the President of the United States, it
+may not be irrelevant to compare it to that of one of the
+constitutional kings of Europe.  In this comparison I shall pay
+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 executive power retains the titles, the honors, the
+etiquette, and even the funds of royalty long after its authority
+has disappeared.  The English, after having cut off the head of
+one king and expelled another from his throne, were accustomed to
+accost the successor of those princes upon their knees.  On the
+other hand, when a republic falls under the sway of a single
+individual, the demeanor of the sovereign is simple and
+unpretending, as if his authority was not yet paramount.  When
+the emperors exercised an unlimited control over the fortunes and
+the lives of their fellow-citizens, it was customary to call them
+Caesar 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 the most notable difference
+which exists between the President of the United States and the
+King of France.  In the United States the executive power is as
+limited and partial as the sovereignty of the Union in whose name
+it acts; in France it is as universal as the authority of the
+State.  The Americans have a federal and the French a national
+Government.
+
+
+Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution - Part II
+
+This cause of inferiority results from the nature of things,
+but it is not the only one; the second in importance 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 till he has given
+his assent to them; he is, moreover, the executor of all they
+ordain. The President is also the executor of the laws, but he
+does not really co-operate in their formation, since the refusal
+of his assent does not annul them.  He is therefore merely to be
+considered as the agent of the sovereign power.  But not only
+does the King of France exercise a portion of the sovereign
+power, he also contributes to the nomination of the legislature,
+which exercises the other portion.  He has the privilege of
+appointing the members of one chamber, and of dissolving 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 any part of 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 explain 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 opinions can only penetrate 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 exercises an authority
+inferior to, and depending upon, that of the legislature.
+
+Even in the exercise of the executive power, properly so
+called - the point upon which his position seems to be most
+analogous to that of the King of France - the President labors
+under several causes of inferiority.  The authority of the King,
+in France, has, in the first place, the advantage of duration
+over that of the President, and durability is one of the chief
+elements of strength; nothing 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 sovereign.  In the exercise of the executive power the
+President of the United States is constantly subject to a jealous
+scrutiny.  He may make, but he cannot conclude, a treaty; he may
+designate, but he cannot appoint, a public officer. *q The King
+of France is absolute within the limits of his authority.  The
+President of the United States is responsible for his actions;
+but the person of the King is declared inviolable by the French
+Charter. *r
+
+[Footnote q: The Constitution had left it doubtful whether the
+President was obliged to consult the Senate in the removal as
+well as in the appointment of Federal officers.  "The Federalist"
+(No. 77) seemed to establish the affirmative; but in 1789
+Congress formally decided that, as the President was responsible
+for his actions, he ought not to be forced to employ agents who
+had forfeited his esteem.  See Kent's "Commentaries, vol. i. p.
+289.]
+ 
+[Footnote r: [This comparison applied to the Constitutional King
+of France and to the powers he held under the Charter of 1830,
+till the overthrow of the monarchy in 1848. - Translator's
+Note.]] 
+
+Nevertheless, the supremacy of public opinion 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 France
+than in America, but in fact it exists. In America, it acts by
+elections and decrees; in France it proceeds by revolutions; but
+notwithstanding the different constitutions of these two
+countries, public opinion is the predominant authority in both of
+them.  The fundamental principle of legislation - a principle
+essentially republican - is the same in both countries, although
+its consequences may be different, and its results more or less
+extensive.  Whence I am led to conclude that France with its King
+is nearer akin to a republic than the Union with its President is
+to a monarchy.
+
+In what I have been saying I have only touched upon the main
+points of distinction; and if I could have entered into details,
+the contrast would have been rendered still more striking. 
+I have remarked that the authority of the President in the
+United States is only exercised within the limits of a partial
+sovereignty, whilst that of the King in France is undivided.  I
+might have gone on to show that the power of the King's
+government in France exceeds its natural limits, however
+extensive they may be, and penetrates in a thousand different
+ways into the administration of private interests.  Amongst the
+examples of this influence may be quoted that which results from
+the great number of public functionaries, who all derive their
+appointments from the Government.  This number now exceeds all
+previous limits; it amounts to 138,000 *s nominations, each of
+which may be considered as an element of power.  The President of
+the United States has not the exclusive right of making any
+public appointments, and their whole number scarcely exceeds
+12,000. *t
+
+[Footnote s: The sums annually paid by the State to these
+officers amount to 200,000,000 fr. ($40,000,000).]
+
+[Footnote t: This number is extracted from the "National
+Calendar" for 1833. The "National Calendar" is an American
+almanac which contains the names of all the Federal officers.  It
+results from this comparison that the King of France has eleven
+times as many places at his disposal as the President, although
+the population of France is not much more than double that of the
+Union.
+
+[I have not the means of ascertaining the number of
+appointments now at the disposal of the President of the United
+States, but his patronage and the abuse of it have largely
+increased since 1833. - Translator's Note, 1875.]]
+
+Accidental Causes Which May Increase The Influence Of The
+Executive Government
+
+External security of the Union - Army of six thousand men - Few
+ships - The President has no opportunity of exercising his great
+prerogatives - In the prerogatives he exercises he is weak. 
+
+If the executive government is feebler in America than in
+France, the cause is 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 is called upon to exert its skill and its
+vigor.  If the existence of the Union were perpetually
+threatened, and if its chief interests were in daily connection
+with those of other powerful nations, the executive government
+would assume an increased importance in proportion to the
+measures expected of it, and those which it would carry into
+effect.  The President of the United States is the
+commander-in-chief of the army, but of an army 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 without 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
+interests rarely come into contact with those of any other nation
+of the globe.
+
+The practical part of a Government must not be judged by the
+theory of its constitution.  The President of the United States
+is in the possession of almost royal prerogatives, which he has
+no opportunity of exercising; and those privileges which he can
+at present use are very circumscribed.  The laws allow him to
+possess a degree of influence which circumstances do not permit
+him to employ.
+
+On the other hand, the great strength of the royal
+prerogative in France arises from circumstances far more than
+from the laws.  There the executive government is constantly
+struggling against prodigious obstacles, and exerting all its
+energies to repress them; so that it increases 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 it is in the Union, its
+influence would very soon become still more preponderant.
+
+Why The President Of The United States Does Not Require The
+Majority Of The Two Houses In Order To Carry On The Government 
+It is an established axiom in Europe that a constitutional
+King cannot persevere in a system of government which is opposed
+by the two other branches of the legislature.  But several
+Presidents of the United States have been known to lose the
+majority in the legislative body without being obliged to abandon
+the supreme power, and without inflicting a serious evil upon
+society. I have heard this fact quoted as an instance of the
+independence and the power of the executive government in
+America: a moment's reflection will convince us, on the contrary,
+that it is a proof of its extreme weakness.
+
+A King in Europe requires the support of the legislature to
+enable him to perform the duties imposed upon him by the
+Constitution, because those duties are enormous.  A
+constitutional King in Europe is not merely the executor of the
+law, but the execution of its provisions devolves so completely
+upon him that he has the power of paralyzing its influence if it
+opposes his designs. He requires the assistance of the
+legislative assemblies to make the law, but those assemblies
+stand in need of his aid to execute it: these two authorities
+cannot subsist without each other, and the mechanism of
+government is stopped as soon as they are at variance.
+
+In America the President cannot prevent any law from being
+passed, nor can he evade the obligation of enforcing it.  His
+sincere and zealous co-operation is no doubt useful, but it is
+not indispensable, in the carrying on of public affairs.  All his
+important acts are directly or indirectly submitted to the
+legislature, and of his own free authority he can do but little. 
+It is therefore his weakness, and not his power, which enables
+him to remain in opposition to Congress.  In Europe, harmony must
+reign between the Crown and the other branches of 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
+
+
+Dangers of the elective system increase in proportion to the
+extent of the prerogative - This system possible in America
+because no powerful executive authority is required - What
+circumstances are favorable to the elective system - Why the
+election of the President does not cause a deviation from the
+principles of the Government - Influence of the election of the
+President on secondary functionaries.
+
+The dangers of the system of election applied to the head of
+the executive government of a great people have been sufficiently
+exemplified by experience and by history, and the remarks I am
+about to make refer to America alone.  These dangers may be more
+or less formidable in proportion 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 the
+circumstances in which the electors are placed. The most weighty
+argument against the election of a chief magistrate is, that it
+offers so splendid a lure to private ambition, and is so apt to
+inflame men in the pursuit of power, that when legitimate means
+are wanting force may not unfrequently seize what right denied. 
+
+It is clear that the greater the privileges of the executive
+authority are, the greater is the temptation; the more the
+ambition of the candidates is excited, the more warmly are their
+interests espoused by a throng of partisans who hope to share the
+power when their patron has won the prize. The dangers of the
+elective system increase, therefore, in the exact ratio of the
+influence exercised by the executive power in the affairs of
+State. The revolutions of Poland were not solely attributable to
+the elective system in general, but to the fact that the elected
+monarch was the sovereign of a powerful kingdom.  Before we can
+discuss the absolute advantages of the elective system we must
+make preliminary inquiries as to whether the geographical
+position, the laws, the habits, the manners, and the opinions of
+the people amongst whom it is to be introduced will admit of the
+establishment of a weak and dependent executive government; for
+to attempt to render the representative of the State a powerful
+sovereign, and at the same time elective, is, in my opinion, 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 sphere of action
+beforehand, gradually to diminish its prerogatives, and to
+accustom the people to live without its protection.  Nothing,
+however, is further from the designs of the republicans of Europe
+than this course: as many of them owe their hatred of tyranny to
+the sufferings which they have personally undergone, it is
+oppression, and not the extent of the executive power, which
+excites their hostility, and they attack the former without
+perceiving how nearly it is connected with the latter. 
+
+Hitherto no citizen has shown any disposition to expose his
+honor and his life in order to become the President of the United
+States; because the power of that office is temporary, limited,
+and subordinate.  The prize of fortune must be great to encourage
+adventurers in so desperate a game.  No candidate has as yet been
+able to arouse the dangerous enthusiasm or the passionate
+sympathies of the people in his favor, for the very simple reason
+that when he is at the head of the Government he has but little
+power, but little wealth, and but 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 the elevation of
+an individual to power.
+
+The great advantage of hereditary monarchies is, that as the
+private interest of a family is always intimately connected with
+the interests of the State, the executive government is never
+suspended for a single instant; and if the affairs 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,
+notwithstanding these precautions, a break necessarily occurs in
+the minds of the people.
+
+At the approach of an election the head of the executive
+government is wholly occupied by the coming struggle; his future
+plans are doubtful; he can undertake nothing new, and the he will
+only prosecute with indifference those designs which another will
+perhaps terminate.  "I am so near the time of my retirement from
+office," said President Jefferson on the 21st of January, 1809
+(six weeks before the election), "that 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 gradual 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 government, or, still more, one used
+to the administrative protection of a powerful executive
+authority would be infallibly convulsed by an election of this
+kind.  In the United States the action of the Government may be
+slackened with impunity, because it is always weak and
+circumscribed. *u
+
+[Footnote u: [This, however, may be a great danger.  The period
+during which Mr. Buchanan retained office, after the election of
+Mr. Lincoln, from November, 1860, to March, 1861, was that which
+enabled the seceding States of the South to complete their
+preparations for the Civil War, and the Executive Government was
+paralyzed.  No greater evil could befall a nation. -Translator's
+Note.]]
+
+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 disadvantage
+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.  If the elective system were
+adopted in Europe, the condition of most of the monarchical
+States would be changed at every new election.  In America the
+President exercises a certain influence on State affairs, but he
+does not conduct them; the preponderating power is vested in the
+representatives of the whole nation.  The political maxims of the
+country depend therefore on the mass of the people, not on the
+President alone; and consequently in America the elective system
+has no very prejudicial influence on the fixed principles of the
+Government.  But the want of fixed principles is an evil so
+inherent in the elective system that it is still extremely
+perceptible in the narrow sphere to which the authority of the
+President extends.
+
+The Americans have admitted that the head of the executive
+power, who has to bear the whole responsibility of the duties he
+is called upon to fulfil, ought to be empowered to choose his own
+agents, and to remove them at pleasure: the legislative bodies
+watch the conduct of the President more than they direct it.  The
+consequence of this arrangement is, that at every new election
+the fate of all the Federal public officers is in suspense.  Mr.
+Quincy Adams, on his entry into office, discharged the majority
+of the individuals who had been appointed by his predecessor: and
+I am not aware that General Jackson allowed a single removable
+functionary employed in the Federal service to retain his place
+beyond the first year which succeeded his election.  It is
+sometimes made a subject of complaint that in the constitutional
+monarchies of Europe the fate of the humbler servants of an
+Administration depends upon that of the Ministers.  But in
+elective Governments this evil is far greater.  In a
+constitutional monarchy successive ministries are rapidly formed;
+but as the principal representative of the executive power does
+not change, the spirit of innovation is kept within bounds; the
+changes which take place are in the details rather than in the
+principles of the administrative 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 fall upon individuals in consequence of this state of
+things, it must be allowed that the uncertain situation of the
+public officers is less fraught with evil consequences in America
+than elsewhere.  It is so easy to acquire an independent position
+in the United States that the public officer who loses his place
+may be deprived of the comforts of life, but not of the means of
+subsistence.
+
+I remarked at the beginning of this chapter that the dangers
+of the elective system applied to the head of the State are
+augmented or decreased by the peculiar circumstances of the
+people which adopts it.  However the functions of the executive
+power may be restricted, it must always exercise a great
+influence upon the foreign policy of the country, for a
+negotiation cannot be opened or successfully carried on otherwise
+than by a single agent. The more precarious and the more perilous
+the position of a people becomes, the more absolute is the want
+of a fixed and consistent external policy, and the more dangerous
+does the elective system of the Chief Magistrate become. The
+policy of the Americans in relation to the whole world is
+exceedingly simple; for it may almost be said that no country
+stands in need of them, nor do they require the co-operation of
+any other people.  Their independence is never threatened.  In
+their present condition, therefore, the functions of the
+executive power are no less limited by circumstances than by the
+laws; and the President may frequently change his line of 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 the moment of
+its duration must always be considered as a national crisis,
+which is perilous in proportion to the internal embarrassments
+and the external dangers of the country.  Few of the nations of
+Europe could escape the calamities of anarchy or of conquest
+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.
+
+Mode Of Election
+
+Skill of the American legislators shown in the mode of election
+adopted by them - Creation of a special electoral body - Separate
+votes of these electors - Case in which the House of
+Representatives is called upon to choose the President - Results
+of the twelve elections which have taken place since the
+Constitution has been established.
+
+Besides the dangers which are inherent in the system, many
+other difficulties may arise from the mode of election, which may
+be obviated by the precaution of the legislator.  When a people
+met in arms on some public spot to choose its head, it was
+exposed to all the chances of civil war resulting from so martial
+a mode of proceeding, besides the dangers of the elective system
+in itself.  The Polish laws, which subjected the election of the
+sovereign to the veto of a single individual, suggested the
+murder of that individual or prepared the way to 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.  The nation possessed two of the main causes of internal
+peace; it was a new country, but it was inhabited by a people
+grown old in the exercise of freedom.  America had no hostile
+neighbors to dread; and the American legislators, profiting by
+these favorable circumstances, created a weak and subordinate
+executive power which could without danger be made elective.
+
+It then only remained for them to choose the least dangerous
+of the various modes of election; and the rules which they laid
+down upon this point admirably correspond to the securities which
+the physical and political constitution of the country already
+afforded.  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 simple majority should be decisive; but the
+difficulty was to obtain this majority without an interval of
+delay which it was most important to avoid.  It rarely happens
+that an individual can at once collect the majority of the
+suffrages of a great people; and this difficulty is enhanced in a
+republic of confederate States, where local influences are apt to
+preponderate.  The means by which it was proposed to obviate this
+second obstacle was to delegate the electoral powers of the
+nation to a body of representatives.  This mode of election
+rendered a majority more probable; for the fewer the electors
+are, the greater is the chance of their coming to a final
+decision.  It also offered an additional probability of a
+judicious choice.  It then remained to be decided whether this
+right of election was to be entrusted to a legislative body, the
+habitual representative assembly of the nation, or whether an
+electoral assembly should be formed for the express purpose of
+proceeding to the nomination of a President.  The Americans chose
+the latter alternative, from a belief that the individuals who
+were returned to make the laws were incompetent to represent 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 represent 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 manoeuvres 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 the sole purpose of giving
+their votes.
+
+It was therefore established that every State should name a
+certain number of electors, *v who in their turn should elect the
+President; and as it had been observed that the assemblies to
+which the choice of a chief magistrate had been entrusted in
+elective countries inevitably became the centres of passion and
+of cabal; that they sometimes usurped an authority which did not
+belong to them; and that their proceedings, or the uncertainty
+which resulted from them, were sometimes prolonged so much as to
+endanger the welfare of the State, it was determined that the
+electors should all vote upon the same day, without being
+convoked to the same place. *w This double election rendered a
+majority probable, though not certain; for it was possible that
+as many differences might exist between the electors as between
+their constituents.  In this case it was necessary to have
+recourse to one of three measures; either to appoint new
+electors, or to consult a second time those already appointed,or
+to defer the election to another authority. The first two of
+these alternatives, independently of the uncertainty of their
+results, were likely to delay the final decision, 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 in the presence of the Senate and the House of
+Representatives.  If none of the candidates has a majority, the
+House of Representatives then proceeds immediately to elect a
+President, but with the condition that it must fix upon one of
+the three candidates who have the highest numbers. *x
+
+[Footnote v: As many as it sends members to Congress.  The number
+of electors at the election of 1833 was 288.  (See "The National
+Calendar," 1833.)]
+
+[Footnote w: The electors of the same State assemble, but they
+transmit to the central government the list of their individual
+votes, and not the mere result of the vote of the majority.] 
+[Footnote x: 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 influence 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 cannot agree,
+recourse is had to the division of the States, each of which has
+a separate and independent vote.  This is one of the
+singularities of the Federal Constitution which can only be
+explained by the jar of conflicting interests.]
+
+Thus it is only in case of an event which cannot often
+happen, and which can never be foreseen, that the election is
+entrusted to the ordinary representatives of the nation; and even
+then they are obliged to choose a citizen who has already been
+designated by a powerful minority of the special electors.  It is
+by this happy expedient that the respect which is due to the
+popular voice is combined with the utmost celerity of execution
+and those precautions which the peace of the country demands. 
+But the decision of the question by the House of Representatives
+does not necessarily offer an immediate solution of the
+difficulty, for the majority of that assembly may still be
+doubtful, and in this case the Constitution prescribes no remedy.
+Nevertheless, by restricting the number of candidates to three,
+and by referring the matter to the judgment of an enlightened
+public body, it has smoothed all the obstacles *y which are not
+inherent in the elective system. 
+
+[Footnote y: Jefferson, in 1801, was not elected until the
+thirty- sixth time of balloting.]
+
+
+In the forty-four years which have elapsed since the
+promulgation of the Federal Constitution the United States have
+twelve times chosen a President. Ten of these elections took
+place simultaneously by the votes of the special electors in the
+different States.  The House of Representatives has only twice
+exercised its conditional 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. Quincy Adams was named.
+*z 
+
+[Footnote z: [General Grant is now (1874) the eighteenth
+President of the United States.]]
+
+Crises Of The Election
+
+The Election may be considered as a national crisis - Why? -
+Passions of the people - Anxiety of the President - Calm which
+succeeds the agitation of the election.
+
+I have shown what the circumstances are which favored the
+adoption of the elective system in the United States, and what
+precautions were taken by the legislators to obviate its dangers. 
+The Americans are habitually accustomed to all kinds of
+elections, and they know by experience the utmost degree of
+excitement which is compatible with security.  The 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 political circumstances under which the
+elections have hitherto been carried on have presented no real
+embarrassments to the nation.
+
+Nevertheless, the epoch of the election of a President of
+the United States may be considered as a crisis in the affairs of
+the nation.  The influence which he exercises on public business
+is no doubt feeble and indirect; but the choice of the President,
+which is of small importance to each individual 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 but few means of rewarding his
+supporters in comparison to the kings of Europe, but the places
+which are at his disposal are sufficiently numerous to interest,
+directly or indirectly, several thousand electors in his success. 
+Political parties in the United States are led to rally round an
+individual, in order to acquire a more tangible shape in the eyes
+of the crowd, and the name of the candidate for the Presidency is
+put forward as the symbol and personification of their theories.
+For these reasons parties are strongly interested in gaining the
+election, not so much with a view to the triumph of their
+principles under the auspices of the President-elect as to show
+by the majority which returned him, the strength of the
+supporters of those principles. 
+
+For a long while before the appointed time is at hand the
+election becomes the most important and the all-engrossing topic
+of discussion.  The ardor of faction is redoubled; and all the
+artificial passions which the imagination can create in the bosom
+of a happy and peaceful land are agitated and brought to light. 
+The President, on the other hand, is absorbed by the cares of
+self- defence.  He no longer governs for the interest of the
+State, but for that of his re-election; he does homage to the
+majority, and instead of checking its passions, as his duty
+commands him to do, he frequently courts its worst caprices.  As
+the election draws near, the activity of intrigue and the
+agitation of the populace increase; the citizens are divided into
+hostile camps, each of which assumes the name of its favorite
+candidate; the whole nation glows with feverish excitement; the
+election is the daily theme of the public papers, the subject of
+private conversation, the end of every thought and every action,
+the sole interest of the present.  As soon as the choice is
+determined, this ardor is dispelled; and as a calmer season
+returns, the current of the State, which had nearly broken its
+banks, sinks to its usual level: *a but who can refrain from
+astonishment at the causes of the storm.
+
+[Footnote a: [Not always.  The election of President Lincoln was
+the signal of civil war. - Translator's Note.]]
+
+
+Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution - Part III
+
+Re-election Of The President
+
+When the head of the executive power is re-eligible, it is the
+State which is the source of intrigue and corruption - The desire
+of being re-elected the chief aim of a President of the United
+States - Disadvantage of the system peculiar to America - The
+natural evil of democracy is that it subordinates all authority
+to the slightest desires of the majority - The re-election of the
+President encourages this evil.
+
+It may be asked whether the legislators of the United States
+did right or wrong in allowing the re-election of the President. 
+It seems at first sight contrary to all reason to prevent the
+head of the executive power from being elected a second time. 
+The influence which the talents and the character of a single
+individual may exercise upon the fate of a whole people, in
+critical circumstances or arduous times, is well known: a law
+preventing the re-election of the chief magistrate would deprive
+the citizens of the surest pledge of the prosperity and the
+security of the commonwealth; and, by a singular inconsistency, a
+man would be excluded from the government at the very time when
+he had shown his ability in conducting its affairs.
+
+But if these arguments are strong, perhaps still more
+powerful reasons may be advanced against them.  Intrigue and
+corruption are the natural defects of elective government; 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 manoeuvres
+must necessarily be limited to a narrow sphere; but when the
+chief magistrate enters the lists, he borrows the strength of the
+government for his own purposes.  In the former case the feeble
+resources of an individual are in action; in the latter, the
+State itself, with all its immense influence, is busied in the
+work of corruption and cabal.  The private citizen, who employs
+the most immoral practices to acquire power, can only act in a
+manner indirectly prejudicial to the public prosperity.  But if
+the representative of the executive descends into the combat, the
+cares of government dwindle into second-rate importance, and the
+success of his election is his first concern. All laws and all
+the negotiations he undertakes are to him nothing more than
+electioneering schemes; places become the reward of services
+rendered, not to the nation, but to its chief; and the influence
+of the government, if not injurious to the country, is at least
+no longer beneficial to the community for which it was created. 
+
+It is impossible to consider the ordinary course of affairs
+in the United States without perceiving that the desire of being
+re- elected is the chief aim of the President; that his whole
+administration, and even his most indifferent measures, tend to
+this object; and that, as the crisis approaches, his personal
+interest takes the place of his interest in the public good.  The
+principle of re-eligibility renders the corrupt influence of
+elective government still more extensive and pernicious.
+
+In America it exercises a peculiarly fatal influence on the
+sources of national existence.  Every government seems to be
+afflicted by some evil which is inherent in its nature, and the
+genius of the legislator is shown in eluding its attacks.  A
+State may survive the influence of a host of bad laws, and the
+mischief they cause is frequently exaggerated; but a law which
+encourages the growth of the canker within must prove fatal in
+the end, although its bad consequences may not be immediately
+perceived. 
+
+The principle of destruction in absolute monarchies lies in
+the excessive and unreasonable extension of the prerogative of
+the crown; and a measure tending to remove the constitutional
+provisions which counterbalance this influence would be radically
+bad, even if its immediate consequences were unattended with
+evil.  By a parity of reasoning, in countries governed by a
+democracy, where the people is perpetually drawing all authority
+to itself, the laws which increase or accelerate its action are
+the direct assailants of the very principle of the government.
+
+The greatest proof of the ability of the American
+legislators is, that they clearly discerned this truth, and that
+they had the courage to act up to it.  They conceived that a
+certain authority above the body of the people was necessary,
+which should enjoy a degree of independence, without, however,
+being entirely beyond the popular control; an authority which
+would be forced to comply with the permanent determinations of
+the majority, but which would be able to resist its caprices, and
+to 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 they armed
+him with the veto to resist the encroachments of the legislature.
+
+But by introducing the principle of re-election they partly
+destroyed their work; and they rendered the President but little
+inclined to exert the great power they had vested in his hands. 
+If ineligible a second time, the President would be far from
+independent of the people, for his responsibility would not be
+lessened; but the favor of the people would not be so necessary
+to him as to induce him to court it by humoring its desires.  If
+re- eligible (and this is more especially true at the present
+day, when political morality is relaxed, and when great 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 hastens to anticipate its wishes, he forestalls
+its complaints, he yields to its idlest cravings, and instead of
+guiding it, as the legislature intended that he should do, he is
+ever ready to follow its bidding.  Thus, in order not to deprive
+the State of the talents of an individual, those talents have
+been rendered almost useless; and to reserve an expedient for
+extraordinary perils, the country has been exposed to daily
+dangers.
+
+Federal Courts *b
+
+[Footnote b: See chap.  VI, entitled "Judicial Power in the
+United States." This chapter explains the general principles of
+the American theory of judicial institutions.  See also the
+Federal Constitution, Art. 3.  See "The Federalists," Nos. 
+78-83, inclusive; and a work entitled "Constitutional Law," being
+a view of the practice and jurisdiction of the courts of the
+United States, by Thomas Sergeant.  See Story, pp. 134, 162, 489,
+511, 581, 668; and the organic law of September 24, 1789, in the
+"Collection of the Laws of the United States," by Story, vol. i.
+p. 53.]
+
+Political importance of the judiciary in the United States -
+Difficulty of treating this subject - Utility of judicial power
+in confederations - What tribunals could be introduced into the
+Union - Necessity of establishing federal courts of justice -
+Organization of the national judiciary - The Supreme Court - In
+what it differs from all known tribunals.
+
+I have inquired into the legislative and executive power of
+the Union, and the judicial power now remains to be examined; but
+in this place I cannot conceal my fears from the reader.  Their
+judicial institutions exercise a great influence on the condition
+of the Anglo-Americans, and they occupy a prominent place amongst
+what are probably called political institutions: in this respect
+they are peculiarly deserving of our attention.  But I am at a
+loss to explain the political action of the American tribunals
+without entering into some technical details of their
+constitution and their forms of proceeding; and I know not how to
+descend to these minutiae without wearying the curiosity of the
+reader by the natural aridity of the subject, or without risking
+to fall into obscurity through a desire to be succinct. I can
+scarcely hope to escape these various evils; for if I appear too
+lengthy to a man of the world, a lawyer may on the other hand
+complain of my brevity.  But these are the natural disadvantages
+of my subject, and more especially of the point which I am about
+to discuss.
+
+The great difficulty was, not to devise the Constitution to
+the Federal Government, but to find out a method of enforcing its
+laws.  Governments have in general but two means of overcoming
+the opposition of the people they govern, viz., the physical
+force which is at their own disposal, and the moral force which
+they derive from the decisions of the courts of justice.
+
+A government which should have no other means of exacting
+obedience than open war must be very near its ruin, for one of
+two alternatives would then probably occur: if its authority was
+small and its character temperate, it would not resort to
+violence till the last extremity, and it would connive at a
+number of partial acts of insubordination, in which case the
+State would gradually fall into anarchy; if it was enterprising
+and powerful, it would perpetually have recourse to its physical
+strength, and would speedily degenerate into a military
+despotism.  So that its activity would not be less prejudicial to
+the community than its inaction.
+
+The great end of justice is to substitute the notion of
+right for that of violence, and to place a legal barrier between
+the power of the government and the use of physical force.  The
+authority which is awarded to the intervention of a court of
+justice by the general opinion of mankind is so surprisingly
+great that it clings to the mere formalities of justice, and
+gives a bodily influence to the shadow of the law.  The moral
+force which courts of justice possess renders the introduction of
+physical force exceedingly rare, and is very frequently
+substituted for it; but if the latter proves to be indispensable,
+its power is doubled by the association of the idea of law.
+
+A federal government stands in greater need of the support
+of judicial institutions than any other, because it is naturally
+weak and exposed to formidable opposition. *c If it were always
+obliged to resort to violence in the first instance, it could not
+fulfil its task.  The Union, therefore, required a national
+judiciary to enforce the obedience of the citizens to the laws,
+and to repeal the attacks which might be directed against them. 
+The question then remained as to what tribunals were to exercise
+these privileges; were they to be entrusted to the courts of
+justice which were already organized in every State? or was it
+necessary to create federal courts?  It may easily be proved that
+the Union could not adapt the judicial power of the States to its
+wants.  The separation of the judiciary from the administrative
+power of the State no doubt affects the security of every citizen
+and the liberty of all.  But it is no less important to the
+existence of the nation that these several powers should have the
+same origin, should follow the same principles, and act in the
+same sphere; in a word, that they should be correlative and
+homogeneous.  No one, I presume, ever suggested the advantage of
+trying offences committed in France by a foreign court of
+justice, in order to secure the impartiality of the judges.  The
+Americans form one people in relation to their Federal
+Government; but in the bosom of this people divers 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 carrying on their affairs.  To
+entrust the execution of the laws of the Union to tribunals
+instituted by these political bodies would be to allow foreign
+judges to preside over the nation.  Nay, more; not only is each
+State foreign to the Union at large, but it is in perpetual
+opposition to the common interests, since whatever authority the
+Union loses turns to the advantage of the States.  Thus to
+enforce the laws of the Union by means of the tribunals of the
+States would be to allow not only foreign but partial judges to
+preside over the nation.
+
+[Footnote c: Federal laws are those which most require courts of
+justice, and those at the same time which have most rarely
+established them.  The reason is that confederations have usually
+been formed by independent States, which entertained no real
+intention of obeying the central Government, and which very
+readily ceded the right of command to the federal executive, and
+very prudently reserved the right of non-compliance to
+themselves.] 
+
+But the number, still more than the mere character, of the
+tribunals of the States rendered them unfit for the service of
+the nation.  When the Federal Constitution was formed there were
+already thirteen courts of justice in the United States which
+decided causes without appeal.  That number is now increased to
+twenty-four.  To suppose that a State can subsist when its
+fundamental laws may be 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 legislators therefore agreed to create a
+federal judiciary power to apply the laws of the Union, and to
+determine certain questions affecting general interests, which
+were carefully determined beforehand.  The entire judicial power
+of the Union was centred in one tribunal, which was denominated
+the Supreme Court of the United States.  But, to facilitate the
+expedition of business, inferior courts were appended 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 named neither by the people nor the
+legislature, but by the President of the United States, acting
+with the advice of the Senate.  In order to render them
+independent of the other authorities, their office was made
+inalienable; and it was determined that their salary, when once
+fixed, should not be altered by the legislature. *d It was easy
+to proclaim the principle of a Federal judiciary, but
+difficulties multiplied when the extent of its jurisdiction was
+to be determined.
+
+[Footnote d: The Union was divided into districts, in each of
+which a resident Federal judge was appointed, and the court in
+which he presided was termed a "District Court." Each of the
+judges of the Supreme Court annually visits a certain portion of
+the Republic, in order to try the most important causes upon the
+spot; the court presided over by this magistrate is styled a
+"Circuit Court." Lastly, all the most serious cases of litigation
+are brought before the Supreme Court, which holds a 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 in the same cases, as into the
+courts of the States.
+
+It will be observed that no analogy exists between the
+Supreme Court of the United States and the French Cour de
+Cassation, since the latter only hears appeals on questions of
+law.  The Supreme Court decides upon the evidence of the fact as
+well as upon the law of the case, whereas the Cour de Cassation
+does not pronounce a decision of its own, but refers the cause to
+the arbitration of another tribunal.  See the law of September
+24, 1789, "Laws of the United States," by Story, vol. i. p. 53.]
+
+Means Of Determining The Jurisdiction Of The Federal Courts 
+Difficulty of determining the jurisdiction of separate courts of
+justice in confederations - The courts of the Union obtained the
+right of fixing their own jurisdiction - In what respect this
+rule attacks the portion of sovereignty reserved to the several
+States -  The sovereignty of these States restricted by the laws,
+and the interpretation of the laws - Consequently, the danger of
+the several States is more apparent than real.
+
+As the Constitution of the United States recognized two
+distinct powers in presence of each other, represented in a
+judicial point of view by two distinct classes of courts of
+justice, the utmost care which could be taken in defining their
+separate jurisdictions would have been insufficient to prevent
+frequent collisions between those tribunals.  The 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 is debated between two courts relating to their mutual
+jurisdiction, a third tribunal is generally within reach to
+decide the difference; and this is effected without difficulty,
+because in these nations the questions of judicial competency
+have no connection with the privileges of the national supremacy. 
+But it was impossible to create an arbiter between a superior
+court of the Union and the superior court of a separate State
+which would not belong to one of these two classes.  It was,
+therefore, necessary to allow one of these courts to judge its
+own cause, and to take or to retain cognizance of the point which
+was contested.  To grant this privilege to the different courts
+of the States would have been to destroy the sovereignty of the
+Union de facto after having established it de jure; for the
+interpretation of the Constitution would soon have restored that
+portion of independence to the States of which the terms of that
+act deprived them.  The object of the creation of a Federal
+tribunal was to prevent the courts of the States from deciding
+questions affecting the national interests in their own
+department, and so to form a uniform body of jurisprudene for the
+interpretation of the laws of the Union.  This end would not have
+been accomplished if the courts of the several States had been
+competent to decide upon cases in their separate capacities from
+which they were obliged to abstain as Federal tribunals.  The
+Supreme Court of the United States was therefore invested with
+the right of determining all questions of jurisdiction. *e
+
+[Footnote e: In order to diminish the number of these suits, it
+was decided that in a great many Federal causes the courts of the
+States should be empowered to decide conjointly with those of the
+Union, the losing party having then a right of appeal to the
+Supreme Court of the United States.  The 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. p. 300, pp. 370 et seq.;
+Story's "Commentaries," p. 646; and "The Organic Law of the
+United States," vol. i. p. 35.]
+
+This was a severe blow upon the independence of the States,
+which was thus restricted not only by the laws, but by the
+interpretation of them; by one limit which was known, and by
+another which was dubious; by a rule which was certain, and a
+rule which was arbitrary.  It is true the Constitution 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 was threatened by this mode
+of proceeding are less serious than they appeared to be.  We
+shall see hereafter that in America the real strength of the
+country is vested in the provincial far more than in the Federal
+Government. The Federal judges are conscious of the relative
+weakness of the power in whose name they act, and they are more
+inclined to abandon a right of jurisdiction in cases where it is
+justly their own than to assert a privilege to which they have no
+legal claim.
+
+Different Cases Of Jurisdiction
+
+The matter and the party are the first conditions of the Federal
+jurisdiction - Suits in which ambassadors are engaged - Suits of
+the Union - Of a separate State - By whom tried - Causes
+resulting from the laws of the Union - Why judged by the Federal
+tribunals - Causes relating to the performance of contracts tried
+by the Federal courts - Consequence of this arrangement.
+
+After having appointed the means of fixing the competency of
+the Federal courts, the legislators of the Union defined the
+cases which should come within their jurisdiction.  It was
+established, on the one hand, that certain parties must always be
+brought before the Federal courts, without any regard to the
+special nature of the cause; and, on the other, that certain
+causes must always be brought before the same courts, without any
+regard to the quality of the parties in the suit.  These
+distinctions were therefore admitted to be the basis of the
+Federal jurisdiction.
+
+Ambassadors are the representatives of nations in a state of
+amity with the Union, and whatever concerns these personages
+concerns in some degree the whole Union.  When an ambassador is a
+party in a suit, that suit affects the welfare of the nation, and
+a Federal tribunal is naturally called upon to decide it.
+
+The Union itself may be invoked in legal proceedings, and in
+this case it would be alike contrary to the customs of all
+nations and to common sense to appeal to a tribunal representing
+any other sovereignty than its own; the Federal courts,
+therefore, take cognizance of these affairs.
+
+When two parties belonging to two different States are
+engaged in a suit, the case cannot with propriety be brought
+before a court of either State.  The surest expedient is to
+select a tribunal like that of the Union, which can excite the
+suspicions of neither party, and which offers the most natural as
+well as the most certain remedy.
+
+When the two parties are not private individuals, but
+States, an important political consideration is added to the same
+motive of equity.  The quality of the parties in this case gives
+a national importance to all their disputes; and the most
+trifling litigation of the States may be said to involve the
+peace of the whole Union. *f
+
+[Footnote f: The Constitution also says that the Federal courts
+shall decide "controversies between a State and the citizens of
+another State." And here a most important question of a
+constitutional nature arose, which was, whether the jurisdiction
+given by the Constitution in cases in which a State is a party
+extended to suits brought against a State as well as by it, or
+was exclusively confined to the latter.  The question was most
+elaborately considered in the case of Chisholm v. Georgia, and
+was decided by the majority of the Supreme Court in the
+affirmative.  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
+against a State.  See Story's "Commentaries," p. 624, or in the
+large edition Section 1677.] 
+
+
+The nature of the cause frequently prescribes the rule of
+competency. Thus all the questions which concern maritime
+commerce evidently fall under the cognizance of the Federal
+tribunals. *g Almost all these questions are connected with 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
+peculiar jurisdiction, the national courts can only hear causes
+which originate in maritime affairs.
+
+[Footnote g: As for instance, all cases of piracy.]
+
+The Constitution comprises under one head almost all the
+cases which by their very nature come within the limits of the
+Federal courts.  The rule which it lays down is simple, but
+pregnant with an entire system of ideas, and with a vast
+multitude of facts.  It declares that the judicial power of the
+Supreme Court shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising
+under the laws of the United States.
+
+Two examples will put the intention of the legislator in the
+clearest light:
+
+The Constitution prohibits the States from making laws on
+the value and circulation of money: If, notwithstanding this
+prohibition, a State passes a law of this kind, with which the
+interested parties refuse to comply because it is contrary to the
+Constitution, the case must come before a Federal court, because
+it arises under the laws 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 supremacy;
+but it was intended that within its limits it should form one and
+the same people. *h Within those limits the Union is sovereign. 
+When this point is established and admitted, the inference is
+easy; for if it be acknowledged that the United States constitute
+one and the same people within the bounds prescribed by their
+Constitution, 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 of its
+own laws.  To this it is answered that the Union is in so
+singular a position that in relation to some matters it
+constitutes a people, and that in relation to all the rest it is
+a nonentity. But the inference to be drawn is, that in the laws
+relating to these matters the Union possesses all the rights of
+absolute sovereignty.  The difficulty is to know what these
+matters are; and when once it is resolved (and we have shown how
+it was resolved, in speaking of the means of determining the
+jurisdiction 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 Constitution of the Union - the natural consequence is that
+it should come within the jurisdiction of a Federal court.
+
+[Footnote h: This principle was in some measure restricted by the
+introduction of the several States as independent powers into the
+Senate, and by allowing them to vote separately in the House of
+Representatives when the President is elected by that body.  But
+these are exceptions, and the contrary principle is the rule.] 
+
+Whenever the laws of the United States are attacked, or
+whenever they are resorted to in self-defence, the Federal courts
+must be appealed to. Thus the jurisdiction of the tribunals of
+the Union extends and narrows its limits exactly in the same
+ratio as the sovereignty of the Union augments or decreases.  We
+have shown that the principal aim of the legislators of 1789 was
+to divide the sovereign authority into two parts.  In the one
+they placed the control 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 principle of independence within certain limits
+of their own was adopted in their behalf; and they were concealed
+from the inspection, and protected from the control, of the
+central Government.  In speaking of the division of authority, I
+observed that this latter principle had not always been held
+sacred, since the States are prevented from passing certain laws
+which apparently belong to their own particular sphere of
+interest.  When a State of the Union passes a law of this kind,
+the citizens who are injured by its execution can appeal to the
+Federal courts.
+
+Thus the jurisdiction of the Federal courts extends not only
+to all the cases which arise under the laws of the Union, but
+also to those which arise under laws made by the several States
+in opposition to the Constitution.  The States are prohibited
+from making ex post facto laws in criminal cases, and any person
+condemned by virtue of a law of this kind can appeal to the
+judicial power of the Union.  The States are likewise prohibited
+from making laws which may have a tendency to impair the
+obligations of contracts. *i If a citizen thinks that an
+obligation of this kind is impaired by a law passed in his State,
+he may refuse to obey it, and may appeal to the Federal courts.
+*j 
+
+[Footnote i: It is perfectly clear, says Mr. Story
+("Commentaries," p. 503, or in the large edition Section 1379),
+that any law which enlarges, abridges, or in any manner changes
+the intention of the parties, resulting from the stipulations in
+the contract, necessarily impairs it.  He gives in the same place
+a very long and careful definition of what is understood by a
+contract in Federal jurisprudence.  A grant made by the State to
+a private individual, and accepted by him, is a contract, and
+cannot be revoked by any future law. A charter granted by the
+State to a company is a contract, and equally binding to the
+State as to the grantee.  The clause of the Constitution here
+referred to insures, therefore, the existence of a great part of
+acquired rights, but not of all.  Property may legally be held,
+though it may not have passed into the possessor's hands by means
+of a contract; and its possession is an acquired right, not
+guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.] 
+
+[Footnote j: A remarkable instance of this is given by Mr. Story
+(p. 508, or in the large edition Section 1388): "Dartmouth
+College in New Hampshire had been founded by a charter granted to
+certain individuals before the American Revolution, and its
+trustees formed a corporation under this charter.  The
+legislature of New Hampshire had, without the consent of this
+corporation, passed an act changing the organization of the
+original provincial charter of the college, and transferring all
+the rights, privileges, and franchises from the old charter
+trustees to new trustees appointed under the act.  The
+constitutionality of the act was contested, and, after solemn
+arguments, it was deliberately held by the Supreme Court that the
+provincial charter was a contract within the meaning of the
+Constitution (Art. I. Section 10), and that the emendatory act
+was utterly void, as impairing the obligation of that charter. 
+The college was deemed, like other colleges of private
+foundation, to be a private eleemosynary institution, endowed by
+its charter with a capacity to take property unconnected with the
+Government.  Its funds were bestowed upon the faith of the
+charter, and those funds consisted entirely of private donations. 
+It is true that the uses were in some sense public, that is, for
+the general benefit, and not for the mere benefit of the
+corporators; but this did not make the corporation a public
+corporation.  It was a private institution for general charity. 
+It was not distinguishable in principle from a private donation,
+vested in private trustees, for a public charity, or for a
+particular purpose of beneficence.  And the State itself, if it
+had bestowed funds upon a charity of the same nature, could not
+resume those funds."]
+
+This provision appears to me to be the most serious attack
+upon the independence of the States.  The rights awarded to the
+Federal Government for purposes of obvious national importance
+are definite and easily comprehensible; but those with which this
+last clause invests it are not either clearly appreciable or
+accurately defined.  For there are vast numbers of political laws
+which influence the existence of obligations of contracts, which
+may thus furnish an easy pretext for the aggressions of the
+central authority.
+
+
+Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution - Part IV
+
+Procedure Of The Federal Courts
+
+Natural weakness of the judiciary power in confederations -
+Legislators ought to strive as much as possible to bring private
+individuals, and not States, before the Federal Courts - How the
+Americans have succeeded in this - Direct prosecution of private
+individuals in the Federal Courts - Indirect prosecution of the
+States which violate the laws of the Union - The decrees of the
+Supreme Court enervate but do not destroy the provincial laws. 
+
+I have shown what the privileges of the Federal courts are,
+and it is no less important to point out the manner in which they
+are exercised.  The irresistible authority of justice in
+countries in which the sovereignty in undivided is derived from
+the fact that the tribunals of those countries represent the
+entire nation at issue with the individual against whom their
+decree is directed, and the idea of power is thus introduced to
+corroborate the idea of right.  But this is not always the case
+in countries in which the sovereignty is divided; in them the
+judicial power is more frequently opposed to a fraction of the
+nation than to an isolated individual, and its moral authority
+and physical strength are consequently diminished.  In federal
+States the power of the judge is naturally decreased, and that of
+the justiciable parties is augmented.  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 countries where the sovereignty is undivided; in other
+words, his efforts ought constantly to tend to maintain the
+judicial 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 the
+community is concerned, the Constitution of the United States
+contrived, by a master-stroke of policy, that the federal courts,
+acting in the name of the laws, should only take cognizance 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 Constitution, the inference was that the
+Government created by this Constitution, and acting within these
+limits, was invested with all the privileges of a national
+government, one of the principal 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
+citizen 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 taxpayer; and, like the judicial power of other
+nations, it is opposed to 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 difficulty increases when the proceedings are not
+brought forward by but against the Union.  The Constitution
+recognizes the legislative power of the States; and a law so
+enacted may impair the privileges of the Union, in which case a
+collision in unavoidable between that body and the State which
+has passed the law: and it only remains to select the least
+dangerous remedy, which is very clearly deducible from the
+general principles I have before established. *k
+
+[Footnote k: See Chapter VI. on "Judicial Power in America."] 
+
+It may be conceived that, in the case under consideration,
+the Union might have used the State before a Federal court, which
+would have annulled the act, and by this means it would have
+adopted a natural course of proceeding; but the judicial power
+would have been placed in open hostility 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 impair the interests of some private individual by its
+provisions: these private interests are assumed by the American
+legislators as the ground of attack against such measures as may
+be prejudicial to the Union, and it is to these cases that the
+protection of the Supreme Court is extended.
+
+Suppose a State vends a certain portion of its territory to
+a company, and that a year afterwards it passes a law by which
+the territory is otherwise disposed of, and that clause of the
+Constitution which prohibits laws impairing the obligation of
+contracts violated.  When the purchaser under the second act
+appears 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 null and void. *l
+Thus, in point of fact, the judicial power of the Union is
+contesting the claims of the sovereignty of a State; but it only
+acts indirectly and upon a special application of detail: it
+attacks the law in its consequences, not in its principle, and it
+rather weakens than destroys it.
+
+[Footnote l: See Kent's "Commentaries," vol. i. p. 387.]
+
+The last hypothesis that remained was that each State formed
+a corporation enjoying a separate existence and distinct 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 upon to contest
+a provincial law, but to try a suit in which a State was a party. 
+This suit was perfectly similar to any other cause, except that
+the quality of the parties was different; and here the danger
+pointed out at the beginning of this chapter exists with less
+chance of being avoided.  The inherent disadvantage of the very
+essence of Federal constitutions is that they engender parties in
+the bosom of the nation which 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 prerogative - Its political influence -
+The tranquillity and the very existence of the Union depend on
+the discretion of the seven Federal Judges.
+
+When we have successively examined in detail the
+organization 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 at the head of all known tribunals, 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
+always shown the greatest repugnance to allow the cases to which
+it was itself a party to be decided by the ordinary course of
+justice.  This repugnance naturally attains its utmost height in
+an absolute Government; and, on the other hand, the privileges of
+the courts of justice are extended with the increasing liberties
+of the people: but no European nation has at present held that
+all judicial controversies, without regard to their origin, can
+be decided by the judges of common law.
+
+In America this theory has been actually put in practice,
+and the Supreme Court of the United States is the sole tribunal
+of the nation.  Its power extends to all the cases arising under
+laws and treaties made by the executive and legislative
+authorities, to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction,
+and in general to all points which affect the law of nations. It
+may even be affirmed that, although its constitution is
+essentially judicial, its prerogatives are almost entirely
+political.  Its sole object is to enforce the execution of the
+laws of the Union; and the Union only regulates the relations of
+the Government with the citizens, and of the nation with Foreign
+Powers: the relations of citizens amongst themselves are almost
+exclusively 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 controversies 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 steps 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 judges.  Without their
+active co-operation the Constitution would be a dead letter: the
+Executive appeals to them for assistance against the
+encroachments of the legislative powers; the Legislature demands
+their protection from the designs of the Executive; they defend
+the Union from the disobedience of the States, the States from
+the exaggerated claims of the Union, the public interest against
+the interests of private citizens, and the conservative spirit of
+order against the fleeting innovations of democracy.  Their power
+is enormous, but it is clothed in the authority of public
+opinion.  They are the all- powerful guardians of a people which
+respects law, but they would be impotent against popular neglect
+or popular contempt.  The force of public opinion is the most
+intractable of agents, because its exact limits cannot be
+defined; and it is not less dangerous to exceed than to remain
+below the boundary prescribed.
+
+The Federal judges must not only be good citizens, and men
+possessed of that information and integrity which are
+indispensable to magistrates, but they must be statesmen -
+politicians, not unread in the signs of the times, not afraid to
+brave the obstacles which can be subdued, nor slow to turn aside
+such encroaching elements as may threaten the supremacy of the
+Union and the obedience which is due to the laws.
+
+The President, who exercises a limited power, may err
+without causing great mischief in the State.  Congress may decide
+amiss without destroying the Union, because the electoral body in
+which Congress originates may cause it to retract its decision by
+changing its members. But if the Supreme Court is ever composed
+of imprudent men or bad citizens, the Union may be plunged into
+anarchy or civil war.
+
+The real cause of this danger, however, does not lie in the
+constitution of the tribunal, but in the very nature of Federal
+Governments.  We have observed that in confederate peoples it is
+especially necessary to consolidate the judicial authority,
+because in no other nations do those independent persons who are
+able to cope with the social body exist in greater power or in 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 those States which render its existence
+necessary.
+
+In What Respects The Federal Constitution Is Superior To That Of
+The States
+
+In what respects the Constitution of the Union can be compared to
+that of the States - Superiority of the Constitution of the Union
+attributable to the wisdom of the Federal legislators -
+Legislature of the Union less dependent on the people than that
+of the States -  Executive power more independent in its sphere -
+Judicial power less subjected to the inclinations of the majority
+-Practical consequence of these facts - The dangers inherent in a
+democratic government eluded by the Federal legislators, and
+increased by the legislators of the States.
+
+The Federal Constitution differs essentially from that of
+the States in the ends which it is intended to accomplish, but in
+the means by which these ends are promoted 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 comparing them together.
+
+I am of opinion that the Federal Constitution is superior to
+all the Constitutions of the States, for several reasons.
+
+The present Constitution of the Union was formed at a later
+period than those of the majority of the States, and it may have
+derived some ameliorations from past experience.  But we shall be
+led to acknowledge that this is only a secondary cause of its
+superiority, when we recollect that eleven new States *n have
+been added to the American Confederation since the promulgation
+of the Federal Constitution, and that these new republics have
+always rather exaggerated than avoided the defects which existed
+in the former Constitutions.
+
+[Footnote n: [The number of States has now risen to 46 (1874),
+besides the District of Columbia.]]
+
+The chief cause of the superiority of the Federal
+Constitution lay in the character of the legislators who composed
+it.  At the time when it was formed the dangers of the
+Confederation were imminent, and its ruin seemed inevitable.  In
+this extremity the people chose the men who most deserved the
+esteem, rather than those who had gained the affections, of the
+country.  I have already observed that distinguished as almost
+all the legislators of the 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
+continual struggle against a powerful and predominant authority. 
+When the contest was terminated, whilst the excited passions of
+the populace persisted in warring with dangers which had ceased
+to threaten them, these men stopped short in their career; they
+cast a calmer and more penetrating look upon the country which
+was now their own; they perceived that the war of independence
+was definitely ended, and that the only dangers which America had
+to fear were those which might result from the abuse of the
+freedom she had won.  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 propose
+restrictions, because they were resolutely opposed to
+destruction. *o
+
+[Footnote o: At this time Alexander Hamilton, who was one of the
+principal founders 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 the true means by which
+the public happiness may be promoted.  The Republican principle
+demands that the deliberative sense of the community should
+govern the conduct of those to whom they entrust the management
+of their affairs; but it does not require an unqualified
+complaisance to every sudden breeze of passion, or to every
+transient impulse which the people may receive from the arts of
+men who flatter their prejudices to betray their interests.  It
+is a just observation, that the people commonly intend the public
+good.  This often applies to their very errors.  But their good
+sense would despise the adulator who should pretend that they
+always reason right about the means of promoting it.  They know
+from experience that they sometimes err; and the wonder is that
+they so seldom err as they do, beset, as they continually are, by
+the wiles of parasites and sycophants; 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
+those who seek to possess rather than to deserve it.  When
+occasions present themselves in which the interests of the people
+are at variance with their inclinations, it is the duty of
+persons whom they have appointed to be the guardians of those
+interests to withstand the temporary delusion, in order to give
+them time and opportunity for more cool and sedate reflection. 
+Instances might be cited in which a conduct of this kind has
+saved the people from very fatal consequences of their own
+mistakes, and has procured lasting monuments of their gratitude
+to the men who had courage and magnanimity enough to serve them
+at the peril of their displeasure."]
+
+The greater number of the Constitutions of the States assign
+one year for the duration of the House of Representatives, and
+two years for that of the Senate; so that members of the
+legislative body are constantly and narrowly tied down by the
+slightest desires of their constituents.  The legislators of the
+Union were of opinion that this excessive dependence of the
+Legislature tended to alter the nature of the main consequences
+of the representative system, since it vested the source, not
+only of authority, but of government, in the people.  They
+increased the length of the time for which the representatives
+were returned, in order to give them freer scope for the exercise
+of their own judgment.
+
+The Federal Constitution, as well as the Constitutions of
+the different States, divided the legislative body into two
+branches.  But in the States these two branches were composed of
+the same elements, and elected in the same manner.  The
+consequence was that the passions and inclinations of the
+populace were as rapidly and as energetically represented in one
+chamber as in the other, and that laws were made with all the
+characteristics of violence and precipitation.  By the Federal
+Constitution the two houses originate in like manner in the
+choice of the people; but the conditions of eligibility and the
+mode of election were changed, to the end that, if, as is the
+case in certain nations, one branch of the Legislature represents
+the same interests as the other, it may at least represent a
+superior degree of intelligence and discretion. A mature age was
+made one of the conditions of the senatorial dignity, and the
+Upper House was chosen by an elected 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
+this is the power which emanates the most directly from the
+people, it is made to participate most fully in the
+preponderating authority of the multitude, and it is naturally
+led to monopolize every species of influence.  This concentration
+is at once prejudicial to a well-conducted administration, and
+favorable to the despotism of the majority.  The legislators of
+the States frequently yielded to these democratic 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 nothing more than the blind
+agent and the passive instrument of its decisions.  He can derive
+no influence from the duration of his functions, which terminate
+with the revolving year, or from the exercise of prerogatives
+which can scarcely be said to exist.  The Legislature can condemn
+him to inaction by intrusting the execution of the laws to
+special committees of its own members, and can annul his
+temporary dignity by depriving him of 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 salary of the
+individual who fills that office cannot be altered during the
+term of his functions; he is protected by a body of official
+dependents, and armed with a suspensive veto. In short, every
+effort was made to confer a strong and independent position upon
+the executive authority within the limits which had been
+prescribed to it.
+
+In the Constitutions of all the States the judicial power is
+that which remains the most independent of the legislative
+authority; nevertheless, in all the States the Legislature has
+reserved to itself the right of regulating the emoluments of the
+judges, a practice which necessarily subjects these magistrates
+to its immediate influence.  In some States the judges are only
+temporarily appointed, which deprives them of a great portion of
+their power and their freedom.  In others the legislative and
+judicial powers are entirely confounded; thus the Senate of New
+York, for instance, constitutes in certain cases the Superior
+Court of the State.  The Federal Constitution, on the other hand,
+carefully separates the judicial authority from all external
+influences; and it provides for the independence of the judges,
+by declaring that their salary shall not be altered, 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 incomparably better conducted than
+that of any individual State. The conduct of the Federal
+Government is more fair and more temperate than that of the
+States, its designs are more fraught with wisdom, its projects
+are more durable and more skilfully combined, its measures are
+put into execution with more vigor and consistency.
+
+I recapitulate the substance of this chapter in a few words:
+The existence of democracies is threatened by two dangers, viz.,
+the complete subjection of the legislative body to the caprices
+of the electoral body, and the concentration of all the powers of
+the Government in the legislative authority.  The growth of these
+evils has been encouraged by the policy of the legislators of the
+States, but it has been resisted by the legislators of the Union
+by every means which lay within their control.
+
+Characteristics Which Distinguish The Federal Constitution Of The
+United States Of America From All Other Federal Constitutions 
+American Union appears to resemble all other confederations -
+Nevertheless its effects are different - Reason of this -
+Distinctions between the Union and all other confederations - The
+American Government not a federal but an imperfect national
+Government.
+
+The United States of America do not afford either the first
+or the only instance of confederate States, several of which have
+existed in modern Europe, without adverting to those of
+antiquity.  Switzerland, the Germanic Empire, and the Republic of
+the United Provinces either have been or still are
+confederations.  In studying the constitutions of these different
+countries, the politician is surprised to observe that the powers
+with which they invested the Federal Government are nearly
+identical with the privileges awarded by the American
+Constitution to the Government of the United States. They confer
+upon the central power the same rights of making peace and war,
+of raising money and troops, and of providing for the general
+exigencies and the common interests of the nation.  Nevertheless
+the Federal Government of these different peoples has always been
+as remarkable for its weakness and inefficiency as that of the
+Union is for its vigorous and enterprising spirit. Again, the
+first American Confederation perished through the excessive
+weakness of its Government; and this weak Government was,
+notwithstanding, in possession of rights even more extensive than
+those of the Federal Government of the present day.  But the more
+recent Constitution of the United States contains certain
+principles which exercise a most important influence, although
+they do not at once strike the observer. 
+
+This Constitution, which may at first sight be confounded
+with the federal constitutions which preceded it, rests upon a
+novel theory, which may be considered as a great invention in
+modern political science.  In all the confederations which had
+been formed before the American Constitution of 1789 the allied
+States agreed to obey the injunctions of a Federal Government;
+but they reserved to themselves the right of ordaining and
+enforcing the execution of the laws of the Union.  The American
+States which combined in 1789 agreed that the Federal Government
+should not only dictate the laws, but that it should execute it
+own enactments.  In both cases the right is the same, but the
+exercise of the right is different; and this alteration produced
+the most momentous consequences. 
+
+In all the confederations which had been formed before the
+American Union the Federal Government demanded its supplies at
+the hands of the separate Governments; and if the measure it
+prescribed was onerous to any one of those bodies means were
+found to evade its claims: if the State was powerful, it had
+recourse to arms; if it was weak, it connived at the resistance
+which the law of the Union, its sovereign, met with, and resorted
+to inaction under the plea of inability.  Under these
+circumstances one of the two alternatives has invariably
+occurred; either the most preponderant of the allied peoples has
+assumed the privileges of the Federal authority and ruled all the
+States in its name, *p or the Federal Government has been
+abandoned by its natural supporters, anarchy has arisen between
+the confederates, and the Union has lost all powers of action. *q
+
+[Footnote p: This was the case in Greece, when Philip undertook
+to execute the decree of the Amphictyons; in the Low Countries,
+where the province of Holland always gave the law; and, in our
+own time, in the Germanic Confederation, in which Austria and
+Prussia assume a great degree of influence over the whole
+country, in the name of the Diet.]
+
+[Footnote q: Such has always been the situation of the Swiss
+Confederation, which would have perished ages ago but for the
+mutual jealousies of its neighbors.]
+
+In America the subjects of the Union are not States, but
+private citizens: the national Government levies a tax, not upon
+the State of Massachusetts, but upon each inhabitant of
+Massachusetts.  All former confederate governments presided over
+communities, but that of the Union rules individuals; its force
+is not borrowed, but self-derived; and it is served by its own
+civil and military officers, by its own army, and its own courts
+of justice.  It cannot be doubted that the spirit of the nation,
+the passions of the multitude, and the provincial prejudices of
+each State tend singularly to diminish the authority of a Federal
+authority thus constituted, and to facilitate the means of
+resistance to its mandates; but the comparative weakness of a
+restricted sovereignty is an evil inherent in the Federal system. 
+In America, each State has fewer opportunities of resistance and
+fewer temptations to non-compliance; nor can such a design be put
+in execution (if indeed it be entertained) without an open
+violation of the laws of the Union, a direct interruption of the
+ordinary course of justice, and a bold declaration of revolt; in
+a word, without taking a decisive step which men 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 augmenting the means
+of enforcing them: and in accordance with this fact it may be
+remarked that the real weakness 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
+governments, the Federal Government 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 thence constrained to employ a multitude of
+improper and inadequate expressions.  When several nations form a
+permanent league and establish a supreme authority, which,
+although it has not the same influence over the members of the
+community as a national government, acts upon each of the
+Confederate States in a body, this Government, which is so
+essentially different from all others, is denominated a Federal
+one.  Another form of society is afterwards discovered, in which
+several peoples are fused into one and the same nation with
+regard to certain common interests, although they remain
+distinct, or at least only confederate, with regard to all their
+other concerns.  In this case the central power acts directly
+upon those whom it governs, whom it rules, and whom it judges, in
+the same manner, as, but in a more limited circle than, a
+national government.  Here the term Federal Government is clearly
+no longer applicable to a state of things which must be styled an
+incomplete national Government: a form of government has been
+found out which is neither exactly national nor federal; but no
+further progress has been made, and the new word which will one
+day designate this novel invention does not yet exist.
+
+The absence of this new species of confederation has been
+the cause which has brought all Unions to Civil War, to
+subjection, or to a stagnant apathy, and the peoples which formed
+these leagues have been either too dull to discern, or too
+pusillanimous to apply this great remedy.  The American
+Confederation perished by the same defects.
+
+But the Confederate States of America had been long
+accustomed to form a portion of one empire before they had won
+their independence; they had not contracted the habit of
+governing themselves, and their national prejudices had not taken
+deep root in their minds.  Superior to the rest of the world in
+political knowledge, and sharing that knowledge equally amongst
+themselves, they were little agitated by the passions which
+generally oppose the extension of federal authority in a nation,
+and those passions were checked by the wisdom of the chief
+citizens.  The Americans applied the remedy with prudent firmness
+as soon as they were conscious of the evil; they amended their
+laws, and they saved their country.
+
+
+Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution - Part V
+
+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 the growth of civilization - Strength
+often the first element of national prosperity - Aim of the
+Federal system to unite the twofold advantages resulting from a
+small and from a large territory -Advantages derived by the
+United States from this system - The law adapts itself to the
+exigencies of the population; population does not conform to the
+exigencies of the law - Activity, amelioration, love and
+enjoyment of freedom in the American communities - Public spirit
+of the Union the abstract 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 great empire.
+
+In small nations the scrutiny of society penetrates into
+every part, and the spirit of improvement enters into the most
+trifling details; as the ambition of the people is necessarily
+checked by its weakness, all the efforts and resources of the
+citizens are turned to the internal benefit of the community, and
+are not likely to evaporate in the fleeting breath of glory. The
+desires of every individual are limited, because extraordinary
+faculties are rarely to be met with.  The gifts of an equal
+fortune render the various conditions of life uniform, and the
+manners of the inhabitants are orderly and simple.  Thus, if one
+estimate the gradations of popular morality and enlightenment, we
+shall generally find that in small nations there are more persons
+in easy circumstances, a more numerous population, and a more
+tranquil state of society, than in great empires.
+
+When tyranny is established in the bosom of a small nation,
+it is more galling than elsewhere, because, as it acts within a
+narrow circle, every point of that circle is subject to its
+direct influence.  It supplies the place of those great designs
+which it cannot entertain by a violent or an exasperating
+interference in a multitude of minute details; and it leaves the
+political world, to which it properly belongs, to meddle with the
+arrangements of domestic life.  Tastes as well as actions are to
+be regulated at its pleasure; and the families of the citizens as
+well as the affairs of the State are to be governed by its
+decisions.  This invasion of rights occurs, however, but seldom,
+and freedom is 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 fall within the grasp of a
+single citizen; and should such an event have occurred, the
+subjects of the State can without difficulty overthrow the tyrant
+and his oppression by a
+simultaneous effort.
+
+Small nations have therefore ever been the cradle of
+political liberty; and the fact that many of them have lost their
+immunities by extending their dominion shows that the freedom
+they enjoyed was more a consequence of the inferior size than of
+the character of the people.
+
+The history of the world affords no instance of a great
+nation retaining the form of republican government for a long
+series of years, *r and this has led to the conclusion that such
+a state of things is impracticable.  For my own part, I cannot
+but censure the imprudence of attempting to limit the possible
+and to judge the future on the part of a being who is hourly
+deceived by the most palpable realities of life, and who is
+constantly taken by surprise in the circumstances with which he
+is most familiar.  But it may be advanced with confidence that
+the existence of a great republic will always be exposed to far
+greater perils than that of a small one.
+
+[Footnote r: I do not speak of a confederation of small
+republics, but of a great consolidated Republic.]
+
+All the passions which are most fatal to republican
+institutions spread with an increasing territory, whilst the
+virtues which maintain their dignity do not augment in the same
+proportion.  The ambition of the citizens increases with the
+power of the State; the strength of parties with the importance
+of the ends they have in view; but that devotion to the common
+weal which is the surest check on destructive passions is not
+stronger in a large than in a small republic.  It might, indeed,
+be proved without difficulty that it is less powerful and less
+sincere.  The arrogance of wealth and the dejection of
+wretchedness, capital cities of unwonted extent, a lax morality,
+a vulgar egotism, and a great confusion of interests, are the
+dangers which almost invariably arise from the magnitude of
+States.  But several of these evils are scarcely prejudicial to a
+monarchy, and some of them contribute to maintain its existence. 
+In monarchical States the strength of the government is its own;
+it may use, but it does not depend on, the community, and the
+authority of the prince is proportioned to the prosperity of the
+nation; but the only security which a republican government
+possesses against these evils lies in the support of the
+majority.  This support is not, however, proportionably greater
+in a large republic than it is in a small one; and thus, whilst
+the means of attack perpetually increase both in number and in
+influence, the power of resistance remains the same, or it may
+rather be said to diminish, since the propensities and interests
+of the people are 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 heightened, 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 the impetus of political
+passion is irresistible, not only because it aims at gigantic
+purposes, but because it is 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 freedom of man
+than vast empires. Nevertheless it is important to acknowledge
+the peculiar advantages of great States.  For the very reason
+which renders the desire of power more intense in these
+communities than amongst ordinary men, the love of glory is also
+more prominent in the hearts of a class of citizens, who regard
+the applause of a great people as a reward worthy of their
+exertions, and an elevating encouragement to man.  If we would
+learn why it is that great nations contribute more powerfully to
+the spread of human improvement than small States, we shall
+discover an adequate cause in the rapid and energetic circulation
+of ideas, and in those great 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 important
+discoveries demand a display of national power which the
+Government of a small State is unable to make; in great nations
+the Government entertains a greater number of general notions,
+and is more completely disengaged from the routine of precedent
+and the egotism of local prejudice; its designs are conceived
+with more talent, and executed with more boldness. 
+
+In time of peace the well-being of small nations is
+undoubtedly more general and more complete, but they are apt to
+suffer more acutely from the calamities of war than those great
+empires whose distant frontiers may for ages avert the presence
+of the danger from the mass of the people, which is therefore
+more frequently afflicted than ruined by the evil.
+
+But in this matter, as in many others, the argument derived
+from the necessity of the case predominates over all others.  If
+none but small nations existed, I do not doubt that mankind would
+be more happy and more free; but the existence of great nations
+is unavoidable.
+
+This consideration introduces the element of physical
+strength as a condition of national prosperity.  It profits a
+people but little to be affluent and free if it is perpetually
+exposed to be pillaged or subjugated; the number of its
+manufactures and the extent of its commerce are of small
+advantage if another nation has the empire of the seas and gives
+the law in all the markets of the globe.  Small nations are often
+impoverished, not because they are small, but because they are
+weak; the great empires prosper less because they are great than
+because they are strong.  Physical strength 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: yet
+I am unacquainted with a more deplorable spectacle than that of a
+people unable either to defend or to maintain its independence.
+
+The Federal system was created with the intention of
+combining the different advantages which result from the greater
+and the lesser extent of nations; and a single glance over the
+United States of America suffices to discover the advantages
+which they have derived from its adoption.
+
+In great centralized nations the legislator is obliged to
+impart a character of uniformity to the laws which 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 is obliged to conform to
+the exigencies of the legislation, since the legislation cannot
+adapt itself to the exigencies and the customs of the population,
+which is the cause of endless 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 administration are reserved to the
+provincial legislatures.  It is impossible to imagine how much
+this division of sovereignty 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 or the cares of self-defence, all public authority
+and private energy is employed in internal amelioration.  The
+central government of each State, which is in immediate
+juxtaposition to the citizens, is daily apprised of the wants
+which arise in society; and new projects are proposed every year,
+which are discussed either at town meetings or by the legislature
+of the State, and which are transmitted by the press to stimulate
+the zeal and to excite the interest of the citizens.  This spirit
+of amelioration is constantly alive in the American republics,
+without compromising their tranquillity; the ambition of power
+yields to the less refined and less dangerous love of comfort. 
+It is generally believed in America that the existence and the
+permanence of the republican form of government in the New World
+depend upon the existence and the permanence of the Federal
+system; and it is not unusual to attribute a large share of the
+misfortunes which have befallen 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 love and the habits of
+republican government in the United States were engendered in the
+townships and in the provincial assemblies.  In a small State,
+like that of Connecticut for instance, where cutting a canal or
+laying down a road is a momentous political question, where the
+State has no army to pay and no wars to carry on, and where much
+wealth and much honor cannot be bestowed upon the chief citizens,
+no form of government can be more natural or more appropriate
+than that of a republic.  But it is this same republican spirit,
+it is these manners and customs of a free people, which are
+engendered and nurtured in the different States, to be afterwards
+applied to the country at large.  The public spirit of the Union
+is, so to speak, nothing more than an abstract of the patriotic
+zeal of the provinces.  Every citizen of the United States
+transfuses his attachment to his little republic in the common
+store of American patriotism. In defending the Union he defends
+the increasing prosperity of his own district, the right of
+conducting its affairs, and the hope of causing measures of
+improvement to be adopted which may be favorable to his own
+interest; and these are motives which are wont to stir men more
+readily than the general interests of the country 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 welfare of a
+great republic, the Federal system smoothed the obstacles which
+they might have encountered.  The confederation of all the
+American States presents none of the ordinary disadvantages
+resulting from great agglomerations of men.  The Union is a great
+republic in extent, but the paucity of objects for which its
+Government provides assimilates it to a small State.  Its acts
+are important, but they are rare.  As the sovereignty of th 
+Union is limited and incomplete, its exercise is not incompatible
+with 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, vast capital cities,
+colossal wealth, abject poverty, and sudden revolutions are alike
+unknown; and political passion, instead of spreading over the
+land like a torrent of desolation, spends its strength against
+the interests and the individual passions of every State.
+
+Nevertheless, all commodities and ideas circulate throughout
+the Union as freely as in a country inhabited by one people. 
+Nothing checks the spirit of enterprise.  Government avails
+itself of the assistance of all who have talents or knowledge to
+serve it.  Within the frontiers of the Union the profoundest
+peace prevails, as within the heart of some great empire; abroad,
+it ranks with the most powerful nations of the earth; two
+thousand miles of coast are open to the commerce of the world;
+and as it possesses the keys of the globe, its flags is respected
+in the most remote seas.  The Union is as happy and as free as a
+small people, and as glorious and as strong as a great nation.
+
+Why The Federal System Is Not Adapted To All Peoples, And How The
+Anglo-Americans Were Enabled To Adopt It
+
+Every Federal system contains defects which baffle the efforts of
+the legislator - The Federal system is complex - It demands a
+daily exercise of discretion on the part of the citizens -
+Practical knowledge of government common amongst the Americans -
+Relative weakness of the Government of the Union, another defect
+inherent in the Federal system - The Americans have diminished
+without remedying it - The sovereignty of the separate States
+apparently weaker, but really stronger, than that of the Union -
+Why? -Natural causes of union must exist between confederate
+peoples besides the laws - What these causes are amongst the
+Anglo-Americans - Maine and Georgia, separated by a distance of a
+thousand miles, more naturally united than Normandy and Brittany
+- War, 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 to which Europeans would be exposed if they
+adopted the Federal system of the Americans.
+
+When a legislator succeeds, after persevering efforts, in
+exercising 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-operation,
+manners and opinions which he cannot trace to their source, and
+an origin with which he is unacquainted, exercise so irresistible
+an influence over the courses of society that he is himself borne
+away by the current, after an ineffectual resistance.  Like the
+navigator, he may direct the vessel which bears him along, but he
+can neither change its structure, nor raise the winds, nor lull
+the waters which swell beneath him.
+
+I have shown the advantages which the Americans derive from
+their federal system; it remains for me to point out the
+circumstances which rendered that system practicable, as its
+benefits are not to be enjoyed by all nations.  The incidental
+defects of the Federal system which originate in the laws may be
+corrected by the skill of the legislator, but there are further
+evils inherent in the system which cannot be counteracted by the
+peoples which adopt it. These nations must therefore find the
+strength necessary to support the natural imperfections of their
+Government.
+
+The most prominent evil of all Federal systems is the very
+complex nature of the means they employ.  Two sovereignties are
+necessarily in presence of each other.  The legislator may
+simplify and equalize 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 necessarily complicated,
+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
+understanding of a people.  A false notion which is clear and
+precise will always meet with a greater number of adherents in
+the world than a true principle which is obscure or involved. 
+Hence it arises that parties, which are like small communities in
+the heart of the nation, invariably adopt some principle or some
+name as a symbol, which very inadequately represents the end they
+have in view and the means which are at their disposal, 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 existed, one is
+startled, on the other hand, at the variety of information and
+the excellence of discretion which it presupposes in the people
+whom it is meant to govern.  The government of the Union depends
+entirely upon legal fictions; the Union is an ideal nation which
+only exists in the mind, and whose limits and extent can only be
+discerned by the understanding.
+
+When once the general theory is comprehended, numberless
+difficulties remain to be solved in its application; for the
+sovereignty 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 artificial 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
+ingenious devices by which they elude the numberless difficulties
+resulting from their Federal Constitution.  I scarcely ever met
+with a plain 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 own State; and
+who, after having discriminated between the matters which come
+under the cognizance of the Union and those which the local
+legislature is competent to regulate, could not point out the
+exact limit of the several jurisdictions of the Federal courts
+and the tribunals of the State. 
+
+The Constitution of the United States is like those
+exquisite productions of human industry which ensure wealth and
+renown to their inventors, but which are profitless in any other
+hands.  This truth is exemplified by the condition of Mexico 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 their model, and copied it
+with considerable accuracy. *s But although they had borrowed the
+letter of the law, they were unable to create or to introduce the
+spirit and the sense which give it life.  They were involved in
+ceaseless embarrassments between the mechanism of their double
+government; the sovereignty of the States and that of the Union
+perpetually exceeded their respective privileges, and entered
+into collision; and to the present day Mexico is alternately the
+victim of anarchy and the slave of military despotism.
+
+[Footnote s: See the Mexican Constitution of 1824.]
+
+The second and the most fatal of all the defects I have
+alluded to, and that which I believe to be inherent in the
+federal system, is the relative weakness of the government of the
+Union.  The principle upon which all confederations rest is that
+of a divided sovereignty.  The legislator may render this
+partition less perceptible, he may even conceal it for a time
+from the public eye, but he cannot prevent it from existing, and
+a divided sovereignty must always be less powerful than an entire
+supremacy.  The reader has seen in the remarks I have made on the
+Constitution of the United States that the Americans have
+displayed singular ingenuity in combining the restriction of the
+power of the Union within the narrow limits of a federal
+government with the semblance and, to a certain extent, with the
+force of a national government.  By this means the legislators of
+the Union have succeeded in diminishing, though not in
+counteracting the natural danger of confederations. 
+
+It has been remarked that the American Government does not
+apply itself to the States, but that it immediately transmits its
+injunctions to the citizens, and compels them as isolated
+individuals to comply with 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
+individual who should refuse to obey.  If all the citizens of the
+State were aggrieved at the same time and in the same manner by
+the authority of the Union, the Federal Government would vainly
+attempt to subdue them individually; they would instinctively
+unite in a common defence, and they would derive a ready-prepared
+organization from the share of sovereignty which the institution
+of their State allows them to enjoy.  Fiction would give way to
+reality, and an organized portion of the territory might then
+contest the central authority. *t The same observation holds good
+with regard to the Federal jurisdiction.  If the courts of the
+Union violated an important law of a State in a private case, the
+real, if not the apparent, contest would arise between the
+aggrieved State represented by a citizen and the Union
+represented by its courts of justice. *u
+
+[Footnote t: [This is precisely what occurred in 1862, and the
+following paragraph describes correctly the feelings and notions
+of the South.  General Lee held that his primary allegiance was
+due, not to the Union, but to Virginia.]]
+
+[Footnote u: For instance, the Union possesses by the
+Constitution the right of selling unoccupied lands for its own
+profit.  Supposing that the State of Ohio should claim the same
+right in behalf of certain territories lying within its
+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 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 Federal 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?]
+
+He would have but a partial knowledge of the world who
+should imagine that it is possible, by the aid of legal fictions,
+to prevent men from finding out and employing those means of
+gratifying their passions which have been left open to them; and
+it may be doubted whether the American legislators, when they
+rendered a collision between the two sovereigns less probable,
+destroyed the cause of such a misfortune.  But it may even be
+affirmed that they were unable to ensure the preponderance of the
+Federal element in a case of this kind.  The Union is possessed
+of money and of troops, but the affections and the prejudices of
+the people are in the bosom of the States. The sovereignty of the
+Union is an abstract being, which is connected with but few
+external objects; the sovereignty of the States is hourly
+perceptible, easily understood, constantly active; and if the
+former is of recent creation, the latter is coeval with the
+people itself.  The sovereignty of the Union is factitious, that
+of the States is natural, and derives its existence from its own
+simple influence, like the authority of a parent.  The supreme
+power of the nation only affects a few of the chief interests of
+society; it represents an immense but remote country, and claims
+a feeling of patriotism which is vague and ill defined; but 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; and when we recollect the traditions,
+the customs, the prejudices of local and familiar attachment with
+which it is connected, we cannot doubt of the superiority of a
+power which is interwoven with every circumstance that renders
+the love of one's native country instinctive in the human heart.
+
+Since legislators are unable to obviate such dangerous
+collisions 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 institutions as may promote the maintenance of peace.  Hence
+it results that the Federal compact cannot be lasting unless
+there exists in the communities which are leagued together a
+certain number of inducements to union which render their common
+dependence agreeable, and the task of the Government light, and
+that system cannot succeed without the presence of favorable
+circumstances added to the influence of good laws.  All the
+peoples which have ever formed a confederation have been held
+together by a certain number of common interests, which served as
+the intellectual ties of association.
+
+But the sentiments and the principles of man must be taken
+into consideration as well as his immediate interests.  A certain
+uniformity of civilization is not less necessary to the
+durability of a confederation than a uniformity of interests in
+the States which compose it.  In Switzerland the difference which
+exists between the Canton of Uri and the Canton of Vaud is equal
+to that between the fifteenth and the nineteenth centuries; and,
+properly speaking, Switzerland has never possessed a federal
+government.  The union between these two cantons only subsists
+upon the map, and their discrepancies would soon be perceived if
+an attempt were made by a central authority to prescribe the same
+laws to the whole territory.
+
+One of the circumstances which most powerfully contribute to
+support the Federal Government in America is that the States have
+not only similar interests, a common origin, and a common tongue,
+but that they are also arrived at the same stage of civilization;
+which almost always renders a union feasible.  I do not know of
+any European nation, how small soever it may be, which does not
+present less uniformity in its different provinces than the
+American people, which occupies a territory as extensive as
+one-half of Europe.  The distance from the State of Maine to that
+of Georgia is reckoned at about one thousand miles; but the
+difference between the civilization of Maine and that of Georgia
+is slighter than the difference between the habits of Normandy
+and those of Brittany.  Maine and Georgia, which are placed at
+the opposite extremities of a great empire, are consequently in
+the natural possession of more real inducements to form a
+confederation than Normandy and Brittany, which are only
+separated by a bridge.
+
+The geographical position of the country contributed to
+increase 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 which can mark the annals of a
+people is the breaking out of a war.  In war a people struggles
+with the energy of a single man against foreign nations in the
+defence of its very existence.  The skill of a government, the
+good sense of the community, and the natural fondness which men
+entertain for their country, may suffice to maintain peace in the
+interior of a district, and to favor its internal prosperity; but
+a nation can only carry on a great war at the cost of more
+numerous and more painful sacrifices; and to suppose that a great
+number of men will of their own accord comply with these
+exigencies of the State is to betray an ignorance of mankind. 
+All the peoples which have been obliged to sustain a long and
+serious warfare have consequently been led to augment the power
+of their government.  Those which have not succeeded in this
+attempt have been subjugated.  A long war almost always places
+nations in the wretched alternative of being abandoned to ruin by
+defeat or to despotism by success. War therefore renders the
+symptoms of the weakness of a government most palpable and most
+alarming; and I have shown that the inherent defeat of federal
+governments is that of being weak.
+
+The Federal system is not only deficient in every kind of
+centralized administration, but the central government itself is
+imperfectly organized, which is invariably an influential cause
+of inferiority when the nation is opposed to other countries
+which are themselves governed by a single authority.  In the
+Federal Constitution of the United States, by which the central
+government possesses more real force, this evil is still
+extremely sensible.  An example will illustrate the case to the
+reader.
+
+The Constitution confers upon Congress the right of calling
+forth 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 the militia.  In the war of 1812 the President ordered the
+militia of the Northern States to march to the frontiers; but
+Connecticut and Massachusetts, whose interests were impaired by
+the war, refused to obey the command.  They argued that the
+Constitution authorizes the Federal Government to call forth the
+militia in case of insurrection or invasion, but that in the
+present instance there was neither invasion nor insurrection.
+They added, that the same Constitution which conferred upon the
+Union the right of calling forth the militia reserved to the
+States that of naming the officers; and that consequently (as
+they understood the clause) no officer of the Union had any right
+to command the militia, even during war, except the President in
+person; and in this case they were ordered to join an army
+commanded by another individual.  These absurd and pernicious
+doctrines received the sanction not only of the governors 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 required. *v
+
+[Footnote v: Kent's "Commentaries," vol. i. p. 244.  I have
+selected an example which relates to a time posterior to the
+promulgation of the present Constitution.  If I had gone back to
+the days of the Confederation, I might have given still more
+striking instances.  The whole nation was at that time in a state
+of enthusiastic excitement; the Revolution was represented by a
+man who was the idol of the people; but at that very period
+Congress had, to say the truth, no resources at all at its
+disposal.  Troops and supplies were perpetually wanting.  The
+best-devised projects failed in the execution, and the Union,
+which was constantly on the verge of destruction, was saved by
+the weakness of its enemies far more than by its own strength. 
+[All doubt as to the powers of the Federal Executive was,
+however, removed by its efforts in the Civil War, and those
+powers were largely extended.]]
+
+The only safeguard which the American Union, with all the
+relative perfection of its laws, possesses against the
+dissolution which would be produced by a great war, lies in its
+probable exemption from that calamity. Placed in the centre of an
+immense continent, which offers a boundless field for human
+industry, the Union is almost as much insulated from the world as
+if its frontiers were girt by the ocean.  Canada contains only a
+million of inhabitants, and its population is divided 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
+community, the depravity of its morals, and its extreme poverty,
+will prevent that country from ranking high amongst nations. *w
+As for the Powers of Europe, they are too distant to be
+formidable.
+
+[Footnote w: [War broke out between the United States and Mexico
+in 1846, and ended in the conquest of an immense territory,
+including California.]]
+
+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
+enterprises extremely improbable.
+
+No one can be more inclined than I am myself 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 enabled to
+adopt it; but I cannot believe that any confederate peoples could
+maintain a long or an equal contest with a nation of similar
+strength in which the government should be centralized.  A people
+which should divide its sovereignty into fractional powers, in
+the presence of the great military monarchies of Europe, would,
+in my opinion, by that very act, abdicate its power, and perhaps
+its existence and its name.  But such is the admirable position
+of the New World that man has no other enemy than himself; and
+that, in order to be happy and to be free, it suffices to seek
+the gifts of prosperity and the knowledge of freedom.
+
+
+Chapter XI: Why The People May Strictly Be Said To Govern In The
+United States
+
+I have hitherto examined the institutions of the United
+States; I have passed their legislation in review, and I have
+depicted the present characteristics of political society in that
+country.  But a sovereign power exists above these institutions
+and beyond these characteristic features which may destroy or
+modify them at its pleasure - I mean that of the people. It
+remains to be shown in what manner this power, which regulates
+the laws, acts: its propensities and its passions remain to be
+pointed out, as well as the secret springs which retard,
+accelerate, or direct its irresistible course; and the effects of
+its unbounded authority, with the destiny which is probably
+reserved for it.
+
+
+Chapter X: Why The People May Strictly Be Said To Govern In The
+United States
+
+In America the people appoints the legislative and the
+executive power, and furnishes the jurors who punish all offences
+against the laws.  The American institutions are democratic, not
+only in their principle but in all their consequences; and the
+people elects its representatives directly, and for the most part
+annually, in order to ensure their dependence.  The people is
+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
+community are hindered by no durable obstacles from exercising a
+perpetual influence on society.  In the United States the
+majority governs in the name of the people, as is the case in all
+the countries in which the people is supreme.  The majority is
+principally composed of peaceful citizens who, either by
+inclination or by interest, are sincerely desirous of the welfare
+of their country.  But they are surrounded by the incessant
+agitation of parties, which attempt to gain their co-operation
+and to avail themselves of their support. 
+Chapter X: Parties In The United States
+
+Chapter Summary
+
+Great distinction to be made between parties - Parties which are
+to each other as rival nations - Parties properly so called -
+Difference between great and small parties - Epochs which produce
+them - Their characteristics - America has had great parties -
+They are extinct - Federalists - Republicans - Defeat of the
+Federalists - Difficulty of creating parties in the United States
+-What is done with this intention - Aristocratic or democratic
+character to be met with in all parties - Struggle of General
+Jackson against the Bank.
+
+Parties In The United States
+
+A great distinction must be made between parties.  Some
+countries are so large that the different populations which
+inhabit them have contradictory interests, although they are the
+subjects of the same Government, and they may thence 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 carried on by rival peoples rather than by
+factions in the 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 correctly 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
+insupportable evils as to conceive the design of effecting a
+total change in its political constitution; at other times the
+mischief lies still deeper, and the existence of society itself
+is
+endangered.  Such are the times of great revolutions and of great
+parties.  But between these epochs of misery and of confusion
+there are periods during which human society seems to rest, and
+mankind to make a pause.  This pause is, indeed, only apparent,
+for time does not stop its course for nations any more than for
+men; they are all advancing towards a goal with which they are
+unacquainted; and we only imagine them to be stationary 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 political
+constitution of nations are so slow and so insensible that men
+imagine their present condition to be a final state; and the
+human mind, believing itself to be firmly based upon certain
+foundations, does not extend its researches beyond the horizon
+which it descries.  These are the times of small parties and of
+intrigue.
+
+The political parties which I style great are those which
+cling to principles more than to their consequences; to general,
+and not to especial cases; to ideas, and not to men.  These
+parties are usually distinguished by a nobler character, by more
+generous passions, more genuine convictions, and a more bold and
+open conduct than 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 sometimes concealed from the eyes of the very persons
+whom it excites and impels.
+
+Minor parties are, on the other hand, generally deficient in
+political faith.  As they are not sustained or dignified by a
+lofty purpose, they ostensibly display the egotism of their
+character in their actions.  They glow with a factitious zeal;
+their language is vehement, but their conduct is timid and
+irresolute.  The means they employ are as wretched as the end at
+which they aim.  Hence it arises that when a calm state of things
+succeeds a violent revolution, the leaders of society seem
+suddenly to disappear, and the powers of the human mind to lie
+concealed.  Society is convulsed by great parties, by minor ones
+it is agitated; it is torn by the former, by the latter it is
+degraded; and if these sometimes save it by a salutary
+perturbation, those invariably disturb it to no good end.
+
+America has already lost the great parties which once
+divided the nation; and if her happiness is considerably
+increased, her morality has suffered by their extinction.  When
+the War of Independence was terminated, and the foundations of
+the new Government were to be laid down, the nation was divided
+between two opinions - two opinions which are as old as the
+world, and which are perpetually to be met with under all the
+forms and all the names which have ever obtained in free
+communities - the one tending to limit, the other to extend
+indefinitely, the power of the people.  The conflict of these two
+opinions never assumed that degree of violence in America which
+it has frequently displayed elsewhere.  Both parties of the
+Americans were, in fact, agreed upon the most essential points;
+and neither of them had to destroy a traditionary constitution,
+or to overthrow the structure of society, in order to ensure its
+own triumph.  In neither of them, consequently, were a great
+number of private interests affected by success or by defeat; but
+moral principles of a high order, such as the love of equality
+and of independence, were concerned in the struggle, and they
+sufficed 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 name of Federal. 
+The other party, which affected to be more exclusively attached
+to the cause of liberty, took that of Republican. America is a
+land of democracy, and the Federalists were always in a minority;
+but they reckoned on their side almost all the great men who had
+been called forth by the War of Independence, and their moral
+influence was very considerable. Their cause was, moreover,
+favored by circumstances.  The ruin of the Confederation had
+impressed the people with a dread of anarchy, and the Federalists
+did not fail to profit by this transient disposition of the
+multitude.  For ten or twelve years they were at the head of
+affairs, and they were able to apply some, though not all, of
+their principles; for the hostile current was becoming from day
+to day too violent to be checked or stemmed.  In 1801 the
+Republicans got possession of the Government; Thomas Jefferson
+was named President; and he increased the influence of their
+party by the weight of his celebrity, the greatness of his
+talents, and the immense extent of his popularity. 
+
+The means by which the Federalists had maintained their
+position were artificial, and their resources were temporary; it
+was by the virtues or the talents of their leaders that they had
+risen to power.  When the Republicans attained to that lofty
+station, 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 their future success.  From that moment the
+Republican or Democratic party *a has proceeded from conquest to
+conquest, until it has acquired absolute supremacy in the
+country.  The Federalists, perceiving that they were vanquished
+without resource, and isolated in the midst of the nation, fell
+into two divisions, of which one joined the victorious
+Republicans, and the other abandoned its rallying-point and its
+name.  Many years have already elapsed since they ceased to exist
+as a party.
+
+[Footnote a: [It is scarcely necessary to remark that in more
+recent times the signification of these terms has changed.  The
+Republicans are the representatives of the old Federalists, and
+the Democrats of the old Republicans. - Trans. Note (1861).]] The
+accession of the Federalists to power was, in my opinion, one of
+the most fortunate incidents which accompanied the formation of
+the great American Union; they resisted the inevitable
+propensities of their age and of the country.  But whether their
+theories were good or bad, they had the effect of being
+inapplicable, as a system, to the society which they professed to
+govern, and that which occurred under the auspices of Jefferson
+must therefore have taken place sooner or later.  But their
+Government gave the new republic time to acquire a certain
+stability, and afterwards to support the rapid growth of the very
+doctrines which they had combated.  A considerable number of
+their principles were in point of fact embodied in the political
+creed of their opponents; and the Federal Constitution which
+subsists at the present day is a lasting monument of their
+patriotism and their wisdom.
+
+Great political parties are not, then, to be met with in the
+United States at the present time.  Parties, indeed, may be found
+which threaten the future tranquillity 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 abstract principles, but upon temporal
+interests.  These interests, disseminated in the provinces of so
+vast an empire, may be said to constitute rival nations rather
+than parties. Thus, upon a recent occasion, 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
+manufacturing and the South an agricultural district; and that
+the restrictive system which was profitable to the one was
+prejudicial to the other. *b
+
+[Footnote b: [The divisions of North and South have since
+acquired a far greater degree of intensity, and the South, though
+conquered, still presents a formidable spirit of opposition to
+Northern government. - Translator's Note, 1875.]]
+
+In the absence of great parties, the United States abound
+with lesser controversies; and public opinion is divided into a
+thousand minute shades of difference upon questions of very
+little moment.  The pains which are taken to create parties are
+inconceivable, and at the present day it is no easy task. In the
+United States there is no religious animosity, because all
+religion is respected, and no sect is predominant; there is no
+jealousy of rank, because the people is everything, and none can
+contest its authority; lastly, there is no public indigence to
+supply the means of agitation, because the physical position of
+the country opens so wide a field to industry that man is able to
+accomplish the most surprising undertakings with his own native
+resources. Nevertheless, ambitious men are interbsted in the
+creation of parties, since it is difficult to eject a person from
+authority upon the mere ground that his place is coveted by
+others.  The skill of the actors in the political world lies
+therefore in the art of creating parties. A political aspirant in
+the United States begins by discriminating his own interest, and
+by calculating upon those interests which may be collected around
+and amalgamated with it; he then contrives to discover some
+doctrine or some principle which may suit the purposes of this
+new association, and which he adopts in order to bring forward
+his party and to secure his popularity; just as the imprimatur of
+a King was in former days incorporated with the volume which it
+authorized, but to which it nowise belonged.  When these
+preliminaries are terminated, the new party is ushered into the
+political world.
+
+All the domestic controversies of the Americans at first
+appear to a stranger to be so incomprehensible and so puerile
+that he is at a loss whether to pity a people which takes such
+arrant trifles in good earnest, or to envy the happiness which
+enables it 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 divisions which have
+always existed in free communities.  The deeper we penetrate into
+the working of these parties, the more do we perceive that the
+object of the one is to limit, and that of the other to extend,
+the popular authority.  I do not assert that the ostensible end,
+or even that the secret aim, of American parties is to promote
+the rule of aristocracy or democracy in the country; but I affirm
+that aristocratic or democratic passions may easily be detected
+at the bottom of all parties, and that, although they escape a
+superficial observation, they are the main point and the very
+soul of every faction in the United States.
+
+To quote a recent example.  When the President attacked the
+Bank, the country was excited and parties were formed; the well-
+informed classes rallied round the Bank, the common people round
+the President.  But it must not be imagined that the people had
+formed a rational opinion upon a question which offers so many
+difficulties to the most experienced statesmen.  The Bank is a
+great establishment which enjoys an independent existence, and
+the people, accustomed to make and unmake whatsoever it pleases,
+is startled to meet with this obstacle to its authority.  In the
+midst of the perpetual 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 and controlled, like all
+the other institutions of the country.
+
+Remains Of The Aristocratic Party In The United States
+
+Secret opposition of wealthy individuals to democracy - Their
+retirement -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 which various
+opinions prevail that the balance of the several parties is lost,
+and one of them obtains an irresistible preponderance, overpowers
+all obstacles, harasses its opponents, and appropriates all the
+resources of society to its own purposes.  The vanquished
+citizens despair of success and they conceal their
+dissatisfaction in silence and in general apathy.  The nation
+seems to be governed by a single principle, and the prevailing
+party assumes the credit of having restored peace and unanimity
+to the country.  But this apparent unanimity is merely a cloak to
+alarming dissensions and perpetual opposition.
+
+This is precisely what occurred in America; when the
+democratic party got the upper hand, it took exclusive possession
+of the conduct of affairs, 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 are so entirely
+removed from the direction of political affairs in the United
+States that wealth, far from conferring a right to the exercise
+of power, is rather an obstacle than a means of attaining to it. 
+The wealthy members of the community abandon the lists, through
+unwillingness to contend, and frequently to contend in vain,
+against the poorest classes of their fellow citizens. They
+concentrate all their enjoyments in the privacy of their homes,
+where they occupy a rank which cannot be assumed in public; and
+they constitute a private society in the State, which has its own
+tastes and its own 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; it is even not uncommon to
+hear them laud the delights of a republican government, and the
+advantages of 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 anxious
+as a Jew of the Middle Ages to conceal his wealth.  His dress is
+plain, his demeanor unassuming; but the interior 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 the smallest advantages which his privileged
+station confers upon him.  But the very same individual crosses
+the city to reach a dark counting-house in the centre of traffic,
+where every one may accost him who pleases.  If he meets his
+cobbler upon the way, they stop and converse; the two citizens
+discuss the affairs of the State in which they have an equal
+interest, and they shake hands before they part.
+
+But beneath this artificial enthusiasm, and these obsequious
+attentions to the preponderating power, it is easy to perceive
+that the wealthy members of the community entertain a hearty
+distaste to the democratic institutions of their country.  The
+populace is at once the object of their scorn and of their fears. 
+If the maladministration of the democracy ever brings about a
+revolutionary crisis, and if monarchical institutions ever become
+practicable in the United States, the truth of what I advance
+will become obvious.
+
+The two chief weapons which parties use in order to ensure
+success are the public press and the formation of associations. 
+
+Chapter XI: Liberty Of The Press In The United States
+
+Chapter Summary
+
+Difficulty of restraining the liberty of the press - Particular
+reasons which some nations have to cherish this liberty - The
+liberty of the press a necessary consequence of the sovereignty
+of the people as it is understood in America - Violent language
+of the periodical press in the United States -Propensities of the
+periodical press - Illustrated by the United States -Opinion of
+the Americans upon the repression of the abuse of the liberty of
+the press by judicial prosecutions - Reasons for which the press
+is less powerful in America than in France.
+
+Liberty Of The Press In The United States
+
+The influence of the liberty of the press does not affect
+political opinions alone, but it extends to all the opinions of
+men, and it modifies customs as well as laws.  In another part of
+this work I shall attempt to determinate 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 feelings, of the Anglo-Americans, but at
+present I purpose simply 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 liberty of the press which things that are
+supremely good in their very nature are wont to excite in the
+mind; and I approve of it more from a recollection of the evils
+it prevents than from a consideration of the advantages it
+ensures. 
+
+If any one could point out an intermediate and yet a tenable
+position between the complete independence and the entire
+subjection of the public expression of opinion, I should perhaps
+be inclined to adopt it; but the difficulty is to discover this
+position.  If it is your intention to correct the abuses of
+unlicensed printing and to restore the use of orderly language,
+you may in the first instance try the offender by a jury; but if
+the jury acquits him, the opinion which was that of a single
+individual becomes the opinion of the country at large.  Too much
+and too little has therefore hitherto been done.  If you proceed,
+you must bring the delinquent before a court of permanent judges. 
+But even here the cause must be heard before it can be decided;
+and the very principles which no book would have ventured to avow
+are blazoned forth in the pleadings, and what was obscurely
+hinted at in a single composition is then repeated in a multitude
+of other publications. The language in which a thought is
+embodied is the mere carcass of the thought, and not the idea
+itself; tribunals may condemn the form, but the sense and spirit
+of the work is too subtle for their authority. Too much has still
+been done to recede, too little to attain your end; you must
+therefore proceed.  If you establish a censorship of the press,
+the tongue of the public speaker will still make itself heard,
+and you have only increased the mischief.  The powers of thought
+do not rely, like the powers of physical strength, upon the
+number of their mechanical agents, nor can a host of authors be
+reckoned like the troops which compose an army; on the contrary,
+the authority of a principle is often increased by the smallness
+of the number of men by whom it is expressed.  The words of a
+strong-minded man, which penetrate amidst the passions of a
+listening assembly, have more power than the vociferations of a
+thousand orators; and if it be allowed to speak freely in any
+public place, the consequence is the same as if free speaking was
+allowed in every village.  The liberty of discourse must
+therefore be destroyed as well as the liberty of the press; this
+is the necessary term of your efforts; but if your object was to
+repress the abuses of liberty, they have brought you to the feet
+of a despot.  You have been led from the extreme of independence
+to the extreme of subjection without meeting with a single
+tenable position for shelter or repose.
+
+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 enjoy the privileges of freedom every individual
+agent of the Government may violate the laws with impunity, since
+those whom he oppresses cannot prosecute him before the courts of
+justice.  In this case the liberty of the press is not merely a
+guarantee, but it is the only guarantee, of their liberty and
+their security which the citizens possess.  If the rulers of
+these nations propose to abolish the independence of the press,
+the people would be justified in saying: 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.
+
+But in the countries in which the doctrine of the
+sovereignty of the people ostensibly prevails, the censorship of
+the press is not only dangerous, but it is absurd.  When the
+right of every citizen to co-operate in the government of society
+is acknowledged, every citizen must be presumed to possess the
+power of discriminating between the different opinions of his
+contemporaries, and of appreciating the different facts from
+which inferences may be drawn.  The sovereignty of the people and
+the liberty of the press may therefore be looked upon as
+correlative institutions; 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 institutions
+of the same people.  Not a single individual of the twelve
+millions who inhabit the territory of the United States has as
+yet dared to propose any restrictions to the liberty of the
+press.  The first newspaper over which I cast my eyes, upon my
+arrival in America, contained the following article:
+
+In all this affair the language of Jackson has been that of
+a heartless despot, solely occupied with the preservation of
+his own authority. Ambition is his crime, and it will be his
+punishment too: intrigue is his native element, and intrigue
+will confound his tricks, and will deprive him of his power:
+he governs by means of corruption, and his immoral practices
+will redound to his shame and confusion.  His conduct in the
+political arena has been that of a shameless and lawless
+gamester.  He succeeded at the time, but the hour of
+retribution approaches, 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 unacquainted.
+
+It is not uncommonly imagined in France that the virulence
+of the press originates in the uncertain social condition, in the
+political excitement, and the general sense of consequent evil
+which prevail in that country; and it is therefore supposed that
+as soon as society has resumed a certain degree of composure the
+press will abandon its present vehemence.  I am inclined to think
+that the above causes explain the reason of the extraordinary
+ascendency it has acquired over the nation, but that they do not
+exercise much influence upon the tone of its language. The
+periodical press appears to me to be actuated by passions and
+propensities independent of the circumstances in which it is
+placed, and the present position of America corroborates this
+opinion.
+
+America is perhaps, at this moment, the country of the whole
+world which contains the fewest germs of revolution; but the
+press is not less destructive in its principles 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 it is
+at the same time indispensable to the existence of freedom, and
+nearly incompatible with the maintenance of public order. 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 having been instituted 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 consistency.  It was never their intention to found
+a permanent state of things with elements which undergo daily
+modifications; and there is consequently nothing criminal in an
+attack upon the existing laws, provided it be not attended with a
+violent infraction of them.  They are moreover of opinion that
+courts of justice are unable to check the abuses of the press;
+and that as the subtilty of human language perpetually eludes the
+severity of judicial analysis, offences of this nature are apt to
+escape the hand which attempts to apprehend them.  They hold that
+to act with efficacy upon the press it would be necessary to find
+a tribunal, not only devoted to the existing order of things, but
+capable of surmounting the influence of public opinion; a
+tribunal which should conduct its proceedings without publicity,
+which should pronounce its decrees without assigning its motives,
+and punish the intentions even more than the language of an
+author.  Whosoever should have the power of creating and
+maintaining a tribunal of this kind would waste his time in
+prosecuting the liberty of the press; for he would be the supreme
+master of the whole community, and he would be as free to rid
+himself of the authors as of their writings.  In this question,
+therefore, there is no medium between servitude and extreme
+license; in order to enjoy the inestimable benefits which the
+liberty of the press ensures, it is necessary to submit to the
+inevitable evils which it engenders.  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 by effort, they
+attempt to combine hostile opinions and contrary principles upon
+the same soil.
+
+The small influence of the American journals is attributable
+to several reasons, amongst which are the following:
+
+The liberty of writing, like all other liberty, is most
+formidable when it is a novelty; for a people which has never
+been accustomed to co-operate in the conduct of State affairs
+places implicit confidence in the first tribune who arouses its
+attention.  The Anglo-Americans have enjoyed this liberty ever
+since the foundation of the settlements; moreover, the press
+cannot create human passions by its own power, however skillfully
+it may kindle them where they exist.  In America politics are
+discussed with animation and a varied activity, but they rarely
+touch those deep passions which are excited whenever the positive
+interest of a part of the community is impaired: but in the
+United States the interests of the community are in a most
+prosperous condition.  A single glance upon a French and an
+American newspaper is sufficient to show the difference which
+exists between the two nations on this head.  In France the space
+allotted to commercial advertisements is very limited, and the
+intelligence is not considerable, but the most essential part of
+the journal is that which contains the discussion of the politics
+of the day.  In America three-quarters of the enormous sheet
+which is set before the reader are filled with advertisements,
+and the remainder 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 with which the journalists of France are wont to indulge
+their readers.
+
+It has been demonstrated by observation, and discovered by
+the innate sagacity of the pettiest as well as the greatest of
+despots, that the influence of a power is increased in proportion
+as its direction is rendered more central.  In France the press
+combines a twofold centralization; almost all its power is
+centred in the same spot, and vested in the same hands, for its
+organs are far from numerous.  The influence of a public press
+thus constituted, upon a sceptical nation, must be unbounded.  It
+is an enemy with which a Government may sign an occasional truce,
+but which it is difficult to resist for any length of time.
+
+Neither of these kinds of centralization exists in America. 
+The United States have no metropolis; the intelligence as well as
+the power of the country are dispersed abroad, and instead of
+radiating from a point, they cross each other in every direction;
+the Americans have established no central control over the
+expression of opinion, any more than over the conduct of
+business.  These are circumstances which do not depend on human
+foresight; 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
+formerly in England.  The consequence of this is that nothing is
+easier than to set up a newspaper, and a small number of readers
+suffices to defray the expenses of the editor.
+
+The number of periodical and occasional publications which
+appears in the United States actually surpasses belief.  The most
+enlightened Americans attribute the subordinate influence of the
+press to this excessive dissemination; and it is adopted as an
+axiom of political science in that country that the only way to
+neutralize the effect of public journals is to multiply them
+indefinitely.  I cannot conceive that a truth which is so self-
+evident should not already have been more generally admitted in
+Europe; it is comprehensible that the persons who hope to bring
+about revolutions by means of the press should be desirous of
+confining its action to a few powerful organs, but it is
+perfectly incredible that the partisans of the existing state of
+things, and the natural supporters of the law, should attempt to
+diminish the influence of the press by concentrating its
+authority. The Governments of Europe seem to treat the press with
+the courtesy of the knights of old; they are anxious to furnish
+it with the same central power which they have found to be so
+trusty a weapon, in order to enhance the glory of their
+resistance to its attacks. 
+
+In America there is scarcely a hamlet which has not its own
+newspaper. It may readily be imagined that neither discipline nor
+unity of design can be communicated to so multifarious a host,
+and each one is consequently led to fight 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 in a thousand different ways.  They cannot
+succeed in forming those great currents of opinion which
+overwhelm the most solid obstacles.  This division of the
+influence of the press produces a variety of other consequences
+which are scarcely less remarkable.  The facility with which
+journals can be established induces a multitude of individuals to
+take a part in them; but as the extent of competition precludes
+the possibility of considerable profit, the most distinguished
+classes of society are rarely led to engage in these
+undertakings.  But 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 journalists of the United
+States are usually placed 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 which form the characteristics of each peculiar class of
+society; thus it dictates the etiquette practised at courts and
+the etiquette of the bar.  The characteristics of the French
+journalist consist in a violent, but frequently an eloquent and
+lofty, manner of discussing the politics of the day; and the
+exceptions to this habitual practice are only occasional.  The
+characteristics of the American journalist consist in an open and
+coarse appeal to the passions of the populace; and he habitually
+abandons the principles of political science to assail the
+characters of individuals, to track them into private life, and
+disclose all their weaknesses and errors.
+
+Nothing can be more deplorable than this abuse of the powers
+of thought; I shall have occasion to point out hereafter the
+influence of the newspapers upon the taste and the morality of
+the American people, but my present subject exclusively concerns
+the political world.  It cannot be denied that the effects of
+this extreme license of the press tend indirectly to the
+maintenance of public order.  The individuals who are already in
+the possession of a high station in the esteem of their
+fellow-citizens are afraid to write in the newspapers, and they
+are thus deprived of the most powerful instrument which they can
+use to excite the passions of the multitude to their own
+advantage. *a
+
+[Footnote a: They only write in the papers when they choose to
+address the people in their own name; as, for instance, when they
+are called upon to repel calumnious imputations, and to correct a
+misstatement of facts.]
+
+The personal opinions of the editors have no kind of weight
+in the eyes of the public: the only use of a journal is, that it
+imparts the knowledge of certain facts, and it is only by
+altering 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 is the power which impels
+the circulation of political life through all the districts of
+that vast territory.  Its eye is constantly open to detect the
+secret springs of political designs, and to summon the leaders of
+all parties to the bar of public opinion.  It rallies the
+interests of the community round certain principles, and it draws
+up the creed which factions adopt; for it affords a means of
+intercourse between parties which hear, and which address each
+other without ever having been in immediate contact.  When a
+great number of the organs of the press adopt the same line of
+conduct, their influence becomes irresistible; and public
+opinion, when it is perpetually assailed from the same side,
+eventually yields to the attack. In the United States each
+separate journal exercises but little authority, but the power of
+the periodical press is only second to that of the people. *b
+
+[Footnote b: See Appendix, P.]
+
+The opinions established in the United States under the
+empire of the liberty of the press are frequently more
+firmly rooted than those which are formed elsewhere under
+the sanction of a censor.
+
+In the United States the democracy perpetually raises fresh
+individuals to the conduct of public affairs; and the measures of
+the administration are consequently seldom regulated by the
+strict rules of consistency or of order. But the general
+principles of the Government are more stable, and the opinions
+most prevalent in society are generally more durable 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 opinion
+has been observed in England, where, for the last century,
+greater freedom of conscience and more invincible prejudices have
+existed than in all the other countries of Europe. I attribute
+this consequence to a cause which may at first sight appear to
+have a very opposite tendency, namely, to the liberty of the
+press.  The nations amongst which this liberty exists are as apt
+to cling to their opinions from pride as from conviction.  They
+cherish them because they hold them to be just, and because they
+exercised their own free-will in choosing them; and they maintain
+them not only because they are true, but because they are their
+own.  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 have said, that absolute convictions are to be met
+with at the two extremities, and that doubt lies in the middle;
+for the human intellect may be considered in three distinct
+states, which frequently succeed one another.  A man believes
+implicitly, because he adopts a proposition without inquiry.  He
+doubts as soon as he is assailed by the objections which his
+inquiries may have aroused. But he frequently succeeds in
+satisfying these doubts, and then he begins to believe afresh: he
+no longer lays hold on a truth in its most shadowy and uncertain
+form, but he sees it clearly before him, and he advances onwards
+by the light it gives him. *c
+
+[Footnote c: It may, however, be doubted whether this rational
+and self-guiding conviction arouses as much fervor or
+enthusiastic devotedness in men as their first dogmatical
+belief.]
+
+When the liberty of the press acts upon men who are in the
+first of these three states, it does not immediately disturb
+their habit of believing implicitly without investigation, but it
+constantly modifies the objects of their intuitive convictions. 
+The human mind continues to discern but one point upon the whole
+intellectual horizon, and that point is in continual motion. 
+Such are the symptoms of sudden revolutions, and of the
+misfortunes which are sure to befall those generations which
+abruptly adopt the unconditional freedom of the press.
+
+The circle of novel ideas is, however, soon terminated; the
+touch of experience is upon them, and the doubt and mistrust
+which their uncertainty produces become universal.  We may rest
+assured that the majority of mankind will either believe they
+know not wherefore, or will not know what to believe. Few are the
+beings who can ever hope to attain to that state of rational and
+independent conviction which true knowledge can beget in defiance
+of the attacks 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 everyone clings to his own 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, the citizens who have adopted
+one of them stick to it, not so much because they are assured of
+its excellence, as because they are not convinced of the
+superiority of any other.  In the present age men are not very
+ready to die in defence of their opinions, but they are rarely
+inclined to change them; and there are fewer martyrs as well as
+fewer apostates. 
+
+Another still more valid reason may yet be adduced: when no
+abstract opinions are looked upon as certain, men cling to the
+mere propensities and external interests of their position, which
+are naturally more tangible and more permanent than any opinions
+in the world.
+
+It is not a question of easy solution whether aristocracy or
+democracy is most fit to govern a country.  But it is certain
+that democracy annoys one part of the community, and that
+aristocracy oppresses another part.  When the question is reduced
+to the simple expression of the struggle between poverty and
+wealth, the tendency of each side of the dispute becomes
+perfectly evident without further controversy.
+
+
+
+Chapter XII: Political Associations In The United States
+
+Chapter Summary
+
+Daily use which the Anglo-Americans make of the right of
+association - Three kinds of political associations - In what
+manner the Americans apply the representative system to
+associations - Dangers resulting to the State - Great Convention
+of 1831 relative to the Tariff - Legislative character of this
+Convention - Why the unlimited exercise of the right of
+association is less dangerous in the United States than elsewhere
+- Why it may be looked upon as necessary - Utility of
+associations in a democratic people.
+
+Political Associations In The United States
+
+In no country in the world has the principle of association
+been more successfully used, or more unsparingly applied to a
+multitude of different objects, than in America.  Besides the
+permanent 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 private individuals. 
+
+The citizen of the United States is taught from his earliest
+infancy to rely upon his own exertions in order to resist the
+evils and the difficulties of life; he looks upon social
+authority with an eye of mistrust and anxiety, and he only claims
+its assistance when he is quite unable to shift without it. This
+habit may even be traced in the schools of the rising generation,
+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 every act of social life.  If a stoppage occurs in a
+thoroughfare, and the circulation of the public is hindered, the
+neighbors immediately constitute a deliberative body; and this
+extemporaneous assembly gives rise to an executive power which
+remedies the inconvenience before anybody has thought of
+recurring to an authority superior to that of the persons
+immediately concerned.  If the public pleasures are concerned, an
+association is formed to provide for the splendor and the
+regularity of the entertainment.  Societies are formed to resist
+enemies which are exclusively of a moral nature, and to diminish
+the vice of intemperance: in the United States associations are
+established to promote public order, commerce, industry,
+morality, and religion; for there is no end which the human will,
+seconded by the collective exertions of individuals, despairs of
+attaining.
+
+I shall hereafter have occasion to show the effects of
+association upon the course of society, and I must confine myself
+for the present to the political world.  When once the right of
+association is recognized, the citizens may employ it in several
+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 the spread of those
+doctrines by their exertions.  The right of association with
+these views is very analogous to the liberty of unlicensed
+writing; but societies thus formed possess more authority than
+the press.  When an opinion is represented by a society, it
+necessarily assumes a more exact and explicit form.  It numbers
+its partisans, and compromises their welfare in its cause: they,
+on the other hand, become acquainted with each other, and their
+zeal is increased by their number.  An association unites the
+efforts of minds which have a tendency to diverge in one single
+channel, and urges them vigorously towards one single end which
+it points out.
+
+The second degree in the right of association 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 influence extended.  Men have the
+opportunity of seeing each other; means of execution are more
+readily combined, and opinions are maintained with a degree of
+warmth and energy which written language cannot approach.
+
+Lastly, in the exercise of the right of political
+association, there is a third degree: the partisans of an opinion
+may unite in electoral bodies, and choose delegates to represent
+them in a central assembly.  This is, properly speaking, 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 only represent a fraction
+of the party.  Lastly, in the third case, they constitute a
+separate nation in the midst of the nation, a government within
+the Government.  Their delegates, like the real delegates of the
+majority, represent the entire collective force of their party;
+and they enjoy a certain degree of that national dignity and
+great influence which belong to the chosen representatives of the
+people.  It is true that they have not the right of making the
+laws, but they have the power of attacking those which are in
+being, and of drawing up beforehand those which they may
+afterwards cause to be adopted.
+
+If, in a people which is imperfectly accustomed to the
+exercise of freedom, or which is exposed to violent political
+passions, a deliberating minority, which confines itself to the
+contemplation of future laws, be placed in juxtaposition to the
+legislative majority, I cannot but believe that public
+tranquillity incurs very great risks in that nation.  There is
+doubtless a very 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 imagination of the
+populace is very apt to overlook this difference, which is so
+apparent to the minds of thinking men.  It sometimes happens that
+a nation is divided into two nearly equal parties, each of which
+affects to represent the majority.  If, in immediate contiguity
+to the directing power, another power be established, which
+exercises almost as much moral authority as the former, it is not
+to be believed that it will long be content to speak without
+acting; or that it will always be restrained by the abstract
+consideration of the nature of associations which are meant to
+direct but not to enforce opinions, to suggest but not to make
+the laws.
+
+The more we consider the independence of the press in its
+principal consequences, the more are we convinced that it is the
+chief and, so to speak, the constitutive element of freedom in
+the modern world.  A nation which is determined to remain free is
+therefore right in demanding the unrestrained exercise of this
+independence.  But the unrestrained liberty of political
+association cannot be entirely assimilated to the liberty of the
+press.  The one is at the same time less necessary and more
+dangerous than the other.  A nation may confine it within certain
+limits without forfeiting any part of its self-control; and it
+may sometimes be obliged to do so in order to maintain its own
+authority.
+
+In America the liberty of association for political purposes
+is unbounded.  An example will show in the clearest light to what
+an extent this privilege is tolerated.
+
+The question of the tariff, or of free trade, produced a
+great manifestation of party feeling in America; the tariff was
+not only a subject of debate as a matter of opinion, but it
+exercised a favorable or a prejudicial influence upon several
+very powerful interests of the States. The North attributed a
+great portion of its prosperity, and the South all its
+sufferings, to this system; insomuch that for a long time the
+tariff was the sole source of the political animosities which
+agitated the Union.
+
+In 1831, when the dispute was raging with the utmost
+virulence, a private citizen of Massachusetts proposed to all the
+enemies of the tariff, by means of the public prints, to send
+delegates to Philadelphia in order to consult together upon the
+means which were most fitted to promote freedom of trade. This
+proposal circulated in a few days from Maine to New Orleans by
+the power of the printing-press: the opponents of the tariff
+adopted it with enthusiasm; meetings were formed on all sides,
+and delegates were named.  The majority of these individuals were
+well known, and some of them had earned a considerable degree of
+celebrity.  South Carolina alone, which afterwards took up arms
+in the same cause, sent sixty-three delegates.  On October 1,
+1831, this assembly, which according to the American custom had
+taken the name of a Convention, met at Philadelphia; it consisted
+of more than two hundred members.  Its debates were public, and
+they at once assumed a legislative character; the extent of the
+powers of Congress, the theories of free trade, and the different
+clauses of the tariff, were discussed in turn. At the end of ten
+days' deliberation the Convention broke up, after having
+published an address to the American people, in which it
+declared:
+
+I. That Congress had not the right of making a tariff, and
+that the existing tariff was unconstitutional;
+
+II. That the prohibition of free trade was prejudicial to
+the interests of all nations, and to that of the American people
+in particular.
+
+It must be acknowledged that the unrestrained liberty of
+political association has not hitherto produced, in the United
+States, those fatal consequences which might perhaps be expected
+from it elsewhere.  The right of association was imported from
+England, and it has always existed in America; so that the
+exercise of this privilege is now amalgamated with the manners
+and customs of the people.  At the present time the liberty of
+association is become a necessary guarantee against the tyranny
+of the majority.  In the United States, as soon as a party is
+become preponderant, all public authority passes under its
+control; its private supporters occupy all the places, and have
+all the force of the administration at their disposal.  As the
+most distinguished partisans of the other side of the question
+are unable to surmount the obstacles which exclude them from
+power, they require some means of establishing themselves upon
+their own basis, and of opposing the moral authority of the
+minority to the physical power which domineers over it.  Thus a
+dangerous expedient is used to obviate a still more formidable
+danger.
+
+The omnipotence of the majority appears to me to present
+such extreme perils to the American Republics that the dangerous
+measure which is used to repress it seems to be more advantageous
+than prejudicial.  And here I am about to advance a proposition
+which may remind the reader of what I said before in speaking of
+municipal freedom: There are no countries in which associations
+are more needed, to prevent the despotism of faction or the
+arbitrary power of a prince, than those which are democratically
+constituted. In aristocratic nations the body of the nobles and
+the more opulent part of the community are in themselves natural
+associations, which act as checks upon the abuses of power.  In
+countries in which these associations do not exist, if private
+individuals are unable to create an artificial and a temporary
+substitute for them, I can imagine no permanent protection
+against the most galling tyranny; and a great people may be
+oppressed by a small faction, or by a single individual, with
+impunity.
+
+The meeting of a great political Convention (for there are
+Conventions of all kinds), which may frequently become a
+necessary measure, is always a serious occurrence, even in
+America, and one which is never looked forward to, by the
+judicious friends of the country, without alarm.  This was very
+perceptible in the Convention of 1831, at which the exertions of
+all the most distinguished members of the Assembly tended to
+moderate its language, and to restrain the subjects which it
+treated within certain limits.  It is probable, in fact, that the
+Convention of 1831 exercised a very great influence upon the
+minds of the malcontents, and prepared them for the open revolt
+against the commercial laws of the Union which took place in
+1832.
+
+It cannot be denied that the unrestrained liberty of
+association for political purposes is the privilege which a
+people is longest in learning 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 perilous
+liberty offers a security against dangers of another kind; in
+countries where associations are free, secret societies are
+unknown.  In America there are numerous factions, but no
+conspiracies.
+
+Different ways in which the right of association is
+understood in Europeand in the United States - Different
+use which is made of it.
+
+The most natural privilege of man, next to the right of
+acting for himself, is that of combining his exertions with those
+of his fellow-creatures, and of acting in common with them.  I am
+therefore led to conclude that the right of association is almost
+as inalienable as the right of personal liberty.  No legislator
+can attack it without impairing the very foundations of society. 
+Nevertheless, if the liberty of association is a fruitful source
+of advantages and prosperity to some nations, it may be perverted
+or carried to excess by others, and the element of life may be
+changed into an element of destruction.  A comparison of the
+different methods which associations pursue in those countries in
+which they are managed with discretion, as well as in those where
+liberty degenerates into license, may perhaps be thought useful
+both to governments and to parties.
+
+The greater part of Europeans look upon an 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 action prevails in the minds of those who constitute
+it: it is, in fact, an army; and the time given to parley serves
+to reckon up the strength and to animate the courage of the host,
+after which they direct their march against the enemy.  Resources
+which lie within the bounds of the law may suggest themselves to
+the persons who compose it as means, but never as the only means,
+of success.
+
+Such, however, is not the manner in which the right of
+association is understood in the United States.  In America the
+citizens who form the minority associate, in order, in the first
+place, to show their numerical strength, and so to diminish the
+moral authority of the majority; and, in the second place, to
+stimulate competition, and to discover those arguments which are
+most fitted to act upon the majority; for they always entertain
+hopes of drawing over their opponents to their own side, and of
+afterwards disposing of the supreme power in their name. 
+Political associations in the United States are therefore
+peaceable in their intentions, and strictly legal in the means
+which they employ; and they assert with perfect truth that they
+only aim at success by lawful expedients.
+
+The difference which exists between the Americans and
+ourselves depends on several causes.  In Europe there are
+numerous parties so diametrically opposed to the majority that
+they can never hope to acquire its support, and at the same time
+they think that they are sufficiently strong in themselves to
+struggle and to defend their cause.  When a party of this kind
+forms an association, its object is, not to conquer, but to
+fight.  In America the individuals who hold opinions very much
+opposed to those of the majority are no sort of impediment to its
+power, and all other parties hope to win it over to their own
+principles in the end.  The exercise of the right of association
+becomes dangerous in proportion to the impossibility which
+excludes great parties from acquiring the majority.  In a country
+like the United States, in which the differences of opinion are
+mere differences of hue, the right of association may remain
+unrestrained without evil consequences.  The inexperience of many
+of the European nations in the enjoyment of liberty leads them
+only to look upon the liberty of association as a right of
+attacking the Government.  The first notion which presents itself
+to a party, as well as to 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 only derived
+from experience.  The English, who are divided into parties which
+differ most essentially from each other, rarely abuse the right
+of association, 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
+defending it, at the risk of his life.
+
+But perhaps the most powerful of the causes which tend to
+mitigate the excesses of political association in the United
+States is Universal Suffrage. In countries in which universal
+suffrage exists the majority is never doubtful, because neither
+party can pretend to represent that portion of the community
+which has not voted.  The associations which are formed are
+aware, as well as the nation at large, that they do not represent
+the majority: this is, indeed, a condition inseparable from their
+existence; for if they did represent the preponderating power,
+they would change the law instead of soliciting its reform.  The
+consequence of this is that the moral influence of the Government
+which they attack is very much increased, and their own power is
+very much enfeebled. 
+
+In Europe there are few associations which do not affect to
+represent 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 measures.  Violence may seem to be excusable in
+defence of the cause of oppressed right.  Thus it is, in the vast
+labyrinth of human laws, that extreme liberty sometimes corrects
+the abuses of license, and that extreme democracy obviates the
+dangers of democratic government.  In Europe, associations
+consider themselves, in some degree, as the legislative and
+executive councils of the people, which is unable to speak for
+itself.  In America, where they only represent a minority of the
+nation, they argue and they petition.
+
+The means which the associations of Europe employ are in
+accordance with the end which they propose to obtain.  As the
+principal aim of these bodies is to act, and not to debate, to
+fight rather than to persuade, they are naturally led to adopt a
+form of organization which differs from the ordinary customs of
+civil bodies, and which assumes the habits and the maxims of
+military life.  They centralize the direction of their resources
+as much as possible, and they intrust the power of the whole
+party to a very small number of leaders.
+
+The members of these associations respond to a watchword,
+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 exercise is often far
+more insupportable than the authority possessed over society by
+the Government which they attack.  Their moral force is much
+diminished by these excesses, and they lose the powerful interest
+which is always excited by a struggle between oppressors and the
+oppressed.  The man who in given cases consents to obey his
+fellows with servility, and who submits his activity and even his
+opinions to their control, can have no claim to rank as a free
+citizen. 
+
+The Americans have also established certain forms of
+government which are applied to their associations, but these are
+invariably borrowed from the forms of the civil administration. 
+The independence of each individual is formally recognized; the
+tendency of the members of the association points, as it does in
+the body of the community, towards the same end, but they are not
+obliged to follow the same track.  No one abjures the exercise of
+his reason and his free will; but every one exerts that reason
+and that will for the benefit of a common undertaking.
+
+
+Chapter XIII: Government Of The Democracy In America - Part I 
+I am well aware of the difficulties which attend this part
+of my subject, but although every expression which I am about to
+make use of may clash, upon some one point, with the feelings of
+the different parties which divide my country, I shall speak my
+opinion with the most perfect openness.
+
+In Europe we are at a loss how to judge the true character
+and the more permanent propensities of democracy, because in
+Europe two conflicting principles exist, and we do not know what
+to attribute to the principles themselves, and what to refer to
+the passions which they bring into collision. Such, however, is
+not the case in America; there the people reigns without any
+obstacle, and it has no perils to dread and no injuries to
+avenge.  In America, democracy is swayed by its own free
+propensities; its course is natural and its activity is
+unrestrained; the United States consequently afford the most
+favorable opportunity of studying its real character.  And to no
+people can this inquiry be more vitally interesting than to the
+French nation, which is blindly driven onwards by a daily and
+irresistible impulse towards a state of things which may prove
+either despotic or republican, but which will assuredly be
+democratic.
+
+Universal Suffrage
+
+I have already observed that universal suffrage has been
+adopted in all the States of the Union; it consequently occurs
+amongst different populations which occupy very different
+positions in the scale of society.  I have had opportunities of
+observing its effects in different localities, and amongst races
+of men who are nearly strangers to each other by their language,
+their religion, and their manner of life; in Louisiana as well as
+in New England, in Georgia and in Canada.  I have remarked that
+Universal Suffrage is far from producing in America either all
+the good or all the evil consequences which are assigned to it in
+Europe, and that its effects differ very widely from those which
+are usually attributed to it.
+
+Choice Of The People, And Instinctive Preferences Of The American
+Democracy
+
+In the United States the most able 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 sentiment - For what
+reason the most distinguished men in America frequently seclude
+themselves from public affairs.
+
+Many people in Europe are apt to believe without saying it,
+or to say without believing it, that one of the great advantages
+of universal suffrage is, that it entrusts the direction of
+public affairs to men who are worthy of the public confidence. 
+They admit that the people is unable to govern for itself, but
+they aver that it is always sincerely disposed to promote the
+welfare of the State, and that it instinctively designates those
+persons 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 coincide 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
+well-authenticated fact, that at the present day the most able
+men in the United States are very rarely placed at the head of
+affairs; and it must be acknowledged that such has been the
+result in proportion as democracy has outstepped all its former
+limits. The race of American statesmen has evidently dwindled
+most remarkably in the course of the last fifty years. 
+
+Several causes may be assigned to this phenomenon.  It is
+impossible, notwithstanding the most strenuous exertions, to
+raise the intelligence of the people above a certain level. 
+Whatever may be the facilities of acquiring information, whatever
+may be the profusion of easy methods and of cheap science, the
+human mind can never be instructed and educated without devoting
+a considerable space of time to those objects.
+
+The greater or the lesser possibility of subsisting without
+labor is therefore the necessary boundary of intellectual
+improvement.  This boundary is more remote in some countries and
+more restricted in others; but it must exist somewhere as long as
+the people is constrained to work in order to procure the means
+of physical subsistence, that is to say, as long as it retains
+its popular character.  It is therefore quite as difficult to
+imagine a State in which all the citizens should be very well
+informed as a State in which they should all be wealthy; these
+two difficulties may be looked upon as correlative.  It may very
+readily be admitted that the mass of the citizens are sincerely
+disposed to promote the welfare of their country; nay more, it
+may even be allowed that the lower classes are less apt to be
+swayed by considerations of personal interest than the higher
+orders: but it is always more or less impossible for them to
+discern the best means of attaining the end which they desire
+with sincerity.  Long and patient observation, joined to a
+multitude of different notions, is required to form a just
+estimate of the character of a single individual; and can it be
+supposed that the vulgar have the power of succeeding in an
+inquiry which misleads the penetration of genius itself?  The
+people has neither the time nor the means which are essential to
+the prosecution of an investigation of this kind: its conclusions
+are hastily formed from a superficial inspection of the more
+prominent features of a question.  Hence it often assents to the
+clamor of a mountebank who knows the secret of stimulating its
+tastes, while its truest friends frequently fail in their
+exertions.
+
+Moreover, the democracy is not only deficient in that
+soundness of judgment which is necessary to select men really
+deserving of its confidence, but it has neither the desire nor
+the inclination to find them out.  It cannot be denied that
+democratic institutions have a very strong tendency to promote
+the feeling of envy in the human heart; not so much because they
+afford to every one the means of rising to the level of any of
+his fellow-citizens, as because those means perpetually
+disappoint the persons who employ 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 at which it thinks to hold it fast, and
+"flies," as Pascal says, "with eternal flight"; the people is
+excited in the pursuit of an advantage, which is more precious
+because it is not sufficiently 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 disappointment.
+Whatever transcends their own limits appears to be an obstacle to
+their desires, and there is no kind of superiority, however
+legitimate 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 possible
+from the direction of public affairs is peculiar to France. 
+This, however, is an error; the propensity to which I allude is
+not inherent in any particular nation, but in democratic
+institutions in general; and although it may have been heightened
+by peculiar political circumstances, it owes its origin to a
+higher cause.
+
+In the United States the people is not disposed to hate the
+superior classes of society; but it is not very favorably
+inclined towards them, and it carefully excludes them from the
+exercise of authority.  It does not entertain any dread of
+distinguished talents, but it is rarely captivated by them; and
+it awards its approbation very sparingly to such as have risen
+without the popular support.
+
+Whilst the natural propensities of democracy induce the
+people to reject the most distinguished citizens as its rulers,
+these individuals are no less apt to retire from a political
+career in which it is almost impossible to retain their
+independence, or to advance without degrading themselves.  This
+opinion has been very candidly set forth by Chancellor Kent, who
+says, in speaking with great eulogiums of that part of the
+Constitution which empowers the Executive to nominate the judges:
+"It is indeed probable that the men who are best fitted to
+discharge the duties of this high office would have too much
+reserve in their manners, and too much austerity in their
+principles, 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 1830!
+
+I hold it to be sufficiently demonstrated that universal
+suffrage is by no means a guarantee of the wisdom of the popular
+choice, and that, whatever its advantages may be, this is not one
+of them.
+
+
+Causes Which May Partly Correct These Tendencies Of The Democracy 
+Contrary effects produced on peoples as well as on individuals by
+great dangers - Why so many distinguished men stood at the head
+of affairs in America fifty years ago - Influence which the
+intelligence and the manners of the people exercise upon its
+choice - Example of New England - States of the Southwest -
+Influence of certain laws upon the choice of the people -
+Election by an elected body - Its effects upon the composition of
+the Senate.
+
+When a State is threatened by serious dangers, the people
+frequently succeeds in selecting the citizens who are the most
+able to save it.  It has been observed that man rarely retains
+his customary level in presence of very critical circumstances;
+he rises above or he sinks below his usual condition, and the
+same thing occurs in nations at large.  Extreme perils sometimes
+quench the energy of a people instead of stimulating it; they
+excite without directing its passions, and instead of clearing
+they confuse its powers of perception.  The Jews deluged the
+smoking ruins of their temple with the carnage of the remnant of
+their host.  But it is more common, both in the case of nations
+and in that of individuals, to find extraordinary virtues arising
+from the very imminence of the danger.  Great characters are then
+thrown into relief, as edifices which are concealed by the gloom
+of night are illuminated by the glare of a conflagration.  At
+those dangerous times genius no longer abstains from presenting
+itself in the arena; and the people, alarmed by the perils of its
+situation, buries its envious passions in a short oblivion. Great
+names may then be drawn from the balloting-box.
+
+I have already observed that the American statesmen of the
+present day are very inferior to those who stood at the head of
+affairs fifty years ago. This is as much a consequence of the
+circumstances as of the laws of the country.  When America was
+struggling in the high cause of independence to throw off the
+yoke of another country, and when it was about to usher a new
+nation into the world, the spirits of its inhabitants were roused
+to the height which their great efforts required.  In this
+general excitement the most distinguished men were ready to
+forestall the wants of the community, and the people clung to
+them for support, and placed them at its head.  But events of
+this magnitude are rare, and it is from an inspection of the
+ordinary course of affairs that our judgment must be formed.
+
+If passing occurrences sometimes act as checks upon the
+passions of democracy, the intelligence and the manners of the
+community exercise an influence which is not less powerful and
+far more permanent.  This is extremely perceptible in the United
+States.
+
+In New England the education and the liberties of the
+communities were engendered by the moral and religious principles
+of their founders.  Where society has acquired a sufficient
+degree of stability to enable it to hold certain maxims and to
+retain fixed habits, the lower orders are accustomed to respect
+intellectual superiority and to submit to it without complaint,
+although they set at naught all those privileges which wealth and
+birth have introduced among mankind.  The democracy in New
+England consequently makes a more judicious choice than it does
+elsewhere. 
+
+But as we descend towards the South, to those States in
+which the constitution of society is more modern and less strong,
+where instruction is less general, and where the principles of
+morality, of religion, and of liberty are less happily combined,
+we perceive that the talents and the virtues of those who are in
+authority become more and more rare.
+
+Lastly, when we arrive at the new South-western States, in
+which the constitution of society dates but from yesterday, and
+presents an agglomeration of adventurers and speculators, we are
+amazed at the persons who are invested with public authority, and
+we are led to ask by what force, independent of the legislation
+and of the men who direct it, the State can be protected, and
+society be made to flourish.
+
+There are certain laws of a democratic nature which
+contribute, nevertheless, to correct, in some measure, the
+dangerous tendencies of democracy.  On entering the House of
+Representatives of Washington one is struck by the vulgar
+demeanor of that great assembly.  The eye frequently does not
+discover a man of celebrity within its walls.  Its members are
+almost all obscure individuals whose names present no
+associations to the mind: they are mostly village 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 representatives of the people do not always know how to write
+correctly.
+
+At a few yards' distance from this spot 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
+perceived in it who does not recall the idea of an active and
+illustrious career: the Senate is composed of eloquent advocates,
+distinguished generals, wise magistrates, and statesmen of note,
+whose language would at all times do honor to the most remarkable
+parliamentary debates of Europe.
+
+What then is the cause of this strange contrast, and why are
+the most able citizens to be found in one assembly rather than in
+the other?  Why is the former body remarkable for its vulgarity
+and its poverty of talent, whilst the latter seems to enjoy a
+monopoly of intelligence and of sound judgment? Both of these
+assemblies emanate from the people; both of them are chosen by
+universal suffrage; and no voice has hitherto been heard to
+assert in America that the Senate is hostile to the interests of
+the people.  From what cause, then, does so startling a
+difference arise?  The only reason which appears to me adequately
+to account for it is, that the House of Representatives is
+elected by the populace directly, and that the Senate is elected
+by elected bodies.  The whole body of the citizens names the
+legislature of each State, and the Federal Constitution converts
+these legislatures into so many electoral bodies, which return
+the members of the Senate.  The senators are elected by an
+indirect application of universal suffrage; for the legislatures
+which name them are not aristocratic or privileged bodies which
+exercise the electoral franchise in their own right; but they are
+chosen by the totality of the citizens; they are generally
+elected every year, and new members may constantly be chosen who
+will employ their electoral rights in conformity with the wishes
+of the public.  But this transmission of the popular authority
+through an assembly of chosen men operates an important change in
+it, by refining its discretion and improving the forms which it
+adopts.  Men who are chosen in this manner accurately represent
+the majority of the nation which governs them; but they represent
+the elevated thoughts which are current in the community, the
+propensities which prompt its nobler actions, rather than the
+petty passions which disturb or the vices which disgrace it.
+
+The time may be already anticipated at which the American
+Republics will be obliged to introduce the plan of election by an
+elected body more frequently into their system of representation,
+or they will incur no small risk of perishing miserably amongst
+the shoals of democracy.
+
+And here I have no scruple in confessing that I look upon
+this peculiar system of election as the only means of bringing
+the exercise of political power to the level of all classes of
+the people.  Those thinkers who regard this institution as the
+exclusive weapon of a party, and those who fear, on the other
+hand, to make use of it, seem to me to fall into as great an
+error in the one case as in the other.
+
+Influence Which The American Democracy Has Exercised On The Laws
+Relating To Elections
+
+When elections are rare, they expose the State to a violent
+crisis - When they are frequent, they keep up a degree of
+feverish excitement - The Americans have preferred the second of
+these two evils - Mutability of the laws -Opinions of Hamilton
+and Jefferson on this subject.
+
+When elections recur at long intervals the State is exposed
+to violent agitation every time they take place.  Parties exert
+themselves to the utmost in order to gain a prize which is so
+rarely within their reach; and as the evil is almost irremediable
+for the candidates who fail, the consequences of their
+disappointed ambition may prove most disastrous; if, on the other
+hand, the legal struggle can be repeated within a short space of
+time, the defeated parties take patience.  When elections occur
+frequently, their recurrence keeps society in a perpetual state
+of feverish excitement, and imparts a continual instability to
+public affairs. 
+
+
+Thus, on the one hand the State is exposed to the perils of
+a revolution, on the other to perpetual mutability; the former
+system threatens the very existence of the Government, the latter
+is an obstacle to all steady and consistent policy.  The
+Americans have preferred the second of these evils to the first;
+but they were led to this conclusion by their instinct much more
+than by their reason; for a taste for variety is one of the
+characteristic passions of democracy.  An extraordinary
+mutability has, by this means, been introduced into their
+legislation.  Many of the Americans consider the instability of
+their laws as a necessary consequence of a system whose general
+results are beneficial.  But no one in the United States affects
+to deny the fact of this instability, or to contend that it is
+not a great evil.
+
+Hamilton, after having demonstrated the utility of a power
+which might prevent, or which might at least impede, the
+promulgation of bad laws, adds: "It might perhaps be said that
+the power of preventing bad laws includes that of preventing good
+ones, and may be used to the one purpose as well as to the other. 
+But this objection will have little weight with those who can
+properly estimate the mischiefs of that inconstancy and
+mutability in the laws which form the greatest blemish in the
+character and genius of our governments." (Federalist, No. 73.)
+And again in No. 62 of the same work he observes: "The facility
+and excess of law-making seem to be the diseases to which our
+governments are most liable. . . . The mischievous effects of the
+mutability in the public councils arising from a rapid succession
+of new members would fill a volume: every new election in the
+States is found to change one-half of the representatives.  From
+this change of men must proceed a change of opinions and of
+measures, which forfeits the respect and confidence of other
+nations, poisons the blessings of liberty itself, and diminishes
+the attachment and reverence of the people toward a political
+system which betrays so many marks of infirmity." 
+
+Jefferson himself, the greatest Democrat whom the democracy
+of America has yet produced, pointed out the same evils.  "The
+instability of our laws," said he in a letter to Madison, "is
+really a very serious inconvenience.  I think that we ought to
+have obviated it by deciding that a whole year should always be
+allowed to elapse between the bringing in of a bill and the final
+passing of it.  It should afterward be discussed and put to the
+vote without the possibility of making any alteration in it; and
+if the circumstances of the case required a more speedy decision,
+the question should not be decided by a simple majority, but by a
+majority of at least two-thirds of both houses."
+
+Public Officers Under The Control Of The Democracy In America 
+Simple exterior of the American public officers - No official
+costume - All public officers are remunerated - Political
+consequences of this system - No public career exists in America
+- Result of this.
+
+Public officers in the United States are commingled with the
+crowd of citizens; they have neither palaces, nor guards, nor
+ceremonial costumes. This simple exterior of the persons in
+authority is connected not only with the peculiarities of the
+American character, but with the fundamental principles of that
+society.  In the estimation of the democracy a government is not
+a benefit, but a necessary evil.  A certain degree of power must
+be granted to public officers, for they would be of no use
+without it.  But the ostensible semblance of authority is by no
+means indispensable to the conduct of affairs, and it is
+needlessly offensive to the susceptibility of the public.  The
+public officers themselves are well aware that they only enjoy
+the superiority over their fellow-citizens which they derive from
+their authority upon condition of putting themselves on a level
+with the whole community by their manners.  A public officer in
+the United States is uniformly civil, accessible to all the
+world, attentive to all requests, and obliging in his replies.  I
+was pleased by these characteristics of a democratic government;
+and I was struck by the manly independence of the citizens, who
+respect the office more than the officer, and who are less
+attached to the emblems of authority than to the man who bears
+them.
+
+I am inclined to believe that the influence which costumes
+really exercise, 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 he was in the discharge
+of his duties because his own merit was set off by no
+adventitious signs.  On the other hand, it is very doubtful
+whether a peculiar dress contributes to the respect which public
+characters ought to have for their own position, at least when
+they are not otherwise inclined to respect it.  When a magistrate
+(and in France such instances are not rare) indulges his trivial
+wit at the expense of the prisoner, or derides the predicament in
+which a culprit is placed, it would be well to deprive him of his
+robes of office, to see whether he would recall some portion 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
+magisterial pomp, 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 are
+distinct from the individual: but if public officers are not
+uniformly remunerated by the State, the public charges must be
+entrusted to men of opulence and independence, who constitute the
+basis of an aristocracy; 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 renders offices
+which had formerly been remunerated gratuitous, it may safely be
+believed that the State is advancing to monarchical institutions;
+and when a monarchy begins to remunerate such officers as had
+hitherto been unpaid, it is a sure sign that it is approaching
+toward a despotic or a republican form of government. The
+substitution of paid for unpaid functionaries is of itself, in my
+opinion, sufficient to constitute a serious revolution.
+
+I look upon the entire absence of gratuitous functionaries
+in America as one of the most prominent signs of the absolute
+dominion which democracy exercises in that country.  All public
+services, of whatsoever nature they may be, are paid; so that
+every one has not merely the right, but also the means of
+performing them.  Although, in democratic States, all the
+citizens are qualified to occupy stations in the Government, all
+are not tempted to try for them.  The number and the capacities
+of the candidates are more apt to restrict the choice of electors
+than the coneitions of the candidateship.
+
+In nations in which the principle of election extends to
+every place in the State no political career can, properly
+speaking, be said to exist.  Men are promoted as if by chance to
+the rank which they enjoy, and they are by no means sure of
+retaining it.  The consequence is that in tranquil times public
+functions offer but few lures to ambition.  In the United States
+the persons who engage in the perplexities of political life are
+individuals of very moderate pretensions.  The pursuit of wealth
+generally diverts men of great talents and of great passions from
+the pursuit of power, and it very frequently happens that a man
+does not undertake to direct the fortune of the State until he
+has discovered his incompetence to conduct his own affairs. The
+vast number of very ordinary men who occupy public stations is
+quite as attributable to these causes as to the bad choice of the
+democracy.  In the United States, I am not sure that the people
+would return the men of superior abilities who might solicit its
+support, but it is certain that men of this description do not
+come forward.
+
+Arbitrary Power Of Magistrates Under The Rule Of The American
+Democracy
+
+For what reason the arbitrary power of Magistrates is greater in
+absolute monarchies and in democratic republics than it is in
+limited monarchies -Arbitrary power of the Magistrates in New
+England.
+
+In two different kinds of government the magistrates *a
+exercise a considerable degree of arbitrary power; namely, under
+the absolute government of a single individual, and under that of
+a democracy.  This identical result proceeds from causes which
+are nearly analogous.
+
+[Footnote a: I here use the word magistrates in the widest sense
+in which it can be taken; I apply it to all the officers to whom
+the execution of the laws is intrusted.]
+
+In despotic States the fortune of no citizen is secure; and
+public officers are not more safe than private individuals.  The
+sovereign, who has under his control the lives, the property, and
+sometimes the honor of the men whom he employs, does not scruple
+to allow them a great latitude of action, because he is convinced
+that they will not use it to his prejudice.  In despotic States
+the sovereign is so attached to the exercise of his power, that
+he dislikes the constraint even of his own regulations; and he is
+well pleased that his agents should follow a somewhat fortuitous
+line of conduct, provided he be certain that their actions will
+never counteract his desires.
+
+In democracies, as the majority has every year the right of
+depriving the officers whom it has appointed of their power, it
+has no reason to fear any abuse of their authority.  As the
+people is always able to signify its wishes to those who conduct
+the Government, it prefers leaving them to make their own
+exertions to prescribing an invariable rule of conduct which
+would at once fetter their activity and the popular authority.
+
+It may even be observed, on attentive consideration, that
+under the rule of a democracy the arbitrary power of the
+magistrate must be still greater than in despotic States.  In the
+latter the sovereign has the power of punishing all the faults
+with which he becomes acquainted, but it would be vain for him to
+hope to become acquainted with all those which are committed. In
+the former the sovereign power is not only supreme, but it is
+universally present.  The American functionaries are, in point of
+fact, much more independent in the sphere of action which the law
+traces out for them than any public officer in Europe.  Very
+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 which is laid down to guide them in their
+choice is that they are to select citizens possessing the
+elective franchise and enjoying a fair reputation. *b In France
+the lives and liberties of the subjects would be thought to be in
+danger if a public officer of any kind was entrusted with so
+formidable a right.  In New England the same magistrates are
+empowered to post the names of habitual drunkards in
+public-houses, and to prohibit the inhabitants of a town from
+supplying them with liquor. *c A censorial power of this
+excessive kind would be revolting to the population of the most
+absolute monarchies; here, however, it is submitted to without
+difficulty.
+
+[Footnote b: See the Act of February 27, 1813.  "General
+Collection of the Laws of Massachusetts," vol. ii. p. 331.  It
+should be added that the jurors are afterwards drawn from these
+lists by lot.] 
+
+[Footnote c: See Act of February 28, 1787.  "General Collection
+of the Laws of Massachusetts," vol. i. p. 302.]
+
+Nowhere has so much been left by the law to the arbitrary
+determination of the magistrate as in democratic republics,
+because this arbitrary power is unattended by any alarming
+consequences.  It may even be asserted that the freedom of the
+magistrate increases as the elective franchise is extended, and
+as the duration of the time of office is shortened.  Hence arises
+the great difficulty which attends the conversion of a democratic
+republic into a monarchy.  The magistrate ceases to be elective,
+but he retains the rights and the habits of an elected officer,
+which lead directly to despotism.
+
+It is only in limited monarchies that the law, which
+prescribes the sphere in which public officers are to act,
+superintends all their measures. The cause of this may be easily
+detected.  In limited monarchies the power is divided between the
+King and the people, both of whom are interested in the stability
+of the magistrate.  The King does not venture to place the public
+officers under the control of the people, lest they should be
+tempted to betray his interests; on the other hand, the people
+fears lest the magistrates should serve to oppress the liberties
+of the country, if they were entirely dependent upon the Crown;
+they cannot therefore be said to depend on either one or the
+other.  The same cause which induces the king and the people to
+render public officers independent suggests the necessity of such
+securities as may prevent their independence from encroaching
+upon the authority of the former and the liberties of the latter. 
+They consequently agree as to the necessity of restricting the
+functionary to a line of conduct laid down beforehand, and they
+are interested in confining him by certain regulations which he
+cannot evade. 
+
+Chapter XIII: Government Of The Democarcy In America - Part II 
+Instability Of The Administration In The United States
+
+In America the public acts of a community frequently leave fewer
+traces than the occurrences of a family - Newspapers the only
+historical remains -Instability of the administration prejudicial
+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 occurrences of a private
+family.  The public administration is, so to speak, oral and
+traditionary.  But little is committed to writing, and that
+little is wafted away forever, like the leaves of the Sibyl, by
+the smallest breeze.
+
+The only historical remains in the United States are the
+newspapers; but 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 concerning the social condition of the
+Americans at the present day than it is to find remains of the
+administration of France during the Middle Ages; and if the
+United States were ever invaded by barbarians, it would be
+necessary to have recourse to the history of other nations in
+order to learn anything of the people which now inhabits them.
+
+The instability of the administration has penetrated into
+the habits of the people: it even appears to suit the general
+taste, and no one cares for what occurred before his time.  No
+methodical system is pursued; no archives are formed; and no
+documents are brought together when it would be very easy to do
+so.  Where they exist, little store is set upon them; and I have
+amongst my papers several original public documents which were
+given to me in answer to some of my inquiries.  In America
+society seems to live from hand to mouth, like an army in the
+field.  Nevertheless, the art of administration may undoubtedly
+be ranked as a science, and no sciences can be improved 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 fixed proposition; and mankind gathers the fruits of
+individual experience upon its way and gradually forms the
+sciences.  But the persons who conduct the administration in
+America can seldom afford any instruction to each other; and when
+they assume the direction of society, they simply possess those
+attainments which are most widely disseminated in the community,
+and no experience peculiar to themselves.  Democracy, carried 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 an administration than to a
+nation which is uninitiated in public affairs.
+
+This remark, indeed, is not exclusively applicable to the
+science of administration.  Although a democratic government is
+founded upon a very simple and natural principle, it always
+presupposes the existence of a high degree of culture and
+enlightenment in society. *d At the first glance it may be
+imagined 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.
+
+[Footnote d: It is needless to observe that I speak here of the
+democratic form of government as applied to a people, not merely
+to a tribe.]
+
+Charges Levied By The State Under The Rule Of The American
+Democracy
+
+In all communities citizens divisible into three classes - Habits
+of each of these classes in the direction of public finances -
+Why public expenditure must tend to increase when the people
+governs - What renders the extravagance of a democracy less to be
+feared in America - Public expenditure under a democracy.
+
+Before we can affirm whether a democratic form of government
+is economical or not, we must establish a suitable standard of
+comparison.  The question would be one of easy solution if we
+were to attempt to draw a parallel between a democratic republic
+and an absolute monarchy.  The public expenditure would be found
+to be more considerable under the former than under the latter;
+such is the case with all free States compared to those which are
+not so.  It is certain that despotism ruins individuals by
+preventing them from producing wealth, much more than by
+depriving them of the wealth they have produced; it dries up the
+source of riches, whilst it usually respects acquired property. 
+Freedom, on the contrary, engenders far more benefits than it
+destroys; and the nations which are favored by free institutions
+invariably find that their resources increase even more rapidly
+than their taxes.
+
+My present object is to compare free nations to each other,
+and to point out the influence of democracy upon the finances of
+a State.
+
+Communities, as well as organic bodies, are subject to
+certain fixed rules in their formation which they cannot evade. 
+They are composed of certain elements which are common to them at
+all times and under all circumstances.  The people may always be
+mentally divided into three distinct classes.  The first of these
+classes consists of the wealthy; the second, of those who are in
+easy circumstances; and the third is composed of those who have
+little or no property, and who subsist more especially by the
+work which they perform for the two superior orders.  The
+proportion of the individuals who are included in these three
+divisions may vary according to the condition of society, but the
+divisions themselves can never be obliterated.
+
+It is evident that each of these classes will exercise an
+influence peculiar to its own propensities upon the
+administration 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 tend to diminish
+the sum of superfluous enjoyment, and are, in point of fact, but
+little felt. If the second class has the power of making the
+laws, it will certainly not be lavish of taxes, because nothing
+is so onerous as a large impost which is levied upon a small
+income. The government of the middle classes appears to me to be
+the most economical, though perhaps not the most enlightened, and
+certainly not the most generous, of free governments.
+
+But let us now suppose that the legislative authority is
+vested in the lowest orders: there are two striking reasons which
+show that the tendency of the expenditure will be to increase,
+not to diminish.  As the great majority of those who create the
+laws are possessed of no property upon which taxes can be
+imposed, all the money which is spent for the community appears
+to be spent to their advantage, at no cost of their own; and
+those who are possessed of some little property readily find
+means of regulating the taxes so that they are burdensome to the
+wealthy and profitable to the poor, although the rich are unable
+to take the same advantage when they are in possession of the
+Government.
+
+In countries in which the poor *e should be exclusively
+invested with the power of making the laws no great economy of
+public expenditure ought to be expected: that expenditure will
+always be considerable; either because the taxes do not weigh
+upon those who levy them, or because they are levied in such a
+manner as not to weigh upon those classes.  In other words, the
+government of the democracy is the only one under which the power
+which lays on taxes escapes the payment of them.
+
+[Footnote e: The word poor is used here, and throughout the
+remainder of this chapter, 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 with propriety by styled
+poor in comparison with their more affluent countrymen.]
+
+It may be objected (but the argument has no real weight)
+that the true interest of the people is indissolubly connected
+with that of the wealthier portion of the community, since it
+cannot but suffer by the severe measures to which it resorts. 
+But is it not the true interest of kings to render their subjects
+happy, and the true interest of nobles to admit recruits into
+their order on suitable grounds?  If remote advantages had power
+to prevail over the passions and the exigencies of the moment, no
+such thing as a tyrannical sovereign or an exclusive aristocracy
+could ever exist. 
+
+Again, it may be objected that the poor are never invested
+with the sole power of making the laws; but I reply, that
+wherever universal suffrage has been established the majority of
+the community unquestionably exercises the legislative authority;
+and if it be proved that the poor always constitute the majority,
+it may be added, with perfect truth, that in the countries in
+which they possess the elective franchise they possess the sole
+power of making laws.  But it is certain that in all the nations
+of the world the greater number has 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 an easy subsistence.  Universal suffrage does
+therefore, in point of fact, invest the poor with the government
+of society.
+
+The disastrous influence which popular authority may
+sometimes exercise upon the finances of a State was very 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 the games and theatrical amusements of the
+populace.  It is true that the representative system was then
+very imperfectly known, and that, at the present time, the
+influence of popular passion is less felt in the conduct of
+public affairs; but it may be believed that the delegate will in
+the end conform to the principles of his constituents, and favor
+their propensities as much as their interests.
+
+The extravagance of democracy is, however, less to be
+dreaded in proportion as the people acquires 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 lay on
+taxes which do not affect the interests of the lower classes.  On
+this account universal suffrage would be less dangerous in France
+than in England, because in the latter country the property on
+which taxes may be levied is vested in fewer hands.  America,
+where the great majority of the citizens possess some fortune, is
+in a still more favorable position than France.
+
+There are still further causes which may increase the sum of
+public expenditure in democratic countries.  When the aristocracy
+governs, the individuals who conduct the affairs of State are
+exempted by their own station in society from every kind of
+privation; they are contented with their position; power and
+renown are the objects for which they strive; and, as they are
+placed far above the obscurer throng of citizens, they do not
+always distinctly perceive how the well-being of the mass of the
+people ought to redound to their own honor.  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 its lot, the rulers
+are satisfied, and they demand nothing further from the
+Government.  An aristocracy is more intent upon the means of
+maintaining its influence than upon the means of improving its
+condition.
+
+When, on the contrary, the people is invested with the
+supreme authority, the perpetual sense of their own miseries
+impels the rulers of society to seek for perpetual ameliorations. 
+A thousand different objects are subjected to improvement; the
+most trivial details are sought out as susceptible of amendment;
+and those changes which are accompanied with considerable expense
+are more especially advocated, since the object is to render the
+condition of the poor more tolerable, who cannot pay for
+themselves. 
+
+Moreover, all democratic communities are agitated by an ill-
+defined excitement and by a kind of feverish impatience, that
+engender a multitude of innovations, almost all of which are
+attended with expense.
+
+In monarchies and aristocracies the natural taste which the
+rulers have for power and for renown is stimulated by the
+promptings of ambition, and they are frequently incited by these
+temptations to very costly undertakings. In democracies, where
+the rulers labor under privations, they can only be courted by
+such means as improve their well-being, and these improvements
+cannot take place without a sacrifice of money.  When a people
+begins to reflect upon its situation, it discovers a multitude of
+wants to which it had not before been subject, and to satisfy
+these exigencies recourse must be had to the coffers of the
+State.  Hence it arises that the public charges increase in
+proportion as civilization spreads, and that imposts are
+augmented as knowledge pervades the community.
+
+The last cause which frequently renders a democratic
+government dearer than any other is, that a democracy does not
+always succeed in moderating its expenditure, because it does not
+understand the art of being economical.  As the designs which it
+entertains are frequently changed, and the agents of those
+designs are still more frequently removed, 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
+proposes to accomplish; in the second, the expense itself is
+unprofitable. *f 
+
+[Footnote f: The gross receipts of the Treasury of the United
+States in 1832 were about $28,000,000; in 1870 they had risen to
+$411,000,000.  The gross expenditure in 1832 was $30,000,000; in
+1870, $309,000,000.]
+
+Tendencies Of The American Democracy As Regards The Salaries Of
+Public Officers
+
+In the democracies those who establish high salaries have no
+chance of profiting by them - Tendency of the American democracy
+to increase the salaries of subordinate officers and to lower
+those of the more important 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 democracies
+to economize upon the salaries of public officers.  As the number
+of citizens who dispense the remuneration is extremely large in
+democratic countries, so the number of persons who can hope to be
+benefited by the receipt of it is comparatively small.  In
+aristocratic countries, on the contrary, the individuals who fix
+high salaries have almost always a vague hope of profiting by
+them.  These appointments may be looked upon as a capital which
+they create for their own use, or at least as a resource for
+their children.
+
+It must, however, be allowed that a democratic State is most
+parsimonious towards its principal agents.  In America the
+secondary officers are much better paid, and the dignitaries of
+the administration much worse, than they are elsewhere.
+
+These opposite effects result from the same cause; the
+people fixes the salaries of the public officers in both cases;
+and the scale of remuneration is determined by the consideration
+of its own wants.  It is held to be fair that the servants of the
+public should be placed in the same easy circumstances as the
+public itself; *g but when the question turns upon the salaries
+of the great officers of State, this rule fails, and chance alone
+can guide the popular decision.  The poor have no adequate
+conception of the wants which the higher classes of society may
+feel.  The sum which is scanty to the rich appears enormous to
+the poor man whose wants do not extend beyond the necessaries of
+life; and in his estimation the Governor of a State, with his
+twelve or fifteen hundred dollars a year, is a very fortunate and
+enviable being. *h If you undertake to convince him that the
+representative of a great people ought to be able to maintain
+some show of splendor in the eyes of foreign nations, he will
+perhaps assent to your meaning; but when he reflects on his own
+humble dwelling, and on the hard- earned produce of his wearisome
+toil, he remembers all that he could do with a salary which you
+say is insufficient, and he is startled or almost frightened at
+the sight of such uncommon wealth.  Besides, the secondary public
+officer is almost on a level with the people, whilst the others
+are raised above it.  The former may therefore excite his
+interest, but the latter begins to arouse his envy.
+
+[Footnote g: The 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.  The country is in the position of a commercial
+undertaking, which is obliged to sustain an expensive
+competition, notwithstanding its tastes for economy.]
+
+[Footnote h: The State of Ohio, which contains a million of
+inhabitants, gives its Governor a salary of only $1,200 a year.] 
+
+This is very clearly seen in the United States, where the
+salaries seem to decrease as the authority of those who receive
+them augments *i
+
+[Footnote i: To render this assertion perfectly evident, it will
+suffice to examine the scale of salaries of the agents of the
+Federal Government.  I have added the salaries attached to the
+corresponding officers in France under the constitutional
+monarchy to complete the comparison.
+
+    United States
+    Treasury Department
+Messenger ............................   $700
+Clerk with lowest salary .............  1,000
+Clerk with highest salary ............  1,600
+Chief Clerk ..........................  2,000
+Secretary of State ...................  6,000
+The President ........................ 25,000
+
+France
+Ministere des Finances
+Hussier ........................... 1,500 fr.
+Clerk with lowest salary,  1,000 to 1,800 fr.
+Clerk with highest salary  3,200 to 8,600 fr.
+Secretaire-general ................20,000 fr.
+The Minister ......................80,000 fr.
+The King ......................12,000,000 fr.
+
+I have perhaps done wrong in selecting France as my standard
+of comparison.  In France the democratic tendencies of the nation
+exercise an ever-increasing influence upon the Government, and
+the Chambers show a disposition 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-generaux of Finance, who then received
+50,000 fr. now receive only 20,000 fr.  [This comparison is based
+on the state of things existing in France and the United States
+in 1831.  It has since materially altered in both countries, but
+not so much as to impugn the truth of the author's observation.]]
+
+Under the rule of an aristocracy it frequently happens, on
+the contrary, that whilst the high officers are receiving
+munificent salaries, the inferior ones have not more than enough
+to procure the necessaries of life.  The reason of this fact is
+easily discoverable from causes very analogous to those to which
+I have just alluded.  If a democracy is unable to conceive the
+pleasures of the rich or to witness them without envy, an
+aristocracy is slow to understand, or, to speak more correctly,
+is unacquainted with, the privations of the poor.  The poor man
+is not (if we use the term aright) the fellow of the rich one;
+but he is a being of another species.  An aristocracy is
+therefore apt to care but little for the fate of its subordinate
+agents; and their salaries are only raised when they refuse to
+perform their service for too scanty a remuneration.
+
+It is the parsimonious conduct of democracy towards its
+principal officers which has countenanced a supposition of far
+more economical propensities than any which it really possesses. 
+It is true that it scarcely allows the means of honorable
+subsistence to the individuals who conduct its affairs; but
+enormous sums are lavished to meet the exigencies or to
+facilitate the enjoyments of the people. *j The money raised by
+taxation may be better employed, but it is not saved.  In
+general, democracy gives largely to the community, and very
+sparingly to those who govern it.  The reverse is the case in
+aristocratic countries, where the money of the State is expended
+to the profit of the persons who are at the head of affairs.
+
+[Footnote j: See the American budgets for the cost of indigent
+citizens and gratuitous instruction.  In 1831 $250,000 were spent
+in the State of New York for the maintenance of the poor, and at
+least $1,000,000 were devoted to gratuitous instruction. 
+(William's "New York Annual Register," 1832, pp. 205 and 243.)
+The State of New York contained only 1,900,000 inhabitants in the
+year 1830, which is not more than double the amount of population
+in the Department du Nord in France.]
+
+Difficulty of Distinguishing The Causes Which Contribute To The
+Economy Of The American Government
+
+We are liable to frequent errors in the research of those
+facts which exercise a serious influence upon the fate of
+mankind, since nothing is more difficult than to appreciate their
+real value.  One people is naturally inconsistent and
+enthusiastic; another is sober and calculating; and these
+characteristics originate in their physical constitution or in
+remote causes with which we are unacquainted.
+
+These are nations which are fond of parade and the bustle of
+festivity, and which do not regret the costly gaieties of an
+hour.  Others, on the contrary, are attached to more retiring
+pleasures, and seem almost ashamed of appearing to be pleased. 
+In some countries the highest value is set upon the beauty of
+public edifices; in others the productions of art are treated
+with indifference, and everything which is unproductive is looked
+down upon with contempt.  In some renown, in others money, is the
+ruling passion.
+
+Independently of the laws, all these causes concur to
+exercise a very powerful influence upon the conduct of the
+finances of the State.  If the Americans never spend the money of
+the people in galas, it is not only because the imposition of
+taxes is under the control of the people, but because the people
+takes no delight in public rejoicings.  If they repudiate all
+ornament from their architecture, and set no store on any but the
+more practical and homely advantages, it is not only because they
+live under democratic institutions, but because they are a
+commercial nation.  The habits of private life are continued in
+public; and we ought carefully to distinguish that economy which
+depends upon their institutions from that which is the natural
+result of their manners and customs.
+
+Whether The Expenditure Of The United States Can Be Compared To
+That Of France
+
+Two points to be established in order to estimate the extent of
+the public charges, viz., the national wealth and the rate of
+taxation - The wealth and the charges of France not accurately
+known - Why the wealth and charges of the Union cannot be
+accurately known - Researches of the author with a view to
+discover the amount of taxation of Pennsylvania - General
+symptoms which may serve to indicate the amount of the public
+charges in a given nation - Result of this investigation for the
+Union.
+
+Many attempts have recently been made in France to compare
+the public expenditure of that country with the expenditure of
+the United States; all these attempts have, however, been
+unattended by success, and a few words will suffice to show that
+they could not have had a satisfactory result.
+
+
+In order to estimate the amount of the public charges of a
+people two preliminaries are indispensable: it is necessary, in
+the first place, 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 amount of taxation without
+showing the resources which are destined to meet the demand, is
+to undertake a futile labor; 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 contributor will reduce a poor one to extreme misery. 
+The wealth of nations is composed of several distinct elements,
+of which population is the first, real property the second, and
+personal property the third.  The first of these three elements
+may be discovered without difficulty.  Amongst civilized nations
+it is easy to obtain an accurate census of the inhabitants; but
+the two others cannot be determined with so much facility.  It is
+difficult to take an exact account of all the lands in a country
+which are under cultivation, with their natural or their acquired
+value; and it is still more impossible to estimate the entire
+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, indeed, we find that the
+most ancient civilized nations of Europe, including even those in
+which the administration is most central, have not succeeded, as
+yet, in determining the exact condition of their wealth.
+
+In America the attempt has never been made; for how would
+such an investigation be possible in a country where society has
+not yet settled into habits of regularity and tranquillity; where
+the national Government is not assisted by a multiple of agents
+whose exertions it can command and direct to one sole end; and
+where statistics are not studied, because no one is able to
+collect the necessary documents, or to find time to peruse them? 
+Thus the primary elements of the calculations which have been
+made in France cannot be obtained in the Union; the relative
+wealth of the two countries is unknown; the property of the
+former is not accurately determined, and no means exist of
+computing that of the latter. 
+
+I consent, therefore, for the sake of the discussion, to
+abandon this necessary term of the comparison, and I confine
+myself to a computation of the actual amount of taxation, without
+investigating the relation which subsists between the taxation
+and the revenue.  But the reader will perceive that my task has
+not been facilitated by the limits which I here lay down for my
+researches.
+
+It cannot be doubted that the central administration of
+France, assisted by all the public officers who are at its
+disposal, might determine with exactitude the amount of the
+direct and indirect taxes levied upon the citizens.  But this
+investigation, which no private individual can undertake, has not
+hitherto been completed 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 amount of
+the departmental expenditure; but the expenses of the communal
+divisions have not been computed, and the amount of the public
+expenses of France is consequently unknown.
+
+If we now turn to America, we shall perceive that the
+difficulties are multiplied and enhanced.  The Union publishes an
+exact return of the amount of its expenditure; the budgets of the
+four and twenty States furnish similar returns of their revenues;
+but the expenses incident to the affairs of the counties and the
+townships are unknown. *k
+
+[Footnote k: The Americans, as we have seen, have four separate
+budgets, the Union, the States, the Counties, and the Townships
+having each severally their own.  During my stay in America I
+made every endeavor to discover the 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 I found it quite impossible to procure that of the
+smaller ones.  I possess, however, some documents relating to
+county expenses, which, although incomplete, are still curious. 
+I have to thank Mr. Richards, Mayor of Philadelphia, for the
+budgets of thirteen of the counties of Pennsylvania, viz.,
+Lebanon, Centre, Franklin, Fayette, Montgomery, 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 influence the condition of a country, that
+they may easily be supposed to furnish a correct average of the
+financial state of the counties of Pennsylvania in general; and
+thus, upon reckoning that the expenses of these counties amounted
+in the year 1830 to about $361,650, or nearly 75 cents for each
+inhabitant, and calculating that each of them contributed in the
+same year about $2.55 towards the Union, and about 75 cents to
+the State of Pennsylvania, it appears that they each contributed
+as their share of all the public expenses (except those of the
+townships) the sum of $4.05.  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.]
+
+The authority of the Federal government cannot oblige the
+provincial governments to throw any light upon this point; and
+even if these governments were inclined to afford their
+simultaneous co- operation, it may be doubted whether they
+possess the means of procuring a satisfactory answer.
+Independently of the natural difficulties of the task, the
+political organization of the country would act as a hindrance to
+the success of their efforts.  The county and town magistrates
+are not appointed by the authorities of the State, and they are
+not subjected to their control.  It is therefore very allowable
+to suppose that, if the State was desirous of obtaining the
+returns which we require, its design would be counteracted by the
+neglect of those subordinate officers whom it would be obliged to
+employ. *l It is, in point of fact, useless to inquire what the
+Americans might do to forward this inquiry, since it is certain
+that they have hitherto done nothing at all. There does not exist
+a single individual at the present day, in America or in Europe,
+who can inform us what each citizen of the Union annually
+contributes to the public charges of the nation. *m 
+[Footnote l: Those who have attempted to draw a comparison
+between the expenses of France and America have at once perceived
+that no such comparison could be drawn between the total
+expenditure of the two countries; but they have endeavored to
+contrast detached portions of this expenditure.  It may readily
+be shown that this second system is not at all less defective
+than the first.  If I attempt to compare the French budget with
+the budget of the Union, it must be remembered that the latter
+embraces much fewer objects than then central Government of the
+former country, and that the expenditure must consequently be
+much smaller.  If I contrast the budgets of the Departments with
+those of the States which constitute the Union, it must be
+observed that, as the power and control exercised by the States
+is much greater than that which is exercised by the Departments,
+their expenditure is also more considerable.  As for the budgets
+of the counties, nothing of the kind occurs in the French system
+of finances; and it is, again, doubtful whether the corresponding
+expenses should be referred to the budget of the State or to
+those of the municipal divisions.  Municipal expenses exist in
+both countries, but they are not always analogous.  In America
+the townships discharge a variety of offices which are reserved
+in France to the Departments or to the State.  It may, moreover,
+be asked what is to be understood by the municipal expenses of
+America.  The organization of the municipal bodies or townships
+differs in the several States.  Are we to be guided by what
+occurs in New England or in Georgia, in Pennsylvania or in the
+State of Illinois?  A kind of analogy may very readily be
+perceived between certain budgets in the two countries; but as
+the elements of which they are composed always differ more or
+less, no fair comparison can be instituted between them.  [The
+same difficulty exists, perhaps to a greater degree at the
+present time, when the taxation of America has largely increased.
+- 1874.]] 
+
+[Footnote m: Even if we knew the exact pecuniary contributions of
+every French and American citizen to the coffers of the State, we
+should only come at a portion of the truth.  Governments do not
+only demand supplies of money, but they call for personal
+services, which may be looked upon as equivalent to a given sum. 
+When a State raises an army, besides the pay of the troops, which
+is furnished 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.  The 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 peace,
+and he does in reality surrender to the State those earnings
+which he is prevented from gaining.  Many other instances might
+be cited in addition to these.  The governments of France and of
+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? 
+
+This, however, is not the last of the difficulties which
+prevent us from comparing the expenditure of the Union with that
+of France.  The French Government contracts certain obligations
+which do not exist in America, and vice versa.  The French
+Government pays the clergy; in America the voluntary principle
+prevails.  In America there is a legal provision 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
+kind take place on very few roads; in America upon almost all the
+thoroughfares: in the former country the roads are free to all
+travellers; in the latter turnpikes abound.  All these
+differences in the manner in which contributions 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 much less
+considerable, if the State did not take upon itself to act in the
+name of the public.]
+
+Hence we must conclude that it is no less difficult to
+compare 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 are strictly
+accurate, they mislead instead of guiding aright.  The mind is
+easily imposed upon by the false affectation of exactness, which
+prevails even in the misstatements of science, and it adopts with
+confidence errors which are dressed in the forms of mathematical
+truth.
+
+We abandon, therefore, our numerical investigation, with the
+hope of meeting with data of another kind.  In the absence of
+positive documents, we may form an opinion as to the proportion
+which the taxation of a people bears to its real prosperity, by
+observing whether its external appearance is flourishing;
+whether, after having discharged the calls of the State, the poor
+man retains the means of subsistence, and the rich the means of
+enjoyment; and whether both classes are contented with their
+position, seeking, however, to ameliorate it by perpetual
+exertions, so that industry is never in want of capital, nor
+capital unemployed by industry.  The observer who draws his
+inferences from these signs will, 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 two
+successive invasions; and the Union has no similar calamity to
+fear.  A nation placed upon the continent of Europe is obliged to
+maintain a large standing army; the isolated position of the
+Union enables it to have only 6,000 soldiers. The French have a
+fleet of 300 sail; the Americans have 52 vessels. *n How, then,
+can the inhabitants of the Union be called upon to contribute as
+largely as the inhabitants of France?  No parallel can be drawn
+between the finances of two countries so differently situated.
+
+[Footnote n: See the details in the Budget of the French Minister
+of Marine; and for America, the National Calendar of 1833, p.
+228.  [But the public debt of the United States in 1870, caused
+by the Civil War, amounted to $2,480,672,427; that of France was
+more than doubled by the extravagance of the Second Empire and by
+the war of 1870.]]
+
+It is by examining what actually takes place in the Union,
+and not by comparing the Union with France, that we may discover
+whether the American Government is really economical.  On casting
+my eyes over the different republics which form the
+confederation, I perceive that their Governments lack
+perseverance in their undertakings, and that they exercise no
+steady control over the men whom they employ.  Whence 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 to their
+undertakings.  Great efforts are made, in accordance with the
+democratic origin of society, to satisfy the exigencies of the
+lower orders, to open the career of power to their endeavors, and
+to diffuse knowledge and comfort amongst them.  The poor are
+maintained, immense sums are annually devoted to public
+instruction, all services whatsoever are remunerated, and the
+most subordinate agents are liberally paid.  If this kind of
+government appears to me to be useful and rational, I am
+nevertheless 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 are apt to augment that
+expenditure. 
+
+I conclude, therefore, without having recourse to inaccurate
+computations, 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 have
+no hesitation in predicting that, if the people of the United
+States is ever involved in serious difficulties, its taxation
+will speedily be increased to the rate of that which prevails in
+the greater part of the aristocracies and the monarchies of
+Europe. *o 
+
+[Footnote o: [That is precisely what has since occurred.]] 
+
+Chapter XIII: Government Of The Democracy In America - Part III 
+Corruption And Vices Of The Rulers In A Democracy, And Consequent
+Effects Upon Public Morality
+
+In 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 the aristocratic and the
+democratic principles mutually inveigh against each other, as
+tending to facilitate corruption.  In aristocratic governments
+the individuals who are placed at the head of affairs are rich
+men, who are solely desirous of power.  In democracies statesmen
+are poor, and they have their fortunes to make.  The consequence
+is that in aristocratic States the rulers are rarely accessible
+to corruption, and have very little craving for money; whilst the
+reverse is the case in democratic nations.
+
+But in aristocracies, as those who are desirous of arriving
+at the head of affairs are possessed of considerable wealth, and
+as the number of persons by whose assistance they may rise is
+comparatively small, the government is, if I may use the
+expression, put up to a sort of auction.  In democracies, on the
+contrary, those who are covetous of power are very seldom
+wealthy, and the number of citizens who confer that power is
+extremely great.  Perhaps in democracies the number of men who
+might be bought is by no means smaller, but buyers are rarely to
+be met with; and, besides, it would be necessary to buy so many
+persons at once that the attempt is rendered nugatory.
+
+Many of the men who have been in the administration in
+France during the last forty years have been accused of making
+their fortunes at the expense of the State or of its allies; a
+reproach which was rarely addressed to the public characters of
+the ancient monarchy.  But in France the practice of bribing
+electors is almost unknown, whilst it is notoriously and publicly
+carried on in England.  In the United States I never heard a man
+accused of spending his wealth in corrupting the populace; but I
+have often heard the probity of public officers questioned; still
+more frequently have I heard their success attributed to low
+intrigues and immoral practices.
+
+If, then, the men who conduct the government of 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 upon the people which is still
+more to be dreaded. 
+
+As the rulers of democratic nations are almost always
+exposed to the suspicion of dishonorable conduct, they in some
+measure lend the authority of the Government to the base
+practices of which they are accused.  They thus afford an example
+which must prove discouraging to the struggles of virtuous
+independence, and must foster the secret calculations of a
+vicious ambition. If it be asserted that evil passions are
+displayed in all ranks of society, that they ascend the throne by
+hereditary right, and that despicable characters are to be met
+with at the head of aristocratic nations as well as in the sphere
+of a democracy, this objection 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
+contagious to the multitude.  On the contrary, there is a kind of
+aristocratic refinement and an air of grandeur in the depravity
+of the great, which frequently prevent it from spreading abroad.
+
+The people can never penetrate into the perplexing labyrinth
+of court intrigue, and it will always have difficulty in
+detecting the turpitude which lurks under elegant manners,
+refined tastes, and graceful language.  But to pillage the public
+purse, and to vend the favors of the State, are arts which the
+meanest villain may comprehend, and hope to practice in his turn.
+
+In reality it is far less prejudicial to witness the
+immorality of the great than to witness that immorality which
+leads to greatness.  In a democracy private citizens see a man of
+their own rank in life, who rises from that obscure position, and
+who becomes possessed of riches and of power in a few years; the
+spectacle excites their surprise and their envy, and they are led
+to inquire how the person who was yesterday their equal is to-day
+their ruler.  To attribute his rise to his talents or his virtues
+is unpleasant; for it is tacitly to acknowledge that they are
+themselves less virtuous and less talented than he was.  They are
+therefore led (and not unfrequently their conjecture is a correct
+one) to impute his success mainly to some one of his defects; and
+an odious mixture is thus formed of the ideas of turpitude and
+power, unworthiness and success, utility and dishonor.
+
+Efforts Of Which A Democracy Is Capable
+
+The Union has only had one struggle hitherto for its existence -
+Enthusiasm at the commencement of the war - Indifference towards
+its close - Difficulty of establishing military conscription or
+impressment of seamen in America - Why a democratic people is
+less capable of sustained effort than another.
+
+I here warn the reader that I speak of a government which
+implicitly follows the real desires of a people, and not of a
+government which simply commands in its name.  Nothing is so
+irresistible as a tyrannical power commanding in the name of the
+people, because, whilst it exercises that moral influence which
+belongs to the decision of the majority, it acts at the same time
+with the promptitude and the tenacity of a single man.
+
+It is difficult to say what degree of exertion a democratic
+government may be capable of making a crisis in the history of
+the nation.  But no great democratic republic has hitherto
+existed in the world.  To style the oligarchy which ruled over
+France in 1793 by that name would be to offer 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 century, in
+the course of which time its existence has only once been
+attacked, namely, during the War of Independence.  At the
+commencement of that long war, various occurrences took place
+which betokened an extraordinary zeal for the service of the
+country. *p But as the contest was prolonged, symptoms of private
+egotism began to show themselves.  No money was poured into the
+public treasury; few recruits could be raised to join the army;
+the people wished to acquire independence, but was very
+ill-disposed to undergo the privations by which alone it could be
+obtained.  "Tax laws," says Hamilton in the "Federalist" (No.
+12), "have in vain been multiplied; new methods to enforce the
+collection 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 administration 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 attempting them."
+
+[Footnote p: One of the most singular of these occurrences 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 which was made by a whole people.]
+
+The United States have not had any serious war to carry on
+ever since that period.  In order, therefore, to appreciate the
+sacrifices which democratic nations may impose upon themselves,
+we must wait until the American people is obliged to put half its
+entire income at the disposal of the Government, as was done by
+the English; or until it sends forth a twentieth part of its
+population to the field of battle, as was done by France. *q
+
+[Footnote q: [The Civil War showed that when the necessity arose
+the American people, both in the North and in the South, are
+capable of making the most enormous sacrifices, both in money and
+in men.]]
+
+In America the use of 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 compulsory
+enlistment that I do not imagine it can ever be sanctioned by the
+laws.  What is termed the conscription in France is assuredly the
+heaviest tax upon the population of that country; yet how could a
+great continental war be carried on without it?  The Americans
+have not adopted the British impressment of seamen, and they have
+nothing which corresponds to the French system of maritime
+conscription; the navy, as well as the merchant service, is
+supplied by voluntary service.  But it is not easy to conceive
+how a people can sustain a great maritime war without having
+recourse to one or the other of these two systems.  Indeed, the
+Union, which has fought with some honor upon the seas, has never
+possessed a very numerous fleet, and the equipment of the small
+number of American vessels has always been excessively expensive.
+
+I have heard American statesmen confess that the Union will
+have great difficulty in maintaining its rank on the seas without
+adopting the system of impressment or of maritime conscription;
+but the difficulty is to induce the people, which exercises the
+supreme authority, to submit to impressment or any compulsory
+system. 
+
+It is incontestable that in times of danger a free people
+displays far more energy than one which is not so.  But I incline
+to believe that this is more especially the case in those free
+nations in which the democratic element preponderates.  Democracy
+appears to me to be much better adapted for the peaceful conduct
+of society, or for an occasional effort of remarkable vigor, than
+for the hardy and prolonged endurance of the storms which beset
+the political existence of nations.  The reason is very evident;
+it is enthusiasm which prompts men to expose themselves to
+dangers and privations, but they will not support them long
+without reflection.  There is more calculation, even in the
+impulses of bravery, than is generally attributed to them; and
+although the first efforts are suggested by passion, perseverance
+is maintained by a distinct regard of the purpose in view.  A
+portion of what we value is exposed, in order to save the
+remainder.
+
+But it is this distinct perception of the future, founded
+upon a sound judgment and an enlightened experience, which is
+most frequently wanting in democracies.  The populace is more apt
+to feel than to reason; and if its present sufferings are great,
+it is to be feared that the still greater sufferings attendant
+upon defeat will be forgotten.
+
+Another cause tends to render the efforts of a democratic
+government less persevering than those of an aristocracy.  Not
+only are the lower classes less awakened than the higher orders
+to the good or evil chances of the future, but they are liable to
+suffer far more acutely from present privations.  The noble
+exposes his life, indeed, but the chance of glory is equal to the
+chance of harm.  If he sacrifices a large portion of his income
+to the State, he deprives himself for a time of the pleasures of
+affluence; but to the poor man death is embellished by no pomp or
+renown, and the imposts which are irksome to the rich are fatal
+to him.
+
+This relative impotence of democratic republics is, perhaps,
+the greatest obstacle to the foundation of a republic of this
+kind in Europe. In order that such a State should subsist in one
+country of the Old World, it would be necessary that similar
+institutions should be introduced into all the other nations.
+
+I am of opinion that a democratic government tends in the
+end 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 a monarchy.  If a democratic country
+remained during a whole century subject to a republican
+government, it would probably at the end of that period be more
+populous and more prosperous than the neighboring despotic
+States.  But it would have incurred the risk of being conquered
+much oftener than they would in that lapse of years.
+
+Self-Control Of The American Democracy
+
+The American people acquiesces slowly, or frequently does not
+acquiesce, in what is beneficial to its interests - The faults of
+the American democracy are for the most part reparable.
+
+The difficulty which a democracy has in conquering the
+passions and in subduing the exigencies of the moment, with a
+view to the future, is conspicuous in the most trivial
+occurrences of the United States.  The people, which is
+surrounded by flatterers, has great difficulty in surmounting its
+inclinations, and whenever it is solicited to undergo a privation
+or any kind of inconvenience, even to attain an end which is
+sanctioned by its own rational conviction, it almost always
+refuses to comply at first.  The deference of the Americans to
+the laws has been very justly applauded; but it must be added
+that in America the legislation is made by the people and for the
+people.  Consequently, in the United States the law favors those
+classes which are most interested in evading it elsewhere.  It
+may therefore be supposed that an offensive law, which should not
+be acknowledged to be one of immediate utility, would either not
+be enacted or would not be obeyed.
+
+In America there is no law against fraudulent bankruptcies;
+not because they are few, but because there are a great number of
+bankruptcies.  The dread of being prosecuted as a bankrupt acts
+with more intensity upon the mind of the majority of the people
+than the fear of being involved in losses or ruin by the failure
+of other parties, and a sort of guilty tolerance is extended by
+the public conscience to an offence which everyone 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 very frequent occurrence. This arises from the rude
+manners and the ignorance of the inhabitants of those deserts,
+who do not perceive the utility of investing the law with
+adequate force, and who prefer duels to prosecutions.
+
+Someone observed to me one day, in Philadelphia, that almost
+all crimes in America are caused by the abuse of intoxicating
+liquors, which the lower classes can procure in great abundance,
+from their excessive cheapness.  "How comes it," said I, "that
+you do not put a duty upon brandy?" "Our legislators," rejoined
+my informant, "have frequently thought of this expedient; but the
+task of putting it in operation is a difficult one; a revolt
+might be apprehended, and the members who should vote for a law
+of this kind would be sure of losing their seats." "Whence I am
+to infer," replied I, "that the drinking population constitutes
+the majority in your country, and that temperance is somewhat
+unpopular." 
+
+When these things are pointed out to the American statesmen,
+they content themselves with assuring you that time will operate
+the necessary change, and that the experience of evil will teach
+the people its true interests.  This is frequently true, although
+a democracy is more liable to error than a monarch or a body of
+nobles; the chances of its regaining the right path when once it
+has acknowledged its mistake, are greater also; because it is
+rarely embarrassed by internal interests, which conflict with
+those of the majority, and resist the authority ofreason.  But a
+democracy can only obtain truth as the result of experience, and
+many nations may forfeit their existence whilst they are awaiting
+the consequences of their errors.
+
+The great privilege of the Americans does not simply consist
+in their being more enlightened than other nations, but in their
+being able to repair the faults they may commit.  To which it
+must be added, that a democracy cannot derive substantial benefit
+from past experience, unless it be arrived at a certain pitch of
+knowledge and civilization.  There are tribes and peoples whose
+education has been so vicious, and whose character presents so
+strange a mixture of passion, of ignorance, and of erroneous
+notions upon all subjects, that they are unable to discern the
+causes of their own wretchedness, and they fall a sacrifice to
+ills with which they are unacquainted.
+
+I have crossed vast tracts of country that were formerly
+inhabited by powerful Indian nations which are now extinct; I
+have myself passed some time in the midst of mutilated tribes,
+which witness the daily decline of their numerical strength and
+of the glory of their independence; and I have heard these
+Indians themselves anticipate the impending doom of their race. 
+Every European can perceive means which would rescue these
+unfortunate beings from inevitable destruction.  They alone are
+insensible to the expedient; they feel the woe which year after
+year heaps upon their heads, but they will perish to a man
+without accepting the remedy.  It would be necessary to employ
+force to induce them to submit to the protection and the
+constraint of civilization. 
+
+The incessant revolutions which have convulsed the South
+American provinces for the last quarter of a century have
+frequently been adverted to with astonishment, and expectations
+have been expressed that those nations would speedily return to
+their natural state.  But can it be affirmed that the turmoil of
+revolution is not actually the most natural state of the South
+American Spaniards at the present time?  In that country society
+is plunged into difficulties from which all its efforts are
+insufficient to rescue it. The inhabitants of that fair portion
+of the Western Hemisphere seem obstinately bent on pursuing the
+work of inward havoc.  If they fall into a momentary repose from
+the effects of exhaustion, that repose prepares them for a fresh
+state of frenzy.  When I consider their condition, which
+alternates between misery and crime, I should be inclined to
+believe that despotism itself would be a benefit to them, if it
+were possible that the words despotism and benefit could ever be
+united in my mind.
+
+Conduct Of Foreign Affairs By The American Democracy
+
+Direction given to the foreign policy of the United States by
+Washington and Jefferson - Almost all the defects inherent in
+democratic institutions are brought to light in the conduct of
+foreign affairs - Their advantages are less perceptible.
+
+We have seen that the Federal Constitution entrusts the
+permanent direction of the external interests of the nation to
+the President and the Senate, *r which tends in some degree to
+detach the general foreign policy of the Union from the control
+of the people.  It cannot therefore be asserted with truth that
+the external affairs of State are conducted by the democracy.
+
+[Footnote r: "The President," says the Constitution, Art. II,
+sect. 2, Section 2, "shall have power, by and with the advice and
+consent of the Senate, to make treaties, provided two-thirds of
+the senators present concur." The reader is reminded that the
+senators are returned for a term of six years, and that they are
+chosen by the legislature of each State.]
+
+The policy of America owes its rise to Washington, and after
+him to Jefferson, who established those principles which it
+observes at the present day.  Washington said in the admirable
+letter which he addressed to his fellow-citizens, and which may
+be looked upon as his political bequest to the country: "The
+great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is, in
+extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little
+political connection as possible.  So far as we have already
+formed engagements, let them be fulfilled 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 artificial ties, in
+the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary
+combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.  Our
+detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a
+different course.  If we remain one people, under an efficient
+government, the period is not far off when we may defy material
+injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude
+as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to
+be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the
+impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will 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 Europe, 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 permanent alliances 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 understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to
+existing engagements.  I hold the maxim no less applicable to
+public 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 establishments, in a
+respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary
+alliances for extraordinary emergencies." In a previous part of
+the same letter Washington makes the following admirable and just
+remark: "The nation which indulges towards another an habitual
+hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.  It is
+a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is
+sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest." 
+
+The political conduct of Washington was always guided by
+these maxims. He succeeded in maintaining his country 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 perfect neutrality with
+regard to the internal dissensions of the European Powers.
+
+Jefferson went still further, and he introduced a maxim into
+the policy of the Union, which affirms that "the Americans ought
+never to solicit any privileges from foreign nations, in order
+not to be obliged to grant similar privileges themselves."
+
+These two principles, which were so plain and so just as to
+be adapted to the capacity of the populace, have greatly
+simplified the foreign 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 at
+present 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 the line of policy which it has chosen, and it
+is neither called upon to repudiate nor to espouse the
+conflicting interests of Europe; 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, and it
+is consequently enabled to 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; or to accept that immense inheritance which they
+derive from their forefathers - an inheritance of glory mingled
+with calamities, and of alliances conflicting with national
+antipathies.  The foreign policy of the United States is reduced
+by its very nature to await the chances of the future history of
+the nation, and for the present it consists more in abstaining
+from interference than in exerting its activity.
+
+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; and upon this
+point its adversaries, as well as its advocates, must suspend
+their judgment.  As for myself I have no hesitation in avowing my
+conviction, that it is most especially in the conduct of foreign
+relations that democratic governments appear to me to be
+decidedly inferior to governments carried on upon different
+principles.  Experience, instruction, and habit may almost always
+succeed in creating a species of practical discretion in
+democracies, and that science of the daily occurrences of life
+which is called good sense.  Good sense may suffice to direct the
+ordinary course of society; and amongst a people whose education
+has been provided for, the advantages of democratic liberty in
+the internal affairs of the country may more than compensate for
+the evils inherent in a democratic government. But such is not
+always the case in the mutual relations of foreign nations.
+
+Foreign politics demand scarcely any of those qualities
+which a democracy possesses; and they require, on the contrary,
+the perfect use of almost all those faculties in which it is
+deficient.  Democracy is favorable to the increase of the
+internal resources of the State; it tends to diffuse a moderate
+independence; it promotes the growth of public spirit, and
+fortifies the respect which is entertained for law in all classes
+of society; and these are advantages which only exercise an
+indirect influence over the relations which one people bears to
+another.  But a democracy is unable to regulate the details of an
+important undertaking, to persevere in a design, and to work out
+its execution in the presence of serious obstacles.  It cannot
+combine its measures with secrecy, and it will not await their
+consequences with patience. These are qualities which more
+especially belong to an individual or to an aristocracy; and they
+are precisely the means by which an individual people attains to
+a predominant position.
+
+If, on the contrary, we observe the natural defects of
+aristocracy, we shall find that their influence is comparatively
+innoxious in the direction of the external affairs of a State. 
+The capital fault of which aristocratic bodies may be accused is
+that they are more apt to contrive their own advantage than that
+of the mass of the people.  In foreign politics it is rare for
+the interest of the aristocracy to be in any way distinct from
+that of the people.
+
+The propensity which democracies have to obey the impulse of
+passion rather than the suggestions of prudence, and to abandon a
+mature design for the gratification of a momentary caprice, was
+very clearly seen in America on the breaking out of the French
+Revolution.  It was then as evident to the simplest capacity 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 by no means injure the
+welfare of their own country.  Nevertheless the sympathies of the
+people declared themselves with so much violence in behalf of
+France that nothing but the inflexible character of Washington,
+and the immense popularity which he enjoyed, could have prevented
+the Americans from declaring war against England.  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, very nearly deprived him of the sole recompense
+which he had ever claimed - that of his country's love.  The
+majority then reprobated the line of policy which he adopted, and
+which has since been unanimously approved by the nation. *s If
+the Constitution and the favor of the public had not entrusted
+the direction of the foreign affairs of the country to
+Washington, it is certain that the American nation would at that
+time have taken the very measures which it now condemns.
+
+[Footnote s: See the fifth volume of Marshall's "Life of
+Washington." In a government constituted like that of the United
+States," he says, "it is impossible for the 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
+to the treacherous Arnold.  "By the opposition," says Marshall,
+"the friends of the administration were declared to be an
+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 threatened the funds, induced
+a tame submission to injuries and insults, which the interests
+and honor of the nation required them to resist."]
+
+Almost all the nations which have ever exercised a powerful
+influence upon the destinies of the world by conceiving,
+following up, and executing vast designs - from the Romans to the
+English - have been governed by aristocratic institutions.  Nor
+will this be a subject of wonder when we recollect that nothing
+in the world has so absolute a fixity of purpose as an
+aristocracy.  The mass of the people may be led astray by
+ignorance or passion; the mind of a king may be biased, and his
+perseverance in his designs may be shaken - besides which a king
+is not immortal - but an aristocratic body is too numerous to be
+led astray by the blandishments of intrigue, and yet not numerous
+enough to yield readily to the intoxicating influence of
+unreflecting passion: it has the energy of a firm and enlightened
+individual, added to the power which it derives from perpetuity.
+
+
+Chapter XIV: Advantages American Society Derive From Democracy -
+Part I
+
+What The Real Advantages Are Which American Society Derives From
+The Government Of The Democracy
+
+Before I enter upon the subject of the present chapter I am
+induced to remind the reader of what I have more than once
+adverted to in the course of this book.  The political
+institutions of the United States appear to me to be one of the
+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 a democratic people may establish.  In showing the
+advantages which the Americans derive from the government of
+democracy, I am therefore very far from meaning, or from
+believing, that similar advantages can only be obtained from the
+same laws.
+
+General Tendency Of The Laws Under The Rule Of The American
+Democracy, And Habits Of Those Who Apply Them
+
+Defects of a democratic government easy to be discovered - Its
+advantages only to be discerned by long observation - Democracy
+in America often inexpert, but the general tendency of the laws
+advantageous - In the American democracy public officers have no
+permanent interests distinct from those of the majority - Result
+of this state of things.
+
+The defects and the weaknesses of a democratic government
+may very readily be discovered; they are demonstrated by the most
+flagrant instances, whilst its beneficial influence is less
+perceptibly exercised.  A single glance suffices to detect its
+evil consequences, but its good qualities can only be discerned
+by long observation.  The laws of the American democracy are
+frequently defective or incomplete; they sometimes attack vested
+rights, or give a sanction to others which are dangerous to the
+community; but even if they were good, the frequent changes which
+they undergo would be an evil. How comes it, then, that the
+American republics prosper and maintain their position?
+
+In the consideration of laws a distinction must be carefully
+observed between the end at which they aim and the means by which
+they are directed to that end, between their absolute 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 be bad; and the more efficacious it is, the
+greater is the mischief which it causes.
+
+Democratic laws generally tend to promote the welfare of the
+greatest possible 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 advantage.  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,
+constitutes a minority.  It may therefore be asserted, as a
+general proposition, that the purpose of a democracy in the
+conduct of its legislation is useful to a greater number of
+citizens than that of an aristocracy.  This is, however, the sum
+total of its advantages. 
+
+Aristocracies are infinitely more expert in the science of
+legislation than democracies ever can be.  They are possessed of
+a self-control which protects them from the errors of temporary
+excitement, and they form lasting designs which they mature with
+the assistance of favorable opportunities. Aristocratic
+government proceeds with the dexterity of art; it understands how
+to make the collective force of all its laws converge at the same
+time to a given point.  Such is not the case with democracies,
+whose laws are almost always ineffective or inopportune.  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 nature, or by
+its constitution, that it can support the transitory action of
+bad laws, and that it can await, without destruction, the general
+tendency of the legislation: we shall then be able to conceive
+that a democratic government, notwithstanding its defects, will
+be most fitted to conduce to the prosperity 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 consists in their being able to commit faults which
+they may afterward repair.
+
+An analogous observation may be made respecting public
+officers.  It is easy to perceive that the American democracy
+frequently errs in the choice of the individuals to whom it
+entrusts 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, on the other hand, are more enlightened and more
+attentive to their interests.  As the people in democracies is
+more incessantly vigilant in its affairs and more jealous of its
+rights, it prevents its representatives from abandoning that
+general line of conduct which its 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 period of time.  But there is yet another reason which is
+still more general and conclusive.  It is no doubt of importance
+to the welfare of nations that they should be governed by men of
+talents and virtue; but it is perhaps still more important that
+the interests of those men should not differ from the interests
+of the community at large; for, if such were the case, virtues of
+a high order might become useless, and talents might be turned to
+a bad account.  I say that it is important that the interests of
+the persons in authority should not conflict with or oppose the
+interests of the community at large; but I do not insist upon
+their having the same interests as the whole population, because
+I am not aware that such a state of things ever existed in any
+country.
+
+No political form has hitherto been discovered which 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, a certain number of distinct
+nations 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 endangered; 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 possible
+number.
+
+The men who are entrusted with the direction of public
+affairs in the United States are frequently inferior, both in
+point of capacity and of morality, to those whom aristocratic
+institutions would raise to power.  But their interest is
+identified and confounded 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 opposed to the will of the majority; and it is impossible
+that they should give a dangerous or an exclusive tendency to the
+government.
+
+The mal-administration of a democratic magistrate is a mere
+isolated fact, which only occurs during the short period for
+which he is elected. Corruption and incapacity do not act as
+common interests, which may connect men permanently with one
+another.  A corrupt or an incapable magistrate will not concert
+his measures with another magistrate, simply because that
+individual is as corrupt and as incapable as himself; and these
+two men will never unite their endeavors to promote the
+corruption and inaptitude of their remote posterity.  The
+ambition and the manoeuvres of the one will serve, on the
+contrary, to unmask the other.  The vices of a magistrate, in
+democratic states, are usually peculiar to his own person.
+
+But under aristocratic governments public men are swayed by
+the interest of their order, which, if it is sometimes confounded
+with the interests of the majority, is very frequently distinct
+from them.  This interest is the common and lasting bond which
+unites them together; it induces them to coalesce, and to combine
+their efforts in order to attain an end which does not always
+ensure the greatest happiness of the greatest number; and it
+serves not only to connect the persons in authority, but to unite
+them to a considerable portion of the community, since a numerous
+body of citizens belongs to the aristocracy, without being
+invested with official functions. The aristocratic magistrate is
+therefore constantly supported by a portion of the community, as
+well as by the Government of which he is a member.
+
+The common purpose which connects the interest of the
+magistrates in aristocracies with that of a portion of their
+contemporaries identifies it with that of future generations;
+their influence belongs to the future as much as to the present. 
+The aristocratic magistrate is urged at the same time toward the
+same point by the passions of the community, by his own, and I
+may almost add by those of his posterity.  Is it, then, wonderful
+that he does not resist such repeated impulses?  And indeed
+aristocracies are often carried away by the spirit of their order
+without being corrupted by it; and they unconsciously fashion
+society to their own ends, and prepare it for their own
+descendants.
+
+The English aristocracy is perhaps the most liberal which
+ever existed, and no body of men has ever, uninterruptedly,
+furnished so many honorable and enlightened individuals to the
+government of a country.  It cannot, however, escape observation
+that in the legislation of England the good of the poor has been
+sacrificed to the advantage of the rich, and the rights of the
+majority to the privileges of the few.  The consequence is, that
+England, at the present day, combines the extremes of fortune in
+the bosom of her society, and her perils and calamities are
+almost equal to her power and her renown. *a
+
+[Footnote a: [The legislation of England for the forty years is
+certainly not fairly open to this criticism, which was written
+before the Reform Bill of 1832, and accordingly Great Britain has
+thus far escaped and surmounted the perils and calamities to
+which she seemed to be exposed.]]
+
+In the United States, where the public officers have no
+interests to promote connected with their caste, the general and
+constant influence of the Government is beneficial, although the
+individuals who conduct it are frequently unskilful and sometimes
+contemptible.  There is indeed a secret tendency in democratic
+institutions to render the exertions of the citizens subservient
+to the prosperity of the community, notwithstanding their private
+vices and mistakes; whilst in aristocratic institutions there is
+a secret propensity which, notwithstanding the talents and the
+virtues of those who conduct the government, leads them to
+contribute to the evils which oppress their fellow-creatures.  In
+aristocratic governments public men may frequently do injuries
+which they do not intend, and in democratic states they produce
+advantages which they never thought of.
+
+Public Spirit In The United States
+
+Patriotism of instinct - Patriotism of reflection - Their
+different characteristics - Nations ought to strive to acquire
+the second when the first has disappeared - Efforts of the
+Americans to it - Interest of the individual intimately connected
+with that of the country.
+
+There is one sort of patriotic attachment which principally
+arises from that instinctive, disinterested, and undefinable
+feeling which connects the affections of man with his birthplace. 
+This natural fondness is united to a taste for ancient customs,
+and to a reverence for ancestral traditions of the past; those
+who cherish it love their country as they love the mansions of
+their fathers.  They enjoy the tranquillity which it affords
+them; they cling to the peaceful habits which they have
+contracted within its bosom; they are attached to the
+reminiscences which it awakens, and they are even pleased by the
+state of obedience in which they are placed.  This patriotism is
+sometimes stimulated by religious enthusiasm, and then it is
+capable of making the most prodigious efforts.  It is in itself a
+kind of religion; it does not reason, but it acts from the
+impulse of faith and of sentiment.  By some nations the monarch
+has been regarded as a personification of the country; and the
+fervor of patriotism being converted into the fervor of loyalty,
+they took a sympathetic pride in his conquests, and gloried in
+his power.  At one time, under the ancient monarchy, the French
+felt a sort of satisfaction in the sense of their dependence upon
+the arbitrary pleasure of their king, and they were wont to say
+with pride, "We are the subjects of the most powerful king in the
+world."
+
+But, like all instinctive passions, this kind of patriotism
+is more apt to prompt transient exertion than to supply the
+motives of continuous endeavor.  It may save the State in
+critical circumstances, but it will not unfrequently allow the
+nation to decline in the midst of peace.  Whilst the manners of a
+people are simple and its faith unshaken, whilst society is
+steadily based upon traditional institutions whose legitimacy has
+never been contested, this instinctive patriotism is wont to
+endure.
+
+But there is another species of attachment to a country
+which is more rational than the one we have been describing.  It
+is perhaps less generous and less ardent, but it is more fruitful
+and more lasting; it is coeval with the spread of knowledge, it
+is nurtured by the laws, it grows by the exercise of civil
+rights, and, in the end, it is confounded with the personal
+interest of the citizen.  A man comprehends the influence which
+the prosperity of his country has upon his own welfare; he is
+aware that the laws authorize him to contribute his assistance to
+that prosperity, and he labors to promote it as a portion of his
+interest in the first place, and as a portion of his right in the
+second.
+
+But epochs sometimes occur, in the course of the existence
+of a nation, at which the ancient customs of a people are
+changed, public morality destroyed, religious belief disturbed,
+and the spell of tradition broken, whilst the diffusion of
+knowledge is yet imperfect, and the civil rights of the community
+are ill secured, or confined within very narrow limits.  The
+country then assumes a dim and dubious shape in the eyes of the
+citizens; they no longer behold it in the soil which they
+inhabit, for that soil is to them a dull inanimate clod; nor in
+the usages of their forefathers, which they have been taught to
+look upon 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 features, and they entrench
+themselves within the dull precincts of a narrow egotism.  They
+are emancipated from prejudice without having acknowledged the
+empire of reason; they are neither animated by the instinctive
+patriotism of monarchical subjects nor by the thinking patriotism
+of republican citizens; but they have stopped halfway between the
+two, in the midst of confusion and of distress. 
+
+In this predicament, to retreat is impossible; for a people
+cannot restore the vivacity of its earlier times, any more than a
+man can return to the innocence and the bloom of childhood; such
+things may be regretted, but they cannot be renewed.  The only
+thing, then, which remains to be done is to proceed, and to
+accelerate the union of private with public interests, since the
+period of disinterested patriotism is gone by forever.
+
+I am certainly very far from averring that, in order to
+obtain this result, the exercise of political rights should be
+immediately granted to all the members of the community.  But I
+maintain that the most powerful, and perhaps the only, means of
+interesting men in the welfare of their country which we still
+possess is to make them partakers in the Government.  At the
+present time civic zeal seems to me to be inseparable from the
+exercise of political rights; and I hold that the number of
+citizens will be found to augment or to decrease in Europe in
+proportion as those rights are extended.
+
+In the United States the inhabitants were thrown but as
+yesterday upon the soil which they now occupy, and they brought
+neither customs nor traditions with them there; they meet each
+other for the first time with no previous acquaintance; in short,
+the instinctive love of their country can scarcely exist in their
+minds; but everyone takes as zealous an interest in the affairs
+of his township, his county, and of the whole State, as if they
+were his own, because everyone, in his sphere, takes an active
+part in the government of society.
+
+The lower orders in the United States are alive to the
+perception of the influence exercised by the general prosperity
+upon their own welfare; and simple as this observation is, it is
+one which is but too rarely made by the people.  But in America
+the people regards this prosperity as the result of its own
+exertions; the citizen looks upon the fortune of the public as
+his private interest, and he co-operates in its success, not so
+much from a sense of pride or of duty, as from what I shall
+venture to term cupidity.
+
+It is unnecessary to study the institutions and the history
+of the Americans in order to discover the truth of this remark,
+for their manners render it sufficiently evident.  As the
+American participates in all that is done in his country, he
+thinks himself obliged to defend whatever may be censured; for it
+is not only his country which is attacked upon these occasions,
+but it is himself.  The consequence is, that his national pride
+resorts to a thousand artifices, and to all the petty tricks of
+individual vanity. 
+
+Nothing is more embarrassing in the ordinary intercourse of
+life than this irritable patriotism of the Americans.  A stranger
+may be very well inclined to praise many of the institutions of
+their country, but he begs permission to blame some of the
+peculiarities which he observes - a permission which is, however,
+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 it be of
+the climate and the soil; and even then Americans will be found
+ready to defend either the one or the other, as if they had been
+contrived by the inhabitants of the country.
+
+In our times option must be made between the patriotism of
+all and the government of a few; for the force and activity which
+the first confers are irreconcilable with the guarantees of
+tranquillity which the second furnishes.
+
+Notion Of Rights In The United States
+
+No great people without a notion of rights - How the notion of
+rights can be given to people - Respect of rights in the United
+States - Whence it arises.
+
+After the idea of virtue, I know no higher principle than
+that of right; or, to speak more accurately, these two ideas are
+commingled in one.  The idea of right is simply that of virtue
+introduced into the political world. It is the idea of right
+which enabled men to define anarchy and tyranny; and which taught
+them to remain independent without arrogance, as well as to obey
+without servility.  The man who submits to violence is debased by
+his compliance; but when he obeys the mandate of one who
+possesses that right of authority which he acknowledges in a
+fellow-creature, he rises in some measure above the person who
+delivers the command.  There are no great men without virtue, and
+there are no great nations - it may almost be added that there
+would be no society - without the notion of rights; for what is
+the condition of a mass of rational and intelligent beings who
+are only united together by the bond of force?
+
+I am persuaded that the only means which we possess at the
+present time of inculcating the notion of rights, and of
+rendering it, as it were, palpable to the senses, is to invest
+all the members of the community 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 turn everything which he can lay
+his hands upon to his own purposes; 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
+deprived of his possessions, he becomes more circumspect, and he
+observes those rights in others which he wishes to have respected
+in himself. The principle which the child derives from the
+possession of his toys is taught to the man by the objects which
+he may call his own.  In America those complaints against
+property in general which are so frequent in Europe are never
+heard, because in America there are no paupers; and as everyone
+has property of his own to defend, everyone recognizes the
+principle upon which he holds it.
+
+The same thing occurs in the political world.  In America
+the lowest classes have conceived a very high notion of political
+rights, because they exercise those rights; and they refrain from
+attacking those of other people, in order to ensure their own
+from attack.  Whilst in Europe the same classes sometimes
+recalcitrate even against the supreme power, the American submits
+without a murmur to the authority of the pettiest magistrate.
+
+This truth is exemplified by the most trivial details of
+national peculiarities.  In France very few pleasures are
+exclusively reserved for the higher classes; the poor are
+admitted wherever the rich are received, and they consequently
+behave with propriety, and respect whatever contributes to the
+enjoyments in which they themselves participate.  In England,
+where wealth has a monopoly of amusement as well as of power,
+complaints are made that whenever the poor happen to steal into
+the enclosures which are reserved for the pleasures of the rich,
+they commit acts of wanton mischief: can this be wondered at,
+since care has been taken that they should have nothing to lose?
+*b
+
+[Footnote b: [This, too, has been amended by much larger
+provisions for the amusements of the people in public parks,
+gardens, museums, etc.; and the conduct of the people in these
+places of amusement has improved in the same proportion.]]
+
+The government of 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 the members of the community; and I confess that, to
+my mind, this is one of its greatest advantages.  I do not assert
+that it is easy to teach men to exercise political rights; but I
+maintain that, when it is possible, the effects which result from
+it are highly important; and I add that, if there ever was a time
+at which such an attempt ought to be made, that time is our own. 
+It is clear that the influence of religious belief is shaken, and
+that the notion of divine rights is declining; it is evident that
+public morality is vitiated, and the notion of moral rights is
+also disappearing: these are general symptoms of the substitution
+of argument for faith, and of calculation for the impulses of
+sentiment.  If, in the midst of this general disruption, you do
+not succeed in connecting the notion of rights with that of
+personal interest, which is the only immutable point in the human
+heart, what means will you have of governing the world except by
+fear?  When I am told that, since the laws are weak and the
+populace is wild, since passions are excited and the authority of
+virtue is paralyzed, no measures must be taken to increase the
+rights of the democracy, I reply, that it is for these very
+reasons that some measures of the kind must be taken; and I am
+persuaded that governments are still more interested in taking
+them than society at large, because governments are liable to be
+destroyed and society cannot perish.
+
+I am not, however, inclined to exaggerate the example which
+America furnishes.  In those States the people are invested with
+political rights at a time when they could scarcely be abused,
+for the citizens were few in number and simple in their manners. 
+As they have increased, the Americans have not augmented the
+power of the democracy, but they have, if I may use the
+expression, extended its dominions. 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, though it be a
+necessary one.  A child may kill before he is aware of the value
+of life; and he may deprive another person of his property before
+he is aware that his own may be taken away 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 even
+be perceived 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 fertile
+in prodigies than the art of being free; but there is nothing
+more arduous than the apprenticeship of liberty.  Such is not the
+case with despotic institutions: despotism often promises to make
+amends for a thousand previous ills; it supports the right, it
+protects the oppressed, and it maintains public order. The nation
+is lulled by the temporary prosperity which accrues to it, until
+it is roused to a sense of its own misery.  Liberty, on the
+contrary, is generally established in the midst of agitation, it
+is perfected by civil discord, and its benefits cannot be
+appreciated until it is already old.
+
+
+Chapter XIV: Advantages American Society Derive From Democracy -
+Part II
+
+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 everyone to increase
+the authority 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 such a measure is possible the
+authority of the law is very much augmented. This popular origin,
+which impairs the excellence and the wisdom of legislation,
+contributes prodigiously to increase its power.  There is an
+amazing strength in the expression of the determination of a
+whole people, and when it declares itself the imagination of
+those who are most inclined to contest it is overawed by its
+authority.  The truth of this fact is very 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 recourse to the body
+of those persons who had no votes to give. 
+
+In the United States, except slaves, servants, and paupers
+in the receipt of relief from the townships, there is no class of
+persons who do not exercise the elective franchise, and who do
+not indirectly contribute to make the laws. Those who design to
+attack the laws must consequently either modify the opinion of
+the nation or trample upon its decision.
+
+A second reason, which is still more weighty, may be further
+adduced; in the United States everyone is personally interested
+in enforcing the obedience of the whole community to the law; for
+as the minority may shortly rally the majority to its principles,
+it is interested in professing that respect for the decrees of
+the legislator which it may soon have occasion to claim for its
+own.  However irksome an enactment may be, the citizen of the
+United States complies with it, not only because it is the work
+of the majority, but because it originates in his own authority,
+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 which always looks upon the law as its
+natural enemy, and accordingly surveys it with fear and with fear
+and with distrust.  It is impossible, on the other hand, not to
+perceive that all classes display the utmost reliance upon the
+legislation of their country, and that they are attached to it by
+a kind of parental affection.
+
+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 which 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 interests of the whole community,
+but simply that it protects those of the majority.  In the United
+States, where the poor rule, the rich have always some reason to
+dread the abuses of their power. This natural anxiety of the rich
+may produce a sullen dissatisfaction, but society is not
+disturbed by it; for the same reason which induces the rich to
+withhold their confidence in the legislative authority makes them
+obey its mandates; their wealth, which prevents them from making
+the law, prevents them from withstanding it.  Amongst civilized
+nations revolts are rarely excited, except by such persons as
+have nothing to lose by them; and if the laws of a democracy are
+not always worthy of respect, at least they always obtain it; for
+those who usually infringe the laws have no excuse for not
+complying with the enactments they have themselves made, and by
+which they are themselves benefited, whilst the citizens whose
+interests might be promoted by the infraction of them are
+induced, by their character and their stations, to submit to the
+decisions of the legislature, whatever they may be.  Besides
+which, the people in America obeys the law not only because it
+emanates from the popular authority, but because that authority
+may modify it in any points which may prove vexatory; a law is
+observed because it is a self-imposed evil in the first place,
+and an evil of transient duration in the second.
+
+Activity Which Pervades All The Branches Of The Body Politic In
+The United States; Influence Which It Exercises Upon Society
+
+More difficult to conceive the political activity 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 episode to the general activity - Difficult for
+an American to confine himself to his own business - 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 country in which free institutions are
+established to one where they do not exist, the traveller is
+struck by the change; in the former all is bustle and activity,
+in the latter everything is calm and motionless.  In the one,
+amelioration and progress are the general topics of inquiry; in
+the other, it seems as if the community only aspired to repose in
+the enjoyment of the advantages which it has acquired. 
+Nevertheless, the country which exerts itself so strenuously to
+promote its welfare is generally more wealthy and more prosperous
+than that which appears to be so contented with its lot; and when
+we compare them together, we can scarcely conceive how so many
+new wants are daily felt in the former, whilst so few seem to
+occur in the latter.
+
+If this remark is applicable to those free countries in
+which monarchical and aristocratic institutions subsist, it is
+still more striking with regard to democratic republics.  In
+these States it is not only a portion of the people which is
+busied with the amelioration of its social condition, but the
+whole community is engaged in the task; and it is not the
+exigencies and the convenience of a single class for which a
+provision is to be made, but the exigencies and the convenience
+of all ranks of life. 
+
+It is not impossible to conceive the surpassing liberty
+which the Americans enjoy; some idea may likewise be formed of
+the extreme equality which subsists amongst them, but the
+political activity which pervades the United States must be seen
+in order to be understood.  No sooner do you set foot upon the
+American soil than you are stunned by a kind of tumult; a
+confused clamor is heard on every side; and a thousand
+simultaneous voices demand the immediate 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
+building 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; or 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 purpose of
+declaring their disapprobation of the line of conduct pursued by
+the Government; whilst in other assemblies the citizens salute
+the authorities of the day as the fathers of their country. 
+Societies are formed which regard drunkenness as the principal
+cause of the evils under which the State labors, and which
+solemnly bind themselves to give a constant example of
+temperance. *c
+
+[Footnote c: At the time of my stay in the United States the
+temperance societies already consisted of more than 270,000
+members, and their effect had been to diminish the consumption of
+fermented liquors by 500,000 gallons per annum in the State of
+Pennsylvania alone.]
+
+The great political agitation of the American legislative
+bodies, which is the only kind of excitement that attracts the
+attention of foreign countries, is a mere episode or a sort of
+continuation of that universal movement which originates in the
+lowest classes of the people and extends successively to all the
+ranks of society.  It is impossible to spend more efforts in the
+pursuit of enjoyment.
+
+The cares of political life engross a most prominent place
+in the occupation of a citizen in the United States, and almost
+the only pleasure of which an American has any idea is to take a
+part in the Government, and to discuss the part he has taken. 
+This feeling pervades the most trifling habits of life; even the
+women frequently attend public meetings and listen to political
+harangues as a recreation after their household labors. Debating
+clubs are to a certain extent a substitute for theatrical
+entertainments: an American cannot converse, but he can discuss;
+and when he attempts to talk he falls into a dissertation.  He
+speaks to you as if he was addressing a meeting; and if he should
+chance to warm in the course of the discussion, he will
+infallibly say, "Gentlemen," to the person with whom he is
+conversing.
+
+In some countries the inhabitants display a certain
+repugnance to avail themselves of the political privileges with
+which the law invests them; it would seem that they set too high
+a value upon their time to spend it on the interests of the
+community; and they prefer to withdraw within the exact limits of
+a wholesome egotism, 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 existence; he would feel an immense void in the life which he
+is accustomed to lead, and his wretchedness would be unbearable.
+*d I am persuaded that, if ever a despotic government is
+established in America, it will find it more difficult to
+surmount the habits which free institutions have engendered than
+to conquer the attachment of the citizens to freedom.
+
+[Footnote d: The same remark was made at Rome under the first
+Caesars. Montesquieu somewhere alludes 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.]
+
+This ceaseless agitation which democratic government 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 much less inclined to
+applaud it for what it does than for what it causes to be done. 
+It is incontestable that the people frequently conducts
+public business very ill; but it is impossible that the lower
+orders should take a part in public business without extending
+the circle of their ideas, and without quitting the ordinary
+routine of their mental acquirements.  The humblest individual
+who is called upon to co-operate in the government of society
+acquires a certain degree of self-respect; and as he possesses
+authority, he can command the services of minds much more
+enlightened than his own.  He is canvassed by a multitude of
+applicants, who seek to deceive him in a thousand different ways,
+but who instruct him by their deceit.  He takes a part in
+political undertakings which did not originate in his own
+conception, but which give him a taste for undertakings of the
+kind.  New ameliorations are daily pointed out in the property
+which he holds in common with others, and this gives him the
+desire of improving that property which is more peculiarly 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 institutions of the United
+States, joined to the physical constitution of the country, are
+the cause (not the direct, as is so often asserted, but the
+indirect cause) of the prodigious commercial activity of the
+inhabitants.  It is not engendered by the laws, but the people
+learns how to promote it by the experience derived from
+legislation.
+
+When the opponents of democracy assert that a single
+individual performs the duties which he undertakes much better
+than the government of the community, it appears to me that they
+are perfectly right.  The government of an individual, supposing
+an equality of instruction on either side, is more consistent,
+more persevering, and more accurate than that of a multitude, and
+it is much better qualified judiciously to discriminate the
+characters of the men it employs.  If any deny what I advance,
+they have certainly never seen a democratic government, or have
+formed their opinion upon very partial evidence.  It is true that
+even when local circumstances and the disposition of the people
+allow democratic institutions to subsist, they never display a
+regular and methodical system of government.  Democratic liberty
+is far from accomplishing all the projects it undertakes, with
+the skill of an adroit despotism.  It frequently abandons them
+before they have borne their fruits, or risks them when the
+consequences may prove dangerous; but in the end it produces more
+than any absolute government, and if it do fewer things well, it
+does a greater number of things.  Under its sway the transactions
+of the public administration are not nearly so important as what
+is done by private exertion.  Democracy does not confer the most
+skilful kind of government upon the people, but it produces that
+which the most skilful governments are frequently unable to
+awaken, namely, an all-pervading and restless activity, a
+superabundant force, and an energy which is inseparable from it,
+and which may, under favorable circumstances, beget the most
+amazing benefits.  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 its foe
+whilst it is yet in its early growth; and others are ready with
+their vows of adoration for this new deity which is springing
+forth from chaos: but both parties are very imperfectly
+acquainted with the object of their hatred or of their desires;
+they strike in the dark, and distribute their blows by mere
+chance.
+
+We must first understand what the purport of society and the
+aim of government is held to be.  If it be your intention to
+confer a certain elevation upon the human mind, and to teach it
+to regard the things of this world with generous feelings, to
+inspire men with a scorn of mere temporal advantage, to give
+birth to living convictions, and to keep alive the spirit of
+honorable devotedness; if you hold it to be a good thing to
+refine the habits, to embellish the manners, to cultivate the
+arts of a nation, and to promote the love of poetry, of beauty,
+and of renown; if you would constitute a people not unfitted to
+act with power upon all other nations, nor unprepared for those
+high enterprises which, whatever be the result of its efforts,
+will leave a name forever famous in time - if you believe such to
+be the principal object of society, you must avoid the government
+of democracy, which would be a very uncertain guide to the end
+you have in view.
+
+But if you hold it to be expedient to divert the moral and
+intellectual activity of man to the production of comfort, and to
+the acquirement of the necessaries of life; if a clear
+understanding be more profitable to man than genius; if your
+object be not to stimulate the virtues of heroism, but to create
+habits of peace; if you had rather witness vices than crimes and
+are content to meet with fewer noble deeds, provided offences be
+diminished in the same proportion; if, instead of living in the
+midst of a brilliant state of 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 share of power and of glory upon the body of the nation,
+but to ensure the greatest degree of enjoyment and the least
+degree of misery to each of the individuals who compose it - if
+such be your desires, you can have no surer means of satisfying
+them than by equalizing the conditions of men, and establishing
+democratic institutions. 
+
+But if the time be passed at which such a choice was
+possible, and if some superhuman power impel us towards one or
+the other of these two governments without consulting our wishes,
+let us at least endeavor to make the best of that which is
+allotted to us; and let us so inquire into its good and its evil
+propensities as to be able to foster the former and repress the
+latter to the utmost. 
+
+Chapter XV: Unlimited Power Of Majority, And Its Consequences -
+Part I
+
+Chapter Summary
+
+Natural strength of the majority in democracies - Most of the
+American Constitutions have increased this strength by artificial
+means - How this has been done - Pledged delegates - Moral power
+of the majority - Opinion as to its infallibility - Respect for
+its rights, how augmented in the United States.
+
+Unlimited Power Of The Majority In The United States, And Its
+Consequences
+
+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 sought to increase this natural
+strength of the majority by artificial means. *a
+
+[Footnote a: We observed, in examining the Federal Constitution,
+that the efforts of the legislators of the Union had been
+diametrically opposed to the present tendency.  The consequence
+has been that the Federal Government is more independent in its
+sphere than that of the States.  But the Federal Government
+scarcely ever interferes in any but external affairs; and the
+governments of the State are in the governments of the States are
+in reality the authorities which direct society in America.]
+
+The legislature is, of all political institutions, the one
+which is most easily swayed by the wishes of the majority.  The
+Americans determined that the members of the legislature should
+be elected by the people immediately, and for a very brief term,
+in order to subject them, not only to the general convictions,
+but even to the daily passion, of their constituents.  The
+members of both houses are taken from the same class in society,
+and are nominated in the same manner; so that the modifications
+of the legislative 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 entrusted.
+
+But whilst the law increased the strength of those
+authorities which of themselves were strong, it enfeebled more
+and more those which were naturally weak.  It deprived the
+representatives of the executive of all stability and
+independence, and by subjecting them completely to the caprices
+of the legislature, it robbed them of the slender influence which
+the nature of a democratic government might have allowed them to
+retain.  In several States the judicial power was also submitted
+to the elective discretion of the majority, and in all of them
+its existence was made to depend on the pleasure of the
+legislative authority, since the representatives were empowered
+annually to regulate the stipend of the judges.
+
+Custom, however, has done even more than law.  A proceeding
+which will in the end set all the guarantees of representative
+government at naught is becoming more and more general in the
+United States; it frequently happens that the electors, who
+choose a delegate, point out a certain line of conduct to him,
+and impose upon him a certain number of positive obligations
+which he is pledged to fulfil.  With the exception of the tumult,
+this comes to the same thing as if the majority of the populace
+held its deliberations in the market-place.
+
+Several other circumstances concur in rendering the power of
+the majority in America not only preponderant, but irresistible. 
+The moral authority of the majority is partly based upon the
+notion that there is more intelligence and more wisdom in a great
+number of men collected together than in a single individual, and
+that the quantity of legislators is more important than their
+quality.  The theory of equality is in fact applied to the
+intellect of man: and human pride is thus assailed in its last
+retreat by a doctrine which the minority hesitate to admit, and
+in which they very slowly concur.  Like all other powers, and
+perhaps more than all other powers, the authority of the many
+requires the sanction of time; at first it enforces obedience by
+constraint, but its laws are not respected until they have long
+been maintained.
+
+The right of governing society, which the majority supposes
+itself to derive from its superior intelligence, was introduced
+into the United States by the first settlers, and this idea,
+which would be sufficient of itself to create a free nation, has
+now been amalgamated with the manners of the people and the minor
+incidents of social intercourse.
+
+The French, under the old monarchy, held it for a maxim
+(which is still a fundamental principle of the English
+Constitution) that the King could do no wrong; and if he did do
+wrong, the blame was imputed to his advisers. This notion was
+highly favorable to habits of obedience, and 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 majority must
+naturally increase or diminish according to the state of parties. 
+When a nation is divided into several irreconcilable factions,
+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 privileges
+which they had possessed for ages, and to bring down from an
+elevated station to the level of the ranks of the multitude, it
+is probable that the minority would be less ready to comply with
+its laws.  But as the United States were colonized by men holding
+equal rank amongst themselves, there is as yet no natural or
+permanent source of dissension between the interests of its
+different inhabitants.
+
+There are certain communities in which the persons who
+constitute 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 them.  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 right of the majority, because they all hope to
+turn those rights to their own advantage at some future time. 
+The majority therefore in that country exercises a prodigious
+actual authority, and a moral influence which is scarcely less
+preponderant; no obstacles exist which can impede or so much as
+retard its progress, or which can induce it to heed the
+complaints of those whom it crushes upon its path.  This state of
+things is fatal in itself and dangerous for the future.
+
+How The Unlimited Power Of The Majority Increases In America The
+Instability Of Legislation And Administration Inherent In
+Democracy The Americans increase the mutability of the laws which
+is inherent in democracy by changing the legislature every year,
+and by investing it with unbounded authority - The same effect is
+produced upon the administration - In America social amelioration
+is conducted more energetically but less perseveringly than in
+Europe. 
+
+I have already spoken of the natural defects of democratic
+institutions, and they all of them increase at the exact ratio of
+the power of the majority. To begin with the most evident of them
+all; the mutability of the laws is an evil inherent in democratic
+government, because it is natural to democracies to raise men to
+power in very rapid succession.  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 legislative bodies
+is supreme; nothing prevents them from accomplishing their wishes
+with celerity, and with irresistible power, whilst they are
+supplied by new representatives every year.  That is to say, the
+circumstances which contribute most powerfully to democratic
+instability, and which admit of the free application of caprice
+to every object in the State, are here in full operation.  In
+conformity with this principle, America is, at the present day,
+the country in the world where laws last the shortest time. 
+Almost all the American constitutions have been amended within
+the course of thirty years: there is therefore not a single
+American State which has not modified the principles of its
+legislation in that lapse of time.  As for the laws themselves, a
+single glance upon 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 democracy is
+naturally less stable than any other, but that it is allowed to
+follow its capricious propensities in the formation of the laws.
+*b
+
+[Footnote b: 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 published in 1823, when
+many old laws which 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 omnipotence of the majority, and the rapid as well as
+absolute manner in which its decisions are executed in the United
+States, has not only the effect of rendering the law unstable,
+but it exercises the same influence upon the execution of the law
+and the conduct of the public administration. As the majority is
+the only power which it is important to court, all its projects
+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 the administration is at once independent
+and secure, so that the projects of the legislature are put into
+execution, although its immediate attention may be directed to
+other objects. 
+
+In America certain ameliorations are undertaken with much
+more zeal and activity than elsewhere; in Europe the same ends
+are promoted by much less social effort, more continuously
+applied. 
+
+Some years ago several pious individuals undertook to
+ameliorate the condition of the prisons.  The public was excited
+by the statements which they put forward, and the regeneration of
+criminals became a very popular undertaking.  New prisons were
+built, and for the first time the idea of reforming as well as of
+punishing the delinquent formed a part of prison discipline.  But
+this happy alteration, in which the public had taken so hearty an
+interest, and which the exertions of the citizens had
+irresistibly accelerated, could not be completed in a moment. 
+Whilst the new penitentiaries were being erected (and it was the
+pleasure of the majority that they should be terminated with all
+possible celerity), the old prisons existed, which still
+contained a great number of offenders.  These jails became more
+unwholesome and more corrupt in proportion as the new
+establishments were beautified 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 attention was diverted
+to a novel object, the care which had hitherto been bestowed upon
+the others ceased.  The salutary regulations of discipline were
+first relaxed, and afterwards broken; so that in the immediate
+neighborhood of a prison which bore witness to the mild and
+enlightened spirit of our time, dungeons might be met with which
+reminded the visitor of the barbarity of the Middle Ages.
+
+
+Chapter XV: Unlimited Power Of Majority, And Its Consequences -
+Part II
+
+Tyranny Of The Majority
+
+How the principle of the sovereignty of the people is to be
+understood -Impossibility of conceiving a mixed government - The
+sovereign power must centre 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 an execrable maxim that,
+politically speaking, a people has a right to do whatsoever it
+pleases, 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 consequently confined within the limits of what is just.  A
+nation may be considered in the light of a jury which is
+empowered to represent society at large, and to apply the great
+and general law of justice.  Ought such a jury, which represents
+society, to have more power than the society in which the laws it
+applies originate? 
+
+When I refuse to obey an unjust law, I do not contest the
+right which the majority has of commanding, but I simply appeal
+from the sovereignty of the people to the sovereignty of mankind. 
+It has been asserted that a people can never entirely outstep the
+boundaries of justice and of reason in those affairs which are
+more peculiarly its own, and that consequently, full power may
+fearlessly be given to the majority by which it is represented. 
+But this language is that of a slave.
+
+A majority taken collectively may be regarded as a being
+whose opinions, and most frequently whose interests, are opposed
+to those of another being, which is styled a minority.  If it be
+admitted that a man, possessing absolute power, may misuse that
+power by wronging his adversaries, why should a majority not be
+liable to the same reproach?  Men are not apt to change their
+characters by agglomeration; nor does their patience in the
+presence of obstacles increase with the consciousness of their
+strength. *c And for these reasons I can never willingly invest
+any number of my fellow- creatures with that unlimited authority
+which I should refuse to any one of them.
+
+[Footnote c: No one will assert that a people cannot forcibly
+wrong another people; but parties may be looked upon as lesser
+nations within a greater one, and they are aliens to each other:
+if, therefore, it be admitted that a nation can act tyrannically
+towards another nation, it cannot be denied that a party may do
+the same towards another party.]
+
+I do not think that it is possible to combine several
+principles in the same government, so as at the same time to
+maintain freedom, and really to oppose them to one another.  The
+form of government which is usually termed mixed has always
+appeared to me to be a mere chimera.  Accurately speaking there
+is no such thing as a mixed government (with the meaning usually
+given to that word), because in all communities some one
+principle of action may be discovered which preponderates over
+the others.  England in the last century, which has been more
+especially cited as an example of this form of Government, was in
+point of fact an essentially aristocratic State, although it
+comprised very powerful elements of democracy; for the laws and
+customs of the country were such that the aristocracy could not
+but preponderate in the end, and subject the direction of public
+affairs to its own will.  The error arose from too much attention
+being paid to the actual struggle which was going on between the
+nobles and the people, without considering the probable issue of
+the contest, which was in reality the important point. When a
+community really has a mixed government, that is to say, when it
+is equally divided between two adverse principles, it must either
+pass through a revolution or fall into complete dissolution.
+
+I am therefore of opinion that some one social power must
+always be made to predominate over the others; but I think that
+liberty is endangered when this power is checked by no obstacles
+which may retard its course, and force it to moderate its own
+vehemence.
+
+Unlimited power is in itself a bad and dangerous thing;
+human beings are not competent to exercise it with discretion,
+and God alone can be omnipotent, because His wisdom and His
+justice are always equal to His power. But no power upon earth is
+so worthy of honor for itself, or of reverential obedience to the
+rights which it represents, that I would consent to admit its
+uncontrolled and all-predominant authority.  When I see that the
+right and the means of absolute command are conferred on a people
+or upon a king, upon an aristocracy or a democracy, a monarchy or
+a republic, I recognize the germ of tyranny, and I journey onward
+to a land of more hopeful institutions.
+
+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
+overpowering strength; and I am not so much alarmed at the
+excessive liberty which reigns in that country as at the very
+inadequate securities which exist 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 its injunctions;
+if to the executive power, it is appointed by the majority, and
+remains a passive tool in its hands; the public troops consist 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 evil of which you complain may be, you must submit to
+it as well as you can. *d
+
+[Footnote d: A striking instance of the excesses which may be
+occasioned by the despotism of the majority occurred at Baltimore
+in the year 1812.  At that time the war was very popular in
+Baltimore.  A journal which had taken the other side of the
+question excited the indignation of the inhabitants by its
+opposition.  The populace assembled, broke the printing-presses,
+and attacked the houses of the newspaper editors.  The militia
+was called out, but no one obeyed the call; and the only means of
+saving the poor wretches who were threatened by the frenzy of the
+mob was to throw them into prison as common malefactors.  But
+even this precaution was ineffectual; the mob collected again
+during the night, the magistrates again made a vain attempt to
+call out the militia, the prison was forced, one of the newspaper
+editors was killed upon the spot, and the others were left for
+dead; the guilty parties were acquitted by the jury when they
+were brought to trial. 
+
+I said one day to an inhabitant of Pennsylvania, "Be so good
+as to explain to me how it happens that in a State founded by
+Quakers, and celebrated for its toleration, freed blacks are not
+allowed to exercise civil rights.  They pay the taxes; is it not
+fair that they should have a vote?"
+
+"You insult us," replied my informant, "if you imagine that
+our legislators could have committed so gross an act of injustice
+and intolerance."
+
+"What!  then the blacks possess the right of voting in this
+county?"
+
+"Without the smallest doubt."
+
+"How comes it, then, that at the polling-booth this morning
+I did not perceive a single negro in the whole meeting?"
+
+"This is not the fault of the law: the negroes have an
+undisputed right of voting, but they voluntarily abstain from
+making their appearance."
+
+"A very pretty piece of modesty on their parts!" rejoined I. 
+
+"Why, the truth is, that they are not disinclined to vote,
+but they are 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
+privileges."
+
+"What!  then the majority claims the right not only of
+making the laws, but of breaking the laws it has made?"]
+
+If, on the other hand, a legislative power could be so
+constituted as to represent the majority without necessarily
+being the slave of its passions; an executive, so as to retain a
+certain degree of uncontrolled authority; and a judiciary, so as
+to remain independent of the two other powers; a government would
+be formed which would still be democratic without incurring any
+risk of tyrannical abuse.
+
+I do not say that tyrannical abuses frequently occur in
+America at the present day, but I maintain that no sure barrier
+is established against them, and that the causes which mitigate
+the government are to be found in the circumstances and the
+manners of the country more than in its laws.
+
+Effects Of The Unlimited Power Of The Majority Upon The Arbitrary
+Authority Of The American Public Officers
+
+Liberty left by the American laws to public officers within a
+certain sphere -Their power.
+
+
+A distinction must be drawn between tyranny and arbitrary
+power. Tyranny may be exercised by means of the law, and in that
+case it is not arbitrary; arbitrary power may be exercised for
+the good of the community at large, in which case it is not
+tyrannical.  Tyranny usually employs arbitrary means, but, if
+necessary, it can rule without them.
+
+In the United States the unbounded power of the majority,
+which is favorable to the legal despotism of the legislature, is
+likewise favorable to the arbitrary authority of the magistrate. 
+The majority has an entire control over the law when it is made
+and when it is executed; and as it possesses an equal authority
+over those who are in power and the community at large, it
+considers public officers as its passive agents, and readily
+confides the task of serving its designs to their vigilance.  The
+details of their office and the privileges which they are to
+enjoy are rarely defined beforehand; but the majority treats them
+as a master does his servants when they are always at work in his
+sight, and he has the power of directing or reprimanding them at
+every instant. 
+
+In general the American functionaries are far more
+independent than the French civil officers within the sphere
+which is prescribed to them. 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 co-operation, of the
+majority, they venture upon such manifestations of their power as
+astonish a European.  By this means habits are 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
+
+In America, when the majority has once irrevocably decided a
+question, all discussion ceases - Reason of this - Moral power
+exercised by the majority upon opinion - Democratic republics
+have deprived despotism of its physical instruments - Their
+despotism sways the minds of men.
+
+It is in the examination of the display of public opinion in
+the United States that we clearly perceive how far the power of
+the majority surpasses all the powers with which we are
+acquainted in Europe.  Intellectual principles exercise an
+influence which is so invisible, and often so inappreciable, that
+they baffle the toils of oppression.  At the present time the
+most absolute monarchs in Europe are unable to prevent certain
+notions, which are opposed to their authority, from circulating
+in secret throughout their dominions, and even in their courts. 
+Such is not the case in America; as long as the majority is still
+undecided, discussion is carried on; but as soon as its decision
+is irrevocably pronounced, a submissive silence is observed, and
+the friends, as well as the opponents, of the measure unite in
+assenting to its propriety.  The reason of this is perfectly
+clear: no monarch is so absolute as to combine all the powers of
+society in his own hands, and to conquer all opposition with the
+energy of a majority which is invested with the right of making
+and of executing the laws.
+
+The authority of a king is purely physical, and it controls
+the actions of the subject without subduing his private will; but
+the majority possesses a power which is physical and moral at the
+same time; it acts upon the will as well as upon the actions of
+men, and it represses not only all contest, but all controversy. 
+I know no country in which there is so little true
+independence of mind and freedom of discussion as in America.  In
+any constitutional state in Europe every sort of religious and
+political theory may be advocated and propagated abroad; for
+there is no country in Europe so subdued by any single authority
+as not to contain citizens who are ready to protect the man who
+raises his voice in the cause of truth from the consequences of
+his hardihood. If he is unfortunate enough to live under an
+absolute government, the people is upon his side; if he inhabits
+a free country, he may find a shelter behind the authority of the
+throne, if he require one.  The aristocratic part of society
+supports him in some countries, and the democracy in others.  But
+in a nation where democratic institutions exist, organized like
+those of the United States, there is but one sole authority, one
+single element of strength and of success, with nothing beyond
+it.
+
+In America the majority raises very formidable barriers to
+the liberty of opinion: within these barriers an author may write
+whatever he pleases, but he will repent it if he ever step beyond
+them.  Not that he is exposed to the terrors of an auto-da-fe,
+but he is tormented by the slights and persecutions of daily
+obloquy.  His political career is closed forever, since he has
+offended the only authority which is able to promote his success.
+Every sort of compensation, even that of celebrity, is refused to
+him. Before he published his opinions he imagined that he held
+them in common with many others; but no sooner has he declared
+them openly than he is loudly censured by his overbearing
+opponents, whilst those who think without having the courage to
+speak, like him, abandon him in silence.  He yields at length,
+oppressed by the daily efforts he has been making, and he
+subsides into silence, as if he was tormented by remorse for
+having spoken the truth.
+
+Fetters and headsmen were the coarse instruments which
+tyranny formerly employed; but the civilization of our age has
+refined the arts of despotism which seemed, however, to have been
+sufficiently perfected before.  The excesses of monarchical power
+had devised a variety of physical means of oppression: the
+democratic republics of the present day have rendered it as
+entirely an affair of the mind as that will which it is intended
+to coerce. Under the absolute sway of an individual despot the
+body was attacked in order to subdue the soul, and the soul
+escaped the blows which were directed against it and rose
+superior to the attempt; but such is not the course adopted by
+tyranny in democratic republics; there the body is left free, and
+the soul is enslaved.  The sovereign can no longer say, "You
+shall think as I do on pain of death;" but he says, "You are free
+to think differently from me, and to retain your life, your
+property, and all that you possess; but if such be your
+determination, you are henceforth an alien 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 suffrages, and they will affect to scorn you if you
+solicit their esteem.  You will remain among men, but you will be
+deprived of the rights of mankind.  Your fellow-creatures will
+shun you like an impure being, and those who are most persuaded
+of your innocence will abandon you too, lest they should be
+shunned in their turn.  Go in peace!  I have given you your life,
+but it is an existence in comparably worse than death."
+
+Monarchical institutions have thrown an odium upon
+despotism; let us beware lest democratic republics should restore
+oppression, and should render it less odious and less 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 deride the
+follies of the times; Labruyere inhabited the palace of Louis XIV
+when he composed his chapter upon the Great, and Moliere
+criticised the courtiers in the very pieces which were acted
+before the Court.  But the ruling power in the United States is
+not to be made game of; the smallest reproach irritates its
+sensibility, and the slightest joke which has any foundation in
+truth renders it indignant; from the style of its language to the
+more solid virtues of its character, everything must be made the
+subject of encomium.  No writer, whatever be his eminence, can
+escape from this tribute of adulation to his fellow-citizens. The
+majority lives in the perpetual practice of self-applause, and
+there are certain truths which the Americans can only learn from
+strangers or from experience.
+
+If great writers have not at present existed in America, the
+reason is very simply given in these facts; there can be no
+literary genius without freedom of opinion, and freedom of
+opinion 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 empire of the majority succeeds much
+better in the United States, since it actually removes the wish
+of publishing them.  Unbelievers are to be met with in America,
+but, to say the truth, there is no public organ of infidelity. 
+Attempts have been made by some governments to protect the
+morality of nations by prohibiting licentious books.  In the
+United States no one is punished for this sort of works, but no
+one is induced to write them; not because all the citizens are
+immaculate in their manners, but because the majority of the
+community is decent and orderly. 
+
+
+In these cases the advantages derived from the exercise of
+this power are unquestionable, and I am simply discussing the
+nature of the power itself. This irresistible authority is a
+constant fact, and its judicious exercise is an accidental
+occurrence.
+
+Effects Of The Tyranny Of The Majority Upon The National
+Character Of The Americans
+
+Effects of the tyranny of the majority more sensibly felt
+hitherto in the manners than in the conduct of society - They
+check the development of leading characters - Democratic
+republics organized like the United States bring the practice of
+courting favor within the reach of the many - Proofs of this
+spirit in the United States - Why there is more patriotism in the
+people than in those who govern in its name.
+
+The tendencies which I have just alluded to are as yet very
+slightly perceptible in political society, but they already begin
+to exercise an unfavorable influence upon the national character
+of the Americans.  I am inclined to attribute the singular
+paucity of distinguished political characters to the
+ever-increasing activity of the despotism of the majority in the
+United States.  When the American Revolution broke out they arose
+in great numbers, for public opinion then served, not to
+tyrannize over, but to direct the exertions of individuals. 
+Those celebrated men took a full part in the general agitation of
+mind common at that period, and they attained a high degree of
+personal fame, which was reflected back upon the nation, but
+which was by no means borrowed from it. 
+
+In absolute governments the great nobles who are nearest to
+the throne flatter the passions of the sovereign, and voluntarily
+truckle to his caprices.  But the mass of the nation does not
+degrade itself by servitude: it often submits 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 sovereign with pleasure and with pride, thus exhibiting a
+sort of independence in the very act of submission.  These
+peoples are miserable, but they are not degraded.  There is a
+great difference between doing what one does not approve and
+feigning to approve what one does; the one is the necessary case
+of a weak person, the other befits the temper of a lackey.
+
+In free countries, where everyone is more or less called
+upon to give his opinion in the affairs of state; in democratic
+republics, where public life is incessantly commingled with
+domestic affairs, where the sovereign authority is accessible on
+every side, and where its attention can almost always be
+attracted by vociferation, more persons are to be met with who
+speculate upon its foibles and live at the cost of its passions
+than in absolute monarchies. Not because men are naturally worse
+in these States than elsewhere, but the temptation is stronger,
+and of easier access at the same time.  The result is a far more
+extensive debasement of the characters of citizens.
+
+
+Democratic republics extend the practice of currying favor
+with the many, and they introduce it into a greater number of
+classes at once: this is one of the most serious reproaches that
+can be addressed to them.  In democratic States organized on the
+principles of the American republics, this is more especially the
+case, where the authority of the majority is so absolute and so
+irresistible that a man must give up his rights as a citizen, and
+almost abjure his quality as a human being, if te intends to
+stray from the track which it lays down.
+
+In that immense crowd which throngs the avenues to power in
+the United States I found very few men who displayed any of that
+manly candor and that masculine independence of opinion which
+frequently distinguished the Americans in former times, and which
+constitutes the leading feature in distinguished characters,
+wheresoever they may be found.  It seems, at first sight, as if
+all the minds of the Americans were formed upon one model, so
+accurately do they correspond in their manner of judging.  A
+stranger does, indeed, sometimes meet with Americans who dissent
+from these rigorous formularies; with men who deplore the defects
+of the laws, the mutability and the ignorance of democracy; who
+even go so far as to observe the evil tendencies which impair the
+national character, and to point out such remedies as it might be
+possible to apply; but no one is there to hear these things
+besides yourself, and you, to whom these secret reflections are
+confided, are a stranger and a bird of passage.  They are very
+ready to communicate truths which are useless to you, but they
+continue to hold a different language in public.
+
+If ever these lines are read in America, I am well assured
+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
+very many of them will acquit me at the bottom of their
+conscience.
+
+I have heard of patriotism in the United States, and it is a
+virtue which may be found 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 has often great virtues, but the
+courtiers are invariably servile.  It is true that the American
+courtiers do not say "Sire," or "Your Majesty" - a distinction
+without a difference.  They are forever talking of the natural
+intelligence of the populace they serve; they do not debate the
+question as to which of the virtues of their master is
+pre-eminently worthy of admiration, for they assure him that he
+possesses all the virtues under heaven without having acquired
+them, or without caring to acquire them; they do not give him
+their daughters and their wives to be raised at his pleasure to
+the rank of his concubines, but, by sacrificing their opinions,
+they prostitute themselves. Moralists and philosophers 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 which we are addressing is too
+superior to all the weaknesses of human nature to lose the
+command of its temper for an instant; and we should not hold this
+language if we were not speaking to men whom their virtues and
+their intelligence render more worthy of freedom than all the
+rest of the world." It would have been impossible for the
+sycophants of Louis XIV to 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
+cling to power.  The only means of preventing men from degrading
+themselves is to invest no one with that unlimited authority
+which is the surest method of debasing them.
+
+The Greatest Dangers Of The American Republics Proceed From The
+Unlimited Power Of The Majority
+
+Democratic republics liable to perish from a misuse of their
+power, and not by impotence - The Governments of the American
+republics are more centralized and more energetic than those of
+the monarchies of Europe - Dangers resulting from this - Opinions
+of Hamilton and Jefferson upon this point.
+
+Governments usually fall a sacrifice to impotence or to
+tyranny.  In the former case their power escapes from them; it is
+wrested from their grasp in the latter.  Many observers, who have
+witnessed the anarchy of democratic States, have imagined that
+the government of those States was naturally weak and impotent. 
+The truth is, that when once hostilities are begun between
+parties, the government loses its control over society.  But I do
+not think that a democratic power is naturally without force or
+without resources: say, rather, that it is almost always by the
+abuse of its force and the misemployment of its resources that a
+democratic government fails.  Anarchy is almost always produced
+by its tyranny or its mistakes, but not by its want of strength.
+
+It is important not to confound stability with force, or the
+greatness of a thing with its duration.  In democratic republics,
+the power which directs *e society is not stable; for it often
+changes hands and assumes a new direction.  But whichever way it
+turns, its force is almost irresistible. The Governments of the
+American republics appear to me to be as much centralized as
+those of the absolute monarchies of Europe, and more energetic
+than they are.  I do not, therefore, imagine that they will
+perish from weakness. *f
+
+[Footnote e: This power may be centred in an assembly, in which
+case it will be strong without being stable; or it may be centred
+in an individual, in which case it will be less strong, but more
+stable.]
+
+[Footnote f: I presume that it is scarcely necessary to remind
+the reader here, as well as throughout the remainder of this
+chapter, that I am speaking, not of the Federal Government, but
+of the several governments of each State, which the majority
+controls at its pleasure.]
+
+If ever the free institutions of America are destroyed, that
+event may be attributed to the unlimited authority of the
+majority, which may at some future time urge the minorities to
+desperation, and oblige them to have recourse to physical force. 
+Anarchy will then be the result, but it will have been brought
+about by despotism.
+
+Mr. Hamilton expresses the same opinion in the "Federalist,"
+No. 51. "It is of great importance in a republic not only to
+guard the society against the oppression of its rulers, but to
+guard one part of the society against the injustice 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 unite
+and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign as
+in a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not secured
+against the violence of the stronger: and as in the latter 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 the former state will the more
+powerful factions be gradually induced by a like motive to wish
+for a government which 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 separated from the Confederacy and left
+to itself, the insecurity of right under the popular form of
+government within such narrow limits would be displayed by such
+reiterated oppressions of the factious majorities, that some
+power altogether independent of the people would soon be called
+for by the voice of the very factions whose misrule had proved
+the necessity of it." 
+
+Jefferson has also thus expressed himself in a letter to
+Madison: *g "The executive power in our Government is not the
+only, perhaps not even the principal, 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
+tyranny of the executive power will come in its turn, but at a
+more distant period." I am glad to cite the opinion of Jefferson
+upon this subject rather than that of another, because I consider
+him to be the most powerful advocate democracy has ever sent
+forth.
+
+[Footnote g: March 15, 1789.]
+
+
+Chapter XVI: Causes Mitigating Tyranny In The United States -
+Part I
+
+Chapter Summary
+
+The national majority does not pretend to conduct all business -
+Is obliged to employ the town and county magistrates to execute
+its supreme decisions.
+
+I have already pointed out the distinction which is to be
+made between a centralized government and a centralized
+administration.  The former exists in America, but the latter is
+nearly unknown there.  If the directing power of the American
+communities had both these instruments of government at its
+disposal, and united the habit of executing its own commands to
+the right of commanding; if, after having established the general
+principles of government, it descended to the details of public
+business; and if, having regulated the great interests of the
+country, it could penetrate into the privacy of individual
+interests, freedom would soon be banished from the New World.
+
+But in the United States the majority, which so frequently
+displays the tastes and the propensities of a despot, is still
+destitute of the more perfect instruments of tyranny.  In the
+American republics the activity of the central Government has
+never as yet been extended beyond a limited number of objects
+sufficiently prominent to call forth its attention.  The
+secondary affairs of society have never been regulated by its
+authority, and nothing has hitherto betrayed its desire of
+interfering in them.  The majority is become more and more
+absolute, but it has not increased the prerogatives of the
+central government; those great prerogatives have been confined
+to a certain sphere; and although the despotism of the majority
+may be galling upon one point, it cannot be said to extend to
+all.  However the predominant party in the nation may be carried
+away by its passions, however ardent it may be in the pursuit of
+its projects, it cannot oblige all the citizens to comply with
+its desires in the same manner and at the same time throughout
+the country. When the central Government which represents that
+majority has issued a decree, it must entrust the execution of
+its will to agents, over whom it frequently has no control, and
+whom it cannot perpetually direct. The townships, municipal
+bodies, and counties may therefore be looked upon as concealed
+break-waters, which check or part the tide of popular excitement.
+If an oppressive law were passed, the liberties of the people
+would still be protected by the means by which that law would be
+put in execution: the majority cannot descend to the details and
+(as I will venture to style them) the puerilities of
+administrative tyranny.  Nor does the people entertain that full
+consciousness of its authority which would prompt it to interfere
+in these matters; it knows the extent of its natural powers, but
+it is unacquainted with the increased resources which the art of
+government might furnish.
+
+This point deserves attention, for if a democratic republic
+similar to that of the United States were ever founded in a
+country where the power of a single individual had previously
+subsisted, and the effects of a centralized administration had
+sunk deep into the habits and the laws of the people, I do not
+hesitate to assert, that in that country a more insufferable
+despotism would prevail than any which now exists in the
+monarchical States of Europe, or indeed than any which could be
+found on this side of the confines of Asia.
+
+The Profession Of The Law In The United States Serves To
+Counterpoise The Democracy
+
+Utility of discriminating the natural propensities of the members
+of the legal profession - These men called upon to act a
+prominent part in future society -In what manner the peculiar
+pursuits of lawyers give an aristocratic turn to their ideas -
+Accidental causes which may check this tendency - Ease with which
+the aristocracy coalesces with legal men - Use of lawyers to a
+despot - The profession of the law constitutes the only
+aristocratic element with which the natural elements of democracy
+will combine - Peculiar causes which tend to give an aristocratic
+turn of mind to the English and American lawyers - The
+aristocracy of America is on the bench and at the bar - Influence
+of lawyers upon American society - Their peculiar magisterial
+habits affect the legislature, the administration, and even the
+people.
+
+In visiting the Americans and in studying their laws we
+perceive that the authority they have entrusted to members of the
+legal profession, and the influence which these individuals
+exercise in the Government, is the most powerful existing
+security against the excesses of democracy.  This effect seems to
+me to result from a general cause which it is useful to
+investigate, since it may produce analogous consequences
+elsewhere.
+
+The members of the legal profession have taken an important
+part in all the vicissitudes of political society in Europe
+during the last five hundred years.  At one time they have been
+the instruments of those who were invested with political
+authority, and at another they have succeeded in converting
+political authorities into their instrument.  In the Middle Ages
+they afforded a powerful support to the Crown, and since that
+period they have exerted themselves to the utmost to limit the
+royal prerogative.  In England they have contracted a close
+alliance with the aristocracy; in France they have proved to be
+the most dangerous enemies of that class.  It is my object to
+inquire whether, under all these circumstances, the members of
+the legal profession have been swayed by sudden and momentary
+impulses; or whether they have been impelled by principles which
+are inherent in their pursuits, and which will always recur in
+history.  I am incited to this investigation by reflecting that
+this particular class of men will most likely play a prominent
+part in that order of things to which the events of our time are
+giving birth. 
+
+Men who have more especially devoted themselves to legal
+pursuits derive from those occupations certain habits of order, a
+taste for formalities, and a kind of instinctive regard for the
+regular connection of ideas, which naturally render them very
+hostile to the revolutionary spirit and the unreflecting passions
+of the multitude.
+
+The special information which lawyers derive from their
+studies ensures them a separate station in society, and they
+constitute a sort of privileged body in the scale of
+intelligence.  This notion of their superiority perpetually
+recurs to them in the practice of their profession: they are the
+masters of a science which is necessary, but which is not very
+generally known; they serve as arbiters between the citizens; and
+the habit of directing the blind passions of parties in
+litigation to their purpose inspires them with a certain contempt
+for the judgment of the multitude.  To this it may be added that
+they naturally constitute a body, not by any previous
+understanding, or by an agreement which directs them to a common
+end; but the analogy of their studies and the uniformity of their
+proceedings connect their minds together, as much as a common
+interest could combine their endeavors. 
+
+A portion of the tastes and of the habits of the aristocracy
+may consequently be discovered in the characters of men in the
+profession of the law.  They participate in the same instinctive
+love of order and of formalities; and they entertain the same
+repugnance to the actions of the multitude, and the 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 the advantages of the
+moment. 
+
+In a state of society in which the members of the legal
+profession are prevented from holding that rank in the political
+world which they enjoy in private life, we may rest assured that
+they will be the foremost agents of revolution.  But it must then
+be inquired whether the cause which induces them to innovate and
+to destroy is accidental, or whether it belongs to some lasting
+purpose which they entertain.  It is true that lawyers mainly
+contributed to the overthrow of the French monarchy in 1789; but
+it remains to be seen whether they acted thus because they had
+studied the laws, or because they were prohibited from
+co-operating in the work of legislation.
+
+Five hundred years ago the English nobles headed the people,
+and spoke in its name; at the present time the aristocracy
+supports the throne, and defends the royal prerogative.  But
+aristocracy has, notwithstanding this, its peculiar instincts and
+propensities.  We must be careful not to confound isolated
+members of a body with the body itself.  In all free governments,
+of whatsoever form they may be, members of the legal profession
+will be found at the head of all parties.  The same remark is
+also applicable to the aristocracy; for almost all the democratic
+convulsions which have agitated the world have been directed by
+nobles.
+
+A privileged body can never satisfy the ambition of all its
+members; it has always more talents and more passions to content
+and to employ than it can find places; so that a considerable
+number of individuals are usually to be met with who are inclined
+to attack those very privileges which they find it impossible to
+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 usually are
+so.  In a community in which lawyers are allowed to occupy,
+without opposition, that high station which naturally belongs to
+them, their general spirit will be eminently conservative and
+anti-democratic. When an aristocracy excludes the leaders of that
+profession from its ranks, it excites enemies which are the more
+formidable to its security as they are independent of the
+nobility by their industrious pursuits; and they feel themselves
+to be its equal in point of intelligence, although they enjoy
+less opulence and less power.  But whenever an aristocracy
+consents to impart some of its privileges to these same
+individuals, the two classes coalesce very readily, and assume,
+as it were, the consistency of a single order of family
+interests.
+
+I am, in like manner, inclined to believe that a monarch
+will always be able to convert legal practitioners into the most
+serviceable instruments of his authority.  There is a far greater
+affinity between this class of individuals and the executive
+power than there is between them and the people; just as there is
+a greater natural affinity between the nobles and the monarch
+than between the nobles and the people, although the higher
+orders of society have occasionally resisted the prerogative of
+the Crown in concert with the lower classes.
+
+Lawyers are attached to public order beyond every other
+consideration, and the best security of public order is
+authority.  It must not be forgotten that, if they prize the free
+institutions of their country much, they nevertheless value the
+legality of those institutions far more: they are less afraid of
+tyranny than of arbitrary power; and provided that the
+legislature take upon itself to deprive men of their
+independence, they are not dissatisfied.
+
+I am therefore convinced that the prince who, in presence of
+an encroaching democracy, should endeavor to impair the judicial
+authority in his dominions, and to diminish the political
+influence of lawyers, would commit a great mistake.  He would let
+slip the substance of authority to grasp at the shadow.  He would
+act more wisely in introducing men connected with the law into
+the government; and if he entrusted them with the conduct of a
+despotic power, bearing some marks of violence, that power would
+most likely assume the external features of justice and of
+legality in their hands.
+
+
+The government of democracy is favorable to the political
+power of lawyers; for when the wealthy, the noble, and the prince
+are excluded from the government, they are sure to occupy the
+highest stations, in their own right, as it were, since they are
+the only men of information and sagacity, beyond the sphere of
+the people, who can be the object of the popular choice. If,
+then, they are led by their tastes to combine with the
+aristocracy and to support the Crown, they are naturally brought
+into contact with the people by their interests.  They like the
+government of democracy, without participating in its
+propensities and without imitating its weaknesses; whence they
+derive a twofold authority, from it and over it.  The people in
+democratic states does not mistrust the members of the legal
+profession, because it is well known that they are interested in
+serving the popular cause; and it listens to them without
+irritation, because it does not attribute to them any sinister
+designs.  The object of lawyers is not, indeed, to overthrow the
+institutions of democracy, but they constantly endeavor to give
+it an impulse which diverts it from its real tendency, by means
+which are foreign to its nature.  Lawyers belong to the people by
+birth and interest, to the aristocracy by habit and by taste, and
+they may be looked upon as the natural bond and 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 natural
+elements of democracy, and which can be advantageously and
+permanently combined with them.  I am not unacquainted with the
+defects which are inherent in the character of that body of men;
+but without this admixture of lawyer-like sobriety with the
+democratic principle, I question whether democratic institutions
+could long be maintained, and I cannot believe that a republic
+could subsist at the present time if the influence of lawyers in
+public business did not increase in proportion to the power of
+the people.
+
+This aristocratic character, which I hold to be common to
+the legal profession, is much more distinctly marked in the
+United States and in England than in any other country.  This
+proceeds not only from the legal studies of the English and
+American lawyers, but from the nature of the legislation, and the
+position which those persons occupy in the two countries.  The
+English and the Americans have retained the law of precedents;
+that is to say, they continue to found their legal opinions and
+the decisions of their courts upon the opinions and the decisions
+of their forefathers.  In the mind of an English or American
+lawyer a taste and a reverence for what is old is almost always
+united to a love of regular and lawful proceedings.
+
+This predisposition has another effect upon the character of
+the legal profession and upon the general course of society.  The
+English and American lawyers investigate what has been done; the
+French advocate inquires what should have been done; the former
+produce precedents, the latter reasons. A French observer is
+surprised to hear how often an English dr an American lawyer
+quotes the opinions of others, and how little he alludes to his
+own; whilst the reverse occurs in France.  There the most
+trifling litigation is never conducted without the introduction
+of an entire system of ideas peculiar to the counsel employed;
+and the fundamental principles of law are discussed in order to
+obtain a perch of land by the decision of the court. This
+abnegation of his own opinion, and this implicit deference to the
+opinion of his forefathers, which are common to the English and
+American lawyer, this subjection of thought which he is obliged
+to profess, necessarily give him more timid habits and more
+sluggish inclinations in England and America than in France.
+
+The French codes are often difficult of comprehension, but
+they can be read by every one; nothing, on the other hand, can be
+more impenetrable to the uninitiated than a legislation founded
+upon precedents.  The indispensable want of legal assistance
+which is felt in England and in the United States, and the high
+opinion which is generally entertained of the ability of the
+legal profession, tend to separate it more and more from the
+people, and to place it in a distinct class.  The French lawyer
+is simply a man extensively acquainted with the statutes of his
+country; but the English or American lawyer resembles the
+hierophants of Egypt, for, like them, he is the sole interpreter
+of an occult science. 
+
+The station which lawyers occupy in England and America
+exercises no less an influence upon their habits and their
+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 of authority upon the
+members of the legal profession.  In English society lawyers do
+not occupy the first rank, but they are contented with the
+station assigned to them; they constitute, as it were, the
+younger branch of the English aristocracy, and they are attached
+to their elder brothers, although they do not enjoy all their
+privileges.  The English lawyers consequently mingle the taste
+and the ideas of the aristocratic circles in which they move with
+the aristocratic interests of their profession.
+
+And indeed the lawyer-like character which I am endeavoring
+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 necessary to modify them in any
+respect, or to adapt them the changes which time operates in
+society, recourse is had to the most inconceivable contrivances
+in order to uphold the traditionary fabric, and to maintain that
+nothing has been done which does not square with the intentions
+and complete the labors of former generations.  The very
+individuals who conduct these changes disclaim all intention of
+innovation, and they had rather resort to absurd expedients than
+plead guilty to so great a crime.  This spirit appertains more
+especially to the English lawyers; they seem indifferent to the
+real meaning of what they treat, and they direct all their
+attention to the letter, seeming inclined to infringe the rules
+of common sense and of humanity rather than to swerve one title
+from the law.  The English legislation may be compared to the
+stock of an old tree, upon which lawyers have engrafted the most
+various shoots, with the hope that, although their fruits may
+differ, their foliage at least will be confounded with the
+venerable trunk which supports them all.
+
+In America there are no nobles or men of letters, and the
+people is apt to mistrust the wealthy; lawyers consequently form
+the highest political class, and the most cultivated circle of
+society.  They have therefore nothing to gain by innovation,
+which adds a conservative interest to their natural taste for
+public order.  If I were asked where I place the American
+aristocracy, I should reply without hesitation that it is not
+composed of the rich, who are united together 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, counterpoise to the
+democratic element.  In that country we perceive how eminently
+the legal profession is qualified by its powers, and even by its
+defects, to neutralize the vices which are inherent in popular
+government.  When the American people is intoxicated by passion,
+or carried away by the impetuosity of its ideas, it is checked
+and stopped by the almost invisible influence of its legal
+counsellors, who secretly oppose their aristocratic propensities
+to its democratic instincts, their superstitious attachment to
+what is antique to its love of novelty, their narrow views to its
+immense designs, and their habitual procrastination to its ardent
+impatience.
+
+The courts of justice are the most visible organs by which
+the legal profession is enabled to control the democracy.  The
+judge is a lawyer, who, independently of the taste for regularity
+and order which he has contracted in the study of legislation,
+derives an additional love of stability from his own inalienable
+functions.  His legal attainments have already raised him to a
+distinguished rank amongst his fellow-citizens; his political
+power completes the distinction of his station, and gives him the
+inclinations natural to privileged classes.
+
+Armed with the power of declaring the laws to be
+unconstitutional, *a the American magistrate perpetually
+interferes in political affairs.  He cannot force the people to
+make laws, but at least he can oblige it not to disobey its own
+enactments; or to act inconsistently with its own principles.  I
+am aware that a secret tendency to diminish the judicial power
+exists in the United States, and by most of the constitutions of
+the several States the Government can, upon the demand of the two
+houses of the legislature, remove the judges from their station. 
+By some other constitutions the members of the tribunals are
+elected, 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 the attack which is made upon the
+judicial power has affected the democratic republic itself.
+
+[Footnote a: See chapter VI. on the "Judicial Power in the United
+States."]
+
+It must not, however, be supposed that the legal spirit of
+which I have been speaking has been confined, in the United
+States, to the courts of justice; it extends far beyond them.  As
+the lawyers constitute the only enlightened class which the
+people does not mistrust, they are naturally called upon to
+occupy most of the public stations.  They fill the legislative
+assemblies, and they conduct the administration; they
+consequently exercise a powerful influence upon the formation of
+the law, and upon its execution. The lawyers are, however,
+obliged to yield to the current of public opinion, which is too
+strong for them to resist it, but it is easy to find indications
+of what their conduct would be if they were free to act as they
+chose.  The Americans, who have made such copious innovations in
+their political legislation, have introduced very sparing
+alterations in their civil laws, and that with great difficulty,
+although those laws are frequently repugnant to their social
+condition.  The reason of this is, that in matters of civil law
+the majority is obliged to defer to the authority of the legal
+profession, and that the American lawyers are disinclined to
+innovate when they are left to their own choice.
+
+It is curious for a Frenchman, accustomed to a very
+different state of things, to hear the perpetual complaints which
+are made in the United States against the stationary propensities
+of legal men, and their prejudices in favor of existing
+institutions.
+
+The influence of the legal habits which are common in
+America extends beyond the limits I have just pointed out. 
+Scarcely any question arises in the United States which does not
+become, sooner or later, a subject of judicial debate; hence all
+parties are obliged to borrow the ideas, and even the language,
+usual in judicial proceedings in their daily controversies. As
+most public men are, or have been, legal practitioners, they
+introduce the customs and technicalities of their profession into
+the affairs of the country.  The jury extends this habitude to
+all classes.  The language of the law thus becomes, in some
+measure, a vulgar tongue; the spirit of the law, which is
+produced in the schools and courts of justice, gradually
+penetrates beyond their walls into the bosom of society, where it
+descends to the lowest classes, so that the whole people
+contracts the habits and the tastes of the magistrate.  The
+lawyers of the United States form a party which is but little
+feared and scarcely perceived, which has no badge peculiar to
+itself, which adapts itself with great flexibility to the
+exigencies of the time, and accommodates itself to all the
+movements of the social body; but this party extends over the
+whole community, and it penetrates into all classes of society;
+it acts upon the country imperceptibly, but it finally fashions
+it to suit its purposes.
+
+
+Chapter XVI: Causes Mitigating Tyranny In The United States -
+Part II
+
+Trial By Jury In The United States Considered As A Political
+Institution
+
+Trial by jury, which is one of the instruments of the sovereignty
+of the people, deserves to be compared with the other laws which
+establish that sovereignty - Composition of the jury in the
+United States - Effect of trial by jury upon the national
+character - It educates the people - It tends to establish the
+authority of the magistrates and to extend a knowledge of law
+among the people. 
+
+Since I have been led by my subject to recur to the
+administration of justice in the United States, I will not pass
+over this point 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 entered into
+my present purpose to inquire how far trial by jury (more
+especially in civil cases) contributes to insure the best
+administration of justice, I admit that its utility might be
+contested.  As the jury was first introduced at a time when
+society was in an uncivilized state, and when courts of justice
+were merely called upon to decide on the evidence of facts, it is
+not an easy task to adapt it to the wants of a highly civilized
+community when the mutual relations of men are multiplied to a
+surprising extent, and have assumed the enlightened and
+intellectual character of the age. *b
+
+[Footnote b: The investigation of trial by jury as a judicial
+institution, and the appreciation of its effects in the United
+States, together with the advantages the Americans have derived
+from it, would suffice to form a book, and a book upon a very
+useful and curious subject.  The State of Louisiana would in
+particular afford the curious phenomenon of a French and English
+legislation, as well as a French and English population, which
+are gradually combining with each other.  See the "Digeste des
+Lois de la Louisiane," in two volumes; and the "Traite sur les
+Regles des Actions civiles," printed in French and English at New
+Orleans in 1830.]
+
+My present object is to consider the jury as a political
+institution, and any other course would divert me from my
+subject.  Of trial by jury, considered as a judicial institution,
+I shall here say but very few words. When the English adopted
+trial by jury they were a semi-barbarous people; they are become,
+in course of time, one of the most enlightened nations of the
+earth; and their attachment to this institution seems to have
+increased with their increasing cultivation.  They soon spread
+beyond their insular boundaries to every corner of the habitable
+globe; some have formed colonies, others independent states; the
+mother-country has maintained its monarchical constitution; many
+of its offspring have founded powerful republics; but wherever
+the English have been they have boasted of the privilege of trial
+by jury. *c They have established it, or hastened to re-establish
+it, in all their settlements.  A judicial institution which
+obtains the suffrages of a great people for so long a series of
+ages, which is zealously renewed at every epoch of civilization,
+in all the climates of the earth and under every form of human
+government, cannot be contrary to the spirit of justice. *d
+
+[Footnote c: All the English and American jurists are unanimous
+upon this head.  Mr. Story, judge of the Supreme Court of the
+United States, speaks, in his "Treatise on the Federal
+Constitution," of the advantages of trial by jury in civil cases:
+- " The inestimable privilege of a trial by jury in civil cases -
+a privilege scarcely inferior to that in criminal cases, which is
+counted by all persons to be essential to political and civil
+liberty. . . ." (Story, book iii., chap. xxxviii.)]
+
+[Footnote d: If it were our province to point out the utility of
+the jury as a judicial institution in this place, much might be
+said, and the following arguments might be brought forward
+amongst others: -
+
+By introducing the jury into the business of the courts you
+are enabled to diminish the number of judges, which is a very
+great advantage.  When judges are very numerous, death is
+perpetually thinning the ranks of the judicial functionaries, and
+laying places vacant for newcomers.  The ambition of the
+magistrates is therefore continually excited, and they are
+naturally made dependent upon the will of the majority, or the
+individual who fills up the vacant appointments; the officers of
+the court then rise like the officers of an army.  This state of
+things is entirely contrary to the sound administration of
+justice, and to the intentions of the legislator.  The office of
+a judge is made inalienable in order that he may remain
+independent: but of what advantage is it that his independence
+should be protected if he be tempted to sacrifice it of his own
+accord?  When judges are very numerous many of them must
+necessarily be incapable of performing their important duties,
+for a great magistrate is a man of no common powers; and I am
+inclined to believe that a half-enlightened tribunal is the
+worst of all instruments for attaining those objects which it is
+the purpose of courts of justice to accomplish.  For my own part,
+I had rather submit the decision of a case 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 turn, however, from this part of the subject.  To look
+upon the jury as a mere judicial institution is to confine our
+attention to a very narrow view of it; for however great its
+influence may be upon the decisions of the law courts, that
+influence is very subordinate to the powerful effects which it
+produces on the destinies of the community at large.  The jury is
+above all a political institution, and it must be regarded in
+this light in order to be duly appreciated.
+
+By the jury I mean a certain number of citizens chosen
+indiscriminately, and invested with a temporary right of judging. 
+Trial by jury, as applied to the repression of crime, appears to
+me to introduce an eminently republican element into the
+government upon the following grounds:-
+
+The institution of the jury may be aristocratic or
+democratic, according to the class of society from which the
+jurors are selected; but it always preserves its republican
+character, inasmuch as it places the real direction of society in
+the hands of the governed, or of a portion of the governed,
+instead of leaving it under the authority of the Government. 
+Force is never more than a transient element of success; and
+after force comes the notion of right.  A government which should
+only be able to crush its enemies upon a field of battle would
+very soon be destroyed.  The true sanction of political laws is
+to be found in penal legislation, and if that sanction be wanting
+the law will sooner or later lose its cogency.  He who punishes
+infractions of the law 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 judicial authority. 
+The institution of the jury consequently invests the people, or
+that class of citizens, with the direction of society. *e
+
+[Footnote e: An important remark must, however, be made.  Trial
+by jury does unquestionably invest the people with a general
+control over the actions of citizens, but it does 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 people were
+predisposed to convict, the composition and the
+non-responsibility of the jury would still afford some chances
+favorable to the protection of innocence.]
+
+In England the jury is returned from the aristocratic
+portion of the nation; *f the aristocracy makes the laws, applies
+the laws, and punishes all infractions of the laws; everything is
+established upon a consistent footing, and England may with truth
+be said to constitute an aristocratic republic. In the United
+States the same system is applied to the whole people.  Every
+American citizen is qualified to be an elector, a juror, and is
+eligible to office. *g The system of the jury, as it is
+understood in America, appears to me to be as direct and as
+extreme a consequence of the sovereignty of the people as
+universal suffrage.  These institutions are two instruments of
+equal power, which contribute to the supremacy of the majority. 
+All the sovereigns who have chosen to govern by their own
+authority, and to direct society instead of obeying its
+directions, have destroyed or enfeebled the institution of the
+jury.  The monarchs of the House of Tudor sent to prison jurors
+who refused to convict, and Napoleon caused them to be returned
+by his agents.
+
+[Footnote f: [This may be true to some extent of special juries,
+but not of common juries.  The author seems not to have been
+aware that the qualifications of jurors in England vary
+exceedingly.]] 
+
+[Footnote g: See Appendix, Q.]
+
+However clear most of these truths may seem to be, they do
+not command universal assent, and in France, at least, the
+institution of trial by jury is still very imperfectly
+understood.  If the question arises as to the proper
+qualification of jurors, it is confined to a discussion of the
+intelligence and knowledge of the citizens who may be returned,
+as if the jury was merely a judicial institution.  This appears
+to me to be the least part of the subject. The jury is
+pre-eminently a political institution; it must be regarded as one
+form of the sovereignty of the people; when that sovereignty is
+repudiated, it must be rejected, or it must be adapted to the
+laws by which that sovereignty is established.  The jury is that
+portion of the nation to which the execution of the laws is
+entrusted, as the Houses of Parliament constitute that part of
+the nation which makes the laws; and in order that society may be
+governed with consistency and uniformity, the list of citizens
+qualified to serve on juries must increase and diminish with the
+list of electors.  This I hold to be the point of view most
+worthy of the attention of the legislator, and 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 unstable unless
+they are founded upon the manners of a nation; manners are the
+only durable and resisting power in a people.  When the jury is
+reserved for criminal offences, the people only witnesses its
+occasional action in certain particular cases; the ordinary
+course of life goes on without its interference, and it is
+considered as an instrument, but not as the only instrument, of
+obtaining justice.  This is true a fortiori when the jury is only
+applied to certain criminal causes.
+
+When, on the contrary, the influence of the jury is extended
+to civil causes, its application is constantly palpable; it
+affects all the interests of the community; everyone co-operates
+in its work: it thus penetrates into all the usages of life, it
+fashions the human mind to its peculiar forms, and is gradually
+associated with the idea of justice itself.
+
+The institution of the jury, if confined to criminal causes,
+is always in danger, but when once it is introduced into civil
+proceedings it defies the aggressions of time and of man.  If it
+had been as easy to remove the jury from the manners as from the
+laws of England, it would have perished under Henry VIII, and
+Elizabeth, and the civil jury did in reality, at that period,
+save the liberties of the country.  In whatever manner the jury
+be applied, it cannot fail to exercise a powerful influence upon
+the national character; but this influence is prodigiously
+increased when it is introduced into civil causes.  The jury, and
+more especially the jury in civil cases, serves to communicate
+the spirit of the judges to the minds of all the citizens; and
+this spirit, with the habits 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 is
+reduced to a mere destructive passion. It teaches men to practice
+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 civil action brought against him.  The jury teaches
+every man not to recoil before the responsibility of his own
+actions, and impresses him with that manly confidence without
+which political virtue cannot 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 the Government.  By obliging men to turn their
+attention to affairs which are not exclusively their own, it rubs
+off that individual egotism which is the rust of society.
+
+The jury contributes most powerfully to form the judgement
+and to increase the natural intelligence of a people, and this
+is, in my opinion, its greatest advantage.  It may be regarded as
+a gratuitous public school ever open, in which every juror learns
+to exercise his rights, enters into daily communication with the
+most learned and enlightened members of the upper classes, and
+becomes practically acquainted with the laws of his country,
+which are brought within the reach of his capacity by the efforts
+of the bar, the 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 are in
+litigation; but I am certain it is highly beneficial to those who
+decide the litigation; and I look upon it as one of the most
+efficacious means for the education of the people which society
+can employ.
+
+What I have hitherto said applies to all nations, but the
+remark I am now about to make is peculiar to the Americans and to
+democratic peoples. I have already observed that in democracies
+the members of the legal profession and the magistrates
+constitute the only aristocratic body which can check the
+irregularities of the people.  This aristocracy is invested with
+no physical power, but 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 armed against a single individual, the
+jury is apt to look upon the judge as the passive instrument of
+social power, and to mistrust his advice.  Moreover, criminal
+causes are entirely founded upon the evidence of 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 their intelligence is completely under the control of
+his learning.  It is the judge who sums up the various arguments
+with which their memory has been wearied out, and who guides them
+through the devious course of the proceedings; he points their
+attention to the exact question of fact which they are called
+upon to solve, and he puts the answer to the question of law into
+their mouths.  His influence upon their verdict is almost
+unlimited. 
+
+If I am called upon to explain why I am but little moved by
+the 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 question of fact, the jury has only
+the semblance of a judicial body.  The jury sanctions the
+decision of the judge, they by the authority of society which
+they represent, and he by that of reason and of law. *h
+
+[Footnote h: See Appendix, R.]
+
+In England and in America the judges exercise an influence
+upon criminal trials which the French judges have never
+possessed.  The reason of this difference may easily be
+discovered; the English and American magistrates establish their
+authority in civil causes, and only transfer it afterwards to
+tribunals of another kind, where that authority was not acquired. 
+In some cases (and they are frequently the most important ones)
+the American judges have the right of deciding causes alone. *i
+Upon these occasions they are accidentally placed in the position
+which the French judges habitually occupy, but they are invested
+with far more power than the latter; they are still surrounded by
+the reminiscence of the jury, and their judgment has almost as
+much authority as the voice of the community at large,
+represented by that institution.  Their influence extends beyond
+the limits of the courts; in the recreations of private life as
+well as in the turmoil of public business, abroad 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 the habits of
+thought and the characters of the individuals who took a part in
+his judgment.
+
+
+[Footnote i: The Federal judges decide upon their own authority
+almost all the questions most important to the country.]
+
+The jury, then, which seems to restrict the rights of
+magistracy, does in reality consolidate its power, and in no
+country are the judges so powerful as there, where the people
+partakes their privileges.  It is more especially by means of the
+jury in civil causes that the American magistrates imbue all
+classes of society with the spirit of their profession.  Thus the
+jury, which is the most energetic means of making the people
+rule, is also the most efficacious means of teaching it to rule
+well. 
+
+Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic
+Republic - Part I
+
+Principal Causes Which Tend To Maintain The Democratic Republic
+In The United States
+
+A democratic republic subsists in the United States, and the
+principal object of this book has been to account for the fact of
+its existence. Several of the causes which contribute to maintain
+the institutions of America have been involuntarily passed by or
+only hinted at as I was borne along by my subject.  Others I have
+been unable to discuss, and those on which I have dwelt most are,
+as it were, buried in the details of the former parts of this
+work.  I think, therefore, that before I proceed to speak of the
+future, I cannot do better than collect within a small compass
+the reasons which best explain the present.  In this
+retrospective chapter I shall be succinct, for I shall take care
+to remind the reader very summarily of what he already knows; and
+I shall only select 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 Providence
+has placed the Americans.
+
+II. The laws.
+
+III. The manners and customs of the people.
+
+Accidental Or Providential Causes Which Contribute To The
+Maintenance Of The Democratic Republic In The United States 
+The Union has no neighbors - No metropolis - The Americans have
+had the chances of birth in their favor - America an empty
+country - How this circumstance contributes powerfully to the
+maintenance of the democratic republic in America - How the
+American wilds are peopled - Avidity of the Anglo-Americans in
+taking possession of the solitudes of the New World -Influence of
+physical prosperity upon the political opinions of the Americans.
+
+A thousand circumstances, independent of the will of man,
+concur to facilitate the maintenance of a democratic republic in
+the United States. Some of these peculiarities are known, the
+others may easily be pointed out; but I shall confine myself to
+the most prominent amongst them.
+
+The Americans have no neighbors, and consequently they have
+no great wars, or financial crises, or inroads, or conquest to
+dread; they require neither great taxes, nor great 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 impossible to deny the
+inconceivable influence which military glory exercises upon the
+spirit of a nation.  General Jackson, whom the Americans have
+twice elected to the head of their Government, is a man of a
+violent temper and mediocre talents; no one circumstance in the
+whole course of his career ever proved that he is qualified to
+govern a free people, and indeed the majority of the enlightened
+classes of the Union has always been opposed to him.  But he was
+raised to the Presidency, and has been maintained in that lofty
+station, solely by the recollection of a victory which he gained
+twenty years ago under the walls of New Orleans, a victory which
+was, however, a very ordinary achievement, and which could only
+be remembered in a country where battles are rare.  Now the
+people which is thus carried away by the illusions of glory is
+unquestionably the most cold and calculating, the most unmilitary
+(if I may use the expression), and the most prosaic of all the
+peoples of the earth. 
+
+America has no great capital *a city, whose influence is
+directly or indirectly felt over the whole extent of the country,
+which I hold to be one of the first causes of the maintenance of
+republican institutions in the United States.  In cities men
+cannot be prevented from concerting together, and from awakening
+a mutual excitement which prompts sudden and passionate
+resolutions.  Cities may be looked upon as large assemblies, of
+which all the inhabitants are members; their populace exercises a
+prodigious influence upon the magistrates, and frequently
+executes its own wishes without their intervention.
+
+[Footnote a: The United States have no metropolis, but they
+already contain several very large cities.  Philadelphia reckoned
+161,000 inhabitants and New York 202,000 in the year 1830.  The
+lower orders which inhabit these cities constitute a rabble even
+more formidable than the populace of European towns. They consist
+of freed blacks in the first place, who are condemned by the laws
+and by public opinion to a hereditary state of misery and
+degradation. They also contain a multitude of Europeans who 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 bringing with them any of those
+interests which counteract their baneful influence.  As
+inhabitants of a country where they have no civil rights, they
+are ready to turn all the passions which agitate 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, whilst it
+remains under the control of the majority of the nation, will be
+independent of the town population, and able to repress its
+excesses.
+
+[The population of the city of New York had risen, in 1870,
+to 942,292, and that of Philadelphia to 674,022.  Brooklyn, which
+may be said to form part of New York city, has a population of
+396,099, in addition to that of New York.  The frequent
+disturbances in the great cities of America, and the excessive
+corruption of their local governments - over which there is no
+effectual control - are amongst the greatest evils and dangers of
+the country.]]
+
+To subject the provinces to the metropolis is therefore not
+only to place the destiny of the empire in the hands of a portion
+of the community, which may be reprobated as unjust, but to place
+it in the hands of a populace acting under its own impulses,
+which must be avoided as dangerous.  The preponderance of capital
+cities is therefore a serious blow upon the representative
+system, and it exposes modern republics to the same defect as the
+republics of antiquity, which all perished from not having been
+acquainted with that form of government.
+
+It would be easy for me to adduce a great number of
+secondary causes which have contributed to establish, and which
+concur to maintain, the democratic republic of the United States. 
+But I discern two principal circumstances amongst these favorable
+elements, which I hasten to point out. I have already observed
+that the origin of the American settlements may be looked upon as
+the first and most efficacious cause to which the present
+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 conditions into the country whence the
+democratic republic has very naturally taken its rise.  Nor was
+this all they did; for besides this republican condition of
+society, the early settler bequeathed to their descendants those
+customs, manners, and opinions which contribute most to the
+success of a republican form of government.  When I reflect upon
+the consequences of this primary circumstance, methinks I see the
+destiny of America embodied in the first Puritan who landed on
+those shores, just as the human race was represented by the first
+man.
+
+The chief circumstance which has favored the establishment
+and the maintenance of a democratic republic in the United States
+is the nature of the territory which the American inhabit.  Their
+ancestors gave them the love of equality and of freedom, but God
+himself gave them the means of remaining equal and free, by
+placing them upon a boundless continent, which is open to their
+exertions.  General prosperity is favorable to the stability of
+all governments, but more particularly of a democratic
+constitution, which depends upon the dispositions of the
+majority, and more particularly of that portion of the community
+which is most exposed to feel the pressure of want. When the
+people rules, it must be rendered happy, or it will overturn the
+State, and misery is apt to stimulate it to those excesses to
+which ambition rouses kings.  The physical causes, independent of
+the laws, which contribute to promote general prosperity, are
+more numerous in America than they have ever been in any other
+country in the world, at any other period of history. In the
+United States not only is legislation democratic, but nature
+herself favors the cause of the people. 
+
+In what part of human tradition can be found anything at all
+similar to that which is occurring under our eyes in North
+America?  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 inferior civilization, but which
+occupied and cultivated the soil.  To found their new states it
+was necessary to extirpate or to subdue a numerous population,
+until civilization has been made to blush for their success.  But
+North America was only inhabited by wandering tribes, who took no
+thought of the natural riches of the soil, and that vast country
+was still, properly speaking, an empty continent, a desert land
+awaiting its
+inhabitants.
+
+Everything is extraordinary in America, the social condition
+of the inhabitants, as well as the laws; but the soil upon which
+these institutions are founded is more extraordinary than all the
+rest.  When man was first placed upon the earth by the Creator,
+the earth was inexhaustible in its youth, but man was weak and
+ignorant; and when he had learned to explore the treasures which
+it contained, hosts of his fellow creatures covered its surface,
+and he was obliged to earn an asylum for repose and for freedom
+by the sword.  At that same period North America was discovered,
+as if it had been kept in reserve by the Deity, and had just
+risen from beneath the waters of the deluge.
+
+That continent still presents, as it did in the primeval
+time, rivers which rise from never-failing sources, green and
+moist solitudes, and fields which the ploughshare of the
+husbandman has never turned.  In this state it is offered to man,
+not in the barbarous and isolated condition of the early ages,
+but to a being who is already in possession of the most potent
+secrets of the natural world, who is united to his fellow-men,
+and instructed by the experience of fifty centuries.  At this
+very time thirteen millions of civilized Europeans are peaceably
+spreading over those fertile plains, with whose resources and
+whose extent they are not yet themselves accurately acquainted. 
+Three or four thousand soldiers drive the wandering races of the
+aborigines before them; these are followed by the pioneers, who
+pierce the woods, scare off the beasts of prey, explore the
+courses of the inland streams, and make ready the triumphal
+procession of civilization across the waste.
+
+The favorable influence of the temporal prosperity of
+America upon the institutions of that country has been so often
+described by others, and adverted to by myself, that I shall not
+enlarge upon it beyond the addition of a few facts.  An erroneous
+notion is generally entertained that the deserts of America are
+peopled by European emigrants, who annually disembark upon the
+coasts of the New World, whilst the American population increases
+and multiplies upon the soil which its forefathers tilled.  The
+European settler, however, usually arrives in the United States
+without friends, and sometimes without resources; in order to
+subsist he is obliged to work for hire, and he rarely proceeds
+beyond that belt of industrious population which adjoins the
+ocean.  The desert cannot be explored without capital or credit;
+and the body must be accustomed to the rigors of a new climate
+before it can be exposed to the chances of forest life.  It is
+the Americans themselves who daily quit the spots which gave them
+birth to acquire extensive domains in a remote country. Thus the
+European leaves his cottage for the trans-Atlantic shores; and
+the American, who is born on that very coast, plunges in his turn
+into the wilds of Central America.  This double emigration is
+incessant; it begins in the remotest parts of Europe, it crosses
+the Atlantic Ocean, and it advances over the solitudes of the New
+World.  Millions of men are marching at once towards the same
+horizon; their language, their religion, their manners differ,
+their object is the same. The gifts of fortune are promised in
+the West, and to the West they bend their course. *b
+
+[Footnote b: [The number of foreign immigrants into the United
+States in the last fifty years (from 1820 to 1871) is stated to
+be 7,556,007.  Of these, 4,104,553 spoke English - that is, they
+came from Great Britain, Ireland, or the British colonies;
+2,643,069 came from Germany or northern Europe; and about half a
+million from the south of Europe.]]
+
+No event can be compared with this continuous removal of the
+human race, except perhaps those irruptions which preceded the
+fall of the Roman Empire. Then, as well as now, generations of
+men were impelled forwards in the same direction to meet and
+struggle on the same spot; but the designs of Providence were not
+the same; then, every newcomer was the harbinger of destruction
+and of death; now, every adventurer brings with him the elements
+of prosperity and of life.  The future still conceals from us the
+ulterior consequences of this emigration of the Americans towards
+the West; but we can readily apprehend its more 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 in Connecticut, which only contains fifty-nine inhabitants
+to the square mile, the population has not increased by more than
+one-quarter in forty years, whilst that of England has been
+augmented by one-third in the lapse of the same period.  The
+European emigrant always lands, therefore, in a country which is
+but half full, and where hands are in request: he becomes a
+workman in easy circumstances; his son goes to seek his fortune
+in unpeopled regions, and he becomes a rich landowner.  The
+former amasses the capital which the latter invests, and the
+stranger as well as the native is unacquainted with want.
+
+The laws of the United States are extremely favorable to the
+division of property; but a cause which is more powerful than the
+laws prevents property from being divided to excess. *c This is
+very perceptible in the States which are beginning to be thickly
+peopled; Massachusetts is the most populous part of the Union,
+but it contains only eighty inhabitants to the square mile, which
+is must less than in France, where 162 are reckoned to the same
+extent of country.  But in Massachusetts estates are very rarely
+divided; the eldest son takes the land, and the others go to seek
+their fortune in the desert. The law has abolished the rights of
+primogeniture, but circumstances have concurred to re-establish
+it under a form of which none can complain, and by which no just
+rights are impaired.
+
+[Footnote c: In New England the estates are exceedingly small,
+but they are rarely subjected to further division.]
+
+A single fact will suffice to show the prodigious number of
+individuals who leave New England, in this manner, to settle
+themselves in the wilds. We were assured in 1830 that thirty-six
+of the members of Congress were born in the little State of
+Connecticut.  The population of Connecticut, which constitutes
+only one forty-third part of that of the United States, thus
+furnished one-eighth of the whole body of representatives.  The
+States of Connecticut, however, only sends five delegates to
+Congress; and the thirty-one others sit for the new Western
+States.  If these thirty-one individuals had remained in
+Connecticut, it is probable that instead of becoming rich
+landowners they would have remained humble laborers, that they
+would have lived in obscurity without being able to rise into
+public life, and that, far from becoming useful members of the
+legislature, they might have been unruly 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 American Law," "that the
+division of landed estates must produce great evils when it is
+carried to such excess as that each parcel of land is
+insufficient to support a family; but these disadvantages have
+never been felt in the United States, and many generations must
+elapse before they can be felt.  The extent of our inhabited
+territory, the abundance of adjacent land, and the continual
+stream of emigration flowing 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 is difficult to describe the rapacity with which the
+American rushes forward to secure the immense booty which fortune
+proffers to him.  In the pursuit he fearlessly braves the arrow
+of the Indian and the distempers of the forest; he 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 more
+intense than the love of life.  Before him lies a boundless
+continent, and he urges onwards as if time pressed, and he was
+afraid of finding no room for his exertions.  I have spoken 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 greater
+part of its inhabitants were not born within its confines; its
+capital has only been built thirty years, and its territory is
+still covered by an immense extent of uncultivated fields;
+nevertheless the population of Ohio is already proceeding
+westward, and most of the settlers who descend to the fertile
+savannahs of Illinois are citizens of Ohio.  These men left their
+first country to improve their condition; they quit their
+resting-place to ameliorate it still more; fortune awaits them
+everywhere, but happiness they cannot attain.  The desire of
+prosperity is become an ardent and restless passion in their
+minds which grows by what it gains.  They early broke the ties
+which bound them to their natal earth, and they have
+contracted no fresh ones on their way.  Emigration was at first
+necessary to them as a means of subsistence; 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 desert
+reappears behind him.  The woods stoop to give him a passage, and
+spring up again when he has passed.  It is not uncommon in
+crossing the new States of the West 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
+retreats, 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 their
+own, and Nature covers the traces of man's path with branches and
+with flowers, which obliterate his evanescent track.
+
+I remember that, in crossing one of the woodland districts
+which still cover the State of New York, I reached the shores of
+a lake embosomed in forests coeval 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 object attested the presence of man except a column
+of smoke which might be seen on the horizon rising from the tops
+of the trees to the clouds, and seeming to hang from heaven
+rather than to be mounting to the sky.  An Indian shallop was
+hauled up on the sand, which tempted me to visit the islet that
+had first attracted my attention, and in a few minutes I set foot
+upon its banks.  The whole island formed one of those delicious
+solitudes of the New World which almost lead civilized man to
+regret the haunts of the savage.  A luxuriant vegetation bore
+witness to the incomparable fruitfulness of the soil.  The deep
+silence which is common to the wilds of North America was only
+broken by the hoarse cooing of the wood-pigeon, and the tapping
+of the woodpecker upon the bark of trees.  I was far from
+supposing that this spot had ever been inhabited, so completely
+did Nature seem to be left to her own caprices; but when I
+reached the centre of the isle I thought that I discovered 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 retreat.  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 were intertwined with living verdure, and
+his cabin was transformed into a bower. In the midst of these
+shrubs a few stones were to be seen, blackened with fire and
+sprinkled with thin ashes; here the hearth had no doubt been, and
+the chimney in falling had covered it with rubbish.  I stood for
+some time in silent admiration of the exuberance of Nature and
+the littleness of man: and when I was obliged to leave that
+enchanting solitude, I exclaimed with melancholy, "Are ruins,
+then, already here?"
+
+In Europe we are wont to look upon a restless disposition,
+an unbounded desire of riches, and an excessive love of
+independence, as propensities very formidable to society.  Yet
+these are the very elements which ensure a long and peaceful
+duration to the republics of America.  Without these unquiet
+passions the population would collect in certain spots, and would
+soon be subject to wants like those of the Old World, which it is
+difficult to satisfy; for such is the present 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 great influence on the estimation in which human
+actions are held in the two hemispheres.  The Americans
+frequently term what we should call cupidity a laudable industry;
+and they blame as faint-heartedness what we consider to be the
+virtue of moderate desires.
+
+In France, simple tastes, orderly manners, domestic
+affections, and the attachments which men feel to the place of
+their birth, are looked upon as great guarantees of the
+tranquillity and happiness of the State.  But in America nothing
+seems to be more prejudicial to society than these virtues. The
+French Canadians, who have faithfully preserved the traditions of
+their pristine 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,
+patriotic, and humane inhabitants make extraordinary efforts to
+render the people dissatisfied with those simple enjoyments which
+still content it.  There, the seductions of wealth are vaunted
+with as much zeal as the charms of an honest but limited income
+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 eulogies, we shall hear that nothing is more
+praiseworthy than to exchange the pure and homely pleasures which
+even the poor man tastes in his own country for the dull delights
+of prosperity under a foreign sky; to leave the patrimonial
+hearth and the turf beneath which his forefathers sleep; in
+short, to abandon the living and the dead in quest of fortune.
+
+At the present time America presents a field for human
+effort far more extensive than any sum of labor which 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, since they can be
+satisfied without difficulty; the growth of human passions need
+not be dreaded, since all passions may find an easy and a
+legitimate object; nor can men be put in possession of too much
+freedom, since they are scarcely ever tempted to misuse their
+liberties.
+
+The American republics of the present day are like companies
+of adventurers formed to explore in common the waste lands of the
+New World, and busied in a flourishing trade.  The passions which
+agitate the Americans most deeply are not their political but
+their commercial passions; or, to speak more correctly, they
+introduce the habits they contract in business into their
+political life.  They love order, without which affairs do not
+prosper; and they set an especial value upon a regular conduct,
+which is the foundation of a solid business; they prefer the good
+sense which amasses large fortunes to that enterprising spirit
+which frequently dissipates them; general ideas alarm their
+minds, which are accustomed to positive calculations, and they
+hold practice in more honor than theory.
+
+It is in America that one learns to understand the influence
+which physical prosperity exercises over political actions, and
+even over opinions which ought to acknowledge no sway but that of
+reason; and it is more especially amongst strangers that this
+truth is perceptible.  Most of the European emigrants to the New
+World carry with them that wild love of independence and of
+change which our calamities are so apt to engender.  I sometimes
+met with Europeans in the United States who had been obliged to
+leave their own country on account of their political opinions. 
+They all astonished me by the language they held, but one of them
+surprised me more than all the rest.  As I was crossing one of
+the most remote districts of Pennsylvania I was benighted, and
+obliged to beg for hospitality at the gate of a wealthy planter,
+who was a Frenchman by birth.  He bade me sit down beside his
+fire, and we began to talk with that freedom which befits persons
+who meet in the backwoods, two thousand leagues from their native
+country. I was aware that my host had been a great leveller and
+an ardent demagogue forty years ago, and that his name was not
+unknown to fame.  I was, therefore, not a little surprised to
+hear him discuss the rights of property as an economist or a
+landowner might have done: he spoke of the necessary gradations
+which fortune establishes among men, of obedience to established
+laws, of the influence of good morals in commonwealths, and of
+the support which religious opinions give to order and to
+freedom; he even went to far as to quote an evangelical authority
+in corroboration of one of his political tenets.
+
+I listened, and marvelled at the feebleness of human reason. 
+A proposition is true or false, but no art can prove it to be one
+or the other, in the midst of the uncertainties of science and
+the conflicting lessons of experience, until a new incident
+disperses the clouds of doubt; I was poor, I become rich, and I
+am not to expect that prosperity will act upon my conduct, and
+leave my judgment free; my opinions change with my fortune, and
+the happy circumstances which I turn to my advantage furnish me
+with that decisive argument which was before wanting. The
+influence of prosperity acts still more freely upon the American
+than upon strangers.  The American has always seen the connection
+of public order and public prosperity, intimately united as they
+are, go on before his eyes; he does not conceive that one can
+subsist without the other; he has therefore nothing to forget;
+nor has he, like so many Europeans, to unlearn the lessons of his
+early education. 
+
+Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic
+Republic - Part II
+
+Influence Of The Laws Upon The Maintenance Of The Democratic
+Republic In The United States
+
+Three principal causes of the maintenance of the democratic
+republic - Federal Constitutions - Municipal institutions -
+Judicial power.
+
+The principal aim of this book has been to make known the
+laws of the United States; if this 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, and
+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 within the limits of a single chapter.  It is not my
+intention to retrace the path I have already pursued, and a very
+few lines will suffice to recapitulate what I have previously
+explained.
+
+
+Three circumstances seem to me to contribute most powerfully
+to the maintenance of the democratic republic in the United
+States. 
+
+The first is that Federal form of Government which the
+Americans have adopted, and which enables the Union to combine
+the power of a great empire with the security of a small State. 
+
+The second consists in those municipal institutions which
+limit the despotism of the majority, and at the same time impart
+a taste for freedom and a knowledge of the art of being free to
+the people.
+
+The third is to be met with in the constitution of the
+judicial power. I have shown in what manner the courts of justice
+serve to repress the excesses of democracy, and how they check
+and direct the impulses of the majority without stopping its
+activity. 
+
+
+Influence Of Manners Upon The Maintenance Of The Democratic
+Republic In The United States
+
+
+I have previously remarked that the manners of the people
+may be considered as one of the general causes to which the
+maintenance of a democratic republic in the United States is
+attributable.  I here used the word manners with the meaning
+which the ancients attached to the word mores, for I apply it not
+only to manners in their proper sense of what constitutes the
+character of social intercourse, but I extend it to the various
+notions and opinions current among men, and to the mass of those
+ideas which constitute their character of mind.  I comprise,
+therefore, under this term the whole moral and intellectual
+condition of a people.  My intention is not to draw a picture of
+American manners, but simply to point out such features of them
+as are favorable to the maintenance of political institutions.
+
+Religion Considered As A Political Institution, Which Powerfully
+Contributes To The Maintenance Of The Democratic Republic Amongst
+The Americans
+
+North America peopled by men who professed a democratic and
+republican Christianity - Arrival of the Catholics - For what
+reason the Catholics form the most democratic and the most
+republican class at the present time.
+
+Every religion is to be found in juxtaposition to 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 upon one uniform
+principle; and man will endeavor, if I may use the expression, to
+harmonize the state in which he lives upon earth with the state
+which he believes to await him in heaven.  The greatest part of
+British America was peopled by men who, after having shaken off
+the authority of the Pope, acknowledged no other religious
+supremacy; they brought with them into the New World a form of
+Christianity which I cannot better describe than by styling it a
+democratic and republican religion.  This sect contributed
+powerfully to the establishment of a democracy and a republic,
+and from the earliest settlement of the emigrants politics and
+religion contracted an alliance which has never been dissolved.
+
+About fifty years ago Ireland began to pour a Catholic
+population into the United States; on the other hand, the
+Catholics of America made proselytes, and at the present moment
+more than a million of Christians professing the truths of the
+Church of Rome are to be met with in the Union. *d The Catholics
+are faithful to the observances of their religion; they are
+fervent and zealous in the support and belief of their doctrines.
+Nevertheless they constitute the most republican and the most
+democratic class of citizens which exists in the United States;
+and although this fact may surprise the observer at first, the
+causes by which it is occasioned may easily be discovered upon
+reflection.
+
+[Footnote d: [It is difficult to ascertain with accuracy the
+amount of the Roman Catholic population of the United States, but
+in 1868 an able writer in the "Edinburgh Review" (vol. cxxvii. p.
+521) affirmed that the whole Catholic population of the United
+States was then about 4,000,000, divided into 43 dioceses, with
+3,795 churches, under the care of 45 bishops and 2,317 clergymen. 
+But this rapid increase is mainly supported by immigration from
+the Catholic countries of Europe.]]
+
+I think that the Catholic religion has erroneously been
+looked upon as the natural enemy of democracy.  Amongst the
+various sects of Christians, Catholicism seems to me, on the
+contrary, to be one of those which are most favorable to the
+equality of conditions.  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 faith places all human
+capacities upon the same level; it subjects the wise and
+ignorant, the man of genius and the vulgar crowd, to the details
+of the same creed; it imposes the same observances upon the rich
+and needy, it inflicts the same austerities upon 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 at the foot of the same altar,
+even as they are confounded in the sight of God.  If Catholicism
+predisposes the faithful to obedience, it certainly does not
+prepare them for inequality; but the contrary may be said of
+Protestantism, which generally tends to make men independent,
+more than to render them equal.
+
+Catholicism is like an absolute monarchy; if the sovereign
+be removed, all the other classes of society are more equal than
+they are in republics. It has not unfrequently occurred that the
+Catholic priest has left the service of the altar to mix with the
+governing powers of society, and to take his place amongst the
+civil gradations of men.  This religious influence has sometimes
+been used to secure the interests of that political state of
+things to which he belonged.  At other times Catholics have taken
+the side of aristocracy from a spirit of religion.
+
+But no sooner is the priesthood entirely separated from the
+government, as is the case in the United States, than is found
+that no class of men are more naturally disposed than the
+Catholics to transfuse the doctrine of the equality of conditions
+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 democratic and republican principles, at least they are
+not necessarily opposed to them; and their social position, as
+well as their limited number, obliges them to adopt these
+opinions.  Most of the Catholics are poor, and they have no
+chance of taking a part in the government unless it be open to
+all the citizens.  They constitute a minority, and all rights
+must be respected in order to insure to them the free exercise of
+their own privileges.  These two causes induce them,
+unconsciously, to adopt political doctrines, which they would
+perhaps support with less zeal if they were rich and
+preponderant.
+
+The Catholic clergy of the United States has never attempted
+to oppose this political tendency, but it seeks rather to justify
+its results.  The priests in America have divided the
+intellectual world into two parts: in the one they place the
+doctrines of revealed religion, which command their assent; in
+the other they leave those truths which they believe to have been
+freely left open to the researches of political inquiry.  Thus
+the Catholics of the United States are at the same time the most
+faithful believers and the most zealous citizens.
+
+It may be asserted that in the United States no religious
+doctrine displays the slightest hostility to democratic and
+republican institutions. The clergy of all the different sects
+hold the same language, their opinions are consonant to the laws,
+and the human intellect flows onwards in one sole current.
+
+I happened to be staying in one of the largest towns in the
+Union, when I was invited to attend a public meeting which had
+been called for the purpose of assisting the Poles, and of
+sending them supplies 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 ecclesiastical
+robes advanced to the front of the hustings: the spectators rose,
+and stood
+uncovered, whilst he spoke in the following terms: -
+
+"Almighty 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 national independence;
+Thou who didst make them triumph over a hateful oppression, and
+hast granted to our people the benefits of liberty and peace;
+Turn, O Lord, a favorable eye upon the other hemisphere;
+pitifully look down upon that heroic nation which is even now
+struggling as we did in the former time, and for the same rights
+which we defended with our blood. Thou, who didst create Man in
+the likeness of the same image, let not tyranny mar Thy work, and
+establish inequality upon the earth.  Almighty God!  do Thou
+watch over the destiny of the Poles, and render them worthy to be
+free. May Thy wisdom direct their councils, and may Thy strength
+sustain their arms! Shed forth Thy terror over their enemies,
+scatter the powers which take counsel against them; and vouchsafe
+that the injustice which the world has witnessed for fifty years,
+be not consummated in our time.  O Lord, who holdest alike the
+hearts of nations and of men in Thy powerful hand; raise up
+allies to the sacred cause of right; arouse the French nation
+from the apathy in which its rulers retain it, that it go forth
+again to fight for the liberties of the world. 
+
+"Lord, turn not Thou Thy face from us, and grant that we may
+always be the most religious as well as the freest people of the
+earth.  Almighty God, hear our supplications 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
+men.  Amen."
+
+The whole meeting responded "Amen!" with devotion.
+
+
+Indirect Influence Of Religious Opinions Upon Political Society
+In The United States
+
+
+Christian morality common to all sects - Influence of religion
+upon the manners of the Americans - Respect for the marriage tie
+- In what manner religion confines the imagination of the
+Americans within certain limits, and checks the passion of
+innovation - Opinion of the Americans on the political utility of
+religion - Their exertions to extend and secure its predominance.
+
+I have just shown what the direct influence of religion upon
+politics is in the United States, but its indirect influence
+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 innumerable. 
+They all differ in respect to the worship which is due from man
+to his Creator, but they all agree in respect to the duties which
+are due from man to man.  Each sect adores the Deity in its own
+peculiar manner, but all the sects preach the same moral law in
+the name of God.  If it be of the highest importance to man, as
+an individual, that his religion should be true, the case of
+society is not the same.  Society has no future life to hope for
+or to fear; and provided the citizens profess a religion, the
+peculiar tenets of that religion are of very little importance to
+its interests.  Moreover, almost all the sects of the United
+States are comprised within the great unity of Christianity, and
+Christian morality is everywhere the same.
+
+
+It may be believed without unfairness that a certain number
+of Americans pursue a peculiar form of worship, from habit more
+than from conviction.  In the United States the sovereign
+authority is religious, and consequently hypocrisy must be
+common; but there is no country in the whole world in which the
+Christian religion retains a greater influence over the souls of
+men than in America; and there can be no greater proof of its
+utility, and of its conformity to human nature, than that its
+influence is most powerfully felt over the most enlightened and
+free nation of the earth.
+
+I have remarked that the members of the American clergy in
+general, without even excepting those who do not admit religious
+liberty, are all in favor of civil freedom; but they do not
+support any particular political system.  They keep aloof from
+parties and from public affairs.  In the United States religion
+exercises but little influence upon the laws and upon 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
+restrain man from the numberless temptations of fortune; nor can
+it check that passion for gain which every incident of his life
+contributes to arouse, but its influence over the mind of woman
+is supreme, and women are the protectors of morals. There is
+certainly no country in the world where the tie of marriage is so
+much respected as in America, or where conjugal happiness is more
+highly or worthily appreciated.  In Europe almost all the
+disturbances of society arise from the irregularities of domestic
+life.  To despise the natural bonds and legitimate pleasures of
+home, is to contract a taste for excesses, a restlessness of
+heart, and the evil of fluctuating desires.  Agitated by the
+tumultuous passions which frequently disturb his dwelling, the
+European is galled by the obedience which the legislative powers
+of the State exact.  But when the American retires from the
+turmoil of public life to the bosom of his family, he finds in it
+the image of order and of peace.  There his pleasures are simple
+and natural, his joys are innocent and calm; and as he finds that
+an orderly life is the surest path to happiness, he accustoms
+himself without difficulty to moderate his opinions as well as
+his tastes.  Whilst the European endeavors to forget his domestic
+troubles by agitating society, the American derives from his own
+home that love of order which he afterwards carries with him into
+public affairs.
+
+In the United States the influence of religion is not
+confined to the manners, but it extends to the intelligence of
+the people.  Amongst the Anglo-Americans, there are some who
+profess the doctrines of Christianity from a sincere belief in
+them, and others who do the same because they are afraid to be
+suspected of unbelief.  Christianity, therefore, reigns without
+any obstacle, by universal consent; the consequence is, as I have
+before observed, that every principle of the moral world is fixed
+and determinate, although the political world is abandoned to the
+debates and the experiments of men.  Thus the human mind is never
+left to wander across a boundless field; and, whatever may be its
+pretensions, it is checked from time to time by barriers which it
+cannot surmount.  Before it can perpetrate innovation, certain
+primal and immutable principles are laid down, and the boldest
+conceptions of human device are subjected to certain forms which
+retard and stop their completion.
+
+The imagination of the Americans, even in its greatest
+flights, is circumspect and undecided; its impulses are checked,
+and its works unfinished. These habits of restraint recur in
+political society, and are singularly favorable both to the
+tranquillity of the people and to the durability of the
+institutions it has established.  Nature and circumstances
+concurred to make the inhabitants of the United States bold men,
+as is sufficiently attested by the enterprising spirit with which
+they seek for fortune.  If the mind of the Americans were free
+from all trammels, they would very shortly become the most daring
+innovators and the most implacable disputants in the world.  But
+the revolutionists of America are obliged to profess an
+ostensible respect for Christian morality and equity, which does
+not easily permit them to violate the laws that oppose their
+designs; nor would they find it easy to surmount the scruples of
+their partisans, even if they were able to get over their own.
+Hitherto no one in the United States has dared to advance the
+maxim, that everything is permissible with a view to the
+interests of society; an impious adage which seems to have been
+invented in an age of freedom to shelter all the tyrants of
+future ages. 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 government
+of society, but it must nevertheless be regarded as the foremost
+of the political institutions of that country; for if it does not
+impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the use of free
+institutions.  Indeed, it is in this same point of view that the
+inhabitants of the United States themselves look upon religious
+belief.  I do not know whether all the Americans have a sincere
+faith in their religion, for who can search the human heart? but
+I 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 political character attacks a
+sect, this may not prevent even the partisans of that very sect
+from supporting him; but if he attacks all the sects together,
+everyone abandons him, and he remains alone.
+
+Whilst I was in America, a witness, who happened to be
+called at the assizes of the county of Chester (State of New
+York), declared that he did not believe in the existence of God,
+or in the immortality of the soul.  The judge refused to admit
+his evidence, on the ground that the witness had destroyed
+beforehand all the confidence of the Court in what he was about
+to say. *e The newspapers related the fact without any further
+comment.
+
+[Footnote e: The New York "Spectator" of August 23, 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 disbelief in the existence of God.  The 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 that he knew of no cause in a Christian country
+where a witness had been permitted to testify without such
+belief."] 
+
+The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of
+liberty so intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to
+make them conceive the one without the other; and with them this
+conviction does not spring from that barren traditionary faith
+which seems to vegetate in the soul rather than to live.
+
+I have known of societies formed by the 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 institutions than the people from which
+they emanated.  I met with wealthy New Englanders who abandoned
+the country in which they were born in order to lay the
+foundations of Christianity and of freedom on the banks of the
+Missouri, or in the prairies of Illinois.  Thus religious zeal is
+perpetually stimulated in the United States by the duties of
+patriotism.  These men do not act from an exclusive consideration
+of the promises of a future life; eternity is only one motive of
+their devotion to the cause; and if you converse with these
+missionaries of Christian civilization, you will be surprised to
+find how much value they set upon the goods of this world, and
+that you meet with a politician where you expected to find a
+priest.  They will 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 religious, in order to
+maintain our liberties."
+
+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 is to believe in some blind
+cosmogony, or to assert with Cabanis the secretion of thought by
+the brain, I can only reply that those who hold this language
+have never been in America, and that they have never seen a
+religious or a free nation.  When they return from their
+expedition, we shall hear what they have to say.
+
+There are persons in France who look upon republican
+institutions as a temporary means of power, of wealth, and
+distinction; men who are the condottieri of liberty, and who
+fight for their own advantage, whatever be the colors they wear:
+it is not to these that I address myself.  But there are others
+who look forward to the republican form of government as a
+tranquil and lasting 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 to
+the prejudice 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; and 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 relaxed? and what can be done
+with a people which is its own master, if it be not submissive to
+the Divinity?
+
+
+Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic
+Republic - Part III
+
+
+Principal Causes Which Render Religion Powerful In America 
+Care taken by the Americans to separate the Church from the State
+-  The laws, public opinion, and even the exertions of the clergy
+concur to promote this end - Influence of religion upon the mind
+in the United States attributable to this cause - Reason of this
+- What is the natural state of men with regard to religion at the
+present time - What are the peculiar and incidental causes which
+prevent men, in certain countries, from arriving at this state. 
+
+The philosophers of the eighteenth century explained the
+gradual decay of religious faith in a very simple manner. 
+Religious zeal, said they, must necessarily fail, the more
+generally liberty is established and knowledge diffused. 
+Unfortunately, facts are by no means in accordance with their
+theory.  There are certain populations in Europe whose unbelief
+is only equalled by their ignorance and their debasement, whilst
+in America one of the freest and most enlightened nations in the
+world fulfils all the outward duties of religious fervor.
+
+Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect
+of the country was the first thing that struck my attention; and
+the longer I stayed there the more did I perceive the great
+political consequences resulting from this state of things, to
+which I was unaccustomed.  In France I had almost always seen the
+spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses
+diametrically opposed to each other; but in America I found that
+they were intimately united, and that they reigned in common over
+the same country. My desire to discover the causes of this
+phenomenon increased from day to day. In order to satisfy it I
+questioned the members of all the different sects; and I more
+especially sought the society of the clergy, who are the
+depositaries of the different persuasions, and who are more
+especially interested in their duration.  As a member of the
+Roman Catholic Church I was more particularly brought into
+contact with several of its priests, with whom I became
+intimately acquainted.  To each of these men I expressed my
+astonishment and I explained my doubts; I found that they
+differed upon matters of detail alone; and that they mainly
+attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country to
+the separation of Church and State. I do not hesitate to affirm
+that during my stay in America I did not meet with a single
+individual, of the clergy or of 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 occupy in political
+society.  I learned with surprise that they filled no public
+appointments; *f not one of them is to be met with in the
+administration, and they are not even represented in the
+legislative assemblies.  In several States *g the law excludes
+them from political life, public opinion in all.  And when I came
+to inquire into the prevailing spirit of the clergy 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.
+
+[Footnote f: Unless this term be applied to the functions which
+many of them fill in the schools.  Almost all education is
+entrusted to the clergy.]
+
+[Footnote g: See the Constitution of New York, art. 7, Section 4:
+- 
+"And whereas the ministers of the gospel are, by their
+profession, dedicated to the service of God and the care of
+souls, and ought not to be diverted from the great duties of
+their functions: therefore no minister of the gospel, or priest
+of any denomination whatsoever, shall at any time hereafter,
+under any pretence or description whatever, be eligible to, or
+capable of holding, any civil or military office or place within
+this State." 
+
+See also the constitutions of North Carolina, art. 31;
+Virginia; South Carolina, art. I, Section 23; Kentucky, art. 2,
+Section 26; Tennessee, art. 8, Section I; Louisiana, art. 2,
+Section 22.]
+
+I heard them inveigh against ambition and deceit, under
+whatever political opinions these vices might chance to lurk; but
+I learned from their discourses that men are not guilty in the
+eye of God for any opinions concerning political government which
+they may profess with sincerity, any more than they are for their
+mistakes in building a house or in driving a furrow.  I perceived
+that these ministers of the gospel eschewed all parties with the
+anxiety attendant upon personal interest.  These facts convinced
+me that what I had been told was true; and it then became my
+object to investigate their causes, and to inquire how it
+happened that the real authority of religion was increased by a
+state of things which diminished its apparent 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 boundless desire to
+exist; he scorns life, but he dreads annihilation. These
+different 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 faith without a kind of aberration of intellect,
+and a sort of violent distortion of their true natures; but they
+are invincibly brought back to more pious sentiments; for
+unbelief is an accident, and faith is the only permanent state of
+mankind. If we only consider religious institutions in a purely
+human point of view, they may be said to derive an inexhaustible
+element of strength from man himself, since they belong to 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 temporal
+institutions which direct society.  Religions, intimately united
+to the governments of the earth, have been known to exercise a
+sovereign authority derived from the twofold source of terror and
+of faith; but when a religion contracts an alliance of this
+nature, I do not hesitate to affirm that it commits the same
+error as a man who should sacrifice his future to his present
+welfare; and in obtaining a power to which it has no claim, it
+risks that authority which is rightfully its own. When a religion
+founds its empire upon the desire of immortality which lives in
+every human heart, it may aspire to universal dominion; but when
+it connects itself with a government, it must necessarily adopt
+maxims which are only applicable 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 upon those sentiments which are
+the consolation of all affliction, it may attract the affections
+of mankind.  But if it be mixed up with the bitter passions of
+the world, it may be constrained to defend allies whom its
+interests, and not the principle of love, have given to it; or to
+repel as antagonists men who are still attached to its own
+spirit, however opposed they may be to the powers to 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
+established have frequently no better guarantee 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 change.  The powers of
+society are more or less fugitive, like the years which we spend
+upon the earth; they succeed each other with rapidity, like the
+fleeting cares of life; and no government has ever yet been
+founded upon an invariable disposition of the human heart, or
+upon an imperishable interest. 
+
+As long as a religion is sustained by those feelings,
+propensities, and passions which are found to occur under the
+same forms, at all the different periods of history, it may defy
+the efforts of time; or at least it can only be destroyed by
+another religion.  But when religion clings to the interests of
+the world, it becomes almost as fragile a thing as the powers of
+earth. It is the only one of them all which can hope for
+immortality; but if it be connected with their ephemeral
+authority, it shares their fortunes, and may fall with those
+transient passions which supported them for a day.  The alliance
+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 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 governments 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 somnolence, and others rouse
+them to feverish excitement.  When governments appear to be so
+strong, and laws so stable, men do not perceive the dangers which
+may accrue from a union of Church and State.  When governments
+display so much weakness, and laws so much inconstancy, the
+danger is self-evident, but it is no longer possible to avoid it;
+to be effectual, measures must be taken to discover its approach.
+
+In proportion as a nation assumes a democratic condition of
+society, and as communities display democratic propensities, it
+becomes more and more dangerous to connect religion with
+political institutions; for the time is coming when authority
+will be bandied from hand to hand, when political theories will
+succeed each other, and when men, laws, and constitutions will
+disappear, or be modified from day to day, and this, not for a
+season only, but unceasingly.  Agitation and mutability are
+inherent in the nature of democratic republics, just as
+stagnation and inertness are the law of absolute monarchies.
+
+If the Americans, who change the head of the Government once
+in four years, who elect new legislators every two years, and
+renew the provincial officers every twelvemonth; if the
+Americans, who have abandoned the political world to the attempts
+of innovators, had not placed religion beyond their reach, where
+could it abide in the ebb and flow of human opinions? where would
+that respect which belongs to it be paid, amidst the struggles of
+faction? and what would become of its immortality, in the midst
+of perpetual 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 powerful than it has
+been at certain periods in the history of certain peoples; but
+its influence is more lasting. It restricts itself to its own
+resources, but of those none can deprive it: its circle is
+limited to certain principles, but those principles are entirely
+its own, and under its 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 pristine authority.  It seems to
+me that we must first attentively consider what ought to be the
+natural state of men with regard to religion at the present time;
+and when we 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
+religions are schism and indifference.  In ages of fervent
+devotion, men sometimes abandon their religion, but they only
+shake it off in order to adopt another.  Their faith changes the
+objects to which it is directed, but it suffers no decline. The
+old religion then excites enthusiastic attachment or bitter
+enmity in either party; some leave it with anger, others cling to
+it with increased devotedness, and although persuasions differ,
+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 affirming that of any other.  Progidious revolutions then
+take place in the human mind, without the apparent co-operation
+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
+which they have not the courage to stem, but which they follow
+with regret, since it bears them from a faith they love, to a
+scepticism that plunges them into despair. 
+
+In ages which answer to this description, men desert their
+religious opinions from lukewarmness rather than from dislike;
+they do not reject them, but the sentiments by which they were
+once fostered disappear.  But if the unbeliever does not admit
+religion to be true, he 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 with one another, and to
+prepare them gently for the hour of death.  He regrets the faith
+which he has lost; and as he is deprived of a treasure which he
+has learned to estimate at its full value, he scruples to take it
+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 to follow their example. They
+are hostile to no one in the world; and as they do not consider
+the society in which they live as an arena in which religion is
+bound to face its thousand deadly foes, they love their
+contemporaries, whilst they condemn their weaknesses and lament
+their errors.
+
+As those who do not believe, conceal their incredulity; and
+as those who believe, display their faith, public opinion
+pronounces itself in favor of religion: love, support, and honor
+are bestowed upon it, and it is only by searching the human soul
+that we can detect the wounds which it has received. The mass of
+mankind, who are never without the feeling of religion, do not
+perceive anything at variance with the established faith.  The
+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. 
+
+But this picture is not applicable to us: for there are men
+amongst us who have ceased to believe in Christianity, without
+adopting any other religion; others who are in the perplexities
+of doubt, and who already affect not to believe; and others,
+again, who are afraid to avow that Christian faith which they
+still cherish in secret.
+
+Amidst these lukewarm partisans and ardent antagonists a
+small number of believers exist, 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 knew where to stop; and as they know that the
+first use which the French made of independence was to attack
+religion, they look upon their contemporaries with dread, and
+they 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 every opinion which is put forth there as the necessary
+enemy of the faith.
+
+Such is not the natural state of men with regard to religion
+at the present day; and some extraordinary or incidental cause
+must be at work in France to prevent the human mind from
+following its original propensities and to drive it beyond the
+limits at which it ought naturally to stop.  I am intimately
+convinced that this extraordinary and incidental cause is the
+close connection of politics and religion.  The unbelievers of
+Europe attack the Christians as their political opponents, rather
+than as their religious adversaries; they hate the Christian
+religion as the opinion of a party, much more than as an error of
+belief; and they reject the clergy less because they are the
+representatives of the Divinity than because they are the allies
+of authority.
+
+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 that which is
+alive will rise once more.  I know not what could restore the
+Christian Church of Europe to the energy of its earlier days;
+that power belongs to God alone; but it may be the effect of
+human policy to leave the faith in the full exercise of the
+strength which it still retains.
+
+
+How The Instruction, The Habits, And The Practical Experience Of
+The Americans Promote The Success Of Their Democratic
+Institutions 
+
+
+What is to be understood by the instruction of the American
+people - The human mind more superficially instructed in the
+United States than in Europe - No one completely uninstructed -
+Reason of this - Rapidity with which opinions are diffused even
+in the uncultivated States of the West - Practical experience
+more serviceable to the Americans than book-learning.
+
+I have but little to add to what I have already said
+concerning the influence which the instruction and the habits of
+the Americans exercise upon the maintenance of their political
+institutions.
+
+America has hitherto produced very few writers of
+distinction; it possesses no great historians, and not a single
+eminent poet.  The inhabitants of that country look upon what are
+properly styled literary pursuits with a kind of disapprobation;
+and there are towns of very second-rate importance in Europe in
+which more literary works are annually published than in the
+twenty-four States of the Union put together.  The spirit of the
+Americans is averse to general ideas; and it does not seek
+theoretical discoveries. Neither politics nor manufactures direct
+them to these occupations; and although new laws are perpetually
+enacted in the United States, no great writers have hitherto
+inquired into the general principles of their legislation.  The
+Americans have lawyers and commentators, but no jurists; *h and
+they furnish examples rather than lessons to the world.  The same
+observation applies to the mechanical arts.  In America, the
+inventions of Europe are adopted with sagacity; they are
+perfected, and adapted 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.
+
+
+[Footnote h: [This cannot be said with truth of the country of
+Kent, Story, and Wheaton.]]
+
+The observer who is desirous of forming an opinion on the
+state of instruction amongst the Anglo-Americans must consider
+the same object from two different points of view.  If he only
+singles out the learned, he will be astonished to find how rare
+they are; but if he counts the ignorant, the American people will
+appear to be the most enlightened community 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
+moreover taught 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 extremely rare to find a man imperfectly acquainted with all
+these things, and a person wholly ignorant of them is a sort of
+phenomenon.
+
+When I compare the Greek and Roman republics with these
+American States; the manuscript libraries of the former, and
+their rude population, with the innumerable journals and the
+enlightened people of the latter; when I remember all the
+attempts which are made to judge the modern republics by the
+assistance of those of antiquity, and to infer what will happen
+in our time from what took place two thousand years ago, I am
+tempted to burn my books, in order to apply 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 people diminishes. 
+In the States which are adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico, a certain
+number of individuals may be found, as in our own countries, who
+are devoid of the rudiments of instruction.  But there is not a
+single district in the United States sunk in complete ignorance;
+and for a very simple reason: the peoples of Europe started from
+the darkness of a barbarous condition, to advance toward the
+light of civilization; their progress has been unequal; some of
+them have improved apace, whilst others have loitered in their
+course, and some have stopped, and are still sleeping upon the
+way. *i 
+
+[Footnote i: [In the Northern States the number of persons
+destitute of instruction is inconsiderable, the largest number
+being 241,152 in the State of New York (according to Spaulding's
+"Handbook of American Statistics" for 1874); but in the South no
+less than 1,516,339 whites and 2,671,396 colored persons are
+returned as "illiterate."]]
+
+Such has not been the case in the United States.  The Anglo-
+Americans settled in a state of civilization, upon that territory
+which their descendants occupy; they had not to begin to learn,
+and it was sufficient for them not to forget.  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 information and their esteem for
+knowledge. Education has taught 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.
+
+The Americans never use the word "peasant," because they
+have no idea of the peculiar 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 preserved amongst
+them; and they are alike unacquainted with the virtues, the
+vices, the coarse habits, and the simple graces of an early stage
+of civilization.  At the extreme borders of the Confederate
+States, upon the confines of society and of the wilderness, a
+population of bold adventurers have taken up their abode, who
+pierce the solitudes of the American woods, and seek a country
+there, in order to escape that poverty which awaited them in
+their native provinces.  As soon as the pioneer arrives upon the
+spot which is to serve him for a retreat, he fells a few trees
+and builds a loghouse. Nothing can offer a more miserable aspect
+than these isolated dwellings.  The traveller who approaches one
+of them towards nightfall, 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 suppose that this poor hut is
+the asylum of rudeness and ignorance?  Yet no sort of comparison
+can be drawn between the pioneer and the dwelling which shelters
+him.  Everything about him is primitive and unformed, but he is
+himself the result of the labor and the experience of eighteen
+centuries.  He wears the dress, and he speaks the language of
+cities; he is acquainted with the past, curious of 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 who penetrates into the wilds of the New World
+with the Bible, an axe, and a file of newspapers.
+
+It is difficult to imagine the incredible rapidity with
+which public opinion circulates in the midst of these deserts. *j
+I do not think that so much intellectual intercourse takes place
+in the most enlightened and populous districts of France. *k It
+cannot be doubted that, in the United States, the instruction of
+the people powerfully contributes to the support of a democratic
+republic; and such must always be the case, I believe, where
+instruction which awakens the understanding is not separated from
+moral education which amends the heart.  But I by no means
+exaggerate this benefit, 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 experience; and if the
+Americans had not been gradually accustomed to govern themselves,
+their book-learning would not assist them much at the present
+day.
+
+[Footnote j: I travelled along a portion of the frontier of the
+United States in a sort of cart which was termed the mail.  We
+passed, day and night, with great rapidity along the roads which
+were scarcely marked out, through immense forests; when the gloom
+of the woods became impenetrable the coachman lighted branches of
+fir, and we journeyed along by the light they cast.  From time to
+time we came to a hut in the midst of the forest, which was a
+post- office. The mail dropped an enormous bundle of letters at
+the door of this isolated dwelling, and we pursued our way at
+full gallop, leaving the inhabitants of the neighboring log
+houses to send for their share of the treasure.
+
+[When the author visited America the locomotive and the
+railroad were scarcely invented, and not yet introduced in the
+United States.  It is superfluous to point out the immense effect
+of those inventions in extending civilization and developing the
+resources of that vast continent.  In 1831 there were 51 miles of
+railway in the United States; in 1872 there were 60,000 miles of
+railway.]]
+
+[Footnote k: In 1832 each inhabitant of Michigan paid a sum
+equivalent to 1 fr. 22 cent.  (French money) to the post-office
+revenue, and each inhabitant of the Floridas paid 1 fr. 5 cent. 
+(See "National Calendar," 1833, p. 244.) In the same year each
+inhabitant of the Departement du Nord paid 1 fr. 4 cent. to the
+revenue of the French post-office.  (See the "Compte rendu de
+l'administration des Finances," 1833, p. 623.) Now the State of
+Michigan only contained at that time 7 inhabitants per square
+league and Florida only 5: the public instruction and the
+commercial activity of these districts is inferior to that 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 and manufacturing parts of France.]
+
+I have lived a great deal with the people in the United
+States, and I cannot express how much I admire their experience
+and their good sense.  An American should never be allowed to
+speak of Europe; for he will then probably display a vast deal of
+presumption and very foolish pride.  He will take up with those
+crude and vague notions which are so useful 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 as 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 instruction 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 government from governing.  The great work of
+society is ever going on beneath 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 affairs
+is too rare an occurrence for it to be anticipated beforehand. 
+Upon casting a glance over society in the two hemispheres, these
+differences are indicated even by its external aspect.
+
+In Europe we frequently introduce the ideas and the 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, transfuse the habits of public life
+into their manners in private; and in their country the jury is
+introduced into the games of schoolboys, and parliamentary forms
+are observed in the order of a feast.
+
+
+Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic
+Republic - Part IV
+
+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 have a democratic state of society -
+Yet democratic institutions only subsist amongst the
+Anglo-Americans - The Spaniards of South America, equally favored
+by physical causes as the Anglo-Americans, unable to maintain a
+democratic republic - Mexico, which has adopted the Constitution
+of the United States, in the same predicament - The
+Anglo-Americans of the West less able to maintain it than those
+of the East - Reason of these different results.
+
+I have remarked that the maintenance of democratic
+institutions in the United States is attributable to the
+circumstances, the laws, and the manners of that country. *l Most
+Europeans are only acquainted with the first of these three
+causes, and they are apt to give it a preponderating importance
+which it does not really possess.
+
+[Footnote l: I remind the reader of the general signification
+which I give to the word "manners," namely, the moral and
+intellectual characteristics of social man taken collectively.]
+
+It is true that the Anglo-Saxons 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 professional prejudices were always
+as entirely unknown as the prejudices of birth.  Thus, as the
+condition of society was democratic, the empire of democracy was
+established without difficulty.  But this circumstance is by no
+means peculiar to the United States; almost all the
+trans-Atlantic colonies were founded 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.  Nevertheless, democratic institutions prosper
+nowhere but in the United States. 
+
+The American Union has no enemies to contend with; it stands
+in the wilds like an island in the ocean.  But the Spaniards of
+South America were no less isolated by nature; yet their position
+has not relieved them from the charge of standing 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 peace. *m
+
+[Footnote m: [A remark which, since the great Civil War of
+1861-65, ceases to be applicable.]]
+
+The territory of the Union presents a boundless field to
+human activity, and inexhaustible materials for industry and
+labor.  The passion of wealth takes the place of ambition, and
+the warmth of faction is mitigated by a sense of prosperity.  But
+in what portion of the globe shall we meet with more fertile
+plains, with mightier rivers, or with more unexplored and
+inexhaustible riches than in South America?
+
+Nevertheless, 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 territory 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 inhabitants 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 miserable than those of South
+America.
+
+Thus, not only are physical causes inadequate to produce
+results analogous to those which occur in North America, but they
+are unable to raise the population of South America above the
+level of European States, where they act in a contrary direction. 
+Physical causes do not, therefore, affect the destiny of nations
+so much as has been supposed.
+
+I have met with men in New England who were on the point of
+leaving a country, where they might have remained in easy
+circumstances, to go to seek their fortune in the wilds.  Not far
+from that district I found a French population in Canada, which
+was closely crowded on a narrow territory, although the same
+wilds were at hand; and whilst the emigrant 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. Nature offers the solitudes of the New World
+to Europeans; but they are not always acquainted with the means
+of turning her gifts to account.  Other peoples of America have
+the same physical conditions of prosperity as the
+Anglo-Americans, but without their laws and their manners; and
+these peoples are wretched.  The laws and manners of the
+Anglo-Americans are therefore that efficient cause of their
+greatness which is the object of my inquiry. 
+
+I am far from supposing that the American laws are
+preeminently good in themselves; I do not hold them to be
+applicable to all democratic peoples; and several of them seem to
+be dangerous, even in the United States. Nevertheless, it cannot
+be denied that the American legislation, taken collectively, is
+extremely well adapted to the genius of the people 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 principal cause
+of that success; and if they seem to me to have more influence
+upon the social happiness of the Americans than the nature of the
+country, on the other hand there is reason to believe that their
+effect is still inferior to that produced by the manners of the
+people.
+
+The Federal laws undoubtedly constitute the most important
+part of the legislation of the United States.  Mexico, which is
+not less fortunately situated than the Anglo-American Union, has
+adopted the same laws, but is unable to accustom itself to the
+government of democracy.  Some other cause is therefore at work,
+independently of those physical circumstances and peculiar laws
+which enable the democracy to rule in the United States.
+
+Another still more striking proof may be adduced.  Almost
+all the inhabitants of the territory of 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 differences arise?  Why, in the Eastern
+States of the Union, does the republican government display vigor
+and regularity, 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 contrary, society seems to
+be ruled by the powers of chance?  There, public business is
+conducted with an irregularity and a passionate and feverish
+excitement, which does not announce a long or sure duration.
+
+I am no longer comparing the Anglo-American States to
+foreign nations; but I am contrasting them with each other, and
+endeavoring to discover why they are so unlike.  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 democracy, and that
+they have adopted the habits and conceived the notions most
+favorable to its maintenance. Democracy has gradually penetrated
+into their customs, their opinions, and the forms of social
+intercourse; it is to be found in all the details of daily life
+equally as in the laws.  In the Eastern States the instruction
+and practical education of the people have been most perfected,
+and religion has been most thoroughly amalgamated with liberty. 
+Now these habits, opinions, customs, and convictions are
+precisely the constituent elements of that which I have
+denominated manners.
+
+In the Western States, on the contrary, a portion of the
+same advantages is still wanting.  Many of the Americans of the
+West were born in the woods, and they mix the ideas and the
+customs of savage life with the civilization of their parents. 
+Their passions are more intense; their religious morality less
+authoritative; and their convictions less secure.  The
+inhabitants exercise no sort of control over their
+fellow-citizens, for they are scarcely acquainted with each
+other.  The nations of the West display, to a certain extent, the
+inexperience and the rude habits of a people in its 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 real cause which renders that people the only one of the
+American nations that is able to support a democratic government;
+and it is the influence of manners which produces the different
+degrees of order and of prosperity that may be distinguished in
+the several Anglo-American democracies.  Thus the effect which
+the geographical 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 the physical circumstances are
+less efficient than the laws, and the laws very subordinate to
+the manners of the people.  I am convinced that the most
+advantageous situation and the best possible laws cannot maintain
+a constitution in spite of the manners of a country; whilst the
+latter may turn the most unfavorable positions and the worst laws
+to some advantage.  The importance of manners is a common truth
+to which study and experience incessantly direct our attention.
+It may be regarded as a central point in the range of human
+observation, and the common termination of all inquiry.  So
+seriously do I insist upon this head, that if I have hitherto
+failed in making the reader feel the important influence which I
+attribute to the practical experience, the habits, the opinions,
+in short, to the manners of the Americans, upon the maintenance
+of their institutions, I have failed in the principal object of
+my work.
+
+Whether Laws And Manners Are Sufficient To Maintain Democratic
+Institutions In Other Countries Besides America
+
+The Anglo-Americans, if transported into Europe, would be obliged
+to modify their laws - Distinction to be made between democratic
+institutions and American institutions - Democratic laws may be
+conceived better than, or at least different from, those which
+the American democracy has adopted - The example of America only
+proves that it is possible to regulate democracy by the
+assistance of manners and legislation.
+
+I have asserted that the success of democratic institutions
+in the United States is more intimately connected with the laws
+themselves, and the manners of the people, than with the nature
+of the country.  But does it follow that the same causes would of
+themselves produce the same results, if they were put into
+operation elsewhere; and if the country is no adequate substitute
+for laws and manners, can laws and manners in their turn prove a
+substitute for the country?  It will readily be understood that
+the necessary elements of a reply to this question are wanting:
+other peoples are to be found in the New World besides the Anglo-
+Americans, and as these people are affected by the same physical
+circumstances as the latter, they may fairly be compared
+together.  But there are no nations out of America which have
+adopted the same laws and manners, being destitute of the
+physical advantages peculiar to the Anglo-Americans.  No standard
+of comparison therefore exists, and we can only hazard an opinion
+upon this subject.
+
+It appears to me, in the first place, that a careful
+distinction must be made between the institutions of the United
+States and democratic institutions in general.  When I reflect
+upon the state of Europe, its mighty nations, its populous
+cities, its formidable armies, and the complex nature of its
+politics, I cannot suppose that even the Anglo-Americans, if they
+were transported to our hemisphere, with their ideas, their
+religion, and their manners, could exist without considerably
+altering their laws.  But a democratic nation may be imagined,
+organized differently from the American people.  It is not
+impossible to conceive a government really established upon the
+will of the majority; but in which the majority, repressing its
+natural propensity to equality, should consent, with a view to
+the order and the stability of the State, to invest a family or
+an individual with all the prerogatives of the executive.  A
+democratic society might exist, in which the forces of the nation
+would be more centralized than they are in the United States; the
+people would exercise a less direct and less irresistible
+influence upon public affairs, and yet every citizen invested
+with certain rights would participate, within his sphere, in the
+conduct of the government. The observations I made amongst the
+Anglo-Americans induce 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
+opinions of the people, might subsist 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 the success of those
+institutions affords no proof of the success of democratic
+institutions in general, in a country less favored by natural
+circumstances.  But as the laws of America appear to me to be
+defective in several respects, and as I can readily imagine
+others of the same general nature, the peculiar advantages of
+that country do not prove that democratic institutions cannot
+succeed in a nation 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 Americans engendered
+habits and opinions amongst them different from those which
+originate in the same social condition in the Old World, the
+American democracies would afford no means of predicting what may
+occur in other democracies.  If the Americans displayed the same
+propensities as all other democratic nations, and if their
+legislators had relied upon the nature of the country and the
+favor of circumstances to restrain those propensities within due
+limits, the prosperity of the United States would be exclusively
+attributable to physical causes, and it would afford no
+encouragement to a people 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 be 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 the democratic feeling of envy expressed
+under a thousand different forms.  I remarked that the people
+frequently displayed, in the conduct of affairs, a consummate
+mixture of ignorance and presumption; and I inferred that in
+America, men are liable to the same failings and the same
+absurdities as amongst ourselves.  But upon examining the state
+of society more attentively, I speedily discovered that the
+Americans had made great and successful efforts to counteract
+these imperfections of human nature, and to correct the natural
+defects of democracy.  Their divers municipal laws appeared to me
+to be a means of restraining the ambition of the citizens within
+a narrow sphere, and of turning those same passions which might
+have worked havoc in the State, to the good of the township or
+the parish.  The American legislators have succeeded to a certain
+extent in opposing the notion of rights to the feelings of envy;
+the permanence of the religious world to the continual shifting
+of politics; the experience of the people to its theoretical
+ignorance; and its practical knowledge of business to
+the impatience of its desires.
+
+The Americans, then, have not relied upon the nature of
+their country to counterpoise those dangers which originate in
+their Constitution and in their political laws.  To evils which
+are common to all democratic peoples they have applied remedies
+which none but themselves had ever thought of before; 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 by the
+aid of manners and of laws.  If other nations should borrow this
+general and pregnant idea from the Americans, without however
+intending to imitate them in the peculiar application which they
+have made of it; if they should attempt to fit themselves for
+that social condition, which it seems to be the will of
+Providence to impose upon the generations of this age, and so to
+escape 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 political problem of the
+time.  The Americans, unquestionably, have not resolved this
+problem, but they furnish useful data to those who undertake the
+task.
+
+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 discussed is
+interesting not only to the United States, but to the whole
+world; it concerns, not a nation, but all mankind.  If those
+nations whose social condition is democratic could only remain
+free as long as they are inhabitants of the wilds, we could not
+but 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 maintain democratic institutions,
+what refuge would remain open to the nations, except the
+despotism of a single individual?  I am aware that there are many
+worthy persons at the present time who are not alarmed at this
+latter alternative, and who are so tired of liberty as to be glad
+of repose, far from those storms by which it is attended.  But
+these individuals are ill acquainted with the haven towards which
+they are bound.  They are so deluded by their recollections, as
+to judge the tendency of absolute power by what it was formerly,
+and not by what it might become at the present time.
+
+If absolute power were re-established amongst the democratic
+nations of Europe, I am persuaded that it would assume a new
+form, and appear under features unknown to our forefathers. 
+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 supreme
+courts of justice, of corporations and their chartered rights, or
+of provincial privileges, which served to break the blows of the
+sovereign authority, and to maintain a spirit of resistance in
+the nation. Independently of these political institutions -
+which, however opposed they might be to personal liberty, served
+to keep alive the love of freedom in the mind of the public, and
+which may be esteemed to have been useful in this respect - the
+manners and opinions of the nation confined the royal authority
+within barriers which were not less powerful, although they were
+less conspicuous.  Religion, the affections of the people, the
+benevolence of the prince, the sense of honor, family pride,
+provincial prejudices, custom, and public opinion limited the
+power of kings, and restrained their authority within an
+invisible circle. The constitution of nations was despotic at
+that time, but their manners were free.  Princes had the right,
+but they had neither the means nor the desire, of doing whatever
+they pleased.
+
+But what now remains of those barriers which formerly
+arrested the aggressions of tyranny?  Since religion has lost its
+empire over the souls of men, the most prominent boundary which
+divided good from evil is overthrown; the very elements of the
+moral world are indeterminate; the princes and the peoples of the
+earth are guided by chance, and none can define the natural
+limits of despotism and the bounds of license.  Long revolutions
+have forever destroyed the respect which surrounded the rulers of
+the State; and since they have been relieved from the burden of
+public esteem, princes may henceforward surrender themselves
+without fear to the seductions 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 people is the bulwark of
+the throne.  A mutual interchange of good-will then takes place
+between the prince and the people, which resembles the gracious
+intercourse of domestic society.  The subjects may murmur at the
+sovereign'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 people 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 be weak, he is despised; if
+he be strong, he is detested.  He himself is full of animosity
+and alarm; he finds that he is as a stranger in his own country,
+and he treats his subjects like conquered enemies.
+
+When the provinces and the towns formed so many different
+nations in the midst of their common country, each of them had a
+will of its own, which was opposed 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 their names, are subjected and accustomed
+to the same laws, it is not more difficult to oppress them
+collectively than it was formerly to oppress them singly.
+
+Whilst the nobles enjoyed their power, and indeed long after
+that power was lost, the honor of aristocracy conferred an
+extraordinary degree of force upon their personal opposition. 
+They afford instances of men who, notwithstanding their weakness,
+still entertained a high opinion of their personal value, and
+dared to cope single-handed with the efforts of the public
+authority.  But at the present day, when all ranks are more and
+more confounded, when the individual disappears in the throng,
+and is easily lost in the midst of a common obscurity, when the
+honor of monarchy has almost lost its empire without being
+succeeded by public virtue, and when nothing can enable man to
+rise above himself, who shall say at what point the exigencies of
+power and the servility of weakness will stop?
+
+As long as family feeling was kept alive, the antagonist of
+oppression was never alone; he looked about him, and found his
+clients, his hereditary friends, and his kinsfolk.  If this
+support was wanting, he was sustained by his ancestors and
+animated by his posterity.  But when patrimonial estates are
+divided, and when a few years suffice to confound the
+distinctions of a race, where can family feeling be found?  What
+force can there be in the customs of a country which has changed
+and is still perpetually changing, its aspect; in which every act
+of tyranny has a precedent, and every crime an example; in which
+there is nothing so old that its antiquity can save it from
+destruction, and nothing so unparalleled that its novelty 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
+institution, has the power of representing or exerting that
+opinion; and when every citizen - being equally weak, equally
+poor, and equally dependent - has only his personal impotence to
+oppose to the organized force of the government?
+
+The annals of France furnish nothing analogous 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 nature was the sport of man, and princes wearied out
+the clemency of Heaven before they exhausted the patience of
+their subjects.  Those who hope to revive the monarchy of Henry
+IV or of Louis XIV, appear to me to be afflicted 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 believe that they will soon be left with no other
+alternative than democratic liberty, or the tyranny of the
+Caesars. *n
+
+[Footnote n: [This prediction of the return of France to imperial
+despotism, and of the true character of that despotic power, was
+written in 1832, and realized to the letter in 1852.]]
+
+And indeed it is deserving of consideration, whether men are
+to be entirely emancipated or entirely enslaved; whether their
+rights are to be made equal, or wholly taken away from them.  If
+the rulers of society were reduced either gradually to raise the
+crowd to their own level, or to sink the citizens below that of
+humanity, would not the doubts of many be resolved, the
+consciences of many be healed, and the community prepared to make
+great sacrifices with little difficulty?  In that case, the
+gradual growth of democratic manners and institutions should be
+regarded, not as the best, but as the only means of preserving
+freedom; 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 associate a people in the work of
+government; but it is still more difficult to supply it with
+experience, and to inspire it with the feelings which it requires
+in order to govern well.  I grant that the caprices of democracy
+are perpetual; its instruments are rude; its laws imperfect.  But
+if it were true that soon no just medium would exist between the
+empire of democracy and the dominion of a single arm, 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 despotic
+power?
+
+Those who, after having read this book, should imagine that
+my intention in writing it has been to propose the laws and
+manners of the Anglo-Americans for the imitation of all
+democratic peoples, would commit a very great mistake; they must
+have paid more attention to the form than to the substance of my
+ideas.  My aim has been to show, by the example of America, that
+laws, and especially manners, may exist which will allow a
+democratic people to remain free.  But I am very far from
+thinking that we ought to follow the example of the American
+democracy, and copy the means which it has employed to attain its
+ends; for I am well aware of the influence which the nature of a
+country and its political precedents exercise upon a
+constitution; and I should regard it as a great misfortune for
+mankind if liberty were to exist all over the world under the
+same forms.
+
+But I am of opinion that if we do not succeed in gradually
+introducing democratic institutions into France, and if we
+despair of imparting to the citizens those ideas and sentiments
+which first prepare them for freedom, and afterwards allow them
+to enjoy it, there will be no independence 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 empire of the majority be not founded amongst us in
+time, we shall sooner or later arrive at the unlimited authority
+of a single despot. 
+
+Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races In The United
+States - Part I
+
+The Present And Probable Future Condition Of The Three Races
+Which Inhabit The Territory Of The United States
+
+The principal part of the 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.
+
+The absolute supremacy of democracy is not all that we meet
+with 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 been able 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 mentioned in
+what spirit, and according to what laws, the Anglo-American Union
+was formed; but I could only glance at the dangers which menace
+that confederation, whilst it was equally impossible for me to
+give a detailed account of its chances of duration, independently
+of its laws and manners.  When speaking of the united republican
+States, 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 inquire into the future condition of the Americans
+as a commercial people.
+
+These topics are collaterally connected with my subject
+without forming a part of it; they are American without being
+democratic; and to portray democracy has been my principal aim. 
+It was therefore necessary to postpone these questions, which I
+now take up as the proper termination 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 tropic,
+and it extends upwards to the icy regions of the North. The human
+beings who are scattered over this space do not form, as in
+Europe, so 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
+insurmountable barriers had been raised between them by education
+and by 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 apart. 
+
+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-eminent;
+and in subordinate grades, 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 inferior rank in
+the country they inhabit; both suffer from tyranny; and if their
+wrongs are not the same, they originate, at any rate, with the
+same authors. 
+
+If we reasoned from what passes in the world, we should
+almost say that the European is to the other races of mankind,
+what man is to the lower animals; - he makes them subservient to
+his use; and when he cannot subdue, he 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 all remembrance of his country; the language
+which his forefathers spoke is never heard around him; he abjured
+their religion and forgot their customs when he ceased to belong
+to Africa, without acquiring any claim to European privileges. 
+But he remains half way between the two communities; sold by the
+one, repulsed by the other; finding not a spot in the universe to
+call by the name of country, except the faint image of a home
+which the shelter of his master's roof affords.
+
+The negro has no family; woman is merely the temporary
+companion of his pleasures, and his children are upon an equality
+with himself from the moment of their birth.  Am I to call it a
+proof of God's mercy or a visitation of his wrath, that man in
+certain states appears to be insensible to his extreme
+wretchedness, and almost affects, with a depraved taste, the
+cause of his misfortunes?  The negro, who is 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 thoughts 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 property of another, who has
+an interest in preserving his life, and that the care of it does
+not devolve upon himself; even the power of thought appears to
+him a useless gift of Providence, and he quietly enjoys the
+privileges of his debasement.  If he becomes free, independence
+is often felt by him to be a heavier burden than slavery; for
+having learned, in the course of his life, to submit to
+everything except reason, he is too much unacquainted with her
+dictates to obey them.  A thousand new desires beset him, and he
+is destitute of the knowledge and energy necessary to resist
+them: these are masters which it is necessary to contend with,
+and he has learnt only to submit and obey. In short, he sinks to
+such a depth of wretchedness, that while servitude brutalizes,
+liberty destroys him.
+
+Oppression has been no less fatal to the Indian than to the
+negro race, but its effects are different.  Before the arrival of
+white men in the New World, the inhabitants of North America
+lived quietly in their woods, enduring the vicissitudes and
+practising the virtues and vices common to savage nations.  The
+Europeans, having dispersed the Indian tribes and driven them
+into the deserts, condemned them to a wandering life full of
+inexpressible sufferings.
+
+Savage nations are only controlled by opinion and by custom. 
+When the North American Indians had lost the sentiment of
+attachment to their country; when their families 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 able to metamorphose
+the character of the Indians; and though they have had power to
+destroy them, they have never been able to make them submit to
+the rules of civilized society.
+
+The lot of the negro is placed on the extreme limit of
+servitude, while that of the Indian lies on the uttermost verge
+of liberty; and slavery does not produce more fatal effects upon
+the first, than independence upon the second.  The negro has lost
+all property in his own person, and he cannot dispose of his
+existence without committing a sort of fraud: but the savage 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, signifies to escape from
+all the shackles of society.  As he delights in this barbarous
+independence, and would rather perish than sacrifice the least
+part of it, civilization has little power 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. Having been told from
+infancy that his race is naturally inferior to that of the
+whites, 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 lives 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 he repels every advance to
+civilization, less perhaps from the hatred which he entertains
+for it, than from a dread of resembling the Europeans. *a While
+he has nothing to oppose to our perfection in the arts but the
+resources of the desert, to our tactics nothing but undisciplined
+courage; whilst our well-digested plans are met by the
+spontaneous instincts of savage life, who can wonder if he fails
+in this unequal contest? 
+
+[Footnote a: The native of North America retains his opinions and
+the most insignificant of his habits with a degree of tenacity
+which has no parallel in history.  For more than two hundred
+years the wandering tribes of North America have had daily
+intercourse with the whites, and they have never derived from
+them either a custom or an idea.  Yet the Europeans have
+exercised a powerful influence over the savages: they have made
+them more licentious, but not more European.  In the summer of
+1831 I happened to be beyond Lake Michigan, at a place called
+Green Bay, which serves as the extreme frontier between the
+United States and the Indians on the north-western side. Here I
+became acquainted with an American officer, Major H., who, after
+talking to me at length on the inflexibility of the Indian
+character, related the following fact: - "I formerly knew a young
+Indian," said he, "who had been educated at a college in New
+England, where he had greatly distinguished himself, and had
+acquired the external appearance of a member of civilized
+society.  When the war broke out between ourselves and the
+English in 1810, I saw this young man again; he was serving in
+our army, at the head of the warriors of his tribe, for the
+Indians were admitted amongst the ranks of the Americans, upon
+condition that they would abstain from their horrible custom of
+scalping their victims.  On the evening of the battle of . . .,
+C. came and sat himself down by the fire of our bivouac. I asked
+him what had been his fortune that day: he related his exploits;
+and growing warm and animated by the recollection of them, he
+concluded by suddenly opening the breast of his coat, saying,
+'You must not betray me - see here!' And I actually beheld," said
+the Major, "between his body and his shirt, the skin and hair of
+an English head, still dripping with gore."]
+
+The negro, who earnestly desires to mingle his race with
+that of the European, cannot effect if; while the Indian, who
+might succeed to a certain extent, disdains to make the attempt. 
+The servility of the one dooms him to slavery, the pride of the
+other to death.
+
+I remember that while I was travelling through the forests
+which still cover the State of Alabama, I arrived one day at the
+log house of a pioneer. I did not wish to penetrate into the
+dwelling of the American, but retired to rest myself for a while
+on the margin of a spring, which was not far off, in the woods. 
+While I was in this place (which was in the neighborhood of the
+Creek territory), an Indian woman appeared, followed by a
+negress, and holding by the hand a little white girl of five or
+six years old, whom I took to be the daughter of the pioneer.  A
+sort of barbarous luxury set off the costume of the Indian; rings
+of metal were hanging 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.  They
+all three came and seated themselves upon the banks of the
+fountain; and the young Indian, taking the child in her arms,
+lavished upon her such fond caresses as mothers give; while the
+negress endeavored by various little artifices to attract the
+attention of the young Creole. 
+
+The child displayed in her slightest gestures a
+consciousness of superiority which formed a 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 strong affection for the child and
+servile fear; whilst the savage displayed, in the midst of her
+tenderness, an air of freedom and of pride which was almost
+ferocious.  I had approached the group, and I contemplated them
+in silence; but my curiosity was probably displeasing to the
+Indian woman, 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 met together in the same
+place, who belonged to the three races of men which people North
+America.  I had perceived from many different results the
+preponderance of the whites.  But in the picture which I have
+just been describing there was something peculiarly touching; a
+bond of affection here united the oppressors with the oppressed,
+and the effort of nature to bring them together rendered still
+more striking the immense distance placed between them by
+prejudice and by law.
+
+The Present And Probable Future Condition Of The Indian Tribes
+Which Inhabit The Territory Possessed By The Union
+
+Gradual disappearance of the native tribes - Manner in which it
+takes place -Miseries accompanying the forced migrations of the
+Indians - The savages of North America had only two ways of
+escaping destruction; war or civilization -They are no longer
+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 - Instance 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 England - the Naragansetts, the Mohicans, the
+Pecots - have any existence but in the recollection of man.  The
+Lenapes, who received William Penn, a hundred and fifty years
+ago, upon the banks of the Delaware, have 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; *b and as they give way or perish, an immense and
+increasing people fills their place. There is no instance upon
+record of so prodigious a growth, or so rapid a destruction: the
+manner in which the latter change takes place is not difficult to
+describe.
+
+[Footnote b: In the thirteen original States there are only 6,273
+Indians remaining.  (See Legislative Documents, 20th Congress,
+No. 117, p. 90.) [The decrease in now far greater, and is verging
+on extinction.  See page 360 of this volume.]]
+
+When the Indians were the sole inhabitants of the wilds from
+whence they have since been expelled, their wants were few. 
+Their arms were of their own manufacture, their only drink was
+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 spirits, and iron: they taught them to
+exchange for manufactured stuffs, the rough garments which had
+previously satisfied their untutored simplicity.  Having acquired
+new tastes, without the arts by which they could be gratified,
+the Indians were obliged to have recourse to the workmanship of
+the whites; but in return for their productions the savage had
+nothing to offer except the rich furs which still abounded in his
+woods.  Hence the chase became necessary, not merely to provide
+for his subsistence, but in order to procure the only objects of
+barter which he could furnish to Europe. *c Whilst the wants of
+the natives were thus increasing, their resources continued to
+diminish.
+
+[Footnote c: Messrs. Clarke and Cass, in their Report to Congress
+on February 4, 1829, p. 23, expressed themselves thus: - "The
+time when the Indians generally could supply themselves with food
+and clothing, without any of the articles of civilized life, has
+long since passed away.  The more remote tribes, beyond the
+Mississippi, who live where immense herds of buffalo are yet to
+be found and who follow those animals in their periodical
+migrations, could more easily than any others recur to the habits
+of their ancestors, and live without the white man or any of his
+manufactures.  But the buffalo is constantly receding.  The
+smaller animals, the bear, the deer, the beaver, the otter, the
+muskrat, etc., principally minister to the comfort and support of
+the Indians; and these cannot be taken without guns, ammunition,
+and traps. Among the Northwestern Indians particularly, the labor
+of supplying a family with food is excessive.  Day after day is
+spent by the hunter without success, and during this interval his
+family must subsist upon bark or roots, or perish.  Want and
+misery are around them and among them.  Many die every winter
+from actual starvation." 
+
+The Indians will not live as Europeans live, and yet they
+can neither subsist without them, nor exactly after the fashion
+of their fathers.  This is demonstrated by a fact which I
+likewise give upon official authority. Some Indians of a tribe on
+the banks of Lake Superior had killed a European; the American
+government interdicted all traffic with the tribe to which the
+guilty parties belonged, until they were delivered up to justice. 
+This measure had the desired effect.]
+
+From the moment when a European settlement is formed in the
+neighborhood of the territory occupied by the Indians, the beasts
+of chase take the alarm. *d Thousands of savages, wandering in
+the forests and destitute of any fixed dwelling, did not disturb
+them; but as soon as the continuous sounds of European labor are
+heard in their neighborhood, they begin to flee away, and retire
+to the West, where their instinct teaches them that they will
+find deserts of immeasurable extent.  "The buffalo is constantly
+receding," say Messrs. Clarke and Cass in their Report of the
+year 1829; "a few years since they approached 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 hundred leagues' distance from their
+frontier. Their influence is thus exerted over tribes whose name
+is unknown to them; and who suffer the evils of usurpation long
+before they are acquainted with the authors of their distress. *e
+
+[Footnote d: "Five years ago," (says Volney in his "Tableau des
+Etats-Unis," p. 370) "in going from Vincennes to Kaskaskia, a
+territory which now forms part of the State of Illinois, but
+which at the time I mention was completely wild (1797), you could
+not cross a prairie without seeing herds of from four to five
+hundred buffaloes.  There are now none remaining; they swam
+across the Mississippi to escape from the hunters, and more
+particularly from the bells of the American cows."]
+
+[Footnote e: The truth of what I here advance may be easily
+proved by consulting the tabular statement of Indian tribes
+inhabiting the United States and their territories.  (Legislative
+Documents, 20th Congress, No. 117, pp. 90-105.) It is there shown
+that the tribes in the centre of America are rapidly decreasing,
+although the Europeans are still at a considerable distance from
+them.] 
+
+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 of the whites, they
+begin to build habitations for civilized beings in the midst of
+the wilderness.  This is done without difficulty, as the
+territory of a hunting-nation is ill-defined; it is the common
+property of the tribe, and belongs to no one in particular, so
+that individual interests are not concerned in the protection of
+any part of it. 
+
+A few European families, settled in different situations at
+a considerable distance 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
+difficult to subsist, and still more difficult to procure the
+articles of barter which they stand in need of.
+
+To drive away their game is to deprive them of the means of
+existence, as effectually as if the fields of our agriculturists
+were stricken with barrenness; and they are reduced, like
+famished wolves, to prowl through the forsaken woods in quest of
+prey.  Their instinctive love of their country attaches them to
+the soil which gave them birth, *f even after it has ceased to
+yield anything but misery and death.  At length they are
+compelled to acquiesce, and to depart: they follow the traces of
+the elk, the buffalo, and the beaver, and are guided by these
+wild animals in the choice of their future country.  Properly
+speaking, therefore, it is not the Europeans who drive away the
+native inhabitants of America; it is famine which compels them to
+recede; a happy distinction which had escaped the casuists of
+former times, and for which we are indebted to modern discovery!
+
+[Footnote f: "The Indians," say Messrs. Clarke and Cass in their
+Report to Congress, p. 15, "are attached to their country by the
+same feelings which bind us to ours; and, besides, there are
+certain superstitious notions connected with the alienation of
+what the Great Spirit gave to their ancestors, which operate
+strongly upon the tribes 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
+our fathers,' is almost always the first answer to a proposition
+for a sale."] 
+
+It is impossible to conceive the extent of the sufferings
+which attend these forced emigrations.  They are undertaken by a
+people already exhausted and reduced; and the countries to which
+the newcomers betake themselves are inhabited by other tribes
+which receive them with jealous hostility.  Hunger is in the
+rear; war awaits them, and misery besets them on all sides.  In
+the hope of escaping from such a host of enemies, they separate,
+and each individual endeavors to procure the means of supporting
+his existence in solitude and secrecy, living in the immensity of
+the desert like an outcast in civilized society.  The social tie,
+which distress had long since weakened, is then dissolved; they
+have lost their country, and their people soon desert them: their
+very families are obliterated; the names they bore in common are
+forgotten, their language perishes, and all traces of their
+origin disappear. Their nation has ceased to exist, except in the
+recollection of the antiquaries of America and a few of the
+learned of Europe.
+
+I should be sorry to have my reader suppose that I am
+coloring the picture too highly; I saw with my own eyes several
+of the cases of misery which I have been describing; and I was
+the witness of sufferings which I have not the power to portray.
+
+At the end of the year 1831, whilst I was on the left bank
+of the Mississippi at a place named by Europeans, Memphis, there
+arrived a numerous band of Choctaws (or Chactas, as they are
+called by the French in Louisiana). These savages had left their
+country, and were endeavoring to gain the right bank of the
+Mississippi, where they hoped to find an asylum which had been
+promised them by the American government.  It was then the middle
+of winter, and the cold was unusually severe; the snow had frozen
+hard upon the ground, and the river was drifting huge masses of
+ice.  The Indians had their families with them; and they brought
+in their train the wounded and sick, with children newly born,
+and old men upon the verge of death.  They possessed neither
+tents nor wagons, but only their arms and some provisions. I saw
+them embark 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 was to carry them
+across, but their dogs remained upon the bank.  As soon as these
+animals perceived that their masters were finally leaving the
+shore, they set up a dismal howl, and, plunging all together into
+the icy waters of the Mississippi, they swam after the boat.
+
+The ejectment of the Indians very 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 government of the United
+States usually dispatches envoys to them, who assemble the
+Indians in a large plain, and having first eaten and drunk with
+them, accost them in the following manner: "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 woods, marshes, or
+prairies, except where you dwell?  And can you live nowhere but
+under your own sun?  Beyond those mountains which you see at the
+horizon, beyond the lake which bounds your territory on the west,
+there lie vast countries where beasts of chase are found in great
+abundance; sell your lands to us, and go to live happily in those
+solitudes." After holding this language, they spread before the
+eyes of the Indians firearms, woollen garments, kegs of brandy,
+glass necklaces, bracelets of tinsel, earrings, and
+looking-glasses. *g If, when they have beheld all these riches,
+they still hesitate, it is insinuated that they have not the
+means of refusing their required consent, and that the government
+itself will not long 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, where the importunate
+whites will not let them remain ten years in tranquillity.  In
+this manner do the Americans obtain, at a very low price, whole
+provinces, which the richest sovereigns of Europe could not
+purchase. *h
+
+[Footnote g: See, in the Legislative Documents of Congress (Doc.
+117), the narrative of what takes place on these occasions.  This
+curious passage is from the above-mentioned report, made to
+Congress by Messrs. Clarke and Cass in February, 1829.  Mr. Cass
+is now the Secretary of War.
+
+"The Indians," says the report, "reach the treaty-ground
+poor and almost naked.  Large quantities of goods are taken there
+by the traders, and are seen and examined by the Indians.  The
+women and children become importunate to have their wants
+supplied, and their influence is soon exerted to induce a sale. 
+Their improvidence is habitual and unconquerable.  The
+gratification of his immediate wants and desires is the ruling
+passion of an Indian.  The expectation of future advantages
+seldom produces much effect.  The experience of the past is lost,
+and the prospects of the future disregarded.  It would be utterly
+hopeless to demand a cession of land, unless the means were at
+hand of gratifying their immediate wants; and when their
+condition and circumstances are fairly considered, it ought not
+to surprise us that they are so anxious to relieve themselves."]
+
+[Footnote h: On May 19, 1830, Mr. Edward Everett affirmed before
+the House of Representatives, that the Americans had already
+acquired by treaty, to the east and west of the Mississippi,
+230,000,000 of acres.  In 1808 the Osages gave up 48,000,000
+acres for an annual payment of $1,000.  In 1818 the Quapaws
+yielded up 29,000,000 acres for $4,000.  They reserved for
+themselves a territory of 1,000,000 acres for a hunting-ground. 
+A solemn oath was taken that it should be respected: but before
+long it was invaded like the rest. Mr. Bell, in his Report of the
+Committee on Indian Affairs, February 24, 1830, has these words:
+- "To pay an Indian tribe what their ancient hunting-grounds are
+worth to them, after the game is fled or destroyed, as a mode of
+appropriating wild lands claimed by Indians, has been found more
+convenient, and certainly it is more agreeable to the forms of
+justice, as well as more merciful, than to assert the possession
+of them by the sword. Thus the practice of buying Indian titles
+is but the substitute which humanity and expediency have imposed,
+in place of the sword, in arriving at the actual enjoyment of
+property claimed by the right of discovery, and sanctioned by the
+natural superiority allowed to the claims of civilized
+communities over those of savage tribes.  Up to the present time
+so invariable has been the operation of certain causes, first in
+diminishing the value of forest lands to the Indians, and
+secondly in disposing them to sell readily, that the plan of
+buying their right of occupancy has never threatened to retard,
+in any perceptible degree, the prosperity of any of the States."
+(Legislative Documents, 21st Congress, No. 227, p. 6.)]
+
+
+Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races - Part II
+
+These are great evils; and it must be added that they appear
+to me to be irremediable.  I believe that the Indian nations of
+North America are doomed to perish; and that whenever the
+Europeans shall be established on the shores of the Pacific
+Ocean, that race of men will be no more. *i The Indians had only
+the two alternatives of war or civilization; in other words, they
+must either have destroyed the Europeans or become their equals. 
+
+[Footnote i: This seems, indeed, to be the opinion of almost all
+American statesmen.  "Judging of the future by the past," says
+Mr. Cass, "we cannot err in anticipating a progressive diminution
+of their numbers, and their eventual extinction, unless our
+border should become stationary, and they be removed beyond it,
+or unless some radical change should take place in the principles
+of our intercourse with them, which it is easier to hope for than
+to expect."]
+
+At the first settlement of the colonies they might have
+found it possible, by uniting their forces, to deliver themselves
+from the small bodies of strangers who landed on their continent.
+*j They several times attempted to do it, and were on the point
+of succeeding; but the disproportion of their resources, at the
+present day, when compared with those of the whites, is too great
+to allow such an enterprise to be thought of.  Nevertheless,
+there do arise from time to time among the Indians men of
+penetration, who foresee the final destiny which awaits the
+native population, and who exert themselves to unite all the
+tribes in common hostility to the Europeans; but their efforts
+are unavailing.  Those tribes which are in the neighborhood of
+the whites, are too much weakened to offer an effectual
+resistance; whilst the others, giving way to that childish
+carelessness of the morrow which characterizes savage life, wait
+for the near approach of danger before they prepare to meet it;
+some are unable, the others are unwilling, to exert themselves.
+
+[Footnote j: Amongst other warlike enterprises, there was one of
+the Wampanaogs, and other confederate tribes, under Metacom in
+1675, against the colonists of New England; the English were also
+engaged in war in Virginia in 1622.]
+
+It is easy to foresee that the Indians will never conform to
+civilization; or that it will be too late, whenever they may be
+inclined to make the experiment.
+
+Civilization is the result of a long social process which
+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 the
+most difficulty which habitually live by the chase. Pastoral
+tribes, indeed, often change their place of abode; but they
+follow a regular order in their migrations, and often return
+again 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 amongst
+the Indians, without controlling their wandering propensities; by
+the Jesuits in Canada, and by the Puritans in New England; *k but
+none of these endeavors were crowned by any lasting success. 
+Civilization began in the cabin, but it soon retired to expire in
+the woods.  The great error of these legislators of the Indians
+was their not understanding that, in order to succeed in
+civilizing a people, it is first necessary to fix it; which
+cannot be done without inducing it to cultivate the soil; the
+Indians ought in the first place to have been accustomed to
+agriculture.  But not only are they destitute of this
+indispensable preliminary to civilization, they would even have
+great difficulty in acquiring it.  Men who have once abandoned
+themselves to the restless and adventurous life of the hunter,
+feel an insurmountable disgust for the constant and regular labor
+which tillage requires.  We see this proved in the bosom of our
+own society; but it is far more visible among peoples whose
+partiality for the chase is a part of their national character.
+
+[Footnote k: See the "Histoire de la Nouvelle France," by
+Charlevoix, and the work entitled "Lettres edifiantes."]
+
+Independently of this general difficulty, there is another,
+which applies peculiarly to the Indians; they consider labor not
+merely as an evil, but as a disgrace; so that their pride
+prevents them from becoming civilized, as much as their
+indolence. *l 
+
+[Footnote l: "In all the tribes," says Volney, in his "Tableau
+des Etats-Unis," p. 423, "there still exists a generation of old
+warriors, who cannot forbear, when they see their countrymen
+using the hoe, from exclaiming against the degradation of ancient
+manners, and asserting that the savages owe their decline to
+these innovations; adding, that they have only to return to their
+primitive habits in order to recover their power and their
+glory."] 
+
+There is no Indian so wretched as not to retain under his
+hut of bark a lofty idea of his personal worth; he considers the
+cares of industry and labor as degrading occupations; he compares
+the husbandman to the ox which traces the furrow; and even in our
+most ingenious handicraft, he can see nothing but the labor of
+slaves. Not that he is devoid of admiration for the power and
+intellectual greatness of the whites; but although the result of
+our efforts surprises him, he contemns the means by which we
+obtain it; and while he acknowledges our ascendancy, he still
+believes in his superiority. War and hunting are the only
+pursuits which appear to him worthy to be the occupations of a
+man. *m The Indian, in the dreary solitude of his woods,
+cherishes the same ideas, the same opinions as the noble of the
+Middle ages in his castle, and he only requires to become a
+conqueror to complete the resemblance; 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 the ancient prejudices
+of Europe are still in existence.
+
+
+[Footnote m: The following description occurs in an official
+document: "Until a young man has been engaged with an enemy, and
+has performed some acts 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
+consists of the kinsmen, friends, and comrades of the narrator. 
+The profound impression which his discourse produces on them is
+manifested by the silent attention it receives, and by the loud
+shouts which hail its termination. The young man who finds
+himself at such a meeting without anything to recount is very
+unhappy; and instances have sometimes occurred of young warriors,
+whose passions had been thus inflamed, quitting the war-dance
+suddenly, and going off alone to seek for trophies which they
+might exhibit, and adventures which they might be allowed to
+relate."]
+
+More than once, in the course of this work, I have
+endeavored to explain the prodigious influence which the social
+condition appears to exercise upon the laws and the manners of
+men; and I beg 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 of the
+wandering 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 brought about the
+same results in both hemispheres; and that in the midst of the
+apparent diversity of human affairs, a certain number of primary
+facts may be discovered, from which all the others are derived. 
+In what we usually call the German institutions, then, I am
+inclined only to perceive barbarian habits; and the opinions of
+savages in what we style feudal principles.
+
+However strongly the vices and prejudices of the North
+American Indians may be opposed to their becoming agricultural
+and civilized, necessity sometimes obliges them to it.  Several
+of the Southern nations, and amongst others the Cherokees and the
+Creeks, *n were surrounded by Europeans, who had landed on the
+shores of the Atlantic; and who, either descending the Ohio or
+proceeding up the Mississippi, arrived simultaneously upon their
+borders. These tribes have not been driven from place to place,
+like their Northern brethren; but they have been gradually
+enclosed within narrow limits, like the game within the thicket,
+before the huntsmen plunge into the interior. The Indians who
+were thus placed between civilization and death, found themselves
+obliged to live by ignominious labor like the whites.  They took
+to agriculture, and without entirely forsaking their old habits
+or manners, sacrificed only as much as was necessary to their
+existence.
+
+[Footnote n: These nations are now swallowed up in the States of
+Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi.  There were
+formerly in the South four great nations (remnants of which still
+exist), the Choctaws, the Chickasaws, the Creeks, and the
+Cherokees.  The remnants of these four nations amounted, in 1830,
+to about 75,000 individuals.  It is computed that there are now
+remaining in the territory occupied or claimed by the
+Anglo-American Union about 300,000 Indians.  (See Proceedings of
+the 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 refer to.  (Legislative Documents, 20th
+Congress, No. 117, pp. 90-105.) [In the Census of 1870 it is
+stated that the Indian population of the United States is only
+25,731, of whom 7,241 are in California.]] 
+
+The Cherokees went further; they created a written language;
+established a permanent form of government; and as everything
+proceeds rapidly in the New World, before they had all of them
+clothes, they set up a newspaper. *o
+
+[Footnote o: I brought back with me to France one or two copies
+of this singular publication.]
+
+The growth of European habits has been remarkably
+accelerated among these Indians by the mixed race which has
+sprung up. *p Deriving intelligence from their father's side,
+without entirely losing the savage customs of the mother, the
+half-blood forms the natural link between civilization and
+barbarism. Wherever this race has multiplied the savage state has
+become modified, and a great change has taken place in the
+manners of the people. *q
+
+[Footnote p: See in the Report of the Committee on Indian
+Affairs, 21st Congress, No. 227, p. 23, the reasons for the
+multiplication of Indians of mixed blood among the Cherokees. 
+The principal cause dates from the War of Independence.  Many
+Anglo-Americans of Georgia, having taken the side of England,
+were obliged to retreat among the Indians, where they married.]
+
+[Footnote q: Unhappily the mixed race has been less numerous and
+less influential in North America than in any other country.  The
+American continent was peopled by two great nations of Europe,
+the French and the English.  The former were not slow in
+connecting themselves with the daughters of the natives, but
+there was an unfortunate affinity between the Indian character
+and their own: instead of giving the tastes and habits of
+civilized life to the savages, the French too often grew
+passionately fond of the state of wild freedom they found them
+in.  They became the most dangerous of the inhabitants of the
+desert, and won the friendship of the Indian by exaggerating his
+vices and his virtues.  M. de Senonville, the governor of Canada,
+wrote thus to Louis XIV in 1685: "It has long been believed that
+in order to civilize the savages we ought to draw them nearer to
+us.  But there is every reason to suppose we have been mistaken. 
+Those which have been brought into contact with us have not
+become French, and the French 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, continuing obstinately 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 union of his race with theirs.  Thus while the French
+exercised no salutary influence over the Indians, the English
+have always remained alien from them.] 
+
+The success of the Cherokees proves that the Indians are
+capable of civilization, but it does not prove that they will
+succeed in it.  This difficulty which the Indians find in
+submitting to civilization proceeds from the influence of a
+general cause, which it is almost impossible for them to escape. 
+An attentive survey of history demonstrates that, in general,
+barbarous nations have raised themselves to civilization by
+degrees, and by their own efforts.  Whenever they derive
+knowledge from a foreign people, they stood towards it in the
+relation of conquerors, and not of a conquered nation. When the
+conquered nation is enlightened, and the conquerors are half
+savage, as in the case of the invasion of Rome by the Northern
+nations or that of China by the Mongols, the power which victory
+bestows upon the barbarian is sufficient to keep up his
+importance among civilized men, and permit him to rank as their
+equal, until he becomes their rival: the one has might on his
+side, the other has intelligence; the former admires the
+knowledge and the arts of the conquered, 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 intellectual
+preponderance, the conquered party seldom become civilized; it
+retreats, or is destroyed. It may therefore be said, in a general
+way, that savages go forth in arms to seek knowledge, but that
+they 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, they would gradually gain
+strength and experience, and when the Europeans should appear
+upon their borders, they would be in a state, if not to maintain
+their independence, at least to assert their right to the soil,
+and to incorporate themselves with the conquerors.  But it is the
+misfortune of Indians to be brought into contact with a civilized
+people, which is also (it must be owned) the most avaricious
+nation on the globe, whilst they are still semi-barbarian: to
+find despots in their instructors, and to receive knowledge from
+the hand of oppression.  Living in the freedom of the woods, the
+North American Indian was destitute, but he had no feeling of
+inferiority towards anyone; as soon, however, as he desires to
+penetrate into the social scale of the whites, he takes the
+lowest rank in society, for he enters, ignorant and poor, within
+the pale of science and wealth.  After having led a life of
+agitation, beset with evils and dangers, but at the same time
+filled with proud emotions, *r he is obliged to submit to a
+wearisome, obscure, and degraded state; and to gain the bread
+which nourishes him by hard and ignoble labor; such are in his
+eyes the only results of which civilization can boast: and even
+this much he is not sure to obtain.
+
+[Footnote r: There is in the adventurous life of the hunter a
+certain irresistible charm, which seizes the heart of man and
+carries him away in spite of reason and experience.  This is
+plainly shown by the memoirs of Tanner.  Tanner is a European who
+was carried away at the age of six by the Indians, and has
+remained thirty years with them in the woods.  Nothing can be
+conceived more appalling that the miseries which he describes. 
+He tells us of tribes without a chief, families without a nation
+to call their own, men in a state of isolation, wrecks of
+powerful tribes wandering at random amid the ice and snow and
+desolate solitudes of Canada.  Hunger and cold pursue them; every
+day their life is in jeopardy.  Amongst these men, manners have
+lost their empire, traditions are without power.  They become
+more and more savage. Tanner shared in all these miseries; he was
+aware of his European origin; he was not kept away from the
+whites by force; on the contrary, he came every year to trade
+with them, entered their dwellings, and witnessed their
+enjoyments; he knew that whenever he chose to return to civilized
+life he was perfectly able to do so - and he remained thirty
+years in the deserts.  When he came into civilized society he
+declared that the rude existence which he described, had a secret
+charm for him which he was unable to define: he returned to it
+again and again: at length he abandoned it with poignant regret;
+and when he was at length fixed 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
+to be more like a savage than a civilized being.  His book is
+written without either taste or order; but he gives, even
+unconsciously, a lively picture of the prejudices, the passions,
+the vices, and, above all, of the destitution in which he lived.]
+
+When the Indians undertake to imitate their European
+neighbors, and to till the earth like the settlers, they are
+immediately exposed to a very formidable competition.  The white
+man is skilled in the craft of agriculture; the Indian is a rough
+beginner in an art with which he is unacquainted.  The former
+reaps abundant crops without difficulty, the latter meets with a
+thousand obstacles in raising the fruits of the earth.
+
+The European is placed amongst a population whose wants he
+knows and partakes.  The savage is isolated in the midst of a
+hostile people, with whose manners, language, and laws he is
+imperfectly acquainted, but without whose assistance he cannot
+live.  He can only procure the materials of comfort by bartering
+his commodities against the goods of the European, for the
+assistance of his countrymen is wholly insufficient to supply his
+wants. When the Indian wishes to sell the produce of his labor,
+he cannot always meet with a purchaser, whilst the European
+readily finds a market; and the former can only produce at a
+considerable cost that which the latter vends at a very low rate. 
+Thus the Indian has no sooner escaped those evils to which
+barbarous nations are exposed, than he is subjected to the still
+greater miseries of civilized communities; and he finds is
+scarcely less difficult to live in the midst of our abundance,
+than in the depth of his own wilderness.
+
+He has not yet lost the habits of his erratic life; the
+traditions of his fathers and his passion for the chase are still
+alive within him.  The wild enjoyments which formerly animated
+him in the woods, painfully excite his troubled imagination; and
+his former privations appear to be less keen, his former perils
+less appalling.  He contrasts the independence which he possessed
+amongst his equals with the servile position which he occupies in
+civilized society.  On the other hand, the solitudes which were
+so long his free home are still at hand; a few hours' march will
+bring him back to them once more.  The whites offer him a sum,
+which seems to him to be considerable, for the ground which he
+has begun to clear.  This money of the Europeans may possibly
+furnish him with the means of a happy and peaceful subsistence in
+remoter regions; and he quits the plough, resumes his native
+arms, and returns to the wilderness forever. *s The condition of
+the Creeks and Cherokees, to which I have already alluded,
+sufficiently corroborates the truth of this deplorable picture.
+
+[Footnote s: The destructive influence of highly civilized
+nations upon others which are less so, has been exemplified by
+the Europeans themselves. About a century ago the French founded
+the town of Vincennes up on the Wabash, in the middle of the
+desert; and they lived there in great plenty until the arrival of
+the American settlers, who first ruined the previous inhabitants
+by their competition, and afterwards purchased their lands at a
+very low rate.  At the time when M. de Volney, from whom I borrow
+these details, passed through Vincennes, the number of the French
+was reduced to a hundred individuals, most of whom were about to
+pass over to Louisiana or to Canada.  These French settlers were
+worthy people, but idle and uninstructed: they had contracted
+many of the habits of savages.  The Americans, who were perhaps
+their inferiors, in a moral point of view, were immeasurably
+superior to them in 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 less striking, that the English are the
+masters of commerce and manufacture in the Canadian country, that
+they spread on all sides, and confine the French within limits
+which scarcely suffice to contain them.  In like manner, in
+Louisiana, almost all activity in commerce and manufacture
+centres in the hands of the Anglo-Americans.
+
+
+But the case of Texas is still more striking: the State of
+Texas is a part of Mexico, and lies upon the frontier between
+that country and the United States.  In the course of the last
+few years the Anglo-Americans have penetrated into this province,
+which is still thinly peopled; they purchase land, they produce
+the commodities of the country, and supplant the original
+population.  It may easily be foreseen that if Mexico takes no
+steps to check this change, the province of Texas will very
+shortly cease to belong to that government.
+
+If the different degrees - comparatively so slight - which
+exist in European civilization produce results of such magnitude,
+the consequences which must ensue from the collision of the most
+perfect European civilization with Indian savages may readily be
+conceived.]
+
+The Indians, in the little which they have done, have
+unquestionably displayed as much natural genius as the peoples of
+Europe in their most important designs; but nations as well as
+men require time to learn, whatever may be their intelligence and
+their zeal.  Whilst the savages were engaged in the work of
+civilization, the Europeans continued to surround them on every
+side, and to confine them within narrower limits; the two races
+gradually met, and they are now in immediate juxtaposition to
+each other. The Indian is already superior to his barbarous
+parent, but he is still very far below his white neighbor.  With
+their resources and acquired knowledge, the Europeans soon
+appropriated to themselves most of the advantages which the
+natives might have derived from the possession of the soil; they
+have settled in the country, they have purchased land at a very
+low rate or have occupied it by force, and the Indians have been
+ruined by a competition which they had not the means of
+resisting.  They were isolated in their own country, and their
+race only constituted a colony of troublesome aliens in the midst
+of a numerous and domineering people. *t 
+
+[Footnote t: See in the 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 to retire by the troops of
+Congress, or carrying off their cattle, burning their houses,
+cutting down their corn, and doing violence to their persons.  It
+appears, nevertheless, from all these documents that the claims
+of the natives are constantly protected by the government from
+the abuse of force.  The Union has a representative agent
+continually employed to reside among the Indians; and the report
+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 lands of the Cherokees
+would cause ruin to the poor, helpless, and inoffensive
+inhabitants." And he further remarks upon the attempt of the
+State of Georgia to establish a division line for the purpose of
+limiting the boundaries of the Cherokees, that the line drawn
+having been made by the whites, and entirely upon ex parte
+evidence of their several rights, was of no validity whatever.]
+
+
+Washington said in one of his messages to Congress, "We are
+more enlightened and more powerful than the Indian nations, we
+are therefore bound in honor to treat them with kindness and even
+with generosity." But this virtuous and high-minded policy has
+not been followed.  The rapacity of the settlers is usually
+backed by the tyranny of the government.  Although the Cherokees
+and the Creeks are established upon the territory which they
+inhabited before the settlement of the Europeans, and although
+the Americans have frequently treated with them as with foreign
+nations, the surrounding States have not consented to acknowledge
+them as independent peoples, and attempts have been made to
+subject these children of the woods to Anglo-American
+magistrates, laws, and customs. *u Destitution had driven these
+unfortunate Indians to civilization, and oppression now drives
+them back to their former condition: many of them abandon the
+soil which they had begun to clear, and return to their savage
+course of life.
+
+[Footnote u: In 1829 the State of Alabama divided the Creek
+territory into counties, and subjected the Indian population to
+the power of European magistrates.
+
+
+Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races - Part III
+
+In 1830 the State of Mississippi assimilated the Choctaws
+and Chickasaws to the white population, and declared that any of
+them that should take the title of chief would be punished by a
+fine of $1,000 and a year's imprisonment.  When these laws were
+enforced upon the Choctaws, who inhabited that district, the
+tribe assembled, their chief communicated 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.]
+
+If we consider the tyrannical measures which have been
+adopted by the legislatures of the Southern States, the conduct
+of their Governors, and the decrees of their courts of justice,
+we shall be convinced that the entire expulsion of the Indians is
+the final result to which the efforts of their policy are
+directed.  The Americans of that part of the Union look with
+jealousy upon the aborigines, *v they are aware that these tribes
+have not yet lost the traditions of savage life, and before
+civilization has permanently fixed them to the soil, it is
+intended to force them to recede by reducing them to despair. 
+The Creeks and Cherokees, oppressed by the several States, have
+appealed 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 maintaining them in the
+free possession of that territory, which the Union is pledged to
+respect. *w But the several States oppose so formidable a
+resistance to the execution of this design, that the government
+is obliged to consent to the extirpation of a few barbarous
+tribes in order not to endanger the safety of the American Union.
+
+[Footnote v: The Georgians, who are so much annoyed by the
+proximity of the Indians, inhabit a territory which does 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.]
+
+[Footnote w: In 1818 Congress appointed commissioners to visit
+the Arkansas Territory, accompanied by a deputation of Creeks,
+Choctaws, and Chickasaws. This expedition was commanded by
+Messrs. Kennerly, M'Coy, Wash Hood, and John Bell.  See the
+different reports of the commissioners, and their journal, in the
+Documents of Congress, No. 87, House of Representatives.]
+
+But the federal government, which is not able to protect the
+Indians, would fain mitigate the hardships of their lot; and,
+with this intention, proposals have been made to transport them
+into more remote regions at the public cost.
+
+Between the thirty-third and thirty-seventh degrees of north
+latitude, a vast tract of country lies, which has taken the name
+of Arkansas, from the principal river that waters its extent.  It
+is bounded on the one side by the confines of Mexico, on the
+other by the Mississippi.  Numberless streams cross it in every
+direction; the climate is mild, and the soil productive, but it
+is only inhabited by a few wandering hordes of savages.  The
+government of the Union wishes to transport the broken remnants
+of the indigenous population of the South to the portion of this
+country which is nearest to Mexico, and at a great distance from
+the American settlements.
+
+We were assured, towards the end of the year 1831, that
+10,000 Indians had already gone down to the shores of the
+Arkansas; and fresh detachments were constantly following them;
+but Congress has been unable to excite a unanimous determination
+in those whom it is disposed to protect.  Some, indeed, are
+willing to quit the seat of oppression, but the most enlightened
+members of the community refuse to abandon their recent dwellings
+and their springing crops; they are of opinion that the work of
+civilization, once interrupted, will never be resumed; they fear
+that those domestic habits which have been so recently
+contracted, may be irrevocably lost in the midst of a country
+which is still barbarous, and where nothing is prepared for the
+subsistence of an agricultural people; they know that their
+entrance into those wilds will be opposed by inimical hordes, and
+that they have lost the energy of barbarians, without acquiring
+the resources of civilization to resist their attacks.  Moreover,
+the Indians readily discover that the settlement which is
+proposed to them is merely a temporary expedient.  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 the
+observance of the obligation; but the territory which they at
+present occupy was formerly secured to them by the most solemn
+oaths of Anglo-American faith. *x The American government does
+not indeed rob them of their lands, but it allows perpetual
+incursions to be made on them.  In a few years the same white
+population which now flocks around them, will track them to the
+solitudes of the Arkansas; they will then be exposed to the same
+evils without the same remedies, and as the limits of the earth
+will at last fail them, their only refuge is the grave. 
+
+[Footnote x: The fifth article of the treaty made with the Creeks
+in August, 1790, is in the following words: - "The United States
+solemnly guarantee to the Creek nation all their land within the
+limits of the United States."
+
+The seventh article of the treaty concluded in 1791 with the
+Cherokees says: - "The United States solemnly guarantee to the
+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 establish himself
+upon the territory of the Cherokees, the United States would
+withdraw their protection from that individual, and give him up
+to be punished as the Cherokee nation should think fit.]
+
+The Union treats the Indians with less cupidity and rigor
+than the policy of the several States, but the two governments
+are alike destitute of good faith.  The States extend what they
+are pleased to term the benefits of their laws to the Indians,
+with a belief that the tribes will recede rather than submit; and
+the central government, which promises a permanent refuge to
+these unhappy beings is well aware of its inability to secure it
+to them. *y 
+
+[Footnote y: 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, March 23, 1829 (Proceedings of
+the Indian Board, in the city of New York, p. 5): "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 trouble 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 18, 1829, (see the same work, p. 6), declares to them that
+they cannot expect to retain possession of the lands at that time
+occupied by them, but gives them the most positive assurance of
+uninterrupted peace if they would remove beyond the Mississippi:
+as if the power which could not grant them protection then, would
+be able to afford it them hereafter!]
+
+Thus the tyranny of the States obliges the savages to
+retire, the Union, by its promises and resources, facilitates
+their retreat; and these measures tend to precisely the same end.
+*z "By the will of our Father in Heaven, the Governor of the
+whole world," said the Cherokees in their petition to Congress,
+*a "the red man of America has become small, and the white man
+great and renowned.  When the ancestors of the people of these
+United States first came to the shores of America they found the
+red man strong: though he was ignorant and savage, yet he
+received them kindly, and gave them dry land to rest their weary
+feet.  They met in peace, and shook hands in token of friendship. 
+Whatever the white man wanted and asked of the Indian, the latter
+willingly gave.  At that time the Indian was the lord, and the
+white man the suppliant.  But now the scene has changed.  The
+strength of the red man has become weakness.  As his neighbors
+increased in numbers his power became less and less, and now, of
+the many and powerful 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
+numerous and powerful, are now nearly extinct.  Thus it has
+happened to the red man of America.  Shall we, who are remnants,
+share the same fate?
+
+[Footnote z: To obtain a correct idea of the 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 Inhabitants." (See the
+Legislative Documents, 21st Congress, No. 319.) 2d, The Laws of
+the Union on the same subject, and especially that of March 30,
+1802. (See Story's "Laws of the United States.") 3d, The Report
+of Mr. Cass, Secretary of War, relative to Indian Affairs,
+November 29, 1823.]
+
+[Footnote a: December 18, 1829.]
+
+"The land on which we stand we have received as an
+inheritance from our fathers, who possessed it from time
+immemorial, as a gift from our common Father in Heaven.  They
+bequeathed it to us as their children, and we have sacredly kept
+it, as containing the remains of our beloved men.  This right of
+inheritance we have never ceded nor ever forfeited.  Permit us to
+ask what better right can the people have to a country than the
+right of inheritance and immemorial peaceable possession?  We
+know it is said of late by the State of Georgia and by the
+Executive of the United States, that we have forfeited this
+right; but we think this is said gratuitously.  At what time have
+we made the forfeit?  What great crime have we committed, whereby
+we must forever be divested of our country and rights?  Was it
+when we were hostile to the United States, and took part with the
+King of Great Britain, during the struggle for independence?  If
+so, why was not this forfeiture declared in the first treaty of
+peace between the United States and our beloved men? Why was not
+such an article as the following inserted in the treaty: - 'The
+United States give peace to the Cherokees, but, for the part they
+took in the late war, declare them to be but tenants at will, to
+be removed when the convenience of the States, within whose
+chartered limits they live, shall require it'?  That was the
+proper time to assume such a possession.  But it was not thought
+of, nor would our forefathers have agreed to any treaty whose
+tendency was to deprive them of their rights and their country." 
+
+Such is the language of the Indians: their assertions are
+true, their forebodings inevitable.  From whichever side we
+consider the destinies of the aborigines of North America, their
+calamities appear to be irremediable: if they continue barbarous,
+they are forced to retire; if they attempt to civilize their
+manners, the contact of a more civilized community subjects them
+to oppression and destitution.  They perish if they continue to
+wander from waste to waste, and if they attempt to settle they
+still must perish; the assistance of Europeans is necessary to
+instruct them, but the approach of Europeans corrupts and repels
+them into savage life; they refuse to change their habits as long
+as their solitudes are their own, and it is too late to change
+them when they are constrained to submit.
+
+The Spaniards pursued the Indians with bloodhounds, like
+wild beasts; they sacked the New World with no more temper or
+compassion than a city taken by storm; but destruction must
+cease, and frenzy be stayed; the remnant of the Indian population
+which had escaped the massacre mixed with its conquerors, and
+adopted in the end their religion and their manners. *b The
+conduct of the Americans of the United States towards the
+aborigines is characterized, on the other hand, by a singular
+attachment to the formalities of law.  Provided that the Indians
+retain their barbarous condition, the Americans take no part in
+their affairs; they treat them as independent nations, and do not
+possess themselves of their hunting grounds without a treaty of
+purchase; and if an Indian nation happens to be so encroached
+upon as to be unable to subsist upon its territory, they afford
+it brotherly assistance in transporting it to a grave
+sufficiently remote from the land of its fathers. 
+
+[Footnote b: The honor of this result is, however, by no means
+due to the Spaniards.  If the Indian tribes had not been tillers
+of the ground at the time of the arrival of the Europeans, they
+would unquestionably have been destroyed in South as well as in
+North America.]
+
+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 depriving it of its
+rights; but the Americans of the United States have accomplished
+this twofold purpose with singular felicity; tranquilly, legally,
+philanthropically, without shedding blood, and without violating
+a single great principle of morality in the eyes of the world. *c
+It is impossible to destroy men with more respect for the laws of
+humanity.
+
+[Footnote c: See, amongst other documents, the report made by Mr.
+Bell in the name of the Committee on Indian Affairs, February 24,
+1830, in which is most logically established and most learnedly
+proved, that "the fundamental principle that the Indians had no
+right by virtue of their ancient possession either of will or
+sovereignty, has never been abandoned either expressly or by
+implication." In perusing this report, which is evidently drawn
+up by an experienced hand, one is astonished at the facility with
+which the author gets rid of all arguments founded upon reason
+and natural right, which he designates as abstract and
+theoretical principles.  The more I contemplate the difference
+between civilized and uncivilized man with regard to the
+principles of justice, the more I observe that the former
+contests the justice of those rights which the latter simply
+violates.]
+
+[I leave this chapter wholly unchanged, for it has always
+appeared to me to be one of the most eloquent and touching parts
+of this book.  But it has ceased to be prophetic; the destruction
+of the Indian race in the United States is already consummated. 
+In 1870 there remained but 25,731 Indians in the whole territory
+of the Union, and of these by far the largest part exist in
+California, Michigan, Wisconsin, Dakota, and New Mexico and
+Nevada.  In New England, Pennsylvania, and New York the race is
+extinct; and the predictions of M. de Tocqueville are fulfilled.
+- Translator's Note.]
+
+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 the 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 abolish slavery - Servitude, which
+debases the slave, impoverishes the master - Contrast between the
+left and the right bank of the Ohio - To what attributable - 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
+anxiety - 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.  These two races
+are attached to each other without intermingling, and they are
+alike unable entirely to separate or to combine. The most
+formidable of all the ills which threaten the future existence of
+the Union arises from the presence of a black population upon its
+territory; and in contemplating the cause of the present
+embarrassments or of the future dangers of the United States, the
+observer is invariably led to consider this as a primary fact.
+
+The permanent evils to which mankind is subjected are
+usually produced by the vehement or the increasing efforts of
+men; but there is one calamity which penetrated furtively into
+the world, and which was at first scarcely distinguishable amidst
+the ordinary abuses of power; it originated with an individual
+whose name history has not preserved; it was wafted like some
+accursed germ upon a portion of the soil, but it afterwards
+nurtured itself, grew without effort, and spreads naturally with
+the society to which it belongs.  I need scarcely add that 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 restricted to one
+of the races of mankind; but the wound thus inflicted upon
+humanity, though less extensive, was at the same time rendered
+far more difficult of cure.
+
+It is important to make an accurate distinction between
+slavery itself and its consequences.  The immediate evils which
+are produced by slavery were very nearly the same in antiquity as
+they are amongst the moderns; but the consequences of these evils
+were different.  The slave, amongst the ancients, belonged to the
+same race as his master, and he was often the superior of the two
+in education *d and instruction.  Freedom was the only
+distinction between them; and when freedom was conferred they
+were easily confounded together. The ancients, then, had a very
+simple means of avoiding slavery and its evil consequences, which
+was that of affranchisement; and they succeeded as soon as they
+adopted this measure generally.  Not but, 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 whomsoever has been their inferior long after he
+is become their equal; and the real inequality which is produced
+by fortune or by law is always succeeded by an imaginary
+inequality which is implanted in the manners of the people. 
+Nevertheless, this secondary consequence of slavery was limited
+to a certain term amongst the ancients, for the freedman bore so
+entire a resemblance to those born free, that it soon became
+impossible to distinguish him from amongst them.
+
+[Footnote d: It is well known that several of the most
+distinguished authors of antiquity, and amongst them Aesop and
+Terence, were, or had been slaves. Slaves were not always taken
+from barbarous nations, and the chances of war reduced highly
+civilized men to servitude.]
+
+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 obstacles begin where
+those of the ancients left off. This arises from the circumstance
+that, amongst the moderns, the abstract and transient fact of
+slavery is fatally united to 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 must be inferred, that all the blacks who are
+now to be found in that hemisphere are either slaves or freedmen. 
+Thus the negro transmits the eternal mark of his ignominy to all
+his descendants; 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
+mankind in this child of debasement whom slavery has brought
+amongst us.  His physiognomy is to our eyes hideous, his
+understanding weak, his tastes low; and we are almost inclined to
+look upon him as a being intermediate between man and the brutes.
+*e The moderns, then, after they have abolished slavery, have
+three prejudices to contend against, which are less easy to
+attack and far less easy to conquer than the mere fact of
+servitude: the prejudice of the master, the prejudice of the
+race, and the prejudice of color.
+
+[Footnote e: To induce the whites to abandon the opinion they
+have conceived of the moral and intellectual inferiority of their
+former slaves, the negroes must change; but as long as this
+opinion subsists, to change is impossible.]
+
+It is difficult for us, who have had the good fortune to be
+born amongst men like ourselves by nature, and equal to ourselves
+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 analogy.  France was formerly a country
+in which numerous distinctions of rank existed, that had been
+created by the legislation.  Nothing can be more fictitious than
+a purely legal inferiority; nothing more contrary to the instinct
+of mankind than these permanent divisions which had been
+established between beings evidently similar.  Nevertheless these
+divisions subsisted for ages; they still subsist in many places;
+and on all sides they have left imaginary vestiges, which time
+alone can efface.  If it be so difficult to root out an
+inequality which solely originates in the law, how are those
+distinctions to be destroyed which seem to be based upon the
+immutable laws of Nature herself? When I remember the extreme
+difficulty with which aristocratic bodies, of whatever nature
+they may be, are commingled with the mass of the people; and the
+exceeding care which they take to preserve the ideal boundaries
+of their caste inviolate, I despair of seeing an aristocracy
+disappear which is founded upon visible and indelible signs. 
+Those who hope that the Europeans will ever mix with the negroes,
+appear to me to delude themselves; and I am not led to any such
+conclusion by my own reason, or by the evidence of facts.
+
+Hitherto, wherever the whites have been the most powerful,
+they have maintained the blacks in a subordinate or a servile
+position; wherever the negroes have been strongest they have
+destroyed the whites; such has been the only retribution which
+has ever taken place between the two races.
+
+I see that in a certain portion of the territory of the
+United States at the present day, the legal barrier which
+separated the two races is tending to fall away, but not that
+which exists in the manners of the country; slavery recedes, but
+the prejudice to which it has given birth remains stationary.
+Whosoever has inhabited the United States must have perceived
+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 the race appears to be stronger
+in the States which have abolished slavery, than in those where
+it still exists; and nowhere 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 may be
+legally contracted between negroes and whites; but public opinion
+would stigmatize a man who should connect himself with a negress
+as infamous, and it would be difficult to meet with a single
+instance of such a union.  The electoral franchise has been
+conferred upon the negroes in almost all the States in which
+slavery has been abolished; but if they come forward to vote,
+their lives are in danger.  If oppressed, they may bring an
+action at law, but they will find none but whites amongst their
+judges; and although they may legally serve as jurors, prejudice
+repulses them from that office.  The same schools do not receive
+the child of the black and of the European.  In the theatres,
+gold cannot procure a seat for the servile race beside their
+former masters; in the hospitals they lie apart; and although
+they are allowed to invoke the same Divinity as the whites, it
+must be at a different altar, and in their own churches, with
+their own clergy.  The gates of Heaven are not closed against
+these unhappy beings; but their inferiority is continued to the
+very confines of the other world; when the negro is defunct, his
+bones are cast aside, and the distinction of condition prevails
+even in the equality of death.  The negro is free, but he can
+share neither the rights, nor the pleasures, nor the labor, nor
+the afflictions, nor the tomb of him whose equal he has been
+declared 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 labor and the
+recreations of the whites; the whites consent to intermix with
+them to a certain extent, and although the legislation treats
+them 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 distinctly perceives the barrier which separates
+him from the degraded race, and he shuns the negro with the more
+pertinacity, since he fears lest they should some day be
+confounded together.
+
+Amongst the Americans of the South, nature sometimes
+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 country did not declare that she
+may aspire to be the legitimate partner of his bed; but he
+recoils with horror from her who might 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 manners 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, it may be asked why the Americans have
+abolished slavery in the North of the Union, why they maintain it
+in the South, and why they aggravate its hardships there?  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. *f 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 negro population was always
+very limited in New England. *g
+
+[Footnote 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.]
+
+[Footnote g: The number of slaves was less considerable in the
+North, but the advantages resulting from slavery were not more
+contested there than in the South.  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
+Belknap, upon slavery in New England, are to be found in the
+"Historical Collection of Massachusetts," vol. iv. p. 193.  It
+appears that negroes were introduced there in 1630, but that the
+legislation and manners of the people were opposed to slavery
+from the first; see also, in the same work, the manner in which
+public opinion, and afterwards the laws, finally put an end to
+slavery.]
+
+A century had scarcely elapsed since the foundation 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 population, in wealth, and in
+prosperity more rapidly than those which contained the greatest
+number of negroes.  In the former, however, the inhabitants were
+obliged to cultivate the soil themselves, or by hired laborers;
+in the latter they were furnished with hands for which they paid
+no wages; yet although labor and expenses were on the one side,
+and ease with economy on the other, the former were in possession
+of the most advantageous system.  This consequence seemed to be
+the more difficult to explain, since the settlers, who all
+belonged to the same European race, had the same habits, the same
+civilization, the same laws, and their shades of difference were
+extremely 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 with a new soil and an unwonted climate; the
+obstacles which opposed them were of the most various character;
+their races intermingled, the inhabitants of the South went up
+towards the North, those of the North descended to the South; but
+in the midst of all these causes, the same result occurred at
+every step, and in general, the colonies in which there were no
+slaves became more populous and more rich than those in which
+slavery flourished.  The more progress was made, the more was it
+shown that slavery, which is so cruel to the slave, is
+prejudicial to the master.
+
+
+Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races - Part IV
+
+But this truth was most satisfactorily demonstrated when
+civilization reached the banks of the Ohio.  The stream which the
+Indians had distinguished by the name of Ohio, or Beautiful
+River, waters one of the most magnificent valleys that has ever
+been made the abode of man.  Undulating lands extend upon both
+shores of the Ohio, whose soil affords inexhaustible treasures to
+the laborer; on either bank the air is 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 only differ in a single respect;
+Kentucky has admitted slavery, but the State of Ohio has
+prohibited the existence of slaves within its borders. *h
+
+[Footnote h: Not only is slavery prohibited in Ohio, but no free
+negroes are allowed to enter the territory of that State, or to
+hold property in it.  See the Statutes of Ohio.]
+
+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 between liberty and servitude; and a transient
+inspection of the surrounding objects will convince him as to
+which of the two is most favorable to mankind.  Upon the left
+bank of the stream the population is rare; from time to time one
+descries a troop of slaves loitering in the half-desert fields;
+the primaeval forest recurs at every turn; society seems to be
+asleep, man to be idle, and nature alone offers a scene of
+activity and of life.  From the right bank, on the contrary, a
+confused hum is heard which proclaims the presence of industry;
+the fields are covered with abundant harvests, the elegance of
+the dwellings announces the taste and activity of the laborer,
+and man appears to be in the enjoyment of that wealth and
+contentment which is the reward of labor. *i
+
+[Footnote i: The activity of Ohio is not confined to individuals,
+but the undertakings of the State are surprisingly great; a canal
+has been established between Lake Erie and the Ohio, by means of
+which the valley of the Mississippi communicates 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.]
+
+The State of Kentucky was founded in 1775, the State of Ohio
+only twelve years later; but twelve years are more in America
+than half a century in Europe, and, at the present day, the
+population of Ohio exceeds that of Kentucky by two hundred and
+fifty thousand souls. *j These opposite consequences of slavery
+and freedom may readily be understood, and they suffice to
+explain many of the differences which we remark between the
+civilization of antiquity and that of our own time.
+
+[Footnote j: The exact numbers given by the census of 1830 were:
+Kentucky, 688,-844; Ohio, 937,679.  [In 1890 the population of
+Ohio was 3,672,316, that of Kentucky, 1,858,635.]]
+
+Upon the left bank of the Ohio labor is confounded with the
+idea of slavery, upon the right 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 they would be afraid of assimilating
+themselves to the negroes; on the latter no one is idle, for the
+white population extends its activity and its intelligence to
+every kind of employment.  Thus the men whose task it is to
+cultivate the rich soil of Kentucky are ignorant and lukewarm;
+whilst those who are active and enlightened either do nothing or
+pass over into the State of Ohio, where they may work without
+dishonor.
+
+It is true that in Kentucky the planters are not obliged to
+pay wages to the slaves whom they employ; but they derive small
+profits from their labor, whilst the wages paid to free workmen
+would be returned with interest in the value of their services. 
+The free workman is paid, but he does his work quicker than the
+slave, and rapidity of execution is one of the great elements of
+economy.  The white sells his services, but they are only
+purchased at the times at which they 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 the prime of manhood, in his profitless infancy as
+well as in the productive years of youth.  Payment must equally
+be made in order to obtain the services of either class of men:
+the free workman receives his wages in money, the slave in
+education, in food, in care, and in clothing. The money which a
+master spends in the maintenance 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 sum, which appears only to enrich
+the individual who receives it, but in the end the slave has cost
+more than the free servant, and his labor is less productive. *k
+
+[Footnote k: Independently of these causes, which, wherever free
+workmen abound, render their labor more productive and more
+economical than that of slaves, another cause may be pointed out
+which is peculiar to the United States: the sugar-cane has
+hitherto 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, and 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
+very high in Louisiana.  But Louisiana is one of the confederated
+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.]
+
+The influence of slavery extends still further; it affects
+the character of the master, and imparts a peculiar tendency to
+his ideas and his tastes. Upon both banks of the Ohio, the
+character of the inhabitants is enterprising and energetic; but
+this vigor is very differently exercised in the two States. The
+white inhabitant of Ohio, who is obliged to subsist by his own
+exertions, regards temporal prosperity as the principal aim of
+his existence; and as the country which he occupies presents
+inexhaustible resources to his industry and ever-varying lures to
+his activity, his acquisitive ardor surpasses the ordinary limits
+of human cupidity: he is tormented by the desire of wealth, and
+he boldly enters upon every path which fortune opens to him; he
+becomes a sailor, a pioneer, an artisan, or a laborer with the
+same indifference, and he supports, with equal constancy, the
+fatigues and the dangers incidental to these various professions;
+the resources of his intelligence are astonishing, and his
+avidity in the pursuit of gain amounts to a species of heroism.
+
+But the Kentuckian scorns not only labor, but all the
+undertakings which labor promotes; as he lives in an idle
+independence, his tastes are those of an idle man; money loses a
+portion of its value in his eyes; he covets wealth much less than
+pleasure and excitement; and the energy which his neighbor
+devotes to gain, turns with him to a passionate love of field
+sports and military exercises; he delights in violent bodily
+exertion, he is familiar with the use of arms, and is accustomed
+from a very early age to expose his life in single combat.  Thus
+slavery not only prevents the whites from becoming opulent, but
+even from desiring 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 established a very striking difference
+between the commercial capacity of the inhabitants of the South
+and those of the North.  At the present day it is only the
+Northern States which are in possession of shipping,
+manufactures, railroads, and canals.  This difference is
+perceptible not only in comparing the North with the South, but
+in comparing the several Southern States. Almost all the
+individuals who carry on commercial operations, or who endeavor
+to turn slave labor to account in the most Southern districts of
+the Union, have emigrated from the North.  The natives of the
+Northern States are constantly spreading over that portion of the
+American territory where they have less to fear from competition;
+they discover resources there which escaped the notice of the
+inhabitants; and, as they comply with a system which they do not
+approve, they succeed in turning it to better advantage than
+those who first founded and who still maintain it.
+
+Were I inclined to continue this parallel, I could easily
+prove that almost all the differences which may be remarked
+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 present intention is not to
+point out all the consequences of servitude, but those effects
+which it has produced upon the prosperity of the countries which
+have admitted it. 
+
+The influence of slavery upon the production of wealth must
+have been very imperfectly known in antiquity, as slavery then
+obtained throughout the civilized world; and the nations which
+were unacquainted with it were barbarous.  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 apparent in the United States,
+slavery receded before the progress of experience.  Servitude had
+begun in the South, and had thence spread towards the North; but
+it now retires again.  Freedom, which started from the North, now
+descends uninterruptedly towards the South. Amongst the great
+States, Pennsylvania now constitutes the extreme limit of slavery
+to the North: but even within those limits the slave system is
+shaken: Maryland, which is immediately below Pennsylvania, is
+preparing for its abolition; and Virginia, which comes next to
+Maryland, is already discussing its utility and its dangers. *l
+
+[Footnote l: A peculiar reason contributes 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 tobacco.  This cultivation is specially carried on
+by slaves; but within the last few years the market-price 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 changed.  The natives of Maryland and
+Virginia are therefore more disposed than they were thirty years
+ago, to give up slave labor in the cultivation of tobacco, or to
+give up slavery and tobacco at the same time.]
+
+No great change takes place in human institutions without
+involving amongst its causes the law of inheritance.  When the
+law of primogeniture obtained in the South, each family was
+represented by a wealthy individual, who was neither compelled
+nor induced to labor; and he was surrounded, as by parasitic
+plants, by the other members of his family who were then excluded
+by law from sharing the common inheritance, and who led the same
+kind of life as himself.  The very same thing then occurred in
+all the families of the South as still happens in the wealthy
+families of some countries in Europe, namely, that the younger
+sons remain in the same state of idleness as their elder brother,
+without being as rich as he is.  This identical result seems to
+be produced in Europe and in America by wholly analogous causes. 
+In the South of the United States the whole race of whites formed
+an aristocratic body, which was headed by a certain number of
+privileged 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 the
+honor of inactive life.  This aristocracy contained many who were
+poor, but none who would work; its members preferred want to
+labor, consequently no competition was set on foot against negro
+laborers and slaves, and, whatever opinion might be entertained
+as to the utility of their efforts, it was indispensable to
+employ them, since there was no one else to work.
+
+No sooner was the law of primogeniture 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 procure the means of subsistence: several of them
+have since entirely disappeared, and all of them learned to look
+forward to the time at which it would be necessary for everyone
+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 laborious subsistence without blushing for
+their exertions.  Thus one of the most immediate consequences of
+the partible quality of estates has been to create a class of
+free laborers.  As soon as a competition was set on foot between
+the free laborer and the slave, the inferiority of the latter
+became manifest, and slavery was attacked in its fundamental
+principle, which is the interest of the master.
+
+As slavery recedes, the black population follows its
+retrograde course, and returns with it towards those tropical
+regions from which it originally came.  However singular this
+fact may at first appear to be, it may readily be explained. 
+Although the Americans abolish the principle of slavery, they do
+not set their slaves free.  To illustrate this remark, I will
+quote the example of the State of New York.  In 1788, the State
+of New York prohibited the sale of slaves within its limits,
+which was an indirect method of prohibiting the importation of
+blacks.  Thenceforward the number of negroes could only increase
+according to the ratio of the natural increase of population. 
+But eight years later a more decisive measure was taken, and it
+was enacted that all children born of slave parents after July 4,
+1799, should be free.  No increase could then take place, and
+although slaves still existed, slavery might be said to be
+abolished.
+
+From the time at which a Northern State prohibited the
+importation of slaves, 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 was no longer able to get
+rid of his slave (who thus became a burdensome possession)
+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 strong interest in transporting him to the
+South.  Thus the same law prevents the slaves of the South from
+coming to the Northern States, and drives those of the North to
+the South.
+
+The want of free hands is felt in a State in proportion as
+the number of slaves decreases.  But in proportion as labor is
+performed by free hands, slave labor becomes less productive; and
+the slave is then a useless or onerous possession, whom it is
+important to export to those Southern States where the same
+competition is not to be feared.  Thus the abolition of slavery
+does not set the slave free, but it merely transfers him from one
+master to another, and from the North to the South.
+
+The emancipated negroes, and those born after the abolition
+of slavery, do not, indeed, migrate from the North to the South;
+but their situation with regard to the Europeans is not unlike
+that of the aborigines of America; they remain half civilized,
+and deprived of their rights in the midst of a population which
+is far superior to them in wealth and in knowledge; where they
+are exposed to the tyranny of the laws *m and the intolerance of
+the people.  On some accounts 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 a single portion of
+the soil: many of them perish miserably, *n and the rest
+congregate in the great towns, where they perform the meanest
+offices, and lead a wretched and precarious existence.
+
+[Footnote m: The States in which slavery is abolished 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 different States in this respect, the unhappy
+blacks can only choose the least of the evils which beset them.]
+
+[Footnote n: There is a very 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 Philadelphia; but one
+negro out of twenty-one individuals of the black population died
+in the same space of time.  The mortality is by no means so great
+amongst the negroes who are still slaves.  (See Emmerson's
+"Medical Statistics," p. 28.)]
+
+But even if the number of negroes continued to increase as
+rapidly as when they were still in a state of slavery, as the
+number of whites augments with twofold rapidity since the
+abolition of slavery, the blacks would soon be, as it were, lost
+in the midst of a strange population.
+
+A district which is cultivated by slaves is in general more
+scantily peopled than a district cultivated by free labor:
+moreover, America is still a new country, and a State is
+therefore not half peopled at the time 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 immediately arrive
+from all parts of the country, who hasten to profit by the fresh
+resources which are then opened to industry.  The soil is soon
+divided amongst them, and a family of white settlers takes
+possession of each tract of country. Besides which, European
+emigration is exclusively directed to the free States; for what
+would be the fate of a poor emigrant who crosses the Atlantic in
+search of ease and happiness if he were to land in a country
+where labor is stigmatized as degrading?
+
+Thus the white population grows by its natural increase, 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 negroes constitute a scanty remnant, a poor tribe
+of vagrants, which is lost in the midst of an immense people in
+full possession of the land; and the presence of the blacks is
+only marked by the injustice and the hardships of which they are
+the unhappy victims.
+
+In several of the Western States the negro race never made
+its appearance, and in all the Northern States it is rapidly
+declining.  Thus the great question of its future condition is
+confined within a narrow circle, where it becomes less
+formidable, though not more easy of solution.
+
+The more we descend towards the South, the more difficult
+does it become to abolish slavery with advantage: and this arises
+from several physical causes which it is important to point out. 
+
+The first of these causes is the climate; it is well known
+that in proportion as Europeans approach the tropics they suffer
+more from labor. Many of the Americans even assert that within a
+certain latitude the exertions which a negro can make without
+danger are fatal to them; *o but I do not think that this
+opinion, which is so favorable to the indolence of the
+inhabitants of southern regions, is confirmed by experience.  The
+southern parts of the Union are not hotter than the South of
+Italy and of Spain; *p and it may be asked why the European
+cannot work as well there as in the two latter countries.  If
+slavery has been abolished in Italy and in Spain without causing
+the destruction 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, from raising the means of subsistence from the soil,
+but their labor would unquestionably be more irksome and less
+productive to them than to the inhabitants of New England. 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.
+
+[Footnote o: This is true of the spots in which rice is
+cultivated; rice-grounds, which are unwholesome in all countries,
+are particularly dangerous in those regions which are exposed to
+the beams of a tropical sun. Europeans would not find it easy to
+cultivate the soil in that part of the New World if it must be
+necessarily be made to produce rice; but may they not subsist
+without rice-grounds?]
+
+[Footnote p: These States are nearer to the equator than Italy
+and Spain, but the temperature of the continent of America is
+very much lower than that of Europe.
+
+The Spanish Government formerly caused a certain number of
+peasants from the Acores to be transported into a district of
+Louisiana called Attakapas, by way of experiment.  These settlers
+still cultivate the soil without the assistance of slaves, but
+their industry is so languid as scarcely to supply their most
+necessary wants.]
+
+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 method of
+cultivating corn.  The farmer of corn land in a country where
+slavery is unknown habitually retains a small number of laborers
+in his service, and at seed-time and harvest he hires several
+additional hands, who only live at his cost for a short period. 
+But the agriculturist in a slave State is obliged to keep a large
+number of slaves the whole year round, in order to sow his fields
+and to gather in his crops, although their services are only
+required for a few weeks; but 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 services they must be
+bought.  Slavery, independently of its general disadvantages, is
+therefore still more inapplicable to countries in which corn is
+cultivated than to those which produce crops of a different kind. 
+The cultivation of tobacco, 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
+but 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 one of the
+principal sources of the wealth of those States.  If slavery were
+abolished, the inhabitants of the South would be constrained to
+adopt one of two alternatives: they must either change their
+system of cultivation, 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 produce
+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 maintaining slavery exist in
+the South which do not operate in the North. 
+
+But there is yet another motive which is more cogent than
+all the others: the South might indeed, rigorously speaking,
+abolish slavery; but how should it rid its territory of the black
+population?  Slaves and slavery are driven from the North by the
+same law, but this twofold result cannot be hoped for in the
+South. 
+
+The arguments which I have adduced to show that slavery is
+more natural and more advantageous in the South than in the
+North, sufficiently prove that the number of slaves must be far
+greater in the former districts.  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 the tropics
+there is not a single white laborer; the negroes are consequently
+much more numerous in the South than in the North. And, as I have
+already observed, this disproportion increases 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 emigration of the negroes from the North; and the
+African race has causes of increase in the South very analogous
+to those which so powerfully accelerate the growth of the
+European race in the North.
+
+In the State of Maine there is one negro in 300 inhabitants;
+in Massachusetts, one in 100; in New York, two in 100; in
+Pennsylvania, three in the same number; in Maryland, thirty-four;
+in Virginia, forty-two; and lastly, in South Carolina *q
+fifty-five per cent.  Such was the proportion of the black
+population to the whites in the year 1830.  But this proportion
+is perpetually changing, as it constantly decreases in the North
+and augments in the South.
+
+
+[Footnote q: We find it asserted in an American work, entitled
+"Letters on the Colonization Society," by Mr. Carey, 1833, "That
+for the last forty years the black race has increased more
+rapidly than the white race in the State of South Carolina; and
+that if we take the average population of the five States of the
+South into which slaves were first introduced, viz., Maryland,
+Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, we shall
+find that from 1790 to 1830 the whites have augmented in the
+proportion of 80 to 100, and the blacks in that of 112 to 100."
+
+In the United States, in 1830, the population of the two
+races stood as follows: -
+
+States where slavery is abolished, 6,565,434 whites; 120,520
+blacks. Slave States, 3,960,814 whites; 2,208,102 blacks.  [In
+1890 the United States contained a population of 54,983,890
+whites, and 7,638,360 negroes.]]
+
+It is evident that the most Southern States of the Union
+cannot abolish slavery without incurring very great dangers,
+which the North had no reason to apprehend when it emancipated
+its black population.  We have already shown the system by which
+the Northern States secure the transition from slavery to
+freedom, by keeping the present generation in chains, and setting
+their descendants free; by this means the negroes are gradually
+introduced into society; and whilst the men who might abuse their
+freedom are kept in a state of servitude, those who are
+emancipated may learn the art of being free before they become
+their own masters.  But it would be difficult 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 fate, and
+their astonishment is only the prelude to their impatience 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 nothing to fear from the contrast, because in them the blacks
+were few in number, and the white population was very
+considerable.  But if this faint dawn of freedom were to show two
+millions of men their true position, the oppressors would have
+reason to tremble.  After having affranchised the children of
+their slaves the Europeans of the Southern States would very
+shortly be obliged to extend the same benefit to the whole black
+population. 
+
+Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races - Part V
+
+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
+Europe, hasten to fill up 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 for any expectation of
+their ever being removed from the country to be entertained; 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
+yet been reinstated in its rightful honors.  Besides, they very
+justly look upon the States in which the proportion 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, like
+their Northern countrymen, to initiate the slaves gradually into
+a state of freedom by abolishing slavery; they have no means of
+perceptibly diminishing the black population, and they would
+remain unsupported to repress its excesses.  So that 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 power which still maintain slavery, would
+then become the source of the most alarming perils which the
+white population of the South might have to apprehend.  At the
+present time the descendants of the Europeans are the sole owners
+of the land; the absolute masters of all labor; and the only
+persons who are possessed of wealth, knowledge, and arms.  The
+black is destitute of all these advantages, but he subsists
+without them because he is a slave.  If he were free, and obliged
+to provide for his own subsistence, would it be possible for him
+to remain without these things and to support life?  Or would not
+the very instruments of the present superiority of the white,
+whilst slavery exists, expose him to a thousand dangers if it
+were abolished? 
+
+As long as the negro remains a slave, he may be kept in a
+condition not very far removed from that of the brutes; but, with
+his liberty, he cannot but acquire a degree of instruction which
+will enable him to appreciate his misfortunes, and to discern a
+remedy for them.  Moreover, there exists a singular principle of
+relative justice which is very firmly implanted in the human
+heart.  Men are much more forcibly struck by those inequalities
+which exist within the circle of the same class, than with those
+which may be remarked between different classes.  It is more easy
+for them to admit slavery, than to allow several millions of
+citizens to exist under a load of eternal infamy and hereditary
+wretchedness.  In the North the population of freed negroes feels
+these hardships and resents these indignities; but its numbers
+and its powers are small, whilst in the South it would be
+numerous and strong. 
+
+As soon as it is admitted that the whites and the
+emancipated blacks are placed upon the same territory in the
+situation of two alien communities, it will readily be understood
+that there are but two alternatives for the future; the negroes
+and the whites must either wholly part or wholly mingle. I have
+already expressed the conviction which I entertain as to the
+latter event. *r I do not imagine that the white and black races
+will ever live in any country upon an equal footing.  But I
+believe the difficulty to be still greater in the United States
+than elsewhere.  An isolated individual may surmount the
+prejudices of religion, of his country, or of his race, and if
+this individual is a king he may effect surprising changes in
+society; but a whole people cannot rise, as it were, above
+itself.  A despot who should subject the Americans and their
+former slaves to the same yoke, might perhaps succeed in
+commingling their races; but as long as the American democracy
+remains at the head of affairs, no one will undertake so
+difficult a task; and it may be foreseen that the freer the white
+population of the United States becomes, the more isolated will
+it remain. *s 
+
+[Footnote r: This opinion is sanctioned by authorities infinitely
+weightier than anything that I can say: thus, for instance, it is
+stated in the "Memoirs of Jefferson" (as collected by M.
+Conseil), "Nothing is more clearly written in the book of destiny
+than the 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 insurmountable are the barriers
+which nature, habit, and opinions have established between
+them."]
+
+[Footnote s: If the British 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.]
+
+I have previously observed that the mixed race is the true
+bond of union between the Europeans and the Indians; just so the
+mulattoes are the true means of transition between the white and
+the negro; so that wherever mulattoes abound, the intermixture of
+the two races is not impossible.  In some parts of America, the
+European and the negro races are so crossed by one another, that
+it is rare to meet with a man who 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 being
+identical with either.
+
+Of all the Europeans the English are those who have mixed
+least with the negroes.  More mulattoes are to be seen in the
+South of the Union than in the North, but still they are
+infinitely more scarce than in any other European colony:
+mulattoes are by no means numerous in the United States; they
+have no force peculiar to themselves, and when quarrels
+originating in differences of color take place, they generally
+side with the whites; just as the lackeys of the great, in
+Europe, assume the contemptuous airs of nobility to the lower
+orders.
+
+The pride of origin, which is natural to the English, is
+singularly augmented by the personal pride which democratic
+liberty fosters amongst the Americans: the white citizen of the
+United States is proud of his race, and proud of himself.  But if
+the whites and the negroes do not intermingle in the North of the
+Union, how should they mix in the South?  Can it be supposed for
+an instant, that an American of the Southern States, placed, as
+he must forever be, between the white man with all his physical
+and moral superiority and the negro, will ever think of
+preferring 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 what will probably occur at
+some future time, I should say, that the abolition of slavery in
+the South will, in the common course of things, increase the
+repugnance of the white population for the men of color.  I found
+this opinion upon the analogous observation which I already had
+occasion to make in the North.  I there remarked that the white
+inhabitants of the North avoid the negroes with increasing care,
+in proportion as the legal barriers of separation are removed by
+the legislature; and why should not the same result take place in
+the South?  In the North, the whites are deterred from
+intermingling with the blacks by the fear of an imaginary danger;
+in the South, where the danger would be real, I cannot imagine
+that the fear would be less general.
+
+If, on the one hand, it be admitted (and the fact is
+unquestionable) that the colored population perpetually
+accumulates in the extreme South, and that it increases more
+rapidly than that of the whites; and if, on the other hand, it be
+allowed that it is impossible to foresee a time at which the
+whites and the blacks will be so intermingled as to derive the
+same benefits from society; must it not be inferred that the
+blacks and the whites will, sooner or later, come to open strife
+in the Southern States of the Union? But if it be asked what the
+issue of the struggle is likely to be, it will readily be
+understood that we are here left to form a very vague surmise of
+the truth. The human mind may succeed in tracing a wide circle,
+as it were, which includes the course of future events; but
+within that circle a thousand various chances and circumstances
+may direct it in as many different ways; and in every picture of
+the future there is a dim spot, which the eye of the
+understanding cannot penetrate.  It appears, however, to be
+extremely probable that in the West Indian Islands the white race
+is destined to be subdued, and the black population to share the
+same fate upon the continent.
+
+In the West India Islands the white planters are surrounded
+by an immense black population; on the continent, the blacks are
+placed between the ocean and an innumerable people, which already
+extends over them in a dense mass, from the icy confines of
+Canada to the frontiers of Virginia, and from the banks of the
+Missouri to the shores of the Atlantic.  If the white citizens of
+North America remain united, it cannot be supposed that the
+negroes will escape the destruction with which they are menaced;
+they must be subdued by want or by the sword.  But the black
+population which is accumulated along the coast of the Gulf of
+Mexico, has a chance of success if the American Union is
+dissolved when the struggle between the two races begins.  If the
+federal tie were broken, the citizens of the South would be wrong
+to rely upon any lasting succor from their Northern countrymen. 
+The latter are well aware that the danger can never reach them;
+and unless they are constrained to march to the assistance of the
+South by a positive obligation, it may be foreseen that the
+sympathy of color will be insufficient to stimulate their
+exertions.
+
+Yet, at whatever period the strife may break out, the whites
+of the South, even if they are abandoned to their own resources,
+will enter the lists with an immense superiority of knowledge and
+of the means of warfare; but the blacks will have numerical
+strength and the energy of despair upon their side, and these are
+powerful resources to men who have taken up arms. The fate of the
+white population of the Southern States will, perhaps, be similar
+to that of the Moors in Spain.  After having occupied the land
+for centuries, it will perhaps be forced to retire to the country
+whence its ancestors came, and to abandon to the negroes the
+possession of a territory, which Providence seems to have more
+peculiarly destined for them, since they can subsist and labor in
+it more easily that the whites.
+
+The danger of a conflict between the white and the black
+inhabitants of the Southern States of the Union - a danger which,
+however remote it may be, is inevitable - perpetually haunts the
+imagination of the Americans.  The inhabitants of the North make
+it a common topic of conversation, although they have no direct
+injury to fear from the struggle; but they vainly endeavor to
+devise some means of obviating the misfortunes which they
+foresee.  In the Southern States the subject is not discussed:
+the planter does not allude to the future in conversing with
+strangers; the citizen does not communicate his apprehensions to
+his friends; he seeks to conceal them from himself; but there is
+something more alarming in the tacit forebodings of the South,
+than in the clamorous fears of the Northern States.
+
+This all-pervading disquietude has given birth to an
+undertaking which is but little known, but which may have the
+effect of changing the fate of a portion of the human race.  From
+apprehension of the dangers which I have just been describing, a
+certain number of 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
+oppression to which they are subject. *t In 1820, the society to
+which I allude formed a settlement in Africa, upon the seventh
+degree of north latitude, which bears the name of Liberia.  The
+most recent intelligence informs us that 2,500 negroes are
+collected there; they have introduced the democratic institutions
+of America into the country of their forefathers; and Liberia has
+a representative system of government, negro jurymen, negro
+magistrates, and negro priests; churches have been built,
+newspapers established, and, by a singular change in the
+vicissitudes of the world, white men are prohibited from
+sojourning within the settlement. *u
+
+[Footnote t: This society assumed the name of "The Society for
+the Colonization of the 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,
+Philadelphia, 1833.]
+
+[Footnote u: 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 negroes, like the Indians,
+were brought into collision with a people more enlightened than
+themselves, they would be destroyed before they could be
+civilized.]
+
+This is indeed a strange caprice of fortune.  Two hundred
+years have now elapsed since the inhabitants of Europe undertook
+to tear the negro from his family and his home, in order to
+transport him to the shores of North America; at the present day,
+the European settlers are engaged in sending back the descendants
+of those very negroes to the Continent from which they were
+originally taken; and the barbarous Africans have been brought
+into contact with civilization in the midst of bondage, and have
+become acquainted with free political 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 penetrate into those regions, now that they are
+introduced by Africans themselves.  The settlement of Liberia is
+founded upon a lofty and a most fruitful idea; but whatever may
+be its results with regard to the Continent of Africa, it can
+afford no remedy to the New World.
+
+In twelve years the Colonization Society has transported
+2,500 negroes to Africa; in the same space of time about 700,000
+blacks were born in the United States.  If the colony of Liberia
+were so situated as to be 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, *v and to transport the negroes to
+Africa in the vessels of the State, it would still be unable 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 the same space of time, it would
+fail in suspending the growth of the evil which is daily
+increasing in the States. *w The negro race will never leave
+those shores of the American continent, to which it was brought
+by the passions and the vices of Europeans; and it will not
+disappear from the New World as long as it continues to exist.
+The inhabitants of the United States may retard the calamities
+which they apprehend, but they cannot now destroy their efficient
+cause.
+
+[Footnote v: Nor would these be the only difficulties attendant
+upon the undertaking; if the Union undertook to buy up the
+negroes now in America, in order to transport them to Africa, the
+price of slaves, increasing with their scarcity, would soon
+become enormous; and the States of the North would never consent
+to expend such great sums for a purpose which would procure such
+small advantages to themselves.  If the Union took possession of
+the slaves in the Southern States by force, or at a rate
+determined by law, an insurmountable resistance would arise in
+that part of the country.  Both alternatives are equally
+impossible.]
+
+[Footnote w: 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 population of the United
+States at that time.]
+
+I am obliged to confess that I do not regard the abolition
+of slavery as a means of warding off the struggle of the two
+races in the United States. The negroes may long remain slaves
+without complaining; but if they are once raised to the level of
+free men, they will soon revolt at being deprived of all their
+civil rights; and as they cannot become the equals of the whites,
+they will speedily declare themselves as enemies.  In the North
+everything contributed to facilitate the emancipation of the
+slaves; and slavery was abolished, without placing the free
+negroes in a position which could become formidable, since their
+number was too small for them ever to claim the exercise of their
+rights.  But such is not the case in the South.  The question of
+slavery was a question of commerce and manufacture 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!  But I only observe that all the countries
+which formerly adopted that execrable principle are not equally
+able to abandon it at the present time.
+
+When I contemplate the condition of the South, I can only
+discover two alternatives which may be adopted by the white
+inhabitants of those States; viz., either to emancipate the
+negroes, and to intermingle with them; or, remaining isolated
+from them, to keep them in a state of 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 perhaps in the extirpation of one or other of the two races. 
+Such is the view which the Americans of the South take of the
+question, and they act consistently with it.  As they are
+determined not to mingle with the negroes, they refuse to
+emancipate them.
+
+
+   Not that the inhabitants of the South regard slavery as
+necessary to the wealth of the planter, for on this point many of
+them agree with their Northern countrymen in freely admitting
+that slavery is prejudicial to their interest; but they are
+convinced that, however prejudicial it may be, they hold their
+lives upon no other tenure.  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 no means exist of getting rid of its
+bad consequences.  Hence arises a singular contrast; the more the
+utility of slavery is contested, the more firmly is it
+established in the laws; and whilst the principle of servitude is
+gradually abolished in the North, that self-same principle gives
+rise to more and more rigorous consequences in the South.
+
+The legislation of the Southern States with regard to
+slaves, presents at the present day such unparalleled atrocities
+as suffice to show how radically the laws of humanity have been
+perverted, and to betray the desperate position of the community
+in which that legislation has been promulgated.  The Americans of
+this portion of the Union have not, indeed, augmented the
+hardships of slavery; they have, on the contrary, bettered the
+physical condition 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 intellectual
+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 prevent the slave from
+breaking his chains; at the present day measures are adopted to
+deprive him even of the desire of freedom.  The ancients kept the
+bodies of their slaves in bondage, but they placed no restraint
+upon the mind and no check upon 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 equal of his master.  But
+the Americans of the South, who do not admit that the negroes can
+ever be commingled with themselves, have forbidden them to be
+taught to read or to write, under severe penalties; and as they
+will not raise them to their own level, they 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 less 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
+measures to prevent slave-owners from emancipating their slaves
+in most cases; not indeed by a positive prohibition, but by
+subjecting that step to various forms 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
+without his being able to surmount the legal obstacles to their
+emancipation, and in the mean while his old age was come, and he
+was about to die.  He pictured to himself his sons dragged from
+market to market, 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 he made me feel 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 consequence of the very principle of
+modern slavery.  When the Europeans chose their slaves from a
+race differing from their own, which many of them considered as
+inferior to the other races of mankind, and which they all
+repelled with horror from any notion of intimate connection, they
+must have believed that slavery would last forever; since there
+is no intermediate state which can be durable between the
+excessive inequality produced by servitude and the complete
+equality which originates in independence.  The Europeans did
+imperfectly feel this truth, but without acknowledging it even to
+themselves.  Whenever they have had to do with 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 affected 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 involuntarily been led
+to admit of 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 without
+compromising their own security?  And if they are obliged to keep
+that race in bondage in order to save their own families, may
+they not be excused for availing themselves of the means best
+adapted to that end?  The events which are taking place in the
+Southern States of the Union appear 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 instruments 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, which
+is now confined to a single tract of the civilized earth, which
+is attacked by Christianity as unjust, and by political economy
+as prejudicial; and which is now contrasted with democratic
+liberties and the information of our age, cannot survive. By the
+choice 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 seize it for themselves by force; if it be given, they will
+abuse it ere long. *x
+
+[Footnote x: [This chapter is no longer applicable to the
+condition of the negro race in the United States, since the
+abolition of slavery was the result, though not the object, of
+the great Civil War, and the negroes have been raised to the
+condition not only of freedmen, but of citizens; and in some
+States they exercise a preponderating political power by reason
+of their numerical majority.  Thus, in South Carolina there were
+in 1870, 289,667 whites and 415,814 blacks.  But the emancipation
+of the slaves has not solved the problem, how two races so
+different and so hostile are to live together in peace in one
+country on equal terms.  That problem is as difficult, perhaps
+more difficult than ever; and to this difficulty the author's
+remarks are still perfectly
+applicable.]]
+
+
+Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races - Part VI
+
+What Are The Chances In Favor Of The Duration Of The American
+Union, And What Dangers Threaten It *y
+
+[Footnote y: [This chapter is one of the most curious and
+interesting portions of the work, because it embraces almost all
+the constitutional and social questions which were raised by the
+great secession of the South and decided by the results of the
+Civil War.  But it must be confessed that the sagacity of the
+author is sometimes at fault in these speculations, and did not
+save him from considerable errors, which the course of events has
+since made apparent. He held that "the legislators of the
+Constitution of 1789 were not appointed to constitute the
+government of a single people, but to regulate the association of
+several States; that the Union was formed by the voluntary
+agreement of the States, and in uniting together they have not
+forfeited their nationality, nor have they been reduced to the
+condition of one and the same people." Whence he inferred that
+"if one of the States chose to withdraw its name from the
+contract, it would be difficult to disprove its right of doing
+so; and that the Federal Government would have no means of
+maintaining its claims directly, either by force or by right."
+This is the Southern theory of the Constitution, and the whole
+case of the South in favor of secession.  To many Europeans, and
+to some American (Northern) jurists, this view appeared to be
+sound; but it was vigorously resisted by the North, and crushed
+by force of arms.
+
+The author of this book was mistaken in supposing that the
+"Union was a vast body which presents no definite object to
+patriotic feeling." When the day of trial came, millions of men
+were ready to lay down their lives for it. He was also mistaken
+in supposing that the Federal Executive is so weak that it
+requires the free consent of the governed to enable it to
+subsist, and that it would be defeated in a struggle to maintain
+the Union against one or more separate States.  In 1861 nine
+States, with a population of 8,753,000, seceded, and maintained
+for four years a resolute but unequal contest for independence,
+but they were defeated.
+
+Lastly, the author was mistaken in supposing that a
+community of interests would always prevail between North and
+South sufficiently powerful to bind them together.  He overlooked
+the influence which the question of slavery must have on the
+Union the moment that the majority of the people of the North
+declared against it.  In 1831, when the author visited America,
+the anti-slavery agitation had scarcely begun; and the fact of
+Southern slavery was accepted by men of all parties, even in the
+States where there were no slaves: and that was unquestionably
+the view taken by all the States and by all American statesmen at
+the time of the adoption of the Constitution, in 1789.  But in
+the course of thirty years a great change took place, and the
+North refused to perpetuate what had become the "peculiar
+institution" of the South, especially as it gave the South a
+species of aristocratic preponderance.  The result was the
+ratification, in December, 1865, of the celebrated 13th article
+or amendment of the Constitution, which declared that "neither
+slavery nor involuntary servitude - except as a punishment for
+crime - shall exist within the United States." To which was soon
+afterwards added the 15th article, "The right of citizens to vote
+shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any
+State, on account of race, color, or previous servitude." The
+emancipation of several millions of negro slaves without
+compensation, and the transfer to them of political preponderance
+in the States in which they outnumber the white population, were
+acts of the North totally opposed to the interests of the South,
+and which could only have been carried into effect by conquest. -
+Translator's Note.]]
+
+Reason for which the preponderating force lies in the States
+rather than in the Union - The Union will only last as long as
+all the States choose to belong to it - Causes which tend to keep
+them united - Utility of the Union to resist foreign enemies, and
+to prevent the existence of foreigners in America - No natural
+barriers between the several States - No conflicting interests to
+divide them - Reciprocal interests of the Northern, Southern, and
+Western States - Intellectual ties of union - Uniformity of
+opinions - Dangers of the Union resulting from the different
+characters and the passions of its citizens - Character of the
+citizens in the South and in the North - The rapid growth of the
+Union one of its greatest dangers - Progress of the population to
+the Northwest - Power gravitates in the same direction - Passions
+originating from sudden turns of fortune - Whether the existing
+Government of the Union tends to gain strength, or to lose it -
+Various signs of its decrease - Internal improvements - Waste
+lands - Indians - The Bank - The Tariff - General Jackson.
+
+The maintenance of the existing institutions of the several
+States depends in some measure upon the maintenance of the Union
+itself.  It is therefore important in the first instance to
+inquire into the probable fate of the Union.  One point may
+indeed 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
+isolated condition, but that several unions would then be formed
+in the place of one. It is not my intention to inquire 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 importance of the matter which still
+remains to be treated is my excuse; I had rather say too much,
+than say too little to be thoroughly understood, and I prefer
+injuring the author to slighting the subject.
+
+The legislators who formed the Constitution of 1789
+endeavored to confer a distinct and preponderating authority upon
+the federal power.  But they were confined by the conditions of
+the task which they had undertaken 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
+inclinations might be, they could not but divide the exercise of
+sovereignty in the end.
+
+In order to understand the consequences of this division, it
+is necessary to make a short distinction between the affairs of
+the Government. There are some objects which are national by
+their very nature, that is to say, which affect the nation as a
+body, and can only be intrusted to the man or the assembly of men
+who most completely represent the entire nation. Amongst these
+may be reckoned 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 properly treated
+in that locality. Such, for instance, is the budget of a
+municipality.  Lastly, there are certain 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 are the rights which regulate the
+civil and political condition of the citizens.  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.
+
+There are, then, two distinct categories of objects which
+are submitted to the direction of the sovereign power; and these
+categories occur in all well-constituted communities, whatever
+the basis of the political constitution may otherwise be. 
+Between these two extremes the objects which I have termed mixed
+may be considered to lie.  As these objects are neither
+exclusively national nor entirely provincial, they may be
+obtained by a national or by a provincial government, according
+to the agreement of the contracting parties, without in any way
+impairing the contract of association.
+
+The sovereign power is usually formed by the union of
+separate individuals, who compose a people; and individual powers
+or collective forces, each representing a very small portion of
+the sovereign authority, are the sole elements which are
+subjected to the general Government of their choice. In this case
+the general Government is more naturally called upon to regulate,
+not only those affairs which are of essential national
+importance, but those which are of a more local interest; and the
+local governments are reduced to that small share of sovereign
+authority which is indispensable to their prosperity.
+
+But sometimes the sovereign authority is composed of
+preorganized 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 their province, but of all, or of a
+part of the mixed affairs to which allusion has been made.  For
+the confederate nations which were independent sovereign States
+before their union, and which still represent a very considerable
+share of the sovereign power, have only consented to cede to the
+general Government the exercise of those rights which 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 affairs which relate partly to the general and
+partly to the local interests, it possesses a preponderating
+influence.  Not only are its own rights extensive, but all the
+rights which it does not possess exist by its sufferance, and it
+may be apprehended that the provincial governments may be
+deprived of their natural and necessary prerogatives by its
+influence. 
+
+When, on the other hand, the provincial governments are
+invested with the power of regulating those same affairs of mixed
+interest, an opposite tendency prevails in society.  The
+preponderating force resides in the province, not in the nation;
+and it may be apprehended that the national Government may in the
+end be stripped of the privileges which are necessary to its
+existence.
+
+Independent nations have therefore a natural tendency to
+centralization, and confederations to dismemberment.
+
+It now only remains for us to apply these general principles
+to the American Union.  The several States were necessarily
+possessed of the right of regulating all exclusively provincial
+affairs.  Moreover these same States retained the rights of
+determining the civil and political competency of the citizens,
+or regulating the reciprocal relations of the members of the
+community, and of dispensing justice; rights which are of a
+general nature, but which do not necessarily appertain to the
+national Government.  We have shown 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 nation 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 to be more considerable than that
+of the States; but a more attentive investigation shows it to be
+less so.  The undertakings of the Government of the Union are
+more vast, but their influence is more rarely felt.  Those of the
+provincial governments are comparatively small, but they are
+incessant, and they serve to keep alive the authority which they
+represent.  The Government of the Union watches the general
+interests of the country; but the general interests of a people
+have a very questionable influence upon individual happiness,
+whilst provincial interests produce a most immediate effect upon
+the welfare of the inhabitants.  The Union secures the
+independence and the greatness of the nation, which do not
+immediately affect private citizens; but the several States
+maintain the liberty, regulate the rights, protect the fortune,
+and secure the life and the whole future prosperity of every
+citizen.
+
+The Federal Government is very far removed from its
+subjects, whilst the provincial governments are within 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
+provincial governments are the interests of all those second-rate
+individuals who can only hope to obtain power within their own
+State, and who nevertheless exercise the largest share of
+authority over the people because they are placed nearest to its
+level.  The Americans have therefore much more to hope and to
+fear from the States than from the Union; and, in conformity with
+the natural tendency of the human mind, they are more likely to
+attach themselves to the former than to the latter.  In this
+respect their habits and feelings 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 are for a long time at variance with
+their legislation; and the former tend to give a degree of
+influence to the central government which the latter forbids.
+When a number of confederate states unite to form a single
+nation, the same causes operate in an opposite direction.  I have
+no doubt that if France were to become a confederate republic
+like that of the United States, the government would at first
+display more energy than that of the Union; and if the Union were
+to alter its constitution to a monarchy like that of France, I
+think that the American Government would be a long time in
+acquiring the force which now rules the latter nation.  When the
+national existence of the Anglo-Americans began, their provincial
+existence was already of long standing; necessary relations were
+established between the townships and the individual citizens of
+the same States; and they were accustomed to consider some
+objects as common to them all, and to conduct other affairs as
+exclusively relating to their own special interests.
+
+The Union is a vast body which presents no definite object
+to patriotic feeling.  The forms and limits of the State are
+distinct and circumscribed; since it represents a certain number
+of objects which are familiar to the citizens and beloved by all. 
+It is identified with the very soil, with the right of property
+and the domestic affections, with the recollections of the past,
+the labors of the present, and the hopes of the future. 
+Patriotism, then, which is frequently a mere extension of
+individual egotism, is still directed to the State, and is not
+excited by 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 forces of the two
+governments, by remarking the manner in which they fulfil their
+respective functions. Whenever the government of a State has
+occasion to address an individual or an assembly of individuals,
+its language is clear and imperative; and such is also the tone
+of the Federal Government in its intercourse with individuals,
+but no sooner has it anything to do with a State than it begins
+to parley, to explain its motives and to justify its conduct, to
+argue, to advise, and, in short, anything but to command.  If
+doubts are raised as to the limits of the constitutional powers
+of each government, the provincial government prefers its claim
+with boldness, and takes prompt and energetic steps to support
+it. In the mean while the Government of the Union reasons; it
+appeals to the interests, to the good sense, to the glory of the
+nation; it temporizes, it negotiates, and does not consent to act
+until it is reduced to the last extremity.  At first sight it
+might readily be imagined that it is the provincial government
+which is armed with the authority of the nation, and that
+Congress represents a single State.
+
+The Federal Government is, therefore, notwithstanding the
+precautions of those who founded it, naturally so weak that it
+more peculiarly requires the free consent of the governed to
+enable it to subsist.  It is easy to perceive that its object is
+to enable the States to realize with facility their determination
+of remaining united; and, as long as this preliminary condition
+exists, its authority is great, temperate, and effective.  The
+Constitution fits the Government to control individuals, and
+easily to surmount such obstacles as they may be inclined to
+offer; but it was by no means established with a view to the
+possible separation of one or more of the States from the Union.
+
+If the sovereignty of the Union were to engage in a struggle
+with that of the States at the present day, its defeat may be
+confidently predicted; and it is not probable that such a
+struggle would be seriously undertaken. As often as a steady
+resistance is offered to the Federal Government it will be found
+to yield.  Experience has hitherto shown that whenever a State
+has demanded anything with perseverance and resolution, it has
+invariably succeeded; and that if a separate government has
+distinctly refused to act, it was left to do as it thought fit.
+*z
+
+[Footnote z: See the conduct of the Northern States in the war of
+1812. "During that war," says Jefferson in a letter to General
+Lafayette, "four of the Eastern States were only attached to the
+Union, like so many inanimate bodies to living men."]
+
+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. *a The
+United States cover an immense territory; they are separated from
+each other by great distances; and the population is disseminated
+over the surface of a country which is still half a wilderness.
+If the Union were to undertake to enforce the allegiance of the
+confederate States by military means, it would be in a position
+very analogous to that of England at the time of the War of
+Independence.
+
+[Footnote a: The profound peace of the Union affords no pretext
+for a standing army; and without a standing army a government is
+not prepared to profit by a favorable opportunity to conquer
+resistance, and take the sovereign power by surprise.  [This
+note, and the paragraph in the text which precedes, have been
+shown by the results of the Civil War to be a misconception of
+the writer.]] 
+
+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 agreement of the States; and, in uniting together,
+they have not forfeited their nationality, nor have they been
+reduced to the condition of one and the same people.  If one of
+the States chose to withdraw its name from the contract, it would
+be difficult to disprove its right of doing so; and the Federal
+Government would have no means of maintaining 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 one of its subjects, 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 in 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 prosperity depends on the
+duration of that union, it is unquestionable that they will
+always be ready to support the central Government in enforcing
+the obedience of the others.  But the Government would then be
+exerting a force not derived from itself, but from a principle
+contrary to its nature.  States form confederations in order to
+derive equal advantages from their union; and in the case just
+alluded to, the Federal Government would derive its power from
+the unequal distribution of those benefits amongst the States.
+
+If one of the confederate States have acquired a
+preponderance sufficiently great to enable it to take exclusive
+possession of the central authority, it will consider the other
+States as subject provinces, and it will cause its own supremacy
+to be respected under the borrowed name of the sovereignty of the
+Union.  Great things may then be done in the name of the Federal
+Government, but in reality that Government will have ceased to
+exist. *b In both these cases, the power which acts in the name
+of the confederation becomes stronger the more it abandons the
+natural state and the acknowledged principles of confederations.
+
+[Footnote b: 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 authority to their own advantage.]
+
+In America the existing 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 compromising the
+welfare of the others, although their own prosperity would be
+lessened.  As the existence and the happiness 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 of them 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 point 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 causes are
+peculiarly evident to the observer.  Although the Americans are,
+as it were, alone upon their continent, their commerce makes them
+the neighbors of all the nations with which they trade. 
+Notwithstanding their apparent isolation, the Americans require a
+certain degree of strength, which they cannot retain otherwise
+than by remaining united to each other.  If the States were to
+split, they would not only diminish the strength which they are
+now able to display towards foreign nations, but they would soon
+create foreign powers upon their own territory. A system of
+inland custom-houses would then be established; the valleys would
+be divided by imaginary boundary lines; the courses of the rivers
+would be confined by territorial distinctions; and a multitude of
+hindrances would prevent the Americans from exploring the whole
+of that vast continent which Providence has allotted to them for
+a dominion.  At present they have no invasion to fear, and
+consequently no standing armies to maintain, no taxes to levy. 
+If the Union were dissolved, all these burdensome measures might
+ere long be required.  The Americans are then very powerfully
+interested in the maintenance of their Union.  On the other hand,
+it is almost impossible to discover any sort of material interest
+which might at present tempt 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 crossing nearly one thousand
+miles of country; and we are led to imagine that the design of
+Providence was to raise between the valley of the Mississippi and
+the coast 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 average height of the
+Alleghanies does not exceed 2,500 feet; their greatest elevation
+is not above 4,000 feet; their rounded summits, and the spacious
+valleys which they conceal within their passes, are of easy
+access from several sides.  Besides which, the principal rivers
+which fall into the Atlantic Ocean - the Hudson, the Susquehanna,
+and the Potomac -take their rise beyond the Alleghanies, in an
+open district, which borders upon the valley of the Mississippi. 
+These streams quit this tract of country, make their way through
+the barrier which would seem to turn them westward, and as they
+wind through the mountains they open an easy and natural passage
+to man.  No natural barrier exists in the regions which are now
+inhabited by the Anglo-Americans; the Alleghanies are so far from
+serving as a boundary to separate nations, that they do not even
+serve as a frontier to the States. New York, Pennsylvania, and
+Virginia comprise them within their borders, and they extend as
+much 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
+1,002,600 square miles, *c which is about equal to five times the
+extent of France.  Within these limits the qualities of the soil,
+the temperature, and the produce of the country, are extremely
+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 different provinces of
+a vast empire, which often terminate in open dissensions; and the
+extent of the country is then most prejudicial to the power of
+the State.  But if the inhabitants of these vast regions are not
+divided by contrary interests, the extent of the territory may be
+favorable to their prosperity; for the unity of the government
+promotes the interchange of the different productions of the
+soil, and increases their value by facilitating their
+consumption. 
+
+[Footnote c: See "Darby's View of the United States," p. 435. 
+[In 1890 the number of States and Territories had increased to
+51, the population to 62,831,900, and the area of the States,
+3,602,990 square miles.  This does not include the Philippine
+Islands, Hawaii, or Porto Rico.  A conservative estimate of the
+population of the Philippine Islands is 8,000,000; that of
+Hawaii, by the census of 1897, was given at 109,020; and the
+present estimated population of Porto Rico is 900,000.  The area
+of the Philippine Islands is about 120,000 square miles, that of
+Hawaii is 6,740 square miles, and the area of Porto Rico is about
+3,600 square miles.]]
+
+It is indeed easy to discover different interests in the
+different parts of the Union, but I am unacquainted with any
+which are hostile to each other. The Southern States are almost
+exclusively agricultural.  The Northern States are more
+peculiarly commercial and manufacturing.  The States of the West
+are at the same time agricultural and manufacturing.  In the
+South the crops consist of tobacco, of rice, of cotton, and of
+sugar; in the North and the West, of wheat and maize.  These are
+different sources of wealth; but union is the means by which
+these sources are opened to all, and rendered equally
+advantageous to the several districts. 
+
+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 consumers 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
+interested in the union and prosperity of the South and the West,
+in order that they may continue to furnish raw materials 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 protect them efficaciously.  The
+South and the West have no vessels, but they cannot refuse a
+willing subsidy to defray the expenses of the navy; for if the
+fleets of Europe were to blockade the ports of the South and the
+delta of the Mississippi, what would become of the rice of the
+Carolinas, the tobacco of Virginia, and the sugar and cotton
+which grow in the valley of the Mississippi?  Every portion of
+the federal budget does therefore contribute to the maintenance
+of material interests which are common to all the confederate
+States.
+
+Independently of this commercial utility, the South and the
+West of the Union derive great political advantages from their
+connection with the North. The South contains an enormous slave
+population; a population which is already alarming, and still
+more formidable for the future.  The States of the West lie in
+the remotest parts of a single valley; and all the rivers which
+intersect their territory rise in the Rocky Mountains or in the
+Alleghanies, and fall into the Mississippi, which bears them
+onwards to the Gulf of Mexico. The Western States are
+consequently 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 induced to support 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 communication 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 temporal interests of all the several parts of the Union
+are, then, intimately connected; and the same assertion holds
+true respecting those opinions and sentiments which may be termed
+the immaterial interests of men.
+
+
+Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races - Part VII
+
+The inhabitants of the United States talk a great deal of
+their attachment to their country; but I confess that I do not
+rely upon that calculating patriotism which is founded upon
+interest, and which a change in the interests at stake may
+obliterate.  Nor do I attach much importance to the language of
+the Americans, when they manifest, in their daily conversations,
+the intention of maintaining the federal system adopted by their
+forefathers. A government retains its sway over a great number of
+citizens, far less by the voluntary and rational consent of the
+multitude, than by that instinctive, and to a certain extent
+involuntary agreement, which results from similarity of feelings
+and resemblances of opinion.  I will never admit that men
+constitute a social body, simply because they obey the same head
+and the same laws. Society can only exist when a great number of
+men consider a great number of things in the same point of view;
+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 the present condition of the
+United States upon this principle, will readily discover, that
+although the citizens are divided into twenty-four distinct
+sovereignties, they nevertheless constitute a single people; and
+he may perhaps be led to think that the state of the
+Anglo-American Union is more truly a state of society than that
+of certain nations of Europe which live under the same
+legislation and the same prince. 
+
+Although the Anglo-Americans have several religious 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 principles which ought to rule human society. From Maine
+to the Floridas, and from the Missouri to the Atlantic Ocean, the
+people is held to be the legitimate source of all power.  The
+same notions are entertained respecting liberty and equality, the
+liberty of the press, the right of association, the jury, and the
+responsibility of the agents of Government.
+
+If we turn from their political and religious opinions to
+the moral and philosophical principles which regulate the daily
+actions of life and govern their conduct, we shall still find the
+same uniformity.  The Anglo-Americans *d acknowledge the absolute
+moral authority of the reason of the community, as they
+acknowledge the political authority of the mass of citizens; and
+they hold that public opinion is the surest arbiter of what is
+lawful or forbidden, true or false.  The majority of them believe
+that a man will be led to do what is just and good by following
+his own interest rightly understood.  They hold that every man is
+born in possession of the right of self-government, and that no
+one has the right of constraining his fellow-creatures to be
+happy.  They have all a lively faith in the perfectibility of
+man; they are of opinion that the effects of the diffusion of
+knowledge must necessarily be advantageous, and the consequences
+of ignorance fatal; they all consider society as a body in a
+state of improvement, humanity as a changing scene, in which
+nothing is, or ought to be, permanent; and they admit that what
+appears to them to be good to-day may be superseded by something
+better-to-morrow.  I do not give all these opinions as true, but
+I quote them as characteristic of the Americans.
+
+[Footnote d: It is scarcely necessary for me to observe that by
+the expression Anglo-Americans, I only mean to designate the
+great majority of the nation; for a certain number of isolated
+individuals are of course to be met with holding very different
+opinions.]
+
+The Anglo-Americans are not only united together by these
+common opinions, but they are separated from all other nations by
+a common feeling of pride.  For the last fifty years no pains
+have been spared to convince the inhabitants of the United States
+that they constitute the only religious, enlightened, and free
+people.  They perceive that, for the present, their own
+democratic institutions succeed, whilst those of other countries
+fail; hence they conceive an overweening opinion of their
+superiority, and they are not very remote from believing
+themselves to belong to a distinct race of mankind.
+
+The dangers which threaten the American Union do not
+originate in the diversity of interests or of opinions, but in
+the various characters and passions of the Americans.  The men
+who inhabit the vast territory of the United States are almost
+all the issue of a common stock; but the effects of the climate,
+and more especially of slavery, have gradually introduced very
+striking differences between the British settler of the Southern
+States and the British settler of the North.  In Europe it is
+generally believed that slavery has rendered the interests of one
+part of the Union contrary to those of another part; but I by no
+means remarked this to be the case: slavery has not created
+interests in the South contrary to those of the North, but it has
+modified the character and changed the habits of the natives of
+the South.
+
+I have already explained the influence which slavery has
+exercised 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 submits 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 of the Union is invested with a sort of domestic
+dictatorship, from his earliest years; the first notion he
+acquires in life is that he is born to command, and the first
+habit which he contracts is that of being obeyed without
+resistance.  His education tends, then, to give him the character
+of a supercilious and a hasty man; irascible, violent, and ardent
+in his desires, impatient of obstacles, but easily discouraged if
+he cannot succeed upon his first attempt.
+
+The American of the Northern States is surrounded by no
+slaves in his childhood; he is even unattended by free servants,
+and is usually obliged to provide for his own wants.  No sooner
+does he enter the world than the idea of necessity assails him on
+every side: he soon learns to know exactly the natural limit of
+his authority; he never expects to subdue those who withstand
+him, by force; and he knows that the surest means of obtaining
+the support of his fellow-creatures, is to win their favor.  He
+therefore becomes patient, reflecting, tolerant, slow to act, and
+persevering in his designs.
+
+In the Southern States the more immediate wants of life are
+always supplied; the inhabitants of those parts are not busied in
+the material cares of life, which are always provided for by
+others; and their imagination is diverted to more captivating and
+less definite objects.  The American of the South is fond of
+grandeur, luxury, and renown, of gayety, of pleasure, and above
+all of idleness; nothing obliges him to exert himself in order to
+subsist; and as he has no necessary occupations, he gives way to
+indolence, and does not even attempt what would be useful. 
+
+But the equality of fortunes, and the absence of slavery in
+the North, plunge the inhabitants in those same cares of daily
+life which are disdained by the white population of the South. 
+They are taught from infancy to combat want, and to place comfort
+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 and more precise.  As prosperity is the sole aim of
+exertion, it is excellently well attained; nature and mankind are
+turned to the best pecuniary advantage, and society is
+dexterously made to contribute to the welfare of each of its
+members, whilst individual egotism is the source of general
+happiness.
+
+The citizen of the North has not only experience, but
+knowledge: nevertheless he sets but little value upon the
+pleasures of knowledge; he esteems it as the means of attaining a
+certain end, and he is only anxious to seize its more lucrative
+applications.  The citizen of the South is more given to act upon
+impulse; he is more clever, more frank, more generous, more
+intellectual, and more brilliant.  The former, with a greater
+degree of activity, of common-sense, of information, and of
+general aptitude, has the characteristic good and evil qualities
+of the middle classes.  The latter has the tastes, the
+prejudices, the weaknesses, and the magnanimity of all
+aristocracies.  If two men are united in society, who have the
+same interests, and to a certain extent the same opinions, but
+different characters, different acquirements, and a different
+style of civilization, it is probable that these men will not
+agree.  The same remark is applicable to a society of nations.
+Slavery, then, does not attack the American Union directly in its
+interests, but indirectly in its manners.
+
+[Footnote e: Census of 1790, 3,929,328; 1830, 12,856,165; 1860,
+31,443,321; 1870, 38,555,983; 1890, 62,831,900.]
+
+The States which gave their assent to the federal contract
+in 1790 were thirteen in number; the Union now consists of
+thirty-four members.  The population, which amounted to nearly
+4,000,000 in 1790, had more than tripled in the space of forty
+years; and in 1830 it amounted to nearly 13,000,000. *e Changes
+of such magnitude cannot take place without some danger.
+
+A society of nations, as well as a society of individuals,
+derives its principal chances of duration from the wisdom of its
+members, their individual weakness, and their limited number. 
+The Americans who quit the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean to plunge
+into the western wilderness, are adventurers impatient 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 unknown to each other, and they have neither traditions,
+family feeling, nor the force of example to check their excesses. 
+The empire of the laws is feeble amongst them; that of morality
+is still more powerless. The settlers who are constantly peopling
+the valley of the Mississippi are, then, in every respect very
+inferior to the Americans who inhabit the older parts of the
+Union.  Nevertheless, they already exercise a great influence in
+its councils; and they arrive at the government of the
+commonwealth before they have learnt to govern themselves. *f
+
+[Footnote f: This indeed is only a temporary danger.  I have no
+doubt that in time society will assume as much stability and
+regularity in the West as it has already done upon the coast of
+the Atlantic Ocean.]
+
+The greater the individual weakness of each of the
+contracting parties, the greater are the chances of the duration
+of the contract; for their safety is then dependent upon their
+union.  When, in 1790, the most populous of the American
+republics did not contain 500,000 inhabitants, *g each of them
+felt its own insignificance as an independent people, and this
+feeling rendered compliance with the federal authority more easy. 
+But when one of the confederate States reckons, like the State of
+New York, 2,000,000 of inhabitants, and covers an extent of
+territory equal in surface to a quarter of France, *h it feels
+its own strength; and although it may continue to support the
+Union as advantageous to its prosperity, it no longer regards
+that body as necessary to its existence, and as it continues to
+belong to the federal compact, it soon aims at preponderance in
+the federal assemblies. The probable unanimity of the States is
+diminished as their number increases. At present the interests of
+the different parts of the Union are not at variance; but who is
+able to foresee the multifarious changes of the future, in a
+country in which towns are founded from day to day, and States
+almost from year to year? 
+
+[Footnote g: Pennsylvania contained 431,373 inhabitants in 1790
+[and 5,258,014 in 1890.]]
+
+[Footnote h: The area of the State of New York is 49,170 square
+miles. [See U. S. census report of 1890.]]
+
+Since the first settlement of the British colonies, the
+number of inhabitants has about doubled every twenty-two years. 
+I perceive no causes which are likely to check this progressive
+increase of the Anglo-American population for the next hundred
+years; and before that space of time has elapsed, I believe that
+the territories and dependencies of the United States will be
+covered by more than 100,000,000 of inhabitants, and divided into
+forty States. *i I admit that these 100,000,000 of men have no ho
+hostile interests.  I suppose, on the contrary, that they are all
+equally interested in the maintenance of the Union; but I am
+still of opinion that where there are 100,000,000 of men, and
+forty distinct nations, unequally strong, the continuance of the
+Federal Government can only be a fortunate accident.
+
+[Footnote i: If the population continues to double every
+twenty-two years, as it has done for the last two hundred years,
+the number of inhabitants in the United States in 1852 will be
+twenty millions; in 1874, forty-eight millions; and in 1896,
+ninety-six millions.  This may still be the case even if the
+lands on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains should be found
+to be unfit for cultivation.  The territory which is already
+occupied can easily contain this number of inhabitants.  One
+hundred millions of men disseminated over the surface of the
+twenty-four States, and the three dependencies, which constitute
+the Union, would only give 762 inhabitants to the square league;
+this would be far below the mean population of France, which is
+1,063 to the square league; or of England, which is 1,457; and it
+would even be below the population of Switzerland, for that
+country, notwithstanding its lakes and mountains, contains 783
+inhabitants to the square league.  See "Malte Brun," vol. vi. p.
+92.
+
+[The actual result has fallen somewhat short of these
+calculations, in spite of the vast territorial acquisitions of
+the United States: but in 1899 the population is probably about
+eighty- seven millions, including the population of the
+Philippines, Hawaii, and Porto Rico.]]
+
+Whatever faith I may have in the perfectibility of man,
+until human nature is altered, and men wholly transformed, I
+shall refuse to believe in the duration of a government which is
+called upon to hold together forty different peoples,
+disseminated over a territory equal to one-half of Europe in
+extent; to avoid all rivalry, ambition, and struggles between
+them, and to direct their independent activity to the
+accomplishment of the same designs. 
+
+But the greatest peril to which the Union is exposed by its
+increase arises from the continual changes which take place in
+the position of its internal strength.  The distance from Lake
+Superior to the Gulf of Mexico extends from the 47th to the 30th
+degree of latitude, a distance of more than 1,200 miles as the
+bird flies.  The frontier of the United States winds along the
+whole of this immense line, 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 his vast boundary.
+*j Obstacles, such as an unproductive district, a lake or an
+Indian nation unexpectedly encountered, are sometimes met with. 
+The advancing column then halts for a while; its two extremities
+fall back upon themselves, 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 unabatedly,
+and daily driven onwards by the hand of God.
+
+[Footnote j: See Legislative Documents, 20th Congress, No. 117,
+p. 105.]
+
+Within this first line of conquering settlers towns are
+built, and vast States founded.  In 1790 there were only a few
+thousand pioneers sprinkled along the valleys of the Mississippi;
+and 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 4,000,000. *k 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 are already obliged to perform a journey as long as that
+from Vienna to Paris. *l 
+
+[Footnote k: 3,672,317 - Census of 1830.]
+
+[Footnote l: The distance from Jefferson, the capital of the
+State of Missouri, to Washington is 1,019 miles.  ("American
+Almanac," 1831, p. 48.)]
+
+All the States are borne onwards at the same time in the
+path of fortune, but of course they do not all increase and
+prosper in the same proportion.  To the North of the Union the
+detached branches of the Alleghany chain, which extend as far as
+the Atlantic Ocean, form spacious roads and ports, which are
+constantly accessible to vessels of the greatest burden. But from
+the Potomac to the mouth of the Mississippi the coast is sandy
+and flat.  In this part of the Union the mouths of almost all the
+rivers are obstructed; and the few harbors which exist amongst
+these lagoons afford much shallower water to vessels, and much
+fewer commercial advantages than those of the North.
+
+This first natural cause of inferiority is united to another
+cause proceeding from the laws.  We have already seen that
+slavery, which is abolished 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 *m and manufacture; the natural consequence of which is
+the more rapid increase of population and of wealth within its
+borders.  The States situate upon the shores of the Atlantic
+Ocean are already half-peopled.  Most of the land is held by an
+owner; and these districts cannot therefore receive so many
+emigrants as the Western States, where a boundless field is still
+open to their exertions.  The valley of the Mississippi 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 recent States adjacent to the Mississippi, the
+population has increased thirty-one-fold, within the same space
+of time. *n
+
+[Footnote m: The following statements will suffice to show the
+difference which exists between the commerce of the South and
+that of the North: -
+
+In 1829 the tonnage of all the merchant vessels belonging to
+Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia (the four great Southern
+States), amounted to only 5,243 tons.  In the same year the
+tonnage of the vessels of the State of Massachusetts alone
+amounted to 17,322 tons.  (See Legislative Documents, 21st
+Congress, 2d session, No. 140, p. 244.) Thus the State of
+Massachusetts had three times as much shipping as the four
+above-mentioned States. Nevertheless the area of the State of
+Massachusetts is only 7,335 square miles, and its population
+amounts to 610,014 inhabitants [2,238,943 in 1890]; whilst the
+area of the four other States I have quoted is 210,000 square
+miles, and their population 3,047,767.  Thus the area of the
+State of Massachusetts forms only one-thirtieth part of the area
+of the four States; and its population is five times smaller than
+theirs.  (See "Darby's View of the United States.") Slavery is
+prejudicial to the commercial prosperity of the South in several
+different ways; by diminishing the spirit of enterprise amongst
+the whites, and by preventing them from meeting with as numerous
+a class of sailors as they require.  Sailors are usually taken
+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 unable to serve as
+well as a white crew, and apprehensions 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.]
+
+[Footnote n: "Darby's View of the United States," p. 444.] 
+
+The relative position of the central 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 environs of the spot upon which Washington now
+stands; but the great body of the people is now advancing inland
+and to the north, so that in twenty years the majority will
+unquestionably be on the western side of the Alleghanies.  If the
+Union goes on to subsist, the basin of the Mississippi is
+evidently marked out, by its fertility and its extent, as the
+future centre of the Federal Government. In thirty or forty
+years, that tract of country will have assumed the rank which
+naturally belongs to it.  It is easy to calculate that its
+population, compared to that of the coast of the Atlantic, will
+be, in round numbers, as 40 to 11.  In a few years the States
+which founded the Union will lose the direction of its policy,
+and the population of the valley of the Mississippi will
+preponderate in the federal assemblies.
+
+This constant gravitation of the federal power and influence
+towards the northwest is shown every ten years, when a general
+census of the population is made, and the number of delegates
+which each State sends to Congress is settled afresh. *o In 1790
+Virginia had nineteen representatives in Congress. This number
+continued to increase until the year 1813, when it reached to
+twenty-three; from that time it began to decrease, and in 1833
+Virginia elected only twenty-one representatives. *p During the
+same period the State of New York progressed in the contrary
+direction: in 1790 it had ten representatives in Congress; in
+1813, twenty-seven; in 1823, thirty-four; and in 1833, forty. 
+The State of Ohio had only one representative in 1803, and in
+1833 it had already nineteen. 
+
+[Footnote o: 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, has increased in the proportion
+of five per cent.; whilst that of another, as the territory of
+Michigan, has increased 250 per cent.  Thus the population of
+Virginia had augmented thirteen per cent., and that of the border
+State of Ohio sixty-one per cent., in the same space of time. 
+The general table of these changes, which is given in the
+"National Calendar," displays a striking picture of the unequal
+fortunes of the different States.]
+
+[Footnote p: It has just been said that in the course of the last
+term the population of Virginia has increased thirteen per cent.;
+and it is necessary to explain how the number of representatives
+for a State may decrease, when the population of that State, far
+from diminishing, is actually upon the increase.  I take the
+State of Virginia, to which I have already alluded, as my term of
+comparison.  The number of representatives of Virginia in 1823
+was proportionate to the total number of the representatives of
+the Union, and to the relation which the population bore to that
+of the whole Union: in 1833 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 course 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
+numver, on the one hand, as the new numver of all the
+representatives 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
+population of the lesser country be to that of the greater in an
+exact inverse ratio of the proportion between the new and the old
+numbers of all the representatives, 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 feeblerratio than the new number of the
+representatives of the Union to the old number, the number of the
+representatives of Virginia must decrease. [Thus, to the 56th
+Congress in 1899, Virginia and West Virginia send only fourteen
+representatives.]] 
+
+Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races - Part VII
+
+The inhabitants of the United States talk a great deal of
+their attachment to their country; but I confess that I do not
+rely upon that calculating patriotism which is founded upon
+interest, and which a change in the interests at stake may
+obliterate.  Nor do I attach much importance to the language of
+the Americans, when they manifest, in their daily conversations,
+the intention of maintaining the federal system adopted by their
+forefathers. A government retains its sway over a great number of
+citizens, far less by the voluntary and rational consent of the
+multitude, than by that instinctive, and to a certain extent
+involuntary agreement, which results from similarity of feelings
+and resemblances of opinion.  I will never admit that men
+constitute a social body, simply because they obey the same head
+and the same laws. Society can only exist when a great number of
+men consider a great number of things in the same point of view;
+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 the present condition of the
+United States upon this principle, will readily discover, that
+although the citizens are divided into twenty-four distinct
+sovereignties, they nevertheless constitute a single people; and
+he may perhaps be led to think that the state of the
+Anglo-American Union is more truly a state of society than that
+of certain nations of Europe which live under the same
+legislation and the same prince. 
+
+Although the Anglo-Americans have several religious 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 principles which ought to rule human society. From Maine
+to the Floridas, and from the Missouri to the Atlantic Ocean, the
+people is held to be the legitimate source of all power.  The
+same notions are entertained respecting liberty and equality, the
+liberty of the press, the right of association, the jury, and the
+responsibility of the agents of Government.
+
+If we turn from their political and religious opinions to
+the moral and philosophical principles which regulate the daily
+actions of life and govern their conduct, we shall still find the
+same uniformity.  The Anglo-Americans *d acknowledge the absolute
+moral authority of the reason of the community, as they
+acknowledge the political authority of the mass of citizens; and
+they hold that public opinion is the surest arbiter of what is
+lawful or forbidden, true or false.  The majority of them believe
+that a man will be led to do what is just and good by following
+his own interest rightly understood.  They hold that every man is
+born in possession of the right of self-government, and that no
+one has the right of constraining his fellow-creatures to be
+happy.  They have all a lively faith in the perfectibility of
+man; they are of opinion that the effects of the diffusion of
+knowledge must necessarily be advantageous, and the consequences
+of ignorance fatal; they all consider society as a body in a
+state of improvement, humanity as a changing scene, in which
+nothing is, or ought to be, permanent; and they admit that what
+appears to them to be good to-day may be superseded by something
+better-to-morrow.  I do not give all these opinions as true, but
+I quote them as characteristic of the Americans.
+
+[Footnote d: It is scarcely necessary for me to observe that by
+the expression Anglo-Americans, I only mean to designate the
+great majority of the nation; for a certain number of isolated
+individuals are of course to be met with holding very different
+opinions.]
+
+The Anglo-Americans are not only united together by these
+common opinions, but they are separated from all other nations by
+a common feeling of pride.  For the last fifty years no pains
+have been spared to convince the inhabitants of the United States
+that they constitute the only religious, enlightened, and free
+people.  They perceive that, for the present, their own
+democratic institutions succeed, whilst those of other countries
+fail; hence they conceive an overweening opinion of their
+superiority, and they are not very remote from believing
+themselves to belong to a distinct race of mankind.
+
+The dangers which threaten the American Union do not
+originate in the diversity of interests or of opinions, but in
+the various characters and passions of the Americans.  The men
+who inhabit the vast territory of the United States are almost
+all the issue of a common stock; but the effects of the climate,
+and more especially of slavery, have gradually introduced very
+striking differences between the British settler of the Southern
+States and the British settler of the North.  In Europe it is
+generally believed that slavery has rendered the interests of one
+part of the Union contrary to those of another part; but I by no
+means remarked this to be the case: slavery has not created
+interests in the South contrary to those of the North, but it has
+modified the character and changed the habits of the natives of
+the South.
+
+I have already explained the influence which slavery has
+exercised 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 submits 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 of the Union is invested with a sort of domestic
+dictatorship, from his earliest years; the first notion he
+acquires in life is that he is born to command, and the first
+habit which he contracts is that of being obeyed without
+resistance.  His education tends, then, to give him the character
+of a supercilious and a hasty man; irascible, violent, and ardent
+in his desires, impatient of obstacles, but easily discouraged if
+he cannot succeed upon his first attempt.
+
+The American of the Northern States is surrounded by no
+slaves in his childhood; he is even unattended by free servants,
+and is usually obliged to provide for his own wants.  No sooner
+does he enter the world than the idea of necessity assails him on
+every side: he soon learns to know exactly the natural limit of
+his authority; he never expects to subdue those who withstand
+him, by force; and he knows that the surest means of obtaining
+the support of his fellow-creatures, is to win their favor.  He
+therefore becomes patient, reflecting, tolerant, slow to act, and
+persevering in his designs.
+
+In the Southern States the more immediate wants of life are
+always supplied; the inhabitants of those parts are not busied in
+the material cares of life, which are always provided for by
+others; and their imagination is diverted to more captivating and
+less definite objects.  The American of the South is fond of
+grandeur, luxury, and renown, of gayety, of pleasure, and above
+all of idleness; nothing obliges him to exert himself in order to
+subsist; and as he has no necessary occupations, he gives way to
+indolence, and does not even attempt what would be useful. 
+
+But the equality of fortunes, and the absence of slavery in
+the North, plunge the inhabitants in those same cares of daily
+life which are disdained by the white population of the South. 
+They are taught from infancy to combat want, and to place comfort
+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 and more precise.  As prosperity is the sole aim of
+exertion, it is excellently well attained; nature and mankind are
+turned to the best pecuniary advantage, and society is
+dexterously made to contribute to the welfare of each of its
+members, whilst individual egotism is the source of general
+happiness.
+
+The citizen of the North has not only experience, but
+knowledge: nevertheless he sets but little value upon the
+pleasures of knowledge; he esteems it as the means of attaining a
+certain end, and he is only anxious to seize its more lucrative
+applications.  The citizen of the South is more given to act upon
+impulse; he is more clever, more frank, more generous, more
+intellectual, and more brilliant.  The former, with a greater
+degree of activity, of common-sense, of information, and of
+general aptitude, has the characteristic good and evil qualities
+of the middle classes.  The latter has the tastes, the
+prejudices, the weaknesses, and the magnanimity of all
+aristocracies.  If two men are united in society, who have the
+same interests, and to a certain extent the same opinions, but
+different characters, different acquirements, and a different
+style of civilization, it is probable that these men will not
+agree.  The same remark is applicable to a society of nations.
+Slavery, then, does not attack the American Union directly in its
+interests, but indirectly in its manners.
+
+[Footnote e: Census of 1790, 3,929,328; 1830, 12,856,165; 1860,
+31,443,321; 1870, 38,555,983; 1890, 62,831,900.]
+
+The States which gave their assent to the federal contract
+in 1790 were thirteen in number; the Union now consists of
+thirty-four members.  The population, which amounted to nearly
+4,000,000 in 1790, had more than tripled in the space of forty
+years; and in 1830 it amounted to nearly 13,000,000. *e Changes
+of such magnitude cannot take place without some danger.
+
+A society of nations, as well as a society of individuals,
+derives its principal chances of duration from the wisdom of its
+members, their individual weakness, and their limited number. 
+The Americans who quit the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean to plunge
+into the western wilderness, are adventurers impatient 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 unknown to each other, and they have neither traditions,
+family feeling, nor the force of example to check their excesses. 
+The empire of the laws is feeble amongst them; that of morality
+is still more powerless. The settlers who are constantly peopling
+the valley of the Mississippi are, then, in every respect very
+inferior to the Americans who inhabit the older parts of the
+Union.  Nevertheless, they already exercise a great influence in
+its councils; and they arrive at the government of the
+commonwealth before they have learnt to govern themselves. *f
+
+[Footnote f: This indeed is only a temporary danger.  I have no
+doubt that in time society will assume as much stability and
+regularity in the West as it has already done upon the coast of
+the Atlantic Ocean.]
+
+The greater the individual weakness of each of the
+contracting parties, the greater are the chances of the duration
+of the contract; for their safety is then dependent upon their
+union.  When, in 1790, the most populous of the American
+republics did not contain 500,000 inhabitants, *g each of them
+felt its own insignificance as an independent people, and this
+feeling rendered compliance with the federal authority more easy. 
+But when one of the confederate States reckons, like the State of
+New York, 2,000,000 of inhabitants, and covers an extent of
+territory equal in surface to a quarter of France, *h it feels
+its own strength; and although it may continue to support the
+Union as advantageous to its prosperity, it no longer regards
+that body as necessary to its existence, and as it continues to
+belong to the federal compact, it soon aims at preponderance in
+the federal assemblies. The probable unanimity of the States is
+diminished as their number increases. At present the interests of
+the different parts of the Union are not at variance; but who is
+able to foresee the multifarious changes of the future, in a
+country in which towns are founded from day to day, and States
+almost from year to year? 
+
+[Footnote g: Pennsylvania contained 431,373 inhabitants in 1790
+[and 5,258,014 in 1890.]]
+
+[Footnote h: The area of the State of New York is 49,170 square
+miles. [See U. S. census report of 1890.]]
+
+Since the first settlement of the British colonies, the
+number of inhabitants has about doubled every twenty-two years. 
+I perceive no causes which are likely to check this progressive
+increase of the Anglo-American population for the next hundred
+years; and before that space of time has elapsed, I believe that
+the territories and dependencies of the United States will be
+covered by more than 100,000,000 of inhabitants, and divided into
+forty States. *i I admit that these 100,000,000 of men have no ho
+hostile interests.  I suppose, on the contrary, that they are all
+equally interested in the maintenance of the Union; but I am
+still of opinion that where there are 100,000,000 of men, and
+forty distinct nations, unequally strong, the continuance of the
+Federal Government can only be a fortunate accident.
+
+[Footnote i: If the population continues to double every
+twenty-two years, as it has done for the last two hundred years,
+the number of inhabitants in the United States in 1852 will be
+twenty millions; in 1874, forty-eight millions; and in 1896,
+ninety-six millions.  This may still be the case even if the
+lands on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains should be found
+to be unfit for cultivation.  The territory which is already
+occupied can easily contain this number of inhabitants.  One
+hundred millions of men disseminated over the surface of the
+twenty-four States, and the three dependencies, which constitute
+the Union, would only give 762 inhabitants to the square league;
+this would be far below the mean population of France, which is
+1,063 to the square league; or of England, which is 1,457; and it
+would even be below the population of Switzerland, for that
+country, notwithstanding its lakes and mountains, contains 783
+inhabitants to the square league.  See "Malte Brun," vol. vi. p.
+92.
+
+[The actual result has fallen somewhat short of these
+calculations, in spite of the vast territorial acquisitions of
+the United States: but in 1899 the population is probably about
+eighty- seven millions, including the population of the
+Philippines, Hawaii, and Porto Rico.]]
+
+Whatever faith I may have in the perfectibility of man,
+until human nature is altered, and men wholly transformed, I
+shall refuse to believe in the duration of a government which is
+called upon to hold together forty different peoples,
+disseminated over a territory equal to one-half of Europe in
+extent; to avoid all rivalry, ambition, and struggles between
+them, and to direct their independent activity to the
+accomplishment of the same designs. 
+
+But the greatest peril to which the Union is exposed by its
+increase arises from the continual changes which take place in
+the position of its internal strength.  The distance from Lake
+Superior to the Gulf of Mexico extends from the 47th to the 30th
+degree of latitude, a distance of more than 1,200 miles as the
+bird flies.  The frontier of the United States winds along the
+whole of this immense line, 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 his vast boundary.
+*j Obstacles, such as an unproductive district, a lake or an
+Indian nation unexpectedly encountered, are sometimes met with. 
+The advancing column then halts for a while; its two extremities
+fall back upon themselves, 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 unabatedly,
+and daily driven onwards by the hand of God.
+
+[Footnote j: See Legislative Documents, 20th Congress, No. 117,
+p. 105.]
+
+Within this first line of conquering settlers towns are
+built, and vast States founded.  In 1790 there were only a few
+thousand pioneers sprinkled along the valleys of the Mississippi;
+and 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 4,000,000. *k 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 are already obliged to perform a journey as long as that
+from Vienna to Paris. *l 
+
+[Footnote k: 3,672,317 - Census of 1830.]
+
+[Footnote l: The distance from Jefferson, the capital of the
+State of Missouri, to Washington is 1,019 miles.  ("American
+Almanac," 1831, p. 48.)]
+
+All the States are borne onwards at the same time in the
+path of fortune, but of course they do not all increase and
+prosper in the same proportion.  To the North of the Union the
+detached branches of the Alleghany chain, which extend as far as
+the Atlantic Ocean, form spacious roads and ports, which are
+constantly accessible to vessels of the greatest burden. But from
+the Potomac to the mouth of the Mississippi the coast is sandy
+and flat.  In this part of the Union the mouths of almost all the
+rivers are obstructed; and the few harbors which exist amongst
+these lagoons afford much shallower water to vessels, and much
+fewer commercial advantages than those of the North.
+
+This first natural cause of inferiority is united to another
+cause proceeding from the laws.  We have already seen that
+slavery, which is abolished 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 *m and manufacture; the natural consequence of which is
+the more rapid increase of population and of wealth within its
+borders.  The States situate upon the shores of the Atlantic
+Ocean are already half-peopled.  Most of the land is held by an
+owner; and these districts cannot therefore receive so many
+emigrants as the Western States, where a boundless field is still
+open to their exertions.  The valley of the Mississippi 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 recent States adjacent to the Mississippi, the
+population has increased thirty-one-fold, within the same space
+of time. *n
+
+[Footnote m: The following statements will suffice to show the
+difference which exists between the commerce of the South and
+that of the North: -
+
+In 1829 the tonnage of all the merchant vessels belonging to
+Virginia, the two Carolinas, and Georgia (the four great Southern
+States), amounted to only 5,243 tons.  In the same year the
+tonnage of the vessels of the State of Massachusetts alone
+amounted to 17,322 tons.  (See Legislative Documents, 21st
+Congress, 2d session, No. 140, p. 244.) Thus the State of
+Massachusetts had three times as much shipping as the four
+above-mentioned States. Nevertheless the area of the State of
+Massachusetts is only 7,335 square miles, and its population
+amounts to 610,014 inhabitants [2,238,943 in 1890]; whilst the
+area of the four other States I have quoted is 210,000 square
+miles, and their population 3,047,767.  Thus the area of the
+State of Massachusetts forms only one-thirtieth part of the area
+of the four States; and its population is five times smaller than
+theirs.  (See "Darby's View of the United States.") Slavery is
+prejudicial to the commercial prosperity of the South in several
+different ways; by diminishing the spirit of enterprise amongst
+the whites, and by preventing them from meeting with as numerous
+a class of sailors as they require.  Sailors are usually taken
+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 unable to serve as
+well as a white crew, and apprehensions 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.]
+
+[Footnote n: "Darby's View of the United States," p. 444.] 
+The relative position of the central 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 environs of the spot upon which Washington now
+stands; but the great body of the people is now advancing inland
+and to the north, so that in twenty years the majority will
+unquestionably be on the western side of the Alleghanies.  If the
+Union goes on to subsist, the basin of the Mississippi is
+evidently marked out, by its fertility and its extent, as the
+future centre of the Federal Government. In thirty or forty
+years, that tract of country will have assumed the rank which
+naturally belongs to it.  It is easy to calculate that its
+population, compared to that of the coast of the Atlantic, will
+be, in round numbers, as 40 to 11.  In a few years the States
+which founded the Union will lose the direction of its policy,
+and the population of the valley of the Mississippi will
+preponderate in the federal assemblies.
+
+This constant gravitation of the federal power and influence
+towards the northwest is shown every ten years, when a general
+census of the population is made, and the number of delegates
+which each State sends to Congress is settled afresh. *o In 1790
+Virginia had nineteen representatives in Congress. This number
+continued to increase until the year 1813, when it reached to
+twenty-three; from that time it began to decrease, and in 1833
+Virginia elected only twenty-one representatives. *p During the
+same period the State of New York progressed in the contrary
+direction: in 1790 it had ten representatives in Congress; in
+1813, twenty-seven; in 1823, thirty-four; and in 1833, forty. 
+The State of Ohio had only one representative in 1803, and in
+1833 it had already nineteen. 
+
+[Footnote o: 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, has increased in the proportion
+of five per cent.; whilst that of another, as the territory of
+Michigan, has increased 250 per cent.  Thus the population of
+Virginia had augmented thirteen per cent., and that of the border
+State of Ohio sixty-one per cent., in the same space of time. 
+The general table of these changes, which is given in the
+"National Calendar," displays a striking picture of the unequal
+fortunes of the different States.]
+
+[Footnote p: It has just been said that in the course of the last
+term the population of Virginia has increased thirteen per cent.;
+and it is necessary to explain how the number of representatives
+for a State may decrease, when the population of that State, far
+from diminishing, is actually upon the increase.  I take the
+State of Virginia, to which I have already alluded, as my term of
+comparison.  The number of representatives of Virginia in 1823
+was proportionate to the total number of the representatives of
+the Union, and to the relation which the population bore to that
+of the whole Union: in 1833 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 course 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
+numver, on the one hand, as the new numver of all the
+representatives 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
+population of the lesser country be to that of the greater in an
+exact inverse ratio of the proportion between the new and the old
+numbers of all the representatives, 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 feeblerratio than the new number of the
+representatives of the Union to the old number, the number of the
+representatives of Virginia must decrease. [Thus, to the 56th
+Congress in 1899, Virginia and West Virginia send only fourteen
+representatives.]] 
+
+Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races - Part VIII 
+It is difficult to imagine a durable union of a people 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 at which 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 2,000,000 of inhabitants and its forty representatives, in
+dictating to the other States in Congress. But even if the more
+powerful States make no attempt to bear down the lesser ones, the
+danger still exists; for there is almost as much in the
+possibility of the act as in the act itself.  The weak generally
+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 Union.  I am inclined to think that the hostile measures
+taken by the Southern provinces upon a recent occasion are
+attributable to no other cause.  The inhabitants of the Southern
+States are, of all the Americans, those who are most interested
+in the maintenance of the Union; they would assuredly suffer most
+from being left to themselves; and yet they are the only citizens
+who threaten to break the tie of confederation.  But it is easy
+to perceive that the South, which has given four Presidents,
+Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, to the Union, which
+perceives that it is losing its federal influence, and that the
+number of its representatives in Congress is diminishing from
+year to year, whilst those of the Northern and Western States are
+increasing; the South, which is peopled with ardent and irascible
+beings, is becoming more and more irritated and alarmed.  The
+citizens reflect upon their present position and remember their
+past influence, with the melancholy uneasiness 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 their due profits. 
+"The tariff," said the inhabitants of Carolina in 1832, "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?" *q
+
+[Footnote q: See the report of its committee to the Convention
+which proclaimed the nullification of the tariff in South
+Carolina.]
+
+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 America is precipitate, and
+almost revolutionary.  The same citizen may have 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 birth and
+infancy to maturity in the course of thirty years.  It must not
+be imagined, however, that the States which lose their
+preponderance, also lose their population or their riches: no
+stop is put to their prosperity, and they even go on to increase
+more rapidly than any kingdom in Europe. *r But they believe
+themselves to be impoverished because their wealth does not
+augment as rapidly as that of their neighbors; any they think
+that their power is lost, because they suddenly come into
+collision with a power greater than their own: *s thus they are
+more hurt in their feelings and their 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 beginning of the
+world, the name of war would scarcely be known among mankind. 
+
+[Footnote r: The population of a country assuredly constitutes
+the first element of its wealth.  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 per
+cent.; that of Carolina in the proportion of fifteen per cent.;
+and that of Georgia, 15.5 per cent.  (See the "American Almanac,"
+1832, p. 162) But the population of Russia, which increases more
+rapidly than that of any other European country, only augments in
+ten years at the rate of 9.5 per cent.; in France, at the rate of
+seven per cent.; and in Europe in general, at the rate of 4.7 per
+cent. (See "Malte Brun," vol. vi. p. 95)]
+
+[Footnote s: It must be admitted, however, that the depreciation
+which has taken place in the value of tobacco, during the last
+fifty years, has notably diminished the opulence of the Southern
+planters: but this circumstance is as independent of the will of
+their Northern brethren as it is of their own.]
+
+Thus the prosperity of the United States is the source of
+the most serious dangers that threaten them, since it tends to
+create in some of the confederate States that over-excitement
+which accompanies a rapid increase of fortune; and to awaken in
+others those feelings of envy, mistrust, and regret which usually
+attend upon the loss of it.  The Americans contemplate this
+extraordinary and hasty progress with exultation; but they would
+be wiser to consider it with sorrow and alarm. The Americans of
+the United States must inevitably become one of the greatest
+nations in the world; their offset will cover almost the whole of
+North America; the continent which they inhabit is their
+dominion, and it cannot escape them.  What urges them to take
+possession of it so soon? Riches, power, and renown cannot fail
+to be theirs at some future time, but they rush upon their
+fortune as if but a moment remained for them to make it their
+own.
+
+I think that I have demonstrated that the existence of the
+present confederation depends entirely on the continued assent of
+all the confederates; and, starting from this principle, I have
+inquired into the causes which may induce the several 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 compact, and so forcibly to sever the federal
+tie; and it is to this supposition that most of the remarks that
+I have made apply: or the authority of the Federal Government may
+be progressively entrenched on by the simultaneous tendency of
+the united republics to resume their independence.  The central
+power, successively stripped of all its prerogatives, and reduced
+to impotence by tacit consent, would become incompetent to fulfil
+its purpose; and the second Union would perish, like the first,
+by a sort of senile inaptitude.  The gradual weakening 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 Government 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.
+
+After having investigated the causes which may induce the
+Anglo-Americans to disunite, it is important to inquire whether,
+if the Union continues to subsist, their Government will extend
+or contract its sphere of action, and whether it will become more
+energetic or more weak.
+
+
+The Americans are evidently disposed to look upon their
+future condition with alarm.  They perceive that in most of the
+nations of the world the exercise of the rights of sovereignty
+tends to fall under the control of a few individuals, and they
+are dismayed by the idea that such will also be the case in their
+own country.  Even the statesmen feel, or affect to feel, these
+fears; for, in America, centralization is by no means popular,
+and there is no surer means of courting the majority than by
+inveighing against the encroachments of the central power.  The
+Americans do not perceive that the countries in which this
+alarming tendency to centralization exists are inhabited by a
+single people; whilst the fact of the Union being composed of
+different confederate communities is sufficient to baffle all the
+inferences which might be drawn from analogous circumstances.  I
+confess that I am inclined to consider the fears of a great
+number of Americans as purely imaginary; and far from
+participating in their dread of the consolidation of power in the
+hands of the Union, I think that the Federal Government 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 belong 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
+in that country, like two distinct currents flowing in contrary
+directions in the same channel. The Union has now existed for
+forty-five years, and in the course of that time a vast number of
+provincial prejudices, which were at first hostile to its power,
+have died away.  The patriotic feeling which attached each of the
+Americans to his own native State is become less exclusive; and
+the different parts of the Union have become more intimately
+connected the better they have become acquainted with each other. 
+The post, *t that great instrument of intellectual intercourse,
+now reaches into the backwoods; and steamboats have established
+daily means of communication between the different points of the
+coast.  An inland navigation of unexampled rapidity conveys
+commodities up and down the rivers of the country. *u And to
+these facilities of nature and art may be added those restless
+cravings, that busy-mindedness, and love of pelf, which are
+constantly urging the American into active life, and bringing him
+into contact with his fellow-citizens.  He crosses the country in
+every direction; he visits all the various populations of the
+land; and there is not a province in France in which the natives
+are so well known to each other as the 13,000,000 of men who
+cover the territory of the United States.
+
+[Footnote t: In 1832, the district of Michigan, which only
+contains 31,639 inhabitants, and is still an almost unexplored
+wilderness, possessed 940 miles of mail-roads.  The territory of
+Arkansas, which is still more uncultivated, was already
+intersected by 1,938 miles of mail-roads.  (See the report of the
+General Post Office, November 30, 1833.) The postage of
+newspapers alone in the whole Union amounted to $254,796.]
+
+[Footnote u: In the course of ten years, from 1821 to 1831, 271
+steamboats have been launched upon the rivers which water the
+valley of the Mississippi alone.  In 1829 259 steamboats existed
+in the United States.  (See Legislative Documents, No. 140, p. 
+274.)] 
+
+But whilst the Americans intermingle, they grow in
+resemblance of each other; the differences resulting from their
+climate, their origin, and their institutions, diminish; and they
+all draw nearer and nearer to the common type.  Every year,
+thousands of men leave the North to settle in different parts of
+the Union: they bring with them their faith, their opinions, and
+their manners; and as they are more enlighthned than the men
+amongst whom they are about to dwell, they soon rise to the head
+of affairs, and they adapt society to their own advantage.  This
+continual emigration of the North to the South is peculiarly
+favorable to the fusion of all the different provincial
+characters into one national character.  The civilization of the
+North appears to be the common standard, to which the whole
+nation will one day be assimilated.
+
+The commercial ties which unite the confederate States are
+strengthened by the increasing manufactures of the Americans; and
+the union which began to exist in their opinions, gradually forms
+a part of their habits: the course of time has swept away the
+bugbear thoughts which haunted the imaginations of the citizens
+in 1789.  The federal power is not become oppressive; it has not
+destroyed the independence of the States; it has not subjected
+the confederates to monarchial institutions; and the Union has
+not rendered the lesser States dependent upon the larger ones;
+but the confederation has continued to increase in population, in
+wealth, and in power.  I am therefore convinced that the natural
+obstacles to the continuance of the American Union are not so
+powerful at the present time as they were in 1789; and that the
+enemies of the Union are not so numerous.
+
+Nevertheless, a careful examination of the history of the
+United States for the last forty-five years will readily convince
+us that the federal power is declining; nor is it difficult to
+explain the causes of this phenomenon. *v When the Constitution
+of 1789 was promulgated, the nation was a prey to anarchy; the
+Union, which succeeded this confusion, excited much dread and
+much animosity; but it was warmly supported because it satisfied
+an imperious want.  Thus, although it was more attacked than it
+is now, the federal power soon reached the maximum 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 seemed 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 a certain extent, above itself.
+
+
+[Footnote v: [Since 1861 the movement is certainly in the
+opposite direction, and the federal power has largely increased,
+and tends to further increase.]]
+
+The Constitution had not destroyed the distinct sovereignty
+of the States; and all communities, of whatever nature they may
+be, are impelled by a secret propensity to assert their
+independence.  This propensity is still more decided in a country
+like America, in which every village forms a sort of republic
+accustomed to conduct its own affairs.  It therefore cost the
+States an effort to submit to the federal supremacy; and all
+efforts, however successful they may be, necessarily subside with
+the causes in which they
+originated.
+
+As the Federal Government consolidated its authority,
+America resumed its rank amongst the nations, peace returned to
+its frontiers, and public credit was restored; confusion was
+succeeded by a fixed state of things, which was favorable to the
+full and free exercise of industrious enterprise. It was this
+very prosperity which made the Americans forget the cause to
+which it was attributable; and when once the danger was passed,
+the energy and the patriotism which had enabled them to brave it
+disappeared from amongst them. No sooner were they delivered from
+the cares which oppressed them, than they easily returned to
+their ordinary habits, and gave themselves up without resistance
+to their natural inclinations.  When a powerful Government no
+longer appeared to be necessary, they once more began to think it
+irksome. The Union encouraged a general prosperity, and the
+States were not inclined to abandon the Union; but they desired
+to render the action of the power which represented that body as
+light as possible.  The general principle of Union was adopted,
+but in every minor detail there was an actual tendency to
+independence.  The principle of confederation was every day more
+easily admitted, and more rarely applied; so that the Federal
+Government brought about its own decline, whilst it was creating
+order and peace.
+
+As soon as this tendency of public opinion began to be
+manifested externally, the leaders of parties, 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 possession 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 Union has invariably been obliged to recede, as
+often as it has attempted to enter the lists with the governments
+of the States.  And whenever an interpretation of the terms of
+the Federal Constitution has been called for, that interpretation
+has most frequently been opposed to the Union, and favorable to
+the States.
+
+The Constitution invested the Federal Government with the
+right of providing for the interests of the nation; and it had
+been held that no other authority was so fit to superintend the
+"internal improvements" which affected the prosperity of the
+whole Union; such, for instance, as the cutting of canals.  But
+the States were alarmed at a power, distinct from their own,
+which could thus dispose of a portion of their territory; and
+they were afraid that the central Government would, by this
+means, acquire a formidable extent of patronage within their own
+confines, and exercise a degree of influence which they intended
+to reserve exclusively to their own agents.  The Democratic
+party, which has constantly been opposed to the increase of the
+federal authority, then accused the Congress of usurpation, and
+the Chief Magistrate of ambition.  The central Government was
+intimidated by the opposition; and it soon acknowledged its
+error, promising exactly to confine its influence for the future
+within 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 light.  As long as these savages consented to
+retire before the civilized settlers, the federal right was not
+contested: but as soon as an Indian tribe attempted to fix its
+dwelling upon a given spot, the adjacent States claimed
+possession of the lands and the rights of sovereignty over the
+natives.  The central Government soon recognized both these
+claims; and after it had concluded treaties with the Indians as
+independent nations, it gave them up as subjects to the
+legislative tyranny of the States. *w
+
+[Footnote w: See in the Legislative Documents, already quoted in
+speaking of the Indians, the letter of the President of the
+United States to the Cherokees, his correspondence on this
+subject with his agents, and his messages to Congress.]
+
+Some of the States which had been founded upon the coast of
+the Atlantic, extended indefinitely to the West, into wild
+regions where no European had ever penetrated.  The States whose
+confines were irrevocably fixed, looked with a jealous eye upon
+the unbounded regions which the future would enable their
+neighbors to explore.  The latter then agreed, with a view to
+conciliate the others, and to facilitate the act of union, to lay
+down their own boundaries, and to abandon all the territory which
+lay beyond those limits to the confederation at large. *x
+Thenceforward the Federal Government became the owner of all the
+uncultivated lands which lie beyond the borders of the thirteen
+States first confederated.  It was invested with the right of
+parcelling and selling them, and the sums derived from this
+source were exclusively reserved to the public treasure of the
+Union, in order to furnish supplies for purchasing tracts of
+country from the Indians, for opening roads to the remote
+settlements, and for accelerating the increase of civilization as
+much as possible.  New States have, however, been formed in the
+course of time, in the midst of those wilds which were formerly
+ceded by the inhabitants of the shores of the Atlantic.  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 asserted that, as they were now fully
+constituted, they ought to enjoy the exclusive right of
+converting the produce of these sales to their own use.  As their
+remonstrances became more and more threatening, Congress thought
+fit to deprive the Union of a portion of the privileges which it
+had hitherto enjoyed; and at the end of 1832 it passed a law by
+which the greatest part of the revenue derived from the sale of
+lands was made over to the new western republics, although the
+lands themselves were not ceded to them. *y
+
+[Footnote x: The first act of session was made by the State of
+New York in 1780; Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, South and
+North Carolina, followed this example at different times, and
+lastly, the act of cession of Georgia was made as recently as
+1802.]
+
+[Footnote y: It is true that the President refused his assent to
+this law; but he completely adopted it in principle.  (See
+Message of December 8, 1833.)]
+
+The slightest observation in the United States enables one
+to appreciate the advantages which the country derives from the
+bank.  These advantages are of several kinds, but one of them is
+peculiarly striking to the stranger. The banknotes 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.
+*z 
+
+[Footnote z: The present Bank of the United States was
+established in 1816, with a capital of $35,000,000; its charter
+expires in 1836.  Last year Congress passed a law to renew it,
+but the President put his veto upon the bill.  The struggle is
+still going on with great violence on either side, and the speedy
+fall of the bank may easily be foreseen.  [It was soon afterwards
+extinguished by General Jackson.]]
+
+The Bank of the United States is nevertheless the object of
+great animosity.  Its directors have proclaimed their hostility
+to the President: and they are accused, not without some show of
+probability, of having abused their influence to thwart his
+election.  The President therefore attacks the establishment
+which they represent with all the warmth of personal enmity; and
+he is encouraged in the pursuit of his revenge by the conviction
+that he is supported by the secret propensities of the majority. 
+The bank may be regarded as the great monetary tie of the Union,
+just as Congress is the great legislative tie; and the same
+passions which tend to render the States independent of the
+central power, contribute to the overthrow of the bank.
+
+The Bank of the United States always holds a great number of
+the notes issued by the provincial banks, which it can at any
+time oblige them to convert into cash.  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 operations are
+restricted, since they are only able to issue a quantity of notes
+duly proportioned to their capital.  They submit with impatience
+to this salutary control.  The newspapers which they have bought
+over, and the President, whose interest renders him their
+instrument, attack the bank with the greatest vehemence.  They
+rouse the local passions and the blind democratic instinct of the
+country to aid their cause; and they assert that the bank
+directors form a permanent aristocratic body, whose influence
+must ultimately be felt in the Government, and must affect those
+principles of equality upon which society rests in America.
+
+The contest between the bank and its opponents is only an
+incident in the great struggle which is going on in America
+between the provinces and the central power; between the spirit
+of democratic independence and the spirit of gradation and
+subordination.  I do not mean that the enemies of the bank are
+identically the same individuals who, on other points, attack the
+Federal Government; but I assert that the attacks directed
+against the bank of the United States originate in the same
+propensities which militate against the Federal Government; and
+that the very numerous opponents of the former afford a
+deplorable symptom of the decreasing support of the latter.
+
+The Union has never displayed so much weakness as in the
+celebrated question of the tariff. *a The wars of the French
+Revolution and of 1812 had created manufacturing establishments
+in the North of the Union, by cutting off all free communication
+between America and Europe.  When peace was concluded, and the
+channel of intercourse reopened by which the produce of Europe
+was transmitted to the New World, the Americans thought fit to
+establish a system of import duties, for the twofold purpose of
+protecting their incipient manufactures and of paying off the
+amount of the debt contracted during the war.  The Southern
+States, which have no manufactures to encourage, and which are
+exclusively agricultural, soon complained of this measure.  Such
+were the simple facts, and I do not pretend to examine in this
+place whether their complaints were well founded or unjust.
+
+[Footnote a: See principally for the details of this affair, the
+Legislative Documents, 22d Congress, 2d Session, No. 30.]
+
+As early as the year 1820, South Carolina declared, in a
+petition to Congress, that the tariff was "unconstitutional,
+oppressive, 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 from lending an ear to these complaints, raised the scale of
+tariff duties in the years 1824 and 1828, and recognized anew the
+principle on which it was founded.  A doctrine was then
+proclaimed, or rather revived, in the South, which took the name
+of Nullification.
+
+
+I have shown in the proper place that the object of the
+Federal Constitution was not to form a league, but to create a
+national government. The Americans of the United States form a
+sole and undivided people, in all the cases which are specified
+by that Constitution; and upon these points the will of the
+nation is expressed, as it is in all constitutional nations, by
+the voice of the majority.  When the majority has pronounced its
+decision, it is the duty of the minority to submit.  Such is the
+sound legal doctrine, and the only one which agrees 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 reduce themselves to the condition of one and the same people;
+that they meant to constitute a league of independent States; and
+that each State, consequently retains its entire sovereignty, if
+not de facto, at least de jure; and has the right of putting its
+own construction upon the laws of Congress, and of suspending
+their execution within the limits of its own territory, if they
+are held to be unconstitutional and unjust.
+
+The entire doctrine of Nullification is comprised in a
+sentence uttered by Vice-President Calhoun, the head of that
+party in the South, before the Senate of the United States, in
+the year 1833: could: "The Constitution is a compact to which the
+States were parties in their sovereign capacity; now, whenever a
+compact is entered into by parties which acknowledge no tribunal
+above their authority to decide in the last resort, each of them
+has a right to judge for itself in relation to the nature,
+extent, and obligations of the instrument." It is evident that a
+similar doctrine destroys the very basis of the Federal
+Constitution, and brings back all the evils of the old
+confederation, from which the Americans were supposed to have had
+a safe deliverance.
+
+When South Carolina perceived that Congress turned a deaf
+ear to its remonstrances, it threatened to apply the doctrine of
+nullification to the federal tariff bill.  Congress persisted in
+its former system; and at length the storm broke out.  In the
+course of 1832 the citizens of South Carolina, *b named a
+national Convention, to consult upon the extraordinary measures
+which they were called upon to take; and on November 24th of the
+same year this Convention promulgated a law, under the form of a
+decree, which annulled the federal law of the tariff, forbade the
+levy of the imposts which that law commands, and refused to
+recognize the appeal which might be made to the federal courts of
+law. *c This decree was only to be put in execution in the
+ensuing month of February, and it was intimated, that if Congress
+modified the tariff before that period, South Carolina might be
+induced to proceed no further with her menaces; and a vague
+desire was afterwards expressed of submitting the question to an
+extraordinary assembly of all the confederate States.
+
+[Footnote b: 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
+electors; 30,000 were in favor of nullification, and 17,000
+opposed to it.] 
+
+[Footnote c: This decree was preceded by a report of the
+committee by 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 reserved 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 respective limits, those powers and privileges which
+belong to them as independent sovereign States.  If they were
+destitute of this right, they would 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."]
+
+
+Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races - Part IX
+
+In the meantime South Carolina armed her militia, and
+prepared for war. But Congress, which had slighted its suppliant
+subjects, listened to their complaints as soon as they were found
+to have taken up arms. *d A law was passed, by which the tariff
+duties were to be progressively reduced for ten years, until they
+were brought so low as not to exceed the amount of supplies
+necessary to the Government. *e Thus Congress completely
+abandoned the principle of the tariff; and substituted a mere
+fiscal impost to a system of protective duties. *f The Government
+of the Union, in order to conceal its defeat, had recourse to an
+expedient which is very much in vogue with feeble governments. 
+It yielded the point de facto, but it remained inflexible upon
+the principles in question; and whilst Congress was altering the
+tariff law, it passed another bill, by which the President was
+invested with extraordinary powers, enabling him to overcome by
+force a resistance which was then no longer to be apprehended.
+
+[Footnote d: Congress was finally decided to take this step by
+the conduct of the powerful State of Virginia, whose legislature
+offered to serve as mediator between the Union and South
+Carolina.  Hitherto the latter State had appeared to be entirely
+abandoned, even by the States which had joined in her
+remonstrances.] 
+
+[Footnote e: This law was passed on March 2, 1833.]
+
+[Footnote f: This bill was brought in by Mr. Clay, and it passed
+in four days through both Houses of Congress by an immense
+majority.] 
+
+But South Carolina did not consent to leave the Union in the
+enjoyment of these scanty trophies of success: the same national
+Convention which had annulled the tariff bill, met again, and
+accepted the proffered concession; but at the same time it
+declared it unabated perseverance in the 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 clauses of that law would never be
+carried into effect.
+
+Almost all the controversies of which I have been speaking
+have taken place under the Presidency of General Jackson; and it
+cannot be denied that in the question of the tariff he has
+supported the claims of the Union with vigor and with skill.  I
+am, however, of opinion that the conduct of the individual who
+now represents the Federal Government may be reckoned as one of
+the dangers which threaten its continuance.
+
+Some persons in Europe have formed an opinion of the
+possible influence of General Jackson upon the affairs of his
+country, which appears highly extravagant to those who have seen
+more of the subject.  We have been told that General Jackson has
+won sundry battles, that he is an energetic man, prone by nature
+and by habit to the use of force, covetous of power, and a despot
+by taste.  All this may perhaps be true; but the inferences which
+have been drawn from these truths are exceedingly erroneous.  It
+has been imagined that General Jackson is bent on establishing a
+dictatorship in America, on introducing a military spirit, and on
+giving a degree of influence to the central authority which
+cannot but be dangerous to provincial liberties.  But in America
+the time for similar undertakings, and the age for men of this
+kind, is not yet come: if General Jackson had entertained a hope
+of exercising his authority in this manner, he would infallibly
+have forfeited his political station, and compromised his life;
+accordingly he has not been so imprudent as to make any such
+attempt.
+
+Far from wishing to extend the federal power, the President
+belongs to the party which is desirous of limiting that power to
+the bare and precise letter of the Constitution, and which never
+puts a construction upon that act favorable to the Government of
+the Union; far from standing forth as the champion of
+centralization, General Jackson is the agent of all the
+jealousies of the States; and he was placed in the lofty station
+he occupies by the passions of the people which are most opposed
+to the central Government.  It is by perpetually flattering these
+passions that he maintains his station and his popularity. 
+General Jackson is the slave of the majority: he yields to its
+wishes, its propensities, and its demands; say rather, that he
+anticipates and forestalls them.
+
+Whenever the governments of the States come into collision
+with that of the Union, the President is generally the first to
+question his own rights: he almost always outstrips the
+legislature; and when the extent of the federal power is
+controverted, he takes part, as it were, against himself; he
+conceals his official interests, and extinguishes his own natural
+inclinations.  Not indeed that he is naturally weak or hostile to
+the Union; for when the majority decided against the claims of
+the partisans of nullification, he put himself at its head,
+asserted the doctrines which the nation held distinctly and
+energetically, and was the first to recommend forcible measures;
+but General Jackson appears to me, if I may use the American
+expressions, to be a Federalist by taste, and a Republican by
+calculation.
+
+General Jackson stoops to gain the favor of the majority,
+but when he feels that his popularity is secure, he overthrows
+all obstacles in the pursuit of the objects which the community
+approves, or of those which it does not look upon with a jealous
+eye.  He is supported by a power with which his predecessors were
+unacquainted; and he tramples on his personal enemies whenever
+they cross his path with a facility which no former President
+ever enjoyed; he takes upon himself the responsibility of
+measures which no one before him would have ventured to attempt:
+he even treats the national representatives with disdain
+approaching to insult; he puts his veto upon the laws of
+Congress, and frequently neglects to reply to that powerful body.
+He is a favorite who sometimes treats his master roughly.  The
+power of General Jackson 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 am strangely mistaken if the Federal Government of the
+United States be not constantly losing strength, retiring
+gradually from public affairs, and narrowing its circle of action
+more and more.  It is naturally feeble, but it now abandons even
+its pretensions to strength.  On the other hand, I thought that I
+remarked a more lively sense of independence, and a more decided
+attachment to provincial government in the States.  The Union is
+to subsist, but to subsist as a shadow; it is 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 perceptible: as if this alternate
+debility and vigor were natural or possible.
+
+I do not foresee anything for the present which may be able
+to check this general impulse of public opinion; the causes in
+which it originated do not cease to operate with the same effect. 
+The change will therefore go on, and it may be predicted that,
+unless some extraordinary event occurs, the Government of the
+Union will grow weaker and weaker every day.
+
+I think, however, that the period is still remote at which
+the federal power will be entirely extinguished by its inability
+to protect itself and to maintain peace in the country.  The
+Union is sanctioned by the manners and desires of the people; 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 federal
+governments which have hitherto been established, the one which
+is most naturally destined to act.  As long as it is only
+indirectly assailed by the interpretation of its laws, and as
+long as its substance is not seriously altered, a change of
+opinion, an internal crisis, or a war, may restore all the vigor
+which it requires.  The point which I have been most anxious to
+put in a clear light is simply this: Many people, especially in
+France, imagine that a change in opinion is going on in the
+United States, which is favorable to a centralization of power in
+the hands of the President and the Congress. I hold that a
+contrary tendency may distinctly be observed.  So far is the
+Federal Government from acquiring strength, and from threatening
+the sovereignty of the States, as it grows older, that I maintain
+it to be growing weaker and weaker, and that the sovereignty of
+the Union alone is in danger.  Such are the facts which the
+present time discloses.  The future conceals the final result of
+this tendency, and the events which may check, retard, or
+accelerate the changes I have described; but I do not affect to
+be able to remove the veil which hides them from our sight.
+
+Of The Republican Institutions Of The United States, And What
+Their Chances Of Duration Are
+
+The Union is accidental - The Republican institutions have more
+prospect of permanence - A republic for the present the natural
+state of the Anglo-Americans - Reason of this - In order to
+destroy it, all the laws must be changed at the same time, and a
+great alteration take place in manners -Difficulties experienced
+by the Americans in creating an aristocracy.
+
+The dismemberment of the Union, by the introduction of war
+into the heart of those States which are now confederate, with
+standing armies, a dictatorship, and a heavy taxation, might,
+eventually, compromise the fate of the republican institutions. 
+But we ought not to confound the future prospects of the republic
+with those of the Union.  The Union is an accident, which will
+only last as long as circumstances are favorable to its
+existence; but a republican form of government seems to me to be
+the natural state of the Americans; which nothing but the
+continued action of hostile causes, always acting in the same
+direction, could change into a monarchy.  The Union exists
+principally in the law which formed it; one revolution, one
+change in public opinion, might destroy it forever; but the
+republic has a much deeper foundation to rest upon.
+
+
+What is understood by a republican government in the United
+States is the slow and quiet action of society upon itself.  It
+is a regular state of things really founded upon the enlightened
+will of the people.  It is a conciliatory government under which
+resolutions are allowed time to ripen; and in which they are
+deliberately discussed, and executed with mature judgment. The
+republicans in the United States set a high value upon morality,
+respect religious belief, and acknowledge the existence of
+rights. They profess to think that a people ought to be
+moral,religious, and temperate, in proportion as it is free. 
+What is called the republic in the United States, is the tranquil
+rule of the majority, which, after having had time to examine
+itself, and to give proof of its existence, is the common source
+of all the powers of the State.  But the power of the majority is
+not of itself unlimited.  In the moral world humanity, justice,
+and reason enjoy an undisputed supremacy; in the political world
+vested rights are treated with no less deference.  The majority
+recognizes these two barriers; and if it now and then overstep
+them, it is because, like individuals, it has passions, and, like
+them, it is prone to do what is wrong, whilst it discerns what is
+right.
+
+But the demagogues of Europe have made strange discoveries. 
+A republic is not, according to them, the rule of the majority,
+as has hitherto been thought, but the rule of those who are
+strenuous partisans of the majority. It is not the people who
+preponderates in this kind of government, but those who are best
+versed in the good qualities of the people.  A happy distinction,
+which allows men to act in the name of nations without consulting
+them, and to claim their gratitude whilst their rights are
+spurned.  A republican government, moreover, is the only one
+which claims the right of doing whatever it chooses, and
+despising what men have hitherto respected, from the highest
+moral obligations to the vulgar rules of common-sense.  It had
+been supposed, until our time, that despotism was odious, under
+whatever form it appeared. But it is a discovery of modern days
+that there are such things as legitimate tyranny and holy
+injustice, provided they are exercised in the name of the people.
+
+The ideas which the Americans have adopted respecting the
+republican form of government, render it easy for them to live
+under it, and insure its duration.  If, in their country, this
+form be often practically bad, at least it is theoretically good;
+and, in the end, the people always acts in conformity to it.
+
+It was impossible at the foundation of the States, and it
+would still be difficult, to establish a central administration
+in America.  The inhabitants are dispersed over too great a
+space, and separated by too many natural obstacles, for one man
+to undertake to direct the details of their existence.  America
+is therefore pre-eminently the country of provincial and
+municipal government.  To this cause, which was plainly felt by
+all the Europeans of the New World, the Anglo-Americans added
+several others peculiar to themselves.
+
+At the time of the settlement of the North American
+colonies, municipal liberty had already penetrated into the laws
+as well as the manners of the English; and the emigrants adopted
+it, not only as a necessary thing, but as a benefit which they
+knew how to appreciate.  We have already seen the manner in which
+the colonies were founded: every province, and almost every
+district, was peopled separately by men who were strangers to
+each other, or who associated with very different purposes.  The
+English settlers in the United States, therefore, early perceived
+that they were divided into a great number of small and distinct
+communities which belonged to no common centre; and that it was
+needful for each of these little communities to take care of its
+own affairs, since there did not appear to be 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 liberties.
+
+In the United States, therefore, the mass of the
+institutions 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 difficult for a party to
+succeed in founding a monarchy in the United States than for a
+set of men to proclaim that France should henceforward be a
+republic.  Royalty would not find a system of legislation
+prepared for it beforehand; and a monarchy would then exist,
+really surrounded by republican institutions.  The monarchical
+principle would likewise have great difficulty in penetrating
+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 prevailing
+manners and ideas of the people: it may, on the contrary, 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 - such 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 its townships; the State to its 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 principle 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, whilst they are
+formerly recognized by the legislation: and before this
+legislation can be altered the whole community must undergo very
+serious changes.  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 its
+temporal 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 choosing his government.
+
+It is evident that nothing but a long series of events, all
+having the same tendency, can substitute for this combination of
+laws, opinions, and manners, a mass of opposite opinions,
+manners, and laws.
+
+If republican principles are to perish in America, they can
+only yield after a laborious social process, often interrupted,
+and as often resumed; they will have many apparent revivals, and
+will not become totally extinct until an entirely new people
+shall have succeeded to that which now exists. Now, it must be
+admitted that there is no symptom or presage of the approach of
+such a revolution.  There is nothing more striking 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 variable in its desires should avoid adopting, within
+a short space of time, a completely new form of government.  Such
+apprehensions are, however, premature; the instability which
+affects political institutions is of two kinds, which ought not
+to be confounded: the first, which modifies secondary laws, is
+not incompatible with a very settled state of society; the other
+shakes the very foundations of the Constitution, and attacks the
+fundamental principles of legislation; this species of
+instability is always followed by troubles and revolutions, and
+the nation which suffers under it is in a state of violent
+transition.
+
+Experience shows that these two kinds of legislative
+instability have no necessary connection; for they have been
+found united or separate, according to times and circumstances. 
+The first is common in the United States, but not the second: the
+Americans often change their laws, but the foundation of the
+Constitution is respected.
+
+In our days the republican principle rules in America, as
+the monarchical principle did in France under Louis XIV.  The
+French of that period were not only friends of the monarchy, but
+they thought it impossible to put anything in its place; they
+received it as we receive 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 opposition; without
+proofs and arguments, by a tacit agreement, a sort of consensus
+universalis.  It is, however, my opinion that by changing their
+administrative forms as often as they do, the inhabitants of the
+United States compromise the future stability of their
+government.
+
+It may be apprehended that men, perpetually thwarted in
+their designs by the mutability of the legislation, will learn to
+look upon republican institutions 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 the
+fundamental principles of the Constitution, and indirectly bring
+about a revolution; but this epoch is still very remote.
+
+It may, however, be foreseen even now, that when the
+Americans lose their republican institutions they will speedily
+arrive at a despotic government, without a long interval of
+limited monarchy.  Montesquieu remarked, that nothing is more
+absolute than the authority of a prince who immediately succeeds
+a republic, since the powers which had fearlessly been intrusted
+to an elected magistrate are then transferred to a hereditary
+sovereign.  This is true in general, but it is more peculiarly
+applicable to a democratic republic.  In the United States, the
+magistrates are not elected by a particular class of citizens,
+but by the majority of the nation; they are the immediate
+representatives of the passions of the multitude; and as they are
+wholly dependent upon its pleasure, they excite neither hatred
+nor fear: hence, as I have already shown, very little care has
+been taken to limit their influence, and they are left in
+possession of a vast deal of arbitrary power. This state of
+things has engendered habits which would outlive itself; the
+American magistrate would retain his power, but he would cease to
+be responsible for the exercise of it; and it is impossible to
+say what bounds could then be set to tyranny.
+
+Some of our European politicians expect to see an
+aristocracy arise in America, and they already predict the exact
+period at which it will be able to assume the reins of
+government.  I have previously observed, and I repeat my
+assertion, 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, restrict
+the circle of political rights in their country, or confiscate
+those rights to the advantage of a single individual; but I
+cannot imagine that they will ever bestow the exclusive exercise
+of them upon a privileged class of citizens, or, in other words,
+that they will ever found an aristocracy. 
+
+An aristocratic body is composed of a certain number of
+citizens who, without being very far removed from the mass of the
+people, are, nevertheless, permanently stationed above it: a body
+which it is easy to touch and difficult to strike; with which the
+people are in daily contact, but with which they can never
+combine.  Nothing can be imagined more contrary to nature and to
+the secret propensities of the human heart than a subjection of
+this kind; and men who are left to follow their own bent will
+always prefer the arbitrary power of a king to the regular
+administration of an aristocracy.  Aristocratic institutions
+cannot subsist without laying down the inequality of men as a
+fundamental principle, as a part and parcel of the legislation,
+affecting the condition of the human family as much as it affects
+that of society; but these are things so repugnant to natural
+equity that they can only be extorted from men by constraint.
+
+I do not think a single people can be quoted, since human
+society began to exist, which has, by its own free will and by
+its own exertions, created an aristocracy within its own bosom. 
+All the aristocracies of the Middle Ages were founded by military
+conquest; the conqueror was the noble, the vanquished became the
+serf.  Inequality was then imposed by force; and after it had
+been introduced into the maners of the country it maintained its
+own authority, and was sanctioned by the legislation. 
+Communities have existed which were aristocratic from their
+earliest origin, owing to circumstances anterior to that event,
+and which became more democratic in each succeeding age.  Such
+was the destiny of the Romans, and of the barbarians after them.
+But a people, having taken its rise in civilization and
+democracy, which should gradually establish an inequality of
+conditions, until it arrived at inviolable privileges and
+exclusive castes, would be a novelty in the world; and nothing
+intimates that America is likely to furnish so singular an
+example.
+
+Reflection On The Causes Of The Commercial Prosperity Of The Of
+The United States
+
+The Americans destined by Nature to be a great maritime people -
+Extent of their coasts - Depth of their ports - Size of their
+rivers - The commercial superiority of the Anglo-Americans less
+attributable, however, to physical circumstances than to moral
+and intellectual causes - Reason of this opinion -Future destiny
+of the Anglo-Americans as a commercial nation - The dissolution
+of the Union would not check the maritime vigor of the States -
+Reason of this - Anglo-Americans will naturally supply the wants
+of the inhabitants of South America - They will become, like the
+English, the factors of a great portion of the world.
+
+The coast of the United States, from the Bay of Fundy to the
+Sabine River in the Gulf of Mexico, is more than two thousand
+miles in extent. These shores form an unbroken line, and they are
+all subject to the same government.  No nation in the world
+possesses vaster, deeper, or more secure ports for shipping than
+the Americans.
+
+The inhabitants of the United States constitute a great
+civilized people, which fortune has placed in the midst of an
+uncultivated country at a distance of three thousand miles from
+the central point of civilization. America consequently stands in
+daily need of European trade.  The Americans will, no doubt,
+ultimately succeed in producing or manufacturing at home most of
+the articles which they require; but the two continents can never
+be independent of each other, so numerous are the natural ties
+which exist between their wants, their ideas, their habits, and
+their manners. 
+
+The Union produces peculiar commodities which are now become
+necessary to us, but which cannot be cultivated, or can only be
+raised at an enormous expense, upon the soil of Europe.  The
+Americans only consume a small portion of this produce, and they
+are willing to sell us the rest.  Europe is therefore the market
+of America, as America is the market of Europe; and maritime
+commerce is no less necessary to enable the inhabitants of the
+United States to transport their raw materials to the ports of
+Europe, than it is to enable us to supply them with our
+manufactured produce.  The United States were therefore
+necessarily reduced to the alternative of increasing the business
+of other maritime nations to a great extent, if they had
+themselves declined to enter into commerce, as the Spaniards of
+Mexico have hitherto done; or, in the second place, of becoming
+one of the first trading powers of the globe. 
+
+The Anglo-Americans have always displayed a very decided
+taste for the sea.  The Declaration of Independence broke the
+commercial restrictions which united them to England, and gave a
+fresh and powerful stimulus to their maritime genius.  Ever since
+that time, the shipping of the Union has increased in almost the
+same rapid proportion as the number of its inhabitants.  The
+Americans themselves now transport to their own shores
+nine-tenths of the European produce which they consume. *g And
+they also bring three- quarters of the exports of the New World
+to the European consumer. *h The ships of the United States fill
+the docks of Havre and of Liverpool; whilst the number of English
+and French vessels which are to be seen at New York is
+comparatively small. *i
+
+[Footnote g: The total value of goods imported during the year
+which ended on September 30, 1832, was $101,129,266.  The value
+of the cargoes of foreign vessels did not amount to $10,731,039,
+or about one-tenth of the entire sum.]
+
+[Footnote h: The value of goods exported during the same year
+amounted to $87,176,943; the value of goods exported by foreign
+vessels amounted to $21,036,183, or about one quarter of the
+whole sum.  (Williams's "Register," 1833, p. 398.)]
+
+[Footnote i: The tonnage of the vessels which entered all the
+ports of the Union in the years 1829, 1830, and 1831, amounted to
+3,307,719 tons, of which 544,571 tons were foreign vessels; they
+stood, therefore, to the American vessels in a ratio of about 16
+to 100.  ("National Calendar," 1833, p. 304.) The tonnage of the
+English vessels which entered the ports of London, Liverpool, and
+Hull, in the years 1820, 1826, and 1831, amounted to 443,800
+tons.  The foreign vessels which entered the same ports during
+the same years amounted to 159,431 tons.  The ratio between them
+was, therefore, about 36 to 100.  ("Companion to the Almanac,"
+1834, p. 169.) In the year 1832 the ratio between the foreign and
+British ships which entered the ports of Great Britain was 29 to
+100. [These statements relate to a condition of affairs which has
+ceased to exist; the Civil War and the heavy taxation of the
+United States entirely altered the trade and navigation of the
+country.]] 
+
+Thus, not only does the American merchant face the
+competition of his own countrymen, but he even supports that of
+foreign nations in their own ports with success.  This is readily
+explained by the fact that the vessels of the United States can
+cross the seas at a cheaper rate than any other vessels in the
+world.  As long as the mercantile shipping of the United States
+preserves this superiority, it will not only retain what it has
+acquired, but it will constantly increase in prosperity.
+
+
+Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races - Part X
+
+It is difficult to say for what reason the Americans can
+trade at a lower rate than other nations; and one is at first led
+to attribute this circumstance to the physical or natural
+advantages which are within their reach; but this supposition is
+erroneous.  The American vessels cost almost as much to build as
+our own; *j they are not better built, and they generally last
+for a shorter time.  The pay of the American sailor is more
+considerable than the pay on board European ships; which is
+proved by the great number of Europeans who are to be met with in
+the merchant vessels of the United States. But I am of opinion
+that the true cause of their superiority must not be sought for
+in physical advantages, but that it is wholly attributable to
+their moral and intellectual
+qualities.
+
+[Footnote j: Materials are, generally speaking, less expensive in
+America than in Europe, but the price of labor is much higher.] 
+
+The following comparison will illustrate my meaning.  During
+the campaigns of the Revolution the French introduced a new
+system of tactics into the art of war, which perplexed the oldest
+generals, and very nearly destroyed the most ancient monarchies
+in Europe.  They undertook (what had never before been attempted)
+to make shift without a number of things which had always been
+held to be indispensable in warfare; they required novel
+exertions on the part of their troops which no civilized nations
+had ever thought of; they achieved great actions in an incredibly
+short space of time; and they risked human life without
+hesitation to obtain the object in view. The French had less
+money and fewer men than their enemies; their resources were
+infinitely inferior; nevertheless they were constantly
+victorious, until their adversaries chose to imitate their
+example.
+
+The Americans have introduced a similar system into their
+commercial speculations; and they do for cheapness what the
+French did for conquest. The European sailor navigates with
+prudence; he only sets sail when the weather is favorable; if an
+unforseen accident befalls him, he puts into port; at night he
+furls a portion of his canvas; and when the whitening billows
+intimate the vicinity of land, he checks his way, and takes an
+observation of the sun.  But the American neglects these
+precautions and braves these dangers.  He weighs anchor in the
+midst of tempestuous gales; by night and by day he spreads his
+sheets to the wind; he repairs as he goes along such damage as
+his vessel may have sustained from the storm; and when he at last
+approaches the term of his voyage, he darts onward to the shore
+as if he already descried a port.  The Americans are often
+shipwrecked, but no trader crosses the seas so rapidly. And as
+they perform the same distance in a shorter time, they can
+perform it at a cheaper rate.
+
+The European touches several times at different ports in the
+course of a long voyage; he loses a good deal of precious time in
+making the harbor, or in waiting for a favorable wind to leave
+it; and he pays daily dues to be allowed to remain there.  The
+American starts from Boston to go to purchase tea in China; he
+arrives at Canton, stays there a few days, and then returns. In
+less than two years he has sailed as far as the entire
+circumference of the globe, and he has seen land but once.  It is
+true that during a voyage of eight 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 a tedious
+existence; but upon his return he can sell a pound of his tea for
+a half-penny less than the English merchant, and his purpose is
+accomplished.
+
+I cannot better explain my meaning than by saying that the
+Americans affect a sort of heroism in their manner of trading. 
+But the European merchant will always find it very difficult to
+imitate his American competitor, who, in adopting the system
+which I have just described, follows not only a calculation of
+his gain, but an impulse of his nature.
+
+The inhabitants of the United States are subject to all the
+wants and all the desires which result from an advanced stage of
+civilization; but as they are not surrounded by a community
+admirably adapted, like that of Europe, to satisfy their wants,
+they are often obliged to procure for themselves the various
+articles which education and habit have rendered necessaries.  In
+America it sometimes happens that the same individual tills his
+field, builds his dwelling, contrives his tools, makes his shoes,
+and weaves the coarse stuff of which his dress is composed.  This
+circumstance is prejudicial to the excellence of the work; but it
+powerfully contributes to awaken the intelligence of the workman. 
+Nothing tends to materialize man, and to deprive his work of the
+faintest trace of mind, more than extreme division of labor. In a
+country like America, where men devoted to special occupations
+are rare, a long apprenticeship cannot be required from anyone
+who embraces a profession.  The Americans, therefore, change
+their means of gaining a livelihood very readily; and they suit
+their occupations to the exigencies of the moment, in the manner
+most profitable to themselves.  Men are to be met with who have
+successively been barristers, farmers, merchants, ministers of
+the gospel, and physicians.  If the American be less perfect in
+each craft than the European, at least there is scarcely any
+trade with which he is utterly unacquainted.  His capacity is
+more general, and the circle of his intelligence is enlarged.
+
+The inhabitants of the United States are never fettered by
+the axioms of their profession; they escape from all the
+prejudices of their present station; they are not more attached
+to one line of operation than to another; they are not more prone
+to employ 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 might exercise upon their minds 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 which everything is in constant motion, and every
+movement seems an improvement.  The idea of novelty is there
+indissolubly connected with the idea of amelioration.  No natural
+boundary seems to be set to the efforts of man; and what is not
+yet done is only what he has not yet attempted to do.
+
+This perpetual change which goes on in the United States,
+these frequent vicissitudes of fortune, accompanied by such
+unforeseen fluctuations in private and in public wealth, serve to
+keep the minds of the citizens in a perpetual state of feverish
+agitation, which admirably invigorates their exertions, and keeps
+them in a state of excitement above the ordinary level of
+mankind.  The whole life of an American is passed like a game of
+chance, a revolutionary crisis, or a battle.  As the same causes
+are continually in operation throughout the country, they
+ultimately impart an irresistible impulse to the national
+character.  The American, taken as a chance specimen of his
+countrymen, must then be a man of singular warmth in his desires,
+enterprising, fond of adventure, and, above all, of innovation. 
+The same bent is manifest in all that he does; he introduces it
+into his political laws, his religious doctrines, his theories of
+social economy, and his domestic occupations; he bears it with
+him in the depths of the backwoods, as well as in the business of
+the city.  It is this same passion, applied to maritime commerce,
+which makes him the cheapest and the quickest trader in the
+world.
+
+As long as the sailors of the United States retain these
+inspiriting 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 country, but they
+will tend more and more to become, like the English, the factors
+of all other peoples. *k This prediction has already begun to be
+realized; we perceive that the American traders are introducing
+themselves as intermediate agents in the commerce of several
+European nations; *l and America will offer a still wider field
+to their enterprise. 
+
+[Footnote k: It must not be supposed that English vessels are
+exclusively employed in transporting foreign produce into
+England, or British produce to foreign countries; at the present
+day the merchant shipping of England may be regarded in the light
+of a vast system of public conveyances, ready to serve all the
+producers of the world, and to open communications between all
+peoples.  The maritime genius of the Americans prompts them to
+enter into competition with the English.]
+
+[Footnote l: Part of the commerce of the Mediterranean is already
+carried on by American vessels.]
+
+The great colonies which were founded in South America by
+the Spaniards and the Portuguese have since become empires. 
+Civil war and oppression now lay waste those extensive regions. 
+Population does not increase, and the thinly scattered
+inhabitants are too much absorbed in the cares of self-defense
+even to attempt any amelioration of their condition.  Such,
+however, will not always be the case.  Europe has succeeded by
+her own efforts in piercing the gloom of the Middle Ages; South
+America has the same Christian laws and Christian manners as we
+have; she contains all the germs of civilization which have grown
+amidst the nations of Europe or their offsets, added to the
+advantages to be derived from our example: why then should she
+always remain uncivilized?  It is clear that the question is
+simply one of time; at some future period, which may be more or
+less remote, the inhabitants of South America will constitute
+flourishing and enlightened nations.
+
+But when the Spaniards and Portuguese of South America begin
+to feel the wants common to all civilized nations, they will
+still be unable to satisfy those wants for themselves; as the
+youngest children of civilization, they must perforce admit the
+superiority of their elder brethren.  They will be agriculturists
+long before they succeed in manufactures or commerce, and they
+will require the mediation of strangers to exchange their produce
+beyond seas for those articles for which a demand will begin to
+be felt.
+
+It is unquestionable that the Americans of the North will
+one day supply the wants of the Americans of the South.  Nature
+has placed them in contiguity, and has furnished the former with
+every means of knowing and appreciating those demands, of
+establishing a permanent connection with those States, and of
+gradually filling their markets.  The merchants of the United
+States could only forfeit these natural advantages if he were
+very inferior to the merchant of Europe; to whom he is, on the
+contrary, superior in several respects.  The Americans of the
+United States already exercise a very considerable moral
+influence upon all the peoples of the New World.  They are the
+source of intelligence, and all the nations which inhabit the
+same continent are already accustomed to consider them as the
+most enlightened, the most powerful, and the most wealthy members
+of the great American family. All eyes are therefore turned
+towards the Union; and the States of which that body is composed
+are the models which the other communities try to imitate to the
+best of their power; it is from the United States that they
+borrow their political principles and their laws. 
+
+The Americans of the United States stand in precisely the
+same position with regard to the peoples of South America as
+their fathers, the English, occupy with regard to the Italians,
+the Spaniards, the Portuguese, and all those nations of Europe
+which receive their articles of daily consumption from England,
+because they are less advanced in civilization 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 commerce of the
+States which now compose it would undoubtedly be checked for a
+time; but this consequence would be less perceptible than is
+generally supposed.  It is evident that, whatever may happen, the
+commercial States will remain united.  They are all contiguous to
+each other; they have identically the same opinions, interests,
+and manners; and they are alone competent to form a very great
+maritime power. Even if the South of the Union were to become
+independent of the North, it would still require the services of
+those States.  I have already observed that the South is not a
+commercial country, and nothing intimates that it is likely to
+become so.  The Americans of the South of the United States will
+therefore be obliged, for a long time to come, to have recourse
+to strangers to export their produce, and to supply them with the
+commodities which are requisite to satisfy their wants.  But the
+Northern States are undoubtedly able to act as their intermediate
+agents cheaper than any other merchants. They will therefore
+retain that employment, for cheapness is the sovereign law of
+commerce.  National claims and national prejudices cannot resist
+the influence of cheapness.  Nothing can be more virulent than
+the hatred which exists between the Americans of the United
+States and the English.  But notwithstanding these inimical
+feelings, the Americans derive the greater part of their
+manufactured commodities from England, because England supplies
+them at a cheaper rate than any other nation.  Thus the
+increasing prosperity of America turns, notwithstanding the
+grudges of the Americans, to the advantage of British
+manufactures.
+
+Reason shows and experience proves that no commercial
+prosperity can be durable if it cannot be united, in case of
+need, to naval force.  This truth is as well understood in the
+United States as it can be anywhere else: the Americans are
+already able to make their flag respected; in a few years they
+will be able to make it feared.  I am convinced that the
+dismemberment of the Union would not have the effect of
+diminishing the naval power of the Americans, but that it would
+powerfully contribute to increase it.  At the present time the
+commercial States are connected with others which have not the
+same interests, and which frequently yield an unwilling consent
+to the increase of a maritime power by which they are only
+indirectly benefited. If, on the contrary, the commercial States
+of the Union formed one independent nation, commerce would become
+the foremost of their national interests; they would consequently
+be willing to make very great sacrifices to protect their
+shipping, and nothing would prevent them from pursuing their
+designs upon this point.
+
+Nations, as well as men, almost always betray the most
+prominent features of their future destiny in their earliest
+years.  When I contemplate the ardor with which the
+Anglo-Americans prosecute commercial enterprise, the advantages
+which befriend them, and the success of their undertakings, I
+cannot refrain from 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 have now nearly reached 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 the whole from one single point; the remarks I shall
+make will be less detailed, but they will be more sure. I shall
+perceive each object less distinctly, but I shall descry the
+principal facts with more certainty.  A traveller who has just
+left the walls of an immense city, climbs the neighboring hill;
+as he goes father off he loses sight of the men whom he has so
+recently quitted; their dwellings are confused in a dense mass;
+he can no longer distinguish the public squares, and he can
+scarcely trace out the great thoroughfares; but his eye has less
+difficulty in following the boundaries of the city, and for the
+first time he sees the shape of the vast whole.  Such is the
+future destiny of the British race in North America to my eye;
+the details of the stupendous picture are overhung with shade,
+but 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 confines are, it must not be supposed that
+the Anglo-American race will always remain within them; indeed,
+it has already far overstepped them.
+
+There was once a time at which we also might have created a
+great French nation in the American wilds, to counterbalance the
+influence of the English upon the destinies of the New World. 
+France formerly possessed a territory in 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 but ours; and all the European settlements scattered over
+that immense region recalled the traditions of our country. 
+Louisbourg, Montmorency, Duquesne, St. Louis, Vincennes, New
+Orleans (for such were the names they bore) are words dear to
+France and familiar to our ears.
+
+But a concourse of circumstances, which it would be tedious
+to enumerate, *m have deprived us of this magnificent
+inheritance. Wherever the French settlers were numerically weak
+and partially established, they have disappeared: those who
+remain are collected on a small extent of country, and are now
+subject to other laws.  The 400,000 French 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 population
+is increasing around them unceasingly and on all sides, which
+already penetrates amongst the ancient masters of the country,
+predominates in their cities and corrupts their language.  This
+population is identical with 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 Union, since it already
+extends to the northeast.
+
+[Footnote m: The foremost of these circumstances is, that nations
+which are accustomed to free institutions and municipal
+government are better able than any others to found prosperous
+colonies.  The habit of thinking and governing for oneself is
+indispensable in a new country, where success necessarily
+depends, in a great measure, upon the individual exertions of the
+settlers.]
+
+To the northwest nothing is to be met with but a few
+insignificant Russian settlements; but to the southwest, Mexico
+presents a barrier to the Anglo-Americans.  Thus, the Spaniards
+and the Anglo-Americans are, properly speaking, the only two
+races which divide the possession of the New World. The limits of
+separation between them have been settled by a treaty; but
+although the conditions of that treaty are exceedingly favorable
+to the Anglo-Americans, I do not doubt that they will shortly
+infringe this arrangement.  Vast provinces, extending beyond the
+frontiers of the Union towards Mexico, are still destitute of
+inhabitants.  The natives of the United States will forestall the
+rightful occupants of these solitary regions.  They will take
+possession of the soil, and establish social institutions, so
+that when the legal owner arrives at length, he will find the
+wilderness under cultivation, and strangers quietly settled in
+the midst of his inheritance. *n
+
+[Footnote n: [This was speedily accomplished, and ere long both
+Texas and California formed part of the United States.  The
+Russian settlements were acquired by purchase.]]
+
+The lands of the New World belong to the first occupant, and
+they are the natural reward of the swiftest pioneer.  Even the
+countries which are already peopled will have some difficulty in
+securing themselves from this invasion. I have already alluded to
+what is taking place in the province of Texas.  The inhabitants
+of the United States are perpetually migrating to Texas, where
+they purchase land; and although they conform to the laws of the
+country, they are gradually founding the empire of their own
+language and their own manners. The province of Texas is still
+part of the Mexican dominions, but it will soon contain no
+Mexicans; the same thing has occurred whenever the
+Anglo-Americans have come into contact with populations of a
+different origin.
+
+It cannot be denied that the British race has acquired an
+amazing preponderance over all the other European races in the
+New World; and that it is very superior to them in civilization,
+in industry, and in power.  As long as it is only surrounded by
+desert or thinly peopled countries, as long as it encounters no
+dense populations upon 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
+transgress these imaginary barriers.
+
+The geographical position of the British race in the New
+World is peculiarly favorable to its rapid increase.  Above its
+northern frontiers the icy regions of the Pole extend; and a few
+degrees below its southern confines lies the burning 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 Declaration
+of Independence.  But this is an error: the population increased
+as rapidly under the colonial system as it does at the present
+day; that is to say, it doubled in about twenty-two years.  But
+this proportion which is now applied to millions, was then
+applied to thousands of inhabitants; and the same fact which was
+scarcely noticeable a century ago, is now evident to every
+observer. 
+
+The British subjects in Canada, who are dependent on a king,
+augment and spread almost as rapidly as the British settlers of
+the United States, who live under a republican government. 
+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 upon the western frontiers, the emigration
+westward was never checked.  Whilst the enemy laid waste the
+shores of the Atlantic, Kentucky, the western parts of
+Pennsylvania, and the States of Vermont and of Maine were filling
+with inhabitants.  Nor did the unsettled state of the
+Constitution, which succeeded the war, prevent the increase of
+the population, or stop its progress across the wilds.  Thus, the
+difference of laws, the various conditions of peace and war, of
+order and of anarchy, have exercised no perceptible influence
+upon the gradual development of the Anglo-Americans. This may be
+readily understood; for the fact is, that 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 dismemberment
+of the Union, and the hostilities which might ensure, the
+abolition of republican institutions, and the tyrannical
+government which might succeed it, may retard this impulse, but
+they cannot prevent it from ultimately fulfilling the destinies
+to which that race is reserved.  No power upon earth can close
+upon the emigrants that fertile wilderness which offers resources
+to all industry, and a refuge from all want.  Future events, of
+whatever nature they may be, will not deprive the Americans of
+their climate or of their inland seas, of their great rivers or
+of their exuberant soil.  Nor will bad laws, revolutions, and
+anarchy be able to obliterate that love of prosperity and that
+spirit of enterprise which seem to be the distinctive
+characteristics of their race, or to extinguish that knowledge
+which guides them on their way.
+
+Thus, in the midst of the uncertain future, one event at
+least is sure. At a period which may be said to be near (for we
+are speaking of the life of a nation), the Anglo-Americans will
+alone cover the immense space contained between the polar regions
+and the tropics, extending from the coasts of the Atlantic to the
+shores of the Pacific Ocean.  The territory which will probably
+be occupied by the Anglo-Americans at some future time, may be
+computed to equal three-quarters of Europe in extent. *o The
+climate of the Union is upon the whole preferable to that of
+Europe, and its natural advantages are not less great; it is
+therefore evident that its population will at some future time be
+proportionate to our own.  Europe, divided as it is between so
+many different nations, and torn as it has been by incessant wars
+and the barbarous manners of the Middle Ages, has notwithstanding
+attained a population of 410 inhabitants to the square league. *p
+What cause can prevent the United States from having as numerous
+a population in time? 
+
+[Footnote o: The United States already extend over a territory
+equal to one-half of Europe.  The area of Europe is 500,000
+square leagues, and its population 205,000,000 of inhabitants. 
+("Malte Brun," liv. 114. vol. vi. p. 4.)
+
+[This computation is given in French leagues, which were in
+use when the author wrote.  Twenty years later, in 1850, the
+superficial area of the United States had been extended to
+3,306,865 square miles of territory, which is about the area of
+Europe.]]
+
+[Footnote p: See "Malte Brun," liv. 116, vol. vi. p. 92.]
+
+Many ages must elapse before the divers offsets of the
+British race in America cease to present the same homogeneous
+characteristics: and the time cannot be foreseen at which a
+permanent inequality of conditions will be established in the New
+World.  Whatever differences may arise, from peace or from war,
+from freedom or oppression, from prosperity or want, between the
+destinies of the different descendants of the great
+Anglo-American family, they will at least preserve an analogous
+social condition, and they will hold in common the customs and
+the opinions to which that social condition has given birth.
+
+In the Middle Ages, the tie of religion was sufficiently
+powerful to imbue all the different populations of Europe with
+the same civilization. The British of the New World have a
+thousand other reciprocal ties; and they live at a time when the
+tendency to equality is general amongst mankind.  The Middle Ages
+were a period when everything was broken up; when each people,
+each province, each city, and each family, had a strong tendency
+to maintain its distinct individuality.  At the present time an
+opposite tendency seems to prevail, and the nations seem to be
+advancing to unity.  Our means of intellectual intercourse unite
+the most remote parts of the earth; and it is impossible for men
+to remain strangers to each other, or to be ignorant of the
+events which are taking place in any corner of the globe.  The
+consequence is that there is less difference, at the present day,
+between the Europeans and their descendants in the New World,
+than there was between certain towns in the thirteenth century
+which were only separated by a river. If this tendency to
+assimilation brings foreign nations closer to each other, it must
+a fortiori prevent the descendants of the same people 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, *q equal in
+condition, the progeny of one race, owing their origin to the
+same cause, and preserving the same civilization, 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 fraught with such portentous
+consequences as to baffle the efforts even of the imagination.
+
+[Footnote q: This would be a population proportionate to that of
+Europe, taken at a mean rate of 410 inhabitants to the square
+league.]
+
+There are, at the present time, two great nations in the
+world which seem to tend towards the same end, although they
+started from different points: I allude to the Russians and the
+Americans.  Both of them have grown up unnoticed; and whilst the
+attention of mankind was directed elsewhere, they have suddenly
+assumed a most prominent place amongst the nations; and the world
+learned their existence and their greatness at almost the same
+time.
+
+All other nations seem to have nearly reached their natural
+limits, and only to be charged with the maintenance of their
+power; but these are still in the act of growth; *r all the
+others are stopped, or continue to advance with extreme
+difficulty; these are proceeding with ease and with celerity
+along a path to which the human eye can assign no term.  The
+American struggles against the natural obstacles which oppose
+him; the adversaries of the Russian are men; the former combats
+the wilderness and savage life; the latter, civilization with all
+its weapons and its arts: the conquests of the one are therefore
+gained by the ploughshare; those of the other by the sword. The
+Anglo-American relies upon personal interest to accomplish his
+ends, and gives free scope to the unguided exertions and
+common-sense of the citizens; the Russian centres all the
+authority of society in a single arm: the principal 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 to be marked out by the will of Heaven to
+sway the destinies of half the globe.
+
+[Footnote r: Russia is the country in the Old World in which
+population increases most rapidly in proportion.]
+
+
+
+
+
+*The Project Gutenberg Etext of Democracy In America, Volume 1*
+
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+The Project Gutenberg eBook of Democracy In America, Volume 1 (of 2), by
+Alexis de Toqueville
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at
+www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you
+will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before
+using this eBook.
+
+Title: Democracy In America, Volume 1 (of 2)
+
+Author: Alexis de Toqueville
+
+Translator: Henry Reeve
+
+Release Date: February, 1997 [eBook #815]
+[Most recently updated: March 21, 2022]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: UTF-8
+
+Produced by: David Reed and David Widger
+
+*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA,
+ VOLUME 1 ***
+
+
+
+
+DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA
+
+By Alexis De Tocqueville
+
+AVOCAT À LA COUR ROYALE DE PARIS
+ETC., ETC.
+
+Translated by
+Henry Reeve, Esq.
+
+IN TWO VOLUMES.
+VOL. I.
+
+LONDON:
+SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET
+1835
+
+
+Contents
+
+ Book One
+ Introductory Chapter
+ Chapter I: Exterior Form Of North America
+ Chapter Summary
+ Chapter II: Origin Of The Anglo-Americans—Part I
+ Chapter Summary
+ Chapter II: Origin Of The Anglo-Americans—Part II
+ Chapter III: Social Conditions Of The Anglo-Americans
+ Chapter Summary
+ Chapter IV: The Principle Of The Sovereignty Of The People In America
+ Chapter Summary
+ Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States—Part I
+ Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States—Part II
+ Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States—Part III
+ Chapter VI: Judicial Power In The United States
+ Chapter Summary
+ Chapter VII: Political Jurisdiction In The United States
+ Chapter Summary
+ Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution—Part I
+ Chapter Summary
+ Summary Of The Federal Constitution
+ Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution—Part II
+ Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution—Part III
+ Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution—Part IV
+ Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution—Part V
+ Chapter IX: Why The People May Strictly Be Said To Govern In The
+  United
+ Chapter X: Parties In The United States
+ Chapter Summary
+ Parties In The United States
+ Chapter XI: Liberty Of The Press In The United States
+ Chapter Summary
+ Chapter XII: Political Associations In The United States
+ Chapter Summary
+ Chapter XIII: Government Of The Democracy In America—Part I
+ Chapter XIII: Government Of The Democracy In America—Part II
+ Chapter XIII: Government Of The Democracy In America—Part III
+ Chapter XIV: Advantages American Society Derive From Democracy—Part I
+ Chapter XIV: Advantages American Society Derive From Democracy—Part II
+ Chapter XV: Unlimited Power Of Majority, And Its Consequences—Part I
+ Chapter Summary
+ Chapter XV: Unlimited Power Of Majority, And Its Consequences—Part II
+ Chapter XVI: Causes Mitigating Tyranny In The United States—Part I
+ Chapter Summary
+ Chapter XVI: Causes Mitigating Tyranny In The United States—Part II
+ Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic
+  Republic—Part I
+ Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic
+  Republic—Part II
+ Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic
+  Republic—Part III
+ Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic
+  Republic—Part IV
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races In The United
+  States—Part I
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part II
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part III
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part IV
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part V
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part VI
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part VII
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part VIII
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part IX
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part X
+ Conclusion
+
+
+
+
+ Book One
+
+
+
+
+ Introductory Chapter
+
+
+Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in
+the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general
+equality of conditions. I readily discovered the prodigious influence
+which this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society, by
+giving a certain direction to public opinion, and a certain tenor to
+the laws; by imparting new maxims to the governing powers, and peculiar
+habits to the governed. I speedily perceived that the influence of this
+fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the
+country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over
+the Government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments, suggests the
+ordinary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not produce.
+The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I
+perceived that the equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from
+which all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all
+my observations constantly terminated.
+
+I then turned my thoughts to our own hemisphere, where I imagined that
+I discerned something analogous to the spectacle which the New World
+presented to me. I observed that the equality of conditions is daily
+progressing towards those extreme limits which it seems to have reached
+in the United States, and that the democracy which governs the American
+communities appears to be rapidly rising into power in Europe. I hence
+conceived the idea of the book which is now before the reader.
+
+It is evident to all alike that a great democratic revolution is going
+on amongst us; but there are two opinions as to its nature and
+consequences. To some it appears to be a novel accident, which as such
+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. Let us recollect the situation of
+France seven hundred years ago, when the territory was divided amongst
+a small number of families, who were the owners of the soil and the
+rulers of the inhabitants; the right of governing descended with the
+family inheritance from generation to generation; force was the only
+means by which man could act on man, and landed property was the sole
+source of power. Soon, however, the political power of the clergy was
+founded, and began to exert itself: the clergy opened its ranks to all
+classes, to the poor and the rich, the villein and the lord; equality
+penetrated into the Government through the Church, and the being who as
+a serf must have vegetated in perpetual bondage took his place as a
+priest in the midst of nobles, and not infrequently above the heads of
+kings.
+
+The different relations of men became more complicated and more
+numerous as society gradually became more stable and more civilized.
+Thence the want of civil laws was felt; and the order of legal
+functionaries 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 in their ermine and their mail. Whilst the kings were
+ruining themselves by their great enterprises, and the nobles
+exhausting their resources by private wars, the lower orders were
+enriching themselves by commerce. The influence of money began to be
+perceptible in State affairs. The transactions of business opened a new
+road to power, and the financier rose to a station of political
+influence in which he was at once flattered and despised. Gradually the
+spread of mental acquirements, and the increasing taste for literature
+and art, opened chances of success to talent; science became a means of
+government, intelligence led to social power, and the man of letters
+took a part in the affairs of the State. The value attached to the
+privileges of birth decreased in the exact proportion in which new
+paths were struck out to advancement. In the eleventh century nobility
+was beyond all price; in the thirteenth it might be purchased; it was
+conferred for the first time in 1270; and equality was thus introduced
+into the Government by the aristocracy itself.
+
+In the course of these seven hundred years it sometimes happened that
+in order to resist the authority of the Crown, or to diminish the power
+of their rivals, the nobles granted a certain share of political rights
+to the people. Or, more frequently, the king permitted the lower orders
+to enjoy a degree of power, with the intention of repressing the
+aristocracy. In France the kings have always been the most active and
+the most constant of levellers. When they were strong and ambitious
+they spared no pains to raise the people to the level of the nobles;
+when they were temperate or weak they allowed the people to rise above
+themselves. Some assisted the democracy by their talents, others by
+their vices. Louis XI and Louis XIV reduced every rank beneath the
+throne to the same subjection; Louis XV descended, himself and all his
+Court, into the dust.
+
+As soon as land was held on any other than a feudal tenure, and
+personal property began in its turn to confer influence and power,
+every improvement which was introduced in commerce or manufacture was a
+fresh element of the equality of conditions. Henceforward every new
+discovery, every new want which it engendered, and every new desire
+which craved satisfaction, was a step towards the universal level. The
+taste for luxury, the love of war, the sway of fashion, and the most
+superficial as well as the deepest passions of the human heart,
+co-operated to enrich the poor and to impoverish the rich.
+
+From the time when the exercise of the intellect became the source of
+strength and of wealth, it is impossible not to consider every addition
+to science, every fresh truth, and every new idea as a germ of power
+placed within the reach of the people. Poetry, eloquence, and memory,
+the grace of wit, the glow of imagination, the depth of thought, and
+all the gifts which are bestowed by Providence with an equal hand,
+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 relief the natural greatness of man; its conquests
+spread, therefore, with those of civilization and knowledge, and
+literature became an arsenal where the poorest and the weakest could
+always find weapons to their hand.
+
+In perusing the pages of our history, we shall scarcely meet with a
+single great event, in the lapse of seven hundred years, which has not
+turned to the advantage of equality. The Crusades and the wars of the
+English decimated the nobles and divided their possessions; the
+erection of communities introduced an element of democratic liberty
+into the bosom of feudal monarchy; the invention of fire-arms equalized
+the villein and the noble on the field of battle; printing opened the
+same resources to the minds of all classes; the post was organized so
+as to bring the same information to the door of the poor man’s cottage
+and to the gate of the palace; and Protestantism proclaimed that all
+men are alike able to find the road to heaven. The discovery of America
+offered a thousand new paths to fortune, and placed riches and power
+within the reach of the adventurous and the obscure. If we examine what
+has happened in France at intervals of fifty years, beginning with the
+eleventh century, we shall invariably perceive that a twofold
+revolution has taken place in the state of society. The noble has gone
+down on the social ladder, and the roturier has gone up; the one
+descends as the other rises. Every half century brings them nearer to
+each other, and they will very shortly meet.
+
+Nor is this phenomenon at all peculiar to France. Whithersoever we turn
+our eyes we shall witness the same continual revolution throughout the
+whole of Christendom. The various occurrences of national existence
+have everywhere turned to the advantage of democracy; all men have
+aided it by their exertions: those who have intentionally labored in
+its cause, and those who have served it unwittingly; 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 equality of conditions is therefore a
+providential fact, and it possesses all the characteristics of a divine
+decree: it is universal, it is durable, it constantly eludes all human
+interference, and all events as well as all men contribute to its
+progress. Would it, then, be wise to imagine that a social impulse
+which dates from so far back can be checked by the efforts of a
+generation? Is it credible that the democracy which has annihilated the
+feudal system and vanquished kings will respect the citizen and the
+capitalist? Will it stop now that it has grown so strong and its
+adversaries so weak? None can say which way we are going, for all terms
+of comparison are wanting: the equality of conditions is more complete
+in the Christian countries of the present day than it has been at any
+time or in any part of the world; so that the extent of what already
+exists prevents us from foreseeing what may be yet to come.
+
+The whole book which is here offered to the public has been written
+under the impression of a kind of religious dread produced in the
+author’s mind by the contemplation of so irresistible a revolution,
+which has advanced for centuries in spite of such amazing obstacles,
+and which is still proceeding in the midst of the ruins it has made. It
+is not necessary that God himself should speak in order to disclose to
+us the unquestionable signs of His will; we can discern them in the
+habitual course of nature, and in the invariable tendency of events: I
+know, without a special revelation, that the planets move in the orbits
+traced by the Creator’s finger. If the men of our time were led by
+attentive observation and by sincere reflection to acknowledge that the
+gradual and progressive development of social equality is at once the
+past and future of their history, this solitary truth 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 age seem to me to present a most alarming
+spectacle; the impulse which is bearing them along is so strong that it
+cannot be stopped, but it is not yet so rapid that it cannot be guided:
+their fate is in their hands; yet a little while and it may be so no
+longer. The first duty which is at this time imposed upon those who
+direct our affairs is to educate the democracy; to warm its faith, if
+that be possible; to purify its morals; to direct its energies; to
+substitute a knowledge of business for its inexperience, and an
+acquaintance with its true interests for its blind propensities; to
+adapt its government to time and place, and to modify it in compliance
+with the occurrences and the actors of the age. A new science of
+politics is indispensable to a new world. This, however, is what we
+think of least; launched in the middle of a rapid stream, we
+obstinately fix our eyes on the ruins which may still be described upon
+the shore we have left, whilst the current sweeps us along, and drives
+us backwards towards the gulf.
+
+In no country in Europe has the great social revolution which I have
+been describing made such rapid progress as in France; but it has
+always been borne on by chance. The heads of the State have never had
+any forethought for its exigencies, and its victories have been
+obtained 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 connect themselves with it in order to
+guide it. The people has consequently been abandoned to its wild
+propensities, and it has grown up like those outcasts who receive their
+education in the public streets, and who are unacquainted with aught
+but the vices and wretchedness of society. The existence of a democracy
+was seemingly unknown, when on a sudden it took possession of the
+supreme power. Everything was then submitted to its caprices; it was
+worshipped as the idol of strength; until, when it was enfeebled by its
+own excesses, the legislator conceived the rash project of annihilating
+its power, instead of instructing it and correcting its vices; no
+attempt was made to fit it to govern, but all were bent on excluding it
+from the government.
+
+The consequence of this has been that the democratic revolution has
+been effected only in the material parts of society, without that
+concomitant change in laws, ideas, customs, and manners which was
+necessary to render such a revolution beneficial. We have gotten a
+democracy, but without the conditions which lessen its vices and render
+its natural advantages more prominent; and although we already perceive
+the evils it brings, we are ignorant of the benefits it may confer.
+
+While the power of the Crown, supported by the aristocracy, peaceably
+governed the nations of Europe, society possessed, in the midst of its
+wretchedness, several different advantages which can now scarcely be
+appreciated or conceived. The power of a part of his subjects was an
+insurmountable barrier to the tyranny of the prince; and the monarch,
+who felt the almost divine character which he enjoyed in the eyes of
+the multitude, derived a motive for the just use of his power from the
+respect which he inspired. High as they were placed above the people,
+the nobles could not but take that calm and benevolent interest in its
+fate which the shepherd feels towards his flock; and without
+acknowledging the poor as their equals, they watched over the destiny
+of those whose welfare Providence had entrusted to their care. The
+people never having conceived the idea of a social condition different
+from its own, and entertaining no expectation of ever ranking with its
+chiefs, received benefits from them without discussing their rights. It
+grew attached to them when they were clement and just, and it submitted
+without resistance or servility to their exactions, as to the
+inevitable visitations of the arm of God. Custom, and the manners of
+the time, had moreover created a species of law in the midst of
+violence, and established certain limits to oppression. As the noble
+never suspected that anyone would attempt to deprive him of the
+privileges which he believed to be legitimate, and as the serf looked
+upon his own inferiority as a consequence of the immutable order of
+nature, it is easy to imagine that a mutual exchange of good-will took
+place between two classes so differently gifted by fate. Inequality and
+wretchedness were then to be found in society; but the souls of neither
+rank of men were degraded. Men are not corrupted by the exercise of
+power or debased by the habit of obedience, but by the exercise of a
+power which they believe to be illegal and by obedience to a rule which
+they consider to be usurped and oppressive. On one side was wealth,
+strength, and leisure, accompanied by the refinements of luxury, the
+elegance of taste, the pleasures of wit, and the religion of art. On
+the other was labor and a rude ignorance; but in the midst of this
+coarse and ignorant multitude it was not uncommon to meet with
+energetic passions, generous sentiments, profound religious
+convictions, and independent virtues. The body of a State thus
+organized might boast of its stability, its power, and, above all, of
+its glory.
+
+But the scene is now changed, and gradually the two ranks mingle; the
+divisions which once severed mankind are lowered, property is divided,
+power is held in common, the light of intelligence spreads, and the
+capacities of all classes are equally 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 can
+conceive a society in which all men would profess an equal attachment
+and respect for the laws of which they are the common authors; in which
+the authority of the State would be respected as necessary, though not
+as divine; and the loyalty of the subject to its chief magistrate would
+not be a passion, but a quiet and rational persuasion. Every individual
+being in the possession of rights which he is sure to retain, a kind of
+manly reliance and reciprocal courtesy would arise between all classes,
+alike removed from pride and meanness. The people, well acquainted with
+its true interests, would allow that in order to profit by the
+advantages of society it is necessary to satisfy its demands. In this
+state of things the voluntary association of the citizens might supply
+the individual exertions of the nobles, and the community would be
+alike protected from anarchy and from oppression.
+
+I admit that, in a democratic State thus constituted, society will not
+be stationary; but the impulses of the social body may be regulated and
+directed forwards; if there be less splendor than in the halls of an
+aristocracy, the contrast of misery will be less frequent also; the
+pleasures of enjoyment may be less excessive, but those of comfort will
+be more general; the sciences may be less perfectly cultivated, but
+ignorance will be less common; the impetuosity of the feelings will be
+repressed, and the habits of the nation softened; there will be more
+vices and fewer crimes. In the absence of enthusiasm and of an ardent
+faith, great sacrifices may be obtained from the members of a
+commonwealth by an appeal to their understandings and their experience;
+each individual will feel the same necessity for uniting with his
+fellow-citizens to protect his own weakness; and as he knows that if
+they are to assist he must co-operate, he will readily perceive that
+his personal interest is identified with the interest of the community.
+The nation, taken as a whole, will be less brilliant, less glorious,
+and perhaps less strong; but the majority of the citizens will enjoy a
+greater degree of prosperity, and the people will remain quiet, not
+because it despairs of amelioration, but because it is conscious of the
+advantages of its condition. If all the consequences of this state of
+things were not good or useful, society would at least have
+appropriated all such as were useful and good; and having once and for
+ever renounced the social advantages of aristocracy, mankind would
+enter into possession of all the benefits which democracy can afford.
+
+But here it may be asked what we have adopted in the place of those
+institutions, those ideas, and those customs of our forefathers which
+we have abandoned. The spell of royalty is broken, but it has not been
+succeeded by the majesty of the laws; the people has learned to despise
+all authority, but fear now extorts a larger tribute of obedience than
+that which was formerly paid by reverence and by love.
+
+I perceive that we have destroyed those independent beings which were
+able to cope with tyranny single-handed; but it is the Government that
+has inherited the privileges of which families, corporations, and
+individuals have been deprived; the weakness of the whole community has
+therefore succeeded that influence of a small body of citizens, which,
+if it was sometimes oppressive, was often conservative. The division of
+property has 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 notion
+of Right is alike insensible to both classes, and Force affords to both
+the only argument for the present, and the only guarantee for the
+future. The poor man retains the prejudices of his forefathers without
+their faith, and their ignorance without their virtues; he has adopted
+the doctrine of self-interest as the rule of his actions, without
+understanding the science which controls it, and his egotism is no less
+blind than his devotedness was formerly. If society is tranquil, it is
+not because it relies upon its strength and its well-being, but because
+it knows its weakness and its infirmities; a single effort may cost it
+its life; everybody feels the evil, but no one has courage or energy
+enough to seek the cure; the desires, the regret, the sorrows, and the
+joys of the time produce nothing that is visible or permanent, like the
+passions of old men which terminate in impotence.
+
+We have, then, abandoned whatever advantages the old state of things
+afforded, without receiving any compensation from our present
+condition; we have destroyed an aristocracy, and we seem inclined to
+survey its ruins with complacency, and to fix our abode in the midst of
+them.
+
+The phenomena which the intellectual world presents are not less
+deplorable. The democracy of France, checked in its course or abandoned
+to its lawless passions, has overthrown whatever crossed its path, and
+has shaken all that it has not destroyed. Its empire on society has not
+been gradually introduced or peaceably established, but it has
+constantly advanced in the midst of disorder and the agitation of a
+conflict. In the heat of the struggle each partisan is hurried beyond
+the limits of his opinions by the opinions and the excesses of his
+opponents, until he loses sight of the end of his exertions, and holds
+a language which disguises his real sentiments or secret instincts.
+Hence arises the strange confusion which we are witnessing. I cannot
+recall to my mind a passage in history more worthy of sorrow and of
+pity than the scenes which are happening under our eyes; it is as if
+the natural bond which unites the opinions of man to his tastes and his
+actions to his principles was now broken; the sympathy which has always
+been acknowledged between the feelings and the ideas of mankind appears
+to be dissolved, and all the laws of moral analogy to be abolished.
+
+Zealous Christians may be found amongst us whose minds are nurtured in
+the love and knowledge of a future life, and who readily espouse the
+cause of human liberty as the source of all moral greatness.
+Christianity, which has declared that all men are equal in the sight of
+God, will not refuse to acknowledge that all citizens are equal in the
+eye of the law. But, by a singular concourse of events, religion is
+entangled in those institutions which democracy assails, and it is not
+unfrequently brought to reject the equality it loves, and to curse that
+cause of liberty as a foe which it might hallow by its alliance.
+
+By the side of these religious men I discern others whose looks are
+turned to the earth more than to Heaven; they are the partisans of
+liberty, not only as the source of the noblest virtues, but more
+especially as the root of all solid advantages; and they sincerely
+desire to extend its sway, and to impart its blessings to mankind. It
+is natural that they should hasten to invoke the assistance of
+religion, for they must know that liberty cannot be established without
+morality, nor morality without faith; but they have seen religion in
+the ranks of their adversaries, and they inquire no further; some of
+them attack it openly, and the remainder are afraid to defend it.
+
+In former ages slavery has been advocated by the venal and
+slavish-minded, whilst the independent and the warm-hearted were
+struggling without hope to save the liberties of mankind. But men of
+high and generous 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 contrary, speak
+in the name of liberty, as if they were able to feel its sanctity and
+its majesty, and loudly claim for humanity those rights which they have
+always disowned. There are virtuous and peaceful individuals whose pure
+morality, quiet habits, affluence, and talents fit them to be the
+leaders of the surrounding population; their love of their country is
+sincere, and they are prepared to make the greatest sacrifices to its
+welfare, but they confound the abuses of civilization with its
+benefits, and the idea of evil is inseparable in their minds from that
+of novelty.
+
+Not far from this class is another party, whose object is to
+materialize mankind, to hit upon what is expedient without heeding what
+is just, to acquire knowledge without faith, and prosperity apart from
+virtue; assuming the title of the champions of modern civilization, and
+placing themselves in a station which they usurp with insolence, and
+from which they are driven by their own unworthiness. Where are we
+then? The religionists are the enemies of liberty, and the friends of
+liberty attack religion; the high-minded and the noble advocate
+subjection, and the meanest and most servile minds preach independence;
+honest and enlightened citizens are opposed to all progress, whilst men
+without patriotism and without principles are the apostles of
+civilization and of intelligence. Has such been the fate of the
+centuries which have preceded our own? and has man always inhabited a
+world like the present, where nothing is linked together, 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 conscience on human
+actions is dim, and where nothing seems to be any longer forbidden or
+allowed, honorable or shameful, false or true? I cannot, however,
+believe that 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 communities of Europe; I am
+unacquainted with His designs, 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 revolution which I am
+speaking of seems nearly to have reached its natural limits; it has
+been effected with ease and simplicity, say rather that this country
+has attained the consequences of the democratic revolution which we are
+undergoing without having experienced the revolution itself. The
+emigrants who fixed themselves on the shores of America in the
+beginning of the seventeenth century severed the democratic principle
+from all the principles which repressed it in the old communities of
+Europe, and transplanted it unalloyed to the New World. It has there
+been allowed to spread in perfect freedom, and to put forth its
+consequences in the laws by influencing the manners 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 conditions. But I
+do not conclude from this that we shall ever be necessarily led to draw
+the same political consequences which the Americans have derived from a
+similar social organization. I am far from supposing that they have
+chosen the only form of government which a democracy may adopt; but the
+identity of the efficient cause of laws and manners in the two
+countries is sufficient to account for the immense interest we have in
+becoming acquainted with its effects 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 instruction by which we may
+ourselves profit. Whoever should imagine that I have intended to write
+a panegyric will perceive that such was not my design; nor has it been
+my object to advocate any form of government in particular, for I am of
+opinion that absolute excellence is rarely to be found in any
+legislation; I have not even affected to discuss whether the social
+revolution, which I believe to be irresistible, is advantageous or
+prejudicial to mankind; I have acknowledged this revolution as a fact
+already accomplished or on the eve of its accomplishment; 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, if it be possible,
+to distinguish the means by which it may be rendered profitable. I
+confess that in America I saw more than America; I sought 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 work I have attempted to show the tendency
+given to the laws by the democracy of America, which is abandoned
+almost without restraint to its instinctive propensities, and to
+exhibit the course it prescribes to the Government and the influence it
+exercises on affairs. I have sought to discover the evils and the
+advantages which it produces. 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 what 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 recourse to the original text, and to the most authentic and
+approved works. I have cited my authorities in the notes, and anyone
+may refer to them. Whenever an opinion, a political custom, or a remark
+on the manners of the country was concerned, I endeavored to consult
+the most enlightened men I met with. If the point in question was
+important or doubtful, I was not satisfied with one testimony, but I
+formed my opinion on the evidence of several witnesses. Here the reader
+must necessarily believe me 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
+practice. A stranger frequently hears important truths at the fire-side
+of his host, which the latter would perhaps conceal 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 strangers who repay the generous
+hospitality they have received by subsequent chagrin and annoyance.
+
+I am aware that, notwithstanding my care, nothing will be easier than
+to criticise this book, if anyone ever chooses to criticise it. Those
+readers who may examine it closely will discover the fundamental idea
+which connects the several parts together. But the diversity 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
+quote, or an isolated idea 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 utmost theoretical consequences,
+and often to the verge of what is false or impracticable; for if it be
+necessary sometimes to quit the rules of logic in active life, such is
+not the case in discourse, and a man finds that almost as many
+difficulties spring from inconsistency of language as usually arise
+from inconsistency of conduct.
+
+I conclude by pointing out myself 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 designs of
+serving or attacking any party; I have undertaken not to see
+differently, but to look further than parties, and whilst they are
+busied for the morrow I have turned my thoughts to the Future.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter I: Exterior Form Of North America
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter Summary
+
+
+North America divided into two vast regions, one inclining towards the
+Pole, the other towards the Equator—Valley of the Mississippi—Traces of
+the Revolutions of the Globe—Shore of the Atlantic Ocean where the
+English Colonies were founded—Difference in the appearance of North and
+of South America at the time of their Discovery—Forests of North
+America—Prairies—Wandering Tribes of Natives—Their outward appearance,
+manners, and language—Traces of an unknown people.
+
+Exterior Form Of North America
+
+North America presents in its external form certain general features
+which it is easy to discriminate at the first glance. A sort of
+methodical order seems to have regulated the separation of land and
+water, mountains and valleys. A simple, but grand, arrangement 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 Arctic Pole, and
+by the two great oceans on the east and west. It stretches towards the
+south, forming a triangle whose irregular sides meet at length below
+the great lakes of Canada. The second region begins where the other
+terminates, and includes all the remainder of the continent. The one
+slopes gently towards the Pole, the other towards the Equator.
+
+The territory comprehended in the first region descends towards the
+north with so imperceptible a slope that it may almost be said to form
+a level plain. Within the bounds of this immense tract of country there
+are neither high mountains nor deep valleys. Streams meander through it
+irregularly: great rivers mix their currents, separate and meet again,
+disperse and form vast marshes, losing all trace of their channels in
+the labyrinth of waters they have themselves created; and thus, at
+length, after innumerable windings, 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 forming a vast bowl filled to the brim. The slightest change in
+the structure of the globe would cause their waters to rush either
+towards the Pole or to the tropical sea.
+
+The second region is more varied on its surface, and better suited for
+the habitation of man. Two long chains of mountains divide it from one
+extreme to the other; the Alleghany ridge takes the form of the shores
+of the Atlantic Ocean; the other is parallel with the Pacific. The
+space which lies between these two chains of mountains contains
+1,341,649 square miles. *a Its surface is therefore about six times as
+great as that of France. This vast territory, however, forms a single
+valley, one side of which descends gradually from the rounded summits
+of the Alleghanies, while the other rises in an uninterrupted course
+towards the tops of the Rocky Mountains. At the bottom 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 formerly called this river the St. Louis. The Indians, in their
+pompous language, have named it the Father of Waters, or the
+Mississippi.
+
+a
+[ Darby’s “View of the United States.”]
+
+
+The Mississippi takes its source above the limit of the two great
+regions of which I have spoken, not far from the highest point of the
+table-land where they unite. Near the same spot rises another river, *b
+which empties itself into the Polar seas. The course of the Mississippi
+is at first dubious: it winds several times towards the north, from
+whence it rose; and at length, after having been delayed in lakes and
+marshes, it flows slowly onwards to the south. Sometimes quietly
+gliding along the argillaceous bed which nature has assigned to it,
+sometimes swollen by storms, the Mississippi waters 2,500 miles in its
+course. *c At the distance of 1,364 miles from its mouth this river
+attains an average depth of fifteen feet; and it is navigated by
+vessels of 300 tons burden for a course of nearly 500 miles.
+Fifty-seven large navigable rivers contribute to swell the waters of
+the Mississippi; amongst others, the Missouri, which traverses a space
+of 2,500 miles; the Arkansas of 1,300 miles, the Red River 1,000 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 Moingona; besides a
+countless multitude of rivulets which unite from all parts their
+tributary streams.
+
+b
+[ The Red River.]
+
+
+c
+[ Warden’s “Description of the United States.”]
+
+
+The valley which is watered by the Mississippi seems formed to be the
+bed of this mighty river, which, like a god of antiquity, dispenses
+both good and evil in its course. On the shores of the stream nature
+displays an inexhaustible fertility; in proportion as you recede from
+its banks, the powers of vegetation languish, the soil becomes poor,
+and the plants that survive have a sickly growth. Nowhere have the
+great convulsions of the globe left more evident traces than in the
+valley of the Mississippi; the whole aspect of the country shows the
+powerful effects of water, both by its fertility and by its barrenness.
+The waters of the primeval ocean accumulated enormous beds of vegetable
+mould in the valley, which they levelled as they retired. Upon the
+right shore of the river are seen immense plains, as smooth as if the
+husbandman had passed over them with his roller. As you approach the
+mountains the soil becomes 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 is partly
+consumed. The surface of the earth is covered with a granite 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 Mountains. 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 neighboring
+cliffs, were left scattered like wrecks at their feet. *d 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.
+
+d
+[ See Appendix, A.]
+
+
+On the eastern side of the Alleghanies, between the base of these
+mountains and the Atlantic Ocean, there lies a long ridge of rocks and
+sand, which the sea appears to have left behind as it retired. The mean
+breadth of this territory does not exceed one hundred miles; but it is
+about nine hundred miles in length. This part of the American continent
+has a soil which offers every obstacle to the husbandman, and its
+vegetation is scanty and unvaried.
+
+Upon this inhospitable coast the first united efforts of human industry
+were made. The tongue of arid land was the cradle of those English
+colonies which were destined one day to become the United States of
+America. The centre of power still remains here; whilst in the
+backwoods the true elements of the great people to whom the future
+control of the continent belongs are gathering almost in secrecy
+together.
+
+When the Europeans first landed on the shores of the West Indies, and
+afterwards on the coast of South America, they thought themselves
+transported into those fabulous regions of which poets had sung. The
+sea sparkled with phosphoric light, and the extraordinary transparency
+of its waters discovered to the view of the navigator all that had
+hitherto been hidden in the deep abyss. *e Here and there appeared
+little islands perfumed with odoriferous plants, and resembling baskets
+of flowers floating on the tranquil surface of the ocean. Every object
+which met the sight, in this enchanting 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, wild figs, flowering
+myrtles, acacias, and oleanders, which were hung with festoons of
+various climbing plants, covered with flowers, a multitude of birds
+unknown in Europe displayed their bright plumage, glittering with
+purple and azure, and mingled their warbling with the harmony of a
+world teeming with life and motion. *f Underneath this brilliant
+exterior death was concealed. But the air of these climates had so
+enervating an influence that man, absorbed by present enjoyment, was
+rendered regardless of the future.
+
+e
+[ Malte Brun tells us (vol. v. p. 726) that the water of the Caribbean
+Sea is so transparent that corals and fish are discernible at a depth
+of sixty fathoms. The ship seemed to float in air, the navigator became
+giddy as his eye penetrated through the crystal flood, and beheld
+submarine gardens, or beds of shells, or gilded fishes gliding among
+tufts and thickets of seaweed.]
+
+
+f
+[ See Appendix, B.]
+
+
+North 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 granite
+rocks, or by wide tracts of sand. The foliage of its woods was dark and
+gloomy, for they were composed of firs, larches, evergreen oaks, wild
+olive-trees, and laurels. Beyond this outer belt lay the thick shades
+of the central forest, where the largest trees which are produced in
+the two hemispheres grow side by side. The plane, the catalpa, the
+sugar-maple, and the Virginian poplar 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 heaped upon each other; but there was no laboring hand
+to remove them, and their decay was not rapid enough to make room for
+the continual 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,
+and a passage beneath the lifeless bark. Thus decay gave its assistance
+to life, and their respective productions were mingled together. The
+depths of these forests were gloomy and obscure, and a thousand
+rivulets, undirected in their course by human industry, preserved in
+them a constant moisture. It was rare to meet with flowers, wild
+fruits, or birds beneath their shades. The fall of a tree overthrown by
+age, the rushing torrent of a cataract, the lowing of the buffalo, and
+the howling of the wind were the only sounds which broke the silence of
+nature.
+
+To the east of the great river, the woods almost disappeared; in their
+stead were seen prairies of immense extent. Whether Nature in her
+infinite variety had denied the germs of trees to these fertile plains,
+or whether they had once been covered with forests, subsequently
+destroyed by the hand of man, is a question which neither tradition nor
+scientific research has been able to resolve.
+
+These immense deserts were not, however, devoid of human inhabitants.
+Some wandering tribes had been for ages scattered among the forest
+shades or the green pastures of the prairie. From the 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: *g they were neither white
+like the Europeans, nor yellow like most of the Asiatics, nor black
+like the negroes. Their skin was reddish brown, their hair long and
+shining, their lips thin, and their cheekbones very prominent. The
+languages spoken by the North American tribes are various as far as
+regarded their words, but they were subject to the same grammatical
+rules. These rules differed in several points from such as had been
+observed to govern the origin of language. The idiom of the Americans
+seemed to be the product of new combinations, and bespoke an effort of
+the understanding of which the Indians of our days would be incapable.
+*h
+
+g
+[ With the progress of discovery some resemblance has been found to
+exist between the physical conformation, the language, and the habits
+of the Indians of North America, and those of the Tongous, Mantchous,
+Mongols, Tartars, and other wandering tribes of Asia. The land occupied
+by these tribes is not very distant from Behring’s Strait, which allows
+of the supposition, that at a remote period they gave inhabitants to
+the desert continent of America. But this is a point which has not yet
+been clearly elucidated by science. See Malte Brun, vol. v.; the works
+of Humboldt; Fischer, “Conjecture sur l’Origine des Americains”; Adair,
+“History of the American Indians.”]
+
+
+h
+[ See Appendix, C.]
+
+
+The social state of these tribes differed also in many respects from
+all that was seen in the Old World. They seemed to have multiplied
+freely in the midst of their deserts without coming in contact with
+other races more civilized than their own. Accordingly, they exhibited
+none of those indistinct, incoherent notions of right and wrong, none
+of that deep corruption of manners, which is usually joined with
+ignorance and rudeness among nations which, after advancing to
+civilization, have relapsed into a state of barbarism. The Indian was
+indebted to no one but himself; his virtues, his vices, and his
+prejudices were his own work; he had grown up in the 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 ignorant, but that,
+being so, they are in daily contact with rich and enlightened men. The
+sight of their own hard lot and of their weakness, which is daily
+contrasted with 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 of their dependence irritates while it humiliates them. This state
+of mind displays itself in their manners and language; they are at once
+insolent and servile. The truth of this is easily proved by
+observation; the people are more rude in aristocratic countries than
+elsewhere, in opulent cities than in rural districts. In those places
+where the rich and powerful are assembled together the weak and the
+indigent feel themselves oppressed by their inferior condition. Unable
+to perceive a single chance of regaining their equality, they give up
+to despair, and allow themselves to fall below the dignity of human
+nature.
+
+This unfortunate effect of the disparity of conditions is not
+observable in savage life: the Indians, although they are ignorant and
+poor, are equal and free. At the period 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 reserve and a kind of aristocratic
+politeness. Mild and hospitable when at peace, though merciless in war
+beyond any known degree of human ferocity, the Indian would expose
+himself to die of hunger in order to succor the stranger who asked
+admittance by night at the door of his hut; yet he could tear in pieces
+with his hands the still quivering limbs of his prisoner. The famous
+republics of antiquity never gave examples of more unshaken courage,
+more haughty spirits, or more intractable love of independence than
+were hidden in former times among the wild forests of the New World. *i
+The Europeans produced no great impression when they landed upon the
+shores of North America; their presence engendered neither 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-song at the stake. *j 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. *k
+
+i
+[ We learn from President Jefferson’s “Notes upon Virginia,” p. 148,
+that among the Iroquois, when attacked by a superior force, aged men
+refused to fly or to survive the destruction of their country; and they
+braved death like the ancient Romans when their capital was sacked by
+the Gauls. Further on, p. 150, he tells us that there is no example of
+an Indian who, having fallen into the hands of his enemies, begged for
+his life; on the contrary, the captive sought to obtain death at the
+hands of his conquerors by the use of insult and provocation.]
+
+
+j
+[ See “Histoire de la Louisiane,” by Lepage Dupratz; Charlevoix,
+“Histoire de la Nouvelle France”; “Lettres du Rev. G. Hecwelder;”
+“Transactions of the American Philosophical Society,” v. I; Jefferson’s
+“Notes on Virginia,” pp. 135-190. What is said by Jefferson is of
+especial weight, on account of the personal merit of the writer, of his
+peculiar position, and of the matter-of-fact age in which he lived.]
+
+
+k
+[ See Appendix, D.]
+
+
+Although we have here traced the character of a primitive people, yet
+it cannot be doubted that another people, more civilized and more
+advanced in all respects, had preceded it in the same regions.
+
+An obscure tradition which prevailed among the Indians to the north of
+the Atlantic informs us that these very tribes formerly dwelt on the
+west side of the Mississippi. Along the banks of the Ohio, and
+throughout the central valley, there are frequently found, at this day,
+tumuli 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, or destined
+for purposes unknown to the present race. The Indians of our time are
+unable to give any information 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 which even an
+hypothesis could be formed. Tradition—that perishable, yet ever renewed
+monument of the pristine world—throws no light upon the subject. It is
+an undoubted fact, however, that in this part of the globe thousands of
+our fellow-beings had lived. When they came hither, what was their
+origin, their destiny, their history, 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
+remembrance of their very names is effaced; their languages are lost;
+their glory is vanished like a sound without an echo; though perhaps
+there is not one which has not left behind it some tomb in memory of
+its passage! The most durable monument of human labor is that which
+recalls the wretchedness and nothingness of man.
+
+Although the vast country which we have been describing 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 lived
+by the produce of the chase. Their implacable prejudices, their
+uncontrolled passions, their vices, and still more perhaps their savage
+virtues, consigned them to inevitable destruction. The ruin of these
+nations began from the day when Europeans landed on their shores; it
+has proceeded ever since, and we are now witnessing the completion of
+it. They seem to have been placed by Providence amidst the riches of
+the New World to enjoy them for a season, and then surrender them.
+Those coasts, so admirably adapted for commerce and industry; those
+wide and deep rivers; that inexhaustible valley of the Mississippi; the
+whole continent, in short, seemed prepared to be the abode of a great
+nation, yet unborn.
+
+In that land the great experiment was to be made, by civilized man, of
+the attempt to construct society upon a new basis; and it was there,
+for the first time, that theories hitherto unknown, or deemed
+impracticable, were to exhibit a spectacle for which the world had not
+been prepared by the history of the past.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter II: Origin Of The Anglo-Americans—Part I
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter Summary
+
+
+Utility of knowing the origin of nations in order to understand their
+social condition and their laws—America the only country in which the
+starting-point of a great people has been clearly observable—In what
+respects all who emigrated to British America were similar—In what they
+differed—Remark applicable to all Europeans who established 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 arrival—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.
+
+Origin Of The Anglo-Americans, And Its Importance In Relation To Their
+Future Condition.
+
+After the birth of a human being his early years are obscurely spent in
+the toils or pleasures of childhood. As he grows up the world receives
+him, when his manhood begins, and he enters into contact with his
+fellows. 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 its mother’s arms; we must see
+the first images which the external world casts upon the dark mirror of
+his mind; the first occurrences 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 life. The entire man is,
+so to speak, to be seen in the cradle of the child.
+
+The growth of nations presents something analogous to this: they all
+bear some marks of their origin; and the circumstances which
+accompanied their birth and contributed to their rise affect the whole
+term of their being. If we were able to go back to the elements of
+states, and to examine the oldest monuments of their history, I doubt
+not that we should discover the primal cause of the prejudices, the
+habits, the ruling passions, and, in short, of all that constitutes
+what is called the national character; we should then find the
+explanation of certain customs which now seem at variance with the
+prevailing manners; of such laws 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 hanging from the vault of an edifice, and supporting
+nothing. This might explain the destinies of certain nations, which
+seem borne on by an unknown force to ends of which they themselves are
+ignorant. 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 possible to witness
+the natural and tranquil growth of society, and where the influences
+exercised on the future condition of states by their origin is clearly
+distinguishable. At the period when 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 have transmitted to us a faithful picture of
+their opinions, their manners, and their laws. The men of the sixteenth
+century are almost as well known to us as our contemporaries. America,
+consequently, exhibits in the broad light of day the phenomena which
+the ignorance or rudeness of earlier ages conceals from our researches.
+Near enough to the 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. Providence 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
+concealed 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 the germ of all
+that is to follow in the present chapter, 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 durable that can unite
+mankind. All the emigrants spoke the same tongue; they were all offsets
+from the same people. Born in a country which had been agitated for
+centuries 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 been perfected in this rude
+school, and they were more conversant with the notions of right and the
+principles of true freedom than the greater part of their European
+contemporaries. At the period of their first emigrations the parish
+system, that fruitful 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 introduced into the bosom of the monarchy of the
+House of Tudor.
+
+The religious quarrels which have agitated the Christian world were
+then rife. England had plunged into the new order of things with
+headlong vehemence. The character of its inhabitants, which had always
+been sedate and reflective, became argumentative and austere. General
+information had been increased by intellectual debate, and the mind had
+received a deeper cultivation. Whilst religion was the topic of
+discussion, the morals of the people were reformed. All these national
+features are more or less discoverable in the physiognomy of those
+adventurers who came to seek a new home on the opposite shores of the
+Atlantic.
+
+Another remark, to which we shall hereafter have occasion 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 safely be advanced, that on leaving the mother-country
+the emigrants had in general no notion of superiority over one another.
+The happy and the powerful do not go into exile, and there are no surer
+guarantees of equality among men than poverty and misfortune. It
+happened, however, on several occasions, that persons of rank were
+driven to America by political and religious quarrels. Laws were made
+to establish a gradation of ranks; but it 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 was prepared,
+its produce was found to be insufficient to enrich a master and a
+farmer at the same time. The land was then naturally broken up into
+small portions, which the proprietor cultivated for himself. Land is
+the basis of an aristocracy, which clings to the soil that supports it;
+for it is not by privileges alone, nor by birth, but by landed property
+handed down from generation to generation, that an aristocracy is
+constituted. A nation may present immense fortunes and extreme
+wretchedness, but unless those fortunes are territorial there is no
+aristocracy, but simply the class of the rich and that of the poor.
+
+All the British colonies had then a great degree of similarity at the
+epoch of their settlement. All of them, from their first 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 history of the world had as yet furnished no
+complete example.
+
+In this general uniformity several striking differences were however
+discernible, which it is necessary to point out. Two branches may be
+distinguished in the Anglo-American family, which have hitherto grown
+up 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 1607. 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 nations
+which adopted it, and has cost more lives in America, than the united
+influence of war and bad laws. The men sent to Virginia *a were seekers
+of gold, adventurers, without resources and without character, whose
+turbulent and restless spirit endangered the infant colony, *b and
+rendered its progress uncertain. The artisans and agriculturists
+arrived afterwards; and, although they were a more moral and orderly
+race of men, they were in nowise above the level of the inferior
+classes in England. *c No lofty conceptions, no intellectual system,
+directed the foundation of these new settlements. The colony was
+scarcely established when slavery was introduced, *d and this was the
+main circumstance which has exercised so prodigious an influence on the
+character, the laws, and all the future prospects of the South.
+Slavery, as we shall afterwards show, dishonors labor; it introduces
+idleness into society, and with idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury
+and distress. It enervates the powers of the mind, and benumbs the
+activity of man. The influence of slavery, united to the English
+character, explains the manners and the social condition of the
+Southern States.
+
+a
+[ The charter granted by the 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.] [Footnote b: A large portion
+of the adventurers, says Stith (“History of Virginia”), were
+unprincipled young men of family, whom their parents were glad to ship
+off, discharged servants, fraudulent bankrupts, or debauchees; and
+others of the same class, people more apt to pillage and destroy than
+to assist the settlement, were the seditious chiefs, who easily led
+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.]
+
+c
+[ It was not till some time later that a certain number of rich English
+capitalists came to fix themselves in the colony.]
+
+
+d
+[ Slavery was introduced about the year 1620 by a Dutch vessel which
+landed twenty negroes on the banks of the river James. See Chalmer.]
+
+
+In the North, the same English foundation was modified by the most
+opposite shades of character; and here I may be allowed to enter into
+some details. The two or three main ideas which constitute the basis of
+the social theory of the United States were first combined in the
+Northern English colonies, more generally denominated the States of New
+England. *e The principles of New England spread at first to the
+neighboring states; they then passed successively to the more distant
+ones; and at length they imbued 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 around, tinges the distant
+horizon with its glow.
+
+e
+[ The States of New England are those situated to the east of the
+Hudson; they are now six in number: 1, Connecticut; 2, Rhode Island; 3,
+Massachusetts; 4, Vermont; 5, New Hampshire; 6, Maine.]
+
+
+The foundation of New England was a novel spectacle, and all the
+circumstances attending it were singular and original. The large
+majority of colonies have been first inhabited either by men without
+education and without resources, driven by their poverty and their
+misconduct from the land which gave them birth, or by speculators and
+adventurers greedy of gain. Some settlements cannot even boast so
+honorable an origin; St. Domingo was founded by buccaneers; and the
+criminal courts of England originally supplied 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 America at once presented the singular
+phenomenon of a society containing neither lords nor common people,
+neither rich nor poor. These men possessed, in proportion to their
+number, a greater mass of intelligence than is to be found in any
+European nation of our own time. All, without a single exception, had
+received a good education, and many of them were known in Europe for
+their talents and their acquirements. The other colonies had been
+founded by adventurers without family; the emigrants of New England
+brought with them the best elements of order and morality—they landed
+in the desert accompanied by their wives and children. But what most
+especially distinguished them was the aim of their undertaking. 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; the call which summoned
+them from the comforts of their homes was purely intellectual; and in
+facing the inevitable sufferings 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 which
+had aroused its most dangerous adversaries. Persecuted by the
+Government of the mother-country, and disgusted by the habits of a
+society opposed to the rigor of their own principles, 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.
+
+A few quotations will throw more light upon the spirit of these pious
+adventures than all we can say of them. Nathaniel Morton, *f the
+historian of the first years of the settlement, thus opens his subject:
+
+f
+[ “New England’s Memorial,” p. 13; Boston, 1826. See also “Hutchinson’s
+History,” vol. ii. p. 440.]
+
+
+“Gentle Reader,—I have for some length of time looked upon it as a duty
+incumbent, especially on the immediate successors of those that have
+had so large experience of those many memorable and signal
+demonstrations of God’s goodness, viz., the first beginners of this
+Plantation in New England, to commit to writing his gracious
+dispensations on that behalf; having so many inducements thereunto, not
+onely otherwise but so plentifully in the Sacred Scriptures: that so,
+what we have seen, and what our fathers have told us (Psalm lxxviii. 3,
+4), we may not hide from our children, showing to the generations to
+come the praises of the Lord; that especially the seed of Abraham his
+servant, and the children of Jacob his chosen (Psalm cv. 5, 6), may
+remember his marvellous works in the beginning and progress of the
+planting of New England, 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 he made room for it and caused it to take
+deep root; and it filled the land (Psalm lxxx. 8, 9). And not onely so,
+but also that he hath guided his people by his strength to his holy
+habitation 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 it 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 very savor of Gospel
+antiquity. The sincerity of the author heightens his power of language.
+The band which to his eyes was a mere party of adventurers gone forth
+to seek their fortune beyond seas appears to the reader as the germ of
+a great nation wafted by Providence to a predestined shore.
+
+The author thus continues his narrative of the departure of the first
+pilgrims:—
+
+“So they left that goodly and pleasant city of Leyden, *g which had
+been their resting-place for above eleven years; but they knew that
+they were pilgrims and strangers here below, and looked not much on
+these things, but lifted up their eyes to Heaven, their dearest
+country, where God hath prepared for them a city (Heb. xi. 16), and
+therein quieted their spirits. When they came to Delfs-Haven 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 shipt, and to take their leaves of them. One night was spent
+with little sleep with the most, but with friendly entertainment and
+Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Christian love.
+The next day they went on board, and their friends with them, where
+truly 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 other’s heart,
+that sundry of the Dutch strangers that stood on the Key as spectators
+could not refrain from tears. But the tide (which stays for no man)
+calling them away, that were thus loth to depart, their Reverend Pastor
+falling down on his knees, and they all with him, with watery cheeks
+commended them with most fervent prayers unto the Lord and his
+blessing; and then, with mutual embraces and many tears they took their
+leaves one of another, which proved to be the last leave to many of
+them.”
+
+g
+[ The emigrants were, for the most part, godly Christians from the
+North of England, who had quitted their native country because 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 Leyden in 1610,
+where they abode, being lovingly respected by the Dutch, for many
+years: they left it in 1620 for several reasons, the last of which was,
+that their posterity 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 dominions, and to live under their natural
+prince.—Translator’s Note.]
+
+
+The emigrants were about 150 in number, including the women and the
+children. Their object was to plant a colony on the shores of the
+Hudson; but after having been driven about for some time in the
+Atlantic Ocean, they were forced to land on that arid coast of New
+England which is now the site of the town of Plymouth. The rock is
+still shown on which the pilgrims disembarked. *h
+
+h
+[ This rock is become an object of veneration in the United States. I
+have seen bits of it carefully preserved in several towns of the Union.
+Does not this sufficiently show how entirely all human power and
+greatness is in the soul of man? Here is a stone which the feet of a
+few outcasts pressed for an instant, and this stone becomes famous; it
+is treasured by a great nation, its very dust is shared as a relic: and
+what is become of the gateways of a thousand palaces?]
+
+
+“But before we pass on,” continues our historian, “let the reader with
+me make a pause and seriously consider this poor people’s present
+condition, the more to be raised up to admiration of God’s goodness
+towards them in their preservation: 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 unto 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 and fierce storms,
+dangerous to travel to known places, much more to search unknown
+coasts. Besides, what could they see but a hideous and desolate
+wilderness, full of wilde beasts, and wilde men? and what multitudes of
+them there were, they then knew not: for which way soever they turned
+their eyes (save upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or
+content in respect of any outward object; for summer being ended, all
+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 gulph to separate them from all
+the civil parts of the world.”
+
+It must not be imagined that the piety of the Puritans was of a merely
+speculative kind, or that it took no cognizance of the course of
+worldly affairs. Puritanism, as I have already remarked, was scarcely
+less a political than a religious 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 passing the following Act:
+
+“In the name of God. Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal
+subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, etc., etc., 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 preservation, and furtherance of the ends
+aforesaid: and by virtue hereof do enact, constitute and frame such
+just and equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and officers,
+from time to time, as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the
+general good of the Colony: unto which we promise all due submission
+and obedience,” etc. *i
+
+i
+[ The emigrants who founded the State of Rhode Island in 1638, those
+who landed at New Haven in 1637, the first settlers in Connecticut in
+1639, and the founders of Providence in 1640, began in like manner by
+drawing up a social contract, which was acceded to by all the
+interested parties. See “Pitkin’s History,” pp. 42 and 47.]
+
+
+This happened in 1620, and from that time forwards the emigration went
+on. The religious and political passions which ravaged the British
+Empire during the whole reign of Charles I drove fresh crowds of
+sectarians every year to the shores of America. In England the
+stronghold of Puritanism was in the middle classes, and it was from the
+middle classes that the majority of the emigrants came. The population
+of New England increased rapidly; and whilst the hierarchy of rank
+despotically classed the inhabitants of the mother-country, the colony
+continued to present the novel spectacle of a community homogeneous in
+all its parts. A democracy, more perfect than any which antiquity had
+dreamt of, started in full size and panoply from the midst of an
+ancient feudal society.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter II: Origin Of The Anglo-Americans—Part II
+
+
+The English Government was not dissatisfied with an emigration which
+removed the elements of fresh discord and of further revolutions. On
+the contrary, everything was done to encourage it, and great exertions
+were made to mitigate the hardships of those who sought a shelter from
+the rigor of their country’s laws on the soil of America. It seemed as
+if New England was a region given up 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 of other nations; but this
+principle of liberty was nowhere more extensively applied than in the
+States of New England.
+
+It was generally allowed at that period that the territories 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 possession towards the end of the sixteenth century. The means
+used by the English Government to people these new domains were of
+several kinds; the King sometimes appointed a governor of his own
+choice, who ruled a portion of the New World in the name and under the
+immediate orders of the Crown; *j this is the colonial system adopted
+by other countries of Europe. Sometimes grants of certain tracts were
+made by the Crown to an individual or to a company, *k 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 constitute a political
+society under the protection of the mother-country, and to govern
+themselves in whatever was not contrary to her laws. This mode of
+colonization, so remarkably favorable to liberty, was only adopted in
+New England. *l
+
+j
+[ This was the case in the State of New York.]
+
+
+k
+[ Maryland, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey were in this
+situation. See “Pitkin’s History,” vol. i. pp. 11-31.]
+
+
+l
+[ See the work entitled “Historical Collection of State Papers and
+other authentic Documents intended as materials for a History of the
+United States of America, by Ebenezer Hasard. Philadelphia, 1792,” for
+a great number of documents relating to the commencement of the
+colonies, which are valuable from their contents and their
+authenticity: 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 the Supreme Court of the United States, in the Introduction to his
+“Commentary on the Constitution of the United States.” It results from
+these documents that the principles of representative government and
+the external forms of political liberty were introduced into all the
+colonies at their origin. These principles were more fully acted upon
+in the North than in the South, but they existed everywhere.]
+
+In 1628 *m a charter of this kind was granted by Charles I to the
+emigrants who went to form the colony of Massachusetts. But, in
+general, charters were not given to the colonies of New England till
+they had acquired a certain existence. Plymouth, Providence, New Haven,
+the State of Connecticut, and that of Rhode Island *n were founded
+without the co-operation and almost without the knowledge of the
+mother-country. The new settlers did not derive their incorporation
+from the seat of the empire, although they did not deny its supremacy;
+they constituted a society of their own accord, and it was not till
+thirty or forty years afterwards, under Charles II. that their
+existence was legally recognized by a royal charter.
+
+m
+[ See “Pitkin’s History,” p, 35. See the “History of the Colony of
+Massachusetts Bay,” by Hutchinson, vol. i. p. 9.] [Footnote n: See
+“Pitkin’s History,” pp. 42, 47.]
+
+
+This frequently renders its it difficult to detect the link which
+connected the emigrants with the land of their forefathers in studying
+the earliest historical and legislative records of New England. They
+exercised the rights of sovereignty; they named their magistrates,
+concluded peace or declared war, made police regulations, and enacted
+laws as if their allegiance was due only to God. *o 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.
+
+o
+[ The inhabitants of Massachusetts had deviated from the forms which
+are preserved in the criminal and civil procedure of England; in 1650
+the decrees of justice were not yet headed by the royal style. See
+Hutchinson, vol. i. p. 452.]
+
+
+Amongst these documents we shall notice, as especially characteristic,
+the code of laws promulgated by the little State of Connecticut in
+1650. *p The legislators of Connecticut *q 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 twelve enactments of the same kind, copied verbatim from the
+books of Exodus, Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Blasphemy, sorcery,
+adultery, *r and rape were punished with death; an outrage offered by a
+son to his parents was to be expiated 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
+punishment of death was never more frequently prescribed by the
+statute, and never more rarely enforced towards the guilty.
+
+p
+[ Code of 1650, p. 28; Hartford, 1830.]
+
+
+q
+[ See also in “Hutchinson’s History,” vol. i. pp. 435, 456, the
+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.]
+
+
+r
+[ 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,
+which occurred in the year 1663. A married woman had had criminal
+intercourse with a young man; her husband died, and she married the
+lover. Several years had elapsed, when the public began to suspect the
+previous intercourse of this couple: they were thrown into prison, put
+upon trial, and very narrowly escaped capital punishment.]
+
+
+The chief care of the legislators, in this body of penal laws, was the
+maintenance of orderly conduct and good morals in the community: they
+constantly invaded the domain of conscience, and there was scarcely a
+sin which was not subject to magisterial censure. The reader is aware
+of the rigor with which these laws punished rape and adultery;
+intercourse between unmarried persons was likewise severely repressed.
+The judge was empowered to inflict a pecuniary penalty, a whipping, or
+marriage *s 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 bearing date the first of May, 1660,
+inflicting a fine and reprimand on a young woman who was accused of
+using improper language, and of allowing herself to be kissed. *t The
+Code of 1650 abounds in preventive measures. It punishes idleness and
+drunkenness with severity. *u Innkeepers are forbidden to furnish more
+than a certain quantity of liquor to each consumer; and simple lying,
+whenever it may be injurious, *v is checked by a fine or a flogging. In
+other places, the legislator, entirely forgetting the great principles
+of religious toleration which he had himself upheld in Europe, renders
+attendance on divine service compulsory, *w and goes so far as to visit
+with severe punishment, ** and even with death, the Christians who
+chose to worship God according to a ritual differing from his own. *x
+Sometimes indeed the zeal of his enactments induces him to descend to
+the most frivolous particulars: thus a law is to be found in the same
+Code which prohibits the use of tobacco. *y It must not be forgotten
+that these fantastical and vexatious laws were not imposed by
+authority, but that they were freely voted by all the persons
+interested, and that the manners of the community were even more
+austere and more puritanical than the laws. In 1649 a solemn
+association was formed in Boston to check the worldly luxury of long
+hair. *z
+
+s
+[ Code of 1650, p. 48. It seems sometimes to have happened that the
+judges superadded these punishments to each other, as is seen in a
+sentence pronounced in 1643 (p. 114, “New Haven Antiquities”), by which
+Margaret Bedford, convicted of loose conduct, was condemned to be
+whipped, and afterwards to marry Nicholas Jemmings, her accomplice.]
+
+
+t
+[ “New Haven Antiquities,” p. 104. See also “Hutchinson’s History,” for
+several causes equally extraordinary.]
+
+
+u
+[ Code of 1650, pp. 50, 57.]
+
+
+v
+[ Ibid., p. 64.]
+
+
+w
+[ Ibid., p. 44.]
+
+
+*
+[ This was not peculiar to Connecticut. See, for instance, the law
+which, on September 13, 1644, banished the Anabaptists from the State
+of Massachusetts. (“Historical Collection of State Papers,” vol. i. p.
+538.) See also the law against the Quakers, passed on October 14, 1656:
+“Whereas,” says the preamble, “an accursed race of heretics called
+Quakers has sprung up,” etc. The clauses of the statute inflict a heavy
+fine on all captains of ships who should import Quakers into the
+country. The Quakers who may be found there shall be whipped and
+imprisoned with hard labor. Those members of the sect who should defend
+their opinions shall be first fined, then imprisoned, and finally
+driven out of the province.—“Historical Collection of State Papers,”
+vol. i. p. 630.]
+
+
+x
+[ By the penal law of Massachusetts, any Catholic priest who should set
+foot in the colony after having been once driven out of it was liable
+to capital punishment.]
+
+
+y
+[ Code of 1650, p. 96.]
+
+
+z
+[ “New England’s Memorial,” p. 316. See Appendix, E.]
+
+
+These errors are no doubt discreditable to human reason; 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 persecution 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 ahead of the
+liberties of our age. The general principles which are the groundwork
+of modern constitutions—principles which were imperfectly known in
+Europe, and not completely triumphant even in Great Britain, in the
+seventeenth century—were all recognized and determined by the laws of
+New England: the intervention of the people in public affairs, the free
+voting of taxes, the responsibility of authorities, personal liberty,
+and trial by jury, were all positively established without discussion.
+From these fruitful principles consequences have been derived and
+applications have been made such as no nation in Europe has yet
+ventured to attempt.
+
+In Connecticut the electoral body consisted, from its origin, of the
+whole number of citizens; and this is readily to be understood, *a when
+we recollect that this people enjoyed an almost perfect equality of
+fortune, and a still greater uniformity of opinions. *b In Connecticut,
+at this period, all the executive functionaries were elected, including
+the Governor of the State. *c The citizens 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. *d
+
+a
+[ Constitution of 1638, p. 17.]
+
+
+b
+[ In 1641 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.]
+
+
+c
+[ “Pitkin’s History,” p. 47.]
+
+
+d
+[ Constitution of 1638, p. 12.]
+
+
+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 mainspring of American liberty at the present
+day. The political 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 other hand, it may be said that the township was
+organized before the county, the county before the State, the State
+before the Union. In New England townships were completely and
+definitively constituted as early as 1650. The independence of the
+township was the nucleus round which the local interests, passions,
+rights, and duties collected and clung. It gave scope to the activity
+of a real political life most thoroughly democratic and republican. The
+colonies still recognized the supremacy of the mother-country; monarchy
+was still the law of the State; but the republic was already
+established in every township. The towns named their own magistrates of
+every kind, rated themselves, and levied their own taxes. *e In the
+parish of New England 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.
+
+e
+[ Code of 1650, p. 80.]
+
+
+In studying the laws which were promulgated at this first era of the
+American republics, it is impossible not to be struck by the remarkable
+acquaintance with the science of government and the advanced theory of
+legislation which they display. The ideas there formed of the duties of
+society towards its members are evidently much loftier and more
+comprehensive than those of the European legislators at that time:
+obligations were there imposed which were elsewhere slighted. In the
+States of New England, 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; *g registers
+were established in every parish, in which the results of public
+deliberations, and the births, deaths, and marriages of the citizens
+were entered; *h clerks were directed to keep these registers; *i
+officers were charged with the administration of vacant inheritances,
+and with the arbitration of litigated landmarks; and many others were
+created whose chief functions were the maintenance of public order in
+the community. *j The law enters into a thousand useful provisions for
+a number of social wants which are at present very inadequately felt in
+France. [Footnote f: Ibid., p. 78.]
+
+g
+[ Ibid., p. 49.]
+
+
+h
+[ See “Hutchinson’s History,” vol. i. p. 455.]
+
+
+i
+[ Code of 1650, p. 86.]
+
+
+j
+[ Ibid., p. 40.]
+
+
+But it is by the attention it pays to Public Education that the
+original character of American civilization is at once placed in the
+clearest light. “It being,” says the law, “one chief project of Satan
+to keep men from the knowledge of the Scripture by persuading from the
+use of tongues, to the end that learning may not be buried in the
+graves of our forefathers, in church and commonwealth, the Lord
+assisting our endeavors. . . .” *k 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 populous districts. The municipal
+authorities were bound to enforce the sending of children to school by
+their parents; they were empowered to inflict fines upon all who
+refused compliance; and in case of continued resistance society assumed
+the place of the parent, took possession of the child, and deprived the
+father of those natural rights which he used to so bad a purpose. The
+reader will undoubtedly have remarked the preamble of these enactments:
+in America religion is the road to knowledge, and the observance of the
+divine laws leads man to civil freedom.
+
+k
+[ Ibid., p. 90.]
+
+
+If, after having cast a rapid glance over the state of American society
+in 1650, we turn to the condition of Europe, and more especially to
+that of the Continent, at the same period, we cannot fail to be struck
+with astonishment. On the Continent of Europe, at the beginning of the
+seventeenth century, absolute monarchy had everywhere triumphed over
+the ruins of the oligarchical and feudal liberties of the Middle Ages.
+Never were the notions of right more completely confounded than in the
+midst of the splendor and literature of Europe; never was there less
+political activity among the people; never were the principles of true
+freedom less widely circulated; and at that very time those principles,
+which were scorned or unknown by the nations of Europe, were proclaimed
+in the deserts of the New World, and were accepted as the future creed
+of a great people. The boldest theories of the human reason were put
+into practice by a community so humble that not a statesman
+condescended to attend to it; and a legislation without a precedent was
+produced offhand by the imagination of the citizens. In the bosom of
+this obscure democracy, which had as yet brought forth neither
+generals, nor philosophers, nor authors, a man might stand up in the
+face of a free people and pronounce the following fine definition of
+liberty. *l
+
+l
+[ Mather’s “Magnalia Christi Americana,” vol. ii. p. 13. This speech
+was made by Winthrop; he was accused of having committed arbitrary
+actions during his magistracy, but after having made the speech of
+which the above is a fragment, he was acquitted by acclamation, and
+from that time forwards he was always re-elected governor of the State.
+See Marshal, vol. i. p. 166.]
+
+
+“Nor would I have you to mistake in the point of your own liberty.
+There is a liberty of a corrupt nature which is effected both by men
+and beasts to do what they list, and this liberty is inconsistent with
+authority, impatient of all restraint; by this liberty ‘sumus omnes
+deteriores’: ’tis the grand enemy of truth and peace, and all the
+ordinances of God are bent against it. But there is a civil, a moral, a
+federal liberty which is the proper end and object of authority; it is
+a liberty for that only which is just and good: for this liberty you
+are to stand with the hazard of your very lives and whatsoever crosses
+it is not authority, but a distemper thereof. This liberty is
+maintained in a way of subjection to authority; and the authority set
+over you will, in all administrations for your good, be quietly
+submitted unto by all but such as have a disposition to shake off the
+yoke and lose their true liberty, by their murmuring at the honor and
+power of authority.”
+
+The remarks I have made will suffice to display the character of
+Anglo-American civilization in its true light. It is the result (and
+this should be constantly present to the mind of two distinct
+elements), which in other places have been in frequent 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 entirely free from political prejudices. Hence
+arose two tendencies, distinct but not opposite, which are constantly
+discernible in the manners as well as in the laws of the country.
+
+It might be imagined that men who sacrificed their friends, their
+family, and their native land to a religious conviction were absorbed
+in the pursuit of the intellectual advantages which they purchased at
+so dear a rate. The energy, however, with which they strove for the
+acquirement of wealth, moral enjoyment, and the comforts as well as
+liberties of the world, is scarcely inferior to that with which they
+devoted themselves to Heaven.
+
+Political principles and all human laws and institutions were moulded
+and altered at their pleasure; the barriers of the society in which
+they were born were broken down before them; the old principles which
+had governed the world for ages were no more; a path without a turn and
+a field without an horizon were opened to the exploring and ardent
+curiosity of man: but at the limits of the political world he checks
+his researches, he discreetly lays aside the use of his most formidable
+faculties, he no longer consents to doubt or to innovate, but carefully
+abstaining from raising the curtain of the sanctuary, he yields with
+submissive respect to truths which he will not discuss. Thus, in the
+moral world everything is classed, adapted, decided, and foreseen; in
+the political world everything is agitated, uncertain, and disputed: in
+the one is a passive, though a voluntary, obedience; in the other an
+independence scornful of experience and jealous of authority.
+
+These two tendencies, apparently so discrepant, are far from
+conflicting; they advance together, and mutually support each other.
+Religion perceives that civil liberty affords a noble exercise to the
+faculties of man, and that the political world is a field prepared by
+the Creator for the efforts of the intelligence. Contented with the
+freedom and the power which it enjoys in its own sphere, and with the
+place which it occupies, the empire of religion is never more surely
+established than when it reigns in the hearts of men unsupported by
+aught beside its native strength. Religion is no less the companion of
+liberty in all its battles and its triumphs; the cradle of its infancy,
+and the divine source of its claims. The safeguard of morality is
+religion, and morality is the best security of law and the surest
+pledge of freedom. *m
+
+m
+[ See Appendix, F.]
+
+
+Reasons Of Certain Anomalies Which The Laws And Customs Of The
+Anglo-Americans Present
+
+Remains of aristocratic institutions in the midst of a complete
+democracy—Why?—Distinction carefully to be drawn between what is of
+Puritanical and what is of English origin.
+
+The reader is cautioned not to draw too general or too absolute an
+inference from what has been said. The social condition, the religion,
+and the manners of the first emigrants undoubtedly exercised an immense
+influence on the destiny of their new country. Nevertheless they were
+not in a situation to found a state of things solely dependent on
+themselves: no man can entirely shake off the influence of the past,
+and the settlers, intentionally or involuntarily, mingled habits and
+notions derived from their education and from the traditions of their
+country with those habits and notions which were exclusively their own.
+To form a judgment on the Anglo-Americans of the present day it is
+therefore necessary to distinguish what is of Puritanical and what is
+of English origin.
+
+Laws and customs are frequently to be met with in the United States
+which contrast strongly with all that surrounds them. These laws seem
+to be drawn up in a spirit contrary to the prevailing tenor of the
+American legislation; and these customs are no less opposed to the 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 what I advance. The civil
+and criminal procedure of the Americans has only two means of
+action—committal and bail. The first measure taken by the magistrate is
+to exact security from the defendant, or, in case of refusal, to
+incarcerate him: the ground of the accusation and the importance of the
+charges against him are then discussed. It is evident that a
+legislation of this kind is hostile to the poor man, and favorable only
+to the rich. The poor man has not always a security to produce, even in
+a civil cause; and if he is obliged to wait for justice in prison, he
+is speedily reduced to distress. The wealthy individual, on the
+contrary, always escapes imprisonment in civil causes; nay, more, he
+may readily elude the punishment which awaits him for a delinquency by
+breaking his bail. So that all the penalties of the law are, for him,
+reducible to fines. *n 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 greatest social advantages to themselves.
+The explanation of the phenomenon is to be found in England; the laws
+of which I speak are English, *o and the Americans have retained them,
+however repugnant they may be to the 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 only
+familiarly known to legal men, whose direct interest it is to maintain
+them as they are, whether good or bad, simply because they themselves
+are conversant with them. The body of the nation is scarcely acquainted
+with them; it merely perceives their action in particular cases; but it
+has some difficulty in seizing their tendency, and obeys them without
+premeditation. I have quoted one instance where it would have been easy
+to adduce a great number of others. The surface of American society is,
+if I may use the expression, covered with a layer of democracy, from
+beneath which the old aristocratic colors sometimes peep.
+
+n
+[ Crimes no doubt exist for which bail is inadmissible, but they are
+few in number.]
+
+
+o
+[ See Blackstone; and Delolme, book I chap. x.]
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter III: Social Conditions Of The Anglo-Americans
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter Summary
+
+
+A Social condition is commonly the result of circumstances, sometimes
+of laws, oftener still of these two causes united; but wherever it
+exists, it may justly be considered as the source of almost all the
+laws, the usages, and the ideas which regulate the conduct of nations;
+whatever it does not produce it modifies. It is therefore necessary, if
+we would become acquainted with the legislation and the manners of a
+nation, to begin by the study of its social condition.
+
+The Striking Characteristic Of The Social Condition Of The
+Anglo-Americans In Its Essential Democracy.
+
+The first emigrants of New England—Their equality—Aristocratic laws
+introduced in the South—Period of the Revolution—Change in the law of
+descent—Effects produced by this change—Democracy carried to its utmost
+limits in the new States of the West—Equality of education.
+
+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 is still more strongly marked at the present day. I have
+stated in the preceding chapter that great equality existed among the
+emigrants who settled on the shores of New England. The germ of
+aristocracy was never planted in that part of the Union. The only
+influence which obtained there was that of intellect; the people were
+used to reverence certain names as the emblems of knowledge and virtue.
+Some of their fellow-citizens acquired a power over the rest which
+might truly have been called aristocratic, if it had been capable of
+transmission from father to son.
+
+This was the state of things to the east of the Hudson: to the
+south-west of that river, and in the direction of the Floridas, the
+case was different. In most of the States situated to the south-west of
+the Hudson some great English proprietors had settled, who had imported
+with them aristocratic principles and the English law of descent. I
+have explained the reasons why it was impossible ever to establish a
+powerful aristocracy in America; these reasons existed with less force
+to the south-west 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
+altogether aristocratic as that term is understood in Europe, since
+they possessed no privileges; and the cultivation of their estates
+being carried on by slaves, they had no tenants depending on them, and
+consequently no patronage. Still, the great proprietors south of the
+Hudson constituted a superior class, having ideas and tastes of its
+own, and forming the centre of political action. This kind of
+aristocracy 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 for itself. This was the class which
+headed the insurrection in the South, and furnished the best leaders of
+the American revolution.
+
+At the period of which we are now speaking society was shaken to its
+centre: the people, in whose name the struggle had taken place,
+conceived the desire of exercising the authority which it had acquired;
+its democratic tendencies were awakened; and having thrown off the yoke
+of the mother-country, it aspired to independence of every kind. The
+influence of individuals gradually ceased to be felt, and custom and
+law united together to produce the same result.
+
+But the law of descent was the last step to equality. I am surprised
+that ancient and modern jurists have not attributed to this law a
+greater influence on human affairs. *a It is true that these laws
+belong to civil affairs; but they ought nevertheless to be placed at
+the head of all political institutions; for, whilst political laws are
+only the symbol of a nation’s condition, they exercise an incredible
+influence upon its social state. They have, moreover, a sure and
+uniform manner of operating upon society, affecting, as it were,
+generations yet unborn.
+
+a
+[ I understand by the law of descent all those laws whose principal
+object is to regulate the distribution of property after the death of
+its owner. The law of entail is of this number; it certainly prevents
+the owner from disposing of his possessions before his death; but this
+is solely with the view of preserving them entire for the heir. The
+principal object, therefore, of the law of entail is to regulate the
+descent of property after the death of its owner: its other provisions
+are merely means to this end.]
+
+
+Through their means man acquires a kind of preternatural power over the
+future lot of his fellow-creatures. When the legislator has regulated
+the law of inheritance, he may rest from his labor. The machine once
+put in motion will go on for ages, and advance, as if self-guided,
+towards a given point. When framed in a particular manner, this law
+unites, draws together, and vests property and power in a few hands:
+its tendency is clearly aristocratic. On opposite principles its action
+is still more rapid; it divides, distributes, and disperses both
+property and power. Alarmed by the rapidity of its progress, those who
+despair of arresting its motion endeavor to obstruct it by difficulties
+and impediments; they vainly seek to counteract its effect by contrary
+efforts; but it gradually reduces or destroys every obstacle, until by
+its incessant activity the bulwarks of the influence of wealth are
+ground down to the fine and shifting sand which is the basis of
+democracy. When the law of inheritance permits, still more when it
+decrees, the equal division of a father’s property amongst 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 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. This is the direct and, as it were, the physical effect
+of the law. It follows, then, that in countries where equality of
+inheritance is established by law, property, and especially landed
+property, must have a tendency to perpetual diminution. The effects,
+however, of such legislation would only be perceptible after a lapse of
+time, if the law was abandoned to its own working; for supposing the
+family to consist of two children (and in a country people as France is
+the average number is not above three), these children, sharing amongst
+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 passions into play. These indirect 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 generation to generation
+without undergoing division, the consequence of which is that family
+feeling is to a certain degree incorporated with the estate. The family
+represents the estate, the estate the family; whose name, together with
+its origin, its glory, its power, and its virtues, is thus perpetuated
+in an imperishable memorial of the past and a sure pledge of the
+future.
+
+When the equal partition of property is established by law, the
+intimate connection is destroyed between family feeling and the
+preservation of the paternal estate; the property ceases to represent
+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 landed
+proprietor, if they are few in number, or if fortune befriends them,
+may indeed entertain the hope of being as wealthy as their father, but
+not that of possessing the same property as he did; the riches must
+necessarily be composed of elements different from his.
+
+Now, from the moment that you divest the landowner of that interest in
+the preservation of his estate which he derives from association, from
+tradition, and from family pride, you may be certain that sooner or
+later he will dispose of it; for there is a strong pecuniary interest
+in favor of selling, as floating capital produces higher interest 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 proprietor 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. *b The calculations of gain, therefore,
+which decide the rich man to sell his domain will still more powerfully
+influence him against buying small estates to unite them into a large
+one.
+
+b
+[ I do not mean to say that the small proprietor cultivates his land
+better, but he cultivates it with more ardor and care; so that he makes
+up by his labor for his want of skill.]
+
+
+What is called family pride is often founded upon an illusion of
+self-love. A man wishes to perpetuate and immortalize himself, as it
+were, in his great-grandchildren. Where the esprit de famille ceases to
+act individual selfishness comes into play. When the idea of family
+becomes vague, indeterminate, and uncertain, a man thinks of his
+present convenience; he provides for the establishment of his
+succeeding generation, and no more. Either a man gives up the idea of
+perpetuating his family, or at any rate he seeks to accomplish it by
+other means than that of a landed estate. Thus not only does the law of
+partible inheritance render it difficult for families to preserve their
+ancestral domains entire, but it deprives them of the inclination to
+attempt it, and compels them in some measure to co-operate with the law
+in their own extinction.
+
+The law of equal distribution proceeds by two methods: by acting upon
+things, it acts upon persons; by influencing persons, it affects
+things. By these means the law succeeds in striking at the root of
+landed property, and dispersing rapidly both families and fortunes. *c
+
+c
+[ Land being the most stable kind of property, we find, from time to
+time, rich individuals who are disposed to make great sacrifices in
+order to obtain it, and who willingly forfeit a considerable part of
+their income to make sure of the rest. But these are accidental cases.
+The preference for landed property is no longer found habitually in any
+class but among the poor. The small landowner, who has less
+information, less imagination, and fewer passions than the great one,
+is generally occupied with the desire of increasing his estate: and it
+often happens that by inheritance, by marriage, or by the chances of
+trade, he is gradually furnished with the means. Thus, to balance the
+tendency which leads men to divide their estates, there exists another,
+which incites them to add to them. This tendency, which is sufficient
+to prevent estates from being divided ad infinitum, is not strong
+enough to create great territorial possessions, certainly not to keep
+them up in the same family.]
+
+
+Most certainly it is not for us Frenchmen of the nineteenth century,
+who daily witness the political and social changes which the law of
+partition is bringing to pass, to question its influence. It is
+perpetually conspicuous in our country, overthrowing the walls of our
+dwellings and removing the landmarks of our fields. But although it has
+produced great effects in France, much still remains for it to do. Our
+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 property were abolished in almost all the States at
+the time of the Revolution. The law of entail was so modified as not to
+interrupt the free circulation of property. *d The first generation
+having passed away, estates began to be parcelled out, and the change
+became more and more rapid with the progress of time. At this moment,
+after a lapse of a little more than sixty years, the aspect of society
+is totally altered; the families of the great landed proprietors are
+almost all commingled 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 must shortly disappear. The
+sons of these opulent citizens are become merchants, lawyers, or
+physicians. Most of them have lapsed into obscurity. The last trace of
+hereditary ranks and distinctions is destroyed—the law of partition has
+reduced all to one level. [Footnote d: See Appendix, G.]
+
+I do not mean that there is any deficiency of wealthy individuals in
+the United States; I know of no country, indeed, where the love of
+money has taken stronger hold on the affections of men, and where the
+profounder contempt is expressed for the theory of the permanent
+equality of property. But wealth circulates with inconceivable
+rapidity, 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 overcharged, still
+gives a very imperfect idea of what is taking place in the new States
+of the West and South-west. At the end of the last century a few bold
+adventurers began to penetrate into the valleys of the Mississippi, and
+the mass of the population very soon began to move in that direction:
+communities unheard of till then were seen to emerge from the wilds:
+States whose 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 extreme. In these States,
+founded off-hand, and, as it were, by chance, the inhabitants are but
+of yesterday. Scarcely known to one another, the nearest neighbors are
+ignorant of each other’s history. In this part of the American
+continent, therefore, the population has not experienced the influence
+of great names and great wealth, nor even that of the natural
+aristocracy of knowledge and virtue. None are there to wield that
+respectable power which men willingly grant to the remembrance of a
+life spent in doing good before their eyes. The new States of the West
+are already inhabited, but society has no existence among them. *e
+
+e
+[ This may have been true in 1832, but is not so in 1874, when great
+cities like Chicago and San Francisco have sprung up in the Western
+States. But as yet the Western States exert no powerful influence on
+American society.—-Translator’s Note.]
+
+
+It is not only the fortunes of men which are equal in America; even
+their requirements partake in some degree of the same uniformity. I do
+not believe that there is a country in the world where, in proportion
+to the population, there are so few uninstructed 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 surprising; 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
+knowledge.
+
+In America there are comparatively few who are rich enough to live
+without a profession. Every profession requires an apprenticeship,
+which limits the time of instruction to the early years of life. At
+fifteen they enter upon their calling, and thus their education ends at
+the age when ours begins. Whatever is done afterwards is with a view to
+some special and lucrative object; a science is taken up as a matter of
+business, and the only branch of it which is attended to is such as
+admits of an immediate practical application. In America most of the
+rich men were formerly poor; most of those who now enjoy leisure were
+absorbed in business during their youth; the consequence of which is,
+that when they might have had a taste for study they had no time for
+it, and when time is at their disposal they have no longer the
+inclination.
+
+There is no class, then, in America, in which the taste for
+intellectual pleasures is transmitted with hereditary fortune and
+leisure, and by which the labors of the intellect are held in honor.
+Accordingly there is an equal want of the desire and the power of
+application to these objects.
+
+A middle standard is fixed in America for human knowledge. All approach
+as near to it as they can; some as they rise, others as they descend.
+Of course, an immense multitude of persons are to be found who
+entertain the same number of ideas on religion, history, science,
+political economy, legislation, and government. The gifts of intellect
+proceed directly from God, and man cannot prevent their unequal
+distribution. But in consequence of the state of things which we have
+here represented it happens that, although the capacities of men are
+widely different, as the Creator has doubtless intended they should be,
+they are submitted to the same method of treatment.
+
+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 disabled that we can scarcely assign to it any
+degree of influence in the course of affairs. The democratic principle,
+on the contrary, has gained so much strength by time, by events, and by
+legislation, as to have become not only predominant but all-powerful.
+There is no family or corporate authority, and it is rare to find even
+the influence of individual character enjoy any durability.
+
+America, then, exhibits in her social state a most extraordinary
+phenomenon. Men are there seen on a greater equality in point of
+fortune and intellect, or, in other words, more equal in their
+strength, than in any other country of the world, or in any age of
+which history has preserved the remembrance.
+
+Political Consequences Of The Social Condition Of The Anglo-Americans
+
+The political consequences of such a social condition as this are
+easily deducible. It is impossible to believe that equality will not
+eventually find its way into the political world as it does everywhere
+else. To conceive of men remaining forever unequal upon one single
+point, yet equal on all others, is impossible; they must come in the
+end to be equal upon all. Now I know of only two methods of
+establishing equality in the political world; every citizen must be put
+in possession 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
+Anglo-Americans, it is therefore 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 have been
+describing is equally liable to each of these consequences.
+
+There is, in fact, a manly and lawful passion for equality which
+excites men to wish 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 equality, which impels the weak
+to attempt to lower the powerful to their own level, and reduces men to
+prefer equality in slavery to inequality 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 constant object of their desires; equality is their
+idol: they make rapid and sudden efforts to obtain liberty, and if they
+miss their aim resign themselves to their disappointment; but nothing
+can satisfy them except equality, and rather than lose it they resolve
+to perish.
+
+On the other hand, in a State where the citizens are nearly on an
+equality, it becomes difficult for them to preserve their independence
+against the aggressions of power. No one among them being strong enough
+to engage in the struggle with advantage, nothing but a general
+combination can protect their liberty. And such a union is not always
+to be found.
+
+From the same social position, then, nations may derive one or the
+other of two great political results; these results are extremely
+different from each other, but they may both proceed from the same
+cause.
+
+The Anglo-Americans are the first nations who, having been exposed to
+this formidable alternative, have been happy enough to escape the
+dominion of absolute power. They have been allowed by their
+circumstances, their origin, their intelligence, and especially by
+their moral feeling, to establish and maintain the sovereignty of the
+people.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter IV: The Principle Of The Sovereignty Of The People In America
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter Summary
+
+
+It predominates over the whole of society in America—Application made
+of this principle by the Americans even before their
+Revolution—Development given to it by that Revolution—Gradual and
+irresistible extension of the elective qualification.
+
+The Principle Of The Sovereignty Of The People In America
+
+Whenever the political laws of the United States are to be discussed,
+it is with the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people that we must
+begin. The principle of the sovereignty of the people, which is to be
+found, more or less, at the bottom of almost all human institutions,
+generally remains 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 expressions which have been most profusely abused by the
+wily and the despotic of every age. To the eyes of some it has been
+represented by the venal suffrages of a few of the satellites of power;
+to others by the votes of a timid or an interested minority; and some
+have even discovered it in the silence of a people, on the supposition
+that the fact of submission established the right of command.
+
+In America the principle of the sovereignty of the people is not either
+barren or concealed, as it is with some other nations; it is recognized
+by the customs and proclaimed by the laws; it spreads freely, and
+arrives without impediment at its most remote consequences. If there be
+a country in the world where the doctrine of the sovereignty of the
+people can be fairly appreciated, where it can be studied in its
+application to the affairs of society, and where its dangers and its
+advantages may be foreseen, that country is assuredly America.
+
+I have already observed that, from their origin, the sovereignty of the
+people was the fundamental principle of the greater number of British
+colonies in America. It was far, however, from then exercising as much
+influence on the government 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 colonies which were
+still constrained to obey the mother-country: it was therefore obliged
+to spread secretly, and to gain ground in the provincial assemblies,
+and especially in the townships.
+
+American society was not yet prepared to adopt it with all its
+consequences. The intelligence of New England, and the wealth of 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 retain the exercise of social authority in the hands of a few. The
+public functionaries were not universally elected, and the citizens
+were not all of them electors. The electoral franchise was everywhere
+placed within certain limits, and made dependent on a certain
+qualification, which was exceedingly low in the North and more
+considerable in the South.
+
+The American revolution broke out, and the doctrine of the sovereignty
+of the people, which had been nurtured in the townships and
+municipalities, took possession of the State: every class was enlisted
+in its cause; battles were fought, and victories obtained for it, until
+it became the law of laws.
+
+A no less rapid change was effected in the interior of society, where
+the law of descent completed the abolition of local influences.
+
+At the very time when this consequence of the laws and of the
+revolution was apparent to every eye, victory was irrevocably
+pronounced in favor of the democratic cause. All power was, in fact, in
+its hands, and resistance was no longer possible. The higher orders
+submitted without a murmur and without a struggle to an evil which was
+thenceforth inevitable. The ordinary fate of falling powers awaited
+them; each of their several members followed his own interests; and as
+it was impossible to wring the power from the hands of a people which
+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 impaired; and thus, although
+the higher classes did not excite the passions of the people against
+their order, they accelerated the triumph of the new state of things;
+so that by a singular change the democratic impulse was found to be
+most irresistible 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 universal suffrage, and to introduce
+the most democratic forms into the conduct of its government.
+
+When a nation modifies the elective qualification, 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 electoral rights are extended, the greater is the need of
+extending 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 appointed 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.
+
+At the present day the principle of the sovereignty of the people has
+acquired, in the United States, all the practical development which the
+imagination can conceive. It is unencumbered by those fictions which
+have been thrown over it in other countries, and it appears in every
+possible form according to the exigency of the occasion. Sometimes the
+laws are made by the people in a body, as at Athens; and sometimes its
+representatives, chosen by universal suffrage, transact business in its
+name, and almost under its immediate control.
+
+In some countries a power 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 partly
+within and partly without the ranks of the people. But 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 meet 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 legislators, and in the
+execution of them by 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
+authorities forget their popular origin and the power from which they
+emanate. *a [Footnote a: See Appendix, H.]
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States—Part I
+
+
+Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States Before That Of The
+Union At Large.
+
+It is proposed to examine in the following chapter what is the form of
+government established in America on the principle of the sovereignty
+of the people; what are its resources, its hindrances, its advantages,
+and its dangers. The first difficulty which presents itself arises from
+the complex nature of the constitution of the United States, which
+consists of two distinct social structures, connected 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 community, the other
+circumscribed 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 obstacles.
+The form of the Federal Government of the United States was the last
+which was adopted; and it is in fact nothing more than a modification
+or a summary of those republican principles which were current in the
+whole community before it existed, and independently of its existence.
+Moreover, 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 picture as a whole before he had
+explained its details would necessarily fall into obscurity and
+repetition.
+
+The great political principles which govern American society at this
+day undoubtedly took their origin and their growth in the State. It is
+therefore necessary to become acquainted with the State in order to
+possess a clue to the remainder. The States which at present compose
+the American Union all present the same features, as far as regards the
+external aspect of their institutions. Their political or
+administrative existence is centred in three focuses of action, which
+may not inaptly be compared to the different nervous centres which
+convey motion to the human body. The township is the lowest in order,
+then the county, and lastly the State; and I propose to devote the
+following chapter to the examination of these three divisions.
+
+The American System Of Townships And Municipal Bodies
+
+Why the Author begins the examination of the political institutions
+with the township—Its existence in all nations—Difficulty of
+establishing and preserving municipal independence—Its importance—Why
+the Author has selected the township system of New England as the main
+topic of his 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
+natural that wherever a number of men are collected it seems to
+constitute itself.
+
+The town, or tithing, as the smallest division of a community, must
+necessarily exist in all nations, whatever their laws and customs may
+be: if man makes monarchies and establishes republics, the first
+association of mankind seems constituted by the hand of God. But
+although the existence of the township is coeval with that of man, its
+liberties are not the less rarely respected and easily destroyed. A
+nation is always able to establish great political assemblies, because
+it habitually contains a certain number of individuals fitted by their
+talents, if not by their habits, for the direction of affairs. The
+township is, on the contrary, composed of coarser materials, which are
+less easily fashioned by the legislator. The difficulties which attend
+the consolidation of its independence rather augment than diminish with
+the increasing enlightenment of the people. A highly civilized
+community spurns the attempts of a local independence, is disgusted at
+its numerous blunders, and is apt to despair of success before the
+experiment is completed. Again, no immunities are so ill protected from
+the encroachments of the supreme power as those of municipal bodies in
+general: they are unable to struggle, single-handed, against a strong
+or an enterprising government, and they cannot defend their cause with
+success unless it be identified with the customs of the nation and
+supported by public opinion. Thus until the independence of townships
+is amalgamated with the manners of a people it is easily destroyed, and
+it is only after a long existence in the laws that it can be thus
+amalgamated. Municipal freedom is not the fruit of human device; it is
+rarely created; but it is, as it were, secretly and spontaneously
+engendered in the midst of a semi-barbarous state of society. The
+constant action of the laws and the national habits, peculiar
+circumstances, and above all time, may consolidate it; but there is
+certainly no nation on the continent of Europe which has experienced
+its advantages. Nevertheless local assemblies of citizens constitute
+the strength of free nations. Town-meetings are to liberty what primary
+schools are to science; they bring it within the people’s reach, they
+teach men how to use and how to enjoy it. A nation may establish a
+system of free government, but without the spirit of municipal
+institutions it cannot have the spirit of liberty. The transient
+passions and the interests of an hour, or the chance of circumstances,
+may have created the external forms of independence; but the despotic
+tendency which has been repelled will, sooner or later, inevitably
+reappear on the surface.
+
+In order to explain to the reader the general principles on which the
+political organization of the counties and townships of the United
+States rests, I have thought it expedient to choose one of the States
+of New England as an example, to examine the mechanism of its
+constitution, and then to cast a general glance over the country. The
+township and the county are not organized in the same manner in every
+part of the Union; it is, however, easy to perceive that the same
+principles have guided the formation of both of them throughout the
+Union. I am inclined to believe that these principles have been carried
+further in New England than elsewhere, and consequently that they offer
+greater facilities to the observations of a stranger. The institutions
+of New England form a complete and regular whole; they have received
+the sanction of time, they have the support of the laws, and the still
+stronger support of the manners of the community, over which they
+exercise the most prodigious influence; they consequently deserve our
+attention on every account.
+
+Limits Of The Township
+
+The township of New England is a division which stands between the
+commune and the canton of France, and which corresponds in general to
+the English tithing, or town. Its average population is from two to
+three thousand; *a so that, on the one hand, the interests of its
+inhabitants are not likely to conflict, and, on the other, men capable
+of conducting its affairs are always to be found among its citizens.
+
+a
+[ In 1830 there were 305 townships in the State of Massachusetts, and
+610,014 inhabitants, which gives an average of about 2,000 inhabitants
+to each township.]
+
+
+Authorities Of The Township In New England
+
+The people the source of all power here as elsewhere—Manages its own
+affairs—No corporation—The greater part of the authority vested in the
+hands of the Selectmen—How the Selectmen act—Town-meeting—Enumeration
+of the public officers of the township—Obligatory and remunerated
+functions.
+
+In the township, as well as everywhere else, the people is the only
+source of power; but in no stage of government does the body of
+citizens exercise a more immediate influence. In America the people is
+a master whose exigencies demand obedience to the utmost limits of
+possibility.
+
+In New England the majority acts by representatives in the conduct of
+the public business of the State; but if such an arrangement be
+necessary in general affairs, in the townships, where the legislative
+and administrative action of the government is in more immediate
+contact with the subject, the system of representation is not adopted.
+There is no corporation; but the body of electors, after having
+designated its magistrates, directs them in everything that exceeds the
+simple and ordinary executive business of the State. *b
+
+b
+[ The same rules are not applicable to the great towns, which generally
+have a mayor, and a corporation divided into two bodies; this, however,
+is an exception which requires the sanction of a law.—See the Act of
+February 22, 1822, for appointing the authorities of the city of
+Boston. It frequently happens that small towns as well as cities are
+subject to a peculiar administration. In 1832, 104 townships in the
+State of New York were governed in this manner.—Williams’ Register.]
+
+
+This state of things is so contrary to our ideas, and so different from
+our customs, that it is necessary for me to adduce some examples to
+explain it thoroughly.
+
+The public duties in the township are extremely numerous and minutely
+divided, as we shall see further on; but the larger proportion of
+administrative power is vested in the hands of a small number of
+individuals, called “the Selectmen.” *c The general laws of the State
+impose a certain number of obligations on the selectmen, which they may
+fulfil without the authorization of the body they represent, but which
+they can only neglect on their own responsibility. The law of the State
+obliges them, for instance, to draw up the list of electors in their
+townships; and if they omit this part of their functions, they are
+guilty of a misdemeanor. In all the affairs, however, which are
+determined by the town-meeting, the selectmen are the organs of the
+popular mandate, as in France the Maire executes the decree of the
+municipal council. They usually act upon their own responsibility, and
+merely put in practice principles which have been previously recognized
+by the majority. But if any change is to be introduced in the existing
+state of things, or if they wish to undertake any new enterprise, they
+are obliged to refer to the source of their power. If, for instance, a
+school is to be established, the selectmen convoke the whole body of
+the electors on a certain day at an appointed place; they explain the
+urgency of the case; they give their opinion on the means of satisfying
+it, on the probable expense, and the site which seems to be most
+favorable. The meeting is consulted on these several points; it adopts
+the principle, marks out the site, votes the rate, and confides the
+execution of its resolution to the selectmen.
+
+c
+[ Three selectmen are appointed in the small townships, and nine in the
+large ones. See “The Town-Officer,” p. 186. See also the principal laws
+of the State of Massachusetts relative to the selectmen:
+
+
+Act of February 20, 1786, vol. i. p. 219; February 24, 1796, vol. i. p.
+488; March 7, 1801, vol. ii. p. 45; June 16, 1795, vol. i. p. 475;
+March 12, 1808, vol. ii. p. 186; February 28, 1787, vol. i. p. 302;
+June 22, 1797, vol. i. p. 539.]
+
+The selectmen have alone the right of calling a town-meeting, but they
+may be requested to do so: if ten citizens are desirous of submitting a
+new project to the assent of the township, they may demand a general
+convocation of the inhabitants; the selectmen are obliged to comply,
+but they have only the right of presiding at the meeting. *d
+
+d
+[ See Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 150, Act of March 25, 1786.]
+
+
+The selectmen are elected every year in the month of April or of May.
+The town-meeting chooses at the same time a number of other municipal
+magistrates, who are entrusted with important administrative functions.
+The assessors rate the township; the collectors receive the rate. A
+constable is appointed to keep the peace, to watch the streets, and to
+forward the execution of the laws; the town-clerk records all the town
+votes, orders, grants, births, deaths, and marriages; the treasurer
+keeps the funds; the overseer of the poor performs the difficult task
+of superintending the action of the poor-laws; committee-men are
+appointed to attend to the schools and to public instruction; and the
+road-surveyors, who take care of the greater and lesser thoroughfares
+of the township, complete the list of the principal functionaries. They
+are, however, still further subdivided; and amongst the municipal
+officers are to be found parish commissioners, who audit the expenses
+of public worship; different classes of inspectors, some of whom are to
+direct the citizens in case of fire; tithing-men, listers, haywards,
+chimney-viewers, fence-viewers to maintain the bounds of property,
+timber-measurers, and sealers of weights and measures. *e
+
+e
+[ All these magistrates actually exist; their different functions are
+all detailed in a book called “The Town-Officer,” by Isaac Goodwin,
+Worcester, 1827; and in the “Collection of the General Laws of
+Massachusetts,” 3 vols., Boston, 1823.]
+
+
+There are nineteen principal officers in a township. Every inhabitant
+is constrained, on the pain of being fined, to undertake these
+different functions; which, however, are almost all paid, in order that
+the poorer citizens may be able to give up their time without loss. In
+general the American system is not to grant a fixed salary to its
+functionaries. Every service has its price, and they are remunerated in
+proportion to what they have done.
+
+Existence Of The Township
+
+Every one the best judge of his own interest—Corollary of the principle
+of the sovereignty of the people—Application of those doctrines in the
+townships of America—The township of New England is sovereign in all
+that concerns itself alone: subject to the State in all other
+matters—Bond of the township and the State—In France the Government
+lends its agent to the Commune—In America the reverse occurs.
+
+I have already observed that the principle of the sovereignty of the
+people governs the whole political system of the Anglo-Americans. Every
+page of this book will afford new instances of the same doctrine. In
+the nations by which the sovereignty of the people is recognized every
+individual possesses an equal share of power, and participates alike in
+the government of the State. Every individual is, therefore, supposed
+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
+the authorities which conduct it, or that he is less capable than his
+neighbor of governing himself, but because he acknowledges the utility
+of an association with his fellow-men, and because he knows that no
+such association can exist without a regulating force. If he be a
+subject in all that concerns the mutual relations of citizens, he is
+free and responsible to God alone for all that concerns himself. Hence
+arises the maxim that every one is the best and the sole judge of his
+own private interest, and that society has no right to control a man’s
+actions, unless they are prejudicial to the common weal, or unless the
+common weal demands his co-operation. This doctrine is universally
+admitted in the United States. I shall hereafter examine the general
+influence which it exercises on the ordinary actions of life; I am now
+speaking of the nature of municipal bodies.
+
+The township, taken as a whole, and in relation to the government of
+the country, may be looked upon as an individual to whom the theory I
+have just alluded to is applied. Municipal independence is therefore a
+natural consequence of the principle of the sovereignty of the people
+in the United States: all the American republics recognize it more or
+less; but circumstances have peculiarly favored its growth in New
+England.
+
+In this part of the Union the impulsion of political activity was given
+in the townships; and it may almost be said that each of them
+originally formed an independent nation. When the Kings of England
+asserted their supremacy, they were contented to assume the central
+power of the State. The townships of New England remained as they were
+before; and although they are now subject to the State, they were at
+first scarcely dependent upon it. It is important to remember that they
+have not been invested with privileges, but that they have, on the
+contrary, forfeited a portion of their independence to the State. The
+townships are only subordinate to the State in those interests which I
+shall term social, as they are common to all the citizens. They are
+independent in all that concerns themselves; and amongst the
+inhabitants of New England I believe that not a man is to be found who
+would acknowledge that the State has any right to interfere in their
+local interests. The towns of New England buy and sell, sue or are
+sued, augment or diminish their rates, without the slightest opposition
+on the part of the administrative authority of the State.
+
+They are bound, however, to comply with the demands of the community.
+If the State is in need of money, a town can neither give nor 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. A uniform system of instruction
+is organized all over the country, and every town is bound to establish
+the schools which the law ordains. In speaking of the administration of
+the United States I shall have occasion to point out the means by which
+the townships are compelled to obey in these different cases: I here
+merely show the existence of the obligation. Strict as this obligation
+is, the government of the State imposes it in principle only, and in
+its performance the township resumes all its independent rights. Thus,
+taxes are voted by the State, but they are levied and collected by the
+township; the existence of a school is obligatory, but the township
+builds, pays, and superintends it. In France the State-collector
+receives the local imposts; in America the town-collector receives the
+taxes of the State. Thus the French Government lends its agents to the
+commune; in America the township is the agent of the Government. This
+fact alone shows the extent of the differences which exist between the
+two nations.
+
+Public Spirit Of The Townships Of New England
+
+How the township of New England wins the affections of its
+inhabitants—Difficulty of creating local public spirit in Europe—The
+rights and duties of the American township favorable to
+it—Characteristics of home in the United States—Manifestations of
+public spirit in New England—Its happy effects.
+
+In America, not only do municipal bodies exist, but they are kept alive
+and supported by public spirit. The township of New England possesses
+two advantages which infallibly secure the attentive interest of
+mankind, namely, independence and authority. Its sphere is indeed small
+and limited, but within that sphere its action is unrestrained; and its
+independence gives to it a real importance which its extent and
+population may not always ensure.
+
+It is to be remembered that the affections of men generally lie on the
+side of authority. Patriotism is not durable in a conquered nation. The
+New Englander is attached to his township, not only because he was born
+in it, but because it constitutes a social body of which he is a
+member, and whose government claims and deserves the exercise of his
+sagacity. In Europe the absence of local public spirit is a frequent
+subject of regret to those who are in power; everyone agrees that there
+is no surer guarantee of order and tranquility, and yet nothing is more
+difficult to create. If the municipal bodies were made powerful and
+independent, the authorities of the nation might be disunited and the
+peace of the country endangered. Yet, without power and independence, 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 country are not elected, and their authority is very limited. Even
+the State is only a second-rate community, whose tranquil and obscure
+administration offers no inducement sufficient to draw men away from
+the circle of their interests into the turmoil of public affairs. The
+federal government confers power and honor on the men who conduct it;
+but these individuals can never be very numerous. The high station of
+the Presidency can only be reached at an advanced period of life, and
+the other federal functionaries are generally men who have been favored
+by fortune, or distinguished in some other career. Such cannot be the
+permanent aim of the ambitious. But the township serves as a centre for
+the desire of public esteem, the want of exciting interests, and the
+taste for authority and popularity, in the midst of the ordinary
+relations of life; 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 States power has been disseminated with admirable skill
+for the purpose of interesting the greatest possible number of persons
+in the common weal. Independently of the electors who are from time to
+time called into action, the body politic is divided into innumerable
+functionaries and officers, who all, in their several spheres,
+represent the same powerful whole 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 activity of the township is continually
+perceptible; 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 disturbing it.
+
+The American attaches himself to his home as the mountaineer clings to
+his hills, because the characteristic features of his country are there
+more distinctly marked than elsewhere. 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 America the commotions of
+municipal discord are unfrequent. 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 upon the
+soil. In New England no tradition exists of a distinction of ranks; no
+portion of the community is tempted to oppress the remainder; and the
+abuses which may injure isolated individuals are forgotten in the
+general contentment which prevails. If the government is defective (and
+it would no doubt be easy to point out its deficiencies), the fact that
+it really emanates from those it governs, and that it acts, either ill
+or well, casts the protecting spell of a parental pride over its
+faults. No term of comparison disturbs the satisfaction of the citizen:
+England formerly governed the mass of the colonies, but the people was
+always 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 ensures 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 place; he
+practises the art of government in the small sphere within his reach;
+he accustoms himself to those forms which can alone ensure the steady
+progress of liberty; he imbibes their spirit; he acquires a taste for
+order, comprehends the union or the balance of powers, and collects
+clear practical notions on the nature of his duties and the extent of
+his rights.
+
+The Counties Of New England
+
+The division of the countries in America has considerable analogy with
+that of the arrondissements of France. The limits of the counties are
+arbitrarily laid down, and the various districts which they contain
+have no necessary connection, no common tradition or natural sympathy;
+their object is simply to facilitate the administration of justice.
+
+The extent of the township was too small to contain a system of
+judicial institutions; each county has, however, a court of justice, *f
+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 the State of Massachusetts this authority is vested in
+the hands of several magistrates, who are appointed by the Governor of
+the State, with the advice *g of his council. *h The officers of the
+county have only a limited and occasional authority, which is
+applicable to certain predetermined cases. The State and the townships
+possess all the power requisite to conduct public business. The budget
+of the county is drawn up by its officers, and is voted by the
+legislature, but there is no assembly which directly or indirectly
+represents the county. It has, therefore, properly speaking, no
+political existence.
+
+f
+[ See the Act of February 14, 1821, Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p.
+551.]
+
+
+g
+[ See the Act of February 20, 1819, Laws of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p.
+494.]
+
+
+h
+[ The council of the Governor is an elective body.] A twofold tendency
+may be discerned in the American constitutions, which impels the
+legislator to centralize the legislative and to disperse the executive
+power. The township of New England has in itself an indestructible
+element of independence; and this distinct existence could only be
+fictitiously introduced into the county, where its utility has not been
+felt. But all the townships united have but one representation, which
+is the State, the centre of the national authority: beyond the action
+of the township and that of the nation, nothing can be said to exist
+but the influence of individual exertion.
+
+
+Administration In New England
+
+Administration not perceived in America—Why?—The Europeans believe that
+liberty is promoted by depriving the social authority of some of its
+rights; the Americans, by dividing its exercise—Almost all the
+administration confined to the township, and divided amongst the
+town-officers—No trace of an administrative body to be perceived,
+either in the township or above it—The reason of this—How it happens
+that the administration of the State is uniform—Who is empowered to
+enforce the obedience of the township and the county to the law—The
+introduction of judicial power into the administration—Consequence of
+the extension of the elective principle to all functionaries—The
+Justice of the Peace in New England—By whom appointed—County officer:
+ensures the administration of the townships—Court of Sessions—Its
+action—Right of inspection and indictment disseminated like the other
+administrative functions—Informers encouraged by the division of fines.
+
+Nothing is more striking to an 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 that they are daily
+executed; but although everything is in motion, the hand which gives
+the impulse to the social machine can nowhere be discovered.
+Nevertheless, as all peoples are obliged to have recourse to certain
+grammatical forms, which are the foundation of human language, in order
+to express their thoughts; so all communities are obliged to secure
+their existence by submitting to a certain dose of authority, without
+which they fall a prey to anarchy. This authority may be distributed in
+several ways, but it must always exist somewhere.
+
+There are two methods of diminishing the force of authority 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 circumstances. To weaken authority in this manner is what
+is generally termed in Europe to lay the foundations of freedom. The
+second manner of diminishing the influence of authority does not
+consist in stripping society of any of its rights, nor in paralyzing
+its efforts, but in distributing the exercise of its privileges in
+various hands, and in multiplying functionaries, to each of whom the
+degree of power necessary for him to perform his duty is entrusted.
+There may be nations whom this distribution of social powers might lead
+to anarchy; but in itself it is not anarchical. The action of authority
+is indeed thus rendered less irresistible and less perilous, but it is
+not totally suppressed.
+
+The revolution of the United States was the result of a mature and
+dignified taste for freedom, and not of a vague or ill-defined craving
+for independence. It contracted no alliance with the turbulent passions
+of anarchy; but its course was marked, on the contrary, by an
+attachment to whatever was lawful and orderly.
+
+It was never assumed in the United States that the citizen of a free
+country has a right to do whatever he pleases; on the contrary, social
+obligations were there imposed upon him more various than anywhere
+else. No idea was ever entertained of attacking the principles or of
+contesting the rights of society; but the exercise of its authority was
+divided, to the end that the office might be powerful and the officer
+insignificant, and that the community should be at once regulated and
+free. In no country in the world does the law hold so absolute a
+language as in America, and in no country is the right of applying it
+vested in so many hands. The administrative power in the United States
+presents nothing either central or hierarchical in its constitution,
+which accounts for its passing, unperceived. The power exists, but its
+representative is not to be perceived.
+
+We have already seen that the independent townships of New England
+protect their own private interests; and the municipal magistrates are
+the persons to whom the execution of the laws of the State is most
+frequently entrusted. *i Besides the general laws, the State sometimes
+passes general police regulations; but more commonly the townships and
+town officers, conjointly with justices of the peace, regulate the
+minor details of social life, according to the necessities of the
+different localities, and promulgate such enactments as concern the
+health of the community, and the peace as well as morality of the
+citizens. *j Lastly, these municipal magistrates provide, of their own
+accord and without any delegated powers, for those unforeseen
+emergencies which frequently occur in society. *k
+
+i
+[ See “The Town-Officer,” especially at the words Selectmen, Assessors,
+Collectors, Schools, Surveyors of Highways. I take one example in a
+thousand: the State prohibits travelling on the Sunday; the
+tything-men, who are town-officers, are specially charged to keep watch
+and to execute the law. See the Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 410.
+
+
+The selectmen draw up the lists of electors for the election of the
+Governor, and transmit the result of the ballot to the Secretary of the
+State. See Act of February 24, 1796: Id., vol. i. p. 488.]
+
+j
+[ Thus, for instance, the selectmen authorize the construction of
+drains, point out the proper sites for slaughter-houses and other
+trades which are a nuisance to the neighborhood. See the Act of June 7,
+1785: Id., vol. i. p. 193.]
+
+
+k
+[ The selectmen take measures for the security of the public in case of
+contagious diseases, conjointly with the justices of the peace. See Act
+of June 22, 1797, vol. i. p. 539.]
+
+
+It results from what we have said that in the State of Massachusetts
+the administrative authority is almost entirely restricted to the
+township, *l but that it is distributed among a great number of
+individuals. In the French commune there is properly but one official
+functionary, namely, the Maire; and in New England we have seen that
+there are nineteen. These nineteen functionaries do not in general
+depend upon one another. The law carefully prescribes a circle of
+action to each of these magistrates; and within that circle they have
+an entire right to perform their functions independently of any other
+authority. Above the township scarcely any trace of a series of
+official dignitaries is to be found. It sometimes happens that the
+county officers alter a decision of the townships or town magistrates,
+*m but in general the authorities of the county have no right to
+interfere with the authorities of the township, *n except in such
+matters as concern the county.
+
+l
+[ I say almost, for there are various circumstances in the annals of a
+township which are regulated by the justice of the peace in his
+individual capacity, or by the justices of the peace assembled in the
+chief town of the county; thus licenses are granted by the justices.
+See the Act of February 28, 1787, vol. i. p. 297.]
+
+
+m
+[ Thus licenses are only granted to such persons as can produce a
+certificate of good conduct from the selectmen. If the selectmen refuse
+to give the certificate, the party may appeal to the justices assembled
+in the Court of Sessions, and they may grant the license. See Act of
+March 12, 1808, vol. ii. p. 186.
+
+
+The townships have the right to make by-laws, and to enforce them by
+fines which are fixed by law; but these by-laws must be approved by the
+Court of Sessions. See Act of March 23, 1786, vol. i. p. 254.]
+
+n
+[ In Massachusetts the county magistrates are frequently called upon to
+investigate the acts of the town magistrates; but it will be shown
+further on that this investigation is a consequence, not of their
+administrative, but of their judicial power.]
+
+
+The magistrates of the township, as well as those of the county, are
+bound to communicate their acts to the central government in a very
+small number of predetermined cases. *o But the central government is
+not represented by an individual whose business it is to publish police
+regulations and ordinances enforcing the execution of the laws; to keep
+up a regular communication with the officers of the township and the
+county; to inspect their conduct, to direct their actions, or to
+reprimand their faults. There is no point which serves as a centre to
+the radii of the administration.
+
+o
+[ The town committees of schools are obliged to make an annual report
+to the Secretary of the State on the condition of the school. See Act
+of March 10, 1827, vol. iii. p. 183.]
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States—Part II
+
+
+What, then, is the uniform plan on which the government is conducted,
+and how is the compliance of the counties and their magistrates or the
+townships and their officers enforced? In the States of New England the
+legislative authority embraces more subjects than it does in France;
+the legislator penetrates to the very core of the administration; the
+law descends to the most minute details; the same enactment prescribes
+the principle and the method of its application, and thus imposes a
+multitude of strict and rigorously defined obligations on the secondary
+functionaries 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 of compelling the secondary functionaries of the
+administration to conform to the law. It may be affirmed that, in
+general, society has only two methods of enforcing the execution of the
+laws at its disposal: a discretionary power may be entrusted to a
+superior functionary of directing all the others, and of cashiering
+them in case of disobedience; or the courts of justice may be
+authorized 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 cashiering
+him if he does not obey orders, and of rewarding him by promotion if he
+fulfils his duties with propriety. But an elected magistrate can
+neither be cashiered nor promoted. All elective functions are
+inalienable until their term is expired. In fact, the elected
+magistrate has nothing either to expect or to fear from his
+constituents; and when all public offices are filled by ballot there
+can be no series of official dignities, because the double right of
+commanding and of enforcing obedience can never be vested in the same
+individual, and because the power of issuing an order can never be
+joined to that of inflicting a punishment or bestowing a reward.
+
+The communities therefore in which the secondary functionaries of the
+government are elected are perforce obliged to make great use of
+judicial penalties as a means of administration. This is not evident at
+first sight; for those in power are apt to look upon the institution of
+elective functionaries as one concession, and the subjection of the
+elected magistrate to the judges of the land as another. They are
+equally averse to both these innovations; and as they are more
+pressingly solicited to grant the former than the latter, they accede
+to the election of the magistrate, and leave him independent of the
+judicial power. Nevertheless, 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 elective offices: if these
+two institutions do not go hand in hand, the State must fall into
+anarchy or into subjection.
+
+It has always been remarked that habits of legal business do not render
+men apt to the exercise of administrative authority. The Americans have
+borrowed from the English, their fathers, the idea of an institution
+which is unknown upon the continent of Europe: I allude to that of the
+Justices of the Peace. The Justice of the Peace is a sort of mezzo
+termine between the magistrate and the man of the world, between the
+civil officer and the judge. A justice of the peace is a well-informed
+citizen, though he is not necessarily versed in the knowledge of the
+laws. His office simply obliges him to execute the police regulations
+of society; a task in which good sense and integrity are of more avail
+than legal science. The justice introduces into the administration a
+certain taste for established forms and publicity, which renders him a
+most unserviceable instrument of despotism; and, on the other hand, he
+is not blinded by those superstitions which render legal officers unfit
+members of a government. The Americans have adopted the system of the
+English justices of the peace, but they have deprived it of that
+aristocratic character which is discernible in the mother-country. The
+Governor of Massachusetts *p appoints a certain number of justices of
+the peace in every county, whose functions last seven years. *q He
+further designates three individuals from amongst the whole body of
+justices who form in each county what is called the Court of Sessions.
+The justices take a personal share in public business; they are
+sometimes entrusted with administrative functions in conjunction with
+elected officers, *r they sometimes constitute a tribunal, before which
+the magistrates summarily prosecute a refractory citizen, or the
+citizens inform against the abuses of the magistrate. But it is in the
+Court of Sessions that they exercise their most important functions.
+This court meets twice a year in the county town; in Massachusetts it
+is empowered to enforce the obedience of the greater number *s of
+public officers. *t It must be observed, that in the State of
+Massachusetts the Court of Sessions is at the same time an
+administrative body, properly so called, and a political tribunal. It
+has been asserted 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 entrusted to any one of them in particular. *u In
+all that concerns county business the duties of the Court of Sessions
+are purely administrative; and if in its investigations it occasionally
+borrows the forms of judicial procedure, it is only with a view to its
+own information, *v or as a guarantee to the community over which it
+presides. But when the administration of the township is brought before
+it, it always acts as a judicial body, and in some few cases as an
+official assembly.
+
+p
+[ We shall hereafter learn what a Governor is: I shall content myself
+with remarking in this place that he represents the executive power of
+the whole State.]
+
+
+q
+[ See the Constitution of Massachusetts, chap. II. sect. 1. Section 9;
+chap. III. Section 3.]
+
+
+r
+[ 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.—Act of June 22, 1797, vol.
+i. p. 540.
+
+
+In general the justices interfere in all the important acts of the
+administration, and give them a semi-judicial character.] [Footnote s:
+I say the greater number, because certain administrative misdemeanors
+are brought before ordinary tribunals. If, for instance, a township
+refuses to make the necessary expenditure for its schools or to name a
+school-committee, it is liable to a heavy fine. But this penalty is
+pronounced by the Supreme Judicial Court or the Court of Common Pleas.
+See Act of March 10, 1827, Laws of Massachusetts, vol. iii. p. 190. Or
+when a township neglects to provide the necessary war-stores.—Act of
+February 21, 1822: Id., vol. ii. p. 570.]
+
+t
+[ In their individual capacity the justices of the peace take a part in
+the business of the counties and townships.] [Footnote u: These affairs
+may be brought under the following heads:—1. The erection of prisons
+and courts of justice. 2. The county budget, which is afterwards voted
+by the State. 3. The distribution of the taxes so voted. 4. Grants of
+certain patents. 5. The laying down and repairs of the country roads.]
+
+
+v
+[ Thus, when a road is under consideration, almost all difficulties are
+disposed of by the aid of the jury.]
+
+
+The first difficulty is to procure the obedience of an authority as
+entirely independent of the general laws of the State as the township
+is. We have stated that assessors are annually named by the
+town-meetings to levy the taxes. If a township attempts to evade the
+payment of the taxes by neglecting to name its assessors, the Court of
+Sessions condemns it to a heavy penalty. *w 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 it is that in the United States
+the authority of the Government is mysteriously concealed under the
+forms of a judicial sentence; and its influence is at the same time
+fortified by that irresistible power with which men have invested the
+formalities of law.
+
+w
+[ See Act of February 20, 1786, Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 217.]
+
+
+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 without any complication, or in a principle
+without its application in detail. *x But the difficulty increases when
+it is not the obedience of the township, but that of the town officers
+which is to be enforced. All the reprehensible actions of which a
+public functionary may be guilty are reducible to the following heads:
+
+x
+[ There is an indirect method of enforcing the 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 right
+which the law gives him against the township. Thus by threatening the
+officer the Court of Sessions exacts compliance from the town. See Act
+of March 5, 1787, Id., vol. i. p. 305.]
+
+
+He may execute the law without energy or zeal;
+
+He may neglect to execute the law;
+
+He may do what the law enjoins him not to do.
+
+The last two violations of duty can alone come under the cognizance of
+a tribunal; a positive and appreciable fact is the indispensable
+foundation of an action at law. Thus, if the selectmen omit to fulfil
+the legal formalities usual at town elections, they may be condemned to
+pay a fine; *y but when the public officer performs his duty without
+ability, and when he obeys the letter of the law without zeal or
+energy, he is at least beyond the reach of judicial interference. The
+Court of Sessions, even when it is invested with its official powers,
+is in this case unable to compel him to a more satisfactory obedience.
+The fear of removal is the only check to these quasi-offences; and as
+the Court of Sessions does not originate the town authorities, it
+cannot remove functionaries whom it does not appoint. Moreover, a
+perpetual investigation would be necessary to convict the officer of
+negligence or lukewarmness; and the Court of Sessions sits but twice a
+year and then only judges such offences as are brought before its
+notice. The only security of that active and enlightened obedience
+which a court of justice cannot impose upon public officers lies in the
+possibility of their arbitrary removal. In France this security is
+sought for in powers exercised by the heads of the administration; in
+America it is sought for in the principle of election.
+
+y
+[ Laws of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 45.]
+
+
+Thus, to recapitulate in a few words what I have been showing: 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
+pass sentence upon him. If he commits a fault in his official capacity,
+a purely administrative tribunal is empowered to punish him; and, if
+the affair is important or urgent, the judge supplies the omission of
+the functionary. *z Lastly, if the same individual is guilty of one of
+those intangible offences of which human justice has no cognizance, he
+annually appears before a tribunal from which there is no appeal, which
+can at once reduce him to insignificance and deprive him of his charge.
+This system undoubtedly possesses great advantages, but its execution
+is attended with a practical difficulty which it is important to point
+out.
+
+z
+[ If, for instance, a township persists in refusing to name its
+assessors, the Court of Sessions nominates them; and the magistrates
+thus appointed are invested with the same authority as elected
+officers. See the Act quoted above, February 20, 1787.]
+
+
+I have already observed that the administrative tribunal, which is
+called the Court of Sessions, has no right of inspection over the town
+officers. It can only interfere when the conduct of a magistrate is
+specially brought under its notice; and this is the delicate part of
+the system. The Americans of New England are unacquainted with the
+office of public prosecutor in the Court of Sessions, *a and it may
+readily be perceived that it could not have been established without
+difficulty. If an accusing magistrate had merely been appointed in the
+chief town of each county, and if he had been unassisted by agents in
+the townships, he would not have been better acquainted with what was
+going on in the county than the members of the Court of Sessions. But
+to appoint 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 England. The Americans have
+therefore divided the offices of inspection and of prosecution, as well
+as all the other functions of the administration. 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. *b There
+are certain great offences which are officially prosecuted by the
+States; *c but more frequently the task of punishing delinquents
+devolves upon the fiscal officer, whose province it is to receive the
+fine: thus the treasurer of the township is charged with the
+prosecution of such administrative offences as fall under his notice.
+But a more special appeal is made by American legislation to the
+private interest of the citizen; *d and this great principle is
+constantly 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 cupidity for
+the execution of the laws. When an individual is really and sensibly
+injured by an administrative abuse, it is natural that his personal
+interest should induce him to prosecute. But if a legal formality be
+required, which, however advantageous to the community, is of small
+importance to individuals, plaintiffs may be less easily found; and
+thus, by a tacit agreement, the laws may fall into disuse. Reduced by
+their system to this extremity, the Americans are obliged to encourage
+informers by bestowing on them a portion of the penalty in certain
+cases, *e and to insure the execution of the laws by the dangerous
+expedient of degrading the morals of the people. The only
+administrative authority above the county magistrates is, properly
+speaking, that of the Government.
+
+a
+[ I say the Court of Sessions, because in common courts there is a
+magistrate who exercises some of the functions of a public prosecutor.]
+
+
+b
+[ The grand-jurors are, for instance, bound to inform the court of the
+bad state of the roads.—Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 308.]
+
+
+c
+[ If, for instance, the treasurer of the county holds back his
+accounts.—Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 406.] [Footnote d: Thus, if
+a private individual breaks down or is wounded in consequence of the
+badness of a road, he can sue the township or the county for damages at
+the sessions.—Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 309.]
+
+
+e
+[ In cases of invasion or insurrection, if the town-officers neglect to
+furnish the necessary stores and ammunition for the militia, the
+township may be condemned to a fine of from $200 to $500. It may
+readily be imagined that in such a case it might happen that no one
+cared to prosecute; hence the law adds that all the citizens may indict
+offences of this kind, and that half of the fine shall belong to the
+plaintiff. See Act of March 6, 1810, vol. ii. p. 236. The same clause
+is frequently to be met with in the law of Massachusetts. Not only are
+private individuals thus incited to prosecute the public officers, but
+the public officers are 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 he receives half the penalty for
+himself. See the Laws above quoted, vol. i. p. 308.]
+
+
+General Remarks On The Administration Of The United States Differences
+of the States of the Union in their system of administration—Activity
+and perfection of the local authorities decrease towards the
+South—Power of the magistrate increases; that of the elector
+diminishes—Administration passes from the township to the county—States
+of New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania—Principles of administration applicable
+to the whole Union—Election of public officers, and inalienability of
+their functions—Absence of gradation of ranks—Introduction of judicial
+resources into the administration.
+
+I have already premised that, after having examined the constitution 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 a local
+activity exist in every State; but in no part of the confederation is a
+township to be met with precisely similar to those of New England. The
+more we descend towards the South, the less active does the business of
+the township or parish become; the number of magistrates, of functions,
+and of rights decreases; the population exercises a less immediate
+influence on affairs; town meetings are less frequent, and the subjects
+of debate less numerous. The power of the elected magistrate is
+augmented and that of the elector diminished, whilst the public spirit
+of the local communities is less awakened and less influential. *f
+These differences may be perceived to a certain extent in the State of
+New York; they are very sensible in Pennsylvania; but they become less
+striking as we advance to the northwest. The majority of the emigrants
+who settle in the northwestern States are natives of New England, and
+they carry the habits of their mother country with them into that which
+they adopt. A township in Ohio is by no means dissimilar from a
+township in Massachusetts.
+
+f
+[ For details see the Revised Statutes of the State of New York, part
+i. chap. xi. vol. i. pp. 336-364, entitled, “Of the Powers, Duties, and
+Privileges of Towns.”
+
+
+See in the Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, the words Assessors,
+Collector, Constables, Overseer of the Poor, Supervisors of Highways;
+and in the Acts of a general nature of the State of Ohio, the Act of
+February 25, 1834, relating to townships, p. 412; besides the peculiar
+dispositions relating to divers town-officers, such as Township’s
+Clerk, Trustees, Overseers of the Poor, Fence Viewers, Appraisers of
+Property, Township’s Treasurer, Constables, Supervisors of Highways.]
+
+We have seen that in Massachusetts the mainspring of public
+administration lies in the township. It forms the common centre of the
+interests and affections of the citizens. But this ceases to be the
+case as we descend to States in which knowledge is less generally
+diffused, and where the township consequently offers fewer guarantees
+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 administration,
+and the intermediate power between the Government and the citizen. In
+Massachusetts the business of the county is conducted by the Court of
+Sessions, which is composed of a quorum named by the Governor and his
+council; but the county has no representative assembly, and its
+expenditure is voted by the national legislature. In the great State of
+New York, on the contrary, and in those of Ohio and Pennsylvania, the
+inhabitants of each county choose a certain number of representatives,
+who constitute the assembly of the county. *g The county assembly has
+the right of taxing the inhabitants to a certain extent; and in this
+respect it enjoys the privileges of a real legislative body: at the
+same time it exercises an executive power in the county, frequently
+directs the administration of the townships, and restricts their
+authority within much narrower bounds than in Massachusetts.
+
+g
+[ See the Revised Statutes of the State of New York, part i. chap. xi.
+vol. i. p. 340. Id. chap. xii. p. 366; also in the Acts of the State of
+Ohio, an act relating to county commissioners, February 25, 1824, p.
+263. See the Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, at the words
+County-rates and Levies, p. 170. In the State of New York each township
+elects a representative, who has a share in the administration of the
+county as well as in that of the township.]
+
+
+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 provisions of American law minutely, I should have to point
+out still further differences in the executive details of the several
+communities. But what I have already said may suffice to show the
+general principles on which the administration of the United States
+rests. These principles are differently applied; their consequences are
+more or less numerous in various localities; but they are always
+substantially the same. The laws differ, and their outward features
+change, but their character does not vary. If the township and the
+county are not everywhere constituted 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 principle, namely, that everyone is the best
+judge of what concerns himself alone, and the most proper person to
+supply his private wants. The township and the county are therefore
+bound to take care of their special interests: the State governs, but
+it does not interfere with their administration. Exceptions to this
+rule 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 or at least from amongst the
+citizens. As the officers are everywhere elected or appointed for a
+certain period, it has been impossible to establish the rules of a
+dependent series of authorities; there are almost as many independent
+functionaries as there are functions, and the executive power is
+disseminated in a multitude of hands. Hence arose the indispensable
+necessity of introducing the control of the courts of justice over the
+administration, and the system of pecuniary penalties, by which the
+secondary bodies and their representatives are constrained to obey the
+laws. This system obtains from one end of the Union to the other. The
+power of punishing the misconduct of public officers, or of performing
+the part of the executive in urgent cases, has not, however, been
+bestowed on the same judges in all the States. The Anglo-Americans
+derived the institution of justices of the peace from a common source;
+but although it exists in all the States, it is not always turned to
+the same use. The justices of the peace everywhere participate in the
+administration of the townships and the counties, *h either as public
+officers or as the judges of public misdemeanors, but in most of the
+States the more important classes of public offences come under the
+cognizance of the ordinary tribunals.
+
+h
+[ In some of the Southern States the county courts are charged with all
+the details of the administration. See the Statutes of the State of
+Tennessee, arts. Judiciary, Taxes, etc.]
+
+
+The election of public officers, or the inalienability of their
+functions, the absence of a gradation of powers, and the introduction
+of a judicial control over the secondary branches of the
+administration, are the universal characteristics of the American
+system from Maine to the Floridas. In some States (and that of New York
+has advanced most in this direction) traces of a centralized
+administration begin 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. *i
+
+i
+[ For instance, the direction of public instruction centres in the
+hands of the Government. The legislature names the members of the
+University, who are denominated Regents; the Governor and
+Lieutentant-Governor of the State are necessarily of the
+number.—Revised Statutes, vol. i. p. 455. The Regents of the University
+annually visit the colleges and academies, and make their report to the
+legislature. Their superintendence is not inefficient, for several
+reasons: the colleges in order to become corporations stand in need of
+a charter, which is only granted on the recommendation of the Regents;
+every year funds are distributed by the State for the encouragement of
+learning, and the Regents are the distributors of this money. See chap.
+xv. “Instruction,” Revised Statutes, vol. i. p. 455.
+
+
+The school-commissioners are obliged to send an annual report to the
+Superintendent of the Republic.—Id. p. 488.
+
+A similar report is annually made to the same person on the number and
+condition of the poor.—Id. p. 631.]
+
+At other times they constitute a court of appeal for the decision of
+affairs. *j In the State of New York judicial penalties are less used
+than in other parts as a means of administration, and the right of
+prosecuting the offences of public officers is vested in fewer hands.
+*k The same tendency is faintly observable in some other States; *l but
+in general the prominent feature of the administration in the United
+States is its excessive local independence.
+
+j
+[ If any one conceives himself to be wronged by the
+school-commissioners (who are town-officers), he can appeal to the
+superintendent of the primary schools, whose decision is final.—Revised
+Statutes, vol. i. p. 487.
+
+
+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 weak and unproductive. The great
+authorities of the State have the right of watching 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 therefore the right of commanding, without the
+means of exacting compliance. In 1830 the Superintendent of Schools
+complained in his Annual Report addressed to the legislature that
+several school-commissioners had neglected, notwithstanding 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.]
+
+k
+[ Thus the district-attorney is directed to recover all fines below the
+sum of fifty dollars, unless such a right has been specially awarded to
+another magistrate.—Revised Statutes, vol. i. p. 383.]
+
+
+l
+[ Several traces of centralization may be discovered in Massachusetts;
+for instance, the committees of the town-schools are directed to make
+an annual report to the Secretary of State. See Laws of Massachusetts,
+vol. i. p. 367.]
+
+
+Of The State
+
+I have described the townships and the administration; it now remains
+for me to speak of the State and the Government. This is ground I may
+pass over rapidly, without fear of being misunderstood; for all I have
+to say is to be found in written forms of the various constitutions,
+which are easily to be procured. These constitutions rest upon a simple
+and rational theory; their forms have been adopted by all
+constitutional nations, and are become familiar to us. In this place,
+therefore, it is only necessary for me to give a short analysis; I
+shall endeavor afterwards to pass judgment upon what I now describe.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States—Part III
+
+Legislative Power Of The State
+
+Division of the Legislative 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 name of the Senate. The Senate is
+commonly a legislative body; but it sometimes becomes an executive and
+judicial one. It takes a part in the government in several ways,
+according to the constitution of the different States; *m but it is in
+the nomination of public functionaries that it most commonly assumes an
+executive power. It partakes of judicial power in the trial of certain
+political offences, and sometimes also in the decision of certain civil
+cases. *n The number of its members is always small. The other branch
+of the legislature, which is usually called the House of
+Representatives, has no share whatever in the administration, and only
+takes a part in the judicial power inasmuch as it impeaches public
+functionaries before the Senate. The members of the two Houses are
+nearly everywhere subject to the same conditions of election. 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 longer than that of the House of
+Representatives. The latter seldom remain in office longer than a year;
+the former usually sit two or three years. By granting to the senators
+the privilege of being chosen for several years, and being renewed
+seriatim, the law takes care to preserve in the legislative body a
+nucleus of men already accustomed to public business, and capable of
+exercising a salutary influence upon the junior members.
+
+m
+[ In Massachusetts the Senate is not invested with any administrative
+functions.]
+
+
+n
+[ As in the State of New York.]
+
+
+The Americans, plainly, did not desire, by this separation 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 create in the one a bulwark to power, whilst the
+other represented the interests and passions of the people. The only
+advantages which result from the present constitution of the United
+States are the division of the legislative power and the consequent
+check upon political assemblies; with the creation of a tribunal of
+appeal for the revision of the laws.
+
+Time and experience, however, have convinced the Americans that 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 carried away by the
+necessary consequences of the principle of the sovereignty of the
+people as to have concurred in the measure; but the Pennsylvanians were
+soon obliged to change the law, and to create two Houses. Thus the
+principle of the division of the legislative power was finally
+established, and its necessity may henceforward be regarded as a
+demonstrated truth. This theory, which was nearly unknown to the
+republics of antiquity—which was introduced into the world almost by
+accident, like so many other great truths—and misunderstood by several
+modern nations, is at length become an axiom in the political science
+of the present age.
+
+[See Benjamin Franklin]
+
+The Executive Power Of The State
+
+Office of Governor in an American State—The place he occupies in
+relation to the Legislature—His rights and his duties—His dependence on
+the people.
+
+The executive power of the State may with truth be said to be
+represented by the Governor, although he enjoys but a portion of its
+rights. The supreme magistrate, 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 natural
+executor of its decrees in all the undertakings which interest the
+nation at large. *o 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. The whole military power of the State is
+at the disposal of the Governor. He is the commander of the militia,
+and head of the armed force. When the authority, which is by general
+consent awarded to the laws, is disregarded, the Governor puts himself
+at the head of the armed force of the State, to quell resistance, and
+to restore order. Lastly, the Governor takes no share in the
+administration of townships and counties, except it be indirectly in
+the nomination of Justices of the Peace, which nomination he has not
+the power to cancel. *p The Governor is an elected magistrate, and is
+generally chosen for one or two years only; so that he always continues
+to be strictly dependent upon the majority who returned him.
+
+o
+[ Practically speaking, it is not always the Governor who executes the
+plans of the Legislature; it often happens that the latter, in voting a
+measure, names special agents to superintend the execution of it.]
+
+
+p
+[ In some of the States the justices of the peace are not elected by
+the Governor.]
+
+
+Political Effects Of The System Of Local Administration In The United
+States
+
+Necessary distinction between the general centralization of Government
+and the centralization of the local administration—Local administration
+not centralized in the United States: great general centralization of
+the Government—Some bad consequences resulting to the United States
+from the local administration—Administrative advantages attending this
+order of things—The power which conducts the Government is less
+regular, less enlightened, less learned, but much greater than in
+Europe—Political advantages of this order of things—In the United
+States the interests of the country are everywhere kept in view—Support
+given to the Government by the community—Provincial institutions more
+necessary in proportion as the social condition becomes more
+democratic—Reason of this.
+
+Centralization is become a word of general and daily use, without any
+precise meaning being attached to it. Nevertheless, there exist two
+distinct kinds of centralization, which it is necessary to discriminate
+with accuracy. Certain interests are common to all parts of a nation,
+such as the enactment of its general laws and the maintenance of its
+foreign relations. Other interests are peculiar to certain parts of the
+nation; such, for instance, as the business of different townships.
+When the power which directs the general interests is centred in one
+place, or vested in the same persons, it constitutes a central
+government. In like manner the power of directing partial or local
+interests, when brought together into one place, constitutes what may
+be termed a central administration.
+
+Upon some points these two kinds of centralization coalesce; but by
+classifying the objects which fall more particularly within the
+province of each of them, they may easily be distinguished. It is
+evident that a central government acquires immense power when united to
+administrative centralization. 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 subdue them compulsorily, but
+it affects them in the ordinary habits of life, and influences each
+individual, first separately and then collectively.
+
+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 completely central 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 representative of
+France at home and abroad, he was justified in asserting that the State
+was identified with his person. 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 carried to great
+perfection; the State has the compact vigor of a man, and by the sole
+act of its will it puts immense engines in motion, and wields or
+collects the efforts of its authority. Indeed, I cannot conceive that a
+nation can enjoy a secure or prosperous existence without a powerful
+centralization of government. But I am of opinion that a central
+administration enervates the nations in which it exists by incessantly
+diminishing their public spirit. If such an administration succeeds in
+condensing at a given moment, on a given point, all the disposable
+resources of a people, it impairs at least the renewal of those
+resources. It may ensure a victory in the hour of strife, but it
+gradually relaxes the sinews of strength. It may contribute admirably
+to the transient greatness of a man, but it cannot ensure the durable
+prosperity of a nation.
+
+If we pay proper attention, we shall find that whenever it is said that
+a State cannot act because it has no central point, it is the
+centralization of the government in which it is deficient. It is
+frequently asserted, and we are prepared to assent to the proposition,
+that the German empire was never able to bring all its powers into
+action. But the reason was, that the State was never able to enforce
+obedience to its general laws, because 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 concerned the mass of the people; in other words,
+because there was no centralization of government. The same remark is
+applicable to the Middle Ages; the cause of all the confusion of feudal
+society was that the control, not only of local but of general
+interests, was divided amongst a thousand hands, and broken up in a
+thousand different ways; the absence of a central government prevented
+the nations of Europe from advancing with energy in any straightforward
+course.
+
+We have shown that in the United States no central administration and
+no dependent series of public functionaries exist. Local authority has
+been carried to lengths which no European nation could endure without
+great inconvenience, and which has even produced some disadvantageous
+consequences in America. But in the United States the centralization of
+the Government is complete; and it would be easy to prove that the
+national power is more compact 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
+district assemblies and county courts have not in general been
+multiplied, lest they should be tempted to exceed their administrative
+duties, and interfere with the Government. In America the legislature
+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 which claims to be
+the sole organ of reason. Its own determination is, therefore, the only
+limit to this action. In juxtaposition to it, and under its immediate
+control, is the representative of the executive power, whose duty it is
+to constrain the refractory to submit 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
+intimidate 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. *q The State usually employs the officers of the township or the
+county to deal with the citizens. Thus, for instance, in New England,
+the assessor fixes the rate of taxes; the collector receives them; the
+town-treasurer transmits the amount to the public treasury; and the
+disputes which may arise are brought before the ordinary courts of
+justice. This method of collecting taxes is slow as well as
+inconvenient, and it would prove a perpetual hindrance to a Government
+whose pecuniary demands were large. It is desirable that, in whatever
+materially affects its existence, the Government should be served by
+officers of its own, appointed by itself, removable at pleasure, and
+accustomed to rapid methods of proceeding. But it will always be easy
+for the central government, organized as it is in America, to introduce
+new and more efficacious modes of action, proportioned to its wants.
+[Footnote q: [The Civil War of 1860-65 cruelly belied this statement,
+and in the course of the struggle the North alone called two millions
+and a half of men to arms; but to the honor of the United States it
+must be added that, with the cessation of the contest, this army
+disappeared as rapidly as it had been raised.—Translator’s Note.]]
+
+The absence of a central government will not, then, as has often been
+asserted, prove the destruction of the republics of the New World; far
+from supposing that the American governments are not sufficiently
+centralized, I shall prove hereafter that they are too much so. The
+legislative bodies daily encroach upon the authority of the Government,
+and their tendency, like that of the French Convention, is to
+appropriate it entirely to themselves. Under these circumstances the
+social power is constantly changing hands, because it is subordinate to
+the power of the people, which is too apt to forget the maxims of
+wisdom and of foresight in the consciousness of its strength: hence
+arises its danger; and thus its vigor, and not its impotence, will
+probably be the cause of its ultimate destruction.
+
+The system of local administration produces several different effects
+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 second-rate affairs, is a matter of national importance.
+*r As the State has no administrative functionaries of its own,
+stationed on different points of its territory, to whom it can give a
+common impulse, the consequence is that it rarely attempts to issue any
+general police regulations. The want of these regulations is severely
+felt, and is frequently observed by Europeans. The appearance of
+disorder 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 subject. Certain undertakings are of
+importance to the whole State; but they cannot be put in execution,
+because there is no national administration to direct them. Abandoned
+to the exertions of the towns or counties, under the care of elected or
+temporary agents, they lead to no result, or at least to no durable
+benefit.
+
+r
+[ The authority which represents the State ought not, I think, to waive
+the right of inspecting the local administration, even when it does not
+interfere more actively. Suppose, for instance, that an agent of the
+Government was stationed at some appointed spot in the country, to
+prosecute the misdemeanors of the town and county officers, would not a
+more uniform order be the result, without in any way compromising the
+independence of the township? Nothing of the kind, however, exists in
+America: there is nothing above the county-courts, which have, as it
+were, only an incidental cognizance of the offences they are meant to
+repress.]
+
+
+The partisans of centralization in Europe are wont to maintain that the
+Government directs the affairs of each locality better than the
+citizens could do it for themselves; this may be true when the central
+power is enlightened, and when the local districts are ignorant; when
+it is as alert as 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 such is the case when the people is as enlightened, as
+awake to its interests, and as accustomed to reflect on them, as the
+Americans are. I am persuaded, on the contrary, that in this case the
+collective strength of the citizens will always conduce more
+efficaciously to the public welfare than the authority of the
+Government. It is difficult to point out with certainty the means of
+arousing 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 affairs; and it would
+frequently 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 to supersede the persons most
+interested, I am inclined to suppose that it is either misled or
+desirous to mislead. However enlightened and however skilful a central
+power may be, it cannot of itself embrace all the details of the
+existence of a great nation. Such vigilance exceeds the powers of man.
+And when it attempts to create and set in motion so many complicated
+springs, it must submit to a very imperfect result, or consume itself
+in bootless efforts.
+
+Centralization succeeds more easily, indeed, in subjecting the external
+actions of men to a certain uniformity, which at least commands our
+regard, independently of the objects to which it is applied, like those
+devotees who worship the statue and forget the deity it represents.
+Centralization imparts without difficulty an admirable regularity to
+the routine of business; provides for the details of the social police
+with sagacity; represses the smallest disorder and the most petty
+misdemeanors; maintains society in a status quo alike secure from
+improvement and decline; and perpetuates a drowsy precision in the
+conduct of affairs, which is hailed by the heads of the administration
+as a sign of perfect order and public tranquillity: *s in short, it
+excels more in prevention than in action. Its force deserts it when
+society is to be disturbed or accelerated in its course; and if once
+the co-operation of private citizens is necessary to the furtherance of
+its measures, the secret of its impotence is disclosed. Even whilst it
+invokes their assistance, it is on the condition that they shall act
+exactly as much as the Government chooses, and exactly in the manner it
+appoints. They are to take charge of the details, without aspiring to
+guide the system; they are to work in a dark and subordinate sphere,
+and only to judge the acts in which they have themselves cooperated by
+their results. These, however, are not conditions on which the alliance
+of the human will is to be obtained; its carriage must be free and its
+actions responsible, or (such is the constitution of man) the citizen
+had rather remain a passive spectator than a dependent actor in schemes
+with which he is unacquainted.
+
+s
+[ China appears to me to present the most perfect instance of that
+species of well-being which a completely central administration may
+furnish to the nations among which it exists. Travellers assure us that
+the Chinese have peace without happiness, industry without improvement,
+stability without strength, and public order without public morality.
+The condition of society is always tolerable, never excellent. I am
+convinced that, when China is opened to European observation, it will
+be found to contain the most perfect model of a central administration
+which exists in the universe.]
+
+
+It is undeniable that the want of those uniform regulations which
+control the conduct of every inhabitant of France is not unfrequently
+felt in the United States. Gross instances of social indifference and
+neglect are to be met with, and from time to time disgraceful blemishes
+are seen in complete contrast with the surrounding civilization. Useful
+undertakings which cannot succeed without perpetual attention and
+rigorous exactitude are very frequently abandoned in the end; for in
+America, as well as in other countries, the people is subject to sudden
+impulses and momentary exertions. The European who is accustomed to
+find a functionary always at hand to interfere with all he undertakes
+has some difficulty in accustoming himself to the complex mechanism of
+the administration of the townships. In general it may be affirmed that
+the lesser details of the police, which render life easy and
+comfortable, are neglected in America; but that the essential
+guarantees of man in society are as strong there as elsewhere. In
+America the power which conducts the Government is far less regular,
+less enlightened, and less learned, but an hundredfold more
+authoritative than in Europe. In no country in the world do the
+citizens make such exertions for the common weal; and I am acquainted
+with no people which has established schools as numerous and as
+efficacious, places of public worship better suited to the wants of the
+inhabitants, or roads kept in better repair. Uniformity or permanence
+of design, the minute arrangement of details, *t and the perfection of
+an ingenious administration, must not be sought for in the United
+States; but it will be easy to find, on the other hand, the symptoms of
+a power which, if it is somewhat barbarous, is at least robust; and of
+an existence which is checkered with accidents indeed, but cheered at
+the same time by animation and effort.
+
+t
+[ A writer of talent, who, in the comparison which he has drawn between
+the finances of France and those of the United States, has proved that
+ingenuity cannot always supply the place of a knowledge of facts, very
+justly reproaches the Americans for the sort of confusion which exists
+in the accounts of the expenditure in the townships; and after giving
+the model of a departmental budget in France, he adds:—“We are indebted
+to centralization, that admirable invention of a great man, for the
+uniform order and method which prevail alike in all the municipal
+budgets, from the largest town 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 grossest
+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 which keep society in perpetual labor, in those American
+townships whose budgets are drawn up with small method and with still
+less uniformity, I am struck by the spectacle; for to my mind the end
+of a good government is to ensure the welfare of a people, and not to
+establish order and regularity in the midst of its misery and its
+distress. I am therefore led to suppose that the prosperity of the
+American townships and the apparent confusion of their accounts, the
+distress of the French communes and the perfection of their budget, may
+be attributable to the same cause. At any rate I am suspicious of a
+benefit which is united to so many evils, and I am not averse to an
+evil which is compensated by so many benefits.]
+
+
+Granting for an instant that the villages and counties of the United
+States would be more usefully governed by a remote authority which they
+had never seen than by functionaries taken from the midst of
+them—admitting, for the sake of argument, that the country would be
+more secure, and the resources of society better employed, if the whole
+administration centred in a single arm—still the political advantages
+which the Americans derive from their system would induce me to prefer
+it to the contrary plan. It profits me but little, after all, that a
+vigilant authority should protect the tranquillity of my pleasures and
+constantly avert all dangers from my path, without my care or my
+concern, if this same authority is the absolute mistress of my liberty
+and of my life, and if it so monopolizes all the energy of existence
+that when it languishes everything languishes around it, that when it
+sleeps everything must sleep, that when it dies the State itself must
+perish.
+
+In certain countries of Europe the natives consider themselves as a
+kind of settlers, indifferent to the fate of the spot upon which they
+live. The greatest changes are effected without their concurrence and
+(unless chance may have apprised them of the event) without their
+knowledge; nay more, the citizen is unconcerned as to the condition of
+his village, the police of his street, the repairs of the church or of
+the parsonage; for he looks upon all these things as unconnected with
+himself, and as the property of a powerful stranger whom he calls the
+Government. He has only a life-interest in these possessions, and he
+entertains no notions of ownership or of improvement. This want of
+interest in his own affairs goes so far that, if his own safety or that
+of his children is endangered, instead of trying to avert the peril, he
+will fold his arms, and wait till the nation comes to his assistance.
+This same individual, who has so completely sacrificed his own free
+will, has no natural propensity to obedience; he cowers, it is true,
+before the pettiest officer; but he braves the law with the spirit of a
+conquered foe as soon as its superior force is removed: his
+oscillations between servitude and license are perpetual. When a nation
+has arrived at this state it must either change its customs and its
+laws or perish: the source of public virtue is dry, and, though it may
+contain subjects, the race of citizens is extinct. Such communities are
+a natural prey to foreign conquests, and if they do not disappear from
+the scene of life, it is because they are surrounded by other nations
+similar or inferior to themselves: it is because the instinctive
+feeling of their country’s claims still exists in their hearts; and
+because an involuntary pride in the name it bears, or a vague
+reminiscence of its bygone fame, suffices to give them the impulse of
+self-preservation.
+
+Nor can the prodigious exertions made by tribes in the defence of a
+country to which they did not belong 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 defending the country
+they inhabited they defended that Holy City of which they were all
+citizens. The Turkish tribes have never taken an active share in the
+conduct of the affairs of society, but they accomplished stupendous
+enterprises as long as the victories of the Sultan were the 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 authority peculiar to
+itself, did it, as I conceive, an undeserved honor; for despotism,
+taken by itself, can produce no durable results. On close inspection we
+shall find that religion, and not fear, has ever been the cause of the
+long-lived prosperity of an absolute government. Whatever exertions may
+be made, no true power can be founded among men which does not depend
+upon the free union of their inclinations; and patriotism and religion
+are the only two motives in the world which can permanently direct the
+whole of a body politic to one end.
+
+Laws cannot succeed in rekindling the ardor of an extinguished faith,
+but men may be interested in the fate of their country by the laws. By
+this influence the vague impulse of patriotism, which never abandons
+the human heart, may be directed and revived; and if it be connected
+with the thoughts, the passions, and the daily habits of life, it may
+be consolidated into a durable and rational sentiment.
+
+Let it not be said that the time for the experiment is already past;
+for the old age of nations is not like the old age of men, 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 the local
+system 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 people 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 towards the
+State is analogous to that which unites him to his family, and it is by
+a kind of egotism that he interests himself in the welfare of his
+country.
+
+The European generally submits to a public officer because he
+represents a superior force; but to an American he represents a right.
+In America 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; he unhesitatingly
+confides in his own powers, which appear to him to be all-sufficient.
+When a private individual meditates an undertaking, however directly
+connected it may be with the welfare of society, he never thinks of
+soliciting the co-operation of the Government, but he publishes his
+plan, offers to execute it himself, courts the assistance of other
+individuals, and struggles manfully against all obstacles. Undoubtedly
+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 Government could have done.
+
+As the administrative authority is within the reach of the citizens,
+whom it in some degree represents, it excites neither their jealousy
+nor their hatred; as its resources are limited, every one feels that he
+must not rely solely on its assistance. Thus, when the administration
+thinks fit to interfere, it is not abandoned to itself as in Europe;
+the duties of the private citizens are not supposed to have lapsed
+because the State assists in their fulfilment, but every one is ready,
+on the contrary, to guide and to support it. This action of individual
+exertions, joined to that of the public authorities, frequently
+performs what the most energetic central administration would be unable
+to execute. 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 more
+thoroughly acquainted. *u In America the means which the authorities
+have at their disposal for the discovery of crimes and the arrest of
+criminals are few. The 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 prosecutors are not
+numerous, and the examinations of prisoners are rapid and oral.
+Nevertheless in no country does crime more rarely elude punishment. The
+reason is, that every one conceives himself to be interested in
+furnishing evidence of the act committed, and in stopping the
+delinquent. During my stay in the United States I witnessed the
+spontaneous formation of committees for the pursuit and prosecution of
+a man who had committed a great crime in a certain county. In Europe a
+criminal is an unhappy being who is struggling for his life against the
+ministers of justice, whilst the population is merely a spectator of
+the conflict; in America he is looked upon as an enemy of the human
+race, and the whole of mankind is against him.
+
+u
+[ See Appendix, I.]
+
+
+I believe that provincial institutions are useful to all nations, but
+nowhere do they appear to me to be more indispensable than amongst a
+democratic people. In an aristocracy order can always be maintained in
+the midst of liberty, and as the rulers have a great deal to lose order
+is to them a first-rate consideration. In like manner an aristocracy
+protects the people from the excesses of despotism, because it always
+possesses an organized power ready to resist a despot. But a democracy
+without provincial institutions has no security against these evils.
+How can a populace, unaccustomed to freedom in small concerns, learn to
+use it temperately in great affairs? What resistance can be offered to
+tyranny in a country where every private individual is impotent, and
+where the citizens are united by no common tie? Those who dread the
+license of the mob, and those who fear the rule of absolute power,
+ought alike to desire the progressive growth of provincial liberties.
+
+On the other hand, I am convinced that democratic nations are most
+exposed to fall beneath the yoke of a central administration, for
+several reasons, amongst which is the following. The constant tendency
+of these nations is to concentrate all the strength of the Government
+in the hands of the only power which directly represents the people,
+because beyond the people nothing is to be perceived but a mass of
+equal individuals confounded together. But when the same power is
+already in possession of all the attributes of the Government, it can
+scarcely refrain from penetrating into the details of the
+administration, and an opportunity of doing so is sure to present
+itself in the end, as was the case in France. In the French Revolution
+there were two impulses in opposite directions, which must never be
+confounded—the one was favorable to liberty, the other to despotism.
+Under the ancient monarchy the King was the sole author of the laws,
+and below the power of the sovereign certain vestiges of provincial
+institutions, half destroyed, were still distinguishable. These
+provincial institutions were incoherent, ill compacted, and frequently
+absurd; in the hands of the aristocracy they had sometimes been
+converted into instruments of oppression. The Revolution declared
+itself the enemy of royalty and of provincial institutions at the same
+time; it confounded all that had preceded it—despotic power and the
+checks to its abuses—in indiscriminate hatred, and its tendency was at
+once to overthrow and to centralize. This double character of the
+French Revolution is a fact which has been adroitly handled by the
+friends of absolute power. Can they be accused of laboring in the cause
+of despotism when they are defending that central administration which
+was one of the great innovations of the Revolution? *v In this manner
+popularity may be conciliated with hostility to the rights of the
+people, and the secret slave of tyranny may be the professed admirer of
+freedom.
+
+v
+[ See Appendix K.]
+
+
+I have visited the two nations in which 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; in England I found others who attacked the aristocracy openly,
+but I know of no one who does not regard provincial independence as a
+great benefit. In both countries I have heard a thousand different
+causes assigned for the evils of the State, but the local system was
+never mentioned amongst them. I have 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 who are naturally so divided on religious
+opinions and on political theories agree on one point (and that one of
+which they have daily experience), they are all in error? The only
+nations which deny the utility of provincial liberties are those which
+have fewest of them; in other words, those who are unacquainted with
+the institution are the only persons who pass a censure upon it.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter VI: Judicial Power In The United States
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter Summary
+
+
+The Anglo-Americans have retained the characteristics of judicial power
+which are common to all 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 other nations—Why the American judges have the
+right of declaring the laws to be unconstitutional—How they use this
+right—Precautions taken by the legislator to prevent its abuse.
+
+Judicial Power In The United States And Its Influence On Political
+Society.
+
+I have thought it essential 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, and republics have not been established upon
+the shores of the New World alone; the representative system of
+government has been adopted in several States of Europe, but I am not
+aware that any nation of the globe has hitherto organized a judicial
+power on the principle now adopted by the Americans. The judicial
+organization of the United States is the institution which a stranger
+has the greatest difficulty in understanding. He hears the authority 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 tribunals, they offer nothing which is contrary to the usual habits
+and privileges of those bodies, and the magistrates seem to him to
+interfere in public affairs of chance, but by a chance which recurs
+every day.
+
+When the Parliament of Paris remonstrated, or refused to enregister 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
+authority, 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 to obtain the
+decision of a judge. As long, therefore, as the 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 stepping 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 resting upon 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 principles. 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
+consequently to annul it, he remains within the ordinary limits of his
+functions. But if he directly attacks a general principle without
+having a particular case in view, he leaves the circle in which all
+nations have agreed to confine his authority, he assumes a more
+important, and perhaps a more useful, influence than that of the
+magistrate, but he ceases to be a representative of the judicial power.
+
+The third characteristic of the judicial power is its inability to act
+unless it is appealed to, or until it has taken cognizance of an
+affair. This characteristic is less general than the other two; but,
+notwithstanding 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 punishes the criminal; when a wrong is to
+be redressed, it is ready to redress it; when an act requires
+interpretation, it is prepared to interpret it; but it does not pursue
+criminals, hunt out wrongs, or examine into evidence of its own accord.
+A judicial functionary who should open proceedings, and usurp the
+censorship of the laws, would in some measure do violence to the
+passive nature of his authority.
+
+The Americans have retained these three distinguishing characteristics
+of the judicial power; an American judge can only pronounce a decision
+when litigation has arisen, he is only conversant 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
+magistrate of other nations; and he is nevertheless invested with
+immense political power. If the sphere of his authority and his means
+of action are the same as those of other judges, it may be asked whence
+he derives 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 decisions on the constitution
+rather than on the laws. In other words, they have left them at liberty
+not to apply such laws as may appear to them to be unconstitutional.
+
+I am aware that a similar right has been claimed—but claimed in vain—by
+courts of justice in other countries; but in America it is recognized
+by all authorities; and not a party, nor so much as an individual, is
+found to contest it. This fact can only be explained by the principles
+of the American constitution. In France the constitution is (or at
+least is supposed to be) immutable; and the received theory is that no
+power has the right of changing any part of it. In England the
+Parliament has an acknowledged right to modify the constitution; as,
+therefore, the constitution may undergo perpetual changes, 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 constitution 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 determination of the whole people,
+is no less binding on the legislator than on the private citizen, but
+which may be altered by the will of the people in predetermined cases,
+according to established rules. In America 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. *a
+
+a
+[ [The fifth article of the original Constitution of the United States
+provides the mode in which amendments of the Constitution may be made.
+Amendments must be proposed by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress,
+and ratified by the Legislatures of three-fourths of the several
+States. Fifteen amendments of the Constitution have been made at
+different times since 1789, the most important of which are the
+Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth, framed and ratified after the
+Civil War. The original Constitution of the United States, followed by
+these fifteen amendments, is printed at the end of this edition.
+—Translator’s Note, 1874.]]
+
+
+It is easy to perceive in what manner these differences must act upon
+the position 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 supreme power would in fact be placed in their hands,
+since they alone would have the right of interpreting a constitution,
+the clauses of which can be modified by no authority. 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 incompetent to
+declare a law to be unconstitutional, the power of changing the
+constitution is indirectly given to the legislative body, since no
+legal barrier would oppose the alterations which it might prescribe.
+But it is 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 with
+the right of resisting the decisions of the legislative body, since the
+Parliament which makes the laws also makes the constitution; and
+consequently a law emanating from the three powers of the State can in
+no case be unconstitutional. But neither of these remarks is applicable
+to America.
+
+In the United States the constitution governs the legislator 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 preference to any law. This condition is essential to
+the power of the judicature, for to select that legal obligation by
+which he is most strictly bound is 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 the State-motive clearly prevails over
+the motives of an individual. 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 reasons agree, and the people as well as the
+judges preserve their privileges.
+
+Whenever a law which the judge holds to be unconstitutional is argued
+in a tribunal of the United States he may refuse to admit it as a rule;
+this power is the only one which is peculiar to the American
+magistrate, but it gives rise to immense political influence. 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 parties, or by the necessity of the case. But
+from the time that a judge has refused to apply any given law in a
+case, that law loses a portion of its moral cogency. The persons to
+whose interests it is prejudicial learn that means exist of evading its
+authority, and similar suits are multiplied, until it becomes
+powerless. One of two alternatives must then be resorted to: 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 immense, but the evils of this power are
+considerably diminished by the obligation which has been imposed of
+attacking the laws through the courts of justice alone. If the judge
+had been empowered to contest the laws on the ground of theoretical
+generalities, if he had been enabled to open an attack or to pass a
+censure on the legislator, he would have played a prominent part in the
+political sphere; and as the champion or the antagonist of a party, he
+would have arrayed the hostile passions of the nation in the conflict.
+But when a judge contests a law applied to some particular case in an
+obscure proceeding, the importance of his attack is concealed from the
+public gaze, his decision bears upon the interest of an individual, and
+if the law is slighted it is only collaterally. Moreover, although it
+is censured, it is not abolished; its moral force may be diminished,
+but its cogency is by no means suspended, and its final destruction can
+only be accomplished by the reiterated attacks of judicial
+functionaries. It will readily be understood that by connecting the
+censorship of the laws with the private interests of members of the
+community, and by intimately uniting the prosecution of the law with
+the prosecution of an individual, legislation is protected from wanton
+assailants, and from the daily aggressions of party spirit. The errors
+of the legislator are exposed whenever their evil consequences are most
+felt, and it is always a positive and appreciable fact which serves as
+the basis of a prosecution.
+
+I am inclined to believe this practice of the American courts to be at
+once the most favorable to liberty as well as to public order. If the
+judge could only attack the legislator openly and directly, he would
+sometimes be afraid to oppose any resistance to his will; and at other
+moments party spirit might encourage him to brave it at every turn. The
+laws would consequently be attacked when the power from which they
+emanate is weak, and obeyed when it is strong. That is to say, when it
+would be useful to respect them they would 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 question which he
+is called upon to resolve is connected with the interest of the
+suitors, and he cannot refuse to decide it without abdicating the
+duties of his post. 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
+which is exercised by the courts of justice over the legislation cannot
+extend to all laws indiscriminately, inasmuch as some of them can never
+give rise to that exact species of contestation which is termed a
+lawsuit; and even when such a contestation is possible, it may happen
+that no one cares to bring it before a court of justice. The Americans
+have often felt this disadvantage, 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
+unconstitutional forms one of the most powerful barriers which has ever
+been devised against the tyranny of political assemblies.
+
+Other Powers Granted To American Judges
+
+The United States all the citizens have the right of indicting public
+functionaries before the ordinary tribunals—How they use this
+right—Art. 75 of the French Constitution of the An VIII—The Americans
+and the English cannot understand the purport of this clause.
+
+It is perfectly natural that in a free country like America all the
+citizens should have the right of indicting public functionaries before
+the ordinary tribunals, and that all the judges should have the power
+of punishing public offences. The right granted to the courts of
+justice of judging the agents of the executive government, when they
+have violated the laws, is so natural a one that it cannot be looked
+upon as an extraordinary privilege. Nor do the springs of government
+appear to me to be weakened in the United States by the custom which
+renders all public officers responsible to the judges of the land. The
+Americans seem, on the contrary, to have increased by this means that
+respect which is due to the authorities, and at the same time to have
+rendered those who are in power more scrupulous of offending public
+opinion. I was struck by the small number of political trials which
+occur in the United States, but I had no difficulty in accounting for
+this circumstance. A lawsuit, of whatever nature it may be, is always a
+difficult and expensive undertaking. It is easy to attack a public man
+in a journal, but the motives which can warrant an action at law must
+be serious. A solid ground of complaint must therefore exist to induce
+an individual to prosecute a public officer, and public officers are
+careful not to furnish these grounds of complaint when they are afraid
+of being prosecuted.
+
+This does not depend upon the republican form of American institutions,
+for the same facts present themselves in England. These two nations do
+not regard the impeachment of the principal officers of State as a
+sufficient guarantee of their independence. But they hold that the
+right of minor prosecutions, which are within the reach of the whole
+community, is a better pledge of freedom than those great judicial
+actions which are rarely employed until it is too late.
+
+In the Middle Ages, when it was very difficult to overtake offenders,
+the judges inflicted the most dreadful tortures on the few who were
+arrested, which by no means diminished the number of crimes. It has
+since been discovered that when justice is more certain and more mild,
+it is at the same time more efficacious. 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 introduced: “Art. 75. All the agents of
+the government below the rank of ministers can only be prosecuted for
+offences relating to their several functions by virtue of a decree of
+the Conseil d’Etat; in which the case the prosecution takes place
+before the ordinary tribunals.” This clause survived the “Constitution
+de l’An VIII,” and it is still maintained in spite of the just
+complaints of the nation. I have always found the utmost difficulty in
+explaining its meaning to Englishmen or Americans. 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 exercised a preliminary
+and somewhat tyrannical jurisdiction in all political causes. But when
+I told them that the Conseil d’Etat 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 Prefect, to commit an injustice, has the power
+of commanding another of his servants, called a Councillor of State, to
+prevent the former from being punished; when I demonstrated to them
+that the citizen who has been injured by the order of the sovereign is
+obliged to solicit from the sovereign permission to obtain redress,
+they refused to credit so flagrant an abuse, and were tempted to accuse
+me of falsehood or of ignorance. It frequently happened before the
+Revolution that a Parliament issued a warrant against a public officer
+who had committed an offence, and sometimes the proceedings were
+stopped by the authority of the Crown, which enforced compliance with
+its absolute and despotic will. 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 sanction of the law which violence
+alone could impose upon them.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter VII: Political Jurisdiction In The United States
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter Summary
+
+
+Definition of political jurisdiction—What is understood by political
+jurisdiction in France, in England, and in the United States—In America
+the political judge can only pass sentence on public officers—He more
+frequently passes a sentence of removal from office than a
+penalty—Political jurisdiction as it exists in the United States is,
+notwithstanding its mildness, and perhaps in consequence of that
+mildness, a most powerful instrument in the hands of the majority.
+
+Political Jurisdiction In The United States
+
+I understand, by political jurisdiction, that temporary right of
+pronouncing a legal decision with which a political body may be
+invested.
+
+In absolute governments no utility can accrue from the introduction of
+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 which is entertained of his power is of
+itself a sufficient security. The only thing he has to fear is, that
+the external formalities of justice should be neglected, and that his
+authority should be dishonored from a wish to render it more absolute.
+But in most free countries, in which the majority can never exercise
+the same influence upon the tribunals as an absolute monarch, the
+judicial power has occasionally been vested for a time in the
+representatives of the nation. It has been thought better to introduce
+a temporary confusion 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 this political
+jurisdiction by law; and it is curious to examine the different
+adaptations which these three great nations have made of the principle.
+In England and in France the House of Lords and the Chambre des Paris
+*a constitute the highest criminal court of their respective nations,
+and although they do not habitually try all political offences, they
+are competent to try them all. Another political body enjoys the right
+of impeachment before the House of Lords: the only difference which
+exists between the two countries in this respect is, that in England
+the Commons may impeach whomsoever they please before the Lords, whilst
+in France the Deputies can only employ this mode of prosecution against
+the ministers of the Crown.
+
+a
+[ [As it existed under the constitutional monarchy down to 1848.]]
+
+
+In both countries the Upper House may make use of all the existing
+penal laws of the nation to punish the delinquents.
+
+In the United States, as well as in Europe, one branch of the
+legislature is authorized to impeach and another to judge: the House of
+Representatives arraigns the offender, and the Senate awards his
+sentence. But the Senate can only try such persons as are brought
+before it by the House of Representatives, and those persons must
+belong to the class of public functionaries. Thus the jurisdiction of
+the Senate is less extensive than that of the Peers of France, whilst
+the right of impeachment by the Representatives is more general than
+that of the Deputies. But the great difference which exists between
+Europe and America is, that in Europe political tribunals are empowered
+to inflict all the dispositions of the penal code, while in America,
+when they have deprived the offender of his official rank, and have
+declared him incapable of filling any political office for the future,
+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; the House of Representatives
+impeaches him, and the Senate degrades him; he must then be tried by a
+jury, which alone can deprive him of his liberty or his life. This
+accurately illustrates the subject we are treating. The political
+jurisdiction which is established by the laws of Europe is intended to
+try great offenders, whatever may be their birth, their rank, or their
+powers in the State; and to this end all the privileges of the courts
+of justice are temporarily extended to a great political assembly. The
+legislator is then transformed into the magistrate; he is called upon
+to admit, to distinguish, and to punish the offence; and as he
+exercises all the authority of a judge, the law restricts him to the
+observance of all the duties of that high office, and of all the
+formalities of justice. When a public functionary is impeached before
+an English or a French political tribunal, and is found guilty, the
+sentence deprives him ipso facto of his functions, and it may pronounce
+him to be incapable of resuming them or any others for the future. But
+in this case the political interdict is a consequence of the sentence,
+and not the sentence itself. In Europe the sentence of a political
+tribunal is to be regarded as a judicial verdict rather than as an
+administrative 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 comply with the practices and formalities
+of a court of justice; although it is judicial in respect to the
+motives on which it is founded, since the Senate is in general obliged
+to take an offence at common law as the basis of its sentence;
+nevertheless the object of the proceeding is purely administrative. If
+it had been the intention of the American legislator to invest a
+political body with great judicial authority, its action would not have
+been limited to the circle of public functionaries, since the most
+dangerous enemies of the State may be in the possession of no functions
+at all; and this is especially true in republics, where party influence
+is the first of authorities, and where the strength of many a reader is
+increased by his exercising no legal power.
+
+If it had been the intention of the American legislator to give society
+the means of repressing State offences by exemplary punishment,
+according to the practice of ordinary justice, the resources of the
+penal code would all have been placed at the disposal of the political
+tribunals. But the weapon with which they are intrusted is an imperfect
+one, and it can never reach the most dangerous offenders, since men who
+aim at the entire subversion of the laws are not likely to murmur at a
+political interdict.
+
+The main object of the political jurisdiction which obtains in the
+United States is, therefore, to deprive the ill-disposed citizen of an
+authority which he has used amiss, and to prevent 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 the securities of a political
+trial; and they have deprived all political condemnations 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 formidable, are
+exempted from that tribunal. In the civil service none of the American
+functionaries can be said to be removable; the places which some of
+them occupy are inalienable, and the others are chosen for a term 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 the State, who is himself a civil
+functionary, and the decision 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 different effects which each
+of them produces or may produce. In France and in 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, are apt to violate the conservative
+principle of the balance of power in the State, and to threaten
+incessantly the lives and liberties of the subject. The same political
+jurisdiction in the United States is only indirectly hostile to the
+balance of power; it cannot menace the lives of the citizens, and it
+does not hover, as in Europe, over the heads of the community, since
+those only who have submitted to its authority on accepting office are
+exposed to the severity of its investigations. 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 a remedy for the
+more violent evils of society, but as an ordinary means of conducting
+the government. In this respect it probably exercises more real
+influence on the social body in America than in Europe. We must not be
+misled by the apparent mildness of the American legislation in all that
+relates to political jurisdiction. It is to be observed, in the first
+place, that in the United States the tribunal which passes sentence is
+composed of the same elements, and subject to the same influences, as
+the body which impeaches the offender, and that this uniformity gives
+an almost irresistible impulse to the vindictive passions of parties.
+If political judges in the United States cannot inflict such heavy
+penalties as those of Europe, there is the less chance of their
+acquitting a prisoner; and the conviction, if it is less formidable, is
+more certain. The principal object of the political tribunals of Europe
+is to punish the offender; the purpose of those in America is to
+deprive him of his authority. A political condemnation in the United
+States may, therefore, be looked upon as a preventive measure; and
+there is no reason for restricting the judges to the exact definitions
+of criminal law. Nothing can be more alarming than the excessive
+latitude with which political offences 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, bribery, or other high
+crimes and misdemeanors.” Many of the Constitutions of the States are
+even less explicit. “Public officers,” says the Constitution of
+Massachusetts, *b “shall be impeached for misconduct or
+maladministration;” the Constitution of Virginia declares that all the
+civil officers who shall have offended against the State, by
+maladministration, corruption, or other high crimes, may be impeached
+by the House of Delegates; in some constitutions no offences are
+specified, in order to subject the public functionaries to an unlimited
+responsibility. *c But I will venture to affirm that it is precisely
+their mildness which renders the American laws most formidable in this
+respect. We have shown that in Europe the removal of a functionary and
+his political interdiction are the consequences 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
+rights which they are afraid to use, and that the fear of punishing too
+much hinders them from punishing at all. But in America no one
+hesitates to inflict a penalty from which humanity does not recoil. To
+condemn a political opponent to death, in order to deprive him of his
+power, is to commit what all the world would execrate as a horrible
+assassination; but to declare that opponent unworthy to exercise that
+authority, to deprive him of it, and to leave him uninjured in life and
+limb, may be judged 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 the majority of those upon whom it is inflicted. Great
+criminals may undoubtedly brave its intangible rigor, but ordinary
+offenders will dread it as a condemnation which destroys their position
+in the world, casts a blight upon their honor, and condemns them to a
+shameful inactivity worse than death. The influence exercised in the
+United States upon the progress of society by the jurisdiction of
+political bodies may not appear to be formidable, but it is only the
+more immense. It does not directly coerce the subject, but it renders
+the majority more absolute over those in power; it does not confer an
+unbounded authority on the legislator which can be exerted at some
+momentous crisis, but it establishes a temperate and regular influence,
+which is at all times available. If the power is decreased, it can, on
+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 the
+most formidable weapon which has ever been placed in the rude grasp of
+a popular majority. 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 augments.*d
+
+b
+[ Chap. I. sect. ii. Section 8.]
+
+
+c
+[ See the constitutions of Illinois, Maine, Connecticut, and Georgia.]
+
+
+d
+[ See Appendix, N.
+
+
+[The impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in 1868—which was resorted
+to by his political opponents solely as a means of turning him out of
+office, for it could not be contended that he had been guilty of high
+crimes and misdemeanors, and he was in fact honorably acquitted and
+reinstated in office—is a striking confirmation of the truth of this
+remark.—Translator’s Note, 1874.]]
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution—Part I
+
+
+I have hitherto considered each State as a separate whole, and I have
+explained the different springs which the people sets in motion, and
+the different means of action which it employs. But all the States
+which I have considered as independent are forced to submit, in certain
+cases, to the supreme authority of the Union. The time is now come for
+me to examine separately the supremacy with which the Union has been
+invested, and to cast a rapid glance over the Federal Constitution.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter Summary
+
+
+Origin of the first Union—Its weakness—Congress appeals to the
+constituent authority—Interval of two years between this appeal and the
+promulgation of the new Constitution.
+
+History Of The Federal Constitution
+
+The thirteen colonies which simultaneously threw off the yoke of
+England towards the end of the last century professed, as I have
+already observed, 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 another, and to consolidate them into one nation. But as each of
+them had enjoyed a separate existence and a government within its own
+control, the peculiar interests and customs which resulted from this
+system were opposed to a compact and intimate union which would have
+absorbed the individual 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 strength. As long
+as the war with the mother-country lasted the principle of union was
+kept alive by necessity; and although the laws which constituted it
+were defective, the common tie subsisted in spite of their
+imperfections. *a But no sooner was peace concluded than the faults of
+the legislation became manifest, and the State seemed to be suddenly
+dissolved. Each colony became an independent republic, and assumed an
+absolute sovereignty. The federal government, condemned to impotence by
+its constitution, and no longer sustained by the presence of a common
+danger, witnessed the outrages offered to its flag by the great 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 of the
+nation. *b If America ever approached (for however brief a time) that
+lofty pinnacle of glory to which the fancy of its inhabitants is wont
+to point, it was at the solemn moment at which the power of the nation
+abdicated, as it were, the empire of the land. All ages have furnished
+the spectacle of a people 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 their
+enemies by three thousand miles of ocean, and backed by a powerful
+ally, the success of the United States may be more justly attributed 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 was to the wars of the French Revolution, or the efforts of
+the Americans to those of the French when they were attacked by the
+whole of Europe, without credit and without allies, yet capable of
+opposing a twentieth part of their population to the world, and of
+bearing the torch of revolution beyond their frontiers whilst they
+stifled its devouring flame within the bosom of their country. But it
+is a novelty 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 government are stopped; to see it carefully examine
+the extent of the evil, and patiently wait for two whole years until a
+remedy was discovered, which it voluntarily adopted without having
+wrung a tear or a drop of blood from mankind. At the time when the
+inadequacy of the first constitution was discovered America possessed
+the double advantage of that calm which had succeeded the effervescence
+of the revolution, and of those great men who had led the revolution to
+a successful issue. The assembly which accepted the task of composing
+the second constitution was small; *c but George Washington was its
+President, and it contained the choicest talents and the noblest hearts
+which had ever appeared in the New World. This national commission,
+after long 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. *d The new Federal Government commenced
+its functions in 1789, after an interregnum of two years. The
+Revolution of America terminated when that of France began.
+
+a
+[ See the articles of the first confederation formed in 1778. This
+constitution was not adopted by all the States until 1781. See also the
+analysis given of this constitution in “The Federalist” from No. 15 to
+No. 22, inclusive, and Story’s “Commentaries on the Constitution of the
+United States,” pp. 85-115.]
+
+
+b
+[ Congress made this declaration on February 21, 1787.]
+
+
+c
+[ It consisted of fifty-five members; Washington, Madison, Hamilton,
+and the two Morrises were amongst the number.]
+
+
+d
+[ It was not adopted by the legislative bodies, but representatives
+were elected by the people for this sole purpose; and the new
+constitution was discussed at length in each of these assemblies.]
+
+
+
+
+ Summary Of The Federal Constitution
+
+
+Division of authority between the Federal Government and the States—The
+Government of the States is the rule, the Federal Government the
+exception.
+
+The first question which awaited the Americans was intricate, and by no
+means easy of solution: the object was so to divide the authority of
+the different States which composed the Union that each of them should
+continue to govern itself in all that concerned its internal
+prosperity, whilst the entire nation, represented by the Union, should
+continue to form a compact body, and to provide for the general
+exigencies of the people. It was as impossible to determine beforehand,
+with any degree of accuracy, the share of authority which each of two
+governments was to enjoy, as to foresee all the incidents in the
+existence of a nation.
+
+The obligations and the claims of the Federal Government were simple
+and easily definable, because the Union had been formed with the
+express purpose of meeting the general exigencies of the people; but
+the claims and obligations of the States were, on the other hand,
+complicated and various, because those Governments had penetrated into
+all the details of social life. The attributes of the Federal
+Government were therefore carefully enumerated and all that was not
+included amongst them was declared to constitute a part of the
+privileges of the several Governments of the States. Thus the
+government of the States remained the rule, and that of the
+Confederation became the exception. *e
+
+e
+[ See the Amendment to the Federal Constitution; “Federalist,” No. 32;
+Story, p. 711; Kent’s “Commentaries,” vol. i. p. 364.
+
+
+It is to be observed that whenever the exclusive right of regulating
+certain matters is not reserved to Congress by the Constitution, the
+States may take up the affair until it is brought before the National
+Assembly. For instance, Congress has the right of making a general law
+on bankruptcy, which, however, it neglects to do. Each State is then at
+liberty to make a law for itself. This point has been established by
+discussion in the law-courts, and may be said to belong more properly
+to jurisprudence.]
+
+But as it was foreseen that, in practice, questions might arise as to
+the exact limits of this exceptional authority, and that it would be
+dangerous to submit these questions to the decision of the ordinary
+courts of justice, established in the States by the States themselves,
+a high Federal court was created, *f which was destined, amongst other
+functions, to maintain the balance of power which had been established
+by the Constitution between the two rival Governments. *g
+
+f
+[ The action of this court is indirect, as we shall hereafter show.]
+
+
+g
+[ It is thus that “The Federalist,” No. 45, explains the division of
+supremacy 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, negotiation, 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. When the bill which has since become the
+Constitution of the United States was submitted to the approval of the
+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, and Madison—formed an association with the
+intention of explaining to the nation the advantages of the measure
+which was proposed. With this view they published a series of articles
+in the shape of a journal, 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, although it especially
+concerns America.]
+
+
+Prerogative Of The Federal Government
+
+Power of declaring war, making peace, and levying general taxes vested
+in the Federal Government—What part of the internal policy of the
+country it may direct—The Government of the Union in some respects more
+central than the King’s Government in the old French monarchy.
+
+The external relations of a people may be compared to those of private
+individuals, and they cannot be advantageously maintained without the
+agency of a single head of a Government. The exclusive right of making
+peace and war, of concluding treaties of commerce, of raising armies,
+and equipping fleets, was granted to the Union. *h The necessity of a
+national Government was less imperiously felt in the conduct of the
+internal policy of society; but there are certain general interests
+which can only be attended to with advantage by a general authority.
+The Union was invested with the power of controlling the monetary
+system, of directing the post office, and of opening the great roads
+which were to establish a communication between the different parts of
+the country. *i The independence of the Government of each State was
+formally recognized in its sphere; nevertheless, the Federal Government
+was authorized to interfere in the internal affairs of the States *j in
+a few predetermined cases, in which an indiscreet abuse of their
+independence might compromise the security of the Union at large. Thus,
+whilst the power of modifying and changing their legislation at
+pleasure was preserved in all the republics, they were forbidden to
+enact ex post facto laws, or to create a class of nobles in their
+community. *k Lastly, as it was necessary that the Federal Government
+should be able to fulfil its engagements, it was endowed with an
+unlimited power of levying taxes. *l
+
+h
+[ See Constitution, sect. 8; “Federalist,” Nos. 41 and 42; Kent’s
+“Commentaries,” vol. i. p. 207; Story, pp. 358-382; Ibid. pp. 409-426.]
+
+
+i
+[ Several other privileges of the same kind exist, such as that which
+empowers the Union to legislate on bankruptcy, to grant patents, and
+other matters in which its intervention is clearly necessary.]
+
+
+j
+[ Even in these cases its interference is indirect. The Union
+interferes by means of the tribunals, as will be hereafter shown.]
+
+
+k
+[ Federal Constitution, sect. 10, art. I.]
+
+
+l
+[ Constitution, sects. 8, 9, and 10; “Federalist,” Nos. 30-36,
+inclusive, and 41-44; Kent’s “Commentaries,” vol. i. pp. 207 and 381;
+Story, pp. 329 and 514.]
+
+
+In examining the balance of power as established by the Federal
+Constitution; in remarking on the one hand the portion of sovereignty
+which has been reserved to the several States, and on the other the
+share of power which the Union has assumed, it is evident that the
+Federal legislators entertained the clearest and most accurate notions
+on the nature of the centralization of government. The United States
+form not only a republic, but a confederation; nevertheless the
+authority of the nation is more central than it was in several of the
+monarchies of Europe when the American Constitution was formed. Take,
+for instance, the two following examples.
+
+Thirteen supreme courts of justice existed in France, which, generally
+speaking, had the right of interpreting the law without appeal; and
+those provinces which were styled pays d’etats were authorized to
+refuse their assent to an impost which had been levied by the sovereign
+who 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 exercises
+more central authority than the French monarchy possessed, although the
+Union is only an assemblage of confederate republics.
+
+In Spain certain provinces had the right of establishing a system of
+custom-house duties peculiar to themselves, although that privilege
+belongs, by its very nature, to the national sovereignty. In America
+the Congress alone has the right of regulating the commercial relations
+of the States. 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 Crown in France or in Spain was always able to obtain
+by force whatever 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.
+
+Federal Powers
+
+After having settled the limits within which the Federal Government was
+to act, the next point was to determine the powers which it was to
+exert.
+
+Legislative Powers *m
+
+m
+[ [In this chapter the author points out the essence of the conflict
+between the seceding States and the Union which caused the Civil War of
+1861.]]
+
+
+Division of the Legislative Body into two branches—Difference in the
+manner of forming the two Houses—The principle of the independence of
+the States predominates in the formation of the Senate—The principle of
+the sovereignty of the nation in the composition of the House of
+Representatives—Singular effects of the fact that a Constitution can
+only be logical in the early stages of a nation.
+
+The plan which had been laid down beforehand for the Constitutions of
+the several States was followed, in many points, 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
+conciliation prescribed the observance of distinct principles in the
+formation of these two assemblies. I have already shown that two
+contrary interests were opposed to each other in the establishment of
+the Federal Constitution. These two interests had given rise to two
+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 peoples would meet to discuss certain
+points of their common interests. The other party desired to unite the
+inhabitants of the American colonies into one sole nation, and to
+establish a Government which should act as the sole representative of
+the nation, as far as the limited sphere of its authority would permit.
+The practical consequences of these two theories were exceedingly
+different.
+
+The question was, whether a league was to be established instead of a
+national Government; whether the majority of the State, instead of the
+majority of the inhabitants of the Union, was to give the law: for
+every State, the small as well as the great, would then remain in the
+full enjoyment of its independence, and enter the Union upon a footing
+of perfect equality. If, however, the inhabitants of the United States
+were to be considered as belonging to one and the same nation, it would
+be just that the majority of the citizens of the Union should prescribe
+the law. Of course the lesser States could not subscribe to the
+application of this doctrine without, in fact, abdicating their
+existence in relation to the sovereignty of the Confederation; since
+they would have passed from the condition of a co-equal and
+co-legislative authority to that of an insignificant fraction of a
+great people. But if the former system would have invested them with an
+excessive authority, the latter would have annulled their influence
+altogether. Under these circumstances the result was, that the strict
+rules of logic were evaded, as is usually the case when interests are
+opposed to arguments. A middle course was hit upon by the legislators,
+which brought together by force two systems theoretically
+irreconcilable.
+
+The principle of the independence of the States prevailed in the
+formation of the Senate, and that of the sovereignty of the nation
+predominated in the composition of the House of Representatives. It was
+decided that each State should send two senators to Congress, and a
+number of representatives proportioned to its population. *n It results
+from this arrangement that the State of New York has at the present day
+forty representatives and only two senators; the State of Delaware has
+two senators and only one representative; the State of Delaware is
+therefore equal to the State of New York in the Senate, whilst the
+latter has forty times the influence of the former in the House of
+Representatives. Thus, if the minority of the nation preponderates in
+the Senate,. it may paralyze the decisions of the majority represented
+in the other House, which is contrary to the spirit of constitutional
+government.
+
+n
+[ Every ten years Congress fixes anew the number of representatives
+which each State is to furnish. The total number was 69 in 1789, and
+240 in 1833. (See “American Almanac,” 1834, p. 194.) The Constitution
+decided that there should not be more than one representative for every
+30,000 persons; but no minimum was fixed on. The Congress has not
+thought fit to augment the number of representatives in proportion to
+the increase of population. The first Act which was passed on the
+subject (April 14, 1792: see “Laws of the United States,” by Story,
+vol. i. p. 235) decided that there should be one representative for
+every 33,000 inhabitants. The last Act, which was passed in 1832, fixes
+the proportion at one for 48,000. The population represented is
+composed of all the free men and of three-fifths of the slaves.
+
+
+[The last Act of apportionment, passed February 2, 1872, fixes the
+representation at one to 134,684 inhabitants. There are now (1875) 283
+members of the lower House of Congress, and 9 for the States at large,
+making in all 292 members. The old States have of course lost the
+representatives which the new States have gained.—Translator’s Note.]]
+
+These facts show how rare and how difficult it is rationally and
+logically to combine all the several parts of legislation. In the
+course of time different interests arise, and different principles are
+sanctioned by the same people; and when a general constitution is to be
+established, these interests and principles are so many natural
+obstacles to the rigorous application of any political system, with all
+its consequences. The early stages of national existence are the only
+periods at which it is possible to maintain the complete logic of
+legislation; and when we perceive a nation in the enjoyment of this
+advantage, before we hasten to conclude that it is wise, we should do
+well to remember that it is young. When the Federal Constitution was
+formed, the interests of independence for the separate States, and the
+interest of union for the whole people, were the only two conflicting
+interests which existed amongst the Anglo-Americans, and a compromise
+was necessarily made between them.
+
+It is, however, just to acknowledge that this part of the Constitution
+has not hitherto produced those evils which might have been feared. All
+the States are young and contiguous; their customs, their ideas, and
+their exigencies are not dissimilar; and the differences which result
+from their size or inferiority do not suffice to set their interests at
+variance. The small States have consequently never been induced to
+league themselves together in the Senate to oppose the designs of the
+larger ones; and indeed there is so irresistible an authority in the
+legitimate expression of the will of a people that the Senate could
+offer but a feeble opposition to the vote of the majority of the House
+of Representatives.
+
+It must not be forgotten, on the other hand, that it was not in the
+power of the American legislators to reduce to a single nation the
+people 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 acknowledging the real authority of these secondary
+communities (and it was impossible to deprive them of it), they
+disavowed beforehand the habitual use of constraint in enforcing g the
+decisions of the majority. Upon this principle the introduction of the
+influence of the States into the mechanism of the Federal Government
+was by no means to be wondered at, since it only attested the existence
+of an acknowledged power, which was to be humored and not forcibly
+checked.
+
+A Further Difference Between The Senate And The House Of
+Representatives
+
+The Senate named by the provincial legislators, the Representatives by
+the people—Double election of the former; single election of the
+latter—Term of the different offices—Peculiar functions of each House.
+
+The Senate not only differs from the other House in the principle which
+it represents, but also in the mode of its election, in the term for
+which it is chosen, and in the nature of its functions. The House of
+Representatives is named by the people, the Senate by the legislators
+of each State; the former is directly elected, the latter is elected by
+an elected body; the term for which the representatives are chosen is
+only two years, that of the senators is six. The functions of the House
+of Representatives are purely legislative, and the only share it takes
+in the judicial power is in the impeachment of public officers. The
+Senate co-operates in the work of legislation, and tries those
+political offences which 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 appointments he may make must be definitely
+approved by the same body. *o
+
+o
+[ See “The Federalist,” Nos. 52-56, inclusive; Story, pp. 199-314;
+Constitution of the United States, sects. 2 and 3.] The Executive Power
+*p
+
+
+p
+[ See “The Federalist,” Nos. 67-77; Constitution of the United States,
+art. 2; Story, p. 315, pp. 615-780; Kent’s “Commentaries,” p. 255.]
+
+
+Dependence of the President—He is elective and responsible—He is free
+to act in his own sphere under the inspection, but not under the
+direction, of the Senate—His salary fixed at his entry into
+office—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 indispensable 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 has for the
+temperate use of his power. But in the exercise of his authority he
+cannot be said to be perfectly independent; the Senate takes cognizance
+of his relations with foreign powers, and of the distribution of public
+appointments, so that he can neither be bribed nor can he employ the
+means of corruption. The legislators of the Union acknowledged that the
+executive power would be incompetent to fulfil its task with dignity
+and utility, unless it enjoyed a greater degree of stability and of
+strength than had been granted to it in the separate States.
+
+The President is chosen for four years, and he may be reelected; so
+that the chances of a prolonged administration may inspire him with
+hopeful undertakings for the public good, and with the means of
+carrying them into execution. The President was made the sole
+representative of the executive power of the Union, and care was taken
+not to render his decisions subordinate to the vote of a council—a
+dangerous measure, which tends at the same time to clog the action of
+the Government and to diminish its responsibility. The Senate has the
+right of annulling g certain acts of the President; but it cannot
+compel him to take any steps, nor does it participate in the exercise
+of the executive power.
+
+The action of the legislature on the executive power may be direct; and
+we have just shown that the Americans carefully obviated this
+influence; but it may, on the other hand, be indirect. Public
+assemblies which have the power of depriving an officer of state of his
+salary encroach upon his independence; and as they are free to make the
+laws, it is to be feared lest they should gradually appropriate to
+themselves a portion of that authority which the Constitution had
+vested in his hands. This dependence of the 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 government, but they have rendered this
+propensity less irresistible. The salary of the President is fixed, at
+the time of his entering upon office, for the whole period of his
+magistracy. The President is, moreover, provided with a suspensive
+veto, which allows him to oppose the passing of such laws as might
+destroy the portion of independence which the Constitution awards him.
+The struggle between the President and the legislature must always be
+an unequal 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 persisted
+in, it must then be backed by a majority of two-thirds of the whole
+house. The veto is, in fact, a sort of appeal to the people. The
+executive power, which, without this security, might have been secretly
+oppressed, adopts this means of pleading its cause and stating its
+motives. But if the legislature is certain of overpowering all
+resistance by persevering in its plans, I reply, that in the
+constitutions of all nations, of whatever kind they may be, a certain
+point exists at which the legislator is obliged to have recourse to the
+good sense and the virtue of his fellow-citizens. This point is more
+prominent and more discoverable in republics, whilst it is more remote
+and more carefully concealed in monarchies, but it always exists
+somewhere. There is no country in the world in which everything can be
+provided for by the laws, or in which political institutions can prove
+a substitute for common sense and public morality.
+
+Differences Between The Position Of The President Of The United States
+And That Of A Constitutional King Of France
+
+Executive power in the Northern States as limited and as partial as the
+supremacy which it represents—Executive power in France as universal as
+the supremacy it represents—The King a branch of the legislature—The
+President the mere executor of the law—Other differences resulting from
+the duration of the two powers—The President checked in the exercise of
+the executive authority—The King independent in its
+exercise—Notwithstanding these discrepancies France is more akin to a
+republic than the Union to a monarchy—Comparison of the number of
+public officers depending upon the executive power in the two
+countries.
+
+The executive power has so important an influence on the destinies of
+nations that I am inclined to pause for an instant at this portion of
+my subject, in order more clearly to explain the part it sustains in
+America. In order to form an accurate idea of the position of the
+President of the United States, it may not be irrelevant to compare it
+to that of one of the constitutional kings of Europe. In this
+comparison I shall pay 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 executive power retains the titles, the honors,
+the etiquette, and even the funds of royalty long after its authority
+has disappeared. The English, after having cut off the head of one king
+and expelled another from his throne, were accustomed to accost the
+successor of those princes upon their knees. On the other hand, when a
+republic falls under the sway of a single individual, the demeanor of
+the sovereign is simple and unpretending, as if his authority was not
+yet paramount. When the emperors exercised an unlimited control over
+the fortunes and the lives of their fellow-citizens, it was customary
+to call them Caesar 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 the most notable difference which exists between the
+President of the United States and the King of France. In the United
+States the executive power is as limited and partial as the sovereignty
+of the Union in whose name it acts; in France it is as universal as the
+authority of the State. The Americans have a federal and the French a
+national Government.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution—Part II
+
+
+This cause of inferiority results from the nature of things, but it is
+not the only one; the second in importance 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 till he has given his assent to them; he is, moreover, the
+executor of all they ordain. The President is also the executor of the
+laws, but he does not really co-operate in their formation, since the
+refusal of his assent does not annul them. He is therefore merely to be
+considered as the agent of the sovereign power. But not only does the
+King of France exercise a portion of the sovereign power, he also
+contributes to the nomination of the legislature, which exercises the
+other portion. He has the privilege of appointing the members of one
+chamber, and of dissolving 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 any part of 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 explain 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 opinions can only penetrate 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 exercises an authority inferior to, and depending
+upon, that of the legislature.
+
+Even in the exercise of the executive power, properly so called—the
+point upon which his position seems to be most analogous to that of the
+King of France—the President labors under several causes of
+inferiority. The authority of the King, in France, has, in the first
+place, the advantage of duration over that of the President, and
+durability is one of the chief elements of strength; nothing 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 sovereign. In the exercise of the executive
+power the President of the United States is constantly subject to a
+jealous scrutiny. He may make, but he cannot conclude, a treaty; he may
+designate, but he cannot appoint, a public officer. *q The King of
+France is absolute within the limits of his authority. The President of
+the United States is responsible for his actions; but the person of the
+King is declared inviolable by the French Charter. *r
+
+q
+[ The Constitution had left it doubtful whether the President was
+obliged to consult the Senate in the removal as well as in the
+appointment of Federal officers. “The Federalist” (No. 77) seemed to
+establish the affirmative; but in 1789 Congress formally decided that,
+as the President was responsible for his actions, he ought not to be
+forced to employ agents who had forfeited his esteem. See Kent’s
+“Commentaries”, vol. i. p. 289.]
+
+
+r
+[ [This comparison applied to the Constitutional King of France and to
+the powers he held under the Charter of 1830, till the overthrow of the
+monarchy in 1848.—Translator’s Note.]]
+
+
+Nevertheless, the supremacy of public opinion 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 France than in America, but
+in fact it exists. In America, it acts by elections and decrees; in
+France it proceeds by revolutions; but notwithstanding the different
+constitutions of these two countries, public opinion is the predominant
+authority in both of them. The fundamental principle of legislation—a
+principle essentially republican—is the same in both countries,
+although its consequences may be different, and its results more or
+less extensive. Whence I am led to conclude that France with its King
+is nearer akin to a republic than the Union with its President is to a
+monarchy.
+
+In what I have been saying I have only touched upon the main points of
+distinction; and if I could have entered into details, the contrast
+would have been rendered still more striking. I have remarked that the
+authority of the President in the United States is only exercised
+within the limits of a partial sovereignty, whilst that of the King in
+France is undivided. I might have gone on to show that the power of the
+King’s government in France exceeds its natural limits, however
+extensive they may be, and penetrates in a thousand different ways into
+the administration of private interests. Amongst the examples of this
+influence may be quoted that which results from the great number of
+public functionaries, who all derive their appointments from the
+Government. This number now exceeds all previous limits; it amounts to
+138,000 *s nominations, each of which may be considered as an element
+of power. The President of the United States has not the exclusive
+right of making any public appointments, and their whole number
+scarcely exceeds 12,000. *t
+
+s
+[ The sums annually paid by the State to these officers amount to
+200,000,000 fr. ($40,000,000).]
+
+
+t
+[ This number is extracted from the “National Calendar” for 1833. The
+“National Calendar” is an American almanac which contains the names of
+all the Federal officers. It results from this comparison that the King
+of France has eleven times as many places at his disposal as the
+President, although the population of France is not much more than
+double that of the Union.
+
+
+[I have not the means of ascertaining the number of appointments now at
+the disposal of the President of the United States, but his patronage
+and the abuse of it have largely increased since 1833.—Translator’s
+Note, 1875.]]
+
+Accidental Causes Which May Increase The Influence Of The Executive
+Government
+
+External security of the Union—Army of six thousand men—Few ships—The
+President has no opportunity of exercising his great prerogatives—In
+the prerogatives he exercises he is weak.
+
+If the executive government is feebler in America than in France, the
+cause is 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 is called upon to exert its skill and its vigor. If the
+existence of the Union were perpetually threatened, and if its chief
+interests were in daily connection with those of other powerful
+nations, the executive government would assume an increased importance
+in proportion to the measures expected of it, and those which it would
+carry into effect. The President of the United States is the
+commander-in-chief of the army, but of an army 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 without 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 interests rarely come into
+contact with those of any other nation of the globe.
+
+The practical part of a Government must not be judged by the theory of
+its constitution. The President of the United States is in the
+possession of almost royal prerogatives, which he has no opportunity of
+exercising; and those privileges which he can at present use are very
+circumscribed. The laws allow him to possess a degree of influence
+which circumstances do not permit him to employ.
+
+On the other hand, the great strength of the royal prerogative in
+France arises from circumstances far more than from the laws. There the
+executive government is constantly struggling against prodigious
+obstacles, and exerting all its energies to repress them; so that it
+increases 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 it is in the Union, its
+influence would very soon become still more preponderant.
+
+Why The President Of The United States Does Not Require The Majority Of
+The Two Houses In Order To Carry On The Government It is an established
+axiom in Europe that a constitutional King cannot persevere in a system
+of government which is opposed by the two other branches of the
+legislature. But several Presidents of the United States have been
+known to lose the majority in the legislative body without being
+obliged to abandon the supreme power, and without inflicting a serious
+evil upon society. I have heard this fact quoted as an instance of the
+independence and the power of the executive government in America: a
+moment’s reflection will convince us, on the contrary, that it is a
+proof of its extreme weakness.
+
+A King in Europe requires the support of the legislature to enable him
+to perform the duties imposed upon him by the Constitution, because
+those duties are enormous. A constitutional King in Europe is not
+merely the executor of the law, but the execution of its provisions
+devolves so completely upon him that he has the power of paralyzing its
+influence if it opposes his designs. He requires the assistance of the
+legislative assemblies to make the law, but those assemblies stand in
+need of his aid to execute it: these two authorities cannot subsist
+without each other, and the mechanism of government is stopped as soon
+as they are at variance.
+
+In America the President cannot prevent any law from being passed, nor
+can he evade the obligation of enforcing it. His sincere and zealous
+co-operation is no doubt useful, but it is not indispensable, in the
+carrying on of public affairs. All his important acts are directly or
+indirectly submitted to the legislature, and of his own free authority
+he can do but little. It is therefore his weakness, and not his power,
+which enables him to remain in opposition to Congress. In Europe,
+harmony must reign between the Crown and the other branches of 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
+
+Dangers of the elective system increase in proportion to the extent of
+the prerogative—This system possible in America because no powerful
+executive authority is required—What circumstances are favorable to the
+elective system—Why the election of the President does not cause a
+deviation from the principles of the Government—Influence of the
+election of the President on secondary functionaries.
+
+The dangers of the system of election applied to the head of the
+executive government of a great people have been sufficiently
+exemplified by experience and by history, and the remarks I am about to
+make refer to America alone. These dangers may be more or less
+formidable in proportion 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 the circumstances in which
+the electors are placed. The most weighty argument against the election
+of a chief magistrate is, that it offers so splendid a lure to private
+ambition, and is so apt to inflame men in the pursuit of power, that
+when legitimate means are wanting force may not unfrequently seize what
+right denied.
+
+It is clear that the greater the privileges of the executive authority
+are, the greater is the temptation; the more the ambition of the
+candidates is excited, the more warmly are their interests espoused by
+a throng of partisans who hope to share the power when their patron has
+won the prize. The dangers of the elective system increase, therefore,
+in the exact ratio of the influence exercised by the executive power in
+the affairs of State. The revolutions of Poland were not solely
+attributable to the elective system in general, but to the fact that
+the elected monarch was the sovereign of a powerful kingdom. Before we
+can discuss the absolute advantages of the elective system we must make
+preliminary inquiries as to whether the geographical position, the
+laws, the habits, the manners, and the opinions of the people amongst
+whom it is to be introduced will admit of the establishment of a weak
+and dependent executive government; for to attempt to render the
+representative of the State a powerful sovereign, and at the same time
+elective, is, in my opinion, 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 sphere
+of action beforehand, gradually to diminish its prerogatives, and to
+accustom the people to live without its protection. Nothing, however,
+is further from the designs of the republicans of Europe than this
+course: as many of them owe their hatred of tyranny to the sufferings
+which they have personally undergone, it is oppression, and not the
+extent of the executive power, which excites their hostility, and they
+attack the former without perceiving how nearly it is connected with
+the latter.
+
+Hitherto no citizen has shown any disposition to expose his honor and
+his life in order to become the President of the United States; because
+the power of that office is temporary, limited, and subordinate. The
+prize of fortune must be great to encourage adventurers in so desperate
+a game. No candidate has as yet been able to arouse the dangerous
+enthusiasm or the passionate sympathies of the people in his favor, for
+the very simple reason that when he is at the head of the Government he
+has but little power, but little wealth, and but 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 the elevation of an
+individual to power.
+
+The great advantage of hereditary monarchies is, that as the private
+interest of a family is always intimately connected with the interests
+of the State, the executive government is never suspended for a single
+instant; and if the affairs 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, notwithstanding
+these precautions, a break necessarily occurs in the minds of the
+people.
+
+At the approach of an election the head of the executive government is
+wholly occupied by the coming struggle; his future plans are doubtful;
+he can undertake nothing new, and the he will only prosecute with
+indifference those designs which another will perhaps terminate. “I am
+so near the time of my retirement from office,” said President
+Jefferson on the 21st of January, 1809 (six weeks before the election),
+“that 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 gradual 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 government, or, still
+more, one used to the administrative protection of a powerful executive
+authority would be infallibly convulsed by an election of this kind. In
+the United States the action of the Government may be slackened with
+impunity, because it is always weak and circumscribed. *u
+
+u
+[ [This, however, may be a great danger. The period during which Mr.
+Buchanan retained office, after the election of Mr. Lincoln, from
+November, 1860, to March, 1861, was that which enabled the seceding
+States of the South to complete their preparations for the Civil War,
+and the Executive Government was paralyzed. No greater evil could
+befall a nation.—Translator’s Note.]]
+
+
+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 disadvantage 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. If the
+elective system were adopted in Europe, the condition of most of the
+monarchical States would be changed at every new election. In America
+the President exercises a certain influence on State affairs, but he
+does not conduct them; the preponderating power is vested in the
+representatives of the whole nation. The political maxims of the
+country depend therefore on the mass of the people, not on the
+President alone; and consequently in America the elective system has no
+very prejudicial influence on the fixed principles of the Government.
+But the want of fixed principles is an evil so inherent in the elective
+system that it is still extremely perceptible in the narrow sphere to
+which the authority of the President extends.
+
+The Americans have admitted that the head of the executive power, who
+has to bear the whole responsibility of the duties he is called upon to
+fulfil, ought to be empowered to choose his own agents, and to remove
+them at pleasure: the legislative bodies watch the conduct of the
+President more than they direct it. The consequence of this arrangement
+is, that at every new election the fate of all the Federal public
+officers is in suspense. Mr. Quincy Adams, on his entry into office,
+discharged the majority of the individuals who had been appointed by
+his predecessor: and I am not aware that General Jackson allowed a
+single removable functionary employed in the Federal service to retain
+his place beyond the first year which succeeded his election. It is
+sometimes made a subject of complaint that in the constitutional
+monarchies of Europe the fate of the humbler servants of an
+Administration depends upon that of the Ministers. But in elective
+Governments this evil is far greater. In a constitutional monarchy
+successive ministries are rapidly formed; but as the principal
+representative of the executive power does not change, the spirit of
+innovation is kept within bounds; the changes which take place are in
+the details rather than in the principles of the administrative 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 fall upon individuals in consequence of this
+state of things, it must be allowed that the uncertain situation of the
+public officers is less fraught with evil consequences in America than
+elsewhere. It is so easy to acquire an independent position in the
+United States that the public officer who loses his place may be
+deprived of the comforts of life, but not of the means of subsistence.
+
+I remarked at the beginning of this chapter that the dangers of the
+elective system applied to the head of the State are augmented or
+decreased by the peculiar circumstances of the people which adopts it.
+However the functions of the executive power may be restricted, it must
+always exercise a great influence upon the foreign policy of the
+country, for a negotiation cannot be opened or successfully carried on
+otherwise than by a single agent. The more precarious and the more
+perilous the position of a people becomes, the more absolute is the
+want of a fixed and consistent external policy, and the more dangerous
+does the elective system of the Chief Magistrate become. The policy of
+the Americans in relation to the whole world is exceedingly simple; for
+it may almost be said that no country stands in need of them, nor do
+they require the co-operation of any other people. Their independence
+is never threatened. In their present condition, therefore, the
+functions of the executive power are no less limited by circumstances
+than by the laws; and the President may frequently change his line of
+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 the moment of its duration
+must always be considered as a national crisis, which is perilous in
+proportion to the internal embarrassments and the external dangers of
+the country. Few of the nations of Europe could escape the calamities
+of anarchy or of conquest 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.
+
+Mode Of Election
+
+Skill of the American legislators shown in the mode of election adopted
+by them—Creation of a special electoral body—Separate votes of these
+electors—Case in which the House of Representatives is called upon to
+choose the President—Results of the twelve elections which have taken
+place since the Constitution has been established.
+
+Besides the dangers which are inherent in the system, many other
+difficulties may arise from the mode of election, which may be obviated
+by the precaution of the legislator. When a people met in arms on some
+public spot to choose its head, it was exposed to all the chances of
+civil war resulting from so martial a mode of proceeding, besides the
+dangers of the elective system in itself. The Polish laws, which
+subjected the election of the sovereign to the veto of a single
+individual, suggested the murder of that individual or prepared the way
+to 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. The nation
+possessed two of the main causes of internal peace; it was a new
+country, but it was inhabited by a people grown old in the exercise of
+freedom. America had no hostile neighbors to dread; and the American
+legislators, profiting by these favorable circumstances, created a weak
+and subordinate executive power which could without danger be made
+elective.
+
+It then only remained for them to choose the least dangerous of the
+various modes of election; and the rules which they laid down upon this
+point admirably correspond to the securities which the physical and
+political constitution of the country already afforded. 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 simple majority should be
+decisive; but the difficulty was to obtain this majority without an
+interval of delay which it was most important to avoid. It rarely
+happens that an individual can at once collect the majority of the
+suffrages of a great people; and this difficulty is enhanced in a
+republic of confederate States, where local influences are apt to
+preponderate. The means by which it was proposed to obviate this second
+obstacle was to delegate the electoral powers of the nation to a body
+of representatives. This mode of election rendered a majority more
+probable; for the fewer the electors are, the greater is the chance of
+their coming to a final decision. It also offered an additional
+probability of a judicious choice. It then remained to be decided
+whether this right of election was to be entrusted to a legislative
+body, the habitual representative assembly of the nation, or whether an
+electoral assembly should be formed for the express purpose of
+proceeding to the nomination of a President. The Americans chose the
+latter alternative, from a belief that the individuals who were
+returned to make the laws were incompetent to represent 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 represent 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
+manoeuvres 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 the sole purpose of
+giving their votes.
+
+It was therefore established that every State should name a certain
+number of electors, *v who in their turn should elect the President;
+and as it had been observed that the assemblies to which the choice of
+a chief magistrate had been entrusted in elective countries inevitably
+became the centres of passion and of cabal; that they sometimes usurped
+an authority which did not belong to them; and that their proceedings,
+or the uncertainty which resulted from them, were sometimes prolonged
+so much as to endanger the welfare of the State, it was determined that
+the electors should all vote upon the same day, without being convoked
+to the same place. *w This double election rendered a majority
+probable, though not certain; for it was possible that as many
+differences might exist between the electors as between their
+constituents. In this case it was necessary to have recourse to one of
+three measures; either to appoint new electors, or to consult a second
+time those already appointed, or to defer the election to another
+authority. The first two of these alternatives, independently of the
+uncertainty of their results, were likely to delay the final decision,
+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 in the presence of
+the Senate and the House of Representatives. If none of the candidates
+has a majority, the House of Representatives then proceeds immediately
+to elect a President, but with the condition that it must fix upon one
+of the three candidates who have the highest numbers. *x
+
+v
+[ As many as it sends members to Congress. The number of electors at
+the election of 1833 was 288. (See “The National Calendar,” 1833.)]
+
+
+w
+[ The electors of the same State assemble, but they transmit to the
+central government the list of their individual votes, and not the mere
+result of the vote of the majority.] [Footnote x: 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 influence 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 cannot
+agree, recourse is had to the division of the States, each of which has
+a separate and independent vote. This is one of the singularities of
+the Federal Constitution which can only be explained by the jar of
+conflicting interests.]
+
+
+Thus it is only in case of an event which cannot often happen, and
+which can never be foreseen, that the election is entrusted to the
+ordinary representatives of the nation; and even then they are obliged
+to choose a citizen who has already been designated by a powerful
+minority of the special electors. It is by this happy expedient that
+the respect which is due to the popular voice is combined with the
+utmost celerity of execution and those precautions which the peace of
+the country demands. But the decision of the question by the House of
+Representatives does not necessarily offer an immediate solution of the
+difficulty, for the majority of that assembly may still be doubtful,
+and in this case the Constitution prescribes no remedy. Nevertheless,
+by restricting the number of candidates to three, and by referring the
+matter to the judgment of an enlightened public body, it has smoothed
+all the obstacles *y which are not inherent in the elective system.
+
+y
+[ Jefferson, in 1801, was not elected until the thirty-sixth time of
+balloting.]
+
+
+In the forty-four years which have elapsed since the promulgation of
+the Federal Constitution the United States have twelve times chosen a
+President. Ten of these elections took place simultaneously by the
+votes of the special electors in the different States. The House of
+Representatives has only twice exercised its conditional 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. Quincy Adams
+was named. *z
+
+z
+[ [General Grant is now (1874) the eighteenth President of the United
+States.]]
+
+
+Crises Of The Election
+
+The Election may be considered as a national crisis—Why?—Passions of
+the people—Anxiety of the President—Calm which succeeds the agitation
+of the election.
+
+I have shown what the circumstances are which favored the adoption of
+the elective system in the United States, and what precautions were
+taken by the legislators to obviate its dangers. The Americans are
+habitually accustomed to all kinds of elections, and they know by
+experience the utmost degree of excitement which is compatible with
+security. The 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 political circumstances under which
+the elections have hitherto been carried on have presented no real
+embarrassments to the nation.
+
+Nevertheless, the epoch of the election of a President of the United
+States may be considered as a crisis in the affairs of the nation. The
+influence which he exercises on public business is no doubt feeble and
+indirect; but the choice of the President, which is of small importance
+to each individual 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 but
+few means of rewarding his supporters in comparison to the kings of
+Europe, but the places which are at his disposal are sufficiently
+numerous to interest, directly or indirectly, several thousand electors
+in his success. Political parties in the United States are led to rally
+round an individual, in order to acquire a more tangible shape in the
+eyes of the crowd, and the name of the candidate for the Presidency is
+put forward as the symbol and personification of their theories. For
+these reasons parties are strongly interested in gaining the election,
+not so much with a view to the triumph of their principles under the
+auspices of the President-elect as to show by the majority which
+returned him, the strength of the supporters of those principles.
+
+For a long while before the appointed time is at hand the election
+becomes the most important and the all-engrossing topic of discussion.
+The ardor of faction is redoubled; and all the artificial passions
+which the imagination can create in the bosom of a happy and peaceful
+land are agitated and brought to light. The President, on the other
+hand, is absorbed by the cares of self-defence. He no longer governs
+for the interest of the State, but for that of his re-election; he does
+homage to the majority, and instead of checking its passions, as his
+duty commands him to do, he frequently courts its worst caprices. As
+the election draws near, the activity of intrigue and the agitation of
+the populace increase; the citizens are divided into hostile camps,
+each of which assumes the name of its favorite candidate; the whole
+nation glows with feverish excitement; the election is the daily theme
+of the public papers, the subject of private conversation, the end of
+every thought and every action, the sole interest of the present. As
+soon as the choice is determined, this ardor is dispelled; and as a
+calmer season returns, the current of the State, which had nearly
+broken its banks, sinks to its usual level: *a but who can refrain from
+astonishment at the causes of the storm.
+
+a
+[ [Not always. The election of President Lincoln was the signal of
+civil war.—Translator’s Note.]]
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution—Part III
+
+Re-election Of The President
+
+When the head of the executive power is re-eligible, it is the State
+which is the source of intrigue and corruption—The desire of being
+re-elected the chief aim of a President of the United
+States—Disadvantage of the system peculiar to America—The natural evil
+of democracy is that it subordinates all authority to the slightest
+desires of the majority—The re-election of the President encourages
+this evil.
+
+It may be asked whether the legislators of the United States did right
+or wrong in allowing the re-election of the President. It seems at
+first sight contrary to all reason to prevent the head of the executive
+power from being elected a second time. The influence which the talents
+and the character of a single individual may exercise upon the fate of
+a whole people, in critical circumstances or arduous times, is well
+known: a law preventing the re-election of the chief magistrate would
+deprive the citizens of the surest pledge of the prosperity and the
+security of the commonwealth; and, by a singular inconsistency, a man
+would be excluded from the government at the very time when he had
+shown his ability in conducting its affairs.
+
+But if these arguments are strong, perhaps still more powerful reasons
+may be advanced against them. Intrigue and corruption are the natural
+defects of elective government; 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 manoeuvres must necessarily be limited to a narrow
+sphere; but when the chief magistrate enters the lists, he borrows the
+strength of the government for his own purposes. In the former case the
+feeble resources of an individual are in action; in the latter, the
+State itself, with all its immense influence, is busied in the work of
+corruption and cabal. The private citizen, who employs the most immoral
+practices to acquire power, can only act in a manner indirectly
+prejudicial to the public prosperity. But if the representative of the
+executive descends into the combat, the cares of government dwindle
+into second-rate importance, and the success of his election is his
+first concern. All laws and all the negotiations he undertakes are to
+him nothing more than electioneering schemes; places become the reward
+of services rendered, not to the nation, but to its chief; and the
+influence of the government, if not injurious to the country, is at
+least no longer beneficial to the community for which it was created.
+
+It is impossible to consider the ordinary course of affairs in the
+United States without perceiving that the desire of being re-elected is
+the chief aim of the President; that his whole administration, and even
+his most indifferent measures, tend to this object; and that, as the
+crisis approaches, his personal interest takes the place of his
+interest in the public good. The principle of re-eligibility renders
+the corrupt influence of elective government still more extensive and
+pernicious.
+
+In America it exercises a peculiarly fatal influence on the sources of
+national existence. Every government seems to be afflicted by some evil
+which is inherent in its nature, and the genius of the legislator is
+shown in eluding its attacks. A State may survive the influence of a
+host of bad laws, and the mischief they cause is frequently
+exaggerated; but a law which encourages the growth of the canker within
+must prove fatal in the end, although its bad consequences may not be
+immediately perceived.
+
+The principle of destruction in absolute monarchies lies in the
+excessive and unreasonable extension of the prerogative of the crown;
+and a measure tending to remove the constitutional provisions which
+counterbalance this influence would be radically bad, even if its
+immediate consequences were unattended with evil. By a parity of
+reasoning, in countries governed by a democracy, where the people is
+perpetually drawing all authority to itself, the laws which increase or
+accelerate its action are the direct assailants of the very principle
+of the government.
+
+The greatest proof of the ability of the American legislators is, that
+they clearly discerned this truth, and that they had the courage to act
+up to it. They conceived that a certain authority above the body of the
+people was necessary, which should enjoy a degree of independence,
+without, however, being entirely beyond the popular control; an
+authority which would be forced to comply with the permanent
+determinations of the majority, but which would be able to resist its
+caprices, and to 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 they armed him
+with the veto to resist the encroachments of the legislature.
+
+But by introducing the principle of re-election they partly destroyed
+their work; and they rendered the President but little inclined to
+exert the great power they had vested in his hands. If ineligible a
+second time, the President would be far from independent of the people,
+for his responsibility would not be lessened; but the favor of the
+people would not be so necessary to him as to induce him to court it by
+humoring its desires. If re-eligible (and this is more especially true
+at the present day, when political morality is relaxed, and when great
+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 hastens to anticipate its wishes, he forestalls its
+complaints, he yields to its idlest cravings, and instead of guiding
+it, as the legislature intended that he should do, he is ever ready to
+follow its bidding. Thus, in order not to deprive the State of the
+talents of an individual, those talents have been rendered almost
+useless; and to reserve an expedient for extraordinary perils, the
+country has been exposed to daily dangers.
+
+Federal Courts *b
+
+b
+[ See chap. VI, entitled “Judicial Power in the United States.” This
+chapter explains the general principles of the American theory of
+judicial institutions. See also the Federal Constitution, Art. 3. See
+“The Federalists,” Nos. 78-83, inclusive; and a work entitled
+“Constitutional Law,” being a view of the practice and jurisdiction of
+the courts of the United States, by Thomas Sergeant. See Story, pp.
+134, 162, 489, 511, 581, 668; and the organic law of September 24,
+1789, in the “Collection of the Laws of the United States,” by Story,
+vol. i. p. 53.]
+
+
+Political importance of the judiciary in the United States—Difficulty
+of treating this subject—Utility of judicial power in
+confederations—What tribunals could be introduced into the
+Union—Necessity of establishing federal courts of justice—Organization
+of the national judiciary—The Supreme Court—In what it differs from all
+known tribunals.
+
+I have inquired into the legislative and executive power of the Union,
+and the judicial power now remains to be examined; but in this place I
+cannot conceal my fears from the reader. Their judicial institutions
+exercise a great influence on the condition of the Anglo-Americans, and
+they occupy a prominent place amongst what are probably called
+political institutions: in this respect they are peculiarly deserving
+of our attention. But I am at a loss to explain the political action of
+the American tribunals without entering into some technical details of
+their constitution and their forms of proceeding; and I know not how to
+descend to these minutiae without wearying the curiosity of the reader
+by the natural aridity of the subject, or without risking to fall into
+obscurity through a desire to be succinct. I can scarcely hope to
+escape these various evils; for if I appear too lengthy to a man of the
+world, a lawyer may on the other hand complain of my brevity. But these
+are the natural disadvantages of my subject, and more especially of the
+point which I am about to discuss.
+
+The great difficulty was, not to devise the Constitution to the Federal
+Government, but to find out a method of enforcing its laws. Governments
+have in general but two means of overcoming the opposition of the
+people they govern, viz., the physical force which is at their own
+disposal, and the moral force which they derive from the decisions of
+the courts of justice.
+
+A government which should have no other means of exacting obedience
+than open war must be very near its ruin, for one of two alternatives
+would then probably occur: if its authority was small and its character
+temperate, it would not resort to violence till the last extremity, and
+it would connive at a number of partial acts of insubordination, in
+which case the State would gradually fall into anarchy; if it was
+enterprising and powerful, it would perpetually have recourse to its
+physical strength, and would speedily degenerate into a military
+despotism. So that its activity would not be less prejudicial to the
+community than its inaction.
+
+The great end of justice is to substitute the notion of right for that
+of violence, and to place a legal barrier between the power of the
+government and the use of physical force. The authority which is
+awarded to the intervention of a court of justice by the general
+opinion of mankind is so surprisingly great that it clings to the mere
+formalities of justice, and gives a bodily influence to the shadow of
+the law. The moral force which courts of justice possess renders the
+introduction of physical force exceedingly rare, and is very frequently
+substituted for it; but if the latter proves to be indispensable, its
+power is doubled by the association of the idea of law.
+
+A federal government stands in greater need of the support of judicial
+institutions than any other, because it is naturally weak and exposed
+to formidable opposition. *c If it were always obliged to resort to
+violence in the first instance, it could not fulfil its task. The
+Union, therefore, required a national judiciary to enforce the
+obedience of the citizens to the laws, and to repeal the attacks which
+might be directed against them. The question then remained as to what
+tribunals were to exercise these privileges; were they to be entrusted
+to the courts of justice which were already organized in every State?
+or was it necessary to create federal courts? It may easily be proved
+that the Union could not adapt the judicial power of the States to its
+wants. The separation of the judiciary from the administrative power of
+the State no doubt affects the security of every citizen and the
+liberty of all. But it is no less important to the existence of the
+nation that these several powers should have the same origin, should
+follow the same principles, and act in the same sphere; in a word, that
+they should be correlative and homogeneous. No one, I presume, ever
+suggested the advantage of trying offences committed in France by a
+foreign court of justice, in order to secure the impartiality of the
+judges. The Americans form one people in relation to their Federal
+Government; but in the bosom of this people divers 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 carrying on their affairs. To entrust the execution of the laws of
+the Union to tribunals instituted by these political bodies would be to
+allow foreign judges to preside over the nation. Nay, more; not only is
+each State foreign to the Union at large, but it is in perpetual
+opposition to the common interests, since whatever authority the Union
+loses turns to the advantage of the States. Thus to enforce the laws of
+the Union by means of the tribunals of the States would be to allow not
+only foreign but partial judges to preside over the nation.
+
+c
+[ Federal laws are those which most require courts of justice, and
+those at the same time which have most rarely established them. The
+reason is that confederations have usually been formed by independent
+States, which entertained no real intention of obeying the central
+Government, and which very readily ceded the right of command to the
+federal executive, and very prudently reserved the right of
+non-compliance to themselves.]
+
+
+But the number, still more than the mere character, of the tribunals of
+the States rendered them unfit for the service of the nation. When the
+Federal Constitution was formed there were already thirteen courts of
+justice in the United States which decided causes without appeal. That
+number is now increased to twenty-four. To suppose that a State can
+subsist when its fundamental laws may be 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 legislators therefore agreed to create a federal judiciary
+power to apply the laws of the Union, and to determine certain
+questions affecting general interests, which were carefully determined
+beforehand. The entire judicial power of the Union was centred in one
+tribunal, which was denominated the Supreme Court of the United States.
+But, to facilitate the expedition of business, inferior courts were
+appended 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 named neither by the people nor
+the legislature, but by the President of the United States, acting with
+the advice of the Senate. In order to render them independent of the
+other authorities, their office was made inalienable; and it was
+determined that their salary, when once fixed, should not be altered by
+the legislature. *d It was easy to proclaim the principle of a Federal
+judiciary, but difficulties multiplied when the extent of its
+jurisdiction was to be determined.
+
+d
+[ The Union was divided into districts, in each of which a resident
+Federal judge was appointed, and the court in which he presided was
+termed a “District Court.” Each of the judges of the Supreme Court
+annually visits a certain portion of the Republic, in order to try the
+most important causes upon the spot; the court presided over by this
+magistrate is styled a “Circuit Court.” Lastly, all the most serious
+cases of litigation are brought before the Supreme Court, which holds a
+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 in the same cases, as into the courts of the
+States.
+
+
+It will be observed that no analogy exists between the Supreme Court of
+the United States and the French Cour de Cassation, since the latter
+only hears appeals on questions of law. The Supreme Court decides upon
+the evidence of the fact as well as upon the law of the case, whereas
+the Cour de Cassation does not pronounce a decision of its own, but
+refers the cause to the arbitration of another tribunal. See the law of
+September 24, 1789, “Laws of the United States,” by Story, vol. i. p.
+53.]
+
+Means Of Determining The Jurisdiction Of The Federal Courts Difficulty
+of determining the jurisdiction of separate courts of justice in
+confederations—The courts of the Union obtained the right of fixing
+their own jurisdiction—In what respect this rule attacks the portion of
+sovereignty reserved to the several States—The sovereignty of these
+States restricted by the laws, and the interpretation of the
+laws—Consequently, the danger of the several States is more apparent
+than real.
+
+As the Constitution of the United States recognized two distinct powers
+in presence of each other, represented in a judicial point of view by
+two distinct classes of courts of justice, the utmost care which could
+be taken in defining their separate jurisdictions would have been
+insufficient to prevent frequent collisions between those tribunals.
+The 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 is
+debated between two courts relating to their mutual jurisdiction, a
+third tribunal is generally within reach to decide the difference; and
+this is effected without difficulty, because in these nations the
+questions of judicial competency have no connection with the privileges
+of the national supremacy. But it was impossible to create an arbiter
+between a superior court of the Union and the superior court of a
+separate State which would not belong to one of these two classes. It
+was, therefore, necessary to allow one of these courts to judge its own
+cause, and to take or to retain cognizance of the point which was
+contested. To grant this privilege to the different courts of the
+States would have been to destroy the sovereignty of the Union de facto
+after having established it de jure; for the interpretation of the
+Constitution would soon have restored that portion of independence to
+the States of which the terms of that act deprived them. The object of
+the creation of a Federal tribunal was to prevent the courts of the
+States from deciding questions affecting the national interests in
+their own department, and so to form a uniform body of jurisprudene for
+the interpretation of the laws of the Union. This end would not have
+been accomplished if the courts of the several States had been
+competent to decide upon cases in their separate capacities from which
+they were obliged to abstain as Federal tribunals. The Supreme Court of
+the United States was therefore invested with the right of determining
+all questions of jurisdiction. *e
+
+e
+[ In order to diminish the number of these suits, it was decided that
+in a great many Federal causes the courts of the States should be
+empowered to decide conjointly with those of the Union, the losing
+party having then a right of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United
+States. The 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. p.
+300, pp. 370 et seq.; Story’s “Commentaries,” p. 646; and “The Organic
+Law of the United States,” vol. i. p. 35.]
+
+
+This was a severe blow upon the independence of the States, which was
+thus restricted not only by the laws, but by the interpretation of
+them; by one limit which was known, and by another which was dubious;
+by a rule which was certain, and a rule which was arbitrary. It is true
+the Constitution 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 was threatened by
+this mode of proceeding are less serious than they appeared to be. We
+shall see hereafter that in America the real strength of the country is
+vested in the provincial far more than in the Federal Government. The
+Federal judges are conscious of the relative weakness of the power in
+whose name they act, and they are more inclined to abandon a right of
+jurisdiction in cases where it is justly their own than to assert a
+privilege to which they have no legal claim.
+
+Different Cases Of Jurisdiction
+
+The matter and the party are the first conditions of the Federal
+jurisdiction—Suits in which ambassadors are engaged—Suits of the
+Union—Of a separate State—By whom tried—Causes resulting from the laws
+of the Union—Why judged by the Federal tribunals—Causes relating to the
+performance of contracts tried by the Federal courts—Consequence of
+this arrangement.
+
+After having appointed the means of fixing the competency of the
+Federal courts, the legislators of the Union defined the cases which
+should come within their jurisdiction. It was established, on the one
+hand, that certain parties must always be brought before the Federal
+courts, without any regard to the special nature of the cause; and, on
+the other, that certain causes must always be brought before the same
+courts, without any regard to the quality of the parties in the suit.
+These distinctions were therefore admitted to be the basis of the
+Federal jurisdiction.
+
+Ambassadors are the representatives of nations in a state of amity with
+the Union, and whatever concerns these personages concerns in some
+degree the whole Union. When an ambassador is a party in a suit, that
+suit affects the welfare of the nation, and a Federal tribunal is
+naturally called upon to decide it.
+
+The Union itself may be invoked in legal proceedings, and in this case
+it would be alike contrary to the customs of all nations and to common
+sense to appeal to a tribunal representing any other sovereignty than
+its own; the Federal courts, therefore, take cognizance of these
+affairs.
+
+When two parties belonging to two different States are engaged in a
+suit, the case cannot with propriety be brought before a court of
+either State. The surest expedient is to select a tribunal like that of
+the Union, which can excite the suspicions of neither party, and which
+offers the most natural as well as the most certain remedy.
+
+When the two parties are not private individuals, but States, an
+important political consideration is added to the same motive of
+equity. The quality of the parties in this case gives a national
+importance to all their disputes; and the most trifling litigation of
+the States may be said to involve the peace of the whole Union. *f
+
+f
+[ The Constitution also says that the Federal courts shall decide
+“controversies between a State and the citizens of another State.” And
+here a most important question of a constitutional nature arose, which
+was, whether the jurisdiction given by the Constitution in cases in
+which a State is a party extended to suits brought against a State as
+well as by it, or was exclusively confined to the latter. The question
+was most elaborately considered in the case of Chisholm v. Georgia, and
+was decided by the majority of the Supreme Court in the affirmative.
+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 against a State. See Story’s
+“Commentaries,” p. 624, or in the large edition Section 1677.]
+
+
+The nature of the cause frequently prescribes the rule of competency.
+Thus all the questions which concern maritime commerce evidently fall
+under the cognizance of the Federal tribunals. *g Almost all these
+questions are connected with 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 peculiar jurisdiction, the national courts can only hear causes
+which originate in maritime affairs.
+
+g
+[ As for instance, all cases of piracy.]
+
+
+The Constitution comprises under one head almost all the cases which by
+their very nature come within the limits of the Federal courts. The
+rule which it lays down is simple, but pregnant with an entire system
+of ideas, and with a vast multitude of facts. It declares that the
+judicial power of the Supreme Court shall extend to all cases in law
+and equity arising under the laws of the United States.
+
+Two examples will put the intention of the legislator in the clearest
+light:
+
+The Constitution prohibits the States from making laws on the value and
+circulation of money: If, notwithstanding this prohibition, a State
+passes a law of this kind, with which the interested parties refuse to
+comply because it is contrary to the Constitution, the case must come
+before a Federal court, because it arises under the laws 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 supremacy; but it was intended that
+within its limits it should form one and the same people. *h Within
+those limits the Union is sovereign. When this point is established and
+admitted, the inference is easy; for if it be acknowledged that the
+United States constitute one and the same people within the bounds
+prescribed by their Constitution, 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 of its own laws.
+To this it is answered that the Union is in so singular a position that
+in relation to some matters it constitutes a people, and that in
+relation to all the rest it is a nonentity. But the inference to be
+drawn is, that in the laws relating to these matters the Union
+possesses all the rights of absolute sovereignty. The difficulty is to
+know what these matters are; and when once it is resolved (and we have
+shown how it was resolved, in speaking of the means of determining the
+jurisdiction 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 Constitution of
+the Union—the natural consequence is that it should come within the
+jurisdiction of a Federal court.
+
+h
+[ This principle was in some measure restricted by the introduction of
+the several States as independent powers into the Senate, and by
+allowing them to vote separately in the House of Representatives when
+the President is elected by that body. But these are exceptions, and
+the contrary principle is the rule.]
+
+
+Whenever the laws of the United States are attacked, or whenever they
+are resorted to in self-defence, the Federal courts must be appealed
+to. Thus the jurisdiction of the tribunals of the Union extends and
+narrows its limits exactly in the same ratio as the sovereignty of the
+Union augments or decreases. We have shown that the principal aim of
+the legislators of 1789 was to divide the sovereign authority into two
+parts. In the one they placed the control 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 principle of independence within certain limits of
+their own was adopted in their behalf; and they were concealed from the
+inspection, and protected from the control, of the central Government.
+In speaking of the division of authority, I observed that this latter
+principle had not always been held sacred, since the States are
+prevented from passing certain laws which apparently belong to their
+own particular sphere of interest. When a State of the Union passes a
+law of this kind, the citizens who are injured by its execution can
+appeal to the Federal courts.
+
+Thus the jurisdiction of the Federal courts extends not only to all the
+cases which arise under the laws of the Union, but also to those which
+arise under laws made by the several States in opposition to the
+Constitution. The States are prohibited from making ex post facto laws
+in criminal cases, and any person condemned by virtue of a law of this
+kind can appeal to the judicial power of the Union. The States are
+likewise prohibited from making laws which may have a tendency to
+impair the obligations of contracts. *i If a citizen thinks that an
+obligation of this kind is impaired by a law passed in his State, he
+may refuse to obey it, and may appeal to the Federal courts. *j
+
+i
+[ It is perfectly clear, says Mr. Story (“Commentaries,” p. 503, or in
+the large edition Section 1379), that any law which enlarges, abridges,
+or in any manner changes the intention of the parties, resulting from
+the stipulations in the contract, necessarily impairs it. He gives in
+the same place a very long and careful definition of what is understood
+by a contract in Federal jurisprudence. A grant made by the State to a
+private individual, and accepted by him, is a contract, and cannot be
+revoked by any future law. A charter granted by the State to a company
+is a contract, and equally binding to the State as to the grantee. The
+clause of the Constitution here referred to insures, therefore, the
+existence of a great part of acquired rights, but not of all. Property
+may legally be held, though it may not have passed into the possessor’s
+hands by means of a contract; and its possession is an acquired right,
+not guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.]
+
+
+j
+[ A remarkable instance of this is given by Mr. Story (p. 508, or in
+the large edition Section 1388): “Dartmouth College in New Hampshire
+had been founded by a charter granted to certain individuals before the
+American Revolution, and its trustees formed a corporation under this
+charter. The legislature of New Hampshire had, without the consent of
+this corporation, passed an act changing the organization of the
+original provincial charter of the college, and transferring all the
+rights, privileges, and franchises from the old charter trustees to new
+trustees appointed under the act. The constitutionality of the act was
+contested, and, after solemn arguments, it was deliberately held by the
+Supreme Court that the provincial charter was a contract within the
+meaning of the Constitution (Art. I. Section 10), and that the
+emendatory act was utterly void, as impairing the obligation of that
+charter. The college was deemed, like other colleges of private
+foundation, to be a private eleemosynary institution, endowed by its
+charter with a capacity to take property unconnected with the
+Government. Its funds were bestowed upon the faith of the charter, and
+those funds consisted entirely of private donations. It is true that
+the uses were in some sense public, that is, for the general benefit,
+and not for the mere benefit of the corporators; but this did not make
+the corporation a public corporation. It was a private institution for
+general charity. It was not distinguishable in principle from a private
+donation, vested in private trustees, for a public charity, or for a
+particular purpose of beneficence. And the State itself, if it had
+bestowed funds upon a charity of the same nature, could not resume
+those funds.”]
+
+
+This provision appears to me to be the most serious attack upon the
+independence of the States. The rights awarded to the Federal
+Government for purposes of obvious national importance are definite and
+easily comprehensible; but those with which this last clause invests it
+are not either clearly appreciable or accurately defined. For there are
+vast numbers of political laws which influence the existence of
+obligations of contracts, which may thus furnish an easy pretext for
+the aggressions of the central authority.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution—Part IV
+
+Procedure Of The Federal Courts
+
+Natural weakness of the judiciary power in confederations—Legislators
+ought to strive as much as possible to bring private individuals, and
+not States, before the Federal Courts—How the Americans have succeeded
+in this—Direct prosecution of private individuals in the Federal
+Courts—Indirect prosecution of the States which violate the laws of the
+Union—The decrees of the Supreme Court enervate but do not destroy the
+provincial laws.
+
+I have shown what the privileges of the Federal courts are, and it is
+no less important to point out the manner in which they are exercised.
+The irresistible authority of justice in countries in which the
+sovereignty in undivided is derived from the fact that the tribunals of
+those countries represent the entire nation at issue with the
+individual against whom their decree is directed, and the idea of power
+is thus introduced to corroborate the idea of right. But this is not
+always the case in countries in which the sovereignty is divided; in
+them the judicial power is more frequently opposed to a fraction of the
+nation than to an isolated individual, and its moral authority and
+physical strength are consequently diminished. In federal States the
+power of the judge is naturally decreased, and that of the justiciable
+parties is augmented. 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 countries where the sovereignty
+is undivided; in other words, his efforts ought constantly to tend to
+maintain the judicial 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 the community is concerned, the
+Constitution of the United States contrived, by a master-stroke of
+policy, that the federal courts, acting in the name of the laws, should
+only take cognizance 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 Constitution, the inference was that
+the Government created by this Constitution, and acting within these
+limits, was invested with all the privileges of a national government,
+one of the principal 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 citizen 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 taxpayer; and, like the judicial power of other
+nations, it is opposed to 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 difficulty increases when the proceedings are not brought
+forward by but against the Union. The Constitution recognizes the
+legislative power of the States; and a law so enacted may impair the
+privileges of the Union, in which case a collision in unavoidable
+between that body and the State which has passed the law: and it only
+remains to select the least dangerous remedy, which is very clearly
+deducible from the general principles I have before established. *k
+
+k
+[ See Chapter VI. on “Judicial Power in America.”]
+
+
+It may be conceived that, in the case under consideration, the Union
+might have used the State before a Federal court, which would have
+annulled the act, and by this means it would have adopted a natural
+course of proceeding; but the judicial power would have been placed in
+open hostility 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 impair the interests of some
+private individual by its provisions: these private interests are
+assumed by the American legislators as the ground of attack against
+such measures as may be prejudicial to the Union, and it is to these
+cases that the protection of the Supreme Court is extended.
+
+Suppose a State vends a certain portion of its territory to a company,
+and that a year afterwards it passes a law by which the territory is
+otherwise disposed of, and that clause of the Constitution which
+prohibits laws impairing the obligation of contracts violated. When the
+purchaser under the second act appears 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 null
+and void. *l Thus, in point of fact, the judicial power of the Union is
+contesting the claims of the sovereignty of a State; but it only acts
+indirectly and upon a special application of detail: it attacks the law
+in its consequences, not in its principle, and it rather weakens than
+destroys it.
+
+l
+[ See Kent’s “Commentaries,” vol. i. p. 387.]
+
+
+The last hypothesis that remained was that each State formed a
+corporation enjoying a separate existence and distinct 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 upon to contest a provincial law, but to try a
+suit in which a State was a party. This suit was perfectly similar to
+any other cause, except that the quality of the parties was different;
+and here the danger pointed out at the beginning of this chapter exists
+with less chance of being avoided. The inherent disadvantage of the
+very essence of Federal constitutions is that they engender parties in
+the bosom of the nation which 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 prerogative—Its political influence—The
+tranquillity and the very existence of the Union depend on the
+discretion of the seven Federal Judges.
+
+When we have successively examined in detail the organization 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 at the head of all known
+tribunals, 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 always
+shown the greatest repugnance to allow the cases to which it was itself
+a party to be decided by the ordinary course of justice. This
+repugnance naturally attains its utmost height in an absolute
+Government; and, on the other hand, the privileges of the courts of
+justice are extended with the increasing liberties of the people: but
+no European nation has at present held that all judicial controversies,
+without regard to their origin, can be decided by the judges of common
+law.
+
+In America this theory has been actually put in practice, and the
+Supreme Court of the United States is the sole tribunal of the nation.
+Its power extends to all the cases arising under laws and treaties made
+by the executive and legislative authorities, to all cases of admiralty
+and maritime jurisdiction, and in general to all points which affect
+the law of nations. It may even be affirmed that, although its
+constitution is essentially judicial, its prerogatives are almost
+entirely political. Its sole object is to enforce the execution of the
+laws of the Union; and the Union only regulates the relations of the
+Government with the citizens, and of the nation with Foreign Powers:
+the relations of citizens amongst themselves are almost exclusively
+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 controversies 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 steps 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 judges. Without their active
+co-operation the Constitution would be a dead letter: the Executive
+appeals to them for assistance against the encroachments of the
+legislative powers; the Legislature demands their protection from the
+designs of the Executive; they defend the Union from the disobedience
+of the States, the States from the exaggerated claims of the Union, the
+public interest against the interests of private citizens, and the
+conservative spirit of order against the fleeting innovations of
+democracy. Their power is enormous, but it is clothed in the authority
+of public opinion. They are the all-powerful guardians of a people
+which respects law, but they would be impotent against popular neglect
+or popular contempt. The force of public opinion is the most
+intractable of agents, because its exact limits cannot be defined; and
+it is not less dangerous to exceed than to remain below the boundary
+prescribed.
+
+The Federal judges must not only be good citizens, and men possessed of
+that information and integrity which are indispensable to magistrates,
+but they must be statesmen—politicians, not unread in the signs of the
+times, not afraid to brave the obstacles which can be subdued, nor slow
+to turn aside such encroaching elements as may threaten the supremacy
+of the Union and the obedience which is due to the laws.
+
+The President, who exercises a limited power, may err without causing
+great mischief in the State. Congress may decide amiss without
+destroying the Union, because the electoral body in which Congress
+originates may cause it to retract its decision by changing its
+members. But if the Supreme Court is ever composed of imprudent men or
+bad citizens, the Union may be plunged into anarchy or civil war.
+
+The real cause of this danger, however, does not lie in the
+constitution of the tribunal, but in the very nature of Federal
+Governments. We have observed that in confederate peoples it is
+especially necessary to consolidate the judicial authority, because in
+no other nations do those independent persons who are able to cope with
+the social body exist in greater power or in 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
+those States which render its existence necessary.
+
+In What Respects The Federal Constitution Is Superior To That Of The
+States
+
+In what respects the Constitution of the Union can be compared to that
+of the States—Superiority of the Constitution of the Union attributable
+to the wisdom of the Federal legislators—Legislature of the Union less
+dependent on the people than that of the States—Executive power more
+independent in its sphere—Judicial power less subjected to the
+inclinations of the majority—Practical consequence of these facts—The
+dangers inherent in a democratic government eluded by the Federal
+legislators, and increased by the legislators of the States.
+
+The Federal Constitution differs essentially from that of the States in
+the ends which it is intended to accomplish, but in the means by which
+these ends are promoted 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 comparing
+them together.
+
+I am of opinion that the Federal Constitution is superior to all the
+Constitutions of the States, for several reasons.
+
+The present Constitution of the Union was formed at a later period than
+those of the majority of the States, and it may have derived some
+ameliorations from past experience. But we shall be led to acknowledge
+that this is only a secondary cause of its superiority, when we
+recollect that eleven new States *n have been added to the American
+Confederation since the promulgation of the Federal Constitution, and
+that these new republics have always rather exaggerated than avoided
+the defects which existed in the former Constitutions.
+
+n
+[ [The number of States has now risen to 46 (1874), besides the
+District of Columbia.]]
+
+
+The chief cause of the superiority of the Federal Constitution lay in
+the character of the legislators who composed it. At the time when it
+was formed the dangers of the Confederation were imminent, and its ruin
+seemed inevitable. In this extremity the people chose the men who most
+deserved the esteem, rather than those who had gained the affections,
+of the country. I have already observed that distinguished as almost
+all the legislators of the 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 continual struggle
+against a powerful and predominant authority. When the contest was
+terminated, whilst the excited passions of the populace persisted in
+warring with dangers which had ceased to threaten them, these men
+stopped short in their career; they cast a calmer and more penetrating
+look upon the country which was now their own; they perceived that the
+war of independence was definitely ended, and that the only dangers
+which America had to fear were those which might result from the abuse
+of the freedom she had won. 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 propose restrictions, because
+they were resolutely opposed to destruction. *o
+
+o
+[ At this time Alexander Hamilton, who was one of the principal
+founders 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 the true means by which the public happiness may be
+promoted. The Republican principle demands that the deliberative sense
+of the community should govern the conduct of those to whom they
+entrust the management of their affairs; but it does not require an
+unqualified complaisance to every sudden breeze of passion, or to every
+transient impulse which the people may receive from the arts of men who
+flatter their prejudices to betray their interests. It is a just
+observation, that the people commonly intend the public good. This
+often applies to their very errors. But their good sense would despise
+the adulator who should pretend that they always reason right about the
+means of promoting it. They know from experience that they sometimes
+err; and the wonder is that they so seldom err as they do, beset, as
+they continually are, by the wiles of parasites and sycophants; 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 those who seek to possess rather than to deserve it. When
+occasions present themselves in which the interests of the people are
+at variance with their inclinations, it is the duty of persons whom
+they have appointed to be the guardians of those interests to withstand
+the temporary delusion, in order to give them time and opportunity for
+more cool and sedate reflection. Instances might be cited in which a
+conduct of this kind has saved the people from very fatal consequences
+of their own mistakes, and has procured lasting monuments of their
+gratitude to the men who had courage and magnanimity enough to serve
+them at the peril of their displeasure.”]
+
+The greater number of the Constitutions of the States assign one year
+for the duration of the House of Representatives, and two years for
+that of the Senate; so that members of the legislative body are
+constantly and narrowly tied down by the slightest desires of their
+constituents. The legislators of the Union were of opinion that this
+excessive dependence of the Legislature tended to alter the nature of
+the main consequences of the representative system, since it vested the
+source, not only of authority, but of government, in the people. They
+increased the length of the time for which the representatives were
+returned, in order to give them freer scope for the exercise of their
+own judgment.
+
+The Federal Constitution, as well as the Constitutions of the different
+States, divided the legislative body into two branches. But in the
+States these two branches were composed of the same elements, and
+elected in the same manner. The consequence was that the passions and
+inclinations of the populace were as rapidly and as energetically
+represented in one chamber as in the other, and that laws were made
+with all the characteristics of violence and precipitation. By the
+Federal Constitution the two houses originate in like manner in the
+choice of the people; but the conditions of eligibility and the mode of
+election were changed, to the end that, if, as is the case in certain
+nations, one branch of the Legislature represents the same interests as
+the other, it may at least represent a superior degree of intelligence
+and discretion. A mature age was made one of the conditions of the
+senatorial dignity, and the Upper House was chosen by an elected
+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 this is the power
+which emanates the most directly from the people, it is made to
+participate most fully in the preponderating authority of the
+multitude, and it is naturally led to monopolize every species of
+influence. This concentration is at once prejudicial to a
+well-conducted administration, and favorable to the despotism of the
+majority. The legislators of the States frequently yielded to these
+democratic 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 nothing more than the blind agent and the passive
+instrument of its decisions. He can derive no influence from the
+duration of his functions, which terminate with the revolving year, or
+from the exercise of prerogatives which can scarcely be said to exist.
+The Legislature can condemn him to inaction by intrusting the execution
+of the laws to special committees of its own members, and can annul his
+temporary dignity by depriving him of 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 salary of the individual who fills that
+office cannot be altered during the term of his functions; he is
+protected by a body of official dependents, and armed with a suspensive
+veto. In short, every effort was made to confer a strong and
+independent position upon the executive authority within the limits
+which had been prescribed to it.
+
+In the Constitutions of all the States the judicial power is that which
+remains the most independent of the legislative authority;
+nevertheless, in all the States the Legislature has reserved to itself
+the right of regulating the emoluments of the judges, a practice which
+necessarily subjects these magistrates to its immediate influence. In
+some States the judges are only temporarily appointed, which deprives
+them of a great portion of their power and their freedom. In others the
+legislative and judicial powers are entirely confounded; thus the
+Senate of New York, for instance, constitutes in certain cases the
+Superior Court of the State. The Federal Constitution, on the other
+hand, carefully separates the judicial authority from all external
+influences; and it provides for the independence of the judges, by
+declaring that their salary shall not be altered, 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 incomparably better conducted than that of any individual
+State. The conduct of the Federal Government is more fair and more
+temperate than that of the States, its designs are more fraught with
+wisdom, its projects are more durable and more skilfully combined, its
+measures are put into execution with more vigor and consistency.
+
+I recapitulate the substance of this chapter in a few words: The
+existence of democracies is threatened by two dangers, viz., the
+complete subjection of the legislative body to the caprices of the
+electoral body, and the concentration of all the powers of the
+Government in the legislative authority. The growth of these evils has
+been encouraged by the policy of the legislators of the States, but it
+has been resisted by the legislators of the Union by every means which
+lay within their control.
+
+Characteristics Which Distinguish The Federal Constitution Of The
+United States Of America From All Other Federal Constitutions American
+Union appears to resemble all other confederations—Nevertheless its
+effects are different—Reason of this—Distinctions between the Union and
+all other confederations—The American Government not a federal but an
+imperfect national Government.
+
+The United States of America do not afford either the first or the only
+instance of confederate States, several of which have existed in modern
+Europe, without adverting to those of antiquity. Switzerland, the
+Germanic Empire, and the Republic of the United Provinces either have
+been or still are confederations. In studying the constitutions of
+these different countries, the politician is surprised to observe that
+the powers with which they invested the Federal Government are nearly
+identical with the privileges awarded by the American Constitution to
+the Government of the United States. They confer upon the central power
+the same rights of making peace and war, of raising money and troops,
+and of providing for the general exigencies and the common interests of
+the nation. Nevertheless the Federal Government of these different
+peoples has always been as remarkable for its weakness and inefficiency
+as that of the Union is for its vigorous and enterprising spirit.
+Again, the first American Confederation perished through the excessive
+weakness of its Government; and this weak Government was,
+notwithstanding, in possession of rights even more extensive than those
+of the Federal Government of the present day. But the more recent
+Constitution of the United States contains certain principles which
+exercise a most important influence, although they do not at once
+strike the observer.
+
+This Constitution, which may at first sight be confounded with the
+federal constitutions which preceded it, rests upon a novel theory,
+which may be considered as a great invention in modern political
+science. In all the confederations which had been formed before the
+American Constitution of 1789 the allied States agreed to obey the
+injunctions of a Federal Government; but they reserved to themselves
+the right of ordaining and enforcing the execution of the laws of the
+Union. The American States which combined in 1789 agreed that the
+Federal Government should not only dictate the laws, but that it should
+execute it own enactments. In both cases the right is the same, but the
+exercise of the right is different; and this alteration produced the
+most momentous consequences.
+
+In all the confederations which had been formed before the American
+Union the Federal Government demanded its supplies at the hands of the
+separate Governments; and if the measure it prescribed was onerous to
+any one of those bodies means were found to evade its claims: if the
+State was powerful, it had recourse to arms; if it was weak, it
+connived at the resistance which the law of the Union, its sovereign,
+met with, and resorted to inaction under the plea of inability. Under
+these circumstances one of the two alternatives has invariably
+occurred; either the most preponderant of the allied peoples has
+assumed the privileges of the Federal authority and ruled all the
+States in its name, *p or the Federal Government has been abandoned by
+its natural supporters, anarchy has arisen between the confederates,
+and the Union has lost all powers of action. *q
+
+p
+[ This was the case in Greece, when Philip undertook to execute the
+decree of the Amphictyons; in the Low Countries, where the province of
+Holland always gave the law; and, in our own time, in the Germanic
+Confederation, in which Austria and Prussia assume a great degree of
+influence over the whole country, in the name of the Diet.]
+
+
+q
+[ Such has always been the situation of the Swiss Confederation, which
+would have perished ages ago but for the mutual jealousies of its
+neighbors.]
+
+
+In America the subjects of the Union are not States, but private
+citizens: the national Government levies a tax, not upon the State of
+Massachusetts, but upon each inhabitant of Massachusetts. All former
+confederate governments presided over communities, but that of the
+Union rules individuals; its force is not borrowed, but self-derived;
+and it is served by its own civil and military officers, by its own
+army, and its own courts of justice. It cannot be doubted that the
+spirit of the nation, the passions of the multitude, and the provincial
+prejudices of each State tend singularly to diminish the authority of a
+Federal authority thus constituted, and to facilitate the means of
+resistance to its mandates; but the comparative weakness of a
+restricted sovereignty is an evil inherent in the Federal system. In
+America, each State has fewer opportunities of resistance and fewer
+temptations to non-compliance; nor can such a design be put in
+execution (if indeed it be entertained) without an open violation of
+the laws of the Union, a direct interruption of the ordinary course of
+justice, and a bold declaration of revolt; in a word, without taking a
+decisive step which men 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 augmenting the means of enforcing them: and in
+accordance with this fact it may be remarked that the real weakness 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 governments, the Federal Government 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 thence constrained to employ a multitude of improper and
+inadequate expressions. When several nations form a permanent league
+and establish a supreme authority, which, although it has not the same
+influence over the members of the community as a national government,
+acts upon each of the Confederate States in a body, this Government,
+which is so essentially different from all others, is denominated a
+Federal one. Another form of society is afterwards discovered, in which
+several peoples are fused into one and the same nation with regard to
+certain common interests, although they remain distinct, or at least
+only confederate, with regard to all their other concerns. In this case
+the central power acts directly upon those whom it governs, whom it
+rules, and whom it judges, in the same manner, as, but in a more
+limited circle than, a national government. Here the term Federal
+Government is clearly no longer applicable to a state of things which
+must be styled an incomplete national Government: a form of government
+has been found out which is neither exactly national nor federal; but
+no further progress has been made, and the new word which will one day
+designate this novel invention does not yet exist.
+
+The absence of this new species of confederation has been the cause
+which has brought all Unions to Civil War, to subjection, or to a
+stagnant apathy, and the peoples which formed these leagues have been
+either too dull to discern, or too pusillanimous to apply this great
+remedy. The American Confederation perished by the same defects.
+
+But the Confederate States of America had been long accustomed to form
+a portion of one empire before they had won their independence; they
+had not contracted the habit of governing themselves, and their
+national prejudices had not taken deep root in their minds. Superior to
+the rest of the world in political knowledge, and sharing that
+knowledge equally amongst themselves, they were little agitated by the
+passions which generally oppose the extension of federal authority in a
+nation, and those passions were checked by the wisdom of the chief
+citizens. The Americans applied the remedy with prudent firmness as
+soon as they were conscious of the evil; they amended their laws, and
+they saved their country.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution—Part V
+
+
+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 the growth of civilization—Strength often the
+first element of national prosperity—Aim of the Federal system to unite
+the twofold advantages resulting from a small and from a large
+territory—Advantages derived by the United States from this system—The
+law adapts itself to the exigencies of the population; population does
+not conform to the exigencies of the law—Activity, amelioration, love
+and enjoyment of freedom in the American communities—Public spirit of
+the Union the abstract 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 great empire.
+
+In small nations the scrutiny of society penetrates into every part,
+and the spirit of improvement enters into the most trifling details; as
+the ambition of the people is necessarily checked by its weakness, all
+the efforts and resources of the citizens are turned to the internal
+benefit of the community, and are not likely to evaporate in the
+fleeting breath of glory. The desires of every individual are limited,
+because extraordinary faculties are rarely to be met with. The gifts of
+an equal fortune render the various conditions of life uniform, and the
+manners of the inhabitants are orderly and simple. Thus, if one
+estimate the gradations of popular morality and enlightenment, we shall
+generally find that in small nations there are more persons in easy
+circumstances, a more numerous population, and a more tranquil state of
+society, than in great empires.
+
+When tyranny is established in the bosom of a small nation, it is more
+galling than elsewhere, because, as it acts within a narrow circle,
+every point of that circle is subject to its direct influence. It
+supplies the place of those great designs which it cannot entertain by
+a violent or an exasperating interference in a multitude of minute
+details; and it leaves the political world, to which it properly
+belongs, to meddle with the arrangements of domestic life. Tastes as
+well as actions are to be regulated at its pleasure; and the families
+of the citizens as well as the affairs of the State are to be governed
+by its decisions. This invasion of rights occurs, however, but seldom,
+and freedom is 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 fall within the grasp of a single citizen; and should
+such an event have occurred, the subjects of the State can without
+difficulty overthrow the tyrant and his oppression by a simultaneous
+effort.
+
+Small nations have therefore ever been the cradle of political liberty;
+and the fact that many of them have lost their immunities by extending
+their dominion shows that the freedom they enjoyed was more a
+consequence of the inferior size than of the character of the people.
+
+The history of the world affords no instance of a great nation
+retaining the form of republican government for a long series of years,
+*r and this has led to the conclusion that such a state of things is
+impracticable. For my own part, I cannot but censure the imprudence of
+attempting to limit the possible and to judge the future on the part of
+a being who is hourly deceived by the most palpable realities of life,
+and who is constantly taken by surprise in the circumstances with which
+he is most familiar. But it may be advanced with confidence that the
+existence of a great republic will always be exposed to far greater
+perils than that of a small one.
+
+r
+[ I do not speak of a confederation of small republics, but of a great
+consolidated Republic.]
+
+
+All the passions which are most fatal to republican institutions spread
+with an increasing territory, whilst the virtues which maintain their
+dignity do not augment in the same proportion. The ambition of the
+citizens increases with the power of the State; the strength of parties
+with the importance of the ends they have in view; but that devotion to
+the common weal which is the surest check on destructive passions is
+not stronger in a large than in a small republic. It might, indeed, be
+proved without difficulty that it is less powerful and less sincere.
+The arrogance of wealth and the dejection of wretchedness, capital
+cities of unwonted extent, a lax morality, a vulgar egotism, and a
+great confusion of interests, are the dangers which almost invariably
+arise from the magnitude of States. But several of these evils are
+scarcely prejudicial to a monarchy, and some of them contribute to
+maintain its existence. In monarchical States the strength of the
+government is its own; it may use, but it does not depend on, the
+community, and the authority of the prince is proportioned to the
+prosperity of the nation; but the only security which a republican
+government possesses against these evils lies in the support of the
+majority. This support is not, however, proportionably greater in a
+large republic than it is in a small one; and thus, whilst the means of
+attack perpetually increase both in number and in influence, the power
+of resistance remains the same, or it may rather be said to diminish,
+since the propensities and interests of the people are 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 heightened, 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 the impetus of political passion
+is irresistible, not only because it aims at gigantic purposes, but
+because it is 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 freedom of man than vast
+empires. Nevertheless it is important to acknowledge the peculiar
+advantages of great States. For the very reason which renders the
+desire of power more intense in these communities than amongst ordinary
+men, the love of glory is also more prominent in the hearts of a class
+of citizens, who regard the applause of a great people as a reward
+worthy of their exertions, and an elevating encouragement to man. If we
+would learn why it is that great nations contribute more powerfully to
+the spread of human improvement than small States, we shall discover an
+adequate cause in the rapid and energetic circulation of ideas, and in
+those great 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 important discoveries demand a display of national
+power which the Government of a small State is unable to make; in great
+nations the Government entertains a greater number of general notions,
+and is more completely disengaged from the routine of precedent and the
+egotism of local prejudice; its designs are conceived with more talent,
+and executed with more boldness.
+
+In time of peace the well-being of small nations is undoubtedly more
+general and more complete, but they are apt to suffer more acutely from
+the calamities of war than those great empires whose distant frontiers
+may for ages avert the presence of the danger from the mass of the
+people, which is therefore more frequently afflicted than ruined by the
+evil.
+
+But in this matter, as in many others, the argument derived from the
+necessity of the case predominates over all others. If none but small
+nations existed, I do not doubt that mankind would be more happy and
+more free; but the existence of great nations is unavoidable.
+
+This consideration introduces the element of physical strength as a
+condition of national prosperity. It profits a people but little to be
+affluent and free if it is perpetually exposed to be pillaged or
+subjugated; the number of its manufactures and the extent of its
+commerce are of small advantage if another nation has the empire of the
+seas and gives the law in all the markets of the globe. Small nations
+are often impoverished, not because they are small, but because they
+are weak; the great empires prosper less because they are great than
+because they are strong. Physical strength 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: yet I am unacquainted with a more
+deplorable spectacle than that of a people unable either to defend or
+to maintain its independence.
+
+The Federal system was created with the intention of combining the
+different advantages which result from the greater and the lesser
+extent of nations; and a single glance over the United States of
+America suffices to discover the advantages which they have derived
+from its adoption.
+
+In great centralized nations the legislator is obliged to impart a
+character of uniformity to the laws which 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 is obliged to conform to the exigencies of the legislation,
+since the legislation cannot adapt itself to the exigencies and the
+customs of the population, which is the cause of endless 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 administration are reserved to the provincial
+legislatures. It is impossible to imagine how much this division of
+sovereignty 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 or the cares of self-defence, all
+public authority and private energy is employed in internal
+amelioration. The central government of each State, which is in
+immediate juxtaposition to the citizens, is daily apprised of the wants
+which arise in society; and new projects are proposed every year, which
+are discussed either at town meetings or by the legislature of the
+State, and which are transmitted by the press to stimulate the zeal and
+to excite the interest of the citizens. This spirit of amelioration is
+constantly alive in the American republics, without compromising their
+tranquillity; the ambition of power yields to the less refined and less
+dangerous love of comfort. It is generally believed in America that the
+existence and the permanence of the republican form of government in
+the New World depend upon the existence and the permanence of the
+Federal system; and it is not unusual to attribute a large share of the
+misfortunes which have befallen 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 love and the habits of republican
+government in the United States were engendered in the townships and in
+the provincial assemblies. In a small State, like that of Connecticut
+for instance, where cutting a canal or laying down a road is a
+momentous political question, where the State has no army to pay and no
+wars to carry on, and where much wealth and much honor cannot be
+bestowed upon the chief citizens, no form of government can be more
+natural or more appropriate than that of a republic. But it is this
+same republican spirit, it is these manners and customs of a free
+people, which are engendered and nurtured in the different States, to
+be afterwards applied to the country at large. The public spirit of the
+Union is, so to speak, nothing more than an abstract of the patriotic
+zeal of the provinces. Every citizen of the United States transfuses
+his attachment to his little republic in the common store of American
+patriotism. In defending the Union he defends the increasing prosperity
+of his own district, the right of conducting its affairs, and the hope
+of causing measures of improvement to be adopted which may be favorable
+to his own interest; and these are motives which are wont to stir men
+more readily than the general interests of the country 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 welfare of a great republic, the
+Federal system smoothed the obstacles which they might have
+encountered. The confederation of all the American States presents none
+of the ordinary disadvantages resulting from great agglomerations of
+men. The Union is a great republic in extent, but the paucity of
+objects for which its Government provides assimilates it to a small
+State. Its acts are important, but they are rare. As the sovereignty of
+the Union is limited and incomplete, its exercise is not incompatible
+with 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, vast capital cities, colossal wealth,
+abject poverty, and sudden revolutions are alike unknown; and political
+passion, instead of spreading over the land like a torrent of
+desolation, spends its strength against the interests and the
+individual passions of every State.
+
+Nevertheless, all commodities and ideas circulate throughout the Union
+as freely as in a country inhabited by one people. Nothing checks the
+spirit of enterprise. Government avails itself of the assistance of all
+who have talents or knowledge to serve it. Within the frontiers of the
+Union the profoundest peace prevails, as within the heart of some great
+empire; abroad, it ranks with the most powerful nations of the earth;
+two thousand miles of coast are open to the commerce of the world; and
+as it possesses the keys of the globe, its flags is respected in the
+most remote seas. The Union is as happy and as free as a small people,
+and as glorious and as strong as a great nation.
+
+Why The Federal System Is Not Adapted To All Peoples, And How The
+Anglo-Americans Were Enabled To Adopt It.
+
+Every Federal system contains defects which baffle the efforts of the
+legislator—The Federal system is complex—It demands a daily exercise of
+discretion on the part of the citizens—Practical knowledge of
+government common amongst the Americans—Relative weakness of the
+Government of the Union, another defect inherent in the Federal
+system—The Americans have diminished without remedying it—The
+sovereignty of the separate States apparently weaker, but really
+stronger, than that of the Union—Why?—Natural causes of union must
+exist between confederate peoples besides the laws—What these causes
+are amongst the Anglo-Americans—Maine and Georgia, separated by a
+distance of a thousand miles, more naturally united than Normandy and
+Brittany—War, 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 to which Europeans would be exposed if they adopted
+the Federal system of the Americans.
+
+When a legislator succeeds, after persevering efforts, in exercising 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-operation, manners and opinions which he cannot trace to
+their source, and an origin with which he is unacquainted, exercise so
+irresistible an influence over the courses of society that he is
+himself borne away by the current, after an ineffectual resistance.
+Like the navigator, he may direct the vessel which bears him along, but
+he can neither change its structure, nor raise the winds, nor lull the
+waters which swell beneath him.
+
+I have shown the advantages which the Americans derive from their
+federal system; it remains for me to point out the circumstances which
+rendered that system practicable, as its benefits are not to be enjoyed
+by all nations. The incidental defects of the Federal system which
+originate in the laws may be corrected by the skill of the legislator,
+but there are further evils inherent in the system which cannot be
+counteracted by the peoples which adopt it. These nations must
+therefore find the strength necessary to support the natural
+imperfections of their Government.
+
+The most prominent evil of all Federal systems is the very complex
+nature of the means they employ. Two sovereignties are necessarily in
+presence of each other. The legislator may simplify and equalize 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 necessarily
+complicated, 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 understanding of a
+people. A false notion which is clear and precise will always meet with
+a greater number of adherents in the world than a true principle which
+is obscure or involved. Hence it arises that parties, which are like
+small communities in the heart of the nation, invariably adopt some
+principle or some name as a symbol, which very inadequately represents
+the end they have in view and the means which are at their disposal,
+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 existed, one is startled, on the
+other hand, at the variety of information and the excellence of
+discretion which it presupposes in the people whom it is meant to
+govern. The government of the Union depends entirely upon legal
+fictions; the Union is an ideal nation which only exists in the mind,
+and whose limits and extent can only be discerned by the understanding.
+
+When once the general theory is comprehended, numberless difficulties
+remain to be solved in its application; for the sovereignty 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 artificial 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 ingenious devices by which they elude the numberless
+difficulties resulting from their Federal Constitution. I scarcely ever
+met with a plain 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 own State; and who, after having
+discriminated between the matters which come under the cognizance of
+the Union and those which the local legislature is competent to
+regulate, could not point out the exact limit of the several
+jurisdictions of the Federal courts and the tribunals of the State.
+
+The Constitution of the United States is like those exquisite
+productions of human industry which ensure wealth and renown to their
+inventors, but which are profitless in any other hands. This truth is
+exemplified by the condition of Mexico 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
+their model, and copied it with considerable accuracy. *s But although
+they had borrowed the letter of the law, they were unable to create or
+to introduce the spirit and the sense which give it life. They were
+involved in ceaseless embarrassments between the mechanism of their
+double government; the sovereignty of the States and that of the Union
+perpetually exceeded their respective privileges, and entered into
+collision; and to the present day Mexico is alternately the victim of
+anarchy and the slave of military despotism.
+
+s
+[ See the Mexican Constitution of 1824.]
+
+
+The second and the most fatal of all the defects I have alluded to, and
+that which I believe to be inherent in the federal system, is the
+relative weakness of the government of the Union. The principle upon
+which all confederations rest is that of a divided sovereignty. The
+legislator may render this partition less perceptible, he may even
+conceal it for a time from the public eye, but he cannot prevent it
+from existing, and a divided sovereignty must always be less powerful
+than an entire supremacy. The reader has seen in the remarks I have
+made on the Constitution of the United States that the Americans have
+displayed singular ingenuity in combining the restriction of the power
+of the Union within the narrow limits of a federal government with the
+semblance and, to a certain extent, with the force of a national
+government. By this means the legislators of the Union have succeeded
+in diminishing, though not in counteracting the natural danger of
+confederations.
+
+It has been remarked that the American Government does not apply itself
+to the States, but that it immediately transmits its injunctions to the
+citizens, and compels them as isolated individuals to comply with 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 individual who should refuse to obey. If all the citizens of the
+State were aggrieved at the same time and in the same manner by the
+authority of the Union, the Federal Government would vainly attempt to
+subdue them individually; they would instinctively unite in a common
+defence, and they would derive a ready-prepared organization from the
+share of sovereignty which the institution of their State allows them
+to enjoy. Fiction would give way to reality, and an organized portion
+of the territory might then contest the central authority. *t The same
+observation holds good with regard to the Federal jurisdiction. If the
+courts of the Union violated an important law of a State in a private
+case, the real, if not the apparent, contest would arise between the
+aggrieved State represented by a citizen and the Union represented by
+its courts of justice. *u
+
+t
+[ [This is precisely what occurred in 1862, and the following paragraph
+describes correctly the feelings and notions of the South. General Lee
+held that his primary allegiance was due, not to the Union, but to
+Virginia.]]
+
+
+u
+[ For instance, the Union possesses by the Constitution the right of
+selling unoccupied lands for its own profit. Supposing that the State
+of Ohio should claim the same right in behalf of certain territories
+lying within its 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 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 Federal 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?]
+
+
+He would have but a partial knowledge of the world who should imagine
+that it is possible, by the aid of legal fictions, to prevent men from
+finding out and employing those means of gratifying their passions
+which have been left open to them; and it may be doubted whether the
+American legislators, when they rendered a collision between the two
+sovereigns less probable, destroyed the cause of such a misfortune. But
+it may even be affirmed that they were unable to ensure the
+preponderance of the Federal element in a case of this kind. The Union
+is possessed of money and of troops, but the affections and the
+prejudices of the people are in the bosom of the States. The
+sovereignty of the Union is an abstract being, which is connected with
+but few external objects; the sovereignty of the States is hourly
+perceptible, easily understood, constantly active; and if the former is
+of recent creation, the latter is coeval with the people itself. The
+sovereignty of the Union is factitious, that of the States is natural,
+and derives its existence from its own simple influence, like the
+authority of a parent. The supreme power of the nation only affects a
+few of the chief interests of society; it represents an immense but
+remote country, and claims a feeling of patriotism which is vague and
+ill defined; but 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; and when we recollect the
+traditions, the customs, the prejudices of local and familiar
+attachment with which it is connected, we cannot doubt of the
+superiority of a power which is interwoven with every circumstance that
+renders the love of one’s native country instinctive in the human
+heart.
+
+Since legislators are unable to obviate such dangerous collisions 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 institutions as
+may promote the maintenance of peace. Hence it results that the Federal
+compact cannot be lasting unless there exists in the communities which
+are leagued together a certain number of inducements to union which
+render their common dependence agreeable, and the task of the
+Government light, and that system cannot succeed without the presence
+of favorable circumstances added to the influence of good laws. All the
+peoples which have ever formed a confederation have been held together
+by a certain number of common interests, which served as the
+intellectual ties of association.
+
+But the sentiments and the principles of man must be taken into
+consideration as well as his immediate interests. A certain uniformity
+of civilization is not less necessary to the durability of a
+confederation than a uniformity of interests in the States which
+compose it. In Switzerland the difference which exists between the
+Canton of Uri and the Canton of Vaud is equal to that between the
+fifteenth and the nineteenth centuries; and, properly speaking,
+Switzerland has never possessed a federal government. The union between
+these two cantons only subsists upon the map, and their discrepancies
+would soon be perceived if an attempt were made by a central authority
+to prescribe the same laws to the whole territory.
+
+One of the circumstances which most powerfully contribute to support
+the Federal Government in America is that the States have not only
+similar interests, a common origin, and a common tongue, but that they
+are also arrived at the same stage of civilization; which almost always
+renders a union feasible. I do not know of any European nation, how
+small soever it may be, which does not present less uniformity in its
+different provinces than the American people, which occupies a
+territory as extensive as one-half of Europe. The distance from the
+State of Maine to that of Georgia is reckoned at about one thousand
+miles; but the difference between the civilization of Maine and that of
+Georgia is slighter than the difference between the habits of Normandy
+and those of Brittany. Maine and Georgia, which are placed at the
+opposite extremities of a great empire, are consequently in the natural
+possession of more real inducements to form a confederation than
+Normandy and Brittany, which are only separated by a bridge.
+
+The geographical position of the country contributed to increase 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 which can mark the annals of a people is
+the breaking out of a war. In war a people struggles with the energy of
+a single man against foreign nations in the defence of its very
+existence. The skill of a government, the good sense of the community,
+and the natural fondness which men entertain for their country, may
+suffice to maintain peace in the interior of a district, and to favor
+its internal prosperity; but a nation can only carry on a great war at
+the cost of more numerous and more painful sacrifices; and to suppose
+that a great number of men will of their own accord comply with these
+exigencies of the State is to betray an ignorance of mankind. All the
+peoples which have been obliged to sustain a long and serious warfare
+have consequently been led to augment the power of their government.
+Those which have not succeeded in this attempt have been subjugated. A
+long war almost always places nations in the wretched alternative of
+being abandoned to ruin by defeat or to despotism by success. War
+therefore renders the symptoms of the weakness of a government most
+palpable and most alarming; and I have shown that the inherent defeat
+of federal governments is that of being weak.
+
+The Federal system is not only deficient in every kind of centralized
+administration, but the central government itself is imperfectly
+organized, which is invariably an influential cause of inferiority when
+the nation is opposed to other countries which are themselves governed
+by a single authority. In the Federal Constitution of the United
+States, by which the central government possesses more real force, this
+evil is still extremely sensible. An example will illustrate the case
+to the reader.
+
+The Constitution confers upon Congress the right of calling forth
+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 the militia. In the war of
+1812 the President ordered the militia of the Northern States to march
+to the frontiers; but Connecticut and Massachusetts, whose interests
+were impaired by the war, refused to obey the command. They argued that
+the Constitution authorizes the Federal Government to call forth the
+militia in case of insurrection or invasion, but that in the present
+instance there was neither invasion nor insurrection. They added, that
+the same Constitution which conferred upon the Union the right of
+calling forth the militia reserved to the States that of naming the
+officers; and that consequently (as they understood the clause) no
+officer of the Union had any right to command the militia, even during
+war, except the President in person; and in this case they were ordered
+to join an army commanded by another individual. These absurd and
+pernicious doctrines received the sanction not only of the governors
+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 required. *v
+
+v
+[ Kent’s “Commentaries,” vol. i. p. 244. I have selected an example
+which relates to a time posterior to the promulgation of the present
+Constitution. If I had gone back to the days of the Confederation, I
+might have given still more striking instances. The whole nation was at
+that time in a state of enthusiastic excitement; the Revolution was
+represented by a man who was the idol of the people; but at that very
+period Congress had, to say the truth, no resources at all at its
+disposal. Troops and supplies were perpetually wanting. The
+best-devised projects failed in the execution, and the Union, which was
+constantly on the verge of destruction, was saved by the weakness of
+its enemies far more than by its own strength. [All doubt as to the
+powers of the Federal Executive was, however, removed by its efforts in
+the Civil War, and those powers were largely extended.]]
+
+
+The only safeguard which the American Union, with all the relative
+perfection of its laws, possesses against the dissolution which would
+be produced by a great war, lies in its probable exemption from that
+calamity. Placed in the centre of an immense continent, which offers a
+boundless field for human industry, the Union is almost as much
+insulated from the world as if its frontiers were girt by the ocean.
+Canada contains only a million of inhabitants, and its population is
+divided 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 community, the depravity of its
+morals, and its extreme poverty, will prevent that country from ranking
+high amongst nations. *w As for the Powers of Europe, they are too
+distant to be formidable.
+
+w
+[ [War broke out between the United States and Mexico in 1846, and
+ended in the conquest of an immense territory, including California.]]
+
+
+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 enterprises extremely
+improbable.
+
+No one can be more inclined than I am myself 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 enabled to adopt it; but
+I cannot believe that any confederate peoples could maintain a long or
+an equal contest with a nation of similar strength in which the
+government should be centralized. A people which should divide its
+sovereignty into fractional powers, in the presence of the great
+military monarchies of Europe, would, in my opinion, by that very act,
+abdicate its power, and perhaps its existence and its name. But such is
+the admirable position of the New World that man has no other enemy
+than himself; and that, in order to be happy and to be free, it
+suffices to seek the gifts of prosperity and the knowledge of freedom.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter IX: Why The People May Strictly Be Said To Govern In The
+ United
+
+
+States
+
+I have hitherto examined the institutions of the United States; I have
+passed their legislation in review, and I have depicted the present
+characteristics of political society in that country. But a sovereign
+power exists above these institutions and beyond these characteristic
+features which may destroy or modify them at its pleasure—I mean that
+of the people. It remains to be shown in what manner this power, which
+regulates the laws, acts: its propensities and its passions remain to
+be pointed out, as well as the secret springs which retard, accelerate,
+or direct its irresistible course; and the effects of its unbounded
+authority, with the destiny which is probably reserved for it.
+
+In America the people appoints the legislative and the executive power,
+and furnishes the jurors who punish all offences against the laws. The
+American institutions are democratic, not only in their principle but
+in all their consequences; and the people elects its representatives
+directly, and for the most part annually, in order to ensure their
+dependence. The people is 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 community are hindered by no durable obstacles from exercising a
+perpetual influence on society. In the United States the majority
+governs in the name of the people, as is the case in all the countries
+in which the people is supreme. The majority is principally composed of
+peaceful citizens who, either by inclination or by interest, are
+sincerely desirous of the welfare of their country. But they are
+surrounded by the incessant agitation of parties, which attempt to gain
+their co-operation and to avail themselves of their support.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter X: Parties In The United States
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter Summary
+
+
+Great distinction to be made between parties—Parties which are to each
+other as rival nations—Parties properly so called—Difference between
+great and small parties—Epochs which produce them—Their
+characteristics—America has had great parties—They are
+extinct—Federalists—Republicans—Defeat of the Federalists—Difficulty of
+creating parties in the United States—What is done with this
+intention—Aristocratic or democratic character to be met with in all
+parties—Struggle of General Jackson against the Bank.
+
+
+
+
+ Parties In The United States
+
+
+A great distinction must be made between parties. Some countries are so
+large that the different populations which inhabit them have
+contradictory interests, although they are the subjects of the same
+Government, and they may thence 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 carried on by rival peoples rather than by
+factions in the 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 correctly 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 insupportable
+evils as to conceive the design of effecting a total change in its
+political constitution; at other times the mischief lies still deeper,
+and the existence of society itself is endangered. Such are the times
+of great revolutions and of great parties. But between these epochs of
+misery and of confusion there are periods during which human society
+seems to rest, and mankind to make a pause. This pause is, indeed, only
+apparent, for time does not stop its course for nations any more than
+for men; they are all advancing towards a goal with which they are
+unacquainted; and we only imagine them to be stationary 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 political constitution of nations are
+so slow and so insensible that men imagine their present condition to
+be a final state; and the human mind, believing itself to be firmly
+based upon certain foundations, does not extend its researches beyond
+the horizon which it descries. These are the times of small parties and
+of intrigue.
+
+The political parties which I style great are those which cling to
+principles more than to their consequences; to general, and not to
+especial cases; to ideas, and not to men. These parties are usually
+distinguished by a nobler character, by more generous passions, more
+genuine convictions, and a more bold and open conduct than 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 sometimes concealed from the eyes of
+the very persons whom it excites and impels.
+
+Minor parties are, on the other hand, generally deficient in political
+faith. As they are not sustained or dignified by a lofty purpose, they
+ostensibly display the egotism of their character in their actions.
+They glow with a factitious zeal; their language is vehement, but their
+conduct is timid and irresolute. The means they employ are as wretched
+as the end at which they aim. Hence it arises that when a calm state of
+things succeeds a violent revolution, the leaders of society seem
+suddenly to disappear, and the powers of the human mind to lie
+concealed. Society is convulsed by great parties, by minor ones it is
+agitated; it is torn by the former, by the latter it is degraded; and
+if these sometimes save it by a salutary perturbation, those invariably
+disturb it to no good end.
+
+America has already lost the great parties which once divided the
+nation; and if her happiness is considerably increased, her morality
+has suffered by their extinction. When the War of Independence was
+terminated, and the foundations of the new Government were to be laid
+down, the nation was divided between two opinions—two opinions which
+are as old as the world, and which are perpetually to be met with under
+all the forms and all the names which have ever obtained in free
+communities—the one tending to limit, the other to extend indefinitely,
+the power of the people. The conflict of these two opinions never
+assumed that degree of violence in America which it has frequently
+displayed elsewhere. Both parties of the Americans were, in fact,
+agreed upon the most essential points; and neither of them had to
+destroy a traditionary constitution, or to overthrow the structure of
+society, in order to ensure its own triumph. In neither of them,
+consequently, were a great number of private interests affected by
+success or by defeat; but moral principles of a high order, such as the
+love of equality and of independence, were concerned in the struggle,
+and they sufficed 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 name of Federal. The other party, which affected
+to be more exclusively attached to the cause of liberty, took that of
+Republican. America is a land of democracy, and the Federalists were
+always in a minority; but they reckoned on their side almost all the
+great men who had been called forth by the War of Independence, and
+their moral influence was very considerable. Their cause was, moreover,
+favored by circumstances. The ruin of the Confederation had impressed
+the people with a dread of anarchy, and the Federalists did not fail to
+profit by this transient disposition of the multitude. For ten or
+twelve years they were at the head of affairs, and they were able to
+apply some, though not all, of their principles; for the hostile
+current was becoming from day to day too violent to be checked or
+stemmed. In 1801 the Republicans got possession of the Government;
+Thomas Jefferson was named President; and he increased the influence of
+their party by the weight of his celebrity, the greatness of his
+talents, and the immense extent of his popularity.
+
+The means by which the Federalists had maintained their position were
+artificial, and their resources were temporary; it was by the virtues
+or the talents of their leaders that they had risen to power. When the
+Republicans attained to that lofty station, 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 their future success.
+From that moment the Republican or Democratic party *a has proceeded
+from conquest to conquest, until it has acquired absolute supremacy in
+the country. The Federalists, perceiving that they were vanquished
+without resource, and isolated in the midst of the nation, fell into
+two divisions, of which one joined the victorious Republicans, and the
+other abandoned its rallying-point and its name. Many years have
+already elapsed since they ceased to exist as a party.
+
+a
+[ [It is scarcely necessary to remark that in more recent times the
+signification of these terms has changed. The Republicans are the
+representatives of the old Federalists, and the Democrats of the old
+Republicans.—Trans. Note (1861).]] The accession of the Federalists to
+power was, in my opinion, one of the most fortunate incidents which
+accompanied the formation of the great American Union; they resisted
+the inevitable propensities of their age and of the country. But
+whether their theories were good or bad, they had the effect of being
+inapplicable, as a system, to the society which they professed to
+govern, and that which occurred under the auspices of Jefferson must
+therefore have taken place sooner or later. But their Government gave
+the new republic time to acquire a certain stability, and afterwards to
+support the rapid growth of the very doctrines which they had combated.
+A considerable number of their principles were in point of fact
+embodied in the political creed of their opponents; and the Federal
+Constitution which subsists at the present day is a lasting monument of
+their patriotism and their wisdom.
+
+
+Great political parties are not, then, to be met with in the United
+States at the present time. Parties, indeed, may be found which
+threaten the future tranquillity 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
+abstract principles, but upon temporal interests. These interests,
+disseminated in the provinces of so vast an empire, may be said to
+constitute rival nations rather than parties. Thus, upon a recent
+occasion, 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 manufacturing and the South an agricultural district; and
+that the restrictive system which was profitable to the one was
+prejudicial to the other. *b
+
+b
+[ [The divisions of North and South have since acquired a far greater
+degree of intensity, and the South, though conquered, still presents a
+formidable spirit of opposition to Northern government.—Translator’s
+Note, 1875.]]
+
+
+In the absence of great parties, the United States abound with lesser
+controversies; and public opinion is divided into a thousand minute
+shades of difference upon questions of very little moment. The pains
+which are taken to create parties are inconceivable, and at the present
+day it is no easy task. In the United States there is no religious
+animosity, because all religion is respected, and no sect is
+predominant; there is no jealousy of rank, because the people is
+everything, and none can contest its authority; lastly, there is no
+public indigence to supply the means of agitation, because the physical
+position of the country opens so wide a field to industry that man is
+able to accomplish the most surprising undertakings with his own native
+resources. Nevertheless, ambitious men are interested in the creation
+of parties, since it is difficult to eject a person from authority upon
+the mere ground that his place is coveted by others. The skill of the
+actors in the political world lies therefore in the art of creating
+parties. A political aspirant in the United States begins by
+discriminating his own interest, and by calculating upon those
+interests which may be collected around and amalgamated with it; he
+then contrives to discover some doctrine or some principle which may
+suit the purposes of this new association, and which he adopts in order
+to bring forward his party and to secure his popularity; just as the
+imprimatur of a King was in former days incorporated with the volume
+which it authorized, but to which it nowise belonged. When these
+preliminaries are terminated, the new party is ushered into the
+political world.
+
+All the domestic controversies of the Americans at first appear to a
+stranger to be so incomprehensible and so puerile that he is at a loss
+whether to pity a people which takes such arrant trifles in good
+earnest, or to envy the happiness which enables it 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 divisions
+which have always existed in free communities. The deeper we penetrate
+into the working of these parties, the more do we perceive that the
+object of the one is to limit, and that of the other to extend, the
+popular authority. I do not assert that the ostensible end, or even
+that the secret aim, of American parties is to promote the rule of
+aristocracy or democracy in the country; but I affirm that aristocratic
+or democratic passions may easily be detected at the bottom of all
+parties, and that, although they escape a superficial observation, they
+are the main point and the very soul of every faction in the United
+States.
+
+To quote a recent example. When the President attacked the Bank, the
+country was excited and parties were formed; the well-informed classes
+rallied round the Bank, the common people round the President. But it
+must not be imagined that the people had formed a rational opinion upon
+a question which offers so many difficulties to the most experienced
+statesmen. The Bank is a great establishment which enjoys an
+independent existence, and the people, accustomed to make and unmake
+whatsoever it pleases, is startled to meet with this obstacle to its
+authority. In the midst of the perpetual 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 and controlled, like
+all the other institutions of the country.
+
+Remains Of The Aristocratic Party In The United States
+
+Secret opposition of wealthy individuals to democracy—Their
+retirement—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 which various opinions prevail
+that the balance of the several parties is lost, and one of them
+obtains an irresistible preponderance, overpowers all obstacles,
+harasses its opponents, and appropriates all the resources of society
+to its own purposes. The vanquished citizens despair of success and
+they conceal their dissatisfaction in silence and in general apathy.
+The nation seems to be governed by a single principle, and the
+prevailing party assumes the credit of having restored peace and
+unanimity to the country. But this apparent unanimity is merely a cloak
+to alarming dissensions and perpetual opposition.
+
+This is precisely what occurred in America; when the democratic party
+got the upper hand, it took exclusive possession of the conduct of
+affairs, 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 are so entirely removed from the direction of
+political affairs in the United States that wealth, far from conferring
+a right to the exercise of power, is rather an obstacle than a means of
+attaining to it. The wealthy members of the community abandon the
+lists, through unwillingness to contend, and frequently to contend in
+vain, against the poorest classes of their fellow citizens. They
+concentrate all their enjoyments in the privacy of their homes, where
+they occupy a rank which cannot be assumed in public; and they
+constitute a private society in the State, which has its own tastes and
+its own 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; it is even not uncommon to hear them laud
+the delights of a republican government, and the advantages of
+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 anxious as a Jew of
+the Middle Ages to conceal his wealth. His dress is plain, his demeanor
+unassuming; but the interior 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 the smallest advantages
+which his privileged station confers upon him. But the very same
+individual crosses the city to reach a dark counting-house in the
+centre of traffic, where every one may accost him who pleases. If he
+meets his cobbler upon the way, they stop and converse; the two
+citizens discuss the affairs of the State in which they have an equal
+interest, and they shake hands before they part.
+
+But beneath this artificial enthusiasm, and these obsequious attentions
+to the preponderating power, it is easy to perceive that the wealthy
+members of the community entertain a hearty distaste to the democratic
+institutions of their country. The populace is at once the object of
+their scorn and of their fears. If the maladministration of the
+democracy ever brings about a revolutionary crisis, and if monarchical
+institutions ever become practicable in the United States, the truth of
+what I advance will become obvious.
+
+The two chief weapons which parties use in order to ensure success are
+the public press and the formation of associations.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XI: Liberty Of The Press In The United States
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter Summary
+
+
+Difficulty of restraining the liberty of the press—Particular reasons
+which some nations have to cherish this liberty—The liberty of the
+press a necessary consequence of the sovereignty of the people as it is
+understood in America—Violent language of the periodical press in the
+United States—Propensities of the periodical press—Illustrated by the
+United States—Opinion of the Americans upon the repression of the abuse
+of the liberty of the press by judicial prosecutions—Reasons for which
+the press is less powerful in America than in France.
+
+Liberty Of The Press In The United States
+
+The influence of the liberty of the press does not affect political
+opinions alone, but it extends to all the opinions of men, and it
+modifies customs as well as laws. In another part of this work I shall
+attempt to determinate 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 feelings, of the
+Anglo-Americans, but at present I purpose simply 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 liberty of the press which things that are supremely good in their
+very nature are wont to excite in the mind; and I approve of it more
+from a recollection of the evils it prevents than from a consideration
+of the advantages it ensures.
+
+If any one could point out an intermediate and yet a tenable position
+between the complete independence and the entire subjection of the
+public expression of opinion, I should perhaps be inclined to adopt it;
+but the difficulty is to discover this position. If it is your
+intention to correct the abuses of unlicensed printing and to restore
+the use of orderly language, you may in the first instance try the
+offender by a jury; but if the jury acquits him, the opinion which was
+that of a single individual becomes the opinion of the country at
+large. Too much and too little has therefore hitherto been done. If you
+proceed, you must bring the delinquent before a court of permanent
+judges. But even here the cause must be heard before it can be decided;
+and the very principles which no book would have ventured to avow are
+blazoned forth in the pleadings, and what was obscurely hinted at in a
+single composition is then repeated in a multitude of other
+publications. The language in which a thought is embodied is the mere
+carcass of the thought, and not the idea itself; tribunals may condemn
+the form, but the sense and spirit of the work is too subtle for their
+authority. Too much has still been done to recede, too little to attain
+your end; you must therefore proceed. If you establish a censorship of
+the press, the tongue of the public speaker will still make itself
+heard, and you have only increased the mischief. The powers of thought
+do not rely, like the powers of physical strength, upon the number of
+their mechanical agents, nor can a host of authors be reckoned like the
+troops which compose an army; on the contrary, the authority of a
+principle is often increased by the smallness of the number of men by
+whom it is expressed. The words of a strong-minded man, which penetrate
+amidst the passions of a listening assembly, have more power than the
+vociferations of a thousand orators; and if it be allowed to speak
+freely in any public place, the consequence is the same as if free
+speaking was allowed in every village. The liberty of discourse must
+therefore be destroyed as well as the liberty of the press; this is the
+necessary term of your efforts; but if your object was to repress the
+abuses of liberty, they have brought you to the feet of a despot. You
+have been led from the extreme of independence to the extreme of
+subjection without meeting with a single tenable position for shelter
+or repose.
+
+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 enjoy
+the privileges of freedom every individual agent of the Government may
+violate the laws with impunity, since those whom he oppresses cannot
+prosecute him before the courts of justice. In this case the liberty of
+the press is not merely a guarantee, but it is the only guarantee, of
+their liberty and their security which the citizens possess. If the
+rulers of these nations propose to abolish the independence of the
+press, the people would be justified in saying: 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.
+
+But in the countries in which the doctrine of the sovereignty of the
+people ostensibly prevails, the censorship of the press is not only
+dangerous, but it is absurd. When the right of every citizen to
+co-operate in the government of society is acknowledged, every citizen
+must be presumed to possess the power of discriminating between the
+different opinions of his contemporaries, and of appreciating the
+different facts from which inferences may be drawn. The sovereignty of
+the people and the liberty of the press may therefore be looked upon as
+correlative institutions; 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 institutions of the same
+people. Not a single individual of the twelve millions who inhabit the
+territory of the United States has as yet dared to propose any
+restrictions to the liberty of the press. The first newspaper over
+which I cast my eyes, upon my arrival in America, contained the
+following article:
+
+In all this affair the language of Jackson has been that of a heartless
+despot, solely occupied with the preservation of his own authority.
+Ambition is his crime, and it will be his punishment too: intrigue is
+his native element, and intrigue will confound his tricks, and will
+deprive him of his power: he governs by means of corruption, and his
+immoral practices will redound to his shame and confusion. His conduct
+in the political arena has been that of a shameless and lawless
+gamester. He succeeded at the time, but the hour of retribution
+approaches, 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 unacquainted.
+
+It is not uncommonly imagined in France that the virulence of the press
+originates in the uncertain social condition, in the political
+excitement, and the general sense of consequent evil which prevail in
+that country; and it is therefore supposed that as soon as society has
+resumed a certain degree of composure the press will abandon its
+present vehemence. I am inclined to think that the above causes explain
+the reason of the extraordinary ascendency it has acquired over the
+nation, but that they do not exercise much influence upon the tone of
+its language. The periodical press appears to me to be actuated by
+passions and propensities independent of the circumstances in which it
+is placed, and the present position of America corroborates this
+opinion.
+
+America is perhaps, at this moment, the country of the whole world
+which contains the fewest germs of revolution; but the press is not
+less destructive in its principles 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 it is at the same time indispensable to the
+existence of freedom, and nearly incompatible with the maintenance of
+public order. 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 having been instituted 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
+consistency. It was never their intention to found a permanent state of
+things with elements which undergo daily modifications; and there is
+consequently nothing criminal in an attack upon the existing laws,
+provided it be not attended with a violent infraction of them. They are
+moreover of opinion that courts of justice are unable to check the
+abuses of the press; and that as the subtilty of human language
+perpetually eludes the severity of judicial analysis, offences of this
+nature are apt to escape the hand which attempts to apprehend them.
+They hold that to act with efficacy upon the press it would be
+necessary to find a tribunal, not only devoted to the existing order of
+things, but capable of surmounting the influence of public opinion; a
+tribunal which should conduct its proceedings without publicity, which
+should pronounce its decrees without assigning its motives, and punish
+the intentions even more than the language of an author. Whosoever
+should have the power of creating and maintaining a tribunal of this
+kind would waste his time in prosecuting the liberty of the press; for
+he would be the supreme master of the whole community, and he would be
+as free to rid himself of the authors as of their writings. In this
+question, therefore, there is no medium between servitude and extreme
+license; in order to enjoy the inestimable benefits which the liberty
+of the press ensures, it is necessary to submit to the inevitable evils
+which it engenders. 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 by effort, they attempt to combine hostile opinions and
+contrary principles upon the same soil.
+
+The small influence of the American journals is attributable to several
+reasons, amongst which are the following:
+
+The liberty of writing, like all other liberty, is most formidable when
+it is a novelty; for a people which has never been accustomed to
+co-operate in the conduct of State affairs places implicit confidence
+in the first tribune who arouses its attention. The Anglo-Americans
+have enjoyed this liberty ever since the foundation of the settlements;
+moreover, the press cannot create human passions by its own power,
+however skillfully it may kindle them where they exist. In America
+politics are discussed with animation and a varied activity, but they
+rarely touch those deep passions which are excited whenever the
+positive interest of a part of the community is impaired: but in the
+United States the interests of the community are in a most prosperous
+condition. A single glance upon a French and an American newspaper is
+sufficient to show the difference which exists between the two nations
+on this head. In France the space allotted to commercial advertisements
+is very limited, and the intelligence is not considerable, but the most
+essential part of the journal is that which contains the discussion of
+the politics of the day. In America three-quarters of the enormous
+sheet which is set before the reader are filled with advertisements,
+and the remainder 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 with which the journalists
+of France are wont to indulge their readers.
+
+It has been demonstrated by observation, and discovered by the innate
+sagacity of the pettiest as well as the greatest of despots, that the
+influence of a power is increased in proportion as its direction is
+rendered more central. In France the press combines a twofold
+centralization; almost all its power is centred in the same spot, and
+vested in the same hands, for its organs are far from numerous. The
+influence of a public press thus constituted, upon a sceptical nation,
+must be unbounded. It is an enemy with which a Government may sign an
+occasional truce, but which it is difficult to resist for any length of
+time.
+
+Neither of these kinds of centralization exists in America. The United
+States have no metropolis; the intelligence as well as the power of the
+country are dispersed abroad, and instead of radiating from a point,
+they cross each other in every direction; the Americans have
+established no central control over the expression of opinion, any more
+than over the conduct of business. These are circumstances which do not
+depend on human foresight; 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
+formerly in England. The consequence of this is that nothing is easier
+than to set up a newspaper, and a small number of readers suffices to
+defray the expenses of the editor.
+
+The number of periodical and occasional publications which appears in
+the United States actually surpasses belief. The most enlightened
+Americans attribute the subordinate influence of the press to this
+excessive dissemination; and it is adopted as an axiom of political
+science in that country that the only way to neutralize the effect of
+public journals is to multiply them indefinitely. I cannot conceive
+that a truth which is so self-evident should not already have been more
+generally admitted in Europe; it is comprehensible that the persons who
+hope to bring about revolutions by means of the press should be
+desirous of confining its action to a few powerful organs, but it is
+perfectly incredible that the partisans of the existing state of
+things, and the natural supporters of the law, should attempt to
+diminish the influence of the press by concentrating its authority. The
+Governments of Europe seem to treat the press with the courtesy of the
+knights of old; they are anxious to furnish it with the same central
+power which they have found to be so trusty a weapon, in order to
+enhance the glory of their resistance to its attacks.
+
+In America there is scarcely a hamlet which has not its own newspaper.
+It may readily be imagined that neither discipline nor unity of design
+can be communicated to so multifarious a host, and each one is
+consequently led to fight 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 in a thousand
+different ways. They cannot succeed in forming those great currents of
+opinion which overwhelm the most solid obstacles. This division of the
+influence of the press produces a variety of other consequences which
+are scarcely less remarkable. The facility with which journals can be
+established induces a multitude of individuals to take a part in them;
+but as the extent of competition precludes the possibility of
+considerable profit, the most distinguished classes of society are
+rarely led to engage in these undertakings. But 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 journalists of
+the United States are usually placed 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 which form
+the characteristics of each peculiar class of society; thus it dictates
+the etiquette practised at courts and the etiquette of the bar. The
+characteristics of the French journalist consist in a violent, but
+frequently an eloquent and lofty, manner of discussing the politics of
+the day; and the exceptions to this habitual practice are only
+occasional. The characteristics of the American journalist consist in
+an open and coarse appeal to the passions of the populace; and he
+habitually abandons the principles of political science to assail the
+characters of individuals, to track them into private life, and
+disclose all their weaknesses and errors.
+
+Nothing can be more deplorable than this abuse of the powers of
+thought; I shall have occasion to point out hereafter the influence of
+the newspapers upon the taste and the morality of the American people,
+but my present subject exclusively concerns the political world. It
+cannot be denied that the effects of this extreme license of the press
+tend indirectly to the maintenance of public order. The individuals who
+are already in the possession of a high station in the esteem of their
+fellow-citizens are afraid to write in the newspapers, and they are
+thus deprived of the most powerful instrument which they can use to
+excite the passions of the multitude to their own advantage. *a
+
+a
+[ They only write in the papers when they choose to address the people
+in their own name; as, for instance, when they are called upon to repel
+calumnious imputations, and to correct a misstatement of facts.]
+
+
+The personal opinions of the editors have no kind of weight in the eyes
+of the public: the only use of a journal is, that it imparts the
+knowledge of certain facts, and it is only by altering 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 is the power which impels the circulation of
+political life through all the districts of that vast territory. Its
+eye is constantly open to detect the secret springs of political
+designs, and to summon the leaders of all parties to the bar of public
+opinion. It rallies the interests of the community round certain
+principles, and it draws up the creed which factions adopt; for it
+affords a means of intercourse between parties which hear, and which
+address each other without ever having been in immediate contact. When
+a great number of the organs of the press adopt the same line of
+conduct, their influence becomes irresistible; and public opinion, when
+it is perpetually assailed from the same side, eventually yields to the
+attack. In the United States each separate journal exercises but little
+authority, but the power of the periodical press is only second to that
+of the people. *b
+
+b
+[ See Appendix, P.]
+
+
+The opinions established in the United States under the empire of the
+liberty of the press are frequently more firmly rooted than those which
+are formed elsewhere under the sanction of a censor.
+
+In the United States the democracy perpetually raises fresh individuals
+to the conduct of public affairs; and the measures of the
+administration are consequently seldom regulated by the strict rules of
+consistency or of order. But the general principles of the Government
+are more stable, and the opinions most prevalent in society are
+generally more durable 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 opinion has been observed in England, where, for the
+last century, greater freedom of conscience and more invincible
+prejudices have existed than in all the other countries of Europe. I
+attribute this consequence to a cause which may at first sight appear
+to have a very opposite tendency, namely, to the liberty of the press.
+The nations amongst which this liberty exists are as apt to cling to
+their opinions from pride as from conviction. They cherish them because
+they hold them to be just, and because they exercised their own
+free-will in choosing them; and they maintain them not only because
+they are true, but because they are their own. 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 have said,
+that absolute convictions are to be met with at the two extremities,
+and that doubt lies in the middle; for the human intellect may be
+considered in three distinct states, which frequently succeed one
+another. A man believes implicitly, because he adopts a proposition
+without inquiry. He doubts as soon as he is assailed by the objections
+which his inquiries may have aroused. But he frequently succeeds in
+satisfying these doubts, and then he begins to believe afresh: he no
+longer lays hold on a truth in its most shadowy and uncertain form, but
+he sees it clearly before him, and he advances onwards by the light it
+gives him. *c
+
+c
+[ It may, however, be doubted whether this rational and self-guiding
+conviction arouses as much fervor or enthusiastic devotedness in men as
+their first dogmatical belief.]
+
+
+When the liberty of the press acts upon men who are in the first of
+these three states, it does not immediately disturb their habit of
+believing implicitly without investigation, but it constantly modifies
+the objects of their intuitive convictions. The human mind continues to
+discern but one point upon the whole intellectual horizon, and that
+point is in continual motion. Such are the symptoms of sudden
+revolutions, and of the misfortunes which are sure to befall those
+generations which abruptly adopt the unconditional freedom of the
+press.
+
+The circle of novel ideas is, however, soon terminated; the touch of
+experience is upon them, and the doubt and mistrust which their
+uncertainty produces become universal. We may rest assured that the
+majority of mankind will either believe they know not wherefore, or
+will not know what to believe. Few are the beings who can ever hope to
+attain to that state of rational and independent conviction which true
+knowledge can beget in defiance of the attacks 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 everyone clings to his own 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,
+the citizens who have adopted one of them stick to it, not so much
+because they are assured of its excellence, as because they are not
+convinced of the superiority of any other. In the present age men are
+not very ready to die in defence of their opinions, but they are rarely
+inclined to change them; and there are fewer martyrs as well as fewer
+apostates.
+
+Another still more valid reason may yet be adduced: when no abstract
+opinions are looked upon as certain, men cling to the mere propensities
+and external interests of their position, which are naturally more
+tangible and more permanent than any opinions in the world.
+
+It is not a question of easy solution whether aristocracy or democracy
+is most fit to govern a country. But it is certain that democracy
+annoys one part of the community, and that aristocracy oppresses
+another part. When the question is reduced to the simple expression of
+the struggle between poverty and wealth, the tendency of each side of
+the dispute becomes perfectly evident without further controversy.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XII: Political Associations In The United States
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter Summary
+
+
+Daily use which the Anglo-Americans make of the right of
+association—Three kinds of political associations—In what manner the
+Americans apply the representative system to associations—Dangers
+resulting to the State—Great Convention of 1831 relative to the
+Tariff—Legislative character of this Convention—Why the unlimited
+exercise of the right of association is less dangerous in the United
+States than elsewhere—Why it may be looked upon as necessary—Utility of
+associations in a democratic people.
+
+Political Associations In The United States
+
+In no country in the world has the principle of association been more
+successfully used, or more unsparingly applied to a multitude of
+different objects, than in America. Besides the permanent 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 private individuals.
+
+The citizen of the United States is taught from his earliest infancy to
+rely upon his own exertions in order to resist the evils and the
+difficulties of life; he looks upon social authority with an eye of
+mistrust and anxiety, and he only claims its assistance when he is
+quite unable to shift without it. This habit may even be traced in the
+schools of the rising generation, 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 every act of social life. If a stoppage occurs in a
+thoroughfare, and the circulation of the public is hindered, the
+neighbors immediately constitute a deliberative body; and this
+extemporaneous assembly gives rise to an executive power which remedies
+the inconvenience before anybody has thought of recurring to an
+authority superior to that of the persons immediately concerned. If the
+public pleasures are concerned, an association is formed to provide for
+the splendor and the regularity of the entertainment. Societies are
+formed to resist enemies which are exclusively of a moral nature, and
+to diminish the vice of intemperance: in the United States associations
+are established to promote public order, commerce, industry, morality,
+and religion; for there is no end which the human will, seconded by the
+collective exertions of individuals, despairs of attaining.
+
+I shall hereafter have occasion to show the effects of association upon
+the course of society, and I must confine myself for the present to the
+political world. When once the right of association is recognized, the
+citizens may employ it in several 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 the spread of those doctrines by their exertions.
+The right of association with these views is very analogous to the
+liberty of unlicensed writing; but societies thus formed possess more
+authority than the press. When an opinion is represented by a society,
+it necessarily assumes a more exact and explicit form. It numbers its
+partisans, and compromises their welfare in its cause: they, on the
+other hand, become acquainted with each other, and their zeal is
+increased by their number. An association unites the efforts of minds
+which have a tendency to diverge in one single channel, and urges them
+vigorously towards one single end which it points out.
+
+The second degree in the right of association 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 influence extended. Men have the opportunity of seeing each other;
+means of execution are more readily combined, and opinions are
+maintained with a degree of warmth and energy which written language
+cannot approach.
+
+Lastly, in the exercise of the right of political association, there is
+a third degree: the partisans of an opinion may unite in electoral
+bodies, and choose delegates to represent them in a central assembly.
+This is, properly speaking, 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 only represent a fraction of the party. Lastly, in the
+third case, they constitute a separate nation in the midst of the
+nation, a government within the Government. Their delegates, like the
+real delegates of the majority, represent the entire collective force
+of their party; and they enjoy a certain degree of that national
+dignity and great influence which belong to the chosen representatives
+of the people. It is true that they have not the right of making the
+laws, but they have the power of attacking those which are in being,
+and of drawing up beforehand those which they may afterwards cause to
+be adopted.
+
+If, in a people which is imperfectly accustomed to the exercise of
+freedom, or which is exposed to violent political passions, a
+deliberating minority, which confines itself to the contemplation of
+future laws, be placed in juxtaposition to the legislative majority, I
+cannot but believe that public tranquillity incurs very great risks in
+that nation. There is doubtless a very 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 imagination of
+the populace is very apt to overlook this difference, which is so
+apparent to the minds of thinking men. It sometimes happens that a
+nation is divided into two nearly equal parties, each of which affects
+to represent the majority. If, in immediate contiguity to the directing
+power, another power be established, which exercises almost as much
+moral authority as the former, it is not to be believed that it will
+long be content to speak without acting; or that it will always be
+restrained by the abstract consideration of the nature of associations
+which are meant to direct but not to enforce opinions, to suggest but
+not to make the laws.
+
+The more we consider the independence of the press in its principal
+consequences, the more are we convinced that it is the chief and, so to
+speak, the constitutive element of freedom in the modern world. A
+nation which is determined to remain free is therefore right in
+demanding the unrestrained exercise of this independence. But the
+unrestrained liberty of political association cannot be entirely
+assimilated to the liberty of the press. The one is at the same time
+less necessary and more dangerous than the other. A nation may confine
+it within certain limits without forfeiting any part of its
+self-control; and it may sometimes be obliged to do so in order to
+maintain its own authority.
+
+In America the liberty of association for political purposes is
+unbounded. An example will show in the clearest light to what an extent
+this privilege is tolerated.
+
+The question of the tariff, or of free trade, produced a great
+manifestation of party feeling in America; the tariff was not only a
+subject of debate as a matter of opinion, but it exercised a favorable
+or a prejudicial influence upon several very powerful interests of the
+States. The North attributed a great portion of its prosperity, and the
+South all its sufferings, to this system; insomuch that for a long time
+the tariff was the sole source of the political animosities which
+agitated the Union.
+
+In 1831, when the dispute was raging with the utmost virulence, a
+private citizen of Massachusetts proposed to all the enemies of the
+tariff, by means of the public prints, to send delegates to
+Philadelphia in order to consult together upon the means which were
+most fitted to promote freedom of trade. This proposal circulated in a
+few days from Maine to New Orleans by the power of the printing-press:
+the opponents of the tariff adopted it with enthusiasm; meetings were
+formed on all sides, and delegates were named. The majority of these
+individuals were well known, and some of them had earned a considerable
+degree of celebrity. South Carolina alone, which afterwards took up
+arms in the same cause, sent sixty-three delegates. On October 1, 1831,
+this assembly, which according to the American custom had taken the
+name of a Convention, met at Philadelphia; it consisted of more than
+two hundred members. Its debates were public, and they at once assumed
+a legislative character; the extent of the powers of Congress, the
+theories of free trade, and the different clauses of the tariff, were
+discussed in turn. At the end of ten days’ deliberation the Convention
+broke up, after having published an address to the American people, in
+which it declared:
+
+I. That Congress had not the right of making a tariff, and that the
+existing tariff was unconstitutional;
+
+II. That the prohibition of free trade was prejudicial to the interests
+of all nations, and to that of the American people in particular.
+
+It must be acknowledged that the unrestrained liberty of political
+association has not hitherto produced, in the United States, those
+fatal consequences which might perhaps be expected from it elsewhere.
+The right of association was imported from England, and it has always
+existed in America; so that the exercise of this privilege is now
+amalgamated with the manners and customs of the people. At the present
+time the liberty of association is become a necessary guarantee against
+the tyranny of the majority. In the United States, as soon as a party
+is become preponderant, all public authority passes under its control;
+its private supporters occupy all the places, and have all the force of
+the administration at their disposal. As the most distinguished
+partisans of the other side of the question are unable to surmount the
+obstacles which exclude them from power, they require some means of
+establishing themselves upon their own basis, and of opposing the moral
+authority of the minority to the physical power which domineers over
+it. Thus a dangerous expedient is used to obviate a still more
+formidable danger.
+
+The omnipotence of the majority appears to me to present such extreme
+perils to the American Republics that the dangerous measure which is
+used to repress it seems to be more advantageous than prejudicial. And
+here I am about to advance a proposition which may remind the reader of
+what I said before in speaking of municipal freedom: There are no
+countries in which associations are more needed, to prevent the
+despotism of faction or the arbitrary power of a prince, than those
+which are democratically constituted. In aristocratic nations the body
+of the nobles and the more opulent part of the community are in
+themselves natural associations, which act as checks upon the abuses of
+power. In countries in which these associations do not exist, if
+private individuals are unable to create an artificial and a temporary
+substitute for them, I can imagine no permanent protection against the
+most galling tyranny; and a great people may be oppressed by a small
+faction, or by a single individual, with impunity.
+
+The meeting of a great political Convention (for there are Conventions
+of all kinds), which may frequently become a necessary measure, is
+always a serious occurrence, even in America, and one which is never
+looked forward to, by the judicious friends of the country, without
+alarm. This was very perceptible in the Convention of 1831, at which
+the exertions of all the most distinguished members of the Assembly
+tended to moderate its language, and to restrain the subjects which it
+treated within certain limits. It is probable, in fact, that the
+Convention of 1831 exercised a very great influence upon the minds of
+the malcontents, and prepared them for the open revolt against the
+commercial laws of the Union which took place in 1832.
+
+It cannot be denied that the unrestrained liberty of association for
+political purposes is the privilege which a people is longest in
+learning 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 perilous liberty offers a security against dangers of
+another kind; in countries where associations are free, secret
+societies are unknown. In America there are numerous factions, but no
+conspiracies.
+
+Different ways in which 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 right of acting for
+himself, is that of combining his exertions with those of his
+fellow-creatures, and of acting in common with them. I am therefore led
+to conclude that the right of association is almost as inalienable as
+the right of personal liberty. No legislator can attack it without
+impairing the very foundations of society. Nevertheless, if the liberty
+of association is a fruitful source of advantages and prosperity to
+some nations, it may be perverted or carried to excess by others, and
+the element of life may be changed into an element of destruction. A
+comparison of the different methods which associations pursue in those
+countries in which they are managed with discretion, as well as in
+those where liberty degenerates into license, may perhaps be thought
+useful both to governments and to parties.
+
+The greater part of Europeans look upon an 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
+action prevails in the minds of those who constitute it: it is, in
+fact, an army; and the time given to parley serves to reckon up the
+strength and to animate the courage of the host, after which they
+direct their march against the enemy. Resources which lie within the
+bounds of the law may suggest themselves to the persons who compose it
+as means, but never as the only means, of success.
+
+Such, however, is not the manner in which the right of association is
+understood in the United States. In America the citizens who form the
+minority associate, in order, in the first place, to show their
+numerical strength, and so to diminish the moral authority of the
+majority; and, in the second place, to stimulate competition, and to
+discover those arguments which are most fitted to act upon the
+majority; for they always entertain hopes of drawing over their
+opponents to their own side, and of afterwards disposing of the supreme
+power in their name. Political associations in the United States are
+therefore peaceable in their intentions, and strictly legal in the
+means which they employ; and they assert with perfect truth that they
+only aim at success by lawful expedients.
+
+The difference which exists between the Americans and ourselves depends
+on several causes. In Europe there are numerous parties so
+diametrically opposed to the majority that they can never hope to
+acquire its support, and at the same time they think that they are
+sufficiently strong in themselves to struggle and to defend their
+cause. When a party of this kind forms an association, its object is,
+not to conquer, but to fight. In America the individuals who hold
+opinions very much opposed to those of the majority are no sort of
+impediment to its power, and all other parties hope to win it over to
+their own principles in the end. The exercise of the right of
+association becomes dangerous in proportion to the impossibility which
+excludes great parties from acquiring the majority. In a country like
+the United States, in which the differences of opinion are mere
+differences of hue, the right of association may remain unrestrained
+without evil consequences. The inexperience of many of the European
+nations in the enjoyment of liberty leads them only to look upon the
+liberty of association as a right of attacking the Government. The
+first notion which presents itself to a party, as well as to 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 only derived from experience. The English, who are divided into
+parties which differ most essentially from each other, rarely abuse the
+right of association, 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 defending it, at the
+risk of his life.
+
+But perhaps the most powerful of the causes which tend to mitigate the
+excesses of political association in the United States is Universal
+Suffrage. In countries in which universal suffrage exists the majority
+is never doubtful, because neither party can pretend to represent that
+portion of the community which has not voted. The associations which
+are formed are aware, as well as the nation at large, that they do not
+represent the majority: this is, indeed, a condition inseparable from
+their existence; for if they did represent the preponderating power,
+they would change the law instead of soliciting its reform. The
+consequence of this is that the moral influence of the Government which
+they attack is very much increased, and their own power is very much
+enfeebled.
+
+In Europe there are few associations which do not affect to represent
+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 measures. Violence may seem
+to be excusable in defence of the cause of oppressed right. Thus it is,
+in the vast labyrinth of human laws, that extreme liberty sometimes
+corrects the abuses of license, and that extreme democracy obviates the
+dangers of democratic government. In Europe, associations consider
+themselves, in some degree, as the legislative and executive councils
+of the people, which is unable to speak for itself. In America, where
+they only represent a minority of the nation, they argue and they
+petition.
+
+The means which the associations of Europe employ are in accordance
+with the end which they propose to obtain. As the principal aim of
+these bodies is to act, and not to debate, to fight rather than to
+persuade, they are naturally led to adopt a form of organization which
+differs from the ordinary customs of civil bodies, and which assumes
+the habits and the maxims of military life. They centralize the
+direction of their resources as much as possible, and they intrust the
+power of the whole party to a very small number of leaders.
+
+The members of these associations respond to a watchword, 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 exercise is often far more insupportable than the authority
+possessed over society by the Government which they attack. Their moral
+force is much diminished by these excesses, and they lose the powerful
+interest which is always excited by a struggle between oppressors and
+the oppressed. The man who in given cases consents to obey his fellows
+with servility, and who submits his activity and even his opinions to
+their control, can have no claim to rank as a free citizen.
+
+The Americans have also established certain forms of government which
+are applied to their associations, but these are invariably borrowed
+from the forms of the civil administration. The independence of each
+individual is formally recognized; the tendency of the members of the
+association points, as it does in the body of the community, towards
+the same end, but they are not obliged to follow the same track. No one
+abjures the exercise of his reason and his free will; but every one
+exerts that reason and that will for the benefit of a common
+undertaking.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XIII: Government Of The Democracy In America—Part I
+
+
+I am well aware of the difficulties which attend this part of my
+subject, but although every expression which I am about to make use of
+may clash, upon some one point, with the feelings of the different
+parties which divide my country, I shall speak my opinion with the most
+perfect openness.
+
+In Europe we are at a loss how to judge the true character and the more
+permanent propensities of democracy, because in Europe two conflicting
+principles exist, and we do not know what to attribute to the
+principles themselves, and what to refer to the passions which they
+bring into collision. Such, however, is not the case in America; there
+the people reigns without any obstacle, and it has no perils to dread
+and no injuries to avenge. In America, democracy is swayed by its own
+free propensities; its course is natural and its activity is
+unrestrained; the United States consequently afford the most favorable
+opportunity of studying its real character. And to no people can this
+inquiry be more vitally interesting than to the French nation, which is
+blindly driven onwards by a daily and irresistible impulse towards a
+state of things which may prove either despotic or republican, but
+which will assuredly be democratic.
+
+Universal Suffrage
+
+I have already observed that universal suffrage has been adopted in all
+the States of the Union; it consequently occurs amongst different
+populations which occupy very different positions in the scale of
+society. I have had opportunities of observing its effects in different
+localities, and amongst races of men who are nearly strangers to each
+other by their language, their religion, and their manner of life; in
+Louisiana as well as in New England, in Georgia and in Canada. I have
+remarked that Universal Suffrage is far from producing in America
+either all the good or all the evil consequences which are assigned to
+it in Europe, and that its effects differ very widely from those which
+are usually attributed to it.
+
+Choice Of The People, And Instinctive Preferences Of The American
+Democracy
+
+In the United States the most able 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 sentiment—For what reason the most distinguished men
+in America frequently seclude themselves from public affairs.
+
+Many people in Europe are apt to believe without saying it, or to say
+without believing it, that one of the great advantages of universal
+suffrage is, that it entrusts the direction of public affairs to men
+who are worthy of the public confidence. They admit that the people is
+unable to govern for itself, but they aver that it is always sincerely
+disposed to promote the welfare of the State, and that it instinctively
+designates those persons 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 coincide 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 well-authenticated fact, that at the
+present day the most able men in the United States are very rarely
+placed at the head of affairs; and it must be acknowledged that such
+has been the result in proportion as democracy has outstepped all its
+former limits. The race of American statesmen has evidently dwindled
+most remarkably in the course of the last fifty years.
+
+Several causes may be assigned to this phenomenon. It is impossible,
+notwithstanding the most strenuous exertions, to raise the intelligence
+of the people above a certain level. Whatever may be the facilities of
+acquiring information, whatever may be the profusion of easy methods
+and of cheap science, the human mind can never be instructed and
+educated without devoting a considerable space of time to those
+objects.
+
+The greater or the lesser possibility of subsisting without labor is
+therefore the necessary boundary of intellectual improvement. This
+boundary is more remote in some countries and more restricted in
+others; but it must exist somewhere as long as the people is
+constrained to work in order to procure the means of physical
+subsistence, that is to say, as long as it retains its popular
+character. It is therefore quite as difficult to imagine a State in
+which all the citizens should be very well informed as a State in which
+they should all be wealthy; these two difficulties may be looked upon
+as correlative. It may very readily be admitted that the mass of the
+citizens are sincerely disposed to promote the welfare of their
+country; nay more, it may even be allowed that the lower classes are
+less apt to be swayed by considerations of personal interest than the
+higher orders: but it is always more or less impossible for them to
+discern the best means of attaining the end which they desire with
+sincerity. Long and patient observation, joined to a multitude of
+different notions, is required to form a just estimate of the character
+of a single individual; and can it be supposed that the vulgar have the
+power of succeeding in an inquiry which misleads the penetration of
+genius itself? The people has neither the time nor the means which are
+essential to the prosecution of an investigation of this kind: its
+conclusions are hastily formed from a superficial inspection of the
+more prominent features of a question. Hence it often assents to the
+clamor of a mountebank who knows the secret of stimulating its tastes,
+while its truest friends frequently fail in their exertions.
+
+Moreover, the democracy is not only deficient in that soundness of
+judgment which is necessary to select men really deserving of its
+confidence, but it has neither the desire nor the inclination to find
+them out. It cannot be denied that democratic institutions have a very
+strong tendency to promote the feeling of envy in the human heart; not
+so much because they afford to every one the means of rising to the
+level of any of his fellow-citizens, as because those means perpetually
+disappoint the persons who employ 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 at which it thinks to hold it fast, and “flies,” as Pascal
+says, “with eternal flight”; the people is excited in the pursuit of an
+advantage, which is more precious because it is not sufficiently 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
+disappointment. Whatever transcends their own limits appears to be an
+obstacle to their desires, and there is no kind of superiority, however
+legitimate 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 possible from the direction
+of public affairs is peculiar to France. This, however, is an error;
+the propensity to which I allude is not inherent in any particular
+nation, but in democratic institutions in general; and although it may
+have been heightened by peculiar political circumstances, it owes its
+origin to a higher cause.
+
+In the United States the people is not disposed to hate the superior
+classes of society; but it is not very favorably inclined towards them,
+and it carefully excludes them from the exercise of authority. It does
+not entertain any dread of distinguished talents, but it is rarely
+captivated by them; and it awards its approbation very sparingly to
+such as have risen without the popular support.
+
+Whilst the natural propensities of democracy induce the people to
+reject the most distinguished citizens as its rulers, these individuals
+are no less apt to retire from a political career in which it is almost
+impossible to retain their independence, or to advance without
+degrading themselves. This opinion has been very candidly set forth by
+Chancellor Kent, who says, in speaking with great eulogiums of that
+part of the Constitution which empowers the Executive to nominate the
+judges: “It is indeed probable that the men who are best fitted to
+discharge the duties of this high office would have too much reserve in
+their manners, and too much austerity in their principles, 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 1830!
+
+I hold it to be sufficiently demonstrated that universal suffrage is by
+no means a guarantee of the wisdom of the popular choice, and that,
+whatever its advantages may be, this is not one of them.
+
+Causes Which May Partly Correct These Tendencies Of The Democracy
+Contrary effects produced on peoples as well as on individuals by great
+dangers—Why so many distinguished men stood at the head of affairs in
+America fifty years ago—Influence which the intelligence and the
+manners of the people exercise upon its choice—Example of New
+England—States of the Southwest—Influence of certain laws upon the
+choice of the people—Election by an elected body—Its effects upon the
+composition of the Senate.
+
+When a State is threatened by serious dangers, the people frequently
+succeeds in selecting the citizens who are the most able to save it. It
+has been observed that man rarely retains his customary level in
+presence of very critical circumstances; he rises above or he sinks
+below his usual condition, and the same thing occurs in nations at
+large. Extreme perils sometimes quench the energy of a people instead
+of stimulating it; they excite without directing its passions, and
+instead of clearing they confuse its powers of perception. The Jews
+deluged the smoking ruins of their temple with the carnage of the
+remnant of their host. But it is more common, both in the case of
+nations and in that of individuals, to find extraordinary virtues
+arising from the very imminence of the danger. Great characters are
+then thrown into relief, as edifices which are concealed by the gloom
+of night are illuminated by the glare of a conflagration. At those
+dangerous times genius no longer abstains from presenting itself in the
+arena; and the people, alarmed by the perils of its situation, buries
+its envious passions in a short oblivion. Great names may then be drawn
+from the balloting-box.
+
+I have already observed that the American statesmen of the present day
+are very inferior to those who stood at the head of affairs fifty years
+ago. This is as much a consequence of the circumstances as of the laws
+of the country. When America was struggling in the high cause of
+independence to throw off the yoke of another country, and when it was
+about to usher a new nation into the world, the spirits of its
+inhabitants were roused to the height which their great efforts
+required. In this general excitement the most distinguished men were
+ready to forestall the wants of the community, and the people clung to
+them for support, and placed them at its head. But events of this
+magnitude are rare, and it is from an inspection of the ordinary course
+of affairs that our judgment must be formed.
+
+If passing occurrences sometimes act as checks upon the passions of
+democracy, the intelligence and the manners of the community exercise
+an influence which is not less powerful and far more permanent. This is
+extremely perceptible in the United States.
+
+In New England the education and the liberties of the communities were
+engendered by the moral and religious principles of their founders.
+Where society has acquired a sufficient degree of stability to enable
+it to hold certain maxims and to retain fixed habits, the lower orders
+are accustomed to respect intellectual superiority and to submit to it
+without complaint, although they set at naught all those privileges
+which wealth and birth have introduced among mankind. The democracy in
+New England consequently makes a more judicious choice than it does
+elsewhere.
+
+But as we descend towards the South, to those States in which the
+constitution of society is more modern and less strong, where
+instruction is less general, and where the principles of morality, of
+religion, and of liberty are less happily combined, we perceive that
+the talents and the virtues of those who are in authority become more
+and more rare.
+
+Lastly, when we arrive at the new South-western States, in which the
+constitution of society dates but from yesterday, and presents an
+agglomeration of adventurers and speculators, we are amazed at the
+persons who are invested with public authority, and we are led to ask
+by what force, independent of the legislation and of the men who direct
+it, the State can be protected, and society be made to flourish.
+
+There are certain laws of a democratic nature which contribute,
+nevertheless, to correct, in some measure, the dangerous tendencies of
+democracy. On entering the House of Representatives of Washington one
+is struck by the vulgar demeanor of that great assembly. The eye
+frequently does not discover a man of celebrity within its walls. Its
+members are almost all obscure individuals whose names present no
+associations to the mind: they are mostly village 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
+representatives of the people do not always know how to write
+correctly.
+
+At a few yards’ distance from this spot 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 perceived in
+it who does not recall the idea of an active and illustrious career:
+the Senate is composed of eloquent advocates, distinguished generals,
+wise magistrates, and statesmen of note, whose language would at all
+times do honor to the most remarkable parliamentary debates of Europe.
+
+What then is the cause of this strange contrast, and why are the most
+able citizens to be found in one assembly rather than in the other? Why
+is the former body remarkable for its vulgarity and its poverty of
+talent, whilst the latter seems to enjoy a monopoly of intelligence and
+of sound judgment? Both of these assemblies emanate from the people;
+both of them are chosen by universal suffrage; and no voice has
+hitherto been heard to assert in America that the Senate is hostile to
+the interests of the people. From what cause, then, does so startling a
+difference arise? The only reason which appears to me adequately to
+account for it is, that the House of Representatives is elected by the
+populace directly, and that the Senate is elected by elected bodies.
+The whole body of the citizens names the legislature of each State, and
+the Federal Constitution converts these legislatures into so many
+electoral bodies, which return the members of the Senate. The senators
+are elected by an indirect application of universal suffrage; for the
+legislatures which name them are not aristocratic or privileged bodies
+which exercise the electoral franchise in their own right; but they are
+chosen by the totality of the citizens; they are generally elected
+every year, and new members may constantly be chosen who will employ
+their electoral rights in conformity with the wishes of the public. But
+this transmission of the popular authority through an assembly of
+chosen men operates an important change in it, by refining its
+discretion and improving the forms which it adopts. Men who are chosen
+in this manner accurately represent the majority of the nation which
+governs them; but they represent the elevated thoughts which are
+current in the community, the propensities which prompt its nobler
+actions, rather than the petty passions which disturb or the vices
+which disgrace it.
+
+The time may be already anticipated at which the American Republics
+will be obliged to introduce the plan of election by an elected body
+more frequently into their system of representation, or they will incur
+no small risk of perishing miserably amongst the shoals of democracy.
+
+And here I have no scruple in confessing that I look upon this peculiar
+system of election as the only means of bringing the exercise of
+political power to the level of all classes of the people. Those
+thinkers who regard this institution as the exclusive weapon of a
+party, and those who fear, on the other hand, to make use of it, seem
+to me to fall into as great an error in the one case as in the other.
+
+Influence Which The American Democracy Has Exercised On The Laws
+Relating To Elections
+
+When elections are rare, they expose the State to a violent crisis—When
+they are frequent, they keep up a degree of feverish excitement—The
+Americans have preferred the second of these two evils—Mutability of
+the laws—Opinions of Hamilton and Jefferson on this subject.
+
+When elections recur at long intervals the State is exposed to violent
+agitation every time they take place. Parties exert themselves to the
+utmost in order to gain a prize which is so rarely within their reach;
+and as the evil is almost irremediable for the candidates who fail, the
+consequences of their disappointed ambition may prove most disastrous;
+if, on the other hand, the legal struggle can be repeated within a
+short space of time, the defeated parties take patience. When elections
+occur frequently, their recurrence keeps society in a perpetual state
+of feverish excitement, and imparts a continual instability to public
+affairs.
+
+Thus, on the one hand the State is exposed to the perils of a
+revolution, on the other to perpetual mutability; the former system
+threatens the very existence of the Government, the latter is an
+obstacle to all steady and consistent policy. The Americans have
+preferred the second of these evils to the first; but they were led to
+this conclusion by their instinct much more than by their reason; for a
+taste for variety is one of the characteristic passions of democracy.
+An extraordinary mutability has, by this means, been introduced into
+their legislation. Many of the Americans consider the instability of
+their laws as a necessary consequence of a system whose general results
+are beneficial. But no one in the United States affects to deny the
+fact of this instability, or to contend that it is not a great evil.
+
+Hamilton, after having demonstrated the utility of a power which might
+prevent, or which might at least impede, the promulgation of bad laws,
+adds: “It might perhaps be said that the power of preventing bad laws
+includes that of preventing good ones, and may be used to the one
+purpose as well as to the other. But this objection will have little
+weight with those who can properly estimate the mischiefs of that
+inconstancy and mutability in the laws which form the greatest blemish
+in the character and genius of our governments.” (Federalist, No. 73.)
+And again in No. 62 of the same work he observes: “The facility and
+excess of law-making seem to be the diseases to which our governments
+are most liable. . . . The mischievous effects of the mutability in the
+public councils arising from a rapid succession of new members would
+fill a volume: every new election in the States is found to change
+one-half of the representatives. From this change of men must proceed a
+change of opinions and of measures, which forfeits the respect and
+confidence of other nations, poisons the blessings of liberty itself,
+and diminishes the attachment and reverence of the people toward a
+political system which betrays so many marks of infirmity.”
+
+Jefferson himself, the greatest Democrat whom the democracy of America
+has yet produced, pointed out the same evils. “The instability of our
+laws,” said he in a letter to Madison, “is really a very serious
+inconvenience. I think that we ought to have obviated it by deciding
+that a whole year should always be allowed to elapse between the
+bringing in of a bill and the final passing of it. It should afterward
+be discussed and put to the vote without the possibility of making any
+alteration in it; and if the circumstances of the case required a more
+speedy decision, the question should not be decided by a simple
+majority, but by a majority of at least two-thirds of both houses.”
+
+Public Officers Under The Control Of The Democracy In America Simple
+exterior of the American public officers—No official costume—All public
+officers are remunerated—Political consequences of this system—No
+public career exists in America—Result of this.
+
+Public officers in the United States are commingled with the crowd of
+citizens; they have neither palaces, nor guards, nor ceremonial
+costumes. This simple exterior of the persons in authority is connected
+not only with the peculiarities of the American character, but with the
+fundamental principles of that society. In the estimation of the
+democracy a government is not a benefit, but a necessary evil. A
+certain degree of power must be granted to public officers, for they
+would be of no use without it. But the ostensible semblance of
+authority is by no means indispensable to the conduct of affairs, and
+it is needlessly offensive to the susceptibility of the public. The
+public officers themselves are well aware that they only enjoy the
+superiority over their fellow-citizens which they derive from their
+authority upon condition of putting themselves on a level with the
+whole community by their manners. A public officer in the United States
+is uniformly civil, accessible to all the world, attentive to all
+requests, and obliging in his replies. I was pleased by these
+characteristics of a democratic government; and I was struck by the
+manly independence of the citizens, who respect the office more than
+the officer, and who are less attached to the emblems of authority than
+to the man who bears them.
+
+I am inclined to believe that the influence which costumes really
+exercise, 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 he was in the discharge of his duties because his
+own merit was set off by no adventitious signs. On the other hand, it
+is very doubtful whether a peculiar dress contributes to the respect
+which public characters ought to have for their own position, at least
+when they are not otherwise inclined to respect it. When a magistrate
+(and in France such instances are not rare) indulges his trivial wit at
+the expense of the prisoner, or derides the predicament in which a
+culprit is placed, it would be well to deprive him of his robes of
+office, to see whether he would recall some portion 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 magisterial pomp, 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 are distinct from the individual: but if public officers
+are not uniformly remunerated by the State, the public charges must be
+entrusted to men of opulence and independence, who constitute the basis
+of an aristocracy; 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 renders offices which had formerly
+been remunerated gratuitous, it may safely be believed that the State
+is advancing to monarchical institutions; and when a monarchy begins to
+remunerate such officers as had hitherto been unpaid, it is a sure sign
+that it is approaching toward a despotic or a republican form of
+government. The substitution of paid for unpaid functionaries is of
+itself, in my opinion, sufficient to constitute a serious revolution.
+
+I look upon the entire absence of gratuitous functionaries in America
+as one of the most prominent signs of the absolute dominion which
+democracy exercises in that country. All public services, of whatsoever
+nature they may be, are paid; so that every one has not merely the
+right, but also the means of performing them. Although, in democratic
+States, all the citizens are qualified to occupy stations in the
+Government, all are not tempted to try for them. The number and the
+capacities of the candidates are more apt to restrict the choice of
+electors than the connections of the candidateship.
+
+In nations in which the principle of election extends to every place in
+the State no political career can, properly speaking, be said to exist.
+Men are promoted as if by chance to the rank which they enjoy, and they
+are by no means sure of retaining it. The consequence is that in
+tranquil times public functions offer but few lures to ambition. In the
+United States the persons who engage in the perplexities of political
+life are individuals of very moderate pretensions. The pursuit of
+wealth generally diverts men of great talents and of great passions
+from the pursuit of power, and it very frequently happens that a man
+does not undertake to direct the fortune of the State until he has
+discovered his incompetence to conduct his own affairs. The vast number
+of very ordinary men who occupy public stations is quite as
+attributable to these causes as to the bad choice of the democracy. In
+the United States, I am not sure that the people would return the men
+of superior abilities who might solicit its support, but it is certain
+that men of this description do not come forward.
+
+Arbitrary Power Of Magistrates Under The Rule Of The American Democracy
+
+For what reason the arbitrary power of Magistrates is greater in
+absolute monarchies and in democratic republics than it is in limited
+monarchies—Arbitrary power of the Magistrates in New England.
+
+In two different kinds of government the magistrates *a exercise a
+considerable degree of arbitrary power; namely, under the absolute
+government of a single individual, and under that of a democracy. This
+identical result proceeds from causes which are nearly analogous.
+
+a
+[ I here use the word magistrates in the widest sense in which it can
+be taken; I apply it to all the officers to whom the execution of the
+laws is intrusted.]
+
+
+In despotic States the fortune of no citizen is secure; and public
+officers are not more safe than private individuals. The sovereign, who
+has under his control the lives, the property, and sometimes the honor
+of the men whom he employs, does not scruple to allow them a great
+latitude of action, because he is convinced that they will not use it
+to his prejudice. In despotic States the sovereign is so attached to
+the exercise of his power, that he dislikes the constraint even of his
+own regulations; and he is well pleased that his agents should follow a
+somewhat fortuitous line of conduct, provided he be certain that their
+actions will never counteract his desires.
+
+In democracies, as the majority has every year the right of depriving
+the officers whom it has appointed of their power, it has no reason to
+fear any abuse of their authority. As the people is always able to
+signify its wishes to those who conduct the Government, it prefers
+leaving them to make their own exertions to prescribing an invariable
+rule of conduct which would at once fetter their activity and the
+popular authority.
+
+It may even be observed, on attentive consideration, that under the
+rule of a democracy the arbitrary power of the magistrate must be still
+greater than in despotic States. In the latter the sovereign has the
+power of punishing all the faults with which he becomes acquainted, but
+it would be vain for him to hope to become acquainted with all those
+which are committed. In the former the sovereign power is not only
+supreme, but it is universally present. The American functionaries are,
+in point of fact, much more independent in the sphere of action which
+the law traces out for them than any public officer in Europe. Very
+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 which is laid down to guide them in their choice is that they are
+to select citizens possessing the elective franchise and enjoying a
+fair reputation. *b In France the lives and liberties of the subjects
+would be thought to be in danger if a public officer of any kind was
+entrusted with so formidable a right. In New England the same
+magistrates are empowered to post the names of habitual drunkards in
+public-houses, and to prohibit the inhabitants of a town from supplying
+them with liquor. *c A censorial power of this excessive kind would be
+revolting to the population of the most absolute monarchies; here,
+however, it is submitted to without difficulty.
+
+b
+[ See the Act of February 27, 1813. “General Collection of the Laws of
+Massachusetts,” vol. ii. p. 331. It should be added that the jurors are
+afterwards drawn from these lists by lot.]
+
+
+c
+[ See Act of February 28, 1787. “General Collection of the Laws of
+Massachusetts,” vol. i. p. 302.]
+
+
+Nowhere has so much been left by the law to the arbitrary determination
+of the magistrate as in democratic republics, because this arbitrary
+power is unattended by any alarming consequences. It may even be
+asserted that the freedom of the magistrate increases as the elective
+franchise is extended, and as the duration of the time of office is
+shortened. Hence arises the great difficulty which attends the
+conversion of a democratic republic into a monarchy. The magistrate
+ceases to be elective, but he retains the rights and the habits of an
+elected officer, which lead directly to despotism.
+
+It is only in limited monarchies that the law, which prescribes the
+sphere in which public officers are to act, superintends all their
+measures. The cause of this may be easily detected. In limited
+monarchies the power is divided between the King and the people, both
+of whom are interested in the stability of the magistrate. The King
+does not venture to place the public officers under the control of the
+people, lest they should be tempted to betray his interests; on the
+other hand, the people fears lest the magistrates should serve to
+oppress the liberties of the country, if they were entirely dependent
+upon the Crown; they cannot therefore be said to depend on either one
+or the other. The same cause which induces the king and the people to
+render public officers independent suggests the necessity of such
+securities as may prevent their independence from encroaching upon the
+authority of the former and the liberties of the latter. They
+consequently agree as to the necessity of restricting the functionary
+to a line of conduct laid down beforehand, and they are interested in
+confining him by certain regulations which he cannot evade.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XIII: Government Of The Democracy In America—Part II
+
+Instability Of The Administration In The United States
+
+In America the public acts of a community frequently leave fewer traces
+than the occurrences of a family—Newspapers the only historical
+remains—Instability of the administration prejudicial 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 occurrences of a private family. The public administration is,
+so to speak, oral and traditionary. But little is committed to writing,
+and that little is wafted away forever, like the leaves of the Sibyl,
+by the smallest breeze.
+
+The only historical remains in the United States are the newspapers;
+but 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 concerning the
+social condition of the Americans at the present day than it is to find
+remains of the administration of France during the Middle Ages; and if
+the United States were ever invaded by barbarians, it would be
+necessary to have recourse to the history of other nations in order to
+learn anything of the people which now inhabits them.
+
+The instability of the administration has penetrated into the habits of
+the people: it even appears to suit the general taste, and no one cares
+for what occurred before his time. No methodical system is pursued; no
+archives are formed; and no documents are brought together when it
+would be very easy to do so. Where they exist, little store is set upon
+them; and I have amongst my papers several original public documents
+which were given to me in answer to some of my inquiries. In America
+society seems to live from hand to mouth, like an army in the field.
+Nevertheless, the art of administration may undoubtedly be ranked as a
+science, and no sciences can be improved 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 fixed proposition; and
+mankind gathers the fruits of individual experience upon its way and
+gradually forms the sciences. But the persons who conduct the
+administration in America can seldom afford any instruction to each
+other; and when they assume the direction of society, they simply
+possess those attainments which are most widely disseminated in the
+community, and no experience peculiar to themselves. Democracy, carried
+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 an administration than to a nation
+which is uninitiated in public affairs.
+
+This remark, indeed, is not exclusively applicable to the science of
+administration. Although a democratic government is founded upon a very
+simple and natural principle, it always presupposes the existence of a
+high degree of culture and enlightenment in society. *d At the first
+glance it may be imagined 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.
+
+d
+[ It is needless to observe that I speak here of the democratic form of
+government as applied to a people, not merely to a tribe.]
+
+
+Charges Levied By The State Under The Rule Of The American Democracy
+
+In all communities citizens divisible into three classes—Habits of each
+of these classes in the direction of public finances—Why public
+expenditure must tend to increase when the people governs—What renders
+the extravagance of a democracy less to be feared in America—Public
+expenditure under a democracy.
+
+Before we can affirm whether a democratic form of government is
+economical or not, we must establish a suitable standard of comparison.
+The question would be one of easy solution if we were to attempt to
+draw a parallel between a democratic republic and an absolute monarchy.
+The public expenditure would be found to be more considerable under the
+former than under the latter; such is the case with all free States
+compared to those which are not so. It is certain that despotism ruins
+individuals by preventing them from producing wealth, much more than by
+depriving them of the wealth they have produced; it dries up the source
+of riches, whilst it usually respects acquired property. Freedom, on
+the contrary, engenders far more benefits than it destroys; and the
+nations which are favored by free institutions invariably find that
+their resources increase even more rapidly than their taxes.
+
+My present object is to compare free nations to each other, and to
+point out the influence of democracy upon the finances of a State.
+
+Communities, as well as organic bodies, are subject to certain fixed
+rules in their formation which they cannot evade. They are composed of
+certain elements which are common to them at all times and under all
+circumstances. The people may always be mentally divided into three
+distinct classes. The first of these classes consists of the wealthy;
+the second, of those who are in easy circumstances; and the third is
+composed of those who have little or no property, and who subsist more
+especially by the work which they perform for the two superior orders.
+The proportion of the individuals who are included in these three
+divisions may vary according to the condition of society, but the
+divisions themselves can never be obliterated.
+
+It is evident that each of these classes will exercise an influence
+peculiar to its own propensities upon the administration 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 tend to diminish the sum of superfluous enjoyment, and are, in
+point of fact, but little felt. If the second class has the power of
+making the laws, it will certainly not be lavish of taxes, because
+nothing is so onerous as a large impost which is levied upon a small
+income. The government of the middle classes appears to me to be the
+most economical, though perhaps not the most enlightened, and certainly
+not the most generous, of free governments.
+
+But let us now suppose that the legislative authority is vested in the
+lowest orders: there are two striking reasons which show that the
+tendency of the expenditure will be to increase, not to diminish. As
+the great majority of those who create the laws are possessed of no
+property upon which taxes can be imposed, all the money which is spent
+for the community appears to be spent to their advantage, at no cost of
+their own; and those who are possessed of some little property readily
+find means of regulating the taxes so that they are burdensome to the
+wealthy and profitable to the poor, although the rich are unable to
+take the same advantage when they are in possession of the Government.
+
+In countries in which the poor *e should be exclusively invested with
+the power of making the laws no great economy of public expenditure
+ought to be expected: that expenditure will always be considerable;
+either because the taxes do not weigh upon those who levy them, or
+because they are levied in such a manner as not to weigh upon those
+classes. In other words, the government of the democracy is the only
+one under which the power which lays on taxes escapes the payment of
+them.
+
+e
+[ The word poor is used here, and throughout the remainder of this
+chapter, 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 with propriety by styled poor in comparison with their more
+affluent countrymen.]
+
+
+It may be objected (but the argument has no real weight) that the true
+interest of the people is indissolubly connected with that of the
+wealthier portion of the community, since it cannot but suffer by the
+severe measures to which it resorts. But is it not the true interest of
+kings to render their subjects happy, and the true interest of nobles
+to admit recruits into their order on suitable grounds? If remote
+advantages had power to prevail over the passions and the exigencies of
+the moment, no such thing as a tyrannical sovereign or an exclusive
+aristocracy could ever exist.
+
+Again, it may be objected that the poor are never invested with the
+sole power of making the laws; but I reply, that wherever universal
+suffrage has been established the majority of the community
+unquestionably exercises the legislative authority; and if it be proved
+that the poor always constitute the majority, it may be added, with
+perfect truth, that in the countries in which they possess the elective
+franchise they possess the sole power of making laws. But it is certain
+that in all the nations of the world the greater number has 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 an easy subsistence. Universal suffrage does
+therefore, in point of fact, invest the poor with the government of
+society.
+
+The disastrous influence which popular authority may sometimes exercise
+upon the finances of a State was very 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 the games
+and theatrical amusements of the populace. It is true that the
+representative system was then very imperfectly known, and that, at the
+present time, the influence of popular passion is less felt in the
+conduct of public affairs; but it may be believed that the delegate
+will in the end conform to the principles of his constituents, and
+favor their propensities as much as their interests.
+
+The extravagance of democracy is, however, less to be dreaded in
+proportion as the people acquires 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 lay on taxes which do not affect the
+interests of the lower classes. On this account universal suffrage
+would be less dangerous in France than in England, because in the
+latter country the property on which taxes may be levied is vested in
+fewer hands. America, where the great majority of the citizens possess
+some fortune, is in a still more favorable position than France.
+
+There are still further causes which may increase the sum of public
+expenditure in democratic countries. When the aristocracy governs, the
+individuals who conduct the affairs of State are exempted by their own
+station in society from every kind of privation; they are contented
+with their position; power and renown are the objects for which they
+strive; and, as they are placed far above the obscurer throng of
+citizens, they do not always distinctly perceive how the well-being of
+the mass of the people ought to redound to their own honor. 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 its lot, the rulers are
+satisfied, and they demand nothing further from the Government. An
+aristocracy is more intent upon the means of maintaining its influence
+than upon the means of improving its condition.
+
+When, on the contrary, the people is invested with the supreme
+authority, the perpetual sense of their own miseries impels the rulers
+of society to seek for perpetual ameliorations. A thousand different
+objects are subjected to improvement; the most trivial details are
+sought out as susceptible of amendment; and those changes which are
+accompanied with considerable expense are more especially advocated,
+since the object is to render the condition of the poor more tolerable,
+who cannot pay for themselves.
+
+Moreover, all democratic communities are agitated by an ill-defined
+excitement and by a kind of feverish impatience, that engender a
+multitude of innovations, almost all of which are attended with
+expense.
+
+In monarchies and aristocracies the natural taste which the rulers have
+for power and for renown is stimulated by the promptings of ambition,
+and they are frequently incited by these temptations to very costly
+undertakings. In democracies, where the rulers labor under privations,
+they can only be courted by such means as improve their well-being, and
+these improvements cannot take place without a sacrifice of money. When
+a people begins to reflect upon its situation, it discovers a multitude
+of wants to which it had not before been subject, and to satisfy these
+exigencies recourse must be had to the coffers of the State. Hence it
+arises that the public charges increase in proportion as civilization
+spreads, and that imposts are augmented as knowledge pervades the
+community.
+
+The last cause which frequently renders a democratic government dearer
+than any other is, that a democracy does not always succeed in
+moderating its expenditure, because it does not understand the art of
+being economical. As the designs which it entertains are frequently
+changed, and the agents of those designs are still more frequently
+removed, 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 proposes to accomplish; in the second, the expense itself
+is unprofitable. *f
+
+f
+[ The gross receipts of the Treasury of the United States in 1832 were
+about $28,000,000; in 1870 they had risen to $411,000,000. The gross
+expenditure in 1832 was $30,000,000; in 1870, $309,000,000.]
+
+
+Tendencies Of The American Democracy As Regards The Salaries Of Public
+Officers
+
+In the democracies those who establish high salaries have no chance of
+profiting by them—Tendency of the American democracy to increase the
+salaries of subordinate officers and to lower those of the more
+important 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 democracies to
+economize upon the salaries of public officers. As the number of
+citizens who dispense the remuneration is extremely large in democratic
+countries, so the number of persons who can hope to be benefited by the
+receipt of it is comparatively small. In aristocratic countries, on the
+contrary, the individuals who fix high salaries have almost always a
+vague hope of profiting by them. These appointments may be looked upon
+as a capital which they create for their own use, or at least as a
+resource for their children.
+
+It must, however, be allowed that a democratic State is most
+parsimonious towards its principal agents. In America the secondary
+officers are much better paid, and the dignitaries of the
+administration much worse, than they are elsewhere.
+
+These opposite effects result from the same cause; the people fixes the
+salaries of the public officers in both cases; and the scale of
+remuneration is determined by the consideration of its own wants. It is
+held to be fair that the servants of the public should be placed in the
+same easy circumstances as the public itself; *g but when the question
+turns upon the salaries of the great officers of State, this rule
+fails, and chance alone can guide the popular decision. The poor have
+no adequate conception of the wants which the higher classes of society
+may feel. The sum which is scanty to the rich appears enormous to the
+poor man whose wants do not extend beyond the necessaries of life; and
+in his estimation the Governor of a State, with his twelve or fifteen
+hundred dollars a year, is a very fortunate and enviable being. *h If
+you undertake to convince him that the representative of a great people
+ought to be able to maintain some show of splendor in the eyes of
+foreign nations, he will perhaps assent to your meaning; but when he
+reflects on his own humble dwelling, and on the hard-earned produce of
+his wearisome toil, he remembers all that he could do with a salary
+which you say is insufficient, and he is startled or almost frightened
+at the sight of such uncommon wealth. Besides, the secondary public
+officer is almost on a level with the people, whilst the others are
+raised above it. The former may therefore excite his interest, but the
+latter begins to arouse his envy.
+
+g
+[ The 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. The country is in the position of a commercial
+undertaking, which is obliged to sustain an expensive competition,
+notwithstanding its tastes for economy.]
+
+
+h
+[ The State of Ohio, which contains a million of inhabitants, gives its
+Governor a salary of only $1,200 a year.]
+
+
+This is very clearly seen in the United States, where the salaries seem
+to decrease as the authority of those who receive them augments *i
+
+i
+[ To render this assertion perfectly evident, it will suffice to
+examine the scale of salaries of the agents of the Federal Government.
+I have added the salaries attached to the corresponding officers in
+France under the constitutional monarchy to complete the comparison.
+
+     United States
+     Treasury Department
+     Messenger ............................   $700
+     Clerk with lowest salary .............  1,000
+     Clerk with highest salary ............  1,600
+     Chief Clerk ..........................  2,000
+     Secretary of State ...................  6,000
+     The President ........................ 25,000
+
+     France
+     Ministere des Finances
+     Hussier ........................... 1,500 fr.
+     Clerk with lowest salary,  1,000 to 1,800 fr.
+     Clerk with highest salary  3,200 to 8,600 fr.
+     Secretaire-general ................20,000 fr.
+     The Minister ......................80,000 fr.
+     The King ......................12,000,000 fr.
+
+I have perhaps done wrong in selecting France as my standard of
+comparison. In France the democratic tendencies of the nation exercise
+an ever-increasing influence upon the Government, and the Chambers show
+a disposition 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-generaux of
+Finance, who then received 50,000 fr. now receive only 20,000 fr. [This
+comparison is based on the state of things existing in France and the
+United States in 1831. It has since materially altered in both
+countries, but not so much as to impugn the truth of the author’s
+observation.]]
+
+Under the rule of an aristocracy it frequently happens, on the
+contrary, that whilst the high officers are receiving munificent
+salaries, the inferior ones have not more than enough to procure the
+necessaries of life. The reason of this fact is easily discoverable
+from causes very analogous to those to which I have just alluded. If a
+democracy is unable to conceive the pleasures of the rich or to witness
+them without envy, an aristocracy is slow to understand, or, to speak
+more correctly, is unacquainted with, the privations of the poor. The
+poor man is not (if we use the term aright) the fellow of the rich one;
+but he is a being of another species. An aristocracy is therefore apt
+to care but little for the fate of its subordinate agents; and their
+salaries are only raised when they refuse to perform their service for
+too scanty a remuneration.
+
+It is the parsimonious conduct of democracy towards its principal
+officers which has countenanced a supposition of far more economical
+propensities than any which it really possesses. It is true that it
+scarcely allows the means of honorable subsistence to the individuals
+who conduct its affairs; but enormous sums are lavished to meet the
+exigencies or to facilitate the enjoyments of the people. *j The money
+raised by taxation may be better employed, but it is not saved. In
+general, democracy gives largely to the community, and very sparingly
+to those who govern it. The reverse is the case in aristocratic
+countries, where the money of the State is expended to the profit of
+the persons who are at the head of affairs.
+
+j
+[ See the American budgets for the cost of indigent citizens and
+gratuitous instruction. In 1831 $250,000 were spent in the State of New
+York for the maintenance of the poor, and at least $1,000,000 were
+devoted to gratuitous instruction. (William’s “New York Annual
+Register,” 1832, pp. 205 and 243.) The State of New York contained only
+1,900,000 inhabitants in the year 1830, which is not more than double
+the amount of population in the Department du Nord in France.]
+
+
+Difficulty of Distinguishing The Causes Which Contribute To The Economy
+Of The American Government
+
+We are liable to frequent errors in the research of those facts which
+exercise a serious influence upon the fate of mankind, since nothing is
+more difficult than to appreciate their real value. One people is
+naturally inconsistent and enthusiastic; another is sober and
+calculating; and these characteristics originate in their physical
+constitution or in remote causes with which we are unacquainted.
+
+These are nations which are fond of parade and the bustle of festivity,
+and which do not regret the costly gaieties of an hour. Others, on the
+contrary, are attached to more retiring pleasures, and seem almost
+ashamed of appearing to be pleased. In some countries the highest value
+is set upon the beauty of public edifices; in others the productions of
+art are treated with indifference, and everything which is unproductive
+is looked down upon with contempt. In some renown, in others money, is
+the ruling passion.
+
+Independently of the laws, all these causes concur to exercise a very
+powerful influence upon the conduct of the finances of the State. If
+the Americans never spend the money of the people in galas, it is not
+only because the imposition of taxes is under the control of the
+people, but because the people takes no delight in public rejoicings.
+If they repudiate all ornament from their architecture, and set no
+store on any but the more practical and homely advantages, it is not
+only because they live under democratic institutions, but because they
+are a commercial nation. The habits of private life are continued in
+public; and we ought carefully to distinguish that economy which
+depends upon their institutions from that which is the natural result
+of their manners and customs.
+
+Whether The Expenditure Of The United States Can Be Compared To That Of
+France
+
+Two points to be established in order to estimate the extent of the
+public charges, viz., the national wealth and the rate of taxation—The
+wealth and the charges of France not accurately known—Why the wealth
+and charges of the Union cannot be accurately known—Researches of the
+author with a view to discover the amount of taxation of
+Pennsylvania—General symptoms which may serve to indicate the amount of
+the public charges in a given nation—Result of this investigation for
+the Union.
+
+Many attempts have recently been made in France to compare the public
+expenditure of that country with the expenditure of the United States;
+all these attempts have, however, been unattended by success, and a few
+words will suffice to show that they could not have had a satisfactory
+result.
+
+In order to estimate the amount of the public charges of a people two
+preliminaries are indispensable: it is necessary, in the first place,
+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 amount of taxation without showing the resources which are
+destined to meet the demand, is to undertake a futile labor; 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
+contributor will reduce a poor one to extreme misery. The wealth of
+nations is composed of several distinct elements, of which population
+is the first, real property the second, and personal property the
+third. The first of these three elements may be discovered without
+difficulty. Amongst civilized nations it is easy to obtain an accurate
+census of the inhabitants; but the two others cannot be determined with
+so much facility. It is difficult to take an exact account of all the
+lands in a country which are under cultivation, with their natural or
+their acquired value; and it is still more impossible to estimate the
+entire 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, indeed, we find that the most
+ancient civilized nations of Europe, including even those in which the
+administration is most central, have not succeeded, as yet, in
+determining the exact condition of their wealth.
+
+In America the attempt has never been made; for how would such an
+investigation be possible in a country where society has not yet
+settled into habits of regularity and tranquillity; where the national
+Government is not assisted by a multiple of agents whose exertions it
+can command and direct to one sole end; and where statistics are not
+studied, because no one is able to collect the necessary documents, or
+to find time to peruse them? Thus the primary elements of the
+calculations which have been made in France cannot be obtained in the
+Union; the relative wealth of the two countries is unknown; the
+property of the former is not accurately determined, and no means exist
+of computing that of the latter.
+
+I consent, therefore, for the sake of the discussion, to abandon this
+necessary term of the comparison, and I confine myself to a computation
+of the actual amount of taxation, without investigating the relation
+which subsists between the taxation and the revenue. But the reader
+will perceive that my task has not been facilitated by the limits which
+I here lay down for my researches.
+
+It cannot be doubted that the central administration of France,
+assisted by all the public officers who are at its disposal, might
+determine with exactitude the amount of the direct and indirect taxes
+levied upon the citizens. But this investigation, which no private
+individual can undertake, has not hitherto been completed 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
+amount of the departmental expenditure; but the expenses of the
+communal divisions have not been computed, and the amount of the public
+expenses of France is consequently unknown.
+
+If we now turn to America, we shall perceive that the difficulties are
+multiplied and enhanced. The Union publishes an exact return of the
+amount of its expenditure; the budgets of the four and twenty States
+furnish similar returns of their revenues; but the expenses incident to
+the affairs of the counties and the townships are unknown. *k
+
+k
+[ The Americans, as we have seen, have four separate budgets, the
+Union, the States, the Counties, and the Townships having each
+severally their own. During my stay in America I made every endeavor to
+discover the 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 I found it quite impossible to
+procure that of the smaller ones. I possess, however, some documents
+relating to county expenses, which, although incomplete, are still
+curious. I have to thank Mr. Richards, Mayor of Philadelphia, for the
+budgets of thirteen of the counties of Pennsylvania, viz., Lebanon,
+Centre, Franklin, Fayette, Montgomery, 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 influence the condition
+of a country, that they may easily be supposed to furnish a correct
+average of the financial state of the counties of Pennsylvania in
+general; and thus, upon reckoning that the expenses of these counties
+amounted in the year 1830 to about $361,650, or nearly 75 cents for
+each inhabitant, and calculating that each of them contributed in the
+same year about $2.55 towards the Union, and about 75 cents to the
+State of Pennsylvania, it appears that they each contributed as their
+share of all the public expenses (except those of the townships) the
+sum of $4.05. 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.]
+
+
+The authority of the Federal government cannot oblige the provincial
+governments to throw any light upon this point; and even if these
+governments were inclined to afford their simultaneous co-operation, it
+may be doubted whether they possess the means of procuring a
+satisfactory answer. Independently of the natural difficulties of the
+task, the political organization of the country would act as a
+hindrance to the success of their efforts. The county and town
+magistrates are not appointed by the authorities of the State, and they
+are not subjected to their control. It is therefore very allowable to
+suppose that, if the State was desirous of obtaining the returns which
+we require, its design would be counteracted by the neglect of those
+subordinate officers whom it would be obliged to employ. *l It is, in
+point of fact, useless to inquire what the Americans might do to
+forward this inquiry, since it is certain that they have hitherto done
+nothing at all. There does not exist a single individual at the present
+day, in America or in Europe, who can inform us what each citizen of
+the Union annually contributes to the public charges of the nation. *m
+[Footnote l: Those who have attempted to draw a comparison between the
+expenses of France and America have at once perceived that no such
+comparison could be drawn between the total expenditure of the two
+countries; but they have endeavored to contrast detached portions of
+this expenditure. It may readily be shown that this second system is
+not at all less defective than the first. If I attempt to compare the
+French budget with the budget of the Union, it must be remembered that
+the latter embraces much fewer objects than then central Government of
+the former country, and that the expenditure must consequently be much
+smaller. If I contrast the budgets of the Departments with those of the
+States which constitute the Union, it must be observed that, as the
+power and control exercised by the States is much greater than that
+which is exercised by the Departments, their expenditure is also more
+considerable. As for the budgets of the counties, nothing of the kind
+occurs in the French system of finances; and it is, again, doubtful
+whether the corresponding expenses should be referred to the budget of
+the State or to those of the municipal divisions. Municipal expenses
+exist in both countries, but they are not always analogous. In America
+the townships discharge a variety of offices which are reserved in
+France to the Departments or to the State. It may, moreover, be asked
+what is to be understood by the municipal expenses of America. The
+organization of the municipal bodies or townships differs in the
+several States. Are we to be guided by what occurs in New England or in
+Georgia, in Pennsylvania or in the State of Illinois? A kind of analogy
+may very readily be perceived between certain budgets in the two
+countries; but as the elements of which they are composed always differ
+more or less, no fair comparison can be instituted between them. [The
+same difficulty exists, perhaps to a greater degree at the present
+time, when the taxation of America has largely increased.—1874.]]
+
+m
+[ Even if we knew the exact pecuniary contributions of every French and
+American citizen to the coffers of the State, we should only come at a
+portion of the truth. Governments do not only demand supplies of money,
+but they call for personal services, which may be looked upon as
+equivalent to a given sum. When a State raises an army, besides the pay
+of the troops, which is furnished 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. The 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 peace, and he
+does in reality surrender to the State those earnings which he is
+prevented from gaining. Many other instances might be cited in addition
+to these. The governments of France and of 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?
+
+
+This, however, is not the last of the difficulties which prevent us
+from comparing the expenditure of the Union with that of France. The
+French Government contracts certain obligations which do not exist in
+America, and vice versa. The French Government pays the clergy; in
+America the voluntary principle prevails. In America there is a legal
+provision 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 kind take place on very few roads; in America upon almost all the
+thoroughfares: in the former country the roads are free to all
+travellers; in the latter turnpikes abound. All these differences in
+the manner in which contributions 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 much less considerable, if the State did not take
+upon itself to act in the name of the public.]
+
+Hence we must conclude that it is no less difficult to compare 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
+are strictly accurate, they mislead instead of guiding aright. The mind
+is easily imposed upon by the false affectation of exactness, which
+prevails even in the misstatements of science, and it adopts with
+confidence errors which are dressed in the forms of mathematical truth.
+
+We abandon, therefore, our numerical investigation, with the hope of
+meeting with data of another kind. In the absence of positive
+documents, we may form an opinion as to the proportion which the
+taxation of a people bears to its real prosperity, by observing whether
+its external appearance is flourishing; whether, after having
+discharged the calls of the State, the poor man retains the means of
+subsistence, and the rich the means of enjoyment; and whether both
+classes are contented with their position, seeking, however, to
+ameliorate it by perpetual exertions, so that industry is never in want
+of capital, nor capital unemployed by industry. The observer who draws
+his inferences from these signs will, 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 two successive
+invasions; and the Union has no similar calamity to fear. A nation
+placed upon the continent of Europe is obliged to maintain a large
+standing army; the isolated position of the Union enables it to have
+only 6,000 soldiers. The French have a fleet of 300 sail; the Americans
+have 52 vessels. *n How, then, can the inhabitants of the Union be
+called upon to contribute as largely as the inhabitants of France? No
+parallel can be drawn between the finances of two countries so
+differently situated.
+
+n
+[ See the details in the Budget of the French Minister of Marine; and
+for America, the National Calendar of 1833, p. 228. [But the public
+debt of the United States in 1870, caused by the Civil War, amounted to
+$2,480,672,427; that of France was more than doubled by the
+extravagance of the Second Empire and by the war of 1870.]]
+
+
+It is by examining what actually takes place in the Union, and not by
+comparing the Union with France, that we may discover whether the
+American Government is really economical. On casting my eyes over the
+different republics which form the confederation, I perceive that their
+Governments lack perseverance in their undertakings, and that they
+exercise no steady control over the men whom they employ. Whence 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 to their
+undertakings. Great efforts are made, in accordance with the democratic
+origin of society, to satisfy the exigencies of the lower orders, to
+open the career of power to their endeavors, and to diffuse knowledge
+and comfort amongst them. The poor are maintained, immense sums are
+annually devoted to public instruction, all services whatsoever are
+remunerated, and the most subordinate agents are liberally paid. If
+this kind of government appears to me to be useful and rational, I am
+nevertheless 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 are apt to augment that expenditure.
+
+I conclude, therefore, without having recourse to inaccurate
+computations, 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 have no hesitation in
+predicting that, if the people of the United States is ever involved in
+serious difficulties, its taxation will speedily be increased to the
+rate of that which prevails in the greater part of the aristocracies
+and the monarchies of Europe. *o
+
+o
+[ [That is precisely what has since occurred.]]
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XIII: Government Of The Democracy In America—Part III
+
+
+Corruption And Vices Of The Rulers In A Democracy, And Consequent
+Effects Upon Public Morality
+
+In 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 the aristocratic and the democratic
+principles mutually inveigh against each other, as tending to
+facilitate corruption. In aristocratic governments the individuals who
+are placed at the head of affairs are rich men, who are solely desirous
+of power. In democracies statesmen are poor, and they have their
+fortunes to make. The consequence is that in aristocratic States the
+rulers are rarely accessible to corruption, and have very little
+craving for money; whilst the reverse is the case in democratic
+nations.
+
+But in aristocracies, as those who are desirous of arriving at the head
+of affairs are possessed of considerable wealth, and as the number of
+persons by whose assistance they may rise is comparatively small, the
+government is, if I may use the expression, put up to a sort of
+auction. In democracies, on the contrary, those who are covetous of
+power are very seldom wealthy, and the number of citizens who confer
+that power is extremely great. Perhaps in democracies the number of men
+who might be bought is by no means smaller, but buyers are rarely to be
+met with; and, besides, it would be necessary to buy so many persons at
+once that the attempt is rendered nugatory.
+
+Many of the men who have been in the administration in France during
+the last forty years have been accused of making their fortunes at the
+expense of the State or of its allies; a reproach which was rarely
+addressed to the public characters of the ancient monarchy. But in
+France the practice of bribing electors is almost unknown, whilst it is
+notoriously and publicly carried on in England. In the United States I
+never heard a man accused of spending his wealth in corrupting the
+populace; but I have often heard the probity of public officers
+questioned; still more frequently have I heard their success attributed
+to low intrigues and immoral practices.
+
+If, then, the men who conduct the government of 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
+upon the people which is still more to be dreaded.
+
+As the rulers of democratic nations are almost always exposed to the
+suspicion of dishonorable conduct, they in some measure lend the
+authority of the Government to the base practices of which they are
+accused. They thus afford an example which must prove discouraging to
+the struggles of virtuous independence, and must foster the secret
+calculations of a vicious ambition. If it be asserted that evil
+passions are displayed in all ranks of society, that they ascend the
+throne by hereditary right, and that despicable characters are to be
+met with at the head of aristocratic nations as well as in the sphere
+of a democracy, this objection 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 contagious to the multitude. On
+the contrary, there is a kind of aristocratic refinement and an air of
+grandeur in the depravity of the great, which frequently prevent it
+from spreading abroad.
+
+The people can never penetrate into the perplexing labyrinth of court
+intrigue, and it will always have difficulty in detecting the turpitude
+which lurks under elegant manners, refined tastes, and graceful
+language. But to pillage the public purse, and to vend the favors of
+the State, are arts which the meanest villain may comprehend, and hope
+to practice in his turn.
+
+In reality it is far less prejudicial to witness the immorality of the
+great than to witness that immorality which leads to greatness. In a
+democracy private citizens see a man of their own rank in life, who
+rises from that obscure position, and who becomes possessed of riches
+and of power in a few years; the spectacle excites their surprise and
+their envy, and they are led to inquire how the person who was
+yesterday their equal is to-day their ruler. To attribute his rise to
+his talents or his virtues is unpleasant; for it is tacitly to
+acknowledge that they are themselves less virtuous and less talented
+than he was. They are therefore led (and not unfrequently their
+conjecture is a correct one) to impute his success mainly to some one
+of his defects; and an odious mixture is thus formed of the ideas of
+turpitude and power, unworthiness and success, utility and dishonor.
+
+Efforts Of Which A Democracy Is Capable
+
+The Union has only had one struggle hitherto for its
+existence—Enthusiasm at the commencement of the war—Indifference
+towards its close—Difficulty of establishing military conscription or
+impressment of seamen in America—Why a democratic people is less
+capable of sustained effort than another.
+
+I here warn the reader that I speak of a government which implicitly
+follows the real desires of a people, and not of a government which
+simply commands in its name. Nothing is so irresistible as a tyrannical
+power commanding in the name of the people, because, whilst it
+exercises that moral influence which belongs to the decision of the
+majority, it acts at the same time with the promptitude and the
+tenacity of a single man.
+
+It is difficult to say what degree of exertion a democratic government
+may be capable of making a crisis in the history of the nation. But no
+great democratic republic has hitherto existed in the world. To style
+the oligarchy which ruled over France in 1793 by that name would be to
+offer 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 century, in the course
+of which time its existence has only once been attacked, namely, during
+the War of Independence. At the commencement of that long war, various
+occurrences took place which betokened an extraordinary zeal for the
+service of the country. *p But as the contest was prolonged, symptoms
+of private egotism began to show themselves. No money was poured into
+the public treasury; few recruits could be raised to join the army; the
+people wished to acquire independence, but was very ill-disposed to
+undergo the privations by which alone it could be obtained. “Tax laws,”
+says Hamilton in the “Federalist” (No. 12), “have in vain been
+multiplied; new methods to enforce the collection 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
+administration 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 attempting them.”
+
+p
+[ One of the most singular of these occurrences 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
+which was made by a whole people.]
+
+
+The United States have not had any serious war to carry on ever since
+that period. In order, therefore, to appreciate the sacrifices which
+democratic nations may impose upon themselves, we must wait until the
+American people is obliged to put half its entire income at the
+disposal of the Government, as was done by the English; or until it
+sends forth a twentieth part of its population to the field of battle,
+as was done by France. *q
+
+q
+[ [The Civil War showed that when the necessity arose the American
+people, both in the North and in the South, are capable of making the
+most enormous sacrifices, both in money and in men.]]
+
+
+In America the use of 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 compulsory enlistment that I do not imagine it
+can ever be sanctioned by the laws. What is termed the conscription in
+France is assuredly the heaviest tax upon the population of that
+country; yet how could a great continental war be carried on without
+it? The Americans have not adopted the British impressment of seamen,
+and they have nothing which corresponds to the French system of
+maritime conscription; the navy, as well as the merchant service, is
+supplied by voluntary service. But it is not easy to conceive how a
+people can sustain a great maritime war without having recourse to one
+or the other of these two systems. Indeed, the Union, which has fought
+with some honor upon the seas, has never possessed a very numerous
+fleet, and the equipment of the small number of American vessels has
+always been excessively expensive.
+
+I have heard American statesmen confess that the Union will have great
+difficulty in maintaining its rank on the seas without adopting the
+system of impressment or of maritime conscription; but the difficulty
+is to induce the people, which exercises the supreme authority, to
+submit to impressment or any compulsory system.
+
+It is incontestable that in times of danger a free people displays far
+more energy than one which is not so. But I incline to believe that
+this is more especially the case in those free nations in which the
+democratic element preponderates. Democracy appears to me to be much
+better adapted for the peaceful conduct of society, or for an
+occasional effort of remarkable vigor, than for the hardy and prolonged
+endurance of the storms which beset the political existence of nations.
+The reason is very evident; it is enthusiasm which prompts men to
+expose themselves to dangers and privations, but they will not support
+them long without reflection. There is more calculation, even in the
+impulses of bravery, than is generally attributed to them; and although
+the first efforts are suggested by passion, perseverance is maintained
+by a distinct regard of the purpose in view. A portion of what we value
+is exposed, in order to save the remainder.
+
+But it is this distinct perception of the future, founded upon a sound
+judgment and an enlightened experience, which is most frequently
+wanting in democracies. The populace is more apt to feel than to
+reason; and if its present sufferings are great, it is to be feared
+that the still greater sufferings attendant upon defeat will be
+forgotten.
+
+Another cause tends to render the efforts of a democratic government
+less persevering than those of an aristocracy. Not only are the lower
+classes less awakened than the higher orders to the good or evil
+chances of the future, but they are liable to suffer far more acutely
+from present privations. The noble exposes his life, indeed, but the
+chance of glory is equal to the chance of harm. If he sacrifices a
+large portion of his income to the State, he deprives himself for a
+time of the pleasures of affluence; but to the poor man death is
+embellished by no pomp or renown, and the imposts which are irksome to
+the rich are fatal to him.
+
+This relative impotence of democratic republics is, perhaps, the
+greatest obstacle to the foundation of a republic of this kind in
+Europe. In order that such a State should subsist in one country of the
+Old World, it would be necessary that similar institutions should be
+introduced into all the other nations.
+
+I am of opinion that a democratic government tends in the end 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 a
+monarchy. If a democratic country remained during a whole century
+subject to a republican government, it would probably at the end of
+that period be more populous and more prosperous than the neighboring
+despotic States. But it would have incurred the risk of being conquered
+much oftener than they would in that lapse of years.
+
+Self-Control Of The American Democracy
+
+The American people acquiesces slowly, or frequently does not
+acquiesce, in what is beneficial to its interests—The faults of the
+American democracy are for the most part reparable.
+
+The difficulty which a democracy has in conquering the passions and in
+subduing the exigencies of the moment, with a view to the future, is
+conspicuous in the most trivial occurrences of the United States. The
+people, which is surrounded by flatterers, has great difficulty in
+surmounting its inclinations, and whenever it is solicited to undergo a
+privation or any kind of inconvenience, even to attain an end which is
+sanctioned by its own rational conviction, it almost always refuses to
+comply at first. The deference of the Americans to the laws has been
+very justly applauded; but it must be added that in America the
+legislation is made by the people and for the people. Consequently, in
+the United States the law favors those classes which are most
+interested in evading it elsewhere. It may therefore be supposed that
+an offensive law, which should not be acknowledged to be one of
+immediate utility, would either not be enacted or would not be obeyed.
+
+In America there is no law against fraudulent bankruptcies; not because
+they are few, but because there are a great number of bankruptcies. The
+dread of being prosecuted as a bankrupt acts with more intensity upon
+the mind of the majority of the people than the fear of being involved
+in losses or ruin by the failure of other parties, and a sort of guilty
+tolerance is extended by the public conscience to an offence which
+everyone 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 very frequent occurrence. This arises from the rude
+manners and the ignorance of the inhabitants of those deserts, who do
+not perceive the utility of investing the law with adequate force, and
+who prefer duels to prosecutions.
+
+Someone observed to me one day, in Philadelphia, that almost all crimes
+in America are caused by the abuse of intoxicating liquors, which the
+lower classes can procure in great abundance, from their excessive
+cheapness. “How comes it,” said I, “that you do not put a duty upon
+brandy?” “Our legislators,” rejoined my informant, “have frequently
+thought of this expedient; but the task of putting it in operation is a
+difficult one; a revolt might be apprehended, and the members who
+should vote for a law of this kind would be sure of losing their
+seats.” “Whence I am to infer,” replied I, “that the drinking
+population constitutes the majority in your country, and that
+temperance is somewhat unpopular.”
+
+When these things are pointed out to the American statesmen, they
+content themselves with assuring you that time will operate the
+necessary change, and that the experience of evil will teach the people
+its true interests. This is frequently true, although a democracy is
+more liable to error than a monarch or a body of nobles; the chances of
+its regaining the right path when once it has acknowledged its mistake,
+are greater also; because it is rarely embarrassed by internal
+interests, which conflict with those of the majority, and resist the
+authority of reason. But a democracy can only obtain truth as the
+result of experience, and many nations may forfeit their existence
+whilst they are awaiting the consequences of their errors.
+
+The great privilege of the Americans does not simply consist in their
+being more enlightened than other nations, but in their being able to
+repair the faults they may commit. To which it must be added, that a
+democracy cannot derive substantial benefit from past experience,
+unless it be arrived at a certain pitch of knowledge and civilization.
+There are tribes and peoples whose education has been so vicious, and
+whose character presents so strange a mixture of passion, of ignorance,
+and of erroneous notions upon all subjects, that they are unable to
+discern the causes of their own wretchedness, and they fall a sacrifice
+to ills with which they are unacquainted.
+
+I have crossed vast tracts of country that were formerly inhabited by
+powerful Indian nations which are now extinct; I have myself passed
+some time in the midst of mutilated tribes, which witness the daily
+decline of their numerical strength and of the glory of their
+independence; and I have heard these Indians themselves anticipate the
+impending doom of their race. Every European can perceive means which
+would rescue these unfortunate beings from inevitable destruction. They
+alone are insensible to the expedient; they feel the woe which year
+after year heaps upon their heads, but they will perish to a man
+without accepting the remedy. It would be necessary to employ force to
+induce them to submit to the protection and the constraint of
+civilization.
+
+The incessant revolutions which have convulsed the South American
+provinces for the last quarter of a century have frequently been
+adverted to with astonishment, and expectations have been expressed
+that those nations would speedily return to their natural state. But
+can it be affirmed that the turmoil of revolution is not actually the
+most natural state of the South American Spaniards at the present time?
+In that country society is plunged into difficulties from which all its
+efforts are insufficient to rescue it. The inhabitants of that fair
+portion of the Western Hemisphere seem obstinately bent on pursuing the
+work of inward havoc. If they fall into a momentary repose from the
+effects of exhaustion, that repose prepares them for a fresh state of
+frenzy. When I consider their condition, which alternates between
+misery and crime, I should be inclined to believe that despotism itself
+would be a benefit to them, if it were possible that the words
+despotism and benefit could ever be united in my mind.
+
+Conduct Of Foreign Affairs By The American Democracy
+
+Direction given to the foreign policy of the United States by
+Washington and Jefferson—Almost all the defects inherent in democratic
+institutions are brought to light in the conduct of foreign
+affairs—Their advantages are less perceptible.
+
+We have seen that the Federal Constitution entrusts the permanent
+direction of the external interests of the nation to the President and
+the Senate, *r which tends in some degree to detach the general foreign
+policy of the Union from the control of the people. It cannot therefore
+be asserted with truth that the external affairs of State are conducted
+by the democracy.
+
+r
+[ “The President,” says the Constitution, Art. II, sect. 2, Section 2,
+“shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate, to
+make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur.” The
+reader is reminded that the senators are returned for a term of six
+years, and that they are chosen by the legislature of each State.]
+
+
+The policy of America owes its rise to Washington, and after him to
+Jefferson, who established those principles which it observes at the
+present day. Washington said in the admirable letter which he addressed
+to his fellow-citizens, and which may be looked upon as his political
+bequest to the country: “The great rule of conduct for us in regard to
+foreign nations is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with
+them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have
+already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled 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 artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her
+politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her
+friendships or enmities. Our detached and distant situation invites and
+enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people, under
+an efficient government, the period is not far off when we may defy
+material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an
+attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon
+to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the
+impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will 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
+Europe, 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 permanent alliances 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 understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing
+engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public 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 establishments,
+in a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary
+alliances for extraordinary emergencies.” In a previous part of the
+same letter Washington makes the following admirable and just remark:
+“The nation which indulges towards another an habitual hatred or an
+habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its
+animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it
+astray from its duty and its interest.”
+
+The political conduct of Washington was always guided by these maxims.
+He succeeded in maintaining his country 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 perfect neutrality with regard to the internal dissensions of the
+European Powers.
+
+Jefferson went still further, and he introduced a maxim into the policy
+of the Union, which affirms that “the Americans ought never to solicit
+any privileges from foreign nations, in order not to be obliged to
+grant similar privileges themselves.”
+
+These two principles, which were so plain and so just as to be adapted
+to the capacity of the populace, have greatly simplified the foreign
+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 at present 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 the line of policy which it has chosen, and
+it is neither called upon to repudiate nor to espouse the conflicting
+interests of Europe; 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, and it is
+consequently enabled to 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; or to accept that
+immense inheritance which they derive from their forefathers—an
+inheritance of glory mingled with calamities, and of alliances
+conflicting with national antipathies. The foreign policy of the United
+States is reduced by its very nature to await the chances of the future
+history of the nation, and for the present it consists more in
+abstaining from interference than in exerting its activity.
+
+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; and upon this point its adversaries, as
+well as its advocates, must suspend their judgment. As for myself I
+have no hesitation in avowing my conviction, that it is most especially
+in the conduct of foreign relations that democratic governments appear
+to me to be decidedly inferior to governments carried on upon different
+principles. Experience, instruction, and habit may almost always
+succeed in creating a species of practical discretion in democracies,
+and that science of the daily occurrences of life which is called good
+sense. Good sense may suffice to direct the ordinary course of society;
+and amongst a people whose education has been provided for, the
+advantages of democratic liberty in the internal affairs of the country
+may more than compensate for the evils inherent in a democratic
+government. But such is not always the case in the mutual relations of
+foreign nations.
+
+Foreign politics demand scarcely any of those qualities which a
+democracy possesses; and they require, on the contrary, the perfect use
+of almost all those faculties in which it is deficient. Democracy is
+favorable to the increase of the internal resources of the State; it
+tends to diffuse a moderate independence; it promotes the growth of
+public spirit, and fortifies the respect which is entertained for law
+in all classes of society; and these are advantages which only exercise
+an indirect influence over the relations which one people bears to
+another. But a democracy is unable to regulate the details of an
+important undertaking, to persevere in a design, and to work out its
+execution in the presence of serious obstacles. It cannot combine its
+measures with secrecy, and it will not await their consequences with
+patience. These are qualities which more especially belong to an
+individual or to an aristocracy; and they are precisely the means by
+which an individual people attains to a predominant position.
+
+If, on the contrary, we observe the natural defects of aristocracy, we
+shall find that their influence is comparatively innoxious in the
+direction of the external affairs of a State. The capital fault of
+which aristocratic bodies may be accused is that they are more apt to
+contrive their own advantage than that of the mass of the people. In
+foreign politics it is rare for the interest of the aristocracy to be
+in any way distinct from that of the people.
+
+The propensity which democracies have to obey the impulse of passion
+rather than the suggestions of prudence, and to abandon a mature design
+for the gratification of a momentary caprice, was very clearly seen in
+America on the breaking out of the French Revolution. It was then as
+evident to the simplest capacity 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 by no
+means injure the welfare of their own country. Nevertheless the
+sympathies of the people declared themselves with so much violence in
+behalf of France that nothing but the inflexible character of
+Washington, and the immense popularity which he enjoyed, could have
+prevented the Americans from declaring war against England. 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,
+very nearly deprived him of the sole recompense which he had ever
+claimed—that of his country’s love. The majority then reprobated the
+line of policy which he adopted, and which has since been unanimously
+approved by the nation. *s If the Constitution and the favor of the
+public had not entrusted the direction of the foreign affairs of the
+country to Washington, it is certain that the American nation would at
+that time have taken the very measures which it now condemns.
+
+s
+[ See the fifth volume of Marshall’s “Life of Washington.” In a
+government constituted like that of the United States, he says, “it is
+impossible for the 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 to
+the treacherous Arnold. “By the opposition,” says Marshall, “the
+friends of the administration were declared to be an 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 threatened
+the funds, induced a tame submission to injuries and insults, which the
+interests and honor of the nation required them to resist.”]
+
+
+Almost all the nations which have ever exercised a powerful influence
+upon the destinies of the world by conceiving, following up, and
+executing vast designs—from the Romans to the English—have been
+governed by aristocratic institutions. Nor will this be a subject of
+wonder when we recollect that nothing in the world has so absolute a
+fixity of purpose as an aristocracy. The mass of the people may be led
+astray by ignorance or passion; the mind of a king may be biased, and
+his perseverance in his designs may be shaken—besides which a king is
+not immortal—but an aristocratic body is too numerous to be led astray
+by the blandishments of intrigue, and yet not numerous enough to yield
+readily to the intoxicating influence of unreflecting passion: it has
+the energy of a firm and enlightened individual, added to the power
+which it derives from perpetuity.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XIV: Advantages American Society Derive From Democracy—Part I
+
+
+What The Real Advantages Are Which American Society Derives From The
+Government Of The Democracy
+
+Before I enter upon the subject of the present chapter I am induced to
+remind the reader of what I have more than once adverted to in the
+course of this book. The political institutions of the United States
+appear to me to be one of the 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 a democratic people may establish. In showing the
+advantages which the Americans derive from the government of democracy,
+I am therefore very far from meaning, or from believing, that similar
+advantages can only be obtained from the same laws.
+
+General Tendency Of The Laws Under The Rule Of The American Democracy,
+And Habits Of Those Who Apply Them
+
+Defects of a democratic government easy to be discovered—Its advantages
+only to be discerned by long observation—Democracy in America often
+inexpert, but the general tendency of the laws advantageous—In the
+American democracy public officers have no permanent interests distinct
+from those of the majority—Result of this state of things.
+
+The defects and the weaknesses of a democratic government may very
+readily be discovered; they are demonstrated by the most flagrant
+instances, whilst its beneficial influence is less perceptibly
+exercised. A single glance suffices to detect its evil consequences,
+but its good qualities can only be discerned by long observation. The
+laws of the American democracy are frequently defective or incomplete;
+they sometimes attack vested rights, or give a sanction to others which
+are dangerous to the community; but even if they were good, the
+frequent changes which they undergo would be an evil. How comes it,
+then, that the American republics prosper and maintain their position?
+
+In the consideration of laws a distinction must be carefully observed
+between the end at which they aim and the means by which they are
+directed to that end, between their absolute 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 be bad; and the more efficacious
+it is, the greater is the mischief which it causes.
+
+Democratic laws generally tend to promote the welfare of the greatest
+possible 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 advantage. 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, constitutes a minority. It may
+therefore be asserted, as a general proposition, that the purpose of a
+democracy in the conduct of its legislation is useful to a greater
+number of citizens than that of an aristocracy. This is, however, the
+sum total of its advantages.
+
+Aristocracies are infinitely more expert in the science of legislation
+than democracies ever can be. They are possessed of a self-control
+which protects them from the errors of temporary excitement, and they
+form lasting designs which they mature with the assistance of favorable
+opportunities. Aristocratic government proceeds with the dexterity of
+art; it understands how to make the collective force of all its laws
+converge at the same time to a given point. Such is not the case with
+democracies, whose laws are almost always ineffective or inopportune.
+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 nature, or by its
+constitution, that it can support the transitory action of bad laws,
+and that it can await, without destruction, the general tendency of the
+legislation: we shall then be able to conceive that a democratic
+government, notwithstanding its defects, will be most fitted to conduce
+to the prosperity 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 consists in their
+being able to commit faults which they may afterward repair.
+
+An analogous observation may be made respecting public officers. It is
+easy to perceive that the American democracy frequently errs in the
+choice of the individuals to whom it entrusts 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, on the other hand, are more enlightened and
+more attentive to their interests. As the people in democracies is more
+incessantly vigilant in its affairs and more jealous of its rights, it
+prevents its representatives from abandoning that general line of
+conduct which its 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 period of time. But there is
+yet another reason which is still more general and conclusive. It is no
+doubt of importance to the welfare of nations that they should be
+governed by men of talents and virtue; but it is perhaps still more
+important that the interests of those men should not differ from the
+interests of the community at large; for, if such were the case,
+virtues of a high order might become useless, and talents might be
+turned to a bad account. I say that it is important that the interests
+of the persons in authority should not conflict with or oppose the
+interests of the community at large; but I do not insist upon their
+having the same interests as the whole population, because I am not
+aware that such a state of things ever existed in any country.
+
+No political form has hitherto been discovered which 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, a
+certain number of distinct nations 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 endangered; 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 possible number.
+
+The men who are entrusted with the direction of public affairs in the
+United States are frequently inferior, both in point of capacity and of
+morality, to those whom aristocratic institutions would raise to power.
+But their interest is identified and confounded 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 opposed to the will of the majority; and it is impossible that
+they should give a dangerous or an exclusive tendency to the
+government.
+
+The mal-administration of a democratic magistrate is a mere isolated
+fact, which only occurs during the short period for which he is
+elected. Corruption and incapacity do not act as common interests,
+which may connect men permanently with one another. A corrupt or an
+incapable magistrate will not concert his measures with another
+magistrate, simply because that individual is as corrupt and as
+incapable as himself; and these two men will never unite their
+endeavors to promote the corruption and inaptitude of their remote
+posterity. The ambition and the manoeuvres of the one will serve, on
+the contrary, to unmask the other. The vices of a magistrate, in
+democratic states, are usually peculiar to his own person.
+
+But under aristocratic governments public men are swayed by the
+interest of their order, which, if it is sometimes confounded with the
+interests of the majority, is very frequently distinct from them. This
+interest is the common and lasting bond which unites them together; it
+induces them to coalesce, and to combine their efforts in order to
+attain an end which does not always ensure the greatest happiness of
+the greatest number; and it serves not only to connect the persons in
+authority, but to unite them to a considerable portion of the
+community, since a numerous body of citizens belongs to the
+aristocracy, without being invested with official functions. The
+aristocratic magistrate is therefore constantly supported by a portion
+of the community, as well as by the Government of which he is a member.
+
+The common purpose which connects the interest of the magistrates in
+aristocracies with that of a portion of their contemporaries identifies
+it with that of future generations; their influence belongs to the
+future as much as to the present. The aristocratic magistrate is urged
+at the same time toward the same point by the passions of the
+community, by his own, and I may almost add by those of his posterity.
+Is it, then, wonderful that he does not resist such repeated impulses?
+And indeed aristocracies are often carried away by the spirit of their
+order without being corrupted by it; and they unconsciously fashion
+society to their own ends, and prepare it for their own descendants.
+
+The English aristocracy is perhaps the most liberal which ever existed,
+and no body of men has ever, uninterruptedly, furnished so many
+honorable and enlightened individuals to the government of a country.
+It cannot, however, escape observation that in the legislation of
+England the good of the poor has been sacrificed to the advantage of
+the rich, and the rights of the majority to the privileges of the few.
+The consequence is, that England, at the present day, combines the
+extremes of fortune in the bosom of her society, and her perils and
+calamities are almost equal to her power and her renown. *a
+
+a
+[ [The legislation of England for the forty years is certainly not
+fairly open to this criticism, which was written before the Reform Bill
+of 1832, and accordingly Great Britain has thus far escaped and
+surmounted the perils and calamities to which she seemed to be
+exposed.]]
+
+
+In the United States, where the public officers have no interests to
+promote connected with their caste, the general and constant influence
+of the Government is beneficial, although the individuals who conduct
+it are frequently unskilful and sometimes contemptible. There is indeed
+a secret tendency in democratic institutions to render the exertions of
+the citizens subservient to the prosperity of the community,
+notwithstanding their private vices and mistakes; whilst in
+aristocratic institutions there is a secret propensity which,
+notwithstanding the talents and the virtues of those who conduct the
+government, leads them to contribute to the evils which oppress their
+fellow-creatures. In aristocratic governments public men may frequently
+do injuries which they do not intend, and in democratic states they
+produce advantages which they never thought of.
+
+Public Spirit In The United States
+
+Patriotism of instinct—Patriotism of reflection—Their different
+characteristics—Nations ought to strive to acquire the second when the
+first has disappeared—Efforts of the Americans to it—Interest of the
+individual intimately connected with that of the country.
+
+There is one sort of patriotic attachment which principally arises from
+that instinctive, disinterested, and undefinable feeling which connects
+the affections of man with his birthplace. This natural fondness is
+united to a taste for ancient customs, and to a reverence for ancestral
+traditions of the past; those who cherish it love their country as they
+love the mansions of their fathers. They enjoy the tranquillity which
+it affords them; they cling to the peaceful habits which they have
+contracted within its bosom; they are attached to the reminiscences
+which it awakens, and they are even pleased by the state of obedience
+in which they are placed. This patriotism is sometimes stimulated by
+religious enthusiasm, and then it is capable of making the most
+prodigious efforts. It is in itself a kind of religion; it does not
+reason, but it acts from the impulse of faith and of sentiment. By some
+nations the monarch has been regarded as a personification of the
+country; and the fervor of patriotism being converted into the fervor
+of loyalty, they took a sympathetic pride in his conquests, and gloried
+in his power. At one time, under the ancient monarchy, the French felt
+a sort of satisfaction in the sense of their dependence upon the
+arbitrary pleasure of their king, and they were wont to say with pride,
+“We are the subjects of the most powerful king in the world.”
+
+But, like all instinctive passions, this kind of patriotism is more apt
+to prompt transient exertion than to supply the motives of continuous
+endeavor. It may save the State in critical circumstances, but it will
+not unfrequently allow the nation to decline in the midst of peace.
+Whilst the manners of a people are simple and its faith unshaken,
+whilst society is steadily based upon traditional institutions whose
+legitimacy has never been contested, this instinctive patriotism is
+wont to endure.
+
+But there is another species of attachment to a country which is more
+rational than the one we have been describing. It is perhaps less
+generous and less ardent, but it is more fruitful and more lasting; it
+is coeval with the spread of knowledge, it is nurtured by the laws, it
+grows by the exercise of civil rights, and, in the end, it is
+confounded with the personal interest of the citizen. A man comprehends
+the influence which the prosperity of his country has upon his own
+welfare; he is aware that the laws authorize him to contribute his
+assistance to that prosperity, and he labors to promote it as a portion
+of his interest in the first place, and as a portion of his right in
+the second.
+
+But epochs sometimes occur, in the course of the existence of a nation,
+at which the ancient customs of a people are changed, public morality
+destroyed, religious belief disturbed, and the spell of tradition
+broken, whilst the diffusion of knowledge is yet imperfect, and the
+civil rights of the community are ill secured, or confined within very
+narrow limits. The country then assumes a dim and dubious shape in the
+eyes of the citizens; they no longer behold it in the soil which they
+inhabit, for that soil is to them a dull inanimate clod; nor in the
+usages of their forefathers, which they have been taught to look upon
+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
+features, and they entrench themselves within the dull precincts of a
+narrow egotism. They are emancipated from prejudice without having
+acknowledged the empire of reason; they are neither animated by the
+instinctive patriotism of monarchical subjects nor by the thinking
+patriotism of republican citizens; but they have stopped halfway
+between the two, in the midst of confusion and of distress.
+
+In this predicament, to retreat is impossible; for a people cannot
+restore the vivacity of its earlier times, any more than a man can
+return to the innocence and the bloom of childhood; such things may be
+regretted, but they cannot be renewed. The only thing, then, which
+remains to be done is to proceed, and to accelerate the union of
+private with public interests, since the period of disinterested
+patriotism is gone by forever.
+
+I am certainly very far from averring that, in order to obtain this
+result, the exercise of political rights should be immediately granted
+to all the members of the community. But I maintain that the most
+powerful, and perhaps the only, means of interesting men in the welfare
+of their country which we still possess is to make them partakers in
+the Government. At the present time civic zeal seems to me to be
+inseparable from the exercise of political rights; and I hold that the
+number of citizens will be found to augment or to decrease in Europe in
+proportion as those rights are extended.
+
+In the United States the inhabitants were thrown but as yesterday upon
+the soil which they now occupy, and they brought neither customs nor
+traditions with them there; they meet each other for the first time
+with no previous acquaintance; in short, the instinctive love of their
+country can scarcely exist in their minds; but everyone takes as
+zealous an interest in the affairs of his township, his county, and of
+the whole State, as if they were his own, because everyone, in his
+sphere, takes an active part in the government of society.
+
+The lower orders in the United States are alive to the perception of
+the influence exercised by the general prosperity upon their own
+welfare; and simple as this observation is, it is one which is but too
+rarely made by the people. But in America the people regards this
+prosperity as the result of its own exertions; the citizen looks upon
+the fortune of the public as his private interest, and he co-operates
+in its success, not so much from a sense of pride or of duty, as from
+what I shall venture to term cupidity.
+
+It is unnecessary to study the institutions and the history of the
+Americans in order to discover the truth of this remark, for their
+manners render it sufficiently evident. As the American participates in
+all that is done in his country, he thinks himself obliged to defend
+whatever may be censured; for it is not only his country which is
+attacked upon these occasions, but it is himself. The consequence is,
+that his national pride resorts to a thousand artifices, and to all the
+petty tricks of individual vanity.
+
+Nothing is more embarrassing in the ordinary intercourse of life than
+this irritable patriotism of the Americans. A stranger may be very well
+inclined to praise many of the institutions of their country, but he
+begs permission to blame some of the peculiarities which he observes—a
+permission which is, however, 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 it be of the
+climate and the soil; and even then Americans will be found ready to
+defend either the one or the other, as if they had been contrived by
+the inhabitants of the country.
+
+In our times option must be made between the patriotism of all and the
+government of a few; for the force and activity which the first confers
+are irreconcilable with the guarantees of tranquillity which the second
+furnishes.
+
+Notion Of Rights In The United States
+
+No great people without a notion of rights—How the notion of rights can
+be given to people—Respect of rights in the United States—Whence it
+arises.
+
+After the idea of virtue, I know no higher principle than that of
+right; or, to speak more accurately, these two ideas are commingled in
+one. The idea of right is simply that of virtue introduced into the
+political world. It is the idea of right which enabled men to define
+anarchy and tyranny; and which taught them to remain independent
+without arrogance, as well as to obey without servility. The man who
+submits to violence is debased by his compliance; but when he obeys the
+mandate of one who possesses that right of authority which he
+acknowledges in a fellow-creature, he rises in some measure above the
+person who delivers the command. There are no great men without virtue,
+and there are no great nations—it may almost be added that there would
+be no society—without the notion of rights; for what is the condition
+of a mass of rational and intelligent beings who are only united
+together by the bond of force?
+
+I am persuaded that the only means which we possess at the present time
+of inculcating the notion of rights, and of rendering it, as it were,
+palpable to the senses, is to invest all the members of the community
+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 turn everything which he can
+lay his hands upon to his own purposes; 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 deprived of his
+possessions, he becomes more circumspect, and he observes those rights
+in others which he wishes to have respected in himself. The principle
+which the child derives from the possession of his toys is taught to
+the man by the objects which he may call his own. In America those
+complaints against property in general which are so frequent in Europe
+are never heard, because in America there are no paupers; and as
+everyone has property of his own to defend, everyone recognizes the
+principle upon which he holds it.
+
+The same thing occurs in the political world. In America the lowest
+classes have conceived a very high notion of political rights, because
+they exercise those rights; and they refrain from attacking those of
+other people, in order to ensure their own from attack. Whilst in
+Europe the same classes sometimes recalcitrate even against the supreme
+power, the American submits without a murmur to the authority of the
+pettiest magistrate.
+
+This truth is exemplified by the most trivial details of national
+peculiarities. In France very few pleasures are exclusively reserved
+for the higher classes; the poor are admitted wherever the rich are
+received, and they consequently behave with propriety, and respect
+whatever contributes to the enjoyments in which they themselves
+participate. In England, where wealth has a monopoly of amusement as
+well as of power, complaints are made that whenever the poor happen to
+steal into the enclosures which are reserved for the pleasures of the
+rich, they commit acts of wanton mischief: can this be wondered at,
+since care has been taken that they should have nothing to lose? *b
+
+b
+[ [This, too, has been amended by much larger provisions for the
+amusements of the people in public parks, gardens, museums, etc.; and
+the conduct of the people in these places of amusement has improved in
+the same proportion.]]
+
+
+The government of 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 the members of
+the community; and I confess that, to my mind, this is one of its
+greatest advantages. I do not assert that it is easy to teach men to
+exercise political rights; but I maintain that, when it is possible,
+the effects which result from it are highly important; and I add that,
+if there ever was a time at which such an attempt ought to be made,
+that time is our own. It is clear that the influence of religious
+belief is shaken, and that the notion of divine rights is declining; it
+is evident that public morality is vitiated, and the notion of moral
+rights is also disappearing: these are general symptoms of the
+substitution of argument for faith, and of calculation for the impulses
+of sentiment. If, in the midst of this general disruption, you do not
+succeed in connecting the notion of rights with that of personal
+interest, which is the only immutable point in the human heart, what
+means will you have of governing the world except by fear? When I am
+told that, since the laws are weak and the populace is wild, since
+passions are excited and the authority of virtue is paralyzed, no
+measures must be taken to increase the rights of the democracy, I
+reply, that it is for these very reasons that some measures of the kind
+must be taken; and I am persuaded that governments are still more
+interested in taking them than society at large, because governments
+are liable to be destroyed and society cannot perish.
+
+I am not, however, inclined to exaggerate the example which America
+furnishes. In those States the people are invested with political
+rights at a time when they could scarcely be abused, for the citizens
+were few in number and simple in their manners. As they have increased,
+the Americans have not augmented the power of the democracy, but they
+have, if I may use the expression, extended its dominions. 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, though it
+be a necessary one. A child may kill before he is aware of the value of
+life; and he may deprive another person of his property before he is
+aware that his own may be taken away 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 even be perceived 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 fertile in
+prodigies than the art of being free; but there is nothing more arduous
+than the apprenticeship of liberty. Such is not the case with despotic
+institutions: despotism often promises to make amends for a thousand
+previous ills; it supports the right, it protects the oppressed, and it
+maintains public order. The nation is lulled by the temporary
+prosperity which accrues to it, until it is roused to a sense of its
+own misery. Liberty, on the contrary, is generally established in the
+midst of agitation, it is perfected by civil discord, and its benefits
+cannot be appreciated until it is already old.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XIV: Advantages American Society Derive From Democracy—Part II
+
+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 everyone to increase the
+authority 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 such a measure is possible the authority of the law is very
+much augmented. This popular origin, which impairs the excellence and
+the wisdom of legislation, contributes prodigiously to increase its
+power. There is an amazing strength in the expression of the
+determination of a whole people, and when it declares itself the
+imagination of those who are most inclined to contest it is overawed by
+its authority. The truth of this fact is very 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 recourse to the body of those persons who
+had no votes to give.
+
+In the United States, except slaves, servants, and paupers in the
+receipt of relief from the townships, there is no class of persons who
+do not exercise the elective franchise, and who do not indirectly
+contribute to make the laws. Those who design to attack the laws must
+consequently either modify the opinion of the nation or trample upon
+its decision.
+
+A second reason, which is still more weighty, may be further adduced;
+in the United States everyone is personally interested in enforcing the
+obedience of the whole community to the law; for as the minority may
+shortly rally the majority to its principles, it is interested in
+professing that respect for the decrees of the legislator which it may
+soon have occasion to claim for its own. However irksome an enactment
+may be, the citizen of the United States complies with it, not only
+because it is the work of the majority, but because it originates in
+his own authority, 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 which always looks upon the law as its natural enemy, and
+accordingly surveys it with fear and with fear and with distrust. It is
+impossible, on the other hand, not to perceive that all classes display
+the utmost reliance upon the legislation of their country, and that
+they are attached to it by a kind of parental affection.
+
+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 which 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 interests of the whole
+community, but simply that it protects those of the majority. In the
+United States, where the poor rule, the rich have always some reason to
+dread the abuses of their power. This natural anxiety of the rich may
+produce a sullen dissatisfaction, but society is not disturbed by it;
+for the same reason which induces the rich to withhold their confidence
+in the legislative authority makes them obey its mandates; their
+wealth, which prevents them from making the law, prevents them from
+withstanding it. Amongst civilized nations revolts are rarely excited,
+except by such persons as have nothing to lose by them; and if the laws
+of a democracy are not always worthy of respect, at least they always
+obtain it; for those who usually infringe the laws have no excuse for
+not complying with the enactments they have themselves made, and by
+which they are themselves benefited, whilst the citizens whose
+interests might be promoted by the infraction of them are induced, by
+their character and their stations, to submit to the decisions of the
+legislature, whatever they may be. Besides which, the people in America
+obeys the law not only because it emanates from the popular authority,
+but because that authority may modify it in any points which may prove
+vexatory; a law is observed because it is a self-imposed evil in the
+first place, and an evil of transient duration in the second.
+
+Activity Which Pervades All The Branches Of The Body Politic In The
+United States; Influence Which It Exercises Upon Society
+
+More difficult to conceive the political activity 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
+episode to the general activity—Difficult for an American to confine
+himself to his own business—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 country in which free institutions are established to
+one where they do not exist, the traveller is struck by the change; in
+the former all is bustle and activity, in the latter everything is calm
+and motionless. In the one, amelioration and progress are the general
+topics of inquiry; in the other, it seems as if the community only
+aspired to repose in the enjoyment of the advantages which it has
+acquired. Nevertheless, the country which exerts itself so strenuously
+to promote its welfare is generally more wealthy and more prosperous
+than that which appears to be so contented with its lot; and when we
+compare them together, we can scarcely conceive how so many new wants
+are daily felt in the former, whilst so few seem to occur in the
+latter.
+
+If this remark is applicable to those free countries in which
+monarchical and aristocratic institutions subsist, it is still more
+striking with regard to democratic republics. In these States it is not
+only a portion of the people which is busied with the amelioration of
+its social condition, but the whole community is engaged in the task;
+and it is not the exigencies and the convenience of a single class for
+which a provision is to be made, but the exigencies and the convenience
+of all ranks of life.
+
+It is not impossible to conceive the surpassing liberty which the
+Americans enjoy; some idea may likewise be formed of the extreme
+equality which subsists amongst them, but the political activity which
+pervades the United States must be seen in order to be understood. No
+sooner do you set foot upon the American soil than you are stunned by a
+kind of tumult; a confused clamor is heard on every side; and a
+thousand simultaneous voices demand the immediate 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 building 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; or 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 purpose of declaring
+their disapprobation of the line of conduct pursued by the Government;
+whilst in other assemblies the citizens salute the authorities of the
+day as the fathers of their country. Societies are formed which regard
+drunkenness as the principal cause of the evils under which the State
+labors, and which solemnly bind themselves to give a constant example
+of temperance. *c
+
+c
+[ At the time of my stay in the United States the temperance societies
+already consisted of more than 270,000 members, and their effect had
+been to diminish the consumption of fermented liquors by 500,000
+gallons per annum in the State of Pennsylvania alone.]
+
+
+The great political agitation of the American legislative bodies, which
+is the only kind of excitement that attracts the attention of foreign
+countries, is a mere episode or a sort of continuation of that
+universal movement which originates in the lowest classes of the people
+and extends successively to all the ranks of society. It is impossible
+to spend more efforts in the pursuit of enjoyment.
+
+The cares of political life engross a most prominent place in the
+occupation of a citizen in the United States, and almost the only
+pleasure of which an American has any idea is to take a part in the
+Government, and to discuss the part he has taken. This feeling pervades
+the most trifling habits of life; even the women frequently attend
+public meetings and listen to political harangues as a recreation after
+their household labors. Debating clubs are to a certain extent a
+substitute for theatrical entertainments: an American cannot converse,
+but he can discuss; and when he attempts to talk he falls into a
+dissertation. He speaks to you as if he was addressing a meeting; and
+if he should chance to warm in the course of the discussion, he will
+infallibly say, “Gentlemen,” to the person with whom he is conversing.
+
+In some countries the inhabitants display a certain repugnance to avail
+themselves of the political privileges with which the law invests them;
+it would seem that they set too high a value upon their time to spend
+it on the interests of the community; and they prefer to withdraw
+within the exact limits of a wholesome egotism, 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 existence; he would feel an immense void in the life which he is
+accustomed to lead, and his wretchedness would be unbearable. *d I am
+persuaded that, if ever a despotic government is established in
+America, it will find it more difficult to surmount the habits which
+free institutions have engendered than to conquer the attachment of the
+citizens to freedom.
+
+d
+[ The same remark was made at Rome under the first Caesars. Montesquieu
+somewhere alludes 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.]
+
+
+This ceaseless agitation which democratic government 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 much less inclined to applaud it for what it does
+than for what it causes to be done. It is incontestable that the people
+frequently conducts public business very ill; but it is impossible that
+the lower orders should take a part in public business without
+extending the circle of their ideas, and without quitting the ordinary
+routine of their mental acquirements. The humblest individual who is
+called upon to co-operate in the government of society acquires a
+certain degree of self-respect; and as he possesses authority, he can
+command the services of minds much more enlightened than his own. He is
+canvassed by a multitude of applicants, who seek to deceive him in a
+thousand different ways, but who instruct him by their deceit. He takes
+a part in political undertakings which did not originate in his own
+conception, but which give him a taste for undertakings of the kind.
+New ameliorations are daily pointed out in the property which he holds
+in common with others, and this gives him the desire of improving that
+property which is more peculiarly 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
+institutions of the United States, joined to the physical constitution
+of the country, are the cause (not the direct, as is so often asserted,
+but the indirect cause) of the prodigious commercial activity of the
+inhabitants. It is not engendered by the laws, but the people learns
+how to promote it by the experience derived from legislation.
+
+When the opponents of democracy assert that a single individual
+performs the duties which he undertakes much better than the government
+of the community, it appears to me that they are perfectly right. The
+government of an individual, supposing an equality of instruction on
+either side, is more consistent, more persevering, and more accurate
+than that of a multitude, and it is much better qualified judiciously
+to discriminate the characters of the men it employs. If any deny what
+I advance, they have certainly never seen a democratic government, or
+have formed their opinion upon very partial evidence. It is true that
+even when local circumstances and the disposition of the people allow
+democratic institutions to subsist, they never display a regular and
+methodical system of government. Democratic liberty is far from
+accomplishing all the projects it undertakes, with the skill of an
+adroit despotism. It frequently abandons them before they have borne
+their fruits, or risks them when the consequences may prove dangerous;
+but in the end it produces more than any absolute government, and if it
+do fewer things well, it does a greater number of things. Under its
+sway the transactions of the public administration are not nearly so
+important as what is done by private exertion. Democracy does not
+confer the most skilful kind of government upon the people, but it
+produces that which the most skilful governments are frequently unable
+to awaken, namely, an all-pervading and restless activity, a
+superabundant force, and an energy which is inseparable from it, and
+which may, under favorable circumstances, beget the most amazing
+benefits. 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 its foe whilst it is yet
+in its early growth; and others are ready with their vows of adoration
+for this new deity which is springing forth from chaos: but both
+parties are very imperfectly acquainted with the object of their hatred
+or of their desires; they strike in the dark, and distribute their
+blows by mere chance.
+
+We must first understand what the purport of society and the aim of
+government is held to be. If it be your intention to confer a certain
+elevation upon the human mind, and to teach it to regard the things of
+this world with generous feelings, to inspire men with a scorn of mere
+temporal advantage, to give birth to living convictions, and to keep
+alive the spirit of honorable devotedness; if you hold it to be a good
+thing to refine the habits, to embellish the manners, to cultivate the
+arts of a nation, and to promote the love of poetry, of beauty, and of
+renown; if you would constitute a people not unfitted to act with power
+upon all other nations, nor unprepared for those high enterprises
+which, whatever be the result of its efforts, will leave a name forever
+famous in time—if you believe such to be the principal object of
+society, you must avoid the government of democracy, which would be a
+very uncertain guide to the end you have in view.
+
+But if you hold it to be expedient to divert the moral and intellectual
+activity of man to the production of comfort, and to the acquirement of
+the necessaries of life; if a clear understanding be more profitable to
+man than genius; if your object be not to stimulate the virtues of
+heroism, but to create habits of peace; if you had rather witness vices
+than crimes and are content to meet with fewer noble deeds, provided
+offences be diminished in the same proportion; if, instead of living in
+the midst of a brilliant state of 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
+share of power and of glory upon the body of the nation, but to ensure
+the greatest degree of enjoyment and the least degree of misery to each
+of the individuals who compose it—if such be your desires, you can have
+no surer means of satisfying them than by equalizing the conditions of
+men, and establishing democratic institutions.
+
+But if the time be passed at which such a choice was possible, and if
+some superhuman power impel us towards one or the other of these two
+governments without consulting our wishes, let us at least endeavor to
+make the best of that which is allotted to us; and let us so inquire
+into its good and its evil propensities as to be able to foster the
+former and repress the latter to the utmost.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XV: Unlimited Power Of Majority, And Its Consequences—Part I
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter Summary
+
+
+Natural strength of the majority in democracies—Most of the American
+Constitutions have increased this strength by artificial means—How this
+has been done—Pledged delegates—Moral power of the majority—Opinion as
+to its infallibility—Respect for its rights, how augmented in the
+United States.
+
+Unlimited Power Of The Majority In The United States, And Its
+Consequences
+
+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 sought to increase this natural strength of the majority by
+artificial means. *a
+
+a
+[ We observed, in examining the Federal Constitution, that the efforts
+of the legislators of the Union had been diametrically opposed to the
+present tendency. The consequence has been that the Federal Government
+is more independent in its sphere than that of the States. But the
+Federal Government scarcely ever interferes in any but external
+affairs; and the governments of the State are in the governments of the
+States are in reality the authorities which direct society in America.]
+
+
+The legislature is, of all political institutions, the one which is
+most easily swayed by the wishes of the majority. The Americans
+determined that the members of the legislature should be elected by the
+people immediately, and for a very brief term, in order to subject
+them, not only to the general convictions, but even to the daily
+passion, of their constituents. The members of both houses are taken
+from the same class in society, and are nominated in the same manner;
+so that the modifications of the legislative 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 entrusted.
+
+But whilst the law increased the strength of those authorities which of
+themselves were strong, it enfeebled more and more those which were
+naturally weak. It deprived the representatives of the executive of all
+stability and independence, and by subjecting them completely to the
+caprices of the legislature, it robbed them of the slender influence
+which the nature of a democratic government might have allowed them to
+retain. In several States the judicial power was also submitted to the
+elective discretion of the majority, and in all of them its existence
+was made to depend on the pleasure of the legislative authority, since
+the representatives were empowered annually to regulate the stipend of
+the judges.
+
+Custom, however, has done even more than law. A proceeding which will
+in the end set all the guarantees of representative government at
+naught is becoming more and more general in the United States; it
+frequently happens that the electors, who choose a delegate, point out
+a certain line of conduct to him, and impose upon him a certain number
+of positive obligations which he is pledged to fulfil. With the
+exception of the tumult, this comes to the same thing as if the
+majority of the populace held its deliberations in the market-place.
+
+Several other circumstances concur in rendering the power of the
+majority in America not only preponderant, but irresistible. The moral
+authority of the majority is partly based upon the notion that there is
+more intelligence and more wisdom in a great number of men collected
+together than in a single individual, and that the quantity of
+legislators is more important than their quality. The theory of
+equality is in fact applied to the intellect of man: and human pride is
+thus assailed in its last retreat by a doctrine which the minority
+hesitate to admit, and in which they very slowly concur. Like all other
+powers, and perhaps more than all other powers, the authority of the
+many requires the sanction of time; at first it enforces obedience by
+constraint, but its laws are not respected until they have long been
+maintained.
+
+The right of governing society, which the majority supposes itself to
+derive from its superior intelligence, was introduced into the United
+States by the first settlers, and this idea, which would be sufficient
+of itself to create a free nation, has now been amalgamated with the
+manners of the people and the minor incidents of social intercourse.
+
+The French, under the old monarchy, held it for a maxim (which is still
+a fundamental principle of the English Constitution) that the King
+could do no wrong; and if he did do wrong, the blame was imputed to his
+advisers. This notion was highly favorable to habits of obedience, and
+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 majority must naturally increase or
+diminish according to the state of parties. When a nation is divided
+into several irreconcilable factions, 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 privileges which they had
+possessed for ages, and to bring down from an elevated station to the
+level of the ranks of the multitude, it is probable that the minority
+would be less ready to comply with its laws. But as the United States
+were colonized by men holding equal rank amongst themselves, there is
+as yet no natural or permanent source of dissension between the
+interests of its different inhabitants.
+
+There are certain communities in which the persons who constitute 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
+them. 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 right of the majority, because they all hope to turn those rights
+to their own advantage at some future time. The majority therefore in
+that country exercises a prodigious actual authority, and a moral
+influence which is scarcely less preponderant; no obstacles exist which
+can impede or so much as retard its progress, or which can induce it to
+heed the complaints of those whom it crushes upon its path. This state
+of things is fatal in itself and dangerous for the future.
+
+How The Unlimited Power Of The Majority Increases In America The
+Instability Of Legislation And Administration Inherent In Democracy The
+Americans increase the mutability of the laws which is inherent in
+democracy by changing the legislature every year, and by investing it
+with unbounded authority—The same effect is produced upon the
+administration—In America social amelioration is conducted more
+energetically but less perseveringly than in Europe.
+
+I have already spoken of the natural defects of democratic
+institutions, and they all of them increase at the exact ratio of the
+power of the majority. To begin with the most evident of them all; the
+mutability of the laws is an evil inherent in democratic government,
+because it is natural to democracies to raise men to power in very
+rapid succession. 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 legislative bodies is
+supreme; nothing prevents them from accomplishing their wishes with
+celerity, and with irresistible power, whilst they are supplied by new
+representatives every year. That is to say, the circumstances which
+contribute most powerfully to democratic instability, and which admit
+of the free application of caprice to every object in the State, are
+here in full operation. In conformity with this principle, America is,
+at the present day, the country in the world where laws last the
+shortest time. Almost all the American constitutions have been amended
+within the course of thirty years: there is therefore not a single
+American State which has not modified the principles of its legislation
+in that lapse of time. As for the laws themselves, a single glance upon
+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 democracy is naturally less stable than any other,
+but that it is allowed to follow its capricious propensities in the
+formation of the laws. *b
+
+b
+[ 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 published in 1823, when many old laws which 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 omnipotence of the majority, and the rapid as well as absolute
+manner in which its decisions are executed in the United States, has
+not only the effect of rendering the law unstable, but it exercises the
+same influence upon the execution of the law and the conduct of the
+public administration. As the majority is the only power which it is
+important to court, all its projects 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 the administration is at
+once independent and secure, so that the projects of the legislature
+are put into execution, although its immediate attention may be
+directed to other objects.
+
+In America certain ameliorations are undertaken with much more zeal and
+activity than elsewhere; in Europe the same ends are promoted by much
+less social effort, more continuously applied.
+
+Some years ago several pious individuals undertook to ameliorate the
+condition of the prisons. The public was excited by the statements
+which they put forward, and the regeneration of criminals became a very
+popular undertaking. New prisons were built, and for the first time the
+idea of reforming as well as of punishing the delinquent formed a part
+of prison discipline. But this happy alteration, in which the public
+had taken so hearty an interest, and which the exertions of the
+citizens had irresistibly accelerated, could not be completed in a
+moment. Whilst the new penitentiaries were being erected (and it was
+the pleasure of the majority that they should be terminated with all
+possible celerity), the old prisons existed, which still contained a
+great number of offenders. These jails became more unwholesome and more
+corrupt in proportion as the new establishments were beautified 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 attention was
+diverted to a novel object, the care which had hitherto been bestowed
+upon the others ceased. The salutary regulations of discipline were
+first relaxed, and afterwards broken; so that in the immediate
+neighborhood of a prison which bore witness to the mild and enlightened
+spirit of our time, dungeons might be met with which reminded the
+visitor of the barbarity of the Middle Ages.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XV: Unlimited Power Of Majority, And Its Consequences—Part II
+
+Tyranny Of The Majority
+
+How the principle of the sovereignty of the people is to be
+understood—Impossibility of conceiving a mixed government—The sovereign
+power must centre 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 an execrable maxim that, politically
+speaking, a people has a right to do whatsoever it pleases, 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 consequently
+confined within the limits of what is just. A nation may be considered
+in the light of a jury which is empowered to represent society at
+large, and to apply the great and general law of justice. Ought such a
+jury, which represents society, to have more power than the society in
+which the laws it applies originate?
+
+When I refuse to obey an unjust law, I do not contest the right which
+the majority has of commanding, but I simply appeal from the
+sovereignty of the people to the sovereignty of mankind. It has been
+asserted that a people can never entirely outstep the boundaries of
+justice and of reason in those affairs which are more peculiarly its
+own, and that consequently, full power may fearlessly be given to the
+majority by which it is represented. But this language is that of a
+slave.
+
+A majority taken collectively may be regarded as a being whose
+opinions, and most frequently whose interests, are opposed to those of
+another being, which is styled a minority. If it be admitted that a
+man, possessing absolute power, may misuse that power by wronging his
+adversaries, why should a majority not be liable to the same reproach?
+Men are not apt to change their characters by agglomeration; nor does
+their patience in the presence of obstacles increase with the
+consciousness of their strength. *c And for these reasons I can never
+willingly invest any number of my fellow-creatures with that unlimited
+authority which I should refuse to any one of them.
+
+c
+[ No one will assert that a people cannot forcibly wrong another
+people; but parties may be looked upon as lesser nations within a
+greater one, and they are aliens to each other: if, therefore, it be
+admitted that a nation can act tyrannically towards another nation, it
+cannot be denied that a party may do the same towards another party.]
+
+
+I do not think that it is possible to combine several principles in the
+same government, so as at the same time to maintain freedom, and really
+to oppose them to one another. The form of government which is usually
+termed mixed has always appeared to me to be a mere chimera. Accurately
+speaking there is no such thing as a mixed government (with the meaning
+usually given to that word), because in all communities some one
+principle of action may be discovered which preponderates over the
+others. England in the last century, which has been more especially
+cited as an example of this form of Government, was in point of fact an
+essentially aristocratic State, although it comprised very powerful
+elements of democracy; for the laws and customs of the country were
+such that the aristocracy could not but preponderate in the end, and
+subject the direction of public affairs to its own will. The error
+arose from too much attention being paid to the actual struggle which
+was going on between the nobles and the people, without considering the
+probable issue of the contest, which was in reality the important
+point. When a community really has a mixed government, that is to say,
+when it is equally divided between two adverse principles, it must
+either pass through a revolution or fall into complete dissolution.
+
+I am therefore of opinion that some one social power must always be
+made to predominate over the others; but I think that liberty is
+endangered when this power is checked by no obstacles which may retard
+its course, and force it to moderate its own vehemence.
+
+Unlimited power is in itself a bad and dangerous thing; human beings
+are not competent to exercise it with discretion, and God alone can be
+omnipotent, because His wisdom and His justice are always equal to His
+power. But no power upon earth is so worthy of honor for itself, or of
+reverential obedience to the rights which it represents, that I would
+consent to admit its uncontrolled and all-predominant authority. When I
+see that the right and the means of absolute command are conferred on a
+people or upon a king, upon an aristocracy or a democracy, a monarchy
+or a republic, I recognize the germ of tyranny, and I journey onward to
+a land of more hopeful institutions.
+
+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 overpowering strength; and I am not so
+much alarmed at the excessive liberty which reigns in that country as
+at the very inadequate securities which exist 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 its injunctions; if to the executive
+power, it is appointed by the majority, and remains a passive tool in
+its hands; the public troops consist 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 evil of which you complain may be, you
+must submit to it as well as you can. *d
+
+d
+[ A striking instance of the excesses which may be occasioned by the
+despotism of the majority occurred at Baltimore in the year 1812. At
+that time the war was very popular in Baltimore. A journal which had
+taken the other side of the question excited the indignation of the
+inhabitants by its opposition. The populace assembled, broke the
+printing-presses, and attacked the houses of the newspaper editors. The
+militia was called out, but no one obeyed the call; and the only means
+of saving the poor wretches who were threatened by the frenzy of the
+mob was to throw them into prison as common malefactors. But even this
+precaution was ineffectual; the mob collected again during the night,
+the magistrates again made a vain attempt to call out the militia, the
+prison was forced, one of the newspaper editors was killed upon the
+spot, and the others were left for dead; the guilty parties were
+acquitted by the jury when they were brought to trial.
+
+
+I said one day to an inhabitant of Pennsylvania, “Be so good as to
+explain to me how it happens that in a State founded by Quakers, and
+celebrated for its toleration, freed blacks are not allowed to exercise
+civil rights. They pay the taxes; is it not fair that they should have
+a vote?”
+
+“You insult us,” replied my informant, “if you imagine that our
+legislators could have committed so gross an act of injustice and
+intolerance.”
+
+“What! then the blacks possess the right of voting in this county?”
+
+“Without the smallest doubt.”
+
+“How comes it, then, that at the polling-booth this morning I did not
+perceive a single negro in the whole meeting?”
+
+“This is not the fault of the law: the negroes have an undisputed right
+of voting, but they voluntarily abstain from making their appearance.”
+
+“A very pretty piece of modesty on their parts!” rejoined I.
+
+“Why, the truth is, that they are not disinclined to vote, but they are
+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 privileges.”
+
+“What! then the majority claims the right not only of making the laws,
+but of breaking the laws it has made?”]
+
+If, on the other hand, a legislative power could be so constituted as
+to represent the majority without necessarily being the slave of its
+passions; an executive, so as to retain a certain degree of
+uncontrolled authority; and a judiciary, so as to remain independent of
+the two other powers; a government would be formed which would still be
+democratic without incurring any risk of tyrannical abuse.
+
+I do not say that tyrannical abuses frequently occur in America at the
+present day, but I maintain that no sure barrier is established against
+them, and that the causes which mitigate the government are to be found
+in the circumstances and the manners of the country more than in its
+laws.
+
+Effects Of The Unlimited Power Of The Majority Upon The Arbitrary
+Authority Of The American Public Officers
+
+Liberty left by the American laws to public officers within a certain
+sphere—Their power.
+
+A distinction must be drawn between tyranny and arbitrary power.
+Tyranny may be exercised by means of the law, and in that case it is
+not arbitrary; arbitrary power may be exercised for the good of the
+community at large, in which case it is not tyrannical. Tyranny usually
+employs arbitrary means, but, if necessary, it can rule without them.
+
+In the United States the unbounded power of the majority, which is
+favorable to the legal despotism of the legislature, is likewise
+favorable to the arbitrary authority of the magistrate. The majority
+has an entire control over the law when it is made and when it is
+executed; and as it possesses an equal authority over those who are in
+power and the community at large, it considers public officers as its
+passive agents, and readily confides the task of serving its designs to
+their vigilance. The details of their office and the privileges which
+they are to enjoy are rarely defined beforehand; but the majority
+treats them as a master does his servants when they are always at work
+in his sight, and he has the power of directing or reprimanding them at
+every instant.
+
+In general the American functionaries are far more independent than the
+French civil officers within the sphere which is prescribed to them.
+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 co-operation, of the majority, they venture upon such
+manifestations of their power as astonish a European. By this means
+habits are 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
+
+In America, when the majority has once irrevocably decided a question,
+all discussion ceases—Reason of this—Moral power exercised by the
+majority upon opinion—Democratic republics have deprived despotism of
+its physical instruments—Their despotism sways the minds of men.
+
+It is in the examination of the display of public opinion in the United
+States that we clearly perceive how far the power of the majority
+surpasses all the powers with which we are acquainted in Europe.
+Intellectual principles exercise an influence which is so invisible,
+and often so inappreciable, that they baffle the toils of oppression.
+At the present time the most absolute monarchs in Europe are unable to
+prevent certain notions, which are opposed to their authority, from
+circulating in secret throughout their dominions, and even in their
+courts. Such is not the case in America; as long as the majority is
+still undecided, discussion is carried on; but as soon as its decision
+is irrevocably pronounced, a submissive silence is observed, and the
+friends, as well as the opponents, of the measure unite in assenting to
+its propriety. The reason of this is perfectly clear: no monarch is so
+absolute as to combine all the powers of society in his own hands, and
+to conquer all opposition with the energy of a majority which is
+invested with the right of making and of executing the laws.
+
+The authority of a king is purely physical, and it controls the actions
+of the subject without subduing his private will; but the majority
+possesses a power which is physical and moral at the same time; it acts
+upon the will as well as upon the actions of men, and it represses not
+only all contest, but all controversy. I know no country in which there
+is so little true independence of mind and freedom of discussion as in
+America. In any constitutional state in Europe every sort of religious
+and political theory may be advocated and propagated abroad; for there
+is no country in Europe so subdued by any single authority as not to
+contain citizens who are ready to protect the man who raises his voice
+in the cause of truth from the consequences of his hardihood. If he is
+unfortunate enough to live under an absolute government, the people is
+upon his side; if he inhabits a free country, he may find a shelter
+behind the authority of the throne, if he require one. The aristocratic
+part of society supports him in some countries, and the democracy in
+others. But in a nation where democratic institutions exist, organized
+like those of the United States, there is but one sole authority, one
+single element of strength and of success, with nothing beyond it.
+
+In America the majority raises very formidable barriers to the liberty
+of opinion: within these barriers an author may write whatever he
+pleases, but he will repent it if he ever step beyond them. Not that he
+is exposed to the terrors of an auto-da-fe, but he is tormented by the
+slights and persecutions of daily obloquy. His political career is
+closed forever, since he has offended the only authority which is able
+to promote his success. Every sort of compensation, even that of
+celebrity, is refused to him. Before he published his opinions he
+imagined that he held them in common with many others; but no sooner
+has he declared them openly than he is loudly censured by his
+overbearing opponents, whilst those who think without having the
+courage to speak, like him, abandon him in silence. He yields at
+length, oppressed by the daily efforts he has been making, and he
+subsides into silence, as if he was tormented by remorse for having
+spoken the truth.
+
+Fetters and headsmen were the coarse instruments which tyranny formerly
+employed; but the civilization of our age has refined the arts of
+despotism which seemed, however, to have been sufficiently perfected
+before. The excesses of monarchical power had devised a variety of
+physical means of oppression: the democratic republics of the present
+day have rendered it as entirely an affair of the mind as that will
+which it is intended to coerce. Under the absolute sway of an
+individual despot the body was attacked in order to subdue the soul,
+and the soul escaped the blows which were directed against it and rose
+superior to the attempt; but such is not the course adopted by tyranny
+in democratic republics; there the body is left free, and the soul is
+enslaved. The sovereign can no longer say, “You shall think as I do on
+pain of death;” but he says, “You are free to think differently from
+me, and to retain your life, your property, and all that you possess;
+but if such be your determination, you are henceforth an alien 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 suffrages, and they will affect to scorn you if you
+solicit their esteem. You will remain among men, but you will be
+deprived of the rights of mankind. Your fellow-creatures will shun you
+like an impure being, and those who are most persuaded of your
+innocence will abandon you too, lest they should be shunned in their
+turn. Go in peace! I have given you your life, but it is an existence
+in comparably worse than death.”
+
+Monarchical institutions have thrown an odium upon despotism; let us
+beware lest democratic republics should restore oppression, and should
+render it less odious and less 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 deride the follies of the
+times; Labruyere inhabited the palace of Louis XIV when he composed his
+chapter upon the Great, and Moliere criticised the courtiers in the
+very pieces which were acted before the Court. But the ruling power in
+the United States is not to be made game of; the smallest reproach
+irritates its sensibility, and the slightest joke which has any
+foundation in truth renders it indignant; from the style of its
+language to the more solid virtues of its character, everything must be
+made the subject of encomium. No writer, whatever be his eminence, can
+escape from this tribute of adulation to his fellow-citizens. The
+majority lives in the perpetual practice of self-applause, and there
+are certain truths which the Americans can only learn from strangers or
+from experience.
+
+If great writers have not at present existed in America, the reason is
+very simply given in these facts; there can be no literary genius
+without freedom of opinion, and freedom of opinion 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 empire of the
+majority succeeds much better in the United States, since it actually
+removes the wish of publishing them. Unbelievers are to be met with in
+America, but, to say the truth, there is no public organ of infidelity.
+Attempts have been made by some governments to protect the morality of
+nations by prohibiting licentious books. In the United States no one is
+punished for this sort of works, but no one is induced to write them;
+not because all the citizens are immaculate in their manners, but
+because the majority of the community is decent and orderly.
+
+In these cases the advantages derived from the exercise of this power
+are unquestionable, and I am simply discussing the nature of the power
+itself. This irresistible authority is a constant fact, and its
+judicious exercise is an accidental occurrence.
+
+Effects Of The Tyranny Of The Majority Upon The National Character Of
+The Americans
+
+Effects of the tyranny of the majority more sensibly felt hitherto in
+the manners than in the conduct of society—They check the development
+of leading characters—Democratic republics organized like the United
+States bring the practice of courting favor within the reach of the
+many—Proofs of this spirit in the United States—Why there is more
+patriotism in the people than in those who govern in its name.
+
+The tendencies which I have just alluded to are as yet very slightly
+perceptible in political society, but they already begin to exercise an
+unfavorable influence upon the national character of the Americans. I
+am inclined to attribute the singular paucity of distinguished
+political characters to the ever-increasing activity of the despotism
+of the majority in the United States. When the American Revolution
+broke out they arose in great numbers, for public opinion then served,
+not to tyrannize over, but to direct the exertions of individuals.
+Those celebrated men took a full part in the general agitation of mind
+common at that period, and they attained a high degree of personal
+fame, which was reflected back upon the nation, but which was by no
+means borrowed from it.
+
+In absolute governments the great nobles who are nearest to the throne
+flatter the passions of the sovereign, and voluntarily truckle to his
+caprices. But the mass of the nation does not degrade itself by
+servitude: it often submits 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 sovereign with pleasure and
+with pride, thus exhibiting a sort of independence in the very act of
+submission. These peoples are miserable, but they are not degraded.
+There is a great difference between doing what one does not approve and
+feigning to approve what one does; the one is the necessary case of a
+weak person, the other befits the temper of a lackey.
+
+In free countries, where everyone is more or less called upon to give
+his opinion in the affairs of state; in democratic republics, where
+public life is incessantly commingled with domestic affairs, where the
+sovereign authority is accessible on every side, and where its
+attention can almost always be attracted by vociferation, more persons
+are to be met with who speculate upon its foibles and live at the cost
+of its passions than in absolute monarchies. Not because men are
+naturally worse in these States than elsewhere, but the temptation is
+stronger, and of easier access at the same time. The result is a far
+more extensive debasement of the characters of citizens.
+
+Democratic republics extend the practice of currying favor with the
+many, and they introduce it into a greater number of classes at once:
+this is one of the most serious reproaches that can be addressed to
+them. In democratic States organized on the principles of the American
+republics, this is more especially the case, where the authority of the
+majority is so absolute and so irresistible that a man must give up his
+rights as a citizen, and almost abjure his quality as a human being, if
+te intends to stray from the track which it lays down.
+
+In that immense crowd which throngs the avenues to power in the United
+States I found very few men who displayed any of that manly candor and
+that masculine independence of opinion which frequently distinguished
+the Americans in former times, and which constitutes the leading
+feature in distinguished characters, wheresoever they may be found. It
+seems, at first sight, as if all the minds of the Americans were formed
+upon one model, so accurately do they correspond in their manner of
+judging. A stranger does, indeed, sometimes meet with Americans who
+dissent from these rigorous formularies; with men who deplore the
+defects of the laws, the mutability and the ignorance of democracy; who
+even go so far as to observe the evil tendencies which impair the
+national character, and to point out such remedies as it might be
+possible to apply; but no one is there to hear these things besides
+yourself, and you, to whom these secret reflections are confided, are a
+stranger and a bird of passage. They are very ready to communicate
+truths which are useless to you, but they continue to hold a different
+language in public.
+
+If ever these lines are read in America, I am well assured 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 very many of them
+will acquit me at the bottom of their conscience.
+
+I have heard of patriotism in the United States, and it is a virtue
+which may be found 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
+has often great virtues, but the courtiers are invariably servile. It
+is true that the American courtiers do not say “Sire,” or “Your
+Majesty”—a distinction without a difference. They are forever talking
+of the natural intelligence of the populace they serve; they do not
+debate the question as to which of the virtues of their master is
+pre-eminently worthy of admiration, for they assure him that he
+possesses all the virtues under heaven without having acquired them, or
+without caring to acquire them; they do not give him their daughters
+and their wives to be raised at his pleasure to the rank of his
+concubines, but, by sacrificing their opinions, they prostitute
+themselves. Moralists and philosophers 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
+which we are addressing is too superior to all the weaknesses of human
+nature to lose the command of its temper for an instant; and we should
+not hold this language if we were not speaking to men whom their
+virtues and their intelligence render more worthy of freedom than all
+the rest of the world.” It would have been impossible for the
+sycophants of Louis XIV to 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 cling to power. The
+only means of preventing men from degrading themselves is to invest no
+one with that unlimited authority which is the surest method of
+debasing them.
+
+The Greatest Dangers Of The American Republics Proceed From The
+Unlimited Power Of The Majority
+
+Democratic republics liable to perish from a misuse of their power, and
+not by impotence—The Governments of the American republics are more
+centralized and more energetic than those of the monarchies of
+Europe—Dangers resulting from this—Opinions of Hamilton and Jefferson
+upon this point.
+
+Governments usually fall a sacrifice to impotence or to tyranny. In the
+former case their power escapes from them; it is wrested from their
+grasp in the latter. Many observers, who have witnessed the anarchy of
+democratic States, have imagined that the government of those States
+was naturally weak and impotent. The truth is, that when once
+hostilities are begun between parties, the government loses its control
+over society. But I do not think that a democratic power is naturally
+without force or without resources: say, rather, that it is almost
+always by the abuse of its force and the misemployment of its resources
+that a democratic government fails. Anarchy is almost always produced
+by its tyranny or its mistakes, but not by its want of strength.
+
+It is important not to confound stability with force, or the greatness
+of a thing with its duration. In democratic republics, the power which
+directs *e society is not stable; for it often changes hands and
+assumes a new direction. But whichever way it turns, its force is
+almost irresistible. The Governments of the American republics appear
+to me to be as much centralized as those of the absolute monarchies of
+Europe, and more energetic than they are. I do not, therefore, imagine
+that they will perish from weakness. *f
+
+e
+[ This power may be centred in an assembly, in which case it will be
+strong without being stable; or it may be centred in an individual, in
+which case it will be less strong, but more stable.]
+
+
+f
+[ I presume that it is scarcely necessary to remind the reader here, as
+well as throughout the remainder of this chapter, that I am speaking,
+not of the Federal Government, but of the several governments of each
+State, which the majority controls at its pleasure.]
+
+
+If ever the free institutions of America are destroyed, that event may
+be attributed to the unlimited authority of the majority, which may at
+some future time urge the minorities to desperation, and oblige them to
+have recourse to physical force. Anarchy will then be the result, but
+it will have been brought about by despotism.
+
+Mr. Hamilton expresses the same opinion in the “Federalist,” No. 51.
+“It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard the society
+against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the
+society against the injustice 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 unite and oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said
+to reign as in a state of nature, where the weaker individual is not
+secured against the violence of the stronger: and as in the latter
+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 the former state will the more powerful
+factions be gradually induced by a like motive to wish for a government
+which 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 separated from the Confederacy and left to itself, the insecurity
+of right under the popular form of government within such narrow limits
+would be displayed by such reiterated oppressions of the factious
+majorities, that some power altogether independent of the people would
+soon be called for by the voice of the very factions whose misrule had
+proved the necessity of it.”
+
+Jefferson has also thus expressed himself in a letter to Madison: *g
+“The executive power in our Government is not the only, perhaps not
+even the principal, 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 tyranny of the executive power
+will come in its turn, but at a more distant period.” I am glad to cite
+the opinion of Jefferson upon this subject rather than that of another,
+because I consider him to be the most powerful advocate democracy has
+ever sent forth.
+
+g
+[ March 15, 1789.]
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVI: Causes Mitigating Tyranny In The United States—Part I
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter Summary
+
+
+The national majority does not pretend to conduct all business—Is
+obliged to employ the town and county magistrates to execute its
+supreme decisions.
+
+I have already pointed out the distinction which is to be made between
+a centralized government and a centralized administration. The former
+exists in America, but the latter is nearly unknown there. If the
+directing power of the American communities had both these instruments
+of government at its disposal, and united the habit of executing its
+own commands to the right of commanding; if, after having established
+the general principles of government, it descended to the details of
+public business; and if, having regulated the great interests of the
+country, it could penetrate into the privacy of individual interests,
+freedom would soon be banished from the New World.
+
+But in the United States the majority, which so frequently displays the
+tastes and the propensities of a despot, is still destitute of the more
+perfect instruments of tyranny. In the American republics the activity
+of the central Government has never as yet been extended beyond a
+limited number of objects sufficiently prominent to call forth its
+attention. The secondary affairs of society have never been regulated
+by its authority, and nothing has hitherto betrayed its desire of
+interfering in them. The majority is become more and more absolute, but
+it has not increased the prerogatives of the central government; those
+great prerogatives have been confined to a certain sphere; and although
+the despotism of the majority may be galling upon one point, it cannot
+be said to extend to all. However the predominant party in the nation
+may be carried away by its passions, however ardent it may be in the
+pursuit of its projects, it cannot oblige all the citizens to comply
+with its desires in the same manner and at the same time throughout the
+country. When the central Government which represents that majority has
+issued a decree, it must entrust the execution of its will to agents,
+over whom it frequently has no control, and whom it cannot perpetually
+direct. The townships, municipal bodies, and counties may therefore be
+looked upon as concealed break-waters, which check or part the tide of
+popular excitement. If an oppressive law were passed, the liberties of
+the people would still be protected by the means by which that law
+would be put in execution: the majority cannot descend to the details
+and (as I will venture to style them) the puerilities of administrative
+tyranny. Nor does the people entertain that full consciousness of its
+authority which would prompt it to interfere in these matters; it knows
+the extent of its natural powers, but it is unacquainted with the
+increased resources which the art of government might furnish.
+
+This point deserves attention, for if a democratic republic similar to
+that of the United States were ever founded in a country where the
+power of a single individual had previously subsisted, and the effects
+of a centralized administration had sunk deep into the habits and the
+laws of the people, I do not hesitate to assert, that in that country a
+more insufferable despotism would prevail than any which now exists in
+the monarchical States of Europe, or indeed than any which could be
+found on this side of the confines of Asia.
+
+The Profession Of The Law In The United States Serves To Counterpoise
+The Democracy
+
+Utility of discriminating the natural propensities of the members of
+the legal profession—These men called upon to act a prominent part in
+future society—In what manner the peculiar pursuits of lawyers give an
+aristocratic turn to their ideas—Accidental causes which may check this
+tendency—Ease with which the aristocracy coalesces with legal men—Use
+of lawyers to a despot—The profession of the law constitutes the only
+aristocratic element with which the natural elements of democracy will
+combine—Peculiar causes which tend to give an aristocratic turn of mind
+to the English and American lawyers—The aristocracy of America is on
+the bench and at the bar—Influence of lawyers upon American
+society—Their peculiar magisterial habits affect the legislature, the
+administration, and even the people.
+
+In visiting the Americans and in studying their laws we perceive that
+the authority they have entrusted to members of the legal profession,
+and the influence which these individuals exercise in the Government,
+is the most powerful existing security against the excesses of
+democracy. This effect seems to me to result from a general cause which
+it is useful to investigate, since it may produce analogous
+consequences elsewhere.
+
+The members of the legal profession have taken an important part in all
+the vicissitudes of political society in Europe during the last five
+hundred years. At one time they have been the instruments of those who
+were invested with political authority, and at another they have
+succeeded in converting political authorities into their instrument. In
+the Middle Ages they afforded a powerful support to the Crown, and
+since that period they have exerted themselves to the utmost to limit
+the royal prerogative. In England they have contracted a close alliance
+with the aristocracy; in France they have proved to be the most
+dangerous enemies of that class. It is my object to inquire whether,
+under all these circumstances, the members of the legal profession have
+been swayed by sudden and momentary impulses; or whether they have been
+impelled by principles which are inherent in their pursuits, and which
+will always recur in history. I am incited to this investigation by
+reflecting that this particular class of men will most likely play a
+prominent part in that order of things to which the events of our time
+are giving birth.
+
+Men who have more especially devoted themselves to legal pursuits
+derive from those occupations certain habits of order, a taste for
+formalities, and a kind of instinctive regard for the regular
+connection of ideas, which naturally render them very hostile to the
+revolutionary spirit and the unreflecting passions of the multitude.
+
+The special information which lawyers derive from their studies ensures
+them a separate station in society, and they constitute a sort of
+privileged body in the scale of intelligence. This notion of their
+superiority perpetually recurs to them in the practice of their
+profession: they are the masters of a science which is necessary, but
+which is not very generally known; they serve as arbiters between the
+citizens; and the habit of directing the blind passions of parties in
+litigation to their purpose inspires them with a certain contempt for
+the judgment of the multitude. To this it may be added that they
+naturally constitute a body, not by any previous understanding, or by
+an agreement which directs them to a common end; but the analogy of
+their studies and the uniformity of their proceedings connect their
+minds together, as much as a common interest could combine their
+endeavors.
+
+A portion of the tastes and of the habits of the aristocracy may
+consequently be discovered in the characters of men in the profession
+of the law. They participate in the same instinctive love of order and
+of formalities; and they entertain the same repugnance to the actions
+of the multitude, and the 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 the advantages
+of the moment.
+
+In a state of society in which the members of the legal profession are
+prevented from holding that rank in the political world which they
+enjoy in private life, we may rest assured that they will be the
+foremost agents of revolution. But it must then be inquired whether the
+cause which induces them to innovate and to destroy is accidental, or
+whether it belongs to some lasting purpose which they entertain. It is
+true that lawyers mainly contributed to the overthrow of the French
+monarchy in 1789; but it remains to be seen whether they acted thus
+because they had studied the laws, or because they were prohibited from
+co-operating in the work of legislation.
+
+Five hundred years ago the English nobles headed the people, and spoke
+in its name; at the present time the aristocracy supports the throne,
+and defends the royal prerogative. But aristocracy has, notwithstanding
+this, its peculiar instincts and propensities. We must be careful not
+to confound isolated members of a body with the body itself. In all
+free governments, of whatsoever form they may be, members of the legal
+profession will be found at the head of all parties. The same remark is
+also applicable to the aristocracy; for almost all the democratic
+convulsions which have agitated the world have been directed by nobles.
+
+A privileged body can never satisfy the ambition of all its members; it
+has always more talents and more passions to content and to employ than
+it can find places; so that a considerable number of individuals are
+usually to be met with who are inclined to attack those very privileges
+which they find it impossible to 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 usually are so. In a community in which
+lawyers are allowed to occupy, without opposition, that high station
+which naturally belongs to them, their general spirit will be eminently
+conservative and anti-democratic. When an aristocracy excludes the
+leaders of that profession from its ranks, it excites enemies which are
+the more formidable to its security as they are independent of the
+nobility by their industrious pursuits; and they feel themselves to be
+its equal in point of intelligence, although they enjoy less opulence
+and less power. But whenever an aristocracy consents to impart some of
+its privileges to these same individuals, the two classes coalesce very
+readily, and assume, as it were, the consistency of a single order of
+family interests.
+
+I am, in like manner, inclined to believe that a monarch will always be
+able to convert legal practitioners into the most serviceable
+instruments of his authority. There is a far greater affinity between
+this class of individuals and the executive power than there is between
+them and the people; just as there is a greater natural affinity
+between the nobles and the monarch than between the nobles and the
+people, although the higher orders of society have occasionally
+resisted the prerogative of the Crown in concert with the lower
+classes.
+
+Lawyers are attached to public order beyond every other consideration,
+and the best security of public order is authority. It must not be
+forgotten that, if they prize the free institutions of their country
+much, they nevertheless value the legality of those institutions far
+more: they are less afraid of tyranny than of arbitrary power; and
+provided that the legislature take upon itself to deprive men of their
+independence, they are not dissatisfied.
+
+I am therefore convinced that the prince who, in presence of an
+encroaching democracy, should endeavor to impair the judicial authority
+in his dominions, and to diminish the political influence of lawyers,
+would commit a great mistake. He would let slip the substance of
+authority to grasp at the shadow. He would act more wisely in
+introducing men connected with the law into the government; and if he
+entrusted them with the conduct of a despotic power, bearing some marks
+of violence, that power would most likely assume the external features
+of justice and of legality in their hands.
+
+The government of democracy is favorable to the political power of
+lawyers; for when the wealthy, the noble, and the prince are excluded
+from the government, they are sure to occupy the highest stations, in
+their own right, as it were, since they are the only men of information
+and sagacity, beyond the sphere of the people, who can be the object of
+the popular choice. If, then, they are led by their tastes to combine
+with the aristocracy and to support the Crown, they are naturally
+brought into contact with the people by their interests. They like the
+government of democracy, without participating in its propensities and
+without imitating its weaknesses; whence they derive a twofold
+authority, from it and over it. The people in democratic states does
+not mistrust the members of the legal profession, because it is well
+known that they are interested in serving the popular cause; and it
+listens to them without irritation, because it does not attribute to
+them any sinister designs. The object of lawyers is not, indeed, to
+overthrow the institutions of democracy, but they constantly endeavor
+to give it an impulse which diverts it from its real tendency, by means
+which are foreign to its nature. Lawyers belong to the people by birth
+and interest, to the aristocracy by habit and by taste, and they may be
+looked upon as the natural bond and 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 natural elements of democracy,
+and which can be advantageously and permanently combined with them. I
+am not unacquainted with the defects which are inherent in the
+character of that body of men; but without this admixture of
+lawyer-like sobriety with the democratic principle, I question whether
+democratic institutions could long be maintained, and I cannot believe
+that a republic could subsist at the present time if the influence of
+lawyers in public business did not increase in proportion to the power
+of the people.
+
+This aristocratic character, which I hold to be common to the legal
+profession, is much more distinctly marked in the United States and in
+England than in any other country. This proceeds not only from the
+legal studies of the English and American lawyers, but from the nature
+of the legislation, and the position which those persons occupy in the
+two countries. The English and the Americans have retained the law of
+precedents; that is to say, they continue to found their legal opinions
+and the decisions of their courts upon the opinions and the decisions
+of their forefathers. In the mind of an English or American lawyer a
+taste and a reverence for what is old is almost always united to a love
+of regular and lawful proceedings.
+
+This predisposition has another effect upon the character of the legal
+profession and upon the general course of society. The English and
+American lawyers investigate what has been done; the French advocate
+inquires what should have been done; the former produce precedents, the
+latter reasons. A French observer is surprised to hear how often an
+English or an American lawyer quotes the opinions of others, and how
+little he alludes to his own; whilst the reverse occurs in France.
+There the most trifling litigation is never conducted without the
+introduction of an entire system of ideas peculiar to the counsel
+employed; and the fundamental principles of law are discussed in order
+to obtain a perch of land by the decision of the court. This abnegation
+of his own opinion, and this implicit deference to the opinion of his
+forefathers, which are common to the English and American lawyer, this
+subjection of thought which he is obliged to profess, necessarily give
+him more timid habits and more sluggish inclinations in England and
+America than in France.
+
+The French codes are often difficult of comprehension, but they can be
+read by every one; nothing, on the other hand, can be more impenetrable
+to the uninitiated than a legislation founded upon precedents. The
+indispensable want of legal assistance which is felt in England and in
+the United States, and the high opinion which is generally entertained
+of the ability of the legal profession, tend to separate it more and
+more from the people, and to place it in a distinct class. The French
+lawyer is simply a man extensively acquainted with the statutes of his
+country; but the English or American lawyer resembles the hierophants
+of Egypt, for, like them, he is the sole interpreter of an occult
+science.
+
+The station which lawyers occupy in England and America exercises no
+less an influence upon their habits and their 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 of authority upon the members of the legal profession. In English
+society lawyers do not occupy the first rank, but they are contented
+with the station assigned to them; they constitute, as it were, the
+younger branch of the English aristocracy, and they are attached to
+their elder brothers, although they do not enjoy all their privileges.
+The English lawyers consequently mingle the taste and the ideas of the
+aristocratic circles in which they move with the aristocratic interests
+of their profession.
+
+And indeed the lawyer-like character which I am endeavoring 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
+necessary to modify them in any respect, or to adapt them the changes
+which time operates in society, recourse is had to the most
+inconceivable contrivances in order to uphold the traditionary fabric,
+and to maintain that nothing has been done which does not square with
+the intentions and complete the labors of former generations. The very
+individuals who conduct these changes disclaim all intention of
+innovation, and they had rather resort to absurd expedients than plead
+guilty to so great a crime. This spirit appertains more especially to
+the English lawyers; they seem indifferent to the real meaning of what
+they treat, and they direct all their attention to the letter, seeming
+inclined to infringe the rules of common sense and of humanity rather
+than to swerve one title from the law. The English legislation may be
+compared to the stock of an old tree, upon which lawyers have engrafted
+the most various shoots, with the hope that, although their fruits may
+differ, their foliage at least will be confounded with the venerable
+trunk which supports them all.
+
+In America there are no nobles or men of letters, and the people is apt
+to mistrust the wealthy; lawyers consequently form the highest
+political class, and the most cultivated circle of society. They have
+therefore nothing to gain by innovation, which adds a conservative
+interest to their natural taste for public order. If I were asked where
+I place the American aristocracy, I should reply without hesitation
+that it is not composed of the rich, who are united together 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, counterpoise to the democratic element. In
+that country we perceive how eminently the legal profession is
+qualified by its powers, and even by its defects, to neutralize the
+vices which are inherent in popular government. When the American
+people is intoxicated by passion, or carried away by the impetuosity of
+its ideas, it is checked and stopped by the almost invisible influence
+of its legal counsellors, who secretly oppose their aristocratic
+propensities to its democratic instincts, their superstitious
+attachment to what is antique to its love of novelty, their narrow
+views to its immense designs, and their habitual procrastination to its
+ardent impatience.
+
+The courts of justice are the most visible organs by which the legal
+profession is enabled to control the democracy. The judge is a lawyer,
+who, independently of the taste for regularity and order which he has
+contracted in the study of legislation, derives an additional love of
+stability from his own inalienable functions. His legal attainments
+have already raised him to a distinguished rank amongst his
+fellow-citizens; his political power completes the distinction of his
+station, and gives him the inclinations natural to privileged classes.
+
+Armed with the power of declaring the laws to be unconstitutional, *a
+the American magistrate perpetually interferes in political affairs. He
+cannot force the people to make laws, but at least he can oblige it not
+to disobey its own enactments; or to act inconsistently with its own
+principles. I am aware that a secret tendency to diminish the judicial
+power exists in the United States, and by most of the constitutions of
+the several States the Government can, upon the demand of the two
+houses of the legislature, remove the judges from their station. By
+some other constitutions the members of the tribunals are elected, 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
+the attack which is made upon the judicial power has affected the
+democratic republic itself.
+
+a
+[ See chapter VI. on the “Judicial Power in the United States.”]
+
+
+It must not, however, be supposed that the legal spirit of which I have
+been speaking has been confined, in the United States, to the courts of
+justice; it extends far beyond them. As the lawyers constitute the only
+enlightened class which the people does not mistrust, they are
+naturally called upon to occupy most of the public stations. They fill
+the legislative assemblies, and they conduct the administration; they
+consequently exercise a powerful influence upon the formation of the
+law, and upon its execution. The lawyers are, however, obliged to yield
+to the current of public opinion, which is too strong for them to
+resist it, but it is easy to find indications of what their conduct
+would be if they were free to act as they chose. The Americans, who
+have made such copious innovations in their political legislation, have
+introduced very sparing alterations in their civil laws, and that with
+great difficulty, although those laws are frequently repugnant to their
+social condition. The reason of this is, that in matters of civil law
+the majority is obliged to defer to the authority of the legal
+profession, and that the American lawyers are disinclined to innovate
+when they are left to their own choice.
+
+It is curious for a Frenchman, accustomed to a very different state of
+things, to hear the perpetual complaints which are made in the United
+States against the stationary propensities of legal men, and their
+prejudices in favor of existing institutions.
+
+The influence of the legal habits which are common in America extends
+beyond the limits I have just pointed out. Scarcely any question arises
+in the United States which does not become, sooner or later, a subject
+of judicial debate; hence all parties are obliged to borrow the ideas,
+and even the language, usual in judicial proceedings in their daily
+controversies. As most public men are, or have been, legal
+practitioners, they introduce the customs and technicalities of their
+profession into the affairs of the country. The jury extends this
+habitude to all classes. The language of the law thus becomes, in some
+measure, a vulgar tongue; the spirit of the law, which is produced in
+the schools and courts of justice, gradually penetrates beyond their
+walls into the bosom of society, where it descends to the lowest
+classes, so that the whole people contracts the habits and the tastes
+of the magistrate. The lawyers of the United States form a party which
+is but little feared and scarcely perceived, which has no badge
+peculiar to itself, which adapts itself with great flexibility to the
+exigencies of the time, and accommodates itself to all the movements of
+the social body; but this party extends over the whole community, and
+it penetrates into all classes of society; it acts upon the country
+imperceptibly, but it finally fashions it to suit its purposes.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVI: Causes Mitigating Tyranny In The United States—Part II
+
+Trial By Jury In The United States Considered As A Political
+Institution
+
+Trial by jury, which is one of the instruments of the sovereignty of
+the people, deserves to be compared with the other laws which establish
+that sovereignty—Composition of the jury in the United States—Effect of
+trial by jury upon the national character—It educates the people—It
+tends to establish the authority of the magistrates and to extend a
+knowledge of law among the people.
+
+Since I have been led by my subject to recur to the administration of
+justice in the United States, I will not pass over this point 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 entered into my present purpose to inquire
+how far trial by jury (more especially in civil cases) contributes to
+insure the best administration of justice, I admit that its utility
+might be contested. As the jury was first introduced at a time when
+society was in an uncivilized state, and when courts of justice were
+merely called upon to decide on the evidence of facts, it is not an
+easy task to adapt it to the wants of a highly civilized community when
+the mutual relations of men are multiplied to a surprising extent, and
+have assumed the enlightened and intellectual character of the age. *b
+
+b
+[ The investigation of trial by jury as a judicial institution, and the
+appreciation of its effects in the United States, together with the
+advantages the Americans have derived from it, would suffice to form a
+book, and a book upon a very useful and curious subject. The State of
+Louisiana would in particular afford the curious phenomenon of a French
+and English legislation, as well as a French and English population,
+which are gradually combining with each other. See the “Digeste des
+Lois de la Louisiane,” in two volumes; and the “Traite sur les Regles
+des Actions civiles,” printed in French and English at New Orleans in
+1830.]
+
+
+My present object is to consider the jury as a political institution,
+and any other course would divert me from my subject. Of trial by jury,
+considered as a judicial institution, I shall here say but very few
+words. When the English adopted trial by jury they were a
+semi-barbarous people; they are become, in course of time, one of the
+most enlightened nations of the earth; and their attachment to this
+institution seems to have increased with their increasing cultivation.
+They soon spread beyond their insular boundaries to every corner of the
+habitable globe; some have formed colonies, others independent states;
+the mother-country has maintained its monarchical constitution; many of
+its offspring have founded powerful republics; but wherever the English
+have been they have boasted of the privilege of trial by jury. *c They
+have established it, or hastened to re-establish it, in all their
+settlements. A judicial institution which obtains the suffrages of a
+great people for so long a series of ages, which is zealously renewed
+at every epoch of civilization, in all the climates of the earth and
+under every form of human government, cannot be contrary to the spirit
+of justice. *d
+
+c
+[ All the English and American jurists are unanimous upon this head.
+Mr. Story, judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, speaks, in
+his “Treatise on the Federal Constitution,” of the advantages of trial
+by jury in civil cases:—“The inestimable privilege of a trial by jury
+in civil cases—a privilege scarcely inferior to that in criminal cases,
+which is counted by all persons to be essential to political and civil
+liberty. . . .” (Story, book iii., chap. xxxviii.)]
+
+
+d
+[ If it were our province to point out the utility of the jury as a
+judicial institution in this place, much might be said, and the
+following arguments might be brought forward amongst others:—
+
+By introducing the jury into the business of the courts you are enabled
+to diminish the number of judges, which is a very great advantage. When
+judges are very numerous, death is perpetually thinning the ranks of
+the judicial functionaries, and laying places vacant for newcomers. The
+ambition of the magistrates is therefore continually excited, and they
+are naturally made dependent upon the will of the majority, or the
+individual who fills up the vacant appointments; the officers of the
+court then rise like the officers of an army. This state of things is
+entirely contrary to the sound administration of justice, and to the
+intentions of the legislator. The office of a judge is made inalienable
+in order that he may remain independent: but of what advantage is it
+that his independence should be protected if he be tempted to sacrifice
+it of his own accord? When judges are very numerous many of them must
+necessarily be incapable of performing their important duties, for a
+great magistrate is a man of no common powers; and I am inclined to
+believe that a half-enlightened tribunal is the worst of all
+instruments for attaining those objects which it is the purpose of
+courts of justice to accomplish. For my own part, I had rather submit
+the decision of a case 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 turn, however, from this part of the subject. To look upon the jury
+as a mere judicial institution is to confine our attention to a very
+narrow view of it; for however great its influence may be upon the
+decisions of the law courts, that influence is very subordinate to the
+powerful effects which it produces on the destinies of the community at
+large. The jury is above all a political institution, and it must be
+regarded in this light in order to be duly appreciated.
+
+By the jury I mean a certain number of citizens chosen
+indiscriminately, and invested with a temporary right of judging. Trial
+by jury, as applied to the repression of crime, appears to me to
+introduce an eminently republican element into the government upon the
+following grounds:—
+
+The institution of the jury may be aristocratic or democratic,
+according to the class of society from which the jurors are selected;
+but it always preserves its republican character, inasmuch as it places
+the real direction of society in the hands of the governed, or of a
+portion of the governed, instead of leaving it under the authority of
+the Government. Force is never more than a transient element of
+success; and after force comes the notion of right. A government which
+should only be able to crush its enemies upon a field of battle would
+very soon be destroyed. The true sanction of political laws is to be
+found in penal legislation, and if that sanction be wanting the law
+will sooner or later lose its cogency. He who punishes infractions of
+the law 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 judicial authority. The institution of the jury
+consequently invests the people, or that class of citizens, with the
+direction of society. *e
+
+e
+[ An important remark must, however, be made. Trial by jury does
+unquestionably invest the people with a general control over the
+actions of citizens, but it does 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 people were predisposed to convict, the composition and the
+non-responsibility of the jury would still afford some chances
+favorable to the protection of innocence.]
+
+
+In England the jury is returned from the aristocratic portion of the
+nation; *f the aristocracy makes the laws, applies the laws, and
+punishes all infractions of the laws; everything is established upon a
+consistent footing, and England may with truth be said to constitute an
+aristocratic republic. In the United States the same system is applied
+to the whole people. Every American citizen is qualified to be an
+elector, a juror, and is eligible to office. *g The system of the jury,
+as it is understood in America, appears to me to be as direct and as
+extreme a consequence of the sovereignty of the people as universal
+suffrage. These institutions are two instruments of equal power, which
+contribute to the supremacy of the majority. All the sovereigns who
+have chosen to govern by their own authority, and to direct society
+instead of obeying its directions, have destroyed or enfeebled the
+institution of the jury. The monarchs of the House of Tudor sent to
+prison jurors who refused to convict, and Napoleon caused them to be
+returned by his agents.
+
+f
+[ [This may be true to some extent of special juries, but not of common
+juries. The author seems not to have been aware that the qualifications
+of jurors in England vary exceedingly.]]
+
+
+g
+[ See Appendix, Q.]
+
+
+However clear most of these truths may seem to be, they do not command
+universal assent, and in France, at least, the institution of trial by
+jury is still very imperfectly understood. If the question arises as to
+the proper qualification of jurors, it is confined to a discussion of
+the intelligence and knowledge of the citizens who may be returned, as
+if the jury was merely a judicial institution. This appears to me to be
+the least part of the subject. The jury is pre-eminently a political
+institution; it must be regarded as one form of the sovereignty of the
+people; when that sovereignty is repudiated, it must be rejected, or it
+must be adapted to the laws by which that sovereignty is established.
+The jury is that portion of the nation to which the execution of the
+laws is entrusted, as the Houses of Parliament constitute that part of
+the nation which makes the laws; and in order that society may be
+governed with consistency and uniformity, the list of citizens
+qualified to serve on juries must increase and diminish with the list
+of electors. This I hold to be the point of view most worthy of the
+attention of the legislator, and 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 unstable unless they are founded upon
+the manners of a nation; manners are the only durable and resisting
+power in a people. When the jury is reserved for criminal offences, the
+people only witnesses its occasional action in certain particular
+cases; the ordinary course of life goes on without its interference,
+and it is considered as an instrument, but not as the only instrument,
+of obtaining justice. This is true a fortiori when the jury is only
+applied to certain criminal causes.
+
+When, on the contrary, the influence of the jury is extended to civil
+causes, its application is constantly palpable; it affects all the
+interests of the community; everyone co-operates in its work: it thus
+penetrates into all the usages of life, it fashions the human mind to
+its peculiar forms, and is gradually associated with the idea of
+justice itself.
+
+The institution of the jury, if confined to criminal causes, is always
+in danger, but when once it is introduced into civil proceedings it
+defies the aggressions of time and of man. If it had been as easy to
+remove the jury from the manners as from the laws of England, it would
+have perished under Henry VIII, and Elizabeth, and the civil jury did
+in reality, at that period, save the liberties of the country. In
+whatever manner the jury be applied, it cannot fail to exercise a
+powerful influence upon the national character; but this influence is
+prodigiously increased when it is introduced into civil causes. The
+jury, and more especially the jury in civil cases, serves to
+communicate the spirit of the judges to the minds of all the citizens;
+and this spirit, with the habits 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 is reduced to a mere
+destructive passion. It teaches men to practice 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 civil action brought against him. The
+jury teaches every man not to recoil before the responsibility of his
+own actions, and impresses him with that manly confidence without which
+political virtue cannot 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 the
+Government. By obliging men to turn their attention to affairs which
+are not exclusively their own, it rubs off that individual egotism
+which is the rust of society.
+
+The jury contributes most powerfully to form the judgement and to
+increase the natural intelligence of a people, and this is, in my
+opinion, its greatest advantage. It may be regarded as a gratuitous
+public school ever open, in which every juror learns to exercise his
+rights, enters into daily communication with the most learned and
+enlightened members of the upper classes, and becomes practically
+acquainted with the laws of his country, which are brought within the
+reach of his capacity by the efforts of the bar, the 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 are
+in litigation; but I am certain it is highly beneficial to those who
+decide the litigation; and I look upon it as one of the most
+efficacious means for the education of the people which society can
+employ.
+
+What I have hitherto said applies to all nations, but the remark I am
+now about to make is peculiar to the Americans and to democratic
+peoples. I have already observed that in democracies the members of the
+legal profession and the magistrates constitute the only aristocratic
+body which can check the irregularities of the people. This aristocracy
+is invested with no physical power, but 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 armed against a single individual, the jury is apt to
+look upon the judge as the passive instrument of social power, and to
+mistrust his advice. Moreover, criminal causes are entirely founded
+upon the evidence of 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 their intelligence is completely under the control of his
+learning. It is the judge who sums up the various arguments with which
+their memory has been wearied out, and who guides them through the
+devious course of the proceedings; he points their attention to the
+exact question of fact which they are called upon to solve, and he puts
+the answer to the question of law into their mouths. His influence upon
+their verdict is almost unlimited.
+
+If I am called upon to explain why I am but little moved by the
+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 question of fact, the jury has only the semblance of a
+judicial body. The jury sanctions the decision of the judge, they by
+the authority of society which they represent, and he by that of reason
+and of law. *h
+
+h
+[ See Appendix, R.]
+
+
+In England and in America the judges exercise an influence upon
+criminal trials which the French judges have never possessed. The
+reason of this difference may easily be discovered; the English and
+American magistrates establish their authority in civil causes, and
+only transfer it afterwards to tribunals of another kind, where that
+authority was not acquired. In some cases (and they are frequently the
+most important ones) the American judges have the right of deciding
+causes alone. *i Upon these occasions they are accidentally placed in
+the position which the French judges habitually occupy, but they are
+invested with far more power than the latter; they are still surrounded
+by the reminiscence of the jury, and their judgment has almost as much
+authority as the voice of the community at large, represented by that
+institution. Their influence extends beyond the limits of the courts;
+in the recreations of private life as well as in the turmoil of public
+business, abroad 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 the habits
+of thought and the characters of the individuals who took a part in his
+judgment.
+
+i
+[ The Federal judges decide upon their own authority almost all the
+questions most important to the country.]
+
+
+The jury, then, which seems to restrict the rights of magistracy, does
+in reality consolidate its power, and in no country are the judges so
+powerful as there, where the people partakes their privileges. It is
+more especially by means of the jury in civil causes that the American
+magistrates imbue all classes of society with the spirit of their
+profession. Thus the jury, which is the most energetic means of making
+the people rule, is also the most efficacious means of teaching it to
+rule well.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic
+ Republic—Part I
+
+
+Principal Causes Which Tend To Maintain The Democratic Republic In The
+United States
+
+A democratic republic subsists in the United States, and the principal
+object of this book has been to account for the fact of its existence.
+Several of the causes which contribute to maintain the institutions of
+America have been involuntarily passed by or only hinted at as I was
+borne along by my subject. Others I have been unable to discuss, and
+those on which I have dwelt most are, as it were, buried in the details
+of the former parts of this work. I think, therefore, that before I
+proceed to speak of the future, I cannot do better than collect within
+a small compass the reasons which best explain the present. In this
+retrospective chapter I shall be succinct, for I shall take care to
+remind the reader very summarily of what he already knows; and I shall
+only select 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 Providence has placed
+the Americans.
+
+II. The laws.
+
+III. The manners and customs of the people.
+
+Accidental Or Providential Causes Which Contribute To The Maintenance
+Of The Democratic Republic In The United States The Union has no
+neighbors—No metropolis—The Americans have had the chances of birth in
+their favor—America an empty country—How this circumstance contributes
+powerfully to the maintenance of the democratic republic in America—How
+the American wilds are peopled—Avidity of the Anglo-Americans in taking
+possession of the solitudes of the New World—Influence of physical
+prosperity upon the political opinions of the Americans.
+
+A thousand circumstances, independent of the will of man, concur to
+facilitate the maintenance of a democratic republic in the United
+States. Some of these peculiarities are known, the others may easily be
+pointed out; but I shall confine myself to the most prominent amongst
+them.
+
+The Americans have no neighbors, and consequently they have no great
+wars, or financial crises, or inroads, or conquest to dread; they
+require neither great taxes, nor great 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
+impossible to deny the inconceivable influence which military glory
+exercises upon the spirit of a nation. General Jackson, whom the
+Americans have twice elected to the head of their Government, is a man
+of a violent temper and mediocre talents; no one circumstance in the
+whole course of his career ever proved that he is qualified to govern a
+free people, and indeed the majority of the enlightened classes of the
+Union has always been opposed to him. But he was raised to the
+Presidency, and has been maintained in that lofty station, solely by
+the recollection of a victory which he gained twenty years ago under
+the walls of New Orleans, a victory which was, however, a very ordinary
+achievement, and which could only be remembered in a country where
+battles are rare. Now the people which is thus carried away by the
+illusions of glory is unquestionably the most cold and calculating, the
+most unmilitary (if I may use the expression), and the most prosaic of
+all the peoples of the earth.
+
+America has no great capital *a city, whose influence is directly or
+indirectly felt over the whole extent of the country, which I hold to
+be one of the first causes of the maintenance of republican
+institutions in the United States. In cities men cannot be prevented
+from concerting together, and from awakening a mutual excitement which
+prompts sudden and passionate resolutions. Cities may be looked upon as
+large assemblies, of which all the inhabitants are members; their
+populace exercises a prodigious influence upon the magistrates, and
+frequently executes its own wishes without their intervention.
+
+a
+[ The United States have no metropolis, but they already contain
+several very large cities. Philadelphia reckoned 161,000 inhabitants
+and New York 202,000 in the year 1830. The lower orders which inhabit
+these cities constitute a rabble even more formidable than the populace
+of European towns. They consist of freed blacks in the first place, who
+are condemned by the laws and by public opinion to a hereditary state
+of misery and degradation. They also contain a multitude of Europeans
+who 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 bringing with them any of those
+interests which counteract their baneful influence. As inhabitants of a
+country where they have no civil rights, they are ready to turn all the
+passions which agitate 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, whilst it remains under the control
+of the majority of the nation, will be independent of the town
+population, and able to repress its excesses.
+
+
+[The population of the city of New York had risen, in 1870, to 942,292,
+and that of Philadelphia to 674,022. Brooklyn, which may be said to
+form part of New York city, has a population of 396,099, in addition to
+that of New York. The frequent disturbances in the great cities of
+America, and the excessive corruption of their local governments—over
+which there is no effectual control—are amongst the greatest evils and
+dangers of the country.]]
+
+To subject the provinces to the metropolis is therefore not only to
+place the destiny of the empire in the hands of a portion of the
+community, which may be reprobated as unjust, but to place it in the
+hands of a populace acting under its own impulses, which must be
+avoided as dangerous. The preponderance of capital cities is therefore
+a serious blow upon the representative system, and it exposes modern
+republics to the same defect as the republics of antiquity, which all
+perished from not having been acquainted with that form of government.
+
+It would be easy for me to adduce a great number of secondary causes
+which have contributed to establish, and which concur to maintain, the
+democratic republic of the United States. But I discern two principal
+circumstances amongst these favorable elements, which I hasten to point
+out. I have already observed that the origin of the American
+settlements may be looked upon as the first and most efficacious cause
+to which the present 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 conditions into the country
+whence the democratic republic has very naturally taken its rise. Nor
+was this all they did; for besides this republican condition of
+society, the early settler bequeathed to their descendants those
+customs, manners, and opinions which contribute most to the success of
+a republican form of government. When I reflect upon the consequences
+of this primary circumstance, methinks I see the destiny of America
+embodied in the first Puritan who landed on those shores, just as the
+human race was represented by the first man.
+
+The chief circumstance which has favored the establishment and the
+maintenance of a democratic republic in the United States is the nature
+of the territory which the American inhabit. Their ancestors gave them
+the love of equality and of freedom, but God himself gave them the
+means of remaining equal and free, by placing them upon a boundless
+continent, which is open to their exertions. General prosperity is
+favorable to the stability of all governments, but more particularly of
+a democratic constitution, which depends upon the dispositions of the
+majority, and more particularly of that portion of the community which
+is most exposed to feel the pressure of want. When the people rules, it
+must be rendered happy, or it will overturn the State, and misery is
+apt to stimulate it to those excesses to which ambition rouses kings.
+The physical causes, independent of the laws, which contribute to
+promote general prosperity, are more numerous in America than they have
+ever been in any other country in the world, at any other period of
+history. In the United States not only is legislation democratic, but
+nature herself favors the cause of the people.
+
+In what part of human tradition can be found anything at all similar to
+that which is occurring under our eyes in North America? 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 inferior
+civilization, but which occupied and cultivated the soil. To found
+their new states it was necessary to extirpate or to subdue a numerous
+population, until civilization has been made to blush for their
+success. But North America was only inhabited by wandering tribes, who
+took no thought of the natural riches of the soil, and that vast
+country was still, properly speaking, an empty continent, a desert land
+awaiting its inhabitants.
+
+Everything is extraordinary in America, the social condition of the
+inhabitants, as well as the laws; but the soil upon which these
+institutions are founded is more extraordinary than all the rest. When
+man was first placed upon the earth by the Creator, the earth was
+inexhaustible in its youth, but man was weak and ignorant; and when he
+had learned to explore the treasures which it contained, hosts of his
+fellow creatures covered its surface, and he was obliged to earn an
+asylum for repose and for freedom by the sword. At that same period
+North America was discovered, as if it had been kept in reserve by the
+Deity, and had just risen from beneath the waters of the deluge.
+
+That continent still presents, as it did in the primeval time, rivers
+which rise from never-failing sources, green and moist solitudes, and
+fields which the ploughshare of the husbandman has never turned. In
+this state it is offered to man, not in the barbarous and isolated
+condition of the early ages, but to a being who is already in
+possession of the most potent secrets of the natural world, who is
+united to his fellow-men, and instructed by the experience of fifty
+centuries. At this very time thirteen millions of civilized Europeans
+are peaceably spreading over those fertile plains, with whose resources
+and whose extent they are not yet themselves accurately acquainted.
+Three or four thousand soldiers drive the wandering races of the
+aborigines before them; these are followed by the pioneers, who pierce
+the woods, scare off the beasts of prey, explore the courses of the
+inland streams, and make ready the triumphal procession of civilization
+across the waste.
+
+The favorable influence of the temporal prosperity of America upon the
+institutions of that country has been so often described by others, and
+adverted to by myself, that I shall not enlarge upon it beyond the
+addition of a few facts. An erroneous notion is generally entertained
+that the deserts of America are peopled by European emigrants, who
+annually disembark upon the coasts of the New World, whilst the
+American population increases and multiplies upon the soil which its
+forefathers tilled. The European settler, however, usually arrives in
+the United States without friends, and sometimes without resources; in
+order to subsist he is obliged to work for hire, and he rarely proceeds
+beyond that belt of industrious population which adjoins the ocean. The
+desert cannot be explored without capital or credit; and the body must
+be accustomed to the rigors of a new climate before it can be exposed
+to the chances of forest life. It is the Americans themselves who daily
+quit the spots which gave them birth to acquire extensive domains in a
+remote country. Thus the European leaves his cottage for the
+trans-Atlantic shores; and the American, who is born on that very
+coast, plunges in his turn into the wilds of Central America. This
+double emigration is incessant; it begins in the remotest parts of
+Europe, it crosses the Atlantic Ocean, and it advances over the
+solitudes of the New World. Millions of men are marching at once
+towards the same horizon; their language, their religion, their manners
+differ, their object is the same. The gifts of fortune are promised in
+the West, and to the West they bend their course. *b
+
+b
+[ [The number of foreign immigrants into the United States in the last
+fifty years (from 1820 to 1871) is stated to be 7,556,007. Of these,
+4,104,553 spoke English—that is, they came from Great Britain, Ireland,
+or the British colonies; 2,643,069 came from Germany or northern
+Europe; and about half a million from the south of Europe.]]
+
+
+No event can be compared with this continuous removal of the human
+race, except perhaps those irruptions which preceded the fall of the
+Roman Empire. Then, as well as now, generations of men were impelled
+forwards in the same direction to meet and struggle on the same spot;
+but the designs of Providence were not the same; then, every newcomer
+was the harbinger of destruction and of death; now, every adventurer
+brings with him the elements of prosperity and of life. The future
+still conceals from us the ulterior consequences of this emigration of
+the Americans towards the West; but we can readily apprehend its more
+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
+in Connecticut, which only contains fifty-nine inhabitants to the
+square mile, the population has not increased by more than one-quarter
+in forty years, whilst that of England has been augmented by one-third
+in the lapse of the same period. The European emigrant always lands,
+therefore, in a country which is but half full, and where hands are in
+request: he becomes a workman in easy circumstances; his son goes to
+seek his fortune in unpeopled regions, and he becomes a rich landowner.
+The former amasses the capital which the latter invests, and the
+stranger as well as the native is unacquainted with want.
+
+The laws of the United States are extremely favorable to the division
+of property; but a cause which is more powerful than the laws prevents
+property from being divided to excess. *c This is very perceptible in
+the States which are beginning to be thickly peopled; Massachusetts is
+the most populous part of the Union, but it contains only eighty
+inhabitants to the square mile, which is must less than in France,
+where 162 are reckoned to the same extent of country. But in
+Massachusetts estates are very rarely divided; the eldest son takes the
+land, and the others go to seek their fortune in the desert. The law
+has abolished the rights of primogeniture, but circumstances have
+concurred to re-establish it under a form of which none can complain,
+and by which no just rights are impaired.
+
+c
+[ In New England the estates are exceedingly small, but they are rarely
+subjected to further division.]
+
+
+A single fact will suffice to show the prodigious number of individuals
+who leave New England, in this manner, to settle themselves in the
+wilds. We were assured in 1830 that thirty-six of the members of
+Congress were born in the little State of Connecticut. The population
+of Connecticut, which constitutes only one forty-third part of that of
+the United States, thus furnished one-eighth of the whole body of
+representatives. The States of Connecticut, however, only sends five
+delegates to Congress; and the thirty-one others sit for the new
+Western States. If these thirty-one individuals had remained in
+Connecticut, it is probable that instead of becoming rich landowners
+they would have remained humble laborers, that they would have lived in
+obscurity without being able to rise into public life, and that, far
+from becoming useful members of the legislature, they might have been
+unruly 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 American Law,” “that the division of landed estates
+must produce great evils when it is carried to such excess as that each
+parcel of land is insufficient to support a family; but these
+disadvantages have never been felt in the United States, and many
+generations must elapse before they can be felt. The extent of our
+inhabited territory, the abundance of adjacent land, and the continual
+stream of emigration flowing 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 is difficult to describe the rapacity with which the American rushes
+forward to secure the immense booty which fortune proffers to him. In
+the pursuit he fearlessly braves the arrow of the Indian and the
+distempers of the forest; he 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 more intense than the love of life. Before
+him lies a boundless continent, and he urges onwards as if time
+pressed, and he was afraid of finding no room for his exertions. I have
+spoken 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 greater part
+of its inhabitants were not born within its confines; its capital has
+only been built thirty years, and its territory is still covered by an
+immense extent of uncultivated fields; nevertheless the population of
+Ohio is already proceeding westward, and most of the settlers who
+descend to the fertile savannahs of Illinois are citizens of Ohio.
+These men left their first country to improve their condition; they
+quit their resting-place to ameliorate it still more; fortune awaits
+them everywhere, but happiness they cannot attain. The desire of
+prosperity is become an ardent and restless passion in their minds
+which grows by what it gains. They early broke the ties which bound
+them to their natal earth, and they have contracted no fresh ones on
+their way. Emigration was at first necessary to them as a means of
+subsistence; 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 desert reappears
+behind him. The woods stoop to give him a passage, and spring up again
+when he has passed. It is not uncommon in crossing the new States of
+the West 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 retreats, 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 their own, and Nature covers the
+traces of man’s path with branches and with flowers, which obliterate
+his evanescent track.
+
+I remember that, in crossing one of the woodland districts which still
+cover the State of New York, I reached the shores of a lake embosomed
+in forests coeval 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 object attested the presence of
+man except a column of smoke which might be seen on the horizon rising
+from the tops of the trees to the clouds, and seeming to hang from
+heaven rather than to be mounting to the sky. An Indian shallop was
+hauled up on the sand, which tempted me to visit the islet that had
+first attracted my attention, and in a few minutes I set foot upon its
+banks. The whole island formed one of those delicious solitudes of the
+New World which almost lead civilized man to regret the haunts of the
+savage. A luxuriant vegetation bore witness to the incomparable
+fruitfulness of the soil. The deep silence which is common to the wilds
+of North America was only broken by the hoarse cooing of the
+wood-pigeon, and the tapping of the woodpecker upon the bark of trees.
+I was far from supposing that this spot had ever been inhabited, so
+completely did Nature seem to be left to her own caprices; but when I
+reached the centre of the isle I thought that I discovered 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 retreat. 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 were intertwined with living
+verdure, and his cabin was transformed into a bower. In the midst of
+these shrubs a few stones were to be seen, blackened with fire and
+sprinkled with thin ashes; here the hearth had no doubt been, and the
+chimney in falling had covered it with rubbish. I stood for some time
+in silent admiration of the exuberance of Nature and the littleness of
+man: and when I was obliged to leave that enchanting solitude, I
+exclaimed with melancholy, “Are ruins, then, already here?”
+
+In Europe we are wont to look upon a restless disposition, an unbounded
+desire of riches, and an excessive love of independence, as
+propensities very formidable to society. Yet these are the very
+elements which ensure a long and peaceful duration to the republics of
+America. Without these unquiet passions the population would collect in
+certain spots, and would soon be subject to wants like those of the Old
+World, which it is difficult to satisfy; for such is the present 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 great influence on the estimation in which
+human actions are held in the two hemispheres. The Americans frequently
+term what we should call cupidity a laudable industry; and they blame
+as faint-heartedness what we consider to be the virtue of moderate
+desires.
+
+In France, simple tastes, orderly manners, domestic affections, and the
+attachments which men feel to the place of their birth, are looked upon
+as great guarantees of the tranquillity and happiness of the State. But
+in America nothing seems to be more prejudicial to society than these
+virtues. The French Canadians, who have faithfully preserved the
+traditions of their pristine 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, patriotic,
+and humane inhabitants make extraordinary efforts to render the people
+dissatisfied with those simple enjoyments which still content it.
+There, the seductions of wealth are vaunted with as much zeal as the
+charms of an honest but limited income 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 eulogies, we shall hear that
+nothing is more praiseworthy than to exchange the pure and homely
+pleasures which even the poor man tastes in his own country for the
+dull delights of prosperity under a foreign sky; to leave the
+patrimonial hearth and the turf beneath which his forefathers sleep; in
+short, to abandon the living and the dead in quest of fortune.
+
+At the present time America presents a field for human effort far more
+extensive than any sum of labor which 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, since they
+can be satisfied without difficulty; the growth of human passions need
+not be dreaded, since all passions may find an easy and a legitimate
+object; nor can men be put in possession of too much freedom, since
+they are scarcely ever tempted to misuse their liberties.
+
+The American republics of the present day are like companies of
+adventurers formed to explore in common the waste lands of the New
+World, and busied in a flourishing trade. The passions which agitate
+the Americans most deeply are not their political but their commercial
+passions; or, to speak more correctly, they introduce the habits they
+contract in business into their political life. They love order,
+without which affairs do not prosper; and they set an especial value
+upon a regular conduct, which is the foundation of a solid business;
+they prefer the good sense which amasses large fortunes to that
+enterprising spirit which frequently dissipates them; general ideas
+alarm their minds, which are accustomed to positive calculations, and
+they hold practice in more honor than theory.
+
+It is in America that one learns to understand the influence which
+physical prosperity exercises over political actions, and even over
+opinions which ought to acknowledge no sway but that of reason; and it
+is more especially amongst strangers that this truth is perceptible.
+Most of the European emigrants to the New World carry with them that
+wild love of independence and of change which our calamities are so apt
+to engender. I sometimes met with Europeans in the United States who
+had been obliged to leave their own country on account of their
+political opinions. They all astonished me by the language they held,
+but one of them surprised me more than all the rest. As I was crossing
+one of the most remote districts of Pennsylvania I was benighted, and
+obliged to beg for hospitality at the gate of a wealthy planter, who
+was a Frenchman by birth. He bade me sit down beside his fire, and we
+began to talk with that freedom which befits persons who meet in the
+backwoods, two thousand leagues from their native country. I was aware
+that my host had been a great leveller and an ardent demagogue forty
+years ago, and that his name was not unknown to fame. I was, therefore,
+not a little surprised to hear him discuss the rights of property as an
+economist or a landowner might have done: he spoke of the necessary
+gradations which fortune establishes among men, of obedience to
+established laws, of the influence of good morals in commonwealths, and
+of the support which religious opinions give to order and to freedom;
+he even went to far as to quote an evangelical authority in
+corroboration of one of his political tenets.
+
+I listened, and marvelled at the feebleness of human reason. A
+proposition is true or false, but no art can prove it to be one or the
+other, in the midst of the uncertainties of science and the conflicting
+lessons of experience, until a new incident disperses the clouds of
+doubt; I was poor, I become rich, and I am not to expect that
+prosperity will act upon my conduct, and leave my judgment free; my
+opinions change with my fortune, and the happy circumstances which I
+turn to my advantage furnish me with that decisive argument which was
+before wanting. The influence of prosperity acts still more freely upon
+the American than upon strangers. The American has always seen the
+connection of public order and public prosperity, intimately united as
+they are, go on before his eyes; he does not conceive that one can
+subsist without the other; he has therefore nothing to forget; nor has
+he, like so many Europeans, to unlearn the lessons of his early
+education.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic
+ Republic—Part II
+
+
+Influence Of The Laws Upon The Maintenance Of The Democratic Republic
+In The United States
+
+Three principal causes of the maintenance of the democratic
+republic—Federal Constitutions—Municipal institutions—Judicial power.
+
+The principal aim of this book has been to make known the laws of the
+United States; if this 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, and 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 within the limits of a single
+chapter. It is not my intention to retrace the path I have already
+pursued, and a very few lines will suffice to recapitulate what I have
+previously explained.
+
+Three circumstances seem to me to contribute most powerfully to the
+maintenance of the democratic republic in the United States.
+
+The first is that Federal form of Government which the Americans have
+adopted, and which enables the Union to combine the power of a great
+empire with the security of a small State.
+
+The second consists in those municipal institutions which limit the
+despotism of the majority, and at the same time impart a taste for
+freedom and a knowledge of the art of being free to the people.
+
+The third is to be met with in the constitution of the judicial power.
+I have shown in what manner the courts of justice serve to repress the
+excesses of democracy, and how they check and direct the impulses of
+the majority without stopping its activity.
+
+Influence Of Manners Upon The Maintenance Of The Democratic Republic In
+The United States
+
+I have previously remarked that the manners of the people may be
+considered as one of the general causes to which the maintenance of a
+democratic republic in the United States is attributable. I here used
+the word manners with the meaning which the ancients attached to the
+word mores, for I apply it not only to manners in their proper sense of
+what constitutes the character of social intercourse, but I extend it
+to the various notions and opinions current among men, and to the mass
+of those ideas which constitute their character of mind. I comprise,
+therefore, under this term the whole moral and intellectual condition
+of a people. My intention is not to draw a picture of American manners,
+but simply to point out such features of them as are favorable to the
+maintenance of political institutions.
+
+Religion Considered As A Political Institution, Which Powerfully
+Contributes To The Maintenance Of The Democratic Republic Amongst The
+Americans
+
+North America peopled by men who professed a democratic and republican
+Christianity—Arrival of the Catholics—For what reason the Catholics
+form the most democratic and the most republican class at the present
+time.
+
+Every religion is to be found in juxtaposition to 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 upon one uniform principle; and man will
+endeavor, if I may use the expression, to harmonize the state in which
+he lives upon earth with the state which he believes to await him in
+heaven. The greatest part of British America was peopled by men who,
+after having shaken off the authority of the Pope, acknowledged no
+other religious supremacy; they brought with them into the New World a
+form of Christianity which I cannot better describe than by styling it
+a democratic and republican religion. This sect contributed powerfully
+to the establishment of a democracy and a republic, and from the
+earliest settlement of the emigrants politics and religion contracted
+an alliance which has never been dissolved.
+
+About fifty years ago Ireland began to pour a Catholic population into
+the United States; on the other hand, the Catholics of America made
+proselytes, and at the present moment more than a million of Christians
+professing the truths of the Church of Rome are to be met with in the
+Union. *d The Catholics are faithful to the observances of their
+religion; they are fervent and zealous in the support and belief of
+their doctrines. Nevertheless they constitute the most republican and
+the most democratic class of citizens which exists in the United
+States; and although this fact may surprise the observer at first, the
+causes by which it is occasioned may easily be discovered upon
+reflection.
+
+d
+[ [It is difficult to ascertain with accuracy the amount of the Roman
+Catholic population of the United States, but in 1868 an able writer in
+the “Edinburgh Review” (vol. cxxvii. p. 521) affirmed that the whole
+Catholic population of the United States was then about 4,000,000,
+divided into 43 dioceses, with 3,795 churches, under the care of 45
+bishops and 2,317 clergymen. But this rapid increase is mainly
+supported by immigration from the Catholic countries of Europe.]]
+
+
+I think that the Catholic religion has erroneously been looked upon as
+the natural enemy of democracy. Amongst the various sects of
+Christians, Catholicism seems to me, on the contrary, to be one of
+those which are most favorable to the equality of conditions. 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 faith places all human capacities upon
+the same level; it subjects the wise and ignorant, the man of genius
+and the vulgar crowd, to the details of the same creed; it imposes the
+same observances upon the rich and needy, it inflicts the same
+austerities upon 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 at the foot of the same
+altar, even as they are confounded in the sight of God. If Catholicism
+predisposes the faithful to obedience, it certainly does not prepare
+them for inequality; but the contrary may be said of Protestantism,
+which generally tends to make men independent, more than to render them
+equal.
+
+Catholicism is like an absolute monarchy; if the sovereign be removed,
+all the other classes of society are more equal than they are in
+republics. It has not unfrequently occurred that the Catholic priest
+has left the service of the altar to mix with the governing powers of
+society, and to take his place amongst the civil gradations of men.
+This religious influence has sometimes been used to secure the
+interests of that political state of things to which he belonged. At
+other times Catholics have taken the side of aristocracy from a spirit
+of religion.
+
+But no sooner is the priesthood entirely separated from the government,
+as is the case in the United States, than is found that no class of men
+are more naturally disposed than the Catholics to transfuse the
+doctrine of the equality of conditions 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 democratic and republican
+principles, at least they are not necessarily opposed to them; and
+their social position, as well as their limited number, obliges them to
+adopt these opinions. Most of the Catholics are poor, and they have no
+chance of taking a part in the government unless it be open to all the
+citizens. They constitute a minority, and all rights must be respected
+in order to insure to them the free exercise of their own privileges.
+These two causes induce them, unconsciously, to adopt political
+doctrines, which they would perhaps support with less zeal if they were
+rich and preponderant.
+
+The Catholic clergy of the United States has never attempted to oppose
+this political tendency, but it seeks rather to justify its results.
+The priests in America have divided the intellectual world into two
+parts: in the one they place the doctrines of revealed religion, which
+command their assent; in the other they leave those truths which they
+believe to have been freely left open to the researches of political
+inquiry. Thus the Catholics of the United States are at the same time
+the most faithful believers and the most zealous citizens.
+
+It may be asserted that in the United States no religious doctrine
+displays the slightest hostility to democratic and republican
+institutions. The clergy of all the different sects hold the same
+language, their opinions are consonant to the laws, and the human
+intellect flows onwards in one sole current.
+
+I happened to be staying in one of the largest towns in the Union, when
+I was invited to attend a public meeting which had been called for the
+purpose of assisting the Poles, and of sending them supplies 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 ecclesiastical robes advanced to the front of the hustings: the
+spectators rose, and stood uncovered, whilst he spoke in the following
+terms:—
+
+“Almighty 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 national independence; Thou who didst make them
+triumph over a hateful oppression, and hast granted to our people the
+benefits of liberty and peace; Turn, O Lord, a favorable eye upon the
+other hemisphere; pitifully look down upon that heroic nation which is
+even now struggling as we did in the former time, and for the same
+rights which we defended with our blood. Thou, who didst create Man in
+the likeness of the same image, let not tyranny mar Thy work, and
+establish inequality upon the earth. Almighty God! do Thou watch over
+the destiny of the Poles, and render them worthy to be free. May Thy
+wisdom direct their councils, and may Thy strength sustain their arms!
+Shed forth Thy terror over their enemies, scatter the powers which take
+counsel against them; and vouchsafe that the injustice which the world
+has witnessed for fifty years, be not consummated in our time. O Lord,
+who holdest alike the hearts of nations and of men in Thy powerful
+hand; raise up allies to the sacred cause of right; arouse the French
+nation from the apathy in which its rulers retain it, that it go forth
+again to fight for the liberties of the world.
+
+“Lord, turn not Thou Thy face from us, and grant that we may always be
+the most religious as well as the freest people of the earth. Almighty
+God, hear our supplications 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 men. Amen.”
+
+The whole meeting responded “Amen!” with devotion.
+
+Indirect Influence Of Religious Opinions Upon Political Society In The
+United States
+
+Christian morality common to all sects—Influence of religion upon the
+manners of the Americans—Respect for the marriage tie—In what manner
+religion confines the imagination of the Americans within certain
+limits, and checks the passion of innovation—Opinion of the Americans
+on the political utility of religion—Their exertions to extend and
+secure its predominance.
+
+I have just shown what the direct influence of religion upon politics
+is in the United States, but its indirect influence 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 innumerable. They all
+differ in respect to the worship which is due from man to his Creator,
+but they all agree in respect to the duties which are due from man to
+man. Each sect adores the Deity in its own peculiar manner, but all the
+sects preach the same moral law in the name of God. If it be of the
+highest importance to man, as an individual, that his religion should
+be true, the case of society is not the same. Society has no future
+life to hope for or to fear; and provided the citizens profess a
+religion, the peculiar tenets of that religion are of very little
+importance to its interests. Moreover, almost all the sects of the
+United States are comprised within the great unity of Christianity, and
+Christian morality is everywhere the same.
+
+It may be believed without unfairness that a certain number of
+Americans pursue a peculiar form of worship, from habit more than from
+conviction. In the United States the sovereign authority is religious,
+and consequently hypocrisy must be common; but there is no country in
+the whole world in which the Christian religion retains a greater
+influence over the souls of men than in America; and there can be no
+greater proof of its utility, and of its conformity to human nature,
+than that its influence is most powerfully felt over the most
+enlightened and free nation of the earth.
+
+I have remarked that the members of the American clergy in general,
+without even excepting those who do not admit religious liberty, are
+all in favor of civil freedom; but they do not support any particular
+political system. They keep aloof from parties and from public affairs.
+In the United States religion exercises but little influence upon the
+laws and upon 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 restrain man from the
+numberless temptations of fortune; nor can it check that passion for
+gain which every incident of his life contributes to arouse, but its
+influence over the mind of woman is supreme, and women are the
+protectors of morals. There is certainly no country in the world where
+the tie of marriage is so much respected as in America, or where
+conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily appreciated. In Europe
+almost all the disturbances of society arise from the irregularities of
+domestic life. To despise the natural bonds and legitimate pleasures of
+home, is to contract a taste for excesses, a restlessness of heart, and
+the evil of fluctuating desires. Agitated by the tumultuous passions
+which frequently disturb his dwelling, the European is galled by the
+obedience which the legislative powers of the State exact. But when the
+American retires from the turmoil of public life to the bosom of his
+family, he finds in it the image of order and of peace. There his
+pleasures are simple and natural, his joys are innocent and calm; and
+as he finds that an orderly life is the surest path to happiness, he
+accustoms himself without difficulty to moderate his opinions as well
+as his tastes. Whilst the European endeavors to forget his domestic
+troubles by agitating society, the American derives from his own home
+that love of order which he afterwards carries with him into public
+affairs.
+
+In the United States the influence of religion is not confined to the
+manners, but it extends to the intelligence of the people. Amongst the
+Anglo-Americans, there are some who profess the doctrines of
+Christianity from a sincere belief in them, and others who do the same
+because they are afraid to be suspected of unbelief. Christianity,
+therefore, reigns without any obstacle, by universal consent; the
+consequence is, as I have before observed, that every principle of the
+moral world is fixed and determinate, although the political world is
+abandoned to the debates and the experiments of men. Thus the human
+mind is never left to wander across a boundless field; and, whatever
+may be its pretensions, it is checked from time to time by barriers
+which it cannot surmount. Before it can perpetrate innovation, certain
+primal and immutable principles are laid down, and the boldest
+conceptions of human device are subjected to certain forms which retard
+and stop their completion.
+
+The imagination of the Americans, even in its greatest flights, is
+circumspect and undecided; its impulses are checked, and its works
+unfinished. These habits of restraint recur in political society, and
+are singularly favorable both to the tranquillity of the people and to
+the durability of the institutions it has established. Nature and
+circumstances concurred to make the inhabitants of the United States
+bold men, as is sufficiently attested by the enterprising spirit with
+which they seek for fortune. If the mind of the Americans were free
+from all trammels, they would very shortly become the most daring
+innovators and the most implacable disputants in the world. But the
+revolutionists of America are obliged to profess an ostensible respect
+for Christian morality and equity, which does not easily permit them to
+violate the laws that oppose their designs; nor would they find it easy
+to surmount the scruples of their partisans, even if they were able to
+get over their own. Hitherto no one in the United States has dared to
+advance the maxim, that everything is permissible with a view to the
+interests of society; an impious adage which seems to have been
+invented in an age of freedom to shelter all the tyrants of future
+ages. 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 government of society,
+but it must nevertheless be regarded as the foremost of the political
+institutions of that country; for if it does not impart a taste for
+freedom, it facilitates the use of free institutions. Indeed, it is in
+this same point of view that the inhabitants of the United States
+themselves look upon religious belief. I do not know whether all the
+Americans have a sincere faith in their religion, for who can search
+the human heart? but I 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 political character attacks a sect, this may
+not prevent even the partisans of that very sect from supporting him;
+but if he attacks all the sects together, everyone abandons him, and he
+remains alone.
+
+Whilst I was in America, a witness, who happened to be called at the
+assizes of the county of Chester (State of New York), declared that he
+did not believe in the existence of God, or in the immortality of the
+soul. The judge refused to admit his evidence, on the ground that the
+witness had destroyed beforehand all the confidence of the Court in
+what he was about to say. *e The newspapers related the fact without
+any further comment.
+
+e
+[ The New York “Spectator” of August 23, 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 disbelief in
+the existence of God. The 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 that he knew of no cause in a
+Christian country where a witness had been permitted to testify without
+such belief.”]
+
+
+The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so
+intimately in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive
+the one without the other; and with them this conviction does not
+spring from that barren traditionary faith which seems to vegetate in
+the soul rather than to live.
+
+I have known of societies formed by the 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
+institutions than the people from which they emanated. I met with
+wealthy New Englanders who abandoned the country in which they were
+born in order to lay the foundations of Christianity and of freedom on
+the banks of the Missouri, or in the prairies of Illinois. Thus
+religious zeal is perpetually stimulated in the United States by the
+duties of patriotism. These men do not act from an exclusive
+consideration of the promises of a future life; eternity is only one
+motive of their devotion to the cause; and if you converse with these
+missionaries of Christian civilization, you will be surprised to find
+how much value they set upon the goods of this world, and that you meet
+with a politician where you expected to find a priest. They will 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 religious,
+in order to maintain our liberties.”
+
+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 is to believe in some blind cosmogony, or to assert
+with Cabanis the secretion of thought by the brain, I can only reply
+that those who hold this language have never been in America, and that
+they have never seen a religious or a free nation. When they return
+from their expedition, we shall hear what they have to say.
+
+There are persons in France who look upon republican institutions as a
+temporary means of power, of wealth, and distinction; men who are the
+condottieri of liberty, and who fight for their own advantage, whatever
+be the colors they wear: it is not to these that I address myself. But
+there are others who look forward to the republican form of government
+as a tranquil and lasting 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 to the prejudice 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; and 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 relaxed? and what
+can be done with a people which is its own master, if it be not
+submissive to the Divinity?
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic
+ Republic—Part III
+
+
+Principal Causes Which Render Religion Powerful In America Care taken
+by the Americans to separate the Church from the State—The laws, public
+opinion, and even the exertions of the clergy concur to promote this
+end—Influence of religion upon the mind in the United States
+attributable to this cause—Reason of this—What is the natural state of
+men with regard to religion at the present time—What are the peculiar
+and incidental causes which prevent men, in certain countries, from
+arriving at this state.
+
+The philosophers of the eighteenth century explained the gradual decay
+of religious faith in a very simple manner. Religious zeal, said they,
+must necessarily fail, the more generally liberty is established and
+knowledge diffused. Unfortunately, facts are by no means in accordance
+with their theory. There are certain populations in Europe whose
+unbelief is only equalled by their ignorance and their debasement,
+whilst in America one of the freest and most enlightened nations in the
+world fulfils all the outward duties of religious fervor.
+
+Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the
+country was the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I
+stayed there the more did I perceive the great political consequences
+resulting from this state of things, to which I was unaccustomed. In
+France I had almost always seen the spirit of religion and the spirit
+of freedom pursuing courses diametrically opposed to each other; but in
+America I found that they were intimately united, and that they reigned
+in common over the same country. My desire to discover the causes of
+this phenomenon increased from day to day. In order to satisfy it I
+questioned the members of all the different sects; and I more
+especially sought the society of the clergy, who are the depositaries
+of the different persuasions, and who are more especially interested in
+their duration. As a member of the Roman Catholic Church I was more
+particularly brought into contact with several of its priests, with
+whom I became intimately acquainted. To each of these men I expressed
+my astonishment and I explained my doubts; I found that they differed
+upon matters of detail alone; and that they mainly attributed the
+peaceful dominion of religion in their country to the separation of
+Church and State. I do not hesitate to affirm that during my stay in
+America I did not meet with a single individual, of the clergy or of
+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 occupy in political society. I
+learned with surprise that they filled no public appointments; *f not
+one of them is to be met with in the administration, and they are not
+even represented in the legislative assemblies. In several States *g
+the law excludes them from political life, public opinion in all. And
+when I came to inquire into the prevailing spirit of the clergy 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.
+
+f
+[ Unless this term be applied to the functions which many of them fill
+in the schools. Almost all education is entrusted to the clergy.]
+
+
+g
+[ See the Constitution of New York, art. 7, Section 4:— “And whereas
+the ministers of the gospel are, by their profession, dedicated to the
+service of God and the care of souls, and ought not to be diverted from
+the great duties of their functions: therefore no minister of the
+gospel, or priest of any denomination whatsoever, shall at any time
+hereafter, under any pretence or description whatever, be eligible to,
+or capable of holding, any civil or military office or place within
+this State.”
+
+
+See also the constitutions of North Carolina, art. 31; Virginia; South
+Carolina, art. I, Section 23; Kentucky, art. 2, Section 26; Tennessee,
+art. 8, Section I; Louisiana, art. 2, Section 22.]
+
+I heard them inveigh against ambition and deceit, under whatever
+political opinions these vices might chance to lurk; but I learned from
+their discourses that men are not guilty in the eye of God for any
+opinions concerning political government which they may profess with
+sincerity, any more than they are for their mistakes in building a
+house or in driving a furrow. I perceived that these ministers of the
+gospel eschewed all parties with the anxiety attendant upon personal
+interest. These facts convinced me that what I had been told was true;
+and it then became my object to investigate their causes, and to
+inquire how it happened that the real authority of religion was
+increased by a state of things which diminished its apparent 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 boundless desire to exist; he scorns life, but he dreads
+annihilation. These different 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 faith without a kind of aberration of intellect, and a
+sort of violent distortion of their true natures; but they are
+invincibly brought back to more pious sentiments; for unbelief is an
+accident, and faith is the only permanent state of mankind. If we only
+consider religious institutions in a purely human point of view, they
+may be said to derive an inexhaustible element of strength from man
+himself, since they belong to 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 temporal institutions which direct
+society. Religions, intimately united to the governments of the earth,
+have been known to exercise a sovereign authority derived from the
+twofold source of terror and of faith; but when a religion contracts an
+alliance of this nature, I do not hesitate to affirm that it commits
+the same error as a man who should sacrifice his future to his present
+welfare; and in obtaining a power to which it has no claim, it risks
+that authority which is rightfully its own. When a religion founds its
+empire upon the desire of immortality which lives in every human heart,
+it may aspire to universal dominion; but when it connects itself with a
+government, it must necessarily adopt maxims which are only applicable
+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 upon those sentiments which are the
+consolation of all affliction, it may attract the affections of
+mankind. But if it be mixed up with the bitter passions of the world,
+it may be constrained to defend allies whom its interests, and not the
+principle of love, have given to it; or to repel as antagonists men who
+are still attached to its own spirit, however opposed they may be to
+the powers to 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 established have
+frequently no better guarantee 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 change.
+The powers of society are more or less fugitive, like the years which
+we spend upon the earth; they succeed each other with rapidity, like
+the fleeting cares of life; and no government has ever yet been founded
+upon an invariable disposition of the human heart, or upon an
+imperishable interest.
+
+As long as a religion is sustained by those feelings, propensities, and
+passions which are found to occur under the same forms, at all the
+different periods of history, it may defy the efforts of time; or at
+least it can only be destroyed by another religion. But when religion
+clings to the interests of the world, it becomes almost as fragile a
+thing as the powers of earth. It is the only one of them all which can
+hope for immortality; but if it be connected with their ephemeral
+authority, it shares their fortunes, and may fall with those transient
+passions which supported them for a day. The alliance 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 governments 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 somnolence, and others rouse them to feverish
+excitement. When governments appear to be so strong, and laws so
+stable, men do not perceive the dangers which may accrue from a union
+of Church and State. When governments display so much weakness, and
+laws so much inconstancy, the danger is self-evident, but it is no
+longer possible to avoid it; to be effectual, measures must be taken to
+discover its approach.
+
+In proportion as a nation assumes a democratic condition of society,
+and as communities display democratic propensities, it becomes more and
+more dangerous to connect religion with political institutions; for the
+time is coming when authority will be bandied from hand to hand, when
+political theories will succeed each other, and when men, laws, and
+constitutions will disappear, or be modified from day to day, and this,
+not for a season only, but unceasingly. Agitation and mutability are
+inherent in the nature of democratic republics, just as stagnation and
+inertness are the law of absolute monarchies.
+
+If the Americans, who change the head of the Government once in four
+years, who elect new legislators every two years, and renew the
+provincial officers every twelvemonth; if the Americans, who have
+abandoned the political world to the attempts of innovators, had not
+placed religion beyond their reach, where could it abide in the ebb and
+flow of human opinions? where would that respect which belongs to it be
+paid, amidst the struggles of faction? and what would become of its
+immortality, in the midst of perpetual 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 powerful than it has been at
+certain periods in the history of certain peoples; but its influence is
+more lasting. It restricts itself to its own resources, but of those
+none can deprive it: its circle is limited to certain principles, but
+those principles are entirely its own, and under its 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 pristine authority. It seems to me that we must first
+attentively consider what ought to be the natural state of men with
+regard to religion at the present time; and when we 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 religions are
+schism and indifference. In ages of fervent devotion, men sometimes
+abandon their religion, but they only shake it off in order to adopt
+another. Their faith changes the objects to which it is directed, but
+it suffers no decline. The old religion then excites enthusiastic
+attachment or bitter enmity in either party; some leave it with anger,
+others cling to it with increased devotedness, and although persuasions
+differ, 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
+affirming that of any other. Prodigious revolutions then take place in
+the human mind, without the apparent co-operation 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 which they have not the courage to stem, but
+which they follow with regret, since it bears them from a faith they
+love, to a scepticism that plunges them into despair.
+
+In ages which answer to this description, men desert their religious
+opinions from lukewarmness rather than from dislike; they do not reject
+them, but the sentiments by which they were once fostered disappear.
+But if the unbeliever does not admit religion to be true, he 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 with one
+another, and to prepare them gently for the hour of death. He regrets
+the faith which he has lost; and as he is deprived of a treasure which
+he has learned to estimate at its full value, he scruples to take it
+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 to follow their example. They are hostile to no one in the
+world; and as they do not consider the society in which they live as an
+arena in which religion is bound to face its thousand deadly foes, they
+love their contemporaries, whilst they condemn their weaknesses and
+lament their errors.
+
+As those who do not believe, conceal their incredulity; and as those
+who believe, display their faith, public opinion pronounces itself in
+favor of religion: love, support, and honor are bestowed upon it, and
+it is only by searching the human soul that we can detect the wounds
+which it has received. The mass of mankind, who are never without the
+feeling of religion, do not perceive anything at variance with the
+established faith. The 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.
+
+But this picture is not applicable to us: for there are men amongst us
+who have ceased to believe in Christianity, without adopting any other
+religion; others who are in the perplexities of doubt, and who already
+affect not to believe; and others, again, who are afraid to avow that
+Christian faith which they still cherish in secret.
+
+Amidst these lukewarm partisans and ardent antagonists a small number
+of believers exist, 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 knew where to stop; and as they
+know that the first use which the French made of independence was to
+attack religion, they look upon their contemporaries with dread, and
+they 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 every opinion which
+is put forth there as the necessary enemy of the faith.
+
+Such is not the natural state of men with regard to religion at the
+present day; and some extraordinary or incidental cause must be at work
+in France to prevent the human mind from following its original
+propensities and to drive it beyond the limits at which it ought
+naturally to stop. I am intimately convinced that this extraordinary
+and incidental cause is the close connection of politics and religion.
+The unbelievers of Europe attack the Christians as their political
+opponents, rather than as their religious adversaries; they hate the
+Christian religion as the opinion of a party, much more than as an
+error of belief; and they reject the clergy less because they are the
+representatives of the Divinity than because they are the allies of
+authority.
+
+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 that which is alive will rise once more. I know not
+what could restore the Christian Church of Europe to the energy of its
+earlier days; that power belongs to God alone; but it may be the effect
+of human policy to leave the faith in the full exercise of the strength
+which it still retains.
+
+How The Instruction, The Habits, And The Practical Experience Of The
+Americans Promote The Success Of Their Democratic Institutions
+
+What is to be understood by the instruction of the American people—The
+human mind more superficially instructed in the United States than in
+Europe—No one completely uninstructed—Reason of this—Rapidity with
+which opinions are diffused even in the uncultivated States of the
+West—Practical experience more serviceable to the Americans than
+book-learning.
+
+I have but little to add to what I have already said concerning the
+influence which the instruction and the habits of the Americans
+exercise upon the maintenance of their political institutions.
+
+America has hitherto produced very few writers of distinction; it
+possesses no great historians, and not a single eminent poet. The
+inhabitants of that country look upon what are properly styled literary
+pursuits with a kind of disapprobation; and there are towns of very
+second-rate importance in Europe in which more literary works are
+annually published than in the twenty-four States of the Union put
+together. The spirit of the Americans is averse to general ideas; and
+it does not seek theoretical discoveries. Neither politics nor
+manufactures direct them to these occupations; and although new laws
+are perpetually enacted in the United States, no great writers have
+hitherto inquired into the general principles of their legislation. The
+Americans have lawyers and commentators, but no jurists; *h and they
+furnish examples rather than lessons to the world. The same observation
+applies to the mechanical arts. In America, the inventions of Europe
+are adopted with sagacity; they are perfected, and adapted 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.
+
+h
+[ [This cannot be said with truth of the country of Kent, Story, and
+Wheaton.]]
+
+
+The observer who is desirous of forming an opinion on the state of
+instruction amongst the Anglo-Americans must consider the same object
+from two different points of view. If he only singles out the learned,
+he will be astonished to find how rare they are; but if he counts the
+ignorant, the American people will appear to be the most enlightened
+community 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
+moreover taught 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 extremely rare to
+find a man imperfectly acquainted with all these things, and a person
+wholly ignorant of them is a sort of phenomenon.
+
+When I compare the Greek and Roman republics with these American
+States; the manuscript libraries of the former, and their rude
+population, with the innumerable journals and the enlightened people of
+the latter; when I remember all the attempts which are made to judge
+the modern republics by the assistance of those of antiquity, and to
+infer what will happen in our time from what took place two thousand
+years ago, I am tempted to burn my books, in order to apply 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 people diminishes. In the States which
+are adjacent to the Gulf of Mexico, a certain number of individuals may
+be found, as in our own countries, who are devoid of the rudiments of
+instruction. But there is not a single district in the United States
+sunk in complete ignorance; and for a very simple reason: the peoples
+of Europe started from the darkness of a barbarous condition, to
+advance toward the light of civilization; their progress has been
+unequal; some of them have improved apace, whilst others have loitered
+in their course, and some have stopped, and are still sleeping upon the
+way. *i
+
+i
+[ [In the Northern States the number of persons destitute of
+instruction is inconsiderable, the largest number being 241,152 in the
+State of New York (according to Spaulding’s “Handbook of American
+Statistics” for 1874); but in the South no less than 1,516,339 whites
+and 2,671,396 colored persons are returned as “illiterate.”]]
+
+
+Such has not been the case in the United States. The Anglo-Americans
+settled in a state of civilization, upon that territory which their
+descendants occupy; they had not to begin to learn, and it was
+sufficient for them not to forget. 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 information and
+their esteem for knowledge. Education has taught 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.
+
+The Americans never use the word “peasant,” because they have no idea
+of the peculiar 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 preserved amongst them; and they are alike
+unacquainted with the virtues, the vices, the coarse habits, and the
+simple graces of an early stage of civilization. At the extreme borders
+of the Confederate States, upon the confines of society and of the
+wilderness, a population of bold adventurers have taken up their abode,
+who pierce the solitudes of the American woods, and seek a country
+there, in order to escape that poverty which awaited them in their
+native provinces. As soon as the pioneer arrives upon the spot which is
+to serve him for a retreat, he fells a few trees and builds a loghouse.
+Nothing can offer a more miserable aspect than these isolated
+dwellings. The traveller who approaches one of them towards nightfall,
+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 suppose
+that this poor hut is the asylum of rudeness and ignorance? Yet no sort
+of comparison can be drawn between the pioneer and the dwelling which
+shelters him. Everything about him is primitive and unformed, but he is
+himself the result of the labor and the experience of eighteen
+centuries. He wears the dress, and he speaks the language of cities; he
+is acquainted with the past, curious of 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 who penetrates
+into the wilds of the New World with the Bible, an axe, and a file of
+newspapers.
+
+It is difficult to imagine the incredible rapidity with which public
+opinion circulates in the midst of these deserts. *j I do not think
+that so much intellectual intercourse takes place in the most
+enlightened and populous districts of France. *k It cannot be doubted
+that, in the United States, the instruction of the people powerfully
+contributes to the support of a democratic republic; and such must
+always be the case, I believe, where instruction which awakens the
+understanding is not separated from moral education which amends the
+heart. But I by no means exaggerate this benefit, 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 experience; and if the
+Americans had not been gradually accustomed to govern themselves, their
+book-learning would not assist them much at the present day.
+
+j
+[ I travelled along a portion of the frontier of the United States in a
+sort of cart which was termed the mail. We passed, day and night, with
+great rapidity along the roads which were scarcely marked out, through
+immense forests; when the gloom of the woods became impenetrable the
+coachman lighted branches of fir, and we journeyed along by the light
+they cast. From time to time we came to a hut in the midst of the
+forest, which was a post-office. The mail dropped an enormous bundle of
+letters at the door of this isolated dwelling, and we pursued our way
+at full gallop, leaving the inhabitants of the neighboring log houses
+to send for their share of the treasure.
+
+
+[When the author visited America the locomotive and the railroad were
+scarcely invented, and not yet introduced in the United States. It is
+superfluous to point out the immense effect of those inventions in
+extending civilization and developing the resources of that vast
+continent. In 1831 there were 51 miles of railway in the United States;
+in 1872 there were 60,000 miles of railway.]]
+
+k
+[ In 1832 each inhabitant of Michigan paid a sum equivalent to 1 fr. 22
+cent. (French money) to the post-office revenue, and each inhabitant of
+the Floridas paid 1 fr. 5 cent. (See “National Calendar,” 1833, p.
+244.) In the same year each inhabitant of the Departement du Nord paid
+1 fr. 4 cent. to the revenue of the French post-office. (See the
+“Compte rendu de l’administration des Finances,” 1833, p. 623.) Now the
+State of Michigan only contained at that time 7 inhabitants per square
+league and Florida only 5: the public instruction and the commercial
+activity of these districts is inferior to that 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 and
+manufacturing parts of France.]
+
+
+I have lived a great deal with the people in the United States, and I
+cannot express how much I admire their experience and their good sense.
+An American should never be allowed to speak of Europe; for he will
+then probably display a vast deal of presumption and very foolish
+pride. He will take up with those crude and vague notions which are so
+useful 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 as
+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 instruction 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 government from governing. The great
+work of society is ever going on beneath 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 affairs is too rare an
+occurrence for it to be anticipated beforehand. Upon casting a glance
+over society in the two hemispheres, these differences are indicated
+even by its external aspect.
+
+In Europe we frequently introduce the ideas and the 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, transfuse
+the habits of public life into their manners in private; and in their
+country the jury is introduced into the games of schoolboys, and
+parliamentary forms are observed in the order of a feast.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic
+ Republic—Part IV
+
+
+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 have a democratic state of society—Yet
+democratic institutions only subsist amongst the Anglo-Americans—The
+Spaniards of South America, equally favored by physical causes as the
+Anglo-Americans, unable to maintain a democratic republic—Mexico, which
+has adopted the Constitution of the United States, in the same
+predicament—The Anglo-Americans of the West less able to maintain it
+than those of the East—Reason of these different results.
+
+I have remarked that the maintenance of democratic institutions in the
+United States is attributable to the circumstances, the laws, and the
+manners of that country. *l Most Europeans are only acquainted with the
+first of these three causes, and they are apt to give it a
+preponderating importance which it does not really possess.
+
+l
+[ I remind the reader of the general signification which I give to the
+word “manners,” namely, the moral and intellectual characteristics of
+social man taken collectively.]
+
+
+It is true that the Anglo-Saxons 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 professional prejudices were always as entirely
+unknown as the prejudices of birth. Thus, as the condition of society
+was democratic, the empire of democracy was established without
+difficulty. But this circumstance is by no means peculiar to the United
+States; almost all the trans-Atlantic colonies were founded 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. Nevertheless, democratic institutions prosper nowhere but
+in the United States.
+
+The American Union has no enemies to contend with; it stands in the
+wilds like an island in the ocean. But the Spaniards of South America
+were no less isolated by nature; yet their position has not relieved
+them from the charge of standing 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 peace. *m
+
+m
+[ [A remark which, since the great Civil War of 1861-65, ceases to be
+applicable.]]
+
+
+The territory of the Union presents a boundless field to human
+activity, and inexhaustible materials for industry and labor. The
+passion of wealth takes the place of ambition, and the warmth of
+faction is mitigated by a sense of prosperity. But in what portion of
+the globe shall we meet with more fertile plains, with mightier rivers,
+or with more unexplored and inexhaustible riches than in South America?
+
+Nevertheless, 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 territory
+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 inhabitants 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 miserable than
+those of South America.
+
+Thus, not only are physical causes inadequate to produce results
+analogous to those which occur in North America, but they are unable to
+raise the population of South America above the level of European
+States, where they act in a contrary direction. Physical causes do not,
+therefore, affect the destiny of nations so much as has been supposed.
+
+I have met with men in New England who were on the point of leaving a
+country, where they might have remained in easy circumstances, to go to
+seek their fortune in the wilds. Not far from that district I found a
+French population in Canada, which was closely crowded on a narrow
+territory, although the same wilds were at hand; and whilst the
+emigrant 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. Nature offers the solitudes of the New
+World to Europeans; but they are not always acquainted with the means
+of turning her gifts to account. Other peoples of America have the same
+physical conditions of prosperity as the Anglo-Americans, but without
+their laws and their manners; and these peoples are wretched. The laws
+and manners of the Anglo-Americans are therefore that efficient cause
+of their greatness which is the object of my inquiry.
+
+I am far from supposing that the American laws are preeminently good in
+themselves; I do not hold them to be applicable to all democratic
+peoples; and several of them seem to be dangerous, even in the United
+States. Nevertheless, it cannot be denied that the American
+legislation, taken collectively, is extremely well adapted to the
+genius of the people 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 principal
+cause of that success; and if they seem to me to have more influence
+upon the social happiness of the Americans than the nature of the
+country, on the other hand there is reason to believe that their effect
+is still inferior to that produced by the manners of the people.
+
+The Federal laws undoubtedly constitute the most important part of the
+legislation of the United States. Mexico, which is not less fortunately
+situated than the Anglo-American Union, has adopted the same laws, but
+is unable to accustom itself to the government of democracy. Some other
+cause is therefore at work, independently of those physical
+circumstances and peculiar laws which enable the democracy to rule in
+the United States.
+
+Another still more striking proof may be adduced. Almost all the
+inhabitants of the territory of 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 differences
+arise? Why, in the Eastern States of the Union, does the republican
+government display vigor and regularity, 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 contrary, society
+seems to be ruled by the powers of chance? There, public business is
+conducted with an irregularity and a passionate and feverish
+excitement, which does not announce a long or sure duration.
+
+I am no longer comparing the Anglo-American States to foreign nations;
+but I am contrasting them with each other, and endeavoring to discover
+why they are so unlike. 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 democracy, and that they have adopted
+the habits and conceived the notions most favorable to its maintenance.
+Democracy has gradually penetrated into their customs, their opinions,
+and the forms of social intercourse; it is to be found in all the
+details of daily life equally as in the laws. In the Eastern States the
+instruction and practical education of the people have been most
+perfected, and religion has been most thoroughly amalgamated with
+liberty. Now these habits, opinions, customs, and convictions are
+precisely the constituent elements of that which I have denominated
+manners.
+
+In the Western States, on the contrary, a portion of the same
+advantages is still wanting. Many of the Americans of the West were
+born in the woods, and they mix the ideas and the customs of savage
+life with the civilization of their parents. Their passions are more
+intense; their religious morality less authoritative; and their
+convictions less secure. The inhabitants exercise no sort of control
+over their fellow-citizens, for they are scarcely acquainted with each
+other. The nations of the West display, to a certain extent, the
+inexperience and the rude habits of a people in its 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 real
+cause which renders that people the only one of the American nations
+that is able to support a democratic government; and it is the
+influence of manners which produces the different degrees of order and
+of prosperity that may be distinguished in the several Anglo-American
+democracies. Thus the effect which the geographical 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 the physical
+circumstances are less efficient than the laws, and the laws very
+subordinate to the manners of the people. I am convinced that the most
+advantageous situation and the best possible laws cannot maintain a
+constitution in spite of the manners of a country; whilst the latter
+may turn the most unfavorable positions and the worst laws to some
+advantage. The importance of manners is a common truth to which study
+and experience incessantly direct our attention. It may be regarded as
+a central point in the range of human observation, and the common
+termination of all inquiry. So seriously do I insist upon this head,
+that if I have hitherto failed in making the reader feel the important
+influence which I attribute to the practical experience, the habits,
+the opinions, in short, to the manners of the Americans, upon the
+maintenance of their institutions, I have failed in the principal
+object of my work.
+
+Whether Laws And Manners Are Sufficient To Maintain Democratic
+Institutions In Other Countries Besides America
+
+The Anglo-Americans, if transported into Europe, would be obliged to
+modify their laws—Distinction to be made between democratic
+institutions and American institutions—Democratic laws may be conceived
+better than, or at least different from, those which the American
+democracy has adopted—The example of America only proves that it is
+possible to regulate democracy by the assistance of manners and
+legislation.
+
+I have asserted that the success of democratic institutions in the
+United States is more intimately connected with the laws themselves,
+and the manners of the people, than with the nature of the country. But
+does it follow that the same causes would of themselves produce the
+same results, if they were put into operation elsewhere; and if the
+country is no adequate substitute for laws and manners, can laws and
+manners in their turn prove a substitute for the country? It will
+readily be understood that the necessary elements of a reply to this
+question are wanting: other peoples are to be found in the New World
+besides the Anglo-Americans, and as these people are affected by the
+same physical circumstances as the latter, they may fairly be compared
+together. But there are no nations out of America which have adopted
+the same laws and manners, being destitute of the physical advantages
+peculiar to the Anglo-Americans. No standard of comparison therefore
+exists, and we can only hazard an opinion upon this subject.
+
+It appears to me, in the first place, that a careful distinction must
+be made between the institutions of the United States and democratic
+institutions in general. When I reflect upon the state of Europe, its
+mighty nations, its populous cities, its formidable armies, and the
+complex nature of its politics, I cannot suppose that even the
+Anglo-Americans, if they were transported to our hemisphere, with their
+ideas, their religion, and their manners, could exist without
+considerably altering their laws. But a democratic nation may be
+imagined, organized differently from the American people. It is not
+impossible to conceive a government really established upon the will of
+the majority; but in which the majority, repressing its natural
+propensity to equality, should consent, with a view to the order and
+the stability of the State, to invest a family or an individual with
+all the prerogatives of the executive. A democratic society might
+exist, in which the forces of the nation would be more centralized than
+they are in the United States; the people would exercise a less direct
+and less irresistible influence upon public affairs, and yet every
+citizen invested with certain rights would participate, within his
+sphere, in the conduct of the government. The observations I made
+amongst the Anglo-Americans induce 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 opinions
+of the people, might subsist 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
+the success of those institutions affords no proof of the success of
+democratic institutions in general, in a country less favored by
+natural circumstances. But as the laws of America appear to me to be
+defective in several respects, and as I can readily imagine others of
+the same general nature, the peculiar advantages of that country do not
+prove that democratic institutions cannot succeed in a nation 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 Americans engendered habits and opinions
+amongst them different from those which originate in the same social
+condition in the Old World, the American democracies would afford no
+means of predicting what may occur in other democracies. If the
+Americans displayed the same propensities as all other democratic
+nations, and if their legislators had relied upon the nature of the
+country and the favor of circumstances to restrain those propensities
+within due limits, the prosperity of the United States would be
+exclusively attributable to physical causes, and it would afford no
+encouragement to a people 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 be 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 the democratic
+feeling of envy expressed under a thousand different forms. I remarked
+that the people frequently displayed, in the conduct of affairs, a
+consummate mixture of ignorance and presumption; and I inferred that in
+America, men are liable to the same failings and the same absurdities
+as amongst ourselves. But upon examining the state of society more
+attentively, I speedily discovered that the Americans had made great
+and successful efforts to counteract these imperfections of human
+nature, and to correct the natural defects of democracy. Their divers
+municipal laws appeared to me to be a means of restraining the ambition
+of the citizens within a narrow sphere, and of turning those same
+passions which might have worked havoc in the State, to the good of the
+township or the parish. The American legislators have succeeded to a
+certain extent in opposing the notion of rights to the feelings of
+envy; the permanence of the religious world to the continual shifting
+of politics; the experience of the people to its theoretical ignorance;
+and its practical knowledge of business to the impatience of its
+desires.
+
+The Americans, then, have not relied upon the nature of their country
+to counterpoise those dangers which originate in their Constitution and
+in their political laws. To evils which are common to all democratic
+peoples they have applied remedies which none but themselves had ever
+thought of before; 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 by the aid of manners and of
+laws. If other nations should borrow this general and pregnant idea
+from the Americans, without however intending to imitate them in the
+peculiar application which they have made of it; if they should attempt
+to fit themselves for that social condition, which it seems to be the
+will of Providence to impose upon the generations of this age, and so
+to escape 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 political problem of the time. The Americans,
+unquestionably, have not resolved this problem, but they furnish useful
+data to those who undertake the task.
+
+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 discussed is interesting not
+only to the United States, but to the whole world; it concerns, not a
+nation, but all mankind. If those nations whose social condition is
+democratic could only remain free as long as they are inhabitants of
+the wilds, we could not but 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 maintain democratic institutions, what
+refuge would remain open to the nations, except the despotism of a
+single individual? I am aware that there are many worthy persons at the
+present time who are not alarmed at this latter alternative, and who
+are so tired of liberty as to be glad of repose, far from those storms
+by which it is attended. But these individuals are ill acquainted with
+the haven towards which they are bound. They are so deluded by their
+recollections, as to judge the tendency of absolute power by what it
+was formerly, and not by what it might become at the present time.
+
+If absolute power were re-established amongst the democratic nations of
+Europe, I am persuaded that it would assume a new form, and appear
+under features unknown to our forefathers. 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 supreme courts of justice, of corporations and their
+chartered rights, or of provincial privileges, which served to break
+the blows of the sovereign authority, and to maintain a spirit of
+resistance in the nation. Independently of these political
+institutions—which, however opposed they might be to personal liberty,
+served to keep alive the love of freedom in the mind of the public, and
+which may be esteemed to have been useful in this respect—the manners
+and opinions of the nation confined the royal authority within barriers
+which were not less powerful, although they were less conspicuous.
+Religion, the affections of the people, the benevolence of the prince,
+the sense of honor, family pride, provincial prejudices, custom, and
+public opinion limited the power of kings, and restrained their
+authority within an invisible circle. The constitution of nations was
+despotic at that time, but their manners were free. Princes had the
+right, but they had neither the means nor the desire, of doing whatever
+they pleased.
+
+But what now remains of those barriers which formerly arrested the
+aggressions of tyranny? Since religion has lost its empire over the
+souls of men, the most prominent boundary which divided good from evil
+is overthrown; the very elements of the moral world are indeterminate;
+the princes and the peoples of the earth are guided by chance, and none
+can define the natural limits of despotism and the bounds of license.
+Long revolutions have forever destroyed the respect which surrounded
+the rulers of the State; and since they have been relieved from the
+burden of public esteem, princes may henceforward surrender themselves
+without fear to the seductions 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 people is the bulwark of the throne. A mutual
+interchange of good-will then takes place between the prince and the
+people, which resembles the gracious intercourse of domestic society.
+The subjects may murmur at the sovereign’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 people 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 be weak, he is despised; if he be strong, he is detested. He
+himself is full of animosity and alarm; he finds that he is as a
+stranger in his own country, and he treats his subjects like conquered
+enemies.
+
+When the provinces and the towns formed so many different nations in
+the midst of their common country, each of them had a will of its own,
+which was opposed 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 their names, are
+subjected and accustomed to the same laws, it is not more difficult to
+oppress them collectively than it was formerly to oppress them singly.
+
+Whilst the nobles enjoyed their power, and indeed long after that power
+was lost, the honor of aristocracy conferred an extraordinary degree of
+force upon their personal opposition. They afford instances of men who,
+notwithstanding their weakness, still entertained a high opinion of
+their personal value, and dared to cope single-handed with the efforts
+of the public authority. But at the present day, when all ranks are
+more and more confounded, when the individual disappears in the throng,
+and is easily lost in the midst of a common obscurity, when the honor
+of monarchy has almost lost its empire without being succeeded by
+public virtue, and when nothing can enable man to rise above himself,
+who shall say at what point the exigencies of power and the servility
+of weakness will stop?
+
+As long as family feeling was kept alive, the antagonist of oppression
+was never alone; he looked about him, and found his clients, his
+hereditary friends, and his kinsfolk. If this support was wanting, he
+was sustained by his ancestors and animated by his posterity. But when
+patrimonial estates are divided, and when a few years suffice to
+confound the distinctions of a race, where can family feeling be found?
+What force can there be in the customs of a country which has changed
+and is still perpetually changing its aspect; in which every act of
+tyranny has a precedent, and every crime an example; in which there is
+nothing so old that its antiquity can save it from destruction, and
+nothing so unparalleled that its novelty 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 institution, has the power of representing or exerting
+that opinion; and when every citizen—being equally weak, equally poor,
+and equally dependent—has only his personal impotence to oppose to the
+organized force of the government?
+
+The annals of France furnish nothing analogous 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 nature was the sport of man, and
+princes wearied out the clemency of Heaven before they exhausted the
+patience of their subjects. Those who hope to revive the monarchy of
+Henry IV or of Louis XIV, appear to me to be afflicted 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
+believe that they will soon be left with no other alternative than
+democratic liberty, or the tyranny of the Caesars. *n
+
+n
+[ [This prediction of the return of France to imperial despotism, and
+of the true character of that despotic power, was written in 1832, and
+realized to the letter in 1852.]]
+
+
+And indeed it is deserving of consideration, whether men are to be
+entirely emancipated or entirely enslaved; whether their rights are to
+be made equal, or wholly taken away from them. If the rulers of society
+were reduced either gradually to raise the crowd to their own level, or
+to sink the citizens below that of humanity, would not the doubts of
+many be resolved, the consciences of many be healed, and the community
+prepared to make great sacrifices with little difficulty? In that case,
+the gradual growth of democratic manners and institutions should be
+regarded, not as the best, but as the only means of preserving freedom;
+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 associate a people in the work of government; but it
+is still more difficult to supply it with experience, and to inspire it
+with the feelings which it requires in order to govern well. I grant
+that the caprices of democracy are perpetual; its instruments are rude;
+its laws imperfect. But if it were true that soon no just medium would
+exist between the empire of democracy and the dominion of a single arm,
+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 despotic power?
+
+Those who, after having read this book, should imagine that my
+intention in writing it has been to propose the laws and manners of the
+Anglo-Americans for the imitation of all democratic peoples, would
+commit a very great mistake; they must have paid more attention to the
+form than to the substance of my ideas. My aim has been to show, by the
+example of America, that laws, and especially manners, may exist which
+will allow a democratic people to remain free. But I am very far from
+thinking that we ought to follow the example of the American democracy,
+and copy the means which it has employed to attain its ends; for I am
+well aware of the influence which the nature of a country and its
+political precedents exercise upon a constitution; and I should regard
+it as a great misfortune for mankind if liberty were to exist all over
+the world under the same forms.
+
+But I am of opinion that if we do not succeed in gradually introducing
+democratic institutions into France, and if we despair of imparting to
+the citizens those ideas and sentiments which first prepare them for
+freedom, and afterwards allow them to enjoy it, there will be no
+independence 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 empire of the majority be not founded
+amongst us in time, we shall sooner or later arrive at the unlimited
+authority of a single despot.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races In The United
+ States—Part I
+
+
+The Present And Probable Future Condition Of The Three Races Which
+Inhabit The Territory Of The United States
+
+The principal part of the 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.
+
+The absolute supremacy of democracy is not all that we meet with 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 been
+able 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
+mentioned in what spirit, and according to what laws, the
+Anglo-American Union was formed; but I could only glance at the dangers
+which menace that confederation, whilst it was equally impossible for
+me to give a detailed account of its chances of duration, independently
+of its laws and manners. When speaking of the united republican States,
+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 inquire into the
+future condition of the Americans as a commercial people.
+
+These topics are collaterally connected with my subject without forming
+a part of it; they are American without being democratic; and to
+portray democracy has been my principal aim. It was therefore necessary
+to postpone these questions, which I now take up as the proper
+termination 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 tropic, and it extends upwards to the
+icy regions of the North. The human beings who are scattered over this
+space do not form, as in Europe, so 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
+insurmountable barriers had been raised between them by education and
+by 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 apart.
+
+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-eminent; and in
+subordinate grades, 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 inferior rank in the country they inhabit; both suffer from
+tyranny; and if their wrongs are not the same, they originate, at any
+rate, with the same authors.
+
+If we reasoned from what passes in the world, we should almost say that
+the European is to the other races of mankind, what man is to the lower
+animals;—he makes them subservient to his use; and when he cannot
+subdue, he 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 all remembrance of his country;
+the language which his forefathers spoke is never heard around him; he
+abjured their religion and forgot their customs when he ceased to
+belong to Africa, without acquiring any claim to European privileges.
+But he remains half way between the two communities; sold by the one,
+repulsed by the other; finding not a spot in the universe to call by
+the name of country, except the faint image of a home which the shelter
+of his master’s roof affords.
+
+The negro has no family; woman is merely the temporary companion of his
+pleasures, and his children are upon an equality with himself from the
+moment of their birth. Am I to call it a proof of God’s mercy or a
+visitation of his wrath, that man in certain states appears to be
+insensible to his extreme wretchedness, and almost affects, with a
+depraved taste, the cause of his misfortunes? The negro, who is 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
+thoughts 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
+property of another, who has an interest in preserving his life, and
+that the care of it does not devolve upon himself; even the power of
+thought appears to him a useless gift of Providence, and he quietly
+enjoys the privileges of his debasement. If he becomes free,
+independence is often felt by him to be a heavier burden than slavery;
+for having learned, in the course of his life, to submit to everything
+except reason, he is too much unacquainted with her dictates to obey
+them. A thousand new desires beset him, and he is destitute of the
+knowledge and energy necessary to resist them: these are masters which
+it is necessary to contend with, and he has learnt only to submit and
+obey. In short, he sinks to such a depth of wretchedness, that while
+servitude brutalizes, liberty destroys him.
+
+Oppression has been no less fatal to the Indian than to the negro race,
+but its effects are different. Before the arrival of white men in the
+New World, the inhabitants of North America lived quietly in their
+woods, enduring the vicissitudes and practising the virtues and vices
+common to savage nations. The Europeans, having dispersed the Indian
+tribes and driven them into the deserts, condemned them to a wandering
+life full of inexpressible sufferings.
+
+Savage nations are only controlled by opinion and by custom. When the
+North American Indians had lost the sentiment of attachment to their
+country; when their families 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 able to metamorphose the
+character of the Indians; and though they have had power to destroy
+them, they have never been able to make them submit to the rules of
+civilized society.
+
+The lot of the negro is placed on the extreme limit of servitude, while
+that of the Indian lies on the uttermost verge of liberty; and slavery
+does not produce more fatal effects upon the first, than independence
+upon the second. The negro has lost all property in his own person, and
+he cannot dispose of his existence without committing a sort of fraud:
+but the savage 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, signifies to escape from all the
+shackles of society. As he delights in this barbarous independence, and
+would rather perish than sacrifice the least part of it, civilization
+has little power 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. Having been told from infancy that his race
+is naturally inferior to that of the whites, 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 lives 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 he
+repels every advance to civilization, less perhaps from the hatred
+which he entertains for it, than from a dread of resembling the
+Europeans. *a While he has nothing to oppose to our perfection in the
+arts but the resources of the desert, to our tactics nothing but
+undisciplined courage; whilst our well-digested plans are met by the
+spontaneous instincts of savage life, who can wonder if he fails in
+this unequal contest?
+
+a
+[ The native of North America retains his opinions and the most
+insignificant of his habits with a degree of tenacity which has no
+parallel in history. For more than two hundred years the wandering
+tribes of North America have had daily intercourse with the whites, and
+they have never derived from them either a custom or an idea. Yet the
+Europeans have exercised a powerful influence over the savages: they
+have made them more licentious, but not more European. In the summer of
+1831 I happened to be beyond Lake Michigan, at a place called Green
+Bay, which serves as the extreme frontier between the United States and
+the Indians on the north-western side. Here I became acquainted with an
+American officer, Major H., who, after talking to me at length on the
+inflexibility of the Indian character, related the following fact:—“I
+formerly knew a young Indian,” said he, “who had been educated at a
+college in New England, where he had greatly distinguished himself, and
+had acquired the external appearance of a member of civilized society.
+When the war broke out between ourselves and the English in 1810, I saw
+this young man again; he was serving in our army, at the head of the
+warriors of his tribe, for the Indians were admitted amongst the ranks
+of the Americans, upon condition that they would abstain from their
+horrible custom of scalping their victims. On the evening of the battle
+of . . ., C. came and sat himself down by the fire of our bivouac. I
+asked him what had been his fortune that day: he related his exploits;
+and growing warm and animated by the recollection of them, he concluded
+by suddenly opening the breast of his coat, saying, ‘You must not
+betray me—see here!’ And I actually beheld,” said the Major, “between
+his body and his shirt, the skin and hair of an English head, still
+dripping with gore.”]
+
+
+The negro, who earnestly desires to mingle his race with that of the
+European, cannot effect if; while the Indian, who might succeed to a
+certain extent, disdains to make the attempt. The servility of the one
+dooms him to slavery, the pride of the other to death.
+
+I remember that while I was travelling through the forests which still
+cover the State of Alabama, I arrived one day at the log house of a
+pioneer. I did not wish to penetrate into the dwelling of the American,
+but retired to rest myself for a while on the margin of a spring, which
+was not far off, in the woods. While I was in this place (which was in
+the neighborhood of the Creek territory), an Indian woman appeared,
+followed by a negress, and holding by the hand a little white girl of
+five or six years old, whom I took to be the daughter of the pioneer. A
+sort of barbarous luxury set off the costume of the Indian; rings of
+metal were hanging 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. They all three came and seated
+themselves upon the banks of the fountain; and the young Indian, taking
+the child in her arms, lavished upon her such fond caresses as mothers
+give; while the negress endeavored by various little artifices to
+attract the attention of the young Creole.
+
+The child displayed in her slightest gestures a consciousness of
+superiority which formed a 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
+strong affection for the child and servile fear; whilst the savage
+displayed, in the midst of her tenderness, an air of freedom and of
+pride which was almost ferocious. I had approached the group, and I
+contemplated them in silence; but my curiosity was probably displeasing
+to the Indian woman, 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 met together in the same place, who
+belonged to the three races of men which people North America. I had
+perceived from many different results the preponderance of the whites.
+But in the picture which I have just been describing there was
+something peculiarly touching; a bond of affection here united the
+oppressors with the oppressed, and the effort of nature to bring them
+together rendered still more striking the immense distance placed
+between them by prejudice and by law.
+
+The Present And Probable Future Condition Of The Indian Tribes Which
+Inhabit The Territory Possessed By The Union
+
+Gradual disappearance of the native tribes—Manner in which it takes
+place—Miseries accompanying the forced migrations of the Indians—The
+savages of North America had only two ways of escaping destruction; war
+or civilization—They are no longer 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—Instance 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
+England—the Naragansetts, the Mohicans, the Pecots—have any existence
+but in the recollection of man. The Lenapes, who received William Penn,
+a hundred and fifty years ago, upon the banks of the Delaware, have
+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; *b and as they give way or perish, an immense and increasing
+people fills their place. There is no instance upon record of so
+prodigious a growth, or so rapid a destruction: the manner in which the
+latter change takes place is not difficult to describe.
+
+b
+[ In the thirteen original States there are only 6,273 Indians
+remaining. (See Legislative Documents, 20th Congress, No. 117, p. 90.)
+[The decrease in now far greater, and is verging on extinction. See
+page 360 of this volume.]]
+
+
+When the Indians were the sole inhabitants of the wilds from whence
+they have since been expelled, their wants were few. Their arms were of
+their own manufacture, their only drink was 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 spirits, and iron: they taught them to exchange for
+manufactured stuffs, the rough garments which had previously satisfied
+their untutored simplicity. Having acquired new tastes, without the
+arts by which they could be gratified, the Indians were obliged to have
+recourse to the workmanship of the whites; but in return for their
+productions the savage had nothing to offer except the rich furs which
+still abounded in his woods. Hence the chase became necessary, not
+merely to provide for his subsistence, but in order to procure the only
+objects of barter which he could furnish to Europe. *c Whilst the wants
+of the natives were thus increasing, their resources continued to
+diminish.
+
+c
+[ Messrs. Clarke and Cass, in their Report to Congress on February 4,
+1829, p. 23, expressed themselves thus:—“The time when the Indians
+generally could supply themselves with food and clothing, without any
+of the articles of civilized life, has long since passed away. The more
+remote tribes, beyond the Mississippi, who live where immense herds of
+buffalo are yet to be found and who follow those animals in their
+periodical migrations, could more easily than any others recur to the
+habits of their ancestors, and live without the white man or any of his
+manufactures. But the buffalo is constantly receding. The smaller
+animals, the bear, the deer, the beaver, the otter, the muskrat, etc.,
+principally minister to the comfort and support of the Indians; and
+these cannot be taken without guns, ammunition, and traps. Among the
+Northwestern Indians particularly, the labor of supplying a family with
+food is excessive. Day after day is spent by the hunter without
+success, and during this interval his family must subsist upon bark or
+roots, or perish. Want and misery are around them and among them. Many
+die every winter from actual starvation.”
+
+
+The Indians will not live as Europeans live, and yet they can neither
+subsist without them, nor exactly after the fashion of their fathers.
+This is demonstrated by a fact which I likewise give upon official
+authority. Some Indians of a tribe on the banks of Lake Superior had
+killed a European; the American government interdicted all traffic with
+the tribe to which the guilty parties belonged, until they were
+delivered up to justice. This measure had the desired effect.]
+
+From the moment when a European settlement is formed in the
+neighborhood of the territory occupied by the Indians, the beasts of
+chase take the alarm. *d Thousands of savages, wandering in the forests
+and destitute of any fixed dwelling, did not disturb them; but as soon
+as the continuous sounds of European labor are heard in their
+neighborhood, they begin to flee away, and retire to the West, where
+their instinct teaches them that they will find deserts of immeasurable
+extent. “The buffalo is constantly receding,” say Messrs. Clarke and
+Cass in their Report of the year 1829; “a few years since they
+approached 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 hundred leagues’ distance from their
+frontier. Their influence is thus exerted over tribes whose name is
+unknown to them; and who suffer the evils of usurpation long before
+they are acquainted with the authors of their distress. *e
+
+d
+[ “Five years ago,” (says Volney in his “Tableau des Etats-Unis,” p.
+370) “in going from Vincennes to Kaskaskia, a territory which now forms
+part of the State of Illinois, but which at the time I mention was
+completely wild (1797), you could not cross a prairie without seeing
+herds of from four to five hundred buffaloes. There are now none
+remaining; they swam across the Mississippi to escape from the hunters,
+and more particularly from the bells of the American cows.”]
+
+
+e
+[ The truth of what I here advance may be easily proved by consulting
+the tabular statement of Indian tribes inhabiting the United States and
+their territories. (Legislative Documents, 20th Congress, No. 117, pp.
+90-105.) It is there shown that the tribes in the centre of America are
+rapidly decreasing, although the Europeans are still at a considerable
+distance from them.]
+
+
+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 of the whites, they begin to build
+habitations for civilized beings in the midst of the wilderness. This
+is done without difficulty, as the territory of a hunting-nation is
+ill-defined; it is the common property of the tribe, and belongs to no
+one in particular, so that individual interests are not concerned in
+the protection of any part of it.
+
+A few European families, settled in different situations at a
+considerable distance 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 difficult to
+subsist, and still more difficult to procure the articles of barter
+which they stand in need of.
+
+To drive away their game is to deprive them of the means of existence,
+as effectually as if the fields of our agriculturists were stricken
+with barrenness; and they are reduced, like famished wolves, to prowl
+through the forsaken woods in quest of prey. Their instinctive love of
+their country attaches them to the soil which gave them birth, *f even
+after it has ceased to yield anything but misery and death. At length
+they are compelled to acquiesce, and to depart: they follow the traces
+of the elk, the buffalo, and the beaver, and are guided by these wild
+animals in the choice of their future country. Properly speaking,
+therefore, it is not the Europeans who drive away the native
+inhabitants of America; it is famine which compels them to recede; a
+happy distinction which had escaped the casuists of former times, and
+for which we are indebted to modern discovery!
+
+f
+[ “The Indians,” say Messrs. Clarke and Cass in their Report to
+Congress, p. 15, “are attached to their country by the same feelings
+which bind us to ours; and, besides, there are certain superstitious
+notions connected with the alienation of what the Great Spirit gave to
+their ancestors, which operate strongly upon the tribes 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 our fathers,’ is almost always the first answer to a
+proposition for a sale.”]
+
+
+It is impossible to conceive the extent of the sufferings which attend
+these forced emigrations. They are undertaken by a people already
+exhausted and reduced; and the countries to which the newcomers betake
+themselves are inhabited by other tribes which receive them with
+jealous hostility. Hunger is in the rear; war awaits them, and misery
+besets them on all sides. In the hope of escaping from such a host of
+enemies, they separate, and each individual endeavors to procure the
+means of supporting his existence in solitude and secrecy, living in
+the immensity of the desert like an outcast in civilized society. The
+social tie, which distress had long since weakened, is then dissolved;
+they have lost their country, and their people soon desert them: their
+very families are obliterated; the names they bore in common are
+forgotten, their language perishes, and all traces of their origin
+disappear. Their nation has ceased to exist, except in the recollection
+of the antiquaries of America and a few of the learned of Europe.
+
+I should be sorry to have my reader suppose that I am coloring the
+picture too highly; I saw with my own eyes several of the cases of
+misery which I have been describing; and I was the witness of
+sufferings which I have not the power to portray.
+
+At the end of the year 1831, whilst I was on the left bank of the
+Mississippi at a place named by Europeans, Memphis, there arrived a
+numerous band of Choctaws (or Chactas, as they are called by the French
+in Louisiana). These savages had left their country, and were
+endeavoring to gain the right bank of the Mississippi, where they hoped
+to find an asylum which had been promised them by the American
+government. It was then the middle of winter, and the cold was
+unusually severe; the snow had frozen hard upon the ground, and the
+river was drifting huge masses of ice. The Indians had their families
+with them; and they brought in their train the wounded and sick, with
+children newly born, and old men upon the verge of death. They
+possessed neither tents nor wagons, but only their arms and some
+provisions. I saw them embark 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 was to carry them across,
+but their dogs remained upon the bank. As soon as these animals
+perceived that their masters were finally leaving the shore, they set
+up a dismal howl, and, plunging all together into the icy waters of the
+Mississippi, they swam after the boat.
+
+The ejectment of the Indians very 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 government of the United States usually dispatches
+envoys to them, who assemble the Indians in a large plain, and having
+first eaten and drunk with them, accost them in the following manner:
+“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 woods, marshes, or prairies,
+except where you dwell? And can you live nowhere but under your own
+sun? Beyond those mountains which you see at the horizon, beyond the
+lake which bounds your territory on the west, there lie vast countries
+where beasts of chase are found in great abundance; sell your lands to
+us, and go to live happily in those solitudes.” After holding this
+language, they spread before the eyes of the Indians firearms, woollen
+garments, kegs of brandy, glass necklaces, bracelets of tinsel,
+earrings, and looking-glasses. *g If, when they have beheld all these
+riches, they still hesitate, it is insinuated that they have not the
+means of refusing their required consent, and that the government
+itself will not long 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, where the importunate whites will not let them
+remain ten years in tranquillity. In this manner do the Americans
+obtain, at a very low price, whole provinces, which the richest
+sovereigns of Europe could not purchase. *h
+
+g
+[ See, in the Legislative Documents of Congress (Doc. 117), the
+narrative of what takes place on these occasions. This curious passage
+is from the above-mentioned report, made to Congress by Messrs. Clarke
+and Cass in February, 1829. Mr. Cass is now the Secretary of War.
+
+
+“The Indians,” says the report, “reach the treaty-ground poor and
+almost naked. Large quantities of goods are taken there by the traders,
+and are seen and examined by the Indians. The women and children become
+importunate to have their wants supplied, and their influence is soon
+exerted to induce a sale. Their improvidence is habitual and
+unconquerable. The gratification of his immediate wants and desires is
+the ruling passion of an Indian. The expectation of future advantages
+seldom produces much effect. The experience of the past is lost, and
+the prospects of the future disregarded. It would be utterly hopeless
+to demand a cession of land, unless the means were at hand of
+gratifying their immediate wants; and when their condition and
+circumstances are fairly considered, it ought not to surprise us that
+they are so anxious to relieve themselves.”]
+
+h
+[ On May 19, 1830, Mr. Edward Everett affirmed before the House of
+Representatives, that the Americans had already acquired by treaty, to
+the east and west of the Mississippi, 230,000,000 of acres. In 1808 the
+Osages gave up 48,000,000 acres for an annual payment of $1,000. In
+1818 the Quapaws yielded up 29,000,000 acres for $4,000. They reserved
+for themselves a territory of 1,000,000 acres for a hunting-ground. A
+solemn oath was taken that it should be respected: but before long it
+was invaded like the rest. Mr. Bell, in his Report of the Committee on
+Indian Affairs, February 24, 1830, has these words:—“To pay an Indian
+tribe what their ancient hunting-grounds are worth to them, after the
+game is fled or destroyed, as a mode of appropriating wild lands
+claimed by Indians, has been found more convenient, and certainly it is
+more agreeable to the forms of justice, as well as more merciful, than
+to assert the possession of them by the sword. Thus the practice of
+buying Indian titles is but the substitute which humanity and
+expediency have imposed, in place of the sword, in arriving at the
+actual enjoyment of property claimed by the right of discovery, and
+sanctioned by the natural superiority allowed to the claims of
+civilized communities over those of savage tribes. Up to the present
+time so invariable has been the operation of certain causes, first in
+diminishing the value of forest lands to the Indians, and secondly in
+disposing them to sell readily, that the plan of buying their right of
+occupancy has never threatened to retard, in any perceptible degree,
+the prosperity of any of the States.” (Legislative Documents, 21st
+Congress, No. 227, p. 6.)]
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part II
+
+
+These are great evils; and it must be added that they appear to me to
+be irremediable. I believe that the Indian nations of North America are
+doomed to perish; and that whenever the Europeans shall be established
+on the shores of the Pacific Ocean, that race of men will be no more.
+*i The Indians had only the two alternatives of war or civilization; in
+other words, they must either have destroyed the Europeans or become
+their equals.
+
+i
+[ This seems, indeed, to be the opinion of almost all American
+statesmen. “Judging of the future by the past,” says Mr. Cass, “we
+cannot err in anticipating a progressive diminution of their numbers,
+and their eventual extinction, unless our border should become
+stationary, and they be removed beyond it, or unless some radical
+change should take place in the principles of our intercourse with
+them, which it is easier to hope for than to expect.”]
+
+
+At the first settlement of the colonies they might have found it
+possible, by uniting their forces, to deliver themselves from the small
+bodies of strangers who landed on their continent. *j They several
+times attempted to do it, and were on the point of succeeding; but the
+disproportion of their resources, at the present day, when compared
+with those of the whites, is too great to allow such an enterprise to
+be thought of. Nevertheless, there do arise from time to time among the
+Indians men of penetration, who foresee the final destiny which awaits
+the native population, and who exert themselves to unite all the tribes
+in common hostility to the Europeans; but their efforts are unavailing.
+Those tribes which are in the neighborhood of the whites, are too much
+weakened to offer an effectual resistance; whilst the others, giving
+way to that childish carelessness of the morrow which characterizes
+savage life, wait for the near approach of danger before they prepare
+to meet it; some are unable, the others are unwilling, to exert
+themselves.
+
+j
+[ Amongst other warlike enterprises, there was one of the Wampanaogs,
+and other confederate tribes, under Metacom in 1675, against the
+colonists of New England; the English were also engaged in war in
+Virginia in 1622.]
+
+
+It is easy to foresee that the Indians will never conform to
+civilization; or that it will be too late, whenever they may be
+inclined to make the experiment.
+
+Civilization is the result of a long social process which 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 the most difficulty which habitually live
+by the chase. Pastoral tribes, indeed, often change their place of
+abode; but they follow a regular order in their migrations, and often
+return again 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 amongst the
+Indians, without controlling their wandering propensities; by the
+Jesuits in Canada, and by the Puritans in New England; *k but none of
+these endeavors were crowned by any lasting success. Civilization began
+in the cabin, but it soon retired to expire in the woods. The great
+error of these legislators of the Indians was their not understanding
+that, in order to succeed in civilizing a people, it is first necessary
+to fix it; which cannot be done without inducing it to cultivate the
+soil; the Indians ought in the first place to have been accustomed to
+agriculture. But not only are they destitute of this indispensable
+preliminary to civilization, they would even have great difficulty in
+acquiring it. Men who have once abandoned themselves to the restless
+and adventurous life of the hunter, feel an insurmountable disgust for
+the constant and regular labor which tillage requires. We see this
+proved in the bosom of our own society; but it is far more visible
+among peoples whose partiality for the chase is a part of their
+national character.
+
+k
+[ See the “Histoire de la Nouvelle France,” by Charlevoix, and the work
+entitled “Lettres edifiantes.”]
+
+
+Independently of this general difficulty, there is another, which
+applies peculiarly to the Indians; they consider labor not merely as an
+evil, but as a disgrace; so that their pride prevents them from
+becoming civilized, as much as their indolence. *l
+
+l
+[ “In all the tribes,” says Volney, in his “Tableau des Etats-Unis,” p.
+423, “there still exists a generation of old warriors, who cannot
+forbear, when they see their countrymen using the hoe, from exclaiming
+against the degradation of ancient manners, and asserting that the
+savages owe their decline to these innovations; adding, that they have
+only to return to their primitive habits in order to recover their
+power and their glory.”]
+
+
+There is no Indian so wretched as not to retain under his hut of bark a
+lofty idea of his personal worth; he considers the cares of industry
+and labor as degrading occupations; he compares the husbandman to the
+ox which traces the furrow; and even in our most ingenious handicraft,
+he can see nothing but the labor of slaves. Not that he is devoid of
+admiration for the power and intellectual greatness of the whites; but
+although the result of our efforts surprises him, he contemns the means
+by which we obtain it; and while he acknowledges our ascendancy, he
+still believes in his superiority. War and hunting are the only
+pursuits which appear to him worthy to be the occupations of a man. *m
+The Indian, in the dreary solitude of his woods, cherishes the same
+ideas, the same opinions as the noble of the Middle Ages in his castle,
+and he only requires to become a conqueror to complete the resemblance;
+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 the
+ancient prejudices of Europe are still in existence.
+
+m
+[ The following description occurs in an official document: “Until a
+young man has been engaged with an enemy, and has performed some acts
+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 consists of the kinsmen, friends, and comrades of the
+narrator. The profound impression which his discourse produces on them
+is manifested by the silent attention it receives, and by the loud
+shouts which hail its termination. The young man who finds himself at
+such a meeting without anything to recount is very unhappy; and
+instances have sometimes occurred of young warriors, whose passions had
+been thus inflamed, quitting the war-dance suddenly, and going off
+alone to seek for trophies which they might exhibit, and adventures
+which they might be allowed to relate.”]
+
+
+More than once, in the course of this work, I have endeavored to
+explain the prodigious influence which the social condition appears to
+exercise upon the laws and the manners of men; and I beg 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 of the wandering 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 brought about the same results in both hemispheres;
+and that in the midst of the apparent diversity of human affairs, a
+certain number of primary facts may be discovered, from which all the
+others are derived. In what we usually call the German institutions,
+then, I am inclined only to perceive barbarian habits; and the opinions
+of savages in what we style feudal principles.
+
+However strongly the vices and prejudices of the North American Indians
+may be opposed to their becoming agricultural and civilized, necessity
+sometimes obliges them to it. Several of the Southern nations, and
+amongst others the Cherokees and the Creeks, *n were surrounded by
+Europeans, who had landed on the shores of the Atlantic; and who,
+either descending the Ohio or proceeding up the Mississippi, arrived
+simultaneously upon their borders. These tribes have not been driven
+from place to place, like their Northern brethren; but they have been
+gradually enclosed within narrow limits, like the game within the
+thicket, before the huntsmen plunge into the interior. The Indians who
+were thus placed between civilization and death, found themselves
+obliged to live by ignominious labor like the whites. They took to
+agriculture, and without entirely forsaking their old habits or
+manners, sacrificed only as much as was necessary to their existence.
+
+n
+[ These nations are now swallowed up in the States of Georgia,
+Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. There were formerly in the South
+four great nations (remnants of which still exist), the Choctaws, the
+Chickasaws, the Creeks, and the Cherokees. The remnants of these four
+nations amounted, in 1830, to about 75,000 individuals. It is computed
+that there are now remaining in the territory occupied or claimed by
+the Anglo-American Union about 300,000 Indians. (See Proceedings of the
+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 refer to. (Legislative Documents, 20th Congress, No. 117, pp.
+90-105.) [In the Census of 1870 it is stated that the Indian population
+of the United States is only 25,731, of whom 7,241 are in California.]]
+
+
+The Cherokees went further; they created a written language;
+established a permanent form of government; and as everything proceeds
+rapidly in the New World, before they had all of them clothes, they set
+up a newspaper. *o
+
+o
+[ I brought back with me to France one or two copies of this singular
+publication.]
+
+
+The growth of European habits has been remarkably accelerated among
+these Indians by the mixed race which has sprung up. *p Deriving
+intelligence from their father’s side, without entirely losing the
+savage customs of the mother, the half-blood forms the natural link
+between civilization and barbarism. Wherever this race has multiplied
+the savage state has become modified, and a great change has taken
+place in the manners of the people. *q
+
+p
+[ See in the Report of the Committee on Indian Affairs, 21st Congress,
+No. 227, p. 23, the reasons for the multiplication of Indians of mixed
+blood among the Cherokees. The principal cause dates from the War of
+Independence. Many Anglo-Americans of Georgia, having taken the side of
+England, were obliged to retreat among the Indians, where they
+married.]
+
+
+q
+[ Unhappily the mixed race has been less numerous and less influential
+in North America than in any other country. The American continent was
+peopled by two great nations of Europe, the French and the English. The
+former were not slow in connecting themselves with the daughters of the
+natives, but there was an unfortunate affinity between the Indian
+character and their own: instead of giving the tastes and habits of
+civilized life to the savages, the French too often grew passionately
+fond of the state of wild freedom they found them in. They became the
+most dangerous of the inhabitants of the desert, and won the friendship
+of the Indian by exaggerating his vices and his virtues. M. de
+Senonville, the governor of Canada, wrote thus to Louis XIV in 1685:
+“It has long been believed that in order to civilize the savages we
+ought to draw them nearer to us. But there is every reason to suppose
+we have been mistaken. Those which have been brought into contact with
+us have not become French, and the French 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, continuing obstinately 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 union of his race with theirs. Thus
+while the French exercised no salutary influence over the Indians, the
+English have always remained alien from them.]
+
+
+The success of the Cherokees proves that the Indians are capable of
+civilization, but it does not prove that they will succeed in it. This
+difficulty which the Indians find in submitting to civilization
+proceeds from the influence of a general cause, which it is almost
+impossible for them to escape. An attentive survey of history
+demonstrates that, in general, barbarous nations have raised themselves
+to civilization by degrees, and by their own efforts. Whenever they
+derive knowledge from a foreign people, they stood towards it in the
+relation of conquerors, and not of a conquered nation. When the
+conquered nation is enlightened, and the conquerors are half savage, as
+in the case of the invasion of Rome by the Northern nations or that of
+China by the Mongols, the power which victory bestows upon the
+barbarian is sufficient to keep up his importance among civilized men,
+and permit him to rank as their equal, until he becomes their rival:
+the one has might on his side, the other has intelligence; the former
+admires the knowledge and the arts of the conquered, 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 intellectual preponderance, the conquered party seldom
+become civilized; it retreats, or is destroyed. It may therefore be
+said, in a general way, that savages go forth in arms to seek
+knowledge, but that they 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, they would gradually gain strength and experience, and
+when the Europeans should appear upon their borders, they would be in a
+state, if not to maintain their independence, at least to assert their
+right to the soil, and to incorporate themselves with the conquerors.
+But it is the misfortune of Indians to be brought into contact with a
+civilized people, which is also (it must be owned) the most avaricious
+nation on the globe, whilst they are still semi-barbarian: to find
+despots in their instructors, and to receive knowledge from the hand of
+oppression. Living in the freedom of the woods, the North American
+Indian was destitute, but he had no feeling of inferiority towards
+anyone; as soon, however, as he desires to penetrate into the social
+scale of the whites, he takes the lowest rank in society, for he
+enters, ignorant and poor, within the pale of science and wealth. After
+having led a life of agitation, beset with evils and dangers, but at
+the same time filled with proud emotions, *r he is obliged to submit to
+a wearisome, obscure, and degraded state; and to gain the bread which
+nourishes him by hard and ignoble labor; such are in his eyes the only
+results of which civilization can boast: and even this much he is not
+sure to obtain.
+
+r
+[ There is in the adventurous life of the hunter a certain irresistible
+charm, which seizes the heart of man and carries him away in spite of
+reason and experience. This is plainly shown by the memoirs of Tanner.
+Tanner is a European who was carried away at the age of six by the
+Indians, and has remained thirty years with them in the woods. Nothing
+can be conceived more appalling that the miseries which he describes.
+He tells us of tribes without a chief, families without a nation to
+call their own, men in a state of isolation, wrecks of powerful tribes
+wandering at random amid the ice and snow and desolate solitudes of
+Canada. Hunger and cold pursue them; every day their life is in
+jeopardy. Amongst these men, manners have lost their empire, traditions
+are without power. They become more and more savage. Tanner shared in
+all these miseries; he was aware of his European origin; he was not
+kept away from the whites by force; on the contrary, he came every year
+to trade with them, entered their dwellings, and witnessed their
+enjoyments; he knew that whenever he chose to return to civilized life
+he was perfectly able to do so—and he remained thirty years in the
+deserts. When he came into civilized society he declared that the rude
+existence which he described, had a secret charm for him which he was
+unable to define: he returned to it again and again: at length he
+abandoned it with poignant regret; and when he was at length fixed
+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 to be more like a savage than a civilized
+being. His book is written without either taste or order; but he gives,
+even unconsciously, a lively picture of the prejudices, the passions,
+the vices, and, above all, of the destitution in which he lived.]
+
+
+When the Indians undertake to imitate their European neighbors, and to
+till the earth like the settlers, they are immediately exposed to a
+very formidable competition. The white man is skilled in the craft of
+agriculture; the Indian is a rough beginner in an art with which he is
+unacquainted. The former reaps abundant crops without difficulty, the
+latter meets with a thousand obstacles in raising the fruits of the
+earth.
+
+The European is placed amongst a population whose wants he knows and
+partakes. The savage is isolated in the midst of a hostile people, with
+whose manners, language, and laws he is imperfectly acquainted, but
+without whose assistance he cannot live. He can only procure the
+materials of comfort by bartering his commodities against the goods of
+the European, for the assistance of his countrymen is wholly
+insufficient to supply his wants. When the Indian wishes to sell the
+produce of his labor, he cannot always meet with a purchaser, whilst
+the European readily finds a market; and the former can only produce at
+a considerable cost that which the latter vends at a very low rate.
+Thus the Indian has no sooner escaped those evils to which barbarous
+nations are exposed, than he is subjected to the still greater miseries
+of civilized communities; and he finds is scarcely less difficult to
+live in the midst of our abundance, than in the depth of his own
+wilderness.
+
+He has not yet lost the habits of his erratic life; the traditions of
+his fathers and his passion for the chase are still alive within him.
+The wild enjoyments which formerly animated him in the woods, painfully
+excite his troubled imagination; and his former privations appear to be
+less keen, his former perils less appalling. He contrasts the
+independence which he possessed amongst his equals with the servile
+position which he occupies in civilized society. On the other hand, the
+solitudes which were so long his free home are still at hand; a few
+hours’ march will bring him back to them once more. The whites offer
+him a sum, which seems to him to be considerable, for the ground which
+he has begun to clear. This money of the Europeans may possibly furnish
+him with the means of a happy and peaceful subsistence in remoter
+regions; and he quits the plough, resumes his native arms, and returns
+to the wilderness forever. *s The condition of the Creeks and
+Cherokees, to which I have already alluded, sufficiently corroborates
+the truth of this deplorable picture.
+
+s
+[ The destructive influence of highly civilized nations upon others
+which are less so, has been exemplified by the Europeans themselves.
+About a century ago the French founded the town of Vincennes up on the
+Wabash, in the middle of the desert; and they lived there in great
+plenty until the arrival of the American settlers, who first ruined the
+previous inhabitants by their competition, and afterwards purchased
+their lands at a very low rate. At the time when M. de Volney, from
+whom I borrow these details, passed through Vincennes, the number of
+the French was reduced to a hundred individuals, most of whom were
+about to pass over to Louisiana or to Canada. These French settlers
+were worthy people, but idle and uninstructed: they had contracted many
+of the habits of savages. The Americans, who were perhaps their
+inferiors, in a moral point of view, were immeasurably superior to them
+in 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 less striking, that the English are the masters of
+commerce and manufacture in the Canadian country, that they spread on
+all sides, and confine the French within limits which scarcely suffice
+to contain them. In like manner, in Louisiana, almost all activity in
+commerce and manufacture centres in the hands of the Anglo-Americans.
+
+But the case of Texas is still more striking: the State of Texas is a
+part of Mexico, and lies upon the frontier between that country and the
+United States. In the course of the last few years the Anglo-Americans
+have penetrated into this province, which is still thinly peopled; they
+purchase land, they produce the commodities of the country, and
+supplant the original population. It may easily be foreseen that if
+Mexico takes no steps to check this change, the province of Texas will
+very shortly cease to belong to that government.
+
+If the different degrees—comparatively so slight—which exist in
+European civilization produce results of such magnitude, the
+consequences which must ensue from the collision of the most perfect
+European civilization with Indian savages may readily be conceived.]
+
+The Indians, in the little which they have done, have unquestionably
+displayed as much natural genius as the peoples of Europe in their most
+important designs; but nations as well as men require time to learn,
+whatever may be their intelligence and their zeal. Whilst the savages
+were engaged in the work of civilization, the Europeans continued to
+surround them on every side, and to confine them within narrower
+limits; the two races gradually met, and they are now in immediate
+juxtaposition to each other. The Indian is already superior to his
+barbarous parent, but he is still very far below his white neighbor.
+With their resources and acquired knowledge, the Europeans soon
+appropriated to themselves most of the advantages which the natives
+might have derived from the possession of the soil; they have settled
+in the country, they have purchased land at a very low rate or have
+occupied it by force, and the Indians have been ruined by a competition
+which they had not the means of resisting. They were isolated in their
+own country, and their race only constituted a colony of troublesome
+aliens in the midst of a numerous and domineering people. *t
+
+t
+[ See in the 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 to retire by the troops of Congress, or carrying off
+their cattle, burning their houses, cutting down their corn, and doing
+violence to their persons. It appears, nevertheless, from all these
+documents that the claims of the natives are constantly protected by
+the government from the abuse of force. The Union has a representative
+agent continually employed to reside among the Indians; and the report
+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 lands of the Cherokees would cause ruin to the poor,
+helpless, and inoffensive inhabitants.” And he further remarks upon the
+attempt of the State of Georgia to establish a division line for the
+purpose of limiting the boundaries of the Cherokees, that the line
+drawn having been made by the whites, and entirely upon ex parte
+evidence of their several rights, was of no validity whatever.]
+
+
+Washington said in one of his messages to Congress, “We are more
+enlightened and more powerful than the Indian nations, we are therefore
+bound in honor to treat them with kindness and even with generosity.”
+But this virtuous and high-minded policy has not been followed. The
+rapacity of the settlers is usually backed by the tyranny of the
+government. Although the Cherokees and the Creeks are established upon
+the territory which they inhabited before the settlement of the
+Europeans, and although the Americans have frequently treated with them
+as with foreign nations, the surrounding States have not consented to
+acknowledge them as independent peoples, and attempts have been made to
+subject these children of the woods to Anglo-American magistrates,
+laws, and customs. *u Destitution had driven these unfortunate Indians
+to civilization, and oppression now drives them back to their former
+condition: many of them abandon the soil which they had begun to clear,
+and return to their savage course of life.
+
+u
+[ In 1829 the State of Alabama divided the Creek territory into
+counties, and subjected the Indian population to the power of European
+magistrates.
+
+In 1830 the State of Mississippi assimilated the Choctaws and
+Chickasaws to the white population, and declared that any of them that
+should take the title of chief would be punished by a fine of $1,000
+and a year’s imprisonment. When these laws were enforced upon the
+Choctaws, who inhabited that district, the tribe assembled, their chief
+communicated 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.]
+
+
+
+
+Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part III
+
+
+If we consider the tyrannical measures which have been adopted by the
+legislatures of the Southern States, the conduct of their Governors,
+and the decrees of their courts of justice, we shall be convinced that
+the entire expulsion of the Indians is the final result to which the
+efforts of their policy are directed. The Americans of that part of the
+Union look with jealousy upon the aborigines, *v they are aware that
+these tribes have not yet lost the traditions of savage life, and
+before civilization has permanently fixed them to the soil, it is
+intended to force them to recede by reducing them to despair. The
+Creeks and Cherokees, oppressed by the several States, have appealed 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 maintaining them in the free possession of that
+territory, which the Union is pledged to respect. *w But the several
+States oppose so formidable a resistance to the execution of this
+design, that the government is obliged to consent to the extirpation of
+a few barbarous tribes in order not to endanger the safety of the
+American Union.
+
+v
+[ The Georgians, who are so much annoyed by the proximity of the
+Indians, inhabit a territory which does 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.]
+
+
+w
+[ In 1818 Congress appointed commissioners to visit the Arkansas
+Territory, accompanied by a deputation of Creeks, Choctaws, and
+Chickasaws. This expedition was commanded by Messrs. Kennerly, M’Coy,
+Wash Hood, and John Bell. See the different reports of the
+commissioners, and their journal, in the Documents of Congress, No. 87,
+House of Representatives.]
+
+
+But the federal government, which is not able to protect the Indians,
+would fain mitigate the hardships of their lot; and, with this
+intention, proposals have been made to transport them into more remote
+regions at the public cost.
+
+Between the thirty-third and thirty-seventh degrees of north latitude,
+a vast tract of country lies, which has taken the name of Arkansas,
+from the principal river that waters its extent. It is bounded on the
+one side by the confines of Mexico, on the other by the Mississippi.
+Numberless streams cross it in every direction; the climate is mild,
+and the soil productive, but it is only inhabited by a few wandering
+hordes of savages. The government of the Union wishes to transport the
+broken remnants of the indigenous population of the South to the
+portion of this country which is nearest to Mexico, and at a great
+distance from the American settlements.
+
+We were assured, towards the end of the year 1831, that 10,000 Indians
+had already gone down to the shores of the Arkansas; and fresh
+detachments were constantly following them; but Congress has been
+unable to excite a unanimous determination in those whom it is disposed
+to protect. Some, indeed, are willing to quit the seat of oppression,
+but the most enlightened members of the community refuse to abandon
+their recent dwellings and their springing crops; they are of opinion
+that the work of civilization, once interrupted, will never be resumed;
+they fear that those domestic habits which have been so recently
+contracted, may be irrevocably lost in the midst of a country which is
+still barbarous, and where nothing is prepared for the subsistence of
+an agricultural people; they know that their entrance into those wilds
+will be opposed by inimical hordes, and that they have lost the energy
+of barbarians, without acquiring the resources of civilization to
+resist their attacks. Moreover, the Indians readily discover that the
+settlement which is proposed to them is merely a temporary expedient.
+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 the
+observance of the obligation; but the territory which they at present
+occupy was formerly secured to them by the most solemn oaths of
+Anglo-American faith. *x The American government does not indeed rob
+them of their lands, but it allows perpetual incursions to be made on
+them. In a few years the same white population which now flocks around
+them, will track them to the solitudes of the Arkansas; they will then
+be exposed to the same evils without the same remedies, and as the
+limits of the earth will at last fail them, their only refuge is the
+grave.
+
+x
+[ The fifth article of the treaty made with the Creeks in August, 1790,
+is in the following words:—“The United States solemnly guarantee to the
+Creek nation all their land within the limits of the United States.”
+
+
+The seventh article of the treaty concluded in 1791 with the Cherokees
+says:—“The United States solemnly guarantee to the 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 establish himself upon the territory of the Cherokees, the
+United States would withdraw their protection from that individual, and
+give him up to be punished as the Cherokee nation should think fit.]
+
+The Union treats the Indians with less cupidity and rigor than the
+policy of the several States, but the two governments are alike
+destitute of good faith. The States extend what they are pleased to
+term the benefits of their laws to the Indians, with a belief that the
+tribes will recede rather than submit; and the central government,
+which promises a permanent refuge to these unhappy beings is well aware
+of its inability to secure it to them. *y
+
+y
+[ 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, March 23, 1829 (Proceedings of the Indian Board, in the city
+of New York, p. 5): “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 trouble 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 18,
+1829, (see the same work, p. 6), declares to them that they cannot
+expect to retain possession of the lands at that time occupied by them,
+but gives them the most positive assurance of uninterrupted peace if
+they would remove beyond the Mississippi: as if the power which could
+not grant them protection then, would be able to afford it them
+hereafter!]
+
+Thus the tyranny of the States obliges the savages to retire, the
+Union, by its promises and resources, facilitates their retreat; and
+these measures tend to precisely the same end. *z “By the will of our
+Father in Heaven, the Governor of the whole world,” said the Cherokees
+in their petition to Congress, *a “the red man of America has become
+small, and the white man great and renowned. When the ancestors of the
+people of these United States first came to the shores of America they
+found the red man strong: though he was ignorant and savage, yet he
+received them kindly, and gave them dry land to rest their weary feet.
+They met in peace, and shook hands in token of friendship. Whatever the
+white man wanted and asked of the Indian, the latter willingly gave. At
+that time the Indian was the lord, and the white man the suppliant. But
+now the scene has changed. The strength of the red man has become
+weakness. As his neighbors increased in numbers his power became less
+and less, and now, of the many and powerful 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 numerous and
+powerful, are now nearly extinct. Thus it has happened to the red man
+of America. Shall we, who are remnants, share the same fate?”
+
+z
+[ To obtain a correct idea of the 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 Inhabitants.” (See the Legislative Documents, 21st Congress, No.
+319.) 2d, The Laws of the Union on the same subject, and especially
+that of March 30, 1802. (See Story’s “Laws of the United States.”) 3d,
+The Report of Mr. Cass, Secretary of War, relative to Indian Affairs,
+November 29, 1823.]
+
+
+a
+[ December 18, 1829.]
+
+
+“The land on which we stand we have received as an inheritance from our
+fathers, who possessed it from time immemorial, as a gift from our
+common Father in Heaven. They bequeathed it to us as their children,
+and we have sacredly kept it, as containing the remains of our beloved
+men. This right of inheritance we have never ceded nor ever forfeited.
+Permit us to ask what better right can the people have to a country
+than the right of inheritance and immemorial peaceable possession? We
+know it is said of late by the State of Georgia and by the Executive of
+the United States, that we have forfeited this right; but we think this
+is said gratuitously. At what time have we made the forfeit? What great
+crime have we committed, whereby we must forever be divested of our
+country and rights? Was it when we were hostile to the United States,
+and took part with the King of Great Britain, during the struggle for
+independence? If so, why was not this forfeiture declared in the first
+treaty of peace between the United States and our beloved men? Why was
+not such an article as the following inserted in the treaty:—‘The
+United States give peace to the Cherokees, but, for the part they took
+in the late war, declare them to be but tenants at will, to be removed
+when the convenience of the States, within whose chartered limits they
+live, shall require it’? That was the proper time to assume such a
+possession. But it was not thought of, nor would our forefathers have
+agreed to any treaty whose tendency was to deprive them of their rights
+and their country.”
+
+Such is the language of the Indians: their assertions are true, their
+forebodings inevitable. From whichever side we consider the destinies
+of the aborigines of North America, their calamities appear to be
+irremediable: if they continue barbarous, they are forced to retire; if
+they attempt to civilize their manners, the contact of a more civilized
+community subjects them to oppression and destitution. They perish if
+they continue to wander from waste to waste, and if they attempt to
+settle they still must perish; the assistance of Europeans is necessary
+to instruct them, but the approach of Europeans corrupts and repels
+them into savage life; they refuse to change their habits as long as
+their solitudes are their own, and it is too late to change them when
+they are constrained to submit.
+
+The Spaniards pursued the Indians with bloodhounds, like wild beasts;
+they sacked the New World with no more temper or compassion than a city
+taken by storm; but destruction must cease, and frenzy be stayed; the
+remnant of the Indian population which had escaped the massacre mixed
+with its conquerors, and adopted in the end their religion and their
+manners. *b The conduct of the Americans of the United States towards
+the aborigines is characterized, on the other hand, by a singular
+attachment to the formalities of law. Provided that the Indians retain
+their barbarous condition, the Americans take no part in their affairs;
+they treat them as independent nations, and do not possess themselves
+of their hunting grounds without a treaty of purchase; and if an Indian
+nation happens to be so encroached upon as to be unable to subsist upon
+its territory, they afford it brotherly assistance in transporting it
+to a grave sufficiently remote from the land of its fathers.
+
+b
+[ The honor of this result is, however, by no means due to the
+Spaniards. If the Indian tribes had not been tillers of the ground at
+the time of the arrival of the Europeans, they would unquestionably
+have been destroyed in South as well as in North America.]
+
+
+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 depriving it of its rights; but the
+Americans of the United States have accomplished this twofold purpose
+with singular felicity; tranquilly, legally, philanthropically, without
+shedding blood, and without violating a single great principle of
+morality in the eyes of the world. *c It is impossible to destroy men
+with more respect for the laws of humanity.
+
+c
+[ See, amongst other documents, the report made by Mr. Bell in the name
+of the Committee on Indian Affairs, February 24, 1830, in which is most
+logically established and most learnedly proved, that “the fundamental
+principle that the Indians had no right by virtue of their ancient
+possession either of will or sovereignty, has never been abandoned
+either expressly or by implication.” In perusing this report, which is
+evidently drawn up by an experienced hand, one is astonished at the
+facility with which the author gets rid of all arguments founded upon
+reason and natural right, which he designates as abstract and
+theoretical principles. The more I contemplate the difference between
+civilized and uncivilized man with regard to the principles of justice,
+the more I observe that the former contests the justice of those rights
+which the latter simply violates.]
+
+
+[I leave this chapter wholly unchanged, for it has always appeared to
+me to be one of the most eloquent and touching parts of this book. But
+it has ceased to be prophetic; the destruction of the Indian race in
+the United States is already consummated. In 1870 there remained but
+25,731 Indians in the whole territory of the Union, and of these by far
+the largest part exist in California, Michigan, Wisconsin, Dakota, and
+New Mexico and Nevada. In New England, Pennsylvania, and New York the
+race is extinct; and the predictions of M. de Tocqueville are
+fulfilled. —Translator’s Note.]
+
+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 the 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 abolish
+slavery—Servitude, which debases the slave, impoverishes the
+master—Contrast between the left and the right bank of the Ohio—To what
+attributable—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
+anxiety—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. These two races are attached to
+each other without intermingling, and they are alike unable entirely to
+separate or to combine. The most formidable of all the ills which
+threaten the future existence of the Union arises from the presence of
+a black population upon its territory; and in contemplating the cause
+of the present embarrassments or of the future dangers of the United
+States, the observer is invariably led to consider this as a primary
+fact.
+
+The permanent evils to which mankind is subjected are usually produced
+by the vehement or the increasing efforts of men; but there is one
+calamity which penetrated furtively into the world, and which was at
+first scarcely distinguishable amidst the ordinary abuses of power; it
+originated with an individual whose name history has not preserved; it
+was wafted like some accursed germ upon a portion of the soil, but it
+afterwards nurtured itself, grew without effort, and spreads naturally
+with the society to which it belongs. I need scarcely add that 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 restricted to one of the races of
+mankind; but the wound thus inflicted upon humanity, though less
+extensive, was at the same time rendered far more difficult of cure.
+
+It is important to make an accurate distinction between slavery itself
+and its consequences. The immediate evils which are produced by slavery
+were very nearly the same in antiquity as they are amongst the moderns;
+but the consequences of these evils were different. The slave, amongst
+the ancients, belonged to the same race as his master, and he was often
+the superior of the two in education *d and instruction. Freedom was
+the only distinction between them; and when freedom was conferred they
+were easily confounded together. The ancients, then, had a very simple
+means of avoiding slavery and its evil consequences, which was that of
+affranchisement; and they succeeded as soon as they adopted this
+measure generally. Not but, 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 whomsoever
+has been their inferior long after he is become their equal; and the
+real inequality which is produced by fortune or by law is always
+succeeded by an imaginary inequality which is implanted in the manners
+of the people. Nevertheless, this secondary consequence of slavery was
+limited to a certain term amongst the ancients, for the freedman bore
+so entire a resemblance to those born free, that it soon became
+impossible to distinguish him from amongst them.
+
+d
+[ It is well known that several of the most distinguished authors of
+antiquity, and amongst them Aesop and Terence, were, or had been
+slaves. Slaves were not always taken from barbarous nations, and the
+chances of war reduced highly civilized men to servitude.]
+
+
+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 obstacles begin where those of the ancients
+left off. This arises from the circumstance that, amongst the moderns,
+the abstract and transient fact of slavery is fatally united to 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 must be inferred, that all the
+blacks who are now to be found in that hemisphere are either slaves or
+freedmen. Thus the negro transmits the eternal mark of his ignominy to
+all his descendants; 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 mankind in this child of debasement
+whom slavery has brought amongst us. His physiognomy is to our eyes
+hideous, his understanding weak, his tastes low; and we are almost
+inclined to look upon him as a being intermediate between man and the
+brutes. *e The moderns, then, after they have abolished slavery, have
+three prejudices to contend against, which are less easy to attack and
+far less easy to conquer than the mere fact of servitude: the prejudice
+of the master, the prejudice of the race, and the prejudice of color.
+
+e
+[ To induce the whites to abandon the opinion they have conceived of
+the moral and intellectual inferiority of their former slaves, the
+negroes must change; but as long as this opinion subsists, to change is
+impossible.]
+
+
+It is difficult for us, who have had the good fortune to be born
+amongst men like ourselves by nature, and equal to ourselves 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 analogy. France was formerly a country in which numerous
+distinctions of rank existed, that had been created by the legislation.
+Nothing can be more fictitious than a purely legal inferiority; nothing
+more contrary to the instinct of mankind than these permanent divisions
+which had been established between beings evidently similar.
+Nevertheless these divisions subsisted for ages; they still subsist in
+many places; and on all sides they have left imaginary vestiges, which
+time alone can efface. If it be so difficult to root out an inequality
+which solely originates in the law, how are those distinctions to be
+destroyed which seem to be based upon the immutable laws of Nature
+herself? When I remember the extreme difficulty with which aristocratic
+bodies, of whatever nature they may be, are commingled with the mass of
+the people; and the exceeding care which they take to preserve the
+ideal boundaries of their caste inviolate, I despair of seeing an
+aristocracy disappear which is founded upon visible and indelible
+signs. Those who hope that the Europeans will ever mix with the
+negroes, appear to me to delude themselves; and I am not led to any
+such conclusion by my own reason, or by the evidence of facts.
+
+Hitherto, wherever the whites have been the most powerful, they have
+maintained the blacks in a subordinate or a servile position; wherever
+the negroes have been strongest they have destroyed the whites; such
+has been the only retribution which has ever taken place between the
+two races.
+
+I see that in a certain portion of the territory of the United States
+at the present day, the legal barrier which separated the two races is
+tending to fall away, but not that which exists in the manners of the
+country; slavery recedes, but the prejudice to which it has given birth
+remains stationary. Whosoever has inhabited the United States must have
+perceived 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 the race appears to be stronger in the
+States which have abolished slavery, than in those where it still
+exists; and nowhere 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 may be legally
+contracted between negroes and whites; but public opinion would
+stigmatize a man who should connect himself with a negress as infamous,
+and it would be difficult to meet with a single instance of such a
+union. The electoral franchise has been conferred upon the negroes in
+almost all the States in which slavery has been abolished; but if they
+come forward to vote, their lives are in danger. If oppressed, they may
+bring an action at law, but they will find none but whites amongst
+their judges; and although they may legally serve as jurors, prejudice
+repulses them from that office. The same schools do not receive the
+child of the black and of the European. In the theatres, gold cannot
+procure a seat for the servile race beside their former masters; in the
+hospitals they lie apart; and although they are allowed to invoke the
+same Divinity as the whites, it must be at a different altar, and in
+their own churches, with their own clergy. The gates of Heaven are not
+closed against these unhappy beings; but their inferiority is continued
+to the very confines of the other world; when the negro is defunct, his
+bones are cast aside, and the distinction of condition prevails even in
+the equality of death. The negro is free, but he can share neither the
+rights, nor the pleasures, nor the labor, nor the afflictions, nor the
+tomb of him whose equal he has been declared 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 labor and the
+recreations of the whites; the whites consent to intermix with them to
+a certain extent, and although the legislation treats them 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 distinctly perceives
+the barrier which separates him from the degraded race, and he shuns
+the negro with the more pertinacity, since he fears lest they should
+some day be confounded together.
+
+Amongst the Americans of the South, nature sometimes 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 country
+did not declare that she may aspire to be the legitimate partner of his
+bed; but he recoils with horror from her who might 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 manners 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, it may be
+asked why the Americans have abolished slavery in the North of the
+Union, why they maintain it in the South, and why they aggravate its
+hardships there? 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. *f
+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 negro population was always very limited in New
+England. *g
+
+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.]
+
+
+g
+[ The number of slaves was less considerable in the North, but the
+advantages resulting from slavery were not more contested there than in
+the South. 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 Belknap, upon slavery in New England, are to be found in
+the “Historical Collection of Massachusetts,” vol. iv. p. 193. It
+appears that negroes were introduced there in 1630, but that the
+legislation and manners of the people were opposed to slavery from the
+first; see also, in the same work, the manner in which public opinion,
+and afterwards the laws, finally put an end to slavery.]
+
+
+A century had scarcely elapsed since the foundation 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 population, in wealth, and in prosperity more rapidly than
+those which contained the greatest number of negroes. In the former,
+however, the inhabitants were obliged to cultivate the soil themselves,
+or by hired laborers; in the latter they were furnished with hands for
+which they paid no wages; yet although labor and expenses were on the
+one side, and ease with economy on the other, the former were in
+possession of the most advantageous system. This consequence seemed to
+be the more difficult to explain, since the settlers, who all belonged
+to the same European race, had the same habits, the same civilization,
+the same laws, and their shades of difference were extremely 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 with a new soil and an
+unwonted climate; the obstacles which opposed them were of the most
+various character; their races intermingled, the inhabitants of the
+South went up towards the North, those of the North descended to the
+South; but in the midst of all these causes, the same result occurred
+at every step, and in general, the colonies in which there were no
+slaves became more populous and more rich than those in which slavery
+flourished. The more progress was made, the more was it shown that
+slavery, which is so cruel to the slave, is prejudicial to the master.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part IV
+
+
+But this truth was most satisfactorily demonstrated when civilization
+reached the banks of the Ohio. The stream which the Indians had
+distinguished by the name of Ohio, or Beautiful River, waters one of
+the most magnificent valleys that has ever been made the abode of man.
+Undulating lands extend upon both shores of the Ohio, whose soil
+affords inexhaustible treasures to the laborer; on either bank the air
+is 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 only differ in a single
+respect; Kentucky has admitted slavery, but the State of Ohio has
+prohibited the existence of slaves within its borders. *h
+
+h
+[ Not only is slavery prohibited in Ohio, but no free negroes are
+allowed to enter the territory of that State, or to hold property in
+it. See the Statutes of Ohio.]
+
+
+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
+between liberty and servitude; and a transient inspection of the
+surrounding objects will convince him as to which of the two is most
+favorable to mankind. Upon the left bank of the stream the population
+is rare; from time to time one descries a troop of slaves loitering in
+the half-desert fields; the primaeval forest recurs at every turn;
+society seems to be asleep, man to be idle, and nature alone offers a
+scene of activity and of life. From the right bank, on the contrary, a
+confused hum is heard which proclaims the presence of industry; the
+fields are covered with abundant harvests, the elegance of the
+dwellings announces the taste and activity of the laborer, and man
+appears to be in the enjoyment of that wealth and contentment which is
+the reward of labor. *i
+
+i
+[ The activity of Ohio is not confined to individuals, but the
+undertakings of the State are surprisingly great; a canal has been
+established between Lake Erie and the Ohio, by means of which the
+valley of the Mississippi communicates 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.]
+
+
+The State of Kentucky was founded in 1775, the State of Ohio only
+twelve years later; but twelve years are more in America than half a
+century in Europe, and, at the present day, the population of Ohio
+exceeds that of Kentucky by two hundred and fifty thousand souls. *j
+These opposite consequences of slavery and freedom may readily be
+understood, and they suffice to explain many of the differences which
+we remark between the civilization of antiquity and that of our own
+time.
+
+j
+[ The exact numbers given by the census of 1830 were: Kentucky,
+688,-844; Ohio, 937,679. [In 1890 the population of Ohio was 3,672,316,
+that of Kentucky, 1,858,635.]]
+
+
+Upon the left bank of the Ohio labor is confounded with the idea of
+slavery, upon the right 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
+they would be afraid of assimilating themselves to the negroes; on the
+latter no one is idle, for the white population extends its activity
+and its intelligence to every kind of employment. Thus the men whose
+task it is to cultivate the rich soil of Kentucky are ignorant and
+lukewarm; whilst those who are active and enlightened either do nothing
+or pass over into the State of Ohio, where they may work without
+dishonor.
+
+It is true that in Kentucky the planters are not obliged to pay wages
+to the slaves whom they employ; but they derive small profits from
+their labor, whilst the wages paid to free workmen would be returned
+with interest in the value of their services. The free workman is paid,
+but he does his work quicker than the slave, and rapidity of execution
+is one of the great elements of economy. The white sells his services,
+but they are only purchased at the times at which they 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 the prime of manhood, in his profitless infancy as well as
+in the productive years of youth. Payment must equally be made in order
+to obtain the services of either class of men: the free workman
+receives his wages in money, the slave in education, in food, in care,
+and in clothing. The money which a master spends in the maintenance 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 sum, which
+appears only to enrich the individual who receives it, but in the end
+the slave has cost more than the free servant, and his labor is less
+productive. *k
+
+k
+[ Independently of these causes, which, wherever free workmen abound,
+render their labor more productive and more economical than that of
+slaves, another cause may be pointed out which is peculiar to the
+United States: the sugar-cane has hitherto 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, and 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 very
+high in Louisiana. But Louisiana is one of the confederated 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.]
+
+
+The influence of slavery extends still further; it affects the
+character of the master, and imparts a peculiar tendency to his ideas
+and his tastes. Upon both banks of the Ohio, the character of the
+inhabitants is enterprising and energetic; but this vigor is very
+differently exercised in the two States. The white inhabitant of Ohio,
+who is obliged to subsist by his own exertions, regards temporal
+prosperity as the principal aim of his existence; and as the country
+which he occupies presents inexhaustible resources to his industry and
+ever-varying lures to his activity, his acquisitive ardor surpasses the
+ordinary limits of human cupidity: he is tormented by the desire of
+wealth, and he boldly enters upon every path which fortune opens to
+him; he becomes a sailor, a pioneer, an artisan, or a laborer with the
+same indifference, and he supports, with equal constancy, the fatigues
+and the dangers incidental to these various professions; the resources
+of his intelligence are astonishing, and his avidity in the pursuit of
+gain amounts to a species of heroism.
+
+But the Kentuckian scorns not only labor, but all the undertakings
+which labor promotes; as he lives in an idle independence, his tastes
+are those of an idle man; money loses a portion of its value in his
+eyes; he covets wealth much less than pleasure and excitement; and the
+energy which his neighbor devotes to gain, turns with him to a
+passionate love of field sports and military exercises; he delights in
+violent bodily exertion, he is familiar with the use of arms, and is
+accustomed from a very early age to expose his life in single combat.
+Thus slavery not only prevents the whites from becoming opulent, but
+even from desiring 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 established a very striking difference between the commercial
+capacity of the inhabitants of the South and those of the North. At the
+present day it is only the Northern States which are in possession of
+shipping, manufactures, railroads, and canals. This difference is
+perceptible not only in comparing the North with the South, but in
+comparing the several Southern States. Almost all the individuals who
+carry on commercial operations, or who endeavor to turn slave labor to
+account in the most Southern districts of the Union, have emigrated
+from the North. The natives of the Northern States are constantly
+spreading over that portion of the American territory where they have
+less to fear from competition; they discover resources there which
+escaped the notice of the inhabitants; and, as they comply with a
+system which they do not approve, they succeed in turning it to better
+advantage than those who first founded and who still maintain it.
+
+Were I inclined to continue this parallel, I could easily prove that
+almost all the differences which may be remarked 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
+present intention is not to point out all the consequences of
+servitude, but those effects which it has produced upon the prosperity
+of the countries which have admitted it.
+
+The influence of slavery upon the production of wealth must have been
+very imperfectly known in antiquity, as slavery then obtained
+throughout the civilized world; and the nations which were unacquainted
+with it were barbarous. 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 apparent in the United States, slavery receded
+before the progress of experience. Servitude had begun in the South,
+and had thence spread towards the North; but it now retires again.
+Freedom, which started from the North, now descends uninterruptedly
+towards the South. Amongst the great States, Pennsylvania now
+constitutes the extreme limit of slavery to the North: but even within
+those limits the slave system is shaken: Maryland, which is immediately
+below Pennsylvania, is preparing for its abolition; and Virginia, which
+comes next to Maryland, is already discussing its utility and its
+dangers. *l
+
+l
+[ A peculiar reason contributes 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 tobacco. This
+cultivation is specially carried on by slaves; but within the last few
+years the market-price 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 changed. The natives of
+Maryland and Virginia are therefore more disposed than they were thirty
+years ago, to give up slave labor in the cultivation of tobacco, or to
+give up slavery and tobacco at the same time.]
+
+
+No great change takes place in human institutions without involving
+amongst its causes the law of inheritance. When the law of
+primogeniture obtained in the South, each family was represented by a
+wealthy individual, who was neither compelled nor induced to labor; and
+he was surrounded, as by parasitic plants, by the other members of his
+family who were then excluded by law from sharing the common
+inheritance, and who led the same kind of life as himself. The very
+same thing then occurred in all the families of the South as still
+happens in the wealthy families of some countries in Europe, namely,
+that the younger sons remain in the same state of idleness as their
+elder brother, without being as rich as he is. This identical result
+seems to be produced in Europe and in America by wholly analogous
+causes. In the South of the United States the whole race of whites
+formed an aristocratic body, which was headed by a certain number of
+privileged 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 the honor of inactive life. This
+aristocracy contained many who were poor, but none who would work; its
+members preferred want to labor, consequently no competition was set on
+foot against negro laborers and slaves, and, whatever opinion might be
+entertained as to the utility of their efforts, it was indispensable to
+employ them, since there was no one else to work.
+
+No sooner was the law of primogeniture 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 procure the means
+of subsistence: several of them have since entirely disappeared, and
+all of them learned to look forward to the time at which it would be
+necessary for everyone 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 laborious subsistence
+without blushing for their exertions. Thus one of the most immediate
+consequences of the partible quality of estates has been to create a
+class of free laborers. As soon as a competition was set on foot
+between the free laborer and the slave, the inferiority of the latter
+became manifest, and slavery was attacked in its fundamental principle,
+which is the interest of the master.
+
+As slavery recedes, the black population follows its retrograde course,
+and returns with it towards those tropical regions from which it
+originally came. However singular this fact may at first appear to be,
+it may readily be explained. Although the Americans abolish the
+principle of slavery, they do not set their slaves free. To illustrate
+this remark, I will quote the example of the State of New York. In
+1788, the State of New York prohibited the sale of slaves within its
+limits, which was an indirect method of prohibiting the importation of
+blacks. Thenceforward the number of negroes could only increase
+according to the ratio of the natural increase of population. But eight
+years later a more decisive measure was taken, and it was enacted that
+all children born of slave parents after July 4, 1799, should be free.
+No increase could then take place, and although slaves still existed,
+slavery might be said to be abolished.
+
+From the time at which a Northern State prohibited the importation of
+slaves, 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 was no longer able to get rid of his slave (who thus
+became a burdensome possession) 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 strong interest in transporting him to the South.
+Thus the same law prevents the slaves of the South from coming to the
+Northern States, and drives those of the North to the South.
+
+The want of free hands is felt in a State in proportion as the number
+of slaves decreases. But in proportion as labor is performed by free
+hands, slave labor becomes less productive; and the slave is then a
+useless or onerous possession, whom it is important to export to those
+Southern States where the same competition is not to be feared. Thus
+the abolition of slavery does not set the slave free, but it merely
+transfers him from one master to another, and from the North to the
+South.
+
+The emancipated negroes, and those born after the abolition of slavery,
+do not, indeed, migrate from the North to the South; but their
+situation with regard to the Europeans is not unlike that of the
+aborigines of America; they remain half civilized, and deprived of
+their rights in the midst of a population which is far superior to them
+in wealth and in knowledge; where they are exposed to the tyranny of
+the laws *m and the intolerance of the people. On some accounts 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 a
+single portion of the soil: many of them perish miserably, *n and the
+rest congregate in the great towns, where they perform the meanest
+offices, and lead a wretched and precarious existence.
+
+m
+[ The States in which slavery is abolished 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 different
+States in this respect, the unhappy blacks can only choose the least of
+the evils which beset them.]
+
+
+n
+[ There is a very 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 Philadelphia; but one negro out of twenty-one
+individuals of the black population died in the same space of time. The
+mortality is by no means so great amongst the negroes who are still
+slaves. (See Emerson’s “Medical Statistics,” p. 28.)]
+
+
+But even if the number of negroes continued to increase as rapidly as
+when they were still in a state of slavery, as the number of whites
+augments with twofold rapidity since the abolition of slavery, the
+blacks would soon be, as it were, lost in the midst of a strange
+population.
+
+A district which is cultivated by slaves is in general more scantily
+peopled than a district cultivated by free labor: moreover, America is
+still a new country, and a State is therefore not half peopled at the
+time 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
+immediately arrive from all parts of the country, who hasten to profit
+by the fresh resources which are then opened to industry. The soil is
+soon divided amongst them, and a family of white settlers takes
+possession of each tract of country. Besides which, European emigration
+is exclusively directed to the free States; for what would be the fate
+of a poor emigrant who crosses the Atlantic in search of ease and
+happiness if he were to land in a country where labor is stigmatized as
+degrading?
+
+Thus the white population grows by its natural increase, 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
+negroes constitute a scanty remnant, a poor tribe of vagrants, which is
+lost in the midst of an immense people in full possession of the land;
+and the presence of the blacks is only marked by the injustice and the
+hardships of which they are the unhappy victims.
+
+In several of the Western States the negro race never made its
+appearance, and in all the Northern States it is rapidly declining.
+Thus the great question of its future condition is confined within a
+narrow circle, where it becomes less formidable, though not more easy
+of solution.
+
+The more we descend towards the South, the more difficult does it
+become to abolish slavery with advantage: and this arises from several
+physical causes which it is important to point out.
+
+The first of these causes is the climate; it is well known that in
+proportion as Europeans approach the tropics they suffer more from
+labor. Many of the Americans even assert that within a certain latitude
+the exertions which a negro can make without danger are fatal to them;
+*o but I do not think that this opinion, which is so favorable to the
+indolence of the inhabitants of southern regions, is confirmed by
+experience. The southern parts of the Union are not hotter than the
+South of Italy and of Spain; *p and it may be asked why the European
+cannot work as well there as in the two latter countries. If slavery
+has been abolished in Italy and in Spain without causing the
+destruction 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, from raising the means
+of subsistence from the soil, but their labor would unquestionably be
+more irksome and less productive to them than to the inhabitants of New
+England. 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.
+
+o
+[ This is true of the spots in which rice is cultivated; rice-grounds,
+which are unwholesome in all countries, are particularly dangerous in
+those regions which are exposed to the beams of a tropical sun.
+Europeans would not find it easy to cultivate the soil in that part of
+the New World if it must be necessarily be made to produce rice; but
+may they not subsist without rice-grounds?]
+
+
+p
+[ These States are nearer to the equator than Italy and Spain, but the
+temperature of the continent of America is very much lower than that of
+Europe.
+
+
+The Spanish Government formerly caused a certain number of peasants
+from the Acores to be transported into a district of Louisiana called
+Attakapas, by way of experiment. These settlers still cultivate the
+soil without the assistance of slaves, but their industry is so languid
+as scarcely to supply their most necessary wants.]
+
+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 method of cultivating corn. The farmer
+of corn land in a country where slavery is unknown habitually retains a
+small number of laborers in his service, and at seed-time and harvest
+he hires several additional hands, who only live at his cost for a
+short period. But the agriculturist in a slave State is obliged to keep
+a large number of slaves the whole year round, in order to sow his
+fields and to gather in his crops, although their services are only
+required for a few weeks; but 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 services they must be bought. Slavery,
+independently of its general disadvantages, is therefore still more
+inapplicable to countries in which corn is cultivated than to those
+which produce crops of a different kind. The cultivation of tobacco, 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 but 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 one of the principal
+sources of the wealth of those States. If slavery were abolished, the
+inhabitants of the South would be constrained to adopt one of two
+alternatives: they must either change their system of cultivation, 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 produce 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 maintaining
+slavery exist in the South which do not operate in the North.
+
+But there is yet another motive which is more cogent than all the
+others: the South might indeed, rigorously speaking, abolish slavery;
+but how should it rid its territory of the black population? Slaves and
+slavery are driven from the North by the same law, but this twofold
+result cannot be hoped for in the South.
+
+The arguments which I have adduced to show that slavery is more natural
+and more advantageous in the South than in the North, sufficiently
+prove that the number of slaves must be far greater in the former
+districts. 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
+the tropics there is not a single white laborer; the negroes are
+consequently much more numerous in the South than in the North. And, as
+I have already observed, this disproportion increases 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
+emigration of the negroes from the North; and the African race has
+causes of increase in the South very analogous to those which so
+powerfully accelerate the growth of the European race in the North.
+
+In the State of Maine there is one negro in 300 inhabitants; in
+Massachusetts, one in 100; in New York, two in 100; in Pennsylvania,
+three in the same number; in Maryland, thirty-four; in Virginia,
+forty-two; and lastly, in South Carolina *q fifty-five per cent. Such
+was the proportion of the black population to the whites in the year
+1830. But this proportion is perpetually changing, as it constantly
+decreases in the North and augments in the South.
+
+q
+[ We find it asserted in an American work, entitled “Letters on the
+Colonization Society,” by Mr. Carey, 1833, “That for the last forty
+years the black race has increased more rapidly than the white race in
+the State of South Carolina; and that if we take the average population
+of the five States of the South into which slaves were first
+introduced, viz., Maryland, Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina,
+and Georgia, we shall find that from 1790 to 1830 the whites have
+augmented in the proportion of 80 to 100, and the blacks in that of 112
+to 100.”
+
+
+In the United States, in 1830, the population of the two races stood as
+follows:—
+
+States where slavery is abolished, 6,565,434 whites; 120,520 blacks.
+Slave States, 3,960,814 whites; 2,208,102 blacks. [In 1890 the United
+States contained a population of 54,983,890 whites, and 7,638,360
+negroes.]]
+
+It is evident that the most Southern States of the Union cannot abolish
+slavery without incurring very great dangers, which the North had no
+reason to apprehend when it emancipated its black population. We have
+already shown the system by which the Northern States secure the
+transition from slavery to freedom, by keeping the present generation
+in chains, and setting their descendants free; by this means the
+negroes are gradually introduced into society; and whilst the men who
+might abuse their freedom are kept in a state of servitude, those who
+are emancipated may learn the art of being free before they become
+their own masters. But it would be difficult 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 fate, and their astonishment is only the
+prelude to their impatience 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 nothing to fear from the contrast, because in them
+the blacks were few in number, and the white population was very
+considerable. But if this faint dawn of freedom were to show two
+millions of men their true position, the oppressors would have reason
+to tremble. After having affranchised the children of their slaves the
+Europeans of the Southern States would very shortly be obliged to
+extend the same benefit to the whole black population.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part V
+
+
+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 Europe, hasten to fill up 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 for any
+expectation of their ever being removed from the country to be
+entertained; 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 yet been reinstated in its rightful honors. Besides, they very
+justly look upon the States in which the proportion 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, like their
+Northern countrymen, to initiate the slaves gradually into a state of
+freedom by abolishing slavery; they have no means of perceptibly
+diminishing the black population, and they would remain unsupported to
+repress its excesses. So that 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 power which still maintain slavery, would then
+become the source of the most alarming perils which the white
+population of the South might have to apprehend. At the present time
+the descendants of the Europeans are the sole owners of the land; the
+absolute masters of all labor; and the only persons who are possessed
+of wealth, knowledge, and arms. The black is destitute of all these
+advantages, but he subsists without them because he is a slave. If he
+were free, and obliged to provide for his own subsistence, would it be
+possible for him to remain without these things and to support life? Or
+would not the very instruments of the present superiority of the white,
+whilst slavery exists, expose him to a thousand dangers if it were
+abolished?
+
+As long as the negro remains a slave, he may be kept in a condition not
+very far removed from that of the brutes; but, with his liberty, he
+cannot but acquire a degree of instruction which will enable him to
+appreciate his misfortunes, and to discern a remedy for them. Moreover,
+there exists a singular principle of relative justice which is very
+firmly implanted in the human heart. Men are much more forcibly struck
+by those inequalities which exist within the circle of the same class,
+than with those which may be remarked between different classes. It is
+more easy for them to admit slavery, than to allow several millions of
+citizens to exist under a load of eternal infamy and hereditary
+wretchedness. In the North the population of freed negroes feels these
+hardships and resents these indignities; but its numbers and its powers
+are small, whilst in the South it would be numerous and strong.
+
+As soon as it is admitted that the whites and the emancipated blacks
+are placed upon the same territory in the situation of two alien
+communities, it will readily be understood that there are but two
+alternatives for the future; the negroes and the whites must either
+wholly part or wholly mingle. I have already expressed the conviction
+which I entertain as to the latter event. *r I do not imagine that the
+white and black races will ever live in any country upon an equal
+footing. But I believe the difficulty to be still greater in the United
+States than elsewhere. An isolated individual may surmount the
+prejudices of religion, of his country, or of his race, and if this
+individual is a king he may effect surprising changes in society; but a
+whole people cannot rise, as it were, above itself. A despot who should
+subject the Americans and their former slaves to the same yoke, might
+perhaps succeed in commingling their races; but as long as the American
+democracy remains at the head of affairs, no one will undertake so
+difficult a task; and it may be foreseen that the freer the white
+population of the United States becomes, the more isolated will it
+remain. *s
+
+r
+[ This opinion is sanctioned by authorities infinitely weightier than
+anything that I can say: thus, for instance, it is stated in the
+“Memoirs of Jefferson” (as collected by M. Conseil), “Nothing is more
+clearly written in the book of destiny than the 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 insurmountable
+are the barriers which nature, habit, and opinions have established
+between them.”]
+
+
+s
+[ If the British 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.]
+
+
+I have previously observed that the mixed race is the true bond of
+union between the Europeans and the Indians; just so the mulattoes are
+the true means of transition between the white and the negro; so that
+wherever mulattoes abound, the intermixture of the two races is not
+impossible. In some parts of America, the European and the negro races
+are so crossed by one another, that it is rare to meet with a man who
+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 being identical with either.
+
+Of all the Europeans the English are those who have mixed least with
+the negroes. More mulattoes are to be seen in the South of the Union
+than in the North, but still they are infinitely more scarce than in
+any other European colony: mulattoes are by no means numerous in the
+United States; they have no force peculiar to themselves, and when
+quarrels originating in differences of color take place, they generally
+side with the whites; just as the lackeys of the great, in Europe,
+assume the contemptuous airs of nobility to the lower orders.
+
+The pride of origin, which is natural to the English, is singularly
+augmented by the personal pride which democratic liberty fosters
+amongst the Americans: the white citizen of the United States is proud
+of his race, and proud of himself. But if the whites and the negroes do
+not intermingle in the North of the Union, how should they mix in the
+South? Can it be supposed for an instant, that an American of the
+Southern States, placed, as he must forever be, between the white man
+with all his physical and moral superiority and the negro, will ever
+think of preferring 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 what will probably occur at some
+future time, I should say, that the abolition of slavery in the South
+will, in the common course of things, increase the repugnance of the
+white population for the men of color. I found this opinion upon the
+analogous observation which I already had occasion to make in the
+North. I there remarked that the white inhabitants of the North avoid
+the negroes with increasing care, in proportion as the legal barriers
+of separation are removed by the legislature; and why should not the
+same result take place in the South? In the North, the whites are
+deterred from intermingling with the blacks by the fear of an imaginary
+danger; in the South, where the danger would be real, I cannot imagine
+that the fear would be less general.
+
+If, on the one hand, it be admitted (and the fact is unquestionable)
+that the colored population perpetually accumulates in the extreme
+South, and that it increases more rapidly than that of the whites; and
+if, on the other hand, it be allowed that it is impossible to foresee a
+time at which the whites and the blacks will be so intermingled as to
+derive the same benefits from society; must it not be inferred that the
+blacks and the whites will, sooner or later, come to open strife in the
+Southern States of the Union? But if it be asked what the issue of the
+struggle is likely to be, it will readily be understood that we are
+here left to form a very vague surmise of the truth. The human mind may
+succeed in tracing a wide circle, as it were, which includes the course
+of future events; but within that circle a thousand various chances and
+circumstances may direct it in as many different ways; and in every
+picture of the future there is a dim spot, which the eye of the
+understanding cannot penetrate. It appears, however, to be extremely
+probable that in the West Indian Islands the white race is destined to
+be subdued, and the black population to share the same fate upon the
+continent.
+
+In the West India Islands the white planters are surrounded by an
+immense black population; on the continent, the blacks are placed
+between the ocean and an innumerable people, which already extends over
+them in a dense mass, from the icy confines of Canada to the frontiers
+of Virginia, and from the banks of the Missouri to the shores of the
+Atlantic. If the white citizens of North America remain united, it
+cannot be supposed that the negroes will escape the destruction with
+which they are menaced; they must be subdued by want or by the sword.
+But the black population which is accumulated along the coast of the
+Gulf of Mexico, has a chance of success if the American Union is
+dissolved when the struggle between the two races begins. If the
+federal tie were broken, the citizens of the South would be wrong to
+rely upon any lasting succor from their Northern countrymen. The latter
+are well aware that the danger can never reach them; and unless they
+are constrained to march to the assistance of the South by a positive
+obligation, it may be foreseen that the sympathy of color will be
+insufficient to stimulate their exertions.
+
+Yet, at whatever period the strife may break out, the whites of the
+South, even if they are abandoned to their own resources, will enter
+the lists with an immense superiority of knowledge and of the means of
+warfare; but the blacks will have numerical strength and the energy of
+despair upon their side, and these are powerful resources to men who
+have taken up arms. The fate of the white population of the Southern
+States will, perhaps, be similar to that of the Moors in Spain. After
+having occupied the land for centuries, it will perhaps be forced to
+retire to the country whence its ancestors came, and to abandon to the
+negroes the possession of a territory, which Providence seems to have
+more peculiarly destined for them, since they can subsist and labor in
+it more easily that the whites.
+
+The danger of a conflict between the white and the black inhabitants of
+the Southern States of the Union—a danger which, however remote it may
+be, is inevitable—perpetually haunts the imagination of the Americans.
+The inhabitants of the North make it a common topic of conversation,
+although they have no direct injury to fear from the struggle; but they
+vainly endeavor to devise some means of obviating the misfortunes which
+they foresee. In the Southern States the subject is not discussed: the
+planter does not allude to the future in conversing with strangers; the
+citizen does not communicate his apprehensions to his friends; he seeks
+to conceal them from himself; but there is something more alarming in
+the tacit forebodings of the South, than in the clamorous fears of the
+Northern States.
+
+This all-pervading disquietude has given birth to an undertaking which
+is but little known, but which may have the effect of changing the fate
+of a portion of the human race. From apprehension of the dangers which
+I have just been describing, a certain number of 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 oppression to which they are subject. *t In 1820, the society
+to which I allude formed a settlement in Africa, upon the seventh
+degree of north latitude, which bears the name of Liberia. The most
+recent intelligence informs us that 2,500 negroes are collected there;
+they have introduced the democratic institutions of America into the
+country of their forefathers; and Liberia has a representative system
+of government, negro jurymen, negro magistrates, and negro priests;
+churches have been built, newspapers established, and, by a singular
+change in the vicissitudes of the world, white men are prohibited from
+sojourning within the settlement. *u
+
+t
+[ This society assumed the name of “The Society for the Colonization of
+the 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, Philadelphia, 1833.]
+
+
+u
+[ 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 negroes, like the Indians, were brought into collision with a
+people more enlightened than themselves, they would be destroyed before
+they could be civilized.]
+
+
+This is indeed a strange caprice of fortune. Two hundred years have now
+elapsed since the inhabitants of Europe undertook to tear the negro
+from his family and his home, in order to transport him to the shores
+of North America; at the present day, the European settlers are engaged
+in sending back the descendants of those very negroes to the Continent
+from which they were originally taken; and the barbarous Africans have
+been brought into contact with civilization in the midst of bondage,
+and have become acquainted with free political 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
+penetrate into those regions, now that they are introduced by Africans
+themselves. The settlement of Liberia is founded upon a lofty and a
+most fruitful idea; but whatever may be its results with regard to the
+Continent of Africa, it can afford no remedy to the New World.
+
+In twelve years the Colonization Society has transported 2,500 negroes
+to Africa; in the same space of time about 700,000 blacks were born in
+the United States. If the colony of Liberia were so situated as to be
+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, *v and to transport
+the negroes to Africa in the vessels of the State, it would still be
+unable 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 the same space of time, it would fail in
+suspending the growth of the evil which is daily increasing in the
+States. *w The negro race will never leave those shores of the American
+continent, to which it was brought by the passions and the vices of
+Europeans; and it will not disappear from the New World as long as it
+continues to exist. The inhabitants of the United States may retard the
+calamities which they apprehend, but they cannot now destroy their
+efficient cause.
+
+v
+[ Nor would these be the only difficulties attendant upon the
+undertaking; if the Union undertook to buy up the negroes now in
+America, in order to transport them to Africa, the price of slaves,
+increasing with their scarcity, would soon become enormous; and the
+States of the North would never consent to expend such great sums for a
+purpose which would procure such small advantages to themselves. If the
+Union took possession of the slaves in the Southern States by force, or
+at a rate determined by law, an insurmountable resistance would arise
+in that part of the country. Both alternatives are equally impossible.]
+
+
+w
+[ 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 population of the United States at that time.]
+
+
+I am obliged to confess that I do not regard the abolition of slavery
+as a means of warding off the struggle of the two races in the United
+States. The negroes may long remain slaves without complaining; but if
+they are once raised to the level of free men, they will soon revolt at
+being deprived of all their civil rights; and as they cannot become the
+equals of the whites, they will speedily declare themselves as enemies.
+In the North everything contributed to facilitate the emancipation of
+the slaves; and slavery was abolished, without placing the free negroes
+in a position which could become formidable, since their number was too
+small for them ever to claim the exercise of their rights. But such is
+not the case in the South. The question of slavery was a question of
+commerce and manufacture 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! But I only observe that all the countries
+which formerly adopted that execrable principle are not equally able to
+abandon it at the present time.
+
+When I contemplate the condition of the South, I can only discover two
+alternatives which may be adopted by the white inhabitants of those
+States; viz., either to emancipate the negroes, and to intermingle with
+them; or, remaining isolated from them, to keep them in a state of
+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 perhaps in the extirpation of one or other of the two races.
+Such is the view which the Americans of the South take of the question,
+and they act consistently with it. As they are determined not to mingle
+with the negroes, they refuse to emancipate them.
+
+Not that the inhabitants of the South regard slavery as necessary to
+the wealth of the planter, for on this point many of them agree with
+their Northern countrymen in freely admitting that slavery is
+prejudicial to their interest; but they are convinced that, however
+prejudicial it may be, they hold their lives upon no other tenure. 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 no means exist of
+getting rid of its bad consequences. Hence arises a singular contrast;
+the more the utility of slavery is contested, the more firmly is it
+established in the laws; and whilst the principle of servitude is
+gradually abolished in the North, that self-same principle gives rise
+to more and more rigorous consequences in the South.
+
+The legislation of the Southern States with regard to slaves, presents
+at the present day such unparalleled atrocities as suffice to show how
+radically the laws of humanity have been perverted, and to betray the
+desperate position of the community in which that legislation has been
+promulgated. The Americans of this portion of the Union have not,
+indeed, augmented the hardships of slavery; they have, on the contrary,
+bettered the physical condition 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 intellectual 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 prevent the slave from breaking his chains; at the present day
+measures are adopted to deprive him even of the desire of freedom. The
+ancients kept the bodies of their slaves in bondage, but they placed no
+restraint upon the mind and no check upon 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 equal of his master. But the
+Americans of the South, who do not admit that the negroes can ever be
+commingled with themselves, have forbidden them to be taught to read or
+to write, under severe penalties; and as they will not raise them to
+their own level, they 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 less 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 measures to prevent slave-owners from emancipating their slaves
+in most cases; not indeed by a positive prohibition, but by subjecting
+that step to various forms 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 without his being able to surmount the
+legal obstacles to their emancipation, and in the mean while his old
+age was come, and he was about to die. He pictured to himself his sons
+dragged from market to market, 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 he made me feel 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 consequence of the very principle of modern slavery. When the
+Europeans chose their slaves from a race differing from their own,
+which many of them considered as inferior to the other races of
+mankind, and which they all repelled with horror from any notion of
+intimate connection, they must have believed that slavery would last
+forever; since there is no intermediate state which can be durable
+between the excessive inequality produced by servitude and the complete
+equality which originates in independence. The Europeans did
+imperfectly feel this truth, but without acknowledging it even to
+themselves. Whenever they have had to do with 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 affected 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
+involuntarily been led to admit of 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 without compromising their own
+security? And if they are obliged to keep that race in bondage in order
+to save their own families, may they not be excused for availing
+themselves of the means best adapted to that end? The events which are
+taking place in the Southern States of the Union appear 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 instruments 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, which is now confined
+to a single tract of the civilized earth, which is attacked by
+Christianity as unjust, and by political economy as prejudicial; and
+which is now contrasted with democratic liberties and the information
+of our age, cannot survive. By the choice 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 seize it for themselves by force; if it be given,
+they will abuse it ere long. *x
+
+x
+[ [This chapter is no longer applicable to the condition of the negro
+race in the United States, since the abolition of slavery was the
+result, though not the object, of the great Civil War, and the negroes
+have been raised to the condition not only of freedmen, but of
+citizens; and in some States they exercise a preponderating political
+power by reason of their numerical majority. Thus, in South Carolina
+there were in 1870, 289,667 whites and 415,814 blacks. But the
+emancipation of the slaves has not solved the problem, how two races so
+different and so hostile are to live together in peace in one country
+on equal terms. That problem is as difficult, perhaps more difficult
+than ever; and to this difficulty the author’s remarks are still
+perfectly applicable.]]
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part VI
+
+
+What Are The Chances In Favor Of The Duration Of The American Union,
+And What Dangers Threaten It *y
+
+y
+[ [This chapter is one of the most curious and interesting portions of
+the work, because it embraces almost all the constitutional and social
+questions which were raised by the great secession of the South and
+decided by the results of the Civil War. But it must be confessed that
+the sagacity of the author is sometimes at fault in these speculations,
+and did not save him from considerable errors, which the course of
+events has since made apparent. He held that “the legislators of the
+Constitution of 1789 were not appointed to constitute the government of
+a single people, but to regulate the association of several States;
+that the Union was formed by the voluntary agreement of the States, and
+in uniting together they have not forfeited their nationality, nor have
+they been reduced to the condition of one and the same people.” Whence
+he inferred that “if one of the States chose to withdraw its name from
+the contract, it would be difficult to disprove its right of doing so;
+and that the Federal Government would have no means of maintaining its
+claims directly, either by force or by right.” This is the Southern
+theory of the Constitution, and the whole case of the South in favor of
+secession. To many Europeans, and to some American (Northern) jurists,
+this view appeared to be sound; but it was vigorously resisted by the
+North, and crushed by force of arms.
+
+
+The author of this book was mistaken in supposing that the “Union was a
+vast body which presents no definite object to patriotic feeling.” When
+the day of trial came, millions of men were ready to lay down their
+lives for it. He was also mistaken in supposing that the Federal
+Executive is so weak that it requires the free consent of the governed
+to enable it to subsist, and that it would be defeated in a struggle to
+maintain the Union against one or more separate States. In 1861 nine
+States, with a population of 8,753,000, seceded, and maintained for
+four years a resolute but unequal contest for independence, but they
+were defeated.
+
+Lastly, the author was mistaken in supposing that a community of
+interests would always prevail between North and South sufficiently
+powerful to bind them together. He overlooked the influence which the
+question of slavery must have on the Union the moment that the majority
+of the people of the North declared against it. In 1831, when the
+author visited America, the anti-slavery agitation had scarcely begun;
+and the fact of Southern slavery was accepted by men of all parties,
+even in the States where there were no slaves: and that was
+unquestionably the view taken by all the States and by all American
+statesmen at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, in 1789. But
+in the course of thirty years a great change took place, and the North
+refused to perpetuate what had become the “peculiar institution” of the
+South, especially as it gave the South a species of aristocratic
+preponderance. The result was the ratification, in December, 1865, of
+the celebrated 13th article or amendment of the Constitution, which
+declared that “neither slavery nor involuntary servitude—except as a
+punishment for crime—shall exist within the United States.” To which
+was soon afterwards added the 15th article, “The right of citizens to
+vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States, or by any
+State, on account of race, color, or previous servitude.” The
+emancipation of several millions of negro slaves without compensation,
+and the transfer to them of political preponderance in the States in
+which they outnumber the white population, were acts of the North
+totally opposed to the interests of the South, and which could only
+have been carried into effect by conquest.—Translator’s Note.]]
+
+Reason for which the preponderating force lies in the States rather
+than in the Union—The Union will only last as long as all the States
+choose to belong to it—Causes which tend to keep them united—Utility of
+the Union to resist foreign enemies, and to prevent the existence of
+foreigners in America—No natural barriers between the several States—No
+conflicting interests to divide them—Reciprocal interests of the
+Northern, Southern, and Western States—Intellectual ties of
+union—Uniformity of opinions—Dangers of the Union resulting from the
+different characters and the passions of its citizens—Character of the
+citizens in the South and in the North—The rapid growth of the Union
+one of its greatest dangers—Progress of the population to the
+Northwest—Power gravitates in the same direction—Passions originating
+from sudden turns of fortune—Whether the existing Government of the
+Union tends to gain strength, or to lose it—Various signs of its
+decrease—Internal improvements—Waste lands—Indians—The Bank—The
+Tariff—General Jackson.
+
+The maintenance of the existing institutions of the several States
+depends in some measure upon the maintenance of the Union itself. It is
+therefore important in the first instance to inquire into the probable
+fate of the Union. One point may indeed 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 isolated condition, but that several unions
+would then be formed in the place of one. It is not my intention to
+inquire 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 importance of the matter which still remains to be treated is my
+excuse; I had rather say too much, than say too little to be thoroughly
+understood, and I prefer injuring the author to slighting the subject.
+
+The legislators who formed the Constitution of 1789 endeavored to
+confer a distinct and preponderating authority upon the federal power.
+But they were confined by the conditions of the task which they had
+undertaken 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 inclinations might be, they could
+not but divide the exercise of sovereignty in the end.
+
+In order to understand the consequences of this division, it is
+necessary to make a short distinction between the affairs of the
+Government. There are some objects which are national by their very
+nature, that is to say, which affect the nation as a body, and can only
+be intrusted to the man or the assembly of men who most completely
+represent the entire nation. Amongst these may be reckoned 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 properly treated in that locality. Such, for instance, is
+the budget of a municipality. Lastly, there are certain 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 are the rights which regulate the civil and political condition of
+the citizens. 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.
+
+There are, then, two distinct categories of objects which are submitted
+to the direction of the sovereign power; and these categories occur in
+all well-constituted communities, whatever the basis of the political
+constitution may otherwise be. Between these two extremes the objects
+which I have termed mixed may be considered to lie. As these objects
+are neither exclusively national nor entirely provincial, they may be
+obtained by a national or by a provincial government, according to the
+agreement of the contracting parties, without in any way impairing the
+contract of association.
+
+The sovereign power is usually formed by the union of separate
+individuals, who compose a people; and individual powers or collective
+forces, each representing a very small portion of the sovereign
+authority, are the sole elements which are subjected to the general
+Government of their choice. In this case the general Government is more
+naturally called upon to regulate, not only those affairs which are of
+essential national importance, but those which are of a more local
+interest; and the local governments are reduced to that small share of
+sovereign authority which is indispensable to their prosperity.
+
+But sometimes the sovereign authority is composed of preorganized
+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 their province,
+but of all, or of a part of the mixed affairs to which allusion has
+been made. For the confederate nations which were independent sovereign
+States before their union, and which still represent a very
+considerable share of the sovereign power, have only consented to cede
+to the general Government the exercise of those rights which 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
+affairs which relate partly to the general and partly to the local
+interests, it possesses a preponderating influence. Not only are its
+own rights extensive, but all the rights which it does not possess
+exist by its sufferance, and it may be apprehended that the provincial
+governments may be deprived of their natural and necessary prerogatives
+by its influence.
+
+When, on the other hand, the provincial governments are invested with
+the power of regulating those same affairs of mixed interest, an
+opposite tendency prevails in society. The preponderating force resides
+in the province, not in the nation; and it may be apprehended that the
+national Government may in the end be stripped of the privileges which
+are necessary to its existence.
+
+Independent nations have therefore a natural tendency to
+centralization, and confederations to dismemberment.
+
+It now only remains for us to apply these general principles to the
+American Union. The several States were necessarily possessed of the
+right of regulating all exclusively provincial affairs. Moreover these
+same States retained the rights of determining the civil and political
+competency of the citizens, or regulating the reciprocal relations of
+the members of the community, and of dispensing justice; rights which
+are of a general nature, but which do not necessarily appertain to the
+national Government. We have shown 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 nation 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 to be more considerable than that of the States;
+but a more attentive investigation shows it to be less so. The
+undertakings of the Government of the Union are more vast, but their
+influence is more rarely felt. Those of the provincial governments are
+comparatively small, but they are incessant, and they serve to keep
+alive the authority which they represent. The Government of the Union
+watches the general interests of the country; but the general interests
+of a people have a very questionable influence upon individual
+happiness, whilst provincial interests produce a most immediate effect
+upon the welfare of the inhabitants. The Union secures the independence
+and the greatness of the nation, which do not immediately affect
+private citizens; but the several States maintain the liberty, regulate
+the rights, protect the fortune, and secure the life and the whole
+future prosperity of every citizen.
+
+The Federal Government is very far removed from its subjects, whilst
+the provincial governments are within 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 provincial governments are the interests of
+all those second-rate individuals who can only hope to obtain power
+within their own State, and who nevertheless exercise the largest share
+of authority over the people because they are placed nearest to its
+level. The Americans have therefore much more to hope and to fear from
+the States than from the Union; and, in conformity with the natural
+tendency of the human mind, they are more likely to attach themselves
+to the former than to the latter. In this respect their habits and
+feelings 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 are for a long time at variance with their legislation; and the
+former tend to give a degree of influence to the central government
+which the latter forbids. When a number of confederate states unite to
+form a single nation, the same causes operate in an opposite direction.
+I have no doubt that if France were to become a confederate republic
+like that of the United States, the government would at first display
+more energy than that of the Union; and if the Union were to alter its
+constitution to a monarchy like that of France, I think that the
+American Government would be a long time in acquiring the force which
+now rules the latter nation. When the national existence of the
+Anglo-Americans began, their provincial existence was already of long
+standing; necessary relations were established between the townships
+and the individual citizens of the same States; and they were
+accustomed to consider some objects as common to them all, and to
+conduct other affairs as exclusively relating to their own special
+interests.
+
+The Union is a vast body which presents no definite object to patriotic
+feeling. The forms and limits of the State are distinct and
+circumscribed; since it represents a certain number of objects which
+are familiar to the citizens and beloved by all. It is identified with
+the very soil, with the right of property and the domestic affections,
+with the recollections of the past, the labors of the present, and the
+hopes of the future. Patriotism, then, which is frequently a mere
+extension of individual egotism, is still directed to the State, and is
+not excited by 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 forces of the two governments, by
+remarking the manner in which they fulfil their respective functions.
+Whenever the government of a State has occasion to address an
+individual or an assembly of individuals, its language is clear and
+imperative; and such is also the tone of the Federal Government in its
+intercourse with individuals, but no sooner has it anything to do with
+a State than it begins to parley, to explain its motives and to justify
+its conduct, to argue, to advise, and, in short, anything but to
+command. If doubts are raised as to the limits of the constitutional
+powers of each government, the provincial government prefers its claim
+with boldness, and takes prompt and energetic steps to support it. In
+the mean while the Government of the Union reasons; it appeals to the
+interests, to the good sense, to the glory of the nation; it
+temporizes, it negotiates, and does not consent to act until it is
+reduced to the last extremity. At first sight it might readily be
+imagined that it is the provincial government which is armed with the
+authority of the nation, and that Congress represents a single State.
+
+The Federal Government is, therefore, notwithstanding the precautions
+of those who founded it, naturally so weak that it more peculiarly
+requires the free consent of the governed to enable it to subsist. It
+is easy to perceive that its object is to enable the States to realize
+with facility their determination of remaining united; and, as long as
+this preliminary condition exists, its authority is great, temperate,
+and effective. The Constitution fits the Government to control
+individuals, and easily to surmount such obstacles as they may be
+inclined to offer; but it was by no means established with a view to
+the possible separation of one or more of the States from the Union.
+
+If the sovereignty of the Union were to engage in a struggle with that
+of the States at the present day, its defeat may be confidently
+predicted; and it is not probable that such a struggle would be
+seriously undertaken. As often as a steady resistance is offered to the
+Federal Government it will be found to yield. Experience has hitherto
+shown that whenever a State has demanded anything with perseverance and
+resolution, it has invariably succeeded; and that if a separate
+government has distinctly refused to act, it was left to do as it
+thought fit. *z
+
+z
+[ See the conduct of the Northern States in the war of 1812. “During
+that war,” says Jefferson in a letter to General Lafayette, “four of
+the Eastern States were only attached to the Union, like so many
+inanimate bodies to living men.”]
+
+
+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. *a The United States cover an immense
+territory; they are separated from each other by great distances; and
+the population is disseminated over the surface of a country which is
+still half a wilderness. If the Union were to undertake to enforce the
+allegiance of the confederate States by military means, it would be in
+a position very analogous to that of England at the time of the War of
+Independence.
+
+a
+[ The profound peace of the Union affords no pretext for a standing
+army; and without a standing army a government is not prepared to
+profit by a favorable opportunity to conquer resistance, and take the
+sovereign power by surprise. [This note, and the paragraph in the text
+which precedes, have been shown by the results of the Civil War to be a
+misconception of the writer.]]
+
+
+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
+agreement of the States; and, in uniting together, they have not
+forfeited their nationality, nor have they been reduced to the
+condition of one and the same people. If one of the States chose to
+withdraw its name from the contract, it would be difficult to disprove
+its right of doing so; and the Federal Government would have no means
+of maintaining 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 one of its subjects, 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 in 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 prosperity depends on the duration of
+that union, it is unquestionable that they will always be ready to
+support the central Government in enforcing the obedience of the
+others. But the Government would then be exerting a force not derived
+from itself, but from a principle contrary to its nature. States form
+confederations in order to derive equal advantages from their union;
+and in the case just alluded to, the Federal Government would derive
+its power from the unequal distribution of those benefits amongst the
+States.
+
+If one of the confederate States have acquired a preponderance
+sufficiently great to enable it to take exclusive possession of the
+central authority, it will consider the other States as subject
+provinces, and it will cause its own supremacy to be respected under
+the borrowed name of the sovereignty of the Union. Great things may
+then be done in the name of the Federal Government, but in reality that
+Government will have ceased to exist. *b In both these cases, the power
+which acts in the name of the confederation becomes stronger the more
+it abandons the natural state and the acknowledged principles of
+confederations.
+
+b
+[ 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
+authority to their own advantage.]
+
+
+In America the existing 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 compromising the welfare of the others,
+although their own prosperity would be lessened. As the existence and
+the happiness 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 of them 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 point 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 causes are peculiarly evident to
+the observer. Although the Americans are, as it were, alone upon their
+continent, their commerce makes them the neighbors of all the nations
+with which they trade. Notwithstanding their apparent isolation, the
+Americans require a certain degree of strength, which they cannot
+retain otherwise than by remaining united to each other. If the States
+were to split, they would not only diminish the strength which they are
+now able to display towards foreign nations, but they would soon create
+foreign powers upon their own territory. A system of inland
+custom-houses would then be established; the valleys would be divided
+by imaginary boundary lines; the courses of the rivers would be
+confined by territorial distinctions; and a multitude of hindrances
+would prevent the Americans from exploring the whole of that vast
+continent which Providence has allotted to them for a dominion. At
+present they have no invasion to fear, and consequently no standing
+armies to maintain, no taxes to levy. If the Union were dissolved, all
+these burdensome measures might ere long be required. The Americans are
+then very powerfully interested in the maintenance of their Union. On
+the other hand, it is almost impossible to discover any sort of
+material interest which might at present tempt 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 crossing nearly one thousand miles of country; and we
+are led to imagine that the design of Providence was to raise between
+the valley of the Mississippi and the coast 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 average
+height of the Alleghanies does not exceed 2,500 feet; their greatest
+elevation is not above 4,000 feet; their rounded summits, and the
+spacious valleys which they conceal within their passes, are of easy
+access from several sides. Besides which, the principal rivers which
+fall into the Atlantic Ocean—the Hudson, the Susquehanna, and the
+Potomac—take their rise beyond the Alleghanies, in an open district,
+which borders upon the valley of the Mississippi. These streams quit
+this tract of country, make their way through the barrier which would
+seem to turn them westward, and as they wind through the mountains they
+open an easy and natural passage to man. No natural barrier exists in
+the regions which are now inhabited by the Anglo-Americans; the
+Alleghanies are so far from serving as a boundary to separate nations,
+that they do not even serve as a frontier to the States. New York,
+Pennsylvania, and Virginia comprise them within their borders, and they
+extend as much 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
+1,002,600 square miles, *c which is about equal to five times the
+extent of France. Within these limits the qualities of the soil, the
+temperature, and the produce of the country, are extremely 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
+different provinces of a vast empire, which often terminate in open
+dissensions; and the extent of the country is then most prejudicial to
+the power of the State. But if the inhabitants of these vast regions
+are not divided by contrary interests, the extent of the territory may
+be favorable to their prosperity; for the unity of the government
+promotes the interchange of the different productions of the soil, and
+increases their value by facilitating their consumption.
+
+c
+[ See “Darby’s View of the United States,” p. 435. [In 1890 the number
+of States and Territories had increased to 51, the population to
+62,831,900, and the area of the States, 3,602,990 square miles. This
+does not include the Philippine Islands, Hawaii, or Porto Rico. A
+conservative estimate of the population of the Philippine Islands is
+8,000,000; that of Hawaii, by the census of 1897, was given at 109,020;
+and the present estimated population of Porto Rico is 900,000. The area
+of the Philippine Islands is about 120,000 square miles, that of Hawaii
+is 6,740 square miles, and the area of Porto Rico is about 3,600 square
+miles.]]
+
+
+It is indeed easy to discover different interests in the different
+parts of the Union, but I am unacquainted with any which are hostile to
+each other. The Southern States are almost exclusively agricultural.
+The Northern States are more peculiarly commercial and manufacturing.
+The States of the West are at the same time agricultural and
+manufacturing. In the South the crops consist of tobacco, of rice, of
+cotton, and of sugar; in the North and the West, of wheat and maize.
+These are different sources of wealth; but union is the means by which
+these sources are opened to all, and rendered equally advantageous to
+the several districts.
+
+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 consumers
+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
+interested in the union and prosperity of the South and the West, in
+order that they may continue to furnish raw materials 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 protect them
+efficaciously. The South and the West have no vessels, but they cannot
+refuse a willing subsidy to defray the expenses of the navy; for if the
+fleets of Europe were to blockade the ports of the South and the delta
+of the Mississippi, what would become of the rice of the Carolinas, the
+tobacco of Virginia, and the sugar and cotton which grow in the valley
+of the Mississippi? Every portion of the federal budget does therefore
+contribute to the maintenance of material interests which are common to
+all the confederate States.
+
+Independently of this commercial utility, the South and the West of the
+Union derive great political advantages from their connection with the
+North. The South contains an enormous slave population; a population
+which is already alarming, and still more formidable for the future.
+The States of the West lie in the remotest parts of a single valley;
+and all the rivers which intersect their territory rise in the Rocky
+Mountains or in the Alleghanies, and fall into the Mississippi, which
+bears them onwards to the Gulf of Mexico. The Western States are
+consequently 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 induced to support 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 communication 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 temporal interests of all the several parts of the Union are, then,
+intimately connected; and the same assertion holds true respecting
+those opinions and sentiments which may be termed the immaterial
+interests of men.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part VII
+
+
+The inhabitants of the United States talk a great deal of their
+attachment to their country; but I confess that I do not rely upon that
+calculating patriotism which is founded upon interest, and which a
+change in the interests at stake may obliterate. Nor do I attach much
+importance to the language of the Americans, when they manifest, in
+their daily conversations, the intention of maintaining the federal
+system adopted by their forefathers. A government retains its sway over
+a great number of citizens, far less by the voluntary and rational
+consent of the multitude, than by that instinctive, and to a certain
+extent involuntary agreement, which results from similarity of feelings
+and resemblances of opinion. I will never admit that men constitute a
+social body, simply because they obey the same head and the same laws.
+Society can only exist when a great number of men consider a great
+number of things in the same point of view; 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 the present condition of the United States
+upon this principle, will readily discover, that although the citizens
+are divided into twenty-four distinct sovereignties, they nevertheless
+constitute a single people; and he may perhaps be led to think that the
+state of the Anglo-American Union is more truly a state of society than
+that of certain nations of Europe which live under the same legislation
+and the same prince.
+
+Although the Anglo-Americans have several religious 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 principles which ought to rule
+human society. From Maine to the Floridas, and from the Missouri to the
+Atlantic Ocean, the people is held to be the legitimate source of all
+power. The same notions are entertained respecting liberty and
+equality, the liberty of the press, the right of association, the jury,
+and the responsibility of the agents of Government.
+
+If we turn from their political and religious opinions to the moral and
+philosophical principles which regulate the daily actions of life and
+govern their conduct, we shall still find the same uniformity. The
+Anglo-Americans *d acknowledge the absolute moral authority of the
+reason of the community, as they acknowledge the political authority of
+the mass of citizens; and they hold that public opinion is the surest
+arbiter of what is lawful or forbidden, true or false. The majority of
+them believe that a man will be led to do what is just and good by
+following his own interest rightly understood. They hold that every man
+is born in possession of the right of self-government, and that no one
+has the right of constraining his fellow-creatures to be happy. They
+have all a lively faith in the perfectibility of man; they are of
+opinion that the effects of the diffusion of knowledge must necessarily
+be advantageous, and the consequences of ignorance fatal; they all
+consider society as a body in a state of improvement, humanity as a
+changing scene, in which nothing is, or ought to be, permanent; and
+they admit that what appears to them to be good to-day may be
+superseded by something better-to-morrow. I do not give all these
+opinions as true, but I quote them as characteristic of the Americans.
+
+d
+[ It is scarcely necessary for me to observe that by the expression
+Anglo-Americans, I only mean to designate the great majority of the
+nation; for a certain number of isolated individuals are of course to
+be met with holding very different opinions.]
+
+
+The Anglo-Americans are not only united together by these common
+opinions, but they are separated from all other nations by a common
+feeling of pride. For the last fifty years no pains have been spared to
+convince the inhabitants of the United States that they constitute the
+only religious, enlightened, and free people. They perceive that, for
+the present, their own democratic institutions succeed, whilst those of
+other countries fail; hence they conceive an overweening opinion of
+their superiority, and they are not very remote from believing
+themselves to belong to a distinct race of mankind.
+
+The dangers which threaten the American Union do not originate in the
+diversity of interests or of opinions, but in the various characters
+and passions of the Americans. The men who inhabit the vast territory
+of the United States are almost all the issue of a common stock; but
+the effects of the climate, and more especially of slavery, have
+gradually introduced very striking differences between the British
+settler of the Southern States and the British settler of the North. In
+Europe it is generally believed that slavery has rendered the interests
+of one part of the Union contrary to those of another part; but I by no
+means remarked this to be the case: slavery has not created interests
+in the South contrary to those of the North, but it has modified the
+character and changed the habits of the natives of the South.
+
+I have already explained the influence which slavery has exercised 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 submits 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 of the Union is invested with a sort of domestic
+dictatorship, from his earliest years; the first notion he acquires in
+life is that he is born to command, and the first habit which he
+contracts is that of being obeyed without resistance. His education
+tends, then, to give him the character of a supercilious and a hasty
+man; irascible, violent, and ardent in his desires, impatient of
+obstacles, but easily discouraged if he cannot succeed upon his first
+attempt.
+
+The American of the Northern States is surrounded by no slaves in his
+childhood; he is even unattended by free servants, and is usually
+obliged to provide for his own wants. No sooner does he enter the world
+than the idea of necessity assails him on every side: he soon learns to
+know exactly the natural limit of his authority; he never expects to
+subdue those who withstand him, by force; and he knows that the surest
+means of obtaining the support of his fellow-creatures, is to win their
+favor. He therefore becomes patient, reflecting, tolerant, slow to act,
+and persevering in his designs.
+
+In the Southern States the more immediate wants of life are always
+supplied; the inhabitants of those parts are not busied in the material
+cares of life, which are always provided for by others; and their
+imagination is diverted to more captivating and less definite objects.
+The American of the South is fond of grandeur, luxury, and renown, of
+gayety, of pleasure, and above all of idleness; nothing obliges him to
+exert himself in order to subsist; and as he has no necessary
+occupations, he gives way to indolence, and does not even attempt what
+would be useful.
+
+But the equality of fortunes, and the absence of slavery in the North,
+plunge the inhabitants in those same cares of daily life which are
+disdained by the white population of the South. They are taught from
+infancy to combat want, and to place comfort 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 and more precise. As prosperity is the
+sole aim of exertion, it is excellently well attained; nature and
+mankind are turned to the best pecuniary advantage, and society is
+dexterously made to contribute to the welfare of each of its members,
+whilst individual egotism is the source of general happiness.
+
+The citizen of the North has not only experience, but knowledge:
+nevertheless he sets but little value upon the pleasures of knowledge;
+he esteems it as the means of attaining a certain end, and he is only
+anxious to seize its more lucrative applications. The citizen of the
+South is more given to act upon impulse; he is more clever, more frank,
+more generous, more intellectual, and more brilliant. The former, with
+a greater degree of activity, of common-sense, of information, and of
+general aptitude, has the characteristic good and evil qualities of the
+middle classes. The latter has the tastes, the prejudices, the
+weaknesses, and the magnanimity of all aristocracies. If two men are
+united in society, who have the same interests, and to a certain extent
+the same opinions, but different characters, different acquirements,
+and a different style of civilization, it is probable that these men
+will not agree. The same remark is applicable to a society of nations.
+Slavery, then, does not attack the American Union directly in its
+interests, but indirectly in its manners.
+
+e
+[ Census of 1790, 3,929,328; 1830, 12,856,165; 1860, 31,443,321; 1870,
+38,555,983; 1890, 62,831,900.]
+
+
+The States which gave their assent to the federal contract in 1790 were
+thirteen in number; the Union now consists of thirty-four members. The
+population, which amounted to nearly 4,000,000 in 1790, had more than
+tripled in the space of forty years; and in 1830 it amounted to nearly
+13,000,000. *e Changes of such magnitude cannot take place without some
+danger.
+
+A society of nations, as well as a society of individuals, derives its
+principal chances of duration from the wisdom of its members, their
+individual weakness, and their limited number. The Americans who quit
+the coasts of the Atlantic Ocean to plunge into the western wilderness,
+are adventurers impatient 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 unknown to each other, and they
+have neither traditions, family feeling, nor the force of example to
+check their excesses. The empire of the laws is feeble amongst them;
+that of morality is still more powerless. The settlers who are
+constantly peopling the valley of the Mississippi are, then, in every
+respect very inferior to the Americans who inhabit the older parts of
+the Union. Nevertheless, they already exercise a great influence in its
+councils; and they arrive at the government of the commonwealth before
+they have learnt to govern themselves. *f
+
+f
+[ This indeed is only a temporary danger. I have no doubt that in time
+society will assume as much stability and regularity in the West as it
+has already done upon the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.]
+
+
+The greater the individual weakness of each of the contracting parties,
+the greater are the chances of the duration of the contract; for their
+safety is then dependent upon their union. When, in 1790, the most
+populous of the American republics did not contain 500,000 inhabitants,
+*g each of them felt its own insignificance as an independent people,
+and this feeling rendered compliance with the federal authority more
+easy. But when one of the confederate States reckons, like the State of
+New York, 2,000,000 of inhabitants, and covers an extent of territory
+equal in surface to a quarter of France, *h it feels its own strength;
+and although it may continue to support the Union as advantageous to
+its prosperity, it no longer regards that body as necessary to its
+existence, and as it continues to belong to the federal compact, it
+soon aims at preponderance in the federal assemblies. The probable
+unanimity of the States is diminished as their number increases. At
+present the interests of the different parts of the Union are not at
+variance; but who is able to foresee the multifarious changes of the
+future, in a country in which towns are founded from day to day, and
+States almost from year to year?
+
+g
+[ Pennsylvania contained 431,373 inhabitants in 1790 [and 5,258,014 in
+1890.]]
+
+
+h
+[ The area of the State of New York is 49,170 square miles. [See U. S.
+census report of 1890.]]
+
+
+Since the first settlement of the British colonies, the number of
+inhabitants has about doubled every twenty-two years. I perceive no
+causes which are likely to check this progressive increase of the
+Anglo-American population for the next hundred years; and before that
+space of time has elapsed, I believe that the territories and
+dependencies of the United States will be covered by more than
+100,000,000 of inhabitants, and divided into forty States. *i I admit
+that these 100,000,000 of men have no hostile interests. I suppose, on
+the contrary, that they are all equally interested in the maintenance
+of the Union; but I am still of opinion that where there are
+100,000,000 of men, and forty distinct nations, unequally strong, the
+continuance of the Federal Government can only be a fortunate accident.
+
+i
+[ If the population continues to double every twenty-two years, as it
+has done for the last two hundred years, the number of inhabitants in
+the United States in 1852 will be twenty millions; in 1874, forty-eight
+millions; and in 1896, ninety-six millions. This may still be the case
+even if the lands on the western slope of the Rocky Mountains should be
+found to be unfit for cultivation. The territory which is already
+occupied can easily contain this number of inhabitants. One hundred
+millions of men disseminated over the surface of the twenty-four
+States, and the three dependencies, which constitute the Union, would
+only give 762 inhabitants to the square league; this would be far below
+the mean population of France, which is 1,063 to the square league; or
+of England, which is 1,457; and it would even be below the population
+of Switzerland, for that country, notwithstanding its lakes and
+mountains, contains 783 inhabitants to the square league. See “Malte
+Brun,” vol. vi. p. 92.
+
+
+[The actual result has fallen somewhat short of these calculations, in
+spite of the vast territorial acquisitions of the United States: but in
+1899 the population is probably about eighty-seven millions, including
+the population of the Philippines, Hawaii, and Porto Rico.]]
+
+Whatever faith I may have in the perfectibility of man, until human
+nature is altered, and men wholly transformed, I shall refuse to
+believe in the duration of a government which is called upon to hold
+together forty different peoples, disseminated over a territory equal
+to one-half of Europe in extent; to avoid all rivalry, ambition, and
+struggles between them, and to direct their independent activity to the
+accomplishment of the same designs.
+
+But the greatest peril to which the Union is exposed by its increase
+arises from the continual changes which take place in the position of
+its internal strength. The distance from Lake Superior to the Gulf of
+Mexico extends from the 47th to the 30th degree of latitude, a distance
+of more than 1,200 miles as the bird flies. The frontier of the United
+States winds along the whole of this immense line, 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 his vast boundary.
+*j Obstacles, such as an unproductive district, a lake or an Indian
+nation unexpectedly encountered, are sometimes met with. The advancing
+column then halts for a while; its two extremities fall back upon
+themselves, 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 unabatedly, and daily driven onwards by the hand
+of God.
+
+j
+[ See Legislative Documents, 20th Congress, No. 117, p. 105.]
+
+
+Within this first line of conquering settlers towns are built, and vast
+States founded. In 1790 there were only a few thousand pioneers
+sprinkled along the valleys of the Mississippi; and 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 4,000,000. *k
+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 are already obliged to perform a journey as long as that
+from Vienna to Paris. *l
+
+k
+[ 3,672,317—Census of 1830.]
+
+
+l
+[ The distance from Jefferson, the capital of the State of Missouri, to
+Washington is 1,019 miles. (“American Almanac,” 1831, p. 48.)]
+
+
+All the States are borne onwards at the same time in the path of
+fortune, but of course they do not all increase and prosper in the same
+proportion. To the North of the Union the detached branches of the
+Alleghany chain, which extend as far as the Atlantic Ocean, form
+spacious roads and ports, which are constantly accessible to vessels of
+the greatest burden. But from the Potomac to the mouth of the
+Mississippi the coast is sandy and flat. In this part of the Union the
+mouths of almost all the rivers are obstructed; and the few harbors
+which exist amongst these lagoons afford much shallower water to
+vessels, and much fewer commercial advantages than those of the North.
+
+This first natural cause of inferiority is united to another cause
+proceeding from the laws. We have already seen that slavery, which is
+abolished 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 *m and
+manufacture; the natural consequence of which is the more rapid
+increase of population and of wealth within its borders. The States
+situate upon the shores of the Atlantic Ocean are already half-peopled.
+Most of the land is held by an owner; and these districts cannot
+therefore receive so many emigrants as the Western States, where a
+boundless field is still open to their exertions. The valley of the
+Mississippi 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 recent States adjacent to the Mississippi, the population has
+increased thirty-one-fold, within the same space of time. *n
+
+m
+[ The following statements will suffice to show the difference which
+exists between the commerce of the South and that of the North:—
+
+
+In 1829 the tonnage of all the merchant vessels belonging to Virginia,
+the two Carolinas, and Georgia (the four great Southern States),
+amounted to only 5,243 tons. In the same year the tonnage of the
+vessels of the State of Massachusetts alone amounted to 17,322 tons.
+(See Legislative Documents, 21st Congress, 2d session, No. 140, p.
+244.) Thus the State of Massachusetts had three times as much shipping
+as the four above-mentioned States. Nevertheless the area of the State
+of Massachusetts is only 7,335 square miles, and its population amounts
+to 610,014 inhabitants [2,238,943 in 1890]; whilst the area of the four
+other States I have quoted is 210,000 square miles, and their
+population 3,047,767. Thus the area of the State of Massachusetts forms
+only one-thirtieth part of the area of the four States; and its
+population is five times smaller than theirs. (See “Darby’s View of the
+United States.”) Slavery is prejudicial to the commercial prosperity of
+the South in several different ways; by diminishing the spirit of
+enterprise amongst the whites, and by preventing them from meeting with
+as numerous a class of sailors as they require. Sailors are usually
+taken 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 unable to serve as well as a
+white crew, and apprehensions 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.]
+
+n
+[ “Darby’s View of the United States,” p. 444.]
+
+
+The relative position of the central 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 environs of the
+spot upon which Washington now stands; but the great body of the people
+is now advancing inland and to the north, so that in twenty years the
+majority will unquestionably be on the western side of the Alleghanies.
+If the Union goes on to subsist, the basin of the Mississippi is
+evidently marked out, by its fertility and its extent, as the future
+centre of the Federal Government. In thirty or forty years, that tract
+of country will have assumed the rank which naturally belongs to it. It
+is easy to calculate that its population, compared to that of the coast
+of the Atlantic, will be, in round numbers, as 40 to 11. In a few years
+the States which founded the Union will lose the direction of its
+policy, and the population of the valley of the Mississippi will
+preponderate in the federal assemblies.
+
+This constant gravitation of the federal power and influence towards
+the northwest is shown every ten years, when a general census of the
+population is made, and the number of delegates which each State sends
+to Congress is settled afresh. *o In 1790 Virginia had nineteen
+representatives in Congress. This number continued to increase until
+the year 1813, when it reached to twenty-three; from that time it began
+to decrease, and in 1833 Virginia elected only twenty-one
+representatives. *p During the same period the State of New York
+progressed in the contrary direction: in 1790 it had ten
+representatives in Congress; in 1813, twenty-seven; in 1823,
+thirty-four; and in 1833, forty. The State of Ohio had only one
+representative in 1803, and in 1833 it had already nineteen.
+
+o
+[ 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, has increased in the proportion of five per cent.; whilst
+that of another, as the territory of Michigan, has increased 250 per
+cent. Thus the population of Virginia had augmented thirteen per cent.,
+and that of the border State of Ohio sixty-one per cent., in the same
+space of time. The general table of these changes, which is given in
+the “National Calendar,” displays a striking picture of the unequal
+fortunes of the different States.]
+
+
+p
+[ It has just been said that in the course of the last term the
+population of Virginia has increased thirteen per cent.; and it is
+necessary to explain how the number of representatives for a State may
+decrease, when the population of that State, far from diminishing, is
+actually upon the increase. I take the State of Virginia, to which I
+have already alluded, as my term of comparison. The number of
+representatives of Virginia in 1823 was proportionate to the total
+number of the representatives of the Union, and to the relation which
+the population bore to that of the whole Union: in 1833 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 course 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 numver, on
+the one hand, as the new numver of all the representatives 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 population of the lesser country
+be to that of the greater in an exact inverse ratio of the proportion
+between the new and the old numbers of all the representatives, 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 feeblerratio than the new number of the representatives of
+the Union to the old number, the number of the representatives of
+Virginia must decrease. [Thus, to the 56th Congress in 1899, Virginia
+and West Virginia send only fourteen representatives.]]
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part VIII
+
+
+It is difficult to imagine a durable union of a people 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 at which 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 2,000,000 of inhabitants and its forty
+representatives, in dictating to the other States in Congress. But even
+if the more powerful States make no attempt to bear down the lesser
+ones, the danger still exists; for there is almost as much in the
+possibility of the act as in the act itself. The weak generally
+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 Union. I am inclined to think
+that the hostile measures taken by the Southern provinces upon a recent
+occasion are attributable to no other cause. The inhabitants of the
+Southern States are, of all the Americans, those who are most
+interested in the maintenance of the Union; they would assuredly suffer
+most from being left to themselves; and yet they are the only citizens
+who threaten to break the tie of confederation. But it is easy to
+perceive that the South, which has given four Presidents, Washington,
+Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, to the Union, which perceives that it
+is losing its federal influence, and that the number of its
+representatives in Congress is diminishing from year to year, whilst
+those of the Northern and Western States are increasing; the South,
+which is peopled with ardent and irascible beings, is becoming more and
+more irritated and alarmed. The citizens reflect upon their present
+position and remember their past influence, with the melancholy
+uneasiness 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 their due
+profits. “The tariff,” said the inhabitants of Carolina in 1832,
+“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?” *q
+
+q
+[ See the report of its committee to the Convention which proclaimed
+the nullification of the tariff in South Carolina.]
+
+
+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 America is precipitate, and almost
+revolutionary. The same citizen may have 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 birth and infancy to maturity in the
+course of thirty years. It must not be imagined, however, that the
+States which lose their preponderance, also lose their population or
+their riches: no stop is put to their prosperity, and they even go on
+to increase more rapidly than any kingdom in Europe. *r But they
+believe themselves to be impoverished because their wealth does not
+augment as rapidly as that of their neighbors; any they think that
+their power is lost, because they suddenly come into collision with a
+power greater than their own: *s thus they are more hurt in their
+feelings and their 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
+beginning of the world, the name of war would scarcely be known among
+mankind.
+
+r
+[ The population of a country assuredly constitutes the first element
+of its wealth. 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 per cent.; that of Carolina in the proportion of
+fifteen per cent.; and that of Georgia, 15.5 per cent. (See the
+“American Almanac,” 1832, p. 162) But the population of Russia, which
+increases more rapidly than that of any other European country, only
+augments in ten years at the rate of 9.5 per cent.; in France, at the
+rate of seven per cent.; and in Europe in general, at the rate of 4.7
+per cent. (See “Malte Brun,” vol. vi. p. 95)]
+
+
+s
+[ It must be admitted, however, that the depreciation which has taken
+place in the value of tobacco, during the last fifty years, has notably
+diminished the opulence of the Southern planters: but this circumstance
+is as independent of the will of their Northern brethren as it is of
+their own.]
+
+
+Thus the prosperity of the United States is the source of the most
+serious dangers that threaten them, since it tends to create in some of
+the confederate States that over-excitement which accompanies a rapid
+increase of fortune; and to awaken in others those feelings of envy,
+mistrust, and regret which usually attend upon the loss of it. The
+Americans contemplate this extraordinary and hasty progress with
+exultation; but they would be wiser to consider it with sorrow and
+alarm. The Americans of the United States must inevitably become one of
+the greatest nations in the world; their offset will cover almost the
+whole of North America; the continent which they inhabit is their
+dominion, and it cannot escape them. What urges them to take possession
+of it so soon? Riches, power, and renown cannot fail to be theirs at
+some future time, but they rush upon their fortune as if but a moment
+remained for them to make it their own.
+
+I think that I have demonstrated that the existence of the present
+confederation depends entirely on the continued assent of all the
+confederates; and, starting from this principle, I have inquired into
+the causes which may induce the several 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 compact, and so
+forcibly to sever the federal tie; and it is to this supposition that
+most of the remarks that I have made apply: or the authority of the
+Federal Government may be progressively entrenched on by the
+simultaneous tendency of the united republics to resume their
+independence. The central power, successively stripped of all its
+prerogatives, and reduced to impotence by tacit consent, would become
+incompetent to fulfil its purpose; and the second Union would perish,
+like the first, by a sort of senile inaptitude. The gradual weakening
+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 Government 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.
+
+After having investigated the causes which may induce the
+Anglo-Americans to disunite, it is important to inquire whether, if the
+Union continues to subsist, their Government will extend or contract
+its sphere of action, and whether it will become more energetic or more
+weak.
+
+The Americans are evidently disposed to look upon their future
+condition with alarm. They perceive that in most of the nations of the
+world the exercise of the rights of sovereignty tends to fall under the
+control of a few individuals, and they are dismayed by the idea that
+such will also be the case in their own country. Even the statesmen
+feel, or affect to feel, these fears; for, in America, centralization
+is by no means popular, and there is no surer means of courting the
+majority than by inveighing against the encroachments of the central
+power. The Americans do not perceive that the countries in which this
+alarming tendency to centralization exists are inhabited by a single
+people; whilst the fact of the Union being composed of different
+confederate communities is sufficient to baffle all the inferences
+which might be drawn from analogous circumstances. I confess that I am
+inclined to consider the fears of a great number of Americans as purely
+imaginary; and far from participating in their dread of the
+consolidation of power in the hands of the Union, I think that the
+Federal Government 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 belong 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 in that country,
+like two distinct currents flowing in contrary directions in the same
+channel. The Union has now existed for forty-five years, and in the
+course of that time a vast number of provincial prejudices, which were
+at first hostile to its power, have died away. The patriotic feeling
+which attached each of the Americans to his own native State is become
+less exclusive; and the different parts of the Union have become more
+intimately connected the better they have become acquainted with each
+other. The post, *t that great instrument of intellectual intercourse,
+now reaches into the backwoods; and steamboats have established daily
+means of communication between the different points of the coast. An
+inland navigation of unexampled rapidity conveys commodities up and
+down the rivers of the country. *u And to these facilities of nature
+and art may be added those restless cravings, that busy-mindedness, and
+love of pelf, which are constantly urging the American into active
+life, and bringing him into contact with his fellow-citizens. He
+crosses the country in every direction; he visits all the various
+populations of the land; and there is not a province in France in which
+the natives are so well known to each other as the 13,000,000 of men
+who cover the territory of the United States.
+
+t
+[ In 1832, the district of Michigan, which only contains 31,639
+inhabitants, and is still an almost unexplored wilderness, possessed
+940 miles of mail-roads. The territory of Arkansas, which is still more
+uncultivated, was already intersected by 1,938 miles of mail-roads.
+(See the report of the General Post Office, November 30, 1833.) The
+postage of newspapers alone in the whole Union amounted to $254,796.]
+
+
+u
+[ In the course of ten years, from 1821 to 1831, 271 steamboats have
+been launched upon the rivers which water the valley of the Mississippi
+alone. In 1829 259 steamboats existed in the United States. (See
+Legislative Documents, No. 140, p. 274.)]
+
+
+But whilst the Americans intermingle, they grow in resemblance of each
+other; the differences resulting from their climate, their origin, and
+their institutions, diminish; and they all draw nearer and nearer to
+the common type. Every year, thousands of men leave the North to settle
+in different parts of the Union: they bring with them their faith,
+their opinions, and their manners; and as they are more enlighthned
+than the men amongst whom they are about to dwell, they soon rise to
+the head of affairs, and they adapt society to their own advantage.
+This continual emigration of the North to the South is peculiarly
+favorable to the fusion of all the different provincial characters into
+one national character. The civilization of the North appears to be the
+common standard, to which the whole nation will one day be assimilated.
+
+The commercial ties which unite the confederate States are strengthened
+by the increasing manufactures of the Americans; and the union which
+began to exist in their opinions, gradually forms a part of their
+habits: the course of time has swept away the bugbear thoughts which
+haunted the imaginations of the citizens in 1789. The federal power is
+not become oppressive; it has not destroyed the independence of the
+States; it has not subjected the confederates to monarchial
+institutions; and the Union has not rendered the lesser States
+dependent upon the larger ones; but the confederation has continued to
+increase in population, in wealth, and in power. I am therefore
+convinced that the natural obstacles to the continuance of the American
+Union are not so powerful at the present time as they were in 1789; and
+that the enemies of the Union are not so numerous.
+
+Nevertheless, a careful examination of the history of the United States
+for the last forty-five years will readily convince us that the federal
+power is declining; nor is it difficult to explain the causes of this
+phenomenon. *v When the Constitution of 1789 was promulgated, the
+nation was a prey to anarchy; the Union, which succeeded this
+confusion, excited much dread and much animosity; but it was warmly
+supported because it satisfied an imperious want. Thus, although it was
+more attacked than it is now, the federal power soon reached the
+maximum 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 seemed 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 a certain extent, above
+itself.
+
+v
+[ [Since 1861 the movement is certainly in the opposite direction, and
+the federal power has largely increased, and tends to further
+increase.]]
+
+
+The Constitution had not destroyed the distinct sovereignty of the
+States; and all communities, of whatever nature they may be, are
+impelled by a secret propensity to assert their independence. This
+propensity is still more decided in a country like America, in which
+every village forms a sort of republic accustomed to conduct its own
+affairs. It therefore cost the States an effort to submit to the
+federal supremacy; and all efforts, however successful they may be,
+necessarily subside with the causes in which they originated.
+
+As the Federal Government consolidated its authority, America resumed
+its rank amongst the nations, peace returned to its frontiers, and
+public credit was restored; confusion was succeeded by a fixed state of
+things, which was favorable to the full and free exercise of
+industrious enterprise. It was this very prosperity which made the
+Americans forget the cause to which it was attributable; and when once
+the danger was passed, the energy and the patriotism which had enabled
+them to brave it disappeared from amongst them. No sooner were they
+delivered from the cares which oppressed them, than they easily
+returned to their ordinary habits, and gave themselves up without
+resistance to their natural inclinations. When a powerful Government no
+longer appeared to be necessary, they once more began to think it
+irksome. The Union encouraged a general prosperity, and the States were
+not inclined to abandon the Union; but they desired to render the
+action of the power which represented that body as light as possible.
+The general principle of Union was adopted, but in every minor detail
+there was an actual tendency to independence. The principle of
+confederation was every day more easily admitted, and more rarely
+applied; so that the Federal Government brought about its own decline,
+whilst it was creating order and peace.
+
+As soon as this tendency of public opinion began to be manifested
+externally, the leaders of parties, 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 possession 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 Union has invariably been
+obliged to recede, as often as it has attempted to enter the lists with
+the governments of the States. And whenever an interpretation of the
+terms of the Federal Constitution has been called for, that
+interpretation has most frequently been opposed to the Union, and
+favorable to the States.
+
+The Constitution invested the Federal Government with the right of
+providing for the interests of the nation; and it had been held that no
+other authority was so fit to superintend the “internal improvements”
+which affected the prosperity of the whole Union; such, for instance,
+as the cutting of canals. But the States were alarmed at a power,
+distinct from their own, which could thus dispose of a portion of their
+territory; and they were afraid that the central Government would, by
+this means, acquire a formidable extent of patronage within their own
+confines, and exercise a degree of influence which they intended to
+reserve exclusively to their own agents. The Democratic party, which
+has constantly been opposed to the increase of the federal authority,
+then accused the Congress of usurpation, and the Chief Magistrate of
+ambition. The central Government was intimidated by the opposition; and
+it soon acknowledged its error, promising exactly to confine its
+influence for the future within 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 light. As long as
+these savages consented to retire before the civilized settlers, the
+federal right was not contested: but as soon as an Indian tribe
+attempted to fix its dwelling upon a given spot, the adjacent States
+claimed possession of the lands and the rights of sovereignty over the
+natives. The central Government soon recognized both these claims; and
+after it had concluded treaties with the Indians as independent
+nations, it gave them up as subjects to the legislative tyranny of the
+States. *w
+
+w
+[ See in the Legislative Documents, already quoted in speaking of the
+Indians, the letter of the President of the United States to the
+Cherokees, his correspondence on this subject with his agents, and his
+messages to Congress.]
+
+
+Some of the States which had been founded upon the coast of the
+Atlantic, extended indefinitely to the West, into wild regions where no
+European had ever penetrated. The States whose confines were
+irrevocably fixed, looked with a jealous eye upon the unbounded regions
+which the future would enable their neighbors to explore. The latter
+then agreed, with a view to conciliate the others, and to facilitate
+the act of union, to lay down their own boundaries, and to abandon all
+the territory which lay beyond those limits to the confederation at
+large. *x Thenceforward the Federal Government became the owner of all
+the uncultivated lands which lie beyond the borders of the thirteen
+States first confederated. It was invested with the right of parcelling
+and selling them, and the sums derived from this source were
+exclusively reserved to the public treasure of the Union, in order to
+furnish supplies for purchasing tracts of country from the Indians, for
+opening roads to the remote settlements, and for accelerating the
+increase of civilization as much as possible. New States have, however,
+been formed in the course of time, in the midst of those wilds which
+were formerly ceded by the inhabitants of the shores of the Atlantic.
+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 asserted that, as they were now fully constituted, they ought
+to enjoy the exclusive right of converting the produce of these sales
+to their own use. As their remonstrances became more and more
+threatening, Congress thought fit to deprive the Union of a portion of
+the privileges which it had hitherto enjoyed; and at the end of 1832 it
+passed a law by which the greatest part of the revenue derived from the
+sale of lands was made over to the new western republics, although the
+lands themselves were not ceded to them. *y
+
+x
+[ The first act of session was made by the State of New York in 1780;
+Virginia, Massachusetts, Connecticut, South and North Carolina,
+followed this example at different times, and lastly, the act of
+cession of Georgia was made as recently as 1802.]
+
+
+y
+[ It is true that the President refused his assent to this law; but he
+completely adopted it in principle. (See Message of December 8, 1833.)]
+
+
+The slightest observation in the United States enables one to
+appreciate the advantages which the country derives from the bank.
+These advantages are of several kinds, but one of them is peculiarly
+striking to the stranger. The banknotes 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. *z
+
+z
+[ The present Bank of the United States was established in 1816, with a
+capital of $35,000,000; its charter expires in 1836. Last year Congress
+passed a law to renew it, but the President put his veto upon the bill.
+The struggle is still going on with great violence on either side, and
+the speedy fall of the bank may easily be foreseen. [It was soon
+afterwards extinguished by General Jackson.]]
+
+
+The Bank of the United States is nevertheless the object of great
+animosity. Its directors have proclaimed their hostility to the
+President: and they are accused, not without some show of probability,
+of having abused their influence to thwart his election. The President
+therefore attacks the establishment which they represent with all the
+warmth of personal enmity; and he is encouraged in the pursuit of his
+revenge by the conviction that he is supported by the secret
+propensities of the majority. The bank may be regarded as the great
+monetary tie of the Union, just as Congress is the great legislative
+tie; and the same passions which tend to render the States independent
+of the central power, contribute to the overthrow of the bank.
+
+The Bank of the United States always holds a great number of the notes
+issued by the provincial banks, which it can at any time oblige them to
+convert into cash. 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
+operations are restricted, since they are only able to issue a quantity
+of notes duly proportioned to their capital. They submit with
+impatience to this salutary control. The newspapers which they have
+bought over, and the President, whose interest renders him their
+instrument, attack the bank with the greatest vehemence. They rouse the
+local passions and the blind democratic instinct of the country to aid
+their cause; and they assert that the bank directors form a permanent
+aristocratic body, whose influence must ultimately be felt in the
+Government, and must affect those principles of equality upon which
+society rests in America.
+
+The contest between the bank and its opponents is only an incident in
+the great struggle which is going on in America between the provinces
+and the central power; between the spirit of democratic independence
+and the spirit of gradation and subordination. I do not mean that the
+enemies of the bank are identically the same individuals who, on other
+points, attack the Federal Government; but I assert that the attacks
+directed against the bank of the United States originate in the same
+propensities which militate against the Federal Government; and that
+the very numerous opponents of the former afford a deplorable symptom
+of the decreasing support of the latter.
+
+The Union has never displayed so much weakness as in the celebrated
+question of the tariff. *a The wars of the French Revolution and of
+1812 had created manufacturing establishments in the North of the
+Union, by cutting off all free communication between America and
+Europe. When peace was concluded, and the channel of intercourse
+reopened by which the produce of Europe was transmitted to the New
+World, the Americans thought fit to establish a system of import
+duties, for the twofold purpose of protecting their incipient
+manufactures and of paying off the amount of the debt contracted during
+the war. The Southern States, which have no manufactures to encourage,
+and which are exclusively agricultural, soon complained of this
+measure. Such were the simple facts, and I do not pretend to examine in
+this place whether their complaints were well founded or unjust.
+
+a
+[ See principally for the details of this affair, the Legislative
+Documents, 22d Congress, 2d Session, No. 30.]
+
+
+As early as the year 1820, South Carolina declared, in a petition to
+Congress, that the tariff was “unconstitutional, oppressive, 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 from lending an ear to these complaints,
+raised the scale of tariff duties in the years 1824 and 1828, and
+recognized anew the principle on which it was founded. A doctrine was
+then proclaimed, or rather revived, in the South, which took the name
+of Nullification.
+
+I have shown in the proper place that the object of the Federal
+Constitution was not to form a league, but to create a national
+government. The Americans of the United States form a sole and
+undivided people, in all the cases which are specified by that
+Constitution; and upon these points the will of the nation is
+expressed, as it is in all constitutional nations, by the voice of the
+majority. When the majority has pronounced its decision, it is the duty
+of the minority to submit. Such is the sound legal doctrine, and the
+only one which agrees 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 reduce
+themselves to the condition of one and the same people; that they meant
+to constitute a league of independent States; and that each State,
+consequently retains its entire sovereignty, if not de facto, at least
+de jure; and has the right of putting its own construction upon the
+laws of Congress, and of suspending their execution within the limits
+of its own territory, if they are held to be unconstitutional and
+unjust.
+
+The entire doctrine of Nullification is comprised in a sentence uttered
+by Vice-President Calhoun, the head of that party in the South, before
+the Senate of the United States, in the year 1833: “The Constitution is
+a compact to which the States were parties in their sovereign capacity;
+now, whenever a compact is entered into by parties which acknowledge no
+tribunal above their authority to decide in the last resort, each of
+them has a right to judge for itself in relation to the nature, extent,
+and obligations of the instrument.” It is evident that a similar
+doctrine destroys the very basis of the Federal Constitution, and brings
+back all the evils of the old confederation, from which the Americans
+were supposed to have had a safe deliverance.
+
+When South Carolina perceived that Congress turned a deaf ear to its
+remonstrances, it threatened to apply the doctrine of nullification to
+the federal tariff bill. Congress persisted in its former system; and
+at length the storm broke out. In the course of 1832 the citizens of
+South Carolina, *b named a national Convention, to consult upon the
+extraordinary measures which they were called upon to take; and on
+November 24th of the same year this Convention promulgated a law, under
+the form of a decree, which annulled the federal law of the tariff,
+forbade the levy of the imposts which that law commands, and refused to
+recognize the appeal which might be made to the federal courts of law.
+*c This decree was only to be put in execution in the ensuing month of
+February, and it was intimated, that if Congress modified the tariff
+before that period, South Carolina might be induced to proceed no
+further with her menaces; and a vague desire was afterwards expressed
+of submitting the question to an extraordinary assembly of all the
+confederate States.
+
+b
+[ 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 electors; 30,000 were in
+favor of nullification, and 17,000 opposed to it.]
+
+
+c
+[ This decree was preceded by a report of the committee by 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
+reserved 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 respective limits, those powers and privileges
+which belong to them as independent sovereign States. If they were
+destitute of this right, they would 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.”]
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part IX
+
+
+In the meantime South Carolina armed her militia, and prepared for war.
+But Congress, which had slighted its suppliant subjects, listened to
+their complaints as soon as they were found to have taken up arms. *d A
+law was passed, by which the tariff duties were to be progressively
+reduced for ten years, until they were brought so low as not to exceed
+the amount of supplies necessary to the Government. *e Thus Congress
+completely abandoned the principle of the tariff; and substituted a
+mere fiscal impost to a system of protective duties. *f The Government
+of the Union, in order to conceal its defeat, had recourse to an
+expedient which is very much in vogue with feeble governments. It
+yielded the point de facto, but it remained inflexible upon the
+principles in question; and whilst Congress was altering the tariff
+law, it passed another bill, by which the President was invested with
+extraordinary powers, enabling him to overcome by force a resistance
+which was then no longer to be apprehended.
+
+d
+[ Congress was finally decided to take this step by the conduct of the
+powerful State of Virginia, whose legislature offered to serve as
+mediator between the Union and South Carolina. Hitherto the latter
+State had appeared to be entirely abandoned, even by the States which
+had joined in her remonstrances.]
+
+
+e
+[ This law was passed on March 2, 1833.]
+
+
+f
+[ This bill was brought in by Mr. Clay, and it passed in four days
+through both Houses of Congress by an immense majority.]
+
+
+But South Carolina did not consent to leave the Union in the enjoyment
+of these scanty trophies of success: the same national Convention which
+had annulled the tariff bill, met again, and accepted the proffered
+concession; but at the same time it declared its unabated perseverance
+in the 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 clauses of that law would never
+be carried into effect.
+
+Almost all the controversies of which I have been speaking have taken
+place under the Presidency of General Jackson; and it cannot be denied
+that in the question of the tariff he has supported the claims of the
+Union with vigor and with skill. I am, however, of opinion that the
+conduct of the individual who now represents the Federal Government may
+be reckoned as one of the dangers which threaten its continuance.
+
+Some persons in Europe have formed an opinion of the possible influence
+of General Jackson upon the affairs of his country, which appears
+highly extravagant to those who have seen more of the subject. We have
+been told that General Jackson has won sundry battles, that he is an
+energetic man, prone by nature and by habit to the use of force,
+covetous of power, and a despot by taste. All this may perhaps be true;
+but the inferences which have been drawn from these truths are
+exceedingly erroneous. It has been imagined that General Jackson is
+bent on establishing a dictatorship in America, on introducing a
+military spirit, and on giving a degree of influence to the central
+authority which cannot but be dangerous to provincial liberties. But in
+America the time for similar undertakings, and the age for men of this
+kind, is not yet come: if General Jackson had entertained a hope of
+exercising his authority in this manner, he would infallibly have
+forfeited his political station, and compromised his life; accordingly
+he has not been so imprudent as to make any such attempt.
+
+Far from wishing to extend the federal power, the President belongs to
+the party which is desirous of limiting that power to the bare and
+precise letter of the Constitution, and which never puts a construction
+upon that act favorable to the Government of the Union; far from
+standing forth as the champion of centralization, General Jackson is
+the agent of all the jealousies of the States; and he was placed in the
+lofty station he occupies by the passions of the people which are most
+opposed to the central Government. It is by perpetually flattering
+these passions that he maintains his station and his popularity.
+General Jackson is the slave of the majority: he yields to its wishes,
+its propensities, and its demands; say rather, that he anticipates and
+forestalls them.
+
+Whenever the governments of the States come into collision with that of
+the Union, the President is generally the first to question his own
+rights: he almost always outstrips the legislature; and when the extent
+of the federal power is controverted, he takes part, as it were,
+against himself; he conceals his official interests, and extinguishes
+his own natural inclinations. Not indeed that he is naturally weak or
+hostile to the Union; for when the majority decided against the claims
+of the partisans of nullification, he put himself at its head, asserted
+the doctrines which the nation held distinctly and energetically, and
+was the first to recommend forcible measures; but General Jackson
+appears to me, if I may use the American expressions, to be a
+Federalist by taste, and a Republican by calculation.
+
+General Jackson stoops to gain the favor of the majority, but when he
+feels that his popularity is secure, he overthrows all obstacles in the
+pursuit of the objects which the community approves, or of those which
+it does not look upon with a jealous eye. He is supported by a power
+with which his predecessors were unacquainted; and he tramples on his
+personal enemies whenever they cross his path with a facility which no
+former President ever enjoyed; he takes upon himself the responsibility
+of measures which no one before him would have ventured to attempt: he
+even treats the national representatives with disdain approaching to
+insult; he puts his veto upon the laws of Congress, and frequently
+neglects to reply to that powerful body. He is a favorite who sometimes
+treats his master roughly. The power of General Jackson 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 am strangely mistaken if the Federal Government of the United States
+be not constantly losing strength, retiring gradually from public
+affairs, and narrowing its circle of action more and more. It is
+naturally feeble, but it now abandons even its pretensions to strength.
+On the other hand, I thought that I remarked a more lively sense of
+independence, and a more decided attachment to provincial government in
+the States. The Union is to subsist, but to subsist as a shadow; it is
+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 perceptible: as if this alternate
+debility and vigor were natural or possible.
+
+I do not foresee anything for the present which may be able to check
+this general impulse of public opinion; the causes in which it
+originated do not cease to operate with the same effect. The change
+will therefore go on, and it may be predicted that, unless some
+extraordinary event occurs, the Government of the Union will grow
+weaker and weaker every day.
+
+I think, however, that the period is still remote at which the federal
+power will be entirely extinguished by its inability to protect itself
+and to maintain peace in the country. The Union is sanctioned by the
+manners and desires of the people; 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 federal governments
+which have hitherto been established, the one which is most naturally
+destined to act. As long as it is only indirectly assailed by the
+interpretation of its laws, and as long as its substance is not
+seriously altered, a change of opinion, an internal crisis, or a war,
+may restore all the vigor which it requires. The point which I have
+been most anxious to put in a clear light is simply this: Many people,
+especially in France, imagine that a change in opinion is going on in
+the United States, which is favorable to a centralization of power in
+the hands of the President and the Congress. I hold that a contrary
+tendency may distinctly be observed. So far is the Federal Government
+from acquiring strength, and from threatening the sovereignty of the
+States, as it grows older, that I maintain it to be growing weaker and
+weaker, and that the sovereignty of the Union alone is in danger. Such
+are the facts which the present time discloses. The future conceals the
+final result of this tendency, and the events which may check, retard,
+or accelerate the changes I have described; but I do not affect to be
+able to remove the veil which hides them from our sight.
+
+Of The Republican Institutions Of The United States, And What Their
+Chances Of Duration Are
+
+The Union is accidental—The Republican institutions have more prospect
+of permanence—A republic for the present the natural state of the
+Anglo-Americans—Reason of this—In order to destroy it, all the laws
+must be changed at the same time, and a great alteration take place in
+manners—Difficulties experienced by the Americans in creating an
+aristocracy.
+
+The dismemberment of the Union, by the introduction of war into the
+heart of those States which are now confederate, with standing armies,
+a dictatorship, and a heavy taxation, might, eventually, compromise the
+fate of the republican institutions. But we ought not to confound the
+future prospects of the republic with those of the Union. The Union is
+an accident, which will only last as long as circumstances are
+favorable to its existence; but a republican form of government seems
+to me to be the natural state of the Americans; which nothing but the
+continued action of hostile causes, always acting in the same
+direction, could change into a monarchy. The Union exists principally
+in the law which formed it; one revolution, one change in public
+opinion, might destroy it forever; but the republic has a much deeper
+foundation to rest upon.
+
+What is understood by a republican government in the United States is
+the slow and quiet action of society upon itself. It is a regular state
+of things really founded upon the enlightened will of the people. It is
+a conciliatory government under which resolutions are allowed time to
+ripen; and in which they are deliberately discussed, and executed with
+mature judgment. The republicans in the United States set a high value
+upon morality, respect religious belief, and acknowledge the existence
+of rights. They profess to think that a people ought to be moral,
+religious, and temperate, in proportion as it is free. What is called
+the republic in the United States, is the tranquil rule of the
+majority, which, after having had time to examine itself, and to give
+proof of its existence, is the common source of all the powers of the
+State. But the power of the majority is not of itself unlimited. In the
+moral world humanity, justice, and reason enjoy an undisputed
+supremacy; in the political world vested rights are treated with no
+less deference. The majority recognizes these two barriers; and if it
+now and then overstep them, it is because, like individuals, it has
+passions, and, like them, it is prone to do what is wrong, whilst it
+discerns what is right.
+
+But the demagogues of Europe have made strange discoveries. A republic
+is not, according to them, the rule of the majority, as has hitherto
+been thought, but the rule of those who are strenuous partisans of the
+majority. It is not the people who preponderates in this kind of
+government, but those who are best versed in the good qualities of the
+people. A happy distinction, which allows men to act in the name of
+nations without consulting them, and to claim their gratitude whilst
+their rights are spurned. A republican government, moreover, is the
+only one which claims the right of doing whatever it chooses, and
+despising what men have hitherto respected, from the highest moral
+obligations to the vulgar rules of common-sense. It had been supposed,
+until our time, that despotism was odious, under whatever form it
+appeared. But it is a discovery of modern days that there are such
+things as legitimate tyranny and holy injustice, provided they are
+exercised in the name of the people.
+
+The ideas which the Americans have adopted respecting the republican
+form of government, render it easy for them to live under it, and
+insure its duration. If, in their country, this form be often
+practically bad, at least it is theoretically good; and, in the end,
+the people always acts in conformity to it.
+
+It was impossible at the foundation of the States, and it would still
+be difficult, to establish a central administration in America. The
+inhabitants are dispersed over too great a space, and separated by too
+many natural obstacles, for one man to undertake to direct the details
+of their existence. America is therefore pre-eminently the country of
+provincial and municipal government. To this cause, which was plainly
+felt by all the Europeans of the New World, the Anglo-Americans added
+several others peculiar to themselves.
+
+At the time of the settlement of the North American colonies, municipal
+liberty had already penetrated into the laws as well as the manners of
+the English; and the emigrants adopted it, not only as a necessary
+thing, but as a benefit which they knew how to appreciate. We have
+already seen the manner in which the colonies were founded: every
+province, and almost every district, was peopled separately by men who
+were strangers to each other, or who associated with very different
+purposes. The English settlers in the United States, therefore, early
+perceived that they were divided into a great number of small and
+distinct communities which belonged to no common centre; and that it
+was needful for each of these little communities to take care of its
+own affairs, since there did not appear to be 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
+liberties.
+
+In the United States, therefore, the mass of the institutions 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
+difficult for a party to succeed in founding a monarchy in the United
+States than for a set of men to proclaim that France should
+henceforward be a republic. Royalty would not find a system of
+legislation prepared for it beforehand; and a monarchy would then
+exist, really surrounded by republican institutions. The monarchical
+principle would likewise have great difficulty in penetrating 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 prevailing manners and ideas of the
+people: it may, on the contrary, 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—such 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 its townships; the State to its 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 principle 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, whilst they are formerly recognized by the
+legislation: and before this legislation can be altered the whole
+community must undergo very serious changes. 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 its temporal 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 choosing his government.
+
+It is evident that nothing but a long series of events, all having the
+same tendency, can substitute for this combination of laws, opinions,
+and manners, a mass of opposite opinions, manners, and laws.
+
+If republican principles are to perish in America, they can only yield
+after a laborious social process, often interrupted, and as often
+resumed; they will have many apparent revivals, and will not become
+totally extinct until an entirely new people shall have succeeded to
+that which now exists. Now, it must be admitted that there is no
+symptom or presage of the approach of such a revolution. There is
+nothing more striking 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 variable in its desires should avoid
+adopting, within a short space of time, a completely new form of
+government. Such apprehensions are, however, premature; the instability
+which affects political institutions is of two kinds, which ought not
+to be confounded: the first, which modifies secondary laws, is not
+incompatible with a very settled state of society; the other shakes the
+very foundations of the Constitution, and attacks the fundamental
+principles of legislation; this species of instability is always
+followed by troubles and revolutions, and the nation which suffers
+under it is in a state of violent transition.
+
+Experience shows that these two kinds of legislative instability have
+no necessary connection; for they have been found united or separate,
+according to times and circumstances. The first is common in the United
+States, but not the second: the Americans often change their laws, but
+the foundation of the Constitution is respected.
+
+In our days the republican principle rules in America, as the
+monarchical principle did in France under Louis XIV. The French of that
+period were not only friends of the monarchy, but they thought it
+impossible to put anything in its place; they received it as we receive
+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
+opposition; without proofs and arguments, by a tacit agreement, a sort
+of consensus universalis. It is, however, my opinion that by changing
+their administrative forms as often as they do, the inhabitants of the
+United States compromise the future stability of their government.
+
+It may be apprehended that men, perpetually thwarted in their designs
+by the mutability of the legislation, will learn to look upon
+republican institutions 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 the fundamental principles of the
+Constitution, and indirectly bring about a revolution; but this epoch
+is still very remote.
+
+It may, however, be foreseen even now, that when the Americans lose
+their republican institutions they will speedily arrive at a despotic
+government, without a long interval of limited monarchy. Montesquieu
+remarked, that nothing is more absolute than the authority of a prince
+who immediately succeeds a republic, since the powers which had
+fearlessly been intrusted to an elected magistrate are then transferred
+to a hereditary sovereign. This is true in general, but it is more
+peculiarly applicable to a democratic republic. In the United States,
+the magistrates are not elected by a particular class of citizens, but
+by the majority of the nation; they are the immediate representatives
+of the passions of the multitude; and as they are wholly dependent upon
+its pleasure, they excite neither hatred nor fear: hence, as I have
+already shown, very little care has been taken to limit their
+influence, and they are left in possession of a vast deal of arbitrary
+power. This state of things has engendered habits which would outlive
+itself; the American magistrate would retain his power, but he would
+cease to be responsible for the exercise of it; and it is impossible to
+say what bounds could then be set to tyranny.
+
+Some of our European politicians expect to see an aristocracy arise in
+America, and they already predict the exact period at which it will be
+able to assume the reins of government. I have previously observed, and
+I repeat my assertion, 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, restrict
+the circle of political rights in their country, or confiscate those
+rights to the advantage of a single individual; but I cannot imagine
+that they will ever bestow the exclusive exercise of them upon a
+privileged class of citizens, or, in other words, that they will ever
+found an aristocracy.
+
+An aristocratic body is composed of a certain number of citizens who,
+without being very far removed from the mass of the people, are,
+nevertheless, permanently stationed above it: a body which it is easy
+to touch and difficult to strike; with which the people are in daily
+contact, but with which they can never combine. Nothing can be imagined
+more contrary to nature and to the secret propensities of the human
+heart than a subjection of this kind; and men who are left to follow
+their own bent will always prefer the arbitrary power of a king to the
+regular administration of an aristocracy. Aristocratic institutions
+cannot subsist without laying down the inequality of men as a
+fundamental principle, as a part and parcel of the legislation,
+affecting the condition of the human family as much as it affects that
+of society; but these are things so repugnant to natural equity that
+they can only be extorted from men by constraint.
+
+I do not think a single people can be quoted, since human society began
+to exist, which has, by its own free will and by its own exertions,
+created an aristocracy within its own bosom. All the aristocracies of
+the Middle Ages were founded by military conquest; the conqueror was
+the noble, the vanquished became the serf. Inequality was then imposed
+by force; and after it had been introduced into the manners of the
+country it maintained its own authority, and was sanctioned by the
+legislation. Communities have existed which were aristocratic from
+their earliest origin, owing to circumstances anterior to that event,
+and which became more democratic in each succeeding age. Such was the
+destiny of the Romans, and of the barbarians after them. But a people,
+having taken its rise in civilization and democracy, which should
+gradually establish an inequality of conditions, until it arrived at
+inviolable privileges and exclusive castes, would be a novelty in the
+world; and nothing intimates that America is likely to furnish so
+singular an example.
+
+Reflection On The Causes Of The Commercial Prosperity Of The Of The
+United States
+
+The Americans destined by Nature to be a great maritime people—Extent
+of their coasts—Depth of their ports—Size of their rivers—The
+commercial superiority of the Anglo-Americans less attributable,
+however, to physical circumstances than to moral and intellectual
+causes—Reason of this opinion—Future destiny of the Anglo-Americans as
+a commercial nation—The dissolution of the Union would not check the
+maritime vigor of the States—Reason of this—Anglo-Americans will
+naturally supply the wants of the inhabitants of South America—They
+will become, like the English, the factors of a great portion of the
+world.
+
+The coast of the United States, from the Bay of Fundy to the Sabine
+River in the Gulf of Mexico, is more than two thousand miles in extent.
+These shores form an unbroken line, and they are all subject to the
+same government. No nation in the world possesses vaster, deeper, or
+more secure ports for shipping than the Americans.
+
+The inhabitants of the United States constitute a great civilized
+people, which fortune has placed in the midst of an uncultivated
+country at a distance of three thousand miles from the central point of
+civilization. America consequently stands in daily need of European
+trade. The Americans will, no doubt, ultimately succeed in producing or
+manufacturing at home most of the articles which they require; but the
+two continents can never be independent of each other, so numerous are
+the natural ties which exist between their wants, their ideas, their
+habits, and their manners.
+
+The Union produces peculiar commodities which are now become necessary
+to us, but which cannot be cultivated, or can only be raised at an
+enormous expense, upon the soil of Europe. The Americans only consume a
+small portion of this produce, and they are willing to sell us the
+rest. Europe is therefore the market of America, as America is the
+market of Europe; and maritime commerce is no less necessary to enable
+the inhabitants of the United States to transport their raw materials
+to the ports of Europe, than it is to enable us to supply them with our
+manufactured produce. The United States were therefore necessarily
+reduced to the alternative of increasing the business of other maritime
+nations to a great extent, if they had themselves declined to enter
+into commerce, as the Spaniards of Mexico have hitherto done; or, in
+the second place, of becoming one of the first trading powers of the
+globe.
+
+The Anglo-Americans have always displayed a very decided taste for the
+sea. The Declaration of Independence broke the commercial restrictions
+which united them to England, and gave a fresh and powerful stimulus to
+their maritime genius. Ever since that time, the shipping of the Union
+has increased in almost the same rapid proportion as the number of its
+inhabitants. The Americans themselves now transport to their own shores
+nine-tenths of the European produce which they consume. *g And they
+also bring three-quarters of the exports of the New World to the
+European consumer. *h The ships of the United States fill the docks of
+Havre and of Liverpool; whilst the number of English and French vessels
+which are to be seen at New York is comparatively small. *i
+
+g
+[ The total value of goods imported during the year which ended on
+September 30, 1832, was $101,129,266. The value of the cargoes of
+foreign vessels did not amount to $10,731,039, or about one-tenth of
+the entire sum.]
+
+
+h
+[ The value of goods exported during the same year amounted to
+$87,176,943; the value of goods exported by foreign vessels amounted to
+$21,036,183, or about one quarter of the whole sum. (Williams’s
+“Register,” 1833, p. 398.)]
+
+
+i
+[ The tonnage of the vessels which entered all the ports of the Union
+in the years 1829, 1830, and 1831, amounted to 3,307,719 tons, of which
+544,571 tons were foreign vessels; they stood, therefore, to the
+American vessels in a ratio of about 16 to 100. (“National Calendar,”
+1833, p. 304.) The tonnage of the English vessels which entered the
+ports of London, Liverpool, and Hull, in the years 1820, 1826, and
+1831, amounted to 443,800 tons. The foreign vessels which entered the
+same ports during the same years amounted to 159,431 tons. The ratio
+between them was, therefore, about 36 to 100. (“Companion to the
+Almanac,” 1834, p. 169.) In the year 1832 the ratio between the foreign
+and British ships which entered the ports of Great Britain was 29 to
+100. [These statements relate to a condition of affairs which has
+ceased to exist; the Civil War and the heavy taxation of the United
+States entirely altered the trade and navigation of the country.]]
+
+
+Thus, not only does the American merchant face the competition of his
+own countrymen, but he even supports that of foreign nations in their
+own ports with success. This is readily explained by the fact that the
+vessels of the United States can cross the seas at a cheaper rate than
+any other vessels in the world. As long as the mercantile shipping of
+the United States preserves this superiority, it will not only retain
+what it has acquired, but it will constantly increase in prosperity.
+
+
+
+
+ Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races—Part X
+
+
+It is difficult to say for what reason the Americans can trade at a
+lower rate than other nations; and one is at first led to attribute
+this circumstance to the physical or natural advantages which are
+within their reach; but this supposition is erroneous. The American
+vessels cost almost as much to build as our own; *j they are not better
+built, and they generally last for a shorter time. The pay of the
+American sailor is more considerable than the pay on board European
+ships; which is proved by the great number of Europeans who are to be
+met with in the merchant vessels of the United States. But I am of
+opinion that the true cause of their superiority must not be sought for
+in physical advantages, but that it is wholly attributable to their
+moral and intellectual qualities.
+
+j
+[ Materials are, generally speaking, less expensive in America than in
+Europe, but the price of labor is much higher.]
+
+
+The following comparison will illustrate my meaning. During the
+campaigns of the Revolution the French introduced a new system of
+tactics into the art of war, which perplexed the oldest generals, and
+very nearly destroyed the most ancient monarchies in Europe. They
+undertook (what had never before been attempted) to make shift without
+a number of things which had always been held to be indispensable in
+warfare; they required novel exertions on the part of their troops
+which no civilized nations had ever thought of; they achieved great
+actions in an incredibly short space of time; and they risked human
+life without hesitation to obtain the object in view. The French had
+less money and fewer men than their enemies; their resources were
+infinitely inferior; nevertheless they were constantly victorious,
+until their adversaries chose to imitate their example.
+
+The Americans have introduced a similar system into their commercial
+speculations; and they do for cheapness what the French did for
+conquest. The European sailor navigates with prudence; he only sets
+sail when the weather is favorable; if an unforseen accident befalls
+him, he puts into port; at night he furls a portion of his canvas; and
+when the whitening billows intimate the vicinity of land, he checks his
+way, and takes an observation of the sun. But the American neglects
+these precautions and braves these dangers. He weighs anchor in the
+midst of tempestuous gales; by night and by day he spreads his sheets
+to the wind; he repairs as he goes along such damage as his vessel may
+have sustained from the storm; and when he at last approaches the term
+of his voyage, he darts onward to the shore as if he already descried a
+port. The Americans are often shipwrecked, but no trader crosses the
+seas so rapidly. And as they perform the same distance in a shorter
+time, they can perform it at a cheaper rate.
+
+The European touches several times at different ports in the course of
+a long voyage; he loses a good deal of precious time in making the
+harbor, or in waiting for a favorable wind to leave it; and he pays
+daily dues to be allowed to remain there. The American starts from
+Boston to go to purchase tea in China; he arrives at Canton, stays
+there a few days, and then returns. In less than two years he has
+sailed as far as the entire circumference of the globe, and he has seen
+land but once. It is true that during a voyage of eight 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 a tedious
+existence; but upon his return he can sell a pound of his tea for a
+half-penny less than the English merchant, and his purpose is
+accomplished.
+
+I cannot better explain my meaning than by saying that the Americans
+affect a sort of heroism in their manner of trading. But the European
+merchant will always find it very difficult to imitate his American
+competitor, who, in adopting the system which I have just described,
+follows not only a calculation of his gain, but an impulse of his
+nature.
+
+The inhabitants of the United States are subject to all the wants and
+all the desires which result from an advanced stage of civilization;
+but as they are not surrounded by a community admirably adapted, like
+that of Europe, to satisfy their wants, they are often obliged to
+procure for themselves the various articles which education and habit
+have rendered necessaries. In America it sometimes happens that the
+same individual tills his field, builds his dwelling, contrives his
+tools, makes his shoes, and weaves the coarse stuff of which his dress
+is composed. This circumstance is prejudicial to the excellence of the
+work; but it powerfully contributes to awaken the intelligence of the
+workman. Nothing tends to materialize man, and to deprive his work of
+the faintest trace of mind, more than extreme division of labor. In a
+country like America, where men devoted to special occupations are
+rare, a long apprenticeship cannot be required from anyone who embraces
+a profession. The Americans, therefore, change their means of gaining a
+livelihood very readily; and they suit their occupations to the
+exigencies of the moment, in the manner most profitable to themselves.
+Men are to be met with who have successively been barristers, farmers,
+merchants, ministers of the gospel, and physicians. If the American be
+less perfect in each craft than the European, at least there is
+scarcely any trade with which he is utterly unacquainted. His capacity
+is more general, and the circle of his intelligence is enlarged.
+
+The inhabitants of the United States are never fettered by the axioms
+of their profession; they escape from all the prejudices of their
+present station; they are not more attached to one line of operation
+than to another; they are not more prone to employ 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 might exercise upon their
+minds 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 which everything is in constant motion, and every
+movement seems an improvement. The idea of novelty is there
+indissolubly connected with the idea of amelioration. No natural
+boundary seems to be set to the efforts of man; and what is not yet
+done is only what he has not yet attempted to do.
+
+This perpetual change which goes on in the United States, these
+frequent vicissitudes of fortune, accompanied by such unforeseen
+fluctuations in private and in public wealth, serve to keep the minds
+of the citizens in a perpetual state of feverish agitation, which
+admirably invigorates their exertions, and keeps them in a state of
+excitement above the ordinary level of mankind. The whole life of an
+American is passed like a game of chance, a revolutionary crisis, or a
+battle. As the same causes are continually in operation throughout the
+country, they ultimately impart an irresistible impulse to the national
+character. The American, taken as a chance specimen of his countrymen,
+must then be a man of singular warmth in his desires, enterprising,
+fond of adventure, and, above all, of innovation. The same bent is
+manifest in all that he does; he introduces it into his political laws,
+his religious doctrines, his theories of social economy, and his
+domestic occupations; he bears it with him in the depths of the
+backwoods, as well as in the business of the city. It is this same
+passion, applied to maritime commerce, which makes him the cheapest and
+the quickest trader in the world.
+
+As long as the sailors of the United States retain these inspiriting
+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 country, but they will tend more and more to
+become, like the English, the factors of all other peoples. *k This
+prediction has already begun to be realized; we perceive that the
+American traders are introducing themselves as intermediate agents in
+the commerce of several European nations; *l and America will offer a
+still wider field to their enterprise.
+
+k
+[ It must not be supposed that English vessels are exclusively employed
+in transporting foreign produce into England, or British produce to
+foreign countries; at the present day the merchant shipping of England
+may be regarded in the light of a vast system of public conveyances,
+ready to serve all the producers of the world, and to open
+communications between all peoples. The maritime genius of the
+Americans prompts them to enter into competition with the English.]
+
+
+l
+[ Part of the commerce of the Mediterranean is already carried on by
+American vessels.]
+
+
+The great colonies which were founded in South America by the Spaniards
+and the Portuguese have since become empires. Civil war and oppression
+now lay waste those extensive regions. Population does not increase,
+and the thinly scattered inhabitants are too much absorbed in the cares
+of self-defense even to attempt any amelioration of their condition.
+Such, however, will not always be the case. Europe has succeeded by her
+own efforts in piercing the gloom of the Middle Ages; South America has
+the same Christian laws and Christian manners as we have; she contains
+all the germs of civilization which have grown amidst the nations of
+Europe or their offsets, added to the advantages to be derived from our
+example: why then should she always remain uncivilized? It is clear
+that the question is simply one of time; at some future period, which
+may be more or less remote, the inhabitants of South America will
+constitute flourishing and enlightened nations.
+
+But when the Spaniards and Portuguese of South America begin to feel
+the wants common to all civilized nations, they will still be unable to
+satisfy those wants for themselves; as the youngest children of
+civilization, they must perforce admit the superiority of their elder
+brethren. They will be agriculturists long before they succeed in
+manufactures or commerce, and they will require the mediation of
+strangers to exchange their produce beyond seas for those articles for
+which a demand will begin to be felt.
+
+It is unquestionable that the Americans of the North will one day
+supply the wants of the Americans of the South. Nature has placed them
+in contiguity, and has furnished the former with every means of knowing
+and appreciating those demands, of establishing a permanent connection
+with those States, and of gradually filling their markets. The
+merchants of the United States could only forfeit these natural
+advantages if he were very inferior to the merchant of Europe; to whom
+he is, on the contrary, superior in several respects. The Americans of
+the United States already exercise a very considerable moral influence
+upon all the peoples of the New World. They are the source of
+intelligence, and all the nations which inhabit the same continent are
+already accustomed to consider them as the most enlightened, the most
+powerful, and the most wealthy members of the great American family.
+All eyes are therefore turned towards the Union; and the States of
+which that body is composed are the models which the other communities
+try to imitate to the best of their power; it is from the United States
+that they borrow their political principles and their laws.
+
+The Americans of the United States stand in precisely the same position
+with regard to the peoples of South America as their fathers, the
+English, occupy with regard to the Italians, the Spaniards, the
+Portuguese, and all those nations of Europe which receive their
+articles of daily consumption from England, because they are less
+advanced in civilization 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 commerce of the States which now
+compose it would undoubtedly be checked for a time; but this
+consequence would be less perceptible than is generally supposed. It is
+evident that, whatever may happen, the commercial States will remain
+united. They are all contiguous to each other; they have identically
+the same opinions, interests, and manners; and they are alone competent
+to form a very great maritime power. Even if the South of the Union
+were to become independent of the North, it would still require the
+services of those States. I have already observed that the South is not
+a commercial country, and nothing intimates that it is likely to become
+so. The Americans of the South of the United States will therefore be
+obliged, for a long time to come, to have recourse to strangers to
+export their produce, and to supply them with the commodities which are
+requisite to satisfy their wants. But the Northern States are
+undoubtedly able to act as their intermediate agents cheaper than any
+other merchants. They will therefore retain that employment, for
+cheapness is the sovereign law of commerce. National claims and
+national prejudices cannot resist the influence of cheapness. Nothing
+can be more virulent than the hatred which exists between the Americans
+of the United States and the English. But notwithstanding these
+inimical feelings, the Americans derive the greater part of their
+manufactured commodities from England, because England supplies them at
+a cheaper rate than any other nation. Thus the increasing prosperity of
+America turns, notwithstanding the grudges of the Americans, to the
+advantage of British manufactures.
+
+Reason shows and experience proves that no commercial prosperity can be
+durable if it cannot be united, in case of need, to naval force. This
+truth is as well understood in the United States as it can be anywhere
+else: the Americans are already able to make their flag respected; in a
+few years they will be able to make it feared. I am convinced that the
+dismemberment of the Union would not have the effect of diminishing the
+naval power of the Americans, but that it would powerfully contribute
+to increase it. At the present time the commercial States are connected
+with others which have not the same interests, and which frequently
+yield an unwilling consent to the increase of a maritime power by which
+they are only indirectly benefited. If, on the contrary, the commercial
+States of the Union formed one independent nation, commerce would
+become the foremost of their national interests; they would
+consequently be willing to make very great sacrifices to protect their
+shipping, and nothing would prevent them from pursuing their designs
+upon this point.
+
+Nations, as well as men, almost always betray the most prominent
+features of their future destiny in their earliest years. When I
+contemplate the ardor with which the Anglo-Americans prosecute
+commercial enterprise, the advantages which befriend them, and the
+success of their undertakings, I cannot refrain from 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 have now nearly reached 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 the whole
+from one single point; the remarks I shall make will be less detailed,
+but they will be more sure. I shall perceive each object less
+distinctly, but I shall descry the principal facts with more certainty.
+A traveller who has just left the walls of an immense city, climbs the
+neighboring hill; as he goes father off he loses sight of the men whom
+he has so recently quitted; their dwellings are confused in a dense
+mass; he can no longer distinguish the public squares, and he can
+scarcely trace out the great thoroughfares; but his eye has less
+difficulty in following the boundaries of the city, and for the first
+time he sees the shape of the vast whole. Such is the future destiny of
+the British race in North America to my eye; the details of the
+stupendous picture are overhung with shade, but 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 confines are, it must not be supposed that the Anglo-American
+race will always remain within them; indeed, it has already far
+overstepped them.
+
+There was once a time at which we also might have created a great
+French nation in the American wilds, to counterbalance the influence of
+the English upon the destinies of the New World. France formerly
+possessed a territory in 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 but ours; and all the European
+settlements scattered over that immense region recalled the traditions
+of our country. Louisbourg, Montmorency, Duquesne, St. Louis,
+Vincennes, New Orleans (for such were the names they bore) are words
+dear to France and familiar to our ears.
+
+But a concourse of circumstances, which it would be tedious to
+enumerate, *m have deprived us of this magnificent inheritance.
+Wherever the French settlers were numerically weak and partially
+established, they have disappeared: those who remain are collected on a
+small extent of country, and are now subject to other laws. The 400,000
+French 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
+population is increasing around them unceasingly and on all sides,
+which already penetrates amongst the ancient masters of the country,
+predominates in their cities and corrupts their language. This
+population is identical with 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 Union, since it already extends to the northeast.
+
+m
+[ The foremost of these circumstances is, that nations which are
+accustomed to free institutions and municipal government are better
+able than any others to found prosperous colonies. The habit of
+thinking and governing for oneself is indispensable in a new country,
+where success necessarily depends, in a great measure, upon the
+individual exertions of the settlers.]
+
+
+To the northwest nothing is to be met with but a few insignificant
+Russian settlements; but to the southwest, Mexico presents a barrier to
+the Anglo-Americans. Thus, the Spaniards and the Anglo-Americans are,
+properly speaking, the only two races which divide the possession of
+the New World. The limits of separation between them have been settled
+by a treaty; but although the conditions of that treaty are exceedingly
+favorable to the Anglo-Americans, I do not doubt that they will shortly
+infringe this arrangement. Vast provinces, extending beyond the
+frontiers of the Union towards Mexico, are still destitute of
+inhabitants. The natives of the United States will forestall the
+rightful occupants of these solitary regions. They will take possession
+of the soil, and establish social institutions, so that when the legal
+owner arrives at length, he will find the wilderness under cultivation,
+and strangers quietly settled in the midst of his inheritance. *n
+
+n
+[ [This was speedily accomplished, and ere long both Texas and
+California formed part of the United States. The Russian settlements
+were acquired by purchase.]]
+
+
+The lands of the New World belong to the first occupant, and they are
+the natural reward of the swiftest pioneer. Even the countries which
+are already peopled will have some difficulty in securing themselves
+from this invasion. I have already alluded to what is taking place in
+the province of Texas. The inhabitants of the United States are
+perpetually migrating to Texas, where they purchase land; and although
+they conform to the laws of the country, they are gradually founding
+the empire of their own language and their own manners. The province of
+Texas is still part of the Mexican dominions, but it will soon contain
+no Mexicans; the same thing has occurred whenever the Anglo-Americans
+have come into contact with populations of a different origin.
+
+It cannot be denied that the British race has acquired an amazing
+preponderance over all the other European races in the New World; and
+that it is very superior to them in civilization, in industry, and in
+power. As long as it is only surrounded by desert or thinly peopled
+countries, as long as it encounters no dense populations upon 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 transgress these imaginary barriers.
+
+The geographical position of the British race in the New World is
+peculiarly favorable to its rapid increase. Above its northern
+frontiers the icy regions of the Pole extend; and a few degrees below
+its southern confines lies the burning 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 Declaration of Independence.
+But this is an error: the population increased as rapidly under the
+colonial system as it does at the present day; that is to say, it
+doubled in about twenty-two years. But this proportion which is now
+applied to millions, was then applied to thousands of inhabitants; and
+the same fact which was scarcely noticeable a century ago, is now
+evident to every observer.
+
+The British subjects in Canada, who are dependent on a king, augment
+and spread almost as rapidly as the British settlers of the United
+States, who live under a republican government. 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 upon the
+western frontiers, the emigration westward was never checked. Whilst
+the enemy laid waste the shores of the Atlantic, Kentucky, the western
+parts of Pennsylvania, and the States of Vermont and of Maine were
+filling with inhabitants. Nor did the unsettled state of the
+Constitution, which succeeded the war, prevent the increase of the
+population, or stop its progress across the wilds. Thus, the difference
+of laws, the various conditions of peace and war, of order and of
+anarchy, have exercised no perceptible influence upon the gradual
+development of the Anglo-Americans. This may be readily understood; for
+the fact is, that 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 dismemberment of the Union, and the
+hostilities which might ensure, the abolition of republican
+institutions, and the tyrannical government which might succeed it, may
+retard this impulse, but they cannot prevent it from ultimately
+fulfilling the destinies to which that race is reserved. No power upon
+earth can close upon the emigrants that fertile wilderness which offers
+resources to all industry, and a refuge from all want. Future events,
+of whatever nature they may be, will not deprive the Americans of their
+climate or of their inland seas, of their great rivers or of their
+exuberant soil. Nor will bad laws, revolutions, and anarchy be able to
+obliterate that love of prosperity and that spirit of enterprise which
+seem to be the distinctive characteristics of their race, or to
+extinguish that knowledge which guides them on their way.
+
+Thus, in the midst of the uncertain future, one event at least is sure.
+At a period which may be said to be near (for we are speaking of the
+life of a nation), the Anglo-Americans will alone cover the immense
+space contained between the polar regions and the tropics, extending
+from the coasts of the Atlantic to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The
+territory which will probably be occupied by the Anglo-Americans at
+some future time, may be computed to equal three-quarters of Europe in
+extent. *o The climate of the Union is upon the whole preferable to
+that of Europe, and its natural advantages are not less great; it is
+therefore evident that its population will at some future time be
+proportionate to our own. Europe, divided as it is between so many
+different nations, and torn as it has been by incessant wars and the
+barbarous manners of the Middle Ages, has notwithstanding attained a
+population of 410 inhabitants to the square league. *p What cause can
+prevent the United States from having as numerous a population in time?
+
+o
+[ The United States already extend over a territory equal to one-half
+of Europe. The area of Europe is 500,000 square leagues, and its
+population 205,000,000 of inhabitants. (“Malte Brun,” liv. 114. vol.
+vi. p. 4.)
+
+
+[This computation is given in French leagues, which were in use when
+the author wrote. Twenty years later, in 1850, the superficial area of
+the United States had been extended to 3,306,865 square miles of
+territory, which is about the area of Europe.]]
+
+p
+[ See “Malte Brun,” liv. 116, vol. vi. p. 92.]
+
+
+Many ages must elapse before the divers offsets of the British race in
+America cease to present the same homogeneous characteristics: and the
+time cannot be foreseen at which a permanent inequality of conditions
+will be established in the New World. Whatever differences may arise,
+from peace or from war, from freedom or oppression, from prosperity or
+want, between the destinies of the different descendants of the great
+Anglo-American family, they will at least preserve an analogous social
+condition, and they will hold in common the customs and the opinions to
+which that social condition has given birth.
+
+In the Middle Ages, the tie of religion was sufficiently powerful to
+imbue all the different populations of Europe with the same
+civilization. The British of the New World have a thousand other
+reciprocal ties; and they live at a time when the tendency to equality
+is general amongst mankind. The Middle Ages were a period when
+everything was broken up; when each people, each province, each city,
+and each family, had a strong tendency to maintain its distinct
+individuality. At the present time an opposite tendency seems to
+prevail, and the nations seem to be advancing to unity. Our means of
+intellectual intercourse unite the most remote parts of the earth; and
+it is impossible for men to remain strangers to each other, or to be
+ignorant of the events which are taking place in any corner of the
+globe. The consequence is that there is less difference, at the present
+day, between the Europeans and their descendants in the New World, than
+there was between certain towns in the thirteenth century which were
+only separated by a river. If this tendency to assimilation brings
+foreign nations closer to each other, it must a fortiori prevent the
+descendants of the same people 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, *q equal in condition, the progeny of
+one race, owing their origin to the same cause, and preserving the same
+civilization, 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 fraught with such portentous consequences
+as to baffle the efforts even of the imagination.
+
+q
+[ This would be a population proportionate to that of Europe, taken at
+a mean rate of 410 inhabitants to the square league.]
+
+
+There are, at the present time, two great nations in the world which
+seem to tend towards the same end, although they started from different
+points: I allude to the Russians and the Americans. Both of them have
+grown up unnoticed; and whilst the attention of mankind was directed
+elsewhere, they have suddenly assumed a most prominent place amongst
+the nations; and the world learned their existence and their greatness
+at almost the same time.
+
+All other nations seem to have nearly reached their natural limits, and
+only to be charged with the maintenance of their power; but these are
+still in the act of growth; *r all the others are stopped, or continue
+to advance with extreme difficulty; these are proceeding with ease and
+with celerity along a path to which the human eye can assign no term.
+The American struggles against the natural obstacles which oppose him;
+the adversaries of the Russian are men; the former combats the
+wilderness and savage life; the latter, civilization with all its
+weapons and its arts: the conquests of the one are therefore gained by
+the ploughshare; those of the other by the sword. The Anglo-American
+relies upon personal interest to accomplish his ends, and gives free
+scope to the unguided exertions and common-sense of the citizens; the
+Russian centres all the authority of society in a single arm: the
+principal 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 to be marked out by the will of Heaven to sway
+the destinies of half the globe.
+
+r
+[ Russia is the country in the Old World in which population increases
+most rapidly in proportion.]
+
+
+
+
+*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, VOLUME 1 ***
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+<title>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Democracy in America, Part I. by Alexis de Tocqueville</title>
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+<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Democracy In America, Volume 1 (of 2), by Alexis de Toqueville</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
+most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
+whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
+of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
+at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you
+are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the
+country where you are located before using this eBook.
+</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Democracy In America, Volume 1 (of 2)</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Alexis de Toqueville</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Translator: Henry Reeve</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February, 1997 [eBook #815]<br />
+[Most recently updated: March 21, 2022]</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div>
+<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: David Reed and David Widger</div>
+<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, VOLUME 1 ***</div>
+
+<h1>DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA</h1>
+
+<h2 class="no-break">By Alexis De Tocqueville</h2>
+
+<p class="center">
+AVOCAT À LA COUR ROYALE DE PARIS<br />
+ETC., ETC.
+</p>
+
+<h3>Translated by<br />
+Henry Reeve, Esq.</h3>
+
+<p class="center">
+IN TWO VOLUMES.<br />
+VOL. I.
+</p>
+
+<p class="center">
+LONDON:<br />
+SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET<br />
+1835
+</p>
+
+<hr />
+
+<h2>Contents</h2>
+
+<table summary="" style="">
+
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0001"><big><b>Book One</b></big></a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_4_0002">Introductory Chapter</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0001">Chapter I: Exterior Form Of North America</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0002">Chapter Summary</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0003">Chapter II: Origin Of The Anglo-Americans&mdash;Part I</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0004">Chapter Summary</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0005">Chapter II: Origin Of The Anglo-Americans&mdash;Part II</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0006">Chapter III: Social Conditions Of The Anglo-Americans</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0007">Chapter Summary</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0008">Chapter IV: The Principle Of The Sovereignty Of The People In America</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0009">Chapter Summary</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0010">Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States&mdash;Part I</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0011">Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States&mdash;Part II</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0012">Chapter V: Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States&mdash;Part III</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0013">Chapter VI: Judicial Power In The United States</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0014">Chapter Summary</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0015">Chapter VII: Political Jurisdiction In The United States</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0016">Chapter Summary</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0017">Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution&mdash;Part I</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0018">Chapter Summary</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_SUMM">Summary Of The Federal Constitution</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0019">Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution&mdash;Part II</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0020">Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution&mdash;Part III</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0021">Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution&mdash;Part IV</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0022">Chapter VIII: The Federal Constitution&mdash;Part V</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0023">Chapter IX: Why The People May Strictly Be Said To Govern In The United</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0024">Chapter X: Parties In The United States</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0025">Chapter Summary</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_PART">Parties In The United States</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0026">Chapter XI: Liberty Of The Press In The United States</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0027">Chapter Summary</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0028">Chapter XII: Political Associations In The United States</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0029">Chapter Summary</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0030">Chapter XIII: Government Of The Democracy In America&mdash;Part I</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0031">Chapter XIII: Government Of The Democracy In America&mdash;Part II</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0032">Chapter XIII: Government Of The Democracy In America&mdash;Part III</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0033">Chapter XIV: Advantages American Society Derive From Democracy&mdash;Part I</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0034">Chapter XIV: Advantages American Society Derive From Democracy&mdash;Part II</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0035">Chapter XV: Unlimited Power Of Majority, And Its Consequences&mdash;Part I</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0036">Chapter Summary</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0037">Chapter XV: Unlimited Power Of Majority, And Its Consequences&mdash;Part II</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0038">Chapter XVI: Causes Mitigating Tyranny In The United States&mdash;Part I</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0039">Chapter Summary</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0040">Chapter XVI: Causes Mitigating Tyranny In The United States&mdash;Part II</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0041">Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic Republic&mdash;Part I</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0042">Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic Republic&mdash;Part II</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0043">Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic Republic&mdash;Part III</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0044">Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic Republic&mdash;Part IV</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0045">Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races In The United States&mdash;Part I</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0046">Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part II</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0047">Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part III</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0048">Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part IV</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0049">Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part V</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0050">Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part VI</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0051">Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part VII</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0052">Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part VIII</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0053">Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part IX</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2HCH0054">Chapter XVIII: Future Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part X</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+<tr>
+<td> <a href="#link2H_CONC">Conclusion</a></td>
+</tr>
+
+</table>
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0001" id="link2H_4_0001"></a> Book One</h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_4_0002" id="link2H_4_0002"></a> Introductory Chapter</h2>
+
+<p>
+Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the
+United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of
+conditions. I readily discovered the prodigious influence which this primary
+fact exercises on the whole course of society, by giving a certain direction to
+public opinion, and a certain tenor to the laws; by imparting new maxims to the
+governing powers, and peculiar habits to the governed. I speedily perceived
+that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and
+the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than
+over the Government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments, suggests the
+ordinary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not produce. The more
+I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that the
+equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be
+derived, and the central point at which all my observations constantly
+terminated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I then turned my thoughts to our own hemisphere, where I imagined that I
+discerned something analogous to the spectacle which the New World presented to
+me. I observed that the equality of conditions is daily progressing towards
+those extreme limits which it seems to have reached in the United States, and
+that the democracy which governs the American communities appears to be rapidly
+rising into power in Europe. I hence conceived the idea of the book which is
+now before the reader.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is evident to all alike that a great democratic revolution is going on
+amongst us; but there are two opinions as to its nature and consequences. To
+some it appears to be a novel accident, which as such 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. Let us
+recollect the situation of France seven hundred years ago, when the territory
+was divided amongst a small number of families, who were the owners of the soil
+and the rulers of the inhabitants; the right of governing descended with the
+family inheritance from generation to generation; force was the only means by
+which man could act on man, and landed property was the sole source of power.
+Soon, however, the political power of the clergy was founded, and began to
+exert itself: the clergy opened its ranks to all classes, to the poor and the
+rich, the villein and the lord; equality penetrated into the Government through
+the Church, and the being who as a serf must have vegetated in perpetual
+bondage took his place as a priest in the midst of nobles, and not infrequently
+above the heads of kings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The different relations of men became more complicated and more numerous as
+society gradually became more stable and more civilized. Thence the want of
+civil laws was felt; and the order of legal functionaries 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 in their ermine and their mail.
+Whilst the kings were ruining themselves by their great enterprises, and the
+nobles exhausting their resources by private wars, the lower orders were
+enriching themselves by commerce. The influence of money began to be
+perceptible in State affairs. The transactions of business opened a new road to
+power, and the financier rose to a station of political influence in which he
+was at once flattered and despised. Gradually the spread of mental
+acquirements, and the increasing taste for literature and art, opened chances
+of success to talent; science became a means of government, intelligence led to
+social power, and the man of letters took a part in the affairs of the State.
+The value attached to the privileges of birth decreased in the exact proportion
+in which new paths were struck out to advancement. In the eleventh century
+nobility was beyond all price; in the thirteenth it might be purchased; it was
+conferred for the first time in 1270; and equality was thus introduced into the
+Government by the aristocracy itself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the course of these seven hundred years it sometimes happened that in order
+to resist the authority of the Crown, or to diminish the power of their rivals,
+the nobles granted a certain share of political rights to the people. Or, more
+frequently, the king permitted the lower orders to enjoy a degree of power,
+with the intention of repressing the aristocracy. In France the kings have
+always been the most active and the most constant of levellers. When they were
+strong and ambitious they spared no pains to raise the people to the level of
+the nobles; when they were temperate or weak they allowed the people to rise
+above themselves. Some assisted the democracy by their talents, others by their
+vices. Louis XI and Louis XIV reduced every rank beneath the throne to the same
+subjection; Louis XV descended, himself and all his Court, into the dust.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as land was held on any other than a feudal tenure, and personal
+property began in its turn to confer influence and power, every improvement
+which was introduced in commerce or manufacture was a fresh element of the
+equality of conditions. Henceforward every new discovery, every new want which
+it engendered, and every new desire which craved satisfaction, was a step
+towards the universal level. The taste for luxury, the love of war, the sway of
+fashion, and the most superficial as well as the deepest passions of the human
+heart, co-operated to enrich the poor and to impoverish the rich.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the time when the exercise of the intellect became the source of strength
+and of wealth, it is impossible not to consider every addition to science,
+every fresh truth, and every new idea as a germ of power placed within the
+reach of the people. Poetry, eloquence, and memory, the grace of wit, the glow
+of imagination, the depth of thought, and all the gifts which are bestowed by
+Providence with an equal hand, 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 relief the natural greatness of man; its conquests
+spread, therefore, with those of civilization and knowledge, and literature
+became an arsenal where the poorest and the weakest could always find weapons
+to their hand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In perusing the pages of our history, we shall scarcely meet with a single
+great event, in the lapse of seven hundred years, which has not turned to the
+advantage of equality. The Crusades and the wars of the English decimated the
+nobles and divided their possessions; the erection of communities introduced an
+element of democratic liberty into the bosom of feudal monarchy; the invention
+of fire-arms equalized the villein and the noble on the field of battle;
+printing opened the same resources to the minds of all classes; the post was
+organized so as to bring the same information to the door of the poor
+man&rsquo;s cottage and to the gate of the palace; and Protestantism proclaimed
+that all men are alike able to find the road to heaven. The discovery of
+America offered a thousand new paths to fortune, and placed riches and power
+within the reach of the adventurous and the obscure. If we examine what has
+happened in France at intervals of fifty years, beginning with the eleventh
+century, we shall invariably perceive that a twofold revolution has taken place
+in the state of society. The noble has gone down on the social ladder, and the
+roturier has gone up; the one descends as the other rises. Every half century
+brings them nearer to each other, and they will very shortly meet.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor is this phenomenon at all peculiar to France. Whithersoever we turn our
+eyes we shall witness the same continual revolution throughout the whole of
+Christendom. The various occurrences of national existence have everywhere
+turned to the advantage of democracy; all men have aided it by their exertions:
+those who have intentionally labored in its cause, and those who have served it
+unwittingly; 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The gradual development of the equality of conditions is therefore a
+providential fact, and it possesses all the characteristics of a divine decree:
+it is universal, it is durable, it constantly eludes all human interference,
+and all events as well as all men contribute to its progress. Would it, then,
+be wise to imagine that a social impulse which dates from so far back can be
+checked by the efforts of a generation? Is it credible that the democracy which
+has annihilated the feudal system and vanquished kings will respect the citizen
+and the capitalist? Will it stop now that it has grown so strong and its
+adversaries so weak? None can say which way we are going, for all terms of
+comparison are wanting: the equality of conditions is more complete in the
+Christian countries of the present day than it has been at any time or in any
+part of the world; so that the extent of what already exists prevents us from
+foreseeing what may be yet to come.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The whole book which is here offered to the public has been written under the
+impression of a kind of religious dread produced in the author&rsquo;s mind by
+the contemplation of so irresistible a revolution, which has advanced for
+centuries in spite of such amazing obstacles, and which is still proceeding in
+the midst of the ruins it has made. It is not necessary that God himself should
+speak in order to disclose to us the unquestionable signs of His will; we can
+discern them in the habitual course of nature, and in the invariable tendency
+of events: I know, without a special revelation, that the planets move in the
+orbits traced by the Creator&rsquo;s finger. If the men of our time were led by
+attentive observation and by sincere reflection to acknowledge that the gradual
+and progressive development of social equality is at once the past and future
+of their history, this solitary truth 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Christian nations of our age seem to me to present a most alarming
+spectacle; the impulse which is bearing them along is so strong that it cannot
+be stopped, but it is not yet so rapid that it cannot be guided: their fate is
+in their hands; yet a little while and it may be so no longer. The first duty
+which is at this time imposed upon those who direct our affairs is to educate
+the democracy; to warm its faith, if that be possible; to purify its morals; to
+direct its energies; to substitute a knowledge of business for its
+inexperience, and an acquaintance with its true interests for its blind
+propensities; to adapt its government to time and place, and to modify it in
+compliance with the occurrences and the actors of the age. A new science of
+politics is indispensable to a new world. This, however, is what we think of
+least; launched in the middle of a rapid stream, we obstinately fix our eyes on
+the ruins which may still be described upon the shore we have left, whilst the
+current sweeps us along, and drives us backwards towards the gulf.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In no country in Europe has the great social revolution which I have been
+describing made such rapid progress as in France; but it has always been borne
+on by chance. The heads of the State have never had any forethought for its
+exigencies, and its victories have been obtained 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 connect themselves with it
+in order to guide it. The people has consequently been abandoned to its wild
+propensities, and it has grown up like those outcasts who receive their
+education in the public streets, and who are unacquainted with aught but the
+vices and wretchedness of society. The existence of a democracy was seemingly
+unknown, when on a sudden it took possession of the supreme power. Everything
+was then submitted to its caprices; it was worshipped as the idol of strength;
+until, when it was enfeebled by its own excesses, the legislator conceived the
+rash project of annihilating its power, instead of instructing it and
+correcting its vices; no attempt was made to fit it to govern, but all were
+bent on excluding it from the government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The consequence of this has been that the democratic revolution has been
+effected only in the material parts of society, without that concomitant change
+in laws, ideas, customs, and manners which was necessary to render such a
+revolution beneficial. We have gotten a democracy, but without the conditions
+which lessen its vices and render its natural advantages more prominent; and
+although we already perceive the evils it brings, we are ignorant of the
+benefits it may confer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+While the power of the Crown, supported by the aristocracy, peaceably governed
+the nations of Europe, society possessed, in the midst of its wretchedness,
+several different advantages which can now scarcely be appreciated or
+conceived. The power of a part of his subjects was an insurmountable barrier to
+the tyranny of the prince; and the monarch, who felt the almost divine
+character which he enjoyed in the eyes of the multitude, derived a motive for
+the just use of his power from the respect which he inspired. High as they were
+placed above the people, the nobles could not but take that calm and benevolent
+interest in its fate which the shepherd feels towards his flock; and without
+acknowledging the poor as their equals, they watched over the destiny of those
+whose welfare Providence had entrusted to their care. The people never having
+conceived the idea of a social condition different from its own, and
+entertaining no expectation of ever ranking with its chiefs, received benefits
+from them without discussing their rights. It grew attached to them when they
+were clement and just, and it submitted without resistance or servility to
+their exactions, as to the inevitable visitations of the arm of God. Custom,
+and the manners of the time, had moreover created a species of law in the midst
+of violence, and established certain limits to oppression. As the noble never
+suspected that anyone would attempt to deprive him of the privileges which he
+believed to be legitimate, and as the serf looked upon his own inferiority as a
+consequence of the immutable order of nature, it is easy to imagine that a
+mutual exchange of good-will took place between two classes so differently
+gifted by fate. Inequality and wretchedness were then to be found in society;
+but the souls of neither rank of men were degraded. Men are not corrupted by
+the exercise of power or debased by the habit of obedience, but by the exercise
+of a power which they believe to be illegal and by obedience to a rule which
+they consider to be usurped and oppressive. On one side was wealth, strength,
+and leisure, accompanied by the refinements of luxury, the elegance of taste,
+the pleasures of wit, and the religion of art. On the other was labor and a
+rude ignorance; but in the midst of this coarse and ignorant multitude it was
+not uncommon to meet with energetic passions, generous sentiments, profound
+religious convictions, and independent virtues. The body of a State thus
+organized might boast of its stability, its power, and, above all, of its
+glory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the scene is now changed, and gradually the two ranks mingle; the divisions
+which once severed mankind are lowered, property is divided, power is held in
+common, the light of intelligence spreads, and the capacities of all classes
+are equally 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 can conceive a society in which all men would profess
+an equal attachment and respect for the laws of which they are the common
+authors; in which the authority of the State would be respected as necessary,
+though not as divine; and the loyalty of the subject to its chief magistrate
+would not be a passion, but a quiet and rational persuasion. Every individual
+being in the possession of rights which he is sure to retain, a kind of manly
+reliance and reciprocal courtesy would arise between all classes, alike removed
+from pride and meanness. The people, well acquainted with its true interests,
+would allow that in order to profit by the advantages of society it is
+necessary to satisfy its demands. In this state of things the voluntary
+association of the citizens might supply the individual exertions of the
+nobles, and the community would be alike protected from anarchy and from
+oppression.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I admit that, in a democratic State thus constituted, society will not be
+stationary; but the impulses of the social body may be regulated and directed
+forwards; if there be less splendor than in the halls of an aristocracy, the
+contrast of misery will be less frequent also; the pleasures of enjoyment may
+be less excessive, but those of comfort will be more general; the sciences may
+be less perfectly cultivated, but ignorance will be less common; the
+impetuosity of the feelings will be repressed, and the habits of the nation
+softened; there will be more vices and fewer crimes. In the absence of
+enthusiasm and of an ardent faith, great sacrifices may be obtained from the
+members of a commonwealth by an appeal to their understandings and their
+experience; each individual will feel the same necessity for uniting with his
+fellow-citizens to protect his own weakness; and as he knows that if they are
+to assist he must co-operate, he will readily perceive that his personal
+interest is identified with the interest of the community. The nation, taken as
+a whole, will be less brilliant, less glorious, and perhaps less strong; but
+the majority of the citizens will enjoy a greater degree of prosperity, and the
+people will remain quiet, not because it despairs of amelioration, but because
+it is conscious of the advantages of its condition. If all the consequences of
+this state of things were not good or useful, society would at least have
+appropriated all such as were useful and good; and having once and for ever
+renounced the social advantages of aristocracy, mankind would enter into
+possession of all the benefits which democracy can afford.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But here it may be asked what we have adopted in the place of those
+institutions, those ideas, and those customs of our forefathers which we have
+abandoned. The spell of royalty is broken, but it has not been succeeded by the
+majesty of the laws; the people has learned to despise all authority, but fear
+now extorts a larger tribute of obedience than that which was formerly paid by
+reverence and by love.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I perceive that we have destroyed those independent beings which were able to
+cope with tyranny single-handed; but it is the Government that has inherited
+the privileges of which families, corporations, and individuals have been
+deprived; the weakness of the whole community has therefore succeeded that
+influence of a small body of citizens, which, if it was sometimes oppressive,
+was often conservative. The division of property has 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&rsquo;s claims to
+power; the notion of Right is alike insensible to both classes, and Force
+affords to both the only argument for the present, and the only guarantee for
+the future. The poor man retains the prejudices of his forefathers without
+their faith, and their ignorance without their virtues; he has adopted the
+doctrine of self-interest as the rule of his actions, without understanding the
+science which controls it, and his egotism is no less blind than his
+devotedness was formerly. If society is tranquil, it is not because it relies
+upon its strength and its well-being, but because it knows its weakness and its
+infirmities; a single effort may cost it its life; everybody feels the evil,
+but no one has courage or energy enough to seek the cure; the desires, the
+regret, the sorrows, and the joys of the time produce nothing that is visible
+or permanent, like the passions of old men which terminate in impotence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We have, then, abandoned whatever advantages the old state of things afforded,
+without receiving any compensation from our present condition; we have
+destroyed an aristocracy, and we seem inclined to survey its ruins with
+complacency, and to fix our abode in the midst of them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The phenomena which the intellectual world presents are not less deplorable.
+The democracy of France, checked in its course or abandoned to its lawless
+passions, has overthrown whatever crossed its path, and has shaken all that it
+has not destroyed. Its empire on society has not been gradually introduced or
+peaceably established, but it has constantly advanced in the midst of disorder
+and the agitation of a conflict. In the heat of the struggle each partisan is
+hurried beyond the limits of his opinions by the opinions and the excesses of
+his opponents, until he loses sight of the end of his exertions, and holds a
+language which disguises his real sentiments or secret instincts. Hence arises
+the strange confusion which we are witnessing. I cannot recall to my mind a
+passage in history more worthy of sorrow and of pity than the scenes which are
+happening under our eyes; it is as if the natural bond which unites the
+opinions of man to his tastes and his actions to his principles was now broken;
+the sympathy which has always been acknowledged between the feelings and the
+ideas of mankind appears to be dissolved, and all the laws of moral analogy to
+be abolished.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Zealous Christians may be found amongst us whose minds are nurtured in the love
+and knowledge of a future life, and who readily espouse the cause of human
+liberty as the source of all moral greatness. Christianity, which has declared
+that all men are equal in the sight of God, will not refuse to acknowledge that
+all citizens are equal in the eye of the law. But, by a singular concourse of
+events, religion is entangled in those institutions which democracy assails,
+and it is not unfrequently brought to reject the equality it loves, and to
+curse that cause of liberty as a foe which it might hallow by its alliance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By the side of these religious men I discern others whose looks are turned to
+the earth more than to Heaven; they are the partisans of liberty, not only as
+the source of the noblest virtues, but more especially as the root of all solid
+advantages; and they sincerely desire to extend its sway, and to impart its
+blessings to mankind. It is natural that they should hasten to invoke the
+assistance of religion, for they must know that liberty cannot be established
+without morality, nor morality without faith; but they have seen religion in
+the ranks of their adversaries, and they inquire no further; some of them
+attack it openly, and the remainder are afraid to defend it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In former ages slavery has been advocated by the venal and slavish-minded,
+whilst the independent and the warm-hearted were struggling without hope to
+save the liberties of mankind. But men of high and generous 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
+contrary, speak in the name of liberty, as if they were able to feel its
+sanctity and its majesty, and loudly claim for humanity those rights which they
+have always disowned. There are virtuous and peaceful individuals whose pure
+morality, quiet habits, affluence, and talents fit them to be the leaders of
+the surrounding population; their love of their country is sincere, and they
+are prepared to make the greatest sacrifices to its welfare, but they confound
+the abuses of civilization with its benefits, and the idea of evil is
+inseparable in their minds from that of novelty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not far from this class is another party, whose object is to materialize
+mankind, to hit upon what is expedient without heeding what is just, to acquire
+knowledge without faith, and prosperity apart from virtue; assuming the title
+of the champions of modern civilization, and placing themselves in a station
+which they usurp with insolence, and from which they are driven by their own
+unworthiness. Where are we then? The religionists are the enemies of liberty,
+and the friends of liberty attack religion; the high-minded and the noble
+advocate subjection, and the meanest and most servile minds preach
+independence; honest and enlightened citizens are opposed to all progress,
+whilst men without patriotism and without principles are the apostles of
+civilization and of intelligence. Has such been the fate of the centuries which
+have preceded our own? and has man always inhabited a world like the present,
+where nothing is linked together, 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 conscience on human actions is dim, and where nothing seems to
+be any longer forbidden or allowed, honorable or shameful, false or true? I
+cannot, however, believe that 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 communities of Europe; I am
+unacquainted with His designs, 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a country in the world where the great revolution which I am speaking
+of seems nearly to have reached its natural limits; it has been effected with
+ease and simplicity, say rather that this country has attained the consequences
+of the democratic revolution which we are undergoing without having experienced
+the revolution itself. The emigrants who fixed themselves on the shores of
+America in the beginning of the seventeenth century severed the democratic
+principle from all the principles which repressed it in the old communities of
+Europe, and transplanted it unalloyed to the New World. It has there been
+allowed to spread in perfect freedom, and to put forth its consequences in the
+laws by influencing the manners of the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It appears to me beyond a doubt that sooner or later we shall arrive, like the
+Americans, at an almost complete equality of conditions. But I do not conclude
+from this that we shall ever be necessarily led to draw the same political
+consequences which the Americans have derived from a similar social
+organization. I am far from supposing that they have chosen the only form of
+government which a democracy may adopt; but the identity of the efficient cause
+of laws and manners in the two countries is sufficient to account for the
+immense interest we have in becoming acquainted with its effects in each of
+them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not, then, merely to satisfy a legitimate curiosity that I have examined
+America; my wish has been to find instruction by which we may ourselves profit.
+Whoever should imagine that I have intended to write a panegyric will perceive
+that such was not my design; nor has it been my object to advocate any form of
+government in particular, for I am of opinion that absolute excellence is
+rarely to be found in any legislation; I have not even affected to discuss
+whether the social revolution, which I believe to be irresistible, is
+advantageous or prejudicial to mankind; I have acknowledged this revolution as
+a fact already accomplished or on the eve of its accomplishment; 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, if it be possible, to distinguish the
+means by which it may be rendered profitable. I confess that in America I saw
+more than America; I sought 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the first part of this work I have attempted to show the tendency given to
+the laws by the democracy of America, which is abandoned almost without
+restraint to its instinctive propensities, and to exhibit the course it
+prescribes to the Government and the influence it exercises on affairs. I have
+sought to discover the evils and the advantages which it produces. 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 what 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever a point could be established by the aid of written documents, I have
+had recourse to the original text, and to the most authentic and approved
+works. I have cited my authorities in the notes, and anyone may refer to them.
+Whenever an opinion, a political custom, or a remark on the manners of the
+country was concerned, I endeavored to consult the most enlightened men I met
+with. If the point in question was important or doubtful, I was not satisfied
+with one testimony, but I formed my opinion on the evidence of several
+witnesses. Here the reader must necessarily believe me 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
+practice. A stranger frequently hears important truths at the fire-side of his
+host, which the latter would perhaps conceal 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&rsquo;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 strangers
+who repay the generous hospitality they have received by subsequent chagrin and
+annoyance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am aware that, notwithstanding my care, nothing will be easier than to
+criticise this book, if anyone ever chooses to criticise it. Those readers who
+may examine it closely will discover the fundamental idea which connects the
+several parts together. But the diversity 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 quote, or an isolated idea 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 utmost theoretical consequences, and often to the verge
+of what is false or impracticable; for if it be necessary sometimes to quit the
+rules of logic in active life, such is not the case in discourse, and a man
+finds that almost as many difficulties spring from inconsistency of language as
+usually arise from inconsistency of conduct.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I conclude by pointing out myself 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 designs of serving or attacking any party; I
+have undertaken not to see differently, but to look further than parties, and
+whilst they are busied for the morrow I have turned my thoughts to the Future.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0001" id="link2HCH0001"></a> Chapter I: Exterior Form Of
+North America</h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0002" id="link2HCH0002"></a> Chapter Summary</h2>
+
+<p>
+North America divided into two vast regions, one inclining towards the Pole,
+the other towards the Equator&mdash;Valley of the Mississippi&mdash;Traces of
+the Revolutions of the Globe&mdash;Shore of the Atlantic Ocean where the
+English Colonies were founded&mdash;Difference in the appearance of North and
+of South America at the time of their Discovery&mdash;Forests of North
+America&mdash;Prairies&mdash;Wandering Tribes of Natives&mdash;Their outward
+appearance, manners, and language&mdash;Traces of an unknown people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Exterior Form Of North America
+</p>
+
+<p>
+North America presents in its external form certain general features which it
+is easy to discriminate at the first glance. A sort of methodical order seems
+to have regulated the separation of land and water, mountains and valleys. A
+simple, but grand, arrangement 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
+Arctic Pole, and by the two great oceans on the east and west. It stretches
+towards the south, forming a triangle whose irregular sides meet at length
+below the great lakes of Canada. The second region begins where the other
+terminates, and includes all the remainder of the continent. The one slopes
+gently towards the Pole, the other towards the Equator.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The territory comprehended in the first region descends towards the north with
+so imperceptible a slope that it may almost be said to form a level plain.
+Within the bounds of this immense tract of country there are neither high
+mountains nor deep valleys. Streams meander through it irregularly: great
+rivers mix their currents, separate and meet again, disperse and form vast
+marshes, losing all trace of their channels in the labyrinth of waters they
+have themselves created; and thus, at length, after innumerable windings, 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 forming a vast bowl filled to the brim. The slightest change in
+the structure of the globe would cause their waters to rush either towards the
+Pole or to the tropical sea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The second region is more varied on its surface, and better suited for the
+habitation of man. Two long chains of mountains divide it from one extreme to
+the other; the Alleghany ridge takes the form of the shores of the Atlantic
+Ocean; the other is parallel with the Pacific. The space which lies between
+these two chains of mountains contains 1,341,649 square miles. *a Its surface
+is therefore about six times as great as that of France. This vast territory,
+however, forms a single valley, one side of which descends gradually from the
+rounded summits of the Alleghanies, while the other rises in an uninterrupted
+course towards the tops of the Rocky Mountains. At the bottom 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
+formerly called this river the St. Louis. The Indians, in their pompous
+language, have named it the Father of Waters, or the Mississippi.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a<br />
+[ Darby&rsquo;s &ldquo;View of the United States.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Mississippi takes its source above the limit of the two great regions of
+which I have spoken, not far from the highest point of the table-land where
+they unite. Near the same spot rises another river, *b which empties itself
+into the Polar seas. The course of the Mississippi is at first dubious: it
+winds several times towards the north, from whence it rose; and at length,
+after having been delayed in lakes and marshes, it flows slowly onwards to the
+south. Sometimes quietly gliding along the argillaceous bed which nature has
+assigned to it, sometimes swollen by storms, the Mississippi waters 2,500 miles
+in its course. *c At the distance of 1,364 miles from its mouth this river
+attains an average depth of fifteen feet; and it is navigated by vessels of 300
+tons burden for a course of nearly 500 miles. Fifty-seven large navigable
+rivers contribute to swell the waters of the Mississippi; amongst others, the
+Missouri, which traverses a space of 2,500 miles; the Arkansas of 1,300 miles,
+the Red River 1,000 miles, four whose course is from 800 to 1,000 miles in
+length, viz., the Illinois, the St. Peter&rsquo;s, the St. Francis, and the
+Moingona; besides a countless multitude of rivulets which unite from all parts
+their tributary streams.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ The Red River.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ Warden&rsquo;s &ldquo;Description of the United States.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The valley which is watered by the Mississippi seems formed to be the bed of
+this mighty river, which, like a god of antiquity, dispenses both good and evil
+in its course. On the shores of the stream nature displays an inexhaustible
+fertility; in proportion as you recede from its banks, the powers of vegetation
+languish, the soil becomes poor, and the plants that survive have a sickly
+growth. Nowhere have the great convulsions of the globe left more evident
+traces than in the valley of the Mississippi; the whole aspect of the country
+shows the powerful effects of water, both by its fertility and by its
+barrenness. The waters of the primeval ocean accumulated enormous beds of
+vegetable mould in the valley, which they levelled as they retired. Upon the
+right shore of the river are seen immense plains, as smooth as if the
+husbandman had passed over them with his roller. As you approach the mountains
+the soil becomes 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 is partly consumed. The surface of the earth is covered
+with a granite 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 Mountains. 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 neighboring cliffs, were
+left scattered like wrecks at their feet. *d The valley of the Mississippi is,
+upon the whole, the most magnificent dwelling-place prepared by God for
+man&rsquo;s abode; and yet it may be said that at present it is but a mighty
+desert.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ See Appendix, A.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the eastern side of the Alleghanies, between the base of these mountains and
+the Atlantic Ocean, there lies a long ridge of rocks and sand, which the sea
+appears to have left behind as it retired. The mean breadth of this territory
+does not exceed one hundred miles; but it is about nine hundred miles in
+length. This part of the American continent has a soil which offers every
+obstacle to the husbandman, and its vegetation is scanty and unvaried.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon this inhospitable coast the first united efforts of human industry were
+made. The tongue of arid land was the cradle of those English colonies which
+were destined one day to become the United States of America. The centre of
+power still remains here; whilst in the backwoods the true elements of the
+great people to whom the future control of the continent belongs are gathering
+almost in secrecy together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Europeans first landed on the shores of the West Indies, and
+afterwards on the coast of South America, they thought themselves transported
+into those fabulous regions of which poets had sung. The sea sparkled with
+phosphoric light, and the extraordinary transparency of its waters discovered
+to the view of the navigator all that had hitherto been hidden in the deep
+abyss. *e Here and there appeared little islands perfumed with odoriferous
+plants, and resembling baskets of flowers floating on the tranquil surface of
+the ocean. Every object which met the sight, in this enchanting 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, wild figs, flowering myrtles, acacias, and oleanders,
+which were hung with festoons of various climbing plants, covered with flowers,
+a multitude of birds unknown in Europe displayed their bright plumage,
+glittering with purple and azure, and mingled their warbling with the harmony
+of a world teeming with life and motion. *f Underneath this brilliant exterior
+death was concealed. But the air of these climates had so enervating an
+influence that man, absorbed by present enjoyment, was rendered regardless of
+the future.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ Malte Brun tells us (vol. v. p. 726) that the water of the Caribbean Sea is
+so transparent that corals and fish are discernible at a depth of sixty
+fathoms. The ship seemed to float in air, the navigator became giddy as his eye
+penetrated through the crystal flood, and beheld submarine gardens, or beds of
+shells, or gilded fishes gliding among tufts and thickets of seaweed.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+f <br />
+[ See Appendix, B.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+North 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 granite rocks, or by wide tracts of
+sand. The foliage of its woods was dark and gloomy, for they were composed of
+firs, larches, evergreen oaks, wild olive-trees, and laurels. Beyond this outer
+belt lay the thick shades of the central forest, where the largest trees which
+are produced in the two hemispheres grow side by side. The plane, the catalpa,
+the sugar-maple, and the Virginian poplar 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 heaped upon
+each other; but there was no laboring hand to remove them, and their decay was
+not rapid enough to make room for the continual 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, and a passage beneath the lifeless bark. Thus decay gave its
+assistance to life, and their respective productions were mingled together. The
+depths of these forests were gloomy and obscure, and a thousand rivulets,
+undirected in their course by human industry, preserved in them a constant
+moisture. It was rare to meet with flowers, wild fruits, or birds beneath their
+shades. The fall of a tree overthrown by age, the rushing torrent of a
+cataract, the lowing of the buffalo, and the howling of the wind were the only
+sounds which broke the silence of nature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the east of the great river, the woods almost disappeared; in their stead
+were seen prairies of immense extent. Whether Nature in her infinite variety
+had denied the germs of trees to these fertile plains, or whether they had once
+been covered with forests, subsequently destroyed by the hand of man, is a
+question which neither tradition nor scientific research has been able to
+resolve.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These immense deserts were not, however, devoid of human inhabitants. Some
+wandering tribes had been for ages scattered among the forest shades or the
+green pastures of the prairie. From the 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:
+*g they were neither white like the Europeans, nor yellow like most of the
+Asiatics, nor black like the negroes. Their skin was reddish brown, their hair
+long and shining, their lips thin, and their cheekbones very prominent. The
+languages spoken by the North American tribes are various as far as regarded
+their words, but they were subject to the same grammatical rules. These rules
+differed in several points from such as had been observed to govern the origin
+of language. The idiom of the Americans seemed to be the product of new
+combinations, and bespoke an effort of the understanding of which the Indians
+of our days would be incapable. *h
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ With the progress of discovery some resemblance has been found to exist
+between the physical conformation, the language, and the habits of the Indians
+of North America, and those of the Tongous, Mantchous, Mongols, Tartars, and
+other wandering tribes of Asia. The land occupied by these tribes is not very
+distant from Behring&rsquo;s Strait, which allows of the supposition, that at a
+remote period they gave inhabitants to the desert continent of America. But
+this is a point which has not yet been clearly elucidated by science. See Malte
+Brun, vol. v.; the works of Humboldt; Fischer, &ldquo;Conjecture sur
+l&rsquo;Origine des Americains&rdquo;; Adair, &ldquo;History of the American
+Indians.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+h <br />
+[ See Appendix, C.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The social state of these tribes differed also in many respects from all that
+was seen in the Old World. They seemed to have multiplied freely in the midst
+of their deserts without coming in contact with other races more civilized than
+their own. Accordingly, they exhibited none of those indistinct, incoherent
+notions of right and wrong, none of that deep corruption of manners, which is
+usually joined with ignorance and rudeness among nations which, after advancing
+to civilization, have relapsed into a state of barbarism. The Indian was
+indebted to no one but himself; his virtues, his vices, and his prejudices were
+his own work; he had grown up in the wild independence of his nature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If, in polished countries, the lowest of the people are rude and uncivil, it is
+not merely because they are poor and ignorant, but that, being so, they are in
+daily contact with rich and enlightened men. The sight of their own hard lot
+and of their weakness, which is daily contrasted with 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 of
+their dependence irritates while it humiliates them. This state of mind
+displays itself in their manners and language; they are at once insolent and
+servile. The truth of this is easily proved by observation; the people are more
+rude in aristocratic countries than elsewhere, in opulent cities than in rural
+districts. In those places where the rich and powerful are assembled together
+the weak and the indigent feel themselves oppressed by their inferior
+condition. Unable to perceive a single chance of regaining their equality, they
+give up to despair, and allow themselves to fall below the dignity of human
+nature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This unfortunate effect of the disparity of conditions is not observable in
+savage life: the Indians, although they are ignorant and poor, are equal and
+free. At the period 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 reserve and a kind
+of aristocratic politeness. Mild and hospitable when at peace, though merciless
+in war beyond any known degree of human ferocity, the Indian would expose
+himself to die of hunger in order to succor the stranger who asked admittance
+by night at the door of his hut; yet he could tear in pieces with his hands the
+still quivering limbs of his prisoner. The famous republics of antiquity never
+gave examples of more unshaken courage, more haughty spirits, or more
+intractable love of independence than were hidden in former times among the
+wild forests of the New World. *i The Europeans produced no great impression
+when they landed upon the shores of North America; their presence engendered
+neither 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-song at the stake. *j 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. *k
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+i <br />
+[ We learn from President Jefferson&rsquo;s &ldquo;Notes upon Virginia,&rdquo;
+p. 148, that among the Iroquois, when attacked by a superior force, aged men
+refused to fly or to survive the destruction of their country; and they braved
+death like the ancient Romans when their capital was sacked by the Gauls.
+Further on, p. 150, he tells us that there is no example of an Indian who,
+having fallen into the hands of his enemies, begged for his life; on the
+contrary, the captive sought to obtain death at the hands of his conquerors by
+the use of insult and provocation.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+j <br />
+[ See &ldquo;Histoire de la Louisiane,&rdquo; by Lepage Dupratz; Charlevoix,
+&ldquo;Histoire de la Nouvelle France&rdquo;; &ldquo;Lettres du Rev. G.
+Hecwelder;&rdquo; &ldquo;Transactions of the American Philosophical
+Society,&rdquo; v. I; Jefferson&rsquo;s &ldquo;Notes on Virginia,&rdquo; pp.
+135-190. What is said by Jefferson is of especial weight, on account of the
+personal merit of the writer, of his peculiar position, and of the
+matter-of-fact age in which he lived.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+k <br />
+[ See Appendix, D.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although we have here traced the character of a primitive people, yet it cannot
+be doubted that another people, more civilized and more advanced in all
+respects, had preceded it in the same regions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An obscure tradition which prevailed among the Indians to the north of the
+Atlantic informs us that these very tribes formerly dwelt on the west side of
+the Mississippi. Along the banks of the Ohio, and throughout the central
+valley, there are frequently found, at this day, tumuli 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, or destined for purposes unknown to the present race. The Indians of our
+time are unable to give any information 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 which even an hypothesis could be
+formed. Tradition&mdash;that perishable, yet ever renewed monument of the
+pristine world&mdash;throws no light upon the subject. It is an undoubted fact,
+however, that in this part of the globe thousands of our fellow-beings had
+lived. When they came hither, what was their origin, their destiny, their
+history, 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 remembrance of their very names is effaced; their languages are
+lost; their glory is vanished like a sound without an echo; though perhaps
+there is not one which has not left behind it some tomb in memory of its
+passage! The most durable monument of human labor is that which recalls the
+wretchedness and nothingness of man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although the vast country which we have been describing 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 lived by the produce of the chase. Their
+implacable prejudices, their uncontrolled passions, their vices, and still more
+perhaps their savage virtues, consigned them to inevitable destruction. The
+ruin of these nations began from the day when Europeans landed on their shores;
+it has proceeded ever since, and we are now witnessing the completion of it.
+They seem to have been placed by Providence amidst the riches of the New World
+to enjoy them for a season, and then surrender them. Those coasts, so admirably
+adapted for commerce and industry; those wide and deep rivers; that
+inexhaustible valley of the Mississippi; the whole continent, in short, seemed
+prepared to be the abode of a great nation, yet unborn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In that land the great experiment was to be made, by civilized man, of the
+attempt to construct society upon a new basis; and it was there, for the first
+time, that theories hitherto unknown, or deemed impracticable, were to exhibit
+a spectacle for which the world had not been prepared by the history of the
+past.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0003" id="link2HCH0003"></a> Chapter II: Origin Of The
+Anglo-Americans&mdash;Part I</h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0004" id="link2HCH0004"></a> Chapter Summary</h2>
+
+<p>
+Utility of knowing the origin of nations in order to understand their social
+condition and their laws&mdash;America the only country in which the
+starting-point of a great people has been clearly observable&mdash;In what
+respects all who emigrated to British America were similar&mdash;In what they
+differed&mdash;Remark applicable to all Europeans who established themselves on
+the shores of the New World&mdash;Colonization of Virginia&mdash;Colonization
+of New England&mdash;Original character of the first inhabitants of New
+England&mdash;Their arrival&mdash;Their first laws&mdash;Their social
+contract&mdash;Penal code borrowed from the Hebrew legislation&mdash;Religious
+fervor&mdash;Republican spirit&mdash;Intimate union of the spirit of religion
+with the spirit of liberty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Origin Of The Anglo-Americans, And Its Importance In Relation To Their Future
+Condition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the birth of a human being his early years are obscurely spent in the
+toils or pleasures of childhood. As he grows up the world receives him, when
+his manhood begins, and he enters into contact with his fellows. 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 its
+mother&rsquo;s arms; we must see the first images which the external world
+casts upon the dark mirror of his mind; the first occurrences 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 life. The entire
+man is, so to speak, to be seen in the cradle of the child.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The growth of nations presents something analogous to this: they all bear some
+marks of their origin; and the circumstances which accompanied their birth and
+contributed to their rise affect the whole term of their being. If we were able
+to go back to the elements of states, and to examine the oldest monuments of
+their history, I doubt not that we should discover the primal cause of the
+prejudices, the habits, the ruling passions, and, in short, of all that
+constitutes what is called the national character; we should then find the
+explanation of certain customs which now seem at variance with the prevailing
+manners; of such laws 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 hanging from the vault of an
+edifice, and supporting nothing. This might explain the destinies of certain
+nations, which seem borne on by an unknown force to ends of which they
+themselves are ignorant. 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+America is the only country in which it has been possible to witness the
+natural and tranquil growth of society, and where the influences exercised on
+the future condition of states by their origin is clearly distinguishable. At
+the period when 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 have transmitted to us a faithful
+picture of their opinions, their manners, and their laws. The men of the
+sixteenth century are almost as well known to us as our contemporaries.
+America, consequently, exhibits in the broad light of day the phenomena which
+the ignorance or rudeness of earlier ages conceals from our researches. Near
+enough to the 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. Providence 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 concealed 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 the germ of all that is to follow in the present
+chapter, and the key to almost the whole work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 durable that can unite mankind. All the emigrants spoke the same tongue;
+they were all offsets from the same people. Born in a country which had been
+agitated for centuries 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 been perfected in this rude school, and
+they were more conversant with the notions of right and the principles of true
+freedom than the greater part of their European contemporaries. At the period
+of their first emigrations the parish system, that fruitful 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 introduced into the bosom of
+the monarchy of the House of Tudor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The religious quarrels which have agitated the Christian world were then rife.
+England had plunged into the new order of things with headlong vehemence. The
+character of its inhabitants, which had always been sedate and reflective,
+became argumentative and austere. General information had been increased by
+intellectual debate, and the mind had received a deeper cultivation. Whilst
+religion was the topic of discussion, the morals of the people were reformed.
+All these national features are more or less discoverable in the physiognomy of
+those adventurers who came to seek a new home on the opposite shores of the
+Atlantic.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another remark, to which we shall hereafter have occasion 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 safely be advanced,
+that on leaving the mother-country the emigrants had in general no notion of
+superiority over one another. The happy and the powerful do not go into exile,
+and there are no surer guarantees of equality among men than poverty and
+misfortune. It happened, however, on several occasions, that persons of rank
+were driven to America by political and religious quarrels. Laws were made to
+establish a gradation of ranks; but it 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 was prepared, its produce was found to be
+insufficient to enrich a master and a farmer at the same time. The land was
+then naturally broken up into small portions, which the proprietor cultivated
+for himself. Land is the basis of an aristocracy, which clings to the soil that
+supports it; for it is not by privileges alone, nor by birth, but by landed
+property handed down from generation to generation, that an aristocracy is
+constituted. A nation may present immense fortunes and extreme wretchedness,
+but unless those fortunes are territorial there is no aristocracy, but simply
+the class of the rich and that of the poor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All the British colonies had then a great degree of similarity at the epoch of
+their settlement. All of them, from their first 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 history of the
+world had as yet furnished no complete example.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this general uniformity several striking differences were however
+discernible, which it is necessary to point out. Two branches may be
+distinguished in the Anglo-American family, which have hitherto grown up
+without entirely commingling; the one in the South, the other in the North.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Virginia received the first English colony; the emigrants took possession of it
+in 1607. 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 nations which adopted it, and has cost more
+lives in America, than the united influence of war and bad laws. The men sent
+to Virginia *a were seekers of gold, adventurers, without resources and without
+character, whose turbulent and restless spirit endangered the infant colony, *b
+and rendered its progress uncertain. The artisans and agriculturists arrived
+afterwards; and, although they were a more moral and orderly race of men, they
+were in nowise above the level of the inferior classes in England. *c No lofty
+conceptions, no intellectual system, directed the foundation of these new
+settlements. The colony was scarcely established when slavery was introduced,
+*d and this was the main circumstance which has exercised so prodigious an
+influence on the character, the laws, and all the future prospects of the
+South. Slavery, as we shall afterwards show, dishonors labor; it introduces
+idleness into society, and with idleness, ignorance and pride, luxury and
+distress. It enervates the powers of the mind, and benumbs the activity of man.
+The influence of slavery, united to the English character, explains the manners
+and the social condition of the Southern States.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ The charter granted by the 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&rsquo;s &ldquo;Life of
+Washington,&rdquo; vol. i. pp. 18-66.] [Footnote b: A large portion of the
+adventurers, says Stith (&ldquo;History of Virginia&rdquo;), were unprincipled
+young men of family, whom their parents were glad to ship off, discharged
+servants, fraudulent bankrupts, or debauchees; and others of the same class,
+people more apt to pillage and destroy than to assist the settlement, were the
+seditious chiefs, who easily led this band into every kind of extravagance and
+excess. See for the history of Virginia the following works:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;History of Virginia, from the First Settlements in the year 1624,&rdquo;
+by Smith.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;History of Virginia,&rdquo; by William Stith.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;History of Virginia, from the Earliest Period,&rdquo; by Beverley.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ It was not till some time later that a certain number of rich English
+capitalists came to fix themselves in the colony.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ Slavery was introduced about the year 1620 by a Dutch vessel which landed
+twenty negroes on the banks of the river James. See Chalmer.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the North, the same English foundation was modified by the most opposite
+shades of character; and here I may be allowed to enter into some details. The
+two or three main ideas which constitute the basis of the social theory of the
+United States were first combined in the Northern English colonies, more
+generally denominated the States of New England. *e The principles of New
+England spread at first to the neighboring states; they then passed
+successively to the more distant ones; and at length they imbued 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 around, tinges the distant
+horizon with its glow.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ The States of New England are those situated to the east of the Hudson; they
+are now six in number: 1, Connecticut; 2, Rhode Island; 3, Massachusetts; 4,
+Vermont; 5, New Hampshire; 6, Maine.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The foundation of New England was a novel spectacle, and all the circumstances
+attending it were singular and original. The large majority of colonies have
+been first inhabited either by men without education and without resources,
+driven by their poverty and their misconduct from the land which gave them
+birth, or by speculators and adventurers greedy of gain. Some settlements
+cannot even boast so honorable an origin; St. Domingo was founded by
+buccaneers; and the criminal courts of England originally supplied the
+population of Australia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 America at once presented the singular phenomenon of a society
+containing neither lords nor common people, neither rich nor poor. These men
+possessed, in proportion to their number, a greater mass of intelligence than
+is to be found in any European nation of our own time. All, without a single
+exception, had received a good education, and many of them were known in Europe
+for their talents and their acquirements. The other colonies had been founded
+by adventurers without family; the emigrants of New England brought with them
+the best elements of order and morality&mdash;they landed in the desert
+accompanied by their wives and children. But what most especially distinguished
+them was the aim of their undertaking. 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; the call which
+summoned them from the comforts of their homes was purely intellectual; and in
+facing the inevitable sufferings of exile their object was the triumph of an
+idea.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 which had aroused its most dangerous
+adversaries. Persecuted by the Government of the mother-country, and disgusted
+by the habits of a society opposed to the rigor of their own principles, 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A few quotations will throw more light upon the spirit of these pious
+adventures than all we can say of them. Nathaniel Morton, *f the historian of
+the first years of the settlement, thus opens his subject:
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+f <br />
+[ &ldquo;New England&rsquo;s Memorial,&rdquo; p. 13; Boston, 1826. See also
+&ldquo;Hutchinson&rsquo;s History,&rdquo; vol. ii. p. 440.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Gentle Reader,&mdash;I have for some length of time looked upon it as a
+duty incumbent, especially on the immediate successors of those that have had
+so large experience of those many memorable and signal demonstrations of
+God&rsquo;s goodness, viz., the first beginners of this Plantation in New
+England, to commit to writing his gracious dispensations on that behalf; having
+so many inducements thereunto, not onely otherwise but so plentifully in the
+Sacred Scriptures: that so, what we have seen, and what our fathers have told
+us (Psalm lxxviii. 3, 4), we may not hide from our children, showing to the
+generations to come the praises of the Lord; that especially the seed of
+Abraham his servant, and the children of Jacob his chosen (Psalm cv. 5, 6), may
+remember his marvellous works in the beginning and progress of the planting of
+New England, 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
+he made room for it and caused it to take deep root; and it filled the land
+(Psalm lxxx. 8, 9). And not onely so, but also that he hath guided his people
+by his strength to his holy habitation 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 it 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.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is impossible to read this opening paragraph without an involuntary feeling
+of religious awe; it breathes the very savor of Gospel antiquity. The sincerity
+of the author heightens his power of language. The band which to his eyes was a
+mere party of adventurers gone forth to seek their fortune beyond seas appears
+to the reader as the germ of a great nation wafted by Providence to a
+predestined shore.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The author thus continues his narrative of the departure of the first
+pilgrims:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;So they left that goodly and pleasant city of Leyden, *g which had been
+their resting-place for above eleven years; but they knew that they were
+pilgrims and strangers here below, and looked not much on these things, but
+lifted up their eyes to Heaven, their dearest country, where God hath prepared
+for them a city (Heb. xi. 16), and therein quieted their spirits. When they
+came to Delfs-Haven 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 shipt, and to take their leaves of them. One night was
+spent with little sleep with the most, but with friendly entertainment and
+Christian discourse, and other real expressions of true Christian love. The
+next day they went on board, and their friends with them, where truly 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 other&rsquo;s heart, that sundry of the Dutch strangers
+that stood on the Key as spectators could not refrain from tears. But the tide
+(which stays for no man) calling them away, that were thus loth to depart,
+their Reverend Pastor falling down on his knees, and they all with him, with
+watery cheeks commended them with most fervent prayers unto the Lord and his
+blessing; and then, with mutual embraces and many tears they took their leaves
+one of another, which proved to be the last leave to many of them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ The emigrants were, for the most part, godly Christians from the North of
+England, who had quitted their native country because they were &ldquo;studious
+of reformation, and entered into covenant to walk with one another according to
+the primitive pattern of the Word of God.&rdquo; They emigrated to Holland, and
+settled in the city of Leyden in 1610, where they abode, being lovingly
+respected by the Dutch, for many years: they left it in 1620 for several
+reasons, the last of which was, that their posterity would in a few generations
+become Dutch, and so lose their interest in the English nation; they being
+desirous rather to enlarge His Majesty&rsquo;s dominions, and to live under
+their natural prince.&mdash;Translator&rsquo;s Note.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The emigrants were about 150 in number, including the women and the children.
+Their object was to plant a colony on the shores of the Hudson; but after
+having been driven about for some time in the Atlantic Ocean, they were forced
+to land on that arid coast of New England which is now the site of the town of
+Plymouth. The rock is still shown on which the pilgrims disembarked. *h
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+h <br />
+[ This rock is become an object of veneration in the United States. I have seen
+bits of it carefully preserved in several towns of the Union. Does not this
+sufficiently show how entirely all human power and greatness is in the soul of
+man? Here is a stone which the feet of a few outcasts pressed for an instant,
+and this stone becomes famous; it is treasured by a great nation, its very dust
+is shared as a relic: and what is become of the gateways of a thousand
+palaces?]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;But before we pass on,&rdquo; continues our historian, &ldquo;let the
+reader with me make a pause and seriously consider this poor people&rsquo;s
+present condition, the more to be raised up to admiration of God&rsquo;s
+goodness towards them in their preservation: 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 unto 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 and fierce storms, dangerous to travel to known
+places, much more to search unknown coasts. Besides, what could they see but a
+hideous and desolate wilderness, full of wilde beasts, and wilde men? and what
+multitudes of them there were, they then knew not: for which way soever they
+turned their eyes (save upward to Heaven) they could have but little solace or
+content in respect of any outward object; for summer being ended, all 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 gulph to separate them from all the civil parts of the world.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It must not be imagined that the piety of the Puritans was of a merely
+speculative kind, or that it took no cognizance of the course of worldly
+affairs. Puritanism, as I have already remarked, was scarcely less a political
+than a religious 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 passing the following Act:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;In the name of God. Amen. We, whose names are underwritten, the loyal
+subjects of our dread Sovereign Lord King James, etc., etc., 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 preservation, and furtherance of the ends
+aforesaid: and by virtue hereof do enact, constitute and frame such just and
+equal laws, ordinances, acts, constitutions, and officers, from time to time,
+as shall be thought most meet and convenient for the general good of the
+Colony: unto which we promise all due submission and obedience,&rdquo; etc. *i
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+i <br />
+[ The emigrants who founded the State of Rhode Island in 1638, those who landed
+at New Haven in 1637, the first settlers in Connecticut in 1639, and the
+founders of Providence in 1640, began in like manner by drawing up a social
+contract, which was acceded to by all the interested parties. See
+&ldquo;Pitkin&rsquo;s History,&rdquo; pp. 42 and 47.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This happened in 1620, and from that time forwards the emigration went on. The
+religious and political passions which ravaged the British Empire during the
+whole reign of Charles I drove fresh crowds of sectarians every year to the
+shores of America. In England the stronghold of Puritanism was in the middle
+classes, and it was from the middle classes that the majority of the emigrants
+came. The population of New England increased rapidly; and whilst the hierarchy
+of rank despotically classed the inhabitants of the mother-country, the colony
+continued to present the novel spectacle of a community homogeneous in all its
+parts. A democracy, more perfect than any which antiquity had dreamt of,
+started in full size and panoply from the midst of an ancient feudal society.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0005" id="link2HCH0005"></a> Chapter II: Origin Of The
+Anglo-Americans&mdash;Part II</h2>
+
+<p>
+The English Government was not dissatisfied with an emigration which removed
+the elements of fresh discord and of further revolutions. On the contrary,
+everything was done to encourage it, and great exertions were made to mitigate
+the hardships of those who sought a shelter from the rigor of their
+country&rsquo;s laws on the soil of America. It seemed as if New England was a
+region given up to the dreams of fancy and the unrestrained experiments of
+innovators.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 of other nations; but this principle of liberty was nowhere more
+extensively applied than in the States of New England.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was generally allowed at that period that the territories 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 possession
+towards the end of the sixteenth century. The means used by the English
+Government to people these new domains were of several kinds; the King
+sometimes appointed a governor of his own choice, who ruled a portion of the
+New World in the name and under the immediate orders of the Crown; *j this is
+the colonial system adopted by other countries of Europe. Sometimes grants of
+certain tracts were made by the Crown to an individual or to a company, *k 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 constitute a political society under the
+protection of the mother-country, and to govern themselves in whatever was not
+contrary to her laws. This mode of colonization, so remarkably favorable to
+liberty, was only adopted in New England. *l
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+j <br />
+[ This was the case in the State of New York.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+k <br />
+[ Maryland, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey were in this situation.
+See &ldquo;Pitkin&rsquo;s History,&rdquo; vol. i. pp. 11-31.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+l <br />
+[ See the work entitled &ldquo;Historical Collection of State Papers and other
+authentic Documents intended as materials for a History of the United States of
+America, by Ebenezer Hasard. Philadelphia, 1792,&rdquo; for a great number of
+documents relating to the commencement of the colonies, which are valuable from
+their contents and their authenticity: amongst them are the various charters
+granted by the King of England, and the first acts of the local governments.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+See also the analysis of all these charters given by Mr. Story, Judge of the
+Supreme Court of the United States, in the Introduction to his
+&ldquo;Commentary on the Constitution of the United States.&rdquo; It results
+from these documents that the principles of representative government and the
+external forms of political liberty were introduced into all the colonies at
+their origin. These principles were more fully acted upon in the North than in
+the South, but they existed everywhere.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1628 *m a charter of this kind was granted by Charles I to the emigrants who
+went to form the colony of Massachusetts. But, in general, charters were not
+given to the colonies of New England till they had acquired a certain
+existence. Plymouth, Providence, New Haven, the State of Connecticut, and that
+of Rhode Island *n were founded without the co-operation and almost without the
+knowledge of the mother-country. The new settlers did not derive their
+incorporation from the seat of the empire, although they did not deny its
+supremacy; they constituted a society of their own accord, and it was not till
+thirty or forty years afterwards, under Charles II. that their existence was
+legally recognized by a royal charter.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+m <br />
+[ See &ldquo;Pitkin&rsquo;s History,&rdquo; p, 35. See the &ldquo;History of
+the Colony of Massachusetts Bay,&rdquo; by Hutchinson, vol. i. p. 9.] [Footnote
+n: See &ldquo;Pitkin&rsquo;s History,&rdquo; pp. 42, 47.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This frequently renders its it difficult to detect the link which connected the
+emigrants with the land of their forefathers in studying the earliest
+historical and legislative records of New England. They exercised the rights of
+sovereignty; they named their magistrates, concluded peace or declared war,
+made police regulations, and enacted laws as if their allegiance was due only
+to God. *o 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.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+o <br />
+[ The inhabitants of Massachusetts had deviated from the forms which are
+preserved in the criminal and civil procedure of England; in 1650 the decrees
+of justice were not yet headed by the royal style. See Hutchinson, vol. i. p.
+452.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Amongst these documents we shall notice, as especially characteristic, the code
+of laws promulgated by the little State of Connecticut in 1650. *p The
+legislators of Connecticut *q begin with the penal laws, and, strange to say,
+they borrow their provisions from the text of Holy Writ. &ldquo;Whosoever shall
+worship any other God than the Lord,&rdquo; says the preamble of the Code,
+&ldquo;shall surely be put to death.&rdquo; This is followed by ten or twelve
+enactments of the same kind, copied verbatim from the books of Exodus,
+Leviticus, and Deuteronomy. Blasphemy, sorcery, adultery, *r and rape were
+punished with death; an outrage offered by a son to his parents was to be
+expiated 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 punishment of death was never more frequently prescribed by the
+statute, and never more rarely enforced towards the guilty.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+p <br />
+[ Code of 1650, p. 28; Hartford, 1830.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+q <br />
+[ See also in &ldquo;Hutchinson&rsquo;s History,&rdquo; vol. i. pp. 435, 456,
+the 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.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+r <br />
+[ 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, which occurred in the
+year 1663. A married woman had had criminal intercourse with a young man; her
+husband died, and she married the lover. Several years had elapsed, when the
+public began to suspect the previous intercourse of this couple: they were
+thrown into prison, put upon trial, and very narrowly escaped capital
+punishment.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The chief care of the legislators, in this body of penal laws, was the
+maintenance of orderly conduct and good morals in the community: they
+constantly invaded the domain of conscience, and there was scarcely a sin which
+was not subject to magisterial censure. The reader is aware of the rigor with
+which these laws punished rape and adultery; intercourse between unmarried
+persons was likewise severely repressed. The judge was empowered to inflict a
+pecuniary penalty, a whipping, or marriage *s 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 bearing date the first of May,
+1660, inflicting a fine and reprimand on a young woman who was accused of using
+improper language, and of allowing herself to be kissed. *t The Code of 1650
+abounds in preventive measures. It punishes idleness and drunkenness with
+severity. *u Innkeepers are forbidden to furnish more than a certain quantity
+of liquor to each consumer; and simple lying, whenever it may be injurious, *v
+is checked by a fine or a flogging. In other places, the legislator, entirely
+forgetting the great principles of religious toleration which he had himself
+upheld in Europe, renders attendance on divine service compulsory, *w and goes
+so far as to visit with severe punishment, ** and even with death, the
+Christians who chose to worship God according to a ritual differing from his
+own. *x Sometimes indeed the zeal of his enactments induces him to descend to
+the most frivolous particulars: thus a law is to be found in the same Code
+which prohibits the use of tobacco. *y It must not be forgotten that these
+fantastical and vexatious laws were not imposed by authority, but that they
+were freely voted by all the persons interested, and that the manners of the
+community were even more austere and more puritanical than the laws. In 1649 a
+solemn association was formed in Boston to check the worldly luxury of long
+hair. *z
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+s <br />
+[ Code of 1650, p. 48. It seems sometimes to have happened that the judges
+superadded these punishments to each other, as is seen in a sentence pronounced
+in 1643 (p. 114, &ldquo;New Haven Antiquities&rdquo;), by which Margaret
+Bedford, convicted of loose conduct, was condemned to be whipped, and
+afterwards to marry Nicholas Jemmings, her accomplice.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+t <br />
+[ &ldquo;New Haven Antiquities,&rdquo; p. 104. See also
+&ldquo;Hutchinson&rsquo;s History,&rdquo; for several causes equally
+extraordinary.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+u <br />
+[ Code of 1650, pp. 50, 57.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+v <br />
+[ Ibid., p. 64.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+w <br />
+[ Ibid., p. 44.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+* <br />
+[ This was not peculiar to Connecticut. See, for instance, the law which, on
+September 13, 1644, banished the Anabaptists from the State of Massachusetts.
+(&ldquo;Historical Collection of State Papers,&rdquo; vol. i. p. 538.) See also
+the law against the Quakers, passed on October 14, 1656: &ldquo;Whereas,&rdquo;
+says the preamble, &ldquo;an accursed race of heretics called Quakers has
+sprung up,&rdquo; etc. The clauses of the statute inflict a heavy fine on all
+captains of ships who should import Quakers into the country. The Quakers who
+may be found there shall be whipped and imprisoned with hard labor. Those
+members of the sect who should defend their opinions shall be first fined, then
+imprisoned, and finally driven out of the province.&mdash;&ldquo;Historical
+Collection of State Papers,&rdquo; vol. i. p. 630.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+x <br />
+[ By the penal law of Massachusetts, any Catholic priest who should set foot in
+the colony after having been once driven out of it was liable to capital
+punishment.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+y <br />
+[ Code of 1650, p. 96.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+z <br />
+[ &ldquo;New England&rsquo;s Memorial,&rdquo; p. 316. See Appendix, E.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These errors are no doubt discreditable to human reason; 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 persecution 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 ahead of the liberties of our age. The general principles which are the
+groundwork of modern constitutions&mdash;principles which were imperfectly
+known in Europe, and not completely triumphant even in Great Britain, in the
+seventeenth century&mdash;were all recognized and determined by the laws of New
+England: the intervention of the people in public affairs, the free voting of
+taxes, the responsibility of authorities, personal liberty, and trial by jury,
+were all positively established without discussion. From these fruitful
+principles consequences have been derived and applications have been made such
+as no nation in Europe has yet ventured to attempt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Connecticut the electoral body consisted, from its origin, of the whole
+number of citizens; and this is readily to be understood, *a when we recollect
+that this people enjoyed an almost perfect equality of fortune, and a still
+greater uniformity of opinions. *b In Connecticut, at this period, all the
+executive functionaries were elected, including the Governor of the State. *c
+The citizens 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. *d
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ Constitution of 1638, p. 17.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ In 1641 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.&mdash;Code of 1650, p. 70.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ &ldquo;Pitkin&rsquo;s History,&rdquo; p. 47.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ Constitution of 1638, p. 12.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 mainspring of American liberty at the present day. The political 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 other hand, it may be said that
+the township was organized before the county, the county before the State, the
+State before the Union. In New England townships were completely and
+definitively constituted as early as 1650. The independence of the township was
+the nucleus round which the local interests, passions, rights, and duties
+collected and clung. It gave scope to the activity of a real political life
+most thoroughly democratic and republican. The colonies still recognized the
+supremacy of the mother-country; monarchy was still the law of the State; but
+the republic was already established in every township. The towns named their
+own magistrates of every kind, rated themselves, and levied their own taxes. *e
+In the parish of New England 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.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ Code of 1650, p. 80.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In studying the laws which were promulgated at this first era of the American
+republics, it is impossible not to be struck by the remarkable acquaintance
+with the science of government and the advanced theory of legislation which
+they display. The ideas there formed of the duties of society towards its
+members are evidently much loftier and more comprehensive than those of the
+European legislators at that time: obligations were there imposed which were
+elsewhere slighted. In the States of New England, 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; *g registers were
+established in every parish, in which the results of public deliberations, and
+the births, deaths, and marriages of the citizens were entered; *h clerks were
+directed to keep these registers; *i officers were charged with the
+administration of vacant inheritances, and with the arbitration of litigated
+landmarks; and many others were created whose chief functions were the
+maintenance of public order in the community. *j The law enters into a thousand
+useful provisions for a number of social wants which are at present very
+inadequately felt in France. [Footnote f: Ibid., p. 78.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ Ibid., p. 49.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+h <br />
+[ See &ldquo;Hutchinson&rsquo;s History,&rdquo; vol. i. p. 455.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+i <br />
+[ Code of 1650, p. 86.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+j <br />
+[ Ibid., p. 40.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But it is by the attention it pays to Public Education that the original
+character of American civilization is at once placed in the clearest light.
+&ldquo;It being,&rdquo; says the law, &ldquo;one chief project of Satan to keep
+men from the knowledge of the Scripture by persuading from the use of tongues,
+to the end that learning may not be buried in the graves of our forefathers, in
+church and commonwealth, the Lord assisting our endeavors. . . .&rdquo; *k 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 populous districts. The
+municipal authorities were bound to enforce the sending of children to school
+by their parents; they were empowered to inflict fines upon all who refused
+compliance; and in case of continued resistance society assumed the place of
+the parent, took possession of the child, and deprived the father of those
+natural rights which he used to so bad a purpose. The reader will undoubtedly
+have remarked the preamble of these enactments: in America religion is the road
+to knowledge, and the observance of the divine laws leads man to civil freedom.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+k <br />
+[ Ibid., p. 90.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If, after having cast a rapid glance over the state of American society in
+1650, we turn to the condition of Europe, and more especially to that of the
+Continent, at the same period, we cannot fail to be struck with astonishment.
+On the Continent of Europe, at the beginning of the seventeenth century,
+absolute monarchy had everywhere triumphed over the ruins of the oligarchical
+and feudal liberties of the Middle Ages. Never were the notions of right more
+completely confounded than in the midst of the splendor and literature of
+Europe; never was there less political activity among the people; never were
+the principles of true freedom less widely circulated; and at that very time
+those principles, which were scorned or unknown by the nations of Europe, were
+proclaimed in the deserts of the New World, and were accepted as the future
+creed of a great people. The boldest theories of the human reason were put into
+practice by a community so humble that not a statesman condescended to attend
+to it; and a legislation without a precedent was produced offhand by the
+imagination of the citizens. In the bosom of this obscure democracy, which had
+as yet brought forth neither generals, nor philosophers, nor authors, a man
+might stand up in the face of a free people and pronounce the following fine
+definition of liberty. *l
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+l <br />
+[ Mather&rsquo;s &ldquo;Magnalia Christi Americana,&rdquo; vol. ii. p. 13. This
+speech was made by Winthrop; he was accused of having committed arbitrary
+actions during his magistracy, but after having made the speech of which the
+above is a fragment, he was acquitted by acclamation, and from that time
+forwards he was always re-elected governor of the State. See Marshal, vol. i.
+p. 166.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Nor would I have you to mistake in the point of your own liberty. There
+is a liberty of a corrupt nature which is effected both by men and beasts to do
+what they list, and this liberty is inconsistent with authority, impatient of
+all restraint; by this liberty &lsquo;sumus omnes deteriores&rsquo;: &rsquo;tis
+the grand enemy of truth and peace, and all the ordinances of God are bent
+against it. But there is a civil, a moral, a federal liberty which is the
+proper end and object of authority; it is a liberty for that only which is just
+and good: for this liberty you are to stand with the hazard of your very lives
+and whatsoever crosses it is not authority, but a distemper thereof. This
+liberty is maintained in a way of subjection to authority; and the authority
+set over you will, in all administrations for your good, be quietly submitted
+unto by all but such as have a disposition to shake off the yoke and lose their
+true liberty, by their murmuring at the honor and power of authority.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The remarks I have made will suffice to display the character of Anglo-American
+civilization in its true light. It is the result (and this should be constantly
+present to the mind of two distinct elements), which in other places have been
+in frequent 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 entirely free from political prejudices. Hence arose two tendencies,
+distinct but not opposite, which are constantly discernible in the manners as
+well as in the laws of the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It might be imagined that men who sacrificed their friends, their family, and
+their native land to a religious conviction were absorbed in the pursuit of the
+intellectual advantages which they purchased at so dear a rate. The energy,
+however, with which they strove for the acquirement of wealth, moral enjoyment,
+and the comforts as well as liberties of the world, is scarcely inferior to
+that with which they devoted themselves to Heaven.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Political principles and all human laws and institutions were moulded and
+altered at their pleasure; the barriers of the society in which they were born
+were broken down before them; the old principles which had governed the world
+for ages were no more; a path without a turn and a field without an horizon
+were opened to the exploring and ardent curiosity of man: but at the limits of
+the political world he checks his researches, he discreetly lays aside the use
+of his most formidable faculties, he no longer consents to doubt or to
+innovate, but carefully abstaining from raising the curtain of the sanctuary,
+he yields with submissive respect to truths which he will not discuss. Thus, in
+the moral world everything is classed, adapted, decided, and foreseen; in the
+political world everything is agitated, uncertain, and disputed: in the one is
+a passive, though a voluntary, obedience; in the other an independence scornful
+of experience and jealous of authority.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These two tendencies, apparently so discrepant, are far from conflicting; they
+advance together, and mutually support each other. Religion perceives that
+civil liberty affords a noble exercise to the faculties of man, and that the
+political world is a field prepared by the Creator for the efforts of the
+intelligence. Contented with the freedom and the power which it enjoys in its
+own sphere, and with the place which it occupies, the empire of religion is
+never more surely established than when it reigns in the hearts of men
+unsupported by aught beside its native strength. Religion is no less the
+companion of liberty in all its battles and its triumphs; the cradle of its
+infancy, and the divine source of its claims. The safeguard of morality is
+religion, and morality is the best security of law and the surest pledge of
+freedom. *m
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+m <br />
+[ See Appendix, F.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reasons Of Certain Anomalies Which The Laws And Customs Of The Anglo-Americans
+Present
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Remains of aristocratic institutions in the midst of a complete
+democracy&mdash;Why?&mdash;Distinction carefully to be drawn between what is of
+Puritanical and what is of English origin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The reader is cautioned not to draw too general or too absolute an inference
+from what has been said. The social condition, the religion, and the manners of
+the first emigrants undoubtedly exercised an immense influence on the destiny
+of their new country. Nevertheless they were not in a situation to found a
+state of things solely dependent on themselves: no man can entirely shake off
+the influence of the past, and the settlers, intentionally or involuntarily,
+mingled habits and notions derived from their education and from the traditions
+of their country with those habits and notions which were exclusively their
+own. To form a judgment on the Anglo-Americans of the present day it is
+therefore necessary to distinguish what is of Puritanical and what is of
+English origin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Laws and customs are frequently to be met with in the United States which
+contrast strongly with all that surrounds them. These laws seem to be drawn up
+in a spirit contrary to the prevailing tenor of the American legislation; and
+these customs are no less opposed to the 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I shall quote a single example to illustrate what I advance. The civil and
+criminal procedure of the Americans has only two means of
+action&mdash;committal and bail. The first measure taken by the magistrate is
+to exact security from the defendant, or, in case of refusal, to incarcerate
+him: the ground of the accusation and the importance of the charges against him
+are then discussed. It is evident that a legislation of this kind is hostile to
+the poor man, and favorable only to the rich. The poor man has not always a
+security to produce, even in a civil cause; and if he is obliged to wait for
+justice in prison, he is speedily reduced to distress. The wealthy individual,
+on the contrary, always escapes imprisonment in civil causes; nay, more, he may
+readily elude the punishment which awaits him for a delinquency by breaking his
+bail. So that all the penalties of the law are, for him, reducible to fines. *n
+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 greatest
+social advantages to themselves. The explanation of the phenomenon is to be
+found in England; the laws of which I speak are English, *o and the Americans
+have retained them, however repugnant they may be to the 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 only
+familiarly known to legal men, whose direct interest it is to maintain them as
+they are, whether good or bad, simply because they themselves are conversant
+with them. The body of the nation is scarcely acquainted with them; it merely
+perceives their action in particular cases; but it has some difficulty in
+seizing their tendency, and obeys them without premeditation. I have quoted one
+instance where it would have been easy to adduce a great number of others. The
+surface of American society is, if I may use the expression, covered with a
+layer of democracy, from beneath which the old aristocratic colors sometimes
+peep.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+n <br />
+[ Crimes no doubt exist for which bail is inadmissible, but they are few in
+number.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+o <br />
+[ See Blackstone; and Delolme, book I chap. x.]
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0006" id="link2HCH0006"></a> Chapter III: Social
+Conditions Of The Anglo-Americans</h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0007" id="link2HCH0007"></a> Chapter Summary</h2>
+
+<p>
+A Social condition is commonly the result of circumstances, sometimes of laws,
+oftener still of these two causes united; but wherever it exists, it may justly
+be considered as the source of almost all the laws, the usages, and the ideas
+which regulate the conduct of nations; whatever it does not produce it
+modifies. It is therefore necessary, if we would become acquainted with the
+legislation and the manners of a nation, to begin by the study of its social
+condition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Striking Characteristic Of The Social Condition Of The Anglo-Americans In
+Its Essential Democracy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first emigrants of New England&mdash;Their equality&mdash;Aristocratic laws
+introduced in the South&mdash;Period of the Revolution&mdash;Change in the law
+of descent&mdash;Effects produced by this change&mdash;Democracy carried to its
+utmost limits in the new States of the West&mdash;Equality of education.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 is still more strongly marked
+at the present day. I have stated in the preceding chapter that great equality
+existed among the emigrants who settled on the shores of New England. The germ
+of aristocracy was never planted in that part of the Union. The only influence
+which obtained there was that of intellect; the people were used to reverence
+certain names as the emblems of knowledge and virtue. Some of their
+fellow-citizens acquired a power over the rest which might truly have been
+called aristocratic, if it had been capable of transmission from father to son.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was the state of things to the east of the Hudson: to the south-west of
+that river, and in the direction of the Floridas, the case was different. In
+most of the States situated to the south-west of the Hudson some great English
+proprietors had settled, who had imported with them aristocratic principles and
+the English law of descent. I have explained the reasons why it was impossible
+ever to establish a powerful aristocracy in America; these reasons existed with
+less force to the south-west 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 altogether
+aristocratic as that term is understood in Europe, since they possessed no
+privileges; and the cultivation of their estates being carried on by slaves,
+they had no tenants depending on them, and consequently no patronage. Still,
+the great proprietors south of the Hudson constituted a superior class, having
+ideas and tastes of its own, and forming the centre of political action. This
+kind of aristocracy 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 for itself. This was the class which headed the
+insurrection in the South, and furnished the best leaders of the American
+revolution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the period of which we are now speaking society was shaken to its centre:
+the people, in whose name the struggle had taken place, conceived the desire of
+exercising the authority which it had acquired; its democratic tendencies were
+awakened; and having thrown off the yoke of the mother-country, it aspired to
+independence of every kind. The influence of individuals gradually ceased to be
+felt, and custom and law united together to produce the same result.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the law of descent was the last step to equality. I am surprised that
+ancient and modern jurists have not attributed to this law a greater influence
+on human affairs. *a It is true that these laws belong to civil affairs; but
+they ought nevertheless to be placed at the head of all political institutions;
+for, whilst political laws are only the symbol of a nation&rsquo;s condition,
+they exercise an incredible influence upon its social state. They have,
+moreover, a sure and uniform manner of operating upon society, affecting, as it
+were, generations yet unborn.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ I understand by the law of descent all those laws whose principal object is
+to regulate the distribution of property after the death of its owner. The law
+of entail is of this number; it certainly prevents the owner from disposing of
+his possessions before his death; but this is solely with the view of
+preserving them entire for the heir. The principal object, therefore, of the
+law of entail is to regulate the descent of property after the death of its
+owner: its other provisions are merely means to this end.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Through their means man acquires a kind of preternatural power over the future
+lot of his fellow-creatures. When the legislator has regulated the law of
+inheritance, he may rest from his labor. The machine once put in motion will go
+on for ages, and advance, as if self-guided, towards a given point. When framed
+in a particular manner, this law unites, draws together, and vests property and
+power in a few hands: its tendency is clearly aristocratic. On opposite
+principles its action is still more rapid; it divides, distributes, and
+disperses both property and power. Alarmed by the rapidity of its progress,
+those who despair of arresting its motion endeavor to obstruct it by
+difficulties and impediments; they vainly seek to counteract its effect by
+contrary efforts; but it gradually reduces or destroys every obstacle, until by
+its incessant activity the bulwarks of the influence of wealth are ground down
+to the fine and shifting sand which is the basis of democracy. When the law of
+inheritance permits, still more when it decrees, the equal division of a
+father&rsquo;s property amongst 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In virtue of the law of partible inheritance, the death of every proprietor
+brings about a kind of revolution in 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. This is the direct
+and, as it were, the physical effect of the law. It follows, then, that in
+countries where equality of inheritance is established by law, property, and
+especially landed property, must have a tendency to perpetual diminution. The
+effects, however, of such legislation would only be perceptible after a lapse
+of time, if the law was abandoned to its own working; for supposing the family
+to consist of two children (and in a country people as France is the average
+number is not above three), these children, sharing amongst them the fortune of
+both parents, would not be poorer than their father or mother.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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
+passions into play. These indirect 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 generation to generation without undergoing division, the
+consequence of which is that family feeling is to a certain degree incorporated
+with the estate. The family represents the estate, the estate the family; whose
+name, together with its origin, its glory, its power, and its virtues, is thus
+perpetuated in an imperishable memorial of the past and a sure pledge of the
+future.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the equal partition of property is established by law, the intimate
+connection is destroyed between family feeling and the preservation of the
+paternal estate; the property ceases to represent 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 landed proprietor, if they are few in number, or if fortune befriends
+them, may indeed entertain the hope of being as wealthy as their father, but
+not that of possessing the same property as he did; the riches must necessarily
+be composed of elements different from his.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Now, from the moment that you divest the landowner of that interest in the
+preservation of his estate which he derives from association, from tradition,
+and from family pride, you may be certain that sooner or later he will dispose
+of it; for there is a strong pecuniary interest in favor of selling, as
+floating capital produces higher interest than real property, and is more
+readily available to gratify the passions of the moment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Great landed estates which have once been divided never come together again;
+for the small proprietor 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.
+*b The calculations of gain, therefore, which decide the rich man to sell his
+domain will still more powerfully influence him against buying small estates to
+unite them into a large one.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ I do not mean to say that the small proprietor cultivates his land better,
+but he cultivates it with more ardor and care; so that he makes up by his labor
+for his want of skill.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What is called family pride is often founded upon an illusion of self-love. A
+man wishes to perpetuate and immortalize himself, as it were, in his
+great-grandchildren. Where the esprit de famille ceases to act individual
+selfishness comes into play. When the idea of family becomes vague,
+indeterminate, and uncertain, a man thinks of his present convenience; he
+provides for the establishment of his succeeding generation, and no more.
+Either a man gives up the idea of perpetuating his family, or at any rate he
+seeks to accomplish it by other means than that of a landed estate. Thus not
+only does the law of partible inheritance render it difficult for families to
+preserve their ancestral domains entire, but it deprives them of the
+inclination to attempt it, and compels them in some measure to co-operate with
+the law in their own extinction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The law of equal distribution proceeds by two methods: by acting upon things,
+it acts upon persons; by influencing persons, it affects things. By these means
+the law succeeds in striking at the root of landed property, and dispersing
+rapidly both families and fortunes. *c
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ Land being the most stable kind of property, we find, from time to time, rich
+individuals who are disposed to make great sacrifices in order to obtain it,
+and who willingly forfeit a considerable part of their income to make sure of
+the rest. But these are accidental cases. The preference for landed property is
+no longer found habitually in any class but among the poor. The small
+landowner, who has less information, less imagination, and fewer passions than
+the great one, is generally occupied with the desire of increasing his estate:
+and it often happens that by inheritance, by marriage, or by the chances of
+trade, he is gradually furnished with the means. Thus, to balance the tendency
+which leads men to divide their estates, there exists another, which incites
+them to add to them. This tendency, which is sufficient to prevent estates from
+being divided ad infinitum, is not strong enough to create great territorial
+possessions, certainly not to keep them up in the same family.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Most certainly it is not for us Frenchmen of the nineteenth century, who daily
+witness the political and social changes which the law of partition is bringing
+to pass, to question its influence. It is perpetually conspicuous in our
+country, overthrowing the walls of our dwellings and removing the landmarks of
+our fields. But although it has produced great effects in France, much still
+remains for it to do. Our recollections, opinions, and habits present powerful
+obstacles to its progress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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
+property were abolished in almost all the States at the time of the Revolution.
+The law of entail was so modified as not to interrupt the free circulation of
+property. *d The first generation having passed away, estates began to be
+parcelled out, and the change became more and more rapid with the progress of
+time. At this moment, after a lapse of a little more than sixty years, the
+aspect of society is totally altered; the families of the great landed
+proprietors are almost all commingled 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 must shortly disappear. The sons of
+these opulent citizens are become merchants, lawyers, or physicians. Most of
+them have lapsed into obscurity. The last trace of hereditary ranks and
+distinctions is destroyed&mdash;the law of partition has reduced all to one
+level. [Footnote d: See Appendix, G.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I do not mean that there is any deficiency of wealthy individuals in the United
+States; I know of no country, indeed, where the love of money has taken
+stronger hold on the affections of men, and where the profounder contempt is
+expressed for the theory of the permanent equality of property. But wealth
+circulates with inconceivable rapidity, and experience shows that it is rare to
+find two succeeding generations in the full enjoyment of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This picture, which may perhaps be thought to be overcharged, still gives a
+very imperfect idea of what is taking place in the new States of the West and
+South-west. At the end of the last century a few bold adventurers began to
+penetrate into the valleys of the Mississippi, and the mass of the population
+very soon began to move in that direction: communities unheard of till then
+were seen to emerge from the wilds: States whose 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 extreme. In these
+States, founded off-hand, and, as it were, by chance, the inhabitants are but
+of yesterday. Scarcely known to one another, the nearest neighbors are ignorant
+of each other&rsquo;s history. In this part of the American continent,
+therefore, the population has not experienced the influence of great names and
+great wealth, nor even that of the natural aristocracy of knowledge and virtue.
+None are there to wield that respectable power which men willingly grant to the
+remembrance of a life spent in doing good before their eyes. The new States of
+the West are already inhabited, but society has no existence among them. *e
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ This may have been true in 1832, but is not so in 1874, when great cities
+like Chicago and San Francisco have sprung up in the Western States. But as yet
+the Western States exert no powerful influence on American
+society.&mdash;-Translator&rsquo;s Note.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not only the fortunes of men which are equal in America; even their
+requirements partake in some degree of the same uniformity. I do not believe
+that there is a country in the world where, in proportion to the population,
+there are so few uninstructed 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 surprising; 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
+knowledge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America there are comparatively few who are rich enough to live without a
+profession. Every profession requires an apprenticeship, which limits the time
+of instruction to the early years of life. At fifteen they enter upon their
+calling, and thus their education ends at the age when ours begins. Whatever is
+done afterwards is with a view to some special and lucrative object; a science
+is taken up as a matter of business, and the only branch of it which is
+attended to is such as admits of an immediate practical application. In America
+most of the rich men were formerly poor; most of those who now enjoy leisure
+were absorbed in business during their youth; the consequence of which is, that
+when they might have had a taste for study they had no time for it, and when
+time is at their disposal they have no longer the inclination.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is no class, then, in America, in which the taste for intellectual
+pleasures is transmitted with hereditary fortune and leisure, and by which the
+labors of the intellect are held in honor. Accordingly there is an equal want
+of the desire and the power of application to these objects.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A middle standard is fixed in America for human knowledge. All approach as near
+to it as they can; some as they rise, others as they descend. Of course, an
+immense multitude of persons are to be found who entertain the same number of
+ideas on religion, history, science, political economy, legislation, and
+government. The gifts of intellect proceed directly from God, and man cannot
+prevent their unequal distribution. But in consequence of the state of things
+which we have here represented it happens that, although the capacities of men
+are widely different, as the Creator has doubtless intended they should be,
+they are submitted to the same method of treatment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 disabled that we can scarcely assign to it any degree of influence
+in the course of affairs. The democratic principle, on the contrary, has gained
+so much strength by time, by events, and by legislation, as to have become not
+only predominant but all-powerful. There is no family or corporate authority,
+and it is rare to find even the influence of individual character enjoy any
+durability.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+America, then, exhibits in her social state a most extraordinary phenomenon.
+Men are there seen on a greater equality in point of fortune and intellect, or,
+in other words, more equal in their strength, than in any other country of the
+world, or in any age of which history has preserved the remembrance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Political Consequences Of The Social Condition Of The Anglo-Americans
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The political consequences of such a social condition as this are easily
+deducible. It is impossible to believe that equality will not eventually find
+its way into the political world as it does everywhere else. To conceive of men
+remaining forever unequal upon one single point, yet equal on all others, is
+impossible; they must come in the end to be equal upon all. Now I know of only
+two methods of establishing equality in the political world; every citizen must
+be put in possession 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
+Anglo-Americans, it is therefore 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 have been describing is equally
+liable to each of these consequences.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is, in fact, a manly and lawful passion for equality which excites men to
+wish 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 equality, which impels the weak to attempt to lower the powerful to
+their own level, and reduces men to prefer equality in slavery to inequality
+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 constant object of their desires; equality
+is their idol: they make rapid and sudden efforts to obtain liberty, and if
+they miss their aim resign themselves to their disappointment; but nothing can
+satisfy them except equality, and rather than lose it they resolve to perish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the other hand, in a State where the citizens are nearly on an equality, it
+becomes difficult for them to preserve their independence against the
+aggressions of power. No one among them being strong enough to engage in the
+struggle with advantage, nothing but a general combination can protect their
+liberty. And such a union is not always to be found.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the same social position, then, nations may derive one or the other of two
+great political results; these results are extremely different from each other,
+but they may both proceed from the same cause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Anglo-Americans are the first nations who, having been exposed to this
+formidable alternative, have been happy enough to escape the dominion of
+absolute power. They have been allowed by their circumstances, their origin,
+their intelligence, and especially by their moral feeling, to establish and
+maintain the sovereignty of the people.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0008" id="link2HCH0008"></a> Chapter IV: The Principle Of
+The Sovereignty Of The People In America</h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0009" id="link2HCH0009"></a> Chapter Summary</h2>
+
+<p>
+It predominates over the whole of society in America&mdash;Application made of
+this principle by the Americans even before their Revolution&mdash;Development
+given to it by that Revolution&mdash;Gradual and irresistible extension of the
+elective qualification.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Principle Of The Sovereignty Of The People In America
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever the political laws of the United States are to be discussed, it is
+with the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people that we must begin. The
+principle of the sovereignty of the people, which is to be found, more or less,
+at the bottom of almost all human institutions, generally remains 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.
+&ldquo;The will of the nation&rdquo; is one of those expressions which have
+been most profusely abused by the wily and the despotic of every age. To the
+eyes of some it has been represented by the venal suffrages of a few of the
+satellites of power; to others by the votes of a timid or an interested
+minority; and some have even discovered it in the silence of a people, on the
+supposition that the fact of submission established the right of command.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America the principle of the sovereignty of the people is not either barren
+or concealed, as it is with some other nations; it is recognized by the customs
+and proclaimed by the laws; it spreads freely, and arrives without impediment
+at its most remote consequences. If there be a country in the world where the
+doctrine of the sovereignty of the people can be fairly appreciated, where it
+can be studied in its application to the affairs of society, and where its
+dangers and its advantages may be foreseen, that country is assuredly America.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have already observed that, from their origin, the sovereignty of the people
+was the fundamental principle of the greater number of British colonies in
+America. It was far, however, from then exercising as much influence on the
+government 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 colonies which were still constrained to obey the
+mother-country: it was therefore obliged to spread secretly, and to gain ground
+in the provincial assemblies, and especially in the townships.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+American society was not yet prepared to adopt it with all its consequences.
+The intelligence of New England, and the wealth of 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 retain the exercise of social authority
+in the hands of a few. The public functionaries were not universally elected,
+and the citizens were not all of them electors. The electoral franchise was
+everywhere placed within certain limits, and made dependent on a certain
+qualification, which was exceedingly low in the North and more considerable in
+the South.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The American revolution broke out, and the doctrine of the sovereignty of the
+people, which had been nurtured in the townships and municipalities, took
+possession of the State: every class was enlisted in its cause; battles were
+fought, and victories obtained for it, until it became the law of laws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A no less rapid change was effected in the interior of society, where the law
+of descent completed the abolition of local influences.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the very time when this consequence of the laws and of the revolution was
+apparent to every eye, victory was irrevocably pronounced in favor of the
+democratic cause. All power was, in fact, in its hands, and resistance was no
+longer possible. The higher orders submitted without a murmur and without a
+struggle to an evil which was thenceforth inevitable. The ordinary fate of
+falling powers awaited them; each of their several members followed his own
+interests; and as it was impossible to wring the power from the hands of a
+people which 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 impaired; and thus, although the
+higher classes did not excite the passions of the people against their order,
+they accelerated the triumph of the new state of things; so that by a singular
+change the democratic impulse was found to be most irresistible 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 universal suffrage,
+and to introduce the most democratic forms into the conduct of its government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When a nation modifies the elective qualification, 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 electoral rights
+are extended, the greater is the need of extending 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 appointed 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the present day the principle of the sovereignty of the people has acquired,
+in the United States, all the practical development which the imagination can
+conceive. It is unencumbered by those fictions which have been thrown over it
+in other countries, and it appears in every possible form according to the
+exigency of the occasion. Sometimes the laws are made by the people in a body,
+as at Athens; and sometimes its representatives, chosen by universal suffrage,
+transact business in its name, and almost under its immediate control.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In some countries a power 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 partly within and partly without the ranks of
+the people. But 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 meet 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 legislators, and in the execution of
+them by 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 authorities forget their popular origin and
+the power from which they emanate. *a [Footnote a: See Appendix, H.]
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0010" id="link2HCH0010"></a> Chapter V: Necessity Of
+Examining The Condition Of The States&mdash;Part I</h2>
+
+<p>
+Necessity Of Examining The Condition Of The States Before That Of The Union At
+Large.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is proposed to examine in the following chapter what is the form of
+government established in America on the principle of the sovereignty of the
+people; what are its resources, its hindrances, its advantages, and its
+dangers. The first difficulty which presents itself arises from the complex
+nature of the constitution of the United States, which consists of two distinct
+social structures, connected 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
+community, the other circumscribed 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 obstacles. The form of the Federal
+Government of the United States was the last which was adopted; and it is in
+fact nothing more than a modification or a summary of those republican
+principles which were current in the whole community before it existed, and
+independently of its existence. Moreover, 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 picture as a whole before he had
+explained its details would necessarily fall into obscurity and repetition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The great political principles which govern American society at this day
+undoubtedly took their origin and their growth in the State. It is therefore
+necessary to become acquainted with the State in order to possess a clue to the
+remainder. The States which at present compose the American Union all present
+the same features, as far as regards the external aspect of their institutions.
+Their political or administrative existence is centred in three focuses of
+action, which may not inaptly be compared to the different nervous centres
+which convey motion to the human body. The township is the lowest in order,
+then the county, and lastly the State; and I propose to devote the following
+chapter to the examination of these three divisions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The American System Of Townships And Municipal Bodies
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Why the Author begins the examination of the political institutions with the
+township&mdash;Its existence in all nations&mdash;Difficulty of establishing
+and preserving municipal independence&mdash;Its importance&mdash;Why the Author
+has selected the township system of New England as the main topic of his
+discussion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not undesignedly that I begin this subject with the Township. The village
+or township is the only association which is so perfectly natural that wherever
+a number of men are collected it seems to constitute itself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The town, or tithing, as the smallest division of a community, must necessarily
+exist in all nations, whatever their laws and customs may be: if man makes
+monarchies and establishes republics, the first association of mankind seems
+constituted by the hand of God. But although the existence of the township is
+coeval with that of man, its liberties are not the less rarely respected and
+easily destroyed. A nation is always able to establish great political
+assemblies, because it habitually contains a certain number of individuals
+fitted by their talents, if not by their habits, for the direction of affairs.
+The township is, on the contrary, composed of coarser materials, which are less
+easily fashioned by the legislator. The difficulties which attend the
+consolidation of its independence rather augment than diminish with the
+increasing enlightenment of the people. A highly civilized community spurns the
+attempts of a local independence, is disgusted at its numerous blunders, and is
+apt to despair of success before the experiment is completed. Again, no
+immunities are so ill protected from the encroachments of the supreme power as
+those of municipal bodies in general: they are unable to struggle,
+single-handed, against a strong or an enterprising government, and they cannot
+defend their cause with success unless it be identified with the customs of the
+nation and supported by public opinion. Thus until the independence of
+townships is amalgamated with the manners of a people it is easily destroyed,
+and it is only after a long existence in the laws that it can be thus
+amalgamated. Municipal freedom is not the fruit of human device; it is rarely
+created; but it is, as it were, secretly and spontaneously engendered in the
+midst of a semi-barbarous state of society. The constant action of the laws and
+the national habits, peculiar circumstances, and above all time, may
+consolidate it; but there is certainly no nation on the continent of Europe
+which has experienced its advantages. Nevertheless local assemblies of citizens
+constitute the strength of free nations. Town-meetings are to liberty what
+primary schools are to science; they bring it within the people&rsquo;s reach,
+they teach men how to use and how to enjoy it. A nation may establish a system
+of free government, but without the spirit of municipal institutions it cannot
+have the spirit of liberty. The transient passions and the interests of an
+hour, or the chance of circumstances, may have created the external forms of
+independence; but the despotic tendency which has been repelled will, sooner or
+later, inevitably reappear on the surface.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In order to explain to the reader the general principles on which the political
+organization of the counties and townships of the United States rests, I have
+thought it expedient to choose one of the States of New England as an example,
+to examine the mechanism of its constitution, and then to cast a general glance
+over the country. The township and the county are not organized in the same
+manner in every part of the Union; it is, however, easy to perceive that the
+same principles have guided the formation of both of them throughout the Union.
+I am inclined to believe that these principles have been carried further in New
+England than elsewhere, and consequently that they offer greater facilities to
+the observations of a stranger. The institutions of New England form a complete
+and regular whole; they have received the sanction of time, they have the
+support of the laws, and the still stronger support of the manners of the
+community, over which they exercise the most prodigious influence; they
+consequently deserve our attention on every account.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Limits Of The Township
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The township of New England is a division which stands between the commune and
+the canton of France, and which corresponds in general to the English tithing,
+or town. Its average population is from two to three thousand; *a so that, on
+the one hand, the interests of its inhabitants are not likely to conflict, and,
+on the other, men capable of conducting its affairs are always to be found
+among its citizens.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ In 1830 there were 305 townships in the State of Massachusetts, and 610,014
+inhabitants, which gives an average of about 2,000 inhabitants to each
+township.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Authorities Of The Township In New England
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The people the source of all power here as elsewhere&mdash;Manages its own
+affairs&mdash;No corporation&mdash;The greater part of the authority vested in
+the hands of the Selectmen&mdash;How the Selectmen
+act&mdash;Town-meeting&mdash;Enumeration of the public officers of the
+township&mdash;Obligatory and remunerated functions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the township, as well as everywhere else, the people is the only source of
+power; but in no stage of government does the body of citizens exercise a more
+immediate influence. In America the people is a master whose exigencies demand
+obedience to the utmost limits of possibility.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In New England the majority acts by representatives in the conduct of the
+public business of the State; but if such an arrangement be necessary in
+general affairs, in the townships, where the legislative and administrative
+action of the government is in more immediate contact with the subject, the
+system of representation is not adopted. There is no corporation; but the body
+of electors, after having designated its magistrates, directs them in
+everything that exceeds the simple and ordinary executive business of the
+State. *b
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ The same rules are not applicable to the great towns, which generally have a
+mayor, and a corporation divided into two bodies; this, however, is an
+exception which requires the sanction of a law.&mdash;See the Act of February
+22, 1822, for appointing the authorities of the city of Boston. It frequently
+happens that small towns as well as cities are subject to a peculiar
+administration. In 1832, 104 townships in the State of New York were governed
+in this manner.&mdash;Williams&rsquo; Register.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This state of things is so contrary to our ideas, and so different from our
+customs, that it is necessary for me to adduce some examples to explain it
+thoroughly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The public duties in the township are extremely numerous and minutely divided,
+as we shall see further on; but the larger proportion of administrative power
+is vested in the hands of a small number of individuals, called &ldquo;the
+Selectmen.&rdquo; *c The general laws of the State impose a certain number of
+obligations on the selectmen, which they may fulfil without the authorization
+of the body they represent, but which they can only neglect on their own
+responsibility. The law of the State obliges them, for instance, to draw up the
+list of electors in their townships; and if they omit this part of their
+functions, they are guilty of a misdemeanor. In all the affairs, however, which
+are determined by the town-meeting, the selectmen are the organs of the popular
+mandate, as in France the Maire executes the decree of the municipal council.
+They usually act upon their own responsibility, and merely put in practice
+principles which have been previously recognized by the majority. But if any
+change is to be introduced in the existing state of things, or if they wish to
+undertake any new enterprise, they are obliged to refer to the source of their
+power. If, for instance, a school is to be established, the selectmen convoke
+the whole body of the electors on a certain day at an appointed place; they
+explain the urgency of the case; they give their opinion on the means of
+satisfying it, on the probable expense, and the site which seems to be most
+favorable. The meeting is consulted on these several points; it adopts the
+principle, marks out the site, votes the rate, and confides the execution of
+its resolution to the selectmen.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ Three selectmen are appointed in the small townships, and nine in the large
+ones. See &ldquo;The Town-Officer,&rdquo; p. 186. See also the principal laws
+of the State of Massachusetts relative to the selectmen:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Act of February 20, 1786, vol. i. p. 219; February 24, 1796, vol. i. p. 488;
+March 7, 1801, vol. ii. p. 45; June 16, 1795, vol. i. p. 475; March 12, 1808,
+vol. ii. p. 186; February 28, 1787, vol. i. p. 302; June 22, 1797, vol. i. p.
+539.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The selectmen have alone the right of calling a town-meeting, but they may be
+requested to do so: if ten citizens are desirous of submitting a new project to
+the assent of the township, they may demand a general convocation of the
+inhabitants; the selectmen are obliged to comply, but they have only the right
+of presiding at the meeting. *d
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ See Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 150, Act of March 25, 1786.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The selectmen are elected every year in the month of April or of May. The
+town-meeting chooses at the same time a number of other municipal magistrates,
+who are entrusted with important administrative functions. The assessors rate
+the township; the collectors receive the rate. A constable is appointed to keep
+the peace, to watch the streets, and to forward the execution of the laws; the
+town-clerk records all the town votes, orders, grants, births, deaths, and
+marriages; the treasurer keeps the funds; the overseer of the poor performs the
+difficult task of superintending the action of the poor-laws; committee-men are
+appointed to attend to the schools and to public instruction; and the
+road-surveyors, who take care of the greater and lesser thoroughfares of the
+township, complete the list of the principal functionaries. They are, however,
+still further subdivided; and amongst the municipal officers are to be found
+parish commissioners, who audit the expenses of public worship; different
+classes of inspectors, some of whom are to direct the citizens in case of fire;
+tithing-men, listers, haywards, chimney-viewers, fence-viewers to maintain the
+bounds of property, timber-measurers, and sealers of weights and measures. *e
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ All these magistrates actually exist; their different functions are all
+detailed in a book called &ldquo;The Town-Officer,&rdquo; by Isaac Goodwin,
+Worcester, 1827; and in the &ldquo;Collection of the General Laws of
+Massachusetts,&rdquo; 3 vols., Boston, 1823.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are nineteen principal officers in a township. Every inhabitant is
+constrained, on the pain of being fined, to undertake these different
+functions; which, however, are almost all paid, in order that the poorer
+citizens may be able to give up their time without loss. In general the
+American system is not to grant a fixed salary to its functionaries. Every
+service has its price, and they are remunerated in proportion to what they have
+done.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Existence Of The Township
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Every one the best judge of his own interest&mdash;Corollary of the principle
+of the sovereignty of the people&mdash;Application of those doctrines in the
+townships of America&mdash;The township of New England is sovereign in all that
+concerns itself alone: subject to the State in all other matters&mdash;Bond of
+the township and the State&mdash;In France the Government lends its agent to
+the Commune&mdash;In America the reverse occurs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have already observed that the principle of the sovereignty of the people
+governs the whole political system of the Anglo-Americans. Every page of this
+book will afford new instances of the same doctrine. In the nations by which
+the sovereignty of the people is recognized every individual possesses an equal
+share of power, and participates alike in the government of the State. Every
+individual is, therefore, supposed 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 the authorities which conduct it, or that he is less capable
+than his neighbor of governing himself, but because he acknowledges the utility
+of an association with his fellow-men, and because he knows that no such
+association can exist without a regulating force. If he be a subject in all
+that concerns the mutual relations of citizens, he is free and responsible to
+God alone for all that concerns himself. Hence arises the maxim that every one
+is the best and the sole judge of his own private interest, and that society
+has no right to control a man&rsquo;s actions, unless they are prejudicial to
+the common weal, or unless the common weal demands his co-operation. This
+doctrine is universally admitted in the United States. I shall hereafter
+examine the general influence which it exercises on the ordinary actions of
+life; I am now speaking of the nature of municipal bodies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The township, taken as a whole, and in relation to the government of the
+country, may be looked upon as an individual to whom the theory I have just
+alluded to is applied. Municipal independence is therefore a natural
+consequence of the principle of the sovereignty of the people in the United
+States: all the American republics recognize it more or less; but circumstances
+have peculiarly favored its growth in New England.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this part of the Union the impulsion of political activity was given in the
+townships; and it may almost be said that each of them originally formed an
+independent nation. When the Kings of England asserted their supremacy, they
+were contented to assume the central power of the State. The townships of New
+England remained as they were before; and although they are now subject to the
+State, they were at first scarcely dependent upon it. It is important to
+remember that they have not been invested with privileges, but that they have,
+on the contrary, forfeited a portion of their independence to the State. The
+townships are only subordinate to the State in those interests which I shall
+term social, as they are common to all the citizens. They are independent in
+all that concerns themselves; and amongst the inhabitants of New England I
+believe that not a man is to be found who would acknowledge that the State has
+any right to interfere in their local interests. The towns of New England buy
+and sell, sue or are sued, augment or diminish their rates, without the
+slightest opposition on the part of the administrative authority of the State.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+They are bound, however, to comply with the demands of the community. If the
+State is in need of money, a town can neither give nor 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. A uniform system of instruction is organized all over the country,
+and every town is bound to establish the schools which the law ordains. In
+speaking of the administration of the United States I shall have occasion to
+point out the means by which the townships are compelled to obey in these
+different cases: I here merely show the existence of the obligation. Strict as
+this obligation is, the government of the State imposes it in principle only,
+and in its performance the township resumes all its independent rights. Thus,
+taxes are voted by the State, but they are levied and collected by the
+township; the existence of a school is obligatory, but the township builds,
+pays, and superintends it. In France the State-collector receives the local
+imposts; in America the town-collector receives the taxes of the State. Thus
+the French Government lends its agents to the commune; in America the township
+is the agent of the Government. This fact alone shows the extent of the
+differences which exist between the two nations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Public Spirit Of The Townships Of New England
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How the township of New England wins the affections of its
+inhabitants&mdash;Difficulty of creating local public spirit in
+Europe&mdash;The rights and duties of the American township favorable to
+it&mdash;Characteristics of home in the United States&mdash;Manifestations of
+public spirit in New England&mdash;Its happy effects.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America, not only do municipal bodies exist, but they are kept alive and
+supported by public spirit. The township of New England possesses two
+advantages which infallibly secure the attentive interest of mankind, namely,
+independence and authority. Its sphere is indeed small and limited, but within
+that sphere its action is unrestrained; and its independence gives to it a real
+importance which its extent and population may not always ensure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is to be remembered that the affections of men generally lie on the side of
+authority. Patriotism is not durable in a conquered nation. The New Englander
+is attached to his township, not only because he was born in it, but because it
+constitutes a social body of which he is a member, and whose government claims
+and deserves the exercise of his sagacity. In Europe the absence of local
+public spirit is a frequent subject of regret to those who are in power;
+everyone agrees that there is no surer guarantee of order and tranquility, and
+yet nothing is more difficult to create. If the municipal bodies were made
+powerful and independent, the authorities of the nation might be disunited and
+the peace of the country endangered. Yet, without power and independence, 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 country are not elected, and their
+authority is very limited. Even the State is only a second-rate community,
+whose tranquil and obscure administration offers no inducement sufficient to
+draw men away from the circle of their interests into the turmoil of public
+affairs. The federal government confers power and honor on the men who conduct
+it; but these individuals can never be very numerous. The high station of the
+Presidency can only be reached at an advanced period of life, and the other
+federal functionaries are generally men who have been favored by fortune, or
+distinguished in some other career. Such cannot be the permanent aim of the
+ambitious. But the township serves as a centre for the desire of public esteem,
+the want of exciting interests, and the taste for authority and popularity, in
+the midst of the ordinary relations of life; and the passions which commonly
+embroil society change their character when they find a vent so near the
+domestic hearth and the family circle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the American States power has been disseminated with admirable skill for the
+purpose of interesting the greatest possible number of persons in the common
+weal. Independently of the electors who are from time to time called into
+action, the body politic is divided into innumerable functionaries and
+officers, who all, in their several spheres, represent the same powerful whole
+in whose name they act. The local administration thus affords an unfailing
+source of profit and interest to a vast number of individuals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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
+activity of the township is continually perceptible; 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 disturbing it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The American attaches himself to his home as the mountaineer clings to his
+hills, because the characteristic features of his country are there more
+distinctly marked than elsewhere. 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 America the commotions of municipal discord are unfrequent. 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 upon the soil. In New England no tradition exists of a distinction of
+ranks; no portion of the community is tempted to oppress the remainder; and the
+abuses which may injure isolated individuals are forgotten in the general
+contentment which prevails. If the government is defective (and it would no
+doubt be easy to point out its deficiencies), the fact that it really emanates
+from those it governs, and that it acts, either ill or well, casts the
+protecting spell of a parental pride over its faults. No term of comparison
+disturbs the satisfaction of the citizen: England formerly governed the mass of
+the colonies, but the people was always sovereign in the township where its
+rule is not only an ancient but a primitive state.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The native of New England is attached to his township because it is independent
+and free: his co-operation in its affairs ensures 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 place; he practises the art of government in the small
+sphere within his reach; he accustoms himself to those forms which can alone
+ensure the steady progress of liberty; he imbibes their spirit; he acquires a
+taste for order, comprehends the union or the balance of powers, and collects
+clear practical notions on the nature of his duties and the extent of his
+rights.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Counties Of New England
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The division of the countries in America has considerable analogy with that of
+the arrondissements of France. The limits of the counties are arbitrarily laid
+down, and the various districts which they contain have no necessary
+connection, no common tradition or natural sympathy; their object is simply to
+facilitate the administration of justice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The extent of the township was too small to contain a system of judicial
+institutions; each county has, however, a court of justice, *f 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 the State of Massachusetts
+this authority is vested in the hands of several magistrates, who are appointed
+by the Governor of the State, with the advice *g of his council. *h The
+officers of the county have only a limited and occasional authority, which is
+applicable to certain predetermined cases. The State and the townships possess
+all the power requisite to conduct public business. The budget of the county is
+drawn up by its officers, and is voted by the legislature, but there is no
+assembly which directly or indirectly represents the county. It has, therefore,
+properly speaking, no political existence.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+f <br />
+[ See the Act of February 14, 1821, Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 551.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ See the Act of February 20, 1819, Laws of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 494.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+h <br />
+[ The council of the Governor is an elective body.] A twofold tendency may be
+discerned in the American constitutions, which impels the legislator to
+centralize the legislative and to disperse the executive power. The township of
+New England has in itself an indestructible element of independence; and this
+distinct existence could only be fictitiously introduced into the county, where
+its utility has not been felt. But all the townships united have but one
+representation, which is the State, the centre of the national authority:
+beyond the action of the township and that of the nation, nothing can be said
+to exist but the influence of individual exertion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Administration In New England
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Administration not perceived in America&mdash;Why?&mdash;The Europeans believe
+that liberty is promoted by depriving the social authority of some of its
+rights; the Americans, by dividing its exercise&mdash;Almost all the
+administration confined to the township, and divided amongst the
+town-officers&mdash;No trace of an administrative body to be perceived, either
+in the township or above it&mdash;The reason of this&mdash;How it happens that
+the administration of the State is uniform&mdash;Who is empowered to enforce
+the obedience of the township and the county to the law&mdash;The introduction
+of judicial power into the administration&mdash;Consequence of the extension of
+the elective principle to all functionaries&mdash;The Justice of the Peace in
+New England&mdash;By whom appointed&mdash;County officer: ensures the
+administration of the townships&mdash;Court of Sessions&mdash;Its
+action&mdash;Right of inspection and indictment disseminated like the other
+administrative functions&mdash;Informers encouraged by the division of fines.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing is more striking to an 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 that they are daily executed; but although
+everything is in motion, the hand which gives the impulse to the social machine
+can nowhere be discovered. Nevertheless, as all peoples are obliged to have
+recourse to certain grammatical forms, which are the foundation of human
+language, in order to express their thoughts; so all communities are obliged to
+secure their existence by submitting to a certain dose of authority, without
+which they fall a prey to anarchy. This authority may be distributed in several
+ways, but it must always exist somewhere.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are two methods of diminishing the force of authority 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 circumstances.
+To weaken authority in this manner is what is generally termed in Europe to lay
+the foundations of freedom. The second manner of diminishing the influence of
+authority does not consist in stripping society of any of its rights, nor in
+paralyzing its efforts, but in distributing the exercise of its privileges in
+various hands, and in multiplying functionaries, to each of whom the degree of
+power necessary for him to perform his duty is entrusted. There may be nations
+whom this distribution of social powers might lead to anarchy; but in itself it
+is not anarchical. The action of authority is indeed thus rendered less
+irresistible and less perilous, but it is not totally suppressed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The revolution of the United States was the result of a mature and dignified
+taste for freedom, and not of a vague or ill-defined craving for independence.
+It contracted no alliance with the turbulent passions of anarchy; but its
+course was marked, on the contrary, by an attachment to whatever was lawful and
+orderly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was never assumed in the United States that the citizen of a free country
+has a right to do whatever he pleases; on the contrary, social obligations were
+there imposed upon him more various than anywhere else. No idea was ever
+entertained of attacking the principles or of contesting the rights of society;
+but the exercise of its authority was divided, to the end that the office might
+be powerful and the officer insignificant, and that the community should be at
+once regulated and free. In no country in the world does the law hold so
+absolute a language as in America, and in no country is the right of applying
+it vested in so many hands. The administrative power in the United States
+presents nothing either central or hierarchical in its constitution, which
+accounts for its passing, unperceived. The power exists, but its representative
+is not to be perceived.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We have already seen that the independent townships of New England protect
+their own private interests; and the municipal magistrates are the persons to
+whom the execution of the laws of the State is most frequently entrusted. *i
+Besides the general laws, the State sometimes passes general police
+regulations; but more commonly the townships and town officers, conjointly with
+justices of the peace, regulate the minor details of social life, according to
+the necessities of the different localities, and promulgate such enactments as
+concern the health of the community, and the peace as well as morality of the
+citizens. *j Lastly, these municipal magistrates provide, of their own accord
+and without any delegated powers, for those unforeseen emergencies which
+frequently occur in society. *k
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+i <br />
+[ See &ldquo;The Town-Officer,&rdquo; especially at the words Selectmen,
+Assessors, Collectors, Schools, Surveyors of Highways. I take one example in a
+thousand: the State prohibits travelling on the Sunday; the tything-men, who
+are town-officers, are specially charged to keep watch and to execute the law.
+See the Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 410.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The selectmen draw up the lists of electors for the election of the Governor,
+and transmit the result of the ballot to the Secretary of the State. See Act of
+February 24, 1796: Id., vol. i. p. 488.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+j <br />
+[ Thus, for instance, the selectmen authorize the construction of drains, point
+out the proper sites for slaughter-houses and other trades which are a nuisance
+to the neighborhood. See the Act of June 7, 1785: Id., vol. i. p. 193.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+k <br />
+[ The selectmen take measures for the security of the public in case of
+contagious diseases, conjointly with the justices of the peace. See Act of June
+22, 1797, vol. i. p. 539.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It results from what we have said that in the State of Massachusetts the
+administrative authority is almost entirely restricted to the township, *l but
+that it is distributed among a great number of individuals. In the French
+commune there is properly but one official functionary, namely, the Maire; and
+in New England we have seen that there are nineteen. These nineteen
+functionaries do not in general depend upon one another. The law carefully
+prescribes a circle of action to each of these magistrates; and within that
+circle they have an entire right to perform their functions independently of
+any other authority. Above the township scarcely any trace of a series of
+official dignitaries is to be found. It sometimes happens that the county
+officers alter a decision of the townships or town magistrates, *m but in
+general the authorities of the county have no right to interfere with the
+authorities of the township, *n except in such matters as concern the county.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+l <br />
+[ I say almost, for there are various circumstances in the annals of a township
+which are regulated by the justice of the peace in his individual capacity, or
+by the justices of the peace assembled in the chief town of the county; thus
+licenses are granted by the justices. See the Act of February 28, 1787, vol. i.
+p. 297.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+m <br />
+[ Thus licenses are only granted to such persons as can produce a certificate
+of good conduct from the selectmen. If the selectmen refuse to give the
+certificate, the party may appeal to the justices assembled in the Court of
+Sessions, and they may grant the license. See Act of March 12, 1808, vol. ii.
+p. 186.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The townships have the right to make by-laws, and to enforce them by fines
+which are fixed by law; but these by-laws must be approved by the Court of
+Sessions. See Act of March 23, 1786, vol. i. p. 254.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+n <br />
+[ In Massachusetts the county magistrates are frequently called upon to
+investigate the acts of the town magistrates; but it will be shown further on
+that this investigation is a consequence, not of their administrative, but of
+their judicial power.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The magistrates of the township, as well as those of the county, are bound to
+communicate their acts to the central government in a very small number of
+predetermined cases. *o But the central government is not represented by an
+individual whose business it is to publish police regulations and ordinances
+enforcing the execution of the laws; to keep up a regular communication with
+the officers of the township and the county; to inspect their conduct, to
+direct their actions, or to reprimand their faults. There is no point which
+serves as a centre to the radii of the administration.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+o <br />
+[ The town committees of schools are obliged to make an annual report to the
+Secretary of the State on the condition of the school. See Act of March 10,
+1827, vol. iii. p. 183.]
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0011" id="link2HCH0011"></a> Chapter V: Necessity Of
+Examining The Condition Of The States&mdash;Part II</h2>
+
+<p>
+What, then, is the uniform plan on which the government is conducted, and how
+is the compliance of the counties and their magistrates or the townships and
+their officers enforced? In the States of New England the legislative authority
+embraces more subjects than it does in France; the legislator penetrates to the
+very core of the administration; the law descends to the most minute details;
+the same enactment prescribes the principle and the method of its application,
+and thus imposes a multitude of strict and rigorously defined obligations on
+the secondary functionaries 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 of compelling the secondary functionaries of the
+administration to conform to the law. It may be affirmed that, in general,
+society has only two methods of enforcing the execution of the laws at its
+disposal: a discretionary power may be entrusted to a superior functionary of
+directing all the others, and of cashiering them in case of disobedience; or
+the courts of justice may be authorized to inflict judicial penalties on the
+offender: but these two methods are not always available.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The right of directing a civil officer presupposes that of cashiering him if he
+does not obey orders, and of rewarding him by promotion if he fulfils his
+duties with propriety. But an elected magistrate can neither be cashiered nor
+promoted. All elective functions are inalienable until their term is expired.
+In fact, the elected magistrate has nothing either to expect or to fear from
+his constituents; and when all public offices are filled by ballot there can be
+no series of official dignities, because the double right of commanding and of
+enforcing obedience can never be vested in the same individual, and because the
+power of issuing an order can never be joined to that of inflicting a
+punishment or bestowing a reward.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The communities therefore in which the secondary functionaries of the
+government are elected are perforce obliged to make great use of judicial
+penalties as a means of administration. This is not evident at first sight; for
+those in power are apt to look upon the institution of elective functionaries
+as one concession, and the subjection of the elected magistrate to the judges
+of the land as another. They are equally averse to both these innovations; and
+as they are more pressingly solicited to grant the former than the latter, they
+accede to the election of the magistrate, and leave him independent of the
+judicial power. Nevertheless, 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 elective offices:
+if these two institutions do not go hand in hand, the State must fall into
+anarchy or into subjection.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has always been remarked that habits of legal business do not render men apt
+to the exercise of administrative authority. The Americans have borrowed from
+the English, their fathers, the idea of an institution which is unknown upon
+the continent of Europe: I allude to that of the Justices of the Peace. The
+Justice of the Peace is a sort of mezzo termine between the magistrate and the
+man of the world, between the civil officer and the judge. A justice of the
+peace is a well-informed citizen, though he is not necessarily versed in the
+knowledge of the laws. His office simply obliges him to execute the police
+regulations of society; a task in which good sense and integrity are of more
+avail than legal science. The justice introduces into the administration a
+certain taste for established forms and publicity, which renders him a most
+unserviceable instrument of despotism; and, on the other hand, he is not
+blinded by those superstitions which render legal officers unfit members of a
+government. The Americans have adopted the system of the English justices of
+the peace, but they have deprived it of that aristocratic character which is
+discernible in the mother-country. The Governor of Massachusetts *p appoints a
+certain number of justices of the peace in every county, whose functions last
+seven years. *q He further designates three individuals from amongst the whole
+body of justices who form in each county what is called the Court of Sessions.
+The justices take a personal share in public business; they are sometimes
+entrusted with administrative functions in conjunction with elected officers,
+*r they sometimes constitute a tribunal, before which the magistrates summarily
+prosecute a refractory citizen, or the citizens inform against the abuses of
+the magistrate. But it is in the Court of Sessions that they exercise their
+most important functions. This court meets twice a year in the county town; in
+Massachusetts it is empowered to enforce the obedience of the greater number *s
+of public officers. *t It must be observed, that in the State of Massachusetts
+the Court of Sessions is at the same time an administrative body, properly so
+called, and a political tribunal. It has been asserted 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 entrusted to any one of them in
+particular. *u In all that concerns county business the duties of the Court of
+Sessions are purely administrative; and if in its investigations it
+occasionally borrows the forms of judicial procedure, it is only with a view to
+its own information, *v or as a guarantee to the community over which it
+presides. But when the administration of the township is brought before it, it
+always acts as a judicial body, and in some few cases as an official assembly.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+p <br />
+[ We shall hereafter learn what a Governor is: I shall content myself with
+remarking in this place that he represents the executive power of the whole
+State.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+q <br />
+[ See the Constitution of Massachusetts, chap. II. sect. 1. Section 9; chap.
+III. Section 3.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+r <br />
+[ 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.&mdash;Act of June 22, 1797, vol. i. p. 540.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In general the justices interfere in all the important acts of the
+administration, and give them a semi-judicial character.] [Footnote s: I say
+the greater number, because certain administrative misdemeanors are brought
+before ordinary tribunals. If, for instance, a township refuses to make the
+necessary expenditure for its schools or to name a school-committee, it is
+liable to a heavy fine. But this penalty is pronounced by the Supreme Judicial
+Court or the Court of Common Pleas. See Act of March 10, 1827, Laws of
+Massachusetts, vol. iii. p. 190. Or when a township neglects to provide the
+necessary war-stores.&mdash;Act of February 21, 1822: Id., vol. ii. p. 570.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+t <br />
+[ In their individual capacity the justices of the peace take a part in the
+business of the counties and townships.] [Footnote u: These affairs may be
+brought under the following heads:&mdash;1. The erection of prisons and courts
+of justice. 2. The county budget, which is afterwards voted by the State. 3.
+The distribution of the taxes so voted. 4. Grants of certain patents. 5. The
+laying down and repairs of the country roads.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+v <br />
+[ Thus, when a road is under consideration, almost all difficulties are
+disposed of by the aid of the jury.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first difficulty is to procure the obedience of an authority as entirely
+independent of the general laws of the State as the township is. We have stated
+that assessors are annually named by the town-meetings to levy the taxes. If a
+township attempts to evade the payment of the taxes by neglecting to name its
+assessors, the Court of Sessions condemns it to a heavy penalty. *w 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 it is that in the United States
+the authority of the Government is mysteriously concealed under the forms of a
+judicial sentence; and its influence is at the same time fortified by that
+irresistible power with which men have invested the formalities of law.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+w <br />
+[ See Act of February 20, 1786, Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 217.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 without any complication, or in a principle without its application in
+detail. *x But the difficulty increases when it is not the obedience of the
+township, but that of the town officers which is to be enforced. All the
+reprehensible actions of which a public functionary may be guilty are reducible
+to the following heads:
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+x <br />
+[ There is an indirect method of enforcing the 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 right which the law gives him against the township. Thus by
+threatening the officer the Court of Sessions exacts compliance from the town.
+See Act of March 5, 1787, Id., vol. i. p. 305.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He may execute the law without energy or zeal;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He may neglect to execute the law;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He may do what the law enjoins him not to do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The last two violations of duty can alone come under the cognizance of a
+tribunal; a positive and appreciable fact is the indispensable foundation of an
+action at law. Thus, if the selectmen omit to fulfil the legal formalities
+usual at town elections, they may be condemned to pay a fine; *y but when the
+public officer performs his duty without ability, and when he obeys the letter
+of the law without zeal or energy, he is at least beyond the reach of judicial
+interference. The Court of Sessions, even when it is invested with its official
+powers, is in this case unable to compel him to a more satisfactory obedience.
+The fear of removal is the only check to these quasi-offences; and as the Court
+of Sessions does not originate the town authorities, it cannot remove
+functionaries whom it does not appoint. Moreover, a perpetual investigation
+would be necessary to convict the officer of negligence or lukewarmness; and
+the Court of Sessions sits but twice a year and then only judges such offences
+as are brought before its notice. The only security of that active and
+enlightened obedience which a court of justice cannot impose upon public
+officers lies in the possibility of their arbitrary removal. In France this
+security is sought for in powers exercised by the heads of the administration;
+in America it is sought for in the principle of election.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+y <br />
+[ Laws of Massachusetts, vol. ii. p. 45.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus, to recapitulate in a few words what I have been showing: 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 pass sentence upon him. If
+he commits a fault in his official capacity, a purely administrative tribunal
+is empowered to punish him; and, if the affair is important or urgent, the
+judge supplies the omission of the functionary. *z Lastly, if the same
+individual is guilty of one of those intangible offences of which human justice
+has no cognizance, he annually appears before a tribunal from which there is no
+appeal, which can at once reduce him to insignificance and deprive him of his
+charge. This system undoubtedly possesses great advantages, but its execution
+is attended with a practical difficulty which it is important to point out.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+z <br />
+[ If, for instance, a township persists in refusing to name its assessors, the
+Court of Sessions nominates them; and the magistrates thus appointed are
+invested with the same authority as elected officers. See the Act quoted above,
+February 20, 1787.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have already observed that the administrative tribunal, which is called the
+Court of Sessions, has no right of inspection over the town officers. It can
+only interfere when the conduct of a magistrate is specially brought under its
+notice; and this is the delicate part of the system. The Americans of New
+England are unacquainted with the office of public prosecutor in the Court of
+Sessions, *a and it may readily be perceived that it could not have been
+established without difficulty. If an accusing magistrate had merely been
+appointed in the chief town of each county, and if he had been unassisted by
+agents in the townships, he would not have been better acquainted with what was
+going on in the county than the members of the Court of Sessions. But to
+appoint 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
+England. The Americans have therefore divided the offices of inspection and of
+prosecution, as well as all the other functions of the administration. 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. *b There are
+certain great offences which are officially prosecuted by the States; *c but
+more frequently the task of punishing delinquents devolves upon the fiscal
+officer, whose province it is to receive the fine: thus the treasurer of the
+township is charged with the prosecution of such administrative offences as
+fall under his notice. But a more special appeal is made by American
+legislation to the private interest of the citizen; *d and this great principle
+is constantly 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 cupidity for the execution of
+the laws. When an individual is really and sensibly injured by an
+administrative abuse, it is natural that his personal interest should induce
+him to prosecute. But if a legal formality be required, which, however
+advantageous to the community, is of small importance to individuals,
+plaintiffs may be less easily found; and thus, by a tacit agreement, the laws
+may fall into disuse. Reduced by their system to this extremity, the Americans
+are obliged to encourage informers by bestowing on them a portion of the
+penalty in certain cases, *e and to insure the execution of the laws by the
+dangerous expedient of degrading the morals of the people. The only
+administrative authority above the county magistrates is, properly speaking,
+that of the Government.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ I say the Court of Sessions, because in common courts there is a magistrate
+who exercises some of the functions of a public prosecutor.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ The grand-jurors are, for instance, bound to inform the court of the bad
+state of the roads.&mdash;Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 308.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ If, for instance, the treasurer of the county holds back his
+accounts.&mdash;Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 406.] [Footnote d: Thus, if a
+private individual breaks down or is wounded in consequence of the badness of a
+road, he can sue the township or the county for damages at the
+sessions.&mdash;Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 309.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ In cases of invasion or insurrection, if the town-officers neglect to furnish
+the necessary stores and ammunition for the militia, the township may be
+condemned to a fine of from $200 to $500. It may readily be imagined that in
+such a case it might happen that no one cared to prosecute; hence the law adds
+that all the citizens may indict offences of this kind, and that half of the
+fine shall belong to the plaintiff. See Act of March 6, 1810, vol. ii. p. 236.
+The same clause is frequently to be met with in the law of Massachusetts. Not
+only are private individuals thus incited to prosecute the public officers, but
+the public officers are 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 he receives half the penalty for himself. See the Laws above quoted,
+vol. i. p. 308.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+General Remarks On The Administration Of The United States Differences of the
+States of the Union in their system of administration&mdash;Activity and
+perfection of the local authorities decrease towards the South&mdash;Power of
+the magistrate increases; that of the elector diminishes&mdash;Administration
+passes from the township to the county&mdash;States of New York, Ohio,
+Pennsylvania&mdash;Principles of administration applicable to the whole
+Union&mdash;Election of public officers, and inalienability of their
+functions&mdash;Absence of gradation of ranks&mdash;Introduction of judicial
+resources into the administration.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have already premised that, after having examined the constitution 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 a local activity exist in every
+State; but in no part of the confederation is a township to be met with
+precisely similar to those of New England. The more we descend towards the
+South, the less active does the business of the township or parish become; the
+number of magistrates, of functions, and of rights decreases; the population
+exercises a less immediate influence on affairs; town meetings are less
+frequent, and the subjects of debate less numerous. The power of the elected
+magistrate is augmented and that of the elector diminished, whilst the public
+spirit of the local communities is less awakened and less influential. *f These
+differences may be perceived to a certain extent in the State of New York; they
+are very sensible in Pennsylvania; but they become less striking as we advance
+to the northwest. The majority of the emigrants who settle in the northwestern
+States are natives of New England, and they carry the habits of their mother
+country with them into that which they adopt. A township in Ohio is by no means
+dissimilar from a township in Massachusetts.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+f <br />
+[ For details see the Revised Statutes of the State of New York, part i. chap.
+xi. vol. i. pp. 336-364, entitled, &ldquo;Of the Powers, Duties, and Privileges
+of Towns.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+See in the Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania, the words Assessors, Collector,
+Constables, Overseer of the Poor, Supervisors of Highways; and in the Acts of a
+general nature of the State of Ohio, the Act of February 25, 1834, relating to
+townships, p. 412; besides the peculiar dispositions relating to divers
+town-officers, such as Township&rsquo;s Clerk, Trustees, Overseers of the Poor,
+Fence Viewers, Appraisers of Property, Township&rsquo;s Treasurer, Constables,
+Supervisors of Highways.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We have seen that in Massachusetts the mainspring of public administration lies
+in the township. It forms the common centre of the interests and affections of
+the citizens. But this ceases to be the case as we descend to States in which
+knowledge is less generally diffused, and where the township consequently
+offers fewer guarantees 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 administration, and the
+intermediate power between the Government and the citizen. In Massachusetts the
+business of the county is conducted by the Court of Sessions, which is composed
+of a quorum named by the Governor and his council; but the county has no
+representative assembly, and its expenditure is voted by the national
+legislature. In the great State of New York, on the contrary, and in those of
+Ohio and Pennsylvania, the inhabitants of each county choose a certain number
+of representatives, who constitute the assembly of the county. *g The county
+assembly has the right of taxing the inhabitants to a certain extent; and in
+this respect it enjoys the privileges of a real legislative body: at the same
+time it exercises an executive power in the county, frequently directs the
+administration of the townships, and restricts their authority within much
+narrower bounds than in Massachusetts.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ See the Revised Statutes of the State of New York, part i. chap. xi. vol. i.
+p. 340. Id. chap. xii. p. 366; also in the Acts of the State of Ohio, an act
+relating to county commissioners, February 25, 1824, p. 263. See the Digest of
+the Laws of Pennsylvania, at the words County-rates and Levies, p. 170. In the
+State of New York each township elects a representative, who has a share in the
+administration of the county as well as in that of the township.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 provisions of American law minutely, I should have to point out still
+further differences in the executive details of the several communities. But
+what I have already said may suffice to show the general principles on which
+the administration of the United States rests. These principles are differently
+applied; their consequences are more or less numerous in various localities;
+but they are always substantially the same. The laws differ, and their outward
+features change, but their character does not vary. If the township and the
+county are not everywhere constituted 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 principle, namely, that everyone is the best judge of what concerns
+himself alone, and the most proper person to supply his private wants. The
+township and the county are therefore bound to take care of their special
+interests: the State governs, but it does not interfere with their
+administration. Exceptions to this rule may be met with, but not a contrary
+principle.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first consequence of this doctrine has been to cause all the magistrates to
+be chosen either by or at least from amongst the citizens. As the officers are
+everywhere elected or appointed for a certain period, it has been impossible to
+establish the rules of a dependent series of authorities; there are almost as
+many independent functionaries as there are functions, and the executive power
+is disseminated in a multitude of hands. Hence arose the indispensable
+necessity of introducing the control of the courts of justice over the
+administration, and the system of pecuniary penalties, by which the secondary
+bodies and their representatives are constrained to obey the laws. This system
+obtains from one end of the Union to the other. The power of punishing the
+misconduct of public officers, or of performing the part of the executive in
+urgent cases, has not, however, been bestowed on the same judges in all the
+States. The Anglo-Americans derived the institution of justices of the peace
+from a common source; but although it exists in all the States, it is not
+always turned to the same use. The justices of the peace everywhere participate
+in the administration of the townships and the counties, *h either as public
+officers or as the judges of public misdemeanors, but in most of the States the
+more important classes of public offences come under the cognizance of the
+ordinary tribunals.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+h <br />
+[ In some of the Southern States the county courts are charged with all the
+details of the administration. See the Statutes of the State of Tennessee,
+arts. Judiciary, Taxes, etc.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The election of public officers, or the inalienability of their functions, the
+absence of a gradation of powers, and the introduction of a judicial control
+over the secondary branches of the administration, are the universal
+characteristics of the American system from Maine to the Floridas. In some
+States (and that of New York has advanced most in this direction) traces of a
+centralized administration begin 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. *i
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+i <br />
+[ For instance, the direction of public instruction centres in the hands of the
+Government. The legislature names the members of the University, who are
+denominated Regents; the Governor and Lieutentant-Governor of the State are
+necessarily of the number.&mdash;Revised Statutes, vol. i. p. 455. The Regents
+of the University annually visit the colleges and academies, and make their
+report to the legislature. Their superintendence is not inefficient, for
+several reasons: the colleges in order to become corporations stand in need of
+a charter, which is only granted on the recommendation of the Regents; every
+year funds are distributed by the State for the encouragement of learning, and
+the Regents are the distributors of this money. See chap. xv.
+&ldquo;Instruction,&rdquo; Revised Statutes, vol. i. p. 455.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The school-commissioners are obliged to send an annual report to the
+Superintendent of the Republic.&mdash;Id. p. 488.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A similar report is annually made to the same person on the number and
+condition of the poor.&mdash;Id. p. 631.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At other times they constitute a court of appeal for the decision of affairs.
+*j In the State of New York judicial penalties are less used than in other
+parts as a means of administration, and the right of prosecuting the offences
+of public officers is vested in fewer hands. *k The same tendency is faintly
+observable in some other States; *l but in general the prominent feature of the
+administration in the United States is its excessive local independence.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+j <br />
+[ If any one conceives himself to be wronged by the school-commissioners (who
+are town-officers), he can appeal to the superintendent of the primary schools,
+whose decision is final.&mdash;Revised Statutes, vol. i. p. 487.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 weak and unproductive. The great authorities of the State
+have the right of watching 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 therefore the right of commanding,
+without the means of exacting compliance. In 1830 the Superintendent of Schools
+complained in his Annual Report addressed to the legislature that several
+school-commissioners had neglected, notwithstanding 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.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+k <br />
+[ Thus the district-attorney is directed to recover all fines below the sum of
+fifty dollars, unless such a right has been specially awarded to another
+magistrate.&mdash;Revised Statutes, vol. i. p. 383.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+l <br />
+[ Several traces of centralization may be discovered in Massachusetts; for
+instance, the committees of the town-schools are directed to make an annual
+report to the Secretary of State. See Laws of Massachusetts, vol. i. p. 367.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of The State
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have described the townships and the administration; it now remains for me to
+speak of the State and the Government. This is ground I may pass over rapidly,
+without fear of being misunderstood; for all I have to say is to be found in
+written forms of the various constitutions, which are easily to be procured.
+These constitutions rest upon a simple and rational theory; their forms have
+been adopted by all constitutional nations, and are become familiar to us. In
+this place, therefore, it is only necessary for me to give a short analysis; I
+shall endeavor afterwards to pass judgment upon what I now describe.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0012" id="link2HCH0012"></a> Chapter V: Necessity Of
+Examining The Condition Of The States&mdash;Part III</h2> <h3>Legislative Power
+Of The State</h3> <p>
+Division of the Legislative Body into two Houses&mdash;Senate&mdash;House of
+Representatives&mdash;Different functions of these two Bodies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The legislative power of the State is vested in two assemblies, the first of
+which generally bears the name of the Senate. The Senate is commonly a
+legislative body; but it sometimes becomes an executive and judicial one. It
+takes a part in the government in several ways, according to the constitution
+of the different States; *m but it is in the nomination of public functionaries
+that it most commonly assumes an executive power. It partakes of judicial power
+in the trial of certain political offences, and sometimes also in the decision
+of certain civil cases. *n The number of its members is always small. The other
+branch of the legislature, which is usually called the House of
+Representatives, has no share whatever in the administration, and only takes a
+part in the judicial power inasmuch as it impeaches public functionaries before
+the Senate. The members of the two Houses are nearly everywhere subject to the
+same conditions of election. 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 longer than that of the House of
+Representatives. The latter seldom remain in office longer than a year; the
+former usually sit two or three years. By granting to the senators the
+privilege of being chosen for several years, and being renewed seriatim, the
+law takes care to preserve in the legislative body a nucleus of men already
+accustomed to public business, and capable of exercising a salutary influence
+upon the junior members.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+m <br />
+[ In Massachusetts the Senate is not invested with any administrative
+functions.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+n <br />
+[ As in the State of New York.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Americans, plainly, did not desire, by this separation 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 create in
+the one a bulwark to power, whilst the other represented the interests and
+passions of the people. The only advantages which result from the present
+constitution of the United States are the division of the legislative power and
+the consequent check upon political assemblies; with the creation of a tribunal
+of appeal for the revision of the laws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Time and experience, however, have convinced the Americans that 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 carried away by the necessary consequences of the principle
+of the sovereignty of the people as to have concurred in the measure; but the
+Pennsylvanians were soon obliged to change the law, and to create two Houses.
+Thus the principle of the division of the legislative power was finally
+established, and its necessity may henceforward be regarded as a demonstrated
+truth. This theory, which was nearly unknown to the republics of
+antiquity&mdash;which was introduced into the world almost by accident, like so
+many other great truths&mdash;and misunderstood by several modern nations, is
+at length become an axiom in the political science of the present age.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[See Benjamin Franklin]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Executive Power Of The State
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Office of Governor in an American State&mdash;The place he occupies in relation
+to the Legislature&mdash;His rights and his duties&mdash;His dependence on the
+people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The executive power of the State may with truth be said to be represented by
+the Governor, although he enjoys but a portion of its rights. The supreme
+magistrate, 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
+natural executor of its decrees in all the undertakings which interest the
+nation at large. *o 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. The whole military power of the State is at the disposal of
+the Governor. He is the commander of the militia, and head of the armed force.
+When the authority, which is by general consent awarded to the laws, is
+disregarded, the Governor puts himself at the head of the armed force of the
+State, to quell resistance, and to restore order. Lastly, the Governor takes no
+share in the administration of townships and counties, except it be indirectly
+in the nomination of Justices of the Peace, which nomination he has not the
+power to cancel. *p The Governor is an elected magistrate, and is generally
+chosen for one or two years only; so that he always continues to be strictly
+dependent upon the majority who returned him.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+o <br />
+[ Practically speaking, it is not always the Governor who executes the plans of
+the Legislature; it often happens that the latter, in voting a measure, names
+special agents to superintend the execution of it.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+p <br />
+[ In some of the States the justices of the peace are not elected by the
+Governor.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Political Effects Of The System Of Local Administration In The United States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Necessary distinction between the general centralization of Government and the
+centralization of the local administration&mdash;Local administration not
+centralized in the United States: great general centralization of the
+Government&mdash;Some bad consequences resulting to the United States from the
+local administration&mdash;Administrative advantages attending this order of
+things&mdash;The power which conducts the Government is less regular, less
+enlightened, less learned, but much greater than in Europe&mdash;Political
+advantages of this order of things&mdash;In the United States the interests of
+the country are everywhere kept in view&mdash;Support given to the Government
+by the community&mdash;Provincial institutions more necessary in proportion as
+the social condition becomes more democratic&mdash;Reason of this.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Centralization is become a word of general and daily use, without any precise
+meaning being attached to it. Nevertheless, there exist two distinct kinds of
+centralization, which it is necessary to discriminate with accuracy. Certain
+interests are common to all parts of a nation, such as the enactment of its
+general laws and the maintenance of its foreign relations. Other interests are
+peculiar to certain parts of the nation; such, for instance, as the business of
+different townships. When the power which directs the general interests is
+centred in one place, or vested in the same persons, it constitutes a central
+government. In like manner the power of directing partial or local interests,
+when brought together into one place, constitutes what may be termed a central
+administration.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon some points these two kinds of centralization coalesce; but by classifying
+the objects which fall more particularly within the province of each of them,
+they may easily be distinguished. It is evident that a central government
+acquires immense power when united to administrative centralization. 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 subdue them
+compulsorily, but it affects them in the ordinary habits of life, and
+influences each individual, first separately and then collectively.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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
+completely central 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 representative of France at home and abroad, he was justified in
+asserting that the State was identified with his person. Nevertheless, the
+administration was much less centralized under Louis XIV. than it is at the
+present day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In England the centralization of the government is carried to great perfection;
+the State has the compact vigor of a man, and by the sole act of its will it
+puts immense engines in motion, and wields or collects the efforts of its
+authority. Indeed, I cannot conceive that a nation can enjoy a secure or
+prosperous existence without a powerful centralization of government. But I am
+of opinion that a central administration enervates the nations in which it
+exists by incessantly diminishing their public spirit. If such an
+administration succeeds in condensing at a given moment, on a given point, all
+the disposable resources of a people, it impairs at least the renewal of those
+resources. It may ensure a victory in the hour of strife, but it gradually
+relaxes the sinews of strength. It may contribute admirably to the transient
+greatness of a man, but it cannot ensure the durable prosperity of a nation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If we pay proper attention, we shall find that whenever it is said that a State
+cannot act because it has no central point, it is the centralization of the
+government in which it is deficient. It is frequently asserted, and we are
+prepared to assent to the proposition, that the German empire was never able to
+bring all its powers into action. But the reason was, that the State was never
+able to enforce obedience to its general laws, because 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 concerned the mass of the people; in other words, because there
+was no centralization of government. The same remark is applicable to the
+Middle Ages; the cause of all the confusion of feudal society was that the
+control, not only of local but of general interests, was divided amongst a
+thousand hands, and broken up in a thousand different ways; the absence of a
+central government prevented the nations of Europe from advancing with energy
+in any straightforward course.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We have shown that in the United States no central administration and no
+dependent series of public functionaries exist. Local authority has been
+carried to lengths which no European nation could endure without great
+inconvenience, and which has even produced some disadvantageous consequences in
+America. But in the United States the centralization of the Government is
+complete; and it would be easy to prove that the national power is more compact
+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 district assemblies and county courts have not in
+general been multiplied, lest they should be tempted to exceed their
+administrative duties, and interfere with the Government. In America the
+legislature 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 which claims to be the sole organ
+of reason. Its own determination is, therefore, the only limit to this action.
+In juxtaposition to it, and under its immediate control, is the representative
+of the executive power, whose duty it is to constrain the refractory to submit
+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
+intimidate 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. *q The State
+usually employs the officers of the township or the county to deal with the
+citizens. Thus, for instance, in New England, the assessor fixes the rate of
+taxes; the collector receives them; the town-treasurer transmits the amount to
+the public treasury; and the disputes which may arise are brought before the
+ordinary courts of justice. This method of collecting taxes is slow as well as
+inconvenient, and it would prove a perpetual hindrance to a Government whose
+pecuniary demands were large. It is desirable that, in whatever materially
+affects its existence, the Government should be served by officers of its own,
+appointed by itself, removable at pleasure, and accustomed to rapid methods of
+proceeding. But it will always be easy for the central government, organized as
+it is in America, to introduce new and more efficacious modes of action,
+proportioned to its wants. [Footnote q: [The Civil War of 1860-65 cruelly
+belied this statement, and in the course of the struggle the North alone called
+two millions and a half of men to arms; but to the honor of the United States
+it must be added that, with the cessation of the contest, this army disappeared
+as rapidly as it had been raised.&mdash;Translator&rsquo;s Note.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The absence of a central government will not, then, as has often been asserted,
+prove the destruction of the republics of the New World; far from supposing
+that the American governments are not sufficiently centralized, I shall prove
+hereafter that they are too much so. The legislative bodies daily encroach upon
+the authority of the Government, and their tendency, like that of the French
+Convention, is to appropriate it entirely to themselves. Under these
+circumstances the social power is constantly changing hands, because it is
+subordinate to the power of the people, which is too apt to forget the maxims
+of wisdom and of foresight in the consciousness of its strength: hence arises
+its danger; and thus its vigor, and not its impotence, will probably be the
+cause of its ultimate destruction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The system of local administration produces several different effects 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
+second-rate affairs, is a matter of national importance. *r As the State has no
+administrative functionaries of its own, stationed on different points of its
+territory, to whom it can give a common impulse, the consequence is that it
+rarely attempts to issue any general police regulations. The want of these
+regulations is severely felt, and is frequently observed by Europeans. The
+appearance of disorder 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 subject. Certain undertakings are of
+importance to the whole State; but they cannot be put in execution, because
+there is no national administration to direct them. Abandoned to the exertions
+of the towns or counties, under the care of elected or temporary agents, they
+lead to no result, or at least to no durable benefit.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+r <br />
+[ The authority which represents the State ought not, I think, to waive the
+right of inspecting the local administration, even when it does not interfere
+more actively. Suppose, for instance, that an agent of the Government was
+stationed at some appointed spot in the country, to prosecute the misdemeanors
+of the town and county officers, would not a more uniform order be the result,
+without in any way compromising the independence of the township? Nothing of
+the kind, however, exists in America: there is nothing above the county-courts,
+which have, as it were, only an incidental cognizance of the offences they are
+meant to repress.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The partisans of centralization in Europe are wont to maintain that the
+Government directs the affairs of each locality better than the citizens could
+do it for themselves; this may be true when the central power is enlightened,
+and when the local districts are ignorant; when it is as alert as 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 such is the case when the people is as
+enlightened, as awake to its interests, and as accustomed to reflect on them,
+as the Americans are. I am persuaded, on the contrary, that in this case the
+collective strength of the citizens will always conduce more efficaciously to
+the public welfare than the authority of the Government. It is difficult to
+point out with certainty the means of arousing 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
+affairs; and it would frequently 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 to supersede the persons most interested, I am
+inclined to suppose that it is either misled or desirous to mislead. However
+enlightened and however skilful a central power may be, it cannot of itself
+embrace all the details of the existence of a great nation. Such vigilance
+exceeds the powers of man. And when it attempts to create and set in motion so
+many complicated springs, it must submit to a very imperfect result, or consume
+itself in bootless efforts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Centralization succeeds more easily, indeed, in subjecting the external actions
+of men to a certain uniformity, which at least commands our regard,
+independently of the objects to which it is applied, like those devotees who
+worship the statue and forget the deity it represents. Centralization imparts
+without difficulty an admirable regularity to the routine of business; provides
+for the details of the social police with sagacity; represses the smallest
+disorder and the most petty misdemeanors; maintains society in a status quo
+alike secure from improvement and decline; and perpetuates a drowsy precision
+in the conduct of affairs, which is hailed by the heads of the administration
+as a sign of perfect order and public tranquillity: *s in short, it excels more
+in prevention than in action. Its force deserts it when society is to be
+disturbed or accelerated in its course; and if once the co-operation of private
+citizens is necessary to the furtherance of its measures, the secret of its
+impotence is disclosed. Even whilst it invokes their assistance, it is on the
+condition that they shall act exactly as much as the Government chooses, and
+exactly in the manner it appoints. They are to take charge of the details,
+without aspiring to guide the system; they are to work in a dark and
+subordinate sphere, and only to judge the acts in which they have themselves
+cooperated by their results. These, however, are not conditions on which the
+alliance of the human will is to be obtained; its carriage must be free and its
+actions responsible, or (such is the constitution of man) the citizen had
+rather remain a passive spectator than a dependent actor in schemes with which
+he is unacquainted.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+s <br />
+[ China appears to me to present the most perfect instance of that species of
+well-being which a completely central administration may furnish to the nations
+among which it exists. Travellers assure us that the Chinese have peace without
+happiness, industry without improvement, stability without strength, and public
+order without public morality. The condition of society is always tolerable,
+never excellent. I am convinced that, when China is opened to European
+observation, it will be found to contain the most perfect model of a central
+administration which exists in the universe.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is undeniable that the want of those uniform regulations which control the
+conduct of every inhabitant of France is not unfrequently felt in the United
+States. Gross instances of social indifference and neglect are to be met with,
+and from time to time disgraceful blemishes are seen in complete contrast with
+the surrounding civilization. Useful undertakings which cannot succeed without
+perpetual attention and rigorous exactitude are very frequently abandoned in
+the end; for in America, as well as in other countries, the people is subject
+to sudden impulses and momentary exertions. The European who is accustomed to
+find a functionary always at hand to interfere with all he undertakes has some
+difficulty in accustoming himself to the complex mechanism of the
+administration of the townships. In general it may be affirmed that the lesser
+details of the police, which render life easy and comfortable, are neglected in
+America; but that the essential guarantees of man in society are as strong
+there as elsewhere. In America the power which conducts the Government is far
+less regular, less enlightened, and less learned, but an hundredfold more
+authoritative than in Europe. In no country in the world do the citizens make
+such exertions for the common weal; and I am acquainted with no people which
+has established schools as numerous and as efficacious, places of public
+worship better suited to the wants of the inhabitants, or roads kept in better
+repair. Uniformity or permanence of design, the minute arrangement of details,
+*t and the perfection of an ingenious administration, must not be sought for in
+the United States; but it will be easy to find, on the other hand, the symptoms
+of a power which, if it is somewhat barbarous, is at least robust; and of an
+existence which is checkered with accidents indeed, but cheered at the same
+time by animation and effort.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+t <br />
+[ A writer of talent, who, in the comparison which he has drawn between the
+finances of France and those of the United States, has proved that ingenuity
+cannot always supply the place of a knowledge of facts, very justly reproaches
+the Americans for the sort of confusion which exists in the accounts of the
+expenditure in the townships; and after giving the model of a departmental
+budget in France, he adds:&mdash;&ldquo;We are indebted to centralization, that
+admirable invention of a great man, for the uniform order and method which
+prevail alike in all the municipal budgets, from the largest town to the
+humblest commune.&rdquo; Whatever may be my admiration of this result, when I
+see the communes of France, with their excellent system of accounts, plunged
+into the grossest 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 which keep society in perpetual labor, in those American townships
+whose budgets are drawn up with small method and with still less uniformity, I
+am struck by the spectacle; for to my mind the end of a good government is to
+ensure the welfare of a people, and not to establish order and regularity in
+the midst of its misery and its distress. I am therefore led to suppose that
+the prosperity of the American townships and the apparent confusion of their
+accounts, the distress of the French communes and the perfection of their
+budget, may be attributable to the same cause. At any rate I am suspicious of a
+benefit which is united to so many evils, and I am not averse to an evil which
+is compensated by so many benefits.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Granting for an instant that the villages and counties of the United States
+would be more usefully governed by a remote authority which they had never seen
+than by functionaries taken from the midst of them&mdash;admitting, for the
+sake of argument, that the country would be more secure, and the resources of
+society better employed, if the whole administration centred in a single
+arm&mdash;still the political advantages which the Americans derive from their
+system would induce me to prefer it to the contrary plan. It profits me but
+little, after all, that a vigilant authority should protect the tranquillity of
+my pleasures and constantly avert all dangers from my path, without my care or
+my concern, if this same authority is the absolute mistress of my liberty and
+of my life, and if it so monopolizes all the energy of existence that when it
+languishes everything languishes around it, that when it sleeps everything must
+sleep, that when it dies the State itself must perish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In certain countries of Europe the natives consider themselves as a kind of
+settlers, indifferent to the fate of the spot upon which they live. The
+greatest changes are effected without their concurrence and (unless chance may
+have apprised them of the event) without their knowledge; nay more, the citizen
+is unconcerned as to the condition of his village, the police of his street,
+the repairs of the church or of the parsonage; for he looks upon all these
+things as unconnected with himself, and as the property of a powerful stranger
+whom he calls the Government. He has only a life-interest in these possessions,
+and he entertains no notions of ownership or of improvement. This want of
+interest in his own affairs goes so far that, if his own safety or that of his
+children is endangered, instead of trying to avert the peril, he will fold his
+arms, and wait till the nation comes to his assistance. This same individual,
+who has so completely sacrificed his own free will, has no natural propensity
+to obedience; he cowers, it is true, before the pettiest officer; but he braves
+the law with the spirit of a conquered foe as soon as its superior force is
+removed: his oscillations between servitude and license are perpetual. When a
+nation has arrived at this state it must either change its customs and its laws
+or perish: the source of public virtue is dry, and, though it may contain
+subjects, the race of citizens is extinct. Such communities are a natural prey
+to foreign conquests, and if they do not disappear from the scene of life, it
+is because they are surrounded by other nations similar or inferior to
+themselves: it is because the instinctive feeling of their country&rsquo;s
+claims still exists in their hearts; and because an involuntary pride in the
+name it bears, or a vague reminiscence of its bygone fame, suffices to give
+them the impulse of self-preservation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nor can the prodigious exertions made by tribes in the defence of a country to
+which they did not belong 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 defending the country they inhabited they defended that Holy City of
+which they were all citizens. The Turkish tribes have never taken an active
+share in the conduct of the affairs of society, but they accomplished
+stupendous enterprises as long as the victories of the Sultan were the 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 authority peculiar to itself, did it, as I
+conceive, an undeserved honor; for despotism, taken by itself, can produce no
+durable results. On close inspection we shall find that religion, and not fear,
+has ever been the cause of the long-lived prosperity of an absolute government.
+Whatever exertions may be made, no true power can be founded among men which
+does not depend upon the free union of their inclinations; and patriotism and
+religion are the only two motives in the world which can permanently direct the
+whole of a body politic to one end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Laws cannot succeed in rekindling the ardor of an extinguished faith, but men
+may be interested in the fate of their country by the laws. By this influence
+the vague impulse of patriotism, which never abandons the human heart, may be
+directed and revived; and if it be connected with the thoughts, the passions,
+and the daily habits of life, it may be consolidated into a durable and
+rational sentiment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Let it not be said that the time for the experiment is already past; for the
+old age of nations is not like the old age of men, and every fresh generation
+is a new people ready for the care of the legislator.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not the administrative but the political effects of the local system 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 people 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 towards the
+State is analogous to that which unites him to his family, and it is by a kind
+of egotism that he interests himself in the welfare of his country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The European generally submits to a public officer because he represents a
+superior force; but to an American he represents a right. In America 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; he unhesitatingly confides in his own powers, which appear to him to
+be all-sufficient. When a private individual meditates an undertaking, however
+directly connected it may be with the welfare of society, he never thinks of
+soliciting the co-operation of the Government, but he publishes his plan,
+offers to execute it himself, courts the assistance of other individuals, and
+struggles manfully against all obstacles. Undoubtedly 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 Government could
+have done.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the administrative authority is within the reach of the citizens, whom it in
+some degree represents, it excites neither their jealousy nor their hatred; as
+its resources are limited, every one feels that he must not rely solely on its
+assistance. Thus, when the administration thinks fit to interfere, it is not
+abandoned to itself as in Europe; the duties of the private citizens are not
+supposed to have lapsed because the State assists in their fulfilment, but
+every one is ready, on the contrary, to guide and to support it. This action of
+individual exertions, joined to that of the public authorities, frequently
+performs what the most energetic central administration would be unable to
+execute. 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 more thoroughly acquainted. *u
+In America the means which the authorities have at their disposal for the
+discovery of crimes and the arrest of criminals are few. The 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 prosecutors
+are not numerous, and the examinations of prisoners are rapid and oral.
+Nevertheless in no country does crime more rarely elude punishment. The reason
+is, that every one conceives himself to be interested in furnishing evidence of
+the act committed, and in stopping the delinquent. During my stay in the United
+States I witnessed the spontaneous formation of committees for the pursuit and
+prosecution of a man who had committed a great crime in a certain county. In
+Europe a criminal is an unhappy being who is struggling for his life against
+the ministers of justice, whilst the population is merely a spectator of the
+conflict; in America he is looked upon as an enemy of the human race, and the
+whole of mankind is against him.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+u <br />
+[ See Appendix, I.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I believe that provincial institutions are useful to all nations, but nowhere
+do they appear to me to be more indispensable than amongst a democratic people.
+In an aristocracy order can always be maintained in the midst of liberty, and
+as the rulers have a great deal to lose order is to them a first-rate
+consideration. In like manner an aristocracy protects the people from the
+excesses of despotism, because it always possesses an organized power ready to
+resist a despot. But a democracy without provincial institutions has no
+security against these evils. How can a populace, unaccustomed to freedom in
+small concerns, learn to use it temperately in great affairs? What resistance
+can be offered to tyranny in a country where every private individual is
+impotent, and where the citizens are united by no common tie? Those who dread
+the license of the mob, and those who fear the rule of absolute power, ought
+alike to desire the progressive growth of provincial liberties.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the other hand, I am convinced that democratic nations are most exposed to
+fall beneath the yoke of a central administration, for several reasons, amongst
+which is the following. The constant tendency of these nations is to
+concentrate all the strength of the Government in the hands of the only power
+which directly represents the people, because beyond the people nothing is to
+be perceived but a mass of equal individuals confounded together. But when the
+same power is already in possession of all the attributes of the Government, it
+can scarcely refrain from penetrating into the details of the administration,
+and an opportunity of doing so is sure to present itself in the end, as was the
+case in France. In the French Revolution there were two impulses in opposite
+directions, which must never be confounded&mdash;the one was favorable to
+liberty, the other to despotism. Under the ancient monarchy the King was the
+sole author of the laws, and below the power of the sovereign certain vestiges
+of provincial institutions, half destroyed, were still distinguishable. These
+provincial institutions were incoherent, ill compacted, and frequently absurd;
+in the hands of the aristocracy they had sometimes been converted into
+instruments of oppression. The Revolution declared itself the enemy of royalty
+and of provincial institutions at the same time; it confounded all that had
+preceded it&mdash;despotic power and the checks to its abuses&mdash;in
+indiscriminate hatred, and its tendency was at once to overthrow and to
+centralize. This double character of the French Revolution is a fact which has
+been adroitly handled by the friends of absolute power. Can they be accused of
+laboring in the cause of despotism when they are defending that central
+administration which was one of the great innovations of the Revolution? *v In
+this manner popularity may be conciliated with hostility to the rights of the
+people, and the secret slave of tyranny may be the professed admirer of
+freedom.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+v <br />
+[ See Appendix K.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have visited the two nations in which 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; in England I found
+others who attacked the aristocracy openly, but I know of no one who does not
+regard provincial independence as a great benefit. In both countries I have
+heard a thousand different causes assigned for the evils of the State, but the
+local system was never mentioned amongst them. I have 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 who are naturally so divided on religious opinions and on
+political theories agree on one point (and that one of which they have daily
+experience), they are all in error? The only nations which deny the utility of
+provincial liberties are those which have fewest of them; in other words, those
+who are unacquainted with the institution are the only persons who pass a
+censure upon it.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0013" id="link2HCH0013"></a> Chapter VI: Judicial Power In
+The United States</h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0014" id="link2HCH0014"></a> Chapter Summary</h2>
+
+<p>
+The Anglo-Americans have retained the characteristics of judicial power which
+are common to all nations&mdash;They have, however, made it a powerful
+political organ&mdash;How&mdash;In what the judicial system of the
+Anglo-Americans differs from that of all other nations&mdash;Why the American
+judges have the right of declaring the laws to be unconstitutional&mdash;How
+they use this right&mdash;Precautions taken by the legislator to prevent its
+abuse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Judicial Power In The United States And Its Influence On Political Society.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have thought it essential to devote a separate chapter to the judicial
+authorities of the United States, lest their great political importance should
+be lessened in the reader&rsquo;s eyes by a merely incidental mention of them.
+Confederations have existed in other countries beside America, and republics
+have not been established upon the shores of the New World alone; the
+representative system of government has been adopted in several States of
+Europe, but I am not aware that any nation of the globe has hitherto organized
+a judicial power on the principle now adopted by the Americans. The judicial
+organization of the United States is the institution which a stranger has the
+greatest difficulty in understanding. He hears the authority 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 tribunals, they offer nothing
+which is contrary to the usual habits and privileges of those bodies, and the
+magistrates seem to him to interfere in public affairs of chance, but by a
+chance which recurs every day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Parliament of Paris remonstrated, or refused to enregister 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 authority, and have carefully restricted
+its action to the ordinary circle of its functions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 to obtain the decision of a judge.
+As long, therefore, as the 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 stepping 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 resting upon a case, he clearly steps
+beyond his sphere, and invades that of the legislative authority.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The second characteristic of judicial power is that it pronounces on special
+cases, and not upon general principles. 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 consequently to annul it, he
+remains within the ordinary limits of his functions. But if he directly attacks
+a general principle without having a particular case in view, he leaves the
+circle in which all nations have agreed to confine his authority, he assumes a
+more important, and perhaps a more useful, influence than that of the
+magistrate, but he ceases to be a representative of the judicial power.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The third characteristic of the judicial power is its inability to act unless
+it is appealed to, or until it has taken cognizance of an affair. This
+characteristic is less general than the other two; but, notwithstanding 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 punishes the criminal;
+when a wrong is to be redressed, it is ready to redress it; when an act
+requires interpretation, it is prepared to interpret it; but it does not pursue
+criminals, hunt out wrongs, or examine into evidence of its own accord. A
+judicial functionary who should open proceedings, and usurp the censorship of
+the laws, would in some measure do violence to the passive nature of his
+authority.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Americans have retained these three distinguishing characteristics of the
+judicial power; an American judge can only pronounce a decision when litigation
+has arisen, he is only conversant 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 magistrate of other nations; and he is
+nevertheless invested with immense political power. If the sphere of his
+authority and his means of action are the same as those of other judges, it may
+be asked whence he derives 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 decisions on the constitution rather than on
+the laws. In other words, they have left them at liberty not to apply such laws
+as may appear to them to be unconstitutional.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am aware that a similar right has been claimed&mdash;but claimed in
+vain&mdash;by courts of justice in other countries; but in America it is
+recognized by all authorities; and not a party, nor so much as an individual,
+is found to contest it. This fact can only be explained by the principles of
+the American constitution. In France the constitution is (or at least is
+supposed to be) immutable; and the received theory is that no power has the
+right of changing any part of it. In England the Parliament has an acknowledged
+right to modify the constitution; as, therefore, the constitution may undergo
+perpetual changes, 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 constitution 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 determination of the whole people, is no less binding on the
+legislator than on the private citizen, but which may be altered by the will of
+the people in predetermined cases, according to established rules. In America
+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. *a
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ [The fifth article of the original Constitution of the United States provides
+the mode in which amendments of the Constitution may be made. Amendments must
+be proposed by two-thirds of both Houses of Congress, and ratified by the
+Legislatures of three-fourths of the several States. Fifteen amendments of the
+Constitution have been made at different times since 1789, the most important
+of which are the Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth, framed and ratified
+after the Civil War. The original Constitution of the United States, followed
+by these fifteen amendments, is printed at the end of this edition.
+&mdash;Translator&rsquo;s Note, 1874.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is easy to perceive in what manner these differences must act upon the
+position 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 supreme power would in
+fact be placed in their hands, since they alone would have the right of
+interpreting a constitution, the clauses of which can be modified by no
+authority. 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 incompetent to declare
+a law to be unconstitutional, the power of changing the constitution is
+indirectly given to the legislative body, since no legal barrier would oppose
+the alterations which it might prescribe. But it is 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It would be still more unreasonable to invest the English judges with the right
+of resisting the decisions of the legislative body, since the Parliament which
+makes the laws also makes the constitution; and consequently a law emanating
+from the three powers of the State can in no case be unconstitutional. But
+neither of these remarks is applicable to America.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States the constitution governs the legislator 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
+preference to any law. This condition is essential to the power of the
+judicature, for to select that legal obligation by which he is most strictly
+bound is the natural right of every magistrate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 the State-motive clearly prevails over the motives of an individual. 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 reasons agree, and the people
+as well as the judges preserve their privileges.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever a law which the judge holds to be unconstitutional is argued in a
+tribunal of the United States he may refuse to admit it as a rule; this power
+is the only one which is peculiar to the American magistrate, but it gives rise
+to immense political influence. 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 parties, or by the necessity
+of the case. But from the time that a judge has refused to apply any given law
+in a case, that law loses a portion of its moral cogency. The persons to whose
+interests it is prejudicial learn that means exist of evading its authority,
+and similar suits are multiplied, until it becomes powerless. One of two
+alternatives must then be resorted to: 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 immense, but the evils
+of this power are considerably diminished by the obligation which has been
+imposed of attacking the laws through the courts of justice alone. If the judge
+had been empowered to contest the laws on the ground of theoretical
+generalities, if he had been enabled to open an attack or to pass a censure on
+the legislator, he would have played a prominent part in the political sphere;
+and as the champion or the antagonist of a party, he would have arrayed the
+hostile passions of the nation in the conflict. But when a judge contests a law
+applied to some particular case in an obscure proceeding, the importance of his
+attack is concealed from the public gaze, his decision bears upon the interest
+of an individual, and if the law is slighted it is only collaterally. Moreover,
+although it is censured, it is not abolished; its moral force may be
+diminished, but its cogency is by no means suspended, and its final destruction
+can only be accomplished by the reiterated attacks of judicial functionaries.
+It will readily be understood that by connecting the censorship of the laws
+with the private interests of members of the community, and by intimately
+uniting the prosecution of the law with the prosecution of an individual,
+legislation is protected from wanton assailants, and from the daily aggressions
+of party spirit. The errors of the legislator are exposed whenever their evil
+consequences are most felt, and it is always a positive and appreciable fact
+which serves as the basis of a prosecution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am inclined to believe this practice of the American courts to be at once the
+most favorable to liberty as well as to public order. If the judge could only
+attack the legislator openly and directly, he would sometimes be afraid to
+oppose any resistance to his will; and at other moments party spirit might
+encourage him to brave it at every turn. The laws would consequently be
+attacked when the power from which they emanate is weak, and obeyed when it is
+strong. That is to say, when it would be useful to respect them they would 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 question which he is called upon
+to resolve is connected with the interest of the suitors, and he cannot refuse
+to decide it without abdicating the duties of his post. 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 which is exercised by the courts of justice over the legislation
+cannot extend to all laws indiscriminately, inasmuch as some of them can never
+give rise to that exact species of contestation which is termed a lawsuit; and
+even when such a contestation is possible, it may happen that no one cares to
+bring it before a court of justice. The Americans have often felt this
+disadvantage, 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 unconstitutional forms one of the most powerful barriers which has ever been
+devised against the tyranny of political assemblies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Other Powers Granted To American Judges
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The United States all the citizens have the right of indicting public
+functionaries before the ordinary tribunals&mdash;How they use this
+right&mdash;Art. 75 of the French Constitution of the An VIII&mdash;The
+Americans and the English cannot understand the purport of this clause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is perfectly natural that in a free country like America all the citizens
+should have the right of indicting public functionaries before the ordinary
+tribunals, and that all the judges should have the power of punishing public
+offences. The right granted to the courts of justice of judging the agents of
+the executive government, when they have violated the laws, is so natural a one
+that it cannot be looked upon as an extraordinary privilege. Nor do the springs
+of government appear to me to be weakened in the United States by the custom
+which renders all public officers responsible to the judges of the land. The
+Americans seem, on the contrary, to have increased by this means that respect
+which is due to the authorities, and at the same time to have rendered those
+who are in power more scrupulous of offending public opinion. I was struck by
+the small number of political trials which occur in the United States, but I
+had no difficulty in accounting for this circumstance. A lawsuit, of whatever
+nature it may be, is always a difficult and expensive undertaking. It is easy
+to attack a public man in a journal, but the motives which can warrant an
+action at law must be serious. A solid ground of complaint must therefore exist
+to induce an individual to prosecute a public officer, and public officers are
+careful not to furnish these grounds of complaint when they are afraid of being
+prosecuted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This does not depend upon the republican form of American institutions, for the
+same facts present themselves in England. These two nations do not regard the
+impeachment of the principal officers of State as a sufficient guarantee of
+their independence. But they hold that the right of minor prosecutions, which
+are within the reach of the whole community, is a better pledge of freedom than
+those great judicial actions which are rarely employed until it is too late.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the Middle Ages, when it was very difficult to overtake offenders, the
+judges inflicted the most dreadful tortures on the few who were arrested, which
+by no means diminished the number of crimes. It has since been discovered that
+when justice is more certain and more mild, it is at the same time more
+efficacious. 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the year VIII of the French Republic a constitution was drawn up in which
+the following clause was introduced: &ldquo;Art. 75. All the agents of the
+government below the rank of ministers can only be prosecuted for offences
+relating to their several functions by virtue of a decree of the Conseil
+d&rsquo;Etat; in which the case the prosecution takes place before the ordinary
+tribunals.&rdquo; This clause survived the &ldquo;Constitution de l&rsquo;An
+VIII,&rdquo; and it is still maintained in spite of the just complaints of the
+nation. I have always found the utmost difficulty in explaining its meaning to
+Englishmen or Americans. They were at once led to conclude that the Conseil
+d&rsquo;Etat in France was a great tribunal, established in the centre of the
+kingdom, which exercised a preliminary and somewhat tyrannical jurisdiction in
+all political causes. But when I told them that the Conseil d&rsquo;Etat 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 Prefect, to commit an injustice, has the
+power of commanding another of his servants, called a Councillor of State, to
+prevent the former from being punished; when I demonstrated to them that the
+citizen who has been injured by the order of the sovereign is obliged to
+solicit from the sovereign permission to obtain redress, they refused to credit
+so flagrant an abuse, and were tempted to accuse me of falsehood or of
+ignorance. It frequently happened before the Revolution that a Parliament
+issued a warrant against a public officer who had committed an offence, and
+sometimes the proceedings were stopped by the authority of the Crown, which
+enforced compliance with its absolute and despotic will. 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 sanction of the law which violence
+alone could impose upon them.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0015" id="link2HCH0015"></a> Chapter VII: Political
+Jurisdiction In The United States</h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0016" id="link2HCH0016"></a> Chapter Summary</h2>
+
+<p>
+Definition of political jurisdiction&mdash;What is understood by political
+jurisdiction in France, in England, and in the United States&mdash;In America
+the political judge can only pass sentence on public officers&mdash;He more
+frequently passes a sentence of removal from office than a
+penalty&mdash;Political jurisdiction as it exists in the United States is,
+notwithstanding its mildness, and perhaps in consequence of that mildness, a
+most powerful instrument in the hands of the majority.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Political Jurisdiction In The United States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I understand, by political jurisdiction, that temporary right of pronouncing a
+legal decision with which a political body may be invested.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In absolute governments no utility can accrue from the introduction of
+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 which is entertained of his power is of itself a sufficient
+security. The only thing he has to fear is, that the external formalities of
+justice should be neglected, and that his authority should be dishonored from a
+wish to render it more absolute. But in most free countries, in which the
+majority can never exercise the same influence upon the tribunals as an
+absolute monarch, the judicial power has occasionally been vested for a time in
+the representatives of the nation. It has been thought better to introduce a
+temporary confusion between the functions of the different authorities than to
+violate the necessary principle of the unity of government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+England, France, and the United States have established this political
+jurisdiction by law; and it is curious to examine the different adaptations
+which these three great nations have made of the principle. In England and in
+France the House of Lords and the Chambre des Paris *a constitute the highest
+criminal court of their respective nations, and although they do not habitually
+try all political offences, they are competent to try them all. Another
+political body enjoys the right of impeachment before the House of Lords: the
+only difference which exists between the two countries in this respect is, that
+in England the Commons may impeach whomsoever they please before the Lords,
+whilst in France the Deputies can only employ this mode of prosecution against
+the ministers of the Crown.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ [As it existed under the constitutional monarchy down to 1848.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In both countries the Upper House may make use of all the existing penal laws
+of the nation to punish the delinquents.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States, as well as in Europe, one branch of the legislature is
+authorized to impeach and another to judge: the House of Representatives
+arraigns the offender, and the Senate awards his sentence. But the Senate can
+only try such persons as are brought before it by the House of Representatives,
+and those persons must belong to the class of public functionaries. Thus the
+jurisdiction of the Senate is less extensive than that of the Peers of France,
+whilst the right of impeachment by the Representatives is more general than
+that of the Deputies. But the great difference which exists between Europe and
+America is, that in Europe political tribunals are empowered to inflict all the
+dispositions of the penal code, while in America, when they have deprived the
+offender of his official rank, and have declared him incapable of filling any
+political office for the future, their jurisdiction terminates and that of the
+ordinary tribunals begins.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suppose, for instance, that the President of the United States has committed
+the crime of high treason; the House of Representatives impeaches him, and the
+Senate degrades him; he must then be tried by a jury, which alone can deprive
+him of his liberty or his life. This accurately illustrates the subject we are
+treating. The political jurisdiction which is established by the laws of Europe
+is intended to try great offenders, whatever may be their birth, their rank, or
+their powers in the State; and to this end all the privileges of the courts of
+justice are temporarily extended to a great political assembly. The legislator
+is then transformed into the magistrate; he is called upon to admit, to
+distinguish, and to punish the offence; and as he exercises all the authority
+of a judge, the law restricts him to the observance of all the duties of that
+high office, and of all the formalities of justice. When a public functionary
+is impeached before an English or a French political tribunal, and is found
+guilty, the sentence deprives him ipso facto of his functions, and it may
+pronounce him to be incapable of resuming them or any others for the future.
+But in this case the political interdict is a consequence of the sentence, and
+not the sentence itself. In Europe the sentence of a political tribunal is to
+be regarded as a judicial verdict rather than as an administrative 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 comply with
+the practices and formalities of a court of justice; although it is judicial in
+respect to the motives on which it is founded, since the Senate is in general
+obliged to take an offence at common law as the basis of its sentence;
+nevertheless the object of the proceeding is purely administrative. If it had
+been the intention of the American legislator to invest a political body with
+great judicial authority, its action would not have been limited to the circle
+of public functionaries, since the most dangerous enemies of the State may be
+in the possession of no functions at all; and this is especially true in
+republics, where party influence is the first of authorities, and where the
+strength of many a reader is increased by his exercising no legal power.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If it had been the intention of the American legislator to give society the
+means of repressing State offences by exemplary punishment, according to the
+practice of ordinary justice, the resources of the penal code would all have
+been placed at the disposal of the political tribunals. But the weapon with
+which they are intrusted is an imperfect one, and it can never reach the most
+dangerous offenders, since men who aim at the entire subversion of the laws are
+not likely to murmur at a political interdict.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The main object of the political jurisdiction which obtains in the United
+States is, therefore, to deprive the ill-disposed citizen of an authority which
+he has used amiss, and to prevent 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 the securities of a
+political trial; and they have deprived all political condemnations 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 formidable, are exempted from that tribunal. In
+the civil service none of the American functionaries can be said to be
+removable; the places which some of them occupy are inalienable, and the others
+are chosen for a term 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 the State, who is himself a civil
+functionary, and the decision which condemns him is a blow upon them all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If we now compare the American and the European systems, we shall meet with
+differences no less striking in the different effects which each of them
+produces or may produce. In France and in 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, are apt to
+violate the conservative principle of the balance of power in the State, and to
+threaten incessantly the lives and liberties of the subject. The same political
+jurisdiction in the United States is only indirectly hostile to the balance of
+power; it cannot menace the lives of the citizens, and it does not hover, as in
+Europe, over the heads of the community, since those only who have submitted to
+its authority on accepting office are exposed to the severity of its
+investigations. 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 a
+remedy for the more violent evils of society, but as an ordinary means of
+conducting the government. In this respect it probably exercises more real
+influence on the social body in America than in Europe. We must not be misled
+by the apparent mildness of the American legislation in all that relates to
+political jurisdiction. It is to be observed, in the first place, that in the
+United States the tribunal which passes sentence is composed of the same
+elements, and subject to the same influences, as the body which impeaches the
+offender, and that this uniformity gives an almost irresistible impulse to the
+vindictive passions of parties. If political judges in the United States cannot
+inflict such heavy penalties as those of Europe, there is the less chance of
+their acquitting a prisoner; and the conviction, if it is less formidable, is
+more certain. The principal object of the political tribunals of Europe is to
+punish the offender; the purpose of those in America is to deprive him of his
+authority. A political condemnation in the United States may, therefore, be
+looked upon as a preventive measure; and there is no reason for restricting the
+judges to the exact definitions of criminal law. Nothing can be more alarming
+than the excessive latitude with which political offences are described in the
+laws of America. Article II., Section 4, of the Constitution of the United
+States runs thus:&mdash;&ldquo;The President, Vice-President, and all civil
+officers of the United States shall be removed from office on impeachment for,
+and conviction of, treason, bribery, or other high crimes and
+misdemeanors.&rdquo; Many of the Constitutions of the States are even less
+explicit. &ldquo;Public officers,&rdquo; says the Constitution of
+Massachusetts, *b &ldquo;shall be impeached for misconduct or
+maladministration;&rdquo; the Constitution of Virginia declares that all the
+civil officers who shall have offended against the State, by maladministration,
+corruption, or other high crimes, may be impeached by the House of Delegates;
+in some constitutions no offences are specified, in order to subject the public
+functionaries to an unlimited responsibility. *c But I will venture to affirm
+that it is precisely their mildness which renders the American laws most
+formidable in this respect. We have shown that in Europe the removal of a
+functionary and his political interdiction are the consequences 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 rights
+which they are afraid to use, and that the fear of punishing too much hinders
+them from punishing at all. But in America no one hesitates to inflict a
+penalty from which humanity does not recoil. To condemn a political opponent to
+death, in order to deprive him of his power, is to commit what all the world
+would execrate as a horrible assassination; but to declare that opponent
+unworthy to exercise that authority, to deprive him of it, and to leave him
+uninjured in life and limb, may be judged 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 the majority of those upon whom it is inflicted. Great criminals may
+undoubtedly brave its intangible rigor, but ordinary offenders will dread it as
+a condemnation which destroys their position in the world, casts a blight upon
+their honor, and condemns them to a shameful inactivity worse than death. The
+influence exercised in the United States upon the progress of society by the
+jurisdiction of political bodies may not appear to be formidable, but it is
+only the more immense. It does not directly coerce the subject, but it renders
+the majority more absolute over those in power; it does not confer an unbounded
+authority on the legislator which can be exerted at some momentous crisis, but
+it establishes a temperate and regular influence, which is at all times
+available. If the power is decreased, it can, on 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 the most formidable weapon which has ever been placed in the
+rude grasp of a popular majority. 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 augments.*d
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ Chap. I. sect. ii. Section 8.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ See the constitutions of Illinois, Maine, Connecticut, and Georgia.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ See Appendix, N.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[The impeachment of President Andrew Johnson in 1868&mdash;which was resorted
+to by his political opponents solely as a means of turning him out of office,
+for it could not be contended that he had been guilty of high crimes and
+misdemeanors, and he was in fact honorably acquitted and reinstated in
+office&mdash;is a striking confirmation of the truth of this
+remark.&mdash;Translator&rsquo;s Note, 1874.]]
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0017" id="link2HCH0017"></a> Chapter VIII: The Federal
+Constitution&mdash;Part I</h2>
+
+<p>
+I have hitherto considered each State as a separate whole, and I have explained
+the different springs which the people sets in motion, and the different means
+of action which it employs. But all the States which I have considered as
+independent are forced to submit, in certain cases, to the supreme authority of
+the Union. The time is now come for me to examine separately the supremacy with
+which the Union has been invested, and to cast a rapid glance over the Federal
+Constitution.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0018" id="link2HCH0018"></a> Chapter Summary</h2>
+
+<p>
+Origin of the first Union&mdash;Its weakness&mdash;Congress appeals to the
+constituent authority&mdash;Interval of two years between this appeal and the
+promulgation of the new Constitution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+History Of The Federal Constitution
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The thirteen colonies which simultaneously threw off the yoke of England
+towards the end of the last century professed, as I have already observed, 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 another, and to consolidate them into
+one nation. But as each of them had enjoyed a separate existence and a
+government within its own control, the peculiar interests and customs which
+resulted from this system were opposed to a compact and intimate union which
+would have absorbed the individual 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 strength. As long as the
+war with the mother-country lasted the principle of union was kept alive by
+necessity; and although the laws which constituted it were defective, the
+common tie subsisted in spite of their imperfections. *a But no sooner was
+peace concluded than the faults of the legislation became manifest, and the
+State seemed to be suddenly dissolved. Each colony became an independent
+republic, and assumed an absolute sovereignty. The federal government,
+condemned to impotence by its constitution, and no longer sustained by the
+presence of a common danger, witnessed the outrages offered to its flag by the
+great 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 of the nation. *b If
+America ever approached (for however brief a time) that lofty pinnacle of glory
+to which the fancy of its inhabitants is wont to point, it was at the solemn
+moment at which the power of the nation abdicated, as it were, the empire of
+the land. All ages have furnished the spectacle of a people 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 their
+enemies by three thousand miles of ocean, and backed by a powerful ally, the
+success of the United States may be more justly attributed 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 was to the wars
+of the French Revolution, or the efforts of the Americans to those of the
+French when they were attacked by the whole of Europe, without credit and
+without allies, yet capable of opposing a twentieth part of their population to
+the world, and of bearing the torch of revolution beyond their frontiers whilst
+they stifled its devouring flame within the bosom of their country. But it is a
+novelty 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 government are stopped; to see it carefully examine the extent of the evil,
+and patiently wait for two whole years until a remedy was discovered, which it
+voluntarily adopted without having wrung a tear or a drop of blood from
+mankind. At the time when the inadequacy of the first constitution was
+discovered America possessed the double advantage of that calm which had
+succeeded the effervescence of the revolution, and of those great men who had
+led the revolution to a successful issue. The assembly which accepted the task
+of composing the second constitution was small; *c but George Washington was
+its President, and it contained the choicest talents and the noblest hearts
+which had ever appeared in the New World. This national commission, after long
+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. *d The new Federal Government commenced its functions in 1789,
+after an interregnum of two years. The Revolution of America terminated when
+that of France began.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ See the articles of the first confederation formed in 1778. This constitution
+was not adopted by all the States until 1781. See also the analysis given of
+this constitution in &ldquo;The Federalist&rdquo; from No. 15 to No. 22,
+inclusive, and Story&rsquo;s &ldquo;Commentaries on the Constitution of the
+United States,&rdquo; pp. 85-115.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ Congress made this declaration on February 21, 1787.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ It consisted of fifty-five members; Washington, Madison, Hamilton, and the
+two Morrises were amongst the number.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ It was not adopted by the legislative bodies, but representatives were
+elected by the people for this sole purpose; and the new constitution was
+discussed at length in each of these assemblies.]
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_SUMM" id="link2H_SUMM"></a> Summary Of The Federal
+Constitution</h2>
+
+<p>
+Division of authority between the Federal Government and the States&mdash;The
+Government of the States is the rule, the Federal Government the exception.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first question which awaited the Americans was intricate, and by no means
+easy of solution: the object was so to divide the authority of the different
+States which composed the Union that each of them should continue to govern
+itself in all that concerned its internal prosperity, whilst the entire nation,
+represented by the Union, should continue to form a compact body, and to
+provide for the general exigencies of the people. It was as impossible to
+determine beforehand, with any degree of accuracy, the share of authority which
+each of two governments was to enjoy, as to foresee all the incidents in the
+existence of a nation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The obligations and the claims of the Federal Government were simple and easily
+definable, because the Union had been formed with the express purpose of
+meeting the general exigencies of the people; but the claims and obligations of
+the States were, on the other hand, complicated and various, because those
+Governments had penetrated into all the details of social life. The attributes
+of the Federal Government were therefore carefully enumerated and all that was
+not included amongst them was declared to constitute a part of the privileges
+of the several Governments of the States. Thus the government of the States
+remained the rule, and that of the Confederation became the exception. *e
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ See the Amendment to the Federal Constitution; &ldquo;Federalist,&rdquo; No.
+32; Story, p. 711; Kent&rsquo;s &ldquo;Commentaries,&rdquo; vol. i. p. 364.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is to be observed that whenever the exclusive right of regulating certain
+matters is not reserved to Congress by the Constitution, the States may take up
+the affair until it is brought before the National Assembly. For instance,
+Congress has the right of making a general law on bankruptcy, which, however,
+it neglects to do. Each State is then at liberty to make a law for itself. This
+point has been established by discussion in the law-courts, and may be said to
+belong more properly to jurisprudence.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But as it was foreseen that, in practice, questions might arise as to the exact
+limits of this exceptional authority, and that it would be dangerous to submit
+these questions to the decision of the ordinary courts of justice, established
+in the States by the States themselves, a high Federal court was created, *f
+which was destined, amongst other functions, to maintain the balance of power
+which had been established by the Constitution between the two rival
+Governments. *g
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+f <br />
+[ The action of this court is indirect, as we shall hereafter show.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ It is thus that &ldquo;The Federalist,&rdquo; No. 45, explains the division
+of supremacy between the Union and the States: &ldquo;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, negotiation, 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.&rdquo; I shall often have occasion to quote
+&ldquo;The Federalist&rdquo; in this work. When the bill which has since become
+the Constitution of the United States was submitted to the approval of the
+people, and the discussions were still pending, three men, who had already
+acquired a portion of that celebrity which they have since enjoyed&mdash;John
+Jay, Hamilton, and Madison&mdash;formed an association with the intention of
+explaining to the nation the advantages of the measure which was proposed. With
+this view they published a series of articles in the shape of a journal, which
+now form a complete treatise. They entitled their journal &ldquo;The
+Federalist,&rdquo; a name which has been retained in the work. &ldquo;The
+Federalist&rdquo; is an excellent book, which ought to be familiar to the
+statesmen of all countries, although it especially concerns America.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Prerogative Of The Federal Government
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Power of declaring war, making peace, and levying general taxes vested in the
+Federal Government&mdash;What part of the internal policy of the country it may
+direct&mdash;The Government of the Union in some respects more central than the
+King&rsquo;s Government in the old French monarchy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The external relations of a people may be compared to those of private
+individuals, and they cannot be advantageously maintained without the agency of
+a single head of a Government. The exclusive right of making peace and war, of
+concluding treaties of commerce, of raising armies, and equipping fleets, was
+granted to the Union. *h The necessity of a national Government was less
+imperiously felt in the conduct of the internal policy of society; but there
+are certain general interests which can only be attended to with advantage by a
+general authority. The Union was invested with the power of controlling the
+monetary system, of directing the post office, and of opening the great roads
+which were to establish a communication between the different parts of the
+country. *i The independence of the Government of each State was formally
+recognized in its sphere; nevertheless, the Federal Government was authorized
+to interfere in the internal affairs of the States *j in a few predetermined
+cases, in which an indiscreet abuse of their independence might compromise the
+security of the Union at large. Thus, whilst the power of modifying and
+changing their legislation at pleasure was preserved in all the republics, they
+were forbidden to enact ex post facto laws, or to create a class of nobles in
+their community. *k Lastly, as it was necessary that the Federal Government
+should be able to fulfil its engagements, it was endowed with an unlimited
+power of levying taxes. *l
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+h <br />
+[ See Constitution, sect. 8; &ldquo;Federalist,&rdquo; Nos. 41 and 42;
+Kent&rsquo;s &ldquo;Commentaries,&rdquo; vol. i. p. 207; Story, pp. 358-382;
+Ibid. pp. 409-426.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+i <br />
+[ Several other privileges of the same kind exist, such as that which empowers
+the Union to legislate on bankruptcy, to grant patents, and other matters in
+which its intervention is clearly necessary.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+j <br />
+[ Even in these cases its interference is indirect. The Union interferes by
+means of the tribunals, as will be hereafter shown.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+k <br />
+[ Federal Constitution, sect. 10, art. I.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+l <br />
+[ Constitution, sects. 8, 9, and 10; &ldquo;Federalist,&rdquo; Nos. 30-36,
+inclusive, and 41-44; Kent&rsquo;s &ldquo;Commentaries,&rdquo; vol. i. pp. 207
+and 381; Story, pp. 329 and 514.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In examining the balance of power as established by the Federal Constitution;
+in remarking on the one hand the portion of sovereignty which has been reserved
+to the several States, and on the other the share of power which the Union has
+assumed, it is evident that the Federal legislators entertained the clearest
+and most accurate notions on the nature of the centralization of government.
+The United States form not only a republic, but a confederation; nevertheless
+the authority of the nation is more central than it was in several of the
+monarchies of Europe when the American Constitution was formed. Take, for
+instance, the two following examples.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thirteen supreme courts of justice existed in France, which, generally
+speaking, had the right of interpreting the law without appeal; and those
+provinces which were styled pays d&rsquo;etats were authorized to refuse their
+assent to an impost which had been levied by the sovereign who 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 exercises more central authority than the French monarchy
+possessed, although the Union is only an assemblage of confederate republics.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Spain certain provinces had the right of establishing a system of
+custom-house duties peculiar to themselves, although that privilege belongs, by
+its very nature, to the national sovereignty. In America the Congress alone has
+the right of regulating the commercial relations of the States. 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 Crown in France or in Spain
+was always able to obtain by force whatever 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Federal Powers
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After having settled the limits within which the Federal Government was to act,
+the next point was to determine the powers which it was to exert.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Legislative Powers *m
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+m <br />
+[ [In this chapter the author points out the essence of the conflict between
+the seceding States and the Union which caused the Civil War of 1861.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Division of the Legislative Body into two branches&mdash;Difference in the
+manner of forming the two Houses&mdash;The principle of the independence of the
+States predominates in the formation of the Senate&mdash;The principle of the
+sovereignty of the nation in the composition of the House of
+Representatives&mdash;Singular effects of the fact that a Constitution can only
+be logical in the early stages of a nation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The plan which had been laid down beforehand for the Constitutions of the
+several States was followed, in many points, 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 conciliation prescribed the observance
+of distinct principles in the formation of these two assemblies. I have already
+shown that two contrary interests were opposed to each other in the
+establishment of the Federal Constitution. These two interests had given rise
+to two 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 peoples would meet to discuss certain points of
+their common interests. The other party desired to unite the inhabitants of the
+American colonies into one sole nation, and to establish a Government which
+should act as the sole representative of the nation, as far as the limited
+sphere of its authority would permit. The practical consequences of these two
+theories were exceedingly different.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The question was, whether a league was to be established instead of a national
+Government; whether the majority of the State, instead of the majority of the
+inhabitants of the Union, was to give the law: for every State, the small as
+well as the great, would then remain in the full enjoyment of its independence,
+and enter the Union upon a footing of perfect equality. If, however, the
+inhabitants of the United States were to be considered as belonging to one and
+the same nation, it would be just that the majority of the citizens of the
+Union should prescribe the law. Of course the lesser States could not subscribe
+to the application of this doctrine without, in fact, abdicating their
+existence in relation to the sovereignty of the Confederation; since they would
+have passed from the condition of a co-equal and co-legislative authority to
+that of an insignificant fraction of a great people. But if the former system
+would have invested them with an excessive authority, the latter would have
+annulled their influence altogether. Under these circumstances the result was,
+that the strict rules of logic were evaded, as is usually the case when
+interests are opposed to arguments. A middle course was hit upon by the
+legislators, which brought together by force two systems theoretically
+irreconcilable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The principle of the independence of the States prevailed in the formation of
+the Senate, and that of the sovereignty of the nation predominated in the
+composition of the House of Representatives. It was decided that each State
+should send two senators to Congress, and a number of representatives
+proportioned to its population. *n It results from this arrangement that the
+State of New York has at the present day forty representatives and only two
+senators; the State of Delaware has two senators and only one representative;
+the State of Delaware is therefore equal to the State of New York in the
+Senate, whilst the latter has forty times the influence of the former in the
+House of Representatives. Thus, if the minority of the nation preponderates in
+the Senate,. it may paralyze the decisions of the majority represented in the
+other House, which is contrary to the spirit of constitutional government.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+n <br />
+[ Every ten years Congress fixes anew the number of representatives which each
+State is to furnish. The total number was 69 in 1789, and 240 in 1833. (See
+&ldquo;American Almanac,&rdquo; 1834, p. 194.) The Constitution decided that
+there should not be more than one representative for every 30,000 persons; but
+no minimum was fixed on. The Congress has not thought fit to augment the number
+of representatives in proportion to the increase of population. The first Act
+which was passed on the subject (April 14, 1792: see &ldquo;Laws of the United
+States,&rdquo; by Story, vol. i. p. 235) decided that there should be one
+representative for every 33,000 inhabitants. The last Act, which was passed in
+1832, fixes the proportion at one for 48,000. The population represented is
+composed of all the free men and of three-fifths of the slaves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[The last Act of apportionment, passed February 2, 1872, fixes the
+representation at one to 134,684 inhabitants. There are now (1875) 283 members
+of the lower House of Congress, and 9 for the States at large, making in all
+292 members. The old States have of course lost the representatives which the
+new States have gained.&mdash;Translator&rsquo;s Note.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These facts show how rare and how difficult it is rationally and logically to
+combine all the several parts of legislation. In the course of time different
+interests arise, and different principles are sanctioned by the same people;
+and when a general constitution is to be established, these interests and
+principles are so many natural obstacles to the rigorous application of any
+political system, with all its consequences. The early stages of national
+existence are the only periods at which it is possible to maintain the complete
+logic of legislation; and when we perceive a nation in the enjoyment of this
+advantage, before we hasten to conclude that it is wise, we should do well to
+remember that it is young. When the Federal Constitution was formed, the
+interests of independence for the separate States, and the interest of union
+for the whole people, were the only two conflicting interests which existed
+amongst the Anglo-Americans, and a compromise was necessarily made between
+them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is, however, just to acknowledge that this part of the Constitution has not
+hitherto produced those evils which might have been feared. All the States are
+young and contiguous; their customs, their ideas, and their exigencies are not
+dissimilar; and the differences which result from their size or inferiority do
+not suffice to set their interests at variance. The small States have
+consequently never been induced to league themselves together in the Senate to
+oppose the designs of the larger ones; and indeed there is so irresistible an
+authority in the legitimate expression of the will of a people that the Senate
+could offer but a feeble opposition to the vote of the majority of the House of
+Representatives.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It must not be forgotten, on the other hand, that it was not in the power of
+the American legislators to reduce to a single nation the people 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 acknowledging the real
+authority of these secondary communities (and it was impossible to deprive them
+of it), they disavowed beforehand the habitual use of constraint in enforcing g
+the decisions of the majority. Upon this principle the introduction of the
+influence of the States into the mechanism of the Federal Government was by no
+means to be wondered at, since it only attested the existence of an
+acknowledged power, which was to be humored and not forcibly checked.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A Further Difference Between The Senate And The House Of Representatives
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Senate named by the provincial legislators, the Representatives by the
+people&mdash;Double election of the former; single election of the
+latter&mdash;Term of the different offices&mdash;Peculiar functions of each
+House.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Senate not only differs from the other House in the principle which it
+represents, but also in the mode of its election, in the term for which it is
+chosen, and in the nature of its functions. The House of Representatives is
+named by the people, the Senate by the legislators of each State; the former is
+directly elected, the latter is elected by an elected body; the term for which
+the representatives are chosen is only two years, that of the senators is six.
+The functions of the House of Representatives are purely legislative, and the
+only share it takes in the judicial power is in the impeachment of public
+officers. The Senate co-operates in the work of legislation, and tries those
+political offences which 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
+appointments he may make must be definitely approved by the same body. *o
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+o <br />
+[ See &ldquo;The Federalist,&rdquo; Nos. 52-56, inclusive; Story, pp. 199-314;
+Constitution of the United States, sects. 2 and 3.] The Executive Power *p
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+p <br />
+[ See &ldquo;The Federalist,&rdquo; Nos. 67-77; Constitution of the United
+States, art. 2; Story, p. 315, pp. 615-780; Kent&rsquo;s
+&ldquo;Commentaries,&rdquo; p. 255.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dependence of the President&mdash;He is elective and responsible&mdash;He is
+free to act in his own sphere under the inspection, but not under the
+direction, of the Senate&mdash;His salary fixed at his entry into
+office&mdash;Suspensive veto.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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
+indispensable 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The President is an elective magistrate. His honor, his property, his liberty,
+and his life are the securities which the people has for the temperate use of
+his power. But in the exercise of his authority he cannot be said to be
+perfectly independent; the Senate takes cognizance of his relations with
+foreign powers, and of the distribution of public appointments, so that he can
+neither be bribed nor can he employ the means of corruption. The legislators of
+the Union acknowledged that the executive power would be incompetent to fulfil
+its task with dignity and utility, unless it enjoyed a greater degree of
+stability and of strength than had been granted to it in the separate States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The President is chosen for four years, and he may be reelected; so that the
+chances of a prolonged administration may inspire him with hopeful undertakings
+for the public good, and with the means of carrying them into execution. The
+President was made the sole representative of the executive power of the Union,
+and care was taken not to render his decisions subordinate to the vote of a
+council&mdash;a dangerous measure, which tends at the same time to clog the
+action of the Government and to diminish its responsibility. The Senate has the
+right of annulling g certain acts of the President; but it cannot compel him to
+take any steps, nor does it participate in the exercise of the executive power.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The action of the legislature on the executive power may be direct; and we have
+just shown that the Americans carefully obviated this influence; but it may, on
+the other hand, be indirect. Public assemblies which have the power of
+depriving an officer of state of his salary encroach upon his independence; and
+as they are free to make the laws, it is to be feared lest they should
+gradually appropriate to themselves a portion of that authority which the
+Constitution had vested in his hands. This dependence of the 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 government, but they have rendered this propensity less
+irresistible. The salary of the President is fixed, at the time of his entering
+upon office, for the whole period of his magistracy. The President is,
+moreover, provided with a suspensive veto, which allows him to oppose the
+passing of such laws as might destroy the portion of independence which the
+Constitution awards him. The struggle between the President and the legislature
+must always be an unequal 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 persisted in, it must
+then be backed by a majority of two-thirds of the whole house. The veto is, in
+fact, a sort of appeal to the people. The executive power, which, without this
+security, might have been secretly oppressed, adopts this means of pleading its
+cause and stating its motives. But if the legislature is certain of
+overpowering all resistance by persevering in its plans, I reply, that in the
+constitutions of all nations, of whatever kind they may be, a certain point
+exists at which the legislator is obliged to have recourse to the good sense
+and the virtue of his fellow-citizens. This point is more prominent and more
+discoverable in republics, whilst it is more remote and more carefully
+concealed in monarchies, but it always exists somewhere. There is no country in
+the world in which everything can be provided for by the laws, or in which
+political institutions can prove a substitute for common sense and public
+morality.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Differences Between The Position Of The President Of The United States And That
+Of A Constitutional King Of France
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Executive power in the Northern States as limited and as partial as the
+supremacy which it represents&mdash;Executive power in France as universal as
+the supremacy it represents&mdash;The King a branch of the
+legislature&mdash;The President the mere executor of the law&mdash;Other
+differences resulting from the duration of the two powers&mdash;The President
+checked in the exercise of the executive authority&mdash;The King independent
+in its exercise&mdash;Notwithstanding these discrepancies France is more akin
+to a republic than the Union to a monarchy&mdash;Comparison of the number of
+public officers depending upon the executive power in the two countries.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The executive power has so important an influence on the destinies of nations
+that I am inclined to pause for an instant at this portion of my subject, in
+order more clearly to explain the part it sustains in America. In order to form
+an accurate idea of the position of the President of the United States, it may
+not be irrelevant to compare it to that of one of the constitutional kings of
+Europe. In this comparison I shall pay 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 executive power retains the titles, the honors, the etiquette,
+and even the funds of royalty long after its authority has disappeared. The
+English, after having cut off the head of one king and expelled another from
+his throne, were accustomed to accost the successor of those princes upon their
+knees. On the other hand, when a republic falls under the sway of a single
+individual, the demeanor of the sovereign is simple and unpretending, as if his
+authority was not yet paramount. When the emperors exercised an unlimited
+control over the fortunes and the lives of their fellow-citizens, it was
+customary to call them Caesar in conversation, and they were in the habit of
+supping without formality at their friends&rsquo; houses. It is therefore
+necessary to look below the surface.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 the most notable difference which exists between the President of the
+United States and the King of France. In the United States the executive power
+is as limited and partial as the sovereignty of the Union in whose name it
+acts; in France it is as universal as the authority of the State. The Americans
+have a federal and the French a national Government.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0019" id="link2HCH0019"></a> Chapter VIII: The Federal
+Constitution&mdash;Part II</h2>
+
+<p>
+This cause of inferiority results from the nature of things, but it is not the
+only one; the second in importance 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 till he has given his assent
+to them; he is, moreover, the executor of all they ordain. The President is
+also the executor of the laws, but he does not really co-operate in their
+formation, since the refusal of his assent does not annul them. He is therefore
+merely to be considered as the agent of the sovereign power. But not only does
+the King of France exercise a portion of the sovereign power, he also
+contributes to the nomination of the legislature, which exercises the other
+portion. He has the privilege of appointing the members of one chamber, and of
+dissolving 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 any part of 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 explain 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 opinions can only penetrate 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 exercises an authority inferior to, and depending upon, that of the
+legislature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Even in the exercise of the executive power, properly so called&mdash;the point
+upon which his position seems to be most analogous to that of the King of
+France&mdash;the President labors under several causes of inferiority. The
+authority of the King, in France, has, in the first place, the advantage of
+duration over that of the President, and durability is one of the chief
+elements of strength; nothing 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 sovereign. In the exercise of the
+executive power the President of the United States is constantly subject to a
+jealous scrutiny. He may make, but he cannot conclude, a treaty; he may
+designate, but he cannot appoint, a public officer. *q The King of France is
+absolute within the limits of his authority. The President of the United States
+is responsible for his actions; but the person of the King is declared
+inviolable by the French Charter. *r
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+q <br />
+[ The Constitution had left it doubtful whether the President was obliged to
+consult the Senate in the removal as well as in the appointment of Federal
+officers. &ldquo;The Federalist&rdquo; (No. 77) seemed to establish the
+affirmative; but in 1789 Congress formally decided that, as the President was
+responsible for his actions, he ought not to be forced to employ agents who had
+forfeited his esteem. See Kent&rsquo;s &ldquo;Commentaries&rdquo;, vol. i. p.
+289.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+r <br />
+[ [This comparison applied to the Constitutional King of France and to the
+powers he held under the Charter of 1830, till the overthrow of the monarchy in
+1848.&mdash;Translator&rsquo;s Note.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nevertheless, the supremacy of public opinion 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 France than in America, but in fact it exists. In
+America, it acts by elections and decrees; in France it proceeds by
+revolutions; but notwithstanding the different constitutions of these two
+countries, public opinion is the predominant authority in both of them. The
+fundamental principle of legislation&mdash;a principle essentially
+republican&mdash;is the same in both countries, although its consequences may
+be different, and its results more or less extensive. Whence I am led to
+conclude that France with its King is nearer akin to a republic than the Union
+with its President is to a monarchy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In what I have been saying I have only touched upon the main points of
+distinction; and if I could have entered into details, the contrast would have
+been rendered still more striking. I have remarked that the authority of the
+President in the United States is only exercised within the limits of a partial
+sovereignty, whilst that of the King in France is undivided. I might have gone
+on to show that the power of the King&rsquo;s government in France exceeds its
+natural limits, however extensive they may be, and penetrates in a thousand
+different ways into the administration of private interests. Amongst the
+examples of this influence may be quoted that which results from the great
+number of public functionaries, who all derive their appointments from the
+Government. This number now exceeds all previous limits; it amounts to 138,000
+*s nominations, each of which may be considered as an element of power. The
+President of the United States has not the exclusive right of making any public
+appointments, and their whole number scarcely exceeds 12,000. *t
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+s <br />
+[ The sums annually paid by the State to these officers amount to 200,000,000
+fr. ($40,000,000).]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+t <br />
+[ This number is extracted from the &ldquo;National Calendar&rdquo; for 1833.
+The &ldquo;National Calendar&rdquo; is an American almanac which contains the
+names of all the Federal officers. It results from this comparison that the
+King of France has eleven times as many places at his disposal as the
+President, although the population of France is not much more than double that
+of the Union.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[I have not the means of ascertaining the number of appointments now at the
+disposal of the President of the United States, but his patronage and the abuse
+of it have largely increased since 1833.&mdash;Translator&rsquo;s Note, 1875.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Accidental Causes Which May Increase The Influence Of The Executive Government
+</p>
+
+<p>
+External security of the Union&mdash;Army of six thousand men&mdash;Few
+ships&mdash;The President has no opportunity of exercising his great
+prerogatives&mdash;In the prerogatives he exercises he is weak.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the executive government is feebler in America than in France, the cause is
+more attributable to the circumstances than to the laws of the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is chiefly in its foreign relations that the executive power of a nation is
+called upon to exert its skill and its vigor. If the existence of the Union
+were perpetually threatened, and if its chief interests were in daily
+connection with those of other powerful nations, the executive government would
+assume an increased importance in proportion to the measures expected of it,
+and those which it would carry into effect. The President of the United States
+is the commander-in-chief of the army, but of an army 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
+without 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
+interests rarely come into contact with those of any other nation of the globe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The practical part of a Government must not be judged by the theory of its
+constitution. The President of the United States is in the possession of almost
+royal prerogatives, which he has no opportunity of exercising; and those
+privileges which he can at present use are very circumscribed. The laws allow
+him to possess a degree of influence which circumstances do not permit him to
+employ.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the other hand, the great strength of the royal prerogative in France arises
+from circumstances far more than from the laws. There the executive government
+is constantly struggling against prodigious obstacles, and exerting all its
+energies to repress them; so that it increases 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 it is in the Union, its influence would very soon become still
+more preponderant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Why The President Of The United States Does Not Require The Majority Of The Two
+Houses In Order To Carry On The Government It is an established axiom in Europe
+that a constitutional King cannot persevere in a system of government which is
+opposed by the two other branches of the legislature. But several Presidents of
+the United States have been known to lose the majority in the legislative body
+without being obliged to abandon the supreme power, and without inflicting a
+serious evil upon society. I have heard this fact quoted as an instance of the
+independence and the power of the executive government in America: a
+moment&rsquo;s reflection will convince us, on the contrary, that it is a proof
+of its extreme weakness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A King in Europe requires the support of the legislature to enable him to
+perform the duties imposed upon him by the Constitution, because those duties
+are enormous. A constitutional King in Europe is not merely the executor of the
+law, but the execution of its provisions devolves so completely upon him that
+he has the power of paralyzing its influence if it opposes his designs. He
+requires the assistance of the legislative assemblies to make the law, but
+those assemblies stand in need of his aid to execute it: these two authorities
+cannot subsist without each other, and the mechanism of government is stopped
+as soon as they are at variance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America the President cannot prevent any law from being passed, nor can he
+evade the obligation of enforcing it. His sincere and zealous co-operation is
+no doubt useful, but it is not indispensable, in the carrying on of public
+affairs. All his important acts are directly or indirectly submitted to the
+legislature, and of his own free authority he can do but little. It is
+therefore his weakness, and not his power, which enables him to remain in
+opposition to Congress. In Europe, harmony must reign between the Crown and the
+other branches of the legislature, because a collision between them may prove
+serious; in America, this harmony is not indispensable, because such a
+collision is impossible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Election Of The President
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Dangers of the elective system increase in proportion to the extent of the
+prerogative&mdash;This system possible in America because no powerful executive
+authority is required&mdash;What circumstances are favorable to the elective
+system&mdash;Why the election of the President does not cause a deviation from
+the principles of the Government&mdash;Influence of the election of the
+President on secondary functionaries.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The dangers of the system of election applied to the head of the executive
+government of a great people have been sufficiently exemplified by experience
+and by history, and the remarks I am about to make refer to America alone.
+These dangers may be more or less formidable in proportion 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 the circumstances in
+which the electors are placed. The most weighty argument against the election
+of a chief magistrate is, that it offers so splendid a lure to private
+ambition, and is so apt to inflame men in the pursuit of power, that when
+legitimate means are wanting force may not unfrequently seize what right
+denied.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is clear that the greater the privileges of the executive authority are, the
+greater is the temptation; the more the ambition of the candidates is excited,
+the more warmly are their interests espoused by a throng of partisans who hope
+to share the power when their patron has won the prize. The dangers of the
+elective system increase, therefore, in the exact ratio of the influence
+exercised by the executive power in the affairs of State. The revolutions of
+Poland were not solely attributable to the elective system in general, but to
+the fact that the elected monarch was the sovereign of a powerful kingdom.
+Before we can discuss the absolute advantages of the elective system we must
+make preliminary inquiries as to whether the geographical position, the laws,
+the habits, the manners, and the opinions of the people amongst whom it is to
+be introduced will admit of the establishment of a weak and dependent executive
+government; for to attempt to render the representative of the State a powerful
+sovereign, and at the same time elective, is, in my opinion, 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 sphere of action beforehand, gradually to diminish its
+prerogatives, and to accustom the people to live without its protection.
+Nothing, however, is further from the designs of the republicans of Europe than
+this course: as many of them owe their hatred of tyranny to the sufferings
+which they have personally undergone, it is oppression, and not the extent of
+the executive power, which excites their hostility, and they attack the former
+without perceiving how nearly it is connected with the latter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hitherto no citizen has shown any disposition to expose his honor and his life
+in order to become the President of the United States; because the power of
+that office is temporary, limited, and subordinate. The prize of fortune must
+be great to encourage adventurers in so desperate a game. No candidate has as
+yet been able to arouse the dangerous enthusiasm or the passionate sympathies
+of the people in his favor, for the very simple reason that when he is at the
+head of the Government he has but little power, but little wealth, and but
+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 the elevation
+of an individual to power.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The great advantage of hereditary monarchies is, that as the private interest
+of a family is always intimately connected with the interests of the State, the
+executive government is never suspended for a single instant; and if the
+affairs 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, notwithstanding
+these precautions, a break necessarily occurs in the minds of the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the approach of an election the head of the executive government is wholly
+occupied by the coming struggle; his future plans are doubtful; he can
+undertake nothing new, and the he will only prosecute with indifference those
+designs which another will perhaps terminate. &ldquo;I am so near the time of
+my retirement from office,&rdquo; said President Jefferson on the 21st of
+January, 1809 (six weeks before the election), &ldquo;that 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.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the other hand, the eyes of the nation are centred on a single point; all
+are watching the gradual 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 government, or, still more, one used to the administrative
+protection of a powerful executive authority would be infallibly convulsed by
+an election of this kind. In the United States the action of the Government may
+be slackened with impunity, because it is always weak and circumscribed. *u
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+u <br />
+[ [This, however, may be a great danger. The period during which Mr. Buchanan
+retained office, after the election of Mr. Lincoln, from November, 1860, to
+March, 1861, was that which enabled the seceding States of the South to
+complete their preparations for the Civil War, and the Executive Government was
+paralyzed. No greater evil could befall a nation.&mdash;Translator&rsquo;s
+Note.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 disadvantage 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. If the elective system were adopted in Europe, the condition of most
+of the monarchical States would be changed at every new election. In America
+the President exercises a certain influence on State affairs, but he does not
+conduct them; the preponderating power is vested in the representatives of the
+whole nation. The political maxims of the country depend therefore on the mass
+of the people, not on the President alone; and consequently in America the
+elective system has no very prejudicial influence on the fixed principles of
+the Government. But the want of fixed principles is an evil so inherent in the
+elective system that it is still extremely perceptible in the narrow sphere to
+which the authority of the President extends.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Americans have admitted that the head of the executive power, who has to
+bear the whole responsibility of the duties he is called upon to fulfil, ought
+to be empowered to choose his own agents, and to remove them at pleasure: the
+legislative bodies watch the conduct of the President more than they direct it.
+The consequence of this arrangement is, that at every new election the fate of
+all the Federal public officers is in suspense. Mr. Quincy Adams, on his entry
+into office, discharged the majority of the individuals who had been appointed
+by his predecessor: and I am not aware that General Jackson allowed a single
+removable functionary employed in the Federal service to retain his place
+beyond the first year which succeeded his election. It is sometimes made a
+subject of complaint that in the constitutional monarchies of Europe the fate
+of the humbler servants of an Administration depends upon that of the
+Ministers. But in elective Governments this evil is far greater. In a
+constitutional monarchy successive ministries are rapidly formed; but as the
+principal representative of the executive power does not change, the spirit of
+innovation is kept within bounds; the changes which take place are in the
+details rather than in the principles of the administrative 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 fall
+upon individuals in consequence of this state of things, it must be allowed
+that the uncertain situation of the public officers is less fraught with evil
+consequences in America than elsewhere. It is so easy to acquire an independent
+position in the United States that the public officer who loses his place may
+be deprived of the comforts of life, but not of the means of subsistence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I remarked at the beginning of this chapter that the dangers of the elective
+system applied to the head of the State are augmented or decreased by the
+peculiar circumstances of the people which adopts it. However the functions of
+the executive power may be restricted, it must always exercise a great
+influence upon the foreign policy of the country, for a negotiation cannot be
+opened or successfully carried on otherwise than by a single agent. The more
+precarious and the more perilous the position of a people becomes, the more
+absolute is the want of a fixed and consistent external policy, and the more
+dangerous does the elective system of the Chief Magistrate become. The policy
+of the Americans in relation to the whole world is exceedingly simple; for it
+may almost be said that no country stands in need of them, nor do they require
+the co-operation of any other people. Their independence is never threatened.
+In their present condition, therefore, the functions of the executive power are
+no less limited by circumstances than by the laws; and the President may
+frequently change his line of policy without involving the State in difficulty
+or destruction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whatever the prerogatives of the executive power may be, the period which
+immediately precedes an election and the moment of its duration must always be
+considered as a national crisis, which is perilous in proportion to the
+internal embarrassments and the external dangers of the country. Few of the
+nations of Europe could escape the calamities of anarchy or of conquest 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mode Of Election
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Skill of the American legislators shown in the mode of election adopted by
+them&mdash;Creation of a special electoral body&mdash;Separate votes of these
+electors&mdash;Case in which the House of Representatives is called upon to
+choose the President&mdash;Results of the twelve elections which have taken
+place since the Constitution has been established.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Besides the dangers which are inherent in the system, many other difficulties
+may arise from the mode of election, which may be obviated by the precaution of
+the legislator. When a people met in arms on some public spot to choose its
+head, it was exposed to all the chances of civil war resulting from so martial
+a mode of proceeding, besides the dangers of the elective system in itself. The
+Polish laws, which subjected the election of the sovereign to the veto of a
+single individual, suggested the murder of that individual or prepared the way
+to anarchy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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. The nation possessed two of the main
+causes of internal peace; it was a new country, but it was inhabited by a
+people grown old in the exercise of freedom. America had no hostile neighbors
+to dread; and the American legislators, profiting by these favorable
+circumstances, created a weak and subordinate executive power which could
+without danger be made elective.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It then only remained for them to choose the least dangerous of the various
+modes of election; and the rules which they laid down upon this point admirably
+correspond to the securities which the physical and political constitution of
+the country already afforded. 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 simple
+majority should be decisive; but the difficulty was to obtain this majority
+without an interval of delay which it was most important to avoid. It rarely
+happens that an individual can at once collect the majority of the suffrages of
+a great people; and this difficulty is enhanced in a republic of confederate
+States, where local influences are apt to preponderate. The means by which it
+was proposed to obviate this second obstacle was to delegate the electoral
+powers of the nation to a body of representatives. This mode of election
+rendered a majority more probable; for the fewer the electors are, the greater
+is the chance of their coming to a final decision. It also offered an
+additional probability of a judicious choice. It then remained to be decided
+whether this right of election was to be entrusted to a legislative body, the
+habitual representative assembly of the nation, or whether an electoral
+assembly should be formed for the express purpose of proceeding to the
+nomination of a President. The Americans chose the latter alternative, from a
+belief that the individuals who were returned to make the laws were incompetent
+to represent 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
+represent 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 manoeuvres
+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 the sole purpose of giving their votes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was therefore established that every State should name a certain number of
+electors, *v who in their turn should elect the President; and as it had been
+observed that the assemblies to which the choice of a chief magistrate had been
+entrusted in elective countries inevitably became the centres of passion and of
+cabal; that they sometimes usurped an authority which did not belong to them;
+and that their proceedings, or the uncertainty which resulted from them, were
+sometimes prolonged so much as to endanger the welfare of the State, it was
+determined that the electors should all vote upon the same day, without being
+convoked to the same place. *w This double election rendered a majority
+probable, though not certain; for it was possible that as many differences
+might exist between the electors as between their constituents. In this case it
+was necessary to have recourse to one of three measures; either to appoint new
+electors, or to consult a second time those already appointed, or to defer the
+election to another authority. The first two of these alternatives,
+independently of the uncertainty of their results, were likely to delay the
+final decision, 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 in the presence of the Senate and the House
+of Representatives. If none of the candidates has a majority, the House of
+Representatives then proceeds immediately to elect a President, but with the
+condition that it must fix upon one of the three candidates who have the
+highest numbers. *x
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+v <br />
+[ As many as it sends members to Congress. The number of electors at the
+election of 1833 was 288. (See &ldquo;The National Calendar,&rdquo; 1833.)]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+w <br />
+[ The electors of the same State assemble, but they transmit to the central
+government the list of their individual votes, and not the mere result of the
+vote of the majority.] [Footnote x: 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 influence 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 cannot agree, recourse is had to the division of the
+States, each of which has a separate and independent vote. This is one of the
+singularities of the Federal Constitution which can only be explained by the
+jar of conflicting interests.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus it is only in case of an event which cannot often happen, and which can
+never be foreseen, that the election is entrusted to the ordinary
+representatives of the nation; and even then they are obliged to choose a
+citizen who has already been designated by a powerful minority of the special
+electors. It is by this happy expedient that the respect which is due to the
+popular voice is combined with the utmost celerity of execution and those
+precautions which the peace of the country demands. But the decision of the
+question by the House of Representatives does not necessarily offer an
+immediate solution of the difficulty, for the majority of that assembly may
+still be doubtful, and in this case the Constitution prescribes no remedy.
+Nevertheless, by restricting the number of candidates to three, and by
+referring the matter to the judgment of an enlightened public body, it has
+smoothed all the obstacles *y which are not inherent in the elective system.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+y <br />
+[ Jefferson, in 1801, was not elected until the thirty-sixth time of
+balloting.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the forty-four years which have elapsed since the promulgation of the
+Federal Constitution the United States have twelve times chosen a President.
+Ten of these elections took place simultaneously by the votes of the special
+electors in the different States. The House of Representatives has only twice
+exercised its conditional 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. Quincy Adams was named. *z
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+z <br />
+[ [General Grant is now (1874) the eighteenth President of the United States.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Crises Of The Election
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Election may be considered as a national crisis&mdash;Why?&mdash;Passions
+of the people&mdash;Anxiety of the President&mdash;Calm which succeeds the
+agitation of the election.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have shown what the circumstances are which favored the adoption of the
+elective system in the United States, and what precautions were taken by the
+legislators to obviate its dangers. The Americans are habitually accustomed to
+all kinds of elections, and they know by experience the utmost degree of
+excitement which is compatible with security. The 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 political
+circumstances under which the elections have hitherto been carried on have
+presented no real embarrassments to the nation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nevertheless, the epoch of the election of a President of the United States may
+be considered as a crisis in the affairs of the nation. The influence which he
+exercises on public business is no doubt feeble and indirect; but the choice of
+the President, which is of small importance to each individual 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 but few means of rewarding his supporters in comparison to
+the kings of Europe, but the places which are at his disposal are sufficiently
+numerous to interest, directly or indirectly, several thousand electors in his
+success. Political parties in the United States are led to rally round an
+individual, in order to acquire a more tangible shape in the eyes of the crowd,
+and the name of the candidate for the Presidency is put forward as the symbol
+and personification of their theories. For these reasons parties are strongly
+interested in gaining the election, not so much with a view to the triumph of
+their principles under the auspices of the President-elect as to show by the
+majority which returned him, the strength of the supporters of those
+principles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For a long while before the appointed time is at hand the election becomes the
+most important and the all-engrossing topic of discussion. The ardor of faction
+is redoubled; and all the artificial passions which the imagination can create
+in the bosom of a happy and peaceful land are agitated and brought to light.
+The President, on the other hand, is absorbed by the cares of self-defence. He
+no longer governs for the interest of the State, but for that of his
+re-election; he does homage to the majority, and instead of checking its
+passions, as his duty commands him to do, he frequently courts its worst
+caprices. As the election draws near, the activity of intrigue and the
+agitation of the populace increase; the citizens are divided into hostile
+camps, each of which assumes the name of its favorite candidate; the whole
+nation glows with feverish excitement; the election is the daily theme of the
+public papers, the subject of private conversation, the end of every thought
+and every action, the sole interest of the present. As soon as the choice is
+determined, this ardor is dispelled; and as a calmer season returns, the
+current of the State, which had nearly broken its banks, sinks to its usual
+level: *a but who can refrain from astonishment at the causes of the storm.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ [Not always. The election of President Lincoln was the signal of civil
+war.&mdash;Translator&rsquo;s Note.]]
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0020" id="link2HCH0020"></a> Chapter VIII: The Federal
+Constitution&mdash;Part III</h2> <h3>Re-election Of The President</h3> <p>
+When the head of the executive power is re-eligible, it is the State which is
+the source of intrigue and corruption&mdash;The desire of being re-elected the
+chief aim of a President of the United States&mdash;Disadvantage of the system
+peculiar to America&mdash;The natural evil of democracy is that it subordinates
+all authority to the slightest desires of the majority&mdash;The re-election of
+the President encourages this evil.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It may be asked whether the legislators of the United States did right or wrong
+in allowing the re-election of the President. It seems at first sight contrary
+to all reason to prevent the head of the executive power from being elected a
+second time. The influence which the talents and the character of a single
+individual may exercise upon the fate of a whole people, in critical
+circumstances or arduous times, is well known: a law preventing the re-election
+of the chief magistrate would deprive the citizens of the surest pledge of the
+prosperity and the security of the commonwealth; and, by a singular
+inconsistency, a man would be excluded from the government at the very time
+when he had shown his ability in conducting its affairs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But if these arguments are strong, perhaps still more powerful reasons may be
+advanced against them. Intrigue and corruption are the natural defects of
+elective government; 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 manoeuvres must
+necessarily be limited to a narrow sphere; but when the chief magistrate enters
+the lists, he borrows the strength of the government for his own purposes. In
+the former case the feeble resources of an individual are in action; in the
+latter, the State itself, with all its immense influence, is busied in the work
+of corruption and cabal. The private citizen, who employs the most immoral
+practices to acquire power, can only act in a manner indirectly prejudicial to
+the public prosperity. But if the representative of the executive descends into
+the combat, the cares of government dwindle into second-rate importance, and
+the success of his election is his first concern. All laws and all the
+negotiations he undertakes are to him nothing more than electioneering schemes;
+places become the reward of services rendered, not to the nation, but to its
+chief; and the influence of the government, if not injurious to the country, is
+at least no longer beneficial to the community for which it was created.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is impossible to consider the ordinary course of affairs in the United
+States without perceiving that the desire of being re-elected is the chief aim
+of the President; that his whole administration, and even his most indifferent
+measures, tend to this object; and that, as the crisis approaches, his personal
+interest takes the place of his interest in the public good. The principle of
+re-eligibility renders the corrupt influence of elective government still more
+extensive and pernicious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America it exercises a peculiarly fatal influence on the sources of national
+existence. Every government seems to be afflicted by some evil which is
+inherent in its nature, and the genius of the legislator is shown in eluding
+its attacks. A State may survive the influence of a host of bad laws, and the
+mischief they cause is frequently exaggerated; but a law which encourages the
+growth of the canker within must prove fatal in the end, although its bad
+consequences may not be immediately perceived.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The principle of destruction in absolute monarchies lies in the excessive and
+unreasonable extension of the prerogative of the crown; and a measure tending
+to remove the constitutional provisions which counterbalance this influence
+would be radically bad, even if its immediate consequences were unattended with
+evil. By a parity of reasoning, in countries governed by a democracy, where the
+people is perpetually drawing all authority to itself, the laws which increase
+or accelerate its action are the direct assailants of the very principle of the
+government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The greatest proof of the ability of the American legislators is, that they
+clearly discerned this truth, and that they had the courage to act up to it.
+They conceived that a certain authority above the body of the people was
+necessary, which should enjoy a degree of independence, without, however, being
+entirely beyond the popular control; an authority which would be forced to
+comply with the permanent determinations of the majority, but which would be
+able to resist its caprices, and to 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 they armed him with the
+veto to resist the encroachments of the legislature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But by introducing the principle of re-election they partly destroyed their
+work; and they rendered the President but little inclined to exert the great
+power they had vested in his hands. If ineligible a second time, the President
+would be far from independent of the people, for his responsibility would not
+be lessened; but the favor of the people would not be so necessary to him as to
+induce him to court it by humoring its desires. If re-eligible (and this is
+more especially true at the present day, when political morality is relaxed,
+and when great 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 hastens to anticipate its wishes, he forestalls its complaints,
+he yields to its idlest cravings, and instead of guiding it, as the legislature
+intended that he should do, he is ever ready to follow its bidding. Thus, in
+order not to deprive the State of the talents of an individual, those talents
+have been rendered almost useless; and to reserve an expedient for
+extraordinary perils, the country has been exposed to daily dangers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Federal Courts *b
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ See chap. VI, entitled &ldquo;Judicial Power in the United States.&rdquo;
+This chapter explains the general principles of the American theory of judicial
+institutions. See also the Federal Constitution, Art. 3. See &ldquo;The
+Federalists,&rdquo; Nos. 78-83, inclusive; and a work entitled
+&ldquo;Constitutional Law,&rdquo; being a view of the practice and jurisdiction
+of the courts of the United States, by Thomas Sergeant. See Story, pp. 134,
+162, 489, 511, 581, 668; and the organic law of September 24, 1789, in the
+&ldquo;Collection of the Laws of the United States,&rdquo; by Story, vol. i. p.
+53.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Political importance of the judiciary in the United States&mdash;Difficulty of
+treating this subject&mdash;Utility of judicial power in
+confederations&mdash;What tribunals could be introduced into the
+Union&mdash;Necessity of establishing federal courts of
+justice&mdash;Organization of the national judiciary&mdash;The Supreme
+Court&mdash;In what it differs from all known tribunals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have inquired into the legislative and executive power of the Union, and the
+judicial power now remains to be examined; but in this place I cannot conceal
+my fears from the reader. Their judicial institutions exercise a great
+influence on the condition of the Anglo-Americans, and they occupy a prominent
+place amongst what are probably called political institutions: in this respect
+they are peculiarly deserving of our attention. But I am at a loss to explain
+the political action of the American tribunals without entering into some
+technical details of their constitution and their forms of proceeding; and I
+know not how to descend to these minutiae without wearying the curiosity of the
+reader by the natural aridity of the subject, or without risking to fall into
+obscurity through a desire to be succinct. I can scarcely hope to escape these
+various evils; for if I appear too lengthy to a man of the world, a lawyer may
+on the other hand complain of my brevity. But these are the natural
+disadvantages of my subject, and more especially of the point which I am about
+to discuss.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The great difficulty was, not to devise the Constitution to the Federal
+Government, but to find out a method of enforcing its laws. Governments have in
+general but two means of overcoming the opposition of the people they govern,
+viz., the physical force which is at their own disposal, and the moral force
+which they derive from the decisions of the courts of justice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A government which should have no other means of exacting obedience than open
+war must be very near its ruin, for one of two alternatives would then probably
+occur: if its authority was small and its character temperate, it would not
+resort to violence till the last extremity, and it would connive at a number of
+partial acts of insubordination, in which case the State would gradually fall
+into anarchy; if it was enterprising and powerful, it would perpetually have
+recourse to its physical strength, and would speedily degenerate into a
+military despotism. So that its activity would not be less prejudicial to the
+community than its inaction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The great end of justice is to substitute the notion of right for that of
+violence, and to place a legal barrier between the power of the government and
+the use of physical force. The authority which is awarded to the intervention
+of a court of justice by the general opinion of mankind is so surprisingly
+great that it clings to the mere formalities of justice, and gives a bodily
+influence to the shadow of the law. The moral force which courts of justice
+possess renders the introduction of physical force exceedingly rare, and is
+very frequently substituted for it; but if the latter proves to be
+indispensable, its power is doubled by the association of the idea of law.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A federal government stands in greater need of the support of judicial
+institutions than any other, because it is naturally weak and exposed to
+formidable opposition. *c If it were always obliged to resort to violence in
+the first instance, it could not fulfil its task. The Union, therefore,
+required a national judiciary to enforce the obedience of the citizens to the
+laws, and to repeal the attacks which might be directed against them. The
+question then remained as to what tribunals were to exercise these privileges;
+were they to be entrusted to the courts of justice which were already organized
+in every State? or was it necessary to create federal courts? It may easily be
+proved that the Union could not adapt the judicial power of the States to its
+wants. The separation of the judiciary from the administrative power of the
+State no doubt affects the security of every citizen and the liberty of all.
+But it is no less important to the existence of the nation that these several
+powers should have the same origin, should follow the same principles, and act
+in the same sphere; in a word, that they should be correlative and homogeneous.
+No one, I presume, ever suggested the advantage of trying offences committed in
+France by a foreign court of justice, in order to secure the impartiality of
+the judges. The Americans form one people in relation to their Federal
+Government; but in the bosom of this people divers 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 carrying on their affairs.
+To entrust the execution of the laws of the Union to tribunals instituted by
+these political bodies would be to allow foreign judges to preside over the
+nation. Nay, more; not only is each State foreign to the Union at large, but it
+is in perpetual opposition to the common interests, since whatever authority
+the Union loses turns to the advantage of the States. Thus to enforce the laws
+of the Union by means of the tribunals of the States would be to allow not only
+foreign but partial judges to preside over the nation.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ Federal laws are those which most require courts of justice, and those at the
+same time which have most rarely established them. The reason is that
+confederations have usually been formed by independent States, which
+entertained no real intention of obeying the central Government, and which very
+readily ceded the right of command to the federal executive, and very prudently
+reserved the right of non-compliance to themselves.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the number, still more than the mere character, of the tribunals of the
+States rendered them unfit for the service of the nation. When the Federal
+Constitution was formed there were already thirteen courts of justice in the
+United States which decided causes without appeal. That number is now increased
+to twenty-four. To suppose that a State can subsist when its fundamental laws
+may be subjected to four-and-twenty different interpretations at the same time
+is to advance a proposition alike contrary to reason and to experience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The American legislators therefore agreed to create a federal judiciary power
+to apply the laws of the Union, and to determine certain questions affecting
+general interests, which were carefully determined beforehand. The entire
+judicial power of the Union was centred in one tribunal, which was denominated
+the Supreme Court of the United States. But, to facilitate the expedition of
+business, inferior courts were appended 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 named neither by the people nor
+the legislature, but by the President of the United States, acting with the
+advice of the Senate. In order to render them independent of the other
+authorities, their office was made inalienable; and it was determined that
+their salary, when once fixed, should not be altered by the legislature. *d It
+was easy to proclaim the principle of a Federal judiciary, but difficulties
+multiplied when the extent of its jurisdiction was to be determined.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ The Union was divided into districts, in each of which a resident Federal
+judge was appointed, and the court in which he presided was termed a
+&ldquo;District Court.&rdquo; Each of the judges of the Supreme Court annually
+visits a certain portion of the Republic, in order to try the most important
+causes upon the spot; the court presided over by this magistrate is styled a
+&ldquo;Circuit Court.&rdquo; Lastly, all the most serious cases of litigation
+are brought before the Supreme Court, which holds a 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 in the same cases,
+as into the courts of the States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It will be observed that no analogy exists between the Supreme Court of the
+United States and the French Cour de Cassation, since the latter only hears
+appeals on questions of law. The Supreme Court decides upon the evidence of the
+fact as well as upon the law of the case, whereas the Cour de Cassation does
+not pronounce a decision of its own, but refers the cause to the arbitration of
+another tribunal. See the law of September 24, 1789, &ldquo;Laws of the United
+States,&rdquo; by Story, vol. i. p. 53.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Means Of Determining The Jurisdiction Of The Federal Courts Difficulty of
+determining the jurisdiction of separate courts of justice in
+confederations&mdash;The courts of the Union obtained the right of fixing their
+own jurisdiction&mdash;In what respect this rule attacks the portion of
+sovereignty reserved to the several States&mdash;The sovereignty of these
+States restricted by the laws, and the interpretation of the
+laws&mdash;Consequently, the danger of the several States is more apparent than
+real.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the Constitution of the United States recognized two distinct powers in
+presence of each other, represented in a judicial point of view by two distinct
+classes of courts of justice, the utmost care which could be taken in defining
+their separate jurisdictions would have been insufficient to prevent frequent
+collisions between those tribunals. The question then arose to whom the right
+of deciding the competency of each court was to be referred.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In nations which constitute a single body politic, when a question is debated
+between two courts relating to their mutual jurisdiction, a third tribunal is
+generally within reach to decide the difference; and this is effected without
+difficulty, because in these nations the questions of judicial competency have
+no connection with the privileges of the national supremacy. But it was
+impossible to create an arbiter between a superior court of the Union and the
+superior court of a separate State which would not belong to one of these two
+classes. It was, therefore, necessary to allow one of these courts to judge its
+own cause, and to take or to retain cognizance of the point which was
+contested. To grant this privilege to the different courts of the States would
+have been to destroy the sovereignty of the Union de facto after having
+established it de jure; for the interpretation of the Constitution would soon
+have restored that portion of independence to the States of which the terms of
+that act deprived them. The object of the creation of a Federal tribunal was to
+prevent the courts of the States from deciding questions affecting the national
+interests in their own department, and so to form a uniform body of
+jurisprudene for the interpretation of the laws of the Union. This end would
+not have been accomplished if the courts of the several States had been
+competent to decide upon cases in their separate capacities from which they
+were obliged to abstain as Federal tribunals. The Supreme Court of the United
+States was therefore invested with the right of determining all questions of
+jurisdiction. *e
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ In order to diminish the number of these suits, it was decided that in a
+great many Federal causes the courts of the States should be empowered to
+decide conjointly with those of the Union, the losing party having then a right
+of appeal to the Supreme Court of the United States. The 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 &ldquo;Kent&rsquo;s
+Commentaries,&rdquo; vol. i. p. 300, pp. 370 et seq.; Story&rsquo;s
+&ldquo;Commentaries,&rdquo; p. 646; and &ldquo;The Organic Law of the United
+States,&rdquo; vol. i. p. 35.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This was a severe blow upon the independence of the States, which was thus
+restricted not only by the laws, but by the interpretation of them; by one
+limit which was known, and by another which was dubious; by a rule which was
+certain, and a rule which was arbitrary. It is true the Constitution 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 was
+threatened by this mode of proceeding are less serious than they appeared to
+be. We shall see hereafter that in America the real strength of the country is
+vested in the provincial far more than in the Federal Government. The Federal
+judges are conscious of the relative weakness of the power in whose name they
+act, and they are more inclined to abandon a right of jurisdiction in cases
+where it is justly their own than to assert a privilege to which they have no
+legal claim.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Different Cases Of Jurisdiction
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The matter and the party are the first conditions of the Federal
+jurisdiction&mdash;Suits in which ambassadors are engaged&mdash;Suits of the
+Union&mdash;Of a separate State&mdash;By whom tried&mdash;Causes resulting from
+the laws of the Union&mdash;Why judged by the Federal tribunals&mdash;Causes
+relating to the performance of contracts tried by the Federal
+courts&mdash;Consequence of this arrangement.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After having appointed the means of fixing the competency of the Federal
+courts, the legislators of the Union defined the cases which should come within
+their jurisdiction. It was established, on the one hand, that certain parties
+must always be brought before the Federal courts, without any regard to the
+special nature of the cause; and, on the other, that certain causes must always
+be brought before the same courts, without any regard to the quality of the
+parties in the suit. These distinctions were therefore admitted to be the basis
+of the Federal jurisdiction.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Ambassadors are the representatives of nations in a state of amity with the
+Union, and whatever concerns these personages concerns in some degree the whole
+Union. When an ambassador is a party in a suit, that suit affects the welfare
+of the nation, and a Federal tribunal is naturally called upon to decide it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Union itself may be invoked in legal proceedings, and in this case it would
+be alike contrary to the customs of all nations and to common sense to appeal
+to a tribunal representing any other sovereignty than its own; the Federal
+courts, therefore, take cognizance of these affairs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When two parties belonging to two different States are engaged in a suit, the
+case cannot with propriety be brought before a court of either State. The
+surest expedient is to select a tribunal like that of the Union, which can
+excite the suspicions of neither party, and which offers the most natural as
+well as the most certain remedy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the two parties are not private individuals, but States, an important
+political consideration is added to the same motive of equity. The quality of
+the parties in this case gives a national importance to all their disputes; and
+the most trifling litigation of the States may be said to involve the peace of
+the whole Union. *f
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+f <br />
+[ The Constitution also says that the Federal courts shall decide
+&ldquo;controversies between a State and the citizens of another State.&rdquo;
+And here a most important question of a constitutional nature arose, which was,
+whether the jurisdiction given by the Constitution in cases in which a State is
+a party extended to suits brought against a State as well as by it, or was
+exclusively confined to the latter. The question was most elaborately
+considered in the case of Chisholm v. Georgia, and was decided by the majority
+of the Supreme Court in the affirmative. 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 against a State.
+See Story&rsquo;s &ldquo;Commentaries,&rdquo; p. 624, or in the large edition
+Section 1677.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The nature of the cause frequently prescribes the rule of competency. Thus all
+the questions which concern maritime commerce evidently fall under the
+cognizance of the Federal tribunals. *g Almost all these questions are
+connected with 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 peculiar jurisdiction, the
+national courts can only hear causes which originate in maritime affairs.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ As for instance, all cases of piracy.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Constitution comprises under one head almost all the cases which by their
+very nature come within the limits of the Federal courts. The rule which it
+lays down is simple, but pregnant with an entire system of ideas, and with a
+vast multitude of facts. It declares that the judicial power of the Supreme
+Court shall extend to all cases in law and equity arising under the laws of the
+United States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two examples will put the intention of the legislator in the clearest light:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Constitution prohibits the States from making laws on the value and
+circulation of money: If, notwithstanding this prohibition, a State passes a
+law of this kind, with which the interested parties refuse to comply because it
+is contrary to the Constitution, the case must come before a Federal court,
+because it arises under the laws 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 supremacy; but it was intended that within its limits it
+should form one and the same people. *h Within those limits the Union is
+sovereign. When this point is established and admitted, the inference is easy;
+for if it be acknowledged that the United States constitute one and the same
+people within the bounds prescribed by their Constitution, 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 of its own laws. To this
+it is answered that the Union is in so singular a position that in relation to
+some matters it constitutes a people, and that in relation to all the rest it
+is a nonentity. But the inference to be drawn is, that in the laws relating to
+these matters the Union possesses all the rights of absolute sovereignty. The
+difficulty is to know what these matters are; and when once it is resolved (and
+we have shown how it was resolved, in speaking of the means of determining the
+jurisdiction of the Federal courts) no further doubt can arise; for as soon as
+it is established that a suit is Federal&mdash;that is to say, that it belongs
+to the share of sovereignty reserved by the Constitution of the Union&mdash;the
+natural consequence is that it should come within the jurisdiction of a Federal
+court.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+h <br />
+[ This principle was in some measure restricted by the introduction of the
+several States as independent powers into the Senate, and by allowing them to
+vote separately in the House of Representatives when the President is elected
+by that body. But these are exceptions, and the contrary principle is the
+rule.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever the laws of the United States are attacked, or whenever they are
+resorted to in self-defence, the Federal courts must be appealed to. Thus the
+jurisdiction of the tribunals of the Union extends and narrows its limits
+exactly in the same ratio as the sovereignty of the Union augments or
+decreases. We have shown that the principal aim of the legislators of 1789 was
+to divide the sovereign authority into two parts. In the one they placed the
+control 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 principle of independence within certain limits of their own was adopted in
+their behalf; and they were concealed from the inspection, and protected from
+the control, of the central Government. In speaking of the division of
+authority, I observed that this latter principle had not always been held
+sacred, since the States are prevented from passing certain laws which
+apparently belong to their own particular sphere of interest. When a State of
+the Union passes a law of this kind, the citizens who are injured by its
+execution can appeal to the Federal courts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus the jurisdiction of the Federal courts extends not only to all the cases
+which arise under the laws of the Union, but also to those which arise under
+laws made by the several States in opposition to the Constitution. The States
+are prohibited from making ex post facto laws in criminal cases, and any person
+condemned by virtue of a law of this kind can appeal to the judicial power of
+the Union. The States are likewise prohibited from making laws which may have a
+tendency to impair the obligations of contracts. *i If a citizen thinks that an
+obligation of this kind is impaired by a law passed in his State, he may refuse
+to obey it, and may appeal to the Federal courts. *j
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+i <br />
+[ It is perfectly clear, says Mr. Story (&ldquo;Commentaries,&rdquo; p. 503, or
+in the large edition Section 1379), that any law which enlarges, abridges, or
+in any manner changes the intention of the parties, resulting from the
+stipulations in the contract, necessarily impairs it. He gives in the same
+place a very long and careful definition of what is understood by a contract in
+Federal jurisprudence. A grant made by the State to a private individual, and
+accepted by him, is a contract, and cannot be revoked by any future law. A
+charter granted by the State to a company is a contract, and equally binding to
+the State as to the grantee. The clause of the Constitution here referred to
+insures, therefore, the existence of a great part of acquired rights, but not
+of all. Property may legally be held, though it may not have passed into the
+possessor&rsquo;s hands by means of a contract; and its possession is an
+acquired right, not guaranteed by the Federal Constitution.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+j <br />
+[ A remarkable instance of this is given by Mr. Story (p. 508, or in the large
+edition Section 1388): &ldquo;Dartmouth College in New Hampshire had been
+founded by a charter granted to certain individuals before the American
+Revolution, and its trustees formed a corporation under this charter. The
+legislature of New Hampshire had, without the consent of this corporation,
+passed an act changing the organization of the original provincial charter of
+the college, and transferring all the rights, privileges, and franchises from
+the old charter trustees to new trustees appointed under the act. The
+constitutionality of the act was contested, and, after solemn arguments, it was
+deliberately held by the Supreme Court that the provincial charter was a
+contract within the meaning of the Constitution (Art. I. Section 10), and that
+the emendatory act was utterly void, as impairing the obligation of that
+charter. The college was deemed, like other colleges of private foundation, to
+be a private eleemosynary institution, endowed by its charter with a capacity
+to take property unconnected with the Government. Its funds were bestowed upon
+the faith of the charter, and those funds consisted entirely of private
+donations. It is true that the uses were in some sense public, that is, for the
+general benefit, and not for the mere benefit of the corporators; but this did
+not make the corporation a public corporation. It was a private institution for
+general charity. It was not distinguishable in principle from a private
+donation, vested in private trustees, for a public charity, or for a particular
+purpose of beneficence. And the State itself, if it had bestowed funds upon a
+charity of the same nature, could not resume those funds.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This provision appears to me to be the most serious attack upon the
+independence of the States. The rights awarded to the Federal Government for
+purposes of obvious national importance are definite and easily comprehensible;
+but those with which this last clause invests it are not either clearly
+appreciable or accurately defined. For there are vast numbers of political laws
+which influence the existence of obligations of contracts, which may thus
+furnish an easy pretext for the aggressions of the central authority.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0021" id="link2HCH0021"></a> Chapter VIII: The Federal
+Constitution&mdash;Part IV</h2> <h3>Procedure Of The Federal Courts</h3> <p>
+Natural weakness of the judiciary power in confederations&mdash;Legislators
+ought to strive as much as possible to bring private individuals, and not
+States, before the Federal Courts&mdash;How the Americans have succeeded in
+this&mdash;Direct prosecution of private individuals in the Federal
+Courts&mdash;Indirect prosecution of the States which violate the laws of the
+Union&mdash;The decrees of the Supreme Court enervate but do not destroy the
+provincial laws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have shown what the privileges of the Federal courts are, and it is no less
+important to point out the manner in which they are exercised. The irresistible
+authority of justice in countries in which the sovereignty in undivided is
+derived from the fact that the tribunals of those countries represent the
+entire nation at issue with the individual against whom their decree is
+directed, and the idea of power is thus introduced to corroborate the idea of
+right. But this is not always the case in countries in which the sovereignty is
+divided; in them the judicial power is more frequently opposed to a fraction of
+the nation than to an isolated individual, and its moral authority and physical
+strength are consequently diminished. In federal States the power of the judge
+is naturally decreased, and that of the justiciable parties is augmented. 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
+countries where the sovereignty is undivided; in other words, his efforts ought
+constantly to tend to maintain the judicial power of the confederation as the
+representative of the nation, and the justiciable party as the representative
+of an individual interest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 the community is concerned, the Constitution of the United States contrived,
+by a master-stroke of policy, that the federal courts, acting in the name of
+the laws, should only take cognizance 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 Constitution, the inference was that
+the Government created by this Constitution, and acting within these limits,
+was invested with all the privileges of a national government, one of the
+principal 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 citizen 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 taxpayer; and, like the judicial power
+of other nations, it is opposed to 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the difficulty increases when the proceedings are not brought forward by
+but against the Union. The Constitution recognizes the legislative power of the
+States; and a law so enacted may impair the privileges of the Union, in which
+case a collision in unavoidable between that body and the State which has
+passed the law: and it only remains to select the least dangerous remedy, which
+is very clearly deducible from the general principles I have before
+established. *k
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+k <br />
+[ See Chapter VI. on &ldquo;Judicial Power in America.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It may be conceived that, in the case under consideration, the Union might have
+used the State before a Federal court, which would have annulled the act, and
+by this means it would have adopted a natural course of proceeding; but the
+judicial power would have been placed in open hostility 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 impair the interests of
+some private individual by its provisions: these private interests are assumed
+by the American legislators as the ground of attack against such measures as
+may be prejudicial to the Union, and it is to these cases that the protection
+of the Supreme Court is extended.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Suppose a State vends a certain portion of its territory to a company, and that
+a year afterwards it passes a law by which the territory is otherwise disposed
+of, and that clause of the Constitution which prohibits laws impairing the
+obligation of contracts violated. When the purchaser under the second act
+appears 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 null and void. *l Thus, in point of fact, the judicial power of the
+Union is contesting the claims of the sovereignty of a State; but it only acts
+indirectly and upon a special application of detail: it attacks the law in its
+consequences, not in its principle, and it rather weakens than destroys it.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+l <br />
+[ See Kent&rsquo;s &ldquo;Commentaries,&rdquo; vol. i. p. 387.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The last hypothesis that remained was that each State formed a corporation
+enjoying a separate existence and distinct 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 upon to
+contest a provincial law, but to try a suit in which a State was a party. This
+suit was perfectly similar to any other cause, except that the quality of the
+parties was different; and here the danger pointed out at the beginning of this
+chapter exists with less chance of being avoided. The inherent disadvantage of
+the very essence of Federal constitutions is that they engender parties in the
+bosom of the nation which present powerful obstacles to the free course of
+justice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+High Rank Of The Supreme Court Amongst The Great Powers Of State No nation ever
+constituted so great a judicial power as the Americans&mdash;Extent of its
+prerogative&mdash;Its political influence&mdash;The tranquillity and the very
+existence of the Union depend on the discretion of the seven Federal Judges.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When we have successively examined in detail the organization 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 at the head of all known tribunals, both by the nature
+of its rights and the class of justiciable parties which it controls.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In all the civilized countries of Europe the Government has always shown the
+greatest repugnance to allow the cases to which it was itself a party to be
+decided by the ordinary course of justice. This repugnance naturally attains
+its utmost height in an absolute Government; and, on the other hand, the
+privileges of the courts of justice are extended with the increasing liberties
+of the people: but no European nation has at present held that all judicial
+controversies, without regard to their origin, can be decided by the judges of
+common law.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America this theory has been actually put in practice, and the Supreme Court
+of the United States is the sole tribunal of the nation. Its power extends to
+all the cases arising under laws and treaties made by the executive and
+legislative authorities, to all cases of admiralty and maritime jurisdiction,
+and in general to all points which affect the law of nations. It may even be
+affirmed that, although its constitution is essentially judicial, its
+prerogatives are almost entirely political. Its sole object is to enforce the
+execution of the laws of the Union; and the Union only regulates the relations
+of the Government with the citizens, and of the nation with Foreign Powers: the
+relations of citizens amongst themselves are almost exclusively regulated by
+the sovereignty of the States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 controversies 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 steps of the tribunal, and simply says, &ldquo;The State of New
+York versus the State of Ohio,&rdquo; 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The peace, the prosperity, and the very existence of the Union are vested in
+the hands of the seven judges. Without their active co-operation the
+Constitution would be a dead letter: the Executive appeals to them for
+assistance against the encroachments of the legislative powers; the Legislature
+demands their protection from the designs of the Executive; they defend the
+Union from the disobedience of the States, the States from the exaggerated
+claims of the Union, the public interest against the interests of private
+citizens, and the conservative spirit of order against the fleeting innovations
+of democracy. Their power is enormous, but it is clothed in the authority of
+public opinion. They are the all-powerful guardians of a people which respects
+law, but they would be impotent against popular neglect or popular contempt.
+The force of public opinion is the most intractable of agents, because its
+exact limits cannot be defined; and it is not less dangerous to exceed than to
+remain below the boundary prescribed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Federal judges must not only be good citizens, and men possessed of that
+information and integrity which are indispensable to magistrates, but they must
+be statesmen&mdash;politicians, not unread in the signs of the times, not
+afraid to brave the obstacles which can be subdued, nor slow to turn aside such
+encroaching elements as may threaten the supremacy of the Union and the
+obedience which is due to the laws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The President, who exercises a limited power, may err without causing great
+mischief in the State. Congress may decide amiss without destroying the Union,
+because the electoral body in which Congress originates may cause it to retract
+its decision by changing its members. But if the Supreme Court is ever composed
+of imprudent men or bad citizens, the Union may be plunged into anarchy or
+civil war.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The real cause of this danger, however, does not lie in the constitution of the
+tribunal, but in the very nature of Federal Governments. We have observed that
+in confederate peoples it is especially necessary to consolidate the judicial
+authority, because in no other nations do those independent persons who are
+able to cope with the social body exist in greater power or in 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 those States which render
+its existence necessary.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In What Respects The Federal Constitution Is Superior To That Of The States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In what respects the Constitution of the Union can be compared to that of the
+States&mdash;Superiority of the Constitution of the Union attributable to the
+wisdom of the Federal legislators&mdash;Legislature of the Union less dependent
+on the people than that of the States&mdash;Executive power more independent in
+its sphere&mdash;Judicial power less subjected to the inclinations of the
+majority&mdash;Practical consequence of these facts&mdash;The dangers inherent
+in a democratic government eluded by the Federal legislators, and increased by
+the legislators of the States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Federal Constitution differs essentially from that of the States in the
+ends which it is intended to accomplish, but in the means by which these ends
+are promoted 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 comparing them together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am of opinion that the Federal Constitution is superior to all the
+Constitutions of the States, for several reasons.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The present Constitution of the Union was formed at a later period than those
+of the majority of the States, and it may have derived some ameliorations from
+past experience. But we shall be led to acknowledge that this is only a
+secondary cause of its superiority, when we recollect that eleven new States *n
+have been added to the American Confederation since the promulgation of the
+Federal Constitution, and that these new republics have always rather
+exaggerated than avoided the defects which existed in the former Constitutions.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+n <br />
+[ [The number of States has now risen to 46 (1874), besides the District of
+Columbia.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The chief cause of the superiority of the Federal Constitution lay in the
+character of the legislators who composed it. At the time when it was formed
+the dangers of the Confederation were imminent, and its ruin seemed inevitable.
+In this extremity the people chose the men who most deserved the esteem, rather
+than those who had gained the affections, of the country. I have already
+observed that distinguished as almost all the legislators of the 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 continual
+struggle against a powerful and predominant authority. When the contest was
+terminated, whilst the excited passions of the populace persisted in warring
+with dangers which had ceased to threaten them, these men stopped short in
+their career; they cast a calmer and more penetrating look upon the country
+which was now their own; they perceived that the war of independence was
+definitely ended, and that the only dangers which America had to fear were
+those which might result from the abuse of the freedom she had won. 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 propose restrictions,
+because they were resolutely opposed to destruction. *o
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+o <br />
+[ At this time Alexander Hamilton, who was one of the principal founders of the
+Constitution, ventured to express the following sentiments in &ldquo;The
+Federalist,&rdquo; No. 71:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;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 the
+true means by which the public happiness may be promoted. The Republican
+principle demands that the deliberative sense of the community should govern
+the conduct of those to whom they entrust the management of their affairs; but
+it does not require an unqualified complaisance to every sudden breeze of
+passion, or to every transient impulse which the people may receive from the
+arts of men who flatter their prejudices to betray their interests. It is a
+just observation, that the people commonly intend the public good. This often
+applies to their very errors. But their good sense would despise the adulator
+who should pretend that they always reason right about the means of promoting
+it. They know from experience that they sometimes err; and the wonder is that
+they so seldom err as they do, beset, as they continually are, by the wiles of
+parasites and sycophants; 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 those who seek to possess rather than to deserve it. When
+occasions present themselves in which the interests of the people are at
+variance with their inclinations, it is the duty of persons whom they have
+appointed to be the guardians of those interests to withstand the temporary
+delusion, in order to give them time and opportunity for more cool and sedate
+reflection. Instances might be cited in which a conduct of this kind has saved
+the people from very fatal consequences of their own mistakes, and has procured
+lasting monuments of their gratitude to the men who had courage and magnanimity
+enough to serve them at the peril of their displeasure.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The greater number of the Constitutions of the States assign one year for the
+duration of the House of Representatives, and two years for that of the Senate;
+so that members of the legislative body are constantly and narrowly tied down
+by the slightest desires of their constituents. The legislators of the Union
+were of opinion that this excessive dependence of the Legislature tended to
+alter the nature of the main consequences of the representative system, since
+it vested the source, not only of authority, but of government, in the people.
+They increased the length of the time for which the representatives were
+returned, in order to give them freer scope for the exercise of their own
+judgment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Federal Constitution, as well as the Constitutions of the different States,
+divided the legislative body into two branches. But in the States these two
+branches were composed of the same elements, and elected in the same manner.
+The consequence was that the passions and inclinations of the populace were as
+rapidly and as energetically represented in one chamber as in the other, and
+that laws were made with all the characteristics of violence and precipitation.
+By the Federal Constitution the two houses originate in like manner in the
+choice of the people; but the conditions of eligibility and the mode of
+election were changed, to the end that, if, as is the case in certain nations,
+one branch of the Legislature represents the same interests as the other, it
+may at least represent a superior degree of intelligence and discretion. A
+mature age was made one of the conditions of the senatorial dignity, and the
+Upper House was chosen by an elected assembly of a limited number of members.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To concentrate the whole social force in the hands of the legislative body is
+the natural tendency of democracies; for as this is the power which emanates
+the most directly from the people, it is made to participate most fully in the
+preponderating authority of the multitude, and it is naturally led to
+monopolize every species of influence. This concentration is at once
+prejudicial to a well-conducted administration, and favorable to the despotism
+of the majority. The legislators of the States frequently yielded to these
+democratic propensities, which were invariably and courageously resisted by the
+founders of the Union.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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
+nothing more than the blind agent and the passive instrument of its decisions.
+He can derive no influence from the duration of his functions, which terminate
+with the revolving year, or from the exercise of prerogatives which can
+scarcely be said to exist. The Legislature can condemn him to inaction by
+intrusting the execution of the laws to special committees of its own members,
+and can annul his temporary dignity by depriving him of 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 salary of the individual who fills that office cannot be
+altered during the term of his functions; he is protected by a body of official
+dependents, and armed with a suspensive veto. In short, every effort was made
+to confer a strong and independent position upon the executive authority within
+the limits which had been prescribed to it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the Constitutions of all the States the judicial power is that which remains
+the most independent of the legislative authority; nevertheless, in all the
+States the Legislature has reserved to itself the right of regulating the
+emoluments of the judges, a practice which necessarily subjects these
+magistrates to its immediate influence. In some States the judges are only
+temporarily appointed, which deprives them of a great portion of their power
+and their freedom. In others the legislative and judicial powers are entirely
+confounded; thus the Senate of New York, for instance, constitutes in certain
+cases the Superior Court of the State. The Federal Constitution, on the other
+hand, carefully separates the judicial authority from all external influences;
+and it provides for the independence of the judges, by declaring that their
+salary shall not be altered, and that their functions shall be inalienable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The practical consequences of these different systems may easily be perceived.
+An attentive observer will soon remark that the business of the Union is
+incomparably better conducted than that of any individual State. The conduct of
+the Federal Government is more fair and more temperate than that of the States,
+its designs are more fraught with wisdom, its projects are more durable and
+more skilfully combined, its measures are put into execution with more vigor
+and consistency.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I recapitulate the substance of this chapter in a few words: The existence of
+democracies is threatened by two dangers, viz., the complete subjection of the
+legislative body to the caprices of the electoral body, and the concentration
+of all the powers of the Government in the legislative authority. The growth of
+these evils has been encouraged by the policy of the legislators of the States,
+but it has been resisted by the legislators of the Union by every means which
+lay within their control.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Characteristics Which Distinguish The Federal Constitution Of The United States
+Of America From All Other Federal Constitutions American Union appears to
+resemble all other confederations&mdash;Nevertheless its effects are
+different&mdash;Reason of this&mdash;Distinctions between the Union and all
+other confederations&mdash;The American Government not a federal but an
+imperfect national Government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The United States of America do not afford either the first or the only
+instance of confederate States, several of which have existed in modern Europe,
+without adverting to those of antiquity. Switzerland, the Germanic Empire, and
+the Republic of the United Provinces either have been or still are
+confederations. In studying the constitutions of these different countries, the
+politician is surprised to observe that the powers with which they invested the
+Federal Government are nearly identical with the privileges awarded by the
+American Constitution to the Government of the United States. They confer upon
+the central power the same rights of making peace and war, of raising money and
+troops, and of providing for the general exigencies and the common interests of
+the nation. Nevertheless the Federal Government of these different peoples has
+always been as remarkable for its weakness and inefficiency as that of the
+Union is for its vigorous and enterprising spirit. Again, the first American
+Confederation perished through the excessive weakness of its Government; and
+this weak Government was, notwithstanding, in possession of rights even more
+extensive than those of the Federal Government of the present day. But the more
+recent Constitution of the United States contains certain principles which
+exercise a most important influence, although they do not at once strike the
+observer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This Constitution, which may at first sight be confounded with the federal
+constitutions which preceded it, rests upon a novel theory, which may be
+considered as a great invention in modern political science. In all the
+confederations which had been formed before the American Constitution of 1789
+the allied States agreed to obey the injunctions of a Federal Government; but
+they reserved to themselves the right of ordaining and enforcing the execution
+of the laws of the Union. The American States which combined in 1789 agreed
+that the Federal Government should not only dictate the laws, but that it
+should execute it own enactments. In both cases the right is the same, but the
+exercise of the right is different; and this alteration produced the most
+momentous consequences.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In all the confederations which had been formed before the American Union the
+Federal Government demanded its supplies at the hands of the separate
+Governments; and if the measure it prescribed was onerous to any one of those
+bodies means were found to evade its claims: if the State was powerful, it had
+recourse to arms; if it was weak, it connived at the resistance which the law
+of the Union, its sovereign, met with, and resorted to inaction under the plea
+of inability. Under these circumstances one of the two alternatives has
+invariably occurred; either the most preponderant of the allied peoples has
+assumed the privileges of the Federal authority and ruled all the States in its
+name, *p or the Federal Government has been abandoned by its natural
+supporters, anarchy has arisen between the confederates, and the Union has lost
+all powers of action. *q
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+p <br />
+[ This was the case in Greece, when Philip undertook to execute the decree of
+the Amphictyons; in the Low Countries, where the province of Holland always
+gave the law; and, in our own time, in the Germanic Confederation, in which
+Austria and Prussia assume a great degree of influence over the whole country,
+in the name of the Diet.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+q <br />
+[ Such has always been the situation of the Swiss Confederation, which would
+have perished ages ago but for the mutual jealousies of its neighbors.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America the subjects of the Union are not States, but private citizens: the
+national Government levies a tax, not upon the State of Massachusetts, but upon
+each inhabitant of Massachusetts. All former confederate governments presided
+over communities, but that of the Union rules individuals; its force is not
+borrowed, but self-derived; and it is served by its own civil and military
+officers, by its own army, and its own courts of justice. It cannot be doubted
+that the spirit of the nation, the passions of the multitude, and the
+provincial prejudices of each State tend singularly to diminish the authority
+of a Federal authority thus constituted, and to facilitate the means of
+resistance to its mandates; but the comparative weakness of a restricted
+sovereignty is an evil inherent in the Federal system. In America, each State
+has fewer opportunities of resistance and fewer temptations to non-compliance;
+nor can such a design be put in execution (if indeed it be entertained) without
+an open violation of the laws of the Union, a direct interruption of the
+ordinary course of justice, and a bold declaration of revolt; in a word,
+without taking a decisive step which men hesitate to adopt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 augmenting the means of enforcing them: and in accordance with
+this fact it may be remarked that the real weakness 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 governments, the Federal
+Government has the means of enforcing all it is empowered to demand.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The human understanding more easily invents new things than new words, and we
+are thence constrained to employ a multitude of improper and inadequate
+expressions. When several nations form a permanent league and establish a
+supreme authority, which, although it has not the same influence over the
+members of the community as a national government, acts upon each of the
+Confederate States in a body, this Government, which is so essentially
+different from all others, is denominated a Federal one. Another form of
+society is afterwards discovered, in which several peoples are fused into one
+and the same nation with regard to certain common interests, although they
+remain distinct, or at least only confederate, with regard to all their other
+concerns. In this case the central power acts directly upon those whom it
+governs, whom it rules, and whom it judges, in the same manner, as, but in a
+more limited circle than, a national government. Here the term Federal
+Government is clearly no longer applicable to a state of things which must be
+styled an incomplete national Government: a form of government has been found
+out which is neither exactly national nor federal; but no further progress has
+been made, and the new word which will one day designate this novel invention
+does not yet exist.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The absence of this new species of confederation has been the cause which has
+brought all Unions to Civil War, to subjection, or to a stagnant apathy, and
+the peoples which formed these leagues have been either too dull to discern, or
+too pusillanimous to apply this great remedy. The American Confederation
+perished by the same defects.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the Confederate States of America had been long accustomed to form a
+portion of one empire before they had won their independence; they had not
+contracted the habit of governing themselves, and their national prejudices had
+not taken deep root in their minds. Superior to the rest of the world in
+political knowledge, and sharing that knowledge equally amongst themselves,
+they were little agitated by the passions which generally oppose the extension
+of federal authority in a nation, and those passions were checked by the wisdom
+of the chief citizens. The Americans applied the remedy with prudent firmness
+as soon as they were conscious of the evil; they amended their laws, and they
+saved their country.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0022" id="link2HCH0022"></a> Chapter VIII: The Federal
+Constitution&mdash;Part V</h2>
+
+<p>
+Advantages Of The Federal System In General, And Its Special Utility In
+America.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Happiness and freedom of small nations&mdash;Power of great nations&mdash;Great
+empires favorable to the growth of civilization&mdash;Strength often the first
+element of national prosperity&mdash;Aim of the Federal system to unite the
+twofold advantages resulting from a small and from a large
+territory&mdash;Advantages derived by the United States from this
+system&mdash;The law adapts itself to the exigencies of the population;
+population does not conform to the exigencies of the law&mdash;Activity,
+amelioration, love and enjoyment of freedom in the American
+communities&mdash;Public spirit of the Union the abstract of provincial
+patriotism&mdash;Principles and things circulate freely over the territory of
+the United States&mdash;The Union is happy and free as a little nation, and
+respected as a great empire.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In small nations the scrutiny of society penetrates into every part, and the
+spirit of improvement enters into the most trifling details; as the ambition of
+the people is necessarily checked by its weakness, all the efforts and
+resources of the citizens are turned to the internal benefit of the community,
+and are not likely to evaporate in the fleeting breath of glory. The desires of
+every individual are limited, because extraordinary faculties are rarely to be
+met with. The gifts of an equal fortune render the various conditions of life
+uniform, and the manners of the inhabitants are orderly and simple. Thus, if
+one estimate the gradations of popular morality and enlightenment, we shall
+generally find that in small nations there are more persons in easy
+circumstances, a more numerous population, and a more tranquil state of
+society, than in great empires.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When tyranny is established in the bosom of a small nation, it is more galling
+than elsewhere, because, as it acts within a narrow circle, every point of that
+circle is subject to its direct influence. It supplies the place of those great
+designs which it cannot entertain by a violent or an exasperating interference
+in a multitude of minute details; and it leaves the political world, to which
+it properly belongs, to meddle with the arrangements of domestic life. Tastes
+as well as actions are to be regulated at its pleasure; and the families of the
+citizens as well as the affairs of the State are to be governed by its
+decisions. This invasion of rights occurs, however, but seldom, and freedom is
+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 fall within the
+grasp of a single citizen; and should such an event have occurred, the subjects
+of the State can without difficulty overthrow the tyrant and his oppression by
+a simultaneous effort.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Small nations have therefore ever been the cradle of political liberty; and the
+fact that many of them have lost their immunities by extending their dominion
+shows that the freedom they enjoyed was more a consequence of the inferior size
+than of the character of the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The history of the world affords no instance of a great nation retaining the
+form of republican government for a long series of years, *r and this has led
+to the conclusion that such a state of things is impracticable. For my own
+part, I cannot but censure the imprudence of attempting to limit the possible
+and to judge the future on the part of a being who is hourly deceived by the
+most palpable realities of life, and who is constantly taken by surprise in the
+circumstances with which he is most familiar. But it may be advanced with
+confidence that the existence of a great republic will always be exposed to far
+greater perils than that of a small one.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+r <br />
+[ I do not speak of a confederation of small republics, but of a great
+consolidated Republic.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All the passions which are most fatal to republican institutions spread with an
+increasing territory, whilst the virtues which maintain their dignity do not
+augment in the same proportion. The ambition of the citizens increases with the
+power of the State; the strength of parties with the importance of the ends
+they have in view; but that devotion to the common weal which is the surest
+check on destructive passions is not stronger in a large than in a small
+republic. It might, indeed, be proved without difficulty that it is less
+powerful and less sincere. The arrogance of wealth and the dejection of
+wretchedness, capital cities of unwonted extent, a lax morality, a vulgar
+egotism, and a great confusion of interests, are the dangers which almost
+invariably arise from the magnitude of States. But several of these evils are
+scarcely prejudicial to a monarchy, and some of them contribute to maintain its
+existence. In monarchical States the strength of the government is its own; it
+may use, but it does not depend on, the community, and the authority of the
+prince is proportioned to the prosperity of the nation; but the only security
+which a republican government possesses against these evils lies in the support
+of the majority. This support is not, however, proportionably greater in a
+large republic than it is in a small one; and thus, whilst the means of attack
+perpetually increase both in number and in influence, the power of resistance
+remains the same, or it may rather be said to diminish, since the propensities
+and interests of the people are 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
+heightened, 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 the impetus of political passion is irresistible,
+not only because it aims at gigantic purposes, but because it is felt and
+shared by millions of men at the same time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It may therefore be asserted as a general proposition that nothing is more
+opposed to the well-being and the freedom of man than vast empires.
+Nevertheless it is important to acknowledge the peculiar advantages of great
+States. For the very reason which renders the desire of power more intense in
+these communities than amongst ordinary men, the love of glory is also more
+prominent in the hearts of a class of citizens, who regard the applause of a
+great people as a reward worthy of their exertions, and an elevating
+encouragement to man. If we would learn why it is that great nations contribute
+more powerfully to the spread of human improvement than small States, we shall
+discover an adequate cause in the rapid and energetic circulation of ideas, and
+in those great 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
+important discoveries demand a display of national power which the Government
+of a small State is unable to make; in great nations the Government entertains
+a greater number of general notions, and is more completely disengaged from the
+routine of precedent and the egotism of local prejudice; its designs are
+conceived with more talent, and executed with more boldness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In time of peace the well-being of small nations is undoubtedly more general
+and more complete, but they are apt to suffer more acutely from the calamities
+of war than those great empires whose distant frontiers may for ages avert the
+presence of the danger from the mass of the people, which is therefore more
+frequently afflicted than ruined by the evil.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But in this matter, as in many others, the argument derived from the necessity
+of the case predominates over all others. If none but small nations existed, I
+do not doubt that mankind would be more happy and more free; but the existence
+of great nations is unavoidable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This consideration introduces the element of physical strength as a condition
+of national prosperity. It profits a people but little to be affluent and free
+if it is perpetually exposed to be pillaged or subjugated; the number of its
+manufactures and the extent of its commerce are of small advantage if another
+nation has the empire of the seas and gives the law in all the markets of the
+globe. Small nations are often impoverished, not because they are small, but
+because they are weak; the great empires prosper less because they are great
+than because they are strong. Physical strength 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: yet I am unacquainted with a more deplorable spectacle than that of a
+people unable either to defend or to maintain its independence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Federal system was created with the intention of combining the different
+advantages which result from the greater and the lesser extent of nations; and
+a single glance over the United States of America suffices to discover the
+advantages which they have derived from its adoption.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In great centralized nations the legislator is obliged to impart a character of
+uniformity to the laws which 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 is obliged to conform to the
+exigencies of the legislation, since the legislation cannot adapt itself to the
+exigencies and the customs of the population, which is the cause of endless
+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 administration are reserved to the provincial legislatures.
+It is impossible to imagine how much this division of sovereignty 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 or the
+cares of self-defence, all public authority and private energy is employed in
+internal amelioration. The central government of each State, which is in
+immediate juxtaposition to the citizens, is daily apprised of the wants which
+arise in society; and new projects are proposed every year, which are discussed
+either at town meetings or by the legislature of the State, and which are
+transmitted by the press to stimulate the zeal and to excite the interest of
+the citizens. This spirit of amelioration is constantly alive in the American
+republics, without compromising their tranquillity; the ambition of power
+yields to the less refined and less dangerous love of comfort. It is generally
+believed in America that the existence and the permanence of the republican
+form of government in the New World depend upon the existence and the
+permanence of the Federal system; and it is not unusual to attribute a large
+share of the misfortunes which have befallen the new States of South America to
+the injudicious erection of great republics, instead of a divided and
+confederate sovereignty.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is incontestably true that the love and the habits of republican government
+in the United States were engendered in the townships and in the provincial
+assemblies. In a small State, like that of Connecticut for instance, where
+cutting a canal or laying down a road is a momentous political question, where
+the State has no army to pay and no wars to carry on, and where much wealth and
+much honor cannot be bestowed upon the chief citizens, no form of government
+can be more natural or more appropriate than that of a republic. But it is this
+same republican spirit, it is these manners and customs of a free people, which
+are engendered and nurtured in the different States, to be afterwards applied
+to the country at large. The public spirit of the Union is, so to speak,
+nothing more than an abstract of the patriotic zeal of the provinces. Every
+citizen of the United States transfuses his attachment to his little republic
+in the common store of American patriotism. In defending the Union he defends
+the increasing prosperity of his own district, the right of conducting its
+affairs, and the hope of causing measures of improvement to be adopted which
+may be favorable to his own interest; and these are motives which are wont to
+stir men more readily than the general interests of the country and the glory
+of the nation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On the other hand, if the temper and the manners of the inhabitants especially
+fitted them to promote the welfare of a great republic, the Federal system
+smoothed the obstacles which they might have encountered. The confederation of
+all the American States presents none of the ordinary disadvantages resulting
+from great agglomerations of men. The Union is a great republic in extent, but
+the paucity of objects for which its Government provides assimilates it to a
+small State. Its acts are important, but they are rare. As the sovereignty of
+the Union is limited and incomplete, its exercise is not incompatible with
+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, vast capital cities, colossal wealth, abject poverty, and sudden
+revolutions are alike unknown; and political passion, instead of spreading over
+the land like a torrent of desolation, spends its strength against the
+interests and the individual passions of every State.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nevertheless, all commodities and ideas circulate throughout the Union as
+freely as in a country inhabited by one people. Nothing checks the spirit of
+enterprise. Government avails itself of the assistance of all who have talents
+or knowledge to serve it. Within the frontiers of the Union the profoundest
+peace prevails, as within the heart of some great empire; abroad, it ranks with
+the most powerful nations of the earth; two thousand miles of coast are open to
+the commerce of the world; and as it possesses the keys of the globe, its flags
+is respected in the most remote seas. The Union is as happy and as free as a
+small people, and as glorious and as strong as a great nation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Why The Federal System Is Not Adapted To All Peoples, And How The
+Anglo-Americans Were Enabled To Adopt It.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Every Federal system contains defects which baffle the efforts of the
+legislator&mdash;The Federal system is complex&mdash;It demands a daily
+exercise of discretion on the part of the citizens&mdash;Practical knowledge of
+government common amongst the Americans&mdash;Relative weakness of the
+Government of the Union, another defect inherent in the Federal
+system&mdash;The Americans have diminished without remedying it&mdash;The
+sovereignty of the separate States apparently weaker, but really stronger, than
+that of the Union&mdash;Why?&mdash;Natural causes of union must exist between
+confederate peoples besides the laws&mdash;What these causes are amongst the
+Anglo-Americans&mdash;Maine and Georgia, separated by a distance of a thousand
+miles, more naturally united than Normandy and Brittany&mdash;War, the main
+peril of confederations&mdash;This proved even by the example of the United
+States&mdash;The Union has no great wars to fear&mdash;Why?&mdash;Dangers to
+which Europeans would be exposed if they adopted the Federal system of the
+Americans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When a legislator succeeds, after persevering efforts, in exercising 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-operation, manners and opinions which he cannot trace to their source, and
+an origin with which he is unacquainted, exercise so irresistible an influence
+over the courses of society that he is himself borne away by the current, after
+an ineffectual resistance. Like the navigator, he may direct the vessel which
+bears him along, but he can neither change its structure, nor raise the winds,
+nor lull the waters which swell beneath him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have shown the advantages which the Americans derive from their federal
+system; it remains for me to point out the circumstances which rendered that
+system practicable, as its benefits are not to be enjoyed by all nations. The
+incidental defects of the Federal system which originate in the laws may be
+corrected by the skill of the legislator, but there are further evils inherent
+in the system which cannot be counteracted by the peoples which adopt it. These
+nations must therefore find the strength necessary to support the natural
+imperfections of their Government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The most prominent evil of all Federal systems is the very complex nature of
+the means they employ. Two sovereignties are necessarily in presence of each
+other. The legislator may simplify and equalize 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 necessarily complicated, and which demands the daily exercise of a
+considerable share of discretion on the part of those it governs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A proposition must be plain to be adopted by the understanding of a people. A
+false notion which is clear and precise will always meet with a greater number
+of adherents in the world than a true principle which is obscure or involved.
+Hence it arises that parties, which are like small communities in the heart of
+the nation, invariably adopt some principle or some name as a symbol, which
+very inadequately represents the end they have in view and the means which are
+at their disposal, 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In examining the Constitution of the United States, which is the most perfect
+federal constitution that ever existed, one is startled, on the other hand, at
+the variety of information and the excellence of discretion which it
+presupposes in the people whom it is meant to govern. The government of the
+Union depends entirely upon legal fictions; the Union is an ideal nation which
+only exists in the mind, and whose limits and extent can only be discerned by
+the understanding.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When once the general theory is comprehended, numberless difficulties remain to
+be solved in its application; for the sovereignty 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 artificial 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 ingenious devices by which they elude the numberless difficulties
+resulting from their Federal Constitution. I scarcely ever met with a plain
+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 own State; and who, after having discriminated between the matters which
+come under the cognizance of the Union and those which the local legislature is
+competent to regulate, could not point out the exact limit of the several
+jurisdictions of the Federal courts and the tribunals of the State.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Constitution of the United States is like those exquisite productions of
+human industry which ensure wealth and renown to their inventors, but which are
+profitless in any other hands. This truth is exemplified by the condition of
+Mexico 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 their model, and copied it with considerable accuracy. *s
+But although they had borrowed the letter of the law, they were unable to
+create or to introduce the spirit and the sense which give it life. They were
+involved in ceaseless embarrassments between the mechanism of their double
+government; the sovereignty of the States and that of the Union perpetually
+exceeded their respective privileges, and entered into collision; and to the
+present day Mexico is alternately the victim of anarchy and the slave of
+military despotism.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+s <br />
+[ See the Mexican Constitution of 1824.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The second and the most fatal of all the defects I have alluded to, and that
+which I believe to be inherent in the federal system, is the relative weakness
+of the government of the Union. The principle upon which all confederations
+rest is that of a divided sovereignty. The legislator may render this partition
+less perceptible, he may even conceal it for a time from the public eye, but he
+cannot prevent it from existing, and a divided sovereignty must always be less
+powerful than an entire supremacy. The reader has seen in the remarks I have
+made on the Constitution of the United States that the Americans have displayed
+singular ingenuity in combining the restriction of the power of the Union
+within the narrow limits of a federal government with the semblance and, to a
+certain extent, with the force of a national government. By this means the
+legislators of the Union have succeeded in diminishing, though not in
+counteracting the natural danger of confederations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has been remarked that the American Government does not apply itself to the
+States, but that it immediately transmits its injunctions to the citizens, and
+compels them as isolated individuals to comply with 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 individual who should refuse to obey.
+If all the citizens of the State were aggrieved at the same time and in the
+same manner by the authority of the Union, the Federal Government would vainly
+attempt to subdue them individually; they would instinctively unite in a common
+defence, and they would derive a ready-prepared organization from the share of
+sovereignty which the institution of their State allows them to enjoy. Fiction
+would give way to reality, and an organized portion of the territory might then
+contest the central authority. *t The same observation holds good with regard
+to the Federal jurisdiction. If the courts of the Union violated an important
+law of a State in a private case, the real, if not the apparent, contest would
+arise between the aggrieved State represented by a citizen and the Union
+represented by its courts of justice. *u
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+t <br />
+[ [This is precisely what occurred in 1862, and the following paragraph
+describes correctly the feelings and notions of the South. General Lee held
+that his primary allegiance was due, not to the Union, but to Virginia.]]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+u <br />
+[ For instance, the Union possesses by the Constitution the right of selling
+unoccupied lands for its own profit. Supposing that the State of Ohio should
+claim the same right in behalf of certain territories lying within its
+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 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 Federal 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?]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He would have but a partial knowledge of the world who should imagine that it
+is possible, by the aid of legal fictions, to prevent men from finding out and
+employing those means of gratifying their passions which have been left open to
+them; and it may be doubted whether the American legislators, when they
+rendered a collision between the two sovereigns less probable, destroyed the
+cause of such a misfortune. But it may even be affirmed that they were unable
+to ensure the preponderance of the Federal element in a case of this kind. The
+Union is possessed of money and of troops, but the affections and the
+prejudices of the people are in the bosom of the States. The sovereignty of the
+Union is an abstract being, which is connected with but few external objects;
+the sovereignty of the States is hourly perceptible, easily understood,
+constantly active; and if the former is of recent creation, the latter is
+coeval with the people itself. The sovereignty of the Union is factitious, that
+of the States is natural, and derives its existence from its own simple
+influence, like the authority of a parent. The supreme power of the nation only
+affects a few of the chief interests of society; it represents an immense but
+remote country, and claims a feeling of patriotism which is vague and ill
+defined; but 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; and when we recollect the traditions, the customs, the prejudices of
+local and familiar attachment with which it is connected, we cannot doubt of
+the superiority of a power which is interwoven with every circumstance that
+renders the love of one&rsquo;s native country instinctive in the human heart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Since legislators are unable to obviate such dangerous collisions 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 institutions as may promote the maintenance of peace. Hence
+it results that the Federal compact cannot be lasting unless there exists in
+the communities which are leagued together a certain number of inducements to
+union which render their common dependence agreeable, and the task of the
+Government light, and that system cannot succeed without the presence of
+favorable circumstances added to the influence of good laws. All the peoples
+which have ever formed a confederation have been held together by a certain
+number of common interests, which served as the intellectual ties of
+association.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the sentiments and the principles of man must be taken into consideration
+as well as his immediate interests. A certain uniformity of civilization is not
+less necessary to the durability of a confederation than a uniformity of
+interests in the States which compose it. In Switzerland the difference which
+exists between the Canton of Uri and the Canton of Vaud is equal to that
+between the fifteenth and the nineteenth centuries; and, properly speaking,
+Switzerland has never possessed a federal government. The union between these
+two cantons only subsists upon the map, and their discrepancies would soon be
+perceived if an attempt were made by a central authority to prescribe the same
+laws to the whole territory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+One of the circumstances which most powerfully contribute to support the
+Federal Government in America is that the States have not only similar
+interests, a common origin, and a common tongue, but that they are also arrived
+at the same stage of civilization; which almost always renders a union
+feasible. I do not know of any European nation, how small soever it may be,
+which does not present less uniformity in its different provinces than the
+American people, which occupies a territory as extensive as one-half of Europe.
+The distance from the State of Maine to that of Georgia is reckoned at about
+one thousand miles; but the difference between the civilization of Maine and
+that of Georgia is slighter than the difference between the habits of Normandy
+and those of Brittany. Maine and Georgia, which are placed at the opposite
+extremities of a great empire, are consequently in the natural possession of
+more real inducements to form a confederation than Normandy and Brittany, which
+are only separated by a bridge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The geographical position of the country contributed to increase 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The most important occurrence which can mark the annals of a people is the
+breaking out of a war. In war a people struggles with the energy of a single
+man against foreign nations in the defence of its very existence. The skill of
+a government, the good sense of the community, and the natural fondness which
+men entertain for their country, may suffice to maintain peace in the interior
+of a district, and to favor its internal prosperity; but a nation can only
+carry on a great war at the cost of more numerous and more painful sacrifices;
+and to suppose that a great number of men will of their own accord comply with
+these exigencies of the State is to betray an ignorance of mankind. All the
+peoples which have been obliged to sustain a long and serious warfare have
+consequently been led to augment the power of their government. Those which
+have not succeeded in this attempt have been subjugated. A long war almost
+always places nations in the wretched alternative of being abandoned to ruin by
+defeat or to despotism by success. War therefore renders the symptoms of the
+weakness of a government most palpable and most alarming; and I have shown that
+the inherent defeat of federal governments is that of being weak.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Federal system is not only deficient in every kind of centralized
+administration, but the central government itself is imperfectly organized,
+which is invariably an influential cause of inferiority when the nation is
+opposed to other countries which are themselves governed by a single authority.
+In the Federal Constitution of the United States, by which the central
+government possesses more real force, this evil is still extremely sensible. An
+example will illustrate the case to the reader.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Constitution confers upon Congress the right of calling forth 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 the militia. In the war of 1812 the President ordered the
+militia of the Northern States to march to the frontiers; but Connecticut and
+Massachusetts, whose interests were impaired by the war, refused to obey the
+command. They argued that the Constitution authorizes the Federal Government to
+call forth the militia in case of insurrection or invasion, but that in the
+present instance there was neither invasion nor insurrection. They added, that
+the same Constitution which conferred upon the Union the right of calling forth
+the militia reserved to the States that of naming the officers; and that
+consequently (as they understood the clause) no officer of the Union had any
+right to command the militia, even during war, except the President in person;
+and in this case they were ordered to join an army commanded by another
+individual. These absurd and pernicious doctrines received the sanction not
+only of the governors 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 required. *v
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+v <br />
+[ Kent&rsquo;s &ldquo;Commentaries,&rdquo; vol. i. p. 244. I have selected an
+example which relates to a time posterior to the promulgation of the present
+Constitution. If I had gone back to the days of the Confederation, I might have
+given still more striking instances. The whole nation was at that time in a
+state of enthusiastic excitement; the Revolution was represented by a man who
+was the idol of the people; but at that very period Congress had, to say the
+truth, no resources at all at its disposal. Troops and supplies were
+perpetually wanting. The best-devised projects failed in the execution, and the
+Union, which was constantly on the verge of destruction, was saved by the
+weakness of its enemies far more than by its own strength. [All doubt as to the
+powers of the Federal Executive was, however, removed by its efforts in the
+Civil War, and those powers were largely extended.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The only safeguard which the American Union, with all the relative perfection
+of its laws, possesses against the dissolution which would be produced by a
+great war, lies in its probable exemption from that calamity. Placed in the
+centre of an immense continent, which offers a boundless field for human
+industry, the Union is almost as much insulated from the world as if its
+frontiers were girt by the ocean. Canada contains only a million of
+inhabitants, and its population is divided 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 community, the depravity of its morals, and its extreme poverty, will
+prevent that country from ranking high amongst nations. *w As for the Powers of
+Europe, they are too distant to be formidable.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+w <br />
+[ [War broke out between the United States and Mexico in 1846, and ended in the
+conquest of an immense territory, including California.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 enterprises extremely improbable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No one can be more inclined than I am myself 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 enabled to adopt it; but I cannot believe that any confederate
+peoples could maintain a long or an equal contest with a nation of similar
+strength in which the government should be centralized. A people which should
+divide its sovereignty into fractional powers, in the presence of the great
+military monarchies of Europe, would, in my opinion, by that very act, abdicate
+its power, and perhaps its existence and its name. But such is the admirable
+position of the New World that man has no other enemy than himself; and that,
+in order to be happy and to be free, it suffices to seek the gifts of
+prosperity and the knowledge of freedom.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0023" id="link2HCH0023"></a> Chapter IX: Why The People
+May Strictly Be Said To Govern In The United</h2>
+
+<p>
+States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have hitherto examined the institutions of the United States; I have passed
+their legislation in review, and I have depicted the present characteristics of
+political society in that country. But a sovereign power exists above these
+institutions and beyond these characteristic features which may destroy or
+modify them at its pleasure&mdash;I mean that of the people. It remains to be
+shown in what manner this power, which regulates the laws, acts: its
+propensities and its passions remain to be pointed out, as well as the secret
+springs which retard, accelerate, or direct its irresistible course; and the
+effects of its unbounded authority, with the destiny which is probably reserved
+for it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America the people appoints the legislative and the executive power, and
+furnishes the jurors who punish all offences against the laws. The American
+institutions are democratic, not only in their principle but in all their
+consequences; and the people elects its representatives directly, and for the
+most part annually, in order to ensure their dependence. The people is
+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 community are hindered by no durable obstacles
+from exercising a perpetual influence on society. In the United States the
+majority governs in the name of the people, as is the case in all the countries
+in which the people is supreme. The majority is principally composed of
+peaceful citizens who, either by inclination or by interest, are sincerely
+desirous of the welfare of their country. But they are surrounded by the
+incessant agitation of parties, which attempt to gain their co-operation and to
+avail themselves of their support.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0024" id="link2HCH0024"></a> Chapter X: Parties In The
+United States</h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0025" id="link2HCH0025"></a> Chapter Summary</h2>
+
+<p>
+Great distinction to be made between parties&mdash;Parties which are to each
+other as rival nations&mdash;Parties properly so called&mdash;Difference
+between great and small parties&mdash;Epochs which produce them&mdash;Their
+characteristics&mdash;America has had great parties&mdash;They are
+extinct&mdash;Federalists&mdash;Republicans&mdash;Defeat of the
+Federalists&mdash;Difficulty of creating parties in the United
+States&mdash;What is done with this intention&mdash;Aristocratic or democratic
+character to be met with in all parties&mdash;Struggle of General Jackson
+against the Bank.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_PART" id="link2H_PART"></a> Parties In The United States
+</h2>
+
+<p>
+A great distinction must be made between parties. Some countries are so large
+that the different populations which inhabit them have contradictory interests,
+although they are the subjects of the same Government, and they may thence 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 carried on by rival
+peoples rather than by factions in the State.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 correctly 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At certain periods a nation may be oppressed by such insupportable evils as to
+conceive the design of effecting a total change in its political constitution;
+at other times the mischief lies still deeper, and the existence of society
+itself is endangered. Such are the times of great revolutions and of great
+parties. But between these epochs of misery and of confusion there are periods
+during which human society seems to rest, and mankind to make a pause. This
+pause is, indeed, only apparent, for time does not stop its course for nations
+any more than for men; they are all advancing towards a goal with which they
+are unacquainted; and we only imagine them to be stationary when their progress
+escapes our observation, as men who are going at a foot-pace seem to be
+standing still to those who run.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But however this may be, there are certain epochs at which the changes that
+take place in the social and political constitution of nations are so slow and
+so insensible that men imagine their present condition to be a final state; and
+the human mind, believing itself to be firmly based upon certain foundations,
+does not extend its researches beyond the horizon which it descries. These are
+the times of small parties and of intrigue.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The political parties which I style great are those which cling to principles
+more than to their consequences; to general, and not to especial cases; to
+ideas, and not to men. These parties are usually distinguished by a nobler
+character, by more generous passions, more genuine convictions, and a more bold
+and open conduct than 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 sometimes concealed from the
+eyes of the very persons whom it excites and impels.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Minor parties are, on the other hand, generally deficient in political faith.
+As they are not sustained or dignified by a lofty purpose, they ostensibly
+display the egotism of their character in their actions. They glow with a
+factitious zeal; their language is vehement, but their conduct is timid and
+irresolute. The means they employ are as wretched as the end at which they aim.
+Hence it arises that when a calm state of things succeeds a violent revolution,
+the leaders of society seem suddenly to disappear, and the powers of the human
+mind to lie concealed. Society is convulsed by great parties, by minor ones it
+is agitated; it is torn by the former, by the latter it is degraded; and if
+these sometimes save it by a salutary perturbation, those invariably disturb it
+to no good end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+America has already lost the great parties which once divided the nation; and
+if her happiness is considerably increased, her morality has suffered by their
+extinction. When the War of Independence was terminated, and the foundations of
+the new Government were to be laid down, the nation was divided between two
+opinions&mdash;two opinions which are as old as the world, and which are
+perpetually to be met with under all the forms and all the names which have
+ever obtained in free communities&mdash;the one tending to limit, the other to
+extend indefinitely, the power of the people. The conflict of these two
+opinions never assumed that degree of violence in America which it has
+frequently displayed elsewhere. Both parties of the Americans were, in fact,
+agreed upon the most essential points; and neither of them had to destroy a
+traditionary constitution, or to overthrow the structure of society, in order
+to ensure its own triumph. In neither of them, consequently, were a great
+number of private interests affected by success or by defeat; but moral
+principles of a high order, such as the love of equality and of independence,
+were concerned in the struggle, and they sufficed to kindle violent passions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 name of Federal. The other party, which affected to be more
+exclusively attached to the cause of liberty, took that of Republican. America
+is a land of democracy, and the Federalists were always in a minority; but they
+reckoned on their side almost all the great men who had been called forth by
+the War of Independence, and their moral influence was very considerable. Their
+cause was, moreover, favored by circumstances. The ruin of the Confederation
+had impressed the people with a dread of anarchy, and the Federalists did not
+fail to profit by this transient disposition of the multitude. For ten or
+twelve years they were at the head of affairs, and they were able to apply
+some, though not all, of their principles; for the hostile current was becoming
+from day to day too violent to be checked or stemmed. In 1801 the Republicans
+got possession of the Government; Thomas Jefferson was named President; and he
+increased the influence of their party by the weight of his celebrity, the
+greatness of his talents, and the immense extent of his popularity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The means by which the Federalists had maintained their position were
+artificial, and their resources were temporary; it was by the virtues or the
+talents of their leaders that they had risen to power. When the Republicans
+attained to that lofty station, 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 their future success. From that moment the Republican or Democratic party *a
+has proceeded from conquest to conquest, until it has acquired absolute
+supremacy in the country. The Federalists, perceiving that they were vanquished
+without resource, and isolated in the midst of the nation, fell into two
+divisions, of which one joined the victorious Republicans, and the other
+abandoned its rallying-point and its name. Many years have already elapsed
+since they ceased to exist as a party.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ [It is scarcely necessary to remark that in more recent times the
+signification of these terms has changed. The Republicans are the
+representatives of the old Federalists, and the Democrats of the old
+Republicans.&mdash;Trans. Note (1861).]] The accession of the Federalists to
+power was, in my opinion, one of the most fortunate incidents which accompanied
+the formation of the great American Union; they resisted the inevitable
+propensities of their age and of the country. But whether their theories were
+good or bad, they had the effect of being inapplicable, as a system, to the
+society which they professed to govern, and that which occurred under the
+auspices of Jefferson must therefore have taken place sooner or later. But
+their Government gave the new republic time to acquire a certain stability, and
+afterwards to support the rapid growth of the very doctrines which they had
+combated. A considerable number of their principles were in point of fact
+embodied in the political creed of their opponents; and the Federal
+Constitution which subsists at the present day is a lasting monument of their
+patriotism and their wisdom.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Great political parties are not, then, to be met with in the United States at
+the present time. Parties, indeed, may be found which threaten the future
+tranquillity 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 abstract principles, but upon temporal
+interests. These interests, disseminated in the provinces of so vast an empire,
+may be said to constitute rival nations rather than parties. Thus, upon a
+recent occasion, 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 manufacturing and the South an agricultural district; and that the
+restrictive system which was profitable to the one was prejudicial to the
+other. *b
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ [The divisions of North and South have since acquired a far greater degree of
+intensity, and the South, though conquered, still presents a formidable spirit
+of opposition to Northern government.&mdash;Translator&rsquo;s Note, 1875.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the absence of great parties, the United States abound with lesser
+controversies; and public opinion is divided into a thousand minute shades of
+difference upon questions of very little moment. The pains which are taken to
+create parties are inconceivable, and at the present day it is no easy task. In
+the United States there is no religious animosity, because all religion is
+respected, and no sect is predominant; there is no jealousy of rank, because
+the people is everything, and none can contest its authority; lastly, there is
+no public indigence to supply the means of agitation, because the physical
+position of the country opens so wide a field to industry that man is able to
+accomplish the most surprising undertakings with his own native resources.
+Nevertheless, ambitious men are interested in the creation of parties, since it
+is difficult to eject a person from authority upon the mere ground that his
+place is coveted by others. The skill of the actors in the political world lies
+therefore in the art of creating parties. A political aspirant in the United
+States begins by discriminating his own interest, and by calculating upon those
+interests which may be collected around and amalgamated with it; he then
+contrives to discover some doctrine or some principle which may suit the
+purposes of this new association, and which he adopts in order to bring forward
+his party and to secure his popularity; just as the imprimatur of a King was in
+former days incorporated with the volume which it authorized, but to which it
+nowise belonged. When these preliminaries are terminated, the new party is
+ushered into the political world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All the domestic controversies of the Americans at first appear to a stranger
+to be so incomprehensible and so puerile that he is at a loss whether to pity a
+people which takes such arrant trifles in good earnest, or to envy the
+happiness which enables it 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 divisions which have always existed in free communities. The
+deeper we penetrate into the working of these parties, the more do we perceive
+that the object of the one is to limit, and that of the other to extend, the
+popular authority. I do not assert that the ostensible end, or even that the
+secret aim, of American parties is to promote the rule of aristocracy or
+democracy in the country; but I affirm that aristocratic or democratic passions
+may easily be detected at the bottom of all parties, and that, although they
+escape a superficial observation, they are the main point and the very soul of
+every faction in the United States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To quote a recent example. When the President attacked the Bank, the country
+was excited and parties were formed; the well-informed classes rallied round
+the Bank, the common people round the President. But it must not be imagined
+that the people had formed a rational opinion upon a question which offers so
+many difficulties to the most experienced statesmen. The Bank is a great
+establishment which enjoys an independent existence, and the people, accustomed
+to make and unmake whatsoever it pleases, is startled to meet with this
+obstacle to its authority. In the midst of the perpetual 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 and controlled, like all the other
+institutions of the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Remains Of The Aristocratic Party In The United States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Secret opposition of wealthy individuals to democracy&mdash;Their
+retirement&mdash;Their taste for exclusive pleasures and for luxury at
+home&mdash;Their simplicity abroad&mdash;Their affected condescension towards
+the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It sometimes happens in a people amongst which various opinions prevail that
+the balance of the several parties is lost, and one of them obtains an
+irresistible preponderance, overpowers all obstacles, harasses its opponents,
+and appropriates all the resources of society to its own purposes. The
+vanquished citizens despair of success and they conceal their dissatisfaction
+in silence and in general apathy. The nation seems to be governed by a single
+principle, and the prevailing party assumes the credit of having restored peace
+and unanimity to the country. But this apparent unanimity is merely a cloak to
+alarming dissensions and perpetual opposition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This is precisely what occurred in America; when the democratic party got the
+upper hand, it took exclusive possession of the conduct of affairs, 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 are so
+entirely removed from the direction of political affairs in the United States
+that wealth, far from conferring a right to the exercise of power, is rather an
+obstacle than a means of attaining to it. The wealthy members of the community
+abandon the lists, through unwillingness to contend, and frequently to contend
+in vain, against the poorest classes of their fellow citizens. They concentrate
+all their enjoyments in the privacy of their homes, where they occupy a rank
+which cannot be assumed in public; and they constitute a private society in the
+State, which has its own tastes and its own 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; it is even not uncommon to hear them laud
+the delights of a republican government, and the advantages of democratic
+institutions when they are in public. Next to hating their enemies, men are
+most inclined to flatter them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mark, for instance, that opulent citizen, who is as anxious as a Jew of the
+Middle Ages to conceal his wealth. His dress is plain, his demeanor unassuming;
+but the interior 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 the smallest advantages which his privileged station confers upon
+him. But the very same individual crosses the city to reach a dark
+counting-house in the centre of traffic, where every one may accost him who
+pleases. If he meets his cobbler upon the way, they stop and converse; the two
+citizens discuss the affairs of the State in which they have an equal interest,
+and they shake hands before they part.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But beneath this artificial enthusiasm, and these obsequious attentions to the
+preponderating power, it is easy to perceive that the wealthy members of the
+community entertain a hearty distaste to the democratic institutions of their
+country. The populace is at once the object of their scorn and of their fears.
+If the maladministration of the democracy ever brings about a revolutionary
+crisis, and if monarchical institutions ever become practicable in the United
+States, the truth of what I advance will become obvious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The two chief weapons which parties use in order to ensure success are the
+public press and the formation of associations.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0026" id="link2HCH0026"></a> Chapter XI: Liberty Of The
+Press In The United States</h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0027" id="link2HCH0027"></a> Chapter Summary</h2>
+
+<p>
+Difficulty of restraining the liberty of the press&mdash;Particular reasons
+which some nations have to cherish this liberty&mdash;The liberty of the press
+a necessary consequence of the sovereignty of the people as it is understood in
+America&mdash;Violent language of the periodical press in the United
+States&mdash;Propensities of the periodical press&mdash;Illustrated by the
+United States&mdash;Opinion of the Americans upon the repression of the abuse
+of the liberty of the press by judicial prosecutions&mdash;Reasons for which
+the press is less powerful in America than in France.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Liberty Of The Press In The United States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The influence of the liberty of the press does not affect political opinions
+alone, but it extends to all the opinions of men, and it modifies customs as
+well as laws. In another part of this work I shall attempt to determinate 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 feelings, of the Anglo-Americans, but at present I purpose simply to
+examine the effects produced by the liberty of the press in the political
+world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I confess that I do not entertain that firm and complete attachment to the
+liberty of the press which things that are supremely good in their very nature
+are wont to excite in the mind; and I approve of it more from a recollection of
+the evils it prevents than from a consideration of the advantages it ensures.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If any one could point out an intermediate and yet a tenable position between
+the complete independence and the entire subjection of the public expression of
+opinion, I should perhaps be inclined to adopt it; but the difficulty is to
+discover this position. If it is your intention to correct the abuses of
+unlicensed printing and to restore the use of orderly language, you may in the
+first instance try the offender by a jury; but if the jury acquits him, the
+opinion which was that of a single individual becomes the opinion of the
+country at large. Too much and too little has therefore hitherto been done. If
+you proceed, you must bring the delinquent before a court of permanent judges.
+But even here the cause must be heard before it can be decided; and the very
+principles which no book would have ventured to avow are blazoned forth in the
+pleadings, and what was obscurely hinted at in a single composition is then
+repeated in a multitude of other publications. The language in which a thought
+is embodied is the mere carcass of the thought, and not the idea itself;
+tribunals may condemn the form, but the sense and spirit of the work is too
+subtle for their authority. Too much has still been done to recede, too little
+to attain your end; you must therefore proceed. If you establish a censorship
+of the press, the tongue of the public speaker will still make itself heard,
+and you have only increased the mischief. The powers of thought do not rely,
+like the powers of physical strength, upon the number of their mechanical
+agents, nor can a host of authors be reckoned like the troops which compose an
+army; on the contrary, the authority of a principle is often increased by the
+smallness of the number of men by whom it is expressed. The words of a
+strong-minded man, which penetrate amidst the passions of a listening assembly,
+have more power than the vociferations of a thousand orators; and if it be
+allowed to speak freely in any public place, the consequence is the same as if
+free speaking was allowed in every village. The liberty of discourse must
+therefore be destroyed as well as the liberty of the press; this is the
+necessary term of your efforts; but if your object was to repress the abuses of
+liberty, they have brought you to the feet of a despot. You have been led from
+the extreme of independence to the extreme of subjection without meeting with a
+single tenable position for shelter or repose.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 enjoy the privileges of
+freedom every individual agent of the Government may violate the laws with
+impunity, since those whom he oppresses cannot prosecute him before the courts
+of justice. In this case the liberty of the press is not merely a guarantee,
+but it is the only guarantee, of their liberty and their security which the
+citizens possess. If the rulers of these nations propose to abolish the
+independence of the press, the people would be justified in saying: 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But in the countries in which the doctrine of the sovereignty of the people
+ostensibly prevails, the censorship of the press is not only dangerous, but it
+is absurd. When the right of every citizen to co-operate in the government of
+society is acknowledged, every citizen must be presumed to possess the power of
+discriminating between the different opinions of his contemporaries, and of
+appreciating the different facts from which inferences may be drawn. The
+sovereignty of the people and the liberty of the press may therefore be looked
+upon as correlative institutions; 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 institutions of the same people. Not a single
+individual of the twelve millions who inhabit the territory of the United
+States has as yet dared to propose any restrictions to the liberty of the
+press. The first newspaper over which I cast my eyes, upon my arrival in
+America, contained the following article:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In all this affair the language of Jackson has been that of a heartless despot,
+solely occupied with the preservation of his own authority. Ambition is his
+crime, and it will be his punishment too: intrigue is his native element, and
+intrigue will confound his tricks, and will deprive him of his power: he
+governs by means of corruption, and his immoral practices will redound to his
+shame and confusion. His conduct in the political arena has been that of a
+shameless and lawless gamester. He succeeded at the time, but the hour of
+retribution approaches, 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 unacquainted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not uncommonly imagined in France that the virulence of the press
+originates in the uncertain social condition, in the political excitement, and
+the general sense of consequent evil which prevail in that country; and it is
+therefore supposed that as soon as society has resumed a certain degree of
+composure the press will abandon its present vehemence. I am inclined to think
+that the above causes explain the reason of the extraordinary ascendency it has
+acquired over the nation, but that they do not exercise much influence upon the
+tone of its language. The periodical press appears to me to be actuated by
+passions and propensities independent of the circumstances in which it is
+placed, and the present position of America corroborates this opinion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+America is perhaps, at this moment, the country of the whole world which
+contains the fewest germs of revolution; but the press is not less destructive
+in its principles 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 it is at
+the same time indispensable to the existence of freedom, and nearly
+incompatible with the maintenance of public order. 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 having been instituted 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 consistency.
+It was never their intention to found a permanent state of things with elements
+which undergo daily modifications; and there is consequently nothing criminal
+in an attack upon the existing laws, provided it be not attended with a violent
+infraction of them. They are moreover of opinion that courts of justice are
+unable to check the abuses of the press; and that as the subtilty of human
+language perpetually eludes the severity of judicial analysis, offences of this
+nature are apt to escape the hand which attempts to apprehend them. They hold
+that to act with efficacy upon the press it would be necessary to find a
+tribunal, not only devoted to the existing order of things, but capable of
+surmounting the influence of public opinion; a tribunal which should conduct
+its proceedings without publicity, which should pronounce its decrees without
+assigning its motives, and punish the intentions even more than the language of
+an author. Whosoever should have the power of creating and maintaining a
+tribunal of this kind would waste his time in prosecuting the liberty of the
+press; for he would be the supreme master of the whole community, and he would
+be as free to rid himself of the authors as of their writings. In this
+question, therefore, there is no medium between servitude and extreme license;
+in order to enjoy the inestimable benefits which the liberty of the press
+ensures, it is necessary to submit to the inevitable evils which it engenders.
+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 by effort, they attempt to combine
+hostile opinions and contrary principles upon the same soil.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The small influence of the American journals is attributable to several
+reasons, amongst which are the following:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The liberty of writing, like all other liberty, is most formidable when it is a
+novelty; for a people which has never been accustomed to co-operate in the
+conduct of State affairs places implicit confidence in the first tribune who
+arouses its attention. The Anglo-Americans have enjoyed this liberty ever since
+the foundation of the settlements; moreover, the press cannot create human
+passions by its own power, however skillfully it may kindle them where they
+exist. In America politics are discussed with animation and a varied activity,
+but they rarely touch those deep passions which are excited whenever the
+positive interest of a part of the community is impaired: but in the United
+States the interests of the community are in a most prosperous condition. A
+single glance upon a French and an American newspaper is sufficient to show the
+difference which exists between the two nations on this head. In France the
+space allotted to commercial advertisements is very limited, and the
+intelligence is not considerable, but the most essential part of the journal is
+that which contains the discussion of the politics of the day. In America
+three-quarters of the enormous sheet which is set before the reader are filled
+with advertisements, and the remainder 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 with which the
+journalists of France are wont to indulge their readers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has been demonstrated by observation, and discovered by the innate sagacity
+of the pettiest as well as the greatest of despots, that the influence of a
+power is increased in proportion as its direction is rendered more central. In
+France the press combines a twofold centralization; almost all its power is
+centred in the same spot, and vested in the same hands, for its organs are far
+from numerous. The influence of a public press thus constituted, upon a
+sceptical nation, must be unbounded. It is an enemy with which a Government may
+sign an occasional truce, but which it is difficult to resist for any length of
+time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Neither of these kinds of centralization exists in America. The United States
+have no metropolis; the intelligence as well as the power of the country are
+dispersed abroad, and instead of radiating from a point, they cross each other
+in every direction; the Americans have established no central control over the
+expression of opinion, any more than over the conduct of business. These are
+circumstances which do not depend on human foresight; 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 formerly in England. The consequence of this is that nothing is easier than
+to set up a newspaper, and a small number of readers suffices to defray the
+expenses of the editor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The number of periodical and occasional publications which appears in the
+United States actually surpasses belief. The most enlightened Americans
+attribute the subordinate influence of the press to this excessive
+dissemination; and it is adopted as an axiom of political science in that
+country that the only way to neutralize the effect of public journals is to
+multiply them indefinitely. I cannot conceive that a truth which is so
+self-evident should not already have been more generally admitted in Europe; it
+is comprehensible that the persons who hope to bring about revolutions by means
+of the press should be desirous of confining its action to a few powerful
+organs, but it is perfectly incredible that the partisans of the existing state
+of things, and the natural supporters of the law, should attempt to diminish
+the influence of the press by concentrating its authority. The Governments of
+Europe seem to treat the press with the courtesy of the knights of old; they
+are anxious to furnish it with the same central power which they have found to
+be so trusty a weapon, in order to enhance the glory of their resistance to its
+attacks.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America there is scarcely a hamlet which has not its own newspaper. It may
+readily be imagined that neither discipline nor unity of design can be
+communicated to so multifarious a host, and each one is consequently led to
+fight 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 in a thousand different ways. They cannot succeed in forming
+those great currents of opinion which overwhelm the most solid obstacles. This
+division of the influence of the press produces a variety of other consequences
+which are scarcely less remarkable. The facility with which journals can be
+established induces a multitude of individuals to take a part in them; but as
+the extent of competition precludes the possibility of considerable profit, the
+most distinguished classes of society are rarely led to engage in these
+undertakings. But 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 journalists of the United States are usually placed 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 which
+form the characteristics of each peculiar class of society; thus it dictates
+the etiquette practised at courts and the etiquette of the bar. The
+characteristics of the French journalist consist in a violent, but frequently
+an eloquent and lofty, manner of discussing the politics of the day; and the
+exceptions to this habitual practice are only occasional. The characteristics
+of the American journalist consist in an open and coarse appeal to the passions
+of the populace; and he habitually abandons the principles of political science
+to assail the characters of individuals, to track them into private life, and
+disclose all their weaknesses and errors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing can be more deplorable than this abuse of the powers of thought; I
+shall have occasion to point out hereafter the influence of the newspapers upon
+the taste and the morality of the American people, but my present subject
+exclusively concerns the political world. It cannot be denied that the effects
+of this extreme license of the press tend indirectly to the maintenance of
+public order. The individuals who are already in the possession of a high
+station in the esteem of their fellow-citizens are afraid to write in the
+newspapers, and they are thus deprived of the most powerful instrument which
+they can use to excite the passions of the multitude to their own advantage. *a
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ They only write in the papers when they choose to address the people in their
+own name; as, for instance, when they are called upon to repel calumnious
+imputations, and to correct a misstatement of facts.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The personal opinions of the editors have no kind of weight in the eyes of the
+public: the only use of a journal is, that it imparts the knowledge of certain
+facts, and it is only by altering or distorting those facts that a journalist
+can contribute to the support of his own views.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But although the press is limited to these resources, its influence in America
+is immense. It is the power which impels the circulation of political life
+through all the districts of that vast territory. Its eye is constantly open to
+detect the secret springs of political designs, and to summon the leaders of
+all parties to the bar of public opinion. It rallies the interests of the
+community round certain principles, and it draws up the creed which factions
+adopt; for it affords a means of intercourse between parties which hear, and
+which address each other without ever having been in immediate contact. When a
+great number of the organs of the press adopt the same line of conduct, their
+influence becomes irresistible; and public opinion, when it is perpetually
+assailed from the same side, eventually yields to the attack. In the United
+States each separate journal exercises but little authority, but the power of
+the periodical press is only second to that of the people. *b
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ See Appendix, P.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The opinions established in the United States under the empire of the liberty
+of the press are frequently more firmly rooted than those which are formed
+elsewhere under the sanction of a censor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States the democracy perpetually raises fresh individuals to the
+conduct of public affairs; and the measures of the administration are
+consequently seldom regulated by the strict rules of consistency or of order.
+But the general principles of the Government are more stable, and the opinions
+most prevalent in society are generally more durable 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 opinion has been observed in England, where, for the last
+century, greater freedom of conscience and more invincible prejudices have
+existed than in all the other countries of Europe. I attribute this consequence
+to a cause which may at first sight appear to have a very opposite tendency,
+namely, to the liberty of the press. The nations amongst which this liberty
+exists are as apt to cling to their opinions from pride as from conviction.
+They cherish them because they hold them to be just, and because they exercised
+their own free-will in choosing them; and they maintain them not only because
+they are true, but because they are their own. Several other reasons conduce to
+the same end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was remarked by a man of genius that &ldquo;ignorance lies at the two ends
+of knowledge.&rdquo; Perhaps it would have been more correct to have said, that
+absolute convictions are to be met with at the two extremities, and that doubt
+lies in the middle; for the human intellect may be considered in three distinct
+states, which frequently succeed one another. A man believes implicitly,
+because he adopts a proposition without inquiry. He doubts as soon as he is
+assailed by the objections which his inquiries may have aroused. But he
+frequently succeeds in satisfying these doubts, and then he begins to believe
+afresh: he no longer lays hold on a truth in its most shadowy and uncertain
+form, but he sees it clearly before him, and he advances onwards by the light
+it gives him. *c
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ It may, however, be doubted whether this rational and self-guiding conviction
+arouses as much fervor or enthusiastic devotedness in men as their first
+dogmatical belief.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the liberty of the press acts upon men who are in the first of these three
+states, it does not immediately disturb their habit of believing implicitly
+without investigation, but it constantly modifies the objects of their
+intuitive convictions. The human mind continues to discern but one point upon
+the whole intellectual horizon, and that point is in continual motion. Such are
+the symptoms of sudden revolutions, and of the misfortunes which are sure to
+befall those generations which abruptly adopt the unconditional freedom of the
+press.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The circle of novel ideas is, however, soon terminated; the touch of experience
+is upon them, and the doubt and mistrust which their uncertainty produces
+become universal. We may rest assured that the majority of mankind will either
+believe they know not wherefore, or will not know what to believe. Few are the
+beings who can ever hope to attain to that state of rational and independent
+conviction which true knowledge can beget in defiance of the attacks of doubt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has been remarked that in times of great religious fervor men sometimes
+change their religious opinions; whereas in times of general scepticism
+everyone clings to his own 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, the citizens who have adopted one of
+them stick to it, not so much because they are assured of its excellence, as
+because they are not convinced of the superiority of any other. In the present
+age men are not very ready to die in defence of their opinions, but they are
+rarely inclined to change them; and there are fewer martyrs as well as fewer
+apostates.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another still more valid reason may yet be adduced: when no abstract opinions
+are looked upon as certain, men cling to the mere propensities and external
+interests of their position, which are naturally more tangible and more
+permanent than any opinions in the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not a question of easy solution whether aristocracy or democracy is most
+fit to govern a country. But it is certain that democracy annoys one part of
+the community, and that aristocracy oppresses another part. When the question
+is reduced to the simple expression of the struggle between poverty and wealth,
+the tendency of each side of the dispute becomes perfectly evident without
+further controversy.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0028" id="link2HCH0028"></a> Chapter XII: Political
+Associations In The United States</h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0029" id="link2HCH0029"></a> Chapter Summary</h2>
+
+<p>
+Daily use which the Anglo-Americans make of the right of
+association&mdash;Three kinds of political associations&mdash;In what manner
+the Americans apply the representative system to associations&mdash;Dangers
+resulting to the State&mdash;Great Convention of 1831 relative to the
+Tariff&mdash;Legislative character of this Convention&mdash;Why the unlimited
+exercise of the right of association is less dangerous in the United States
+than elsewhere&mdash;Why it may be looked upon as necessary&mdash;Utility of
+associations in a democratic people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Political Associations In The United States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In no country in the world has the principle of association been more
+successfully used, or more unsparingly applied to a multitude of different
+objects, than in America. Besides the permanent 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 private
+individuals.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The citizen of the United States is taught from his earliest infancy to rely
+upon his own exertions in order to resist the evils and the difficulties of
+life; he looks upon social authority with an eye of mistrust and anxiety, and
+he only claims its assistance when he is quite unable to shift without it. This
+habit may even be traced in the schools of the rising generation, 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 every act of social life. If a stoppage occurs in a
+thoroughfare, and the circulation of the public is hindered, the neighbors
+immediately constitute a deliberative body; and this extemporaneous assembly
+gives rise to an executive power which remedies the inconvenience before
+anybody has thought of recurring to an authority superior to that of the
+persons immediately concerned. If the public pleasures are concerned, an
+association is formed to provide for the splendor and the regularity of the
+entertainment. Societies are formed to resist enemies which are exclusively of
+a moral nature, and to diminish the vice of intemperance: in the United States
+associations are established to promote public order, commerce, industry,
+morality, and religion; for there is no end which the human will, seconded by
+the collective exertions of individuals, despairs of attaining.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I shall hereafter have occasion to show the effects of association upon the
+course of society, and I must confine myself for the present to the political
+world. When once the right of association is recognized, the citizens may
+employ it in several different ways.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 the spread of those doctrines by their exertions. The right
+of association with these views is very analogous to the liberty of unlicensed
+writing; but societies thus formed possess more authority than the press. When
+an opinion is represented by a society, it necessarily assumes a more exact and
+explicit form. It numbers its partisans, and compromises their welfare in its
+cause: they, on the other hand, become acquainted with each other, and their
+zeal is increased by their number. An association unites the efforts of minds
+which have a tendency to diverge in one single channel, and urges them
+vigorously towards one single end which it points out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The second degree in the right of association 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 influence extended.
+Men have the opportunity of seeing each other; means of execution are more
+readily combined, and opinions are maintained with a degree of warmth and
+energy which written language cannot approach.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lastly, in the exercise of the right of political association, there is a third
+degree: the partisans of an opinion may unite in electoral bodies, and choose
+delegates to represent them in a central assembly. This is, properly speaking,
+the application of the representative system to a party.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 only
+represent a fraction of the party. Lastly, in the third case, they constitute a
+separate nation in the midst of the nation, a government within the Government.
+Their delegates, like the real delegates of the majority, represent the entire
+collective force of their party; and they enjoy a certain degree of that
+national dignity and great influence which belong to the chosen representatives
+of the people. It is true that they have not the right of making the laws, but
+they have the power of attacking those which are in being, and of drawing up
+beforehand those which they may afterwards cause to be adopted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If, in a people which is imperfectly accustomed to the exercise of freedom, or
+which is exposed to violent political passions, a deliberating minority, which
+confines itself to the contemplation of future laws, be placed in juxtaposition
+to the legislative majority, I cannot but believe that public tranquillity
+incurs very great risks in that nation. There is doubtless a very 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
+imagination of the populace is very apt to overlook this difference, which is
+so apparent to the minds of thinking men. It sometimes happens that a nation is
+divided into two nearly equal parties, each of which affects to represent the
+majority. If, in immediate contiguity to the directing power, another power be
+established, which exercises almost as much moral authority as the former, it
+is not to be believed that it will long be content to speak without acting; or
+that it will always be restrained by the abstract consideration of the nature
+of associations which are meant to direct but not to enforce opinions, to
+suggest but not to make the laws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The more we consider the independence of the press in its principal
+consequences, the more are we convinced that it is the chief and, so to speak,
+the constitutive element of freedom in the modern world. A nation which is
+determined to remain free is therefore right in demanding the unrestrained
+exercise of this independence. But the unrestrained liberty of political
+association cannot be entirely assimilated to the liberty of the press. The one
+is at the same time less necessary and more dangerous than the other. A nation
+may confine it within certain limits without forfeiting any part of its
+self-control; and it may sometimes be obliged to do so in order to maintain its
+own authority.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America the liberty of association for political purposes is unbounded. An
+example will show in the clearest light to what an extent this privilege is
+tolerated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The question of the tariff, or of free trade, produced a great manifestation of
+party feeling in America; the tariff was not only a subject of debate as a
+matter of opinion, but it exercised a favorable or a prejudicial influence upon
+several very powerful interests of the States. The North attributed a great
+portion of its prosperity, and the South all its sufferings, to this system;
+insomuch that for a long time the tariff was the sole source of the political
+animosities which agitated the Union.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1831, when the dispute was raging with the utmost virulence, a private
+citizen of Massachusetts proposed to all the enemies of the tariff, by means of
+the public prints, to send delegates to Philadelphia in order to consult
+together upon the means which were most fitted to promote freedom of trade.
+This proposal circulated in a few days from Maine to New Orleans by the power
+of the printing-press: the opponents of the tariff adopted it with enthusiasm;
+meetings were formed on all sides, and delegates were named. The majority of
+these individuals were well known, and some of them had earned a considerable
+degree of celebrity. South Carolina alone, which afterwards took up arms in the
+same cause, sent sixty-three delegates. On October 1, 1831, this assembly,
+which according to the American custom had taken the name of a Convention, met
+at Philadelphia; it consisted of more than two hundred members. Its debates
+were public, and they at once assumed a legislative character; the extent of
+the powers of Congress, the theories of free trade, and the different clauses
+of the tariff, were discussed in turn. At the end of ten days&rsquo;
+deliberation the Convention broke up, after having published an address to the
+American people, in which it declared:
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I. That Congress had not the right of making a tariff, and that the existing
+tariff was unconstitutional;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+II. That the prohibition of free trade was prejudicial to the interests of all
+nations, and to that of the American people in particular.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It must be acknowledged that the unrestrained liberty of political association
+has not hitherto produced, in the United States, those fatal consequences which
+might perhaps be expected from it elsewhere. The right of association was
+imported from England, and it has always existed in America; so that the
+exercise of this privilege is now amalgamated with the manners and customs of
+the people. At the present time the liberty of association is become a
+necessary guarantee against the tyranny of the majority. In the United States,
+as soon as a party is become preponderant, all public authority passes under
+its control; its private supporters occupy all the places, and have all the
+force of the administration at their disposal. As the most distinguished
+partisans of the other side of the question are unable to surmount the
+obstacles which exclude them from power, they require some means of
+establishing themselves upon their own basis, and of opposing the moral
+authority of the minority to the physical power which domineers over it. Thus a
+dangerous expedient is used to obviate a still more formidable danger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The omnipotence of the majority appears to me to present such extreme perils to
+the American Republics that the dangerous measure which is used to repress it
+seems to be more advantageous than prejudicial. And here I am about to advance
+a proposition which may remind the reader of what I said before in speaking of
+municipal freedom: There are no countries in which associations are more
+needed, to prevent the despotism of faction or the arbitrary power of a prince,
+than those which are democratically constituted. In aristocratic nations the
+body of the nobles and the more opulent part of the community are in themselves
+natural associations, which act as checks upon the abuses of power. In
+countries in which these associations do not exist, if private individuals are
+unable to create an artificial and a temporary substitute for them, I can
+imagine no permanent protection against the most galling tyranny; and a great
+people may be oppressed by a small faction, or by a single individual, with
+impunity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The meeting of a great political Convention (for there are Conventions of all
+kinds), which may frequently become a necessary measure, is always a serious
+occurrence, even in America, and one which is never looked forward to, by the
+judicious friends of the country, without alarm. This was very perceptible in
+the Convention of 1831, at which the exertions of all the most distinguished
+members of the Assembly tended to moderate its language, and to restrain the
+subjects which it treated within certain limits. It is probable, in fact, that
+the Convention of 1831 exercised a very great influence upon the minds of the
+malcontents, and prepared them for the open revolt against the commercial laws
+of the Union which took place in 1832.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It cannot be denied that the unrestrained liberty of association for political
+purposes is the privilege which a people is longest in learning 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 perilous liberty
+offers a security against dangers of another kind; in countries where
+associations are free, secret societies are unknown. In America there are
+numerous factions, but no conspiracies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Different ways in which the right of association is understood in Europe and in
+the United States&mdash;Different use which is made of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The most natural privilege of man, next to the right of acting for himself, is
+that of combining his exertions with those of his fellow-creatures, and of
+acting in common with them. I am therefore led to conclude that the right of
+association is almost as inalienable as the right of personal liberty. No
+legislator can attack it without impairing the very foundations of society.
+Nevertheless, if the liberty of association is a fruitful source of advantages
+and prosperity to some nations, it may be perverted or carried to excess by
+others, and the element of life may be changed into an element of destruction.
+A comparison of the different methods which associations pursue in those
+countries in which they are managed with discretion, as well as in those where
+liberty degenerates into license, may perhaps be thought useful both to
+governments and to parties.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The greater part of Europeans look upon an 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 action prevails in the minds
+of those who constitute it: it is, in fact, an army; and the time given to
+parley serves to reckon up the strength and to animate the courage of the host,
+after which they direct their march against the enemy. Resources which lie
+within the bounds of the law may suggest themselves to the persons who compose
+it as means, but never as the only means, of success.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such, however, is not the manner in which the right of association is
+understood in the United States. In America the citizens who form the minority
+associate, in order, in the first place, to show their numerical strength, and
+so to diminish the moral authority of the majority; and, in the second place,
+to stimulate competition, and to discover those arguments which are most fitted
+to act upon the majority; for they always entertain hopes of drawing over their
+opponents to their own side, and of afterwards disposing of the supreme power
+in their name. Political associations in the United States are therefore
+peaceable in their intentions, and strictly legal in the means which they
+employ; and they assert with perfect truth that they only aim at success by
+lawful expedients.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The difference which exists between the Americans and ourselves depends on
+several causes. In Europe there are numerous parties so diametrically opposed
+to the majority that they can never hope to acquire its support, and at the
+same time they think that they are sufficiently strong in themselves to
+struggle and to defend their cause. When a party of this kind forms an
+association, its object is, not to conquer, but to fight. In America the
+individuals who hold opinions very much opposed to those of the majority are no
+sort of impediment to its power, and all other parties hope to win it over to
+their own principles in the end. The exercise of the right of association
+becomes dangerous in proportion to the impossibility which excludes great
+parties from acquiring the majority. In a country like the United States, in
+which the differences of opinion are mere differences of hue, the right of
+association may remain unrestrained without evil consequences. The inexperience
+of many of the European nations in the enjoyment of liberty leads them only to
+look upon the liberty of association as a right of attacking the Government.
+The first notion which presents itself to a party, as well as to 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 only derived from
+experience. The English, who are divided into parties which differ most
+essentially from each other, rarely abuse the right of association, 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 defending it, at
+the risk of his life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But perhaps the most powerful of the causes which tend to mitigate the excesses
+of political association in the United States is Universal Suffrage. In
+countries in which universal suffrage exists the majority is never doubtful,
+because neither party can pretend to represent that portion of the community
+which has not voted. The associations which are formed are aware, as well as
+the nation at large, that they do not represent the majority: this is, indeed,
+a condition inseparable from their existence; for if they did represent the
+preponderating power, they would change the law instead of soliciting its
+reform. The consequence of this is that the moral influence of the Government
+which they attack is very much increased, and their own power is very much
+enfeebled.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Europe there are few associations which do not affect to represent 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 measures. Violence may seem to be excusable in defence of the
+cause of oppressed right. Thus it is, in the vast labyrinth of human laws, that
+extreme liberty sometimes corrects the abuses of license, and that extreme
+democracy obviates the dangers of democratic government. In Europe,
+associations consider themselves, in some degree, as the legislative and
+executive councils of the people, which is unable to speak for itself. In
+America, where they only represent a minority of the nation, they argue and
+they petition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The means which the associations of Europe employ are in accordance with the
+end which they propose to obtain. As the principal aim of these bodies is to
+act, and not to debate, to fight rather than to persuade, they are naturally
+led to adopt a form of organization which differs from the ordinary customs of
+civil bodies, and which assumes the habits and the maxims of military life.
+They centralize the direction of their resources as much as possible, and they
+intrust the power of the whole party to a very small number of leaders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The members of these associations respond to a watchword, 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 exercise is often
+far more insupportable than the authority possessed over society by the
+Government which they attack. Their moral force is much diminished by these
+excesses, and they lose the powerful interest which is always excited by a
+struggle between oppressors and the oppressed. The man who in given cases
+consents to obey his fellows with servility, and who submits his activity and
+even his opinions to their control, can have no claim to rank as a free
+citizen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Americans have also established certain forms of government which are
+applied to their associations, but these are invariably borrowed from the forms
+of the civil administration. The independence of each individual is formally
+recognized; the tendency of the members of the association points, as it does
+in the body of the community, towards the same end, but they are not obliged to
+follow the same track. No one abjures the exercise of his reason and his free
+will; but every one exerts that reason and that will for the benefit of a
+common undertaking.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0030" id="link2HCH0030"></a> Chapter XIII: Government Of
+The Democracy In America&mdash;Part I</h2>
+
+<p>
+I am well aware of the difficulties which attend this part of my subject, but
+although every expression which I am about to make use of may clash, upon some
+one point, with the feelings of the different parties which divide my country,
+I shall speak my opinion with the most perfect openness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Europe we are at a loss how to judge the true character and the more
+permanent propensities of democracy, because in Europe two conflicting
+principles exist, and we do not know what to attribute to the principles
+themselves, and what to refer to the passions which they bring into collision.
+Such, however, is not the case in America; there the people reigns without any
+obstacle, and it has no perils to dread and no injuries to avenge. In America,
+democracy is swayed by its own free propensities; its course is natural and its
+activity is unrestrained; the United States consequently afford the most
+favorable opportunity of studying its real character. And to no people can this
+inquiry be more vitally interesting than to the French nation, which is blindly
+driven onwards by a daily and irresistible impulse towards a state of things
+which may prove either despotic or republican, but which will assuredly be
+democratic.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Universal Suffrage
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have already observed that universal suffrage has been adopted in all the
+States of the Union; it consequently occurs amongst different populations which
+occupy very different positions in the scale of society. I have had
+opportunities of observing its effects in different localities, and amongst
+races of men who are nearly strangers to each other by their language, their
+religion, and their manner of life; in Louisiana as well as in New England, in
+Georgia and in Canada. I have remarked that Universal Suffrage is far from
+producing in America either all the good or all the evil consequences which are
+assigned to it in Europe, and that its effects differ very widely from those
+which are usually attributed to it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Choice Of The People, And Instinctive Preferences Of The American Democracy
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States the most able men are rarely placed at the head of
+affairs&mdash;Reason of this peculiarity&mdash;The envy which prevails in the
+lower orders of France against the higher classes is not a French, but a purely
+democratic sentiment&mdash;For what reason the most distinguished men in
+America frequently seclude themselves from public affairs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Many people in Europe are apt to believe without saying it, or to say without
+believing it, that one of the great advantages of universal suffrage is, that
+it entrusts the direction of public affairs to men who are worthy of the public
+confidence. They admit that the people is unable to govern for itself, but they
+aver that it is always sincerely disposed to promote the welfare of the State,
+and that it instinctively designates those persons 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 coincide 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 well-authenticated fact, that at the present day the most
+able men in the United States are very rarely placed at the head of affairs;
+and it must be acknowledged that such has been the result in proportion as
+democracy has outstepped all its former limits. The race of American statesmen
+has evidently dwindled most remarkably in the course of the last fifty years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Several causes may be assigned to this phenomenon. It is impossible,
+notwithstanding the most strenuous exertions, to raise the intelligence of the
+people above a certain level. Whatever may be the facilities of acquiring
+information, whatever may be the profusion of easy methods and of cheap
+science, the human mind can never be instructed and educated without devoting a
+considerable space of time to those objects.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The greater or the lesser possibility of subsisting without labor is therefore
+the necessary boundary of intellectual improvement. This boundary is more
+remote in some countries and more restricted in others; but it must exist
+somewhere as long as the people is constrained to work in order to procure the
+means of physical subsistence, that is to say, as long as it retains its
+popular character. It is therefore quite as difficult to imagine a State in
+which all the citizens should be very well informed as a State in which they
+should all be wealthy; these two difficulties may be looked upon as
+correlative. It may very readily be admitted that the mass of the citizens are
+sincerely disposed to promote the welfare of their country; nay more, it may
+even be allowed that the lower classes are less apt to be swayed by
+considerations of personal interest than the higher orders: but it is always
+more or less impossible for them to discern the best means of attaining the end
+which they desire with sincerity. Long and patient observation, joined to a
+multitude of different notions, is required to form a just estimate of the
+character of a single individual; and can it be supposed that the vulgar have
+the power of succeeding in an inquiry which misleads the penetration of genius
+itself? The people has neither the time nor the means which are essential to
+the prosecution of an investigation of this kind: its conclusions are hastily
+formed from a superficial inspection of the more prominent features of a
+question. Hence it often assents to the clamor of a mountebank who knows the
+secret of stimulating its tastes, while its truest friends frequently fail in
+their exertions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moreover, the democracy is not only deficient in that soundness of judgment
+which is necessary to select men really deserving of its confidence, but it has
+neither the desire nor the inclination to find them out. It cannot be denied
+that democratic institutions have a very strong tendency to promote the feeling
+of envy in the human heart; not so much because they afford to every one the
+means of rising to the level of any of his fellow-citizens, as because those
+means perpetually disappoint the persons who employ 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 at which it thinks to hold it fast, and &ldquo;flies,&rdquo; as
+Pascal says, &ldquo;with eternal flight&rdquo;; the people is excited in the
+pursuit of an advantage, which is more precious because it is not sufficiently
+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 disappointment. Whatever transcends their own limits
+appears to be an obstacle to their desires, and there is no kind of
+superiority, however legitimate it may be, which is not irksome in their sight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It has been supposed that the secret instinct which leads the lower orders to
+remove their superiors as much as possible from the direction of public affairs
+is peculiar to France. This, however, is an error; the propensity to which I
+allude is not inherent in any particular nation, but in democratic institutions
+in general; and although it may have been heightened by peculiar political
+circumstances, it owes its origin to a higher cause.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States the people is not disposed to hate the superior classes of
+society; but it is not very favorably inclined towards them, and it carefully
+excludes them from the exercise of authority. It does not entertain any dread
+of distinguished talents, but it is rarely captivated by them; and it awards
+its approbation very sparingly to such as have risen without the popular
+support.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whilst the natural propensities of democracy induce the people to reject the
+most distinguished citizens as its rulers, these individuals are no less apt to
+retire from a political career in which it is almost impossible to retain their
+independence, or to advance without degrading themselves. This opinion has been
+very candidly set forth by Chancellor Kent, who says, in speaking with great
+eulogiums of that part of the Constitution which empowers the Executive to
+nominate the judges: &ldquo;It is indeed probable that the men who are best
+fitted to discharge the duties of this high office would have too much reserve
+in their manners, and too much austerity in their principles, for them to be
+returned by the majority at an election where universal suffrage is
+adopted.&rdquo; Such were the opinions which were printed without contradiction
+in America in the year 1830!
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I hold it to be sufficiently demonstrated that universal suffrage is by no
+means a guarantee of the wisdom of the popular choice, and that, whatever its
+advantages may be, this is not one of them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Causes Which May Partly Correct These Tendencies Of The Democracy Contrary
+effects produced on peoples as well as on individuals by great
+dangers&mdash;Why so many distinguished men stood at the head of affairs in
+America fifty years ago&mdash;Influence which the intelligence and the manners
+of the people exercise upon its choice&mdash;Example of New
+England&mdash;States of the Southwest&mdash;Influence of certain laws upon the
+choice of the people&mdash;Election by an elected body&mdash;Its effects upon
+the composition of the Senate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When a State is threatened by serious dangers, the people frequently succeeds
+in selecting the citizens who are the most able to save it. It has been
+observed that man rarely retains his customary level in presence of very
+critical circumstances; he rises above or he sinks below his usual condition,
+and the same thing occurs in nations at large. Extreme perils sometimes quench
+the energy of a people instead of stimulating it; they excite without directing
+its passions, and instead of clearing they confuse its powers of perception.
+The Jews deluged the smoking ruins of their temple with the carnage of the
+remnant of their host. But it is more common, both in the case of nations and
+in that of individuals, to find extraordinary virtues arising from the very
+imminence of the danger. Great characters are then thrown into relief, as
+edifices which are concealed by the gloom of night are illuminated by the glare
+of a conflagration. At those dangerous times genius no longer abstains from
+presenting itself in the arena; and the people, alarmed by the perils of its
+situation, buries its envious passions in a short oblivion. Great names may
+then be drawn from the balloting-box.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have already observed that the American statesmen of the present day are very
+inferior to those who stood at the head of affairs fifty years ago. This is as
+much a consequence of the circumstances as of the laws of the country. When
+America was struggling in the high cause of independence to throw off the yoke
+of another country, and when it was about to usher a new nation into the world,
+the spirits of its inhabitants were roused to the height which their great
+efforts required. In this general excitement the most distinguished men were
+ready to forestall the wants of the community, and the people clung to them for
+support, and placed them at its head. But events of this magnitude are rare,
+and it is from an inspection of the ordinary course of affairs that our
+judgment must be formed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If passing occurrences sometimes act as checks upon the passions of democracy,
+the intelligence and the manners of the community exercise an influence which
+is not less powerful and far more permanent. This is extremely perceptible in
+the United States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In New England the education and the liberties of the communities were
+engendered by the moral and religious principles of their founders. Where
+society has acquired a sufficient degree of stability to enable it to hold
+certain maxims and to retain fixed habits, the lower orders are accustomed to
+respect intellectual superiority and to submit to it without complaint,
+although they set at naught all those privileges which wealth and birth have
+introduced among mankind. The democracy in New England consequently makes a
+more judicious choice than it does elsewhere.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But as we descend towards the South, to those States in which the constitution
+of society is more modern and less strong, where instruction is less general,
+and where the principles of morality, of religion, and of liberty are less
+happily combined, we perceive that the talents and the virtues of those who are
+in authority become more and more rare.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lastly, when we arrive at the new South-western States, in which the
+constitution of society dates but from yesterday, and presents an agglomeration
+of adventurers and speculators, we are amazed at the persons who are invested
+with public authority, and we are led to ask by what force, independent of the
+legislation and of the men who direct it, the State can be protected, and
+society be made to flourish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are certain laws of a democratic nature which contribute, nevertheless,
+to correct, in some measure, the dangerous tendencies of democracy. On entering
+the House of Representatives of Washington one is struck by the vulgar demeanor
+of that great assembly. The eye frequently does not discover a man of celebrity
+within its walls. Its members are almost all obscure individuals whose names
+present no associations to the mind: they are mostly village 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 representatives of the
+people do not always know how to write correctly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At a few yards&rsquo; distance from this spot 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 perceived in it who does not recall
+the idea of an active and illustrious career: the Senate is composed of
+eloquent advocates, distinguished generals, wise magistrates, and statesmen of
+note, whose language would at all times do honor to the most remarkable
+parliamentary debates of Europe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What then is the cause of this strange contrast, and why are the most able
+citizens to be found in one assembly rather than in the other? Why is the
+former body remarkable for its vulgarity and its poverty of talent, whilst the
+latter seems to enjoy a monopoly of intelligence and of sound judgment? Both of
+these assemblies emanate from the people; both of them are chosen by universal
+suffrage; and no voice has hitherto been heard to assert in America that the
+Senate is hostile to the interests of the people. From what cause, then, does
+so startling a difference arise? The only reason which appears to me adequately
+to account for it is, that the House of Representatives is elected by the
+populace directly, and that the Senate is elected by elected bodies. The whole
+body of the citizens names the legislature of each State, and the Federal
+Constitution converts these legislatures into so many electoral bodies, which
+return the members of the Senate. The senators are elected by an indirect
+application of universal suffrage; for the legislatures which name them are not
+aristocratic or privileged bodies which exercise the electoral franchise in
+their own right; but they are chosen by the totality of the citizens; they are
+generally elected every year, and new members may constantly be chosen who will
+employ their electoral rights in conformity with the wishes of the public. But
+this transmission of the popular authority through an assembly of chosen men
+operates an important change in it, by refining its discretion and improving
+the forms which it adopts. Men who are chosen in this manner accurately
+represent the majority of the nation which governs them; but they represent the
+elevated thoughts which are current in the community, the propensities which
+prompt its nobler actions, rather than the petty passions which disturb or the
+vices which disgrace it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The time may be already anticipated at which the American Republics will be
+obliged to introduce the plan of election by an elected body more frequently
+into their system of representation, or they will incur no small risk of
+perishing miserably amongst the shoals of democracy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And here I have no scruple in confessing that I look upon this peculiar system
+of election as the only means of bringing the exercise of political power to
+the level of all classes of the people. Those thinkers who regard this
+institution as the exclusive weapon of a party, and those who fear, on the
+other hand, to make use of it, seem to me to fall into as great an error in the
+one case as in the other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Influence Which The American Democracy Has Exercised On The Laws Relating To
+Elections
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When elections are rare, they expose the State to a violent crisis&mdash;When
+they are frequent, they keep up a degree of feverish excitement&mdash;The
+Americans have preferred the second of these two evils&mdash;Mutability of the
+laws&mdash;Opinions of Hamilton and Jefferson on this subject.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When elections recur at long intervals the State is exposed to violent
+agitation every time they take place. Parties exert themselves to the utmost in
+order to gain a prize which is so rarely within their reach; and as the evil is
+almost irremediable for the candidates who fail, the consequences of their
+disappointed ambition may prove most disastrous; if, on the other hand, the
+legal struggle can be repeated within a short space of time, the defeated
+parties take patience. When elections occur frequently, their recurrence keeps
+society in a perpetual state of feverish excitement, and imparts a continual
+instability to public affairs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus, on the one hand the State is exposed to the perils of a revolution, on
+the other to perpetual mutability; the former system threatens the very
+existence of the Government, the latter is an obstacle to all steady and
+consistent policy. The Americans have preferred the second of these evils to
+the first; but they were led to this conclusion by their instinct much more
+than by their reason; for a taste for variety is one of the characteristic
+passions of democracy. An extraordinary mutability has, by this means, been
+introduced into their legislation. Many of the Americans consider the
+instability of their laws as a necessary consequence of a system whose general
+results are beneficial. But no one in the United States affects to deny the
+fact of this instability, or to contend that it is not a great evil.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hamilton, after having demonstrated the utility of a power which might prevent,
+or which might at least impede, the promulgation of bad laws, adds: &ldquo;It
+might perhaps be said that the power of preventing bad laws includes that of
+preventing good ones, and may be used to the one purpose as well as to the
+other. But this objection will have little weight with those who can properly
+estimate the mischiefs of that inconstancy and mutability in the laws which
+form the greatest blemish in the character and genius of our
+governments.&rdquo; (Federalist, No. 73.) And again in No. 62 of the same work
+he observes: &ldquo;The facility and excess of law-making seem to be the
+diseases to which our governments are most liable. . . . The mischievous
+effects of the mutability in the public councils arising from a rapid
+succession of new members would fill a volume: every new election in the States
+is found to change one-half of the representatives. From this change of men
+must proceed a change of opinions and of measures, which forfeits the respect
+and confidence of other nations, poisons the blessings of liberty itself, and
+diminishes the attachment and reverence of the people toward a political system
+which betrays so many marks of infirmity.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Jefferson himself, the greatest Democrat whom the democracy of America has yet
+produced, pointed out the same evils. &ldquo;The instability of our
+laws,&rdquo; said he in a letter to Madison, &ldquo;is really a very serious
+inconvenience. I think that we ought to have obviated it by deciding that a
+whole year should always be allowed to elapse between the bringing in of a bill
+and the final passing of it. It should afterward be discussed and put to the
+vote without the possibility of making any alteration in it; and if the
+circumstances of the case required a more speedy decision, the question should
+not be decided by a simple majority, but by a majority of at least two-thirds
+of both houses.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Public Officers Under The Control Of The Democracy In America Simple exterior
+of the American public officers&mdash;No official costume&mdash;All public
+officers are remunerated&mdash;Political consequences of this system&mdash;No
+public career exists in America&mdash;Result of this.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Public officers in the United States are commingled with the crowd of citizens;
+they have neither palaces, nor guards, nor ceremonial costumes. This simple
+exterior of the persons in authority is connected not only with the
+peculiarities of the American character, but with the fundamental principles of
+that society. In the estimation of the democracy a government is not a benefit,
+but a necessary evil. A certain degree of power must be granted to public
+officers, for they would be of no use without it. But the ostensible semblance
+of authority is by no means indispensable to the conduct of affairs, and it is
+needlessly offensive to the susceptibility of the public. The public officers
+themselves are well aware that they only enjoy the superiority over their
+fellow-citizens which they derive from their authority upon condition of
+putting themselves on a level with the whole community by their manners. A
+public officer in the United States is uniformly civil, accessible to all the
+world, attentive to all requests, and obliging in his replies. I was pleased by
+these characteristics of a democratic government; and I was struck by the manly
+independence of the citizens, who respect the office more than the officer, and
+who are less attached to the emblems of authority than to the man who bears
+them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am inclined to believe that the influence which costumes really exercise, 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 he was
+in the discharge of his duties because his own merit was set off by no
+adventitious signs. On the other hand, it is very doubtful whether a peculiar
+dress contributes to the respect which public characters ought to have for
+their own position, at least when they are not otherwise inclined to respect
+it. When a magistrate (and in France such instances are not rare) indulges his
+trivial wit at the expense of the prisoner, or derides the predicament in which
+a culprit is placed, it would be well to deprive him of his robes of office, to
+see whether he would recall some portion of the natural dignity of mankind when
+he is reduced to the apparel of a private citizen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A democracy may, however, allow a certain show of magisterial pomp, 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 are
+distinct from the individual: but if public officers are not uniformly
+remunerated by the State, the public charges must be entrusted to men of
+opulence and independence, who constitute the basis of an aristocracy; 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 renders offices
+which had formerly been remunerated gratuitous, it may safely be believed that
+the State is advancing to monarchical institutions; and when a monarchy begins
+to remunerate such officers as had hitherto been unpaid, it is a sure sign that
+it is approaching toward a despotic or a republican form of government. The
+substitution of paid for unpaid functionaries is of itself, in my opinion,
+sufficient to constitute a serious revolution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I look upon the entire absence of gratuitous functionaries in America as one of
+the most prominent signs of the absolute dominion which democracy exercises in
+that country. All public services, of whatsoever nature they may be, are paid;
+so that every one has not merely the right, but also the means of performing
+them. Although, in democratic States, all the citizens are qualified to occupy
+stations in the Government, all are not tempted to try for them. The number and
+the capacities of the candidates are more apt to restrict the choice of
+electors than the connections of the candidateship.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In nations in which the principle of election extends to every place in the
+State no political career can, properly speaking, be said to exist. Men are
+promoted as if by chance to the rank which they enjoy, and they are by no means
+sure of retaining it. The consequence is that in tranquil times public
+functions offer but few lures to ambition. In the United States the persons who
+engage in the perplexities of political life are individuals of very moderate
+pretensions. The pursuit of wealth generally diverts men of great talents and
+of great passions from the pursuit of power, and it very frequently happens
+that a man does not undertake to direct the fortune of the State until he has
+discovered his incompetence to conduct his own affairs. The vast number of very
+ordinary men who occupy public stations is quite as attributable to these
+causes as to the bad choice of the democracy. In the United States, I am not
+sure that the people would return the men of superior abilities who might
+solicit its support, but it is certain that men of this description do not come
+forward.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Arbitrary Power Of Magistrates Under The Rule Of The American Democracy
+</p>
+
+<p>
+For what reason the arbitrary power of Magistrates is greater in absolute
+monarchies and in democratic republics than it is in limited
+monarchies&mdash;Arbitrary power of the Magistrates in New England.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In two different kinds of government the magistrates *a exercise a considerable
+degree of arbitrary power; namely, under the absolute government of a single
+individual, and under that of a democracy. This identical result proceeds from
+causes which are nearly analogous.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ I here use the word magistrates in the widest sense in which it can be taken;
+I apply it to all the officers to whom the execution of the laws is intrusted.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In despotic States the fortune of no citizen is secure; and public officers are
+not more safe than private individuals. The sovereign, who has under his
+control the lives, the property, and sometimes the honor of the men whom he
+employs, does not scruple to allow them a great latitude of action, because he
+is convinced that they will not use it to his prejudice. In despotic States the
+sovereign is so attached to the exercise of his power, that he dislikes the
+constraint even of his own regulations; and he is well pleased that his agents
+should follow a somewhat fortuitous line of conduct, provided he be certain
+that their actions will never counteract his desires.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In democracies, as the majority has every year the right of depriving the
+officers whom it has appointed of their power, it has no reason to fear any
+abuse of their authority. As the people is always able to signify its wishes to
+those who conduct the Government, it prefers leaving them to make their own
+exertions to prescribing an invariable rule of conduct which would at once
+fetter their activity and the popular authority.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It may even be observed, on attentive consideration, that under the rule of a
+democracy the arbitrary power of the magistrate must be still greater than in
+despotic States. In the latter the sovereign has the power of punishing all the
+faults with which he becomes acquainted, but it would be vain for him to hope
+to become acquainted with all those which are committed. In the former the
+sovereign power is not only supreme, but it is universally present. The
+American functionaries are, in point of fact, much more independent in the
+sphere of action which the law traces out for them than any public officer in
+Europe. Very 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 which is
+laid down to guide them in their choice is that they are to select citizens
+possessing the elective franchise and enjoying a fair reputation. *b In France
+the lives and liberties of the subjects would be thought to be in danger if a
+public officer of any kind was entrusted with so formidable a right. In New
+England the same magistrates are empowered to post the names of habitual
+drunkards in public-houses, and to prohibit the inhabitants of a town from
+supplying them with liquor. *c A censorial power of this excessive kind would
+be revolting to the population of the most absolute monarchies; here, however,
+it is submitted to without difficulty.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ See the Act of February 27, 1813. &ldquo;General Collection of the Laws of
+Massachusetts,&rdquo; vol. ii. p. 331. It should be added that the jurors are
+afterwards drawn from these lists by lot.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ See Act of February 28, 1787. &ldquo;General Collection of the Laws of
+Massachusetts,&rdquo; vol. i. p. 302.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nowhere has so much been left by the law to the arbitrary determination of the
+magistrate as in democratic republics, because this arbitrary power is
+unattended by any alarming consequences. It may even be asserted that the
+freedom of the magistrate increases as the elective franchise is extended, and
+as the duration of the time of office is shortened. Hence arises the great
+difficulty which attends the conversion of a democratic republic into a
+monarchy. The magistrate ceases to be elective, but he retains the rights and
+the habits of an elected officer, which lead directly to despotism.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is only in limited monarchies that the law, which prescribes the sphere in
+which public officers are to act, superintends all their measures. The cause of
+this may be easily detected. In limited monarchies the power is divided between
+the King and the people, both of whom are interested in the stability of the
+magistrate. The King does not venture to place the public officers under the
+control of the people, lest they should be tempted to betray his interests; on
+the other hand, the people fears lest the magistrates should serve to oppress
+the liberties of the country, if they were entirely dependent upon the Crown;
+they cannot therefore be said to depend on either one or the other. The same
+cause which induces the king and the people to render public officers
+independent suggests the necessity of such securities as may prevent their
+independence from encroaching upon the authority of the former and the
+liberties of the latter. They consequently agree as to the necessity of
+restricting the functionary to a line of conduct laid down beforehand, and they
+are interested in confining him by certain regulations which he cannot evade.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0031" id="link2HCH0031"></a> Chapter XIII: Government Of
+The Democracy In America&mdash;Part II</h2> <h3>Instability Of The
+Administration In The United States</h3> <p>
+In America the public acts of a community frequently leave fewer traces than
+the occurrences of a family&mdash;Newspapers the only historical
+remains&mdash;Instability of the administration prejudicial to the art of
+government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 occurrences of a private
+family. The public administration is, so to speak, oral and traditionary. But
+little is committed to writing, and that little is wafted away forever, like
+the leaves of the Sibyl, by the smallest breeze.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The only historical remains in the United States are the newspapers; but 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 concerning the social condition of the Americans at
+the present day than it is to find remains of the administration of France
+during the Middle Ages; and if the United States were ever invaded by
+barbarians, it would be necessary to have recourse to the history of other
+nations in order to learn anything of the people which now inhabits them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The instability of the administration has penetrated into the habits of the
+people: it even appears to suit the general taste, and no one cares for what
+occurred before his time. No methodical system is pursued; no archives are
+formed; and no documents are brought together when it would be very easy to do
+so. Where they exist, little store is set upon them; and I have amongst my
+papers several original public documents which were given to me in answer to
+some of my inquiries. In America society seems to live from hand to mouth, like
+an army in the field. Nevertheless, the art of administration may undoubtedly
+be ranked as a science, and no sciences can be improved 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 fixed proposition; and mankind gathers the fruits of
+individual experience upon its way and gradually forms the sciences. But the
+persons who conduct the administration in America can seldom afford any
+instruction to each other; and when they assume the direction of society, they
+simply possess those attainments which are most widely disseminated in the
+community, and no experience peculiar to themselves. Democracy, carried 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
+an administration than to a nation which is uninitiated in public affairs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This remark, indeed, is not exclusively applicable to the science of
+administration. Although a democratic government is founded upon a very simple
+and natural principle, it always presupposes the existence of a high degree of
+culture and enlightenment in society. *d At the first glance it may be imagined
+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.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ It is needless to observe that I speak here of the democratic form of
+government as applied to a people, not merely to a tribe.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Charges Levied By The State Under The Rule Of The American Democracy
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In all communities citizens divisible into three classes&mdash;Habits of each
+of these classes in the direction of public finances&mdash;Why public
+expenditure must tend to increase when the people governs&mdash;What renders
+the extravagance of a democracy less to be feared in America&mdash;Public
+expenditure under a democracy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before we can affirm whether a democratic form of government is economical or
+not, we must establish a suitable standard of comparison. The question would be
+one of easy solution if we were to attempt to draw a parallel between a
+democratic republic and an absolute monarchy. The public expenditure would be
+found to be more considerable under the former than under the latter; such is
+the case with all free States compared to those which are not so. It is certain
+that despotism ruins individuals by preventing them from producing wealth, much
+more than by depriving them of the wealth they have produced; it dries up the
+source of riches, whilst it usually respects acquired property. Freedom, on the
+contrary, engenders far more benefits than it destroys; and the nations which
+are favored by free institutions invariably find that their resources increase
+even more rapidly than their taxes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My present object is to compare free nations to each other, and to point out
+the influence of democracy upon the finances of a State.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Communities, as well as organic bodies, are subject to certain fixed rules in
+their formation which they cannot evade. They are composed of certain elements
+which are common to them at all times and under all circumstances. The people
+may always be mentally divided into three distinct classes. The first of these
+classes consists of the wealthy; the second, of those who are in easy
+circumstances; and the third is composed of those who have little or no
+property, and who subsist more especially by the work which they perform for
+the two superior orders. The proportion of the individuals who are included in
+these three divisions may vary according to the condition of society, but the
+divisions themselves can never be obliterated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is evident that each of these classes will exercise an influence peculiar to
+its own propensities upon the administration 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 tend to diminish the sum of
+superfluous enjoyment, and are, in point of fact, but little felt. If the
+second class has the power of making the laws, it will certainly not be lavish
+of taxes, because nothing is so onerous as a large impost which is levied upon
+a small income. The government of the middle classes appears to me to be the
+most economical, though perhaps not the most enlightened, and certainly not the
+most generous, of free governments.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But let us now suppose that the legislative authority is vested in the lowest
+orders: there are two striking reasons which show that the tendency of the
+expenditure will be to increase, not to diminish. As the great majority of
+those who create the laws are possessed of no property upon which taxes can be
+imposed, all the money which is spent for the community appears to be spent to
+their advantage, at no cost of their own; and those who are possessed of some
+little property readily find means of regulating the taxes so that they are
+burdensome to the wealthy and profitable to the poor, although the rich are
+unable to take the same advantage when they are in possession of the
+Government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In countries in which the poor *e should be exclusively invested with the power
+of making the laws no great economy of public expenditure ought to be expected:
+that expenditure will always be considerable; either because the taxes do not
+weigh upon those who levy them, or because they are levied in such a manner as
+not to weigh upon those classes. In other words, the government of the
+democracy is the only one under which the power which lays on taxes escapes the
+payment of them.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ The word poor is used here, and throughout the remainder of this chapter, 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 with propriety by
+styled poor in comparison with their more affluent countrymen.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It may be objected (but the argument has no real weight) that the true interest
+of the people is indissolubly connected with that of the wealthier portion of
+the community, since it cannot but suffer by the severe measures to which it
+resorts. But is it not the true interest of kings to render their subjects
+happy, and the true interest of nobles to admit recruits into their order on
+suitable grounds? If remote advantages had power to prevail over the passions
+and the exigencies of the moment, no such thing as a tyrannical sovereign or an
+exclusive aristocracy could ever exist.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Again, it may be objected that the poor are never invested with the sole power
+of making the laws; but I reply, that wherever universal suffrage has been
+established the majority of the community unquestionably exercises the
+legislative authority; and if it be proved that the poor always constitute the
+majority, it may be added, with perfect truth, that in the countries in which
+they possess the elective franchise they possess the sole power of making laws.
+But it is certain that in all the nations of the world the greater number has
+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 an easy subsistence. Universal suffrage does therefore, in point of
+fact, invest the poor with the government of society.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The disastrous influence which popular authority may sometimes exercise upon
+the finances of a State was very 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 the games and theatrical amusements of
+the populace. It is true that the representative system was then very
+imperfectly known, and that, at the present time, the influence of popular
+passion is less felt in the conduct of public affairs; but it may be believed
+that the delegate will in the end conform to the principles of his
+constituents, and favor their propensities as much as their interests.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The extravagance of democracy is, however, less to be dreaded in proportion as
+the people acquires 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 lay on taxes which do not affect the interests of the lower
+classes. On this account universal suffrage would be less dangerous in France
+than in England, because in the latter country the property on which taxes may
+be levied is vested in fewer hands. America, where the great majority of the
+citizens possess some fortune, is in a still more favorable position than
+France.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are still further causes which may increase the sum of public expenditure
+in democratic countries. When the aristocracy governs, the individuals who
+conduct the affairs of State are exempted by their own station in society from
+every kind of privation; they are contented with their position; power and
+renown are the objects for which they strive; and, as they are placed far above
+the obscurer throng of citizens, they do not always distinctly perceive how the
+well-being of the mass of the people ought to redound to their own honor. 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 its lot, the rulers are satisfied,
+and they demand nothing further from the Government. An aristocracy is more
+intent upon the means of maintaining its influence than upon the means of
+improving its condition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When, on the contrary, the people is invested with the supreme authority, the
+perpetual sense of their own miseries impels the rulers of society to seek for
+perpetual ameliorations. A thousand different objects are subjected to
+improvement; the most trivial details are sought out as susceptible of
+amendment; and those changes which are accompanied with considerable expense
+are more especially advocated, since the object is to render the condition of
+the poor more tolerable, who cannot pay for themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Moreover, all democratic communities are agitated by an ill-defined excitement
+and by a kind of feverish impatience, that engender a multitude of innovations,
+almost all of which are attended with expense.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In monarchies and aristocracies the natural taste which the rulers have for
+power and for renown is stimulated by the promptings of ambition, and they are
+frequently incited by these temptations to very costly undertakings. In
+democracies, where the rulers labor under privations, they can only be courted
+by such means as improve their well-being, and these improvements cannot take
+place without a sacrifice of money. When a people begins to reflect upon its
+situation, it discovers a multitude of wants to which it had not before been
+subject, and to satisfy these exigencies recourse must be had to the coffers of
+the State. Hence it arises that the public charges increase in proportion as
+civilization spreads, and that imposts are augmented as knowledge pervades the
+community.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The last cause which frequently renders a democratic government dearer than any
+other is, that a democracy does not always succeed in moderating its
+expenditure, because it does not understand the art of being economical. As the
+designs which it entertains are frequently changed, and the agents of those
+designs are still more frequently removed, 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 proposes to accomplish; in the second, the
+expense itself is unprofitable. *f
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+f <br />
+[ The gross receipts of the Treasury of the United States in 1832 were about
+$28,000,000; in 1870 they had risen to $411,000,000. The gross expenditure in
+1832 was $30,000,000; in 1870, $309,000,000.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Tendencies Of The American Democracy As Regards The Salaries Of Public Officers
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the democracies those who establish high salaries have no chance of
+profiting by them&mdash;Tendency of the American democracy to increase the
+salaries of subordinate officers and to lower those of the more important
+functionaries&mdash;Reason of this&mdash;Comparative statement of the salaries
+of public officers in the United States and in France.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is a powerful reason which usually induces democracies to economize upon
+the salaries of public officers. As the number of citizens who dispense the
+remuneration is extremely large in democratic countries, so the number of
+persons who can hope to be benefited by the receipt of it is comparatively
+small. In aristocratic countries, on the contrary, the individuals who fix high
+salaries have almost always a vague hope of profiting by them. These
+appointments may be looked upon as a capital which they create for their own
+use, or at least as a resource for their children.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It must, however, be allowed that a democratic State is most parsimonious
+towards its principal agents. In America the secondary officers are much better
+paid, and the dignitaries of the administration much worse, than they are
+elsewhere.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These opposite effects result from the same cause; the people fixes the
+salaries of the public officers in both cases; and the scale of remuneration is
+determined by the consideration of its own wants. It is held to be fair that
+the servants of the public should be placed in the same easy circumstances as
+the public itself; *g but when the question turns upon the salaries of the
+great officers of State, this rule fails, and chance alone can guide the
+popular decision. The poor have no adequate conception of the wants which the
+higher classes of society may feel. The sum which is scanty to the rich appears
+enormous to the poor man whose wants do not extend beyond the necessaries of
+life; and in his estimation the Governor of a State, with his twelve or fifteen
+hundred dollars a year, is a very fortunate and enviable being. *h If you
+undertake to convince him that the representative of a great people ought to be
+able to maintain some show of splendor in the eyes of foreign nations, he will
+perhaps assent to your meaning; but when he reflects on his own humble
+dwelling, and on the hard-earned produce of his wearisome toil, he remembers
+all that he could do with a salary which you say is insufficient, and he is
+startled or almost frightened at the sight of such uncommon wealth. Besides,
+the secondary public officer is almost on a level with the people, whilst the
+others are raised above it. The former may therefore excite his interest, but
+the latter begins to arouse his envy.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ The 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. The country is in the position of a commercial undertaking, which is
+obliged to sustain an expensive competition, notwithstanding its tastes for
+economy.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+h <br />
+[ The State of Ohio, which contains a million of inhabitants, gives its
+Governor a salary of only $1,200 a year.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This is very clearly seen in the United States, where the salaries seem to
+decrease as the authority of those who receive them augments *i
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+i <br />
+[ To render this assertion perfectly evident, it will suffice to examine the
+scale of salaries of the agents of the Federal Government. I have added the
+salaries attached to the corresponding officers in France under the
+constitutional monarchy to complete the comparison.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+     United States<br />
+     Treasury Department<br />
+     Messenger ............................   $700<br />
+     Clerk with lowest salary .............  1,000<br />
+     Clerk with highest salary ............  1,600<br />
+     Chief Clerk ..........................  2,000<br />
+     Secretary of State ...................  6,000<br />
+     The President ........................ 25,000<br /><br />
+
+     France<br />
+     Ministere des Finances<br />
+     Hussier ........................... 1,500 fr.<br />
+     Clerk with lowest salary,  1,000 to 1,800 fr.<br />
+     Clerk with highest salary  3,200 to 8,600 fr.<br />
+     Secretaire-general ................20,000 fr.<br />
+     The Minister ......................80,000 fr.<br />
+     The King ......................12,000,000 fr.<br />
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have perhaps done wrong in selecting France as my standard of comparison. In
+France the democratic tendencies of the nation exercise an ever-increasing
+influence upon the Government, and the Chambers show a disposition 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-generaux of Finance, who then received 50,000 fr. now receive only
+20,000 fr. [This comparison is based on the state of things existing in France
+and the United States in 1831. It has since materially altered in both
+countries, but not so much as to impugn the truth of the author&rsquo;s
+observation.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Under the rule of an aristocracy it frequently happens, on the contrary, that
+whilst the high officers are receiving munificent salaries, the inferior ones
+have not more than enough to procure the necessaries of life. The reason of
+this fact is easily discoverable from causes very analogous to those to which I
+have just alluded. If a democracy is unable to conceive the pleasures of the
+rich or to witness them without envy, an aristocracy is slow to understand, or,
+to speak more correctly, is unacquainted with, the privations of the poor. The
+poor man is not (if we use the term aright) the fellow of the rich one; but he
+is a being of another species. An aristocracy is therefore apt to care but
+little for the fate of its subordinate agents; and their salaries are only
+raised when they refuse to perform their service for too scanty a remuneration.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is the parsimonious conduct of democracy towards its principal officers
+which has countenanced a supposition of far more economical propensities than
+any which it really possesses. It is true that it scarcely allows the means of
+honorable subsistence to the individuals who conduct its affairs; but enormous
+sums are lavished to meet the exigencies or to facilitate the enjoyments of the
+people. *j The money raised by taxation may be better employed, but it is not
+saved. In general, democracy gives largely to the community, and very sparingly
+to those who govern it. The reverse is the case in aristocratic countries,
+where the money of the State is expended to the profit of the persons who are
+at the head of affairs.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+j <br />
+[ See the American budgets for the cost of indigent citizens and gratuitous
+instruction. In 1831 $250,000 were spent in the State of New York for the
+maintenance of the poor, and at least $1,000,000 were devoted to gratuitous
+instruction. (William&rsquo;s &ldquo;New York Annual Register,&rdquo; 1832, pp.
+205 and 243.) The State of New York contained only 1,900,000 inhabitants in the
+year 1830, which is not more than double the amount of population in the
+Department du Nord in France.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Difficulty of Distinguishing The Causes Which Contribute To The Economy Of The
+American Government
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We are liable to frequent errors in the research of those facts which exercise
+a serious influence upon the fate of mankind, since nothing is more difficult
+than to appreciate their real value. One people is naturally inconsistent and
+enthusiastic; another is sober and calculating; and these characteristics
+originate in their physical constitution or in remote causes with which we are
+unacquainted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These are nations which are fond of parade and the bustle of festivity, and
+which do not regret the costly gaieties of an hour. Others, on the contrary,
+are attached to more retiring pleasures, and seem almost ashamed of appearing
+to be pleased. In some countries the highest value is set upon the beauty of
+public edifices; in others the productions of art are treated with
+indifference, and everything which is unproductive is looked down upon with
+contempt. In some renown, in others money, is the ruling passion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Independently of the laws, all these causes concur to exercise a very powerful
+influence upon the conduct of the finances of the State. If the Americans never
+spend the money of the people in galas, it is not only because the imposition
+of taxes is under the control of the people, but because the people takes no
+delight in public rejoicings. If they repudiate all ornament from their
+architecture, and set no store on any but the more practical and homely
+advantages, it is not only because they live under democratic institutions, but
+because they are a commercial nation. The habits of private life are continued
+in public; and we ought carefully to distinguish that economy which depends
+upon their institutions from that which is the natural result of their manners
+and customs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whether The Expenditure Of The United States Can Be Compared To That Of France
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Two points to be established in order to estimate the extent of the public
+charges, viz., the national wealth and the rate of taxation&mdash;The wealth
+and the charges of France not accurately known&mdash;Why the wealth and charges
+of the Union cannot be accurately known&mdash;Researches of the author with a
+view to discover the amount of taxation of Pennsylvania&mdash;General symptoms
+which may serve to indicate the amount of the public charges in a given
+nation&mdash;Result of this investigation for the Union.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Many attempts have recently been made in France to compare the public
+expenditure of that country with the expenditure of the United States; all
+these attempts have, however, been unattended by success, and a few words will
+suffice to show that they could not have had a satisfactory result.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In order to estimate the amount of the public charges of a people two
+preliminaries are indispensable: it is necessary, in the first place, 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 amount of
+taxation without showing the resources which are destined to meet the demand,
+is to undertake a futile labor; for it is not the expenditure, but the relation
+of the expenditure to the revenue, which it is desirable to know.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same rate of taxation which may easily be supported by a wealthy
+contributor will reduce a poor one to extreme misery. The wealth of nations is
+composed of several distinct elements, of which population is the first, real
+property the second, and personal property the third. The first of these three
+elements may be discovered without difficulty. Amongst civilized nations it is
+easy to obtain an accurate census of the inhabitants; but the two others cannot
+be determined with so much facility. It is difficult to take an exact account
+of all the lands in a country which are under cultivation, with their natural
+or their acquired value; and it is still more impossible to estimate the entire
+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, indeed, we find that the most ancient civilized nations of Europe,
+including even those in which the administration is most central, have not
+succeeded, as yet, in determining the exact condition of their wealth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America the attempt has never been made; for how would such an investigation
+be possible in a country where society has not yet settled into habits of
+regularity and tranquillity; where the national Government is not assisted by a
+multiple of agents whose exertions it can command and direct to one sole end;
+and where statistics are not studied, because no one is able to collect the
+necessary documents, or to find time to peruse them? Thus the primary elements
+of the calculations which have been made in France cannot be obtained in the
+Union; the relative wealth of the two countries is unknown; the property of the
+former is not accurately determined, and no means exist of computing that of
+the latter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I consent, therefore, for the sake of the discussion, to abandon this necessary
+term of the comparison, and I confine myself to a computation of the actual
+amount of taxation, without investigating the relation which subsists between
+the taxation and the revenue. But the reader will perceive that my task has not
+been facilitated by the limits which I here lay down for my researches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It cannot be doubted that the central administration of France, assisted by all
+the public officers who are at its disposal, might determine with exactitude
+the amount of the direct and indirect taxes levied upon the citizens. But this
+investigation, which no private individual can undertake, has not hitherto been
+completed 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 amount of the departmental expenditure; but the expenses of the
+communal divisions have not been computed, and the amount of the public
+expenses of France is consequently unknown.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If we now turn to America, we shall perceive that the difficulties are
+multiplied and enhanced. The Union publishes an exact return of the amount of
+its expenditure; the budgets of the four and twenty States furnish similar
+returns of their revenues; but the expenses incident to the affairs of the
+counties and the townships are unknown. *k
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+k <br />
+[ The Americans, as we have seen, have four separate budgets, the Union, the
+States, the Counties, and the Townships having each severally their own. During
+my stay in America I made every endeavor to discover the 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 I found it quite
+impossible to procure that of the smaller ones. I possess, however, some
+documents relating to county expenses, which, although incomplete, are still
+curious. I have to thank Mr. Richards, Mayor of Philadelphia, for the budgets
+of thirteen of the counties of Pennsylvania, viz., Lebanon, Centre, Franklin,
+Fayette, Montgomery, 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
+influence the condition of a country, that they may easily be supposed to
+furnish a correct average of the financial state of the counties of
+Pennsylvania in general; and thus, upon reckoning that the expenses of these
+counties amounted in the year 1830 to about $361,650, or nearly 75 cents for
+each inhabitant, and calculating that each of them contributed in the same year
+about $2.55 towards the Union, and about 75 cents to the State of Pennsylvania,
+it appears that they each contributed as their share of all the public expenses
+(except those of the townships) the sum of $4.05. 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.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The authority of the Federal government cannot oblige the provincial
+governments to throw any light upon this point; and even if these governments
+were inclined to afford their simultaneous co-operation, it may be doubted
+whether they possess the means of procuring a satisfactory answer.
+Independently of the natural difficulties of the task, the political
+organization of the country would act as a hindrance to the success of their
+efforts. The county and town magistrates are not appointed by the authorities
+of the State, and they are not subjected to their control. It is therefore very
+allowable to suppose that, if the State was desirous of obtaining the returns
+which we require, its design would be counteracted by the neglect of those
+subordinate officers whom it would be obliged to employ. *l It is, in point of
+fact, useless to inquire what the Americans might do to forward this inquiry,
+since it is certain that they have hitherto done nothing at all. There does not
+exist a single individual at the present day, in America or in Europe, who can
+inform us what each citizen of the Union annually contributes to the public
+charges of the nation. *m [Footnote l: Those who have attempted to draw a
+comparison between the expenses of France and America have at once perceived
+that no such comparison could be drawn between the total expenditure of the two
+countries; but they have endeavored to contrast detached portions of this
+expenditure. It may readily be shown that this second system is not at all less
+defective than the first. If I attempt to compare the French budget with the
+budget of the Union, it must be remembered that the latter embraces much fewer
+objects than then central Government of the former country, and that the
+expenditure must consequently be much smaller. If I contrast the budgets of the
+Departments with those of the States which constitute the Union, it must be
+observed that, as the power and control exercised by the States is much greater
+than that which is exercised by the Departments, their expenditure is also more
+considerable. As for the budgets of the counties, nothing of the kind occurs in
+the French system of finances; and it is, again, doubtful whether the
+corresponding expenses should be referred to the budget of the State or to
+those of the municipal divisions. Municipal expenses exist in both countries,
+but they are not always analogous. In America the townships discharge a variety
+of offices which are reserved in France to the Departments or to the State. It
+may, moreover, be asked what is to be understood by the municipal expenses of
+America. The organization of the municipal bodies or townships differs in the
+several States. Are we to be guided by what occurs in New England or in
+Georgia, in Pennsylvania or in the State of Illinois? A kind of analogy may
+very readily be perceived between certain budgets in the two countries; but as
+the elements of which they are composed always differ more or less, no fair
+comparison can be instituted between them. [The same difficulty exists, perhaps
+to a greater degree at the present time, when the taxation of America has
+largely increased.&mdash;1874.]]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+m <br />
+[ Even if we knew the exact pecuniary contributions of every French and
+American citizen to the coffers of the State, we should only come at a portion
+of the truth. Governments do not only demand supplies of money, but they call
+for personal services, which may be looked upon as equivalent to a given sum.
+When a State raises an army, besides the pay of the troops, which is furnished
+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. The 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 peace, and he
+does in reality surrender to the State those earnings which he is prevented
+from gaining. Many other instances might be cited in addition to these. The
+governments of France and of 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?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This, however, is not the last of the difficulties which prevent us from
+comparing the expenditure of the Union with that of France. The French
+Government contracts certain obligations which do not exist in America, and
+vice versa. The French Government pays the clergy; in America the voluntary
+principle prevails. In America there is a legal provision 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 kind take place on very few roads; in
+America upon almost all the thoroughfares: in the former country the roads are
+free to all travellers; in the latter turnpikes abound. All these differences
+in the manner in which contributions 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 much
+less considerable, if the State did not take upon itself to act in the name of
+the public.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hence we must conclude that it is no less difficult to compare 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 are strictly accurate, they
+mislead instead of guiding aright. The mind is easily imposed upon by the false
+affectation of exactness, which prevails even in the misstatements of science,
+and it adopts with confidence errors which are dressed in the forms of
+mathematical truth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We abandon, therefore, our numerical investigation, with the hope of meeting
+with data of another kind. In the absence of positive documents, we may form an
+opinion as to the proportion which the taxation of a people bears to its real
+prosperity, by observing whether its external appearance is flourishing;
+whether, after having discharged the calls of the State, the poor man retains
+the means of subsistence, and the rich the means of enjoyment; and whether both
+classes are contented with their position, seeking, however, to ameliorate it
+by perpetual exertions, so that industry is never in want of capital, nor
+capital unemployed by industry. The observer who draws his inferences from
+these signs will, 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A portion of the French debt is the consequence of two successive invasions;
+and the Union has no similar calamity to fear. A nation placed upon the
+continent of Europe is obliged to maintain a large standing army; the isolated
+position of the Union enables it to have only 6,000 soldiers. The French have a
+fleet of 300 sail; the Americans have 52 vessels. *n How, then, can the
+inhabitants of the Union be called upon to contribute as largely as the
+inhabitants of France? No parallel can be drawn between the finances of two
+countries so differently situated.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+n <br />
+[ See the details in the Budget of the French Minister of Marine; and for
+America, the National Calendar of 1833, p. 228. [But the public debt of the
+United States in 1870, caused by the Civil War, amounted to $2,480,672,427;
+that of France was more than doubled by the extravagance of the Second Empire
+and by the war of 1870.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is by examining what actually takes place in the Union, and not by comparing
+the Union with France, that we may discover whether the American Government is
+really economical. On casting my eyes over the different republics which form
+the confederation, I perceive that their Governments lack perseverance in their
+undertakings, and that they exercise no steady control over the men whom they
+employ. Whence 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 to their
+undertakings. Great efforts are made, in accordance with the democratic origin
+of society, to satisfy the exigencies of the lower orders, to open the career
+of power to their endeavors, and to diffuse knowledge and comfort amongst them.
+The poor are maintained, immense sums are annually devoted to public
+instruction, all services whatsoever are remunerated, and the most subordinate
+agents are liberally paid. If this kind of government appears to me to be
+useful and rational, I am nevertheless constrained to admit that it is
+expensive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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
+are apt to augment that expenditure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I conclude, therefore, without having recourse to inaccurate computations, 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 have no hesitation in predicting that, if the people of the
+United States is ever involved in serious difficulties, its taxation will
+speedily be increased to the rate of that which prevails in the greater part of
+the aristocracies and the monarchies of Europe. *o
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+o <br />
+[ [That is precisely what has since occurred.]]
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0032" id="link2HCH0032"></a> Chapter XIII: Government Of
+The Democracy In America&mdash;Part III</h2>
+
+<p>
+Corruption And Vices Of The Rulers In A Democracy, And Consequent Effects Upon
+Public Morality
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In aristocracies rulers sometimes endeavor to corrupt the people&mdash;In
+democracies rulers frequently show themselves to be corrupt&mdash;In the former
+their vices are directly prejudicial to the morality of the people&mdash;In the
+latter their indirect influence is still more pernicious.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A distinction must be made, when the aristocratic and the democratic principles
+mutually inveigh against each other, as tending to facilitate corruption. In
+aristocratic governments the individuals who are placed at the head of affairs
+are rich men, who are solely desirous of power. In democracies statesmen are
+poor, and they have their fortunes to make. The consequence is that in
+aristocratic States the rulers are rarely accessible to corruption, and have
+very little craving for money; whilst the reverse is the case in democratic
+nations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But in aristocracies, as those who are desirous of arriving at the head of
+affairs are possessed of considerable wealth, and as the number of persons by
+whose assistance they may rise is comparatively small, the government is, if I
+may use the expression, put up to a sort of auction. In democracies, on the
+contrary, those who are covetous of power are very seldom wealthy, and the
+number of citizens who confer that power is extremely great. Perhaps in
+democracies the number of men who might be bought is by no means smaller, but
+buyers are rarely to be met with; and, besides, it would be necessary to buy so
+many persons at once that the attempt is rendered nugatory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Many of the men who have been in the administration in France during the last
+forty years have been accused of making their fortunes at the expense of the
+State or of its allies; a reproach which was rarely addressed to the public
+characters of the ancient monarchy. But in France the practice of bribing
+electors is almost unknown, whilst it is notoriously and publicly carried on in
+England. In the United States I never heard a man accused of spending his
+wealth in corrupting the populace; but I have often heard the probity of public
+officers questioned; still more frequently have I heard their success
+attributed to low intrigues and immoral practices.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If, then, the men who conduct the government of 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 upon the people which is still
+more to be dreaded.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the rulers of democratic nations are almost always exposed to the suspicion
+of dishonorable conduct, they in some measure lend the authority of the
+Government to the base practices of which they are accused. They thus afford an
+example which must prove discouraging to the struggles of virtuous
+independence, and must foster the secret calculations of a vicious ambition. If
+it be asserted that evil passions are displayed in all ranks of society, that
+they ascend the throne by hereditary right, and that despicable characters are
+to be met with at the head of aristocratic nations as well as in the sphere of
+a democracy, this objection 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 contagious to the multitude. On the contrary,
+there is a kind of aristocratic refinement and an air of grandeur in the
+depravity of the great, which frequently prevent it from spreading abroad.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The people can never penetrate into the perplexing labyrinth of court intrigue,
+and it will always have difficulty in detecting the turpitude which lurks under
+elegant manners, refined tastes, and graceful language. But to pillage the
+public purse, and to vend the favors of the State, are arts which the meanest
+villain may comprehend, and hope to practice in his turn.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In reality it is far less prejudicial to witness the immorality of the great
+than to witness that immorality which leads to greatness. In a democracy
+private citizens see a man of their own rank in life, who rises from that
+obscure position, and who becomes possessed of riches and of power in a few
+years; the spectacle excites their surprise and their envy, and they are led to
+inquire how the person who was yesterday their equal is to-day their ruler. To
+attribute his rise to his talents or his virtues is unpleasant; for it is
+tacitly to acknowledge that they are themselves less virtuous and less talented
+than he was. They are therefore led (and not unfrequently their conjecture is a
+correct one) to impute his success mainly to some one of his defects; and an
+odious mixture is thus formed of the ideas of turpitude and power, unworthiness
+and success, utility and dishonor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Efforts Of Which A Democracy Is Capable
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Union has only had one struggle hitherto for its existence&mdash;Enthusiasm
+at the commencement of the war&mdash;Indifference towards its
+close&mdash;Difficulty of establishing military conscription or impressment of
+seamen in America&mdash;Why a democratic people is less capable of sustained
+effort than another.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I here warn the reader that I speak of a government which implicitly follows
+the real desires of a people, and not of a government which simply commands in
+its name. Nothing is so irresistible as a tyrannical power commanding in the
+name of the people, because, whilst it exercises that moral influence which
+belongs to the decision of the majority, it acts at the same time with the
+promptitude and the tenacity of a single man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is difficult to say what degree of exertion a democratic government may be
+capable of making a crisis in the history of the nation. But no great
+democratic republic has hitherto existed in the world. To style the oligarchy
+which ruled over France in 1793 by that name would be to offer an insult to the
+republican form of government. The United States afford the first example of
+the kind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The American Union has now subsisted for half a century, in the course of which
+time its existence has only once been attacked, namely, during the War of
+Independence. At the commencement of that long war, various occurrences took
+place which betokened an extraordinary zeal for the service of the country. *p
+But as the contest was prolonged, symptoms of private egotism began to show
+themselves. No money was poured into the public treasury; few recruits could be
+raised to join the army; the people wished to acquire independence, but was
+very ill-disposed to undergo the privations by which alone it could be
+obtained. &ldquo;Tax laws,&rdquo; says Hamilton in the &ldquo;Federalist&rdquo;
+(No. 12), &ldquo;have in vain been multiplied; new methods to enforce the
+collection 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 administration 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
+attempting them.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+p <br />
+[ One of the most singular of these occurrences 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 which was made by a whole people.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The United States have not had any serious war to carry on ever since that
+period. In order, therefore, to appreciate the sacrifices which democratic
+nations may impose upon themselves, we must wait until the American people is
+obliged to put half its entire income at the disposal of the Government, as was
+done by the English; or until it sends forth a twentieth part of its population
+to the field of battle, as was done by France. *q
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+q <br />
+[ [The Civil War showed that when the necessity arose the American people, both
+in the North and in the South, are capable of making the most enormous
+sacrifices, both in money and in men.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America the use of 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 compulsory enlistment that I do not imagine it can ever be
+sanctioned by the laws. What is termed the conscription in France is assuredly
+the heaviest tax upon the population of that country; yet how could a great
+continental war be carried on without it? The Americans have not adopted the
+British impressment of seamen, and they have nothing which corresponds to the
+French system of maritime conscription; the navy, as well as the merchant
+service, is supplied by voluntary service. But it is not easy to conceive how a
+people can sustain a great maritime war without having recourse to one or the
+other of these two systems. Indeed, the Union, which has fought with some honor
+upon the seas, has never possessed a very numerous fleet, and the equipment of
+the small number of American vessels has always been excessively expensive.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have heard American statesmen confess that the Union will have great
+difficulty in maintaining its rank on the seas without adopting the system of
+impressment or of maritime conscription; but the difficulty is to induce the
+people, which exercises the supreme authority, to submit to impressment or any
+compulsory system.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is incontestable that in times of danger a free people displays far more
+energy than one which is not so. But I incline to believe that this is more
+especially the case in those free nations in which the democratic element
+preponderates. Democracy appears to me to be much better adapted for the
+peaceful conduct of society, or for an occasional effort of remarkable vigor,
+than for the hardy and prolonged endurance of the storms which beset the
+political existence of nations. The reason is very evident; it is enthusiasm
+which prompts men to expose themselves to dangers and privations, but they will
+not support them long without reflection. There is more calculation, even in
+the impulses of bravery, than is generally attributed to them; and although the
+first efforts are suggested by passion, perseverance is maintained by a
+distinct regard of the purpose in view. A portion of what we value is exposed,
+in order to save the remainder.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But it is this distinct perception of the future, founded upon a sound judgment
+and an enlightened experience, which is most frequently wanting in democracies.
+The populace is more apt to feel than to reason; and if its present sufferings
+are great, it is to be feared that the still greater sufferings attendant upon
+defeat will be forgotten.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another cause tends to render the efforts of a democratic government less
+persevering than those of an aristocracy. Not only are the lower classes less
+awakened than the higher orders to the good or evil chances of the future, but
+they are liable to suffer far more acutely from present privations. The noble
+exposes his life, indeed, but the chance of glory is equal to the chance of
+harm. If he sacrifices a large portion of his income to the State, he deprives
+himself for a time of the pleasures of affluence; but to the poor man death is
+embellished by no pomp or renown, and the imposts which are irksome to the rich
+are fatal to him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This relative impotence of democratic republics is, perhaps, the greatest
+obstacle to the foundation of a republic of this kind in Europe. In order that
+such a State should subsist in one country of the Old World, it would be
+necessary that similar institutions should be introduced into all the other
+nations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am of opinion that a democratic government tends in the end 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 a monarchy. If a democratic
+country remained during a whole century subject to a republican government, it
+would probably at the end of that period be more populous and more prosperous
+than the neighboring despotic States. But it would have incurred the risk of
+being conquered much oftener than they would in that lapse of years.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Self-Control Of The American Democracy
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The American people acquiesces slowly, or frequently does not acquiesce, in
+what is beneficial to its interests&mdash;The faults of the American democracy
+are for the most part reparable.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The difficulty which a democracy has in conquering the passions and in subduing
+the exigencies of the moment, with a view to the future, is conspicuous in the
+most trivial occurrences of the United States. The people, which is surrounded
+by flatterers, has great difficulty in surmounting its inclinations, and
+whenever it is solicited to undergo a privation or any kind of inconvenience,
+even to attain an end which is sanctioned by its own rational conviction, it
+almost always refuses to comply at first. The deference of the Americans to the
+laws has been very justly applauded; but it must be added that in America the
+legislation is made by the people and for the people. Consequently, in the
+United States the law favors those classes which are most interested in evading
+it elsewhere. It may therefore be supposed that an offensive law, which should
+not be acknowledged to be one of immediate utility, would either not be enacted
+or would not be obeyed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America there is no law against fraudulent bankruptcies; not because they
+are few, but because there are a great number of bankruptcies. The dread of
+being prosecuted as a bankrupt acts with more intensity upon the mind of the
+majority of the people than the fear of being involved in losses or ruin by the
+failure of other parties, and a sort of guilty tolerance is extended by the
+public conscience to an offence which everyone 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 very frequent occurrence. This
+arises from the rude manners and the ignorance of the inhabitants of those
+deserts, who do not perceive the utility of investing the law with adequate
+force, and who prefer duels to prosecutions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Someone observed to me one day, in Philadelphia, that almost all crimes in
+America are caused by the abuse of intoxicating liquors, which the lower
+classes can procure in great abundance, from their excessive cheapness.
+&ldquo;How comes it,&rdquo; said I, &ldquo;that you do not put a duty upon
+brandy?&rdquo; &ldquo;Our legislators,&rdquo; rejoined my informant,
+&ldquo;have frequently thought of this expedient; but the task of putting it in
+operation is a difficult one; a revolt might be apprehended, and the members
+who should vote for a law of this kind would be sure of losing their
+seats.&rdquo; &ldquo;Whence I am to infer,&rdquo; replied I, &ldquo;that the
+drinking population constitutes the majority in your country, and that
+temperance is somewhat unpopular.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When these things are pointed out to the American statesmen, they content
+themselves with assuring you that time will operate the necessary change, and
+that the experience of evil will teach the people its true interests. This is
+frequently true, although a democracy is more liable to error than a monarch or
+a body of nobles; the chances of its regaining the right path when once it has
+acknowledged its mistake, are greater also; because it is rarely embarrassed by
+internal interests, which conflict with those of the majority, and resist the
+authority of reason. But a democracy can only obtain truth as the result of
+experience, and many nations may forfeit their existence whilst they are
+awaiting the consequences of their errors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The great privilege of the Americans does not simply consist in their being
+more enlightened than other nations, but in their being able to repair the
+faults they may commit. To which it must be added, that a democracy cannot
+derive substantial benefit from past experience, unless it be arrived at a
+certain pitch of knowledge and civilization. There are tribes and peoples whose
+education has been so vicious, and whose character presents so strange a
+mixture of passion, of ignorance, and of erroneous notions upon all subjects,
+that they are unable to discern the causes of their own wretchedness, and they
+fall a sacrifice to ills with which they are unacquainted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have crossed vast tracts of country that were formerly inhabited by powerful
+Indian nations which are now extinct; I have myself passed some time in the
+midst of mutilated tribes, which witness the daily decline of their numerical
+strength and of the glory of their independence; and I have heard these Indians
+themselves anticipate the impending doom of their race. Every European can
+perceive means which would rescue these unfortunate beings from inevitable
+destruction. They alone are insensible to the expedient; they feel the woe
+which year after year heaps upon their heads, but they will perish to a man
+without accepting the remedy. It would be necessary to employ force to induce
+them to submit to the protection and the constraint of civilization.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The incessant revolutions which have convulsed the South American provinces for
+the last quarter of a century have frequently been adverted to with
+astonishment, and expectations have been expressed that those nations would
+speedily return to their natural state. But can it be affirmed that the turmoil
+of revolution is not actually the most natural state of the South American
+Spaniards at the present time? In that country society is plunged into
+difficulties from which all its efforts are insufficient to rescue it. The
+inhabitants of that fair portion of the Western Hemisphere seem obstinately
+bent on pursuing the work of inward havoc. If they fall into a momentary repose
+from the effects of exhaustion, that repose prepares them for a fresh state of
+frenzy. When I consider their condition, which alternates between misery and
+crime, I should be inclined to believe that despotism itself would be a benefit
+to them, if it were possible that the words despotism and benefit could ever be
+united in my mind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Conduct Of Foreign Affairs By The American Democracy
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Direction given to the foreign policy of the United States by Washington and
+Jefferson&mdash;Almost all the defects inherent in democratic institutions are
+brought to light in the conduct of foreign affairs&mdash;Their advantages are
+less perceptible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We have seen that the Federal Constitution entrusts the permanent direction of
+the external interests of the nation to the President and the Senate, *r which
+tends in some degree to detach the general foreign policy of the Union from the
+control of the people. It cannot therefore be asserted with truth that the
+external affairs of State are conducted by the democracy.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+r <br />
+[ &ldquo;The President,&rdquo; says the Constitution, Art. II, sect. 2, Section
+2, &ldquo;shall have power, by and with the advice and consent of the Senate,
+to make treaties, provided two-thirds of the senators present concur.&rdquo;
+The reader is reminded that the senators are returned for a term of six years,
+and that they are chosen by the legislature of each State.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The policy of America owes its rise to Washington, and after him to Jefferson,
+who established those principles which it observes at the present day.
+Washington said in the admirable letter which he addressed to his
+fellow-citizens, and which may be looked upon as his political bequest to the
+country: &ldquo;The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations
+is, in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little
+political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements,
+let them be fulfilled 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 artificial ties, in the ordinary vicissitudes of her
+politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or
+enmities. Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a
+different course. If we remain one people, under an efficient government, the
+period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance;
+when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any
+time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under
+the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will 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 Europe, 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 permanent alliances 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 understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing
+engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public 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 establishments, in a respectable defensive posture, we
+may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.&rdquo;
+In a previous part of the same letter Washington makes the following admirable
+and just remark: &ldquo;The nation which indulges towards another an habitual
+hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its
+animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray
+from its duty and its interest.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The political conduct of Washington was always guided by these maxims. He
+succeeded in maintaining his country 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 perfect
+neutrality with regard to the internal dissensions of the European Powers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Jefferson went still further, and he introduced a maxim into the policy of the
+Union, which affirms that &ldquo;the Americans ought never to solicit any
+privileges from foreign nations, in order not to be obliged to grant similar
+privileges themselves.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These two principles, which were so plain and so just as to be adapted to the
+capacity of the populace, have greatly simplified the foreign 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 at present 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 the line of policy
+which it has chosen, and it is neither called upon to repudiate nor to espouse
+the conflicting interests of Europe; whilst the dissensions of the New World
+are still concealed within the bosom of the future.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Union is free from all pre-existing obligations, and it is consequently
+enabled to 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; or to accept that immense inheritance which they derive
+from their forefathers&mdash;an inheritance of glory mingled with calamities,
+and of alliances conflicting with national antipathies. The foreign policy of
+the United States is reduced by its very nature to await the chances of the
+future history of the nation, and for the present it consists more in
+abstaining from interference than in exerting its activity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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; and upon this point its adversaries, as well as its
+advocates, must suspend their judgment. As for myself I have no hesitation in
+avowing my conviction, that it is most especially in the conduct of foreign
+relations that democratic governments appear to me to be decidedly inferior to
+governments carried on upon different principles. Experience, instruction, and
+habit may almost always succeed in creating a species of practical discretion
+in democracies, and that science of the daily occurrences of life which is
+called good sense. Good sense may suffice to direct the ordinary course of
+society; and amongst a people whose education has been provided for, the
+advantages of democratic liberty in the internal affairs of the country may
+more than compensate for the evils inherent in a democratic government. But
+such is not always the case in the mutual relations of foreign nations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Foreign politics demand scarcely any of those qualities which a democracy
+possesses; and they require, on the contrary, the perfect use of almost all
+those faculties in which it is deficient. Democracy is favorable to the
+increase of the internal resources of the State; it tends to diffuse a moderate
+independence; it promotes the growth of public spirit, and fortifies the
+respect which is entertained for law in all classes of society; and these are
+advantages which only exercise an indirect influence over the relations which
+one people bears to another. But a democracy is unable to regulate the details
+of an important undertaking, to persevere in a design, and to work out its
+execution in the presence of serious obstacles. It cannot combine its measures
+with secrecy, and it will not await their consequences with patience. These are
+qualities which more especially belong to an individual or to an aristocracy;
+and they are precisely the means by which an individual people attains to a
+predominant position.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If, on the contrary, we observe the natural defects of aristocracy, we shall
+find that their influence is comparatively innoxious in the direction of the
+external affairs of a State. The capital fault of which aristocratic bodies may
+be accused is that they are more apt to contrive their own advantage than that
+of the mass of the people. In foreign politics it is rare for the interest of
+the aristocracy to be in any way distinct from that of the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The propensity which democracies have to obey the impulse of passion rather
+than the suggestions of prudence, and to abandon a mature design for the
+gratification of a momentary caprice, was very clearly seen in America on the
+breaking out of the French Revolution. It was then as evident to the simplest
+capacity 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 by no means injure the welfare of their own
+country. Nevertheless the sympathies of the people declared themselves with so
+much violence in behalf of France that nothing but the inflexible character of
+Washington, and the immense popularity which he enjoyed, could have prevented
+the Americans from declaring war against England. 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, very nearly deprived him of the sole
+recompense which he had ever claimed&mdash;that of his country&rsquo;s love.
+The majority then reprobated the line of policy which he adopted, and which has
+since been unanimously approved by the nation. *s If the Constitution and the
+favor of the public had not entrusted the direction of the foreign affairs of
+the country to Washington, it is certain that the American nation would at that
+time have taken the very measures which it now condemns.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+s <br />
+[ See the fifth volume of Marshall&rsquo;s &ldquo;Life of Washington.&rdquo; In
+a government constituted like that of the United States, he says, &ldquo;it is
+impossible for the 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.&rdquo; 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 to the treacherous Arnold. &ldquo;By the
+opposition,&rdquo; says Marshall, &ldquo;the friends of the administration were
+declared to be an 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 threatened the funds, induced a tame submission to injuries and insults,
+which the interests and honor of the nation required them to resist.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Almost all the nations which have ever exercised a powerful influence upon the
+destinies of the world by conceiving, following up, and executing vast
+designs&mdash;from the Romans to the English&mdash;have been governed by
+aristocratic institutions. Nor will this be a subject of wonder when we
+recollect that nothing in the world has so absolute a fixity of purpose as an
+aristocracy. The mass of the people may be led astray by ignorance or passion;
+the mind of a king may be biased, and his perseverance in his designs may be
+shaken&mdash;besides which a king is not immortal&mdash;but an aristocratic
+body is too numerous to be led astray by the blandishments of intrigue, and yet
+not numerous enough to yield readily to the intoxicating influence of
+unreflecting passion: it has the energy of a firm and enlightened individual,
+added to the power which it derives from perpetuity.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0033" id="link2HCH0033"></a> Chapter XIV: Advantages
+American Society Derive From Democracy&mdash;Part I</h2>
+
+<p>
+What The Real Advantages Are Which American Society Derives From The Government
+Of The Democracy
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Before I enter upon the subject of the present chapter I am induced to remind
+the reader of what I have more than once adverted to in the course of this
+book. The political institutions of the United States appear to me to be one of
+the 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 a democratic
+people may establish. In showing the advantages which the Americans derive from
+the government of democracy, I am therefore very far from meaning, or from
+believing, that similar advantages can only be obtained from the same laws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+General Tendency Of The Laws Under The Rule Of The American Democracy, And
+Habits Of Those Who Apply Them
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Defects of a democratic government easy to be discovered&mdash;Its advantages
+only to be discerned by long observation&mdash;Democracy in America often
+inexpert, but the general tendency of the laws advantageous&mdash;In the
+American democracy public officers have no permanent interests distinct from
+those of the majority&mdash;Result of this state of things.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The defects and the weaknesses of a democratic government may very readily be
+discovered; they are demonstrated by the most flagrant instances, whilst its
+beneficial influence is less perceptibly exercised. A single glance suffices to
+detect its evil consequences, but its good qualities can only be discerned by
+long observation. The laws of the American democracy are frequently defective
+or incomplete; they sometimes attack vested rights, or give a sanction to
+others which are dangerous to the community; but even if they were good, the
+frequent changes which they undergo would be an evil. How comes it, then, that
+the American republics prosper and maintain their position?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the consideration of laws a distinction must be carefully observed between
+the end at which they aim and the means by which they are directed to that end,
+between their absolute 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 be bad; and the more efficacious
+it is, the greater is the mischief which it causes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Democratic laws generally tend to promote the welfare of the greatest possible
+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 advantage. 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, constitutes
+a minority. It may therefore be asserted, as a general proposition, that the
+purpose of a democracy in the conduct of its legislation is useful to a greater
+number of citizens than that of an aristocracy. This is, however, the sum total
+of its advantages.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Aristocracies are infinitely more expert in the science of legislation than
+democracies ever can be. They are possessed of a self-control which protects
+them from the errors of temporary excitement, and they form lasting designs
+which they mature with the assistance of favorable opportunities. Aristocratic
+government proceeds with the dexterity of art; it understands how to make the
+collective force of all its laws converge at the same time to a given point.
+Such is not the case with democracies, whose laws are almost always ineffective
+or inopportune. 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Let us now imagine a community so organized by nature, or by its constitution,
+that it can support the transitory action of bad laws, and that it can await,
+without destruction, the general tendency of the legislation: we shall then be
+able to conceive that a democratic government, notwithstanding its defects,
+will be most fitted to conduce to the prosperity 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 consists in their
+being able to commit faults which they may afterward repair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An analogous observation may be made respecting public officers. It is easy to
+perceive that the American democracy frequently errs in the choice of the
+individuals to whom it entrusts 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, on the other hand, are
+more enlightened and more attentive to their interests. As the people in
+democracies is more incessantly vigilant in its affairs and more jealous of its
+rights, it prevents its representatives from abandoning that general line of
+conduct which its 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 period of time. But there is yet another reason
+which is still more general and conclusive. It is no doubt of importance to the
+welfare of nations that they should be governed by men of talents and virtue;
+but it is perhaps still more important that the interests of those men should
+not differ from the interests of the community at large; for, if such were the
+case, virtues of a high order might become useless, and talents might be turned
+to a bad account. I say that it is important that the interests of the persons
+in authority should not conflict with or oppose the interests of the community
+at large; but I do not insist upon their having the same interests as the whole
+population, because I am not aware that such a state of things ever existed in
+any country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No political form has hitherto been discovered which 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, a certain number of
+distinct nations 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
+endangered; 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 possible number.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The men who are entrusted with the direction of public affairs in the United
+States are frequently inferior, both in point of capacity and of morality, to
+those whom aristocratic institutions would raise to power. But their interest
+is identified and confounded 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 opposed to the will of
+the majority; and it is impossible that they should give a dangerous or an
+exclusive tendency to the government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The mal-administration of a democratic magistrate is a mere isolated fact,
+which only occurs during the short period for which he is elected. Corruption
+and incapacity do not act as common interests, which may connect men
+permanently with one another. A corrupt or an incapable magistrate will not
+concert his measures with another magistrate, simply because that individual is
+as corrupt and as incapable as himself; and these two men will never unite
+their endeavors to promote the corruption and inaptitude of their remote
+posterity. The ambition and the manoeuvres of the one will serve, on the
+contrary, to unmask the other. The vices of a magistrate, in democratic states,
+are usually peculiar to his own person.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But under aristocratic governments public men are swayed by the interest of
+their order, which, if it is sometimes confounded with the interests of the
+majority, is very frequently distinct from them. This interest is the common
+and lasting bond which unites them together; it induces them to coalesce, and
+to combine their efforts in order to attain an end which does not always ensure
+the greatest happiness of the greatest number; and it serves not only to
+connect the persons in authority, but to unite them to a considerable portion
+of the community, since a numerous body of citizens belongs to the aristocracy,
+without being invested with official functions. The aristocratic magistrate is
+therefore constantly supported by a portion of the community, as well as by the
+Government of which he is a member.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The common purpose which connects the interest of the magistrates in
+aristocracies with that of a portion of their contemporaries identifies it with
+that of future generations; their influence belongs to the future as much as to
+the present. The aristocratic magistrate is urged at the same time toward the
+same point by the passions of the community, by his own, and I may almost add
+by those of his posterity. Is it, then, wonderful that he does not resist such
+repeated impulses? And indeed aristocracies are often carried away by the
+spirit of their order without being corrupted by it; and they unconsciously
+fashion society to their own ends, and prepare it for their own descendants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The English aristocracy is perhaps the most liberal which ever existed, and no
+body of men has ever, uninterruptedly, furnished so many honorable and
+enlightened individuals to the government of a country. It cannot, however,
+escape observation that in the legislation of England the good of the poor has
+been sacrificed to the advantage of the rich, and the rights of the majority to
+the privileges of the few. The consequence is, that England, at the present
+day, combines the extremes of fortune in the bosom of her society, and her
+perils and calamities are almost equal to her power and her renown. *a
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ [The legislation of England for the forty years is certainly not fairly open
+to this criticism, which was written before the Reform Bill of 1832, and
+accordingly Great Britain has thus far escaped and surmounted the perils and
+calamities to which she seemed to be exposed.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States, where the public officers have no interests to promote
+connected with their caste, the general and constant influence of the
+Government is beneficial, although the individuals who conduct it are
+frequently unskilful and sometimes contemptible. There is indeed a secret
+tendency in democratic institutions to render the exertions of the citizens
+subservient to the prosperity of the community, notwithstanding their private
+vices and mistakes; whilst in aristocratic institutions there is a secret
+propensity which, notwithstanding the talents and the virtues of those who
+conduct the government, leads them to contribute to the evils which oppress
+their fellow-creatures. In aristocratic governments public men may frequently
+do injuries which they do not intend, and in democratic states they produce
+advantages which they never thought of.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Public Spirit In The United States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Patriotism of instinct&mdash;Patriotism of reflection&mdash;Their different
+characteristics&mdash;Nations ought to strive to acquire the second when the
+first has disappeared&mdash;Efforts of the Americans to it&mdash;Interest of
+the individual intimately connected with that of the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is one sort of patriotic attachment which principally arises from that
+instinctive, disinterested, and undefinable feeling which connects the
+affections of man with his birthplace. This natural fondness is united to a
+taste for ancient customs, and to a reverence for ancestral traditions of the
+past; those who cherish it love their country as they love the mansions of
+their fathers. They enjoy the tranquillity which it affords them; they cling to
+the peaceful habits which they have contracted within its bosom; they are
+attached to the reminiscences which it awakens, and they are even pleased by
+the state of obedience in which they are placed. This patriotism is sometimes
+stimulated by religious enthusiasm, and then it is capable of making the most
+prodigious efforts. It is in itself a kind of religion; it does not reason, but
+it acts from the impulse of faith and of sentiment. By some nations the monarch
+has been regarded as a personification of the country; and the fervor of
+patriotism being converted into the fervor of loyalty, they took a sympathetic
+pride in his conquests, and gloried in his power. At one time, under the
+ancient monarchy, the French felt a sort of satisfaction in the sense of their
+dependence upon the arbitrary pleasure of their king, and they were wont to say
+with pride, &ldquo;We are the subjects of the most powerful king in the
+world.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But, like all instinctive passions, this kind of patriotism is more apt to
+prompt transient exertion than to supply the motives of continuous endeavor. It
+may save the State in critical circumstances, but it will not unfrequently
+allow the nation to decline in the midst of peace. Whilst the manners of a
+people are simple and its faith unshaken, whilst society is steadily based upon
+traditional institutions whose legitimacy has never been contested, this
+instinctive patriotism is wont to endure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But there is another species of attachment to a country which is more rational
+than the one we have been describing. It is perhaps less generous and less
+ardent, but it is more fruitful and more lasting; it is coeval with the spread
+of knowledge, it is nurtured by the laws, it grows by the exercise of civil
+rights, and, in the end, it is confounded with the personal interest of the
+citizen. A man comprehends the influence which the prosperity of his country
+has upon his own welfare; he is aware that the laws authorize him to contribute
+his assistance to that prosperity, and he labors to promote it as a portion of
+his interest in the first place, and as a portion of his right in the second.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But epochs sometimes occur, in the course of the existence of a nation, at
+which the ancient customs of a people are changed, public morality destroyed,
+religious belief disturbed, and the spell of tradition broken, whilst the
+diffusion of knowledge is yet imperfect, and the civil rights of the community
+are ill secured, or confined within very narrow limits. The country then
+assumes a dim and dubious shape in the eyes of the citizens; they no longer
+behold it in the soil which they inhabit, for that soil is to them a dull
+inanimate clod; nor in the usages of their forefathers, which they have been
+taught to look upon 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 features,
+and they entrench themselves within the dull precincts of a narrow egotism.
+They are emancipated from prejudice without having acknowledged the empire of
+reason; they are neither animated by the instinctive patriotism of monarchical
+subjects nor by the thinking patriotism of republican citizens; but they have
+stopped halfway between the two, in the midst of confusion and of distress.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this predicament, to retreat is impossible; for a people cannot restore the
+vivacity of its earlier times, any more than a man can return to the innocence
+and the bloom of childhood; such things may be regretted, but they cannot be
+renewed. The only thing, then, which remains to be done is to proceed, and to
+accelerate the union of private with public interests, since the period of
+disinterested patriotism is gone by forever.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am certainly very far from averring that, in order to obtain this result, the
+exercise of political rights should be immediately granted to all the members
+of the community. But I maintain that the most powerful, and perhaps the only,
+means of interesting men in the welfare of their country which we still possess
+is to make them partakers in the Government. At the present time civic zeal
+seems to me to be inseparable from the exercise of political rights; and I hold
+that the number of citizens will be found to augment or to decrease in Europe
+in proportion as those rights are extended.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States the inhabitants were thrown but as yesterday upon the soil
+which they now occupy, and they brought neither customs nor traditions with
+them there; they meet each other for the first time with no previous
+acquaintance; in short, the instinctive love of their country can scarcely
+exist in their minds; but everyone takes as zealous an interest in the affairs
+of his township, his county, and of the whole State, as if they were his own,
+because everyone, in his sphere, takes an active part in the government of
+society.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lower orders in the United States are alive to the perception of the
+influence exercised by the general prosperity upon their own welfare; and
+simple as this observation is, it is one which is but too rarely made by the
+people. But in America the people regards this prosperity as the result of its
+own exertions; the citizen looks upon the fortune of the public as his private
+interest, and he co-operates in its success, not so much from a sense of pride
+or of duty, as from what I shall venture to term cupidity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is unnecessary to study the institutions and the history of the Americans in
+order to discover the truth of this remark, for their manners render it
+sufficiently evident. As the American participates in all that is done in his
+country, he thinks himself obliged to defend whatever may be censured; for it
+is not only his country which is attacked upon these occasions, but it is
+himself. The consequence is, that his national pride resorts to a thousand
+artifices, and to all the petty tricks of individual vanity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nothing is more embarrassing in the ordinary intercourse of life than this
+irritable patriotism of the Americans. A stranger may be very well inclined to
+praise many of the institutions of their country, but he begs permission to
+blame some of the peculiarities which he observes&mdash;a permission which is,
+however, 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 it be of the climate and the soil; and even then Americans will be
+found ready to defend either the one or the other, as if they had been
+contrived by the inhabitants of the country.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In our times option must be made between the patriotism of all and the
+government of a few; for the force and activity which the first confers are
+irreconcilable with the guarantees of tranquillity which the second furnishes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Notion Of Rights In The United States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No great people without a notion of rights&mdash;How the notion of rights can
+be given to people&mdash;Respect of rights in the United States&mdash;Whence it
+arises.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After the idea of virtue, I know no higher principle than that of right; or, to
+speak more accurately, these two ideas are commingled in one. The idea of right
+is simply that of virtue introduced into the political world. It is the idea of
+right which enabled men to define anarchy and tyranny; and which taught them to
+remain independent without arrogance, as well as to obey without servility. The
+man who submits to violence is debased by his compliance; but when he obeys the
+mandate of one who possesses that right of authority which he acknowledges in a
+fellow-creature, he rises in some measure above the person who delivers the
+command. There are no great men without virtue, and there are no great
+nations&mdash;it may almost be added that there would be no
+society&mdash;without the notion of rights; for what is the condition of a mass
+of rational and intelligent beings who are only united together by the bond of
+force?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am persuaded that the only means which we possess at the present time of
+inculcating the notion of rights, and of rendering it, as it were, palpable to
+the senses, is to invest all the members of the community 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 turn
+everything which he can lay his hands upon to his own purposes; 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 deprived of his
+possessions, he becomes more circumspect, and he observes those rights in
+others which he wishes to have respected in himself. The principle which the
+child derives from the possession of his toys is taught to the man by the
+objects which he may call his own. In America those complaints against property
+in general which are so frequent in Europe are never heard, because in America
+there are no paupers; and as everyone has property of his own to defend,
+everyone recognizes the principle upon which he holds it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same thing occurs in the political world. In America the lowest classes
+have conceived a very high notion of political rights, because they exercise
+those rights; and they refrain from attacking those of other people, in order
+to ensure their own from attack. Whilst in Europe the same classes sometimes
+recalcitrate even against the supreme power, the American submits without a
+murmur to the authority of the pettiest magistrate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This truth is exemplified by the most trivial details of national
+peculiarities. In France very few pleasures are exclusively reserved for the
+higher classes; the poor are admitted wherever the rich are received, and they
+consequently behave with propriety, and respect whatever contributes to the
+enjoyments in which they themselves participate. In England, where wealth has a
+monopoly of amusement as well as of power, complaints are made that whenever
+the poor happen to steal into the enclosures which are reserved for the
+pleasures of the rich, they commit acts of wanton mischief: can this be
+wondered at, since care has been taken that they should have nothing to lose?
+*b
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ [This, too, has been amended by much larger provisions for the amusements of
+the people in public parks, gardens, museums, etc.; and the conduct of the
+people in these places of amusement has improved in the same proportion.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The government of 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 the members of the community; and I confess
+that, to my mind, this is one of its greatest advantages. I do not assert that
+it is easy to teach men to exercise political rights; but I maintain that, when
+it is possible, the effects which result from it are highly important; and I
+add that, if there ever was a time at which such an attempt ought to be made,
+that time is our own. It is clear that the influence of religious belief is
+shaken, and that the notion of divine rights is declining; it is evident that
+public morality is vitiated, and the notion of moral rights is also
+disappearing: these are general symptoms of the substitution of argument for
+faith, and of calculation for the impulses of sentiment. If, in the midst of
+this general disruption, you do not succeed in connecting the notion of rights
+with that of personal interest, which is the only immutable point in the human
+heart, what means will you have of governing the world except by fear? When I
+am told that, since the laws are weak and the populace is wild, since passions
+are excited and the authority of virtue is paralyzed, no measures must be taken
+to increase the rights of the democracy, I reply, that it is for these very
+reasons that some measures of the kind must be taken; and I am persuaded that
+governments are still more interested in taking them than society at large,
+because governments are liable to be destroyed and society cannot perish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am not, however, inclined to exaggerate the example which America furnishes.
+In those States the people are invested with political rights at a time when
+they could scarcely be abused, for the citizens were few in number and simple
+in their manners. As they have increased, the Americans have not augmented the
+power of the democracy, but they have, if I may use the expression, extended
+its dominions. 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,
+though it be a necessary one. A child may kill before he is aware of the value
+of life; and he may deprive another person of his property before he is aware
+that his own may be taken away 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 even be perceived
+in America. The States in which the citizens have enjoyed their rights longest
+are those in which they make the best use of them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It cannot be repeated too often that nothing is more fertile in prodigies than
+the art of being free; but there is nothing more arduous than the
+apprenticeship of liberty. Such is not the case with despotic institutions:
+despotism often promises to make amends for a thousand previous ills; it
+supports the right, it protects the oppressed, and it maintains public order.
+The nation is lulled by the temporary prosperity which accrues to it, until it
+is roused to a sense of its own misery. Liberty, on the contrary, is generally
+established in the midst of agitation, it is perfected by civil discord, and
+its benefits cannot be appreciated until it is already old.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0034" id="link2HCH0034"></a> Chapter XIV: Advantages
+American Society Derive From Democracy&mdash;Part II</h2> <h3>Respect For The
+Law In The United States</h3> <p>
+Respect of the Americans for the law&mdash;Parental affection which they
+entertain for it&mdash;Personal interest of everyone to increase the authority
+of the law.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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
+such a measure is possible the authority of the law is very much augmented.
+This popular origin, which impairs the excellence and the wisdom of
+legislation, contributes prodigiously to increase its power. There is an
+amazing strength in the expression of the determination of a whole people, and
+when it declares itself the imagination of those who are most inclined to
+contest it is overawed by its authority. The truth of this fact is very 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 recourse to the body of those persons who had no votes to
+give.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States, except slaves, servants, and paupers in the receipt of
+relief from the townships, there is no class of persons who do not exercise the
+elective franchise, and who do not indirectly contribute to make the laws.
+Those who design to attack the laws must consequently either modify the opinion
+of the nation or trample upon its decision.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A second reason, which is still more weighty, may be further adduced; in the
+United States everyone is personally interested in enforcing the obedience of
+the whole community to the law; for as the minority may shortly rally the
+majority to its principles, it is interested in professing that respect for the
+decrees of the legislator which it may soon have occasion to claim for its own.
+However irksome an enactment may be, the citizen of the United States complies
+with it, not only because it is the work of the majority, but because it
+originates in his own authority, and he regards it as a contract to which he is
+himself a party.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States, then, that numerous and turbulent multitude does not
+exist which always looks upon the law as its natural enemy, and accordingly
+surveys it with fear and with fear and with distrust. It is impossible, on the
+other hand, not to perceive that all classes display the utmost reliance upon
+the legislation of their country, and that they are attached to it by a kind of
+parental affection.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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
+which 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 interests of the whole community, but simply that it protects
+those of the majority. In the United States, where the poor rule, the rich have
+always some reason to dread the abuses of their power. This natural anxiety of
+the rich may produce a sullen dissatisfaction, but society is not disturbed by
+it; for the same reason which induces the rich to withhold their confidence in
+the legislative authority makes them obey its mandates; their wealth, which
+prevents them from making the law, prevents them from withstanding it. Amongst
+civilized nations revolts are rarely excited, except by such persons as have
+nothing to lose by them; and if the laws of a democracy are not always worthy
+of respect, at least they always obtain it; for those who usually infringe the
+laws have no excuse for not complying with the enactments they have themselves
+made, and by which they are themselves benefited, whilst the citizens whose
+interests might be promoted by the infraction of them are induced, by their
+character and their stations, to submit to the decisions of the legislature,
+whatever they may be. Besides which, the people in America obeys the law not
+only because it emanates from the popular authority, but because that authority
+may modify it in any points which may prove vexatory; a law is observed because
+it is a self-imposed evil in the first place, and an evil of transient duration
+in the second.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Activity Which Pervades All The Branches Of The Body Politic In The United
+States; Influence Which It Exercises Upon Society
+</p>
+
+<p>
+More difficult to conceive the political activity which pervades the United
+States than the freedom and equality which reign there&mdash;The great activity
+which perpetually agitates the legislative bodies is only an episode to the
+general activity&mdash;Difficult for an American to confine himself to his own
+business&mdash;Political agitation extends to all social
+intercourse&mdash;Commercial activity of the Americans partly attributable to
+this cause&mdash;Indirect advantages which society derives from a democratic
+government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On passing from a country in which free institutions are established to one
+where they do not exist, the traveller is struck by the change; in the former
+all is bustle and activity, in the latter everything is calm and motionless. In
+the one, amelioration and progress are the general topics of inquiry; in the
+other, it seems as if the community only aspired to repose in the enjoyment of
+the advantages which it has acquired. Nevertheless, the country which exerts
+itself so strenuously to promote its welfare is generally more wealthy and more
+prosperous than that which appears to be so contented with its lot; and when we
+compare them together, we can scarcely conceive how so many new wants are daily
+felt in the former, whilst so few seem to occur in the latter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If this remark is applicable to those free countries in which monarchical and
+aristocratic institutions subsist, it is still more striking with regard to
+democratic republics. In these States it is not only a portion of the people
+which is busied with the amelioration of its social condition, but the whole
+community is engaged in the task; and it is not the exigencies and the
+convenience of a single class for which a provision is to be made, but the
+exigencies and the convenience of all ranks of life.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is not impossible to conceive the surpassing liberty which the Americans
+enjoy; some idea may likewise be formed of the extreme equality which subsists
+amongst them, but the political activity which pervades the United States must
+be seen in order to be understood. No sooner do you set foot upon the American
+soil than you are stunned by a kind of tumult; a confused clamor is heard on
+every side; and a thousand simultaneous voices demand the immediate
+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 building 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; or 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 purpose of declaring their disapprobation of
+the line of conduct pursued by the Government; whilst in other assemblies the
+citizens salute the authorities of the day as the fathers of their country.
+Societies are formed which regard drunkenness as the principal cause of the
+evils under which the State labors, and which solemnly bind themselves to give
+a constant example of temperance. *c
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ At the time of my stay in the United States the temperance societies already
+consisted of more than 270,000 members, and their effect had been to diminish
+the consumption of fermented liquors by 500,000 gallons per annum in the State
+of Pennsylvania alone.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The great political agitation of the American legislative bodies, which is the
+only kind of excitement that attracts the attention of foreign countries, is a
+mere episode or a sort of continuation of that universal movement which
+originates in the lowest classes of the people and extends successively to all
+the ranks of society. It is impossible to spend more efforts in the pursuit of
+enjoyment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The cares of political life engross a most prominent place in the occupation of
+a citizen in the United States, and almost the only pleasure of which an
+American has any idea is to take a part in the Government, and to discuss the
+part he has taken. This feeling pervades the most trifling habits of life; even
+the women frequently attend public meetings and listen to political harangues
+as a recreation after their household labors. Debating clubs are to a certain
+extent a substitute for theatrical entertainments: an American cannot converse,
+but he can discuss; and when he attempts to talk he falls into a dissertation.
+He speaks to you as if he was addressing a meeting; and if he should chance to
+warm in the course of the discussion, he will infallibly say,
+&ldquo;Gentlemen,&rdquo; to the person with whom he is conversing.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In some countries the inhabitants display a certain repugnance to avail
+themselves of the political privileges with which the law invests them; it
+would seem that they set too high a value upon their time to spend it on the
+interests of the community; and they prefer to withdraw within the exact limits
+of a wholesome egotism, 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 existence; he would feel an immense void
+in the life which he is accustomed to lead, and his wretchedness would be
+unbearable. *d I am persuaded that, if ever a despotic government is
+established in America, it will find it more difficult to surmount the habits
+which free institutions have engendered than to conquer the attachment of the
+citizens to freedom.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ The same remark was made at Rome under the first Caesars. Montesquieu
+somewhere alludes 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.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This ceaseless agitation which democratic government 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 much less
+inclined to applaud it for what it does than for what it causes to be done. It
+is incontestable that the people frequently conducts public business very ill;
+but it is impossible that the lower orders should take a part in public
+business without extending the circle of their ideas, and without quitting the
+ordinary routine of their mental acquirements. The humblest individual who is
+called upon to co-operate in the government of society acquires a certain
+degree of self-respect; and as he possesses authority, he can command the
+services of minds much more enlightened than his own. He is canvassed by a
+multitude of applicants, who seek to deceive him in a thousand different ways,
+but who instruct him by their deceit. He takes a part in political undertakings
+which did not originate in his own conception, but which give him a taste for
+undertakings of the kind. New ameliorations are daily pointed out in the
+property which he holds in common with others, and this gives him the desire of
+improving that property which is more peculiarly 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 institutions of the United
+States, joined to the physical constitution of the country, are the cause (not
+the direct, as is so often asserted, but the indirect cause) of the prodigious
+commercial activity of the inhabitants. It is not engendered by the laws, but
+the people learns how to promote it by the experience derived from legislation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the opponents of democracy assert that a single individual performs the
+duties which he undertakes much better than the government of the community, it
+appears to me that they are perfectly right. The government of an individual,
+supposing an equality of instruction on either side, is more consistent, more
+persevering, and more accurate than that of a multitude, and it is much better
+qualified judiciously to discriminate the characters of the men it employs. If
+any deny what I advance, they have certainly never seen a democratic
+government, or have formed their opinion upon very partial evidence. It is true
+that even when local circumstances and the disposition of the people allow
+democratic institutions to subsist, they never display a regular and methodical
+system of government. Democratic liberty is far from accomplishing all the
+projects it undertakes, with the skill of an adroit despotism. It frequently
+abandons them before they have borne their fruits, or risks them when the
+consequences may prove dangerous; but in the end it produces more than any
+absolute government, and if it do fewer things well, it does a greater number
+of things. Under its sway the transactions of the public administration are not
+nearly so important as what is done by private exertion. Democracy does not
+confer the most skilful kind of government upon the people, but it produces
+that which the most skilful governments are frequently unable to awaken,
+namely, an all-pervading and restless activity, a superabundant force, and an
+energy which is inseparable from it, and which may, under favorable
+circumstances, beget the most amazing benefits. These are the true advantages
+of democracy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the present age, when the destinies of Christendom seem to be in suspense,
+some hasten to assail democracy as its foe whilst it is yet in its early
+growth; and others are ready with their vows of adoration for this new deity
+which is springing forth from chaos: but both parties are very imperfectly
+acquainted with the object of their hatred or of their desires; they strike in
+the dark, and distribute their blows by mere chance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We must first understand what the purport of society and the aim of government
+is held to be. If it be your intention to confer a certain elevation upon the
+human mind, and to teach it to regard the things of this world with generous
+feelings, to inspire men with a scorn of mere temporal advantage, to give birth
+to living convictions, and to keep alive the spirit of honorable devotedness;
+if you hold it to be a good thing to refine the habits, to embellish the
+manners, to cultivate the arts of a nation, and to promote the love of poetry,
+of beauty, and of renown; if you would constitute a people not unfitted to act
+with power upon all other nations, nor unprepared for those high enterprises
+which, whatever be the result of its efforts, will leave a name forever famous
+in time&mdash;if you believe such to be the principal object of society, you
+must avoid the government of democracy, which would be a very uncertain guide
+to the end you have in view.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But if you hold it to be expedient to divert the moral and intellectual
+activity of man to the production of comfort, and to the acquirement of the
+necessaries of life; if a clear understanding be more profitable to man than
+genius; if your object be not to stimulate the virtues of heroism, but to
+create habits of peace; if you had rather witness vices than crimes and are
+content to meet with fewer noble deeds, provided offences be diminished in the
+same proportion; if, instead of living in the midst of a brilliant state of
+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 share of power and of glory upon the body of the nation, but
+to ensure the greatest degree of enjoyment and the least degree of misery to
+each of the individuals who compose it&mdash;if such be your desires, you can
+have no surer means of satisfying them than by equalizing the conditions of
+men, and establishing democratic institutions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But if the time be passed at which such a choice was possible, and if some
+superhuman power impel us towards one or the other of these two governments
+without consulting our wishes, let us at least endeavor to make the best of
+that which is allotted to us; and let us so inquire into its good and its evil
+propensities as to be able to foster the former and repress the latter to the
+utmost.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0035" id="link2HCH0035"></a> Chapter XV: Unlimited Power
+Of Majority, And Its Consequences&mdash;Part I</h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0036" id="link2HCH0036"></a> Chapter Summary</h2>
+
+<p>
+Natural strength of the majority in democracies&mdash;Most of the American
+Constitutions have increased this strength by artificial means&mdash;How this
+has been done&mdash;Pledged delegates&mdash;Moral power of the
+majority&mdash;Opinion as to its infallibility&mdash;Respect for its rights,
+how augmented in the United States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Unlimited Power Of The Majority In The United States, And Its Consequences
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 sought to increase this
+natural strength of the majority by artificial means. *a
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ We observed, in examining the Federal Constitution, that the efforts of the
+legislators of the Union had been diametrically opposed to the present
+tendency. The consequence has been that the Federal Government is more
+independent in its sphere than that of the States. But the Federal Government
+scarcely ever interferes in any but external affairs; and the governments of
+the State are in the governments of the States are in reality the authorities
+which direct society in America.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The legislature is, of all political institutions, the one which is most easily
+swayed by the wishes of the majority. The Americans determined that the members
+of the legislature should be elected by the people immediately, and for a very
+brief term, in order to subject them, not only to the general convictions, but
+even to the daily passion, of their constituents. The members of both houses
+are taken from the same class in society, and are nominated in the same manner;
+so that the modifications of the legislative 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
+entrusted.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But whilst the law increased the strength of those authorities which of
+themselves were strong, it enfeebled more and more those which were naturally
+weak. It deprived the representatives of the executive of all stability and
+independence, and by subjecting them completely to the caprices of the
+legislature, it robbed them of the slender influence which the nature of a
+democratic government might have allowed them to retain. In several States the
+judicial power was also submitted to the elective discretion of the majority,
+and in all of them its existence was made to depend on the pleasure of the
+legislative authority, since the representatives were empowered annually to
+regulate the stipend of the judges.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Custom, however, has done even more than law. A proceeding which will in the
+end set all the guarantees of representative government at naught is becoming
+more and more general in the United States; it frequently happens that the
+electors, who choose a delegate, point out a certain line of conduct to him,
+and impose upon him a certain number of positive obligations which he is
+pledged to fulfil. With the exception of the tumult, this comes to the same
+thing as if the majority of the populace held its deliberations in the
+market-place.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Several other circumstances concur in rendering the power of the majority in
+America not only preponderant, but irresistible. The moral authority of the
+majority is partly based upon the notion that there is more intelligence and
+more wisdom in a great number of men collected together than in a single
+individual, and that the quantity of legislators is more important than their
+quality. The theory of equality is in fact applied to the intellect of man: and
+human pride is thus assailed in its last retreat by a doctrine which the
+minority hesitate to admit, and in which they very slowly concur. Like all
+other powers, and perhaps more than all other powers, the authority of the many
+requires the sanction of time; at first it enforces obedience by constraint,
+but its laws are not respected until they have long been maintained.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The right of governing society, which the majority supposes itself to derive
+from its superior intelligence, was introduced into the United States by the
+first settlers, and this idea, which would be sufficient of itself to create a
+free nation, has now been amalgamated with the manners of the people and the
+minor incidents of social intercourse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The French, under the old monarchy, held it for a maxim (which is still a
+fundamental principle of the English Constitution) that the King could do no
+wrong; and if he did do wrong, the blame was imputed to his advisers. This
+notion was highly favorable to habits of obedience, and 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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
+majority must naturally increase or diminish according to the state of parties.
+When a nation is divided into several irreconcilable factions, the privilege of
+the majority is often overlooked, because it is intolerable to comply with its
+demands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If there existed in America a class of citizens whom the legislating majority
+sought to deprive of exclusive privileges which they had possessed for ages,
+and to bring down from an elevated station to the level of the ranks of the
+multitude, it is probable that the minority would be less ready to comply with
+its laws. But as the United States were colonized by men holding equal rank
+amongst themselves, there is as yet no natural or permanent source of
+dissension between the interests of its different inhabitants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are certain communities in which the persons who constitute 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 them. 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 right of the
+majority, because they all hope to turn those rights to their own advantage at
+some future time. The majority therefore in that country exercises a prodigious
+actual authority, and a moral influence which is scarcely less preponderant; no
+obstacles exist which can impede or so much as retard its progress, or which
+can induce it to heed the complaints of those whom it crushes upon its path.
+This state of things is fatal in itself and dangerous for the future.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How The Unlimited Power Of The Majority Increases In America The Instability Of
+Legislation And Administration Inherent In Democracy The Americans increase the
+mutability of the laws which is inherent in democracy by changing the
+legislature every year, and by investing it with unbounded authority&mdash;The
+same effect is produced upon the administration&mdash;In America social
+amelioration is conducted more energetically but less perseveringly than in
+Europe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have already spoken of the natural defects of democratic institutions, and
+they all of them increase at the exact ratio of the power of the majority. To
+begin with the most evident of them all; the mutability of the laws is an evil
+inherent in democratic government, because it is natural to democracies to
+raise men to power in very rapid succession. But this evil is more or less
+sensible in proportion to the authority and the means of action which the
+legislature possesses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America the authority exercised by the legislative bodies is supreme;
+nothing prevents them from accomplishing their wishes with celerity, and with
+irresistible power, whilst they are supplied by new representatives every year.
+That is to say, the circumstances which contribute most powerfully to
+democratic instability, and which admit of the free application of caprice to
+every object in the State, are here in full operation. In conformity with this
+principle, America is, at the present day, the country in the world where laws
+last the shortest time. Almost all the American constitutions have been amended
+within the course of thirty years: there is therefore not a single American
+State which has not modified the principles of its legislation in that lapse of
+time. As for the laws themselves, a single glance upon 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 democracy is
+naturally less stable than any other, but that it is allowed to follow its
+capricious propensities in the formation of the laws. *b
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ 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 published in
+1823, when many old laws which 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.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The omnipotence of the majority, and the rapid as well as absolute manner in
+which its decisions are executed in the United States, has not only the effect
+of rendering the law unstable, but it exercises the same influence upon the
+execution of the law and the conduct of the public administration. As the
+majority is the only power which it is important to court, all its projects 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 the
+administration is at once independent and secure, so that the projects of the
+legislature are put into execution, although its immediate attention may be
+directed to other objects.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America certain ameliorations are undertaken with much more zeal and
+activity than elsewhere; in Europe the same ends are promoted by much less
+social effort, more continuously applied.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some years ago several pious individuals undertook to ameliorate the condition
+of the prisons. The public was excited by the statements which they put
+forward, and the regeneration of criminals became a very popular undertaking.
+New prisons were built, and for the first time the idea of reforming as well as
+of punishing the delinquent formed a part of prison discipline. But this happy
+alteration, in which the public had taken so hearty an interest, and which the
+exertions of the citizens had irresistibly accelerated, could not be completed
+in a moment. Whilst the new penitentiaries were being erected (and it was the
+pleasure of the majority that they should be terminated with all possible
+celerity), the old prisons existed, which still contained a great number of
+offenders. These jails became more unwholesome and more corrupt in proportion
+as the new establishments were beautified 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 attention was diverted to a novel object, the care which had
+hitherto been bestowed upon the others ceased. The salutary regulations of
+discipline were first relaxed, and afterwards broken; so that in the immediate
+neighborhood of a prison which bore witness to the mild and enlightened spirit
+of our time, dungeons might be met with which reminded the visitor of the
+barbarity of the Middle Ages.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0037" id="link2HCH0037"></a> Chapter XV: Unlimited Power
+Of Majority, And Its Consequences&mdash;Part II</h2> <h3>Tyranny Of The
+Majority</h3> <p>
+How the principle of the sovereignty of the people is to be
+understood&mdash;Impossibility of conceiving a mixed government&mdash;The
+sovereign power must centre somewhere&mdash;Precautions to be taken to control
+its action&mdash;These precautions have not been taken in the United
+States&mdash;Consequences.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I hold it to be an impious and an execrable maxim that, politically speaking, a
+people has a right to do whatsoever it pleases, and yet I have asserted that
+all authority originates in the will of the majority. Am I then, in
+contradiction with myself?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A general law&mdash;which bears the name of Justice&mdash;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 consequently confined within the limits
+of what is just. A nation may be considered in the light of a jury which is
+empowered to represent society at large, and to apply the great and general law
+of justice. Ought such a jury, which represents society, to have more power
+than the society in which the laws it applies originate?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I refuse to obey an unjust law, I do not contest the right which the
+majority has of commanding, but I simply appeal from the sovereignty of the
+people to the sovereignty of mankind. It has been asserted that a people can
+never entirely outstep the boundaries of justice and of reason in those affairs
+which are more peculiarly its own, and that consequently, full power may
+fearlessly be given to the majority by which it is represented. But this
+language is that of a slave.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A majority taken collectively may be regarded as a being whose opinions, and
+most frequently whose interests, are opposed to those of another being, which
+is styled a minority. If it be admitted that a man, possessing absolute power,
+may misuse that power by wronging his adversaries, why should a majority not be
+liable to the same reproach? Men are not apt to change their characters by
+agglomeration; nor does their patience in the presence of obstacles increase
+with the consciousness of their strength. *c And for these reasons I can never
+willingly invest any number of my fellow-creatures with that unlimited
+authority which I should refuse to any one of them.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ No one will assert that a people cannot forcibly wrong another people; but
+parties may be looked upon as lesser nations within a greater one, and they are
+aliens to each other: if, therefore, it be admitted that a nation can act
+tyrannically towards another nation, it cannot be denied that a party may do
+the same towards another party.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I do not think that it is possible to combine several principles in the same
+government, so as at the same time to maintain freedom, and really to oppose
+them to one another. The form of government which is usually termed mixed has
+always appeared to me to be a mere chimera. Accurately speaking there is no
+such thing as a mixed government (with the meaning usually given to that word),
+because in all communities some one principle of action may be discovered which
+preponderates over the others. England in the last century, which has been more
+especially cited as an example of this form of Government, was in point of fact
+an essentially aristocratic State, although it comprised very powerful elements
+of democracy; for the laws and customs of the country were such that the
+aristocracy could not but preponderate in the end, and subject the direction of
+public affairs to its own will. The error arose from too much attention being
+paid to the actual struggle which was going on between the nobles and the
+people, without considering the probable issue of the contest, which was in
+reality the important point. When a community really has a mixed government,
+that is to say, when it is equally divided between two adverse principles, it
+must either pass through a revolution or fall into complete dissolution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am therefore of opinion that some one social power must always be made to
+predominate over the others; but I think that liberty is endangered when this
+power is checked by no obstacles which may retard its course, and force it to
+moderate its own vehemence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Unlimited power is in itself a bad and dangerous thing; human beings are not
+competent to exercise it with discretion, and God alone can be omnipotent,
+because His wisdom and His justice are always equal to His power. But no power
+upon earth is so worthy of honor for itself, or of reverential obedience to the
+rights which it represents, that I would consent to admit its uncontrolled and
+all-predominant authority. When I see that the right and the means of absolute
+command are conferred on a people or upon a king, upon an aristocracy or a
+democracy, a monarchy or a republic, I recognize the germ of tyranny, and I
+journey onward to a land of more hopeful institutions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 overpowering strength; and I am not so much alarmed at
+the excessive liberty which reigns in that country as at the very inadequate
+securities which exist against tyranny.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 its injunctions; if to the executive power, it is appointed by the
+majority, and remains a passive tool in its hands; the public troops consist 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 evil of which you complain may
+be, you must submit to it as well as you can. *d
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ A striking instance of the excesses which may be occasioned by the despotism
+of the majority occurred at Baltimore in the year 1812. At that time the war
+was very popular in Baltimore. A journal which had taken the other side of the
+question excited the indignation of the inhabitants by its opposition. The
+populace assembled, broke the printing-presses, and attacked the houses of the
+newspaper editors. The militia was called out, but no one obeyed the call; and
+the only means of saving the poor wretches who were threatened by the frenzy of
+the mob was to throw them into prison as common malefactors. But even this
+precaution was ineffectual; the mob collected again during the night, the
+magistrates again made a vain attempt to call out the militia, the prison was
+forced, one of the newspaper editors was killed upon the spot, and the others
+were left for dead; the guilty parties were acquitted by the jury when they
+were brought to trial.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I said one day to an inhabitant of Pennsylvania, &ldquo;Be so good as to
+explain to me how it happens that in a State founded by Quakers, and celebrated
+for its toleration, freed blacks are not allowed to exercise civil rights. They
+pay the taxes; is it not fair that they should have a vote?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;You insult us,&rdquo; replied my informant, &ldquo;if you imagine that
+our legislators could have committed so gross an act of injustice and
+intolerance.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What! then the blacks possess the right of voting in this county?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Without the smallest doubt.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;How comes it, then, that at the polling-booth this morning I did not
+perceive a single negro in the whole meeting?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;This is not the fault of the law: the negroes have an undisputed right
+of voting, but they voluntarily abstain from making their appearance.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;A very pretty piece of modesty on their parts!&rdquo; rejoined I.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Why, the truth is, that they are not disinclined to vote, but they are
+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
+privileges.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;What! then the majority claims the right not only of making the laws,
+but of breaking the laws it has made?&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If, on the other hand, a legislative power could be so constituted as to
+represent the majority without necessarily being the slave of its passions; an
+executive, so as to retain a certain degree of uncontrolled authority; and a
+judiciary, so as to remain independent of the two other powers; a government
+would be formed which would still be democratic without incurring any risk of
+tyrannical abuse.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I do not say that tyrannical abuses frequently occur in America at the present
+day, but I maintain that no sure barrier is established against them, and that
+the causes which mitigate the government are to be found in the circumstances
+and the manners of the country more than in its laws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Effects Of The Unlimited Power Of The Majority Upon The Arbitrary Authority Of
+The American Public Officers
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Liberty left by the American laws to public officers within a certain
+sphere&mdash;Their power.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A distinction must be drawn between tyranny and arbitrary power. Tyranny may be
+exercised by means of the law, and in that case it is not arbitrary; arbitrary
+power may be exercised for the good of the community at large, in which case it
+is not tyrannical. Tyranny usually employs arbitrary means, but, if necessary,
+it can rule without them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States the unbounded power of the majority, which is favorable to
+the legal despotism of the legislature, is likewise favorable to the arbitrary
+authority of the magistrate. The majority has an entire control over the law
+when it is made and when it is executed; and as it possesses an equal authority
+over those who are in power and the community at large, it considers public
+officers as its passive agents, and readily confides the task of serving its
+designs to their vigilance. The details of their office and the privileges
+which they are to enjoy are rarely defined beforehand; but the majority treats
+them as a master does his servants when they are always at work in his sight,
+and he has the power of directing or reprimanding them at every instant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In general the American functionaries are far more independent than the French
+civil officers within the sphere which is prescribed to them. 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 co-operation, of the majority,
+they venture upon such manifestations of their power as astonish a European. By
+this means habits are formed in the heart of a free country which may some day
+prove fatal to its liberties.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Power Exercised By The Majority In America Upon Opinion
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America, when the majority has once irrevocably decided a question, all
+discussion ceases&mdash;Reason of this&mdash;Moral power exercised by the
+majority upon opinion&mdash;Democratic republics have deprived despotism of its
+physical instruments&mdash;Their despotism sways the minds of men.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is in the examination of the display of public opinion in the United States
+that we clearly perceive how far the power of the majority surpasses all the
+powers with which we are acquainted in Europe. Intellectual principles exercise
+an influence which is so invisible, and often so inappreciable, that they
+baffle the toils of oppression. At the present time the most absolute monarchs
+in Europe are unable to prevent certain notions, which are opposed to their
+authority, from circulating in secret throughout their dominions, and even in
+their courts. Such is not the case in America; as long as the majority is still
+undecided, discussion is carried on; but as soon as its decision is irrevocably
+pronounced, a submissive silence is observed, and the friends, as well as the
+opponents, of the measure unite in assenting to its propriety. The reason of
+this is perfectly clear: no monarch is so absolute as to combine all the powers
+of society in his own hands, and to conquer all opposition with the energy of a
+majority which is invested with the right of making and of executing the laws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The authority of a king is purely physical, and it controls the actions of the
+subject without subduing his private will; but the majority possesses a power
+which is physical and moral at the same time; it acts upon the will as well as
+upon the actions of men, and it represses not only all contest, but all
+controversy. I know no country in which there is so little true independence of
+mind and freedom of discussion as in America. In any constitutional state in
+Europe every sort of religious and political theory may be advocated and
+propagated abroad; for there is no country in Europe so subdued by any single
+authority as not to contain citizens who are ready to protect the man who
+raises his voice in the cause of truth from the consequences of his hardihood.
+If he is unfortunate enough to live under an absolute government, the people is
+upon his side; if he inhabits a free country, he may find a shelter behind the
+authority of the throne, if he require one. The aristocratic part of society
+supports him in some countries, and the democracy in others. But in a nation
+where democratic institutions exist, organized like those of the United States,
+there is but one sole authority, one single element of strength and of success,
+with nothing beyond it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America the majority raises very formidable barriers to the liberty of
+opinion: within these barriers an author may write whatever he pleases, but he
+will repent it if he ever step beyond them. Not that he is exposed to the
+terrors of an auto-da-fe, but he is tormented by the slights and persecutions
+of daily obloquy. His political career is closed forever, since he has offended
+the only authority which is able to promote his success. Every sort of
+compensation, even that of celebrity, is refused to him. Before he published
+his opinions he imagined that he held them in common with many others; but no
+sooner has he declared them openly than he is loudly censured by his
+overbearing opponents, whilst those who think without having the courage to
+speak, like him, abandon him in silence. He yields at length, oppressed by the
+daily efforts he has been making, and he subsides into silence, as if he was
+tormented by remorse for having spoken the truth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Fetters and headsmen were the coarse instruments which tyranny formerly
+employed; but the civilization of our age has refined the arts of despotism
+which seemed, however, to have been sufficiently perfected before. The excesses
+of monarchical power had devised a variety of physical means of oppression: the
+democratic republics of the present day have rendered it as entirely an affair
+of the mind as that will which it is intended to coerce. Under the absolute
+sway of an individual despot the body was attacked in order to subdue the soul,
+and the soul escaped the blows which were directed against it and rose superior
+to the attempt; but such is not the course adopted by tyranny in democratic
+republics; there the body is left free, and the soul is enslaved. The sovereign
+can no longer say, &ldquo;You shall think as I do on pain of death;&rdquo; but
+he says, &ldquo;You are free to think differently from me, and to retain your
+life, your property, and all that you possess; but if such be your
+determination, you are henceforth an alien 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 suffrages, and they will
+affect to scorn you if you solicit their esteem. You will remain among men, but
+you will be deprived of the rights of mankind. Your fellow-creatures will shun
+you like an impure being, and those who are most persuaded of your innocence
+will abandon you too, lest they should be shunned in their turn. Go in peace! I
+have given you your life, but it is an existence in comparably worse than
+death.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Monarchical institutions have thrown an odium upon despotism; let us beware
+lest democratic republics should restore oppression, and should render it less
+odious and less degrading in the eyes of the many, by making it still more
+onerous to the few.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Works have been published in the proudest nations of the Old World expressly
+intended to censure the vices and deride the follies of the times; Labruyere
+inhabited the palace of Louis XIV when he composed his chapter upon the Great,
+and Moliere criticised the courtiers in the very pieces which were acted before
+the Court. But the ruling power in the United States is not to be made game of;
+the smallest reproach irritates its sensibility, and the slightest joke which
+has any foundation in truth renders it indignant; from the style of its
+language to the more solid virtues of its character, everything must be made
+the subject of encomium. No writer, whatever be his eminence, can escape from
+this tribute of adulation to his fellow-citizens. The majority lives in the
+perpetual practice of self-applause, and there are certain truths which the
+Americans can only learn from strangers or from experience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If great writers have not at present existed in America, the reason is very
+simply given in these facts; there can be no literary genius without freedom of
+opinion, and freedom of opinion 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 empire of the majority succeeds much better in the
+United States, since it actually removes the wish of publishing them.
+Unbelievers are to be met with in America, but, to say the truth, there is no
+public organ of infidelity. Attempts have been made by some governments to
+protect the morality of nations by prohibiting licentious books. In the United
+States no one is punished for this sort of works, but no one is induced to
+write them; not because all the citizens are immaculate in their manners, but
+because the majority of the community is decent and orderly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In these cases the advantages derived from the exercise of this power are
+unquestionable, and I am simply discussing the nature of the power itself. This
+irresistible authority is a constant fact, and its judicious exercise is an
+accidental occurrence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Effects Of The Tyranny Of The Majority Upon The National Character Of The
+Americans
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Effects of the tyranny of the majority more sensibly felt hitherto in the
+manners than in the conduct of society&mdash;They check the development of
+leading characters&mdash;Democratic republics organized like the United States
+bring the practice of courting favor within the reach of the many&mdash;Proofs
+of this spirit in the United States&mdash;Why there is more patriotism in the
+people than in those who govern in its name.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The tendencies which I have just alluded to are as yet very slightly
+perceptible in political society, but they already begin to exercise an
+unfavorable influence upon the national character of the Americans. I am
+inclined to attribute the singular paucity of distinguished political
+characters to the ever-increasing activity of the despotism of the majority in
+the United States. When the American Revolution broke out they arose in great
+numbers, for public opinion then served, not to tyrannize over, but to direct
+the exertions of individuals. Those celebrated men took a full part in the
+general agitation of mind common at that period, and they attained a high
+degree of personal fame, which was reflected back upon the nation, but which
+was by no means borrowed from it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In absolute governments the great nobles who are nearest to the throne flatter
+the passions of the sovereign, and voluntarily truckle to his caprices. But the
+mass of the nation does not degrade itself by servitude: it often submits 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
+sovereign with pleasure and with pride, thus exhibiting a sort of independence
+in the very act of submission. These peoples are miserable, but they are not
+degraded. There is a great difference between doing what one does not approve
+and feigning to approve what one does; the one is the necessary case of a weak
+person, the other befits the temper of a lackey.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In free countries, where everyone is more or less called upon to give his
+opinion in the affairs of state; in democratic republics, where public life is
+incessantly commingled with domestic affairs, where the sovereign authority is
+accessible on every side, and where its attention can almost always be
+attracted by vociferation, more persons are to be met with who speculate upon
+its foibles and live at the cost of its passions than in absolute monarchies.
+Not because men are naturally worse in these States than elsewhere, but the
+temptation is stronger, and of easier access at the same time. The result is a
+far more extensive debasement of the characters of citizens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Democratic republics extend the practice of currying favor with the many, and
+they introduce it into a greater number of classes at once: this is one of the
+most serious reproaches that can be addressed to them. In democratic States
+organized on the principles of the American republics, this is more especially
+the case, where the authority of the majority is so absolute and so
+irresistible that a man must give up his rights as a citizen, and almost abjure
+his quality as a human being, if te intends to stray from the track which it
+lays down.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In that immense crowd which throngs the avenues to power in the United States I
+found very few men who displayed any of that manly candor and that masculine
+independence of opinion which frequently distinguished the Americans in former
+times, and which constitutes the leading feature in distinguished characters,
+wheresoever they may be found. It seems, at first sight, as if all the minds of
+the Americans were formed upon one model, so accurately do they correspond in
+their manner of judging. A stranger does, indeed, sometimes meet with Americans
+who dissent from these rigorous formularies; with men who deplore the defects
+of the laws, the mutability and the ignorance of democracy; who even go so far
+as to observe the evil tendencies which impair the national character, and to
+point out such remedies as it might be possible to apply; but no one is there
+to hear these things besides yourself, and you, to whom these secret
+reflections are confided, are a stranger and a bird of passage. They are very
+ready to communicate truths which are useless to you, but they continue to hold
+a different language in public.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If ever these lines are read in America, I am well assured 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 very many of them will acquit me at the
+bottom of their conscience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have heard of patriotism in the United States, and it is a virtue which may
+be found 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 has often great virtues, but the
+courtiers are invariably servile. It is true that the American courtiers do not
+say &ldquo;Sire,&rdquo; or &ldquo;Your Majesty&rdquo;&mdash;a distinction
+without a difference. They are forever talking of the natural intelligence of
+the populace they serve; they do not debate the question as to which of the
+virtues of their master is pre-eminently worthy of admiration, for they assure
+him that he possesses all the virtues under heaven without having acquired
+them, or without caring to acquire them; they do not give him their daughters
+and their wives to be raised at his pleasure to the rank of his concubines,
+but, by sacrificing their opinions, they prostitute themselves. Moralists and
+philosophers in America are not obliged to conceal their opinions under the
+veil of allegory; but, before they venture upon a harsh truth, they say,
+&ldquo;We are aware that the people which we are addressing is too superior to
+all the weaknesses of human nature to lose the command of its temper for an
+instant; and we should not hold this language if we were not speaking to men
+whom their virtues and their intelligence render more worthy of freedom than
+all the rest of the world.&rdquo; It would have been impossible for the
+sycophants of Louis XIV to 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 cling to power. The only means of preventing
+men from degrading themselves is to invest no one with that unlimited authority
+which is the surest method of debasing them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Greatest Dangers Of The American Republics Proceed From The Unlimited Power
+Of The Majority
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Democratic republics liable to perish from a misuse of their power, and not by
+impotence&mdash;The Governments of the American republics are more centralized
+and more energetic than those of the monarchies of Europe&mdash;Dangers
+resulting from this&mdash;Opinions of Hamilton and Jefferson upon this point.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Governments usually fall a sacrifice to impotence or to tyranny. In the former
+case their power escapes from them; it is wrested from their grasp in the
+latter. Many observers, who have witnessed the anarchy of democratic States,
+have imagined that the government of those States was naturally weak and
+impotent. The truth is, that when once hostilities are begun between parties,
+the government loses its control over society. But I do not think that a
+democratic power is naturally without force or without resources: say, rather,
+that it is almost always by the abuse of its force and the misemployment of its
+resources that a democratic government fails. Anarchy is almost always produced
+by its tyranny or its mistakes, but not by its want of strength.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is important not to confound stability with force, or the greatness of a
+thing with its duration. In democratic republics, the power which directs *e
+society is not stable; for it often changes hands and assumes a new direction.
+But whichever way it turns, its force is almost irresistible. The Governments
+of the American republics appear to me to be as much centralized as those of
+the absolute monarchies of Europe, and more energetic than they are. I do not,
+therefore, imagine that they will perish from weakness. *f
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ This power may be centred in an assembly, in which case it will be strong
+without being stable; or it may be centred in an individual, in which case it
+will be less strong, but more stable.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+f <br />
+[ I presume that it is scarcely necessary to remind the reader here, as well as
+throughout the remainder of this chapter, that I am speaking, not of the
+Federal Government, but of the several governments of each State, which the
+majority controls at its pleasure.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If ever the free institutions of America are destroyed, that event may be
+attributed to the unlimited authority of the majority, which may at some future
+time urge the minorities to desperation, and oblige them to have recourse to
+physical force. Anarchy will then be the result, but it will have been brought
+about by despotism.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Mr. Hamilton expresses the same opinion in the &ldquo;Federalist,&rdquo; No.
+51. &ldquo;It is of great importance in a republic not only to guard the
+society against the oppression of its rulers, but to guard one part of the
+society against the injustice 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 unite and
+oppress the weaker, anarchy may as truly be said to reign as in a state of
+nature, where the weaker individual is not secured against the violence of the
+stronger: and as in the latter 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 the former state will the more
+powerful factions be gradually induced by a like motive to wish for a
+government which 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
+separated from the Confederacy and left to itself, the insecurity of right
+under the popular form of government within such narrow limits would be
+displayed by such reiterated oppressions of the factious majorities, that some
+power altogether independent of the people would soon be called for by the
+voice of the very factions whose misrule had proved the necessity of it.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Jefferson has also thus expressed himself in a letter to Madison: *g &ldquo;The
+executive power in our Government is not the only, perhaps not even the
+principal, 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 tyranny of the executive power will come in its turn, but at a more
+distant period.&rdquo; I am glad to cite the opinion of Jefferson upon this
+subject rather than that of another, because I consider him to be the most
+powerful advocate democracy has ever sent forth.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ March 15, 1789.]
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0038" id="link2HCH0038"></a> Chapter XVI: Causes
+Mitigating Tyranny In The United States&mdash;Part I</h2>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0039" id="link2HCH0039"></a> Chapter Summary</h2>
+
+<p>
+The national majority does not pretend to conduct all business&mdash;Is obliged
+to employ the town and county magistrates to execute its supreme decisions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have already pointed out the distinction which is to be made between a
+centralized government and a centralized administration. The former exists in
+America, but the latter is nearly unknown there. If the directing power of the
+American communities had both these instruments of government at its disposal,
+and united the habit of executing its own commands to the right of commanding;
+if, after having established the general principles of government, it descended
+to the details of public business; and if, having regulated the great interests
+of the country, it could penetrate into the privacy of individual interests,
+freedom would soon be banished from the New World.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But in the United States the majority, which so frequently displays the tastes
+and the propensities of a despot, is still destitute of the more perfect
+instruments of tyranny. In the American republics the activity of the central
+Government has never as yet been extended beyond a limited number of objects
+sufficiently prominent to call forth its attention. The secondary affairs of
+society have never been regulated by its authority, and nothing has hitherto
+betrayed its desire of interfering in them. The majority is become more and
+more absolute, but it has not increased the prerogatives of the central
+government; those great prerogatives have been confined to a certain sphere;
+and although the despotism of the majority may be galling upon one point, it
+cannot be said to extend to all. However the predominant party in the nation
+may be carried away by its passions, however ardent it may be in the pursuit of
+its projects, it cannot oblige all the citizens to comply with its desires in
+the same manner and at the same time throughout the country. When the central
+Government which represents that majority has issued a decree, it must entrust
+the execution of its will to agents, over whom it frequently has no control,
+and whom it cannot perpetually direct. The townships, municipal bodies, and
+counties may therefore be looked upon as concealed break-waters, which check or
+part the tide of popular excitement. If an oppressive law were passed, the
+liberties of the people would still be protected by the means by which that law
+would be put in execution: the majority cannot descend to the details and (as I
+will venture to style them) the puerilities of administrative tyranny. Nor does
+the people entertain that full consciousness of its authority which would
+prompt it to interfere in these matters; it knows the extent of its natural
+powers, but it is unacquainted with the increased resources which the art of
+government might furnish.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This point deserves attention, for if a democratic republic similar to that of
+the United States were ever founded in a country where the power of a single
+individual had previously subsisted, and the effects of a centralized
+administration had sunk deep into the habits and the laws of the people, I do
+not hesitate to assert, that in that country a more insufferable despotism
+would prevail than any which now exists in the monarchical States of Europe, or
+indeed than any which could be found on this side of the confines of Asia.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Profession Of The Law In The United States Serves To Counterpoise The
+Democracy
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Utility of discriminating the natural propensities of the members of the legal
+profession&mdash;These men called upon to act a prominent part in future
+society&mdash;In what manner the peculiar pursuits of lawyers give an
+aristocratic turn to their ideas&mdash;Accidental causes which may check this
+tendency&mdash;Ease with which the aristocracy coalesces with legal
+men&mdash;Use of lawyers to a despot&mdash;The profession of the law
+constitutes the only aristocratic element with which the natural elements of
+democracy will combine&mdash;Peculiar causes which tend to give an aristocratic
+turn of mind to the English and American lawyers&mdash;The aristocracy of
+America is on the bench and at the bar&mdash;Influence of lawyers upon American
+society&mdash;Their peculiar magisterial habits affect the legislature, the
+administration, and even the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In visiting the Americans and in studying their laws we perceive that the
+authority they have entrusted to members of the legal profession, and the
+influence which these individuals exercise in the Government, is the most
+powerful existing security against the excesses of democracy. This effect seems
+to me to result from a general cause which it is useful to investigate, since
+it may produce analogous consequences elsewhere.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The members of the legal profession have taken an important part in all the
+vicissitudes of political society in Europe during the last five hundred years.
+At one time they have been the instruments of those who were invested with
+political authority, and at another they have succeeded in converting political
+authorities into their instrument. In the Middle Ages they afforded a powerful
+support to the Crown, and since that period they have exerted themselves to the
+utmost to limit the royal prerogative. In England they have contracted a close
+alliance with the aristocracy; in France they have proved to be the most
+dangerous enemies of that class. It is my object to inquire whether, under all
+these circumstances, the members of the legal profession have been swayed by
+sudden and momentary impulses; or whether they have been impelled by principles
+which are inherent in their pursuits, and which will always recur in history. I
+am incited to this investigation by reflecting that this particular class of
+men will most likely play a prominent part in that order of things to which the
+events of our time are giving birth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Men who have more especially devoted themselves to legal pursuits derive from
+those occupations certain habits of order, a taste for formalities, and a kind
+of instinctive regard for the regular connection of ideas, which naturally
+render them very hostile to the revolutionary spirit and the unreflecting
+passions of the multitude.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The special information which lawyers derive from their studies ensures them a
+separate station in society, and they constitute a sort of privileged body in
+the scale of intelligence. This notion of their superiority perpetually recurs
+to them in the practice of their profession: they are the masters of a science
+which is necessary, but which is not very generally known; they serve as
+arbiters between the citizens; and the habit of directing the blind passions of
+parties in litigation to their purpose inspires them with a certain contempt
+for the judgment of the multitude. To this it may be added that they naturally
+constitute a body, not by any previous understanding, or by an agreement which
+directs them to a common end; but the analogy of their studies and the
+uniformity of their proceedings connect their minds together, as much as a
+common interest could combine their endeavors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A portion of the tastes and of the habits of the aristocracy may consequently
+be discovered in the characters of men in the profession of the law. They
+participate in the same instinctive love of order and of formalities; and they
+entertain the same repugnance to the actions of the multitude, and the 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 the advantages of the moment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In a state of society in which the members of the legal profession are
+prevented from holding that rank in the political world which they enjoy in
+private life, we may rest assured that they will be the foremost agents of
+revolution. But it must then be inquired whether the cause which induces them
+to innovate and to destroy is accidental, or whether it belongs to some lasting
+purpose which they entertain. It is true that lawyers mainly contributed to the
+overthrow of the French monarchy in 1789; but it remains to be seen whether
+they acted thus because they had studied the laws, or because they were
+prohibited from co-operating in the work of legislation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Five hundred years ago the English nobles headed the people, and spoke in its
+name; at the present time the aristocracy supports the throne, and defends the
+royal prerogative. But aristocracy has, notwithstanding this, its peculiar
+instincts and propensities. We must be careful not to confound isolated members
+of a body with the body itself. In all free governments, of whatsoever form
+they may be, members of the legal profession will be found at the head of all
+parties. The same remark is also applicable to the aristocracy; for almost all
+the democratic convulsions which have agitated the world have been directed by
+nobles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A privileged body can never satisfy the ambition of all its members; it has
+always more talents and more passions to content and to employ than it can find
+places; so that a considerable number of individuals are usually to be met with
+who are inclined to attack those very privileges which they find it impossible
+to turn to their own account.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 usually are so. In a community in which lawyers are allowed to
+occupy, without opposition, that high station which naturally belongs to them,
+their general spirit will be eminently conservative and anti-democratic. When
+an aristocracy excludes the leaders of that profession from its ranks, it
+excites enemies which are the more formidable to its security as they are
+independent of the nobility by their industrious pursuits; and they feel
+themselves to be its equal in point of intelligence, although they enjoy less
+opulence and less power. But whenever an aristocracy consents to impart some of
+its privileges to these same individuals, the two classes coalesce very
+readily, and assume, as it were, the consistency of a single order of family
+interests.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am, in like manner, inclined to believe that a monarch will always be able to
+convert legal practitioners into the most serviceable instruments of his
+authority. There is a far greater affinity between this class of individuals
+and the executive power than there is between them and the people; just as
+there is a greater natural affinity between the nobles and the monarch than
+between the nobles and the people, although the higher orders of society have
+occasionally resisted the prerogative of the Crown in concert with the lower
+classes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lawyers are attached to public order beyond every other consideration, and the
+best security of public order is authority. It must not be forgotten that, if
+they prize the free institutions of their country much, they nevertheless value
+the legality of those institutions far more: they are less afraid of tyranny
+than of arbitrary power; and provided that the legislature take upon itself to
+deprive men of their independence, they are not dissatisfied.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am therefore convinced that the prince who, in presence of an encroaching
+democracy, should endeavor to impair the judicial authority in his dominions,
+and to diminish the political influence of lawyers, would commit a great
+mistake. He would let slip the substance of authority to grasp at the shadow.
+He would act more wisely in introducing men connected with the law into the
+government; and if he entrusted them with the conduct of a despotic power,
+bearing some marks of violence, that power would most likely assume the
+external features of justice and of legality in their hands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The government of democracy is favorable to the political power of lawyers; for
+when the wealthy, the noble, and the prince are excluded from the government,
+they are sure to occupy the highest stations, in their own right, as it were,
+since they are the only men of information and sagacity, beyond the sphere of
+the people, who can be the object of the popular choice. If, then, they are led
+by their tastes to combine with the aristocracy and to support the Crown, they
+are naturally brought into contact with the people by their interests. They
+like the government of democracy, without participating in its propensities and
+without imitating its weaknesses; whence they derive a twofold authority, from
+it and over it. The people in democratic states does not mistrust the members
+of the legal profession, because it is well known that they are interested in
+serving the popular cause; and it listens to them without irritation, because
+it does not attribute to them any sinister designs. The object of lawyers is
+not, indeed, to overthrow the institutions of democracy, but they constantly
+endeavor to give it an impulse which diverts it from its real tendency, by
+means which are foreign to its nature. Lawyers belong to the people by birth
+and interest, to the aristocracy by habit and by taste, and they may be looked
+upon as the natural bond and connecting link of the two great classes of
+society.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The profession of the law is the only aristocratic element which can be
+amalgamated without violence with the natural elements of democracy, and which
+can be advantageously and permanently combined with them. I am not unacquainted
+with the defects which are inherent in the character of that body of men; but
+without this admixture of lawyer-like sobriety with the democratic principle, I
+question whether democratic institutions could long be maintained, and I cannot
+believe that a republic could subsist at the present time if the influence of
+lawyers in public business did not increase in proportion to the power of the
+people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This aristocratic character, which I hold to be common to the legal profession,
+is much more distinctly marked in the United States and in England than in any
+other country. This proceeds not only from the legal studies of the English and
+American lawyers, but from the nature of the legislation, and the position
+which those persons occupy in the two countries. The English and the Americans
+have retained the law of precedents; that is to say, they continue to found
+their legal opinions and the decisions of their courts upon the opinions and
+the decisions of their forefathers. In the mind of an English or American
+lawyer a taste and a reverence for what is old is almost always united to a
+love of regular and lawful proceedings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This predisposition has another effect upon the character of the legal
+profession and upon the general course of society. The English and American
+lawyers investigate what has been done; the French advocate inquires what
+should have been done; the former produce precedents, the latter reasons. A
+French observer is surprised to hear how often an English or an American lawyer
+quotes the opinions of others, and how little he alludes to his own; whilst the
+reverse occurs in France. There the most trifling litigation is never conducted
+without the introduction of an entire system of ideas peculiar to the counsel
+employed; and the fundamental principles of law are discussed in order to
+obtain a perch of land by the decision of the court. This abnegation of his own
+opinion, and this implicit deference to the opinion of his forefathers, which
+are common to the English and American lawyer, this subjection of thought which
+he is obliged to profess, necessarily give him more timid habits and more
+sluggish inclinations in England and America than in France.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The French codes are often difficult of comprehension, but they can be read by
+every one; nothing, on the other hand, can be more impenetrable to the
+uninitiated than a legislation founded upon precedents. The indispensable want
+of legal assistance which is felt in England and in the United States, and the
+high opinion which is generally entertained of the ability of the legal
+profession, tend to separate it more and more from the people, and to place it
+in a distinct class. The French lawyer is simply a man extensively acquainted
+with the statutes of his country; but the English or American lawyer resembles
+the hierophants of Egypt, for, like them, he is the sole interpreter of an
+occult science.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The station which lawyers occupy in England and America exercises no less an
+influence upon their habits and their 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 of authority upon the members of
+the legal profession. In English society lawyers do not occupy the first rank,
+but they are contented with the station assigned to them; they constitute, as
+it were, the younger branch of the English aristocracy, and they are attached
+to their elder brothers, although they do not enjoy all their privileges. The
+English lawyers consequently mingle the taste and the ideas of the aristocratic
+circles in which they move with the aristocratic interests of their profession.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And indeed the lawyer-like character which I am endeavoring 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 necessary to modify
+them in any respect, or to adapt them the changes which time operates in
+society, recourse is had to the most inconceivable contrivances in order to
+uphold the traditionary fabric, and to maintain that nothing has been done
+which does not square with the intentions and complete the labors of former
+generations. The very individuals who conduct these changes disclaim all
+intention of innovation, and they had rather resort to absurd expedients than
+plead guilty to so great a crime. This spirit appertains more especially to the
+English lawyers; they seem indifferent to the real meaning of what they treat,
+and they direct all their attention to the letter, seeming inclined to infringe
+the rules of common sense and of humanity rather than to swerve one title from
+the law. The English legislation may be compared to the stock of an old tree,
+upon which lawyers have engrafted the most various shoots, with the hope that,
+although their fruits may differ, their foliage at least will be confounded
+with the venerable trunk which supports them all.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America there are no nobles or men of letters, and the people is apt to
+mistrust the wealthy; lawyers consequently form the highest political class,
+and the most cultivated circle of society. They have therefore nothing to gain
+by innovation, which adds a conservative interest to their natural taste for
+public order. If I were asked where I place the American aristocracy, I should
+reply without hesitation that it is not composed of the rich, who are united
+together by no common tie, but that it occupies the judicial bench and the bar.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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, counterpoise to the democratic element. In that country we perceive how
+eminently the legal profession is qualified by its powers, and even by its
+defects, to neutralize the vices which are inherent in popular government. When
+the American people is intoxicated by passion, or carried away by the
+impetuosity of its ideas, it is checked and stopped by the almost invisible
+influence of its legal counsellors, who secretly oppose their aristocratic
+propensities to its democratic instincts, their superstitious attachment to
+what is antique to its love of novelty, their narrow views to its immense
+designs, and their habitual procrastination to its ardent impatience.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The courts of justice are the most visible organs by which the legal profession
+is enabled to control the democracy. The judge is a lawyer, who, independently
+of the taste for regularity and order which he has contracted in the study of
+legislation, derives an additional love of stability from his own inalienable
+functions. His legal attainments have already raised him to a distinguished
+rank amongst his fellow-citizens; his political power completes the distinction
+of his station, and gives him the inclinations natural to privileged classes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Armed with the power of declaring the laws to be unconstitutional, *a the
+American magistrate perpetually interferes in political affairs. He cannot
+force the people to make laws, but at least he can oblige it not to disobey its
+own enactments; or to act inconsistently with its own principles. I am aware
+that a secret tendency to diminish the judicial power exists in the United
+States, and by most of the constitutions of the several States the Government
+can, upon the demand of the two houses of the legislature, remove the judges
+from their station. By some other constitutions the members of the tribunals
+are elected, 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 the
+attack which is made upon the judicial power has affected the democratic
+republic itself.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ See chapter VI. on the &ldquo;Judicial Power in the United States.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It must not, however, be supposed that the legal spirit of which I have been
+speaking has been confined, in the United States, to the courts of justice; it
+extends far beyond them. As the lawyers constitute the only enlightened class
+which the people does not mistrust, they are naturally called upon to occupy
+most of the public stations. They fill the legislative assemblies, and they
+conduct the administration; they consequently exercise a powerful influence
+upon the formation of the law, and upon its execution. The lawyers are,
+however, obliged to yield to the current of public opinion, which is too strong
+for them to resist it, but it is easy to find indications of what their conduct
+would be if they were free to act as they chose. The Americans, who have made
+such copious innovations in their political legislation, have introduced very
+sparing alterations in their civil laws, and that with great difficulty,
+although those laws are frequently repugnant to their social condition. The
+reason of this is, that in matters of civil law the majority is obliged to
+defer to the authority of the legal profession, and that the American lawyers
+are disinclined to innovate when they are left to their own choice.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is curious for a Frenchman, accustomed to a very different state of things,
+to hear the perpetual complaints which are made in the United States against
+the stationary propensities of legal men, and their prejudices in favor of
+existing institutions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The influence of the legal habits which are common in America extends beyond
+the limits I have just pointed out. Scarcely any question arises in the United
+States which does not become, sooner or later, a subject of judicial debate;
+hence all parties are obliged to borrow the ideas, and even the language, usual
+in judicial proceedings in their daily controversies. As most public men are,
+or have been, legal practitioners, they introduce the customs and
+technicalities of their profession into the affairs of the country. The jury
+extends this habitude to all classes. The language of the law thus becomes, in
+some measure, a vulgar tongue; the spirit of the law, which is produced in the
+schools and courts of justice, gradually penetrates beyond their walls into the
+bosom of society, where it descends to the lowest classes, so that the whole
+people contracts the habits and the tastes of the magistrate. The lawyers of
+the United States form a party which is but little feared and scarcely
+perceived, which has no badge peculiar to itself, which adapts itself with
+great flexibility to the exigencies of the time, and accommodates itself to all
+the movements of the social body; but this party extends over the whole
+community, and it penetrates into all classes of society; it acts upon the
+country imperceptibly, but it finally fashions it to suit its purposes.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0040" id="link2HCH0040"></a> Chapter XVI: Causes
+Mitigating Tyranny In The United States&mdash;Part II</h2> <h3>Trial By Jury In
+The United States Considered As A Political Institution</h3> <p>
+Trial by jury, which is one of the instruments of the sovereignty of the
+people, deserves to be compared with the other laws which establish that
+sovereignty&mdash;Composition of the jury in the United States&mdash;Effect of
+trial by jury upon the national character&mdash;It educates the people&mdash;It
+tends to establish the authority of the magistrates and to extend a knowledge
+of law among the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Since I have been led by my subject to recur to the administration of justice
+in the United States, I will not pass over this point 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 entered into my
+present purpose to inquire how far trial by jury (more especially in civil
+cases) contributes to insure the best administration of justice, I admit that
+its utility might be contested. As the jury was first introduced at a time when
+society was in an uncivilized state, and when courts of justice were merely
+called upon to decide on the evidence of facts, it is not an easy task to adapt
+it to the wants of a highly civilized community when the mutual relations of
+men are multiplied to a surprising extent, and have assumed the enlightened and
+intellectual character of the age. *b
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ The investigation of trial by jury as a judicial institution, and the
+appreciation of its effects in the United States, together with the advantages
+the Americans have derived from it, would suffice to form a book, and a book
+upon a very useful and curious subject. The State of Louisiana would in
+particular afford the curious phenomenon of a French and English legislation,
+as well as a French and English population, which are gradually combining with
+each other. See the &ldquo;Digeste des Lois de la Louisiane,&rdquo; in two
+volumes; and the &ldquo;Traite sur les Regles des Actions civiles,&rdquo;
+printed in French and English at New Orleans in 1830.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+My present object is to consider the jury as a political institution, and any
+other course would divert me from my subject. Of trial by jury, considered as a
+judicial institution, I shall here say but very few words. When the English
+adopted trial by jury they were a semi-barbarous people; they are become, in
+course of time, one of the most enlightened nations of the earth; and their
+attachment to this institution seems to have increased with their increasing
+cultivation. They soon spread beyond their insular boundaries to every corner
+of the habitable globe; some have formed colonies, others independent states;
+the mother-country has maintained its monarchical constitution; many of its
+offspring have founded powerful republics; but wherever the English have been
+they have boasted of the privilege of trial by jury. *c They have established
+it, or hastened to re-establish it, in all their settlements. A judicial
+institution which obtains the suffrages of a great people for so long a series
+of ages, which is zealously renewed at every epoch of civilization, in all the
+climates of the earth and under every form of human government, cannot be
+contrary to the spirit of justice. *d
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ All the English and American jurists are unanimous upon this head. Mr. Story,
+judge of the Supreme Court of the United States, speaks, in his &ldquo;Treatise
+on the Federal Constitution,&rdquo; of the advantages of trial by jury in civil
+cases:&mdash;&ldquo;The inestimable privilege of a trial by jury in civil
+cases&mdash;a privilege scarcely inferior to that in criminal cases, which is
+counted by all persons to be essential to political and civil liberty. . .
+.&rdquo; (Story, book iii., chap. xxxviii.)]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ If it were our province to point out the utility of the jury as a judicial
+institution in this place, much might be said, and the following arguments
+might be brought forward amongst others:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+By introducing the jury into the business of the courts you are enabled to
+diminish the number of judges, which is a very great advantage. When judges are
+very numerous, death is perpetually thinning the ranks of the judicial
+functionaries, and laying places vacant for newcomers. The ambition of the
+magistrates is therefore continually excited, and they are naturally made
+dependent upon the will of the majority, or the individual who fills up the
+vacant appointments; the officers of the court then rise like the officers of
+an army. This state of things is entirely contrary to the sound administration
+of justice, and to the intentions of the legislator. The office of a judge is
+made inalienable in order that he may remain independent: but of what advantage
+is it that his independence should be protected if he be tempted to sacrifice
+it of his own accord? When judges are very numerous many of them must
+necessarily be incapable of performing their important duties, for a great
+magistrate is a man of no common powers; and I am inclined to believe that a
+half-enlightened tribunal is the worst of all instruments for attaining those
+objects which it is the purpose of courts of justice to accomplish. For my own
+part, I had rather submit the decision of a case to ignorant jurors directed by
+a skilful judge than to judges a majority of whom are imperfectly acquainted
+with jurisprudence and with the laws.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I turn, however, from this part of the subject. To look upon the jury as a mere
+judicial institution is to confine our attention to a very narrow view of it;
+for however great its influence may be upon the decisions of the law courts,
+that influence is very subordinate to the powerful effects which it produces on
+the destinies of the community at large. The jury is above all a political
+institution, and it must be regarded in this light in order to be duly
+appreciated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+By the jury I mean a certain number of citizens chosen indiscriminately, and
+invested with a temporary right of judging. Trial by jury, as applied to the
+repression of crime, appears to me to introduce an eminently republican element
+into the government upon the following grounds:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The institution of the jury may be aristocratic or democratic, according to the
+class of society from which the jurors are selected; but it always preserves
+its republican character, inasmuch as it places the real direction of society
+in the hands of the governed, or of a portion of the governed, instead of
+leaving it under the authority of the Government. Force is never more than a
+transient element of success; and after force comes the notion of right. A
+government which should only be able to crush its enemies upon a field of
+battle would very soon be destroyed. The true sanction of political laws is to
+be found in penal legislation, and if that sanction be wanting the law will
+sooner or later lose its cogency. He who punishes infractions of the law 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 judicial
+authority. The institution of the jury consequently invests the people, or that
+class of citizens, with the direction of society. *e
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ An important remark must, however, be made. Trial by jury does unquestionably
+invest the people with a general control over the actions of citizens, but it
+does 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 people were predisposed to convict, the composition
+and the non-responsibility of the jury would still afford some chances
+favorable to the protection of innocence.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In England the jury is returned from the aristocratic portion of the nation; *f
+the aristocracy makes the laws, applies the laws, and punishes all infractions
+of the laws; everything is established upon a consistent footing, and England
+may with truth be said to constitute an aristocratic republic. In the United
+States the same system is applied to the whole people. Every American citizen
+is qualified to be an elector, a juror, and is eligible to office. *g The
+system of the jury, as it is understood in America, appears to me to be as
+direct and as extreme a consequence of the sovereignty of the people as
+universal suffrage. These institutions are two instruments of equal power,
+which contribute to the supremacy of the majority. All the sovereigns who have
+chosen to govern by their own authority, and to direct society instead of
+obeying its directions, have destroyed or enfeebled the institution of the
+jury. The monarchs of the House of Tudor sent to prison jurors who refused to
+convict, and Napoleon caused them to be returned by his agents.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+f <br />
+[ [This may be true to some extent of special juries, but not of common juries.
+The author seems not to have been aware that the qualifications of jurors in
+England vary exceedingly.]]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ See Appendix, Q.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However clear most of these truths may seem to be, they do not command
+universal assent, and in France, at least, the institution of trial by jury is
+still very imperfectly understood. If the question arises as to the proper
+qualification of jurors, it is confined to a discussion of the intelligence and
+knowledge of the citizens who may be returned, as if the jury was merely a
+judicial institution. This appears to me to be the least part of the subject.
+The jury is pre-eminently a political institution; it must be regarded as one
+form of the sovereignty of the people; when that sovereignty is repudiated, it
+must be rejected, or it must be adapted to the laws by which that sovereignty
+is established. The jury is that portion of the nation to which the execution
+of the laws is entrusted, as the Houses of Parliament constitute that part of
+the nation which makes the laws; and in order that society may be governed with
+consistency and uniformity, the list of citizens qualified to serve on juries
+must increase and diminish with the list of electors. This I hold to be the
+point of view most worthy of the attention of the legislator, and all that
+remains is merely accessory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 unstable unless they are founded upon the manners of a
+nation; manners are the only durable and resisting power in a people. When the
+jury is reserved for criminal offences, the people only witnesses its
+occasional action in certain particular cases; the ordinary course of life goes
+on without its interference, and it is considered as an instrument, but not as
+the only instrument, of obtaining justice. This is true a fortiori when the
+jury is only applied to certain criminal causes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When, on the contrary, the influence of the jury is extended to civil causes,
+its application is constantly palpable; it affects all the interests of the
+community; everyone co-operates in its work: it thus penetrates into all the
+usages of life, it fashions the human mind to its peculiar forms, and is
+gradually associated with the idea of justice itself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The institution of the jury, if confined to criminal causes, is always in
+danger, but when once it is introduced into civil proceedings it defies the
+aggressions of time and of man. If it had been as easy to remove the jury from
+the manners as from the laws of England, it would have perished under Henry
+VIII, and Elizabeth, and the civil jury did in reality, at that period, save
+the liberties of the country. In whatever manner the jury be applied, it cannot
+fail to exercise a powerful influence upon the national character; but this
+influence is prodigiously increased when it is introduced into civil causes.
+The jury, and more especially the jury in civil cases, serves to communicate
+the spirit of the judges to the minds of all the citizens; and this spirit,
+with the habits 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 is reduced to a mere destructive passion. It teaches men to
+practice 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 civil action brought against him. The jury
+teaches every man not to recoil before the responsibility of his own actions,
+and impresses him with that manly confidence without which political virtue
+cannot 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 the Government. By obliging men to turn their attention
+to affairs which are not exclusively their own, it rubs off that individual
+egotism which is the rust of society.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The jury contributes most powerfully to form the judgement and to increase the
+natural intelligence of a people, and this is, in my opinion, its greatest
+advantage. It may be regarded as a gratuitous public school ever open, in which
+every juror learns to exercise his rights, enters into daily communication with
+the most learned and enlightened members of the upper classes, and becomes
+practically acquainted with the laws of his country, which are brought within
+the reach of his capacity by the efforts of the bar, the 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 are in litigation; but I am certain it
+is highly beneficial to those who decide the litigation; and I look upon it as
+one of the most efficacious means for the education of the people which society
+can employ.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What I have hitherto said applies to all nations, but the remark I am now about
+to make is peculiar to the Americans and to democratic peoples. I have already
+observed that in democracies the members of the legal profession and the
+magistrates constitute the only aristocratic body which can check the
+irregularities of the people. This aristocracy is invested with no physical
+power, but 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 armed against a single individual, the jury
+is apt to look upon the judge as the passive instrument of social power, and to
+mistrust his advice. Moreover, criminal causes are entirely founded upon the
+evidence of 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 their intelligence is
+completely under the control of his learning. It is the judge who sums up the
+various arguments with which their memory has been wearied out, and who guides
+them through the devious course of the proceedings; he points their attention
+to the exact question of fact which they are called upon to solve, and he puts
+the answer to the question of law into their mouths. His influence upon their
+verdict is almost unlimited.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If I am called upon to explain why I am but little moved by the 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 question of fact,
+the jury has only the semblance of a judicial body. The jury sanctions the
+decision of the judge, they by the authority of society which they represent,
+and he by that of reason and of law. *h
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+h <br />
+[ See Appendix, R.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In England and in America the judges exercise an influence upon criminal trials
+which the French judges have never possessed. The reason of this difference may
+easily be discovered; the English and American magistrates establish their
+authority in civil causes, and only transfer it afterwards to tribunals of
+another kind, where that authority was not acquired. In some cases (and they
+are frequently the most important ones) the American judges have the right of
+deciding causes alone. *i Upon these occasions they are accidentally placed in
+the position which the French judges habitually occupy, but they are invested
+with far more power than the latter; they are still surrounded by the
+reminiscence of the jury, and their judgment has almost as much authority as
+the voice of the community at large, represented by that institution. Their
+influence extends beyond the limits of the courts; in the recreations of
+private life as well as in the turmoil of public business, abroad 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
+the habits of thought and the characters of the individuals who took a part in
+his judgment.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+i <br />
+[ The Federal judges decide upon their own authority almost all the questions
+most important to the country.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The jury, then, which seems to restrict the rights of magistracy, does in
+reality consolidate its power, and in no country are the judges so powerful as
+there, where the people partakes their privileges. It is more especially by
+means of the jury in civil causes that the American magistrates imbue all
+classes of society with the spirit of their profession. Thus the jury, which is
+the most energetic means of making the people rule, is also the most
+efficacious means of teaching it to rule well.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0041" id="link2HCH0041"></a> Chapter XVII: Principal
+Causes Maintaining The Democratic Republic&mdash;Part I</h2>
+
+<p>
+Principal Causes Which Tend To Maintain The Democratic Republic In The United
+States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A democratic republic subsists in the United States, and the principal object
+of this book has been to account for the fact of its existence. Several of the
+causes which contribute to maintain the institutions of America have been
+involuntarily passed by or only hinted at as I was borne along by my subject.
+Others I have been unable to discuss, and those on which I have dwelt most are,
+as it were, buried in the details of the former parts of this work. I think,
+therefore, that before I proceed to speak of the future, I cannot do better
+than collect within a small compass the reasons which best explain the present.
+In this retrospective chapter I shall be succinct, for I shall take care to
+remind the reader very summarily of what he already knows; and I shall only
+select the most prominent of those facts which I have not yet pointed out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All the causes which contribute to the maintenance of the democratic republic
+in the United States are reducible to three heads:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I. The peculiar and accidental situation in which Providence has placed the
+Americans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+II. The laws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+III. The manners and customs of the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Accidental Or Providential Causes Which Contribute To The Maintenance Of The
+Democratic Republic In The United States The Union has no neighbors&mdash;No
+metropolis&mdash;The Americans have had the chances of birth in their
+favor&mdash;America an empty country&mdash;How this circumstance contributes
+powerfully to the maintenance of the democratic republic in America&mdash;How
+the American wilds are peopled&mdash;Avidity of the Anglo-Americans in taking
+possession of the solitudes of the New World&mdash;Influence of physical
+prosperity upon the political opinions of the Americans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A thousand circumstances, independent of the will of man, concur to facilitate
+the maintenance of a democratic republic in the United States. Some of these
+peculiarities are known, the others may easily be pointed out; but I shall
+confine myself to the most prominent amongst them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Americans have no neighbors, and consequently they have no great wars, or
+financial crises, or inroads, or conquest to dread; they require neither great
+taxes, nor great 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 impossible to deny the inconceivable influence
+which military glory exercises upon the spirit of a nation. General Jackson,
+whom the Americans have twice elected to the head of their Government, is a man
+of a violent temper and mediocre talents; no one circumstance in the whole
+course of his career ever proved that he is qualified to govern a free people,
+and indeed the majority of the enlightened classes of the Union has always been
+opposed to him. But he was raised to the Presidency, and has been maintained in
+that lofty station, solely by the recollection of a victory which he gained
+twenty years ago under the walls of New Orleans, a victory which was, however,
+a very ordinary achievement, and which could only be remembered in a country
+where battles are rare. Now the people which is thus carried away by the
+illusions of glory is unquestionably the most cold and calculating, the most
+unmilitary (if I may use the expression), and the most prosaic of all the
+peoples of the earth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+America has no great capital *a city, whose influence is directly or indirectly
+felt over the whole extent of the country, which I hold to be one of the first
+causes of the maintenance of republican institutions in the United States. In
+cities men cannot be prevented from concerting together, and from awakening a
+mutual excitement which prompts sudden and passionate resolutions. Cities may
+be looked upon as large assemblies, of which all the inhabitants are members;
+their populace exercises a prodigious influence upon the magistrates, and
+frequently executes its own wishes without their intervention.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ The United States have no metropolis, but they already contain several very
+large cities. Philadelphia reckoned 161,000 inhabitants and New York 202,000 in
+the year 1830. The lower orders which inhabit these cities constitute a rabble
+even more formidable than the populace of European towns. They consist of freed
+blacks in the first place, who are condemned by the laws and by public opinion
+to a hereditary state of misery and degradation. They also contain a multitude
+of Europeans who 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 bringing with them any of those interests which
+counteract their baneful influence. As inhabitants of a country where they have
+no civil rights, they are ready to turn all the passions which agitate 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,
+whilst it remains under the control of the majority of the nation, will be
+independent of the town population, and able to repress its excesses.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[The population of the city of New York had risen, in 1870, to 942,292, and
+that of Philadelphia to 674,022. Brooklyn, which may be said to form part of
+New York city, has a population of 396,099, in addition to that of New York.
+The frequent disturbances in the great cities of America, and the excessive
+corruption of their local governments&mdash;over which there is no effectual
+control&mdash;are amongst the greatest evils and dangers of the country.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To subject the provinces to the metropolis is therefore not only to place the
+destiny of the empire in the hands of a portion of the community, which may be
+reprobated as unjust, but to place it in the hands of a populace acting under
+its own impulses, which must be avoided as dangerous. The preponderance of
+capital cities is therefore a serious blow upon the representative system, and
+it exposes modern republics to the same defect as the republics of antiquity,
+which all perished from not having been acquainted with that form of
+government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It would be easy for me to adduce a great number of secondary causes which have
+contributed to establish, and which concur to maintain, the democratic republic
+of the United States. But I discern two principal circumstances amongst these
+favorable elements, which I hasten to point out. I have already observed that
+the origin of the American settlements may be looked upon as the first and most
+efficacious cause to which the present 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 conditions into the country whence the
+democratic republic has very naturally taken its rise. Nor was this all they
+did; for besides this republican condition of society, the early settler
+bequeathed to their descendants those customs, manners, and opinions which
+contribute most to the success of a republican form of government. When I
+reflect upon the consequences of this primary circumstance, methinks I see the
+destiny of America embodied in the first Puritan who landed on those shores,
+just as the human race was represented by the first man.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The chief circumstance which has favored the establishment and the maintenance
+of a democratic republic in the United States is the nature of the territory
+which the American inhabit. Their ancestors gave them the love of equality and
+of freedom, but God himself gave them the means of remaining equal and free, by
+placing them upon a boundless continent, which is open to their exertions.
+General prosperity is favorable to the stability of all governments, but more
+particularly of a democratic constitution, which depends upon the dispositions
+of the majority, and more particularly of that portion of the community which
+is most exposed to feel the pressure of want. When the people rules, it must be
+rendered happy, or it will overturn the State, and misery is apt to stimulate
+it to those excesses to which ambition rouses kings. The physical causes,
+independent of the laws, which contribute to promote general prosperity, are
+more numerous in America than they have ever been in any other country in the
+world, at any other period of history. In the United States not only is
+legislation democratic, but nature herself favors the cause of the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In what part of human tradition can be found anything at all similar to that
+which is occurring under our eyes in North America? 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 inferior civilization, but which occupied and cultivated the soil. To
+found their new states it was necessary to extirpate or to subdue a numerous
+population, until civilization has been made to blush for their success. But
+North America was only inhabited by wandering tribes, who took no thought of
+the natural riches of the soil, and that vast country was still, properly
+speaking, an empty continent, a desert land awaiting its inhabitants.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Everything is extraordinary in America, the social condition of the
+inhabitants, as well as the laws; but the soil upon which these institutions
+are founded is more extraordinary than all the rest. When man was first placed
+upon the earth by the Creator, the earth was inexhaustible in its youth, but
+man was weak and ignorant; and when he had learned to explore the treasures
+which it contained, hosts of his fellow creatures covered its surface, and he
+was obliged to earn an asylum for repose and for freedom by the sword. At that
+same period North America was discovered, as if it had been kept in reserve by
+the Deity, and had just risen from beneath the waters of the deluge.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+That continent still presents, as it did in the primeval time, rivers which
+rise from never-failing sources, green and moist solitudes, and fields which
+the ploughshare of the husbandman has never turned. In this state it is offered
+to man, not in the barbarous and isolated condition of the early ages, but to a
+being who is already in possession of the most potent secrets of the natural
+world, who is united to his fellow-men, and instructed by the experience of
+fifty centuries. At this very time thirteen millions of civilized Europeans are
+peaceably spreading over those fertile plains, with whose resources and whose
+extent they are not yet themselves accurately acquainted. Three or four
+thousand soldiers drive the wandering races of the aborigines before them;
+these are followed by the pioneers, who pierce the woods, scare off the beasts
+of prey, explore the courses of the inland streams, and make ready the
+triumphal procession of civilization across the waste.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The favorable influence of the temporal prosperity of America upon the
+institutions of that country has been so often described by others, and
+adverted to by myself, that I shall not enlarge upon it beyond the addition of
+a few facts. An erroneous notion is generally entertained that the deserts of
+America are peopled by European emigrants, who annually disembark upon the
+coasts of the New World, whilst the American population increases and
+multiplies upon the soil which its forefathers tilled. The European settler,
+however, usually arrives in the United States without friends, and sometimes
+without resources; in order to subsist he is obliged to work for hire, and he
+rarely proceeds beyond that belt of industrious population which adjoins the
+ocean. The desert cannot be explored without capital or credit; and the body
+must be accustomed to the rigors of a new climate before it can be exposed to
+the chances of forest life. It is the Americans themselves who daily quit the
+spots which gave them birth to acquire extensive domains in a remote country.
+Thus the European leaves his cottage for the trans-Atlantic shores; and the
+American, who is born on that very coast, plunges in his turn into the wilds of
+Central America. This double emigration is incessant; it begins in the remotest
+parts of Europe, it crosses the Atlantic Ocean, and it advances over the
+solitudes of the New World. Millions of men are marching at once towards the
+same horizon; their language, their religion, their manners differ, their
+object is the same. The gifts of fortune are promised in the West, and to the
+West they bend their course. *b
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ [The number of foreign immigrants into the United States in the last fifty
+years (from 1820 to 1871) is stated to be 7,556,007. Of these, 4,104,553 spoke
+English&mdash;that is, they came from Great Britain, Ireland, or the British
+colonies; 2,643,069 came from Germany or northern Europe; and about half a
+million from the south of Europe.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No event can be compared with this continuous removal of the human race, except
+perhaps those irruptions which preceded the fall of the Roman Empire. Then, as
+well as now, generations of men were impelled forwards in the same direction to
+meet and struggle on the same spot; but the designs of Providence were not the
+same; then, every newcomer was the harbinger of destruction and of death; now,
+every adventurer brings with him the elements of prosperity and of life. The
+future still conceals from us the ulterior consequences of this emigration of
+the Americans towards the West; but we can readily apprehend its more 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 in Connecticut, which only contains
+fifty-nine inhabitants to the square mile, the population has not increased by
+more than one-quarter in forty years, whilst that of England has been augmented
+by one-third in the lapse of the same period. The European emigrant always
+lands, therefore, in a country which is but half full, and where hands are in
+request: he becomes a workman in easy circumstances; his son goes to seek his
+fortune in unpeopled regions, and he becomes a rich landowner. The former
+amasses the capital which the latter invests, and the stranger as well as the
+native is unacquainted with want.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The laws of the United States are extremely favorable to the division of
+property; but a cause which is more powerful than the laws prevents property
+from being divided to excess. *c This is very perceptible in the States which
+are beginning to be thickly peopled; Massachusetts is the most populous part of
+the Union, but it contains only eighty inhabitants to the square mile, which is
+must less than in France, where 162 are reckoned to the same extent of country.
+But in Massachusetts estates are very rarely divided; the eldest son takes the
+land, and the others go to seek their fortune in the desert. The law has
+abolished the rights of primogeniture, but circumstances have concurred to
+re-establish it under a form of which none can complain, and by which no just
+rights are impaired.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ In New England the estates are exceedingly small, but they are rarely
+subjected to further division.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A single fact will suffice to show the prodigious number of individuals who
+leave New England, in this manner, to settle themselves in the wilds. We were
+assured in 1830 that thirty-six of the members of Congress were born in the
+little State of Connecticut. The population of Connecticut, which constitutes
+only one forty-third part of that of the United States, thus furnished
+one-eighth of the whole body of representatives. The States of Connecticut,
+however, only sends five delegates to Congress; and the thirty-one others sit
+for the new Western States. If these thirty-one individuals had remained in
+Connecticut, it is probable that instead of becoming rich landowners they would
+have remained humble laborers, that they would have lived in obscurity without
+being able to rise into public life, and that, far from becoming useful members
+of the legislature, they might have been unruly citizens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These reflections do not escape the observation of the Americans any more than
+of ourselves. &ldquo;It cannot be doubted,&rdquo; says Chancellor Kent in his
+&ldquo;Treatise on American Law,&rdquo; &ldquo;that the division of landed
+estates must produce great evils when it is carried to such excess as that each
+parcel of land is insufficient to support a family; but these disadvantages
+have never been felt in the United States, and many generations must elapse
+before they can be felt. The extent of our inhabited territory, the abundance
+of adjacent land, and the continual stream of emigration flowing 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.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is difficult to describe the rapacity with which the American rushes forward
+to secure the immense booty which fortune proffers to him. In the pursuit he
+fearlessly braves the arrow of the Indian and the distempers of the forest; he
+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 more intense than the
+love of life. Before him lies a boundless continent, and he urges onwards as if
+time pressed, and he was afraid of finding no room for his exertions. I have
+spoken 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 greater part of its inhabitants were not
+born within its confines; its capital has only been built thirty years, and its
+territory is still covered by an immense extent of uncultivated fields;
+nevertheless the population of Ohio is already proceeding westward, and most of
+the settlers who descend to the fertile savannahs of Illinois are citizens of
+Ohio. These men left their first country to improve their condition; they quit
+their resting-place to ameliorate it still more; fortune awaits them
+everywhere, but happiness they cannot attain. The desire of prosperity is
+become an ardent and restless passion in their minds which grows by what it
+gains. They early broke the ties which bound them to their natal earth, and
+they have contracted no fresh ones on their way. Emigration was at first
+necessary to them as a means of subsistence; 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Sometimes the progress of man is so rapid that the desert reappears behind him.
+The woods stoop to give him a passage, and spring up again when he has passed.
+It is not uncommon in crossing the new States of the West 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 retreats, 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 their own, and Nature
+covers the traces of man&rsquo;s path with branches and with flowers, which
+obliterate his evanescent track.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I remember that, in crossing one of the woodland districts which still cover
+the State of New York, I reached the shores of a lake embosomed in forests
+coeval 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 object attested the presence of man except a column of smoke which
+might be seen on the horizon rising from the tops of the trees to the clouds,
+and seeming to hang from heaven rather than to be mounting to the sky. An
+Indian shallop was hauled up on the sand, which tempted me to visit the islet
+that had first attracted my attention, and in a few minutes I set foot upon its
+banks. The whole island formed one of those delicious solitudes of the New
+World which almost lead civilized man to regret the haunts of the savage. A
+luxuriant vegetation bore witness to the incomparable fruitfulness of the soil.
+The deep silence which is common to the wilds of North America was only broken
+by the hoarse cooing of the wood-pigeon, and the tapping of the woodpecker upon
+the bark of trees. I was far from supposing that this spot had ever been
+inhabited, so completely did Nature seem to be left to her own caprices; but
+when I reached the centre of the isle I thought that I discovered 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 retreat. 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 were intertwined with living verdure, and his cabin was transformed
+into a bower. In the midst of these shrubs a few stones were to be seen,
+blackened with fire and sprinkled with thin ashes; here the hearth had no doubt
+been, and the chimney in falling had covered it with rubbish. I stood for some
+time in silent admiration of the exuberance of Nature and the littleness of
+man: and when I was obliged to leave that enchanting solitude, I exclaimed with
+melancholy, &ldquo;Are ruins, then, already here?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Europe we are wont to look upon a restless disposition, an unbounded desire
+of riches, and an excessive love of independence, as propensities very
+formidable to society. Yet these are the very elements which ensure a long and
+peaceful duration to the republics of America. Without these unquiet passions
+the population would collect in certain spots, and would soon be subject to
+wants like those of the Old World, which it is difficult to satisfy; for such
+is the present 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 great influence on the estimation in which human actions are held in
+the two hemispheres. The Americans frequently term what we should call cupidity
+a laudable industry; and they blame as faint-heartedness what we consider to be
+the virtue of moderate desires.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In France, simple tastes, orderly manners, domestic affections, and the
+attachments which men feel to the place of their birth, are looked upon as
+great guarantees of the tranquillity and happiness of the State. But in America
+nothing seems to be more prejudicial to society than these virtues. The French
+Canadians, who have faithfully preserved the traditions of their pristine
+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,
+patriotic, and humane inhabitants make extraordinary efforts to render the
+people dissatisfied with those simple enjoyments which still content it. There,
+the seductions of wealth are vaunted with as much zeal as the charms of an
+honest but limited income 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 eulogies, we shall hear that nothing is more praiseworthy than
+to exchange the pure and homely pleasures which even the poor man tastes in his
+own country for the dull delights of prosperity under a foreign sky; to leave
+the patrimonial hearth and the turf beneath which his forefathers sleep; in
+short, to abandon the living and the dead in quest of fortune.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the present time America presents a field for human effort far more
+extensive than any sum of labor which 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, since they can be satisfied without difficulty; the
+growth of human passions need not be dreaded, since all passions may find an
+easy and a legitimate object; nor can men be put in possession of too much
+freedom, since they are scarcely ever tempted to misuse their liberties.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The American republics of the present day are like companies of adventurers
+formed to explore in common the waste lands of the New World, and busied in a
+flourishing trade. The passions which agitate the Americans most deeply are not
+their political but their commercial passions; or, to speak more correctly,
+they introduce the habits they contract in business into their political life.
+They love order, without which affairs do not prosper; and they set an especial
+value upon a regular conduct, which is the foundation of a solid business; they
+prefer the good sense which amasses large fortunes to that enterprising spirit
+which frequently dissipates them; general ideas alarm their minds, which are
+accustomed to positive calculations, and they hold practice in more honor than
+theory.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is in America that one learns to understand the influence which physical
+prosperity exercises over political actions, and even over opinions which ought
+to acknowledge no sway but that of reason; and it is more especially amongst
+strangers that this truth is perceptible. Most of the European emigrants to the
+New World carry with them that wild love of independence and of change which
+our calamities are so apt to engender. I sometimes met with Europeans in the
+United States who had been obliged to leave their own country on account of
+their political opinions. They all astonished me by the language they held, but
+one of them surprised me more than all the rest. As I was crossing one of the
+most remote districts of Pennsylvania I was benighted, and obliged to beg for
+hospitality at the gate of a wealthy planter, who was a Frenchman by birth. He
+bade me sit down beside his fire, and we began to talk with that freedom which
+befits persons who meet in the backwoods, two thousand leagues from their
+native country. I was aware that my host had been a great leveller and an
+ardent demagogue forty years ago, and that his name was not unknown to fame. I
+was, therefore, not a little surprised to hear him discuss the rights of
+property as an economist or a landowner might have done: he spoke of the
+necessary gradations which fortune establishes among men, of obedience to
+established laws, of the influence of good morals in commonwealths, and of the
+support which religious opinions give to order and to freedom; he even went to
+far as to quote an evangelical authority in corroboration of one of his
+political tenets.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I listened, and marvelled at the feebleness of human reason. A proposition is
+true or false, but no art can prove it to be one or the other, in the midst of
+the uncertainties of science and the conflicting lessons of experience, until a
+new incident disperses the clouds of doubt; I was poor, I become rich, and I am
+not to expect that prosperity will act upon my conduct, and leave my judgment
+free; my opinions change with my fortune, and the happy circumstances which I
+turn to my advantage furnish me with that decisive argument which was before
+wanting. The influence of prosperity acts still more freely upon the American
+than upon strangers. The American has always seen the connection of public
+order and public prosperity, intimately united as they are, go on before his
+eyes; he does not conceive that one can subsist without the other; he has
+therefore nothing to forget; nor has he, like so many Europeans, to unlearn the
+lessons of his early education.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0042" id="link2HCH0042"></a> Chapter XVII: Principal
+Causes Maintaining The Democratic Republic&mdash;Part II</h2>
+
+<p>
+Influence Of The Laws Upon The Maintenance Of The Democratic Republic In The
+United States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Three principal causes of the maintenance of the democratic
+republic&mdash;Federal Constitutions&mdash;Municipal
+institutions&mdash;Judicial power.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The principal aim of this book has been to make known the laws of the United
+States; if this 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, and 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
+within the limits of a single chapter. It is not my intention to retrace the
+path I have already pursued, and a very few lines will suffice to recapitulate
+what I have previously explained.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Three circumstances seem to me to contribute most powerfully to the maintenance
+of the democratic republic in the United States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first is that Federal form of Government which the Americans have adopted,
+and which enables the Union to combine the power of a great empire with the
+security of a small State.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The second consists in those municipal institutions which limit the despotism
+of the majority, and at the same time impart a taste for freedom and a
+knowledge of the art of being free to the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The third is to be met with in the constitution of the judicial power. I have
+shown in what manner the courts of justice serve to repress the excesses of
+democracy, and how they check and direct the impulses of the majority without
+stopping its activity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Influence Of Manners Upon The Maintenance Of The Democratic Republic In The
+United States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have previously remarked that the manners of the people may be considered as
+one of the general causes to which the maintenance of a democratic republic in
+the United States is attributable. I here used the word manners with the
+meaning which the ancients attached to the word mores, for I apply it not only
+to manners in their proper sense of what constitutes the character of social
+intercourse, but I extend it to the various notions and opinions current among
+men, and to the mass of those ideas which constitute their character of mind. I
+comprise, therefore, under this term the whole moral and intellectual condition
+of a people. My intention is not to draw a picture of American manners, but
+simply to point out such features of them as are favorable to the maintenance
+of political institutions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Religion Considered As A Political Institution, Which Powerfully Contributes To
+The Maintenance Of The Democratic Republic Amongst The Americans
+</p>
+
+<p>
+North America peopled by men who professed a democratic and republican
+Christianity&mdash;Arrival of the Catholics&mdash;For what reason the Catholics
+form the most democratic and the most republican class at the present time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Every religion is to be found in juxtaposition to 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 upon
+one uniform principle; and man will endeavor, if I may use the expression, to
+harmonize the state in which he lives upon earth with the state which he
+believes to await him in heaven. The greatest part of British America was
+peopled by men who, after having shaken off the authority of the Pope,
+acknowledged no other religious supremacy; they brought with them into the New
+World a form of Christianity which I cannot better describe than by styling it
+a democratic and republican religion. This sect contributed powerfully to the
+establishment of a democracy and a republic, and from the earliest settlement
+of the emigrants politics and religion contracted an alliance which has never
+been dissolved.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+About fifty years ago Ireland began to pour a Catholic population into the
+United States; on the other hand, the Catholics of America made proselytes, and
+at the present moment more than a million of Christians professing the truths
+of the Church of Rome are to be met with in the Union. *d The Catholics are
+faithful to the observances of their religion; they are fervent and zealous in
+the support and belief of their doctrines. Nevertheless they constitute the
+most republican and the most democratic class of citizens which exists in the
+United States; and although this fact may surprise the observer at first, the
+causes by which it is occasioned may easily be discovered upon reflection.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ [It is difficult to ascertain with accuracy the amount of the Roman Catholic
+population of the United States, but in 1868 an able writer in the
+&ldquo;Edinburgh Review&rdquo; (vol. cxxvii. p. 521) affirmed that the whole
+Catholic population of the United States was then about 4,000,000, divided into
+43 dioceses, with 3,795 churches, under the care of 45 bishops and 2,317
+clergymen. But this rapid increase is mainly supported by immigration from the
+Catholic countries of Europe.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I think that the Catholic religion has erroneously been looked upon as the
+natural enemy of democracy. Amongst the various sects of Christians,
+Catholicism seems to me, on the contrary, to be one of those which are most
+favorable to the equality of conditions. 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+On doctrinal points the Catholic faith places all human capacities upon the
+same level; it subjects the wise and ignorant, the man of genius and the vulgar
+crowd, to the details of the same creed; it imposes the same observances upon
+the rich and needy, it inflicts the same austerities upon 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 at the
+foot of the same altar, even as they are confounded in the sight of God. If
+Catholicism predisposes the faithful to obedience, it certainly does not
+prepare them for inequality; but the contrary may be said of Protestantism,
+which generally tends to make men independent, more than to render them equal.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Catholicism is like an absolute monarchy; if the sovereign be removed, all the
+other classes of society are more equal than they are in republics. It has not
+unfrequently occurred that the Catholic priest has left the service of the
+altar to mix with the governing powers of society, and to take his place
+amongst the civil gradations of men. This religious influence has sometimes
+been used to secure the interests of that political state of things to which he
+belonged. At other times Catholics have taken the side of aristocracy from a
+spirit of religion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But no sooner is the priesthood entirely separated from the government, as is
+the case in the United States, than is found that no class of men are more
+naturally disposed than the Catholics to transfuse the doctrine of the equality
+of conditions 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
+democratic and republican principles, at least they are not necessarily opposed
+to them; and their social position, as well as their limited number, obliges
+them to adopt these opinions. Most of the Catholics are poor, and they have no
+chance of taking a part in the government unless it be open to all the
+citizens. They constitute a minority, and all rights must be respected in order
+to insure to them the free exercise of their own privileges. These two causes
+induce them, unconsciously, to adopt political doctrines, which they would
+perhaps support with less zeal if they were rich and preponderant.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Catholic clergy of the United States has never attempted to oppose this
+political tendency, but it seeks rather to justify its results. The priests in
+America have divided the intellectual world into two parts: in the one they
+place the doctrines of revealed religion, which command their assent; in the
+other they leave those truths which they believe to have been freely left open
+to the researches of political inquiry. Thus the Catholics of the United States
+are at the same time the most faithful believers and the most zealous citizens.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It may be asserted that in the United States no religious doctrine displays the
+slightest hostility to democratic and republican institutions. The clergy of
+all the different sects hold the same language, their opinions are consonant to
+the laws, and the human intellect flows onwards in one sole current.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I happened to be staying in one of the largest towns in the Union, when I was
+invited to attend a public meeting which had been called for the purpose of
+assisting the Poles, and of sending them supplies 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 ecclesiastical robes advanced
+to the front of the hustings: the spectators rose, and stood uncovered, whilst
+he spoke in the following terms:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Almighty 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 national independence; Thou who didst make them triumph over a hateful
+oppression, and hast granted to our people the benefits of liberty and peace;
+Turn, O Lord, a favorable eye upon the other hemisphere; pitifully look down
+upon that heroic nation which is even now struggling as we did in the former
+time, and for the same rights which we defended with our blood. Thou, who didst
+create Man in the likeness of the same image, let not tyranny mar Thy work, and
+establish inequality upon the earth. Almighty God! do Thou watch over the
+destiny of the Poles, and render them worthy to be free. May Thy wisdom direct
+their councils, and may Thy strength sustain their arms! Shed forth Thy terror
+over their enemies, scatter the powers which take counsel against them; and
+vouchsafe that the injustice which the world has witnessed for fifty years, be
+not consummated in our time. O Lord, who holdest alike the hearts of nations
+and of men in Thy powerful hand; raise up allies to the sacred cause of right;
+arouse the French nation from the apathy in which its rulers retain it, that it
+go forth again to fight for the liberties of the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;Lord, turn not Thou Thy face from us, and grant that we may always be
+the most religious as well as the freest people of the earth. Almighty God,
+hear our supplications 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 men. Amen.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The whole meeting responded &ldquo;Amen!&rdquo; with devotion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Indirect Influence Of Religious Opinions Upon Political Society In The United
+States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Christian morality common to all sects&mdash;Influence of religion upon the
+manners of the Americans&mdash;Respect for the marriage tie&mdash;In what
+manner religion confines the imagination of the Americans within certain
+limits, and checks the passion of innovation&mdash;Opinion of the Americans on
+the political utility of religion&mdash;Their exertions to extend and secure
+its predominance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have just shown what the direct influence of religion upon politics is in the
+United States, but its indirect influence 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sects which exist in the United States are innumerable. They all differ in
+respect to the worship which is due from man to his Creator, but they all agree
+in respect to the duties which are due from man to man. Each sect adores the
+Deity in its own peculiar manner, but all the sects preach the same moral law
+in the name of God. If it be of the highest importance to man, as an
+individual, that his religion should be true, the case of society is not the
+same. Society has no future life to hope for or to fear; and provided the
+citizens profess a religion, the peculiar tenets of that religion are of very
+little importance to its interests. Moreover, almost all the sects of the
+United States are comprised within the great unity of Christianity, and
+Christian morality is everywhere the same.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It may be believed without unfairness that a certain number of Americans pursue
+a peculiar form of worship, from habit more than from conviction. In the United
+States the sovereign authority is religious, and consequently hypocrisy must be
+common; but there is no country in the whole world in which the Christian
+religion retains a greater influence over the souls of men than in America; and
+there can be no greater proof of its utility, and of its conformity to human
+nature, than that its influence is most powerfully felt over the most
+enlightened and free nation of the earth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have remarked that the members of the American clergy in general, without
+even excepting those who do not admit religious liberty, are all in favor of
+civil freedom; but they do not support any particular political system. They
+keep aloof from parties and from public affairs. In the United States religion
+exercises but little influence upon the laws and upon the details of public
+opinion, but it directs the manners of the community, and by regulating
+domestic life it regulates the State.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 restrain man from the numberless temptations of
+fortune; nor can it check that passion for gain which every incident of his
+life contributes to arouse, but its influence over the mind of woman is
+supreme, and women are the protectors of morals. There is certainly no country
+in the world where the tie of marriage is so much respected as in America, or
+where conjugal happiness is more highly or worthily appreciated. In Europe
+almost all the disturbances of society arise from the irregularities of
+domestic life. To despise the natural bonds and legitimate pleasures of home,
+is to contract a taste for excesses, a restlessness of heart, and the evil of
+fluctuating desires. Agitated by the tumultuous passions which frequently
+disturb his dwelling, the European is galled by the obedience which the
+legislative powers of the State exact. But when the American retires from the
+turmoil of public life to the bosom of his family, he finds in it the image of
+order and of peace. There his pleasures are simple and natural, his joys are
+innocent and calm; and as he finds that an orderly life is the surest path to
+happiness, he accustoms himself without difficulty to moderate his opinions as
+well as his tastes. Whilst the European endeavors to forget his domestic
+troubles by agitating society, the American derives from his own home that love
+of order which he afterwards carries with him into public affairs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States the influence of religion is not confined to the manners,
+but it extends to the intelligence of the people. Amongst the Anglo-Americans,
+there are some who profess the doctrines of Christianity from a sincere belief
+in them, and others who do the same because they are afraid to be suspected of
+unbelief. Christianity, therefore, reigns without any obstacle, by universal
+consent; the consequence is, as I have before observed, that every principle of
+the moral world is fixed and determinate, although the political world is
+abandoned to the debates and the experiments of men. Thus the human mind is
+never left to wander across a boundless field; and, whatever may be its
+pretensions, it is checked from time to time by barriers which it cannot
+surmount. Before it can perpetrate innovation, certain primal and immutable
+principles are laid down, and the boldest conceptions of human device are
+subjected to certain forms which retard and stop their completion.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The imagination of the Americans, even in its greatest flights, is circumspect
+and undecided; its impulses are checked, and its works unfinished. These habits
+of restraint recur in political society, and are singularly favorable both to
+the tranquillity of the people and to the durability of the institutions it has
+established. Nature and circumstances concurred to make the inhabitants of the
+United States bold men, as is sufficiently attested by the enterprising spirit
+with which they seek for fortune. If the mind of the Americans were free from
+all trammels, they would very shortly become the most daring innovators and the
+most implacable disputants in the world. But the revolutionists of America are
+obliged to profess an ostensible respect for Christian morality and equity,
+which does not easily permit them to violate the laws that oppose their
+designs; nor would they find it easy to surmount the scruples of their
+partisans, even if they were able to get over their own. Hitherto no one in the
+United States has dared to advance the maxim, that everything is permissible
+with a view to the interests of society; an impious adage which seems to have
+been invented in an age of freedom to shelter all the tyrants of future ages.
+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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Religion in America takes no direct part in the government of society, but it
+must nevertheless be regarded as the foremost of the political institutions of
+that country; for if it does not impart a taste for freedom, it facilitates the
+use of free institutions. Indeed, it is in this same point of view that the
+inhabitants of the United States themselves look upon religious belief. I do
+not know whether all the Americans have a sincere faith in their religion, for
+who can search the human heart? but I 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States, if a political character attacks a sect, this may not
+prevent even the partisans of that very sect from supporting him; but if he
+attacks all the sects together, everyone abandons him, and he remains alone.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whilst I was in America, a witness, who happened to be called at the assizes of
+the county of Chester (State of New York), declared that he did not believe in
+the existence of God, or in the immortality of the soul. The judge refused to
+admit his evidence, on the ground that the witness had destroyed beforehand all
+the confidence of the Court in what he was about to say. *e The newspapers
+related the fact without any further comment.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ The New York &ldquo;Spectator&rdquo; of August 23, 1831, relates the fact in
+the following terms:&mdash;&ldquo;The Court of Common Pleas of Chester county
+(New York) a few days since rejected a witness who declared his disbelief in
+the existence of God. The 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 that he knew of no cause in a Christian country where a witness
+had been permitted to testify without such belief.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Americans combine the notions of Christianity and of liberty so intimately
+in their minds, that it is impossible to make them conceive the one without the
+other; and with them this conviction does not spring from that barren
+traditionary faith which seems to vegetate in the soul rather than to live.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have known of societies formed by the 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 institutions than the people from
+which they emanated. I met with wealthy New Englanders who abandoned the
+country in which they were born in order to lay the foundations of Christianity
+and of freedom on the banks of the Missouri, or in the prairies of Illinois.
+Thus religious zeal is perpetually stimulated in the United States by the
+duties of patriotism. These men do not act from an exclusive consideration of
+the promises of a future life; eternity is only one motive of their devotion to
+the cause; and if you converse with these missionaries of Christian
+civilization, you will be surprised to find how much value they set upon the
+goods of this world, and that you meet with a politician where you expected to
+find a priest. They will tell you that &ldquo;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 religious,
+in order to maintain our liberties.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 is to
+believe in some blind cosmogony, or to assert with Cabanis the secretion of
+thought by the brain, I can only reply that those who hold this language have
+never been in America, and that they have never seen a religious or a free
+nation. When they return from their expedition, we shall hear what they have to
+say.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are persons in France who look upon republican institutions as a
+temporary means of power, of wealth, and distinction; men who are the
+condottieri of liberty, and who fight for their own advantage, whatever be the
+colors they wear: it is not to these that I address myself. But there are
+others who look forward to the republican form of government as a tranquil and
+lasting 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
+to the prejudice 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; and 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 relaxed? and what can be done with a people
+which is its own master, if it be not submissive to the Divinity?
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0043" id="link2HCH0043"></a> Chapter XVII: Principal
+Causes Maintaining The Democratic Republic&mdash;Part III</h2>
+
+<p>
+Principal Causes Which Render Religion Powerful In America Care taken by the
+Americans to separate the Church from the State&mdash;The laws, public opinion,
+and even the exertions of the clergy concur to promote this end&mdash;Influence
+of religion upon the mind in the United States attributable to this
+cause&mdash;Reason of this&mdash;What is the natural state of men with regard
+to religion at the present time&mdash;What are the peculiar and incidental
+causes which prevent men, in certain countries, from arriving at this state.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The philosophers of the eighteenth century explained the gradual decay of
+religious faith in a very simple manner. Religious zeal, said they, must
+necessarily fail, the more generally liberty is established and knowledge
+diffused. Unfortunately, facts are by no means in accordance with their theory.
+There are certain populations in Europe whose unbelief is only equalled by
+their ignorance and their debasement, whilst in America one of the freest and
+most enlightened nations in the world fulfils all the outward duties of
+religious fervor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon my arrival in the United States, the religious aspect of the country was
+the first thing that struck my attention; and the longer I stayed there the
+more did I perceive the great political consequences resulting from this state
+of things, to which I was unaccustomed. In France I had almost always seen the
+spirit of religion and the spirit of freedom pursuing courses diametrically
+opposed to each other; but in America I found that they were intimately united,
+and that they reigned in common over the same country. My desire to discover
+the causes of this phenomenon increased from day to day. In order to satisfy it
+I questioned the members of all the different sects; and I more especially
+sought the society of the clergy, who are the depositaries of the different
+persuasions, and who are more especially interested in their duration. As a
+member of the Roman Catholic Church I was more particularly brought into
+contact with several of its priests, with whom I became intimately acquainted.
+To each of these men I expressed my astonishment and I explained my doubts; I
+found that they differed upon matters of detail alone; and that they mainly
+attributed the peaceful dominion of religion in their country to the separation
+of Church and State. I do not hesitate to affirm that during my stay in America
+I did not meet with a single individual, of the clergy or of the laity, who was
+not of the same opinion upon this point.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This led me to examine more attentively than I had hitherto done, the station
+which the American clergy occupy in political society. I learned with surprise
+that they filled no public appointments; *f not one of them is to be met with
+in the administration, and they are not even represented in the legislative
+assemblies. In several States *g the law excludes them from political life,
+public opinion in all. And when I came to inquire into the prevailing spirit of
+the clergy 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.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+f <br />
+[ Unless this term be applied to the functions which many of them fill in the
+schools. Almost all education is entrusted to the clergy.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ See the Constitution of New York, art. 7, Section 4:&mdash; &ldquo;And
+whereas the ministers of the gospel are, by their profession, dedicated to the
+service of God and the care of souls, and ought not to be diverted from the
+great duties of their functions: therefore no minister of the gospel, or priest
+of any denomination whatsoever, shall at any time hereafter, under any pretence
+or description whatever, be eligible to, or capable of holding, any civil or
+military office or place within this State.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+See also the constitutions of North Carolina, art. 31; Virginia; South
+Carolina, art. I, Section 23; Kentucky, art. 2, Section 26; Tennessee, art. 8,
+Section I; Louisiana, art. 2, Section 22.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I heard them inveigh against ambition and deceit, under whatever political
+opinions these vices might chance to lurk; but I learned from their discourses
+that men are not guilty in the eye of God for any opinions concerning political
+government which they may profess with sincerity, any more than they are for
+their mistakes in building a house or in driving a furrow. I perceived that
+these ministers of the gospel eschewed all parties with the anxiety attendant
+upon personal interest. These facts convinced me that what I had been told was
+true; and it then became my object to investigate their causes, and to inquire
+how it happened that the real authority of religion was increased by a state of
+things which diminished its apparent force: these causes did not long escape my
+researches.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 boundless
+desire to exist; he scorns life, but he dreads annihilation. These different
+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 faith without a kind of aberration of intellect, and a
+sort of violent distortion of their true natures; but they are invincibly
+brought back to more pious sentiments; for unbelief is an accident, and faith
+is the only permanent state of mankind. If we only consider religious
+institutions in a purely human point of view, they may be said to derive an
+inexhaustible element of strength from man himself, since they belong to one of
+the constituent principles of human nature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 temporal institutions which direct society. Religions, intimately
+united to the governments of the earth, have been known to exercise a sovereign
+authority derived from the twofold source of terror and of faith; but when a
+religion contracts an alliance of this nature, I do not hesitate to affirm that
+it commits the same error as a man who should sacrifice his future to his
+present welfare; and in obtaining a power to which it has no claim, it risks
+that authority which is rightfully its own. When a religion founds its empire
+upon the desire of immortality which lives in every human heart, it may aspire
+to universal dominion; but when it connects itself with a government, it must
+necessarily adopt maxims which are only applicable 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As long as a religion rests upon those sentiments which are the consolation of
+all affliction, it may attract the affections of mankind. But if it be mixed up
+with the bitter passions of the world, it may be constrained to defend allies
+whom its interests, and not the principle of love, have given to it; or to
+repel as antagonists men who are still attached to its own spirit, however
+opposed they may be to the powers to 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The political powers which seem to be most firmly established have frequently
+no better guarantee 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 change. The powers of society are more or
+less fugitive, like the years which we spend upon the earth; they succeed each
+other with rapidity, like the fleeting cares of life; and no government has
+ever yet been founded upon an invariable disposition of the human heart, or
+upon an imperishable interest.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As long as a religion is sustained by those feelings, propensities, and
+passions which are found to occur under the same forms, at all the different
+periods of history, it may defy the efforts of time; or at least it can only be
+destroyed by another religion. But when religion clings to the interests of the
+world, it becomes almost as fragile a thing as the powers of earth. It is the
+only one of them all which can hope for immortality; but if it be connected
+with their ephemeral authority, it shares their fortunes, and may fall with
+those transient passions which supported them for a day. The alliance 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The danger which I have just pointed out always exists, but it is not always
+equally visible. In some ages governments 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 somnolence, and others
+rouse them to feverish excitement. When governments appear to be so strong, and
+laws so stable, men do not perceive the dangers which may accrue from a union
+of Church and State. When governments display so much weakness, and laws so
+much inconstancy, the danger is self-evident, but it is no longer possible to
+avoid it; to be effectual, measures must be taken to discover its approach.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In proportion as a nation assumes a democratic condition of society, and as
+communities display democratic propensities, it becomes more and more dangerous
+to connect religion with political institutions; for the time is coming when
+authority will be bandied from hand to hand, when political theories will
+succeed each other, and when men, laws, and constitutions will disappear, or be
+modified from day to day, and this, not for a season only, but unceasingly.
+Agitation and mutability are inherent in the nature of democratic republics,
+just as stagnation and inertness are the law of absolute monarchies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the Americans, who change the head of the Government once in four years, who
+elect new legislators every two years, and renew the provincial officers every
+twelvemonth; if the Americans, who have abandoned the political world to the
+attempts of innovators, had not placed religion beyond their reach, where could
+it abide in the ebb and flow of human opinions? where would that respect which
+belongs to it be paid, amidst the struggles of faction? and what would become
+of its immortality, in the midst of perpetual 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America, religion is perhaps less powerful than it has been at certain
+periods in the history of certain peoples; but its influence is more lasting.
+It restricts itself to its own resources, but of those none can deprive it: its
+circle is limited to certain principles, but those principles are entirely its
+own, and under its undisputed control.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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
+pristine authority. It seems to me that we must first attentively consider what
+ought to be the natural state of men with regard to religion at the present
+time; and when we know what we have to hope and to fear, we may discern the end
+to which our efforts ought to be directed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The two great dangers which threaten the existence of religions are schism and
+indifference. In ages of fervent devotion, men sometimes abandon their
+religion, but they only shake it off in order to adopt another. Their faith
+changes the objects to which it is directed, but it suffers no decline. The old
+religion then excites enthusiastic attachment or bitter enmity in either party;
+some leave it with anger, others cling to it with increased devotedness, and
+although persuasions differ, 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 affirming
+that of any other. Prodigious revolutions then take place in the human mind,
+without the apparent co-operation 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 which they
+have not the courage to stem, but which they follow with regret, since it bears
+them from a faith they love, to a scepticism that plunges them into despair.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In ages which answer to this description, men desert their religious opinions
+from lukewarmness rather than from dislike; they do not reject them, but the
+sentiments by which they were once fostered disappear. But if the unbeliever
+does not admit religion to be true, he 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 with one another, and to prepare them gently for the hour of
+death. He regrets the faith which he has lost; and as he is deprived of a
+treasure which he has learned to estimate at its full value, he scruples to
+take it from those who still possess it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 to follow their example. They
+are hostile to no one in the world; and as they do not consider the society in
+which they live as an arena in which religion is bound to face its thousand
+deadly foes, they love their contemporaries, whilst they condemn their
+weaknesses and lament their errors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As those who do not believe, conceal their incredulity; and as those who
+believe, display their faith, public opinion pronounces itself in favor of
+religion: love, support, and honor are bestowed upon it, and it is only by
+searching the human soul that we can detect the wounds which it has received.
+The mass of mankind, who are never without the feeling of religion, do not
+perceive anything at variance with the established faith. The 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But this picture is not applicable to us: for there are men amongst us who have
+ceased to believe in Christianity, without adopting any other religion; others
+who are in the perplexities of doubt, and who already affect not to believe;
+and others, again, who are afraid to avow that Christian faith which they still
+cherish in secret.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Amidst these lukewarm partisans and ardent antagonists a small number of
+believers exist, 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 knew where to stop; and as they know that the first use which the
+French made of independence was to attack religion, they look upon their
+contemporaries with dread, and they 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 every opinion which
+is put forth there as the necessary enemy of the faith.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such is not the natural state of men with regard to religion at the present
+day; and some extraordinary or incidental cause must be at work in France to
+prevent the human mind from following its original propensities and to drive it
+beyond the limits at which it ought naturally to stop. I am intimately
+convinced that this extraordinary and incidental cause is the close connection
+of politics and religion. The unbelievers of Europe attack the Christians as
+their political opponents, rather than as their religious adversaries; they
+hate the Christian religion as the opinion of a party, much more than as an
+error of belief; and they reject the clergy less because they are the
+representatives of the Divinity than because they are the allies of authority.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 that which is
+alive will rise once more. I know not what could restore the Christian Church
+of Europe to the energy of its earlier days; that power belongs to God alone;
+but it may be the effect of human policy to leave the faith in the full
+exercise of the strength which it still retains.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+How The Instruction, The Habits, And The Practical Experience Of The Americans
+Promote The Success Of Their Democratic Institutions
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What is to be understood by the instruction of the American people&mdash;The
+human mind more superficially instructed in the United States than in
+Europe&mdash;No one completely uninstructed&mdash;Reason of this&mdash;Rapidity
+with which opinions are diffused even in the uncultivated States of the
+West&mdash;Practical experience more serviceable to the Americans than
+book-learning.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have but little to add to what I have already said concerning the influence
+which the instruction and the habits of the Americans exercise upon the
+maintenance of their political institutions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+America has hitherto produced very few writers of distinction; it possesses no
+great historians, and not a single eminent poet. The inhabitants of that
+country look upon what are properly styled literary pursuits with a kind of
+disapprobation; and there are towns of very second-rate importance in Europe in
+which more literary works are annually published than in the twenty-four States
+of the Union put together. The spirit of the Americans is averse to general
+ideas; and it does not seek theoretical discoveries. Neither politics nor
+manufactures direct them to these occupations; and although new laws are
+perpetually enacted in the United States, no great writers have hitherto
+inquired into the general principles of their legislation. The Americans have
+lawyers and commentators, but no jurists; *h and they furnish examples rather
+than lessons to the world. The same observation applies to the mechanical arts.
+In America, the inventions of Europe are adopted with sagacity; they are
+perfected, and adapted 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.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+h <br />
+[ [This cannot be said with truth of the country of Kent, Story, and Wheaton.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The observer who is desirous of forming an opinion on the state of instruction
+amongst the Anglo-Americans must consider the same object from two different
+points of view. If he only singles out the learned, he will be astonished to
+find how rare they are; but if he counts the ignorant, the American people will
+appear to be the most enlightened community 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 moreover taught 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 extremely rare to find a man imperfectly
+acquainted with all these things, and a person wholly ignorant of them is a
+sort of phenomenon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I compare the Greek and Roman republics with these American States; the
+manuscript libraries of the former, and their rude population, with the
+innumerable journals and the enlightened people of the latter; when I remember
+all the attempts which are made to judge the modern republics by the assistance
+of those of antiquity, and to infer what will happen in our time from what took
+place two thousand years ago, I am tempted to burn my books, in order to apply
+none but novel ideas to so novel a condition of society.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 people diminishes. In the States which are adjacent to the Gulf of
+Mexico, a certain number of individuals may be found, as in our own countries,
+who are devoid of the rudiments of instruction. But there is not a single
+district in the United States sunk in complete ignorance; and for a very simple
+reason: the peoples of Europe started from the darkness of a barbarous
+condition, to advance toward the light of civilization; their progress has been
+unequal; some of them have improved apace, whilst others have loitered in their
+course, and some have stopped, and are still sleeping upon the way. *i
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+i <br />
+[ [In the Northern States the number of persons destitute of instruction is
+inconsiderable, the largest number being 241,152 in the State of New York
+(according to Spaulding&rsquo;s &ldquo;Handbook of American Statistics&rdquo;
+for 1874); but in the South no less than 1,516,339 whites and 2,671,396 colored
+persons are returned as &ldquo;illiterate.&rdquo;]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such has not been the case in the United States. The Anglo-Americans settled in
+a state of civilization, upon that territory which their descendants occupy;
+they had not to begin to learn, and it was sufficient for them not to forget.
+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 information and their esteem for knowledge. Education has taught 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&rsquo;s estate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Americans never use the word &ldquo;peasant,&rdquo; because they have no
+idea of the peculiar 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 preserved amongst them; and they are alike unacquainted with the
+virtues, the vices, the coarse habits, and the simple graces of an early stage
+of civilization. At the extreme borders of the Confederate States, upon the
+confines of society and of the wilderness, a population of bold adventurers
+have taken up their abode, who pierce the solitudes of the American woods, and
+seek a country there, in order to escape that poverty which awaited them in
+their native provinces. As soon as the pioneer arrives upon the spot which is
+to serve him for a retreat, he fells a few trees and builds a loghouse. Nothing
+can offer a more miserable aspect than these isolated dwellings. The traveller
+who approaches one of them towards nightfall, 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 suppose that this poor hut is the asylum of rudeness and
+ignorance? Yet no sort of comparison can be drawn between the pioneer and the
+dwelling which shelters him. Everything about him is primitive and unformed,
+but he is himself the result of the labor and the experience of eighteen
+centuries. He wears the dress, and he speaks the language of cities; he is
+acquainted with the past, curious of 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 who penetrates into the wilds of the New
+World with the Bible, an axe, and a file of newspapers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is difficult to imagine the incredible rapidity with which public opinion
+circulates in the midst of these deserts. *j I do not think that so much
+intellectual intercourse takes place in the most enlightened and populous
+districts of France. *k It cannot be doubted that, in the United States, the
+instruction of the people powerfully contributes to the support of a democratic
+republic; and such must always be the case, I believe, where instruction which
+awakens the understanding is not separated from moral education which amends
+the heart. But I by no means exaggerate this benefit, 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 experience; and if the Americans had not
+been gradually accustomed to govern themselves, their book-learning would not
+assist them much at the present day.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+j <br />
+[ I travelled along a portion of the frontier of the United States in a sort of
+cart which was termed the mail. We passed, day and night, with great rapidity
+along the roads which were scarcely marked out, through immense forests; when
+the gloom of the woods became impenetrable the coachman lighted branches of
+fir, and we journeyed along by the light they cast. From time to time we came
+to a hut in the midst of the forest, which was a post-office. The mail dropped
+an enormous bundle of letters at the door of this isolated dwelling, and we
+pursued our way at full gallop, leaving the inhabitants of the neighboring log
+houses to send for their share of the treasure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[When the author visited America the locomotive and the railroad were scarcely
+invented, and not yet introduced in the United States. It is superfluous to
+point out the immense effect of those inventions in extending civilization and
+developing the resources of that vast continent. In 1831 there were 51 miles of
+railway in the United States; in 1872 there were 60,000 miles of railway.]]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+k <br />
+[ In 1832 each inhabitant of Michigan paid a sum equivalent to 1 fr. 22 cent.
+(French money) to the post-office revenue, and each inhabitant of the Floridas
+paid 1 fr. 5 cent. (See &ldquo;National Calendar,&rdquo; 1833, p. 244.) In the
+same year each inhabitant of the Departement du Nord paid 1 fr. 4 cent. to the
+revenue of the French post-office. (See the &ldquo;Compte rendu de
+l&rsquo;administration des Finances,&rdquo; 1833, p. 623.) Now the State of
+Michigan only contained at that time 7 inhabitants per square league and
+Florida only 5: the public instruction and the commercial activity of these
+districts is inferior to that 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 and manufacturing parts of France.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have lived a great deal with the people in the United States, and I cannot
+express how much I admire their experience and their good sense. An American
+should never be allowed to speak of Europe; for he will then probably display a
+vast deal of presumption and very foolish pride. He will take up with those
+crude and vague notions which are so useful 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
+as 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 instruction 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 government from governing. The great work of society is
+ever going on beneath his eyes, and, as it were, under his hands.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 affairs is too rare an occurrence for it to be anticipated
+beforehand. Upon casting a glance over society in the two hemispheres, these
+differences are indicated even by its external aspect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In Europe we frequently introduce the ideas and the 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, transfuse the habits of public life into
+their manners in private; and in their country the jury is introduced into the
+games of schoolboys, and parliamentary forms are observed in the order of a
+feast.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0044" id="link2HCH0044"></a> Chapter XVII: Principal
+Causes Maintaining The Democratic Republic&mdash;Part IV</h2>
+
+<p>
+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
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All the nations of America have a democratic state of society&mdash;Yet
+democratic institutions only subsist amongst the Anglo-Americans&mdash;The
+Spaniards of South America, equally favored by physical causes as the
+Anglo-Americans, unable to maintain a democratic republic&mdash;Mexico, which
+has adopted the Constitution of the United States, in the same
+predicament&mdash;The Anglo-Americans of the West less able to maintain it than
+those of the East&mdash;Reason of these different results.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have remarked that the maintenance of democratic institutions in the United
+States is attributable to the circumstances, the laws, and the manners of that
+country. *l Most Europeans are only acquainted with the first of these three
+causes, and they are apt to give it a preponderating importance which it does
+not really possess.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+l <br />
+[ I remind the reader of the general signification which I give to the word
+&ldquo;manners,&rdquo; namely, the moral and intellectual characteristics of
+social man taken collectively.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is true that the Anglo-Saxons 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
+professional prejudices were always as entirely unknown as the prejudices of
+birth. Thus, as the condition of society was democratic, the empire of
+democracy was established without difficulty. But this circumstance is by no
+means peculiar to the United States; almost all the trans-Atlantic colonies
+were founded 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. Nevertheless, democratic institutions prosper nowhere but in the
+United States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The American Union has no enemies to contend with; it stands in the wilds like
+an island in the ocean. But the Spaniards of South America were no less
+isolated by nature; yet their position has not relieved them from the charge of
+standing 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 peace. *m
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+m <br />
+[ [A remark which, since the great Civil War of 1861-65, ceases to be
+applicable.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The territory of the Union presents a boundless field to human activity, and
+inexhaustible materials for industry and labor. The passion of wealth takes the
+place of ambition, and the warmth of faction is mitigated by a sense of
+prosperity. But in what portion of the globe shall we meet with more fertile
+plains, with mightier rivers, or with more unexplored and inexhaustible riches
+than in South America?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nevertheless, 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 territory 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 inhabitants 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 miserable than those of South America.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus, not only are physical causes inadequate to produce results analogous to
+those which occur in North America, but they are unable to raise the population
+of South America above the level of European States, where they act in a
+contrary direction. Physical causes do not, therefore, affect the destiny of
+nations so much as has been supposed.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have met with men in New England who were on the point of leaving a country,
+where they might have remained in easy circumstances, to go to seek their
+fortune in the wilds. Not far from that district I found a French population in
+Canada, which was closely crowded on a narrow territory, although the same
+wilds were at hand; and whilst the emigrant 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. Nature offers the solitudes
+of the New World to Europeans; but they are not always acquainted with the
+means of turning her gifts to account. Other peoples of America have the same
+physical conditions of prosperity as the Anglo-Americans, but without their
+laws and their manners; and these peoples are wretched. The laws and manners of
+the Anglo-Americans are therefore that efficient cause of their greatness which
+is the object of my inquiry.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am far from supposing that the American laws are preeminently good in
+themselves; I do not hold them to be applicable to all democratic peoples; and
+several of them seem to be dangerous, even in the United States. Nevertheless,
+it cannot be denied that the American legislation, taken collectively, is
+extremely well adapted to the genius of the people 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
+principal cause of that success; and if they seem to me to have more influence
+upon the social happiness of the Americans than the nature of the country, on
+the other hand there is reason to believe that their effect is still inferior
+to that produced by the manners of the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Federal laws undoubtedly constitute the most important part of the
+legislation of the United States. Mexico, which is not less fortunately
+situated than the Anglo-American Union, has adopted the same laws, but is
+unable to accustom itself to the government of democracy. Some other cause is
+therefore at work, independently of those physical circumstances and peculiar
+laws which enable the democracy to rule in the United States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Another still more striking proof may be adduced. Almost all the inhabitants of
+the territory of 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 differences arise? Why, in the Eastern States of the Union, does
+the republican government display vigor and regularity, 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 contrary, society seems to be
+ruled by the powers of chance? There, public business is conducted with an
+irregularity and a passionate and feverish excitement, which does not announce
+a long or sure duration.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am no longer comparing the Anglo-American States to foreign nations; but I am
+contrasting them with each other, and endeavoring to discover why they are so
+unlike. 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?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is in the Eastern States that the Anglo-Americans have been longest
+accustomed to the government of democracy, and that they have adopted the
+habits and conceived the notions most favorable to its maintenance. Democracy
+has gradually penetrated into their customs, their opinions, and the forms of
+social intercourse; it is to be found in all the details of daily life equally
+as in the laws. In the Eastern States the instruction and practical education
+of the people have been most perfected, and religion has been most thoroughly
+amalgamated with liberty. Now these habits, opinions, customs, and convictions
+are precisely the constituent elements of that which I have denominated
+manners.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the Western States, on the contrary, a portion of the same advantages is
+still wanting. Many of the Americans of the West were born in the woods, and
+they mix the ideas and the customs of savage life with the civilization of
+their parents. Their passions are more intense; their religious morality less
+authoritative; and their convictions less secure. The inhabitants exercise no
+sort of control over their fellow-citizens, for they are scarcely acquainted
+with each other. The nations of the West display, to a certain extent, the
+inexperience and the rude habits of a people in its infancy; for although they
+are composed of old elements, their assemblage is of recent date.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The manners of the Americans of the United States are, then, the real cause
+which renders that people the only one of the American nations that is able to
+support a democratic government; and it is the influence of manners which
+produces the different degrees of order and of prosperity that may be
+distinguished in the several Anglo-American democracies. Thus the effect which
+the geographical 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 the physical circumstances are less
+efficient than the laws, and the laws very subordinate to the manners of the
+people. I am convinced that the most advantageous situation and the best
+possible laws cannot maintain a constitution in spite of the manners of a
+country; whilst the latter may turn the most unfavorable positions and the
+worst laws to some advantage. The importance of manners is a common truth to
+which study and experience incessantly direct our attention. It may be regarded
+as a central point in the range of human observation, and the common
+termination of all inquiry. So seriously do I insist upon this head, that if I
+have hitherto failed in making the reader feel the important influence which I
+attribute to the practical experience, the habits, the opinions, in short, to
+the manners of the Americans, upon the maintenance of their institutions, I
+have failed in the principal object of my work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whether Laws And Manners Are Sufficient To Maintain Democratic Institutions In
+Other Countries Besides America
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Anglo-Americans, if transported into Europe, would be obliged to modify
+their laws&mdash;Distinction to be made between democratic institutions and
+American institutions&mdash;Democratic laws may be conceived better than, or at
+least different from, those which the American democracy has adopted&mdash;The
+example of America only proves that it is possible to regulate democracy by the
+assistance of manners and legislation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have asserted that the success of democratic institutions in the United
+States is more intimately connected with the laws themselves, and the manners
+of the people, than with the nature of the country. But does it follow that the
+same causes would of themselves produce the same results, if they were put into
+operation elsewhere; and if the country is no adequate substitute for laws and
+manners, can laws and manners in their turn prove a substitute for the country?
+It will readily be understood that the necessary elements of a reply to this
+question are wanting: other peoples are to be found in the New World besides
+the Anglo-Americans, and as these people are affected by the same physical
+circumstances as the latter, they may fairly be compared together. But there
+are no nations out of America which have adopted the same laws and manners,
+being destitute of the physical advantages peculiar to the Anglo-Americans. No
+standard of comparison therefore exists, and we can only hazard an opinion upon
+this subject.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It appears to me, in the first place, that a careful distinction must be made
+between the institutions of the United States and democratic institutions in
+general. When I reflect upon the state of Europe, its mighty nations, its
+populous cities, its formidable armies, and the complex nature of its politics,
+I cannot suppose that even the Anglo-Americans, if they were transported to our
+hemisphere, with their ideas, their religion, and their manners, could exist
+without considerably altering their laws. But a democratic nation may be
+imagined, organized differently from the American people. It is not impossible
+to conceive a government really established upon the will of the majority; but
+in which the majority, repressing its natural propensity to equality, should
+consent, with a view to the order and the stability of the State, to invest a
+family or an individual with all the prerogatives of the executive. A
+democratic society might exist, in which the forces of the nation would be more
+centralized than they are in the United States; the people would exercise a
+less direct and less irresistible influence upon public affairs, and yet every
+citizen invested with certain rights would participate, within his sphere, in
+the conduct of the government. The observations I made amongst the
+Anglo-Americans induce 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 opinions of the people, might subsist 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 the success of those institutions affords no
+proof of the success of democratic institutions in general, in a country less
+favored by natural circumstances. But as the laws of America appear to me to be
+defective in several respects, and as I can readily imagine others of the same
+general nature, the peculiar advantages of that country do not prove that
+democratic institutions cannot succeed in a nation less favored by
+circumstances, if ruled by better laws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If human nature were different in America from what it is elsewhere; or if the
+social condition of the Americans engendered habits and opinions amongst them
+different from those which originate in the same social condition in the Old
+World, the American democracies would afford no means of predicting what may
+occur in other democracies. If the Americans displayed the same propensities as
+all other democratic nations, and if their legislators had relied upon the
+nature of the country and the favor of circumstances to restrain those
+propensities within due limits, the prosperity of the United States would be
+exclusively attributable to physical causes, and it would afford no
+encouragement to a people inclined to imitate their example, without sharing
+their natural advantages. But neither of these suppositions is borne out by
+facts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America the same passions are to be 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 the democratic feeling of envy expressed under a thousand different
+forms. I remarked that the people frequently displayed, in the conduct of
+affairs, a consummate mixture of ignorance and presumption; and I inferred that
+in America, men are liable to the same failings and the same absurdities as
+amongst ourselves. But upon examining the state of society more attentively, I
+speedily discovered that the Americans had made great and successful efforts to
+counteract these imperfections of human nature, and to correct the natural
+defects of democracy. Their divers municipal laws appeared to me to be a means
+of restraining the ambition of the citizens within a narrow sphere, and of
+turning those same passions which might have worked havoc in the State, to the
+good of the township or the parish. The American legislators have succeeded to
+a certain extent in opposing the notion of rights to the feelings of envy; the
+permanence of the religious world to the continual shifting of politics; the
+experience of the people to its theoretical ignorance; and its practical
+knowledge of business to the impatience of its desires.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Americans, then, have not relied upon the nature of their country to
+counterpoise those dangers which originate in their Constitution and in their
+political laws. To evils which are common to all democratic peoples they have
+applied remedies which none but themselves had ever thought of before; and
+although they were the first to make the experiment, they have succeeded in it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 by the aid of manners and of laws. If other
+nations should borrow this general and pregnant idea from the Americans,
+without however intending to imitate them in the peculiar application which
+they have made of it; if they should attempt to fit themselves for that social
+condition, which it seems to be the will of Providence to impose upon the
+generations of this age, and so to escape 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 political problem of the time. The
+Americans, unquestionably, have not resolved this problem, but they furnish
+useful data to those who undertake the task.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Importance Of What Precedes With Respect To The State Of Europe
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It may readily be discovered with what intention I undertook the foregoing
+inquiries. The question here discussed is interesting not only to the United
+States, but to the whole world; it concerns, not a nation, but all mankind. If
+those nations whose social condition is democratic could only remain free as
+long as they are inhabitants of the wilds, we could not but 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 maintain democratic institutions,
+what refuge would remain open to the nations, except the despotism of a single
+individual? I am aware that there are many worthy persons at the present time
+who are not alarmed at this latter alternative, and who are so tired of liberty
+as to be glad of repose, far from those storms by which it is attended. But
+these individuals are ill acquainted with the haven towards which they are
+bound. They are so deluded by their recollections, as to judge the tendency of
+absolute power by what it was formerly, and not by what it might become at the
+present time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If absolute power were re-established amongst the democratic nations of Europe,
+I am persuaded that it would assume a new form, and appear under features
+unknown to our forefathers. 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 supreme courts of justice, of corporations
+and their chartered rights, or of provincial privileges, which served to break
+the blows of the sovereign authority, and to maintain a spirit of resistance in
+the nation. Independently of these political institutions&mdash;which, however
+opposed they might be to personal liberty, served to keep alive the love of
+freedom in the mind of the public, and which may be esteemed to have been
+useful in this respect&mdash;the manners and opinions of the nation confined
+the royal authority within barriers which were not less powerful, although they
+were less conspicuous. Religion, the affections of the people, the benevolence
+of the prince, the sense of honor, family pride, provincial prejudices, custom,
+and public opinion limited the power of kings, and restrained their authority
+within an invisible circle. The constitution of nations was despotic at that
+time, but their manners were free. Princes had the right, but they had neither
+the means nor the desire, of doing whatever they pleased.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But what now remains of those barriers which formerly arrested the aggressions
+of tyranny? Since religion has lost its empire over the souls of men, the most
+prominent boundary which divided good from evil is overthrown; the very
+elements of the moral world are indeterminate; the princes and the peoples of
+the earth are guided by chance, and none can define the natural limits of
+despotism and the bounds of license. Long revolutions have forever destroyed
+the respect which surrounded the rulers of the State; and since they have been
+relieved from the burden of public esteem, princes may henceforward surrender
+themselves without fear to the seductions of arbitrary power.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 people is the
+bulwark of the throne. A mutual interchange of good-will then takes place
+between the prince and the people, which resembles the gracious intercourse of
+domestic society. The subjects may murmur at the sovereign&rsquo;s decree, but
+they are grieved to displease him; and the sovereign chastises his subjects
+with the light hand of parental affection.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 people 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 be weak, he is despised; if he be strong, he
+is detested. He himself is full of animosity and alarm; he finds that he is as
+a stranger in his own country, and he treats his subjects like conquered
+enemies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the provinces and the towns formed so many different nations in the midst
+of their common country, each of them had a will of its own, which was opposed
+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 their names, are subjected and accustomed to the same
+laws, it is not more difficult to oppress them collectively than it was
+formerly to oppress them singly.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whilst the nobles enjoyed their power, and indeed long after that power was
+lost, the honor of aristocracy conferred an extraordinary degree of force upon
+their personal opposition. They afford instances of men who, notwithstanding
+their weakness, still entertained a high opinion of their personal value, and
+dared to cope single-handed with the efforts of the public authority. But at
+the present day, when all ranks are more and more confounded, when the
+individual disappears in the throng, and is easily lost in the midst of a
+common obscurity, when the honor of monarchy has almost lost its empire without
+being succeeded by public virtue, and when nothing can enable man to rise above
+himself, who shall say at what point the exigencies of power and the servility
+of weakness will stop?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As long as family feeling was kept alive, the antagonist of oppression was
+never alone; he looked about him, and found his clients, his hereditary
+friends, and his kinsfolk. If this support was wanting, he was sustained by his
+ancestors and animated by his posterity. But when patrimonial estates are
+divided, and when a few years suffice to confound the distinctions of a race,
+where can family feeling be found? What force can there be in the customs of a
+country which has changed and is still perpetually changing its aspect; in
+which every act of tyranny has a precedent, and every crime an example; in
+which there is nothing so old that its antiquity can save it from destruction,
+and nothing so unparalleled that its novelty 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 institution, has the
+power of representing or exerting that opinion; and when every
+citizen&mdash;being equally weak, equally poor, and equally dependent&mdash;has
+only his personal impotence to oppose to the organized force of the government?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The annals of France furnish nothing analogous 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 nature was the sport of man, and
+princes wearied out the clemency of Heaven before they exhausted the patience
+of their subjects. Those who hope to revive the monarchy of Henry IV or of
+Louis XIV, appear to me to be afflicted with mental blindness; and when I
+consider the present condition of several European nations&mdash;a condition to
+which all the others tend&mdash;I am led to believe that they will soon be left
+with no other alternative than democratic liberty, or the tyranny of the
+Caesars. *n
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+n <br />
+[ [This prediction of the return of France to imperial despotism, and of the
+true character of that despotic power, was written in 1832, and realized to the
+letter in 1852.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+And indeed it is deserving of consideration, whether men are to be entirely
+emancipated or entirely enslaved; whether their rights are to be made equal, or
+wholly taken away from them. If the rulers of society were reduced either
+gradually to raise the crowd to their own level, or to sink the citizens below
+that of humanity, would not the doubts of many be resolved, the consciences of
+many be healed, and the community prepared to make great sacrifices with little
+difficulty? In that case, the gradual growth of democratic manners and
+institutions should be regarded, not as the best, but as the only means of
+preserving freedom; 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is difficult to associate a people in the work of government; but it is
+still more difficult to supply it with experience, and to inspire it with the
+feelings which it requires in order to govern well. I grant that the caprices
+of democracy are perpetual; its instruments are rude; its laws imperfect. But
+if it were true that soon no just medium would exist between the empire of
+democracy and the dominion of a single arm, 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 despotic power?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Those who, after having read this book, should imagine that my intention in
+writing it has been to propose the laws and manners of the Anglo-Americans for
+the imitation of all democratic peoples, would commit a very great mistake;
+they must have paid more attention to the form than to the substance of my
+ideas. My aim has been to show, by the example of America, that laws, and
+especially manners, may exist which will allow a democratic people to remain
+free. But I am very far from thinking that we ought to follow the example of
+the American democracy, and copy the means which it has employed to attain its
+ends; for I am well aware of the influence which the nature of a country and
+its political precedents exercise upon a constitution; and I should regard it
+as a great misfortune for mankind if liberty were to exist all over the world
+under the same forms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But I am of opinion that if we do not succeed in gradually introducing
+democratic institutions into France, and if we despair of imparting to the
+citizens those ideas and sentiments which first prepare them for freedom, and
+afterwards allow them to enjoy it, there will be no independence 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 empire of the
+majority be not founded amongst us in time, we shall sooner or later arrive at
+the unlimited authority of a single despot.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0045" id="link2HCH0045"></a> Chapter XVIII: Future
+Condition Of Three Races In The United States&mdash;Part I</h2>
+
+<p>
+The Present And Probable Future Condition Of The Three Races Which Inhabit The
+Territory Of The United States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The principal part of the 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The absolute supremacy of democracy is not all that we meet with 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 been able 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 mentioned in what spirit, and according to
+what laws, the Anglo-American Union was formed; but I could only glance at the
+dangers which menace that confederation, whilst it was equally impossible for
+me to give a detailed account of its chances of duration, independently of its
+laws and manners. When speaking of the united republican States, 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 inquire into the future condition of the Americans as a
+commercial people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These topics are collaterally connected with my subject without forming a part
+of it; they are American without being democratic; and to portray democracy has
+been my principal aim. It was therefore necessary to postpone these questions,
+which I now take up as the proper termination of my work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 tropic, and it extends upwards to the icy regions of the North. The human
+beings who are scattered over this space do not form, as in Europe, so 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 insurmountable barriers had been raised between them by
+education and by 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 apart.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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-eminent; and in subordinate grades, 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 inferior rank in the country they inhabit;
+both suffer from tyranny; and if their wrongs are not the same, they originate,
+at any rate, with the same authors.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If we reasoned from what passes in the world, we should almost say that the
+European is to the other races of mankind, what man is to the lower
+animals;&mdash;he makes them subservient to his use; and when he cannot subdue,
+he 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 all remembrance of his country; the language which his
+forefathers spoke is never heard around him; he abjured their religion and
+forgot their customs when he ceased to belong to Africa, without acquiring any
+claim to European privileges. But he remains half way between the two
+communities; sold by the one, repulsed by the other; finding not a spot in the
+universe to call by the name of country, except the faint image of a home which
+the shelter of his master&rsquo;s roof affords.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The negro has no family; woman is merely the temporary companion of his
+pleasures, and his children are upon an equality with himself from the moment
+of their birth. Am I to call it a proof of God&rsquo;s mercy or a visitation of
+his wrath, that man in certain states appears to be insensible to his extreme
+wretchedness, and almost affects, with a depraved taste, the cause of his
+misfortunes? The negro, who is 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 thoughts 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 property of
+another, who has an interest in preserving his life, and that the care of it
+does not devolve upon himself; even the power of thought appears to him a
+useless gift of Providence, and he quietly enjoys the privileges of his
+debasement. If he becomes free, independence is often felt by him to be a
+heavier burden than slavery; for having learned, in the course of his life, to
+submit to everything except reason, he is too much unacquainted with her
+dictates to obey them. A thousand new desires beset him, and he is destitute of
+the knowledge and energy necessary to resist them: these are masters which it
+is necessary to contend with, and he has learnt only to submit and obey. In
+short, he sinks to such a depth of wretchedness, that while servitude
+brutalizes, liberty destroys him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Oppression has been no less fatal to the Indian than to the negro race, but its
+effects are different. Before the arrival of white men in the New World, the
+inhabitants of North America lived quietly in their woods, enduring the
+vicissitudes and practising the virtues and vices common to savage nations. The
+Europeans, having dispersed the Indian tribes and driven them into the deserts,
+condemned them to a wandering life full of inexpressible sufferings.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Savage nations are only controlled by opinion and by custom. When the North
+American Indians had lost the sentiment of attachment to their country; when
+their families 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 able to metamorphose
+the character of the Indians; and though they have had power to destroy them,
+they have never been able to make them submit to the rules of civilized
+society.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lot of the negro is placed on the extreme limit of servitude, while that of
+the Indian lies on the uttermost verge of liberty; and slavery does not produce
+more fatal effects upon the first, than independence upon the second. The negro
+has lost all property in his own person, and he cannot dispose of his existence
+without committing a sort of fraud: but the savage 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, signifies to escape from all the shackles
+of society. As he delights in this barbarous independence, and would rather
+perish than sacrifice the least part of it, civilization has little power over
+him.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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. Having
+been told from infancy that his race is naturally inferior to that of the
+whites, 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indian, on the contrary, has his imagination inflated with the pretended
+nobility of his origin, and lives 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 he repels every advance to
+civilization, less perhaps from the hatred which he entertains for it, than
+from a dread of resembling the Europeans. *a While he has nothing to oppose to
+our perfection in the arts but the resources of the desert, to our tactics
+nothing but undisciplined courage; whilst our well-digested plans are met by
+the spontaneous instincts of savage life, who can wonder if he fails in this
+unequal contest?
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ The native of North America retains his opinions and the most insignificant
+of his habits with a degree of tenacity which has no parallel in history. For
+more than two hundred years the wandering tribes of North America have had
+daily intercourse with the whites, and they have never derived from them either
+a custom or an idea. Yet the Europeans have exercised a powerful influence over
+the savages: they have made them more licentious, but not more European. In the
+summer of 1831 I happened to be beyond Lake Michigan, at a place called Green
+Bay, which serves as the extreme frontier between the United States and the
+Indians on the north-western side. Here I became acquainted with an American
+officer, Major H., who, after talking to me at length on the inflexibility of
+the Indian character, related the following fact:&mdash;&ldquo;I formerly knew
+a young Indian,&rdquo; said he, &ldquo;who had been educated at a college in
+New England, where he had greatly distinguished himself, and had acquired the
+external appearance of a member of civilized society. When the war broke out
+between ourselves and the English in 1810, I saw this young man again; he was
+serving in our army, at the head of the warriors of his tribe, for the Indians
+were admitted amongst the ranks of the Americans, upon condition that they
+would abstain from their horrible custom of scalping their victims. On the
+evening of the battle of . . ., C. came and sat himself down by the fire of our
+bivouac. I asked him what had been his fortune that day: he related his
+exploits; and growing warm and animated by the recollection of them, he
+concluded by suddenly opening the breast of his coat, saying, &lsquo;You must
+not betray me&mdash;see here!&rsquo; And I actually beheld,&rdquo; said the
+Major, &ldquo;between his body and his shirt, the skin and hair of an English
+head, still dripping with gore.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The negro, who earnestly desires to mingle his race with that of the European,
+cannot effect if; while the Indian, who might succeed to a certain extent,
+disdains to make the attempt. The servility of the one dooms him to slavery,
+the pride of the other to death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I remember that while I was travelling through the forests which still cover
+the State of Alabama, I arrived one day at the log house of a pioneer. I did
+not wish to penetrate into the dwelling of the American, but retired to rest
+myself for a while on the margin of a spring, which was not far off, in the
+woods. While I was in this place (which was in the neighborhood of the Creek
+territory), an Indian woman appeared, followed by a negress, and holding by the
+hand a little white girl of five or six years old, whom I took to be the
+daughter of the pioneer. A sort of barbarous luxury set off the costume of the
+Indian; rings of metal were hanging 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. They all three came and seated themselves upon the banks of the
+fountain; and the young Indian, taking the child in her arms, lavished upon her
+such fond caresses as mothers give; while the negress endeavored by various
+little artifices to attract the attention of the young Creole.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The child displayed in her slightest gestures a consciousness of superiority
+which formed a 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 strong affection for the child and servile fear;
+whilst the savage displayed, in the midst of her tenderness, an air of freedom
+and of pride which was almost ferocious. I had approached the group, and I
+contemplated them in silence; but my curiosity was probably displeasing to the
+Indian woman, 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 met together in the same place, who belonged to the three races of
+men which people North America. I had perceived from many different results the
+preponderance of the whites. But in the picture which I have just been
+describing there was something peculiarly touching; a bond of affection here
+united the oppressors with the oppressed, and the effort of nature to bring
+them together rendered still more striking the immense distance placed between
+them by prejudice and by law.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Present And Probable Future Condition Of The Indian Tribes Which Inhabit
+The Territory Possessed By The Union
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Gradual disappearance of the native tribes&mdash;Manner in which it takes
+place&mdash;Miseries accompanying the forced migrations of the
+Indians&mdash;The savages of North America had only two ways of escaping
+destruction; war or civilization&mdash;They are no longer able to make
+war&mdash;Reasons why they refused to become civilized when it was in their
+power, and why they cannot become so now that they desire it&mdash;Instance of
+the Creeks and Cherokees&mdash;Policy of the particular States towards these
+Indians&mdash;Policy of the Federal Government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+None of the Indian tribes which formerly inhabited the territory of New
+England&mdash;the Naragansetts, the Mohicans, the Pecots&mdash;have any
+existence but in the recollection of man. The Lenapes, who received William
+Penn, a hundred and fifty years ago, upon the banks of the Delaware, have
+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; *b and as they give way
+or perish, an immense and increasing people fills their place. There is no
+instance upon record of so prodigious a growth, or so rapid a destruction: the
+manner in which the latter change takes place is not difficult to describe.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ In the thirteen original States there are only 6,273 Indians remaining. (See
+Legislative Documents, 20th Congress, No. 117, p. 90.) [The decrease in now far
+greater, and is verging on extinction. See page 360 of this volume.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Indians were the sole inhabitants of the wilds from whence they have
+since been expelled, their wants were few. Their arms were of their own
+manufacture, their only drink was the water of the brook, and their clothes
+consisted of the skins of animals, whose flesh furnished them with food.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Europeans introduced amongst the savages of North America fire-arms, ardent
+spirits, and iron: they taught them to exchange for manufactured stuffs, the
+rough garments which had previously satisfied their untutored simplicity.
+Having acquired new tastes, without the arts by which they could be gratified,
+the Indians were obliged to have recourse to the workmanship of the whites; but
+in return for their productions the savage had nothing to offer except the rich
+furs which still abounded in his woods. Hence the chase became necessary, not
+merely to provide for his subsistence, but in order to procure the only objects
+of barter which he could furnish to Europe. *c Whilst the wants of the natives
+were thus increasing, their resources continued to diminish.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ Messrs. Clarke and Cass, in their Report to Congress on February 4, 1829, p.
+23, expressed themselves thus:&mdash;&ldquo;The time when the Indians generally
+could supply themselves with food and clothing, without any of the articles of
+civilized life, has long since passed away. The more remote tribes, beyond the
+Mississippi, who live where immense herds of buffalo are yet to be found and
+who follow those animals in their periodical migrations, could more easily than
+any others recur to the habits of their ancestors, and live without the white
+man or any of his manufactures. But the buffalo is constantly receding. The
+smaller animals, the bear, the deer, the beaver, the otter, the muskrat, etc.,
+principally minister to the comfort and support of the Indians; and these
+cannot be taken without guns, ammunition, and traps. Among the Northwestern
+Indians particularly, the labor of supplying a family with food is excessive.
+Day after day is spent by the hunter without success, and during this interval
+his family must subsist upon bark or roots, or perish. Want and misery are
+around them and among them. Many die every winter from actual
+starvation.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+The Indians will not live as Europeans live, and yet they can neither subsist
+without them, nor exactly after the fashion of their fathers. This is
+demonstrated by a fact which I likewise give upon official authority. Some
+Indians of a tribe on the banks of Lake Superior had killed a European; the
+American government interdicted all traffic with the tribe to which the guilty
+parties belonged, until they were delivered up to justice. This measure had the
+desired effect.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the moment when a European settlement is formed in the neighborhood of the
+territory occupied by the Indians, the beasts of chase take the alarm. *d
+Thousands of savages, wandering in the forests and destitute of any fixed
+dwelling, did not disturb them; but as soon as the continuous sounds of
+European labor are heard in their neighborhood, they begin to flee away, and
+retire to the West, where their instinct teaches them that they will find
+deserts of immeasurable extent. &ldquo;The buffalo is constantly
+receding,&rdquo; say Messrs. Clarke and Cass in their Report of the year 1829;
+&ldquo;a few years since they approached 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.&rdquo; I have been assured that this effect of the
+approach of the whites is often felt at two hundred leagues&rsquo; distance
+from their frontier. Their influence is thus exerted over tribes whose name is
+unknown to them; and who suffer the evils of usurpation long before they are
+acquainted with the authors of their distress. *e
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ &ldquo;Five years ago,&rdquo; (says Volney in his &ldquo;Tableau des
+Etats-Unis,&rdquo; p. 370) &ldquo;in going from Vincennes to Kaskaskia, a
+territory which now forms part of the State of Illinois, but which at the time
+I mention was completely wild (1797), you could not cross a prairie without
+seeing herds of from four to five hundred buffaloes. There are now none
+remaining; they swam across the Mississippi to escape from the hunters, and
+more particularly from the bells of the American cows.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ The truth of what I here advance may be easily proved by consulting the
+tabular statement of Indian tribes inhabiting the United States and their
+territories. (Legislative Documents, 20th Congress, No. 117, pp. 90-105.) It is
+there shown that the tribes in the centre of America are rapidly decreasing,
+although the Europeans are still at a considerable distance from them.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 of the whites, they begin to build habitations for civilized beings
+in the midst of the wilderness. This is done without difficulty, as the
+territory of a hunting-nation is ill-defined; it is the common property of the
+tribe, and belongs to no one in particular, so that individual interests are
+not concerned in the protection of any part of it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A few European families, settled in different situations at a considerable
+distance 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 difficult to subsist, and still more difficult to
+procure the articles of barter which they stand in need of.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To drive away their game is to deprive them of the means of existence, as
+effectually as if the fields of our agriculturists were stricken with
+barrenness; and they are reduced, like famished wolves, to prowl through the
+forsaken woods in quest of prey. Their instinctive love of their country
+attaches them to the soil which gave them birth, *f even after it has ceased to
+yield anything but misery and death. At length they are compelled to acquiesce,
+and to depart: they follow the traces of the elk, the buffalo, and the beaver,
+and are guided by these wild animals in the choice of their future country.
+Properly speaking, therefore, it is not the Europeans who drive away the native
+inhabitants of America; it is famine which compels them to recede; a happy
+distinction which had escaped the casuists of former times, and for which we
+are indebted to modern discovery!
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+f <br />
+[ &ldquo;The Indians,&rdquo; say Messrs. Clarke and Cass in their Report to
+Congress, p. 15, &ldquo;are attached to their country by the same feelings
+which bind us to ours; and, besides, there are certain superstitious notions
+connected with the alienation of what the Great Spirit gave to their ancestors,
+which operate strongly upon the tribes who have made few or no cessions, but
+which are gradually weakened as our intercourse with them is extended.
+&lsquo;We will not sell the spot which contains the bones of our
+fathers,&rsquo; is almost always the first answer to a proposition for a
+sale.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is impossible to conceive the extent of the sufferings which attend these
+forced emigrations. They are undertaken by a people already exhausted and
+reduced; and the countries to which the newcomers betake themselves are
+inhabited by other tribes which receive them with jealous hostility. Hunger is
+in the rear; war awaits them, and misery besets them on all sides. In the hope
+of escaping from such a host of enemies, they separate, and each individual
+endeavors to procure the means of supporting his existence in solitude and
+secrecy, living in the immensity of the desert like an outcast in civilized
+society. The social tie, which distress had long since weakened, is then
+dissolved; they have lost their country, and their people soon desert them:
+their very families are obliterated; the names they bore in common are
+forgotten, their language perishes, and all traces of their origin disappear.
+Their nation has ceased to exist, except in the recollection of the antiquaries
+of America and a few of the learned of Europe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I should be sorry to have my reader suppose that I am coloring the picture too
+highly; I saw with my own eyes several of the cases of misery which I have been
+describing; and I was the witness of sufferings which I have not the power to
+portray.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the end of the year 1831, whilst I was on the left bank of the Mississippi
+at a place named by Europeans, Memphis, there arrived a numerous band of
+Choctaws (or Chactas, as they are called by the French in Louisiana). These
+savages had left their country, and were endeavoring to gain the right bank of
+the Mississippi, where they hoped to find an asylum which had been promised
+them by the American government. It was then the middle of winter, and the cold
+was unusually severe; the snow had frozen hard upon the ground, and the river
+was drifting huge masses of ice. The Indians had their families with them; and
+they brought in their train the wounded and sick, with children newly born, and
+old men upon the verge of death. They possessed neither tents nor wagons, but
+only their arms and some provisions. I saw them embark 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 was to carry them across, but their dogs
+remained upon the bank. As soon as these animals perceived that their masters
+were finally leaving the shore, they set up a dismal howl, and, plunging all
+together into the icy waters of the Mississippi, they swam after the boat.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ejectment of the Indians very 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 government
+of the United States usually dispatches envoys to them, who assemble the
+Indians in a large plain, and having first eaten and drunk with them, accost
+them in the following manner: &ldquo;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 woods,
+marshes, or prairies, except where you dwell? And can you live nowhere but
+under your own sun? Beyond those mountains which you see at the horizon, beyond
+the lake which bounds your territory on the west, there lie vast countries
+where beasts of chase are found in great abundance; sell your lands to us, and
+go to live happily in those solitudes.&rdquo; After holding this language, they
+spread before the eyes of the Indians firearms, woollen garments, kegs of
+brandy, glass necklaces, bracelets of tinsel, earrings, and looking-glasses. *g
+If, when they have beheld all these riches, they still hesitate, it is
+insinuated that they have not the means of refusing their required consent, and
+that the government itself will not long 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, where the importunate whites will not let them remain
+ten years in tranquillity. In this manner do the Americans obtain, at a very
+low price, whole provinces, which the richest sovereigns of Europe could not
+purchase. *h
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ See, in the Legislative Documents of Congress (Doc. 117), the narrative of
+what takes place on these occasions. This curious passage is from the
+above-mentioned report, made to Congress by Messrs. Clarke and Cass in
+February, 1829. Mr. Cass is now the Secretary of War.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The Indians,&rdquo; says the report, &ldquo;reach the treaty-ground poor
+and almost naked. Large quantities of goods are taken there by the traders, and
+are seen and examined by the Indians. The women and children become importunate
+to have their wants supplied, and their influence is soon exerted to induce a
+sale. Their improvidence is habitual and unconquerable. The gratification of
+his immediate wants and desires is the ruling passion of an Indian. The
+expectation of future advantages seldom produces much effect. The experience of
+the past is lost, and the prospects of the future disregarded. It would be
+utterly hopeless to demand a cession of land, unless the means were at hand of
+gratifying their immediate wants; and when their condition and circumstances
+are fairly considered, it ought not to surprise us that they are so anxious to
+relieve themselves.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+h <br />
+[ On May 19, 1830, Mr. Edward Everett affirmed before the House of
+Representatives, that the Americans had already acquired by treaty, to the east
+and west of the Mississippi, 230,000,000 of acres. In 1808 the Osages gave up
+48,000,000 acres for an annual payment of $1,000. In 1818 the Quapaws yielded
+up 29,000,000 acres for $4,000. They reserved for themselves a territory of
+1,000,000 acres for a hunting-ground. A solemn oath was taken that it should be
+respected: but before long it was invaded like the rest. Mr. Bell, in his
+Report of the Committee on Indian Affairs, February 24, 1830, has these
+words:&mdash;&ldquo;To pay an Indian tribe what their ancient hunting-grounds
+are worth to them, after the game is fled or destroyed, as a mode of
+appropriating wild lands claimed by Indians, has been found more convenient,
+and certainly it is more agreeable to the forms of justice, as well as more
+merciful, than to assert the possession of them by the sword. Thus the practice
+of buying Indian titles is but the substitute which humanity and expediency
+have imposed, in place of the sword, in arriving at the actual enjoyment of
+property claimed by the right of discovery, and sanctioned by the natural
+superiority allowed to the claims of civilized communities over those of savage
+tribes. Up to the present time so invariable has been the operation of certain
+causes, first in diminishing the value of forest lands to the Indians, and
+secondly in disposing them to sell readily, that the plan of buying their right
+of occupancy has never threatened to retard, in any perceptible degree, the
+prosperity of any of the States.&rdquo; (Legislative Documents, 21st Congress,
+No. 227, p. 6.)]
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0046" id="link2HCH0046"></a> Chapter XVIII: Future
+Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part II</h2>
+
+<p>
+These are great evils; and it must be added that they appear to me to be
+irremediable. I believe that the Indian nations of North America are doomed to
+perish; and that whenever the Europeans shall be established on the shores of
+the Pacific Ocean, that race of men will be no more. *i The Indians had only
+the two alternatives of war or civilization; in other words, they must either
+have destroyed the Europeans or become their equals.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+i <br />
+[ This seems, indeed, to be the opinion of almost all American statesmen.
+&ldquo;Judging of the future by the past,&rdquo; says Mr. Cass, &ldquo;we
+cannot err in anticipating a progressive diminution of their numbers, and their
+eventual extinction, unless our border should become stationary, and they be
+removed beyond it, or unless some radical change should take place in the
+principles of our intercourse with them, which it is easier to hope for than to
+expect.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the first settlement of the colonies they might have found it possible, by
+uniting their forces, to deliver themselves from the small bodies of strangers
+who landed on their continent. *j They several times attempted to do it, and
+were on the point of succeeding; but the disproportion of their resources, at
+the present day, when compared with those of the whites, is too great to allow
+such an enterprise to be thought of. Nevertheless, there do arise from time to
+time among the Indians men of penetration, who foresee the final destiny which
+awaits the native population, and who exert themselves to unite all the tribes
+in common hostility to the Europeans; but their efforts are unavailing. Those
+tribes which are in the neighborhood of the whites, are too much weakened to
+offer an effectual resistance; whilst the others, giving way to that childish
+carelessness of the morrow which characterizes savage life, wait for the near
+approach of danger before they prepare to meet it; some are unable, the others
+are unwilling, to exert themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+j <br />
+[ Amongst other warlike enterprises, there was one of the Wampanaogs, and other
+confederate tribes, under Metacom in 1675, against the colonists of New
+England; the English were also engaged in war in Virginia in 1622.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is easy to foresee that the Indians will never conform to civilization; or
+that it will be too late, whenever they may be inclined to make the experiment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Civilization is the result of a long social process which 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 the most difficulty which habitually live by the chase.
+Pastoral tribes, indeed, often change their place of abode; but they follow a
+regular order in their migrations, and often return again to their old
+stations, whilst the dwelling of the hunter varies with that of the animals he
+pursues.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Several attempts have been made to diffuse knowledge amongst the Indians,
+without controlling their wandering propensities; by the Jesuits in Canada, and
+by the Puritans in New England; *k but none of these endeavors were crowned by
+any lasting success. Civilization began in the cabin, but it soon retired to
+expire in the woods. The great error of these legislators of the Indians was
+their not understanding that, in order to succeed in civilizing a people, it is
+first necessary to fix it; which cannot be done without inducing it to
+cultivate the soil; the Indians ought in the first place to have been
+accustomed to agriculture. But not only are they destitute of this
+indispensable preliminary to civilization, they would even have great
+difficulty in acquiring it. Men who have once abandoned themselves to the
+restless and adventurous life of the hunter, feel an insurmountable disgust for
+the constant and regular labor which tillage requires. We see this proved in
+the bosom of our own society; but it is far more visible among peoples whose
+partiality for the chase is a part of their national character.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+k <br />
+[ See the &ldquo;Histoire de la Nouvelle France,&rdquo; by Charlevoix, and the
+work entitled &ldquo;Lettres edifiantes.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Independently of this general difficulty, there is another, which applies
+peculiarly to the Indians; they consider labor not merely as an evil, but as a
+disgrace; so that their pride prevents them from becoming civilized, as much as
+their indolence. *l
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+l <br />
+[ &ldquo;In all the tribes,&rdquo; says Volney, in his &ldquo;Tableau des
+Etats-Unis,&rdquo; p. 423, &ldquo;there still exists a generation of old
+warriors, who cannot forbear, when they see their countrymen using the hoe,
+from exclaiming against the degradation of ancient manners, and asserting that
+the savages owe their decline to these innovations; adding, that they have only
+to return to their primitive habits in order to recover their power and their
+glory.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There is no Indian so wretched as not to retain under his hut of bark a lofty
+idea of his personal worth; he considers the cares of industry and labor as
+degrading occupations; he compares the husbandman to the ox which traces the
+furrow; and even in our most ingenious handicraft, he can see nothing but the
+labor of slaves. Not that he is devoid of admiration for the power and
+intellectual greatness of the whites; but although the result of our efforts
+surprises him, he contemns the means by which we obtain it; and while he
+acknowledges our ascendancy, he still believes in his superiority. War and
+hunting are the only pursuits which appear to him worthy to be the occupations
+of a man. *m The Indian, in the dreary solitude of his woods, cherishes the
+same ideas, the same opinions as the noble of the Middle Ages in his castle,
+and he only requires to become a conqueror to complete the resemblance; 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 the ancient prejudices of
+Europe are still in existence.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+m <br />
+[ The following description occurs in an official document: &ldquo;Until a
+young man has been engaged with an enemy, and has performed some acts 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 consists of the
+kinsmen, friends, and comrades of the narrator. The profound impression which
+his discourse produces on them is manifested by the silent attention it
+receives, and by the loud shouts which hail its termination. The young man who
+finds himself at such a meeting without anything to recount is very unhappy;
+and instances have sometimes occurred of young warriors, whose passions had
+been thus inflamed, quitting the war-dance suddenly, and going off alone to
+seek for trophies which they might exhibit, and adventures which they might be
+allowed to relate.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+More than once, in the course of this work, I have endeavored to explain the
+prodigious influence which the social condition appears to exercise upon the
+laws and the manners of men; and I beg to add a few words on the same subject.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I perceive the resemblance which exists between the political institutions
+of our ancestors, the Germans, and of the wandering 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 brought about
+the same results in both hemispheres; and that in the midst of the apparent
+diversity of human affairs, a certain number of primary facts may be
+discovered, from which all the others are derived. In what we usually call the
+German institutions, then, I am inclined only to perceive barbarian habits; and
+the opinions of savages in what we style feudal principles.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+However strongly the vices and prejudices of the North American Indians may be
+opposed to their becoming agricultural and civilized, necessity sometimes
+obliges them to it. Several of the Southern nations, and amongst others the
+Cherokees and the Creeks, *n were surrounded by Europeans, who had landed on
+the shores of the Atlantic; and who, either descending the Ohio or proceeding
+up the Mississippi, arrived simultaneously upon their borders. These tribes
+have not been driven from place to place, like their Northern brethren; but
+they have been gradually enclosed within narrow limits, like the game within
+the thicket, before the huntsmen plunge into the interior. The Indians who were
+thus placed between civilization and death, found themselves obliged to live by
+ignominious labor like the whites. They took to agriculture, and without
+entirely forsaking their old habits or manners, sacrificed only as much as was
+necessary to their existence.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+n <br />
+[ These nations are now swallowed up in the States of Georgia, Tennessee,
+Alabama, and Mississippi. There were formerly in the South four great nations
+(remnants of which still exist), the Choctaws, the Chickasaws, the Creeks, and
+the Cherokees. The remnants of these four nations amounted, in 1830, to about
+75,000 individuals. It is computed that there are now remaining in the
+territory occupied or claimed by the Anglo-American Union about 300,000
+Indians. (See Proceedings of the 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 refer to. (Legislative Documents, 20th Congress, No. 117, pp. 90-105.) [In
+the Census of 1870 it is stated that the Indian population of the United States
+is only 25,731, of whom 7,241 are in California.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Cherokees went further; they created a written language; established a
+permanent form of government; and as everything proceeds rapidly in the New
+World, before they had all of them clothes, they set up a newspaper. *o
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+o <br />
+[ I brought back with me to France one or two copies of this singular
+publication.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The growth of European habits has been remarkably accelerated among these
+Indians by the mixed race which has sprung up. *p Deriving intelligence from
+their father&rsquo;s side, without entirely losing the savage customs of the
+mother, the half-blood forms the natural link between civilization and
+barbarism. Wherever this race has multiplied the savage state has become
+modified, and a great change has taken place in the manners of the people. *q
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+p <br />
+[ See in the Report of the Committee on Indian Affairs, 21st Congress, No. 227,
+p. 23, the reasons for the multiplication of Indians of mixed blood among the
+Cherokees. The principal cause dates from the War of Independence. Many
+Anglo-Americans of Georgia, having taken the side of England, were obliged to
+retreat among the Indians, where they married.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+q <br />
+[ Unhappily the mixed race has been less numerous and less influential in North
+America than in any other country. The American continent was peopled by two
+great nations of Europe, the French and the English. The former were not slow
+in connecting themselves with the daughters of the natives, but there was an
+unfortunate affinity between the Indian character and their own: instead of
+giving the tastes and habits of civilized life to the savages, the French too
+often grew passionately fond of the state of wild freedom they found them in.
+They became the most dangerous of the inhabitants of the desert, and won the
+friendship of the Indian by exaggerating his vices and his virtues. M. de
+Senonville, the governor of Canada, wrote thus to Louis XIV in 1685: &ldquo;It
+has long been believed that in order to civilize the savages we ought to draw
+them nearer to us. But there is every reason to suppose we have been mistaken.
+Those which have been brought into contact with us have not become French, and
+the French who have lived among them are changed into savages, affecting to
+dress and live like them.&rdquo; (&ldquo;History of New France,&rdquo; by
+Charlevoix, vol. ii., p. 345.) The Englishman, on the contrary, continuing
+obstinately 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 union of his race with
+theirs. Thus while the French exercised no salutary influence over the Indians,
+the English have always remained alien from them.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The success of the Cherokees proves that the Indians are capable of
+civilization, but it does not prove that they will succeed in it. This
+difficulty which the Indians find in submitting to civilization proceeds from
+the influence of a general cause, which it is almost impossible for them to
+escape. An attentive survey of history demonstrates that, in general, barbarous
+nations have raised themselves to civilization by degrees, and by their own
+efforts. Whenever they derive knowledge from a foreign people, they stood
+towards it in the relation of conquerors, and not of a conquered nation. When
+the conquered nation is enlightened, and the conquerors are half savage, as in
+the case of the invasion of Rome by the Northern nations or that of China by
+the Mongols, the power which victory bestows upon the barbarian is sufficient
+to keep up his importance among civilized men, and permit him to rank as their
+equal, until he becomes their rival: the one has might on his side, the other
+has intelligence; the former admires the knowledge and the arts of the
+conquered, 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 intellectual preponderance, the conquered party seldom become
+civilized; it retreats, or is destroyed. It may therefore be said, in a general
+way, that savages go forth in arms to seek knowledge, but that they do not
+receive it when it comes to them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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, they
+would gradually gain strength and experience, and when the Europeans should
+appear upon their borders, they would be in a state, if not to maintain their
+independence, at least to assert their right to the soil, and to incorporate
+themselves with the conquerors. But it is the misfortune of Indians to be
+brought into contact with a civilized people, which is also (it must be owned)
+the most avaricious nation on the globe, whilst they are still semi-barbarian:
+to find despots in their instructors, and to receive knowledge from the hand of
+oppression. Living in the freedom of the woods, the North American Indian was
+destitute, but he had no feeling of inferiority towards anyone; as soon,
+however, as he desires to penetrate into the social scale of the whites, he
+takes the lowest rank in society, for he enters, ignorant and poor, within the
+pale of science and wealth. After having led a life of agitation, beset with
+evils and dangers, but at the same time filled with proud emotions, *r he is
+obliged to submit to a wearisome, obscure, and degraded state; and to gain the
+bread which nourishes him by hard and ignoble labor; such are in his eyes the
+only results of which civilization can boast: and even this much he is not sure
+to obtain.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+r <br />
+[ There is in the adventurous life of the hunter a certain irresistible charm,
+which seizes the heart of man and carries him away in spite of reason and
+experience. This is plainly shown by the memoirs of Tanner. Tanner is a
+European who was carried away at the age of six by the Indians, and has
+remained thirty years with them in the woods. Nothing can be conceived more
+appalling that the miseries which he describes. He tells us of tribes without a
+chief, families without a nation to call their own, men in a state of
+isolation, wrecks of powerful tribes wandering at random amid the ice and snow
+and desolate solitudes of Canada. Hunger and cold pursue them; every day their
+life is in jeopardy. Amongst these men, manners have lost their empire,
+traditions are without power. They become more and more savage. Tanner shared
+in all these miseries; he was aware of his European origin; he was not kept
+away from the whites by force; on the contrary, he came every year to trade
+with them, entered their dwellings, and witnessed their enjoyments; he knew
+that whenever he chose to return to civilized life he was perfectly able to do
+so&mdash;and he remained thirty years in the deserts. When he came into
+civilized society he declared that the rude existence which he described, had a
+secret charm for him which he was unable to define: he returned to it again and
+again: at length he abandoned it with poignant regret; and when he was at
+length fixed 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 to be more like a savage than a civilized being. His
+book is written without either taste or order; but he gives, even
+unconsciously, a lively picture of the prejudices, the passions, the vices,
+and, above all, of the destitution in which he lived.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the Indians undertake to imitate their European neighbors, and to till the
+earth like the settlers, they are immediately exposed to a very formidable
+competition. The white man is skilled in the craft of agriculture; the Indian
+is a rough beginner in an art with which he is unacquainted. The former reaps
+abundant crops without difficulty, the latter meets with a thousand obstacles
+in raising the fruits of the earth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The European is placed amongst a population whose wants he knows and partakes.
+The savage is isolated in the midst of a hostile people, with whose manners,
+language, and laws he is imperfectly acquainted, but without whose assistance
+he cannot live. He can only procure the materials of comfort by bartering his
+commodities against the goods of the European, for the assistance of his
+countrymen is wholly insufficient to supply his wants. When the Indian wishes
+to sell the produce of his labor, he cannot always meet with a purchaser,
+whilst the European readily finds a market; and the former can only produce at
+a considerable cost that which the latter vends at a very low rate. Thus the
+Indian has no sooner escaped those evils to which barbarous nations are
+exposed, than he is subjected to the still greater miseries of civilized
+communities; and he finds is scarcely less difficult to live in the midst of
+our abundance, than in the depth of his own wilderness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+He has not yet lost the habits of his erratic life; the traditions of his
+fathers and his passion for the chase are still alive within him. The wild
+enjoyments which formerly animated him in the woods, painfully excite his
+troubled imagination; and his former privations appear to be less keen, his
+former perils less appalling. He contrasts the independence which he possessed
+amongst his equals with the servile position which he occupies in civilized
+society. On the other hand, the solitudes which were so long his free home are
+still at hand; a few hours&rsquo; march will bring him back to them once more.
+The whites offer him a sum, which seems to him to be considerable, for the
+ground which he has begun to clear. This money of the Europeans may possibly
+furnish him with the means of a happy and peaceful subsistence in remoter
+regions; and he quits the plough, resumes his native arms, and returns to the
+wilderness forever. *s The condition of the Creeks and Cherokees, to which I
+have already alluded, sufficiently corroborates the truth of this deplorable
+picture.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+s <br />
+[ The destructive influence of highly civilized nations upon others which are
+less so, has been exemplified by the Europeans themselves. About a century ago
+the French founded the town of Vincennes up on the Wabash, in the middle of the
+desert; and they lived there in great plenty until the arrival of the American
+settlers, who first ruined the previous inhabitants by their competition, and
+afterwards purchased their lands at a very low rate. At the time when M. de
+Volney, from whom I borrow these details, passed through Vincennes, the number
+of the French was reduced to a hundred individuals, most of whom were about to
+pass over to Louisiana or to Canada. These French settlers were worthy people,
+but idle and uninstructed: they had contracted many of the habits of savages.
+The Americans, who were perhaps their inferiors, in a moral point of view, were
+immeasurably superior to them in intelligence: they were industrious, well
+informed, rich, and accustomed to govern their own community.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+I myself saw in Canada, where the intellectual difference between the two races
+is less striking, that the English are the masters of commerce and manufacture
+in the Canadian country, that they spread on all sides, and confine the French
+within limits which scarcely suffice to contain them. In like manner, in
+Louisiana, almost all activity in commerce and manufacture centres in the hands
+of the Anglo-Americans.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+But the case of Texas is still more striking: the State of Texas is a part of
+Mexico, and lies upon the frontier between that country and the United States.
+In the course of the last few years the Anglo-Americans have penetrated into
+this province, which is still thinly peopled; they purchase land, they produce
+the commodities of the country, and supplant the original population. It may
+easily be foreseen that if Mexico takes no steps to check this change, the
+province of Texas will very shortly cease to belong to that government.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+If the different degrees&mdash;comparatively so slight&mdash;which exist in
+European civilization produce results of such magnitude, the consequences which
+must ensue from the collision of the most perfect European civilization with
+Indian savages may readily be conceived.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Indians, in the little which they have done, have unquestionably displayed
+as much natural genius as the peoples of Europe in their most important
+designs; but nations as well as men require time to learn, whatever may be
+their intelligence and their zeal. Whilst the savages were engaged in the work
+of civilization, the Europeans continued to surround them on every side, and to
+confine them within narrower limits; the two races gradually met, and they are
+now in immediate juxtaposition to each other. The Indian is already superior to
+his barbarous parent, but he is still very far below his white neighbor. With
+their resources and acquired knowledge, the Europeans soon appropriated to
+themselves most of the advantages which the natives might have derived from the
+possession of the soil; they have settled in the country, they have purchased
+land at a very low rate or have occupied it by force, and the Indians have been
+ruined by a competition which they had not the means of resisting. They were
+isolated in their own country, and their race only constituted a colony of
+troublesome aliens in the midst of a numerous and domineering people. *t
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+t <br />
+[ See in the 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
+to retire by the troops of Congress, or carrying off their cattle, burning
+their houses, cutting down their corn, and doing violence to their persons. It
+appears, nevertheless, from all these documents that the claims of the natives
+are constantly protected by the government from the abuse of force. The Union
+has a representative agent continually employed to reside among the Indians;
+and the report of the Cherokee agent, which is among the documents I have
+referred to, is almost always favorable to the Indians. &ldquo;The intrusion of
+whites,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;upon the lands of the Cherokees would cause ruin
+to the poor, helpless, and inoffensive inhabitants.&rdquo; And he further
+remarks upon the attempt of the State of Georgia to establish a division line
+for the purpose of limiting the boundaries of the Cherokees, that the line
+drawn having been made by the whites, and entirely upon ex parte evidence of
+their several rights, was of no validity whatever.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Washington said in one of his messages to Congress, &ldquo;We are more
+enlightened and more powerful than the Indian nations, we are therefore bound
+in honor to treat them with kindness and even with generosity.&rdquo; But this
+virtuous and high-minded policy has not been followed. The rapacity of the
+settlers is usually backed by the tyranny of the government. Although the
+Cherokees and the Creeks are established upon the territory which they
+inhabited before the settlement of the Europeans, and although the Americans
+have frequently treated with them as with foreign nations, the surrounding
+States have not consented to acknowledge them as independent peoples, and
+attempts have been made to subject these children of the woods to
+Anglo-American magistrates, laws, and customs. *u Destitution had driven these
+unfortunate Indians to civilization, and oppression now drives them back to
+their former condition: many of them abandon the soil which they had begun to
+clear, and return to their savage course of life.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+u <br />
+[ In 1829 the State of Alabama divided the Creek territory into counties, and
+subjected the Indian population to the power of European magistrates.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+In 1830 the State of Mississippi assimilated the Choctaws and Chickasaws to the
+white population, and declared that any of them that should take the title of
+chief would be punished by a fine of $1,000 and a year&rsquo;s imprisonment.
+When these laws were enforced upon the Choctaws, who inhabited that district,
+the tribe assembled, their chief communicated 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.]
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0047" id="link2HCH0047"></a> Chapter XVIII: Future
+Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part III</h2>
+
+
+<p>
+If we consider the tyrannical measures which have been adopted by the
+legislatures of the Southern States, the conduct of their Governors, and the
+decrees of their courts of justice, we shall be convinced that the entire
+expulsion of the Indians is the final result to which the efforts of their
+policy are directed. The Americans of that part of the Union look with jealousy
+upon the aborigines, *v they are aware that these tribes have not yet lost the
+traditions of savage life, and before civilization has permanently fixed them
+to the soil, it is intended to force them to recede by reducing them to
+despair. The Creeks and Cherokees, oppressed by the several States, have
+appealed 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 maintaining them in the free possession of that territory, which the
+Union is pledged to respect. *w But the several States oppose so formidable a
+resistance to the execution of this design, that the government is obliged to
+consent to the extirpation of a few barbarous tribes in order not to endanger
+the safety of the American Union.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+v <br />
+[ The Georgians, who are so much annoyed by the proximity of the Indians,
+inhabit a territory which does 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.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+w <br />
+[ In 1818 Congress appointed commissioners to visit the Arkansas Territory,
+accompanied by a deputation of Creeks, Choctaws, and Chickasaws. This
+expedition was commanded by Messrs. Kennerly, M&rsquo;Coy, Wash Hood, and John
+Bell. See the different reports of the commissioners, and their journal, in the
+Documents of Congress, No. 87, House of Representatives.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the federal government, which is not able to protect the Indians, would
+fain mitigate the hardships of their lot; and, with this intention, proposals
+have been made to transport them into more remote regions at the public cost.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Between the thirty-third and thirty-seventh degrees of north latitude, a vast
+tract of country lies, which has taken the name of Arkansas, from the principal
+river that waters its extent. It is bounded on the one side by the confines of
+Mexico, on the other by the Mississippi. Numberless streams cross it in every
+direction; the climate is mild, and the soil productive, but it is only
+inhabited by a few wandering hordes of savages. The government of the Union
+wishes to transport the broken remnants of the indigenous population of the
+South to the portion of this country which is nearest to Mexico, and at a great
+distance from the American settlements.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+We were assured, towards the end of the year 1831, that 10,000 Indians had
+already gone down to the shores of the Arkansas; and fresh detachments were
+constantly following them; but Congress has been unable to excite a unanimous
+determination in those whom it is disposed to protect. Some, indeed, are
+willing to quit the seat of oppression, but the most enlightened members of the
+community refuse to abandon their recent dwellings and their springing crops;
+they are of opinion that the work of civilization, once interrupted, will never
+be resumed; they fear that those domestic habits which have been so recently
+contracted, may be irrevocably lost in the midst of a country which is still
+barbarous, and where nothing is prepared for the subsistence of an agricultural
+people; they know that their entrance into those wilds will be opposed by
+inimical hordes, and that they have lost the energy of barbarians, without
+acquiring the resources of civilization to resist their attacks. Moreover, the
+Indians readily discover that the settlement which is proposed to them is
+merely a temporary expedient. 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 the observance of the obligation; but the territory which they at
+present occupy was formerly secured to them by the most solemn oaths of
+Anglo-American faith. *x The American government does not indeed rob them of
+their lands, but it allows perpetual incursions to be made on them. In a few
+years the same white population which now flocks around them, will track them
+to the solitudes of the Arkansas; they will then be exposed to the same evils
+without the same remedies, and as the limits of the earth will at last fail
+them, their only refuge is the grave.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+x <br />
+[ The fifth article of the treaty made with the Creeks in August, 1790, is in
+the following words:&mdash;&ldquo;The United States solemnly guarantee to the
+Creek nation all their land within the limits of the United States.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The seventh article of the treaty concluded in 1791 with the Cherokees
+says:&mdash;&ldquo;The United States solemnly guarantee to the Cherokee nation
+all their lands not hereby ceded.&rdquo; The following article declared that if
+any citizen of the United States or other settler not of the Indian race should
+establish himself upon the territory of the Cherokees, the United States would
+withdraw their protection from that individual, and give him up to be punished
+as the Cherokee nation should think fit.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Union treats the Indians with less cupidity and rigor than the policy of
+the several States, but the two governments are alike destitute of good faith.
+The States extend what they are pleased to term the benefits of their laws to
+the Indians, with a belief that the tribes will recede rather than submit; and
+the central government, which promises a permanent refuge to these unhappy
+beings is well aware of its inability to secure it to them. *y
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+y <br />
+[ 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, March 23, 1829
+(Proceedings of the Indian Board, in the city of New York, p. 5): &ldquo;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 trouble 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.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Secretary of War, in a letter written to the Cherokees, April 18, 1829,
+(see the same work, p. 6), declares to them that they cannot expect to retain
+possession of the lands at that time occupied by them, but gives them the most
+positive assurance of uninterrupted peace if they would remove beyond the
+Mississippi: as if the power which could not grant them protection then, would
+be able to afford it them hereafter!]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus the tyranny of the States obliges the savages to retire, the Union, by its
+promises and resources, facilitates their retreat; and these measures tend to
+precisely the same end. *z &ldquo;By the will of our Father in Heaven, the
+Governor of the whole world,&rdquo; said the Cherokees in their petition to
+Congress, *a &ldquo;the red man of America has become small, and the white man
+great and renowned. When the ancestors of the people of these United States
+first came to the shores of America they found the red man strong: though he
+was ignorant and savage, yet he received them kindly, and gave them dry land to
+rest their weary feet. They met in peace, and shook hands in token of
+friendship. Whatever the white man wanted and asked of the Indian, the latter
+willingly gave. At that time the Indian was the lord, and the white man the
+suppliant. But now the scene has changed. The strength of the red man has
+become weakness. As his neighbors increased in numbers his power became less
+and less, and now, of the many and powerful tribes who once covered these
+United States, only a few are to be seen&mdash;a few whom a sweeping pestilence
+has left. The northern tribes, who were once so numerous and powerful, are now
+nearly extinct. Thus it has happened to the red man of America. Shall we, who
+are remnants, share the same fate?&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+z <br />
+[ To obtain a correct idea of the policy pursued by the several States and the
+Union with respect to the Indians, it is necessary to consult, 1st, &ldquo;The
+Laws of the Colonial and State Governments relating to the Indian
+Inhabitants.&rdquo; (See the Legislative Documents, 21st Congress, No. 319.)
+2d, The Laws of the Union on the same subject, and especially that of March 30,
+1802. (See Story&rsquo;s &ldquo;Laws of the United States.&rdquo;) 3d, The
+Report of Mr. Cass, Secretary of War, relative to Indian Affairs, November 29,
+1823.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ December 18, 1829.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+&ldquo;The land on which we stand we have received as an inheritance from our
+fathers, who possessed it from time immemorial, as a gift from our common
+Father in Heaven. They bequeathed it to us as their children, and we have
+sacredly kept it, as containing the remains of our beloved men. This right of
+inheritance we have never ceded nor ever forfeited. Permit us to ask what
+better right can the people have to a country than the right of inheritance and
+immemorial peaceable possession? We know it is said of late by the State of
+Georgia and by the Executive of the United States, that we have forfeited this
+right; but we think this is said gratuitously. At what time have we made the
+forfeit? What great crime have we committed, whereby we must forever be
+divested of our country and rights? Was it when we were hostile to the United
+States, and took part with the King of Great Britain, during the struggle for
+independence? If so, why was not this forfeiture declared in the first treaty
+of peace between the United States and our beloved men? Why was not such an
+article as the following inserted in the treaty:&mdash;&lsquo;The United States
+give peace to the Cherokees, but, for the part they took in the late war,
+declare them to be but tenants at will, to be removed when the convenience of
+the States, within whose chartered limits they live, shall require it&rsquo;?
+That was the proper time to assume such a possession. But it was not thought
+of, nor would our forefathers have agreed to any treaty whose tendency was to
+deprive them of their rights and their country.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Such is the language of the Indians: their assertions are true, their
+forebodings inevitable. From whichever side we consider the destinies of the
+aborigines of North America, their calamities appear to be irremediable: if
+they continue barbarous, they are forced to retire; if they attempt to civilize
+their manners, the contact of a more civilized community subjects them to
+oppression and destitution. They perish if they continue to wander from waste
+to waste, and if they attempt to settle they still must perish; the assistance
+of Europeans is necessary to instruct them, but the approach of Europeans
+corrupts and repels them into savage life; they refuse to change their habits
+as long as their solitudes are their own, and it is too late to change them
+when they are constrained to submit.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Spaniards pursued the Indians with bloodhounds, like wild beasts; they
+sacked the New World with no more temper or compassion than a city taken by
+storm; but destruction must cease, and frenzy be stayed; the remnant of the
+Indian population which had escaped the massacre mixed with its conquerors, and
+adopted in the end their religion and their manners. *b The conduct of the
+Americans of the United States towards the aborigines is characterized, on the
+other hand, by a singular attachment to the formalities of law. Provided that
+the Indians retain their barbarous condition, the Americans take no part in
+their affairs; they treat them as independent nations, and do not possess
+themselves of their hunting grounds without a treaty of purchase; and if an
+Indian nation happens to be so encroached upon as to be unable to subsist upon
+its territory, they afford it brotherly assistance in transporting it to a
+grave sufficiently remote from the land of its fathers.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ The honor of this result is, however, by no means due to the Spaniards. If
+the Indian tribes had not been tillers of the ground at the time of the arrival
+of the Europeans, they would unquestionably have been destroyed in South as
+well as in North America.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 depriving it of its rights; but the Americans of the United States have
+accomplished this twofold purpose with singular felicity; tranquilly, legally,
+philanthropically, without shedding blood, and without violating a single great
+principle of morality in the eyes of the world. *c It is impossible to destroy
+men with more respect for the laws of humanity.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ See, amongst other documents, the report made by Mr. Bell in the name of the
+Committee on Indian Affairs, February 24, 1830, in which is most logically
+established and most learnedly proved, that &ldquo;the fundamental principle
+that the Indians had no right by virtue of their ancient possession either of
+will or sovereignty, has never been abandoned either expressly or by
+implication.&rdquo; In perusing this report, which is evidently drawn up by an
+experienced hand, one is astonished at the facility with which the author gets
+rid of all arguments founded upon reason and natural right, which he designates
+as abstract and theoretical principles. The more I contemplate the difference
+between civilized and uncivilized man with regard to the principles of justice,
+the more I observe that the former contests the justice of those rights which
+the latter simply violates.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[I leave this chapter wholly unchanged, for it has always appeared to me to be
+one of the most eloquent and touching parts of this book. But it has ceased to
+be prophetic; the destruction of the Indian race in the United States is
+already consummated. In 1870 there remained but 25,731 Indians in the whole
+territory of the Union, and of these by far the largest part exist in
+California, Michigan, Wisconsin, Dakota, and New Mexico and Nevada. In New
+England, Pennsylvania, and New York the race is extinct; and the predictions of
+M. de Tocqueville are fulfilled. &mdash;Translator&rsquo;s Note.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Situation Of The Black Population In The United States, And Dangers With Which
+Its Presence Threatens The Whites
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Why it is more difficult to abolish slavery, and to efface all vestiges of it
+amongst the moderns than it was amongst the ancients&mdash;In the United States
+the prejudices of the Whites against the Blacks seem to increase in proportion
+as slavery is abolished&mdash;Situation of the Negroes in the Northern and
+Southern States&mdash;Why the Americans abolish slavery&mdash;Servitude, which
+debases the slave, impoverishes the master&mdash;Contrast between the left and
+the right bank of the Ohio&mdash;To what attributable&mdash;The Black race, as
+well as slavery, recedes towards the South&mdash;Explanation of this
+fact&mdash;Difficulties attendant upon the abolition of slavery in the
+South&mdash;Dangers to come&mdash;General anxiety&mdash;Foundation of a Black
+colony in Africa&mdash;Why the Americans of the South increase the hardships of
+slavery, whilst they are distressed at its continuance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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. These two races are attached to each other without
+intermingling, and they are alike unable entirely to separate or to combine.
+The most formidable of all the ills which threaten the future existence of the
+Union arises from the presence of a black population upon its territory; and in
+contemplating the cause of the present embarrassments or of the future dangers
+of the United States, the observer is invariably led to consider this as a
+primary fact.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The permanent evils to which mankind is subjected are usually produced by the
+vehement or the increasing efforts of men; but there is one calamity which
+penetrated furtively into the world, and which was at first scarcely
+distinguishable amidst the ordinary abuses of power; it originated with an
+individual whose name history has not preserved; it was wafted like some
+accursed germ upon a portion of the soil, but it afterwards nurtured itself,
+grew without effort, and spreads naturally with the society to which it
+belongs. I need scarcely add that this calamity is slavery. Christianity
+suppressed slavery, but the Christians of the sixteenth century re-established
+it&mdash;as an exception, indeed, to their social system, and restricted to one
+of the races of mankind; but the wound thus inflicted upon humanity, though
+less extensive, was at the same time rendered far more difficult of cure.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is important to make an accurate distinction between slavery itself and its
+consequences. The immediate evils which are produced by slavery were very
+nearly the same in antiquity as they are amongst the moderns; but the
+consequences of these evils were different. The slave, amongst the ancients,
+belonged to the same race as his master, and he was often the superior of the
+two in education *d and instruction. Freedom was the only distinction between
+them; and when freedom was conferred they were easily confounded together. The
+ancients, then, had a very simple means of avoiding slavery and its evil
+consequences, which was that of affranchisement; and they succeeded as soon as
+they adopted this measure generally. Not but, 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 whomsoever has been
+their inferior long after he is become their equal; and the real inequality
+which is produced by fortune or by law is always succeeded by an imaginary
+inequality which is implanted in the manners of the people. Nevertheless, this
+secondary consequence of slavery was limited to a certain term amongst the
+ancients, for the freedman bore so entire a resemblance to those born free,
+that it soon became impossible to distinguish him from amongst them.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ It is well known that several of the most distinguished authors of antiquity,
+and amongst them Aesop and Terence, were, or had been slaves. Slaves were not
+always taken from barbarous nations, and the chances of war reduced highly
+civilized men to servitude.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 obstacles begin where those of the ancients left off. This arises from
+the circumstance that, amongst the moderns, the abstract and transient fact of
+slavery is fatally united to 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 must be inferred, that all the blacks
+who are now to be found in that hemisphere are either slaves or freedmen. Thus
+the negro transmits the eternal mark of his ignominy to all his descendants;
+and although the law may abolish slavery, God alone can obliterate the traces
+of its existence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 mankind in this child of debasement whom slavery has brought
+amongst us. His physiognomy is to our eyes hideous, his understanding weak, his
+tastes low; and we are almost inclined to look upon him as a being intermediate
+between man and the brutes. *e The moderns, then, after they have abolished
+slavery, have three prejudices to contend against, which are less easy to
+attack and far less easy to conquer than the mere fact of servitude: the
+prejudice of the master, the prejudice of the race, and the prejudice of color.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ To induce the whites to abandon the opinion they have conceived of the moral
+and intellectual inferiority of their former slaves, the negroes must change;
+but as long as this opinion subsists, to change is impossible.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is difficult for us, who have had the good fortune to be born amongst men
+like ourselves by nature, and equal to ourselves 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 analogy. France was
+formerly a country in which numerous distinctions of rank existed, that had
+been created by the legislation. Nothing can be more fictitious than a purely
+legal inferiority; nothing more contrary to the instinct of mankind than these
+permanent divisions which had been established between beings evidently
+similar. Nevertheless these divisions subsisted for ages; they still subsist in
+many places; and on all sides they have left imaginary vestiges, which time
+alone can efface. If it be so difficult to root out an inequality which solely
+originates in the law, how are those distinctions to be destroyed which seem to
+be based upon the immutable laws of Nature herself? When I remember the extreme
+difficulty with which aristocratic bodies, of whatever nature they may be, are
+commingled with the mass of the people; and the exceeding care which they take
+to preserve the ideal boundaries of their caste inviolate, I despair of seeing
+an aristocracy disappear which is founded upon visible and indelible signs.
+Those who hope that the Europeans will ever mix with the negroes, appear to me
+to delude themselves; and I am not led to any such conclusion by my own reason,
+or by the evidence of facts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Hitherto, wherever the whites have been the most powerful, they have maintained
+the blacks in a subordinate or a servile position; wherever the negroes have
+been strongest they have destroyed the whites; such has been the only
+retribution which has ever taken place between the two races.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I see that in a certain portion of the territory of the United States at the
+present day, the legal barrier which separated the two races is tending to fall
+away, but not that which exists in the manners of the country; slavery recedes,
+but the prejudice to which it has given birth remains stationary. Whosoever has
+inhabited the United States must have perceived 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 the race appears to be
+stronger in the States which have abolished slavery, than in those where it
+still exists; and nowhere is it so intolerant as in those States where
+servitude has never been known.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is true, that in the North of the Union, marriages may be legally contracted
+between negroes and whites; but public opinion would stigmatize a man who
+should connect himself with a negress as infamous, and it would be difficult to
+meet with a single instance of such a union. The electoral franchise has been
+conferred upon the negroes in almost all the States in which slavery has been
+abolished; but if they come forward to vote, their lives are in danger. If
+oppressed, they may bring an action at law, but they will find none but whites
+amongst their judges; and although they may legally serve as jurors, prejudice
+repulses them from that office. The same schools do not receive the child of
+the black and of the European. In the theatres, gold cannot procure a seat for
+the servile race beside their former masters; in the hospitals they lie apart;
+and although they are allowed to invoke the same Divinity as the whites, it
+must be at a different altar, and in their own churches, with their own clergy.
+The gates of Heaven are not closed against these unhappy beings; but their
+inferiority is continued to the very confines of the other world; when the
+negro is defunct, his bones are cast aside, and the distinction of condition
+prevails even in the equality of death. The negro is free, but he can share
+neither the rights, nor the pleasures, nor the labor, nor the afflictions, nor
+the tomb of him whose equal he has been declared to be; and he cannot meet him
+upon fair terms in life or in death.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the South, where slavery still exists, the negroes are less carefully kept
+apart; they sometimes share the labor and the recreations of the whites; the
+whites consent to intermix with them to a certain extent, and although the
+legislation treats them 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 distinctly perceives
+the barrier which separates him from the degraded race, and he shuns the negro
+with the more pertinacity, since he fears lest they should some day be
+confounded together.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Amongst the Americans of the South, nature sometimes 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 country did not declare that she may aspire to be
+the legitimate partner of his bed; but he recoils with horror from her who
+might become his wife.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 manners 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, it may be asked why the Americans have abolished
+slavery in the North of the Union, why they maintain it in the South, and why
+they aggravate its hardships there? 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first negroes were imported into Virginia about the year 1621. *f 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 negro population was
+always very limited in New England. *g
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+f <br />
+[ See Beverley&rsquo;s &ldquo;History of Virginia.&rdquo; See also in
+Jefferson&rsquo;s &ldquo;Memoirs&rdquo; some curious details concerning the
+introduction of negroes into Virginia, and the first Act which prohibited the
+importation of them in 1778.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ The number of slaves was less considerable in the North, but the advantages
+resulting from slavery were not more contested there than in the South. 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&rsquo;s
+&ldquo;Commentaries,&rdquo; vol. ii. p. 206.) Curious researches, by Belknap,
+upon slavery in New England, are to be found in the &ldquo;Historical
+Collection of Massachusetts,&rdquo; vol. iv. p. 193. It appears that negroes
+were introduced there in 1630, but that the legislation and manners of the
+people were opposed to slavery from the first; see also, in the same work, the
+manner in which public opinion, and afterwards the laws, finally put an end to
+slavery.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A century had scarcely elapsed since the foundation 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
+population, in wealth, and in prosperity more rapidly than those which
+contained the greatest number of negroes. In the former, however, the
+inhabitants were obliged to cultivate the soil themselves, or by hired
+laborers; in the latter they were furnished with hands for which they paid no
+wages; yet although labor and expenses were on the one side, and ease with
+economy on the other, the former were in possession of the most advantageous
+system. This consequence seemed to be the more difficult to explain, since the
+settlers, who all belonged to the same European race, had the same habits, the
+same civilization, the same laws, and their shades of difference were extremely
+slight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 with a new soil and an unwonted climate; the
+obstacles which opposed them were of the most various character; their races
+intermingled, the inhabitants of the South went up towards the North, those of
+the North descended to the South; but in the midst of all these causes, the
+same result occurred at every step, and in general, the colonies in which there
+were no slaves became more populous and more rich than those in which slavery
+flourished. The more progress was made, the more was it shown that slavery,
+which is so cruel to the slave, is prejudicial to the master.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0048" id="link2HCH0048"></a> Chapter XVIII: Future
+Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part IV</h2>
+
+<p>
+But this truth was most satisfactorily demonstrated when civilization reached
+the banks of the Ohio. The stream which the Indians had distinguished by the
+name of Ohio, or Beautiful River, waters one of the most magnificent valleys
+that has ever been made the abode of man. Undulating lands extend upon both
+shores of the Ohio, whose soil affords inexhaustible treasures to the laborer;
+on either bank the air is 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 only differ in a single respect;
+Kentucky has admitted slavery, but the State of Ohio has prohibited the
+existence of slaves within its borders. *h
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+h <br />
+[ Not only is slavery prohibited in Ohio, but no free negroes are allowed to
+enter the territory of that State, or to hold property in it. See the Statutes
+of Ohio.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 between liberty and
+servitude; and a transient inspection of the surrounding objects will convince
+him as to which of the two is most favorable to mankind. Upon the left bank of
+the stream the population is rare; from time to time one descries a troop of
+slaves loitering in the half-desert fields; the primaeval forest recurs at
+every turn; society seems to be asleep, man to be idle, and nature alone offers
+a scene of activity and of life. From the right bank, on the contrary, a
+confused hum is heard which proclaims the presence of industry; the fields are
+covered with abundant harvests, the elegance of the dwellings announces the
+taste and activity of the laborer, and man appears to be in the enjoyment of
+that wealth and contentment which is the reward of labor. *i
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+i <br />
+[ The activity of Ohio is not confined to individuals, but the undertakings of
+the State are surprisingly great; a canal has been established between Lake
+Erie and the Ohio, by means of which the valley of the Mississippi communicates
+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.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The State of Kentucky was founded in 1775, the State of Ohio only twelve years
+later; but twelve years are more in America than half a century in Europe, and,
+at the present day, the population of Ohio exceeds that of Kentucky by two
+hundred and fifty thousand souls. *j These opposite consequences of slavery and
+freedom may readily be understood, and they suffice to explain many of the
+differences which we remark between the civilization of antiquity and that of
+our own time.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+j <br />
+[ The exact numbers given by the census of 1830 were: Kentucky, 688,-844; Ohio,
+937,679. [In 1890 the population of Ohio was 3,672,316, that of Kentucky,
+1,858,635.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Upon the left bank of the Ohio labor is confounded with the idea of slavery,
+upon the right 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 they would be afraid of
+assimilating themselves to the negroes; on the latter no one is idle, for the
+white population extends its activity and its intelligence to every kind of
+employment. Thus the men whose task it is to cultivate the rich soil of
+Kentucky are ignorant and lukewarm; whilst those who are active and enlightened
+either do nothing or pass over into the State of Ohio, where they may work
+without dishonor.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is true that in Kentucky the planters are not obliged to pay wages to the
+slaves whom they employ; but they derive small profits from their labor, whilst
+the wages paid to free workmen would be returned with interest in the value of
+their services. The free workman is paid, but he does his work quicker than the
+slave, and rapidity of execution is one of the great elements of economy. The
+white sells his services, but they are only purchased at the times at which
+they 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 the prime of manhood, in his profitless infancy as well as in the
+productive years of youth. Payment must equally be made in order to obtain the
+services of either class of men: the free workman receives his wages in money,
+the slave in education, in food, in care, and in clothing. The money which a
+master spends in the maintenance 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 sum, which appears only to enrich the individual who receives it, but in
+the end the slave has cost more than the free servant, and his labor is less
+productive. *k
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+k <br />
+[ Independently of these causes, which, wherever free workmen abound, render
+their labor more productive and more economical than that of slaves, another
+cause may be pointed out which is peculiar to the United States: the sugar-cane
+has hitherto 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, and 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 very high in Louisiana. But Louisiana is one of the confederated
+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.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The influence of slavery extends still further; it affects the character of the
+master, and imparts a peculiar tendency to his ideas and his tastes. Upon both
+banks of the Ohio, the character of the inhabitants is enterprising and
+energetic; but this vigor is very differently exercised in the two States. The
+white inhabitant of Ohio, who is obliged to subsist by his own exertions,
+regards temporal prosperity as the principal aim of his existence; and as the
+country which he occupies presents inexhaustible resources to his industry and
+ever-varying lures to his activity, his acquisitive ardor surpasses the
+ordinary limits of human cupidity: he is tormented by the desire of wealth, and
+he boldly enters upon every path which fortune opens to him; he becomes a
+sailor, a pioneer, an artisan, or a laborer with the same indifference, and he
+supports, with equal constancy, the fatigues and the dangers incidental to
+these various professions; the resources of his intelligence are astonishing,
+and his avidity in the pursuit of gain amounts to a species of heroism.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the Kentuckian scorns not only labor, but all the undertakings which labor
+promotes; as he lives in an idle independence, his tastes are those of an idle
+man; money loses a portion of its value in his eyes; he covets wealth much less
+than pleasure and excitement; and the energy which his neighbor devotes to
+gain, turns with him to a passionate love of field sports and military
+exercises; he delights in violent bodily exertion, he is familiar with the use
+of arms, and is accustomed from a very early age to expose his life in single
+combat. Thus slavery not only prevents the whites from becoming opulent, but
+even from desiring to become so.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the same causes have been continually producing opposite effects for the
+last two centuries in the British colonies of North America, they have
+established a very striking difference between the commercial capacity of the
+inhabitants of the South and those of the North. At the present day it is only
+the Northern States which are in possession of shipping, manufactures,
+railroads, and canals. This difference is perceptible not only in comparing the
+North with the South, but in comparing the several Southern States. Almost all
+the individuals who carry on commercial operations, or who endeavor to turn
+slave labor to account in the most Southern districts of the Union, have
+emigrated from the North. The natives of the Northern States are constantly
+spreading over that portion of the American territory where they have less to
+fear from competition; they discover resources there which escaped the notice
+of the inhabitants; and, as they comply with a system which they do not
+approve, they succeed in turning it to better advantage than those who first
+founded and who still maintain it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Were I inclined to continue this parallel, I could easily prove that almost all
+the differences which may be remarked 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 present intention is not to point out
+all the consequences of servitude, but those effects which it has produced upon
+the prosperity of the countries which have admitted it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The influence of slavery upon the production of wealth must have been very
+imperfectly known in antiquity, as slavery then obtained throughout the
+civilized world; and the nations which were unacquainted with it were
+barbarous. 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As these truths became apparent in the United States, slavery receded before
+the progress of experience. Servitude had begun in the South, and had thence
+spread towards the North; but it now retires again. Freedom, which started from
+the North, now descends uninterruptedly towards the South. Amongst the great
+States, Pennsylvania now constitutes the extreme limit of slavery to the North:
+but even within those limits the slave system is shaken: Maryland, which is
+immediately below Pennsylvania, is preparing for its abolition; and Virginia,
+which comes next to Maryland, is already discussing its utility and its
+dangers. *l
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+l <br />
+[ A peculiar reason contributes 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 tobacco. This cultivation is
+specially carried on by slaves; but within the last few years the market-price
+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
+changed. The natives of Maryland and Virginia are therefore more disposed than
+they were thirty years ago, to give up slave labor in the cultivation of
+tobacco, or to give up slavery and tobacco at the same time.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No great change takes place in human institutions without involving amongst its
+causes the law of inheritance. When the law of primogeniture obtained in the
+South, each family was represented by a wealthy individual, who was neither
+compelled nor induced to labor; and he was surrounded, as by parasitic plants,
+by the other members of his family who were then excluded by law from sharing
+the common inheritance, and who led the same kind of life as himself. The very
+same thing then occurred in all the families of the South as still happens in
+the wealthy families of some countries in Europe, namely, that the younger sons
+remain in the same state of idleness as their elder brother, without being as
+rich as he is. This identical result seems to be produced in Europe and in
+America by wholly analogous causes. In the South of the United States the whole
+race of whites formed an aristocratic body, which was headed by a certain
+number of privileged 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 the honor of inactive life. This aristocracy
+contained many who were poor, but none who would work; its members preferred
+want to labor, consequently no competition was set on foot against negro
+laborers and slaves, and, whatever opinion might be entertained as to the
+utility of their efforts, it was indispensable to employ them, since there was
+no one else to work.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+No sooner was the law of primogeniture 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 procure the means of subsistence:
+several of them have since entirely disappeared, and all of them learned to
+look forward to the time at which it would be necessary for everyone 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 laborious subsistence without
+blushing for their exertions. Thus one of the most immediate consequences of
+the partible quality of estates has been to create a class of free laborers. As
+soon as a competition was set on foot between the free laborer and the slave,
+the inferiority of the latter became manifest, and slavery was attacked in its
+fundamental principle, which is the interest of the master.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As slavery recedes, the black population follows its retrograde course, and
+returns with it towards those tropical regions from which it originally came.
+However singular this fact may at first appear to be, it may readily be
+explained. Although the Americans abolish the principle of slavery, they do not
+set their slaves free. To illustrate this remark, I will quote the example of
+the State of New York. In 1788, the State of New York prohibited the sale of
+slaves within its limits, which was an indirect method of prohibiting the
+importation of blacks. Thenceforward the number of negroes could only increase
+according to the ratio of the natural increase of population. But eight years
+later a more decisive measure was taken, and it was enacted that all children
+born of slave parents after July 4, 1799, should be free. No increase could
+then take place, and although slaves still existed, slavery might be said to be
+abolished.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+From the time at which a Northern State prohibited the importation of slaves,
+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 was no longer
+able to get rid of his slave (who thus became a burdensome possession)
+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 strong interest in transporting him to the
+South. Thus the same law prevents the slaves of the South from coming to the
+Northern States, and drives those of the North to the South.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The want of free hands is felt in a State in proportion as the number of slaves
+decreases. But in proportion as labor is performed by free hands, slave labor
+becomes less productive; and the slave is then a useless or onerous possession,
+whom it is important to export to those Southern States where the same
+competition is not to be feared. Thus the abolition of slavery does not set the
+slave free, but it merely transfers him from one master to another, and from
+the North to the South.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The emancipated negroes, and those born after the abolition of slavery, do not,
+indeed, migrate from the North to the South; but their situation with regard to
+the Europeans is not unlike that of the aborigines of America; they remain half
+civilized, and deprived of their rights in the midst of a population which is
+far superior to them in wealth and in knowledge; where they are exposed to the
+tyranny of the laws *m and the intolerance of the people. On some accounts 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 a single portion
+of the soil: many of them perish miserably, *n and the rest congregate in the
+great towns, where they perform the meanest offices, and lead a wretched and
+precarious existence.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+m <br />
+[ The States in which slavery is abolished 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 different States in this respect, the
+unhappy blacks can only choose the least of the evils which beset them.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+n <br />
+[ There is a very 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 Philadelphia;
+but one negro out of twenty-one individuals of the black population died in the
+same space of time. The mortality is by no means so great amongst the negroes
+who are still slaves. (See Emerson&rsquo;s &ldquo;Medical Statistics,&rdquo; p.
+28.)]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But even if the number of negroes continued to increase as rapidly as when they
+were still in a state of slavery, as the number of whites augments with twofold
+rapidity since the abolition of slavery, the blacks would soon be, as it were,
+lost in the midst of a strange population.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A district which is cultivated by slaves is in general more scantily peopled
+than a district cultivated by free labor: moreover, America is still a new
+country, and a State is therefore not half peopled at the time 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 immediately arrive from
+all parts of the country, who hasten to profit by the fresh resources which are
+then opened to industry. The soil is soon divided amongst them, and a family of
+white settlers takes possession of each tract of country. Besides which,
+European emigration is exclusively directed to the free States; for what would
+be the fate of a poor emigrant who crosses the Atlantic in search of ease and
+happiness if he were to land in a country where labor is stigmatized as
+degrading?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus the white population grows by its natural increase, 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 negroes constitute a scanty remnant, a poor
+tribe of vagrants, which is lost in the midst of an immense people in full
+possession of the land; and the presence of the blacks is only marked by the
+injustice and the hardships of which they are the unhappy victims.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In several of the Western States the negro race never made its appearance, and
+in all the Northern States it is rapidly declining. Thus the great question of
+its future condition is confined within a narrow circle, where it becomes less
+formidable, though not more easy of solution.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The more we descend towards the South, the more difficult does it become to
+abolish slavery with advantage: and this arises from several physical causes
+which it is important to point out.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The first of these causes is the climate; it is well known that in proportion
+as Europeans approach the tropics they suffer more from labor. Many of the
+Americans even assert that within a certain latitude the exertions which a
+negro can make without danger are fatal to them; *o but I do not think that
+this opinion, which is so favorable to the indolence of the inhabitants of
+southern regions, is confirmed by experience. The southern parts of the Union
+are not hotter than the South of Italy and of Spain; *p and it may be asked why
+the European cannot work as well there as in the two latter countries. If
+slavery has been abolished in Italy and in Spain without causing the
+destruction 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, from raising the means of subsistence from
+the soil, but their labor would unquestionably be more irksome and less
+productive to them than to the inhabitants of New England. 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.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+o <br />
+[ This is true of the spots in which rice is cultivated; rice-grounds, which
+are unwholesome in all countries, are particularly dangerous in those regions
+which are exposed to the beams of a tropical sun. Europeans would not find it
+easy to cultivate the soil in that part of the New World if it must be
+necessarily be made to produce rice; but may they not subsist without
+rice-grounds?]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+p <br />
+[ These States are nearer to the equator than Italy and Spain, but the
+temperature of the continent of America is very much lower than that of Europe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Spanish Government formerly caused a certain number of peasants from the
+Acores to be transported into a district of Louisiana called Attakapas, by way
+of experiment. These settlers still cultivate the soil without the assistance
+of slaves, but their industry is so languid as scarcely to supply their most
+necessary wants.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 method of cultivating corn. The farmer of corn land in a country
+where slavery is unknown habitually retains a small number of laborers in his
+service, and at seed-time and harvest he hires several additional hands, who
+only live at his cost for a short period. But the agriculturist in a slave
+State is obliged to keep a large number of slaves the whole year round, in
+order to sow his fields and to gather in his crops, although their services are
+only required for a few weeks; but 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 services they must be bought. Slavery, independently of
+its general disadvantages, is therefore still more inapplicable to countries in
+which corn is cultivated than to those which produce crops of a different kind.
+The cultivation of tobacco, 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 but 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 one of the principal sources of the wealth of
+those States. If slavery were abolished, the inhabitants of the South would be
+constrained to adopt one of two alternatives: they must either change their
+system of cultivation, 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 produce 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 maintaining slavery exist in the South which
+do not operate in the North.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But there is yet another motive which is more cogent than all the others: the
+South might indeed, rigorously speaking, abolish slavery; but how should it rid
+its territory of the black population? Slaves and slavery are driven from the
+North by the same law, but this twofold result cannot be hoped for in the
+South.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The arguments which I have adduced to show that slavery is more natural and
+more advantageous in the South than in the North, sufficiently prove that the
+number of slaves must be far greater in the former districts. 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 the tropics there is not a single white laborer; the negroes
+are consequently much more numerous in the South than in the North. And, as I
+have already observed, this disproportion increases 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 emigration of the negroes from the North; and
+the African race has causes of increase in the South very analogous to those
+which so powerfully accelerate the growth of the European race in the North.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the State of Maine there is one negro in 300 inhabitants; in Massachusetts,
+one in 100; in New York, two in 100; in Pennsylvania, three in the same number;
+in Maryland, thirty-four; in Virginia, forty-two; and lastly, in South Carolina
+*q fifty-five per cent. Such was the proportion of the black population to the
+whites in the year 1830. But this proportion is perpetually changing, as it
+constantly decreases in the North and augments in the South.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+q <br />
+[ We find it asserted in an American work, entitled &ldquo;Letters on the
+Colonization Society,&rdquo; by Mr. Carey, 1833, &ldquo;That for the last forty
+years the black race has increased more rapidly than the white race in the
+State of South Carolina; and that if we take the average population of the five
+States of the South into which slaves were first introduced, viz., Maryland,
+Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Georgia, we shall find that from
+1790 to 1830 the whites have augmented in the proportion of 80 to 100, and the
+blacks in that of 112 to 100.&rdquo;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States, in 1830, the population of the two races stood as
+follows:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+States where slavery is abolished, 6,565,434 whites; 120,520 blacks. Slave
+States, 3,960,814 whites; 2,208,102 blacks. [In 1890 the United States
+contained a population of 54,983,890 whites, and 7,638,360 negroes.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is evident that the most Southern States of the Union cannot abolish slavery
+without incurring very great dangers, which the North had no reason to
+apprehend when it emancipated its black population. We have already shown the
+system by which the Northern States secure the transition from slavery to
+freedom, by keeping the present generation in chains, and setting their
+descendants free; by this means the negroes are gradually introduced into
+society; and whilst the men who might abuse their freedom are kept in a state
+of servitude, those who are emancipated may learn the art of being free before
+they become their own masters. But it would be difficult 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 fate, and
+their astonishment is only the prelude to their impatience 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 nothing to fear from the contrast, because in them the
+blacks were few in number, and the white population was very considerable. But
+if this faint dawn of freedom were to show two millions of men their true
+position, the oppressors would have reason to tremble. After having
+affranchised the children of their slaves the Europeans of the Southern States
+would very shortly be obliged to extend the same benefit to the whole black
+population.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0049" id="link2HCH0049"></a> Chapter XVIII: Future
+Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part V</h2>
+
+<p>
+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 Europe,
+hasten to fill up 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
+for any expectation of their ever being removed from the country to be
+entertained; 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 yet been
+reinstated in its rightful honors. Besides, they very justly look upon the
+States in which the proportion 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus the inhabitants of the South would not be able, like their Northern
+countrymen, to initiate the slaves gradually into a state of freedom by
+abolishing slavery; they have no means of perceptibly diminishing the black
+population, and they would remain unsupported to repress its excesses. So that
+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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The same abuses of power which still maintain slavery, would then become the
+source of the most alarming perils which the white population of the South
+might have to apprehend. At the present time the descendants of the Europeans
+are the sole owners of the land; the absolute masters of all labor; and the
+only persons who are possessed of wealth, knowledge, and arms. The black is
+destitute of all these advantages, but he subsists without them because he is a
+slave. If he were free, and obliged to provide for his own subsistence, would
+it be possible for him to remain without these things and to support life? Or
+would not the very instruments of the present superiority of the white, whilst
+slavery exists, expose him to a thousand dangers if it were abolished?
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As long as the negro remains a slave, he may be kept in a condition not very
+far removed from that of the brutes; but, with his liberty, he cannot but
+acquire a degree of instruction which will enable him to appreciate his
+misfortunes, and to discern a remedy for them. Moreover, there exists a
+singular principle of relative justice which is very firmly implanted in the
+human heart. Men are much more forcibly struck by those inequalities which
+exist within the circle of the same class, than with those which may be
+remarked between different classes. It is more easy for them to admit slavery,
+than to allow several millions of citizens to exist under a load of eternal
+infamy and hereditary wretchedness. In the North the population of freed
+negroes feels these hardships and resents these indignities; but its numbers
+and its powers are small, whilst in the South it would be numerous and strong.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as it is admitted that the whites and the emancipated blacks are placed
+upon the same territory in the situation of two alien communities, it will
+readily be understood that there are but two alternatives for the future; the
+negroes and the whites must either wholly part or wholly mingle. I have already
+expressed the conviction which I entertain as to the latter event. *r I do not
+imagine that the white and black races will ever live in any country upon an
+equal footing. But I believe the difficulty to be still greater in the United
+States than elsewhere. An isolated individual may surmount the prejudices of
+religion, of his country, or of his race, and if this individual is a king he
+may effect surprising changes in society; but a whole people cannot rise, as it
+were, above itself. A despot who should subject the Americans and their former
+slaves to the same yoke, might perhaps succeed in commingling their races; but
+as long as the American democracy remains at the head of affairs, no one will
+undertake so difficult a task; and it may be foreseen that the freer the white
+population of the United States becomes, the more isolated will it remain. *s
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+r <br />
+[ This opinion is sanctioned by authorities infinitely weightier than anything
+that I can say: thus, for instance, it is stated in the &ldquo;Memoirs of
+Jefferson&rdquo; (as collected by M. Conseil), &ldquo;Nothing is more clearly
+written in the book of destiny than the 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 insurmountable are the barriers which nature,
+habit, and opinions have established between them.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+s <br />
+[ If the British 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.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have previously observed that the mixed race is the true bond of union
+between the Europeans and the Indians; just so the mulattoes are the true means
+of transition between the white and the negro; so that wherever mulattoes
+abound, the intermixture of the two races is not impossible. In some parts of
+America, the European and the negro races are so crossed by one another, that
+it is rare to meet with a man who 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 being identical with either.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of all the Europeans the English are those who have mixed least with the
+negroes. More mulattoes are to be seen in the South of the Union than in the
+North, but still they are infinitely more scarce than in any other European
+colony: mulattoes are by no means numerous in the United States; they have no
+force peculiar to themselves, and when quarrels originating in differences of
+color take place, they generally side with the whites; just as the lackeys of
+the great, in Europe, assume the contemptuous airs of nobility to the lower
+orders.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The pride of origin, which is natural to the English, is singularly augmented
+by the personal pride which democratic liberty fosters amongst the Americans:
+the white citizen of the United States is proud of his race, and proud of
+himself. But if the whites and the negroes do not intermingle in the North of
+the Union, how should they mix in the South? Can it be supposed for an instant,
+that an American of the Southern States, placed, as he must forever be, between
+the white man with all his physical and moral superiority and the negro, will
+ever think of preferring 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If I were called upon to predict what will probably occur at some future time,
+I should say, that the abolition of slavery in the South will, in the common
+course of things, increase the repugnance of the white population for the men
+of color. I found this opinion upon the analogous observation which I already
+had occasion to make in the North. I there remarked that the white inhabitants
+of the North avoid the negroes with increasing care, in proportion as the legal
+barriers of separation are removed by the legislature; and why should not the
+same result take place in the South? In the North, the whites are deterred from
+intermingling with the blacks by the fear of an imaginary danger; in the South,
+where the danger would be real, I cannot imagine that the fear would be less
+general.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If, on the one hand, it be admitted (and the fact is unquestionable) that the
+colored population perpetually accumulates in the extreme South, and that it
+increases more rapidly than that of the whites; and if, on the other hand, it
+be allowed that it is impossible to foresee a time at which the whites and the
+blacks will be so intermingled as to derive the same benefits from society;
+must it not be inferred that the blacks and the whites will, sooner or later,
+come to open strife in the Southern States of the Union? But if it be asked
+what the issue of the struggle is likely to be, it will readily be understood
+that we are here left to form a very vague surmise of the truth. The human mind
+may succeed in tracing a wide circle, as it were, which includes the course of
+future events; but within that circle a thousand various chances and
+circumstances may direct it in as many different ways; and in every picture of
+the future there is a dim spot, which the eye of the understanding cannot
+penetrate. It appears, however, to be extremely probable that in the West
+Indian Islands the white race is destined to be subdued, and the black
+population to share the same fate upon the continent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the West India Islands the white planters are surrounded by an immense black
+population; on the continent, the blacks are placed between the ocean and an
+innumerable people, which already extends over them in a dense mass, from the
+icy confines of Canada to the frontiers of Virginia, and from the banks of the
+Missouri to the shores of the Atlantic. If the white citizens of North America
+remain united, it cannot be supposed that the negroes will escape the
+destruction with which they are menaced; they must be subdued by want or by the
+sword. But the black population which is accumulated along the coast of the
+Gulf of Mexico, has a chance of success if the American Union is dissolved when
+the struggle between the two races begins. If the federal tie were broken, the
+citizens of the South would be wrong to rely upon any lasting succor from their
+Northern countrymen. The latter are well aware that the danger can never reach
+them; and unless they are constrained to march to the assistance of the South
+by a positive obligation, it may be foreseen that the sympathy of color will be
+insufficient to stimulate their exertions.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Yet, at whatever period the strife may break out, the whites of the South, even
+if they are abandoned to their own resources, will enter the lists with an
+immense superiority of knowledge and of the means of warfare; but the blacks
+will have numerical strength and the energy of despair upon their side, and
+these are powerful resources to men who have taken up arms. The fate of the
+white population of the Southern States will, perhaps, be similar to that of
+the Moors in Spain. After having occupied the land for centuries, it will
+perhaps be forced to retire to the country whence its ancestors came, and to
+abandon to the negroes the possession of a territory, which Providence seems to
+have more peculiarly destined for them, since they can subsist and labor in it
+more easily that the whites.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The danger of a conflict between the white and the black inhabitants of the
+Southern States of the Union&mdash;a danger which, however remote it may be, is
+inevitable&mdash;perpetually haunts the imagination of the Americans. The
+inhabitants of the North make it a common topic of conversation, although they
+have no direct injury to fear from the struggle; but they vainly endeavor to
+devise some means of obviating the misfortunes which they foresee. In the
+Southern States the subject is not discussed: the planter does not allude to
+the future in conversing with strangers; the citizen does not communicate his
+apprehensions to his friends; he seeks to conceal them from himself; but there
+is something more alarming in the tacit forebodings of the South, than in the
+clamorous fears of the Northern States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This all-pervading disquietude has given birth to an undertaking which is but
+little known, but which may have the effect of changing the fate of a portion
+of the human race. From apprehension of the dangers which I have just been
+describing, a certain number of 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 oppression to which they are
+subject. *t In 1820, the society to which I allude formed a settlement in
+Africa, upon the seventh degree of north latitude, which bears the name of
+Liberia. The most recent intelligence informs us that 2,500 negroes are
+collected there; they have introduced the democratic institutions of America
+into the country of their forefathers; and Liberia has a representative system
+of government, negro jurymen, negro magistrates, and negro priests; churches
+have been built, newspapers established, and, by a singular change in the
+vicissitudes of the world, white men are prohibited from sojourning within the
+settlement. *u
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+t <br />
+[ This society assumed the name of &ldquo;The Society for the Colonization of
+the Blacks.&rdquo; See its annual reports; and more particularly the fifteenth.
+See also the pamphlet, to which allusion has already been made, entitled
+&ldquo;Letters on the Colonization Society, and on its probable Results,&rdquo;
+by Mr. Carey, Philadelphia, 1833.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+u <br />
+[ 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 negroes, like the
+Indians, were brought into collision with a people more enlightened than
+themselves, they would be destroyed before they could be civilized.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This is indeed a strange caprice of fortune. Two hundred years have now elapsed
+since the inhabitants of Europe undertook to tear the negro from his family and
+his home, in order to transport him to the shores of North America; at the
+present day, the European settlers are engaged in sending back the descendants
+of those very negroes to the Continent from which they were originally taken;
+and the barbarous Africans have been brought into contact with civilization in
+the midst of bondage, and have become acquainted with free political
+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
+penetrate into those regions, now that they are introduced by Africans
+themselves. The settlement of Liberia is founded upon a lofty and a most
+fruitful idea; but whatever may be its results with regard to the Continent of
+Africa, it can afford no remedy to the New World.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In twelve years the Colonization Society has transported 2,500 negroes to
+Africa; in the same space of time about 700,000 blacks were born in the United
+States. If the colony of Liberia were so situated as to be 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, *v and to transport the negroes to Africa in the vessels of
+the State, it would still be unable 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 the same space of time, it would fail in
+suspending the growth of the evil which is daily increasing in the States. *w
+The negro race will never leave those shores of the American continent, to
+which it was brought by the passions and the vices of Europeans; and it will
+not disappear from the New World as long as it continues to exist. The
+inhabitants of the United States may retard the calamities which they
+apprehend, but they cannot now destroy their efficient cause.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+v <br />
+[ Nor would these be the only difficulties attendant upon the undertaking; if
+the Union undertook to buy up the negroes now in America, in order to transport
+them to Africa, the price of slaves, increasing with their scarcity, would soon
+become enormous; and the States of the North would never consent to expend such
+great sums for a purpose which would procure such small advantages to
+themselves. If the Union took possession of the slaves in the Southern States
+by force, or at a rate determined by law, an insurmountable resistance would
+arise in that part of the country. Both alternatives are equally impossible.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+w <br />
+[ 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
+population of the United States at that time.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am obliged to confess that I do not regard the abolition of slavery as a
+means of warding off the struggle of the two races in the United States. The
+negroes may long remain slaves without complaining; but if they are once raised
+to the level of free men, they will soon revolt at being deprived of all their
+civil rights; and as they cannot become the equals of the whites, they will
+speedily declare themselves as enemies. In the North everything contributed to
+facilitate the emancipation of the slaves; and slavery was abolished, without
+placing the free negroes in a position which could become formidable, since
+their number was too small for them ever to claim the exercise of their rights.
+But such is not the case in the South. The question of slavery was a question
+of commerce and manufacture 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! But I only observe that all the countries which formerly adopted that
+execrable principle are not equally able to abandon it at the present time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When I contemplate the condition of the South, I can only discover two
+alternatives which may be adopted by the white inhabitants of those States;
+viz., either to emancipate the negroes, and to intermingle with them; or,
+remaining isolated from them, to keep them in a state of 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 perhaps in the extirpation of
+one or other of the two races. Such is the view which the Americans of the
+South take of the question, and they act consistently with it. As they are
+determined not to mingle with the negroes, they refuse to emancipate them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Not that the inhabitants of the South regard slavery as necessary to the wealth
+of the planter, for on this point many of them agree with their Northern
+countrymen in freely admitting that slavery is prejudicial to their interest;
+but they are convinced that, however prejudicial it may be, they hold their
+lives upon no other tenure. 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 no means exist of
+getting rid of its bad consequences. Hence arises a singular contrast; the more
+the utility of slavery is contested, the more firmly is it established in the
+laws; and whilst the principle of servitude is gradually abolished in the
+North, that self-same principle gives rise to more and more rigorous
+consequences in the South.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The legislation of the Southern States with regard to slaves, presents at the
+present day such unparalleled atrocities as suffice to show how radically the
+laws of humanity have been perverted, and to betray the desperate position of
+the community in which that legislation has been promulgated. The Americans of
+this portion of the Union have not, indeed, augmented the hardships of slavery;
+they have, on the contrary, bettered the physical condition 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 intellectual
+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 prevent the slave from breaking his chains; at the present day measures are
+adopted to deprive him even of the desire of freedom. The ancients kept the
+bodies of their slaves in bondage, but they placed no restraint upon the mind
+and no check upon 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 equal of his master. But the
+Americans of the South, who do not admit that the negroes can ever be
+commingled with themselves, have forbidden them to be taught to read or to
+write, under severe penalties; and as they will not raise them to their own
+level, they sink them as nearly as possible to that of the brutes.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 less 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 measures to prevent slave-owners from
+emancipating their slaves in most cases; not indeed by a positive prohibition,
+but by subjecting that step to various forms 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 without his being able to surmount the legal obstacles to their
+emancipation, and in the mean while his old age was come, and he was about to
+die. He pictured to himself his sons dragged from market to market, 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 he made me feel how awful is the
+retribution of nature upon those who have broken her laws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+These evils are unquestionably great; but they are the necessary and foreseen
+consequence of the very principle of modern slavery. When the Europeans chose
+their slaves from a race differing from their own, which many of them
+considered as inferior to the other races of mankind, and which they all
+repelled with horror from any notion of intimate connection, they must have
+believed that slavery would last forever; since there is no intermediate state
+which can be durable between the excessive inequality produced by servitude and
+the complete equality which originates in independence. The Europeans did
+imperfectly feel this truth, but without acknowledging it even to themselves.
+Whenever they have had to do with 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
+affected 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 involuntarily been led to admit of freedom instead of slavery,
+without having the courage to be wholly iniquitous, or wholly just.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 without compromising their own security? And if they are obliged
+to keep that race in bondage in order to save their own families, may they not
+be excused for availing themselves of the means best adapted to that end? The
+events which are taking place in the Southern States of the Union appear 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 instruments 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whatever may be the efforts of the Americans of the South to maintain slavery,
+they will not always succeed. Slavery, which is now confined to a single tract
+of the civilized earth, which is attacked by Christianity as unjust, and by
+political economy as prejudicial; and which is now contrasted with democratic
+liberties and the information of our age, cannot survive. By the choice 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 seize it for themselves by force; if it be
+given, they will abuse it ere long. *x
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+x <br />
+[ [This chapter is no longer applicable to the condition of the negro race in
+the United States, since the abolition of slavery was the result, though not
+the object, of the great Civil War, and the negroes have been raised to the
+condition not only of freedmen, but of citizens; and in some States they
+exercise a preponderating political power by reason of their numerical
+majority. Thus, in South Carolina there were in 1870, 289,667 whites and
+415,814 blacks. But the emancipation of the slaves has not solved the problem,
+how two races so different and so hostile are to live together in peace in one
+country on equal terms. That problem is as difficult, perhaps more difficult
+than ever; and to this difficulty the author&rsquo;s remarks are still
+perfectly applicable.]]
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0050" id="link2HCH0050"></a> Chapter XVIII: Future
+Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part VI</h2>
+
+<p>
+What Are The Chances In Favor Of The Duration Of The American Union, And What
+Dangers Threaten It *y
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+y <br />
+[ [This chapter is one of the most curious and interesting portions of the
+work, because it embraces almost all the constitutional and social questions
+which were raised by the great secession of the South and decided by the
+results of the Civil War. But it must be confessed that the sagacity of the
+author is sometimes at fault in these speculations, and did not save him from
+considerable errors, which the course of events has since made apparent. He
+held that &ldquo;the legislators of the Constitution of 1789 were not appointed
+to constitute the government of a single people, but to regulate the
+association of several States; that the Union was formed by the voluntary
+agreement of the States, and in uniting together they have not forfeited their
+nationality, nor have they been reduced to the condition of one and the same
+people.&rdquo; Whence he inferred that &ldquo;if one of the States chose to
+withdraw its name from the contract, it would be difficult to disprove its
+right of doing so; and that the Federal Government would have no means of
+maintaining its claims directly, either by force or by right.&rdquo; This is
+the Southern theory of the Constitution, and the whole case of the South in
+favor of secession. To many Europeans, and to some American (Northern) jurists,
+this view appeared to be sound; but it was vigorously resisted by the North,
+and crushed by force of arms.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The author of this book was mistaken in supposing that the &ldquo;Union was a
+vast body which presents no definite object to patriotic feeling.&rdquo; When
+the day of trial came, millions of men were ready to lay down their lives for
+it. He was also mistaken in supposing that the Federal Executive is so weak
+that it requires the free consent of the governed to enable it to subsist, and
+that it would be defeated in a struggle to maintain the Union against one or
+more separate States. In 1861 nine States, with a population of 8,753,000,
+seceded, and maintained for four years a resolute but unequal contest for
+independence, but they were defeated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Lastly, the author was mistaken in supposing that a community of interests
+would always prevail between North and South sufficiently powerful to bind them
+together. He overlooked the influence which the question of slavery must have
+on the Union the moment that the majority of the people of the North declared
+against it. In 1831, when the author visited America, the anti-slavery
+agitation had scarcely begun; and the fact of Southern slavery was accepted by
+men of all parties, even in the States where there were no slaves: and that was
+unquestionably the view taken by all the States and by all American statesmen
+at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, in 1789. But in the course of
+thirty years a great change took place, and the North refused to perpetuate
+what had become the &ldquo;peculiar institution&rdquo; of the South, especially
+as it gave the South a species of aristocratic preponderance. The result was
+the ratification, in December, 1865, of the celebrated 13th article or
+amendment of the Constitution, which declared that &ldquo;neither slavery nor
+involuntary servitude&mdash;except as a punishment for crime&mdash;shall exist
+within the United States.&rdquo; To which was soon afterwards added the 15th
+article, &ldquo;The right of citizens to vote shall not be denied or abridged
+by the United States, or by any State, on account of race, color, or previous
+servitude.&rdquo; The emancipation of several millions of negro slaves without
+compensation, and the transfer to them of political preponderance in the States
+in which they outnumber the white population, were acts of the North totally
+opposed to the interests of the South, and which could only have been carried
+into effect by conquest.&mdash;Translator&rsquo;s Note.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reason for which the preponderating force lies in the States rather than in the
+Union&mdash;The Union will only last as long as all the States choose to belong
+to it&mdash;Causes which tend to keep them united&mdash;Utility of the Union to
+resist foreign enemies, and to prevent the existence of foreigners in
+America&mdash;No natural barriers between the several States&mdash;No
+conflicting interests to divide them&mdash;Reciprocal interests of the
+Northern, Southern, and Western States&mdash;Intellectual ties of
+union&mdash;Uniformity of opinions&mdash;Dangers of the Union resulting from
+the different characters and the passions of its citizens&mdash;Character of
+the citizens in the South and in the North&mdash;The rapid growth of the Union
+one of its greatest dangers&mdash;Progress of the population to the
+Northwest&mdash;Power gravitates in the same direction&mdash;Passions
+originating from sudden turns of fortune&mdash;Whether the existing Government
+of the Union tends to gain strength, or to lose it&mdash;Various signs of its
+decrease&mdash;Internal improvements&mdash;Waste lands&mdash;Indians&mdash;The
+Bank&mdash;The Tariff&mdash;General Jackson.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The maintenance of the existing institutions of the several States depends in
+some measure upon the maintenance of the Union itself. It is therefore
+important in the first instance to inquire into the probable fate of the Union.
+One point may indeed 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 isolated condition, but that
+several unions would then be formed in the place of one. It is not my intention
+to inquire 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 importance of the
+matter which still remains to be treated is my excuse; I had rather say too
+much, than say too little to be thoroughly understood, and I prefer injuring
+the author to slighting the subject.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The legislators who formed the Constitution of 1789 endeavored to confer a
+distinct and preponderating authority upon the federal power. But they were
+confined by the conditions of the task which they had undertaken 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 inclinations
+might be, they could not but divide the exercise of sovereignty in the end.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In order to understand the consequences of this division, it is necessary to
+make a short distinction between the affairs of the Government. There are some
+objects which are national by their very nature, that is to say, which affect
+the nation as a body, and can only be intrusted to the man or the assembly of
+men who most completely represent the entire nation. Amongst these may be
+reckoned 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 properly treated in that locality. Such, for instance, is the
+budget of a municipality. Lastly, there are certain 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 are the rights which regulate
+the civil and political condition of the citizens. 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are, then, two distinct categories of objects which are submitted to the
+direction of the sovereign power; and these categories occur in all
+well-constituted communities, whatever the basis of the political constitution
+may otherwise be. Between these two extremes the objects which I have termed
+mixed may be considered to lie. As these objects are neither exclusively
+national nor entirely provincial, they may be obtained by a national or by a
+provincial government, according to the agreement of the contracting parties,
+without in any way impairing the contract of association.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The sovereign power is usually formed by the union of separate individuals, who
+compose a people; and individual powers or collective forces, each representing
+a very small portion of the sovereign authority, are the sole elements which
+are subjected to the general Government of their choice. In this case the
+general Government is more naturally called upon to regulate, not only those
+affairs which are of essential national importance, but those which are of a
+more local interest; and the local governments are reduced to that small share
+of sovereign authority which is indispensable to their prosperity.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But sometimes the sovereign authority is composed of preorganized 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 their province, but of all, or of a part of the mixed
+affairs to which allusion has been made. For the confederate nations which were
+independent sovereign States before their union, and which still represent a
+very considerable share of the sovereign power, have only consented to cede to
+the general Government the exercise of those rights which are indispensable to
+the Union.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When the national Government, independently of the prerogatives inherent in its
+nature, is invested with the right of regulating the affairs which relate
+partly to the general and partly to the local interests, it possesses a
+preponderating influence. Not only are its own rights extensive, but all the
+rights which it does not possess exist by its sufferance, and it may be
+apprehended that the provincial governments may be deprived of their natural
+and necessary prerogatives by its influence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When, on the other hand, the provincial governments are invested with the power
+of regulating those same affairs of mixed interest, an opposite tendency
+prevails in society. The preponderating force resides in the province, not in
+the nation; and it may be apprehended that the national Government may in the
+end be stripped of the privileges which are necessary to its existence.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Independent nations have therefore a natural tendency to centralization, and
+confederations to dismemberment.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It now only remains for us to apply these general principles to the American
+Union. The several States were necessarily possessed of the right of regulating
+all exclusively provincial affairs. Moreover these same States retained the
+rights of determining the civil and political competency of the citizens, or
+regulating the reciprocal relations of the members of the community, and of
+dispensing justice; rights which are of a general nature, but which do not
+necessarily appertain to the national Government. We have shown 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 nation 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In this division of the rights of sovereignty, the share of the Union seems at
+first sight to be more considerable than that of the States; but a more
+attentive investigation shows it to be less so. The undertakings of the
+Government of the Union are more vast, but their influence is more rarely felt.
+Those of the provincial governments are comparatively small, but they are
+incessant, and they serve to keep alive the authority which they represent. The
+Government of the Union watches the general interests of the country; but the
+general interests of a people have a very questionable influence upon
+individual happiness, whilst provincial interests produce a most immediate
+effect upon the welfare of the inhabitants. The Union secures the independence
+and the greatness of the nation, which do not immediately affect private
+citizens; but the several States maintain the liberty, regulate the rights,
+protect the fortune, and secure the life and the whole future prosperity of
+every citizen.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Federal Government is very far removed from its subjects, whilst the
+provincial governments are within 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 provincial governments are the interests of all those second-rate
+individuals who can only hope to obtain power within their own State, and who
+nevertheless exercise the largest share of authority over the people because
+they are placed nearest to its level. The Americans have therefore much more to
+hope and to fear from the States than from the Union; and, in conformity with
+the natural tendency of the human mind, they are more likely to attach
+themselves to the former than to the latter. In this respect their habits and
+feelings harmonize with their interests.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When a compact nation divides its sovereignty, and adopts a confederate form of
+government, the traditions, the customs, and the manners of the people are for
+a long time at variance with their legislation; and the former tend to give a
+degree of influence to the central government which the latter forbids. When a
+number of confederate states unite to form a single nation, the same causes
+operate in an opposite direction. I have no doubt that if France were to become
+a confederate republic like that of the United States, the government would at
+first display more energy than that of the Union; and if the Union were to
+alter its constitution to a monarchy like that of France, I think that the
+American Government would be a long time in acquiring the force which now rules
+the latter nation. When the national existence of the Anglo-Americans began,
+their provincial existence was already of long standing; necessary relations
+were established between the townships and the individual citizens of the same
+States; and they were accustomed to consider some objects as common to them
+all, and to conduct other affairs as exclusively relating to their own special
+interests.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Union is a vast body which presents no definite object to patriotic
+feeling. The forms and limits of the State are distinct and circumscribed;
+since it represents a certain number of objects which are familiar to the
+citizens and beloved by all. It is identified with the very soil, with the
+right of property and the domestic affections, with the recollections of the
+past, the labors of the present, and the hopes of the future. Patriotism, then,
+which is frequently a mere extension of individual egotism, is still directed
+to the State, and is not excited by 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is easy to estimate the different forces of the two governments, by
+remarking the manner in which they fulfil their respective functions. Whenever
+the government of a State has occasion to address an individual or an assembly
+of individuals, its language is clear and imperative; and such is also the tone
+of the Federal Government in its intercourse with individuals, but no sooner
+has it anything to do with a State than it begins to parley, to explain its
+motives and to justify its conduct, to argue, to advise, and, in short,
+anything but to command. If doubts are raised as to the limits of the
+constitutional powers of each government, the provincial government prefers its
+claim with boldness, and takes prompt and energetic steps to support it. In the
+mean while the Government of the Union reasons; it appeals to the interests, to
+the good sense, to the glory of the nation; it temporizes, it negotiates, and
+does not consent to act until it is reduced to the last extremity. At first
+sight it might readily be imagined that it is the provincial government which
+is armed with the authority of the nation, and that Congress represents a
+single State.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Federal Government is, therefore, notwithstanding the precautions of those
+who founded it, naturally so weak that it more peculiarly requires the free
+consent of the governed to enable it to subsist. It is easy to perceive that
+its object is to enable the States to realize with facility their determination
+of remaining united; and, as long as this preliminary condition exists, its
+authority is great, temperate, and effective. The Constitution fits the
+Government to control individuals, and easily to surmount such obstacles as
+they may be inclined to offer; but it was by no means established with a view
+to the possible separation of one or more of the States from the Union.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the sovereignty of the Union were to engage in a struggle with that of the
+States at the present day, its defeat may be confidently predicted; and it is
+not probable that such a struggle would be seriously undertaken. As often as a
+steady resistance is offered to the Federal Government it will be found to
+yield. Experience has hitherto shown that whenever a State has demanded
+anything with perseverance and resolution, it has invariably succeeded; and
+that if a separate government has distinctly refused to act, it was left to do
+as it thought fit. *z
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+z <br />
+[ See the conduct of the Northern States in the war of 1812. &ldquo;During that
+war,&rdquo; says Jefferson in a letter to General Lafayette, &ldquo;four of the
+Eastern States were only attached to the Union, like so many inanimate bodies
+to living men.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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. *a The United States cover an immense territory; they
+are separated from each other by great distances; and the population is
+disseminated over the surface of a country which is still half a wilderness. If
+the Union were to undertake to enforce the allegiance of the confederate States
+by military means, it would be in a position very analogous to that of England
+at the time of the War of Independence.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ The profound peace of the Union affords no pretext for a standing army; and
+without a standing army a government is not prepared to profit by a favorable
+opportunity to conquer resistance, and take the sovereign power by surprise.
+[This note, and the paragraph in the text which precedes, have been shown by
+the results of the Civil War to be a misconception of the writer.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 agreement of the States;
+and, in uniting together, they have not forfeited their nationality, nor have
+they been reduced to the condition of one and the same people. If one of the
+States chose to withdraw its name from the contract, it would be difficult to
+disprove its right of doing so; and the Federal Government would have no means
+of maintaining 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 one of its subjects, 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 in the history of confederations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 prosperity depends on the duration of that union, it is unquestionable
+that they will always be ready to support the central Government in enforcing
+the obedience of the others. But the Government would then be exerting a force
+not derived from itself, but from a principle contrary to its nature. States
+form confederations in order to derive equal advantages from their union; and
+in the case just alluded to, the Federal Government would derive its power from
+the unequal distribution of those benefits amongst the States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If one of the confederate States have acquired a preponderance sufficiently
+great to enable it to take exclusive possession of the central authority, it
+will consider the other States as subject provinces, and it will cause its own
+supremacy to be respected under the borrowed name of the sovereignty of the
+Union. Great things may then be done in the name of the Federal Government, but
+in reality that Government will have ceased to exist. *b In both these cases,
+the power which acts in the name of the confederation becomes stronger the more
+it abandons the natural state and the acknowledged principles of
+confederations.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ 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 authority to their own
+advantage.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In America the existing 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 compromising the welfare of the others, although their own prosperity
+would be lessened. As the existence and the happiness 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 of them can hope to domineer
+over the rest, or to treat them as its inferiors or as its subjects.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 point 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Amongst the various reasons which tend to render the existing Union useful to
+the Americans, two principal causes are peculiarly evident to the observer.
+Although the Americans are, as it were, alone upon their continent, their
+commerce makes them the neighbors of all the nations with which they trade.
+Notwithstanding their apparent isolation, the Americans require a certain
+degree of strength, which they cannot retain otherwise than by remaining united
+to each other. If the States were to split, they would not only diminish the
+strength which they are now able to display towards foreign nations, but they
+would soon create foreign powers upon their own territory. A system of inland
+custom-houses would then be established; the valleys would be divided by
+imaginary boundary lines; the courses of the rivers would be confined by
+territorial distinctions; and a multitude of hindrances would prevent the
+Americans from exploring the whole of that vast continent which Providence has
+allotted to them for a dominion. At present they have no invasion to fear, and
+consequently no standing armies to maintain, no taxes to levy. If the Union
+were dissolved, all these burdensome measures might ere long be required. The
+Americans are then very powerfully interested in the maintenance of their
+Union. On the other hand, it is almost impossible to discover any sort of
+material interest which might at present tempt a portion of the Union to
+separate from the other States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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
+crossing nearly one thousand miles of country; and we are led to imagine that
+the design of Providence was to raise between the valley of the Mississippi and
+the coast 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 average height of the Alleghanies does not exceed 2,500 feet; their
+greatest elevation is not above 4,000 feet; their rounded summits, and the
+spacious valleys which they conceal within their passes, are of easy access
+from several sides. Besides which, the principal rivers which fall into the
+Atlantic Ocean&mdash;the Hudson, the Susquehanna, and the Potomac&mdash;take
+their rise beyond the Alleghanies, in an open district, which borders upon the
+valley of the Mississippi. These streams quit this tract of country, make their
+way through the barrier which would seem to turn them westward, and as they
+wind through the mountains they open an easy and natural passage to man. No
+natural barrier exists in the regions which are now inhabited by the
+Anglo-Americans; the Alleghanies are so far from serving as a boundary to
+separate nations, that they do not even serve as a frontier to the States. New
+York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia comprise them within their borders, and they
+extend as much 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 1,002,600 square miles, *c which is about
+equal to five times the extent of France. Within these limits the qualities of
+the soil, the temperature, and the produce of the country, are extremely
+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 different
+provinces of a vast empire, which often terminate in open dissensions; and the
+extent of the country is then most prejudicial to the power of the State. But
+if the inhabitants of these vast regions are not divided by contrary interests,
+the extent of the territory may be favorable to their prosperity; for the unity
+of the government promotes the interchange of the different productions of the
+soil, and increases their value by facilitating their consumption.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ See &ldquo;Darby&rsquo;s View of the United States,&rdquo; p. 435. [In 1890
+the number of States and Territories had increased to 51, the population to
+62,831,900, and the area of the States, 3,602,990 square miles. This does not
+include the Philippine Islands, Hawaii, or Porto Rico. A conservative estimate
+of the population of the Philippine Islands is 8,000,000; that of Hawaii, by
+the census of 1897, was given at 109,020; and the present estimated population
+of Porto Rico is 900,000. The area of the Philippine Islands is about 120,000
+square miles, that of Hawaii is 6,740 square miles, and the area of Porto Rico
+is about 3,600 square miles.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is indeed easy to discover different interests in the different parts of the
+Union, but I am unacquainted with any which are hostile to each other. The
+Southern States are almost exclusively agricultural. The Northern States are
+more peculiarly commercial and manufacturing. The States of the West are at the
+same time agricultural and manufacturing. In the South the crops consist of
+tobacco, of rice, of cotton, and of sugar; in the North and the West, of wheat
+and maize. These are different sources of wealth; but union is the means by
+which these sources are opened to all, and rendered equally advantageous to the
+several districts.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 consumers 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 interested in the union and prosperity of the
+South and the West, in order that they may continue to furnish raw materials
+for its manufactures, and cargoes for its shipping.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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
+protect them efficaciously. The South and the West have no vessels, but they
+cannot refuse a willing subsidy to defray the expenses of the navy; for if the
+fleets of Europe were to blockade the ports of the South and the delta of the
+Mississippi, what would become of the rice of the Carolinas, the tobacco of
+Virginia, and the sugar and cotton which grow in the valley of the Mississippi?
+Every portion of the federal budget does therefore contribute to the
+maintenance of material interests which are common to all the confederate
+States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Independently of this commercial utility, the South and the West of the Union
+derive great political advantages from their connection with the North. The
+South contains an enormous slave population; a population which is already
+alarming, and still more formidable for the future. The States of the West lie
+in the remotest parts of a single valley; and all the rivers which intersect
+their territory rise in the Rocky Mountains or in the Alleghanies, and fall
+into the Mississippi, which bears them onwards to the Gulf of Mexico. The
+Western States are consequently 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 induced to support 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 communication 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The temporal interests of all the several parts of the Union are, then,
+intimately connected; and the same assertion holds true respecting those
+opinions and sentiments which may be termed the immaterial interests of men.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0051" id="link2HCH0051"></a> Chapter XVIII: Future
+Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part VII</h2>
+
+<p>
+The inhabitants of the United States talk a great deal of their attachment to
+their country; but I confess that I do not rely upon that calculating
+patriotism which is founded upon interest, and which a change in the interests
+at stake may obliterate. Nor do I attach much importance to the language of the
+Americans, when they manifest, in their daily conversations, the intention of
+maintaining the federal system adopted by their forefathers. A government
+retains its sway over a great number of citizens, far less by the voluntary and
+rational consent of the multitude, than by that instinctive, and to a certain
+extent involuntary agreement, which results from similarity of feelings and
+resemblances of opinion. I will never admit that men constitute a social body,
+simply because they obey the same head and the same laws. Society can only
+exist when a great number of men consider a great number of things in the same
+point of view; when they hold the same opinions upon many subjects, and when
+the same occurrences suggest the same thoughts and impressions to their minds.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The observer who examines the present condition of the United States upon this
+principle, will readily discover, that although the citizens are divided into
+twenty-four distinct sovereignties, they nevertheless constitute a single
+people; and he may perhaps be led to think that the state of the Anglo-American
+Union is more truly a state of society than that of certain nations of Europe
+which live under the same legislation and the same prince.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Although the Anglo-Americans have several religious 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 principles which ought to rule human society. From Maine to the
+Floridas, and from the Missouri to the Atlantic Ocean, the people is held to be
+the legitimate source of all power. The same notions are entertained respecting
+liberty and equality, the liberty of the press, the right of association, the
+jury, and the responsibility of the agents of Government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If we turn from their political and religious opinions to the moral and
+philosophical principles which regulate the daily actions of life and govern
+their conduct, we shall still find the same uniformity. The Anglo-Americans *d
+acknowledge the absolute moral authority of the reason of the community, as
+they acknowledge the political authority of the mass of citizens; and they hold
+that public opinion is the surest arbiter of what is lawful or forbidden, true
+or false. The majority of them believe that a man will be led to do what is
+just and good by following his own interest rightly understood. They hold that
+every man is born in possession of the right of self-government, and that no
+one has the right of constraining his fellow-creatures to be happy. They have
+all a lively faith in the perfectibility of man; they are of opinion that the
+effects of the diffusion of knowledge must necessarily be advantageous, and the
+consequences of ignorance fatal; they all consider society as a body in a state
+of improvement, humanity as a changing scene, in which nothing is, or ought to
+be, permanent; and they admit that what appears to them to be good to-day may
+be superseded by something better-to-morrow. I do not give all these opinions
+as true, but I quote them as characteristic of the Americans.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ It is scarcely necessary for me to observe that by the expression
+Anglo-Americans, I only mean to designate the great majority of the nation; for
+a certain number of isolated individuals are of course to be met with holding
+very different opinions.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Anglo-Americans are not only united together by these common opinions, but
+they are separated from all other nations by a common feeling of pride. For the
+last fifty years no pains have been spared to convince the inhabitants of the
+United States that they constitute the only religious, enlightened, and free
+people. They perceive that, for the present, their own democratic institutions
+succeed, whilst those of other countries fail; hence they conceive an
+overweening opinion of their superiority, and they are not very remote from
+believing themselves to belong to a distinct race of mankind.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The dangers which threaten the American Union do not originate in the diversity
+of interests or of opinions, but in the various characters and passions of the
+Americans. The men who inhabit the vast territory of the United States are
+almost all the issue of a common stock; but the effects of the climate, and
+more especially of slavery, have gradually introduced very striking differences
+between the British settler of the Southern States and the British settler of
+the North. In Europe it is generally believed that slavery has rendered the
+interests of one part of the Union contrary to those of another part; but I by
+no means remarked this to be the case: slavery has not created interests in the
+South contrary to those of the North, but it has modified the character and
+changed the habits of the natives of the South.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have already explained the influence which slavery has exercised 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 submits 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 of
+the Union is invested with a sort of domestic dictatorship, from his earliest
+years; the first notion he acquires in life is that he is born to command, and
+the first habit which he contracts is that of being obeyed without resistance.
+His education tends, then, to give him the character of a supercilious and a
+hasty man; irascible, violent, and ardent in his desires, impatient of
+obstacles, but easily discouraged if he cannot succeed upon his first attempt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The American of the Northern States is surrounded by no slaves in his
+childhood; he is even unattended by free servants, and is usually obliged to
+provide for his own wants. No sooner does he enter the world than the idea of
+necessity assails him on every side: he soon learns to know exactly the natural
+limit of his authority; he never expects to subdue those who withstand him, by
+force; and he knows that the surest means of obtaining the support of his
+fellow-creatures, is to win their favor. He therefore becomes patient,
+reflecting, tolerant, slow to act, and persevering in his designs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the Southern States the more immediate wants of life are always supplied;
+the inhabitants of those parts are not busied in the material cares of life,
+which are always provided for by others; and their imagination is diverted to
+more captivating and less definite objects. The American of the South is fond
+of grandeur, luxury, and renown, of gayety, of pleasure, and above all of
+idleness; nothing obliges him to exert himself in order to subsist; and as he
+has no necessary occupations, he gives way to indolence, and does not even
+attempt what would be useful.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the equality of fortunes, and the absence of slavery in the North, plunge
+the inhabitants in those same cares of daily life which are disdained by the
+white population of the South. They are taught from infancy to combat want, and
+to place comfort 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 and more precise.
+As prosperity is the sole aim of exertion, it is excellently well attained;
+nature and mankind are turned to the best pecuniary advantage, and society is
+dexterously made to contribute to the welfare of each of its members, whilst
+individual egotism is the source of general happiness.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The citizen of the North has not only experience, but knowledge: nevertheless
+he sets but little value upon the pleasures of knowledge; he esteems it as the
+means of attaining a certain end, and he is only anxious to seize its more
+lucrative applications. The citizen of the South is more given to act upon
+impulse; he is more clever, more frank, more generous, more intellectual, and
+more brilliant. The former, with a greater degree of activity, of common-sense,
+of information, and of general aptitude, has the characteristic good and evil
+qualities of the middle classes. The latter has the tastes, the prejudices, the
+weaknesses, and the magnanimity of all aristocracies. If two men are united in
+society, who have the same interests, and to a certain extent the same
+opinions, but different characters, different acquirements, and a different
+style of civilization, it is probable that these men will not agree. The same
+remark is applicable to a society of nations. Slavery, then, does not attack
+the American Union directly in its interests, but indirectly in its manners.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ Census of 1790, 3,929,328; 1830, 12,856,165; 1860, 31,443,321; 1870,
+38,555,983; 1890, 62,831,900.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The States which gave their assent to the federal contract in 1790 were
+thirteen in number; the Union now consists of thirty-four members. The
+population, which amounted to nearly 4,000,000 in 1790, had more than tripled
+in the space of forty years; and in 1830 it amounted to nearly 13,000,000. *e
+Changes of such magnitude cannot take place without some danger.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+A society of nations, as well as a society of individuals, derives its
+principal chances of duration from the wisdom of its members, their individual
+weakness, and their limited number. The Americans who quit the coasts of the
+Atlantic Ocean to plunge into the western wilderness, are adventurers impatient
+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 unknown to each
+other, and they have neither traditions, family feeling, nor the force of
+example to check their excesses. The empire of the laws is feeble amongst them;
+that of morality is still more powerless. The settlers who are constantly
+peopling the valley of the Mississippi are, then, in every respect very
+inferior to the Americans who inhabit the older parts of the Union.
+Nevertheless, they already exercise a great influence in its councils; and they
+arrive at the government of the commonwealth before they have learnt to govern
+themselves. *f
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+f <br />
+[ This indeed is only a temporary danger. I have no doubt that in time society
+will assume as much stability and regularity in the West as it has already done
+upon the coast of the Atlantic Ocean.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The greater the individual weakness of each of the contracting parties, the
+greater are the chances of the duration of the contract; for their safety is
+then dependent upon their union. When, in 1790, the most populous of the
+American republics did not contain 500,000 inhabitants, *g each of them felt
+its own insignificance as an independent people, and this feeling rendered
+compliance with the federal authority more easy. But when one of the
+confederate States reckons, like the State of New York, 2,000,000 of
+inhabitants, and covers an extent of territory equal in surface to a quarter of
+France, *h it feels its own strength; and although it may continue to support
+the Union as advantageous to its prosperity, it no longer regards that body as
+necessary to its existence, and as it continues to belong to the federal
+compact, it soon aims at preponderance in the federal assemblies. The probable
+unanimity of the States is diminished as their number increases. At present the
+interests of the different parts of the Union are not at variance; but who is
+able to foresee the multifarious changes of the future, in a country in which
+towns are founded from day to day, and States almost from year to year?
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ Pennsylvania contained 431,373 inhabitants in 1790 [and 5,258,014 in 1890.]]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+h <br />
+[ The area of the State of New York is 49,170 square miles. [See U. S. census
+report of 1890.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Since the first settlement of the British colonies, the number of inhabitants
+has about doubled every twenty-two years. I perceive no causes which are likely
+to check this progressive increase of the Anglo-American population for the
+next hundred years; and before that space of time has elapsed, I believe that
+the territories and dependencies of the United States will be covered by more
+than 100,000,000 of inhabitants, and divided into forty States. *i I admit that
+these 100,000,000 of men have no hostile interests. I suppose, on the contrary,
+that they are all equally interested in the maintenance of the Union; but I am
+still of opinion that where there are 100,000,000 of men, and forty distinct
+nations, unequally strong, the continuance of the Federal Government can only
+be a fortunate accident.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+i <br />
+[ If the population continues to double every twenty-two years, as it has done
+for the last two hundred years, the number of inhabitants in the United States
+in 1852 will be twenty millions; in 1874, forty-eight millions; and in 1896,
+ninety-six millions. This may still be the case even if the lands on the
+western slope of the Rocky Mountains should be found to be unfit for
+cultivation. The territory which is already occupied can easily contain this
+number of inhabitants. One hundred millions of men disseminated over the
+surface of the twenty-four States, and the three dependencies, which constitute
+the Union, would only give 762 inhabitants to the square league; this would be
+far below the mean population of France, which is 1,063 to the square league;
+or of England, which is 1,457; and it would even be below the population of
+Switzerland, for that country, notwithstanding its lakes and mountains,
+contains 783 inhabitants to the square league. See &ldquo;Malte Brun,&rdquo;
+vol. vi. p. 92.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[The actual result has fallen somewhat short of these calculations, in spite of
+the vast territorial acquisitions of the United States: but in 1899 the
+population is probably about eighty-seven millions, including the population of
+the Philippines, Hawaii, and Porto Rico.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whatever faith I may have in the perfectibility of man, until human nature is
+altered, and men wholly transformed, I shall refuse to believe in the duration
+of a government which is called upon to hold together forty different peoples,
+disseminated over a territory equal to one-half of Europe in extent; to avoid
+all rivalry, ambition, and struggles between them, and to direct their
+independent activity to the accomplishment of the same designs.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the greatest peril to which the Union is exposed by its increase arises
+from the continual changes which take place in the position of its internal
+strength. The distance from Lake Superior to the Gulf of Mexico extends from
+the 47th to the 30th degree of latitude, a distance of more than 1,200 miles as
+the bird flies. The frontier of the United States winds along the whole of this
+immense line, 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 his
+vast boundary. *j Obstacles, such as an unproductive district, a lake or an
+Indian nation unexpectedly encountered, are sometimes met with. The advancing
+column then halts for a while; its two extremities fall back upon themselves,
+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
+unabatedly, and daily driven onwards by the hand of God.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+j <br />
+[ See Legislative Documents, 20th Congress, No. 117, p. 105.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Within this first line of conquering settlers towns are built, and vast States
+founded. In 1790 there were only a few thousand pioneers sprinkled along the
+valleys of the Mississippi; and 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 4,000,000. *k 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 are already obliged to perform a journey as long
+as that from Vienna to Paris. *l
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+k <br />
+[ 3,672,317&mdash;Census of 1830.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+l <br />
+[ The distance from Jefferson, the capital of the State of Missouri, to
+Washington is 1,019 miles. (&ldquo;American Almanac,&rdquo; 1831, p. 48.)]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All the States are borne onwards at the same time in the path of fortune, but
+of course they do not all increase and prosper in the same proportion. To the
+North of the Union the detached branches of the Alleghany chain, which extend
+as far as the Atlantic Ocean, form spacious roads and ports, which are
+constantly accessible to vessels of the greatest burden. But from the Potomac
+to the mouth of the Mississippi the coast is sandy and flat. In this part of
+the Union the mouths of almost all the rivers are obstructed; and the few
+harbors which exist amongst these lagoons afford much shallower water to
+vessels, and much fewer commercial advantages than those of the North.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This first natural cause of inferiority is united to another cause proceeding
+from the laws. We have already seen that slavery, which is abolished in the
+North, still exists in the South; and I have pointed out its fatal consequences
+upon the prosperity of the planter himself.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The North is therefore superior to the South both in commerce *m and
+manufacture; the natural consequence of which is the more rapid increase of
+population and of wealth within its borders. The States situate upon the shores
+of the Atlantic Ocean are already half-peopled. Most of the land is held by an
+owner; and these districts cannot therefore receive so many emigrants as the
+Western States, where a boundless field is still open to their exertions. The
+valley of the Mississippi is far more fertile than the coast of the Atlantic
+Ocean. This reason, added to all the others, contributes to drive the Europeans
+westward&mdash;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 recent States adjacent to the
+Mississippi, the population has increased thirty-one-fold, within the same
+space of time. *n
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+m <br />
+[ The following statements will suffice to show the difference which exists
+between the commerce of the South and that of the North:&mdash;
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In 1829 the tonnage of all the merchant vessels belonging to Virginia, the two
+Carolinas, and Georgia (the four great Southern States), amounted to only 5,243
+tons. In the same year the tonnage of the vessels of the State of Massachusetts
+alone amounted to 17,322 tons. (See Legislative Documents, 21st Congress, 2d
+session, No. 140, p. 244.) Thus the State of Massachusetts had three times as
+much shipping as the four above-mentioned States. Nevertheless the area of the
+State of Massachusetts is only 7,335 square miles, and its population amounts
+to 610,014 inhabitants [2,238,943 in 1890]; whilst the area of the four other
+States I have quoted is 210,000 square miles, and their population 3,047,767.
+Thus the area of the State of Massachusetts forms only one-thirtieth part of
+the area of the four States; and its population is five times smaller than
+theirs. (See &ldquo;Darby&rsquo;s View of the United States.&rdquo;) Slavery is
+prejudicial to the commercial prosperity of the South in several different
+ways; by diminishing the spirit of enterprise amongst the whites, and by
+preventing them from meeting with as numerous a class of sailors as they
+require. Sailors are usually taken 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 unable to serve as well as a
+white crew, and apprehensions 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.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+n <br />
+[ &ldquo;Darby&rsquo;s View of the United States,&rdquo; p. 444.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The relative position of the central 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 environs of the spot upon which Washington
+now stands; but the great body of the people is now advancing inland and to the
+north, so that in twenty years the majority will unquestionably be on the
+western side of the Alleghanies. If the Union goes on to subsist, the basin of
+the Mississippi is evidently marked out, by its fertility and its extent, as
+the future centre of the Federal Government. In thirty or forty years, that
+tract of country will have assumed the rank which naturally belongs to it. It
+is easy to calculate that its population, compared to that of the coast of the
+Atlantic, will be, in round numbers, as 40 to 11. In a few years the States
+which founded the Union will lose the direction of its policy, and the
+population of the valley of the Mississippi will preponderate in the federal
+assemblies.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This constant gravitation of the federal power and influence towards the
+northwest is shown every ten years, when a general census of the population is
+made, and the number of delegates which each State sends to Congress is settled
+afresh. *o In 1790 Virginia had nineteen representatives in Congress. This
+number continued to increase until the year 1813, when it reached to
+twenty-three; from that time it began to decrease, and in 1833 Virginia elected
+only twenty-one representatives. *p During the same period the State of New
+York progressed in the contrary direction: in 1790 it had ten representatives
+in Congress; in 1813, twenty-seven; in 1823, thirty-four; and in 1833, forty.
+The State of Ohio had only one representative in 1803, and in 1833 it had
+already nineteen.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+o <br />
+[ 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, has
+increased in the proportion of five per cent.; whilst that of another, as the
+territory of Michigan, has increased 250 per cent. Thus the population of
+Virginia had augmented thirteen per cent., and that of the border State of Ohio
+sixty-one per cent., in the same space of time. The general table of these
+changes, which is given in the &ldquo;National Calendar,&rdquo; displays a
+striking picture of the unequal fortunes of the different States.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+p <br />
+[ It has just been said that in the course of the last term the population of
+Virginia has increased thirteen per cent.; and it is necessary to explain how
+the number of representatives for a State may decrease, when the population of
+that State, far from diminishing, is actually upon the increase. I take the
+State of Virginia, to which I have already alluded, as my term of comparison.
+The number of representatives of Virginia in 1823 was proportionate to the
+total number of the representatives of the Union, and to the relation which the
+population bore to that of the whole Union: in 1833 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 course 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 numver, on the one hand, as the new numver of all the
+representatives 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 population of the lesser country
+be to that of the greater in an exact inverse ratio of the proportion between
+the new and the old numbers of all the representatives, 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 feeblerratio than the
+new number of the representatives of the Union to the old number, the number of
+the representatives of Virginia must decrease. [Thus, to the 56th Congress in
+1899, Virginia and West Virginia send only fourteen representatives.]]
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0052" id="link2HCH0052"></a> Chapter XVIII: Future
+Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part VIII</h2>
+
+<p>
+It is difficult to imagine a durable union of a people 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 at which 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 2,000,000 of inhabitants and its forty
+representatives, in dictating to the other States in Congress. But even if the
+more powerful States make no attempt to bear down the lesser ones, the danger
+still exists; for there is almost as much in the possibility of the act as in
+the act itself. The weak generally 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 Union. I am inclined to think that the
+hostile measures taken by the Southern provinces upon a recent occasion are
+attributable to no other cause. The inhabitants of the Southern States are, of
+all the Americans, those who are most interested in the maintenance of the
+Union; they would assuredly suffer most from being left to themselves; and yet
+they are the only citizens who threaten to break the tie of confederation. But
+it is easy to perceive that the South, which has given four Presidents,
+Washington, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe, to the Union, which perceives that
+it is losing its federal influence, and that the number of its representatives
+in Congress is diminishing from year to year, whilst those of the Northern and
+Western States are increasing; the South, which is peopled with ardent and
+irascible beings, is becoming more and more irritated and alarmed. The citizens
+reflect upon their present position and remember their past influence, with the
+melancholy uneasiness 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 their due profits. &ldquo;The tariff,&rdquo; said
+the inhabitants of Carolina in 1832, &ldquo;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?&rdquo; *q
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+q <br />
+[ See the report of its committee to the Convention which proclaimed the
+nullification of the tariff in South Carolina.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 America is
+precipitate, and almost revolutionary. The same citizen may have 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 birth and infancy to maturity in the course of
+thirty years. It must not be imagined, however, that the States which lose
+their preponderance, also lose their population or their riches: no stop is put
+to their prosperity, and they even go on to increase more rapidly than any
+kingdom in Europe. *r But they believe themselves to be impoverished because
+their wealth does not augment as rapidly as that of their neighbors; any they
+think that their power is lost, because they suddenly come into collision with
+a power greater than their own: *s thus they are more hurt in their feelings
+and their 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 beginning of the world, the name of war
+would scarcely be known among mankind.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+r <br />
+[ The population of a country assuredly constitutes the first element of its
+wealth. 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
+per cent.; that of Carolina in the proportion of fifteen per cent.; and that of
+Georgia, 15.5 per cent. (See the &ldquo;American Almanac,&rdquo; 1832, p. 162)
+But the population of Russia, which increases more rapidly than that of any
+other European country, only augments in ten years at the rate of 9.5 per
+cent.; in France, at the rate of seven per cent.; and in Europe in general, at
+the rate of 4.7 per cent. (See &ldquo;Malte Brun,&rdquo; vol. vi. p. 95)]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+s <br />
+[ It must be admitted, however, that the depreciation which has taken place in
+the value of tobacco, during the last fifty years, has notably diminished the
+opulence of the Southern planters: but this circumstance is as independent of
+the will of their Northern brethren as it is of their own.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus the prosperity of the United States is the source of the most serious
+dangers that threaten them, since it tends to create in some of the confederate
+States that over-excitement which accompanies a rapid increase of fortune; and
+to awaken in others those feelings of envy, mistrust, and regret which usually
+attend upon the loss of it. The Americans contemplate this extraordinary and
+hasty progress with exultation; but they would be wiser to consider it with
+sorrow and alarm. The Americans of the United States must inevitably become one
+of the greatest nations in the world; their offset will cover almost the whole
+of North America; the continent which they inhabit is their dominion, and it
+cannot escape them. What urges them to take possession of it so soon? Riches,
+power, and renown cannot fail to be theirs at some future time, but they rush
+upon their fortune as if but a moment remained for them to make it their own.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I think that I have demonstrated that the existence of the present
+confederation depends entirely on the continued assent of all the confederates;
+and, starting from this principle, I have inquired into the causes which may
+induce the several 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 compact, and so forcibly to sever the federal tie; and it is to
+this supposition that most of the remarks that I have made apply: or the
+authority of the Federal Government may be progressively entrenched on by the
+simultaneous tendency of the united republics to resume their independence. The
+central power, successively stripped of all its prerogatives, and reduced to
+impotence by tacit consent, would become incompetent to fulfil its purpose; and
+the second Union would perish, like the first, by a sort of senile inaptitude.
+The gradual weakening 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 Government 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+After having investigated the causes which may induce the Anglo-Americans to
+disunite, it is important to inquire whether, if the Union continues to
+subsist, their Government will extend or contract its sphere of action, and
+whether it will become more energetic or more weak.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Americans are evidently disposed to look upon their future condition with
+alarm. They perceive that in most of the nations of the world the exercise of
+the rights of sovereignty tends to fall under the control of a few individuals,
+and they are dismayed by the idea that such will also be the case in their own
+country. Even the statesmen feel, or affect to feel, these fears; for, in
+America, centralization is by no means popular, and there is no surer means of
+courting the majority than by inveighing against the encroachments of the
+central power. The Americans do not perceive that the countries in which this
+alarming tendency to centralization exists are inhabited by a single people;
+whilst the fact of the Union being composed of different confederate
+communities is sufficient to baffle all the inferences which might be drawn
+from analogous circumstances. I confess that I am inclined to consider the
+fears of a great number of Americans as purely imaginary; and far from
+participating in their dread of the consolidation of power in the hands of the
+Union, I think that the Federal Government is visibly losing strength.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To prove this assertion I shall not have recourse to any remote occurrences,
+but to circumstances which I have myself witnessed, and which belong to our own
+time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An attentive examination of what is going on in the United States will easily
+convince us that two opposite tendencies exist in that country, like two
+distinct currents flowing in contrary directions in the same channel. The Union
+has now existed for forty-five years, and in the course of that time a vast
+number of provincial prejudices, which were at first hostile to its power, have
+died away. The patriotic feeling which attached each of the Americans to his
+own native State is become less exclusive; and the different parts of the Union
+have become more intimately connected the better they have become acquainted
+with each other. The post, *t that great instrument of intellectual
+intercourse, now reaches into the backwoods; and steamboats have established
+daily means of communication between the different points of the coast. An
+inland navigation of unexampled rapidity conveys commodities up and down the
+rivers of the country. *u And to these facilities of nature and art may be
+added those restless cravings, that busy-mindedness, and love of pelf, which
+are constantly urging the American into active life, and bringing him into
+contact with his fellow-citizens. He crosses the country in every direction; he
+visits all the various populations of the land; and there is not a province in
+France in which the natives are so well known to each other as the 13,000,000
+of men who cover the territory of the United States.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+t <br />
+[ In 1832, the district of Michigan, which only contains 31,639 inhabitants,
+and is still an almost unexplored wilderness, possessed 940 miles of
+mail-roads. The territory of Arkansas, which is still more uncultivated, was
+already intersected by 1,938 miles of mail-roads. (See the report of the
+General Post Office, November 30, 1833.) The postage of newspapers alone in the
+whole Union amounted to $254,796.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+u <br />
+[ In the course of ten years, from 1821 to 1831, 271 steamboats have been
+launched upon the rivers which water the valley of the Mississippi alone. In
+1829 259 steamboats existed in the United States. (See Legislative Documents,
+No. 140, p. 274.)]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But whilst the Americans intermingle, they grow in resemblance of each other;
+the differences resulting from their climate, their origin, and their
+institutions, diminish; and they all draw nearer and nearer to the common type.
+Every year, thousands of men leave the North to settle in different parts of
+the Union: they bring with them their faith, their opinions, and their manners;
+and as they are more enlighthned than the men amongst whom they are about to
+dwell, they soon rise to the head of affairs, and they adapt society to their
+own advantage. This continual emigration of the North to the South is
+peculiarly favorable to the fusion of all the different provincial characters
+into one national character. The civilization of the North appears to be the
+common standard, to which the whole nation will one day be assimilated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The commercial ties which unite the confederate States are strengthened by the
+increasing manufactures of the Americans; and the union which began to exist in
+their opinions, gradually forms a part of their habits: the course of time has
+swept away the bugbear thoughts which haunted the imaginations of the citizens
+in 1789. The federal power is not become oppressive; it has not destroyed the
+independence of the States; it has not subjected the confederates to monarchial
+institutions; and the Union has not rendered the lesser States dependent upon
+the larger ones; but the confederation has continued to increase in population,
+in wealth, and in power. I am therefore convinced that the natural obstacles to
+the continuance of the American Union are not so powerful at the present time
+as they were in 1789; and that the enemies of the Union are not so numerous.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nevertheless, a careful examination of the history of the United States for the
+last forty-five years will readily convince us that the federal power is
+declining; nor is it difficult to explain the causes of this phenomenon. *v
+When the Constitution of 1789 was promulgated, the nation was a prey to
+anarchy; the Union, which succeeded this confusion, excited much dread and much
+animosity; but it was warmly supported because it satisfied an imperious want.
+Thus, although it was more attacked than it is now, the federal power soon
+reached the maximum 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 seemed 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 a certain extent, above itself.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+v <br />
+[ [Since 1861 the movement is certainly in the opposite direction, and the
+federal power has largely increased, and tends to further increase.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Constitution had not destroyed the distinct sovereignty of the States; and
+all communities, of whatever nature they may be, are impelled by a secret
+propensity to assert their independence. This propensity is still more decided
+in a country like America, in which every village forms a sort of republic
+accustomed to conduct its own affairs. It therefore cost the States an effort
+to submit to the federal supremacy; and all efforts, however successful they
+may be, necessarily subside with the causes in which they originated.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As the Federal Government consolidated its authority, America resumed its rank
+amongst the nations, peace returned to its frontiers, and public credit was
+restored; confusion was succeeded by a fixed state of things, which was
+favorable to the full and free exercise of industrious enterprise. It was this
+very prosperity which made the Americans forget the cause to which it was
+attributable; and when once the danger was passed, the energy and the
+patriotism which had enabled them to brave it disappeared from amongst them. No
+sooner were they delivered from the cares which oppressed them, than they
+easily returned to their ordinary habits, and gave themselves up without
+resistance to their natural inclinations. When a powerful Government no longer
+appeared to be necessary, they once more began to think it irksome. The Union
+encouraged a general prosperity, and the States were not inclined to abandon
+the Union; but they desired to render the action of the power which represented
+that body as light as possible. The general principle of Union was adopted, but
+in every minor detail there was an actual tendency to independence. The
+principle of confederation was every day more easily admitted, and more rarely
+applied; so that the Federal Government brought about its own decline, whilst
+it was creating order and peace.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As soon as this tendency of public opinion began to be manifested externally,
+the leaders of parties, 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 possession 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 Union has
+invariably been obliged to recede, as often as it has attempted to enter the
+lists with the governments of the States. And whenever an interpretation of the
+terms of the Federal Constitution has been called for, that interpretation has
+most frequently been opposed to the Union, and favorable to the States.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Constitution invested the Federal Government with the right of providing
+for the interests of the nation; and it had been held that no other authority
+was so fit to superintend the &ldquo;internal improvements&rdquo; which
+affected the prosperity of the whole Union; such, for instance, as the cutting
+of canals. But the States were alarmed at a power, distinct from their own,
+which could thus dispose of a portion of their territory; and they were afraid
+that the central Government would, by this means, acquire a formidable extent
+of patronage within their own confines, and exercise a degree of influence
+which they intended to reserve exclusively to their own agents. The Democratic
+party, which has constantly been opposed to the increase of the federal
+authority, then accused the Congress of usurpation, and the Chief Magistrate of
+ambition. The central Government was intimidated by the opposition; and it soon
+acknowledged its error, promising exactly to confine its influence for the
+future within the circle which was prescribed to it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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 light. As long as these savages
+consented to retire before the civilized settlers, the federal right was not
+contested: but as soon as an Indian tribe attempted to fix its dwelling upon a
+given spot, the adjacent States claimed possession of the lands and the rights
+of sovereignty over the natives. The central Government soon recognized both
+these claims; and after it had concluded treaties with the Indians as
+independent nations, it gave them up as subjects to the legislative tyranny of
+the States. *w
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+w <br />
+[ See in the Legislative Documents, already quoted in speaking of the Indians,
+the letter of the President of the United States to the Cherokees, his
+correspondence on this subject with his agents, and his messages to Congress.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some of the States which had been founded upon the coast of the Atlantic,
+extended indefinitely to the West, into wild regions where no European had ever
+penetrated. The States whose confines were irrevocably fixed, looked with a
+jealous eye upon the unbounded regions which the future would enable their
+neighbors to explore. The latter then agreed, with a view to conciliate the
+others, and to facilitate the act of union, to lay down their own boundaries,
+and to abandon all the territory which lay beyond those limits to the
+confederation at large. *x Thenceforward the Federal Government became the
+owner of all the uncultivated lands which lie beyond the borders of the
+thirteen States first confederated. It was invested with the right of
+parcelling and selling them, and the sums derived from this source were
+exclusively reserved to the public treasure of the Union, in order to furnish
+supplies for purchasing tracts of country from the Indians, for opening roads
+to the remote settlements, and for accelerating the increase of civilization as
+much as possible. New States have, however, been formed in the course of time,
+in the midst of those wilds which were formerly ceded by the inhabitants of the
+shores of the Atlantic. 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 asserted that, as they were now fully constituted, they
+ought to enjoy the exclusive right of converting the produce of these sales to
+their own use. As their remonstrances became more and more threatening,
+Congress thought fit to deprive the Union of a portion of the privileges which
+it had hitherto enjoyed; and at the end of 1832 it passed a law by which the
+greatest part of the revenue derived from the sale of lands was made over to
+the new western republics, although the lands themselves were not ceded to
+them. *y
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+x <br />
+[ The first act of session was made by the State of New York in 1780; Virginia,
+Massachusetts, Connecticut, South and North Carolina, followed this example at
+different times, and lastly, the act of cession of Georgia was made as recently
+as 1802.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+y <br />
+[ It is true that the President refused his assent to this law; but he
+completely adopted it in principle. (See Message of December 8, 1833.)]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The slightest observation in the United States enables one to appreciate the
+advantages which the country derives from the bank. These advantages are of
+several kinds, but one of them is peculiarly striking to the stranger. The
+banknotes 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. *z
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+z <br />
+[ The present Bank of the United States was established in 1816, with a capital
+of $35,000,000; its charter expires in 1836. Last year Congress passed a law to
+renew it, but the President put his veto upon the bill. The struggle is still
+going on with great violence on either side, and the speedy fall of the bank
+may easily be foreseen. [It was soon afterwards extinguished by General
+Jackson.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Bank of the United States is nevertheless the object of great animosity.
+Its directors have proclaimed their hostility to the President: and they are
+accused, not without some show of probability, of having abused their influence
+to thwart his election. The President therefore attacks the establishment which
+they represent with all the warmth of personal enmity; and he is encouraged in
+the pursuit of his revenge by the conviction that he is supported by the secret
+propensities of the majority. The bank may be regarded as the great monetary
+tie of the Union, just as Congress is the great legislative tie; and the same
+passions which tend to render the States independent of the central power,
+contribute to the overthrow of the bank.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Bank of the United States always holds a great number of the notes issued
+by the provincial banks, which it can at any time oblige them to convert into
+cash. 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 operations are restricted, since they are
+only able to issue a quantity of notes duly proportioned to their capital. They
+submit with impatience to this salutary control. The newspapers which they have
+bought over, and the President, whose interest renders him their instrument,
+attack the bank with the greatest vehemence. They rouse the local passions and
+the blind democratic instinct of the country to aid their cause; and they
+assert that the bank directors form a permanent aristocratic body, whose
+influence must ultimately be felt in the Government, and must affect those
+principles of equality upon which society rests in America.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The contest between the bank and its opponents is only an incident in the great
+struggle which is going on in America between the provinces and the central
+power; between the spirit of democratic independence and the spirit of
+gradation and subordination. I do not mean that the enemies of the bank are
+identically the same individuals who, on other points, attack the Federal
+Government; but I assert that the attacks directed against the bank of the
+United States originate in the same propensities which militate against the
+Federal Government; and that the very numerous opponents of the former afford a
+deplorable symptom of the decreasing support of the latter.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Union has never displayed so much weakness as in the celebrated question of
+the tariff. *a The wars of the French Revolution and of 1812 had created
+manufacturing establishments in the North of the Union, by cutting off all free
+communication between America and Europe. When peace was concluded, and the
+channel of intercourse reopened by which the produce of Europe was transmitted
+to the New World, the Americans thought fit to establish a system of import
+duties, for the twofold purpose of protecting their incipient manufactures and
+of paying off the amount of the debt contracted during the war. The Southern
+States, which have no manufactures to encourage, and which are exclusively
+agricultural, soon complained of this measure. Such were the simple facts, and
+I do not pretend to examine in this place whether their complaints were well
+founded or unjust.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+a <br />
+[ See principally for the details of this affair, the Legislative Documents,
+22d Congress, 2d Session, No. 30.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As early as the year 1820, South Carolina declared, in a petition to Congress,
+that the tariff was &ldquo;unconstitutional, oppressive, and unjust.&rdquo; And
+the States of Georgia, Virginia, North Carolina, Alabama, and Mississippi
+subsequently remonstrated against it with more or less vigor. But Congress, far
+from lending an ear to these complaints, raised the scale of tariff duties in
+the years 1824 and 1828, and recognized anew the principle on which it was
+founded. A doctrine was then proclaimed, or rather revived, in the South, which
+took the name of Nullification.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I have shown in the proper place that the object of the Federal Constitution
+was not to form a league, but to create a national government. The Americans of
+the United States form a sole and undivided people, in all the cases which are
+specified by that Constitution; and upon these points the will of the nation is
+expressed, as it is in all constitutional nations, by the voice of the
+majority. When the majority has pronounced its decision, it is the duty of the
+minority to submit. Such is the sound legal doctrine, and the only one which
+agrees with the text of the Constitution, and the known intention of those who
+framed it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The partisans of Nullification in the South maintain, on the contrary, that the
+intention of the Americans in uniting was not to reduce themselves to the
+condition of one and the same people; that they meant to constitute a league of
+independent States; and that each State, consequently retains its entire
+sovereignty, if not de facto, at least de jure; and has the right of putting
+its own construction upon the laws of Congress, and of suspending their
+execution within the limits of its own territory, if they are held to be
+unconstitutional and unjust.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The entire doctrine of Nullification is comprised in a sentence uttered by
+Vice-President Calhoun, the head of that party in the South, before the Senate
+of the United States, in the year 1833: &ldquo;The Constitution is a
+compact to which the States were parties in their sovereign capacity; now,
+whenever a compact is entered into by parties which acknowledge no tribunal
+above their authority to decide in the last resort, each of them has a right to
+judge for itself in relation to the nature, extent, and obligations of the
+instrument.&rdquo; It is evident that a similar doctrine destroys the very
+basis of the Federal Constitution, and brings back all the evils of the old
+confederation, from which the Americans were supposed to have had a safe
+deliverance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+When South Carolina perceived that Congress turned a deaf ear to its
+remonstrances, it threatened to apply the doctrine of nullification to the
+federal tariff bill. Congress persisted in its former system; and at length the
+storm broke out. In the course of 1832 the citizens of South Carolina, *b named
+a national Convention, to consult upon the extraordinary measures which they
+were called upon to take; and on November 24th of the same year this Convention
+promulgated a law, under the form of a decree, which annulled the federal law
+of the tariff, forbade the levy of the imposts which that law commands, and
+refused to recognize the appeal which might be made to the federal courts of
+law. *c This decree was only to be put in execution in the ensuing month of
+February, and it was intimated, that if Congress modified the tariff before
+that period, South Carolina might be induced to proceed no further with her
+menaces; and a vague desire was afterwards expressed of submitting the question
+to an extraordinary assembly of all the confederate States.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+b <br />
+[ 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 electors; 30,000 were in favor of nullification, and
+17,000 opposed to it.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+c <br />
+[ This decree was preceded by a report of the committee by which it was framed,
+containing the explanation of the motives and object of the law. The following
+passage occurs in it, p. 34:&mdash;&ldquo;When the rights reserved 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 respective
+limits, those powers and privileges which belong to them as independent
+sovereign States. If they were destitute of this right, they would 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.&rdquo;]
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0053" id="link2HCH0053"></a> Chapter XVIII: Future
+Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part IX</h2>
+
+<p>
+In the meantime South Carolina armed her militia, and prepared for war. But
+Congress, which had slighted its suppliant subjects, listened to their
+complaints as soon as they were found to have taken up arms. *d A law was
+passed, by which the tariff duties were to be progressively reduced for ten
+years, until they were brought so low as not to exceed the amount of supplies
+necessary to the Government. *e Thus Congress completely abandoned the
+principle of the tariff; and substituted a mere fiscal impost to a system of
+protective duties. *f The Government of the Union, in order to conceal its
+defeat, had recourse to an expedient which is very much in vogue with feeble
+governments. It yielded the point de facto, but it remained inflexible upon the
+principles in question; and whilst Congress was altering the tariff law, it
+passed another bill, by which the President was invested with extraordinary
+powers, enabling him to overcome by force a resistance which was then no longer
+to be apprehended.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+d <br />
+[ Congress was finally decided to take this step by the conduct of the powerful
+State of Virginia, whose legislature offered to serve as mediator between the
+Union and South Carolina. Hitherto the latter State had appeared to be entirely
+abandoned, even by the States which had joined in her remonstrances.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+e <br />
+[ This law was passed on March 2, 1833.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+f <br />
+[ This bill was brought in by Mr. Clay, and it passed in four days through both
+Houses of Congress by an immense majority.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But South Carolina did not consent to leave the Union in the enjoyment of these
+scanty trophies of success: the same national Convention which had annulled the
+tariff bill, met again, and accepted the proffered concession; but at the same
+time it declared its unabated perseverance in the 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 clauses of that law
+would never be carried into effect.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Almost all the controversies of which I have been speaking have taken place
+under the Presidency of General Jackson; and it cannot be denied that in the
+question of the tariff he has supported the claims of the Union with vigor and
+with skill. I am, however, of opinion that the conduct of the individual who
+now represents the Federal Government may be reckoned as one of the dangers
+which threaten its continuance.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some persons in Europe have formed an opinion of the possible influence of
+General Jackson upon the affairs of his country, which appears highly
+extravagant to those who have seen more of the subject. We have been told that
+General Jackson has won sundry battles, that he is an energetic man, prone by
+nature and by habit to the use of force, covetous of power, and a despot by
+taste. All this may perhaps be true; but the inferences which have been drawn
+from these truths are exceedingly erroneous. It has been imagined that General
+Jackson is bent on establishing a dictatorship in America, on introducing a
+military spirit, and on giving a degree of influence to the central authority
+which cannot but be dangerous to provincial liberties. But in America the time
+for similar undertakings, and the age for men of this kind, is not yet come: if
+General Jackson had entertained a hope of exercising his authority in this
+manner, he would infallibly have forfeited his political station, and
+compromised his life; accordingly he has not been so imprudent as to make any
+such attempt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Far from wishing to extend the federal power, the President belongs to the
+party which is desirous of limiting that power to the bare and precise letter
+of the Constitution, and which never puts a construction upon that act
+favorable to the Government of the Union; far from standing forth as the
+champion of centralization, General Jackson is the agent of all the jealousies
+of the States; and he was placed in the lofty station he occupies by the
+passions of the people which are most opposed to the central Government. It is
+by perpetually flattering these passions that he maintains his station and his
+popularity. General Jackson is the slave of the majority: he yields to its
+wishes, its propensities, and its demands; say rather, that he anticipates and
+forestalls them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Whenever the governments of the States come into collision with that of the
+Union, the President is generally the first to question his own rights: he
+almost always outstrips the legislature; and when the extent of the federal
+power is controverted, he takes part, as it were, against himself; he conceals
+his official interests, and extinguishes his own natural inclinations. Not
+indeed that he is naturally weak or hostile to the Union; for when the majority
+decided against the claims of the partisans of nullification, he put himself at
+its head, asserted the doctrines which the nation held distinctly and
+energetically, and was the first to recommend forcible measures; but General
+Jackson appears to me, if I may use the American expressions, to be a
+Federalist by taste, and a Republican by calculation.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+General Jackson stoops to gain the favor of the majority, but when he feels
+that his popularity is secure, he overthrows all obstacles in the pursuit of
+the objects which the community approves, or of those which it does not look
+upon with a jealous eye. He is supported by a power with which his predecessors
+were unacquainted; and he tramples on his personal enemies whenever they cross
+his path with a facility which no former President ever enjoyed; he takes upon
+himself the responsibility of measures which no one before him would have
+ventured to attempt: he even treats the national representatives with disdain
+approaching to insult; he puts his veto upon the laws of Congress, and
+frequently neglects to reply to that powerful body. He is a favorite who
+sometimes treats his master roughly. The power of General Jackson 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I am strangely mistaken if the Federal Government of the United States be not
+constantly losing strength, retiring gradually from public affairs, and
+narrowing its circle of action more and more. It is naturally feeble, but it
+now abandons even its pretensions to strength. On the other hand, I thought
+that I remarked a more lively sense of independence, and a more decided
+attachment to provincial government in the States. The Union is to subsist, but
+to subsist as a shadow; it is 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 perceptible: as if this alternate
+debility and vigor were natural or possible.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I do not foresee anything for the present which may be able to check this
+general impulse of public opinion; the causes in which it originated do not
+cease to operate with the same effect. The change will therefore go on, and it
+may be predicted that, unless some extraordinary event occurs, the Government
+of the Union will grow weaker and weaker every day.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I think, however, that the period is still remote at which the federal power
+will be entirely extinguished by its inability to protect itself and to
+maintain peace in the country. The Union is sanctioned by the manners and
+desires of the people; 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Government of the United States is, of all the federal governments which
+have hitherto been established, the one which is most naturally destined to
+act. As long as it is only indirectly assailed by the interpretation of its
+laws, and as long as its substance is not seriously altered, a change of
+opinion, an internal crisis, or a war, may restore all the vigor which it
+requires. The point which I have been most anxious to put in a clear light is
+simply this: Many people, especially in France, imagine that a change in
+opinion is going on in the United States, which is favorable to a
+centralization of power in the hands of the President and the Congress. I hold
+that a contrary tendency may distinctly be observed. So far is the Federal
+Government from acquiring strength, and from threatening the sovereignty of the
+States, as it grows older, that I maintain it to be growing weaker and weaker,
+and that the sovereignty of the Union alone is in danger. Such are the facts
+which the present time discloses. The future conceals the final result of this
+tendency, and the events which may check, retard, or accelerate the changes I
+have described; but I do not affect to be able to remove the veil which hides
+them from our sight.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Of The Republican Institutions Of The United States, And What Their Chances Of
+Duration Are
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Union is accidental&mdash;The Republican institutions have more prospect of
+permanence&mdash;A republic for the present the natural state of the
+Anglo-Americans&mdash;Reason of this&mdash;In order to destroy it, all the laws
+must be changed at the same time, and a great alteration take place in
+manners&mdash;Difficulties experienced by the Americans in creating an
+aristocracy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The dismemberment of the Union, by the introduction of war into the heart of
+those States which are now confederate, with standing armies, a dictatorship,
+and a heavy taxation, might, eventually, compromise the fate of the republican
+institutions. But we ought not to confound the future prospects of the republic
+with those of the Union. The Union is an accident, which will only last as long
+as circumstances are favorable to its existence; but a republican form of
+government seems to me to be the natural state of the Americans; which nothing
+but the continued action of hostile causes, always acting in the same
+direction, could change into a monarchy. The Union exists principally in the
+law which formed it; one revolution, one change in public opinion, might
+destroy it forever; but the republic has a much deeper foundation to rest upon.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+What is understood by a republican government in the United States is the slow
+and quiet action of society upon itself. It is a regular state of things really
+founded upon the enlightened will of the people. It is a conciliatory
+government under which resolutions are allowed time to ripen; and in which they
+are deliberately discussed, and executed with mature judgment. The republicans
+in the United States set a high value upon morality, respect religious belief,
+and acknowledge the existence of rights. They profess to think that a people
+ought to be moral, religious, and temperate, in proportion as it is free. What
+is called the republic in the United States, is the tranquil rule of the
+majority, which, after having had time to examine itself, and to give proof of
+its existence, is the common source of all the powers of the State. But the
+power of the majority is not of itself unlimited. In the moral world humanity,
+justice, and reason enjoy an undisputed supremacy; in the political world
+vested rights are treated with no less deference. The majority recognizes these
+two barriers; and if it now and then overstep them, it is because, like
+individuals, it has passions, and, like them, it is prone to do what is wrong,
+whilst it discerns what is right.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But the demagogues of Europe have made strange discoveries. A republic is not,
+according to them, the rule of the majority, as has hitherto been thought, but
+the rule of those who are strenuous partisans of the majority. It is not the
+people who preponderates in this kind of government, but those who are best
+versed in the good qualities of the people. A happy distinction, which allows
+men to act in the name of nations without consulting them, and to claim their
+gratitude whilst their rights are spurned. A republican government, moreover,
+is the only one which claims the right of doing whatever it chooses, and
+despising what men have hitherto respected, from the highest moral obligations
+to the vulgar rules of common-sense. It had been supposed, until our time, that
+despotism was odious, under whatever form it appeared. But it is a discovery of
+modern days that there are such things as legitimate tyranny and holy
+injustice, provided they are exercised in the name of the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The ideas which the Americans have adopted respecting the republican form of
+government, render it easy for them to live under it, and insure its duration.
+If, in their country, this form be often practically bad, at least it is
+theoretically good; and, in the end, the people always acts in conformity to
+it.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It was impossible at the foundation of the States, and it would still be
+difficult, to establish a central administration in America. The inhabitants
+are dispersed over too great a space, and separated by too many natural
+obstacles, for one man to undertake to direct the details of their existence.
+America is therefore pre-eminently the country of provincial and municipal
+government. To this cause, which was plainly felt by all the Europeans of the
+New World, the Anglo-Americans added several others peculiar to themselves.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+At the time of the settlement of the North American colonies, municipal liberty
+had already penetrated into the laws as well as the manners of the English; and
+the emigrants adopted it, not only as a necessary thing, but as a benefit which
+they knew how to appreciate. We have already seen the manner in which the
+colonies were founded: every province, and almost every district, was peopled
+separately by men who were strangers to each other, or who associated with very
+different purposes. The English settlers in the United States, therefore, early
+perceived that they were divided into a great number of small and distinct
+communities which belonged to no common centre; and that it was needful for
+each of these little communities to take care of its own affairs, since there
+did not appear to be 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 liberties.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States, therefore, the mass of the institutions 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 difficult for a party to succeed
+in founding a monarchy in the United States than for a set of men to proclaim
+that France should henceforward be a republic. Royalty would not find a system
+of legislation prepared for it beforehand; and a monarchy would then exist,
+really surrounded by republican institutions. The monarchical principle would
+likewise have great difficulty in penetrating into the manners of the
+Americans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the United States, the sovereignty of the people is not an isolated doctrine
+bearing no relation to the prevailing manners and ideas of the people: it may,
+on the contrary, 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&mdash;such 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 its townships; the State to its provinces; the Union to the States;
+and when extended to the nation, it becomes the doctrine of the sovereignty of
+the people.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus, in the United States, the fundamental principle 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,
+whilst they are formerly recognized by the legislation: and before this
+legislation can be altered the whole community must undergo very serious
+changes. 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 its temporal 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 choosing his government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is evident that nothing but a long series of events, all having the same
+tendency, can substitute for this combination of laws, opinions, and manners, a
+mass of opposite opinions, manners, and laws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If republican principles are to perish in America, they can only yield after a
+laborious social process, often interrupted, and as often resumed; they will
+have many apparent revivals, and will not become totally extinct until an
+entirely new people shall have succeeded to that which now exists. Now, it must
+be admitted that there is no symptom or presage of the approach of such a
+revolution. There is nothing more striking 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 variable in its desires should avoid
+adopting, within a short space of time, a completely new form of government.
+Such apprehensions are, however, premature; the instability which affects
+political institutions is of two kinds, which ought not to be confounded: the
+first, which modifies secondary laws, is not incompatible with a very settled
+state of society; the other shakes the very foundations of the Constitution,
+and attacks the fundamental principles of legislation; this species of
+instability is always followed by troubles and revolutions, and the nation
+which suffers under it is in a state of violent transition.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Experience shows that these two kinds of legislative instability have no
+necessary connection; for they have been found united or separate, according to
+times and circumstances. The first is common in the United States, but not the
+second: the Americans often change their laws, but the foundation of the
+Constitution is respected.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In our days the republican principle rules in America, as the monarchical
+principle did in France under Louis XIV. The French of that period were not
+only friends of the monarchy, but they thought it impossible to put anything in
+its place; they received it as we receive 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 opposition; without proofs and arguments, by a tacit agreement, a
+sort of consensus universalis. It is, however, my opinion that by changing
+their administrative forms as often as they do, the inhabitants of the United
+States compromise the future stability of their government.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It may be apprehended that men, perpetually thwarted in their designs by the
+mutability of the legislation, will learn to look upon republican institutions
+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 the
+fundamental principles of the Constitution, and indirectly bring about a
+revolution; but this epoch is still very remote.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It may, however, be foreseen even now, that when the Americans lose their
+republican institutions they will speedily arrive at a despotic government,
+without a long interval of limited monarchy. Montesquieu remarked, that nothing
+is more absolute than the authority of a prince who immediately succeeds a
+republic, since the powers which had fearlessly been intrusted to an elected
+magistrate are then transferred to a hereditary sovereign. This is true in
+general, but it is more peculiarly applicable to a democratic republic. In the
+United States, the magistrates are not elected by a particular class of
+citizens, but by the majority of the nation; they are the immediate
+representatives of the passions of the multitude; and as they are wholly
+dependent upon its pleasure, they excite neither hatred nor fear: hence, as I
+have already shown, very little care has been taken to limit their influence,
+and they are left in possession of a vast deal of arbitrary power. This state
+of things has engendered habits which would outlive itself; the American
+magistrate would retain his power, but he would cease to be responsible for the
+exercise of it; and it is impossible to say what bounds could then be set to
+tyranny.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Some of our European politicians expect to see an aristocracy arise in America,
+and they already predict the exact period at which it will be able to assume
+the reins of government. I have previously observed, and I repeat my assertion,
+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, restrict the circle of political rights in their country, or
+confiscate those rights to the advantage of a single individual; but I cannot
+imagine that they will ever bestow the exclusive exercise of them upon a
+privileged class of citizens, or, in other words, that they will ever found an
+aristocracy.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+An aristocratic body is composed of a certain number of citizens who, without
+being very far removed from the mass of the people, are, nevertheless,
+permanently stationed above it: a body which it is easy to touch and difficult
+to strike; with which the people are in daily contact, but with which they can
+never combine. Nothing can be imagined more contrary to nature and to the
+secret propensities of the human heart than a subjection of this kind; and men
+who are left to follow their own bent will always prefer the arbitrary power of
+a king to the regular administration of an aristocracy. Aristocratic
+institutions cannot subsist without laying down the inequality of men as a
+fundamental principle, as a part and parcel of the legislation, affecting the
+condition of the human family as much as it affects that of society; but these
+are things so repugnant to natural equity that they can only be extorted from
+men by constraint.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I do not think a single people can be quoted, since human society began to
+exist, which has, by its own free will and by its own exertions, created an
+aristocracy within its own bosom. All the aristocracies of the Middle Ages were
+founded by military conquest; the conqueror was the noble, the vanquished
+became the serf. Inequality was then imposed by force; and after it had been
+introduced into the manners of the country it maintained its own authority, and
+was sanctioned by the legislation. Communities have existed which were
+aristocratic from their earliest origin, owing to circumstances anterior to
+that event, and which became more democratic in each succeeding age. Such was
+the destiny of the Romans, and of the barbarians after them. But a people,
+having taken its rise in civilization and democracy, which should gradually
+establish an inequality of conditions, until it arrived at inviolable
+privileges and exclusive castes, would be a novelty in the world; and nothing
+intimates that America is likely to furnish so singular an example.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reflection On The Causes Of The Commercial Prosperity Of The Of The United
+States
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Americans destined by Nature to be a great maritime people&mdash;Extent of
+their coasts&mdash;Depth of their ports&mdash;Size of their rivers&mdash;The
+commercial superiority of the Anglo-Americans less attributable, however, to
+physical circumstances than to moral and intellectual causes&mdash;Reason of
+this opinion&mdash;Future destiny of the Anglo-Americans as a commercial
+nation&mdash;The dissolution of the Union would not check the maritime vigor of
+the States&mdash;Reason of this&mdash;Anglo-Americans will naturally supply the
+wants of the inhabitants of South America&mdash;They will become, like the
+English, the factors of a great portion of the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The coast of the United States, from the Bay of Fundy to the Sabine River in
+the Gulf of Mexico, is more than two thousand miles in extent. These shores
+form an unbroken line, and they are all subject to the same government. No
+nation in the world possesses vaster, deeper, or more secure ports for shipping
+than the Americans.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The inhabitants of the United States constitute a great civilized people, which
+fortune has placed in the midst of an uncultivated country at a distance of
+three thousand miles from the central point of civilization. America
+consequently stands in daily need of European trade. The Americans will, no
+doubt, ultimately succeed in producing or manufacturing at home most of the
+articles which they require; but the two continents can never be independent of
+each other, so numerous are the natural ties which exist between their wants,
+their ideas, their habits, and their manners.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Union produces peculiar commodities which are now become necessary to us,
+but which cannot be cultivated, or can only be raised at an enormous expense,
+upon the soil of Europe. The Americans only consume a small portion of this
+produce, and they are willing to sell us the rest. Europe is therefore the
+market of America, as America is the market of Europe; and maritime commerce is
+no less necessary to enable the inhabitants of the United States to transport
+their raw materials to the ports of Europe, than it is to enable us to supply
+them with our manufactured produce. The United States were therefore
+necessarily reduced to the alternative of increasing the business of other
+maritime nations to a great extent, if they had themselves declined to enter
+into commerce, as the Spaniards of Mexico have hitherto done; or, in the second
+place, of becoming one of the first trading powers of the globe.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Anglo-Americans have always displayed a very decided taste for the sea. The
+Declaration of Independence broke the commercial restrictions which united them
+to England, and gave a fresh and powerful stimulus to their maritime genius.
+Ever since that time, the shipping of the Union has increased in almost the
+same rapid proportion as the number of its inhabitants. The Americans
+themselves now transport to their own shores nine-tenths of the European
+produce which they consume. *g And they also bring three-quarters of the
+exports of the New World to the European consumer. *h The ships of the United
+States fill the docks of Havre and of Liverpool; whilst the number of English
+and French vessels which are to be seen at New York is comparatively small. *i
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+g <br />
+[ The total value of goods imported during the year which ended on September
+30, 1832, was $101,129,266. The value of the cargoes of foreign vessels did not
+amount to $10,731,039, or about one-tenth of the entire sum.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+h <br />
+[ The value of goods exported during the same year amounted to $87,176,943; the
+value of goods exported by foreign vessels amounted to $21,036,183, or about
+one quarter of the whole sum. (Williams&rsquo;s &ldquo;Register,&rdquo; 1833,
+p. 398.)]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+i <br />
+[ The tonnage of the vessels which entered all the ports of the Union in the
+years 1829, 1830, and 1831, amounted to 3,307,719 tons, of which 544,571 tons
+were foreign vessels; they stood, therefore, to the American vessels in a ratio
+of about 16 to 100. (&ldquo;National Calendar,&rdquo; 1833, p. 304.) The
+tonnage of the English vessels which entered the ports of London, Liverpool,
+and Hull, in the years 1820, 1826, and 1831, amounted to 443,800 tons. The
+foreign vessels which entered the same ports during the same years amounted to
+159,431 tons. The ratio between them was, therefore, about 36 to 100.
+(&ldquo;Companion to the Almanac,&rdquo; 1834, p. 169.) In the year 1832 the
+ratio between the foreign and British ships which entered the ports of Great
+Britain was 29 to 100. [These statements relate to a condition of affairs which
+has ceased to exist; the Civil War and the heavy taxation of the United States
+entirely altered the trade and navigation of the country.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus, not only does the American merchant face the competition of his own
+countrymen, but he even supports that of foreign nations in their own ports
+with success. This is readily explained by the fact that the vessels of the
+United States can cross the seas at a cheaper rate than any other vessels in
+the world. As long as the mercantile shipping of the United States preserves
+this superiority, it will not only retain what it has acquired, but it will
+constantly increase in prosperity.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2HCH0054" id="link2HCH0054"></a> Chapter XVIII: Future
+Condition Of Three Races&mdash;Part X</h2>
+
+<p>
+It is difficult to say for what reason the Americans can trade at a lower rate
+than other nations; and one is at first led to attribute this circumstance to
+the physical or natural advantages which are within their reach; but this
+supposition is erroneous. The American vessels cost almost as much to build as
+our own; *j they are not better built, and they generally last for a shorter
+time. The pay of the American sailor is more considerable than the pay on board
+European ships; which is proved by the great number of Europeans who are to be
+met with in the merchant vessels of the United States. But I am of opinion that
+the true cause of their superiority must not be sought for in physical
+advantages, but that it is wholly attributable to their moral and intellectual
+qualities.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+j <br />
+[ Materials are, generally speaking, less expensive in America than in Europe,
+but the price of labor is much higher.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The following comparison will illustrate my meaning. During the campaigns of
+the Revolution the French introduced a new system of tactics into the art of
+war, which perplexed the oldest generals, and very nearly destroyed the most
+ancient monarchies in Europe. They undertook (what had never before been
+attempted) to make shift without a number of things which had always been held
+to be indispensable in warfare; they required novel exertions on the part of
+their troops which no civilized nations had ever thought of; they achieved
+great actions in an incredibly short space of time; and they risked human life
+without hesitation to obtain the object in view. The French had less money and
+fewer men than their enemies; their resources were infinitely inferior;
+nevertheless they were constantly victorious, until their adversaries chose to
+imitate their example.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Americans have introduced a similar system into their commercial
+speculations; and they do for cheapness what the French did for conquest. The
+European sailor navigates with prudence; he only sets sail when the weather is
+favorable; if an unforseen accident befalls him, he puts into port; at night he
+furls a portion of his canvas; and when the whitening billows intimate the
+vicinity of land, he checks his way, and takes an observation of the sun. But
+the American neglects these precautions and braves these dangers. He weighs
+anchor in the midst of tempestuous gales; by night and by day he spreads his
+sheets to the wind; he repairs as he goes along such damage as his vessel may
+have sustained from the storm; and when he at last approaches the term of his
+voyage, he darts onward to the shore as if he already descried a port. The
+Americans are often shipwrecked, but no trader crosses the seas so rapidly. And
+as they perform the same distance in a shorter time, they can perform it at a
+cheaper rate.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The European touches several times at different ports in the course of a long
+voyage; he loses a good deal of precious time in making the harbor, or in
+waiting for a favorable wind to leave it; and he pays daily dues to be allowed
+to remain there. The American starts from Boston to go to purchase tea in
+China; he arrives at Canton, stays there a few days, and then returns. In less
+than two years he has sailed as far as the entire circumference of the globe,
+and he has seen land but once. It is true that during a voyage of eight 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 a tedious
+existence; but upon his return he can sell a pound of his tea for a half-penny
+less than the English merchant, and his purpose is accomplished.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+I cannot better explain my meaning than by saying that the Americans affect a
+sort of heroism in their manner of trading. But the European merchant will
+always find it very difficult to imitate his American competitor, who, in
+adopting the system which I have just described, follows not only a calculation
+of his gain, but an impulse of his nature.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The inhabitants of the United States are subject to all the wants and all the
+desires which result from an advanced stage of civilization; but as they are
+not surrounded by a community admirably adapted, like that of Europe, to
+satisfy their wants, they are often obliged to procure for themselves the
+various articles which education and habit have rendered necessaries. In
+America it sometimes happens that the same individual tills his field, builds
+his dwelling, contrives his tools, makes his shoes, and weaves the coarse stuff
+of which his dress is composed. This circumstance is prejudicial to the
+excellence of the work; but it powerfully contributes to awaken the
+intelligence of the workman. Nothing tends to materialize man, and to deprive
+his work of the faintest trace of mind, more than extreme division of labor. In
+a country like America, where men devoted to special occupations are rare, a
+long apprenticeship cannot be required from anyone who embraces a profession.
+The Americans, therefore, change their means of gaining a livelihood very
+readily; and they suit their occupations to the exigencies of the moment, in
+the manner most profitable to themselves. Men are to be met with who have
+successively been barristers, farmers, merchants, ministers of the gospel, and
+physicians. If the American be less perfect in each craft than the European, at
+least there is scarcely any trade with which he is utterly unacquainted. His
+capacity is more general, and the circle of his intelligence is enlarged.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The inhabitants of the United States are never fettered by the axioms of their
+profession; they escape from all the prejudices of their present station; they
+are not more attached to one line of operation than to another; they are not
+more prone to employ 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 might
+exercise upon their minds 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 which everything is in constant motion, and every movement
+seems an improvement. The idea of novelty is there indissolubly connected with
+the idea of amelioration. No natural boundary seems to be set to the efforts of
+man; and what is not yet done is only what he has not yet attempted to do.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+This perpetual change which goes on in the United States, these frequent
+vicissitudes of fortune, accompanied by such unforeseen fluctuations in private
+and in public wealth, serve to keep the minds of the citizens in a perpetual
+state of feverish agitation, which admirably invigorates their exertions, and
+keeps them in a state of excitement above the ordinary level of mankind. The
+whole life of an American is passed like a game of chance, a revolutionary
+crisis, or a battle. As the same causes are continually in operation throughout
+the country, they ultimately impart an irresistible impulse to the national
+character. The American, taken as a chance specimen of his countrymen, must
+then be a man of singular warmth in his desires, enterprising, fond of
+adventure, and, above all, of innovation. The same bent is manifest in all that
+he does; he introduces it into his political laws, his religious doctrines, his
+theories of social economy, and his domestic occupations; he bears it with him
+in the depths of the backwoods, as well as in the business of the city. It is
+this same passion, applied to maritime commerce, which makes him the cheapest
+and the quickest trader in the world.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+As long as the sailors of the United States retain these inspiriting
+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 country, but they will tend more and more to become, like the
+English, the factors of all other peoples. *k This prediction has already begun
+to be realized; we perceive that the American traders are introducing
+themselves as intermediate agents in the commerce of several European nations;
+*l and America will offer a still wider field to their enterprise.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+k <br />
+[ It must not be supposed that English vessels are exclusively employed in
+transporting foreign produce into England, or British produce to foreign
+countries; at the present day the merchant shipping of England may be regarded
+in the light of a vast system of public conveyances, ready to serve all the
+producers of the world, and to open communications between all peoples. The
+maritime genius of the Americans prompts them to enter into competition with
+the English.]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+l <br />
+[ Part of the commerce of the Mediterranean is already carried on by American
+vessels.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The great colonies which were founded in South America by the Spaniards and the
+Portuguese have since become empires. Civil war and oppression now lay waste
+those extensive regions. Population does not increase, and the thinly scattered
+inhabitants are too much absorbed in the cares of self-defense even to attempt
+any amelioration of their condition. Such, however, will not always be the
+case. Europe has succeeded by her own efforts in piercing the gloom of the
+Middle Ages; South America has the same Christian laws and Christian manners as
+we have; she contains all the germs of civilization which have grown amidst the
+nations of Europe or their offsets, added to the advantages to be derived from
+our example: why then should she always remain uncivilized? It is clear that
+the question is simply one of time; at some future period, which may be more or
+less remote, the inhabitants of South America will constitute flourishing and
+enlightened nations.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But when the Spaniards and Portuguese of South America begin to feel the wants
+common to all civilized nations, they will still be unable to satisfy those
+wants for themselves; as the youngest children of civilization, they must
+perforce admit the superiority of their elder brethren. They will be
+agriculturists long before they succeed in manufactures or commerce, and they
+will require the mediation of strangers to exchange their produce beyond seas
+for those articles for which a demand will begin to be felt.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is unquestionable that the Americans of the North will one day supply the
+wants of the Americans of the South. Nature has placed them in contiguity, and
+has furnished the former with every means of knowing and appreciating those
+demands, of establishing a permanent connection with those States, and of
+gradually filling their markets. The merchants of the United States could only
+forfeit these natural advantages if he were very inferior to the merchant of
+Europe; to whom he is, on the contrary, superior in several respects. The
+Americans of the United States already exercise a very considerable moral
+influence upon all the peoples of the New World. They are the source of
+intelligence, and all the nations which inhabit the same continent are already
+accustomed to consider them as the most enlightened, the most powerful, and the
+most wealthy members of the great American family. All eyes are therefore
+turned towards the Union; and the States of which that body is composed are the
+models which the other communities try to imitate to the best of their power;
+it is from the United States that they borrow their political principles and
+their laws.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The Americans of the United States stand in precisely the same position with
+regard to the peoples of South America as their fathers, the English, occupy
+with regard to the Italians, the Spaniards, the Portuguese, and all those
+nations of Europe which receive their articles of daily consumption from
+England, because they are less advanced in civilization 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+If the Union were to be dissolved, the commerce of the States which now compose
+it would undoubtedly be checked for a time; but this consequence would be less
+perceptible than is generally supposed. It is evident that, whatever may
+happen, the commercial States will remain united. They are all contiguous to
+each other; they have identically the same opinions, interests, and manners;
+and they are alone competent to form a very great maritime power. Even if the
+South of the Union were to become independent of the North, it would still
+require the services of those States. I have already observed that the South is
+not a commercial country, and nothing intimates that it is likely to become so.
+The Americans of the South of the United States will therefore be obliged, for
+a long time to come, to have recourse to strangers to export their produce, and
+to supply them with the commodities which are requisite to satisfy their wants.
+But the Northern States are undoubtedly able to act as their intermediate
+agents cheaper than any other merchants. They will therefore retain that
+employment, for cheapness is the sovereign law of commerce. National claims and
+national prejudices cannot resist the influence of cheapness. Nothing can be
+more virulent than the hatred which exists between the Americans of the United
+States and the English. But notwithstanding these inimical feelings, the
+Americans derive the greater part of their manufactured commodities from
+England, because England supplies them at a cheaper rate than any other nation.
+Thus the increasing prosperity of America turns, notwithstanding the grudges of
+the Americans, to the advantage of British manufactures.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Reason shows and experience proves that no commercial prosperity can be durable
+if it cannot be united, in case of need, to naval force. This truth is as well
+understood in the United States as it can be anywhere else: the Americans are
+already able to make their flag respected; in a few years they will be able to
+make it feared. I am convinced that the dismemberment of the Union would not
+have the effect of diminishing the naval power of the Americans, but that it
+would powerfully contribute to increase it. At the present time the commercial
+States are connected with others which have not the same interests, and which
+frequently yield an unwilling consent to the increase of a maritime power by
+which they are only indirectly benefited. If, on the contrary, the commercial
+States of the Union formed one independent nation, commerce would become the
+foremost of their national interests; they would consequently be willing to
+make very great sacrifices to protect their shipping, and nothing would prevent
+them from pursuing their designs upon this point.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Nations, as well as men, almost always betray the most prominent features of
+their future destiny in their earliest years. When I contemplate the ardor with
+which the Anglo-Americans prosecute commercial enterprise, the advantages which
+befriend them, and the success of their undertakings, I cannot refrain from
+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.
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div class="chapter">
+
+<h2><a name="link2H_CONC" id="link2H_CONC"></a> Conclusion</h2>
+
+<p>
+I have now nearly reached 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 the whole from one single point; the remarks I
+shall make will be less detailed, but they will be more sure. I shall perceive
+each object less distinctly, but I shall descry the principal facts with more
+certainty. A traveller who has just left the walls of an immense city, climbs
+the neighboring hill; as he goes father off he loses sight of the men whom he
+has so recently quitted; their dwellings are confused in a dense mass; he can
+no longer distinguish the public squares, and he can scarcely trace out the
+great thoroughfares; but his eye has less difficulty in following the
+boundaries of the city, and for the first time he sees the shape of the vast
+whole. Such is the future destiny of the British race in North America to my
+eye; the details of the stupendous picture are overhung with shade, but I
+conceive a clear idea of the entire subject.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+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
+confines are, it must not be supposed that the Anglo-American race will always
+remain within them; indeed, it has already far overstepped them.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There was once a time at which we also might have created a great French nation
+in the American wilds, to counterbalance the influence of the English upon the
+destinies of the New World. France formerly possessed a territory in 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 but ours; and all the
+European settlements scattered over that immense region recalled the traditions
+of our country. Louisbourg, Montmorency, Duquesne, St. Louis, Vincennes, New
+Orleans (for such were the names they bore) are words dear to France and
+familiar to our ears.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+But a concourse of circumstances, which it would be tedious to enumerate, *m
+have deprived us of this magnificent inheritance. Wherever the French settlers
+were numerically weak and partially established, they have disappeared: those
+who remain are collected on a small extent of country, and are now subject to
+other laws. The 400,000 French 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 population is increasing around them unceasingly and on all sides,
+which already penetrates amongst the ancient masters of the country,
+predominates in their cities and corrupts their language. This population is
+identical with 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
+Union, since it already extends to the northeast.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+m <br />
+[ The foremost of these circumstances is, that nations which are accustomed to
+free institutions and municipal government are better able than any others to
+found prosperous colonies. The habit of thinking and governing for oneself is
+indispensable in a new country, where success necessarily depends, in a great
+measure, upon the individual exertions of the settlers.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+To the northwest nothing is to be met with but a few insignificant Russian
+settlements; but to the southwest, Mexico presents a barrier to the
+Anglo-Americans. Thus, the Spaniards and the Anglo-Americans are, properly
+speaking, the only two races which divide the possession of the New World. The
+limits of separation between them have been settled by a treaty; but although
+the conditions of that treaty are exceedingly favorable to the Anglo-Americans,
+I do not doubt that they will shortly infringe this arrangement. Vast
+provinces, extending beyond the frontiers of the Union towards Mexico, are
+still destitute of inhabitants. The natives of the United States will forestall
+the rightful occupants of these solitary regions. They will take possession of
+the soil, and establish social institutions, so that when the legal owner
+arrives at length, he will find the wilderness under cultivation, and strangers
+quietly settled in the midst of his inheritance. *n
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+n <br />
+[ [This was speedily accomplished, and ere long both Texas and California
+formed part of the United States. The Russian settlements were acquired by
+purchase.]]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The lands of the New World belong to the first occupant, and they are the
+natural reward of the swiftest pioneer. Even the countries which are already
+peopled will have some difficulty in securing themselves from this invasion. I
+have already alluded to what is taking place in the province of Texas. The
+inhabitants of the United States are perpetually migrating to Texas, where they
+purchase land; and although they conform to the laws of the country, they are
+gradually founding the empire of their own language and their own manners. The
+province of Texas is still part of the Mexican dominions, but it will soon
+contain no Mexicans; the same thing has occurred whenever the Anglo-Americans
+have come into contact with populations of a different origin.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It cannot be denied that the British race has acquired an amazing preponderance
+over all the other European races in the New World; and that it is very
+superior to them in civilization, in industry, and in power. As long as it is
+only surrounded by desert or thinly peopled countries, as long as it encounters
+no dense populations upon 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 transgress these imaginary barriers.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The geographical position of the British race in the New World is peculiarly
+favorable to its rapid increase. Above its northern frontiers the icy regions
+of the Pole extend; and a few degrees below its southern confines lies the
+burning climate of the Equator. The Anglo-Americans are, therefore, placed in
+the most temperate and habitable zone of the continent.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It is generally supposed that the prodigious increase of population in the
+United States is posterior to their Declaration of Independence. But this is an
+error: the population increased as rapidly under the colonial system as it does
+at the present day; that is to say, it doubled in about twenty-two years. But
+this proportion which is now applied to millions, was then applied to thousands
+of inhabitants; and the same fact which was scarcely noticeable a century ago,
+is now evident to every observer.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The British subjects in Canada, who are dependent on a king, augment and spread
+almost as rapidly as the British settlers of the United States, who live under
+a republican government. 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 upon the western frontiers, the emigration westward was never checked.
+Whilst the enemy laid waste the shores of the Atlantic, Kentucky, the western
+parts of Pennsylvania, and the States of Vermont and of Maine were filling with
+inhabitants. Nor did the unsettled state of the Constitution, which succeeded
+the war, prevent the increase of the population, or stop its progress across
+the wilds. Thus, the difference of laws, the various conditions of peace and
+war, of order and of anarchy, have exercised no perceptible influence upon the
+gradual development of the Anglo-Americans. This may be readily understood; for
+the fact is, that 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.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+It must not, then, be imagined that the impulse of the British race in the New
+World can be arrested. The dismemberment of the Union, and the hostilities
+which might ensure, the abolition of republican institutions, and the
+tyrannical government which might succeed it, may retard this impulse, but they
+cannot prevent it from ultimately fulfilling the destinies to which that race
+is reserved. No power upon earth can close upon the emigrants that fertile
+wilderness which offers resources to all industry, and a refuge from all want.
+Future events, of whatever nature they may be, will not deprive the Americans
+of their climate or of their inland seas, of their great rivers or of their
+exuberant soil. Nor will bad laws, revolutions, and anarchy be able to
+obliterate that love of prosperity and that spirit of enterprise which seem to
+be the distinctive characteristics of their race, or to extinguish that
+knowledge which guides them on their way.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Thus, in the midst of the uncertain future, one event at least is sure. At a
+period which may be said to be near (for we are speaking of the life of a
+nation), the Anglo-Americans will alone cover the immense space contained
+between the polar regions and the tropics, extending from the coasts of the
+Atlantic to the shores of the Pacific Ocean. The territory which will probably
+be occupied by the Anglo-Americans at some future time, may be computed to
+equal three-quarters of Europe in extent. *o The climate of the Union is upon
+the whole preferable to that of Europe, and its natural advantages are not less
+great; it is therefore evident that its population will at some future time be
+proportionate to our own. Europe, divided as it is between so many different
+nations, and torn as it has been by incessant wars and the barbarous manners of
+the Middle Ages, has notwithstanding attained a population of 410 inhabitants
+to the square league. *p What cause can prevent the United States from having
+as numerous a population in time?
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+o <br />
+[ The United States already extend over a territory equal to one-half of
+Europe. The area of Europe is 500,000 square leagues, and its population
+205,000,000 of inhabitants. (&ldquo;Malte Brun,&rdquo; liv. 114. vol. vi. p.
+4.)
+</p>
+
+<p>
+[This computation is given in French leagues, which were in use when the author
+wrote. Twenty years later, in 1850, the superficial area of the United States
+had been extended to 3,306,865 square miles of territory, which is about the
+area of Europe.]]
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+p <br />
+[ See &ldquo;Malte Brun,&rdquo; liv. 116, vol. vi. p. 92.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+Many ages must elapse before the divers offsets of the British race in America
+cease to present the same homogeneous characteristics: and the time cannot be
+foreseen at which a permanent inequality of conditions will be established in
+the New World. Whatever differences may arise, from peace or from war, from
+freedom or oppression, from prosperity or want, between the destinies of the
+different descendants of the great Anglo-American family, they will at least
+preserve an analogous social condition, and they will hold in common the
+customs and the opinions to which that social condition has given birth.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+In the Middle Ages, the tie of religion was sufficiently powerful to imbue all
+the different populations of Europe with the same civilization. The British of
+the New World have a thousand other reciprocal ties; and they live at a time
+when the tendency to equality is general amongst mankind. The Middle Ages were
+a period when everything was broken up; when each people, each province, each
+city, and each family, had a strong tendency to maintain its distinct
+individuality. At the present time an opposite tendency seems to prevail, and
+the nations seem to be advancing to unity. Our means of intellectual
+intercourse unite the most remote parts of the earth; and it is impossible for
+men to remain strangers to each other, or to be ignorant of the events which
+are taking place in any corner of the globe. The consequence is that there is
+less difference, at the present day, between the Europeans and their
+descendants in the New World, than there was between certain towns in the
+thirteenth century which were only separated by a river. If this tendency to
+assimilation brings foreign nations closer to each other, it must a fortiori
+prevent the descendants of the same people from becoming aliens to each other.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+The time will therefore come when one hundred and fifty millions of men will be
+living in North America, *q equal in condition, the progeny of one race, owing
+their origin to the same cause, and preserving the same civilization, 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&mdash;a fact fraught with
+such portentous consequences as to baffle the efforts even of the imagination.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+q <br />
+[ This would be a population proportionate to that of Europe, taken at a mean
+rate of 410 inhabitants to the square league.]
+</p>
+
+<p>
+There are, at the present time, two great nations in the world which seem to
+tend towards the same end, although they started from different points: I
+allude to the Russians and the Americans. Both of them have grown up unnoticed;
+and whilst the attention of mankind was directed elsewhere, they have suddenly
+assumed a most prominent place amongst the nations; and the world learned their
+existence and their greatness at almost the same time.
+</p>
+
+<p>
+All other nations seem to have nearly reached their natural limits, and only to
+be charged with the maintenance of their power; but these are still in the act
+of growth; *r all the others are stopped, or continue to advance with extreme
+difficulty; these are proceeding with ease and with celerity along a path to
+which the human eye can assign no term. The American struggles against the
+natural obstacles which oppose him; the adversaries of the Russian are men; the
+former combats the wilderness and savage life; the latter, civilization with
+all its weapons and its arts: the conquests of the one are therefore gained by
+the ploughshare; those of the other by the sword. The Anglo-American relies
+upon personal interest to accomplish his ends, and gives free scope to the
+unguided exertions and common-sense of the citizens; the Russian centres all
+the authority of society in a single arm: the principal 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 to be marked out by
+the will of Heaven to sway the destinies of half the globe.
+</p>
+
+<p class="footnote">
+r <br />
+[ Russia is the country in the Old World in which population increases most
+rapidly in proportion.]
+</p>
+
+</div><!--end chapter-->
+
+<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA, VOLUME 1 ***</div>
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