Democracy in America Wendell Garrett on Alexis DeTocqueville

Alexis DeTocqueville's Democracy in America (1835). From the lecture entitled, The Legacy of Classic American Design by Mr. Wendell Garrett.

"We're not very good at interpreting what American history is about. American culture; because I think we're so close to it. But it's been critics, foreign travelers, some who came to criticize, others to compliment, who have taught us best as they've seen us with fresh eyes. And one of the best was Alexis DeTocqueville. He came in the 1830's to study America for the French and went home to write one of the most perceptive books ever written about America. It was called Democracy in America... and in that book he said this about us, he said 'In America, I sought the image of democracy itself, with its inclinations, its passions, in order to learn what we the French have to hope or fear from its progress. Then he added, the question here discussed is interesting not only to the United States but the whole world. It concerns not a nation, but all mankind."

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Alexis
• DeTocqueville
• Democracy
• in
• America
• Wendell
• Garrett
• Lecture
• 911
• Truth
• Memorial
• Tribute
• Liberty
• Freedom
• Civil
• RIghts
• Nation
• Republic