 Introductory Chapter to Democracy in America Volume 1. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Anna Simon. Democracy in America Volume 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville, translated by Henry Reeve. Introductory Chapter 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 and genders, 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 the 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 with 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 villain and the lord. Equality penetrated into the government through the church, and the being who has a serve 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 man became more complicated and more numerous as society gradually became more stable and more civilized. Hence, 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 apart 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 11th century, nobility was beyond all prize. In the 13th, 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 700 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 levelers. When they were strong and ambitious, they spared no pains to raise the people to the level of the nobles. When they were tempered 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 always caught 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 cooperated 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 death 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 laps of 700 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 firearms equalized the villain 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 college 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 adventurers in the obscure. If we examine what has happened in France at intervals of 50 years beginning with the 11th 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 routerie 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. With us however 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 alludes 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 cause 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 fingers. If the men of our time were led by a tent of 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 obscenely fix our eyes on the runes 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 odd but divisive 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 affected only in the material parts of society without that concomitance 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 its 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 faith 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 civility 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 goodwill 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 believed to be illegal and by obedience to a rule which they considered 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 labour and a rude ignorance but in the midst of this cause 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 will 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 curtsy 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 splendid 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 cooperate 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 forever 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 formally 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 witness 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 firmened 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 formally 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 afford 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 and society has not been gradually introduced or peaceably established but it has constantly advanced in the midst of a 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 with loves and to curse that cause of liberty as a foe which it might hello by its alliance by the sight 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 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 take 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 warmhearted 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 hate 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 men 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 men to leave him in an endless struggle with the intellectual miseries which surround us with existence, 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 feather 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 affected with ease and simplicity say rather that this country is one of the democratic revolution which we are undergoing without having experienced the revolution itself the emigrants who fix themselves on the shores of America in the beginning of the 17th 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 imperfect freedom and to put forth its consequences in the laws by influencing the menace of the country it appears to me beyond the 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 by the identity of the efficient cause of laws and menace 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 panagyric 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 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 who directed as well as those which they have not adopted and I have undertaken to point out the ways 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 remark on the manners of the country was concerned I endeavoured 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 the proof of what I advance but I have carefully abstained from this practice a stranger frequently hears important truths at the far side of his host which the letter 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 day takes away all fear of his indiscretion I carefully noted every conversation of this nature as soon as it occurred this will never leave my writing case I'd rather injure the success of my statements than add my name to a 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've 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 labours 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 mars 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 as 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 favour 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 busy for tomorrow I have turned my thoughts to the future End of introductory chapter Chapter 1 of Democracy in America Vol 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org Recording by Anna Simon Democracy in America Vol 1 by Alexis de Tocqueville Translated by Henry Reeve Chapter 1 Exterior Form of North America Chapter Summary North America divided into two vast regions one inclining towards the pole and the equator valley of the Mississippi traces of the revolutions of the globe shore of the Atlantic Ocean where the English colonies were founded differences 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 amid 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 a 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 may enter through it irregularly Great rivers mix their currents separate and meet again disperse and form vast marshes losing all trace of their channels 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 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 divided from one extreme to the other The Allegheny 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 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 Alleghenys 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 formally called this river the St Louis The Indians in their pompous language have named it the father of waters or the Mississippi The Mississippi takes its source above the limit of the two great regions of which I've spoken not far from the highest point of the table land where they unite Near the same spot rises another river which empties itself into the polar seas The course of the Mississippi is at first dubious It winds several times towards the north from once 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 ardualaceous bed which nature has assigned to it Sometimes swollen by storms the Mississippi waters 2,500 miles in its course At the distance of 1,364 miles from its mouth this river attains an average depth of 15 feet and it is navigated by vessels of 300 tons burden for a course of nearly 500 miles 57 large navigable rivers contribute to swell the waters of the Mississippi Amongst others the Missouri which traverses a space of 1,500 miles the Arkansas of 1,300 miles the Red River 1,000 miles four of whose course is from 800 to 1,000 miles in length vis the Illinois the St. Peter's the St. Francis and the Montgomery Besides a countless multitude of rivulets which unite from all parts the tributary streams The valley which is watered by the Mississippi seems formed to be the bed of this mighty river which, like a guard of antiquity dispenses both good and evil in its course On the shores of the stream nature displays an inexhaustible fertility In proportion as she recedes 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 of the day of the Mississippi The whole aspect of the country shows the powerful effects of water both by its fertility and by its bareness The waters of the primeval ocean accumulated enormous beds of vegetable mold in the valley which they leveled as they retired Upon the right shore of the river are seen immense plains as smoothed as if the husbandmen had passed over them with his roller As you approach the mountains 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 composed 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 The valley of the Mississippi is upon the whole the most magnificent dwelling place prepared by God for men's abode and yet it may be said that at present it is but a mighty desert On the eastern side of the Alleghenies 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 breath of this territory does not exceed 100 miles but it is about 900 miles in length This part of the American continent has a soil which offers every obstacle to the husbandmen and its vegetation is scanty and unverified 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 center 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 hitted to been hidden in the deep abyss 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 men 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 Roaves of fragrant lemon trees wild figs flowering myrtles acases and oleanders which were hung with fastoons 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 Underneath this brilliant exterior by the air of these climates had so innovating an influence that man absorbed by present enjoyment was rendered regardless of the future 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 at a sensual delight. A turbulent and foggy ocean washed its shores It was girded round by a belt of granite rocks or by white tracts of sand The foliage of its woods was dark and gloomy for they were composed of furs, larges 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 plain, the catalpa the sugar marble and the onion 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 runes 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 deaths 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 set were seen prairies of immense extent whether nature and 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 wind 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 have 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 view which bore witness of their common origin but at the same time they differed from all other known races of men They were neither white like the Europeans nor yellow, like most of the Asietics 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 were 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 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 their words 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'd 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 heart lot and of their witness which is daily contrasted with the happiness and power of some of their fellow creatures The sight 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 cause in that demeanour They practiced 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 sucker 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 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 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 the creator of the universe their notions on the great intellectual truths were in general simple and philosophical 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 were built on the west side of the Mississippi Along the banks of the Ohio and throughout the central valley they are frequently found at this day Tumuli raised by the hands of man On exploring these heaps of earth to their center 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 300 years ago when America was first discovered leave any accounts from which even a 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 this passage the most durable monument of human labour 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 labour 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 End of chapter 1 Please visit l-i-b-r-i-v-o-x dot o-r-g Recording by Jim Tiley Democracy in America Volume 1 by Alex de Tocqueville translated by Henry Reeve Chapter 2 Part 1 Chapter 2 Origin of the Anglo-Americans Part 1 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 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 mature 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 vices 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 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 research of this kind the spirit of inquiry has only come upon communities in their latter days and when that 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 16th 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 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 contain 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 sure 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 too 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 by 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 then 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 the 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 were seekers of gold adventurers without resources and character whose turbulent and restless spirit endangered the infant colony and rendered its progress uncertain the artisans and agriculturalists arrived afterwards and although they were a more moral and orderly race of men they were in no wise above the level of the inferior classes in England no lofty conceptions no intellectual system directed the foundation of these new settlements the colony was scarcely established when slavery was introduced 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 innervates 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 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 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 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 in 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 requirements the other colonies had been founded by adventurers without family the emigrants of New England fought 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 subsidence 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 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 unfrequent 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 of these pious adventurers than all we can say of them Nathaniel Morton the historian of the first years of the settlement thus opens his subject quote 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 the noble and signaled demonstrations of God's goodness vis-a-vis 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 only otherwise but so plentifully in the sacred scriptures that so what we have seen and what others have told us 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 may remember his marvelous works in the beginning and progress of the planting of New England his wonders and the judgments of his mouth 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 filled the land and not only so but also that he hath guided his people by his strength to his holy habitation and planted them in the mountains of his inheritance in respect of precious gospel and commandments 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 in the beginning of this happy enterprise end quote 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 begin quote so they left that goodly and pleasant city of laden 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 and therein quieted their spirits when they came to Delph's 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 ship and to take their leaves of them one night was spent with little sleep and rest 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 these speeches pierced each other's hearts 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 they were thus loth to depart their reverend pastor falling down on his knees and they all with him with watery cheeks commenced them 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 leaf to many of them 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 town of Plymouth the rock is still shown on which the pilgrims disembark 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 quote in the name of God amen whose names are underwritten the loyal subjects of our dread sovereign Lord King James etc. having undertaken for the glory of God and advancement of the Christian faith and the honor of our king and country a voyage to plant the first colony in the northern parts of Virginia due by these presents solemnly and mutually in the presence of God and one another covenant and combine ourselves together into a civil body politic 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 institutions 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 do submission and obedience end quote this happened in 1620 and from that time forwards the emigration went on the religious and political passions 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 the hierarchy of rank despotically claimed 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 society end of recording end of chapter 2 part 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit l-i-b-r-i-v-o-x dot o-r-g recording by Jim Tiley democracy in America volume 1 by Alex de Tocqueville translated by Henry Reeve chapter 2 part 2 chapter 2 origin of the Anglo-Americans part 1 the English government was not dissatisfied with the 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 begin parentheses and this is one of the main causes of their prosperity and parentheses 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 16th 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 this is the colonial system adopted by other countries of Europe sometimes grants of certain tracks were made by the crown to an individual or to a company in which case all the civil and political power fell into the hands of one or more persons who under the inspection and control of the crown sold the lands and governed the inhabitants lastly a third system consisted in allowing a certain number of emigrants to 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 favourable to liberty was only adopted in New England in 1628 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 the state of Connecticut and that of Rhode Island were founded without the cooperation 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 30 or 40 years afterwards under Charles II that their existence was legally recognized by a royal charter this frequently renders 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 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 amongst these documents we shall notice as especially characteristic the code of laws promulgated by the little state of Connecticut in 1650 the legislators of Connecticut begin with the penal laws and, strange to say they borrow their provisions from the text of holy writ quote whosoever shall worship any other God than the Lord end quote says the preamble of the code quote shall surely be put to death end quote 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 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 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 on the misdemeanance 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 the date 1st 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 the code of 1650 abounds in preventive measures it punishes idleness and drunkenness with severity in keepers are forbidden to furnish more than a certain quantity of liquor to each consumer and simple lying whenever it may be injurious is checked by a fine or a flogging in other places the legislator forgetting the great principles of religious toleration which he had himself upheld in Europe renders attendance on divine service compulsory 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 sometimes 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 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 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 200 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 17th 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 when we recollect that this people enjoyed an almost perfect equality of fortune and a still greater uniformity of opinions in Connecticut at this period all the executive functionaries were elected including the governor of the state the citizens above the age of 16 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 defense of the country in the laws of Connecticut as well in all of 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 by 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 existed 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 raided themselves and levied their own taxes 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 marketplace by a general assembly of the citizens in studying the laws which were promulgated in the first era of the American republics it is impossible not to be struck by the remarkable acquaintance with which 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 strict measures were taken for the maintenance of roads and surveyors were appointed to attend to them registers were established in every parish in which the results of public deliberations and the births and marriages of the citizens were entered clerks were directed to keep these registers 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 the law enters into a thousand useful provisions for a number of social wants which are at present very inadequately felt in France 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 quote it being end quote says the law quote 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 end quote 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 populist 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 if after having cast a rapid glance over the state of American society in 1650 we turn to the condition of Europe and more specially 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 17th 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 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 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 quote 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 quote sumus omnis deterioris end quote quote 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 an 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 end quote the remarks I have made will suffice to display the character of Anglo-American civilization in its true light it is the result begin parentheses this should be constantly present to the mind of two distinct elements in parentheses 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 which they devoted themselves to heaven political principles and all human laws and institutions were molded 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 open 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 curtains 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 contended 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 ought beside its native strength religion is no less the companion of liberty in all its battles and 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 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? the 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 many 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 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 the 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 as well so that all the penalties of the law are, for him reducible to fines nothing can be more aristocratic than this system of legislation yet in America it is the poor who make the law and they usually reserve the greatest social advantages to themselves the explanation of the phenomenon is to be found in England the laws of which I speak are English 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 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 end of chapter 2 part 2