Democracy in America
From Conservapedia
Democracy in America is a 305,000-word, two-volume brilliant analysis of life in the United States by the Frenchman Alexis de Toqueville, originally published in French but then quickly published in London in 1835. It is based on his extensive travels throughout America in the first part of the 19th century.
Harvard Professor Harvey Mansfield wrote in his preface to his widely acclaimed translation (with Delba Winthrop) of Democracy in America that it "is both the best ever written on democracy and the best ever written on America."[1] It is also the most-quoted book ever written about the United States.
The original English translation is in the public domain and freely available today.[2]
Typical excerpts from this work explain:
| “ | The Americans never use the word “peasant,” because they have no idea of the peculiar class which that term denotes; ... 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.[2] | ” |
| “ | 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.[2] | ” |
