erica half a century before. In the United States, on
the other hand, conservatives like Chancellor Kent, the stout opponent
of manhood suffrage in New York, cited the riots of the British working
classes as a warning against admitting the same classes to a share in
the government of the United States. Along with the agitation of opinion
went epoch-making events. In 1832, the year of Jackson's second
triumph, the British Parliament passed its first reform bill, which
conferred the ballot--not on workingmen as yet--but on mill owners and
shopkeepers whom the landlords regarded with genuine horror. The initial
step was thus taken in breaking down the privileges of the landed
aristocracy and the rich merchants of England.

About the same time a popular revolution occurred in France. The Bourbon
family, restored to the throne of France by the allied powers after
their victory over Napoleon in 1815, had embarked upon a policy of
arbitrary government. To use the familiar phrase, they had learned
nothing and forgotten nothing. Charles X, who came to the throne in
1824, set to work with zeal to undo the results of the French
Revolution, to stifle the press, restrict the suffrage, and restore the
clergy and the nobility to their ancient rights. His policy encountered
equally zealous opposition and in 1830 he was overthrown. The popular
party, under the leadership of Lafayette, established, not a republic as
some of the radicals had hoped, but a "liberal" middle-class monarchy
under Louis Philippe. This second French Revolution made a profound
impression on Americans, convincing them that the whole world was moving
toward democracy. The mayor, aldermen, and citizens of New York City
joined in a great parade to celebrate the fall of the Bourbons. Mingled
with cheers for the new order in France were hurrahs for "the people's
own, Andrew Jackson, the Hero of New Orleans and President of the United
States!"

=European Interest in America.=--To the older and more settled
Europeans, the democratic experiment in America was either a menace or
an inspiration. Conservatives viewed it with anxiety; liberals with
optimism. Far-sighted leaders could see that the tide of democracy was
rising all over the world and could not be stayed. Naturally the country
that had advanced furthest along the new course was the place in which
to find arguments for and against proposals that Europe should make
experiments of the same character.

=De Tocquev