elds, in order that,
with the proceeds of our toil, they may support their pomp and luxury.
And if we do not perform our services, or if they unjustly think that
we do not, we are beaten, and there is no one to whom we can complain
or look for justice."

There is obviously some truth and some extravagance in these
complaints. Men deprived of their rights, as these poor English serfs
were, and goaded by the oppressions which they suffered almost to
despair, will, of course, be extravagant in their complaints. None but
those totally ignorant of human nature would expect men to be
moderate and reasonable when in such a condition, and in such a state
of mind.

The truth is, that there always has been, and there always will
necessarily be, a great inequality in the conditions, and a great
difference in the employments of men; but this fact awakens no
dissatisfaction or discontent when those who have the lower stations
of life to fill are treated as they ought to be treated. If they enjoy
personal liberty, and are paid the fair wages which they earn by their
labor, and are treated with kindness and consideration by those whose
duties are of a higher and more intellectual character, and whose
position in life is superior to theirs, they are, almost without
exception, satisfied and happy. It is only when they are urged and
driven hard and long by unfeeling oppression that they are ever
aroused to rebellion against the order of the social state; and then,
as might be expected, they go to extremes, and, if they get the power
into their hands, they sweep every thing away, and overwhelm
themselves and their superiors in one common destruction.

Young persons sometimes imagine that the American doctrine of the
equality of man refers to equality of condition; and even grown
persons, who ought to think more clearly and be more reasonable,
sometimes refer to the distinctions of rich and poor in this country
as falsifying our political theories. But the truth is, that, in our
political theory of equality, it is not at all equality of condition,
but equality of _rights_, that is claimed for man. All men--the
doctrine is simply--have an equal right to life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness. Even when all are in the full enjoyment of their
rights, different men will, of course, attain to very different
degrees of advancement in the objects of their desire. Some will be
rich and some will be poor; some will be servants and some mas