vering in its plans, I reply, that
in the constitutions of all nations, of whatever kind they may be, a
certain point exists at which the legislator is obliged to have recourse
to the good sense and the virtue of his fellow-citizens. This point is
more prominent and more discoverable in republics, whilst it is more
remote and more carefully concealed in monarchies, but it always exists
somewhere. There is no country in the world in which everything can be
provided for by the laws, or in which political institutions can prove a
substitute for common sense and public morality.

Differences Between The Position Of The President Of The United States
And That Of A Constitutional King Of France

Executive power in the Northern States as limited and as partial as the
supremacy which it represents--Executive power in France as universal as
the supremacy it represents--The King a branch of the legislature--The
President the mere executor of the law--Other differences resulting from
the duration of the two powers--The President checked in the exercise
of the executive authority--The King independent in its
exercise--Notwithstanding these discrepancies France is more akin to
a republic than the Union to a monarchy--Comparison of the number of
public officers depending upon the executive power in the two countries.

The executive power has so important an influence on the destinies of
nations that I am inclined to pause for an instant at this portion of
my subject, in order more clearly to explain the part it sustains
in America. In order to form an accurate idea of the position of the
President of the United States, it may not be irrelevant to compare it
to that of one of the constitutional kings of Europe. In this comparison
I shall pay but little attention to the external signs of power, which
are more apt to deceive the eye of the observer than to guide his
researches. When a monarchy is being gradually transformed into a
republic, the executive power retains the titles, the honors, the
etiquette, and even the funds of royalty long after its authority has
disappeared. The English, after having cut off the head of one king
and expelled another from his throne, were accustomed to accost the
successor of those princes upon their knees. On the other hand, when a
republic falls under the sway of a single individual, the demeanor of
the sovereign is simple and unpretending, as if his authority was not
yet paramount. When the empero