Character Of
The Americans

Effects of the tyranny of the majority more sensibly felt hitherto in
the manners than in the conduct of society--They check the development
of leading characters--Democratic republics organized like the United
States bring the practice of courting favor within the reach of the
many--Proofs of this spirit in the United States--Why there is more
patriotism in the people than in those who govern in its name.

The tendencies which I have just alluded to are as yet very slightly
perceptible in political society, but they already begin to exercise an
unfavorable influence upon the national character of the Americans. I
am inclined to attribute the singular paucity of distinguished political
characters to the ever-increasing activity of the despotism of the
majority in the United States. When the American Revolution broke out
they arose in great numbers, for public opinion then served, not to
tyrannize over, but to direct the exertions of individuals. Those
celebrated men took a full part in the general agitation of mind common
at that period, and they attained a high degree of personal fame, which
was reflected back upon the nation, but which was by no means borrowed
from it.

In absolute governments the great nobles who are nearest to the throne
flatter the passions of the sovereign, and voluntarily truckle to
his caprices. But the mass of the nation does not degrade itself
by servitude: it often submits from weakness, from habit, or from
ignorance, and sometimes from loyalty. Some nations have been known to
sacrifice their own desires to those of the sovereign with pleasure and
with pride, thus exhibiting a sort of independence in the very act of
submission. These peoples are miserable, but they are not degraded.
There is a great difference between doing what one does not approve and
feigning to approve what one does; the one is the necessary case of a
weak person, the other befits the temper of a lackey.

In free countries, where everyone is more or less called upon to give
his opinion in the affairs of state; in democratic republics, where
public life is incessantly commingled with domestic affairs, where the
sovereign authority is accessible on every side, and where its attention
can almost always be attracted by vociferation, more persons are to
be met with who speculate upon its foibles and live at the cost of its
passions than in absolute monarchies. Not because men are naturally
wor