condary affairs of society have never been regulated
by its authority, and nothing has hitherto betrayed its desire of
interfering in them. The majority is become more and more absolute, but
it has not increased the prerogatives of the central government; those
great prerogatives have been confined to a certain sphere; and although
the despotism of the majority may be galling upon one point, it cannot
be said to extend to all. However the predominant party in the nation
may be carried away by its passions, however ardent it may be in the
pursuit of its projects, it cannot oblige all the citizens to comply
with its desires in the same manner and at the same time throughout the
country. When the central Government which represents that majority has
issued a decree, it must entrust the execution of its will to agents,
over whom it frequently has no control, and whom it cannot perpetually
direct. The townships, municipal bodies, and counties may therefore be
looked upon as concealed break-waters, which check or part the tide of
popular excitement. If an oppressive law were passed, the liberties of
the people would still be protected by the means by which that law would
be put in execution: the majority cannot descend to the details and (as
I will venture to style them) the puerilities of administrative tyranny.
Nor does the people entertain that full consciousness of its authority
which would prompt it to interfere in these matters; it knows the
extent of its natural powers, but it is unacquainted with the increased
resources which the art of government might furnish.

This point deserves attention, for if a democratic republic similar to
that of the United States were ever founded in a country where the power
of a single individual had previously subsisted, and the effects of a
centralized administration had sunk deep into the habits and the laws
of the people, I do not hesitate to assert, that in that country a more
insufferable despotism would prevail than any which now exists in the
monarchical States of Europe, or indeed than any which could be found on
this side of the confines of Asia.

The Profession Of The Law In The United States Serves To Counterpoise
The Democracy

Utility of discriminating the natural propensities of the members of
the legal profession--These men called upon to act a prominent part in
future society--In what manner the peculiar pursuits of lawyers give an
aristocratic turn to their ideas--Acc