may easily be discovered; the English and American
magistrates establish their authority in civil causes, and only transfer
it afterwards to tribunals of another kind, where that authority was
not acquired. In some cases (and they are frequently the most important
ones) the American judges have the right of deciding causes alone. *i
Upon these occasions they are accidentally placed in the position which
the French judges habitually occupy, but they are invested with far more
power than the latter; they are still surrounded by the reminiscence of
the jury, and their judgment has almost as much authority as the voice
of the community at large, represented by that institution. Their
influence extends beyond the limits of the courts; in the recreations of
private life as well as in the turmoil of public business, abroad and in
the legislative assemblies, the American judge is constantly surrounded
by men who are accustomed to regard his intelligence as superior to
their own, and after having exercised his power in the decision
of causes, he continues to influence the habits of thought and the
characters of the individuals who took a part in his judgment.

[Footnote i: The Federal judges decide upon their own authority almost
all the questions most important to the country.]

The jury, then, which seems to restrict the rights of magistracy, does
in reality consolidate its power, and in no country are the judges so
powerful as there, where the people partakes their privileges. It is
more especially by means of the jury in civil causes that the American
magistrates imbue all classes of society with the spirit of their
profession. Thus the jury, which is the most energetic means of making
the people rule, is also the most efficacious means of teaching it to
rule well.

Chapter XVII: Principal Causes Maintaining The Democratic Republic--Part I

Principal Causes Which Tend To Maintain The Democratic Republic In The
United States

A democratic republic subsists in the United States, and the principal
object of this book has been to account for the fact of its existence.
Several of the causes which contribute to maintain the institutions of
America have been involuntarily passed by or only hinted at as I was
borne along by my subject. Others I have been unable to discuss, and
those on which I have dwelt most are, as it were, buried in the details
of the former parts of this work. I think, therefore, that before I
proce