rs of that country. *l Most Europeans are only acquainted with
the first of these three causes, and they are apt to give it a
preponderating importance which it does not really possess.

[Footnote l: I remind the reader of the general signification which
I give to the word "manners," namely, the moral and intellectual
characteristics of social man taken collectively.]

It is true that the Anglo-Saxons settled in the New World in a state of
social equality; the low-born and the noble were not to be found amongst
them; and professional prejudices were always as entirely unknown as the
prejudices of birth. Thus, as the condition of society was democratic,
the empire of democracy was established without difficulty. But this
circumstance is by no means peculiar to the United States; almost
all the trans-Atlantic colonies were founded by men equal amongst
themselves, or who became so by inhabiting them. In no one part of
the New World have Europeans been able to create an aristocracy.
Nevertheless, democratic institutions prosper nowhere but in the United
States.

The American Union has no enemies to contend with; it stands in the
wilds like an island in the ocean. But the Spaniards of South America
were no less isolated by nature; yet their position has not relieved
them from the charge of standing armies. They make war upon each other
when they have no foreign enemies to oppose; and the Anglo-American
democracy is the only one which has hitherto been able to maintain
itself in peace. *m

[Footnote m: [A remark which, since the great Civil War of 1861-65,
ceases to be applicable.]]

The territory of the Union presents a boundless field to human activity,
and inexhaustible materials for industry and labor. The passion of
wealth takes the place of ambition, and the warmth of faction is
mitigated by a sense of prosperity. But in what portion of the globe
shall we meet with more fertile plains, with mightier rivers, or with
more unexplored and inexhaustible riches than in South America?

Nevertheless, South America has been unable to maintain democratic
institutions. If the welfare of nations depended on their being placed
in a remote position, with an unbounded space of habitable territory
before them, the Spaniards of South America would have no reason to
complain of their fate. And although they might enjoy less prosperity
than the inhabitants of the United States, their lot might still be such
as to excite the envy of