fortunately
situated than the Anglo-American Union, has adopted the same laws, but
is unable to accustom itself to the government of democracy. Some
other cause is therefore at work, independently of those physical
circumstances and peculiar laws which enable the democracy to rule in
the United States.

Another still more striking proof may be adduced. Almost all the
inhabitants of the territory of the Union are the descendants of a
common stock; they speak the same language, they worship God in the same
manner, they are affected by the same physical causes, and they obey the
same laws. Whence, then, do their characteristic differences arise?
Why, in the Eastern States of the Union, does the republican government
display vigor and regularity, and proceed with mature deliberation?
Whence does it derive the wisdom and the durability which mark its acts,
whilst in the Western States, on the contrary, society seems to be ruled
by the powers of chance? There, public business is conducted with an
irregularity and a passionate and feverish excitement, which does not
announce a long or sure duration.

I am no longer comparing the Anglo-American States to foreign nations;
but I am contrasting them with each other, and endeavoring to discover
why they are so unlike. The arguments which are derived from the nature
of the country and the difference of legislation are here all set aside.
Recourse must be had to some other cause; and what other cause can there
be except the manners of the people?

It is in the Eastern States that the Anglo-Americans have been longest
accustomed to the government of democracy, and that they have adopted
the habits and conceived the notions most favorable to its maintenance.
Democracy has gradually penetrated into their customs, their opinions,
and the forms of social intercourse; it is to be found in all the
details of daily life equally as in the laws. In the Eastern States
the instruction and practical education of the people have been most
perfected, and religion has been most thoroughly amalgamated with
liberty. Now these habits, opinions, customs, and convictions are
precisely the constituent elements of that which I have denominated
manners.

In the Western States, on the contrary, a portion of the same advantages
is still wanting. Many of the Americans of the West were born in the
woods, and they mix the ideas and the customs of savage life with the
civilization of their parents. Their pas