Mellon Gothic

Among the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of condition among the people. I readily discovered the prodigious influence that this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society; it gives a peculiar direction to public opinion, and a peculiar tenor to the laws; it imparts new maxims to the governing authorities, and peculiar habits to the governed.

I soon perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over the government; it creates opinions, gives birth to new sentiments, founds novel customs, and modifies whatever it does not produce. The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that this equality of condition is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated.

I then turned my thoughts to the Old World, and thought that I discerned there something analogous to the spectacle which the New had presented to me. I observed that among the nations of Europe the democratic movement had made rapid advances during the last seven hundred years. In this progress nobility had been prostrated, and kings brought low; whilst the middle and lower classes were rising. In examining what had taken place in France every fifty years, beginning with the eleventh century, I found that a twofold revolution had there taken place in the state of society. The noble had gone down on the social ladder, and the commoner had gone up; the one descends as the other rises. Every half century brought them nearer together, and they were soon to meet.

Nor is this peculiar to France. Whithersoever we turn our eyes we shall witness the same continual revolution throughout the whole of Christendom. The various occurrences of national existence have everywhere turned to the advantage of democracy; all men have aided it by their exertions: those who have intentionally labored in its cause, and those who have served it unwittingly; those who have fought for it and those who have declared themselves its opponents have all been driven along in the same direction, have all labored to one end, some ignorantly and some unwillingly; all have been blind instruments in the hands of God.

The gradual development of the equality of conditions is therefore a providential fact, and it possesses all the characteristics of a divine decree: it is universal, it is durable, it constantly eludes all human interference, and all events as well as all men contribute to its progress. Would it, then, be wise to imagine that a social movement, the causes of which lie so far back, can be checked by the efforts of a generation? Is it credible that the democracy which has annihilated the feudal system, and vanquished kings, will respect the citizen and the merchant? Will it stop now that it has grown so strong and its adversaries so weak?

Excerpt from "Democracy in America" — Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835

Among the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of condition among the people. I readily discovered the prodigious influence that this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society; it gives a peculiar direction to public opinion, and a peculiar tenor to the laws; it imparts new maxims to the governing authorities, and peculiar habits to the governed.

I soon perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over the government; it creates opinions, gives birth to new sentiments, founds novel customs, and modifies whatever it does not produce. The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that this equality of condition is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated.

I then turned my thoughts to the Old World, and thought that I discerned there something analogous to the spectacle which the New had presented to me. I observed that among the nations of Europe the democratic movement had made rapid advances during the last seven hundred years. In this progress nobility had been prostrated, and kings brought low; whilst the middle and lower classes were rising. In examining what had taken place in France every fifty years, beginning with the eleventh century, I found that a twofold revolution had there taken place in the state of society. The noble had gone down on the social ladder, and the commoner had gone up; the one descends as the other rises. Every half century brought them nearer together, and they were soon to meet.

Nor is this peculiar to France. Whithersoever we turn our eyes we shall witness the same continual revolution throughout the whole of Christendom. The various occurrences of national existence have everywhere turned to the advantage of democracy; all men have aided it by their exertions: those who have intentionally labored in its cause, and those who have served it unwittingly; those who have fought for it and those who have declared themselves its opponents have all been driven along in the same direction, have all labored to one end, some ignorantly and some unwillingly; all have been blind instruments in the hands of God.

The gradual development of the equality of conditions is therefore a providential fact, and it possesses all the characteristics of a divine decree: it is universal, it is durable, it constantly eludes all human interference, and all events as well as all men contribute to its progress. Would it, then, be wise to imagine that a social movement, the causes of which lie so far back, can be checked by the efforts of a generation? Is it credible that the democracy which has annihilated the feudal system, and vanquished kings, will respect the citizen and the merchant? Will it stop now that it has grown so strong and its adversaries so weak?

Excerpt from "Democracy in America" — Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835

Among the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay in the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general equality of condition among the people. I readily discovered the prodigious influence that this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society; it gives a peculiar direction to public opinion, and a peculiar tenor to the laws; it imparts new maxims to the governing authorities, and peculiar habits to the governed.

I soon perceived that the influence of this fact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the country, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over the government; it creates opinions, gives birth to new sentiments, founds novel customs, and modifies whatever it does not produce. The more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I perceived that this equality of condition is the fundamental fact from which all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all my observations constantly terminated.

I then turned my thoughts to the Old World, and thought that I discerned there something analogous to the spectacle which the New had presented to me. I observed that among the nations of Europe the democratic movement had made rapid advances during the last seven hundred years. In this progress nobility had been prostrated, and kings brought low; whilst the middle and lower classes were rising. In examining what had taken place in France every fifty years, beginning with the eleventh century, I found that a twofold revolution had there taken place in the state of society. The noble had gone down on the social ladder, and the commoner had gone up; the one descends as the other rises. Every half century brought them nearer together, and they were soon to meet.

Nor is this peculiar to France. Whithersoever we turn our eyes we shall witness the same continual revolution throughout the whole of Christendom. The various occurrences of national existence have everywhere turned to the advantage of democracy; all men have aided it by their exertions: those who have intentionally labored in its cause, and those who have served it unwittingly; those who have fought for it and those who have declared themselves its opponents have all been driven along in the same direction, have all labored to one end, some ignorantly and some unwillingly; all have been blind instruments in the hands of God.

The gradual development of the equality of conditions is therefore a providential fact, and it possesses all the characteristics of a divine decree: it is universal, it is durable, it constantly eludes all human interference, and all events as well as all men contribute to its progress. Would it, then, be wise to imagine that a social movement, the causes of which lie so far back, can be checked by the efforts of a generation? Is it credible that the democracy which has annihilated the feudal system, and vanquished kings, will respect the citizen and the merchant? Will it stop now that it has grown so strong and its adversaries so weak?

Excerpt from "Democracy in America" — Alexis de Tocqueville, 1835