{"product_id":"2940012467331","title":"DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA VOLUME I","description":"Amongst the novel objects that attracted my attention during my stay\u003cbr\u003ein the United States, nothing struck me more forcibly than the general\u003cbr\u003eequality of conditions. I readily discovered the prodigious influence\u003cbr\u003ewhich this primary fact exercises on the whole course of society, by\u003cbr\u003egiving a certain direction to public opinion, and a certain tenor to\u003cbr\u003ethe laws; by imparting new maxims to the governing powers, and peculiar\u003cbr\u003ehabits to the governed. I speedily perceived that the influence of this\u003cbr\u003efact extends far beyond the political character and the laws of the\u003cbr\u003ecountry, and that it has no less empire over civil society than over\u003cbr\u003ethe Government; it creates opinions, engenders sentiments, suggests the\u003cbr\u003eordinary practices of life, and modifies whatever it does not produce.\u003cbr\u003eThe more I advanced in the study of American society, the more I\u003cbr\u003eperceived that the equality of conditions is the fundamental fact from\u003cbr\u003ewhich all others seem to be derived, and the central point at which all\u003cbr\u003emy observations constantly terminated.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI then turned my thoughts to our own hemisphere, where I imagined that\u003cbr\u003eI discerned something analogous to the spectacle which the New World\u003cbr\u003epresented to me. I observed that the equality of conditions is daily\u003cbr\u003eprogressing towards those extreme limits which it seems to have reached\u003cbr\u003ein the United States, and that the democracy which governs the American\u003cbr\u003ecommunities appears to be rapidly rising into power in Europe. I hence\u003cbr\u003econceived the idea of the book which is now before the reader.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIt is evident to all alike that a great democratic revolution is\u003cbr\u003egoing on amongst us; but there are two opinions as to its nature and\u003cbr\u003econsequences. To some it appears to be a novel accident, which as such\u003cbr\u003emay still be checked; to others it seems irresistible, because it is the\u003cbr\u003emost uniform, the most ancient, and the most permanent tendency which is\u003cbr\u003eto be found in history. Let us recollect the situation of France seven\u003cbr\u003ehundred years ago, when the territory was divided amongst a small number\u003cbr\u003eof families, who were the owners of the soil and the rulers of\u003cbr\u003ethe inhabitants; the right of governing descended with the family\u003cbr\u003einheritance from generation to generation; force was the only means by\u003cbr\u003ewhich man could act on man, and landed property was the sole source of\u003cbr\u003epower. Soon, however, the political power of the clergy was founded, and\u003cbr\u003ebegan to exert itself: the clergy opened its ranks to all classes, to\u003cbr\u003ethe poor and the rich, the villein and the lord; equality penetrated\u003cbr\u003einto the Government through the Church, and the being who as a serf must\u003cbr\u003ehave vegetated in perpetual bondage took his place as a priest in the\u003cbr\u003emidst of nobles, and not infrequently above the heads of kings.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThe different relations of men became more complicated and more numerous\u003cbr\u003eas society gradually became more stable and more civilized. Thence the\u003cbr\u003ewant of civil laws was felt; and the order of legal functionaries soon\u003cbr\u003erose from the obscurity of the tribunals and their dusty chambers, to\u003cbr\u003eappear at the court of the monarch, by the side of the feudal barons in\u003cbr\u003etheir ermine and their mail. Whilst the kings were ruining themselves\u003cbr\u003eby their great enterprises, and the nobles exhausting their resources\u003cbr\u003eby private wars, the lower orders were enriching themselves by commerce.\u003cbr\u003eThe influence of money began to be perceptible in State affairs. The\u003cbr\u003etransactions of business opened a new road to power, and the financier\u003cbr\u003erose to a station of political influence in which he was at once\u003cbr\u003eflattered and despised. Gradually the spread of mental acquirements, and\u003cbr\u003ethe increasing taste for literature and art, opened chances of success\u003cbr\u003eto talent; science became a means of government, intelligence led to\u003cbr\u003esocial power, and the man of letters took a part in the affairs of the\u003cbr\u003eState. The value attached to the privileges of birth decreased in the\u003cbr\u003eexact proportion in which new paths were struck out to advancement. In\u003cbr\u003ethe eleventh century nobility was beyond all price; in the thirteenth\u003cbr\u003eit might be purchased; it was conferred for the first time in 1270;\u003cbr\u003eand equality was thus introduced into the Government by the aristocracy\u003cbr\u003eitself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eIn the course of these seven hundred years it sometimes happened that in\u003cbr\u003eorder to resist the authority of the Crown, or to diminish the power of\u003cbr\u003etheir rivals, the nobles granted a certain share of political rights to\u003cbr\u003ethe people. Or, more frequently, the king permitted the lower orders\u003cbr\u003eto enjoy a degree of power, with the intention of repressing the\u003cbr\u003earistocracy. In France the kings have always been the most active and\u003cbr\u003ethe most constant of levellers.","brand":"SAP","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47081454993648,"sku":"2940012467331","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940012467331_p0.jpg?v=1763569103","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940012467331","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}