American Institutions and Their Influence

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About this book

American Institutions and Their Influence, by Alexis de Tocqueville, includes notes credited to John C. Spencer. The text describes virtuous and peaceful people whose morality, habits, affluence and talents fit them to lead, but who associate novelty with evil. The text also describes a party seeking expediency without justice, knowledge without faith, and prosperity apart from virtue.

The discussion of Washington quotes a warning that habitual hatred or fondness toward another nation makes a nation, in some degree, a slave. The account presents neutrality regarding internal dissensions as a fundamental doctrine of American interest. A note limits the expression Anglo-Americans to the great majority of the nation and acknowledges isolated individuals with very different opinions.

About the author

Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis de Tocqueville (1805-1859) was a French aristocrat and magistrate who spent nine months touring the United States with his friend Gustave de Beaumont, officially to report on its penitentiary system. He later sat in the Chamber of Deputies and served briefly as foreign minister of the Second Republic in 1849.