A democratic republic subsists in the United States, and the
principal object of this book has been to account for the fact of its
existence. Several of the causes which contribute to maintain the
institutions of America have been involuntarily passed by or only hinted
at as I was borne along by my subject. Others I have been unable to
discuss, and those on which I have dwelt most are, as it were, buried in
the details of the former parts of this work. I think, therefore, that
before I proceed to speak of the future, I cannot do better than collect
within a small compass the reasons which best explain the present. In
this retrospective chapter I shall be succinct, for I shall take care to
remind the reader very summarily of what he already knows; and I shall
only select the most prominent of those facts which I have not yet
pointed out.
All the causes which contribute to the maintenance of the
democratic republic in the United States are reducible to three
heads: -
I. The peculiar and accidental situation in which Providence
has placed the Americans.
II. The laws.
III. The manners and customs of the people.
