U. Appendix U
Setting aside all those who do not think at all, and those
who dare not say what they think, the immense majority of the
Americans will still be found to appear satisfied with the
political institutions by which they are governed; and, I
believe, really to be so. I look upon this state of public
opinion as an indication, but not as a demonstration, of the
absolute excellence of American laws. The pride of a nation, the
gratification of certain ruling passions by the law, a concourse
of circumstances, defects which escape notice, and more than all
the rest, the influence of a majority which shuts the mouth of
all cavillers, may long perpetuate the delusions of a people as
well as those of a man. Look at England throughout the
eighteenth century. No nation was ever more prodigal of
self-applause, no people was ever more self-satisfied; then
every part of its constitution was right -everything, even to
its most obvious defects, was irreproachable: at the present day
a vast number of Englishmen seem to have nothing better to do
than to prove that this constitution was faulty in many respects.
Which was right? -the English people of the last century, or the
English people of the present day?
The same thing has occurred in France. It is certain that
during the reign of Louis XIV the great bulk of the nation was
devotedly attached to the form of government which, at that time,
governed the community. But it is a vast error to suppose that
there was anything degraded in the character of the French of
that age. There might be some sort of servitude in France at
that time, but assuredly there was no servile spirit among the
people. The writers of that age felt a species of genuine
enthusiasm in extolling the power of their king; and there was no
peasant so obscure in his hovel as not to take a pride in the
glory of his sovereign, and to die cheerfully with the cry "Vive
le Roi!" upon his lips. These very same forms of loyalty are now
odious to the French people. Which are wrong? -the French of
the age of Louis XIV, or their descendants of the present day?
Our judgment of the laws of a people must not then be founded
Future Condition Of Three Races In The United States exclusively
upon its inclinations, since those inclinations change from age
to age; but upon more elevated principles and a more general
experience. The love which a people may show for its law proves
only this: -that we should not be in too great a hurry to change
them.