nd the only branch of it which is attended to is such as
admits of an immediate practical application. In America most of the
rich men were formerly poor; most of those who now enjoy leisure were
absorbed in business during their youth; the consequence of which is,
that when they might have had a taste for study they had no time for it,
and when time is at their disposal they have no longer the inclination.

There is no class, then, in America, in which the taste for intellectual
pleasures is transmitted with hereditary fortune and leisure, and by
which the labors of the intellect are held in honor. Accordingly there
is an equal want of the desire and the power of application to these
objects.

A middle standard is fixed in America for human knowledge. All approach
as near to it as they can; some as they rise, others as they descend.
Of course, an immense multitude of persons are to be found who entertain
the same number of ideas on religion, history, science, political
economy, legislation, and government. The gifts of intellect proceed
directly from God, and man cannot prevent their unequal distribution.
But in consequence of the state of things which we have here represented
it happens that, although the capacities of men are widely different, as
the Creator has doubtless intended they should be, they are submitted to
the same method of treatment.

In America the aristocratic element has always been feeble from its
birth; and if at the present day it is not actually destroyed, it is at
any rate so completely disabled that we can scarcely assign to it any
degree of influence in the course of affairs. The democratic principle,
on the contrary, has gained so much strength by time, by events, and by
legislation, as to have become not only predominant but all-powerful.
There is no family or corporate authority, and it is rare to find even
the influence of individual character enjoy any durability.

America, then, exhibits in her social state a most extraordinary
phenomenon. Men are there seen on a greater equality in point of fortune
and intellect, or, in other words, more equal in their strength, than
in any other country of the world, or in any age of which history has
preserved the remembrance.

Political Consequences Of The Social Condition Of The Anglo-Americans

The political consequences of such a social condition as this are easily
deducible. It is impossible to believe that equality will not eventually
find