Page:Democracy in America (Reeve, v. 1).djvu/111

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

63

From the same social position, then, nations may derive one or the other of two great political results; these results are extremely different from each other, but they may both proceed from the same cause.

The Anglo-Americans are the first nations who, having been exposed to this formidable alternative, have been happy enough to escape the dominion of absolute power. They have been allowed by their circumstances, their origin, their intelligence, and especially by their moral feeling, to establish and maintain the sovereignty of the people.