I questioned the faithful of all communions; I particularly sought the society of clergymen, who are the depositories of the various creeds and have a personal interest in their survival ... all thought the main reason for the quiet sway of religion over their country was the complete separation of church and state. I have no hesitation in stating that throughout my stay in America I met nobody, lay or cleric, who did not agree about that.
Alexis de TocquevilleReligion, which never intervenes directly in the government of American society, should therefore be considered as the first of their political institutions
Alexis de TocquevilleTown meetings are to liberty what primary schools are to science; they bring it within the people's reach.
Alexis de TocquevilleA French observer is surprised to hear how often an English or an American lawyer quotes the opinions of others, and how little he alludes to his own; ... This abnegation of his own opinion, and this implicit deference to the opinion of his forefathers, which are common to the English and American lawyer, this servitude of thought which he is obliged to profess, necessarily give him more timid habits and more conservative inclinations in England and America than in France.
Alexis de Tocqueville