I am obliged to confess that I do not regard the abolition of slavery as a means of warding off the struggle of the two races in the Southern states. The Negroes may long remain slaves without complaining; but if they are once raised to the level of freemen, they will soon revolt at being deprived of almost all their civil rights; and as they cannot become the equals of the whites, they will speedily show themselves as enemies.
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 TocquevilleI know without needing to hear the voice of the Creator that the stars trace out in space the orbits which His hand has drawn.
Alexis de TocquevilleNo state of society or laws can render men so much alike but that education, fortune, and tastes will interpose some differences between them; and though different men may sometimes find it their interest to combine for the same purposes, they will never make it their pleasure.
Alexis de TocquevilleThe taste for well-being is the prominent and indelible feature of democratic times.
Alexis de TocquevilleThe Union was formed by the voluntary agreement of the States; and these, in uniting together, have not forfeited their Nationality, nor have they been reduced to the condition of one and the same people. If one of the States chose to withdraw its name from the contract, it would be difficult to disprove its right of doing so.
Alexis de Tocqueville