The more consciously democratic Americans became, however, the less they were satisfied with a conception of the Promised Land, which went no farther than a pervasive economic prosperity guaranteed by free institutions.

The moral and social aspiration proper to American life is, of course, the aspiration vaguely described by the word democratic; and the actual achievement of the American nation points towards an adequate and fruitful definition of the democratic ideal.

American history contains much matter for pride and congratulation, and much matter for regret and humiliation.

Women ... are completely alone, though they were born and bred upon this soil, as if they belonged to another class in creation.

Democracy may mean something more than a theoretically absolute popular government, but it assuredly cannot mean anything less.

The higher American patriotism, on the other hand, combines loyalty to historical tradition and precedent with the imaginative projection of an ideal national Promise.

Had it not been for the Atlantic Ocean and the virgin wilderness, the United States would never have been the Land of Promise.