Page:Democracy in America (Reeve, v. 1).djvu/94

 Religion is no less the companion of liberty in all its battles and its triumphs; the cradle of its infancy, and the divine source of its claims. The safeguard of morality is religion, and morality is the best security of law, and the surest pledge of freedom .)

Remains of aristocratic institutions in the midst of a complete democracy.—Why?—Distinction carefully to be drawn between what is of Puritanical and what is of English origin.

reader is cautioned not to draw too general or too absolute an inference from what has been said. The social condition, the religion, and the manners of the first emigrants undoubtedly exercised an immense influence on the destiny of their new country. Nevertheless they were not in a situation to found a state of things solely dependent on themselves: no man can entirely shake off the influence of the past; and the settlers, intentionally or involuntarily, mingled habits and notions derived from their education and from the traditions of their country, with those habits and notions which were exclusively their own. To form a judgement on the Anglo-Americans of the present day, it is therefore necessary to distinguish what is of Puritanical and what is of English origin.

Laws and customs are frequently to be met with in