power and the checks to its abuses—in indiscriminate
hatred, and its tendency was at once to overthrow and
to centralize. This double character of the French
Revolution is a fact which has been adroitly handled
by the friends of absolute power. Can they be
accused of laboring in the cause of despotism when
they are defending that central administration which
was one of the great innovations of the Revolution?
v In this manner popularity may be conciliated
with hostility to the rights of the people, and the
secret slave of tyranny may be the professed admirer
of freedom.
[Footnote v: See Appendix K.]
I have visited the two nations in which the system
of provincial liberty has been most perfectly established,
and I have listened to the opinions of different parties
in those countries. In America I met with men
who secretly aspired to destroy the democratic institutions
of the Union; in England I found others who attacked
the aristocracy openly, but I know of no one who does
not regard provincial independence as a great benefit.
In both countries I have heard a thousand different
causes assigned for the evils of the State, but the
local system was never mentioned amongst them.
I have heard citizens attribute the power and prosperity
of their country to a multitude of reasons, but they
all placed the advantages of local institutions in
the foremost rank. Am I to suppose that when
men who are naturally so divided on religious opinions
and on political theories agree on one point (and that
one of which they have daily experience), they are
all in error? The only nations which deny the
utility of provincial liberties are those which have
fewest of them; in other words, those who are unacquainted
with the institution are the only persons who pass
a censure upon it.
Chapter VI: Judicial Power In The United States
Chapter Summary
The Anglo-Americans have retained the characteristics
of judicial power which are common to all nations—They
have, however, made it a powerful political organ—How—In
what the judicial system of the Anglo-Americans differs
from that of all other nations—Why the American
judges have the right of declaring the laws to be
unconstitutional—How they use this right—Precautions
taken by the legislator to prevent its abuse.
Judicial Power In The United States And Its Influence
On Political Society.
I have thought it essential to devote a separate chapter
to the judicial authorities of the United States,
lest their great political importance should be lessened
in the reader’s eyes by a merely incidental mention
of them. Confederations have existed in other
countries beside America, and republics have not been
established upon the shores of the New World alone;
the representative system of government has been adopted
in several States of Europe, but I am not aware that
any nation of the globe has hitherto organized a judicial
Copyrights
Democracy in America — Volume 1 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.
