Intellectual origins of American democracy

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De Tocqueville's Remarks about Lieber

"22 Sept. 1831. Mr. Lieber ... said to me this evening, "We Europeans, we think to create republics by organizing a great political assembly. The Republic, on the contrary, is of all the governments the one that depends most on every part of society. Look at this country! The Republic is everywhere, in the streets as in Congress. If an obstacle embarrasses the public way, the neighbors will at once constitute themselves a deliberative body; they will name a commission and will remedy the evil by their collective force, wisely directioned. Does a public ceremony, a banquet, take place, you will likewise see a gathering, a deliberation, and an executive authority arising therefrom. The concept of an authority preceding that of the parties interested does not exist in any one's head. The people has the Republic to the marrow of the bones."

More about Francis Lieber