Status Updates From Democracy in America,

Government of the Democracy in America.
"It is...difficult for the lower classes to discern the best means of attaining [what they] desire. [M]uch acquired knowledge [is] requisite to form a just estimate...of a single individual....The ppl have neither the time nor the means for an invstgtn of this kind. Their conclsns are hastily formed.... Hence it often happens that mountebanks...are able to please the ppl...."

Political Associations in the US.
T thinks political associations (I think as granted by the freedom of assembly) are potentially threatening in that they can freely challenge the laws of the elected officials in Congress and even encourage the breaking of laws they dislike, but ultimately in a democracy they are not fatal to the government b/c they eventually inspire better representation or voting in new leaders.

Liberty of the Press in the US.

T has much to say re: a free press, stating a democracy must have it, but he also thinks thru it much b.s. gets espoused & thus it's inherently problematic. I dislike his tone but must say he's not wrong.

On p. 189 he elaborates on one of my favorite truths of human growth: order, disorder, re-order. Worth checking out.

Volume 1▶️
Introduction [by the Hon. John T. Morton]✔️

Opening Credits✔️

Parties in the US.
"...The rich have a hearty dislike of the demcrtc instttns of their country. The people form a power which they at once fear & despise. If the maladministration of the demcrcy ever brings about a revltnry crisis & monrchcl instttns ever become practicable in the US, the truth of what I advance will become obvious. The 2 chief weapons that parties use... are the newspapers & public associations."180

Parties in the United States.
"America has had great parties, but has them no longer....The nation was divided between two opinions...the one tending to limit, the other to extend indefinitely, the power of the people. The conflict between these two opinions never assumed that degree of violence in America which it has frequently displayed elsewhere. Both parties...were agreed upon the most essential points..."-p.175

The Federal Constitution.
Just finished this long-ish chapter. T is enamored of the balance of power b/w the "confederate states" and "the Union", which in his far antebellum parlance meant purely states' rights and the federal government. IMO he sees it maybe as 60:40 states:federal. We don't see it that way now; I imagine the Civil & 2nd World Wars had much to do with that. & wish I was thrilled w/ SCOTUS as T was.

The Federal Constitution.
"The love of country, which ought to check these destructive agencies, is not stronger in a large than in a small republic. Great wealth and extreme poverty, capital cities of large size, a lax morality, selfishness, and antagonism of interests are the dangers which almost invariably arise from the magnitude of states."-p.161