Maggie's Farm

"Scarcely have you descended on the soil of America, when you find yourself in the midst of a sort of tumult: a confused clamor is raised on all sides; a thousand voices come to your ear at the same time, each on of them expressing some sort of social need. Around you everything moves here, the people of one neighborhood have gathered to learn if a church ought to be built; there they are working on a choice of a representative; farther on, the deputies of a district are going to town in all haste in order to decide about some local improvements; in another place, the farmers of a village abandon their furrows to go discuss the plan of a road or a school."

"Citizens assemble with the sole goal of declaring that they disaprove of the course of government. To meddle in the government of society and to speak about it is the greatest business and, so to speak, the only pleasure an American knows..An American does not know how to converse, but he discusses; he does not discourse, but he holds forth. He always speaks to you as to an assembly."

From Democracy in America, 1844