I soon perceived
that the influence
of this fact
extends far
beyond the political character
and the laws
of the country,
and that it
has no less effect
on civil society
than on the government;
it creates opinions,
gives birth to new sentiments,
founds novel customs,
and modifies
whatever it does not produce.
The more I
advanced in the study
of American society,
the more I perceived
that this equality of condition
is the fundamental fact from
which all others seem
to be
derived and the central point
at which all my
observations
constantly terminated.