The Americans never use the word peasant, because they have no idea of the class which that term denotes; the ignorance of more remote ages, the simplicity of rural life, and the rusticity of the villager have not been preserved among them; and they are alike unacquainted with the virtues, the vices, the coarse habits, and the simple graces of an early stage of civilization.


Chapter XVII. - Democracy in America, Volume I (1835) - Chapter XV-IXX

Alexis de Tocqueville Quotes

The Americans never use the word peasant, because they have no idea of the class which that term denotes; the ignorance of more remote ages, the...

The Americans never use the word peasant, because they have no idea of the class which that term denotes; the ignorance of more remote ages, the...

The Americans never use the word peasant, because they have no idea of the class which that term denotes; the ignorance of more remote ages, the...

The Americans never use the word peasant, because they have no idea of the class which that term denotes; the ignorance of more remote ages, the...