In the United States each separate journal exercises but little authority, but the power of the periodical press is only second to that of the people.
*b [Footnote b: See Appendix, P.] The opinions established in the United States under the empire of the liberty of the press are frequently more firmly rooted than those which are formed elsewhere under the sanction of a censor.
In the United States the democracy perpetually raises fresh individuals to the conduct of public affairs; and the measures of the administration are consequently seldom regulated by the strict rules of consistency or of order.

But the general principles of the Government are more stable, and the opinions most prevalent in society are generally more durable than in many other countries.

When once the Americans have taken up an idea, whether it be well or ill founded, nothing is more difficult than to eradicate it from their minds.

The same tenacity of opinion has been observed in England, where, for the last century, greater freedom of conscience and more invincible prejudices have existed than in all the other countries of Europe.

I attribute this consequence to a cause which may at first sight appear to have a very opposite tendency, namely, to the liberty of the press.