There is indeed a secret tendency in democratic institutions to render the exertions of the citizens subservient to the prosperity of the community, notwithstanding their private vices and mistakes; whilst in aristocratic institutions there is a secret propensity which, notwithstanding the talents and the virtues of those who conduct the government, leads them to contribute to the evils which oppress their fellow-creatures.

In aristocratic governments public men may frequently do injuries which they do not intend, and in democratic states they produce advantages which they never thought of.
Public Spirit In The United States Patriotism of instinct--Patriotism of reflection--Their different characteristics--Nations ought to strive to acquire the second when the first has disappeared--Efforts of the Americans to it--Interest of the individual intimately connected with that of the country.
There is one sort of patriotic attachment which principally arises from that instinctive, disinterested, and undefinable feeling which connects the affections of man with his birthplace.

This natural fondness is united to a taste for ancient customs, and to a reverence for ancestral traditions of the past; those who cherish it love their country as they love the mansions of their fathers.

They enjoy the tranquillity which it affords them; they cling to the peaceful habits which they have contracted within its bosom; they are attached to the reminiscences which it awakens, and they are even pleased by the state of obedience in which they are placed.

This patriotism is sometimes stimulated by religious enthusiasm, and then it is capable of making the most prodigious efforts.