They were also the first large body of Americans who were genuinely democratic in feeling.
Consequently they imparted a certain emotional consistency to the American democracy, and they thereby performed a social service which was in its way quite as valuable as their political service.

Democracy has always been stronger as a political than it has as a social force.
When adopted as a political ideal of the American people, it was very far from possessing any effective social vitality; and until the present day it has been a much more active force in political than in social life.

But whatever traditional social force it has obtained, can be traced directly to the Western pioneer Democrat.

His democracy was based on genuine good-fellowship.

Unlike the French Fraternity, it was the product neither of abstract theories nor of a disembodied humanitarianism.