1. Jose M Cantera
History 141
Arguello
5/11/2009

2.  Society in the United States is an effect of circumstances and laws that exist
within the land, also combination.
 One essential feature that distinguishes culture in America is its democracy.
 Its origins were born from the absence of aristocracy.
 Instead democracy was born from aristocratic thinking and individual
proprietor of land.
 During the American Revolution was when democracy was heavily influenced
into the minds of the people.
 The people of New England were forced to come up with a government
system once they won independence and became independent as the United
States.
 Several laws were created such as the law of inheritance. Once a land owner
died their children would debate on who would receive what.
 It was mentality like this that gave people pride in their land and a sense of
individualism as a society.
 This also gives rise to the mentality that a person is to focus on obtaining what
benefits him at the present time.
 People are also inclined to cooperate with the law to keep what they possess
intact.

3.  A country as large and diverse as the United states is bound to have
conflicting ideas between its people.
 However, they all still follow the same form of government.
 People with opposite ideas produce different political parties.
 It is during times of argument that ideas are settled a time of prosperity
follows.
 During a time of settlement is when people believe that their social and
government structures have reached an end and do not require
remodeling.
 People fail to look into the future and prepare for further debates.
 It is ongoing debates that arise through time that keep the different
political parties alive.
 Rival parties are composed of different principles to solve the same
obstacle.
 Large parties are created by their extensive involvement in politics and
acceptance by the people their ideals govern.
 Small parties remain small because the majority of the population don’t
accept or understand their ideals they want to put forward.
 Smaller parties are even seen as corrupting rather than helpful because
they strain away from popular opinion.

4.  According to De Tocqueville the United States has no interest in
philosophy.
 Instead Americans have a different philosophic method in which the
people follow certain ideals and keep their minds set to similar goals.
 Americans do not like to think as their behavior as systematic. Instead
they tend to follow facts and information.
 By this method Americans change their behavior based on facts that will
make them live better.
 This philosophic method is based on an individual pursuing their own
advancement in society.
 Different people with different interest are in charge of different task in
the community.
 People independently control their lives in different aspects and control
their own judgments.
 This leads to habits in their daily lives.
 An American’s philosophy is that a person will control something
individually while someone else controls something else.
 In this sense society functions based on the idea that everyone
cooperates towards the system that has risen.

5.  In a democratic nation wealth derived from heredity is not
common. Every man earns his own income.
 The concept of honest work is widespread and accepted and
performed.
 Work is not considered dishonorable but looked upon, those
who do not work are not wanted.
 Americans pursue a job in industrial or commercial positions and
spend what they earn on living.
 Equality for work is expected and people work to keep a good
name.
 In a democratic nation people work for their own interest but
also for the advancement as a society.
 People work for profit in order to enable their family and their
children to begin from a higher position in society.
 Everyone works for a salary and are not humiliated by their job.

6.  Social equality in democratic armies makes soldier
independent from officers destroying the structure
created through discipline.
 Democratic soldiers are not shackled by constrains
of social enslavement.
 Society does not prepare soldiers for a state of
obedience.
 Obedience will be forced to grow as a situation
becomes more critical. No room for personal
decisions will be present.
 Soldiers soon become silent and obey their
superiors.
 Military in a democratic nations gets rid of a
person’s creative freedom. It is replaced by instinct
and reason.