American Institutions Author:Alexis de Tocqueville General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1870 Original Publisher: Sever, Francis Subjects: Democracy United States Translation of the first vol. of "De la democratie en Amerique Political Science / General Political Science / Political Ideologies / Democracy Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of t... more »he original. It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: DEMOCRACY IN AMERICA. CHAPTER I. EXTERIOR FORM OF NORTH AMERICA. North America divided into two vast Regions, one inclining toward the Pole, the other toward the Equator. -- Valley of the Mississippi. -- Traces found there of the Revolutions of the Globe. -- Shore of the Atlantic Ocean, on which the English Colonies were founded. -- Different Aspects of North and of South America at the Time of their Discovery. -- Forests of North America. -- Prairies. -- Wandering Tribes of Natives. -- Their outward Appearance, Manners, and Languages. -- Traces of an unknown People. NORTH AMERICA presents in its external form certain general features which it is easy to discriminate at the first glance. A sort of methodical order seems to have regulated the separation of land and water, mountains and valleys. A simple but grand arrangement is discoverable amidst the confusion of objects and the prodigious variety of scenes'. This continent is divided almost equally into two vast regions, one of which is bounded on the north by the Arctic Pole, and by the two great oceans on the east and west. It stretches toward the south, forming a triangle, whose irregular sides meet at length above the great lakes of Canada. The second region begins where the other terminates, and includes all the remainder of the continent. The one slopes gently toward the Pole, the other toward the Equator. The territory compr...« less