An Eminent American Is Reported To Have

It Is Accepted As An Axiom By All Americans That The Civil Power Ought To Be Not Only Neutral And Impartial As Between Different Forms Of Faith, But Ought To Leave These Matters Entirely On One Side, Regarding Them No More Than It Regards The Artistic Or Literary Pursuits Of The Citizens.

Patriotism Consists Not In Waving The Flag, But In Striving That Our Country Shall Be Righteous As Well As Strong.

I Have Often Asked Americans Wherein They Consider Their Freedom Superior To That Of The English, But Have Never Found Them Able To Indicate A Single Point In Which The Individual Is Worse Off In England As Regards His Private Civil Rights Or His General Liberty Of Doing And Thinking As He Pleases. They Generally Turn The Discussion To Social Equality, The Existence Of A Monarchy And Hereditary Titles And So Forth - Matters Which Are, Of Course, Quite Different From Freedom In Its Proper Sense.

Of All The Differences Between The Old World And The New, This Is Perhaps The Most Salient. Half The Wars Of Europe, Half The Internal Troubles That Have Vexed European States... Have Arisen From Theological Differences Or From The Rival Claims Of Church And State. This Whole Vast Chapter Of Debate And Strife Has Remained Virtually Unopened In The United States. There Is No Established Church. All Religious Bodies Are Equal Before The Law, And Unrecognized By The Law, Except As Voluntary Associations Of Private Citizens.

No Government Demands So Much From The Citizens As Democracy And None Gives Back So Much.