American - Author | January 23, 1869 - May 17, 1930
The only fruitful promise of which the life of any individual or any nation can be possessed, is a promise determined by an ideal.
Herbert Croly
LifeNationIndividualDetermined
Had it not been for the Atlantic Ocean and the virgin wilderness, the United States would never have been the Land of Promise.
OceanWildernessLandNeverBeen
To the European immigrant - that is, to the aliens who have been converted into Americans by the advantages of American life - the Promise of America has consisted largely in the opportunity which it offered of economic independence and prosperity.
LifeOpportunityIndependenceAmerica
The more consciously democratic Americans became, however, the less they were satisfied with a conception of the Promised Land, which went no farther than a pervasive economic prosperity guaranteed by free institutions.
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The American economic, political, and social organization has given to its citizens the benefits of material prosperity, political liberty, and a wholesome natural equality; and this achievement is a gain, not only to Americans, but to the world and to civilization.
AchievementEqualityOrganization
The moral and social aspiration proper to American life is, of course, the aspiration vaguely described by the word democratic; and the actual achievement of the American nation points towards an adequate and fruitful definition of the democratic ideal.
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Unless the great majority of Americans not only have, but believe they have, a fair chance, the better American future will be dangerously compromised.
FutureGreatBelieveChanceBetter
The Constitution was the expression not only of a political faith, but also of political fears. It was wrought both as the organ of the national interest and as the bulwark of certain individual and local rights.
FaithConstitutionPoliticalRights
In Jefferson's mind democracy was tantamount to extreme individualism.
MindDemocracyIndividualismExtreme
The adoption by Jefferson and the Republicans of the political structure of their opponents is of an importance hardly inferior to that of the adoption of the Constitution by the states.
ConstitutionPoliticalStructure
When Jefferson and the Republicans rallied to the Union and to the existing Federalist organization, the fabric of traditional American democracy was almost completely woven.
DemocracyOrganizationAmericanUnion
The first phase of American political history was characterized by the conflict between the Federalists and the Republicans, and it resulted in the complete triumph of the latter.
HistoryConflictAmericanPolitical
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