Democracy in America – The Aristocrats of Freedom. ep12, 620404

American flags, with a diversity of citizens standing in front. Men in jeans and t-shirts.
People in front of American flag. "Used with permission from Microsoft."

A study in American law and lawyers. The influence of lawyers in public life impressed our French travelers. Could it be due to the fact that they were lawyers themselves? They call lawyers the aristocracy in America. Not wealth, or any other institution. Their reason is that laws, and the lawyers who write them are what makes up the government. How is it accomplished that if the men in government office were to all be replaced, by voting, it wouldn’t impact the individual citizen?

Tour the nation’s capital to see the government at work. How do the laws control the operation of government, even allowing a representative who can’t read or write to hold office. How do the laws hold government in check, and keep things balanced?

Visit the president to learn what D’Toukfel and Beaumont think about the personality of Andrew Jackson. In speaking to a senator of the time, he compares politics to religion, and matters of faith. Sometimes its not logic, or doctrine, but personality, and just liking the man in office.

Politicians debate matters, even of a long dead horse who had been taken from its owners, and conscripted into military service in the Revolutionary War. Our Frenchmen note that laws are only affective, as long as the public respect the laws.