'I do not say that tyrannical abuses frequently occur in America at the present day, but I maintain that no sure barrier is established against them, and that the causes which mitigate the government are to be found in the circumstances and the manners of the country more than in its laws.'
'In America the majority raises very formidable barriers to the liberty of opinion. Within these barriers an author may write whatever he pleases, but he will repent if he ever step beyond them. Not that he is exposed to the terrors of an auto-da -fe, but he is tormented by the slights and persecutions of daily obloquy. His political career is closed forever, since he has offended the only authority which is able to promote his success. Every sort of compensation , even that of celebrity, is refused to him. Before he published his opinion he imagined that he held them in common with many others: but no sooner has he declared them openly than he is loudly censured by his overbearing opponents, whilst those who think without having courage to speak, like him, abandon him in silence. He yields at length, oppressed by the daily efforts he has been making, and he subsides into silence, as if he was tormented by remorse for having spoken the truth.'
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