The question is based on "Democracy in America" by Alexis de Tocqueville:
"Although private interest directs the greater part of human actions in the United States as well as elsewhere, it does not regulate them all. I must say that I have often seen Americans make great and real sacrifices to the public welfare; and I have noticed a hundred instances in which they hardly ever failed to lend faithful support to one another. The free institutions which the inhabitants of the United States possess, and the political rights of which they make so much use, remind every citizen, and in a thousand ways, that he lives in society. They every instant impress upon his mind the notion that it is the duty as well as the interest of men to make themselves useful to their fellow creatures; and as he sees no particular ground of animosity10 to them, since he is never either their master or their slave, his heart readily leans to the side of kindness. Men attend to the interests of the public, first by necessity, afterwards by choice; what was intentional becomes an instinct, and by dint of11 working for the good of one’s fellow citizens, the habit and the taste for serving them are at length acquired."
Question: Alexis de Tocqueville argued that democracy in America has succeeded because of what aspect about Americans?
A. They are willing to define themselves according to their contributions to society and not as individuals.
B. They are fiercely independent.
C. They are independent, but not to excess—they regularly attend to the public interest at the expense of their own interests.
D. They are focused on the common good by habit and taste from childhood.
Is it A?
Thanks!!
I think there's a better answer.
De Tocqueville stressed the individuality that prevailed in America.