212 TRAVELS IN THE CONFEDERATION 



among- all the branches of knowledge there have 

 perhaps been most conspicuous a few good political 

 speakers and writers.* The former indifference to 

 learning was the more astonishing because the ease and 

 well-being in which so many Americans lived offered 

 them the best opportunity for scholarly pursuits. On 

 the whole, it must be candidly allowed that the in- 

 habitants of America in great part possess good 

 natural understandings, and manifest a better expres- 

 sion of their understanding than would people of 

 similar rank and occupations in Europe. To this 

 there have been contributory the slight effort in severe 

 work, and the ease with which a moderate livelihood 

 could be gained ; the equality of class, and the great 

 disposition for clubs in which men of all occupations 

 and standing impart to one another openly and without 

 reserve their thoughts, acquirements, and opinions. 

 The general liberty of the press and of speech has 

 been of especial consequence ; and finally, people of all 

 classes have been accustomed to read many useful 

 works of entertainment, newspapers, and journals, by 

 which much information has been spread abroad and 

 prejudice dissipated. These and other favorable cir- 

 cumstances taken together have diffused a general in- 

 telligence among the people at large and given them a 

 free use of a keen human understanding; but appar- 

 ently the effect has not been to arouse a diligence after 

 true learning. The American, unburdened by affairs 

 and without anxieties, has regarded it as unsuitable to 

 devote himself zealously and painfully to the study of 

 the sciences, which brought him no income and were 



* Dickinson, Payne, Jefferson, Burke, and others. 



