Note: According to Tocqueville, what were the cultural differences between American and Canadian farmers?
Excerpt:
“This walk could not have given us a more favourable impression of the Canadian populationPopulation comes from the Latin populus, meaning “the people.” We say population when we talk about a group.... We found well-cultivated fields and houses redolent of well-being. We went into several. The main room is furnished with excellent beds; the walls are painted white. The furniture is very clean. A little mirror, a cross or a few engravings of scriptural subjects complete the whole. The farmer is strong, well-built, well-clothed. His welcome has the frank cordiality which the American lacks; he is polite without servility, and receives you on a footing of equality but obligingly. Among those we visited there was even something of distinction in their manners which struck us. (It is true that we were taken to see the first families in the village).
All in all this race of men seemed to us inferior to the Americans in knowledge, but superior in qualities of the heart.”
Source:
Alexis de Tocqueville. «Lettre du 28 août 1831.» Regards sur le Bas-Canada. Montréal, 2003. p.180.
