Thus far the Americans seem to us to carry national pride altogether too far. I doubt whether it is possible to draw from them the least truth unfavorable to their country. Most of them boast about it without discernment and with an assertiveness that is disagreeable to strangers and that shows but little intelligence. In general it seems to me that there is much of the small town in their attitude and that they magnify objects like people who are not accustomed to seeing great things.
—Alexis de Tocqueville, diary entry, May 15, 1831, New York City
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