Excellent and thoughtful book, written about 1830. He thought that the US had been settled predominantly by the British middle class, which was accustomed to participating in managing affairs in their locality, and extended this experience in participating in managing a nation. He thought that even though Mexicans had adopted much of the US Constitution and laws, this did not make Mexico like the US. He thought that social customs and attitudes were more important than formal laws, which in turn were more important than the geography and natural resources of the country.
He predicted that Russia and the US would come to dominate world affairs in the future, because of the large size of their territories.