The emigrants who colonized the shores of America in the beginning of the seventeenth century somehow separated the democratic principle from all the principles that it had to contend with in the old communities of Europe, and transplanted it alone to the New World. It has there been able to spread in perfect freedom and peaceably to determine the character of the laws by influencing the manners of the country. It appears to me beyond a doubt that, sooner or later, we shall arrive, like the Americans, at an almost complete equality of condition."

- excerpt from Democracy in America, 1835
This passage what written by
A) a person who believe it is only a matter of time before the system crumbles.
B) a person from outside of the U. S. offering commentary about the new country.
C) someone critical of the amount of freedoms enjoyed by people of the new nation.
D) one who clearly believed the political and social systems of Europe were superior to those in the U. S.