The Question and Answer section for Democracy in America is a great resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel.
They had little contact with rich enlightened me.
From the text:
If, in polished countries, the lowest of the people are rude and uncivil, it is not merely because they are poor and ignorant, but that, being so, they are in daily contact with rich and enlightened men. The sight of their own hard...
American-style associations didn't exist in England because it was an aristocracy.