"Our country was thereby saved from the consequences of its distracting individualistic conception of democracy, and its merely legal conception of nationality. It was because the followers of Jackson and Douglas did fight for it, that the Union was preserved"

This quote by Herbert Croly is referring to the preservation of the Union throughout the mid-19th century. Right now, the United States was separated in between those who sustained the individualistic fertilization of democracy, which focused on the legal rights of the individual, and those that supported the lawful conception of citizenship, which concentrated on the rights of the country. The followers of Andrew Jackson as well as Stephen Douglas fought to protect the Union, as well as their initiatives were successful. This quote is praising the efforts of these people, as it was their activities that saved the nation from the repercussions of its divided ideas. The conservation of the Union was a significant success for the United States, as it allowed the nation to continue to be unified and also continue to expand.