de Tocqueville, "America is great because of churches"

Jeff Himmel had the following in this week's bulletin at Spring Warrior:

More than 150 years ago, French statesman Alexis de Tocqueville came to America looking for the secret of its greatness. He wrote:

I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers — and it was not there … in her fertile fields and boundless forests — and it was not there … in her rich mines and her vast world commerce — and it was not there … in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution — and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteous­ness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

Being a history buff, I loved the above-quote, and posted it here, but after reading the entry at Wikipedia.org, I discovered that Alexis de Tocqueville may not have said these precise words, so I did some additional research, and at Bartelby.com, I discovered that President Dwight D. Eisenhower quoted Alexis de Tocqueville as saying the above-quoted language. The information at Bartelby's is quoted below (link to reference):

Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.

NUMBER: 829
AUTHOR: Alexis de Tocqueville (1805–59)

QUOTATION: I sought for the greatness and genius of America in her commodious harbors and her ample rivers—and it was not there … in her fertile fields and boundless forests—and it was not there … in her rich mines and her vast world commerce—and it was not there … in her democratic Congress and her matchless Constitution—and it was not there. Not until I went into the churches of America and heard her pulpits flame with righteousness did I understand the secret of her genius and power. America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.

ATTRIBUTION: Attributed to ALEXIS DE TOCQUEVILLE by Dwight D. Eisenhower in his final campaign address in Boston, Massachusetts, November 3, 1952. Unverified.

The last two sentences are attributed to de Tocqueville’s Democracy in America by Sherwood Eddy, The Kingdom of God and the American Dream, chapter 1, p. 6 (1941). This appears with minor variations in A Third Treasury of the Familiar, ed. Ralph L. Woods, p. 347 (1970), as “attributed to de Tocqueville but not found in his works.”

SUBJECTS: Greatness
BIOGRAPHY: Columbia Encyclopedia

"Righteousness exalts a nation, But sin is a reproach to any people." (Proverbs 14:34, NKJV)