Blind Instruments

American Flag
Originally uploaded by misscaroliner

"The various occurrences of national existence have everywhere turned to the advantage of democracy: all men have added it by their exertions, both those who have intentionally labored in its cause, and those who have served it unwittingly; those who have fought for it, and those who have declared themselves its opponents, have all been driven along in the same track, have all labored to one end; some ignorantly and some unwillingly, all have been blind instruments in the hands of God."

from Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville
Referring back to "driven along in the same track"...isn't it funny how our prepositions change as our engineering evolves?  These days we would say "on".