Benjamin Franklin: We Have Given You a Republic, It Remains To Be Seen If You Will Be Able to Retain It

Ben Franklin's speech at the constitutional convention Patrick Henry's speech about going to war are in some ways similar but in some ways are very different. Also about compromise and agreeing on the constitution. Franklin’s speech was about making compromise and coming to a conclusion among himself and congress. Henry’s speech focused on getting people to fight with the king.

The word democracy comes from two Greek words: demos, meaning "the people," and kratein, meaning "to rule." These two words are joined together to form a democracy, literally meaning "rule by the people". Nowadays democracy could be referred as a rule of the majority. It is a system of government in which the citizens exercise power directly or choose delegates from among themselves to form a governing body, such as a parliament. The Greek system of government was maybe more like a true democracy or administered by the general population than any other ever. On the other hand, most American politicians with mindfulness and knowledge have realized that the U.S. is not a Democracy as a country, regardless of the way that most people declare it to be a Democracy. Greek and American democracy have some similarities such as the amount of nationalism and patriotism saw in the people when a lack of representation for a city-state or nation as a whole is seen, and they both vote for their political leaders.

When writing the Constitution, one of the most prominent arguments focused on whether America should be considered a Democracy. A large percentage of the founding fathers feared the term “Democracy” because they strongly believed that if the people had control, then there would be disorder and violence. As James Madison stated in Federalist No. 10,

The United States is no longer the democracy it stands for. Democracy stands for a government controlled by the majority of the population. The United States is no longer controlled by the majority. America is controlled by the powerful corporations and rich elite. The combination of an uninformed, disinterested public, a flawed election process, and an economy controlled by 1% of the population have all led to the formation of the American Oligarchy.

“We’re a Democracy”, by William P. Meyers, states that we have become a democracy overtime but we are also still a hint of a republic as well. People who are so against democracy only see democracy as a direct democracy. But in reality, there’s also the representative democracy, which is quite similar to a republic. Over the years, with the help of all the amendment changes the U.S. has moved greatly towards a democracy. I actually agree with Meyers, both of these forms of government choose representatives to speak on their behalf, so whose to say we don’t actually have a democracy.

Democracy did not occur in a matter of seconds, it took years of evolution to become what it is today. The thought of a self-government during a world ruled by monarchs would have you locked up in a mental hospital. As you can figure, democracy did not just come out of the nowhere, it had to be planned out and modified over the years. The earliest contributions and influences of The American Government came from philosophers, some of them are the part of our founding fathers and others influenced them to develop the strong nation we are today.

According to Hofstadter, the framers did not want a democracy; to them, a democracy would destroy the liberty that they had fought for.v[v] However, one must bear in mind that the framers ideas of what liberty differed from today’s idea of liberty. To them, liberty was the right to have property and the right to a stable economy.vi[vi] So, a direct democracy could take away their liberties. A direct democracy would give votes to all citizens and they could in turn vote to divide all property equally among the citizens.vii[vii] The framers were the upper class and this was in their mind as they wrote the law of the land; they only wanted propertied men like themselves voting in election to protect their own property.viii[viii] Madison himself said that democracy was evil in Federalist Number10.ix[ix] Roger Sherman, another framer, also added that people “should have as little to do as may be with the government.”x[x] With these ideas of democracy, the framers were not inclined to provide democracy in the constitution.

The time for a new government came about in times of fear, many men such as William Livingston wondered “if the republic could even survive another decade” for Henry Knox made an excellent point in declaring “Our present federal government is a name, a shadow,

The word democracy elicits different perceptions from different people. Some may see democracy as only a government ruled directly by the people, in which the people write and choose laws directly. Others may include representative democracy in which representatives are chosen by the people to write, pass, and enforce laws. It is the latter view that would best describe America. In this sense, America is not a pure democracy, and few would ever say it was founded as one. However, the question remains: Is America a democracy. Though America as a whole has few direct ways for people to participate in the writing and enforcement of most laws, I would venture to say that American government should be considered a democracy. Indeed, democratic elements pervade the American political structure. The American republic would not be what it is without the necessary democratic elements that are used in the execution of governing.

It’s hard to define something big as democracy in few short words, but president Abraham Lincoln does it best by defining democracy as a “Government of the people, by the people, for the people” (Bleicherstrasse). The Merriam Webster Dictionary barely scratches the surface of what democracy really means. It tries to define democracy as “a form of government in which people choose leaders by voting, a country ruled by democracy, an organization or situation in which everyone is treated equally and has equal rights”, but democracy is so much more than that. For a government to be considered true democracy it must support these four key elements “A political system for choosing and replacing the government through free and fair elections, the active participation of the people, as citizens, in politics and civic life, protection of the human rights of all citizens, a rule of law, in which the laws and procedures apply equally to all citizens” (Diamond, 2004). If we go by this definition of democracy than America is not consider to be true democracy.

Democracy, as most people think of it today, did not exist during the first few decades of U.S. history.

“Give me liberty, or give me death” (Wirt). This famous and unforgettable quote by delegate Patrick Henry, represents the fervor of the colonists in eighteenth century America. Realizing that America was not ready to begin anew, both economically and politically, delegates of the Philadelphia Convention began to draft a Constitution to foster the birth of the new nation. After much heated debate (and compromises), the delegates, at last, signed the Constitution of the United States of America on September 17, 1787.

Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines democracy "as a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by the people" (www.merriam-webster.com). But the one big problem is that "We the people" are not exercising their "supreme power" to determine the U.S. government. Less than half of the eligible electorate showed up at the polls for the 1996 U.S. presidential election. While lower turnout has marred previous presidential elections, 1996's voter turnout dipped below 50 percent for the first time in more than 30 years. It appears that the people's increasing cynicism about politicians that they lie to get elected and the perception that people have no respect or confidence in the

Thomas Jefferson once wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” Today, this quote stands tall in defining and describing the type of government the United States has created for the people. A democracy is a supreme power

I am Benjamin Franklin, I am a writer and an inventor. I am representing Pennsylvania which is also my home town. I am here today to hopefully see some changes that I believe will benefit everyone. During this debate several topics were brought up that I, Benjamin Franklin, have an opinion on. I hadn’t said much during that debate but now I would like to say a few things about these topics. A few examples of what I may be talking about is; slavery, the structure of the government, and population counts.