The type of government the United States has in the year 2016 can be characterized as a representative democracy. A representative democracy, also known as an indirect democracy, is a type of democracy founded on the principle of elected officials representing the people. This type of government is structured upon citizens electing representatives to serve on their behalf. There are many people who simply do not have the time to educate themselves about every particular issue involved in government; therefore, the people do not govern directly. In a representative democracy, the people elect representatives to act on their behalf and to represent them in governing the political society; therefore, power originates with the people. In order for a representative democracy to work effectively, there must be open communication between the representatives and the citizens. The elected officials need to represent the citizens in the best interest of the majority of the people. Overall, the goal of a representative democracy is to protect the rights and interests of the citizens by giving the citizens a voice within the government.
The Constitution of the United States of America is the basis of the representative democracy. The Founding Fathers chose to begin the Constitution with “We the People of the United States...” (https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/preamble). The beginning of the Preamble exemplifies that the Constitution derives its power from the
On September 17, 1787 framers in Philadelphia signed “The Constitution of the United States in which it was approved on June 21, 1788 by the ninth state. Once confirmed, along with the addition to the Bill of Rights it developed a mutual standard by which Americans determined the responsibilities and limits of their government. Looking to the Constitution to decide political discrepancies has helped to substitute and preserve a general agreement among people that are otherwise diverse. The Constitution, although two centuries of complications and trials of the American experiment in self-government, is a testament to the cleverness and anticipation of its framers.
The Constitution of the United States was written in 1787 at the Constitutional Convention, where it was held in Philadelphia. It was written by a group of people known as “Farmers,” or the “Founding Fathers,” and few of the most famous Founding Fathers were George Washington (The first president of the USA), Thomas Jefferson (The first vice president and the third president of the USA) James Madison (The fourth president of the USA), Samuel Adams, and Benjamin Franklin. The old government, the Articles of Confederation was not working as it supposed to be, it was vulnerable and cannot secure and defend the new born nation and for that reason the constitution of the united states saw the light.
“While the authors of the United States Constitution are frequently portrayed as noble and idealistic statesmen who drafted a document based upon their conception of good government, reality is that the constitution reflects the politics of the drafting and ratification process. Unfortunately, the result is a document that is designed to produce an ineffective government, rather than a government that can respond to issues in a timely fashion.” In support of this conclusion, the issues of slavery, The 1906 San Francisco Earthquake, and the civil rights struggle keenly demonstrate the ways in which our constitution hinders the expediency and effectiveness of America’s government. The constitution’s provisions towards voting eligibility and
On July 3rd, 1776, the Second Continental Congress unanimously declared the independence of the thirteen United States of America from Great Britain. Determined to unify the thirteen colonies, the Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, the first constitution of the United States, on November 15, 1777. However, ratification of the Articles of Confederation by all thirteen states did not occur until March 1, 1781. Although the articles did not prevent the United States from winning independence, the innate flaws of the articles became apparent in the years following the revolution. The problems of the weak, purely legislative national government became too prevalent for agents of the revolution, such as James Madison and George Washington. Madison and Washington were strong supporters of a federal, or national, constitution, and on June 21, 1788, congress ratified the Constitution of the United States. And in doing so, violated the “Revolutionary Ideology” and the will of the American people.
A constitution is a written document that sets forth the fundamental rules by which a society is governed. Throughout the course of history the United States has lived under two Constitutions since the British-American colonies declared their independence from Great Britain in 1776. First in line was the Articles of Confederation (1789-1789) followed by the Constitution of United States of America (1789-present). The Articles of Confederation was the first formal written Constitution of America that specified how the national government was to operate. Unfortunately, the Articles did not last long. Under the words of the Article’s power was limited; Congress could make decisions, but had no power to enforce them. Also the articles stated
In the American form of democracy, representatives are chosen to represent the citizens, and to make decisions for them (USHistory.org, 2016). This is unique to the American democracy. In other democracies, citizens meet to discuss the policy issues and the majority rule decide the issues (USHistory.org, 2016). However, a representative democracy makes the government more manageable whereby only the elected representatives actually vote on the issues (USHistory.org,
In 1787 at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, the framers of the Constitution of the United States of America worked together to identify the best way to elect the President (Patterson, 2013). The ideas suggested varied and ranged from selection by members of congress chosen by lottery, to a popular vote of the people. By the end of the Convention the matter had yet to be settled as the framers fore saw that many of the suggestions were prone to corruption, error, and were very chaotic. The issue was passed down to the Committee on Postponed Matters, who in turn created the system that is used today and is commonly known as Electoral College (Kazin, 2011). The Electoral College was outlined by the Committee to up hold the views of the founding fathers, who were the framers of the Constitution.
Based on your interpretation of the course text, explain the framers’ (framers’ of the U.S. Constitution) position on the Presidency:
Compare the strengths and weaknesses of the Articles of confederation to those of the Constitution. Which document did a better job at protecting liberties? Running a government? Explain your answer with specific examples.
The plan to divide the government into three branches was proposed by James Madison, at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. He modeled the division from who he referred to as ‘the Perfect Governor,’ as he read Isaiah 33:22; “For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our king; He will save us.” http://www.eadshome.com/QuotesoftheFounders.htm
As previously mentioned, representative democracy is heavily influenced by Machiavelli’s idea on internal and external controls, which helps to even out the power within a government. There are many branches within a representative democracy, which I agree with strongly. The presence of multiple branches allows more places to distribute power. The more the power is distributed, the more it is limited. I strongly believe that government should possess a limited power; therefore, a representative democracy is
Representative Democracy is better for the United States than a Direct Democracy. Democracies are based on the citizen’s ability to judge things such as laws, propositions, bonds, budgets, representatives, and candidates. The type of democracy helps determine what the citizens are judging. In a direct democracy citizens would be judging the candidates and issues themselves and in a representative democracy, the citizens are judging the representatives and their ability to stay true to the citizens wants and needs. The founding fathers were so sure in their decision to make a representative democracy that they deliberately made ratifying the constitution very difficult.
In today's society people elect representatives because those representatives defend people ideas and have solutions to people needs. The fact of been able to elect any representative make our society a democracy because we are free to elect who we want and everyone has the opportunity to express their opinion by voting for a representative. Also this voting process is do every certain time and representatives can be reelected a certain amount of time, giving the opportunity to everyone to be a representative. Furthermore, people have also options to change a representative during his/her tern if the representative does not show competence and responsibility at his/her job.
The United States does not follow a direct democracy—rather than voting on laws directly, the people vote their representative, including the president, the senate, and the house of representatives, into power and allow them to create and vote on laws. The people of the United States are not limited by this voting, however. Rather, this is only the beginning of their process.
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.