The Road Of Democracy For America

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,

In his document, The Declaration of Independence (1776), Jefferson and the representatives in the general congress proclaim that because all men possess unalienable rights, and due to the transgressions committed by the repressive British King against the people of the 13 colonies, the colonists should be entitled to dissolve all allegiance to the crown of Great Britain, and engender a new nation that “[has] full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which independent states may of right do”(4). Jefferson supports this proclamation by enumerating the rights of people when both facing and not facing a corrupt government, distinguishing the copious actions of King George

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.

Democracy, as defined in American Government: Power and Purpose, is “a system of rule that permits citizens to play a significant part in the governmental process, usually through the selection of key public officials.” In the centuries before and since its founding, the United States has indubitably had undemocratic elements. In colonial times, the thirteen colonies’ government derived most of its authority from the elites, depriving many of those residing in lower socioeconomic classes from a voice in government. During the time of the American Revolution,

Modern day America can be described as a democracy. This was not always like this. The United States was originally a colony of Great Britain but gained its independence. It slowly became a democracy but that's not the question. Unlike a standard democracy, an “organic democracy” is democracy that is formed from groups of people who may have something in common and are synergistic and evolving. Compared to a normal democracy which is held together by a social contract, an organic democracy grows and evolves over time naturally. The early political developments that happened in colonial America were indeed a start to organic democracy and allowed the structure of society you have the progression of liberty and a representative government.

The United States government has fulfilled the American democracy however, there has been major fulfilments that have not been completed. The start to our democracy begin with our Enlightenment ideas which influenced our founding fathers. These ideas dealt with Natural Rights, Social Contract, and Revolution. The Natural Rights idea comes from a famous philosopher named John Locke. He basically states that every human has certain rights that are not given to them by the government and those rights that aren 't mentioned are called Natural Rights. This idea was put into effect with the 9th Amendment, this Amendment means there are other rights that may exist aside from the ones directly mentioned in the constitution, and even though they are not mention it doesn 't mean that they cannot be violated.

By definition, democracy is a type of political system in which all members share the same level of power, but it is also the framework for the government of multiple countries including the United States of America. Athenian democracy, created near 400 B.C. in Athens, Greece, was a direct system where participating citizens had the opportunity to vote directly on legislative and executive bills. The founding fathers of the United States took the Athenian’s idea and created the idea of “representative democracy”, where the citizens of a nation were able to elect representatives who would make decisions for them. In fact, the United States could be considered to be more of a constitutional republic than democracy, since the Athenian democracy that influenced them is not a “true democracy”. Even though differences between the two governments exist, ancient Athenians heavily influenced the Founding Fathers of the United States of America to form a democratic government, allow representatives to vote on legislation, and to provide equality and fair trials to their people.

Democracy, as a form of government, is the idea of spreading political power to the people, while still supporting the “common man” rule. The idea behind democracy is to unify the people, and allow common citizens to have a say in their government. This idea erupted after the Jeffersonian era came to a close in 1800, the Jeffersonian era changed how exclusive America should now be. Andrew Jackson specifically played a major role in shifting America from a two party government, known as the articles of confederation to a democracy. In 1824 the Democratic Party had split into Jacksonian Democrats and Nationalist-Republicans, the split of parties allowed Andrew Jackson to fully share ideas, through his own democratic party. When the newly elected

In the beginning, the nation’s Founders were profoundly skeptical of direct democracy. They believed that the “follies” of direct democracy far outweighed any virtues it might possess (Politics in American pg. 76). According to an essay by Rose Wilder Lane (Lane, 1943), “George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, James Madison, and James Monroe feared democracy.” The founders believed that the Constitution left all other governmental powers to the states (Politics in American 2009 pg. 133). Our Founding Fathers never intended for America to become a democracy. Most of them had served in the American Revolution, either as soldiers in the Continental Army or as part of a legislative body. After the Revolutionary

Democracy is the feat on which the united states prides itself. This democracy was built over the ages and over many events through trial and error. By analyzing the history of the Monroe Doctrine, the two elections in which Andrew Jackson was voted a president, the theory of John C. Calhoun, and the Cherokee Nation vs Jackson trail we can arrive at the strengths and shortcomings of the American democracy in the period between 1820 and 1836.

The American Revolution heralded the birth of a new country which by virtue of its founding fathers made all people equal and guaranteed certain very important freedom to all. Despite all this the founding fathers of the new country felt that their ideals were not incorporated into what they dreamt of the country. The United states of America is a democracy as exhibits all features of a democracy but is limited in scope as it is a Republic .

“The strongest democracies flourish from frequent and lively debate, but they endure when people of every background and belief find a way to set aside smaller differences in service of a greater purpose.” This quote was said by former President Barack Obama at a press conference back in 2009. The United States of America was the underdog in the American Revolutionary War, but with the help of the strong-willed people who migrated over to this forward-thinking country and the support of our French allies, we won our independence. While residence of the red, white, and blue might have thought that the war was the end of our problems, in hindsight, it was only the beginning. We built our nation to be the best example of democracy on the planet, but it took a long time before that affirmation became true. Many lives have been lost fighting for our democracy. Before the Civil War, to call our great country a democracy would be a dishonest statement. According to Merriam-Webster, Democracy is “a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections.” During this time, slaves, women of all races, and white men in the original thirteen colonies who did not own land could not vote. These people had no say in the government and that is not a democracy. The United States of America was not a true democracy after we declared independence in 1776.

According to James Madison, the author of Federalist Paper No. 10, pure democracy is defined as, “A society consisting of a small number of citizens, who assemble and administer the government in person.” In other words, Madison was trying to tell his audience, all Americans, that the government revolves around them in which they have both direct and indirect powers through representation. The purpose of this is to protect citizens’ rights, promote the law, provide a common defense as well as public services, and to support a strong economic system. The Founding Fathers wanted to step away from the previous monarchy they suffered under in which the Crown had all the power. The only way to do so was to establish a new form of government that limits the highest offices and instead reinforces it in the people’s hands. Democracy in the United States would be different

We live in this country for the land, and the for the free as Americans we rely on many attributes in this world in order for us to live our lives. Our government has supplied us with many great things for us to be proud of. Our government is “the institutions and processes though which public policies are made for society.” (Edwards, Wattenberg, and Lineberry, p. 7). With all these institutions which includes the President, Congress, the courts and all the federal administrative agencies. These are the institutions that make up public policies for us, and to shape the way we live as Americans. The way this system has been operating through all the years has been

The American government was formed on a democratic system. When the founding fathers wrote the constitution, the first 3 words of the preamble “ We the people” prove the democracy used in our government. A government made to serve the people yet give them a sense of order that could not be had without any system. Long before our government was formed theorists argued over how a land should be governed. They created 4 theories; Force theory, Evolutionary theory, Divine Right theory, and Social Contract theory. Social Contract theory and Evolutionary theory led to the development of democracy as a form of government.