What is Democracy? The Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s definition of democracy is “government by the people; especially : rule of the majority; 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” Throughout the history of the United States we have had different forms of democracy ranging from groups of small communities to outright organized government. When you think of Democracy what is it you think of? Freedom and democracy are often thought as comparable, but the two are not equal. Democracy is indeed a set of ideas and principles about freedom, but it also consists of a set of practices and procedures …show more content…
“There are two different modes in which the sense of the community may be taken; one, simply by the right of suffrage, unaided; the other, by the right through a proper organism.” During the 1680 Pueblo Revolt we see a clear example of community by rights of suffrage. The incident in case was caused when Pueblo inhabitants of modern day New Mexico revolted against the Spanish rule in the area. During this revolt more than 400 settlers were killed. The reason behind this was governors, settlers and missionaries often repressed the Native Americans and exploit them for personal gain. “Population that declined from about 60,000 to some 17,000 eight years later.” This was their umbrella of democracy; they all suffered and had a common ground to make a turning point in their history, it may have not been the best idea but it encompasses what democracy is defined as. They all sought a common goal and set out to make it …show more content…
This unconstitutional act eventually caused uproar with the citizens. This included women and black men. Foner writes “After several states that had allowed black men to vote, including Connecticut, New York, and Tennessee, either eliminated the right entirely or added such high property qualifications that few could qualify.” It wasn’t until Pennsylvania, who at the time had the largest free black community, denounced their right to vote. This is what finally caused a large community protest known as the “Appeal of Forty Thousand Citizens” This protest was held in Philadelphia and was brought together by a common ground. The United States government was at this point ruled by persons who did not have the country’s best interest at hand. This country was not led by the people like a democracy is supposed to, but by a small group of rich white people. “Was it in the intention of the people of this commonwealth that the convention to which the Constitution was committed for revision and amendment, should tear up and cast away its first principle? Was it made the business the Convention to deny [that all men are born equally free], by making political rights depend upon the skin in which a man is born? Or to divide what our fathers bled to united, to wit, TAXATION and
Before that can be established, I think a definition of democracy should be stated so that it may be called upon later in this essay. According to the American Heritage Dictionary, democracy is stated as "the principle of social equality and respect for the individual within a community" .
A democracy is a form of government where the people rule directly on everything that has an effect on their everyday lives. In a democracy the government’s power is from the people and it relies on them to use that power. Citizen’s rights to the decisions made by the government can be handled directly by entering their positions personally or by representatives. Since government decisions are not made by the majority vote except for in a small amount of all lawmaking, the United States is not a direct democracy. The United States contains elements of a democracy and a republic. A republic is a government where the people rule indirectly through elected officials. Since the United States combines these two forms of government, it is generally
Democracy- a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives (Dictionary.com). The Constitution starts out with the phrase “We the People”, but is the constitution properly representing all the current people in the United States and providing us with a true democracy? The constitution is outdated and does not properly take into account the current typical American lifestyle. Along with being outmoded the Constitution has created an undemocratic legislative process in our country resulting in many unnecessary or unsuccessful legislative decrees.
Due to that the opposition towards this was heavily influenced. There was, also the denying of voting for women. There was the use of “property qualifications to prevent poor black and white men from voting” (Hine 174). Ensuring the denying of voting to black people, since most of the black community was poor and would never gain enough profit to demonstrate they were capable of voting. Stripping them from their legal right to vote, no matter what circumstances money wise they were in. Due to “the egalitarian movement to remove property qualifications” (Hine 174) the disfranchisement began. According to white race voters the allowing of the black race vote would corrupt the system. Since they “would be encouraged to try to mix socially with white people” (Hine 174). Due to that there was the threat that the voting of the black race would position them in the election to office. Demonstrating the racism there still was. And the unequalness of freedom that African Americans had. Since all the rights they were entitled to were denied to them. Making them feel that the freedom they were enjoying of wasn’t
The United States changed as a nation because of the Civil Rights Movement. Especially, the United States notched up as a more perfect union. The Civil Rights Movement secured voting rights for African-Americans and called for the ending racial segregation, discrimination and segregation. After years of struggle and upheaval, it resulted in the enactment of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, under the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson. The purpose of the act was to protect African-Americans’ voting rights and overcome legal barriers that prevented them from exercising their rights to vote. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 was a historic triumph as it helped the nation acknowledge the Fifteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which granted equal voting rights to all but which goal remained unfulfilled for the next several decades. Therefore, The Voting Rights Act of 1965 banned
Before pondering the extent of democracy one must determine what the term “democracy” means. Democracy is a “means of selecting policymakers and of organizing government so that policy represents and responds to citizens’ preferences.”i[i] The traditional democratic theory further explains the ideas behind democracy. The five aspects of this theory are that one man equals one vote, there is good voter-turnout, citizens can obtain knowledge through free speech and press, the general public controls government agenda, and an extension of all rights to all citizens.ii[ii] From this, one could say a true democracy would submit every bill to the public for a popular vote, like the traditional town meetings of old New England where all eligible voters met to have their say in governmental agenda.iii[iii] One could also say that democracy implies protection of rights and equal rights for all. Or, as Abraham Lincoln said, a democracy is “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”iv[iv] The people make the government, they have a say in the agenda, and the government governs by the people’s consent. This ...
The United States is an inspiration of liberty and hope for nations around the world. It is a nation with citizens who have the unalienable rights of, “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness,” and a model for how democratic nations should be ordered and maneuvered due to its intrinsic values that are held. Democracy is a system of government where the citizens are responsible for shaping their nation to represent who they are and what they stand for. The people have the ultimate power in the nation. However, as no pure direct democracy exists in any nation, an indirect democracy arises, where people vote to elect representatives, who then in turn make the greater part of decisions for the nation.
America's Democracy The United States of America is a republic, or representative democracy. Democracy, a word that comes to us from Greek, literally means the people rule (Romance, July 8). This broad definition leaves unanswered a few important details such as who are the people, how shall they rule, and what should they rule on (July 8). Defining the answers to those questions means defining a model for a democratic system.
President Andrew Johnson did not support it, but his veto was overridden. After the bill passed he refused to enforce the law in the South, causing little effect. On top of President Johnson’s lack of approval, it was undermined by anti-black organizations, and it helped women and Native Americans even less than it did for African Americans. Native Americans were excluded from being considered citizens even if they were born in the United States. Women gained the right to make and enforce contracts, purchase land, and more, but they were not given the right to vote for another fifty years. In theory this act should have resulted in better treatment of African American because it was making them separate but equal to white people, but in reality when it was put in action it did not follow through with its original intentions. Much like the in 1866, the Civil Rights Act of 1964 was followed by incidents of resistance and violence, but despite the proceedings this act declared that all citizens despite race, sex, religion, or national origin were not to be discriminated against. Within the first few weeks, segregated establishments were open to black patrons, and Jim Crow laws were starting to end. The laws giving minorities their civil rights were being enforced. This bill not only encompassed African Americans, but it gave women more opportunities. By 1924 Native Americans
According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary Democracy is a form of government by the people; especially: rule of the majority(Webster). This is what the United States is represented as, and this is based on the United States Constitution from which the United states draws all legal powers. In Robert Dahls book How democratic Is the American Constitution? He challenges this idea by trying to appeal to his readers in a way that they may view the United States Constitution in a different light. Dahl does this by pointing out flaws that the Constitution has and, draws on facts based on the other democracies around the world that the United States is compared too. He points out how many democratic ideas and innovations have a occurred since the conception of the American Constitution yet it has only adopted some of those idea.
“The Civil Rights Act of 1866 defined all persons born in the United States as citizens and listed certain rights of all citizens, including the right to testify in court, own property, make contracts, bring lawsuits, and enjoy full and equal benefit of all laws and proceedings for the security of person and property” (Berkin, Cherny, Gormly, Miller, 2013, 430). To forever protect the freed people’s rights as citizens the Fourteenth Amendment was created. The Fourteenth Amendment was still flawed. Woman’s rights supporters Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony “complained that the amendment, for the first time, introduced the word male into the constitution in connection with voting and rights” (Berkin, Cherny, Gormly, Miller, 2013, 431). After much Congressional debate in February 1869 Congress approved the Fifteenth Amendment. It “prohibited both federal and state governments from restricting a person’s right to vote because of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (Berkin, Cherny, Gormly, Miller, 2013, 435). Stanton and Anthony were against this amendment too because it “ignored restrictions based on sex” (Berkin, Cherny, Gormly, Miller, 2013, 435). The amendment still didn’t lessen the
The term democracy comes from the Greek language and means "rule by the people."(Democracy Building 2012) The democracy in Athens represents the events leading up to modern day democracies. Like our modern democracy, the Athenian democracy was created as a reaction to a concentration and abuse of power by the rulers. Philosophers defined the essential elements of democracy as a separation of powers, basic civil rights, human rights, religious liberty and separation of church and state. The most current definition of a democracy is defined as a “government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.”(Dictionary.com). The American democracy was greatly influenced by the Athenian democracy. The Founding Fathers of the American democracy borrowed ideas from the Athenian way of governing. Presently, Americans live in a democracy that is much different than that the Athenian democracy, and what the Founding Fathers of the American Democracy envisioned. Although there are some commonalities between Athens and what our Founding Fathers intended, there are major differences as well. Differences between the modern American democracy the Athenian democracy and what the Founding Fathers envisioned are size of the democracies, the eligibility of a citizen to participate in the democracy and how a citizen participated.
A memorable expression said by President Abraham Lincoln reads, “Democracy is government of the people, by the people, and for the people”. Democracy, is a derived from the Greek term "demos" which means people. It is a successful, system of government that vests power to the public or majority. Adopted by the United States in 1776, a democratic government has six basic characteristics: (i) established/elected sovereignty (where power and civic responsibility are exercised either directly by the public or their freely agreed elected representative(s)), (ii) majority rule(vs minority), (iii) (protects one’s own and reside with) human rights, (iv) regular free and fair elections to citizens (upon a certain age), (v) responsibility of
What is democracy? Democracy a form of government in which the people freely elect representatives to govern them in a country, democracy guarantees free and fair elections, basic personal and political rights and independent court of law. There are two types of democracy, direct and indirect democracy. Direct democracy or pure democracy is where there is direct participate of the people; people make decisions for them instead of letting them representative make decision for them. Indirect democracy the decisions are made by the representative on behalf of the people that voted for them. All over the world people are having different views with regard to democracy and how it operates. “It has been said that democracy is the worst form of government except all the others that have been tried” ~ Winston Churchill, some have said democracy is the worst government form of government which I also think it’s! Due to the how it operates.
Communism is an original system of society, quite different from Democracy in many ways. While total democracy is not widely spread, many forms of it are prosperous throughout the world today.