Democracy Dbq

The united states is a democratic nation that chose to be governed by those who reside on its soil rather than royalty across the ocean in 1776. The framework for how the country would be ran was established in the constitution which was created without the use of democracy since none of the founders were elected. “The “committee of five” included Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and Thomas Jefferson who were all firmly in the revolutionary camp. The committee also included Roger Sherman, who had some doubts but still backed the independence movement and Robert R. Livingston” (Braunwarth Chp2.4.2). These revolutionaries created the set of rules that they thought would lead to a democracy which poses the question; Can a country that states that

“ Jefferson wrote of certain self-evident truths: “that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” (Braunwarth Chp2.4.3). These fundamentals would then lead into allowing the public which at the time was limited to white male property owners, to have a say in the government leaving out all those that did not meet the criteria. ” The federalists maintained that inequalities are inevitable. Some will be cleverer, some will work harder, individual experiences will differ, and, consequently, wealth and power will come to be distributed unequally. It is, therefore, natural that an elite class will develop to which the masses will defer” (Braunwarth Chp2.10.5). Allowing only a certain part of the population to vote did not create a true democratic country but instead allowed the elite to have democracy while the remainder had to follow by their decisions, until later amendments would allow all Americans to vote. These decisions of what the populace can and cannot do would be further stated under the title of civil

”All newspapers had small circulations and most were financed by political groups as a means to express particular opinions and criticize their opponents”(Braunwarth Chp10.2.1). While modern day the availability of news is limitless, having un biased and accurate information is limited. “In the early twentieth century many newspapers….The so-called “muckrakers” dug up stories about government corruption, which was at an all-time high in the United States. In their zeal to expose, newspapers often published stories based on faulty information”(Braunwarth Chp10.2.5). False news accompanied by slander is still a problem in modern times and the control is in the hands of political parties. The control over the media and current utilization causes harm to a democratic country, the citizens are shown false information not to educate them but rather, persuade them to vote in favor of the medias benefactor by only showing points they want observed. “the media do not so much influence what people think as what they think about.” By gatekeeping and framing, the media help determine which policies the public thinks are important” (Braunwarth Chp10.7.3). The public has an option on where they become educated to vote but many of those resources are all owned by four