Democracy, as most people think of it today, did not exist during the first few decades of U.S. history. Democracy, as it is used today, means “ the people rule.” A democracy is a form of government ruled by the people of the country through elections and representation. A democracy is really a form of republic known as a democratic republic. A republic is a government where officials elected by a small group of people that make the important decisions. Democracy has been around for almost 2500 years since Athens, Greece became the first democracy. The Romans also experimented with democracy, however it was more a republic, and not a democracy. Around 1200 England laid the groundwork to become a republic. Later, in the 1700's, …show more content…
Southerners held agreed with many of Jefferson's views. The Anti-Feds and Republicans believed in strict interpretation of the constitution, peaceful foreign relations, and a reduction of the role of the federal government in the lives of average citizens. They were opposed to a strong central government and felt states should hold the power to govern. The Federalists believed that the constitution should be loosely interpreted and that America should follow the spirit of it to make laws and judgments. Federalists wanted to organize the states so a strong federal power could govern over them in order to keep enough power for the economy, war and ruling. Many were opposed to this form of government because it so closely mimicked that of Great Britain. Between these two diverse groups, their followers split the nation. The United States was geographically split North from South. The North was home of manufacturers and industry. Farming was not the North's economic base as was manufacturing. Crops would not grow year around due to freezing weather; therefore slaves were of no need during off-seasons in farming. Here, it was not economically safe or resourceful to own slaves, because of the fact that they were expensive to acquire and maintain. Since slaves were mostly used in manual labor, their use in the North was almost nonexistent. Blacks were not used in factories
Democracy formed in the 1700's and has opened the doors for individuals living in the United States to have a voice towards the principles established. Democracy provided freedom, representation for majority and minorities groups, and posterity.
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.
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 Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Democracy is defined as 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. This definition is accurate in
One well-known real-life example of a Democracy is Athens, Greece. According to the “Ancient History Encyclopedia,” all male Athenian citizens had equal political rights and freedom of speech. Any male citizen was allowed to contribute to the main democratic body of Athens, the assembly. Anyone could speak to the assembly and vote. In the end, the opinion of the majority of the people won. They all took part in making decisions and being the government by voting. This structure of government was a democracy.
If the US had a democracy the people would rule. This means that everything would be based on majority rules. For example, making laws in a democratic government means that the people write a bill then all the people would go to the polls and vote. If the majority of
In the nineteenth century, when the influences of a recent democratic society began to spread among the Americans, the equality of gender, the role of women, and the family began to change into an individualistic culture. In the United States, democracy opens up new beliefs on equality among the role of gender. In Democracy in America, Alexis de Tocqueville argues on how Americans were able to see the roles of gender more equally important than the Europeans. The Americans recognize the roles of the women and men important in being part as a contribution in the community. Each of the gender contains the same understanding that makes the American gender undetectable. For example, Tocqueville notice, in the United States, that the American
When referring to classical antiquity period, most think of Greece and Rome dominating and flourishing in the areas of philosophy, sciences, mathematics and literature. One other admirable achievement, the establishment of early forms of democracy, came from this time period and should not be overlooked as it is the historical basis of our government today. The Founding Fathers of the United States were influenced by Greek and Roman concepts in law, government structure, and even philosophy. Concepts described in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States can be traced back historically to the classical antiquity period, and show that the United States government and law were modeled after those of Greece
Upon the opening words of the Constitution, "We the People do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America," one must ask, who are these people? While the American Constitution provided its citizens with individual rights, many members were excluded. Elite framers manipulated the idea of a constitution in order to protect their economic interests and the interests of their fellow white land and slave owning men' by restricting the voices of women, slaves, indentured servants and others. Therefore, the Constitution cannot truly be considered a "democratic document." However, because it is a live document, malleable and controllably changeable according to the interest of congress, it has enabled us to make
One example of democracy was illustrated in the movie summer hill when Ryan was told he didn't have to take lessons and could do what he wanted. None of the kids at summer hill had to go to lessons it was completely optional, so that made it a democracy since they chose what they wanted to take. If they didn't want to take classes they didn't have to. Another example of democracy is when the kids held meetings to decide things like, what Ryans punishment should be for stealing maddies money or for deciding what should happen to summer hill. Everyone deciding what should happen to the camp made it a democracy as well.
Democracy was not created in a day. Instead it was made after years of monarchy where any democratic ideas were unthinkable. Luckily, for us in the seventeenth century a man by the name of John Locke reevaluated many ideas from Ancient Greek and Rome and created a stable foundation for many of our government ideas. This document was named Two Treatises of Government and though he got backlash from many people it was the structure used to create two very important documents. These two documents were The Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson and A Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen recorded by the National Assembly of France.
First, a democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is handed to the people
A democracy is described as a system of government run by the citizens or by the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. “Ever since the United States was founded, Americans have proclaimed the new country’s special destiny: to create a new form of government, a democracy (Brozo et al. 13).” People now disagree over whether America is a democracy and republic. The reasons that the United States of America could be considered a democracy is because states have the citizens vote for or against a new official or a new law. The votes are sent to the elected representative who takes action based upon the vote of the majority of citizens. The United States of America could also be categorized as a republic because the country has an elected president or governor who holds supreme power. The president or governor also shares the power with the people through their votes. Though either way, the colonists received what they had hoped for. They got a nation where they, too, held the power with a
Democracy is not just the same over and over. It is constantly evolving and constantly changing. Democracy has been influence by the social, economic, and political changes throughout history. It was changed by our many different political leaders. Whether they’re democratic or republican. Sometimes the changes were positive and sometimes they were negative. We made progress as a country, very slowly, but progress nonetheless.
rule." A democracy is a form of government is run by the people of that country