Democracy, the word that is thought to be the underlying principle of our country’s government, it’s not. Our system of government is founded on the U.S. Constitution that was written in 1787 by delegates from twelve of the thirteen states. Only thirty-nine of these delegates signed the constitution, though fifty-five delegates attended the meetings in which the Constitution was created. It is told that the Constitution constructs a democratic system of government when in fact it forms a republic.
Democracy is based on the theory of equal rights, citizens having an equal say in their government without discrimination. The concept of democracy also includes the idea that the opportunity to participate in decisions is widely shared throughout the community. A Democratic government should base decisions by what the greater portion of that society decides. Using the three previously stated qualifications (equal rights, widely shared participation, and popular vote) we create a definition which we can use to determine if a government is in fact democratic. There are different types of democratic governments when they reflect these credentials using different methods. A Direct Democracy is a form of governing in which the people are ruled by the majority’s verdict on all issues that a government would deal with. This self governing system is a true democracy and is based on this definition of democracy. A Representative Democracy is what the US Constitution is said to outline. This is a government ruled by representatives of the people which are elected through popular vote to speak for them. Based on this definition of democracy we are missing some key pieces in the US Constitution for it to be declared democratic.
Everyday before classes begin in all levels of schooling around the United States the students are told to recite the pledge of allegiance. “And to the republic for which it stands…” not masking the fact that our nation was in fact founded as a Republic. James Madison, in Federalist Paper No. 10 explains that the US government is based on the concept of a Republic representing the people. This does not necessarily break the definition of being democratic if the people are accurately and equally being represented by a large number of representatives. If the numbers of representatives elected reflect the popular vote than this system would, by the previously stated definition, be democratic. The formation of The Senate has created a system in which the people are not being accurately represented.
The Senate is composed of two senators from each state, regardless of population. This is known as the Connecticut Compromise, and was included into the Constitution so that the smaller states would stay under this republican system. This compromise now gives a tiny state like Rhode Island as many senators as a heavily populated state like California, not accurately representing the populations of those states. In The House of Representatives the number of representatives for each state reflects its population. Together these two parties create the Congress which overall does not attribute the same number of representatives per population because of the Senate. According to the definition of democracy the people from each state should have a number of representatives that is equally based on population in order to have equal rights.
Another contradiction to the US Constitution being democratic is the system in which we elect our president, established in Article II, Section 1, Clause 3 and the Twelfth Amendment, by way of the Electoral College. The Electoral College is a group of representatives voted for by the people to vote the president into office. Each state is given as many electors as it has Representatives and Senators; Again using the same argument stated in the last paragraph this representation of the people is not accurate, but another undemocratic aspect of this method is in its point system. The President is elected by receiving an absolute majority of the electoral votes. The number of electoral votes of each state is the sum of its number of U.S. Senators and its U.S. Representatives. Without this point system a candidate would be able to be elected who wins by large margins in only a few large states over another candidate who wins by small margins in the rest of the states. This means that even if a candidate gets the national popular vote within this already skewed representation of the people they can still lose the election to a candidate that received fewer votes. This has happened in 1824, 1876, 1888, and 2000. Based on the definition of democracy this breaks two of the three qualifications. Like the Congress, this violates having equality between states in representation, and by being able to win without receiving the most votes in this point system it also violates that decisions should be made by popular vote.
The judicial system is usually rather democratic in that the prosecuted are judged by a random jury of their peers. Article III in the US Constitution states “The judicial Power of the United States, shall be vested in one supreme Court. This court is made of nine judges who are not elected by the people or the Congress but nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. This breaks the other condition in the definition of a democracy in that a wide collection of people should share involvement in electing an official. The president has the sole power to nominate a judge. Judges have the power to rule unconstitutional any law or regulation (Marbury v. Madison), even if duly approved by the legislature and signed by the president. This gives judges a lot of power for they are the only ones making these decisions, again breaking the condition that many should be able to be involved in the verdicts. In his book How Democratic is The Constitution? Dahl believes that this system has used its authority to make national policy through its judicial rulings.
The US Constitution used to be an even less democratic document before the amendments. The original Constitution was created by all older white men most of whom were plantation owners, owning slaves themselves. Originally the Congress elected its own members giving a majority of even white male citizens almost no participation in the governmental process. It also discriminated against minorities and females excluding them from the governmental process. Some states eventually interpreted that the Founding Fathers meant to abolish slavery as it said that everyone should have the right to life liberty and pursuit of happiness. The Supreme Court interpreted it this way in the Quock Walker Case, freeing a slave who fought for his freedom in court (Cushing, 118). The Amendments to the Constitution has made it a more democratic document yet it still does not meet the definition of being democratic.
The republic which makes up our government is a very complicated yet practical form of government that runs our country well. It is a happy medium between the extents of both a hierarchy system and a pure democracy. A hierarchy form of government could lead to the dangerous extreme of tyranny by a small group of wealthy powerful individuals. As a pure democracy could lead to a government where the lower classes control public affairs without respect to law, precedents, or vested rights called a mobocracy. Our form of government is based on some democratic concepts with the basis of a republic as Scheb describes, “The United States relies on representative democracy, but [its] system of government is much more complex than that. [It is] not a simple representative democracy, but a constitutional republic in which majority rule is tempered by minority rights protected by law” (Scheb, 6) . Our Constitution has resulted in a government that is based heavily on liberty, reason, justice and the pursuit of happiness and has helped us progress in all areas of arts, science, and thought.
We hear that our values and government are based on democracy all the time through the media and schooling, only when we study the meaning behind democracy and take a look at our own Constitution do we realize that this isn’t fully true. The word democracy is a powerful word that Americans like to believe represents their way of life. It is a word that stands for freedom and liberty and gives us pride in our forefathers for fighting against tyranny. We have many democratic principles that our Constitution is based on and the US Constitution has served us well, but in the end we find the truth is that our founding document is not one of a democracy but a republic.
References:
Cushing, John D. 1961. The Cushing Court and the Abolition of Slavery in Massachusetts.” The American Journal of Legal History 5(2): 118-144.
Dahl, Robert A. 2002. How Democratic is the American Constitution? New Haven Connecticut: Yale University.
Madison, James. November 22, 1787. “The Same Subject Continued: The Union as a Safeguard Against Domestic Faction and Insurrection”, Daily Advertiser. New York.
Pacelle, Richard L. 2002. The Role of the Supreme Court in American Politics: The Least Dangerous Branch?” Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: Westview Press
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Scheb, John M. 2001. An Introduction to the American Legal System. New York. Thomson Delmar Learning
William Graebner, Leonard Richards. 2006. The American Record: Images of the Nations’s Past. New York: McGraw Hill Higher Education.
