Sadly, Ancient Democracies are best viewed in the graveyards of Greece, Rome, and the Ancient Middle East. This tomb is in Turkey along the western coast.

 
The Rise and Fall of Democracy: Can it Happen in the United States?

Michael Streich    

The second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence begins with the ringing words, “We hold these truths to be self-evident: That all men are created equal…” Thomas Jefferson’s words go on to highlight the “unalienable” rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” But, as students of American history have long pointed out, this would not become reality for over two hundred years. The development of a democratic society in which all members share both political and social rights, took a very long time in American history.

 

The Early Republic

 

Framers of the United States Constitution were cautious and followed the precepts known to them regarding representation. Only white males that owned property (land) could participate politically. The Constitution, as it was originally ratified, only allowed for the House of Representatives to be elected by direct popular vote. The President, ultimately, was elected by an Electoral College and Senators serving in the national legislature were appointed by state legislatures.

 

By the 1820s states began to change voting qualifications to open the franchise to all white males whether they owned property or not. Historians estimate that between 1824 and 1828, nearly one million new voters were eligible to participate in the political life of the fledgling nation.

 

By the 1840s, groups of women began to actively advocate for the right to vote. The 1848 Seneca Falls Convention publicized the Declaration of Sentiments, written by early Feminist leaders Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott. The early Women’s Movement would join forces with a growing Abolitionist Movement, hopeful that their political emancipation would come with the emancipation of slaves. The 15^th Amendment proved them wrong.

 

The Post Civil War Years

 

The Fifteenth Amendment, adopted in 1870, upheld the right to vote by all citizens regardless of “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” On the heels of the 1868 Fourteenth Amendment guaranteeing “equal protection of the laws” and “due process,” the Fifteenth Amendment enabled African Americans the opportunity to participate politically.

 

But even as Southern states sought to circumvent Reconstruction legislation designed to mainstream freedman into the political system, social equality was not addressed. Additionally, the clamor to include women in the political process met with deaf ears.

 

The “separate but equal” doctrine, affirmed by the 1896 Supreme Court case Plessy v Ferguson, denied blacks social equality while prohibitive policies geared toward political participation kept blacks from exercising the vote. Literacy tests, poll taxes, and other local devices in the South stifled the notion that “all men are created equal.”

 

Women finally achieved the right to vote in 1920 with the adoption of the Twentieth Amendment, although some territorial jurisdictions had already allowed women to vote in that last 1800s.  It was not until 1964 that the Twenty-Fourth Amendment did away with the “poll tax” as a requirement to vote in a national election. By 1971, citizens attaining the age of 18 were given the right to vote.

 

Social Equality in the United States

 

Enough evidence exists from the lives of post Civil War Radical Republicans that social equality between races was not a part of the political equality enshrined in federal law and Constitutional amendments. Social equality began with Brown v. Board of Education when the Warren Court ruled that separate but equal was “inherently unequal.” The inability of African American students to obtain an equal education directly impacted their ability to be successful in society.

 

Ultimately, the Civil Rights movement and President Lyndon B. Johnson’s legislative initiatives would pave the road toward social equality for all citizens. Over two hundred years after Jefferson’s Declaration, the nation would truly become the world’s greatest democracy.

 

Sources:

 

Alfred H. Kelly and Winfred A. Harbison, The American Constitution: Its Origins & Development

Addendum February 12, 2021

 

Can democracies survive? Venezuela, once a wealthy nation due to vast oil reserves, is led by a dictator, Nicholas Maduro, who is supported by Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Turkey, under Tayyip Erdogan, has grown closer to the Kremlin as any aspects of democratic government in Ankara have been weakened. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, whom former President Trump calls his “favorite dictator” presides over an ever tightening government with fee personal freedoms.

 

In many so-called democracies elected leaders are being replaced by military groups as in Myanmar (Burma) where Aung San Suu Kyi was ousted February 1, 2021 by a military coup. Even India, in recent history a strong democracy, is showing movements weakening freedoms and parliamentary rule. As to the ten-year-old “Arab spring,” this turned out to be a media myth and wishful thinking on the part of western democracies.

 

There is also the fear that the Covid pandemic may bring out the weaknesses in some democracies as vaccination inequalities become apparent throughout the world.

 

In the United States, over 250 years of democratic tradition, albeit with many historical obstacles to overcome, may be in dire jeopardy with the growing divide between Republicans, Democrats, and “patriot-populists” tied only to Donald Trump and who will stop at nothing to appease their man. During one “rally,” they cheered "twelve more years" and the press have quoted individual MAGA followers proudly stating that Mr. Trump was their dictator.

 

Perhaps the fault lies in the American classroom where standards in American History have been obliterated for several decades. Additionally, American education has split decisively between non-public and public schools over the last few years with Trump’s Secretary of Education. Little wonder most Americans do not know their own history and can easily be exploited.

This can be seen in the formulation of policies favoring the private schools and weakening restrictions and regulations designed to bring education equity in all aspects of the classroom.

 

There is much to be done to rebuild a strong democracy with leaders of integrity that the citizens can look up to. There is much to be done to ensure that EVERY MEMBER OF CONGRESS, indeed to government itself, reads and knows the Constitution.

{First part of Article originally published in 2009 in Suite 101. Copyright of entire article belongs to Michael Streich. Any reprints require written permission.]