The Evolution of American Democracy

The Evolution of the American Democracy United States can be seen as the first liberal res publica. The United States Constitution, adopted in 1788, provided for an take govern ment and protected civil rights and liberties. On the American frontier, democracy became a way of life, with widespread social, economic and political equality. The corpse gradually evolved, from Jeffersonian Democracy or the First companionship System to Jacksonian Democracy or the Second fellowship System and later to the Third Party System. In reconstruction after the Civil War (late 1860s) the newly freed slaves became citizens, and they were given the ballot as well. (Web, 1) After 1815 Americans transformed the republic of the Founding Fathers into a democracy. State after state revoked property qualifications for voting and belongings office?thus transforming Jeffersons republic of property holders into Andrew Jacksons nap democracy. Democracy, however, was not for everyone. While states extended political rights to all albumin men, they often withdrew or limited such rights for blacks. As recess of the same trend, the state of New Jersey took the vote external from propertied women, who formerly had possessed that right. Thus the democratization of citizenship utilise exclusively to white men.

In the mid?19th century, these men went to the polls in record shapes. The election of 1828 attracted 1.2 million voters; that number jumped to 1.5 million in 1836 and to 2.4 million in 1840. Turnout of desirable voters by 1840 was well over 60 percent?higher(prenominal) than it had ever been, and much higher than it is now. (Remini, 1998) At the same time, however, public political activity other than voting declined. Judging by available evidence, state and national governments sure fewer petitions than in the past, and they paid less attention to the ones they received. In the 1830s, when Congress received hundreds of antislavery petitions, it simply refused to read them. Petitioning, parading, and mobbing... If you want to get a wide-eyed essay, order it on our website: Orderessay

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