What year the US formed democracy?

Answer 1

The United States is not a democracy, per se. We are a republic that elects our leaders in a democratic fashion. And in the beginning of our country, even that was not true. The former colonies of Great Britain, declared independence on July 4, 1776. A United States of America was born. A war was fought, the American Revolutionary War, a document was set forth called The Articles of Confederation, these were thrown out and then our present form of government was decided upon with passage of a new Constitution.

It set up a two house legislature, a federal court, an executive branch and all manner of issues including an electoral college and how elections were to be held. In a republic, representatives are elected to conduct the business of the people. The legislature creates laws, in accordance with the Constitution. The courts interpret those laws and the executive branch enforces them.

Originally only white land owners who were men could vote. Eventually land ownership was no longer a requirement. Freed black male slaves were then given the right to vote in the 1860's. Many times, these rights were trampled on. Finally women were given the right to vote only in the early years of the 20th century. Later, 18 year olds were granted the right to vote.

Originally Senators were appointed by state legislatures. This was eventually changed to a direct vote. Representatives to the House have always been directly elected. The President also, is not directly elected by the people. What I mean by that is, the candidate with the most votes doesn't always win.

The Electoral College is made up of a slate of electors that vote for President. Of course the electors are equal to the votes assigned to a particular state. This number is found by adding up how many congressional house seats the state has, apportioned by population, plus two for the state's senators. In 2008, for instance, Ohio had 20 electoral college votes. The state was won by Barack Obama and therefore, he gets all 20 electors. But I must stress, these 20 electors are not bound by law to vote for the winner of the state presidential election. This has only happened a couple times and has never affected an election. A census has been taken since 2008 and Ohio has lost two congressional seats due to declining population.. In the 2012 election Ohio will only have 18 electoral votes.

In the contentious 2000 presidential election Al Gore had more votes nation wide but George W. Bush had more electoral votes. Bush was elected president. In a democracy it would be Al Gore who won the election and not Bush. We are a republic but so many times people call the United States a democracy when in fact we're a democratically elected representative republic.