Who made United States a democracy?

Answer 1

It was a gradual process, starting even before the United States was an independent country.

Look up the "Virginia House of Burgesses" to find out more about colonial-era democracy.

At the time that the Constitution was drafted and approved, (1789) "democracy" applied only to some white adult males. To vote, one had to own a certain amount of property; an even greater amount of property was needed in order to be elected to office.

Look up "Andrew Jackson" and "Jacksonian Democracy" to find out more about the gradual removal of these property requirements.

A major defect to democracy in the States was slavery, which was legal in most of the original 13 states. This issue was addressed internally in the northern states (e.g. New York state outlawed slavery via "post nati emancipation"), but the southern states, with some minor exceptions, (look up "1832 Virginia slavery debate") voted to keep slavery.

The Civil War, 1861-1865, and the 13th amendment to the Constitution, finally ended slavery.

In 1920, the last major barrier to full democracy was removed when women were enfranchised at the federal level. They had already been given the vote in many states before this time. The native American Indians were the last group to be given the vote.

In the period from the 1930's to the 1970's, African-Americans fought for the actual, practical right to vote. Technically, they were enfranchised, but many official and unofficial rules prevented them from voting. The American Civil Rights Movement, lead by Dr. Martin Luther King, advanced voting rights and other rights for American blacks.

Today, democracy is still being tested and making advances as well as sometimes going backwards. The "signing statements" used by the current U.S. president are viewed by some legal scholars as threatening the legislative and judicial branches of government. The Patriot Act and other legal initiatives after "9/11" may have a negative impact on "democracy" -- but we will be able to see this more clearly only after the historical dust has settled, in twenty or thirty years.

"Democracy" is very much a "work in progress" -- as founding father Benjamin Franklin answered a woman who asked what kind of a government had been designed in the Constitution:

"A democracy, madam, if you can keep it."