America Is Not a Democracy: The Argument

America Is Not a Democracy. Myth: The Founding generation created a democracy

From a technical standpoint, America is not a democracy and was never intended to be a democracy. The United States is a republic, and a great number in the Founding generation, if not the majority, classified themselves as republicans (not to be confused with the modern Republican Party). Most of the Founding Fathers considered democracy a dangerous extreme to be avoided.

Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts said at the Constitutional Convention that “the evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy. The people do not want virtue, but are the dupes of pretended patriots.”George Mason guarded against being both “too democratic” and running “incautiously” to the “other extreme” (monarchy). Mason equated the United States House of Representatives with the British House of Commons, and suggested, as did James Madison, that the other branches of government should have some check on rampant democracy. In the words of Madison, “Where a majority are united by a common sentiment and have an opportunity, the rights of the minor party become insecure”—in other words, the Founders wanted checks against the tyranny of the majority. That was why the Founders wanted a republic of separated powers. While the government was to “be derived from the great body of society, not from an inconsiderable portion or a favored class of it,” the Constitution included a system of indirect appointments, including the Supreme Court, the Electoral College System, and, originally, the United States Senate, whose members were appointed by their respective state legislatures.