Ask the average American on the street what kind of government the United States has, and he will likely say that the United States of America is a democracy in which the majority rules. It's a logical conclusion, given the emphasis put on the popular vote in presidential elections. In truth, no one paid attention to the popular vote until 1824, with the election of John Quincy Adams, the sixth president. The president is, in fact, elected through an arcane system known as the "Electoral College."
Of the three branches of U.S. government, the legislative, the executive, and the judicial, only the bicameral legislative branch (the House of Representatives and Senate) is appointed by direct election. The original intention of the Framers of the Constitution was that members of the Senate be appointed by their state legislatures, a check on potential demagoguery and dishonest alliances that was overturned by the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913, during the first wave of the progressive movement.
Checks and Balances in the United States
Beyond the methods of political appointment, the "checks and balances" of government is what distinguishes the United States as a republic, from a democracy. Each branch has the ability to prevent another from overtaking authority. Another, often overlooked, method of checks and balances is that of "states rights," emphasized by the Tenth Amendment, "Powers not delegated to the United States, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
The Framers' View of Democracy
Why did the Framers fear democracy? Alexander Hamilton wrote in 1787, "Give all the power to the many, they will oppress the few. Give all the power to the few, they will oppress the many. Both, therefore, ought to have power, that they each may defend itself against one another." (Freeman, Joanne. Alexander Hamilton: Writings. New York: Library of America, 2001)
General elections, in their pure form, too easily fall prey to corruption and "stuffing" of ballot-boxes, (reference the "elections" in virtually any third world democracy) and the populace, busy as they are with their everyday lives, are too easily swayed by smooth talking and marketing than by what is actually in their best interest for the long term. Elbridge Gerry of Massachusetts, an influential member of the Constitutional Convention, (though he, ultimately, refused to sign the Constitution because it originally did not contain a "Bill of Rights") said of democracies, "...the evils we experience flow from the excess of democracy. The people do not want virtue, but are the dupes of pretended patriots." (Billias, George A. Elbridge Gerry: Founding Father and Republican Statesman. McGraw Hill, 1976)
The Framers Were Historians
One of the great virtues of the Framers was that they were historians as well as politicians. (One would likely find the works of John Locke, Cicero, and Thucydides in their personal libraries). As such, they knew the follies of their predecessors and, knowing that they were creating an unprecedented document outlining a republic, a much ridiculed concept of government at the time, were careful not to recreate the failures of the past. Moreover, they understood their own frailties, passions and prejudices and, therefore, wished to keep mankind, with its vices, from wreaking havoc on its own.
Bill Scherer - Bill Scherer has written for RingSports.com and TigerBoxing.com, enjoyed a stint as the Managing Editor for FightTube.tv and is a United ...
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