The American Constitution was formed on September 17, 1787, which was 228 years ago to the day. The United States Government has strictly adhered to the terms of the constitution throughout this time period, and still refers to it as sort of its Bible. The government created by this short document has been maintained longer than any system of government anywhere in the world. The Constitution’s lack of specificity and vagueness has allowed every single party running this nation to be in accordance with it, and has also permitted it to be relevant in this day and age, which is a time extremely different from 1787. The Constitution has always attempted to represent people in a democratic fashion. Democracy, by definition, is an egalitarian system of government in which people are given a variety of rights and vote in fair and frequent elections that result in a deliberate rule of law. The individual people of society are the priority rather than the government itself, and are thus given large amounts of personal freedom. When a system has become more democratic, it generally means that it has become more representative of the people it serves and provides these individuals with more freedom in their opinions and in how they can live their lives. The Constitution’s ability to be amended has shown its flexibility, and in the past 200 years, through various points in this nation’s history, the Constitution has been democratized to become more representative of individual, ordinary citizens in this country.
Several of the relevant amendments in the modern day constitution prove that this nation’s system of government has democratized. For example, the very first constitutional amendment increases individual liberty. “Congress should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress in grievances” (Woll, 416). The original constitution indicated nothing about individual rights. It went into depth about the legislative power of individual states, federal power, and the power of the governmental branches, but individual power, or power of the common man and woman, was initially ignored. However, the openness of the document to improve allowed basic rights in a democratic society to quickly become part of the equation with the First Amendment.
The Fourth Amendment also democratized the Constitution by increasing individual liberty. Rather than policemen or other members of authority barging into people’s homes on any basis they so desired, the Fourth Amendment gave people the freedom to maintain peace and privacy in their homes if outside individuals lacked a search warrant. Inserting this amendment into the Constitution was a move toward democratization because it placed a system where common people were put above authority. In a government where the people in office, like a monarch or dictator, possessed all the power, search warrants would fail to exist, because the government would have absolute authority to do whatever they so desired, inside or outside people’s private spaces.
The Ninth Amendment probably most democratizes the Constitution. Because it emphasizes that individuals have rights not listed in the document itself, it basically tells them that they have huge amounts of power. Without this amendment, Americans were limited by the Constitution; all their rights were listed in the document. However, the Ninth Amendment, by telling people that they had even more freedoms and liberties than the Constitution already provided them, democratized the document as a whole.
The Civil War Amendments granted huge amounts of rights to people, and thus made the Constitution much more democratic. For example, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery. Slavery allowed people to be owned by others, which was a completely unequal and dominating way of life for so many. The fact that the slaves were now liberated, and were considered equal before the law in the United States to the elitists that used to own them was a huge step toward providing the equality that representative democracy today strongly stands for. Furthermore, the Fourteenth Amendment provided so many with more unalienable rights. The individuals born in the United States that were previously scoffed at as foreigners were now given equal rights as American citizens; “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (Woll, 419). The fact that the government judged people of other ethnicities and races through a fair process of law and allowed them basically all the rights given to individuals of American origin showed that the Constitution really did begin forming a government for all the people. The Fifteenth Amendment, stated that “The rights of citizens… shall not be denied or abridged… on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (Woll, 420). For years before the Civil War, African Americans were treated as property. The fact that they could now vote indicated the further representation of people, and thus a democratization in the Constitution.
The Seventeenth Amendment also further democratized the government. By allowing senators to be directly elected, rather than handpicked by white collar, traditional, state legislature, the United States Senators would now be placed in power as a result of majority vote. This resulted in further democratization because it led to the government allowing more participation from society, and thus made it more “by the people”.
The Nineteenth Amendment finally provided equal rights for members of both sexes. The fact all sexes were now allowed to vote indicated a more democratic government because at this point in history, citizens of all color, race, and sex were able to vote to create a government that they so desired to represent them. Before the initiation of this amendment, only a portion of citizens were able to vote, because the Constitution did not provide individuals with the equality that democracy promised. However, the fact that women, too, were now considered productive and equal members of society made this a fair system of government.
The Twentieth Amendment, giving information about how a President and Vice President would be sworn in, made this government even more democratic. The fact that there was now a proper and organized system in which all members of power had to adhere to was democratic, because it showed that people of authority, too, had guidelines and rules to obey.
The Twenty First Amendment, too, increased individual freedom. By allowing individuals to consume alcoholic beverages, the government was granting them more freedom to do what they desired with their health, wellness, and bodies. If they felt like alcohol would improve their mental states and abilities, they could consume it. If they felt it was a harmful form of intoxication, they had the ability to avoid it. This freedom to do as they pleased was a further step toward democracy because it gave individuals yet another right.
The Twenty Second Amendment built on one of the foundations of democracy. By limiting the term of the president to two terms, it allowed people the ability to participate in frequent elections to elect which candidate would best serve their interests at a given time. Frequent elections, because it is one of the aspects of what democracy should provide people in order to have representation in the government.
As time has gone on in this nation, democracy has progressed. Today, we live in a day and age that our founding fathers would have probably imagined unthinkable. The Constitution, however, has lived through all this time and has been able to appropriately adjust to give people the rights of a changing society. It is doubtful that James Madison, or any of the constitutional fighters before him would have ever thought that women would have rights, or that same sex couples would have the right to marry, but the Constitution that these people drafted, whether they knew it or not, was eventually molded in such a way that all these rights became permissible.
Works Cited:
Peter Woll, editor, “The United States Constitution” in American Government Readings and
Cases, (Glenview: Pearson Education, Inc., 2008), 407-425.
Several of the relevant amendments in the modern day constitution prove that this nation’s system of government has democratized. For example, the very first constitutional amendment increases individual liberty. “Congress should make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress in grievances” (Woll, 416). The original constitution indicated nothing about individual rights. It went into depth about the legislative power of individual states, federal power, and the power of the governmental branches, but individual power, or power of the common man and woman, was initially ignored. However, the openness of the document to improve allowed basic rights in a democratic society to quickly become part of the equation with the First Amendment.
The Fourth Amendment also democratized the Constitution by increasing individual liberty. Rather than policemen or other members of authority barging into people’s homes on any basis they so desired, the Fourth Amendment gave people the freedom to maintain peace and privacy in their homes if outside individuals lacked a search warrant. Inserting this amendment into the Constitution was a move toward democratization because it placed a system where common people were put above authority. In a government where the people in office, like a monarch or dictator, possessed all the power, search warrants would fail to exist, because the government would have absolute authority to do whatever they so desired, inside or outside people’s private spaces.
The Ninth Amendment probably most democratizes the Constitution. Because it emphasizes that individuals have rights not listed in the document itself, it basically tells them that they have huge amounts of power. Without this amendment, Americans were limited by the Constitution; all their rights were listed in the document. However, the Ninth Amendment, by telling people that they had even more freedoms and liberties than the Constitution already provided them, democratized the document as a whole.
The Civil War Amendments granted huge amounts of rights to people, and thus made the Constitution much more democratic. For example, the Thirteenth Amendment abolished slavery. Slavery allowed people to be owned by others, which was a completely unequal and dominating way of life for so many. The fact that the slaves were now liberated, and were considered equal before the law in the United States to the elitists that used to own them was a huge step toward providing the equality that representative democracy today strongly stands for. Furthermore, the Fourteenth Amendment provided so many with more unalienable rights. The individuals born in the United States that were previously scoffed at as foreigners were now given equal rights as American citizens; “No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws” (Woll, 419). The fact that the government judged people of other ethnicities and races through a fair process of law and allowed them basically all the rights given to individuals of American origin showed that the Constitution really did begin forming a government for all the people. The Fifteenth Amendment, stated that “The rights of citizens… shall not be denied or abridged… on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude” (Woll, 420). For years before the Civil War, African Americans were treated as property. The fact that they could now vote indicated the further representation of people, and thus a democratization in the Constitution.
The Seventeenth Amendment also further democratized the government. By allowing senators to be directly elected, rather than handpicked by white collar, traditional, state legislature, the United States Senators would now be placed in power as a result of majority vote. This resulted in further democratization because it led to the government allowing more participation from society, and thus made it more “by the people”.
The Nineteenth Amendment finally provided equal rights for members of both sexes. The fact all sexes were now allowed to vote indicated a more democratic government because at this point in history, citizens of all color, race, and sex were able to vote to create a government that they so desired to represent them. Before the initiation of this amendment, only a portion of citizens were able to vote, because the Constitution did not provide individuals with the equality that democracy promised. However, the fact that women, too, were now considered productive and equal members of society made this a fair system of government.
The Twentieth Amendment, giving information about how a President and Vice President would be sworn in, made this government even more democratic. The fact that there was now a proper and organized system in which all members of power had to adhere to was democratic, because it showed that people of authority, too, had guidelines and rules to obey.
The Twenty First Amendment, too, increased individual freedom. By allowing individuals to consume alcoholic beverages, the government was granting them more freedom to do what they desired with their health, wellness, and bodies. If they felt like alcohol would improve their mental states and abilities, they could consume it. If they felt it was a harmful form of intoxication, they had the ability to avoid it. This freedom to do as they pleased was a further step toward democracy because it gave individuals yet another right.
The Twenty Second Amendment built on one of the foundations of democracy. By limiting the term of the president to two terms, it allowed people the ability to participate in frequent elections to elect which candidate would best serve their interests at a given time. Frequent elections, because it is one of the aspects of what democracy should provide people in order to have representation in the government.
As time has gone on in this nation, democracy has progressed. Today, we live in a day and age that our founding fathers would have probably imagined unthinkable. The Constitution, however, has lived through all this time and has been able to appropriately adjust to give people the rights of a changing society. It is doubtful that James Madison, or any of the constitutional fighters before him would have ever thought that women would have rights, or that same sex couples would have the right to marry, but the Constitution that these people drafted, whether they knew it or not, was eventually molded in such a way that all these rights became permissible.
Works Cited:
Peter Woll, editor, “The United States Constitution” in American Government Readings and
Cases, (Glenview: Pearson Education, Inc., 2008), 407-425.