Democracy
How Democratic Is the American Constitution?
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
How Democratic is the American Constitution? (2001, ISBN 0-300-09218-0, among others) is a book by political scientist Robert A. Dahl that discusses seven "undemocratic" elements of the United States Constitution.
The book defines "democratic" as alignment with the principle of one person, one vote, also known as majority rule. The author praises the Framers of the Constitution as "men of exceptional talent and virtue" (p. 7) who made admirable progress in the creation of their republican government. But Dahl also points out that innovation and change in democratic techniques and ideals continued even after the Constitution was codified, and the American system has not adopted all of those new ideas. He says that the Founders were partially constrained by public opinion, which included maintenance of the sovereignty of the thirteen states.
Contents
1 Undemocratic Elements 2 What kind of constitution is best? 2.1 Maintaining stability 2.2 International comparisons 2.3 List of countries steadily democratic since at least 1950 2.4 Protecting democratic rights 2.5 Fairness and consensus 2.6 Problem-solving effectiveness 3 References
Undemocratic Elements
The primary "undemocratic" aspects of the Constitution that the book sets out are:
Tolerance of slavery - Necessary to ensure the cooperation participation of the Southern states, and only outlawed after the American Civil War
Suffrage - The voting rights of women, African-Americans, and Native Americans were either not protected or specifically abridged. (In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment prohibited denial of suffrage due to race. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment prohibited denial of suffrage due to sex. In 1964, the Twenty-Fourth Amendment prohibited poll taxes, which were then being used in some states to
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
How Democratic is the American Constitution? (2001, ISBN 0-300-09218-0, among others) is a book by political scientist Robert A. Dahl that discusses seven "undemocratic" elements of the United States Constitution.
The book defines "democratic" as alignment with the principle of one person, one vote, also known as majority rule. The author praises the Framers of the Constitution as "men of exceptional talent and virtue" (p. 7) who made admirable progress in the creation of their republican government. But Dahl also points out that innovation and change in democratic techniques and ideals continued even after the Constitution was codified, and the American system has not adopted all of those new ideas. He says that the Founders were partially constrained by public opinion, which included maintenance of the sovereignty of the thirteen states.
Contents
1 Undemocratic Elements 2 What kind of constitution is best? 2.1 Maintaining stability 2.2 International comparisons 2.3 List of countries steadily democratic since at least 1950 2.4 Protecting democratic rights 2.5 Fairness and consensus 2.6 Problem-solving effectiveness 3 References
Undemocratic Elements
The primary "undemocratic" aspects of the Constitution that the book sets out are:
Tolerance of slavery - Necessary to ensure the cooperation participation of the Southern states, and only outlawed after the American Civil War
Suffrage - The voting rights of women, African-Americans, and Native Americans were either not protected or specifically abridged. (In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment prohibited denial of suffrage due to race. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment prohibited denial of suffrage due to sex. In 1964, the Twenty-Fourth Amendment prohibited poll taxes, which were then being used in some states to