American experience of Democracy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

American experience of Democracy - Essay Example However, the path to success and development has not been exactly smooth. The concept of democracy is so deeply-rooted in every bit of the American way-of- life that it is almost taken for granted. This has led some to question if indeed constitutional democracy is a better political system, suitable for the United States of America. This essay shall briefly address the question of the suitability of democracy as a form of government in the United States and, analyze the ways in which it works. The essay shall also try to understand the kind of challenges that the US had to overcome, some of the issues of debate that have helped redefine the American experience of Democracy. In the process, it shall explore the terms 1) government power 2) tyranny 3) equality 4 liberty 5) rights and freedoms, in the context of the American struggle. Years of living and thriving in freedom has made it almost invisible. Few people in the modern day United States realize the modes and manner in which democracy and freedom has nurtured their individual rights and paved the way for their progress and enterprise. Going back into history, the very birth of the American nation took place due the suffocation and repression of basic human rights in the then prevalent in the British colonies of North America. It would be difficult for any student studying the st... It would be difficult for any student studying the struggle for American independence, to miss the feeling of suppression and victimization suffered at the hands of the British colonialism. The parochial manner in which the British had pursued its own interest at the cost of the welfare of it North American colony is evident in the document Declaration of Independence (pp. 2-4). The document accuses the then British Crown explicitly of tyranny, and absolute despotism (p.2). It clearly explicates the extent to which the basic rights of citizens in the British colony of North America were usurped by the British powers. It is pertinent to study this document in some detail because the founding fathers of the constitutional democracy have based their statements of declaration of independence and thus forming a union of thirteen states under the common cause of revolt against the British colonialism. The seeds of American democracy can be found in this document, and would help to obtain better understanding with this context is held in the background. The American system of democracy aimed to fortify its own constitution wherever it perceived injustice in the parent British monarchy. For example, the King had dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly and invaded into the rights of the individuals time and again, which was perceived as not only unjust and undemocratic; it also made the American democratic system stronger through a series of amendments that refined and plugged the weaknesses in the system constantly as can be understood from the document the Bill of Rights (Amendments 1-10 of the Constitution). Amendment VI of the said document, specifically deals with crime and how crime shall be dealt with under the democratic law.