Americans stalwartly identify their nation as a democracy and, indeed, proclaim themselves as the defenders of democracy around the world. But what is the history of this idea? And what has democracy meant?
At some point, democracy means self government; but that is far too vague. At the time of the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War, the concept of self government may have meant little more than "government by the colonials" independent of the English monarchy. Nothing in the Declaration itself denied the possibility that the colonials might establish a monarchy of their own; indeed, there was good precedent for that in the Glorious Revolution of 1689, when the Stuart line of kings was abruptly terminated in favor of William of Orange. The positive side of the colonials' desire for self government was, in fact, their strong resistance to just this possibility; there was a great deal of fear that the American president would acquire the powers of a king. What makes the study of American government philosophically interesting is the degree to which the Founding Fathers attempted to keep political power multifaceted and balanced.
Nevertheless, in spite of the distaste for monarchies, the Founding Fathers were rarely excited by the concept that every person should have a say in government; it was clear, in fact, that some people had nothing of interest or importance to say! Slaves, women, and children, at the very least, had no role in government; nor did men who had no real property. "Self government," rather clearly, meant government by those who had a "legitimate stake" in the nation and who could be expected to make "reasonable, intelligent decisions."
Clearly, our practice of democracy has changed. Slaves were emancipated; women were given the vote; property restrictions were dropped; the age was lowered to 18 years so that military personnel could vote; and even literacy was substantially dropped as a criterion. American democracy today seems to equate to "one body, one vote." Does this swing to the other extreme of self government solve our problems? Don't we have to ask, still, what concept of democracy we are trying to achieve? And does the focus on "the vote," as such, guarantee democratic principles? We might ask whether the apparent practical success of the formula "one body, one vote" doesn't stem from the fact that the vote carries very little importance, today, in the real conduct of government.