19th Century American Democracy

Nineteenth century America had a modern, cutting-edge government. They were one of the most democratic countries during the time. But, how democratic was America really? Some people suggest that America wasn't all that democratic. However, despite flaws in their government, America was on the fast track to true democracy.

In the beginning, America's voting system had multiple flaws. In a painting called County Election, it was pointed out that people had to say their vote out loud and had no way of knowing if the scribe was recording their vote correctly. The scribe could easily rig the results to his liking. Also, voting was not taken very seriously. There were people serving alcohol and neighbors took this as a time to catch up and fool around rather than vote seriously. The majority of those voting weren't educated enough to make a good choice with their vote. These weren't the only major flaws in the voting system of America. For a long time, in order to vote, one had to own a certain amount of property, pay taxes, or both. This and the fact that African Americans weren't allowed to vote left out a large portion of the population. The imbalance in the economic status of voters would have left for a bias in   the results of the vote. This is not a true democracy. However, America was certainly on the right track.

As the middle of the 19th century neared, more and more states allowed voting. As this number increased, the number of states with property or tax requirements lessened. This allowed for different economic classes and social classes to vote. The democracy was opened to a larger portion of the population. Also, through time, the number of states whose Presidential votes were cast by the people and not a legislature increased. America was certainly not a complete Democracy in the 19th century, but as time went on, America crept closer and closer to a true, more direct democracy.