	Throughout the course of this nation's independent history, the majority of American citizens considered their country the ideal democratic nation on earth. According to political scientists, a true democratic government must have constitutionally guaranteed and frequent elections to choose officials to make government decisions. It must also protect the rights of citizenship, acknowledge majority rule with minority rights, and allow all adult citizens to vote and run for political office (Greenwald, "Handout"). From the following supporting details, I assert that America did continually, although sometimes sluggishly, progressed toward becoming more democratic from 1865 through 1924. In regards to the definition, the U.S. Constitution states that the public elects members to the House of Representatives every two years and this is relatively frequent and thus satisfies the first criteria. The other determining factors are not so clear cut in American history but overall this country has advanced in making political strides to becoming a true democracy. This trend placed the U.S. on a stage that the rest of the world looked up to and admired. With the conclusion of the Civil War, the United States saw a wide variety of improvements take place as the nation advanced in its democratic tendencies. Immigrants flocked to America to gain new freedoms and improve their standard of living. The U.S. offered Europeans the chance to achieve land ownership and escape religious persecution (i.e. the Russian Jews coming to escape economic restrictions like travel limitations and Sunday business closing laws) (Greenwald, February 7, 2005). Perhaps most noticeably, reformers tirelessly fought for political, economic, and social changes throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For example, workers advanced their rights and steadily gained power on the jobsite as unions appeared and the federal government took measures to limit the powers of large corporations. Politicians like Teddy Roosevelt began "trust busting" to limit the powers big businesses got from forming monopolies by enforcing legislation like the Sherman Anti-trust Act (Roark et al. 759-760). Minorities began to gain rights and the government became more and more involved in protecting the lives of its citizens. The democratic growth of the United States from 1865-1924 is best illustrated through the gains made by African Americans and women as they struggled to attain social and political equality in spite of suppressions caused by American majorities. 
	To begin with, the northern reforms implemented in the south in the late 1860's and most of the 1870's were aimed at helping newly freed slaves find equal treatment. After the Civil War ended, many northerners wanted to rebuild the union and mend hostilities with the south. This led to a twelve year program called Reconstruction that lasted from 1865 to 1877 (Greenwald, January 10, 2005). Unfortunately, Reconstruction is remembered for its failures that resulted from the leniency of the legislation used to cause reform. However, this program was beneficial to blacks in many ways. According to James Roark, "Emancipation had brought freedmen important rights that they had lacked as slaves-to own property, to make contracts, to marry legally" ( Roark et al. 568).Northern politicians pushed for the passages of the 14th Amendment in 1868 and the 15th Amendment in 1870. These Amendments respectively gave citizens, including blacks, equal protection under the law and acknowledged the black male right to vote (Greenwald, January 12, 2005). Southerners reacted to these laws by establishing things like "black codes", poll taxes, literacy tests, and the grandfather clause. They intended to disenfranchise blacks and essentially establish legal slavery (Roark et al. 567). Still, the blacks did have options and were not struggling alone. Many northern supporters for the black rights movement were enraged by the actions of southerners. They worked to pass legislation for blacks like the "Freedmen's Bureau Bill" which helped blacks with education and food. Furthermore, northerners even went as far as to deny southern war victims prosthetic limbs due to south resistance to granting black rights (Roark et al. 569-571). The most important option open to blacks was their ability to move away from southern hostility and enjoy the more hospitable policies in the north. This would become a very important ability for blacks in the future.
	African Americans took advantage of their migratory rights and went to the north to gain an education that allowed them to fights for their minority rights and become political leaders. During the days of slavery, blacks were prohibited by law from learning how to read and write. After gaining their freedom, many blacks were very proud of their new ability to be educated and wanted to learn. As stated by Dr. Greenwald on January 19, 2005, this movement led to a noticeable decline in illiteracy. New black educated elites started to surface in the post-civil war United States. These people became involved in politics and worked towards educating the common African American population. James Roark illustrates this by showing how hundreds of blacks served on southern state government boards and some, like John R. Lynch, even used their education to go on to be congressmen (Roark et al. 579). Gifted black orators like Booker T. Washington and W.E.B. Du Bois preached about the unimaginable importance of blacks getting an education to move up in society. These men proved extremely instrumental in promoting black rights movements. In his 1895 "Atlanta Compromise Address", Booker T. Washington spoke to a predominantly white audience and was able to gain white support for black rights by showing how blacks could help rebuild the south (Harlan 1-3). In his "Industrial Education of the Negro" speech Washington also advocated the necessity for African Americans to focus on getting an industrial education and even opened the Tuskegee Institute to give blacks an affordable place to learn trades (Pott, "Washington" 1-5). Similarly, Du Bois felt that a group called "The Talented Tenth" consisting of college educated black elite would lead the African Americans to social equality by influencing politics and spreading their knowledge to common blacks (Pott, "Tenth"). He also wanted blacks to exercise their rights as much as possible. This kind of motivation slowly but surely helped blacks gain their rights as minorities. 
	Similarly, women in America had to endure decades of suppression in their quest for equality. Women have consistently been very persistent in getting involved in American reform. For example, they took an early stand against slavery and spearheaded the abolitionist movement before the Civil War. After the war, "college educated, well bred" women established numerous reform programs to remedy the problems of American society (Greenwald, February 14, 2005). Many energetic young women put their talents to use trying to solve the problems of society. Consider Jane Addams and her efforts in the Chicago region. In 1889, she founded Hull-House and was one of the pioneers of forming settlement houses. These houses acted as schools for inner city neighborhoods, meeting places for workers, and soup kitchens for the poor. The young women who worked in settlement houses created new sectors of social reform work. Hull-House led the way by improving the living conditions in cities with playgrounds for children, offering citizenship classes, and investigating sanitation and food processing (Roark et al. 750-751). During the Progressive era, the United States experienced what became known as the "female domination of social reform". This phenomenon refers to the belief that women possessed certain gender specific abilities to recognize social problems that me could not. They essentially used gender stigmatisms to their advantage and revolutionized standards regarding child labor, housing conditions, and family life (Greenwald, February 14, 2005). Some women even found ways to exercise their rights and make their personal opinion known. For instance, Mary Antin fought for her rights as a Russian immigrant and spoke out on behalf of racial assimilation in her article publication They Who Knock at Our Door. More commonly however, it was the elite women of America who influenced reform the most by rallying their efforts to find strength in numbers. They collectively established a voice in the U.S. that set the stage for them to influence politics in spite of lacking the formal vote.
	Although the 15th Amendment was a big step toward achieving voting equality, it failed to acknowledge both the white and black women's vote and suffrage became a cornerstone in women's reform. Wielding the power of the collective group, women set their sites on attaining voting rights. America has always been considered a beacon of world democracy that set the standard for the rest of the world to follow. After all, the U.S. was founded in reaction to tyranny and the Constitution is based on the ideals of equality and freedom. As a result, women tried to bring out the hypocrisy of American policy saying that the U.S. was not truly a democracy since it refused to nationally recognize women's suffrage. This tactic proved to be effective and gave the United States a proverbial black eye. They also started to lobby Congress by forming large interest groups. Still, the single most important event for women's suffrage was World War I. As suggested by Dr. Greenwald, the Great War created a need for national unity and the government started to realize that all citizens had potential for helping defeat the central powers (February 21, 2005). Women saw that the war placed America on the world stage and they fiercely picketed to convey their fight to other nations. James Roark notes that Inez Mullholland led one of the first mass voting marches in 1913 (Roark et al. 781). Many marches such as the Mullholland march directly targeted Washington D.C. and President Woodrow Wilson. Roark also testifies to the fact that women played a pivotal role in wartime industries and as medial nurses in Europe. The contributions of woman towards the war effort and their relentless protesting for suffrage embarrassed Wilson and he finally acknowledged the need for the women's franchise. In 1920, women saw their hard work pay off as the passage of the 19th Amendment gave them the right to vote (Roark et al. 803-804). 
	To conclude, the United States undoubtedly made progress from 1865-1924 toward becoming a more democratic nation and set the standard for world democratic development. After breaking away from Britain and gaining independence, the U.S. focused on expanding the rights of citizens and maintaining a fair society. Although certain aspects of American policy may have hindered the rights of Americans in certain situations (i.e. the southern segregation against blacks), the overall tendency has been that citizens gain rights as time passes. Blacks went from slavery to gaining freedom, the right to vote, and political representation. Women went from being a suppressed minority faction to establishing a political voice through reform and finally to attaining the vote. These steps in American history illustrate the growing recognition of minority rights and the ever important abilities for citizens to vote and run for elected office. Combine this with the Constitution's guarantees of frequent and fair elections and citizens rights protection (the Bill of Rights) and the United States satisfies the aforementioned definition of a true democratic nation. By 1924, suppression was still in existence for some social groups but definite progress was made from past conditions for virtually every racial, ethnic, and religious faction in America. The advances made by women and blacks embody this trend and ultimately confirm that the U.S. became more democratic from the end of the Civil War until the mid 1920's.
	
	
	

	
