	

The Decline of Democracy between 1865-1924
	
	The United States has come a long way, as far as democracy is concerned, since the Bill of Rights and Declaration of Independence were first formatted.  Yet, even though the Constitution has grown dramatically with ratifications and new amendments over the years many people have questioned the extent to which the American people have upheld these beliefs and whether or not the American culture has actually become more democratic because of them.  The time period between 1865 and 1924 had a vast significance on the democratic America.  In this brief fifty-nine year period there were major changes to the constitution due to Civil War reconstruction, and on the restrictions of different ethnic groups of immigrants into the United States.  Nevertheless, even with these advancements to the constitution America's democratic status tended to be on a downward slope because of the way in which the public was interpreting the new amendments.
	Democracy is an elaborate word to define but it has four central guidelines that need to be pursued in order for a country to be considered a democratic nation.  In order for a nation to be deemed democratic it must first have all governmental decisions that are based upon policy or constitutionality settled by representatives that were elected in fair and frequent trials.  Secondly, the government must allow rights to all citizens; such rights as freedom of speech, religion, opinion, and association.  A third guideline is a majority rule that is followed by respect to all minorities in the country.  Lastly, all adults in the nation must have the right, and equal opportunity to vote and become an elected official (Notes).  
	Between the years 1865 and 1924 many questions were aroused accompanying the democratic goals of the United States.  One of the key components of this argument is the situation with African Americans in this time period.  The first major advancement for African Americans was in the year 1865, with the 13th amendment to the constitution.  This amendment ended the civil war by publicly and politically ending slavery.  However, even with such an amendment African Americans still faced harsh consequences for being American citizens.  It was not until 1868, when the 14th amendment was put in place, that African Americans could not be denied of life, liberty, and property without due process of the law and that they were guaranteed equal protection of the law.  Even though this amendment was now set in stone, being part of the constitution, it only guaranteed certain rights to the African American race.  Many people of this ethnicity were held to rough public standards.  Although they were granted the right of freedom they still did not receive social, economic, or political freedoms as many whites did (notes 01/10).  They were still not given the complete right to vote, even though it was addressed in the amendment, if states did not want African Americans to vote their congressional representation would suffer but they could still get away with it (Roark 572).  It was not until the year 1870 that African Americans were rewarded the right to vote by the 15th amendment of the constitution.  After the introduction of these three important amendments the United States faced the principal components of reconstruction.  Despite the fact that the three amendments had brought a sense of peace to many African Americans, the southern states were still protesting the new freedmen.  Many compromises were made in order to reunite the northern and southern states.  In fact in order for any confederates to join the union again they were entitled to agree with and accept the 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, which did not seem to come easy to a lot of southerners (notes 1/12).  The compromise of 1877 was soon introduced by Rutherford B. Hayes before the presidential election between him and Samuel J. Tilden, which Hayes ended up winning.  This compromise soothed a lot of southern democrats because of Hayes' informal agreement to withdrawal federal troops from the south if they did not block his inauguration and were fair with the freedmen (Roark 591).  
	Many would argue that all of these advancements in history dealing with African Americans have made the US, as a whole, a more democratic nation but there are many factors that point to the downfall of democracy in America during this time period.  One of the major problems that was not dealt with in a civil democratic manner was that of sharecropping.  It was first put into place to help with African Americans who, after the civil war, had no way of income or property.  They were given blocks of land to grow their cash crops.  They could live and till this land for an annual income.  However, at the end of the year their earnings were divided into shares and there was an interest that was owed to the plantation owner.  After all the interest was taken out the sharecropping family was left with little, and soon would go into debt peonage, a debt in which many were never able to get out of.  So even though the 14th amendment granted African Americans the right to have property, they were reduced to options that made it almost impossible to make an honest living.  The third component of the definition of democracy is not properly followed with the use of sharecropping.  Even though they were granted land there was absolutely no respect for minorities who did not have enough money to own property of their own, and the interest of living on a plantation owners land was so drastic that it was almost impossible to stay out of debt.
	Another severe implication on African American rights was that of voting restrictions.  Even though the 15th amendment was put into place many whites took it into their own hands to stop the voting capabilities of African Americans.  There were poll taxes, literacy tests, and residency requirements all throughout the south to restrict African Americans from voting (notes 1/12).  This violates almost every aspect of the definition of democracy.  With these restrictions Americans were not allowing fair elections to take place, were not allowing a fair opportunity for African Americans to gain a political office, and were in a sense taking away the right of free opinion and association.  
	There was even a harsher public outcry against African Americans when the Klu Klux Klan was introduced in 1866 and it soon became one of the crudest groups to defend white supremacy (Roark 580).  The KKK was well known for lynching blacks when they felt it was necessary.   Jim Crow laws were then introduced in the states that allowed public segregation to African Americans (Roark G-4).  Freedmen were enraged by the intensity of segregation that they experienced but could not do much about it.  In the 70s there were attempts to stop white supremacy.  The Klu Klux Klan act was made so that there would not be interference with voting rights and the Civil Rights Act of 1875 was made to rid segregation, but the two laws were not strictly enforced and because of this were not followed by the public.  In 1873 Slaughterhouse cases were introduced when the court ruled that there was a distinction between nation and state citizenship and that the 14th amendment only protected the rights that pertained to the federal government (Roark 587).  Also in 1876 in the case United States v. Cruikshank ruled that the amendments only gave congress the authority to legislate against discrimination in states not against an individual (Roark 587).  The Plessy v. Ferguson case in 1896 concluded the major court cases that facilitated white supremacy.  In this court case the Supreme Court ruled in favor of segregation in public facilities, making it almost impossible for African Americans to freely express themselves in certain locations.  The advancement of cases and groups in this time period was greatly enhanced in order to empower the white race to try keeping them superior to any African Americans.  These groups and cases affected American democracy in a negative way because it took away African Americans ability for free speech, association, and opinion.  The race had so many rights taken away from them that it was nearly impossible for these movements to be considered democratic.
	Not only did African Americans have an impact on democracy, so did the vast majority of immigrants to the United States, in particular Asian immigrants.  In 1882 the Chinese Exclusion Act was put into place.  This act required a racial litmus test to decide who would and would not enter the United States, and excluded further entry of Chinese (notes 2/7).  This act was only supposed to be active for ten years but even after the period was over Americans made it nearly impossible for any Asians to cross the border.  In the 1890s there were literacy requirements made stating that an immigrant must be able to read and write in his own language in order to be able to pass to the United Sates and in 1917 congress actually passed a literacy requirement (notes 2/7).  It was not until the Immigration Act of 1924 that immigration restrictions were let up a bit.  However, this still did not allow the free flow of immigration into the States, it just formatted an annual quota that could not be surpassed (notes 2/7).  Although immigration did not seem to break any one of the democratic guidelines it does begin to destroy what our country considers to be a democracy.  The whole notion of restricting others to enter America was based on the shier fact that white supremists did not want minorities to come in to 'their' country and destroy their power, and because of this it tends to break the third stipulation of a democracy.  That is, Americans restricted rights of minorities when in a democracy minorities' rights are supposed to be looked upon with respect.  
	Another major social issue that Americans dealt with in regards to immigration was the Eugenics movement.  The term was coined in 1882 and was used as a scientific excuse to investigate desirable traits or genes and decide which ones should and should not be passed on to further generations.  Social Darwinism, which is the theory of survival of the fittest, was used as a justification for eugenics.  Many elite whites believed that in order to create a sturdy America, Americans had to prevent weak genes from passing through the generations (notes 2/7).  Many Chinese were resilient on assimilating American beliefs; instead they wanted to keep hold of their old culture ("eye on the east").  Also a lot of immigrants were poor or illiterate which made it hard for Americans to look at them with an equal eye.  Many immigrants also came to the States with the sole objection of returning to their homeland in a few years, which is known as repatriation.  This can be looked at as good for the American culture because immigrants will not be here their whole lives.  However many Americans believed it to be an annoyance and an economic problem because they were earning American dollars and spending it overseas ("eye on the east").  Many Americans looked down upon this and because of it thought of the Chinese as an inferior race that should be restricted from further entry into the United States.  Also because many races, along with the Chinese were thought of as being inferior there were such legalizations as sterilizing people without their consent in order to obtain a superior race.  This racism along with the restrictions on many Chinese also constitutes as an infringement on the third component of democracy.  Also sterilization is an obvious violation of minority rights.  
	Between the 1865-1924 America was struck with several different questions and problems that would either make the US stronger or make it weaker.  However, the steps the United States took in order to solve reconstruction and immigration problems made democracy in America decline.  Amendments were made to improve American society but they were not abided by as they should have been.  Many states found ways to get behind such constitutional amendments and make laws that would grant them what they thought was best for the American people.   Yet, the laws and racism that was going on throughout this time period was making America a weaker democracy.  Out of the four stipulations that are stated above about democracy, if one were not there social scientists would say that the country is not truly a democracy (notes).  By examining this time period one realizes that fair elections were not present because of certain taxes and restrictions, rights of citizenship were not always present because of such things as lynching, interest on sharecroppers, and restrictions on certain groups of immigrants.  Also rights of minorities were not always respected because of the many difficulties both African Americans and Asian immigrants went through.  So all in all out of the four requirements for a democracy none of them were followed all simultaneously during this time period, proving the fact that America was not a very powerful nation when it came to being democratic.

















	






































