	
	
	The Fall of Democracy
	
	To many Americans, big corporation owners "came to represent a danger to democracy itself because of the underhanded methods and enormous political influence of the corporation and its founders" (Roark et al. 608). Democracy is defined by Roark as "a system of government in which the people have the power to rule, either directly or indirectly, through their elected representatives" (Roark G-2).  Democracy was a form of government in the United States by the founding forefathers of this country.  Democracy is a system that was created for the people, by the people. The actions and ideas expressed between 1865 and 1924 violated the following most basic aspects of democracy. 
	According to a handout from Professor Greenwald, "Democracies require the following four minimum requirements.  One requirement is control over the government decisions about policy constitutionally vested in elected representatives chosen in frequent and fair elections.  Democracy requires a government that encourages and allows rights of citizenship such as freedom of speech, religion, opinion, and association.  Democracy is required to allow majority rule accompanied by respect for the rights of minorities.  Democracy is a system in which all adult citizens have the right to vote in elections and run for political office" (Greenwald Handout). Over the course of these 59 years, the United States became less democratic in many aspects.  From 1865-1924, the United States government was a government that infringed the rights of minorities and ignored the majority of American workers
	Immediately following the civil war in 1865, the United States freed African Americans from slavery with the ratification of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1865  (Greenwald 1/12/05).  These slaves were freed, but still were not given many rights that every adult should have had.  One of the four basic requirements for a democracy defined by the handout is a government in which all adult citizens have the right to vote in elections and run for political offices (Greenwald handout).  The U.S. still was not close to being a democratic government because the white men were the only ones able to vote at this time.  White women and African Americans were still not allowed to vote (Greenwald 1/12/05).
	The U.S. became slightly more democratic during reconstruction from 1865-1877 in the sense that the government gave African Americans more rights.  According to Professor Greenwald's lecture, African Americans were given both legal rights in 1868 by the passing of the 14th Amendment and the right to vote by the ratification of the 15th Amendment in 1870 (Greenwald 1/12/05). By allowing African Americans the right to vote, they were now also able to hold public office jobs and run for political offices.  Blacks were given more rights as they even started to pass legislation for taxes, school, funding, and transportation (Greenwald 1/12/05).  This progress in becoming a truly democratic government did not last very much longer.
	In the presidential election of 1876, Rutherford B. Hayes lost the popular vote to Samuel J. Tilden, but won the electoral vote (Roark et al. 591).  The democrats and republicans fought and then solved this dispute with the Compromise of 1877.  "In exchange for a Democratic promise not to block Hayes's inauguration and to deal fairly with the freed men, Hayes vowed not to use the army to uphold the remaining Republican regimes in the South" (Roark et al. 591).  According to Professor Greenwald's lecture, this resulted in the end of reconstruction in 1877 and the dominance of a one party system in the south (Greenwald 1/12/05).  The United States became much less democratic in the sense that they no longer protected the rights that were recently given to African Americans.  The African Americans didn't stand a chance against the racist southern whites.  
	The Jim Crow laws that developed in the south were laws that were defined by Roark as laws that "Segregated African Americans in public facilities such as trains and streetcars and denied them basic civil rights, including the right to vote" (Roark et al. G-4). Racial segregation was allowed in the south by law.  By taking away the right to vote and rights recent gained by black adult citizens in the south, the U.S. government was just as much of a democracy as it ways during the civil war when African Americans were still slaves.  "These Jim Crow laws just replaced slavery as the chief instrument with white supremacy" (Roark et al. G-4).  
	The Ku Klux Klan was a group of white southern democrats who aimed for white supremacy and the elimination of African American rights.  Professor Greenwald explained in lecture on 1/12/05, that the Ku Klux Klan was not just the average southern man.  In fact, Greenwald stated that, "the KKK consisted of policemen, sheriffs, judges, businessmen, and other government officials" (Greenwald 1/12/05). The KKK was made up of some government appointed officials and this means the government ignored the rights of African Americans that were being violated.  The KKK threatened many African Americans and whites that sought African American equality.  The KKK even went to the extent of killing African Americans who participated in their constitutional right to vote (Greenwald 1/12/05).  African Americans were not even allowed speak out against their situation to try to achieve equality because they were in fear of their lives.  Their Constitutional Right of free speech was being violated and the government just sat back and did nothing about it because some government members were behind it.    
	The 1890s wasn't close to being a step forward in the attainment of democracy. Professor Greenwald also explained in lecture on 1/12/05 that "the southern whites aimed at the disfranchisement of African Americans through poll taxes, literacy tests, and residency requirements throughout the south in the 1890s" (Greenwald 1/12/05). The poll tax was a race-based tax against African Americans that required paying a tax at the poll in order to vote (Greenwald 1/12/05).  Literacy tests were complicated tests that people had to pass in order to vote (Greenwald 1/12/05).  These tests were given to African Americans also because many African Americans were unable to read and the white southerners knew this.  This violated a major aspect of Democracy, the respect for the rights of minorities.  White supremacy ruled the south and there wasn't any respect for the rights of the black minority.  
	The Supreme Court didn't do much in order to uphold the African American rights.  The "separate but equal" doctrine became institutionalized in 1896 with the Plessy vs. Fergusson Supreme Court case as it allowed racial segregation in public places (Roark et al. A-41-A42).  This not only did not acknowledge the rights of minorities, but it also did not allow equal rights for the all citizens of the United States. The U.S. lost all progress it made in the last few decades in becoming a true democracy.  The government no longer possessed any of the democratic requirements by the 20th century regarding African American citizens.
	The U.S. government also wasn't following the requirements for democracy when it came to industrial wage earners.  In the 1870s, large industries, mills, and factories were created at rapid speed during the Gilded Age.  There were many workers in these factories as they expanded and grew at an incredible rate.  The majority of workers in the United States were industrial wage earners who weren't satisfied with their jobs.  These industrial wage earners who worked in the mills suffered from horrible working conditions and weren't paid very well (Greenwald 1/26/05).  
	Although no one was satisfied, the U.S. government did nothing about these labor issues.  The United States government wasn't near democratic as it didn't follow majority rule and make any changes that more than half of Americans wanted.  The American population was not satisfied with these conditions and wanted something done.   The government didn't do anything about this because the owners of these industries controlled them. These businessmen were so strong and had such a big influence of the government.  J.P. Morgan even bailed the out the U.S. Treasury's national reserve system and basically controlled the government with his money (Roark et al. 630).  "The federal government was so weak that its solvency depended on a private banker" (Roark et al. 630).  His influence on the government was a main reason that nothing was done about this situation.  The government didn't care about the working lower class's labor conditions or wages because they didn't have any money or influence.  The government also wasn't making decisions about public policy and the industrial working conditions by way of frequent and fair elections.  
	Two big business leaders, "Rockefeller and Carnegie amassed hundreds of millions of dollars and the average worker earned $500 a year" (Roark et al. 613,615).   Though the average worker was only making $500 a year, nothing was done.  This "democracy" was not working because the majority of America wasn't satisfied with their wages and the majority of America didn't have the power to rule direct or indirectly, through their representatives.  The simplest requirement for democracy was broken because the majority of the people no longer had control over their government.
	Businessmen didn't care about their employees as they could easily be replaced.  This was very evident by the actions of George Pullman.  He was the owner of the Pullman Palace Car Company, was a very successful, greedy business owner.  According to Greenwald, While still having millions of dollars to his name, Pullman cut his workers wages because of the economic depression in the 1890s (1/26/05).  Greenwald also lectured that Pullman has an entire town for his company and most of his workers lived in his town and rented off of him (1/26/05).  When he cut the wages of all of his workers by 20%, the cost of the rent that they had to pay was not cut down at all (Greenwald 1/26/05).  Although the industrial wage earners wages were cut, the managers of the company did not receive cuts and Pullman also did not tax his shareholders of the company (Greenwald 1/26/05).  Pullman workers were fed up with this treatment and expressed their right to assemble by striking.  
	The Pullman Strike led to a boycott of Pullman products.  They boycott was eventually shut down as the federal troops went and squashed it (Roark et al. 722).  Many people were jailed for exercising their Constitutional right to assemble.  Pullman filled all the striker's positions with new employees (Roark et al. 722).  Instead of the federal government helping the majority of the people who wanted fair conditions and wages, they hurt them.  Many Americans saw this strike and boycott as an opportunity for change, but the government sided with the business owners once again.  The U.S. government was not democratic at all in the business world at the turn of the turn of the 20th century for it no longer respected the constitutional rights of the people.  The government still did not allow for majority rule to take place and did not allow for decisions about public life to be made by fair and frequent elections.
	The U.S. government also failed to follow the respect minority rights as the government started to restrict who comes to the U.S. and who could become a citizen.  Professor Greenwald noted in lecture, immigrants from Asia started to be restricted in the 1880s until the late-mid 1920s (2/7/05).  "The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 suspended the further entry of Chinese immigrants to the United States" (Greenwald 2/7/05).  The government singled out the Chinese because they were of a different race.  The government didn't allow these minorities to do anything to help their current situation.  
	Immigrants from both Southern and Eastern Europe and Asia were also being taken advantage of by this so-called Democracy. In 1924, the government became even less democratic as they aimed at restricting this free flow of immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe and Asia (Greenwald 2/7/05). According to Greenwald's lecture on 2/7/05, very difficult literacy tests were eventually given to all immigrants in the 1890s that they had to pass in order to come into the United States (2/7/05).  The government also did not respect the rights of these immigrants as they set up a quota system.  "This quota system allowed for Northern and Western Europeans to come over, but discriminated against the immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe and Asia"  (Greenwald 2/7/05). The United States gave no credit or respect to these immigrants because they were of a different race than the majority of Americans.
	The U.S. government was not very democratic in the first place, but it dug itself in a hole and wasn't remotely close to becoming a true democracy in 1924.  From 1865-1924, the United States government was a government that infringed the rights of minorities and ignored the majority of American workers.  These were the most basic requirements for a democratic government that the creators of this country founded.  Wealthy businessmen controlled the government with their money between 1865 and 1924 in this corrupt imitation of a democracy.  The United States became significantly less democratic from 1865 to 1924 by ignoring the simplest requirements for a democratic government.














