1789 American Society Fundamentally Transformed, Essay Example

A common perception about the American Revolution is that it fundamentally altered or transformed the fundamental way that scoiety and government functioned. Along with this idea, many casual observers of American history also assume that the Constitutional ideals and democratic principles that were associated with America’s independence from Britain enabled a new economic paradigm where individuals were granted an opportunity for prosperity. The Declaration of Independence and the Unites States Constitution still stand as two of the most remarkable documents in the world history because they make just this set of appeals to the promise of a better life for common citizens. However, there are many reasons based in history to doubt whether or not the American Revolution and the creation of a democratic government actually transformed society.

The first idea that is most commonly associated with the American Revolution is that it represented a radical (and bloody) adoption of a purely democratic form of self-rule. The idea that democracy was a new or radical idea is actually untrue. History reveals that democracy existed in both the city-states of ancient Greece and, in fact, among some of the indigenous tribes of America itself. That said, the particular form of democracy that was devised by the Founders of America was radical in that it provided for a government based on the separation of powers and that existed in three distinct branches.

The US Constitution provides for the separation of powers between various branches of the government. The system of separation of powers was designed to present a series of checks and balances among the various areas of political, legal, and economic power that were envisioned as being part of the American Constitutional democracy. Articles 1-3 of the Constitution describe the way in which the government is to be structured in order to achieve and preserve the separation of powers. Briefly, the articles call for the creation of three basic branches of government. These three branches are: the legislative branch, the judiciary branch, and the executive branch. The three branches together form a system of mutual support and restriction which, theoretically, provides for the coherent functioning of the federal government while simultaneously preventing the conservation of power by any single group or person.

That said, in practice, the form of democratic government outlines in the Constitution failed to achieve a truly populist form. This is due, in part, because such a large sector of the population was prohibited from participating in the government, either as voters our as elected (or appointed) officials. Men who did not own property,  minorities, and women were prohibited from participating in the new democracy to any meaningful extent. This fact indicates that American democracy was far less radical and far less egalitarian than the historical myth held by many casual onlookers suggests.

Another aspect of American society in  1789 that indicates a lack of true democratic equality is the state of economic conditions faced by the average American citizen.

The creation of the Treasury and the appointment of Alexander Hamilton as the nation’s first Treasury Secretary resulted in a series of taxes and tariff’s that were intended to pay off the debt form the Revolution. The creation of a federal bond-selling program also served to expand the powers of the federal government and its influence over the national economy. The tax on whiskey, enacted in 1789, led to the so-called “Whiskey Rebellion” and this rebellion was quelled by federal troops. George Washington,a s the nation’s first President, presided over a series of actions that increased the power of the federal government and helped to centralize legal, economic and political authority.

The expansion of federal power was also evident in the creation of a system of federal courts. The system of federal courts diminished the power of individual states to create and enforce their own laws while ensuring a greater role for federal judges and courts. The adoption of the Bill of Rights while largely weighted toward preserving individual rights and freedoms also contains many aspects which increase the power of the federal government and serve to centralize power in its hands. Among these is the provision in the fifth amendment which allows for eminent domain. The enforcement of laws, while allocated by the constitution to be divided between the states and the federal government was actually weighted heavily toward the federal government due to the growing power and influence of the Supreme Court, led by John Marshall.

The concentration and centralization of power by the federal government must be regarded as anti-democratic just as the exclusion of women and minorities form government and the electoral process must be viewed as anti-democratic. The increase in taxation and federal overseeing of economic conditions by way of the commerce clause and the establishment of the Treasury department must also be regarded as inferences of the escalating power of the federal government over the power of the states.  To this extent, it must be said that American democracy was not nearly as radical or liberating to the average American citizen as may be indicated in superficial understandings of America’s history.

One of the greatest impediments to a true democratic government in America was, obviously, the exclusion of the majority of its populace from the governing process. Another aspect that diminished the potential for true democracy was the expansion of the federal court as well as the expansion of Presidential authority. Because the supreme court was able to nullify or alter any and all laws enacted by the states, the conservation of power into the federal branch was in actuality a move away from grass-roots democracy. The concentration of economic authority due to the power of the federal treasury and federal taxation also contributed to the growth of federal power.