White Men’s Democracy

White Men’s Democracy After the struggle of the American revolution, the United States was founded as a nation of white men. After gaining independence, women and people of color have been systematically deprived of the rights and privileges of citizenship for most of American history. Some of the founding fathers like Alexander Hamilton and Elbridge Gerry were deeply concerned about the growing direct influence of citizens in government. That made them opposed to democracy and admire the monarch system of the Britain government at the time. However, the American population's active involvement in the political process forced the founding fathers to listen to the voice of the people for them to win elections. Since the majority of the population active in politics was white men, the policies passed were not in the best interest of people of color and women.
White men were able to get social rights because they were the only part of the population who were allowed to vote. In the early days of the United States, people of color and women did not have the same rights as men to vote and participate in government. The lack of voting rights for women and people of color in the early 19th century had a direct impact on their social rights (Monopoli and Paula, 2022). Without the ability to vote, people of color and women did not have a voice in the government. This led to legislation that deprived them of the rights and privileges of citizenship. This disenfranchisement also prevented people of color and women from being active in the political process. The people in power gave white men’s interests priority when it came to policy so that they could be voted for again and remain in power. This period, sometimes called the era of slavery and segregation, is often seen as a turning point in the country's history when it began to move away from its founding principles of equality and democracy. The legislation that was passed during this time was a major cause of the country's racial divide and helped to perpetuate the slavery and gender inequality that was already present in the country.
In the early 1800s, most states in the US required voters to own property to vote. At the time, almost all states required property ownership, a high personal income, or some other form of wealth to vote. These requirements were understood to restrict the ability of poor people to vote, and the early 1800s was the first time since the federal Constitution was ratified that a broad majority of the states retained such restrictions. The argument was that poor people could be bought by those who control...