Successful democracy in th US Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Successful democracy in th US - Essay Example The product of this tentative exercise is the Articles of Confederation which was submitted on July 12, 1776 to the Second Continental Congress. The three talking points it generated in Congressional sessions were â€Å"the apportionment of taxes according to population, the granting of one vote to each state, and the right of the federal government to dispose of public lands in the West†. (The Columbia Encyclopedia, 2009) So concerns for the development and establishment of democracy did not figure during initial discussions. At the same time, one could argue that the template for equal representation of all states is an indicator of impending installation of democratic practices. Through Articles 1 and 13 there is no explicit mention of democracy or egalitarian citizen representation. The Articles are born out of concerns of the ruling elite, who are exclusively White Anglo-Saxon Protestant males (WASPs); they were also propertied slave owners. In fact WASP domination of Ame rican political and business society continues even today, albeit in a weakened form, making incredulous the claim that the Articles served as a guide for democracy in the country.