Did Everyone Really Have a Say?

In the United States democracy has not always been like it has been today. Democracy is a government run by the people where the majority rules. Back in the 19th century things were run differently but the United States still considered itself as a democratic union.

The United States was less democratic in the 19th century. Instead of having a government that was run by the all people it was run by the property owners. There was a significant amount of people who didn't have the right to vote because they did not own property. Benjamin Franklin said, "Today a man owns a jackass worth fifty dollars and he is entitled to vote; but before the next election the jackass dies.  The man in the meantime has become more experienced, his knowledge of the principles of government, and his acquaintance with mankind are more extensive, and he is therefore better qualified to make a proper selection of rulers – but the jackass is dead and the man cannot vote." Benjamin Franklin is saying that even though the man has become more knowledgeable but because his donkey died,  now the man doesn't have fifty dollars worth of property and can't vote. In the 19th century the democratic system was based more on your material possessions rather than the persons intelligence. Today in in the 21st century voting is kept track of by someone so a person can't vote more than once, but in the 19th century all someone had to do was raise their right hand to the judge and say they haven't voted yet. The problem in this is that someone could go to another county and vote again, skewing the results by telling the judge they haven't voted. The results of an election could be changed because everyone casts their vote aloud to the judge and the people close can hear the vote. If a person wanted another person to vote for a different person than the voter wanted to it could cause problems since people can hear vote casted. A voter in the 19th century could be pressured into voting a different way than they wanted to and a judge could write down a different vote than what the voter said.  Today voting is done with panels around the voter so people can't see the vote and it's on paper written by the voter so there is far less chance for the election to be corrupted today unlike in the 19th century. The 19th century was less democratic from the rules of who could vote, and the privacy of the voter. 

In this picture it shows how an election was important and a public occasion.

Picture image:  http://www.terminartors.com/artworkprofile/Bingham_George_Caleb-The_County_Election