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Democracy Vs Democracy

Decent Essays

In July 1776, Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, stating that all men are created equal and the Founding Fathers form of government would protect their rights. In the United States, people have individual liberties. Even though the United States has laws it is not considered a pure democracy, it is a republic. The definitions that is stated between democracy and individual liberty will help most understand that a democracy undermines a person’s rights, and I will prove this from the information that’s in our assigned reading. Democracy is a system of government by the people. It has also been defined as supreme power bestowed in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through representation called “majority rule”. For example, in the old west, if a posse was to chase after and catch a criminal, and the majority felt or voted that the criminal was guilty and should be hung, then that person would die by the hands of the majority. In Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s The Origin of Civil Society, he writes about seeing a democracy in a family. “The ruler corresponds to the father, and the people to the children; and all, being born free and equal, alienate their liberty only for their advantage.” (Rousseau) The father is the majority rule in this case because he is head of household. On the other hand, when talking about individual liberty, citizens have alienable rights promised by the Constitution. According to the definition, these

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