The Peoples' Choice to Choose

Democracy by definition is, "A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically held free elections". The United States in the 19th century were not quite their with the definition, but it was a time period in which the United States was working to get closer to that definition. The amount of states in the union were increasing while the number of states with tax paying requirements and property requirements had been decreasing. In 1855 the number of states with requirements was lower and the number of states in the union was more than they had ever been in the prior 65 years. 

Within that 65 year time period the method of the presidential election went from majority legislator to majority people. Meaning that most states changed their voting procedures, so that the people voted for president, not the legislator. Over time more people have been able to vote and those same people were given the right to vote on more elections. With more states in the union and less requirements and more elections, the United States were becoming more democratic than before. In the 19th century the United States was taking a step in the right direction. But there were still many people who did not get the right to vote during this 65 year time period that spanned from 1790-1855. Women and Blacks still did not have the right to vote, so the United States was far from being the definition of democracy, but none the less they were moving closer to it.