Fights Over American Democracy Reach Back to the Founding Era

January 4, 2024
(9 min.)
Has lesson plan

In early America, the soaring ideals behind establishing a new democracy were marked by cycles of progress and backlash.

From its earliest days, the idea of American democracy has been disputed and contested. Though the founders wanted to experiment with a democratic system in their new country, they were also deeply wary of ceding too much power to the people. This video chronicles the often violent development of American democracy from just after the end of the Revolutionary War through the tumultuous debates over slavery that led to the Civil War. This video segment is an excerpt from The WNET Group’s documentary “Preserving Democracy: Pursuing a More Perfect Union.”

Stay up to date. Subscribe to our newsletters.

For teachers
  • Producer: Matthew Spolar
  • Editor: Heru Muharrar
Related Videos
Lessons from the 1924 Democratic Convention: An Immigration Debate’s Impact
Get history in your inbox
Sign up for Retro Report’s news and education newsletters.
Sign up
The Birth of the U.S. Political Convention in 1831
Political Parties & Conventions Collection
Gerrymandering Tilts Political Power. Here’s How Redistricting Affects Democracy.
From Women’s Suffrage to the ERA, a Century-Long Push for Equality
Upheaval at the 1860 Democratic Convention: What Happened When a Party Split
16 Years After Bush v. Gore, Still Wrestling With Ballot-Box Rules

For Educators

Subjects
Civics and Government U.S. History
Topics
Black History Civil War Congress Constitution Democracy  Politics
Introduction

The stability of American democracy has been challenged since the founding of the country. The Whiskey Rebellion, the reliance on the institution of slavery, violence in Congress during the antebellum era and current challenges like the erosion of democratic norms have all tested the strength of democratic institutions. This short film and accompanying lesson will provide students with historical knowledge needed to identify more recent challenges to the stability of our democracy, and to propose solutions to strengthen our democracy.

Lesson Plan 1: Fights Over American Democracy Reach Back to the Founding Era
Fights Over American Democracy Reach Back to the Founding Era
Fights Over American Democracy Reach Back to the Founding Era
Challenges of Democracy Concept Application FRQ
Challenges of Democracy – Document-Based Question
Overview
▼

Students will learn about challenges to the stability of American democracy and describe the threat those problems pose to the health of our country.

Objectives
▼

Students will:

  • Explain current problems with American democracy and describe the threat those problems pose to the health of our democracy.
  • Assess historical threats to American democracy and evaluate the governmental response.
  • Develop and design solutions to current threats to American democracy.
Essential questions
▼
  • Why is democracy considered a fragile form of government?
  • Why did the founders fear too much democracy?
  • What political issues have been associated with challenges to democratic institutions? How have these challenges been approached? 
Additional resources
▼
Standards
▼

College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies

  • D2.Civ.7.9-12. Apply civic virtues and democratic principles when working with others.
  • D2.Civ.9.9-12. Use appropriate deliberative processes in multiple settings.
  • D2.Civ.10.9-12. Analyze the impact and the appropriate roles of personal interests and perspectives on the application of civic virtues, democratic principles, constitutional rights, and human rights.
  • D2.Civ.11.9-12. Evaluate multiple procedures for making governmental decisions at the local, state, national, and international levels in terms of the civic purposes achieved.
  • D2.Civ.12.9-12. Analyze how people use and challenge local, state, national, and international laws to address a variety of public issues.
  • D2.Civ.13.9-12. Evaluate public policies in terms of intended and unintended outcomes, and related consequences. 
  • D2.Civ.14.9-12. Analyze historical, contemporary, and emerging means of changing societies, promoting the common good, and protecting rights.
  • D2.His.1.9-12. Evaluate how historical events and developments were shaped by unique circumstances of time and place as well as broader historical contexts.
  • D2.His.2.9-12. Analyze change and continuity in historical eras.
  • D2.His.4.9-12. Analyze complex and interacting factors that influenced the perspectives of people during different historical eras.
  • D2.His.5.9-12. Analyze how historical contexts shaped and continue to shape people’s perspectives.
  • D2.His.7.9-12. Explain how the perspectives of people in the present shape interpretations of the past.
  • D2.His.11.9-12. Critique the usefulness of historical sources for a specific historical inquiry based on their maker, date, place of origin, intended audience, and purpose.
  • D2.His.12.9-12. Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to pursue further inquiry and investigate additional sources.
  • D2.His.14.9-12. Analyze multiple and complex causes and effects of events in the past.
  • D2.His.15.9-12. Distinguish between long-term causes and triggering events in developing a historical argument.
  • D2.His.16.9-12. Integrate evidence from multiple relevant historical sources and interpretations into a reasoned argument about the past.
  • D4.1.9-12. Construct arguments using precise and knowledgeable claims, with evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging counterclaims and evidentiary weaknesses. 
  • D4.2.9-12. Construct explanations using sound reasoning, correct sequence (linear or nonlinear), examples, and details with significant and pertinent information and data, while acknowledging the strengths and weaknesses of the explanation given its purpose (e.g., cause and effect, chronological, procedural, technical).
  • D4.3.9-12. Present adaptations of arguments and explanations that feature evocative ideas and perspectives on issues and topics to reach a range of audiences and venues outside the classroom using print and oral technologies (e.g., posters, essays, letters, debates, speeches, reports, and maps) and digital technologies (e.g., Internet, social media, and digital documentary). 
  • D4.4.9-12. Critique the use of claims and evidence in arguments for credibility. 
  • D4.6.9-12. Use disciplinary and interdisciplinary lenses to understand the characteristics and causes of local, regional, and global problems; instances of such problems in multiple contexts; and challenges and opportunities faced by those trying to address these problems over time. 

Common Core Literacy Standards

  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.1 Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, connecting insights gained from specific details to an understanding of the text as a whole.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of how key events or ideas develop over the course of the text.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary describing political, social, or economic aspects of history/social science.
  • CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.11-12.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including analyzing how an author uses and refines the meaning of a key term over the course of a text (e.g., how Madison defines faction in Federalist No. 10).