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How many times is "democracy" mentioned in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution?
Quick answer:
The word "democracy" is not mentioned in either the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. While these documents establish a government based on democratic principles, the term itself is absent. This omission may have been intentional, allowing the founders to avoid being tied to any specific political philosophy and focus on creating a functional system through compromise.
Many people know that we have some form of a democracy in our country. They also know that our key documents, such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, tried to establish a system of government that would protect the rights of the people and prevent any part of the government from becoming too strong.
However, most people might be surprised that the “democracy” doesn't appear in either document. While our government system is clearly based on democratic principles, you won’t find the word “democracy” in those documents.
In our system of government, we elect people to represent us. We don’t make the laws ourselves. We elect people to do this for us. These elected representatives are supposed to represent the wishes of the majority of the people they represent. We need to let our elected representatives know how we feel about the issues that face our country. This system is known as a democratic republic.
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