Democracy in the US (0)

The United States is a democracy . The Constitution, laws and traditions of the United States give the people the right to determine who will be the leader of their nation , who will make the laws and what the laws will be. The Constitution also guarantees individual freedom to all.
In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the New World. Within a few years , the more powerful nations of Europe were claiming great areas there and establishing colonies to support their claims. Most of the colonists were English , but there were also Germans in Pennsylvania, Swedes in Delaware and Dutch in New York . Some of the early British colonists had come to the New World in hopes of enriching themselves, some came because Britain forced them to leave and some because of the opportunity , which did not exist for them in Europe, to own land or practice a trade. But there were also reasons, which had great influence on the shaping of the political system of the USA. For example, William Penn , a member of the Religious Society of Friends , was granted a large tract of land by King James II. There Penn founded the colony of Pennsylvania, where he set up laws protecting freedom of religion and speech . People fleeing persecution in Europe eagerly settled in the colony. Men like Penn set an example which helped spread democratic ideals and practice throughout the colonies.
As time passed , the colonists began to present the governing power that Britain exercised over them. In 1774, a group of leaders from the colonies met and formed the Continental Congress , which informed the king of the colonists’ belief that they should have a voice in determining laws that affected them. The king and the conservative government paid no need to the concerns of the colonists. In 1772, fighting broke out between New England militia and British soldiers. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress issued a Declaration of Independence, primarily written by Thomas Jefferson , a farmer and lawyer from Virginia . This document declared that from that time the United Colonies were no longer colonies of England, but free and independent states named the United States of America. Moreover, the Declaration of Independence set forth some of the principled of American democracy. With help from France , the American armies, led by George Washington, a gentleman farmer from Virginia, won the War of Independence . The peace treaty was signed in 1783.
During the war, the states had agreed to work together by sending representatives to a national congress. The agreement that set up this plan of cooperation was called the Articles of Confederation. The Articles of Confederation failed because the states did not cooperate with the Congress or with each other. The Congress had been given no authority to force any state to do anything. The Congress then asked each state to send delegates to a convention in Philadelphia to discuss the changes to strengthen the Articles of Confederation. The meeting , later known as the Constitutional Convention, began in May 1787. George Washington, the military hero of the War of Independence, was the presiding officer.