Ecjs THE BRITISH MONARCHY AND US REPUBLIC TODAY• • METHOD 2

Method 2 Docs

Stage 1 - Introduction: presenting the documents
Similarities: Both documents deal with the evolution of US democracy..
Differences: The 1st document is a diagram showing the republic set up by the US constitution of 1787 after the US War of Independence (1775-1783) against Britain whereas the 2nd document is an article about the 1st US Black president by Michael Eric Dyson published in The Guardian on 5 November 2008, after Barack Obama’s election to the presidency.
Announce structure: In a first part, I will show that in 1787 the US was not a democracy using the diagram and in a second part I'll explain how it is one today thanks to the article.

Stage 2 - Analysing the documents

DESCRIBING - What you see (docs)
 INTERPRETING - What you know (notions)
1. Firstly, the diagram shows the USA wasn’t really a democracy in 1787

Many elections as US voters elected:
- executive pw: president, indirectly
- legislative pw: Congress, directly
But only some Americans voted:
- voters = only white, free, male owners
=> slaves, women and the poor excluded

- Sovereignty of the people (def), representation of the people (def), a republic (def)
- But no democracy (def) because restricted franchise (def)

2. Secondly, the article explains how the US became a democracy

African-Americans were excluded until 1965
- Blacks forgotten in major US docs: Declaration of Indpdce & constitution
- President Lincoln abolished slavery but their rights were not respected until President Johnson’s laws in 1964-1965

- Declaration of Indpence, 4 July 1776 against Britain's abuse of power
- Freedom with Lincoln Emancipation proclamation after the Civil War (1860-1865)
+ Equality one century later thanks to the civil rights struggle by Martin Luther King
=> universal franchise (def) => real democracy

Stage 3 - Concluding
Assess docs (reliable/biased justified): To conclude, these documents are reliable as we have their full references and the Guardian is a quality UK newspaper and unbiased as we can’t see the authors’ opinion (describes the US political system & gives facts).
Sum-up ideas These documents show how that the US republic didn’t start as a democracy but progressively became one although it took one century for African-Americans to become “real” citizens.
+ Open What about democracy not in a republic but in a monarchy like the UK?