Types of Government
After the Revolutionary War, the founding fathers got together to discuss what type of government they wanted to establish. They considered four types: monarchy, oligarchy, aristocracy, democracy. Well, you probably already know which one they picked, but, for the sake of argument, pretend you don't.
We know they didn't choose a monarchy, but what is a monarchy anyway? A monarchy is a form of government in which hereditary rulers (people who share the same bloodline) better known as kings and queens, wield absolute power over everybody.
Absolute power? That means that the kings and queens can pretty much do whatever they want.
Well, since the founders knew the monarchy thing didn't really fly in the original American colonies, they decided against a monarchy.
They also considered oligarchy. An oligarchy consists of a body of individuals possessing high levels of wealth, social or military status, or achievement. These elite guys and gals pretty much rule everything and everyone.
There was also aristocracy to consider. Aristocracy is rule by a privileged few.
As nice as monarchies, oligarchies, and aristocracies may sound (at least to those lucky enough to be in power!), one of the reasons the colonists fought for independence in the first place was to free themselves from government structures that left little or no popular consent to the people.
So, the founding fathers set up a democracy. A democracy is a form of government in which the people hold the power to rule themselves. But it's not quite as simple as that. In fact, there are two main types of democracy: direct democracy and indirect democracy.
In a direct democracy, all the people get together and have an equal say in the laws they create. In an indirect democracy (also known as a representative democracy), people vote for representatives who work on their behalf to create laws. Once chosen, these representatives then vote within a government structure, making and passing laws. This is a two-step version of democracy.
The founding fathers chose… an indirect democracy! After all, they figured that at some point in time, America would become a really, really big nation. And if that happened, there'd be no way they could possibly get everyone together to vote on every single thing.
