Introduction To Political Science Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Introduction To Political Science - Essay Example The essential test of a democracy has been the belief that the source of political authority must be and remain in the people and not in the ruler. The people have the freedom to determine the nature and content of political power, to place and replace magistrates in positions of political trust, to enact and revoke the laws by which they are governed. In short, it will be self-government; it will be in consonance with and be based upon the development of personality and individuality in every self. (Barker, 1958, p.36). It will be government by the people, not as an unorganized mass but as an organized society of living selves; not in terms of gender, color, ethnicity or other differentiating stipulations in society, but as citizens of the country. It will not rest on mere numbers, but on the quality and value of social life, particularly on the two pillars of Liberty and Equality, which are at once its foundation and its product. To the extent that there is a denial or abridgement of either of these principles to any section of people in a society, to that extent there will be the 'shortfall' in the operation of democracy in that society. And the section of the people deprived of the enjoyment of any of these principles will find it difficult to be elected to positions of political trust. Based on these tenets, we examine why so few women in the USA, as of now, occupy positions of political leadership in the country. Denial of civic equality to women. For much too long a period, American democracy has not been an inclusive political community. Large sections of 'citizens' were excluded from enjoying the basic rights of a citizen, namely the right to vote. For more than 150 years after the American democratic and republican constitution came into existence, American women were denied the right to vote. They secured it only after years of 'struggle' to be recognized as equal citizens of the country along with the men citizens, with the passage of the 19th amendment to the U.S. Constitution in 1920. This was granted about a century after Frances Wright, a Scottish immigrant had first advocated women's suffrage in a series of lectures in 1826. The 'struggle' to secure equal rights for women in electing the representatives to the national and state legislatures continued sporadically during the first half of the 19th century. In 1840, Lucretia Mott and Margaret Fuller, the author of the book The Great Lawsuit; Man vs. Woman became acti ve in Boston. Efforts to gain various women's rights were subsequently led by women famous in the American feminist movement such as Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and Paulina Kellogg Wright Davis. In 1869 Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton founded the National Woman Suffrage Association with the object of securing an amendment to the Constitution in favor of woman suffrage. The American Woman Suffrage Association, headed by Lucy Stone, was also formed at this time by those who believed that suffrage should be brought about by amendments to the various States constitutions. In 1890, these two bodies united into one national organization, led by Susan B. Anthony, and known as the National American Woman Su