Southwest High School - Roundup Yearbook (St Louis, MO)

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adopted it, qualified voters may petition their state legislature or city council to refer a law to the people for their approval before it goes into effect. By the recall a certain percentage of the voters may demand a special election to determine Whether an elected officer shall be removed from office before the expiration of his term. The recall has been aptly termed.a sort of popular impeachment. In city government the coming of the Commission and City Manager plans have been notable advances. In both systems authority is concentrated in a few responsible heads which makes for much greater efficiency and much less corruption. In the light of these many evidences, who can say that no progress has been made toward the realization of the popular sovereignty? Even more remarkable than popular sovereignty in America is the spirit of equality. We have an equality of races and economic classes approached in few other places on the earth. The colonists were determined that no class distinction should exist here. Article One of the Constitution reads that no title of nobility shall be granted by the United States. And thus a start was made. Perhaps the greatest influence toward the development of equality was th-at of the frontier, where birth counted for little, and a man was judged by what he could do. Even so, legal equality was slow in coming for the negro and for the Indian, our two largest racial minorities. As late as 1857 Chief Justice Taney of the United States Supreme Court said in the famous Dred Scott decision that negroes were so far inferior that they have no rights which the white man is bound to respect. Not until 1865 did the Thirteenth Amendment abolish human slavery, and not until 1868 did the Fourteenth Amendment grant citizenship equally to the negro. The rise of the negroes to positions of importance in society has been very slow, but the climb from barbarism to civilization in two centuries is a considerable achievement. The American Indian we had always considered, rather ironically, a foreigner -a foreigner to be conquered and pushed back to make room for the westward expansion of our people. Now that he is completely conquered we force him into the close confines of reservations. The final chapter was not written until 1924 when by law of Congress the Indian was finally granted citizenship. When we think of economic groups, we generally consider the farmer and the industrial worker or laborer, who are often called the backbone of the nation. There was little equality among the economic classes during colonial times and during the first 50 or 60 years of our history under the Constitution. However, with the advent of big business after the Civil War labor began to organize on a national scale. In recent years the farmers have gained in strength by forming co-operatives. Both groups have entered the political field, neither as yet having any great success. A word must be added concerning the remarkable evolution of woman's status from that of household drudge to almost complete political, economic, and social equality. Not only are women found today in virtually every trade and profession, but also in such high offices as Mayor, Governor, United States Representative, Judge in National Courts, Cabinet Member, and United States S ixreen

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THE GROWTH OF DEMOCRACY IN THE UNITED STATES By BUELL PEARsoN Only to those entirely lacking in historical perspective does it seem that there has been no growth of democracy in the United States. To be sure, such progress is often almost imperceptible: but viewed as a whole, our history shows definite evidences of remarkable advance. If democracy embodies the three great principles of popular sovereignty, equality, and liberty, its develop- ment can be measured by the forward strides that have been taken toward the realization of these objectives. Popular sovereignty implies that fundamental authority is vested in the people. Progress here can be shown most clearly in the increasing number of those who have the privilege of the ballot and the right to hold public oflice. In the early years of our history under the Constitution, suffrage was very restricted, as it had been in the colonial period and in England, and only those who qualifled in property, race, and sex were given the vote. Gradually these various restrictions were done away with. First the property restriction was withdrawn. Then the fifteenth amendment was ratified in 1870 granting suffrage regardless of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. ln 1920 the long sought for goal of woman suffrage was attained. By ratifica- tion of the nineteenth amendment the electorate was doubled and today nearly 50W of our people are eligible to vote-an amazing advance toward the goal of universal adult suffrage. In addition to the growing electorate as an evidence of more complete popular sovereignty, there must be added the reforms embodied in the Seven- teenth and Twentieth Amendments. By the former, adopted in l9l3, United States Senators are elected by popular vote instead of by state legislatures as formerly. By the latter, adopted in 1933, there came the abolition of the Lame-Duck Congress, a system under which those defeated for re-election in November took their seats in Congress the following month and served as representatives until March 4-th of the following year, while those actually elected by the people waited thirteen months before assuming their tasks in Congress. Under the present system, those elected in November take office in January, just two months later. A future step in reform must be the abolition of the Electoral College system for electing the president and vice-president, a system by which candidates have often been elected with a minority of the popular vote. Not only in the field of national government but also in the realm of state and local affairs, new techniques have beenfdeveloped to guarantee further control by the people. The secret caucus, or boss-controlled system of nomi- nating candidates, has given way to the convention, and more recently to the direct primary election, in which all members of the party participate in the selection of their candidates in the Hnal election. There have come, too, the initiative and referendum, and the recall of public officials. By the initiative and referendum, in those states which have Fifteen

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Ambassador. In fact, about the only oflices not as yet held by women in the United States are the Presidency, Vice-Presidency, and the Supreme Court. The third of the three fundamental principles of democracy is liberty, the most precious birthright of Anglo-Saxon peoples since Magna Charta was wrested from King John, When the Constitution was referred to the States for ratification in 1787, it contained no specific guarantees against governmental abridgement of personal rights. Rhode Island and Massachusetts, which had experienced the despotism of the intolerant Puritans during the colonial period, insisted upon the inclusion of such guarantees before they would ratify the document. The result was the first ten Amendments, usually referred to as the American Bill of Rights, which were adopted in l79l. Freedom of speech, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly and petition, freedom of religious worship-truly these are the very cornerstones of democracy. But, even with these rights listed in the National Constitution, they were not as yet completely guaranteed. The Supreme Court, in the case of Twining Us. New Jersey, stated that under the federal form of government the national Bill of Rights limits only the national government. lt became necessary, there- fore, for every state constitution to include also a list of rights similar to those in the supreme law of the land. The speed with which these provisions were added to such state constitutions as did not have them was conclusive proof that our people still prize these sacred rights as of old. Our task now is to preserve these liberties and to be watchful lest they be curtailed by those in our midst who now cry most loudly for their protection. Let us, then, appreciate the advances that have been made toward the ultimate goal-democracy. Let us realize that much remains to be done, for as yet we fall far short of the ideal. Let us, Hnally, rededicate our most strenuous service to pushing onward the frontiers a little farther, that We may have our part in the irresistible march of democracy. Laverne Km-bel Seventeen