Revolutionary Elections in the United States

Abstract Republics based on popular elections would be established as the characteristic American form of government, eventually in Latin America as well as British America. When it came time to create their own government, the Americans of the United States spread the elective principle beyond its original British location in the lower house of the legislature to upper houses, governors, and finally even to their new presidency, an office with powers far beyond those of the British monarch. Far from a check, the electoral basis of the presidency turned out to expand the office’s power, allowing direct appeals to the popular sources of political power, independent of the legislature. The office was a contradictory creation, raised high above the ordinary citizen but still subject to a periodic, unpredictable popularity contest.