Thomas1195
Banned
Well, the US was not perfect, but it became the first time in history when people actually stood up against the oppressors and fought for the Rights of Man and hence it did inspire people around the world. Besides, the ARW in one way or another led to French Revolution, which spread radical ideas of equality and liberty, as well as nationalism. Also because of that, the US also became the land of opportunity for lower-class Europeans who were oppressed by European monarchies àn nobilities.Impossible to say would world be better or worse if ARW would fail. History can go to several different directions. For me role of USA on developing more democratic world is pretty exaggerated. UK was already going towards parliamentary monarchy and there was already several thinkers around and surely democratic ideas would eventually develope. And modern USA even is not most democratic nation in the world.
After all, the US and later France were the world's only democracies during the 19th century (Britain should not be considered as a democracy until 1928).
Well, the bottom line is that until 1914 only a third of British male adult population were eligible to vote. Meanwhile, all US white males could vote since 1860.Constitutional republicanism, but not constitutional democracy. The early US was not a democracy and did not claim to be. It did democratise among white males faster, although it was substantially slower to democratise among people of color. And that denial of rights wasn't just limited to voting rights, but also basic civil protections until the 1960s, which the British poor had centuries earlier. I would argue the extremism seen in US conservative politics to this day is due to the reverberations of becoming a true democracy.
Racism was common during the 19th century. For Britain, we cannot conclude like that because there weren't a lot of people of other colors in the UK.