History of direct democracy in the United States facts for kids
The idea of direct democracy in the United States, where citizens vote directly on laws, started way back in the 1630s in the early American colonies, especially in New England. Many towns in New England still use this tradition today through open town meetings, where everyone can come together and vote on local issues.
Contents
Direct Voting in the 1800s
In the middle of the 1800s, voting directly on specific questions became a way to solve tough problems. For example, states created "local option" laws. These laws let people in a specific area vote on whether to allow certain activities or businesses in their community.
The Progressive Era: People Power
Starting in the late 1800s, a time called the Progressive Era began. During this period, millions of American farmers faced tough times. They felt that big banks and companies were treating them unfairly. To try and fix things, they formed a political group called the People's Party in the 1890s. They wanted more fairness in how the country was run.
Inspired by these farmers and by brave investigative journalists (who were called "muckrakers" because they dug up dirt on corruption), more and more citizens joined together. They formed groups to expand this idea of direct democracy. From 1898 to 1918, these "Progressives," supported by millions of people, helped add direct democracy rules to the constitutions of twenty-six states. This meant citizens could propose and vote on laws themselves.
How Citizens Gained More Say
Citizens felt it was really important to have direct democracy rules in their state constitutions. They saw a lot of unfairness in state governments. They believed that the only way for the government to truly represent the people was to let citizens vote directly on laws. This would give the "sovereign people" (meaning the citizens themselves) more control.
Groups and political parties started pushing for direct democracy in the 1890s. This idea was often linked to other important changes, like women's suffrage (the right for women to vote), recall (the ability to remove elected officials), and the labor movement (workers' rights). Even labor unions like the Knights of Labor used direct voting to make decisions for their members.
The Populists were a major political group that strongly supported direct voting. In their 1896 plan, they included direct lawmaking. That same year, they won 5 seats in the U.S. Senate and 22 seats in the House of Representatives.
Nebraska was one of the first states to adopt the referendum (a direct vote on a law) for its cities in 1897. Then, South Dakota became the first state to adopt the referendum for the whole state in 1898. The system adopted in Oregon in 1902 became very famous and was copied by many western states. It was even called the "Oregon system." A big supporter of direct democracy was William Simon U'Ren, who worked hard to bring these changes to Oregon.
However, not every attempt to bring direct democracy succeeded. For example, in Texas, citizens voted against it because the proposed version required too many votes to pass. By 1918, the excitement for expanding direct democracy slowed down for about 50 years. Later, Florida added the right for citizens to propose constitutional changes in 1968, and Mississippi added a limited form of this process in 1992.
The idea of citizens making laws through initiatives and referendums (often called I&R) spread across the U.S. because state lawmakers sometimes didn't create laws that protected people from powerful lobby groups or unfair business practices. Also, while lawmakers were quick to pass laws that helped special interests, they were slow to change or remove those laws, even when they were unfair to most people.
Examples of Citizen Initiatives
There are many examples of how citizens have used initiatives and referendums to make changes in their states.
California's Property Tax Vote
On June 6, 1978, voters in California passed Proposition 13. This was a ballot initiative that put a limit on property tax rates, reducing them by a lot. Proposition 13 got a huge amount of attention across the whole United States. Its success led to a "taxpayer revolt" in many other places, where people wanted to lower their taxes.
Proposition 13 was officially called the "People's Initiative to Limit Property Taxation." It passed with 65% of voters saying yes. It got on the ballot because its supporters gathered enough signatures on a petition. When it passed, Proposition 13 became part of California's state constitution.
Massachusetts Tax Limits
Massachusetts passed a similar law in 1980, using its own initiative process. It was called Proposition 2½. This law not only limited property taxes, like California's Proposition 13, but also reduced the auto excise tax rate. Both taxes were limited to $25.00 for every $1,000 of value for the property or vehicle.
Nebraska's Unique Legislature
After gaining the right to propose constitutional changes in 1912, citizens in Nebraska used it to make a big change. In 1934, they voted to reduce their two-house legislature (which had 133 members) to a single-house legislature (with only 43 members). This new single-house legislature started in 1937. It helped save money, reduce waste, and make the lawmaking process more open and efficient. This unique combination of direct democracy and a single-house legislature has worked well for a long time.
Challenges of Direct Democracy
Most of the direct voting activity has happened in states like Arizona, California, Colorado, North Dakota, Oregon, and Washington. These states generally have easier rules for getting signatures to put a measure on the ballot.
In many states, collecting signatures has become a special business. People who support an initiative, referendum, or recall now pay others to collect the needed signatures. This is often necessary because so many signatures are required to get a measure on the ballot. These signature gatherers are usually paid per signature. Some states have tried to stop this practice, and Oregon even made signature gatherers employees, meaning they are covered by labor laws.
Direct democracy can sometimes be used to bypass the normal "checks and balances" of a government. For example, a state governor might threaten to use an initiative to get around a legislature that isn't cooperating. Similarly, a state lawmaker could collect signatures to put a measure on the ballot that overturns a governor's veto. While it usually takes a two-thirds vote to overturn a veto, an initiative only needs a simple majority to pass. However, supporters of direct democracy argue that in these cases, the public is just acting as an extra check on their elected officials' power, not undermining the system.
More recently, corporations have used initiatives and referendums to force citizen votes on decisions they don't like. For example, a company might collect signatures for a referendum to stop a competing business from being built. Another company, Wal-Mart, has used initiatives to bypass local planning groups and city councils to build their large stores. Critics called this "ballot box planning" and pointed out that once voters approved the plans, local government couldn't make any changes. In one case in Inglewood, California, the initiative was defeated.
Laws written by citizens, just like laws written by lawmakers, can sometimes have unexpected results. For example, California's "Three Strikes" proposition was meant for serious criminals. However, it led to some people being sent to prison for life for less serious crimes, if they had two serious crimes on their record already. Supporters of the law argued that these outcomes were fair because the person had already committed two serious crimes. There have been attempts to change this law, but they haven't passed.
