The turmoil that has accompanied the growth of the new countries of Africa and Asia demonstrates that independence does not necessarily bring political maturity and peace. From Vietnam to Zimbabwe, as colonialism has given way to the force of nationalism, political independence often has accompanied by political instability and war. The same has proved true in some of the countries of Eastern Europe, notably Yugoslavia, after the collapse of the Soviet Union and its communist system in 1991. Yet America had successful revolution. And despite the Civil War, two world wars, the Great Depression, periodic inflation and unemployment, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the impeachment of two presidents, and other issues that have confronted the nation, it has survived how did the revolutionary leaders of the America carve out an enduring new nation where none had existed before? The process was slow and difficult. As Lipset has observed:
A backward glance into our own past should destroy that notion that the United States proceeded easily toward the establishment of democratic political institutions … it was touch and go whether the complex balance of forces would swing in the direction of a one – or two- party system, or even whether the nation would survive as an entity. It took time to institutionalize values, beliefs, and practices, and there were many incidents that revealed how fragile how the commitments to the democracy and nationhood really were.
The United States, in other words, went through growing pains similar to those of new nations of Africa and Asia today. If some contemporary new nations have encountered difficulty in establishing political freedom and democratic procedures, so did America. For example, the federalists under President John Adams wanted no organized political opposition and used the Alien and Sedition Act, passed in 1798, to suppress their opponents. At least 70 people were jailed and fined under sedition Act, which made almost any criticism of the government, the president, or Congress a crime. The historical development of American nation-with all its crises and problems-remains relevant to the emerging nations in today’s world.
A backward glance into our own past should destroy that notion that the United States proceeded easily toward the establishment of democratic political institutions … it was touch and go whether the complex balance of forces would swing in the direction of a one – or two- party system, or even whether the nation would survive as an entity. It took time to institutionalize values, beliefs, and practices, and there were many incidents that revealed how fragile how the commitments to the democracy and nationhood really were.
The United States, in other words, went through growing pains similar to those of new nations of Africa and Asia today. If some contemporary new nations have encountered difficulty in establishing political freedom and democratic procedures, so did America. For example, the federalists under President John Adams wanted no organized political opposition and used the Alien and Sedition Act, passed in 1798, to suppress their opponents. At least 70 people were jailed and fined under sedition Act, which made almost any criticism of the government, the president, or Congress a crime. The historical development of American nation-with all its crises and problems-remains relevant to the emerging nations in today’s world.
Democracy Under Pressure, p51
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