Democracy for Whom? Herrenvolk Democracy and the American Founding

Abstract

As the United States marks the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence amid democratic erosion, this article asks why 250 years of democratic development have not produced a multiracial democracy. It argues that the United States is a herrenvolk democracy—a regime in which democracy coexists with racialized limits on political membership and governing power. By examining colonial law, the Declaration, the Constitution, and the Naturalization Act of 1790, I show how the founding joined popular sovereignty to racial exclusion in ways that continue to shape struggles over belonging, representation, and coercive power. The legacy of 1776 includes both the Declaration’s democratic promise and a durable model for how democracy can coexist with exclusion.