How Democratic is the American Constitution? is a 2001 book by American political scientist Robert A. Dahl that discusses seven undemocratic elements of the United States Constitution. A second edition was published in 2003.
The book defines "democratic" as alignment with the principle of one person, one vote, also known as majority rule. It praises the Framers of the Constitution as "men of exceptional talent and virtue" (p. 7) who made admirable progress in the creation of their republican government. However, it also points out that innovation and change in democratic techniques and ideals continued even after the Constitution had been codified, and the American system has not adopted all of those new ideas. He notes that the Founding Founders were partially constrained by public opinion, which included maintenance of the sovereignty of the thirteen states.
According to Alan Gibson, who reviewed the book in The Review of Politics, the book consists of five core arguments:
- "the constitution is an undemocratic, anomalous relic";
- "the Constitution [...] contains no unified theory of democracy or government";