The United States of America was not a democracy in the 1800's. It was a democratic republic. A democracy is were all the people vote on every issue. A democratic republic is when all the people vote for somebody to vote for them. Out of the 4 major groups; white men, women, African-Americans, and Native Americans, only white men had a say in the democracy. The democratic republic in the US was run by white men and white men only in the 1800's. The white men were also the only group that could vote in presidential elections.