My own view FTR is that the "paper" Constitution is better understood as an exercise in aristocratic republicanism than democracy.

This was somewhat in tension with a more egalitarian spirit or unwritten constitution that predates 1787.

What happened over the next fifty or so years is that the balance of authority shifted from letter to spirit, in ways that were mostly displeasing to the Framers but that they were unable to resist.

Although we tend to focus on the expansion of suffrage, the (linked) emergence of mass parties was equally important.

As a result, appeals to the Constitution of 1789 are, at best, partial. "Democracy in America" is also influenced by some currents that are older and others that are more recent.

Thank you for coming to my TED talk.