How Democratic is the American Constitution? (2001, , among others) is a book by political scientist Robert A. Dahl that discusses seven "undemocratic" elements of the United States Constitution. The book defines "democratic" as alignment with the principle of one person, one vote, also known as majority rule. The author 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. But Dahl also points out that innovation and change in democratic techniques and ideals continued even after the Constitution was codified, and the American system has not adopted all of those new ideas. He says that the Founders were partially constrained by public opinion, which included maintenance of the sovereignty of the thirteen states. Undemocratic elements The primary undemocratic aspects of the Constitution that the book sets out are: Tolerance of slavery – Necessary to ensure the cooperation and participation of the Southern states, and only outlawed after the American Civil War Suffrage – The voting rights of women, African-Americans, and Native Americans were either not protected or specifically abridged. (In 1870, the Fifteenth Amendment prohibited denial of suffrage due to race. In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment prohibited denial of suffrage due to sex. In 1964, the Twenty-Fourth Amendment prohibited poll taxes, which were then being used in some states to discriminate against African-Americans without explicit racial provisions.) Election of the president – Article II Section 1 establishes the Electoral College, which gives each state a number of electors proportional to its representation in Congress (which, because each state has two senators, is not proportional to population). Electors were to be appointed by whatever method the state legislatures chose, and would presumably use their own judgment in choosing a President. In modern times, most states use a "winner take all" system to allocate the votes of their electors based on the outcome of the popular vote within that state, but the allocation of votes among the states is unchanged. Representation in the Senate – Each state gets two senators, regardless of population. This is known as the Connecticut Compromise, and was incorporated into the Constitution to secure the continued participation of the smaller states. (also references Sizing Up the Senate by Frances Lee and Bruce Oppenheimer) Election of senators – Article I, Section 3 declared that senators were to be appointed directly by state