One thing that separated the American colonies in the 1770s from the best-known democracies of ancient times was the lack of a longstanding aristocracy. In both Athens and Rome, the political sphere was dominated by a wealthy class of individuals who typically owned large amounts of land, along with slaves to work the land and make it profitable. While the Southern colonies were eager to create such an aristocracy propped up by African slave labor, many of the Founding Fathers saw such a structure as a half-hearted attempt at democracy. The Greeks and Romans had maintained a form of democracy in which most of the citizens were not allowed to vote and where the slave population had no civil rights at all. Most European nations had made domestic slavery illegal by the early 1800s, and both the Greek and Roman attempts at democracy had ended in tyranny.

The founders knew that the government they created would be hard-pressed to avoid rebellion and revolt as a result of basic disagreements that already existed between the regions of the country. It seemed that all of the existing models in Europe and elsewhere in the world had been too conservative in their approach. Monarchies, theocracies, and other unitary governments that had seen popular uprisings all seemed to oppose change rather aggressively. Of course, it made sense for unitary governments to resist most elements of democracy. The idea of individual liberties, in particular, posed a significant threat to any government intent on controlling the population from the top down.

By the late 1700s, European citizens were also beginning to demand democracy, but the existence of dynastic monarchies prevented many of them from achieving this goal until after the first World War. The United States' founders believed, however, that democratic institutions would inevitably take the place of monarchies throughout Europe.

One European model that did influence the Founding Fathers was not a political system at all, but an economic philosophy that was beginning to gain popularity among intellectuals immersed in the Enlightenment. By the end of the 18th century, Adam Smith's economic ideas provided the intellectual basis for the development of modern capitalism, and Smith's economic philosophy became a guiding light for American democracy. The acquisition of national wealth was seen as a high priority, and by the early 1800s, the U.S. had one of the best merchant fleets in the world.