Major Historical Threats to American Democracy & in 2025 – History Analysis by Perplexity Pro – September 10, 2025

Major Historical Threats to American Democracy 2025

The Civil War Crisis (1850s-1860s)

The most severe threat in American history came from the convergence of polarization over slavery, racial conflict, and economic inequality between North and South. This led to actual secession, civil war, and the temporary breakdown of democratic governance.

Sources: The Crisis of American Democracy in Historical Context; The Crisis of American Democracy in Historical Context; American Civil War (Wikipedia)

Reconstruction Collapse and Jim Crow (1870s-1890s)

Following the Civil War, violent suppression of African American voting rights through terrorism, lynchings, and systematic disenfranchisement effectively ended democracy for millions of Americans for over half a century. The Wilmington coup of 1898 exemplified this threat—elected officials were forced to resign at gunpoint and replaced with white supremacist Democrats.

Sources: The Crisis of American Democracy in Historical Context; The Crisis of American Democracy in Historical Context; Reconstruction Era (Wikipedia)

The Founding Era Crisis (1790s)

Political polarization nearly brought down the young republic as the Founding Fathers split into hostile partisan camps, creating what one scholar called “partisan warfare” that threatened the nation’s survival.

Sources: We’ve been here before – JHU Hub – Johns Hopkins University; The Crisis of American Democracy in Historical Context; Foundation Era Crisis, 1790s (Wikiepedia)

Current Threats Under Trump’s Second Term (2025)

Significant Attacks on Electoral Integrity

• Suspended voting protections meant to expand voter access
• Dismissed critical voter access cases despite DOJ obligations
• Issued executive order baselessly accusing the Biden campaign of election interference
• Required proof of citizenship to vote and mandated changes to mail-in ballot practices

Sources: The Trump Administration’s Campaign to Undermine the Next Election; Dangerous cracks in US democracy pillars – Brookings Institution

Undermining Rule of Law

• Pardoned approximately 1,500 January 6 insurrectionists, including violent offenders, on his first day
• Demanded DOJ seek evidence to prosecute the previous administration
• Attempted to freeze trillions in federal funding through illegal orders
• Challenged birthright citizenship guaranteed by the Constitution

Source: The Trump Administration’s Campaign to Undermine the Next Election

Executive Aggrandizement and Corruption Risks

• Granted unelected Elon Musk unprecedented access to classified information and power over government departments through DOGE
• Rescinded ethics commitments for executive branch personnel
• Implemented Schedule F to potentially replace thousands of career civil servants with loyalists
• Created new avenues for potential foreign influence through business interests

Source: The Trump Administration’s Campaign to Undermine the Next Election

Authoritarian Tactics

• Used rhetoric labeling political opponents as “evil,” “enemies,” “criminals,” and “lunatics”
• Made anonymous violent threats against federal judges reach “unprecedented highs”
• Weakened election infrastructure by disbanding the Foreign Influence Task Force
• Created a “climate of political fear unprecedented in modern American history”

Source: Dangerous cracks in US democracy pillars – Brookings Institution

Ranking of All Threats to American Democracy

Tier 1: Existential Threats

1. Civil War Crisis (1850s-1860s) – Actual dissolution of the Union and armed conflict
2. Trump’s Second Term (2025) – First time all four democratic threats converge simultaneously
3. Reconstruction Collapse (1870s-1890s) – Systematic disenfranchisement lasting decades

Tier 2: Severe Institutional Threats

4. Watergate Era (1970s) – Presidential criminality and constitutional crisis
5. World War II Internment (1940s) – Mass violation of civil rights under executive power
6. Founding Era Crisis (1790s) – Near-collapse of early democratic institutions

Tier 3: Significant But Contained Threats

7. McCarthyism (1950s) – Suppression of political dissent and civil liberties
8. Various wartime restrictions – Temporary but concerning expansions of executive power

The systematic nature of current threats—targeting elections, rule of law, civil liberties, and institutional checks simultaneously—creates what experts call “an especially grave moment for democracy.”

Unlike past crises that involved one or two threats, this convergence makes the current period extraordinarily perilous.

Sources: The Crisis of American Democracy in Historical Context; The Crisis of American Democracy in Historical Context; Rising Threats to U.S. Democracy | PS: Political Science & Politics; and, Perplexity Pro research.