Us was always an electoral autocracy, you can vote an autocrat, it was never a democratic nation.
Only a country which follow effective proportional representation system of democracy can be claimed as a democracy
Adam smith point of view won't work here cause black people even after abolishment of slavery were not allowed to participate in economy in efficient way . Productivity of economy benefited only white people for wealth generation ..
In case black people if became successful,they were torn downed to the ground
Best example would be what happened to black wall street and how it got destroyed during Tulsa massacre
Us was always an electoral autocracy, you can vote an autocrat, it was never a democratic nation. Only a country which follow effective proportional representation system of democracy can be claimed as a democracy