It's probably slightly more correct to state that they failed to get full democracy. America has a long history of denying democracy to its people, so it's not

It's probably slightly more correct to state that they failed to get full democracy. America has a long history of denying democracy to its people, so it's not exactly a secret. On a long enough timescale it can be seen to becoming more democratic but there were setbacks along the way and the oligarchy made a few strong moves over the last few decades.