The founding fathers of the United States Constitution suspected that through democracy, a government ruled by the majority, the majority could easily become tyrannical in the use of unlimited power. That is, in denying or denigrating the rights of some minority groups. These fathers included Thomas Jefferson who stated in his 1801 inaugural address for the President of the United States: “All, moreover, will bear in mind this sacred principle, that though the will of the majority shall in all cases prevail, that will shall be the legitimate one to be reasonable; that the minority possesses equal rights, which an equal law must protect, and violating them would be oppression.” Despite the possibility of challenging majority rule by causing some disastrous upheavals, the government's most ardent responsibility should lie more in its responsibility to protect the rights of minorities rather than in respecting majority rule. For, of every possible outcome, the worst would be a situation in which a minority group is denied rights, not due to simple social complications, but rather due to a general lack of protection from the government. While a democracy is based on majority rule, minority rights must not be neglected. One of the principles of democracy is that a minority receives an equal opportunity to become a majority, thus ensuring competition most of the time. Competition has the potential to force a majority to become a minority, needing protection of its rights to have the opportunity to become a majority again. Furthermore, the smallest minority is the individual. By protecting the rights of minorities from the oppression of the majority, the individual is protected and vice versa. For example, individual rights of expression and speech... at the center of the document... a certain minority group: African-Americans. Yarbrough, Tinsley. "US GOVERNMENT > Introduction to the American System > Democratic Documents." ç¾Žåœ‹åœ¨å °å ”æœƒ - 首é . Np, nd Web. October 21, 2013. Yarbrough intimately and accurately describes the evidence of the "African American experience." These processes include, but are not limited to slavery, the denial of suffrage, and the revocation of equality through government policy. Yarbrough is thorough in his description of this experience, refusing to allow mere opinion to decimate even the facts. The "African American experience" is an important part of minority rights since the entire "experience" of African Americans consisted of the government's failure or victory to protect their fundamental rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution..