Democracy Best Form of Government? Is democracy the best form of government? President Lincoln thought so in his 1863 Gettysburg Address where he defined the kind of society he wanted the United States to preserve: “government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Lincoln was describing an ideal form of government which did not exist at that time. It was based on the concept that all human beings are created equal and are given certain rights, including life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The word democracy is derived from two Greek words: demos, meaning “the people,” and kratos,