Novus Ordo Seclorum

...before the American founding, democracy was mostly a term of opprobrium; since America, even the most undemocratic systems must attempt to present themselves as democracies--the compliment vice pays to virtue, certainly, but more significantly, an indication of how political virtue has come to be redefined (Zuckert, Michael P. The Natural Rights Republic (Notre Dame, Indiana; University of Notre Dame Press, 1997), pp. 3-4).