Democracy and Experiment

The first experiment in human history, perhaps that of seeing what would happen if the fruit from a certain tree were ingested, entails two experiments--one, the specific content of the experiment, the other, the experiment qua experiment, i. e. seeing what would happen if something unprecedented were attempted, perhaps disobeying a deity.  The distinction might explain why America has been called an 'experiment'.  For, though the generally accepted reason for the latter is its Democracy, America is hardly the first Democracy in a well-documented, even in 1776, History.  Instead, what perhaps distinguishes it from its Athenian predecessor is precisely that it is an experiment, a distinction that becomes clearer as its pioneering Democracy diverges over the next few centuries from its pioneering Experimentalism, e. g. the Soviet Union, has been characterized as a 'Socialist experiment', not a Democratic one.  An aversion to experimentation per se that is deeply ingrained in American History would explain why that tradition has been much less celebrated than the other.