How Democratic is the American Constitution? (2002) is a book by political scientist Robert A. Dahl that discusses the antidemocratic elements of the U.S. Constitution.

The book originated in the Castle Lectures which Professor Dahl delivered at Yale University in 2000.

Dahl acknowledges the common American sentiment that the Constitution was not intended to create a democracy, but a republic. He replies, though, that "during the eighteenth century the terms 'democracy' and 'republic' were used rather interchangeably in both common and philosophic usage," and that James Madison's usage in the Federalist Papers reflects the "prevailing confusion over the two terms."