Kevin Beadle

Mr. Haskell

American Gov.

14 September 2007

Evolution of Democracy Threaded Discussion

Democracy has derived from centuries and centuries ago. One of the first origins of it was from the 10 Commandments within the Old Testament. The 10 Commandments had a set of rules for the people to follow. One rule was “Thou shalt not steal.” This was a good rule because it enforced people to not bring chaos. The Athenians also developed a democratic system. It was made in the Greek city-state of Athens in which they produced a direct type of democracy where the people voted on legislation and bills in their own right. Indirect democracy would have elected representatives to make the decisions for the people. Most modern countries are this type of representative democracy. The Magna Carta was issued during the reign of King John of England because of disputes between himself and Pope Innocent III. It gave freedom of the English Church from the church and guaranteed liberties to citizens of the city of London as well as demanding due process. The Glorious Revolution in 1688 is another important event because King James II of England was overthrown and it lead to the development of the Bill of Rights in 1689. The English Bill of Rights gave specific rights to the citizens of England. When the United States gained independence from Britain, it was a start of a new governmental system and taking them away from a monarch system. The French Revolution gave rise to Enlightenment ideas such as the republic, citizenship, and rights as citizens. France and Europe were previously had a government of absolute monarchy. The Civil War in America was brought by whether slaver in the U.S. should be abolished or stay. The Union and Confederate nations fought long battles in the war for the question of if or if not all men are created equal. The Civil Rights Movement of 1955 also was brought by this problem because African Americans at the time had limited rights such as not being able to eat in certain restaurants or not being able to attend a certain college. All of these events have formed democracy to what it is today.

Response

I agree with James that the 10 Commandments has changed the monarchy system to a point where the people's rights cannot be changed so easily. It is true that in a monarch system that kings do have the power to set laws but they are still limited and they cannot change the original 10 Commandments. I also agree that the Magna Carta was a breakthrough in the formation of democracy because it allowed even more limitations to the monarch and kings giving the people a little more power. Also like James said, it puts power into the hands of the people and not just one person. The American Revolution was truly a huge step for democracy. Americans did not like the way Great Britain was taxing them with the Stamp Act, Sugar Act, Tea Act, etc. In response, the 13 colonies of the United States used the Declaration of Independence to break away from the British empire. They succeeded in the revolution. James was right that the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950's began because African Americans were treated unequally. Many African Americans including Dr. Martin Luther King protested peacefully but others such as Malcolm X did whatever it was necessary to fight the cause. After many hardships they endured, like James stated, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act in 1964 to abolish all forms of discrimination. This lead to many more people being able to vote and take part in the democratic nation. I also agree that third world nations are having a tough time setting up any type of government. It seems more likely that they would follow anyone that would just put food on their table and in turn, they would be ruled by a dictator. I think that the democratic system will go downhill as time goes by because population is growing more and more each year and I think people will have a harder time trying to find jobs and food will be more scarce.