Adsactly Education - A Brief History of Democracy
Adsactly Education: A Brief History of Democracy
Even in democracies today, crucial knowledge is available to only a few individuals … —Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel, 1997
Democracy and democracies have appeared and disappeared throughout the recorded history of mankind, and probably even prior to that. Where did they come from? Where did they go? Those are questions we must answer before we can contemplate the state of Democracy today.
There is no hard and fast definition of Democracy. It is generally considered to need all of these four criteria at the minimum to be called a democracy today.
- Ultimate power of the state is in the hands of the populace as expressed by majority rule. Whether that be election of representatives or by direct acclimation the people ultimately run the show. This requires the citizens to actively participate in elections and civic engagements.
- Minority rights. Protection of the rights of all citizens of the state, not just of the majority.
- Rule of Law that treats all citizens equally.
- Free and fair elections without any impediments on citizen participation with every vote carrying the same weight.
You will note that many of the democracies mentioned in this history do not fit the definition as quoted above. It is a process that has been evolving for thousands of years.
A Brief History
Modern Democracy is generally credited with beginning in Athens in the 5th century BC. The very word comes from Greek meaning “rule of the people”. Athens did not have the first democratic form of governance, but they codified it and made it work. After a fashion. It was indeed rule of the people so long as you were male and upper class and privileged. Everybody else was out of the equation.
Sparta developed their own form of democratic rule, where all votes were votes of acclimation. All male citizens were expected to participate. Decisions were taken to the people and the people voted yea or nay by voice. Truly majority rule. The Athenians thought it crude and ineffective and the Spartans thought the Athenian system was rife with corruption and intrigue.
The Roman Republic pushed the bar of Democracy a little higher in some respects, but free and fair elections were not a part of it. Votes were limited to male citizens and they were weighted according to your social class. Accordingly, the positions of power went to a very small ruling class in Rome.
The middle ages saw most of the world ruled by feudal Lords and/or Clergy. There were some attempts at what we would call democratic process in various places. Most of these consisted of small assemblies that voted on specific items at specific times. None of them would be considered a Democracy even in the Greek or Roman sense, but many areas had some form of voting.
It is notable that these attempts came in widely scattered areas most of which could have no knowledge of the Greek and Roman history such as Scandinavia, Russia, India, Mali, Nigeria, North America and Japan.
The Magna Carta was written and adopted in 1215 in England. It very specifically spelled out the rights of ordinary citizens in regard to due process of the law. The first Parliament in England grew out of the Magna Carta in 1265. It was a body that was appointed by and served at the whim of the Monarch, but it was a more or less national assembly that had some voting powers and addressed the concerns of ordinary people.
Modern Democracy
What we know as Democracy today all goes back to England in the 17th Century, The Magna Carta was strengthened and expanded. The Bill of Rights which laid out the rights and responsibilities of everyday English citizens was passed in 1689 and remains in effect today.
The Cossacks in Ukraine elected their supreme leader throughout much of the 16th and 17th Centuries.
America got into the game early and often. The colony at Jamestown elected ‘the House of Burgess’ in 1619, the first formal elected assembly in North America. The other colonies used Democratic Process as practiced in their respective churches. The Puritans, the Baptists, and the Quakers all used some form of democracy in the everyday government for their colonies. Many citizens of the American Colonies learned about and practiced democracy for 150 years before they ended up codifying those practices.
The Act of Union between England and Scotland brought about the first real English Parliament in 1707, though only about 3% of the population was eligible to vote for the MPs. The Monarchy was becoming less and less relevant, but the general population didn’t have a voice.
The Corsican Republic in 1755 became the first nation to install a constitution and provide universal suffrage. All men and women over the age of 25 could vote.
America in the 1760s and beyond was becoming more and more democratic. Suffrage was limited to white male property owners in the Colonies, but the further west the frontier extended, the more democratic the processes became.
The successful American Revolution led to the ratification of the Constitution of the United States in 1787, making it the oldest continuously standing national constitution. Voting was still limited to white adult male property owners as women, slaves, free blacks, and natives were not allowed to vote. This condition was not completely rectified until the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 granted universal suffrage to all American citizens over the age of 21.
The Bill of Rights passed in 1791 codified the idea of universal protection under the law and laid out the rights of ordinary Americans in very clear terms. The Bill of Rights was largely ignored by the government and the courts until the early 1900s when it truly became the law of the land.
It is interesting to note that the founding fathers of the US did not call it a democracy but rather referred to it as a republic.
The French Revolution led to the ‘Rights of Man’ in 1789 and a freely elected National Convention in 1792 that featured all citizens of France being allowed to vote. It was not to last.
19th Century Democracy
By the early part of the 19th Century most of the European experiments with Democracy had ended or been squashed. The English pushed the level of suffrage through a series of acts that culminated in 1833 with the ‘Slavery Abolition Act’ that banned the ownership of humans throughout the Empire. It also had the effect of making former slaves eligible to vote.
1848 was the year of the Revolution in Europe. The second revolution in France led to the creation of the French Republic and universal male suffrage. Many countries in Europe suffered revolutions as the population in general demanded more rights and for their voices to be heard. Democratic process and the granting of human rights spread very quickly.
The United States, meanwhile, continued their more or less successful experiment with Democracy, though 15 Southern States held firmly to the idea and practice of Slavery. Suffrage gained in the Northern states and in the Western additions, but the South held firm making Civil War inevitable in 1862. With the defeat of the South roughly 4 million former slaves became theoretically eligible to vote.
The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution in 1868 guaranteed citizenship to all native born and naturalized individuals. Did not apply to Native Americans at the time. The 15th Amendment in 1870 guaranteed all male citizens the right to vote. The Dawes act of 1887 allowed Native Americans that were willing to give up their tribal allegiances the right to citizenship and the vote.
20th Century Democracy
Democracy flourished in the first third of the 20th Century. Many countries in Europe, Asia and South America became democracies at least in name. The end of WW1 brought about the establishment of many new countries across Europe and most of them became democracies. Universal suffrage became the norm with women finally being allowed to vote.
The world wide depression of the 1930s saw a great many of these new democracies devolve into single party rulership or dictatorship. Rights and rule of law disappeared in many of these places, not to be seen again until after WWII.
The end of WWII saw a huge swing to democracy. Most of Western Europe and many of the former colonies turned to democracy for governance. Eastern Europe was under the Soviet System until 1986 when Russia collapsed and most of those countries chose some form of Democracy also. South America and Africa saw democracy emerge in many countries.
By the dawn of the 21s century more than two thirds of the world’s governments are a democracy and more than fifty percent of the world’s population lives in a democracy.
The next part of this series will delve into the nature and specifics of modern democracy particularly how they apply themselves to the rights and freedoms of their citizens.
Words and ideas are mine. I used this Wikipedia Page for historical perspective and accuracy.
Authored by: @bigtom13
Adsactly is a society for freethinking people. Interested? Click Here to join our Discord channel.
![](https://steemitimages.com/DQmbPMXiEVRfMEKwpExf6a9XGfjs5QPY22c213aWD5vZNUo/image.png)
Open: https://steemit.com/~witnesses
In the bottom of the page type in: adsactly-witness and select vote.
![](https://steemitimages.com/0x0/https://steemitimages.com/DQmWK9ACVoywHPBJQdoTuJpoTSoaubBSKSAdZaJtw1cfLb9/adsactlywitness.gif)
All small letters and without the @ sign
Or give us a direct vote here
Our Witness proposal
Thank you!
That’s a big part of democracy! It’s one of the most important things along with citizens to actively participate in elections (with some exceptions such as fraud or corruption), all citizens being treated equally (unfortunately not always the case) and free and fair elections.
At some point it’s surprising to me that “rule of the people” came from Greek meaning since Athens wouldn’t come to me as a democratic place at that time. I would call it “rule of the certain people” as you pointed out. Obviously Athenians felt threatened by Sparta’s “rule of the people”. Which was at that time closest to democracy. So it all actually started in England in the 17th Century when “The Bill of Rights” was passed. At the end it was nice walk through US and European democracy. The way it all played out, from disagreements, governments ignoring The Bill of Rights, slavery, civil wars, different amendments, world wars to collapse of dictatorships. In some countries it’s still the old way, the dictatorship way. At the end, it’s only matter of time when this become a history.
Great article @bigtom13!
Thank you. That is a really good assessment. I tried to show that every step was another one closer to democracy, it didn't just happen all at once.
I really appreciate the thoughtful comment.
The say that democracy was a blessing but I don't really know what to say on weighing them I gathered pros and cons on it. In my major class in Contemporary Europe subject I have learn that the concept was first brought in Greece. It was also brought in Italy with the concept of The people power or rule of the people. From then on many Nations leader got ousted for being too much and people got the idea of democracy. Do you still remember the Age of Enlightenment? In which the the bloody French Revolution took place. The people could not longer take the conservative way of governing and thus the aftermath of it was a much clearer view on the ideals of democracy under the 17 points. Democracy is indeed amazing but too much freedom of power can also be very dangerous and toxic. Great organize post , this is something I love to read as history student. Very related to what I write everyday
Thank you for the kind words. The 'first' French Revolution obviously didn't last, but the idea of universal suffrage was planted there to be harvested in the second one.
Democracy took place in ancient times. It was really very long ago in the 5th century BC. Athens is essentially the capital of Greek civilization and to the best of our knowledge they were advanced and intelligent. But they created an "embryo" of democracy. Simply put, laid the foundation and made the basis for development. Nevertheless, throughout history, democracy has changed and transformed.
After reading this message and took for himself a lot of new things about democracy which he did not know before. You did a good job and optimized a large amount of information about democracy. To me that's how you present information - it's interesting and informative! Thanks for the work!
Thank you for the kind words. In Athens the voting rate for the general population was about 3%. Women, Slaves and the non elite were not allowed a vote. But it was certainly a good start.
The first time a written document was issued by the king to the agitating people and offered some relief in 1215, the preparation of document is the foundation of modern democracy. Now the wording has changed according to time BYE THE PEOPLE, FAR THE PEOPLE AND OFF THE PEOPLE.
I think the Democracy in the US is at least partially off the rails. I'm not exactly sure what needs to be done, but my hope is that it is self correcting. Time will tell.
The United States is not a democracy, it’s a Constitutional Republic.
In some countries democracy has been lost and they only step on the constitution and do not respect it
Time heals everything but do we have to be an isolationist to make ourselves correct. Do nothing is not the thing do be done. The word off will always remain partial till we are doing something. US is one of the satisfied democracy till date. Hope it will remain in future too.
for the people! Make sports great.
Far, I did replace it. The originals(for) have derailed, there is writing on the wall, one needs to appreciate it.
Democracy has its own benifit and drawback,
Democracy, a system of government in which the citizens of a country rule by majority vote, is a political system that the United Nations describes as "a universally recognized ideal." More than half of the world's population lives in countries that are at least partially democratic, and international organizations hope to help this number increase.
Some are more 'Democratic' than others, but by any measure more than half live under democracy. It is a deeply flawed system that is still the 'universally recognized ideal'.
It's not a system without flaws however, it's probably the best we got. But with advent of mass media communication, democracy is in the hands of those that can sway the majority to benefit the top minority.
It's certainly not a representative majority. The % of voters that just stay home is staggering. To call any win a clear majority is a stretch in my opinion.
Thanks for a great comment.
Yep totally agree with you
This is an interesting topic, fundamentally the preparation of the document is the basis of modern democracy.
Excellent, THANKS for sharing!
Great post!
To survive beautifully,we should obey democracy.
Hi.i follow you.plz follow me and help me for advance.
plz resteem my post.
vote
but today there are so many unfair in government. especially wantu in the state of elections, a lot of intimidation between parties A and parties B. I am worried about the situation this sepeeti fore.Please review from father father sem
I agree with you. I think democracy's main weakness is from the % that actually vote for anything. It is slipping pretty hard in the US and UK.
same as democracy in indonesia. now it is time for the ruling to fight