Democracy, many people feel it was created in the United States. But little do they know that it was an ancient Athenian system of government. There the Athenians, as members of the assembly, participated directly in the making of their laws throught the system of elections. A democracy was possible only in a small state where the people were politically educated, and it was small since the majority of people living there were slaves or immigrants. Ideas of natural law evolved into the idea of natural rights. For example, the thought that all people have certain rights, such as self-preservation, that cannot be taken from them.
English settlers in America faced conditions that emphasized the importance individual freedom. Americans were very predejuice and needed a special type of a government that would help guide them. This led to a democratic political type of government which expressed individualism, liberty, and a government limited by law.
http://education.yahoo.com/reference/encyclopedia/entry/democrac
No comments:
Post a Comment