Democracy Equality of Human Rights

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Ancient Greece and Rome founded the ideas of democracy, liberty, equality and rights. Early thinkers showed people new ways of thinking that could change the world forever. From Socrates who taught people to question authority and the world around them to Plato who described what an ideal state would look like and to Aristotle who believed in a constitutional government. Their political ideas went from the Greeks, to the Romans, to Western Europeans, all the way to America.

Greece gave ideas such as citizenship and political freedom, which showed ordinary people that they could be involved in their government.

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In Athens, all males were equal. Greek philosophers broke the mold and questioned everything around them using reason. They shaped their societies because they taught other philosophers to do this. This caused revelations of new kinds of thought to more people. In 1685 came the “age of reason.” It was called this because the scientific method was applied to all aspects of life.

Baron De Montesquieu, a french phiosopher, believed in 3 branched of government. An executive, legislative, and judicial branch; all keeping eachother in check through a seperation of powers. The best ingredients for developing a healthy and functioning government are rule of law, limited government, due process of law, and individual liberty. Rule of law means that both those who govern and those who are governed are bound to the law. Limited government means that the power is shared between the government and the people and the government cannot do anything without the people's consent.

Due process of law means that the government has to carry out actions legally and fairly. Individual liberty means that all people have inalienable rights. Ordinary People do have a role in democracy and their government. It is necessary that they have the right to vote. They must hold their government accountable for their rights and wrongs. The government must rule by the consent of the people.

France in the 1700’s was a society without democracy. Instead they had a monarchy, with a Estates-System in place. The Estates System meant that you were born in one of the 3 classes and you had to stay in that class. In the first Estate were the clergy, who were made up 130,000 people out of the 27 million people. In the second estate there was the nobility, numbered 350,000. In the third estate there were vast differences in occupation, but peasants made up about 80% of the estate. 40% of those peasant owned no land. In 1789, Louis XVI was forced to call a meeting of the Estates- General. The Third Estate, with the most representatives, wanted to set up a constitutional government. But they could get little done, for they were outvoted every time because the First and Second Estate outvoted them 2-1 despite having a total of the same number of representatives. In June of 1789, the Third Estate declared it would draft a constitution resulting in Louis XVI preparing to use force against them. But before he could do so 900 parisians stormed the Bastille and demolished it. It was so then that the Revolution began.

In August of 1789, the Declaration of the Rights of Man was adopted. It reflected enlightenment ideas. But in 1791 a new constitution with a limited monarchy was put in place. After the Reign of Terror and the death of Robespierre the was a new Constitution of 1795 that set up two legislative houses. There was also a directory (committee of 5) that was known for its corruption. After Napoleon overthrew the committee of public safety he sought to spread principles of the revolution. But after he was overthrown conservative governments throughout Europe worked to contain old order, but powerful forces for change were at work. Democracy is a necessary thing in government because if the French had it in the 1700’s then over 40,000 people would still have been alive instead of dying fighting for their rights.

By the late nineteenth century political democracy started to expand in Western Europe. Mass political parties were formed, ministerial responsibility was set in place, and universal male suffrage laws were passed. Great Britain had become a working two-party parliamentary system. The Liberals and Conservatives passes reform acts to increase the number of adult male voters; they passed reforms on women as well. There were social reforms of the working class and in 1900, a new Labour Party emerged and dedicated itself to the interests of workers. In France, after the collapse of Louis-Napoleon's Second Empire the Third Republic established a republican constitution in 1975.