Where Democracy Comes From
The way the United States of America is governed today is by a democracy. Democracy comes from many different time periods and different thinkers that thought that monarchy is wrong and not the right way to handle a government. The four main reasons democracy was developed was from the key episodes in history that include the Magna Carta, Parliament in England, the American Revolution, and the French Revolution.
The signing of the Magna Carta in England was one of the high points in the development of Democracy because it made the monarchs obey the law and the nobles had certain laws. This later spread to the rest of the English citizens. According to Ellis and Esler, “This document contained two very important ideas that would shape English government in the future.” ( Ellis and Esler 246) Which meant they couldn’t do anything more than the citizens he/she is ruling. The two ideas were that the nobles only had certain rights and the second was that the monarchs must obey the law. This was significant to the development of Democracy because these laws would give the citizens much more say in what they do and how they would later, after many more steps in history, rule themselves (Democracy). This is not how the citizens are ruled, but this later helped with the development of Democracy. ( Ellis and Esler 246) Therefore, the Magna Carta is one of the main reasons Democracy developed into the form that exists today. This later developed into Parliament.
Parliament in Europe was one of the many important steps to the development of democracy. Parliament is what the Magna Carta was followed by. Parliament played a large role in helping to unify England’s government (Ellis and Esler 247) . Parliament, “consists of the sovereign, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons.” (Ellis and Esler 247) This later became England’s legislature. Parliament later came up with the “power of the purse.” Which meant the monarchs had to meet his demands before voting for more taxes,. This limited the monarchs power. Limiting the monarch’s power was important to the development of democracy because the monarch couldn’t throw a citizen in jail for no reason, voting on taxes without meeting his demands first, or making new laws that don’t make sense. This gave the citizens he is ruling some say in what they do (voting, rights, and can’t be accused of something without clear evidence they did). Which is what everyone wanted. (Ellis and Esler 247) In conclusion, Parliament was one of the key events that occurred during the development of Democracy because this gave the United States of America it’s freedom from Britain and the United States formed into a Democracy.
The American Revolution was one of the key steps in the development of democracy because the American Revolution lead to freedom and a Democracy to the United States. It started with the 13 colonies developed by Britain’s growing empire. But later the colonists declared freedom from Britain. The declaration took place because the colonists didn’t want taxes on goods like newspapers and pamphlets(Stamp Act). This was connected to the development of Democracy because the colonists demanded freedom and if they didn’t protest, they would’ve never gained their freedom from their victory from the American Revolution. They established a Democracy afterwards because they wanted freedom and didn’t like monarchy. This sparked the American Revolution. After most battles ended in Britain’s victory, the colonist kept fighting and in 1776, the Second Continental Congress voted to declare independence from Britain (Ellis and Esler559-560). Thomas Jefferson was the main author of the Declaration of Independence. This document expressed John Locke’s idea for the government to protect people’s natural rights (“life, liberty, and property”). This connects to Democracy because this gave people more rights than they had. The more rights people had, the happier they were. On