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700 - 350 BCE The Ancient Greeks had the first system of Democracy. They hadd three branches.Ekklesia, Boule, and Dikasteria. Ekklesia being a sovereign body who wrote laws and dictated
foreign policy. Boule being a council of representitives from all ten of the Athenian tribes, and Dikasteria, the popular courts where citizens argued cases before a group lottery selected jurors. -
509 BCE Rome was declared a republic after the upper class rebelled against the king. Afterwards, all the power was kept with the upper class (the partricians). That is until the Plebs (common folk) rebelled and won more rights. The Plebs helped create a new democratic system giving people a say.
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The Magna Carta cut off some of the rights a king had. The king could not:
- Steal firewood from other lands
- Force widow to re-marry
- Force knights to pay money to excuse them from
guarding the castle
- Confiscate horses and/or carts
- Force villagers to build bridges over rivers. This effectively restricted the king from doing whatever he wants to do. -
The American Revolution creataed the first true democracy. Americans were free to vote for their constitution of government. No branch of the government could not abuse their power. Like all the other democracys, women weren't allowed to vote. That is until 1919.
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The French Revoluton started because the middle class of France wanted to over their monarch King Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette and start a democracy
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The United Nations created the declaration of Human Rights stating that humans hava a right to live and work free from abuse from governments. That all people are “born free and equal and that
all have the right to life, liberty and the security of
person”.
