Civics Unit 1The Beginnings of Democratic Decision MakingPannell

Chapter ExpectationsYou will learn:

How societies throughout history have made decisions

How and where the idea of democratic decisions making started

How and where modern ideas about democratic decision making began to evolve

How people won the right to participate in the decision-making process

Key Terms

Ways of making decisionsAuthoritarian WayTotal obedience to the authority of a single person or small group

Individual freedom does not exist

Democratic WayThe people control the process of making the rules about how they are governed

Greek demos = people, kratia = rule

Ways of making decisions cont.

Roots of Democratic CitizenshipWe were originally nomadic tribes that collected into farms, villages, towns, cities and then civilizations

We did not need written rules since society was small, and individual customs were similar

Everyone understood the unwritten rules they lived by

Roots of Democratic CitizenshipWhen we collected in cities and then civilizations we shared our space with many others we did not know, with different customs

Merging differing customs led to civic conflict disagreements among people who live in the same community

Conflict arose over land and property, purchase and sale or goods and things that would disturb public peaceWe created formal ways of preventing and resolving these conflicts. These rules became laws

Roots of Democratic CitizenshipSuccessful warring cities became vast empires

Rulers dominated the lives of thousands / millions of people

Monarchy When the ruler was selected through hereditary. When a ruler died their eldest (usually son) child inherited the throne

Monarchs stayed in power by persuading the people that their right to rule had been granted by their god(s)

Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Mesoamerica

Ancient Governments Monarchy and Divine RightChina emperors right to rule was the mandate of Heaven. Heaven (Chief god) was the husband of Earth. Emperors were their sons

It was the emperors duty to carry out the will of Heaven, not the will of the people

This idea of government lasted thousands of yearsTai Tsung 626-649 CE

The Evolution of DemocracyAncient Athens (Greece) Originally governed by a single ruler

Between 700 and 350 BCE some Greeks gradually won the right to share in decision making

Polis = public affairs of the city

Greek polis of Athens cradle of democracy. Where the idea of democracy took root

Citizens were expected to participate actively in the citys affairs

Statement of classic democratic valuseAncient Athens cont. Funeral OrationOur constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people. When it is a question of settling private disputes, everyone is equal before the law; when it is a question of putting one person before another in positions of public responsibility; what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the actual ability which the man possesses. No one, so long as he has it in him to be of service to the state, is kept in political obscurity because of poverty.. (In Athens) each individual is interest not only in his own affairs but in the affairs as the state as well Pericles - Athenian, lived about 495-429 BCE

Athenian DemocracyDirect democracy Every citizen had the right to vote on decisions affecting the way the city was governed

Only citizens could participate in the citys public affairs Free adult men born in Athens

Slaves, women, children and those born outside Athens's city were protected by Athenian laws yet had no political rights

Therefore most people who lived in Athens had no political rights Athenian democracy, a nice ideal!

Ancient RomeOriginally ruled by kings

509 BC, the king was driven out and Rome became a republic. Rather than being ruled by a hereditary monarchy, people from rich families took over governing. They were called patricians

Plebs (plebeian) made up everybody else. Although making up a majority, they had no say in government

Ancient Rome494 BCE, demanding a right to participate in law making, the Plebs staged a general strike, vowing to form a new city

Plebs strategy worked. They won the right to form an assembly that would have some say in law making

However the real power belonged to a separate assembly the Senate

Collapse of Rome Descent into the Dark Ages

Roman citizenship still limited to only men living in Rome all slaves, women, country folk are not citizens

Roman democracy would go full circle

Roman Empire collapse by 410 CE

Western Europe descends into the Dark Ages

Idea of democracy virtually snuffed out

Authoritarianism (dictator)Democracy of sorts

Dark and Middle Ages 500-1215 CEEurope developed into small medieval city states usually had Oligarchy rule

Eventually city states were absorbed into larger nations ruled by monarchies (England, Scotland, France, Spain)

Ideas of democracy never truly died. There were always ideas, talk of democracy and actions taken to try to win citizen rights

Magna Carta 1215 CEBritain absolute Monarchy divine right

1215 group of nobles forced King John (tyrannical reigning monarch) to sign a document that put limits on his power

Document Magna Carta or Great Charter

Put the law of the land above anything else

Magna Carta 1215 CEExamples: no free man could be imprisoned except by the lawful judgment of his peers and by the law of the land

No Forcing widows to remarry

No forcing villagers to build bridges over rivers

No forcing knights to pay money to excuse themselves from guarding castles

No confiscating the horses or carts of freemen

No helping themselves to firewood that did not belong to them

Early ParliamentsEstablished shortly after the signing of the Magna Carta

Gatherings of representatives of the people that discussed matters including law making and taxes

British parliament split in two

House of Lords (those with inherited titles lord, duke, earl)House of Commons (commoners with no titles)

Note: members of the H of C were not elected like today, but chosen by a small wealth elite

Thomas Hobbs 1588-1679

Hobbs believed that .life without government was solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short because human beings were egotistical and selfish.

In order to avoid anarchy , the people had to surrender freedom for order

People gave up doing whatever they wanted to a ruler in return for order and stability

John Locke 1632-1704Rejected Hobbes dark vision of human nature

Father of Liberalism

liberalism puts the individual ahead of government.

Humans were rational, not aggressive and shared natural rights1. life2. liberty3. protection of property

John Locke continuedBelieved that a contract existed between citizens and their rulers

The people agreed to support and assist the government and , in turn, the government agreed to protect and defend their natural rights

Should a government fail to do this, the citizens had the right (duty) to overthrow that government

Lockes ideas gave way to the age of revolutions

American Revolution 1776United States declaration of independence (from Britain) is based in Lockes ideas

Thomas Jefferson believed that government was the instrument of the people and created a government to ensure the American people their right to life, liberty and, in stead of protection of property pursuit of happiness

Job of government is to protect and defend its citizens rights

French Revolution 1789-1799Slogan Liberty, Fraternity, Equality

Upset about an unfair taxation system

French monarchs Louis XVI and his queen Marie Antoinette were executed all nobility fled into exile

Established new republic based on Lockes ideas

Industrial Revolution 1850Mass movement of people from the country to the cities to work in factories

Gave way to an entirely new class system. Instead of nobility and commoners we now have a new class systemnobilityrich (factory owners),.Poor (workers)

This new rich class (factory workers) want access to power in decision making government

Also gave way to Marxism

Communist (Russian) Revolution 1917Russia monarchy under Czar Nicholas

World War 1

Vladimir Lenin and his communist party overthrow the monarchy. Monarchy executed by firing squad

Attempt to create a utopian society by implementing the ideas of Karl Marx.

No private ownership

Everyone was supposed to be equal

Slogan From each according to his abilities; to each according to his needs.

The Great Depression 1930sPrior to depression governments had a limited involvement in economics laissez faire

Depression led to the social welfare state now governments have an obligation to provide for all citizens

Unemployment insurance

Civil Rights movement 1960Rights that were granted to only white citizens would be fought for and earned by African AmericansSit-ins and demonstrationsMartin Luther KingNelson MandelaDesmond Tutu