Direct Citizen Input Analysis

     Building on English foundations of political liberty, the colonists extended the concepts of liberty and self-government far beyond those envisioned in the mother country. While Englishmen had some representation in their parliament, Americans took the system further. All colonies had some form of a two-house parliament system. Some, like New York, had governors appointed by the crown. Others, like Rhode Island, elected their own. Local government also varied between the colonies. The southern states had a strong County government, while the New England colonies relied on town-meeting government. In either case, voting was reserved to land-owning white men.

Because of the principles of direct democracy, the Arizona’s Constitution was created. With direct democracy citizens were responsible for governing themselves, not the elected representatives. America’s founders felt that direct democracy was impractical and unwise when they wrote the United Constitution in 1787. Although, the Progressive movement believed the government was no good and the only way to restore a fair government was to give power to the citizens. They struggle for the adoption of the initiative, citizens did not have to get permission from officials establish their own statues and constitutional measures; they needed 15% vote to get on ballot. Adoption of referendum, citizens could reject statues and constitutional measures adopted by official; they needed majority vote by Legislature to get on ballot, with the adoption of recall, official could be removed from office before the end of their term; they needed 25% to call a recall election. Finally, at the peak of the Progressive Movement Arizona became a state. The reasons the

During 1608s and 1763s, North American Jamestown and Massachusetts Bay colonists developed knowledge in, and the anticipation of, self-government in the political, economic, social and religious aspects of their lives.

A government for the people, by the people, requires input from all its citizens. The American experiment is a great success that has inspired others to defend the voices of all its citizens. Yet, this was not always so. In the early years of our great democratic experiment we had reserved those unalienable rights to a select few. We discriminated based on race, gender, and color. Therefore, reformers began calling for changes. The reform movements of 1825-1855 in the U.S helped further develop democratic ideals by creating a new range of voters that were more educated, diverse, and healthy. It accomplished this by advocating towards women's suffrage, abolition, which would lead to African-American suffrage, progression towards a better educational

people. There was a desire by many colonists to form a government based off democratic

The issue of direct democracy was another important question during the election of 1912. Direct democracy concerned whether to expand the United States’ rule of democracy. Under the established democratic system, the people had very little active participation. However, the newly found ideals of direct democracy called for the “people to rule,” thereby increasing their role in the American government. Direct democracy included many ideas, but among the most important were the ideas of initiative, referendum, and recall. The initiative allowed a group of voters who obtained a certain number of signatures on a

Congress enlisted a small committee to write the Declaration of Independence. The language within the declaration “…was well suited to unite large numbers of colonists, and persuade even those who had grievances against one another to turn against England” (p. 251 para. 1). Many people were left out of the declaration because the main people targeted were white males. The small number of people actually included meant that few people could participate in government, which was nothing close to an actual democracy.

A democracy is something want was longed for by the english colonies and they fought to obtain this goal. From Bacon’s Rebellion to the Great Awakening, there were many strong influences that helped develop a democratic society in the English colonies during 1607 to 1745. These two situations strongly pushed the idea of a democratic society in many different aspects. One huge aspect of a democratic society that you will see throughout these affairs is having a choice.

Written documents proved to be a major influence on the unification of the American colonies. Beginning as early as 1620, when the Separatist Pilgrims left the jurisdiction of the Church of England and escaped the “Dutchification” of their children in Holland to go to the New World, the establishment of self-government through the Mayflower Compact became present. It was heavily based off of the Magna Carta of 1215 which provided the foundation of the rule of law. Created and signed by the adult males onboard, the document stated that the Pilgrims would “combine [themselves] together into one civil body politic, for [their] better ordering and preservation” (Document 1). It went on to declare that they would abide by the newly formed laws and elect officers. This led to the creation of town meetings, places of direct democracy where men could work together with each other to create laws.

The Colonists were practicing self government in the colonies because England their, mother country was 3,000 miles across the ocean and trying to control them. They were creating early democratic features, but many factors of colonial life were that they were still practicing undemocratic features of government. Individual or human rights, Equality, and free and fair regular elections were properties that colonist found looking for self government. During colonial America, democracy was a work in progress with democratic and undemocratic features.

Citizen participation was a democratic feature in colonial America. Citizen participation was attending meetings, debating and voting when elections come. This legislature was made up of the most votes go towards that one person, that is running for that position. Document 6: Engraving of Virginia's House of Burgesses.

There was a problem though, the colonies in America only allowed active members of that colony’s church to vote or be a part of the government. Some of these colonies were under the Kings control and others needed his permission to make government decisions. However, the members of Separatists church found a way around the King’s rule. They sailed out with one hundred people to America and landed at Plymouth Rock, a territory that was out of King James control. This allowed them to be able to form their own government that was in no way associated with the kind.

Regarding democracy, he encouraged direct citizen participation for its functions of engendering confidence in the people about their ability to govern themselves, developing intellectual talents, and communal and moral values.