Prompt 1. Identify and describe 4 influential philosophers whose ideas influenced the Founding Fathers in setting up the structure… Democracy did not occur in a matter of seconds, it took years of evolution to become what it is today. The thought of a self-government during a world ruled by monarchs would have you locked up in a mental hospital. As you can figure, democracy did not just come out of the nowhere, it had to be planned out and modified over the years. The earliest contributions and influences of The American Government came from philosophers, some of them are the part of our founding fathers and others influenced them to develop the strong nation we are today. One of the first philosophers was Thomas Hobbes (1500’s), who published “Leviathan”, key points in the book included; people aren’t capable of ruling themselves, primarily because humans by instinct are selfish and need the strength of a strong leader to keep things running smoothly and in control. He also “argued on how that government was necessary to prevent people living in an anarchic “state of nature” in which it would be “nasty, brutish, and short”... Hobbes leaned over to a more monarch institution due to the fact he believed that people must obey the king/queen, and in exchange the king/queen must provide protection. Even though Hobbes did not truly support a democratic system over monarchy, he still believed there must be a head of power and a type of government. The publishing of “Leviathan”,
The society that we live in today was formed from of all of the good things from these various systems of government. Most scholars believe that democracy began an ancient Greece. Around 510 BCE the ancient Athenians invented democracy. In the Athenian democracy each year, 500 names were drawn from all the citizens of Athens. Those 500 citizens had to serve for one year as the law makers of ancient Athens. All citizens of Athens were required to vote on any new law that this body of 500 citizens created. One man, one vote, majority ruled. Women, children, and slaves were not citizens, and thus could not vote (Roots of Democracy). Greece was a collection of some 1500 separate communities scattered round the Mediterranean and Black Sea shores. At one point in ancient Greeks history there was almost 100 years serious civil unrest, but ostracisms fulfilled their functions of preventing a civil war (Democratic Experiment). Though the Greeks were recognized as being the inventors of democracy, they’re most recognized by the modern civilization for their artwork and architecture.
Did you ever wonder how the United States’ founders envisioned America to be in the years to come? America’s founding fathers were tasked with the difficult challenge of finding a balance between preserving individual rights and forming a strong, long-lasting union. There are many examples of how the founding fathers found a balance. Some examples of this are showcased in the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights, and A New American Nation.
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.
During the Enlightenment period, Monarchy was one of the most common forms of government. In a Monarchy, the king or queen had complete control of their entire kingdom and its people. Many people including philosophers
The idea of democracy came from the Ancient Greek civilization. The power was in the hands of the eligible people who had the right to decide or vote what was right or wrong for themselves. The Ancient
When America developed their government it was pretty unique in comparison to the rest of the world at the time, it seems an almost near miracle that anything could be created all the way from the ground up like it seems it was. That is not, however, the entire story. There were many people that inspired and influenced American democracy, for example John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Baron de Montesquieu.
The 13 colonies in America started early on to create democratic features. Citizen participation, Equality, and majority rule with minority rights were just a few ways the did this. Colonial america was doing what they believed was right. In Colonial America, democracy was a work in progress with democratic and undemocratic features.
Modern day America can be described as a democracy. This was not always like this. The United States was originally a colony of Great Britain but gained its independence. It slowly became a democracy but that's not the question. Unlike a standard democracy, an “organic democracy” is democracy that is formed from groups of people who may have something in common and are synergistic and evolving. Compared to a normal democracy which is held together by a social contract, an organic democracy grows and evolves over time naturally. The early political developments that happened in colonial America were indeed a start to organic democracy and allowed the structure of society you have the progression of liberty and a representative government.
Richard organizes this book very clearly and effectively in a logical way. In chapter one, Richard provides the reader with a background of who he believes were the most important and influential historians/orators of ancient times. These individuals Richard’s felt provided the most influence to the Founding
The United States government has fulfilled the American democracy however, there has been major fulfilments that have not been completed. The start to our democracy begin with our Enlightenment ideas which influenced our founding fathers. These ideas dealt with Natural Rights, Social Contract, and Revolution. The Natural Rights idea comes from a famous philosopher named John Locke. He basically states that every human has certain rights that are not given to them by the government and those rights that aren 't mentioned are called Natural Rights. This idea was put into effect with the 9th Amendment, this Amendment means there are other rights that may exist aside from the ones directly mentioned in the constitution, and even though they are not mention it doesn 't mean that they cannot be violated.
Democracy, as a form of government, is the idea of spreading political power to the people, while still supporting the “common man” rule. The idea behind democracy is to unify the people, and allow common citizens to have a say in their government. This idea erupted after the Jeffersonian era came to a close in 1800, the Jeffersonian era changed how exclusive America should now be. Andrew Jackson specifically played a major role in shifting America from a two party government, known as the articles of confederation to a democracy. In 1824 the Democratic Party had split into Jacksonian Democrats and Nationalist-Republicans, the split of parties allowed Andrew Jackson to fully share ideas, through his own democratic party. When the newly elected
In the beginning, the nation’s Founders were profoundly skeptical of direct democracy. They believed that the “follies” of direct democracy far outweighed any virtues it might possess (Politics in American pg. 76). According to an essay by Rose Wilder Lane (Lane, 1943), “George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, James Madison, and James Monroe feared democracy.” The founders believed that the Constitution left all other governmental powers to the states (Politics in American 2009 pg. 133). Our Founding Fathers never intended for America to become a democracy. Most of them had served in the American Revolution, either as soldiers in the Continental Army or as part of a legislative body. After the Revolutionary
When the Founding Fathers were developing our government they looked back to famous writing of European Enlightenment thinkers. Two main documents the Founding Fathers started relied on were “Two Treatises” by John Locke and “Leviathan” by Thomas Hobbes. When the Founding Fathers were writing the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution, they needed starting point to base their government off of. As they were reading these documents, it became more and more obvious to be a successful independent Country they would need to create a strong government that would not only control everything but give rights to the people and let the governed have a big voice in how the government runs.
Colonial America was the foundation of our nation and the beginning of democracy. The new colonies all had to cooperate to form one nation. Democracy was young and new at the time, so it still had some problems to work out in Colonial America. In the time period of Colonial America the colonies demonstrated democratic and undemocratic features while at the same time democracy was a work in progress.
“In a democracy the poor will have more power than the rich, because there are more of them, and the will of the majority is supreme” - Aristotle. This quote lays out the main idea behind Democracy. The idea that the people deserve equality and freedom. Equality in race, colour and religion, and freedom of speech, and will, unless it is against the will of the majority of the people. Democracy endeavors to achieve a balance in freedom of an individual, whilst not violating the majority's will. Democracy was developed in Ancient Greece. The word itself comes from the greek term ‘demokratia’ (‘demos - the people’ and ‘kratos - rule’. Democracy was first used in the Greek state, Athens. Athens used a direct form of Democracy, as people knew each other. Nowadays, there are an abundant amount of countries that are ruled under democracy, such as New Zealand, Switzerland, Ireland, and Austria.