1.  What is it? Were did it come from? Why does it matter?

2.  Democracy is derived (comes from) the Greek word demokratia.  Lets break it down… o demos means – people, the masses o kratia means- rule, government  When we look at those meanings and combine them, we get: o People, the masses & rule, government o So… Democracy means-government by the people

3.  Democracy began in Ancient Greece in 500 B.C.  They utilized a Direct Democracy – a government where citizens vote to make their own laws. o Each year 500 citizens would be picked to be the lawmakers. o Once a new law was created, ALL citizens would have to vote on the new law to determine if it actually become a new law or not. o Majority ruled! This means whatever had the most votes, pass or not pass, won. o In Ancient Greece women, children and slaves were NOT citizens, so they were not allowed to vote.

4.  After the colonists fought diligently and courageously for liberty, they needed to develop a new form of government.  Our forefathers (an ancestor) thought that citizens should have the power to make laws, not a single person (like a King).  They decided to model our current form of government after Ancient Greece’s democracy.  However, having each individual citizen vote would not be practical in the colonies. There were too many people and they would have to travel too far to actually vote.  So…

5.  Our forefathers utilized the concept of a democracy and created a Representative Democracy when writing the Constitution.  In a Representative Democracy, citizens elect a representative to travel and make laws and represent all citizens voices.  This way the colonies could just send some citizens to create and vote on laws.  In colonial times, citizens were defined as land owning males. This means that women, children and slaves were still unable to vote.

6.  Today men and women over the age of 18 can vote as long as they have citizenship (they were born in the U.S.A. or have met the legal requirements set forth to become a citizen).  Each state has a specific number of representatives based on their population.  These representatives work in our Nation’s capital, Washington, D.C.  We, as citizens, directly vote for our representatives. Majority still rules!  Our representatives work with other state’s representatives to create new laws. When it is time to vote on the law, our representatives vote on our behalf.

7.  Dale Rutledge- Mcdonough  Demetrius Douglass- Stockbridge  Simone Bell- Atlanta