1. When/where did our democratic ideas come from?

2. The ancient world
Even way back in time, people had a concept of justice
They expected people to have respect for the law
This included the concept of Natural Law
Universal set of morals
People could figure these out using common sense
Any government law that violated natural law should be changed

3. The ancient world Greece gave us democracy
It was a direct democracy
Some people, like Pericles, became powerful anyway
Rome gave us representative government
They had a Senate: people who met and discussed the country’s needs and the needs of the people
The idea about having pride in serving your country, or civic virtue, was also a Roman idea.
Cicero believed strongly in both representative government and civic virtue.

4. England – 1215 A big problem happened in England in 1215
King John was an unpopular king who was abusing his power
English nobles got so upset they took over London and forced the king to sign…
The Magna Carta – “great charter”
A charter is a written grant of authority

5. England – 1215
The Magna Carta described the role of the king and the rights of nobles
Told the nobles what rights they had
Told the king what he could and could not do
This established rule of law in England
Even the king had laws he had to obey
Stephen Langton: also did not get along with the king
He helped defend the rights of the nobles

6. England (again) – 1600s
England continued to have problems with kings abusing their power
Their parliament (elected government) came up with some more rules that kings should follow
They established a limited government: they had written laws that restricted the power of the king
Later on, English parliament passed another set of laws (1689) – the English Bill of Rights
Described the individual rights of British people
Individual rights are things that you should be granted by your government just by being a person
John Somers – a member of parliament believed in these principles and helped bring them about

7. England (again) – 1600s
All of these documents (Magna Carta and two sets of laws written in the 1600s) established constitutionalism in England
Constitutionalism is the idea that governments should work within certain boundaries, which are usually written in laws
English kings now had a lot of things they could not do
Their subjects had many natural rights: basic things people should always have
John Locke wrote about natural rights in a way that we recognize “the right to life itself, to liberty, and to ownership of property”

8. and France – 1700s
We also borrowed two very important ideas from the French
Baron de Montesquieu wrote about how governments should be formed
This included the idea of separation of powers: that the powers of government should be split into branches independent of one another
Another writer argued that governments were responsible to the people
Popular sovereignty: the idea that it’s the people who give a government its power
If the government does not follow the will of the people, it should be dissolved