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1250 BCE
Ancient Greece
many important Mycenean places were destroyed because palaces had no control over its people, therefore overthrowing it. -
Period: 509 BCE to 27 BCE
ancient roman empire
The Roman Republic describes the period in which the city-state of Rome existed as a republican government -
1215
magna carta
The Magna Carta was a charter of rights agreed to by King John of England in 1215, and was Europe's first written constitution. Prior to the implementation of the Magna Carta, English monarchs were considered above the law of the land and ruled with relatively absolute power. -
1500
Iroquois Confederation
The confederation was a representative democracy run by a Grand Council made up of representatives from each of the tribes. The Iroquois communities were organized into matrilineal clans (that is, family groups based on the maternal line of descent), and chiefs could be removed by the women of the tribe. -
Period: to
john Locke
. In politics, Locke is best known as a proponent of limited government. He uses a theory of natural rights to argue that governments have obligations to their citizens, have only limited powers over their citizens, and can ultimately be overthrown by citizens under certain circumstances. -
petition of right
French Revolution document that outlined what the National Assembly considered to be the natural rights of all people and the rights that they possessed as citizens. -
English bill of rights
An Act declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject, and settling the Succession of the Crown. -
Period: to
Thomas Paine
Paine claimed that the colonies should sever their ties to England once and for all, establish a democratic government with a written constitution, and thus gain the advantages of free trade and freedom from being constantly dragged into European wars. -
Montesquieu
. Abandoning the classical divisions of his predecessors into monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, Montesquieu produced his own analysis and assigned to each form of government an animating principle: the republic, based on virtue; the monarchy, based on honor; and despotism based on fear.