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Period: 509 BCE to 27 BCE
The Roman Republic
The Romans overthrew Etruscan kings and they established the Roman Republic. In the Republic, citizens elected representatives to rule on their behalf. In the beginning of the republic aristocracy ruled, but eventually, that went away. The laws were eventually carved into twelve tables which were the first Roman laws to be written. Eventually the republic fell and the Roman Empire arose which then started the Pax Romana which was 200 years of peace and prosperity. -
Period: 500 BCE to 300 BCE
Classical Greece
During the Classical Age of Greece, Athens was governed under "Demokratia" which is the rule of people. They had three pillars of government the Council of 500, the courts and the assembly which corresponds to our three branches of government today. They allowed only male citizens to be involved in the government which was only approximately 12% of the population in Athens. No women, foreigners, or children could vote which made it less of a democracy and made it more of an oligarchy. -
Period: 367 BCE to 467 BCE
Aristotle
Aristotle was a student of Plato's. Aristotle had his own ideas of what a government should be so he had a list of 3 good and 3 bad governments. The good ones were a monarchy, aristocracy, and polity. The bad ones were tyranny, oligarchy, and democracy. Even though he was a strong critic of democracy he was very influential in the development of democracy. -
Period: 356 BCE to 323 BCE
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great was one of Aristotle's students. Although he was still a king, Aristotle must have given him some idea to other forms of government that most likely made Alexander a better king. During his reign, he conquered Persia and Egypt which made his kingdom range from the Mediterranean Sea to India. In his lifetime he accomplished many things. He was a brave soldier and an inspiring king to all. -
Period: 400 to 1200
Feudalism
Feudalism was introduced into England after the invasion and conquest of the country by William I. A king ruled all the land. There was a total of four statuses: King, Barons, Knights, and lastly Villeins. The king would grant land to the barons in return for money and knights. The barons would then grant land to knights in return for protection and military service. All of these classes were very wealthy. Lastly, the knights would grant land to villeins, or serfs, for food and services. -
1215
Magna Carta
The Magna Carta meant the Great Charter and it was the first written constitution in European history. The Magna Carta was first intended to be a peace treaty. Goals were failed to be met and civil war broke out. King John died, and his son Henry III took his place and reissued the Magna Carta and he took out some of the most controversial clauses which caused an outbreak. He then reissued the Manga Carta twice more afterwards. -
1295
The Model Parliament
The Model Parliament consisted of 100 clergy which included 67 abots, 8 earls, 41 barons, 73 knights, well over 200 burgesses, and 39 royal officials and judges. When these people all came together they formed parliament, a legislature to create laws for England. It was not quite a democracy, but it was similar in the fact that people from all different social classes got to participate, but it was only the chosen few that were only men. -
Period: to
The Glorious Revolution
The Glorious Revolution of 1688 was an opposition to any chance that England would have a monarch with full power such as the one France had at the time. The Revolution would ensure that instead of a monarchy they would have a constitutional monarchy where the Parliament would have the majority of the power. It resulted in the Deposition of James II and the accession of Mary II and Wiliam III ruling over England. -
Period: to
The American Revolution
The U.S. colonies wanted independence from Great Britain after lots of unfair taxing to increase revenue such as the Stamp Act (1765) and the Tea Act (1767). This made the colonies very uneasy and they declared independence which eventually turned into a war. When America won the war against Great Britain the Articles of Confederation were written which was the plan to replace Monarchy. -
Signing of the Constitution
The U.S. Constitution was signed on September 17, 1787, but it would not come into effect until nine of thirteen states ratified it. The Constitution was a whole new scheme of government rather than amendments the Articles of Confederation. It was an intricate system of checks and balances to ensure no one held to much power. New Hampshire was the ninth state to ratify it so the U.S. Constitution would start on March 4, 1989.
