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In the United States we are ruled by democracy, meaning most government decisions are influenced heavily by the citizens. However the founders of this country were heavily influenced by other civilizations one being Ancient Greece who established bodies of citizens who would participate and help take decisions in regards to governmental issues.
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The Native American modeled a type of governance that was fair, and effective. Most indigenous nations in North America were and are for the most part organized by democratic principles that focus on making strong kinship bonds that promote leadership, these actions eventually also helped shape the American Government.
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John Locke was an English philosopher who wrote a book about natural rights that every human being should be held by. John stated that people are equal in the sense that they are born with certain "inalienable" natural rights. These rights that are God-given should and can never be taken or even given away. These principles helped shape the way we see now.
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The Roman Empire was originally ruled by Kings however it slowly changed into the form of democracy. The citizens were allowed to vote for some of their representatives and if they failed to represent the people as wanted they would be voted out of replaced.
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The Magna Carta was brought up by people who noticed that the law seemed to only apply to people who did not occupy higher positions. The Magna Carta stated that the King was now under the law and could no longer do what he wanted the king had to follow the "law of the land" when dealing with his subjects. This document had a big influence in the constitutions of many countries including the United States.
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The petition of right was a document sent to King Charles I complaining of a series of breaches of law. The petition pointed out four major issues that they wanted resolved which was no taxation without the consent of Parliament, no imprisonment without cause, no quartering of soldiers on subjects, and no martial law in peacetime.
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Thomas Paine wrote many pieces of literature that helped take off the revolution he wrote common sense in which he reminded American Colonists that in a free republic "the law is king".His writings helped start an American Government.
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The United States divided it's powers into 3 branches in terms of our government and federal systems and the inspiration came from the French thinker Montesquieu that wrote that power needed to be divided so that no part could gain too much power, when designing our government the founding fathers took these thoughts into consideration and they now form part of the US government.
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The bill of rights was created to protect individual rights, the bill of rights identifies all rights citizens have in the United States. As a country respecting individual rights is the very base on which the United States was built on.
