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700 BCE
Athenian Democracy
Between 350 and 700 BCE, there was the first known democracy in the ancient city of Athens. In this ancient city, all the citizens were supposed to play their role as a 'citizen'. This would be an exception of all women and slaves, where men were the only people considered humans -
509 BCE
Democracy in Rome - Leading to Parliment
This was a democracy in which the rich families were in the rule after the king of this era was sent away. Although, these rich families, aka patricians, were a few in number, they were in charge of the plebs or the common people. They were responsible for creating the democratic institution, the Senate. The citizens of Rome could only be men or a civis. -
1215
Monarchial Democracy - Leading to Parliament
Most Europen countries had a monarch in this time era. These Kings and Queens felt like they had direct power from God and had the authority to question God. This was known as the Devine Right of Kings and they were forced to give this up when in 1215, the British nobility helped create a parliamentary system. -
1215
Magna Carta
In 1215, King John was forced to sign the Magna Carta. This document basically proclaimed that all citizens had certain provisions to safeguard rights. An example of a few of the rights written was: "the king could not steal firewood from other lands", "the king could not force widows to remarry" or "the king could not force knights to pay money to excuse them from guarding the castle!" -
Modern Democracies
Our modern democracies started taking place around this time. The American Revolution created the first true democracy. White American male citizens were allowed to vote and the powers of government were more equal. If one branch of the government tried to abuse their power, the other two branches could override them. These three branches were the legislative, executive and judicial branch. -
African American Vote!
The African Americans were allowed to vote, in provisions which still considered them slaves. Although, they only did this because they wanted to count them for taxation purposes and their vote was worth 3/5's of that of a white person. -
The French Revolution
Just like the American Revolution, the French Revolution was rooted in the same spirit of Democracy. Although, whoever championed in liberating them into democracy soon did actions that of a dictator. Interestingly, whoever was an opposition to this movement was eliminated using the guillotine. They left power to a military dictator, Napoleon who tried to use his new power to conquer Europe. -
Women Gain Vote In America
The women did not get a voice in politics until 1919. It was seen as a man's job to vote in elections, so the ladies voices were suppressed.