Government:

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Government a system of political and social
representation and control
Democracy A government in which the supreme
power is vested in the people and exercised by
them directly or indirectly through a system of
representation usually involving periodically
held free elections
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Athens Democracy



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Greece, Athens Athens Law

• Greece started about 2000 B.C. by establishing
  cities in valleys along Greeces rocky coast
• Each city-state had its own government due to
  their geographic locations
• Athens was the largest most powerful city state
  in Greece
• Athens first had a monarchy (government
  controlled by one person)
• Athens government developed into an aristocracy
  (State ruled by noble class)
• Citizens - were all free adult males
• Slaves - formed 1/3 of the Athens population

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Maps of Ancient Greece


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Democratic Greek Leaders

Solon


Pericles
Cleisthenes
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Elected chief Archon (statesman) in 594 B.C. to
help solve the problems of Athens

• A statesman who solved the economic political
  crisis that Athens faced by passing a law
  outlawing slavery based on debt he canceled the
  farmers debts.
• Established four classes of citizenship based on
  wealth, rather than heredity.
• Created a council of 400, which prepared business
  for the already existing council.
• Introduced a code of laws, which gave citizens
  the right to bring charges against wrongdoers.
• Encouraged the export of goods, which became a
  profitable overseas trade.

Solon (SO-luhn)
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With most of the land and political power in the
hands of the nobles, the peasants were rapidly
losing not only their land but their freedom as
well. Solon annulled all mortgages and debts,
limited the amount of land anyone might add to
his holdings, and outlawed all borrowing in which
a persons liberty might be pledged. Other
economic reforms included a ban on the export of
all agricultural products except olive oil.
Although there was opposition to Solons reforms,
they subsequently became the basis of the
Athenian state. He also introduced a more humane
law code to replace the code of Draco. - From
later accounts in the writings of Aristotle and
Plutarch it appears that in Athens the penalty of
death was prescribed for the most trivial
offense. The code adopted the principle that
murder must be punished by the state and not by
vendetta.
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Cleisthenes (Klice-then-eez)
A rich and powerful aristocrat

• In 508 B.C. he introduces new reforms
• Wanted to break up the power of the nobility
• He allowed all citizens to submit laws for debate
  passage
• He reorganized the assembly to make Athens a Full
  Democracy (Every Athenian man would have one
  vote, and they would all meet and vote on what to
  do. The big meeting was called the Assembly)
• Created the council of Five Hundred, (a smaller
  council of 500 men, who were chosen by a lottery,
  and changed every year)
• He arranged the voting so that his family, the
  Alcmaeonids (alk-MEE-oh-nids), would have more
  votes than anyone else.
• Regarded as the Founder of Democracy in Athens

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Greek Persian Wars 490 B.C. - 479 B.C. Persia
invades Greece causing the Greek city-states to
unite. Greece defeats Persia creates an
alliance of 140 city-states called The Delian
League, with Athens as its lead city-state.

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• A statesman who increased the number of paid
  public officials paid jurors
• Under Pericles, Athens evolved into a Direct
  Democracy (a form of government where citizens
  rule directly not thru representatives)
• Under Pericles, more Athens citizens were
  actively involved in government than any other
  city-state
• He is also responsible for the building of the
  Parthenon

Pericles Led Athens for 32 years, from 461 to 429
B.C.
The Golden Age of Greece
Our constitution is called a democracy because
power is in the hands not of a minority but of
the whole people.
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Eventually, Greece is defeated by Sparta in what
is known as The Peloponnesian War (431 B.C. 404
B.C.) After the Peloponnesian War was over, all
the cities of Greece were worn out poor. Many
men went and fought for the Persians for money.
But others tried to rebuild the cities. This was
the time of Socrates and his student Plato, the
great philosophers. To the north of Greece, in a
country called Macedon (MA-suh-donn), King Philip
II had noticed that the Greeks were very weak. He
attacked the Greek city-states and one by one he
took them over. When Philip II was assassinated
in 336 B.C., his son Alexander (Alexander The
Great) became king, and he also ruled Greece.
Alexander was only 20 when he became king. At
first a lot of people thought he was too young.
But he not only held onto Greece, he also took a
big army of Greeks and Macedonians and attacked
the Persian Empire!
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In 334 BC, Alexander the Great of Macedonia left
Pella, crown city of Macedonia, to attack the
Persians that had been threatening the Greeks for
more than a century. Eight years later, Alexander
had put an end to the Egyptian and Persian
Empire he controlled the Nile, Tigris-Euphrates,
and Indus valleys. He was both pharaoh of Egypt,
and The Great King of Persia. However ten years
after leaving Pella, he was dead in Babylon,
conquered by a fever. When asked on his death bed
who was to succeed him he answered "The
strongest".
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War Path of Alexander the GreatThe Conquest of
Egypt and Persia


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Greek Philosophers
Socrates
Aristotle


Plato
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Ancient Greek philosophy is dominated by three
very famous men Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle.
All three of these lived in Athens for most of
their lives, and they knew each other. Socrates
came first, and Plato was his student. Socrates
was killed in 399 B.C., Plato began his work by
writing down what Socrates had taught, and then
continued by writing down his own ideas and
opening a school. Aristotle, who was younger,
came to study at Plato's school, and ended up
starting his own school as well.
Socrates was ultimately arrested for his
philosophical teachings sentenced to death. He
was poisoned by being made to drink Hemlock, (a
plant). He never wrote down his teachings.
Plato was born in Athens, to a very wealthy
aristocratic family. Many of his relatives were
involved with Athenian politics, though Plato
himself was not. When Plato was a young man, he
went to listen to Socrates, learned from
Socrates how to think, and what sort of questions
to think about. When Socrates was killed, Plato
was very upset (He was 30 years old when Socrates
died). Practically everything we know about
Socrates comes from what Plato wrote down. One of
his earlier works is the Republic, which
describes what Plato thought would be a better
form of government than the government of Athens.

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Plato also thought a lot about the natural world
and how it works. He thought that everything had
a sort of ideal form. The ideal form of a man is
his soul, according to Plato. The soul is made of
three parts our natural desires, our will, which
lets us resist our natural desires, and our
reason, which tells us when to resist our natural
desires and when to obey them. For instance, when
you are hungry, and you want to eat, that's a
natural desire. If you are in the cafeteria at
lunchtime, that's a good time to obey your
natural desire and go ahead and eat. But if you
are hungry in the middle of class, your reason
will tell you to wait until lunch, and your will
lets you control yourself. Plato started a
school for philosophers, called the Academy. The
Academy was a big success, and Plato stayed there
for the rest of his life. One of Plato's students
at the Academy was Aristotle. Plato spent a lot
of the last part of his life writing another
political piece called the Laws, which talks
about how corrupt politicians are, and how they
have to be watched every minute. Plato died at
82, in 347 B.C.
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Aristotle was not originally from Athens. He
lived near Macedon, in the north of Greece. He
was not from a rich family like Plato. When
Aristotle was a young man, about 350 B.C., he
went to study at Plato's Academy. Plato was old
then. Aristotle did very well at the Academy, but
he never got to be among its leaders, when
Plato died, he was not chosen to lead the Academy
after him. Soon afterwards, Aristotle left
Athens and went to Macedon to be the tutor of the
young prince Alexander, who grew up to be
Alexander The Great. When Alexander grew up and
became King, Aristotle went back to Athens and
opened his own school, the Lyceum (lie-SAY-um).
The school was successful for hundreds of years.
Aristotle Alexander remained friends for the
remainder of Alexanders life. Aristotle was
more interested in science than Socrates or
Plato. He wanted to use Socrates' logical
methods to figure out how the real world worked
therefore Aristotle is really the father of
today's scientific method. Aristotle was
especially interested in biology, in classifying
plants animals in a way that would make sense.
This is part of the Greek impulse to make order
out of chaos to take the chaotic natural world
and impose a man-made order on it. He created a
classification system of monarchies, oligarchies,
tyrannies, democracies republics which we still
use today. When Alexander died in 323 B.C.,
there were revolts against Macedonian rule in
Athens. People accused Aristotle of being
secretly on the side of the Macedonians. He left
town quickly, and spent the last years of his
life back in the north again where he had been
born.
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Greek Games
The first Olympic games at Olympia were held in
Ancient Greece in the city state of Athens 776
B.C. There was a flame burning in the honor of
Zeus, lord of all the gods. They were a constant
in ancient Greece. The games were even held in
480 B.C. during the Persian Wars, and they
coincided with the Battle of Thermopylae. The
games were held every four years from 776 BC to
393 AD, when they were abolished by the Christian
Byzantine Emperor Theodosius I.


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The very first Olympic games only held one event
- the marathon. The games were greatly expanded
from a one-day festival of athletics and
wrestling to, in 472 BC, five days with many
events wrestling, boxing, horse racing, long
jumping, javelin, and chariot races. Early
Olympic victors became national heroes and
celebrated in music and poetry. In early Olympic
Games - women were not allowed to watch the
games. The Olympic Games were held to help unite
many different countries in a peaceful manner.
Each participating country is limited to three
entries. The Greek competitors marked the first
modern event of the Olympics with cross country
runners bringing a torch from the valley of
Olympia to light a much larger torch in the
stadium where the games are held. The Olympic
Games were banned in AD 394 but were revived and
made international in 1896.
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• The Legacy of Greece
• Greece set lasting standards in politics
  Philosophy.
• Greeks did not rely on superstition or
  traditional explanations of the world. Instead,
  they used reason intelligence to discover
  predictable patterns that they called Natural
  Laws.
• The Greeks developed direct democracy in order
  that citizens could actively participate in
  political decisions.
• They were the first to think of 3 branches of
  government
• Legislative branch to pass laws
• Executive branch to carry out the laws
• Judicial branch to settle disputes about the
  laws

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ROME







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History of Republican Government  A Republic
means the people rule themselves through votes
and their consent, not one single person (For the
People, By the People).  The Roman Republic took
much of the Greek government's principles and
incorporated them into their own.  The Republic's
governing body was called the Senate, made up of
Patricians who ran for elections.  In America, a
senator is elected into office for six years,
while in Rome, a senator, unless proclaimed
Senator For Life, had one year in office.  The
Senate elected two wealthy men to become the
Consuls of Rome.  These men would be the ones to
execute laws and whatever the Senate thought up,
each with the power to check the other
because the Romans swore they'd never bow to a
king again.  If a war should come up, one Consul
would lead the armies, called Legions, while the
other minded the civil businesses.  If the now
greatly expanded Republic should be in a
situation most dire, the Senate would elect one
man Dictator of Rome.  This meant that the Senate
agreed to have one man have total power of 6
months, after that, he was no longer in power.
This Republic, however, wasn't much of a
Republic to poor people called Plebeians.  Slaves
had no say at all in anything.  The lack of
Plebeian representation led to uprisings or civil
wars, so the Senate put in a position for two men
to represent the Plebeians and they had the power
to call veto (I oppose) and thereby nullifying
anything the Senate passed which was not in the
best interests of the common people.
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An important victory for the plebeians was
forcing creation of a written law code. With
laws unwritten, patrician officials often
interpreted the law to suit themselves
In 451 B.C. a group of 10 officials began writing
down Romes laws. They had the laws carved on 12
tables, or tablets publicly displayed. The 12
tables established the idea that all free
citizens had the right to protection of the law
that laws would be fairly administered.
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Magistrates - is a judicial officer with limited
authority to administer and enforce the law. 2
consulschief magistrates who convened and
presided over the Senate and assemblies,
initiated and administered legislation, served as
generals in military campaigns, and represented
Rome in foreign affairs. 8 praetorsserved
primarily as judges in law courts, but could
convene the Senate and assemblies they assumed
administrative duties of consuls when these were
absent from Rome. 2 censorselected every 5 years
for terms of 1½ years revised lists of senators
and equestrians conducted census of citizens and
property assessments for tax purposes granted
state contracts. 4 aedilessupervised public
places, public games, and the grain supply in the
city of Rome 2 were required to be plebeians,
and the other two (who had more status) could
come from either order the latter 2 were called
curule aediles. 10 tribuneshad to be plebeian,
because the office was established to protect the
plebeians from arbitrary actions of magistrates.
Hence the primary power of tribunes was negative
they could veto the act of any magistrate and
stop any official act of administration. 20
quaestorsadministered finances of state treasury
and served in various capacities in the
provinces when elected quaestor, a man
automatically became eligible for membership in
the Senate, though censors had to appoint him to
fill a vacancy

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• Senate
• composed of 600 magistrates and ex-magistrates
  (minimum qualification was election as quaestor)
  who served for life unless expelled by the
  censors
• normally met in a building called the Curia
  located in the Roman Forum
• although technically an advisory body, in effect
  the Senate was the chief governmental body
  because it controlled public finances and foreign
  affairs, assigned military commands and
  provinces, and debated and passed decrees that
  would be submitted to the assemblies for final
  ratification
• the Republican government was symbolized by the
  letters SPQR (senatus populusque Romanus),
  meaning the Senate and the Roman people
• Assemblies
• These were theoretically composed of all males
  who were full Roman citizens, though individuals
  had to attend in person in order to vote. No
  debate from the floor was possible, and votes
  were counted in groups, not individually (the
  vote of each group was determined by the vote of
  the majority of individuals in that group).

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For hundreds of years after the founding of the
republic, Rome expanded its territories through
conquest trade. By about 70 B.C. Romes
Mediterranean possessions stretched from Anatolia
in the east to Spain in the west. But expansion
created problems for the republic.
For decades, Rome alternated between the chaos of
civil war the authoritarian rule of a series of
dictators. Eventually the republic collapsed and
Augustus became emperor in 27 B.C.
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Roman Expansion
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Roman Legacy

• Rome gave the world the idea of a republic
• Romes written legal code a collection of Roman
  laws called the 12 Tables that assured that all
  citizens had a right to the protection of the
  law. This is important because once laws are
  written down agreed upon, the laws cannot be
  simply made up at the whim of a dictator.
• Roman Law The Romans tried to create a system
  of laws that could be universally applied
  throughout the Roman Empire. They believed that
  laws should be based on principles of reason
  justice should protect citizens their
  property.
• All citizens had the right to equal treatment
  under the law
• A person was considered innocent until proven
  guilty
• The burden of proof rested with the accuser
  rather than the accused

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Judaism
The religious beliefs and practices and the way
of life of the Jews.


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• Originally called Hebrews
• Abraham is considered the Father of the
  Hebrews.
• Jews written laws First five books of Hebrew
  scripture are called The Torah Unlike the laws
  of the Greeks Romans, the Jewish laws focused
  more on morality ethics. Genesis, Exodus,
  Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy (first 5 books of
  modern day Bible) Written by Moses

• Jewish religion was/is monotheistic Belief in
  only one God. All other religions before this
  were polytheistic Belief in many Gods.
• Significance to Democracy Jews believed that
  each human being was created in the image of God,
  therefore, each human being has a unique,
  individuality. Greeks Romans believed this not
  because of God, but rather because of mans
  ability to reason.
• The Jews also believed that God had given man
  moral freedom, or the capacity to choose between
  good evil, meaning that each person was
  responsible for his or her choices.
• The Jews believed that it is the responsibility
  of every person to oppose injustice oppression
  that the community should help the unfortunate.

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The code included rules of social religious
behavior to which even rulers were subject.
While the Hebrew code of justice was strict, it
was softened by expressions of Gods mercy.
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Moses A closer look

• Moses was revered as a prophet in Judaism,
  Christianity, and Islam.
• Moses wife was Zipporah, daughter of Hobab
  (Jethro), Priest of Midian. There has been much
  debate over the skin color of Zipporah.
• Moses is considered by many to be the greatest
  figure in Jewish history.
• He was a diplomat, a lawmaker, a political
  organizer, a military leader, a judge and a
  religious leader.
• Moses also had a speech impediment (many believed
  that he stuttered, other believed that he would
  just get overly nervous)
• Moses presented the Ten Commandments to the
  Jewish people.
• According to biblical scripture, Moses witnessed
  God incarnate (he saw the backside of God).

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Christianity
The word Christianity was derived from the name
Christ.
Yahshua (Jesus in English) was his name. Christ
was his title. Christos is a Greek word meaning
Savior or Messiah.

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Christianitys Significance to Democracy Jesus
stressed the importance of peoples love for God,
their neighbors, their enemies and themselves.
Ultimately Jesus was persecuted because he was
referred to as The King of The Jews. He was
considered as a political threat to the Roman
Empire.
After the death of Jesus, his message was
preached all throughout the eastern Mediterranean
by Saul Of Tarsus (Paul). He stressed the
essential equality of all human beings, which is
a belief that is central to democracy.
Although Christianity was a threat to the Roman
Empire, by 380 A.D. it became the official
religion of Rome. Eventually, it took root in
Europe, The Near East and Northern Africa.
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Islam - Another monotheistic religion that
taught equality of all persons individual worth
which developed in southwest Asia in the early
600s. Islam was based on the teachings of the
prophet Muhammad, which are found in the book
called the Quran.
He emphasized the dignity of all human beings
the brotherhood of all people. A belief in the
bond of community the unity of all people led
to a tolerance of different groups within the
community. Followers of Islam are called Muslims
they are required by their religion to offer
charity help those in need.
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• The Legacy of Monotheistic Religions
• Several ideas crucial to the shaping of a
  democratic outlook emerged from the early
  monotheistic religions of southwest Asia.
• The duty of the individual the community to
  combat oppression
• The worth of the individual
• The equality of people before God

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Renaissance Reformation

• The Roman Catholic Church
• During the Middle Ages it was the Most Dominant
  institution in Western Europe
• Leader Pope
• His Bishops Parish Priests
• It influenced all aspects of life Religious,
  Social Political. It was strongly
  authoritarian in structure.

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Renaissance
"Renaissance," French for "rebirth," describes
the intellectual and economic changes that
occurred in Europe from the fourteenth through
the sixteenth centuries. During the era known by
this name, Europe emerged from the economic
stagnation of the Middle Ages and experienced a
time of financial growth. Also, and perhaps most
importantly, the Renaissance was an age in which
artistic, social, scientific, and political
thought turned in new directions.


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When Gutenberg of Germany invented the printing
press in 1445, he forever changed the lives of
people in Europe and, eventually, all over the
world. Previously, bookmaking entailed copying
all the words and illustrations by hand. Often
the copying had been done onto parchment, animal
skin that had been scraped until it was clean,
smooth, and thin. The labor that went into
creating them made each book very expensive.
Because Gutenberg's press could produce books
quickly and with relatively little effort,
bookmaking became much less expensive, allowing
more people to buy reading material. Humanism
Emerges - Books also helped to spread awareness
of a new philosophy that emerged when Renaissance
scholars known as humanists returned to the works
of ancient writers. Previously, during the Middle
Ages, scholars had been guided by the teachings
of the church, and people had concerned
themselves with actions leading to heavenly
rewards. The writings of ancient, pagan Greece
and Rome, called the "classics," had been greatly
ignored. To study the classics, humanists learned
to read Greek and ancient Latin, and they sought
out manuscripts that had lain undisturbed for
nearly 2,000 years. The humanists rediscovered
writings on scientific matters, government,
rhetoric, philosophy, and art. They were
influenced by the knowledge of these ancient
civilizations and by the emphasis placed on man,
his intellect, and his life on Earth.
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THE REFORMATION AGE (1500-1600 AD) Martin
Luther, one of a few men who significantly
altered the course of world history, was born in
Eisleben, Germany on November 10, 1483.
Throughout his early life Luther had been
burdened by a heavy sense of sinfulness. He
became more and more convinced that the works of
Roman Catholicism were not the means of
salvation. Finally, focusing on Paul's statement,
"The just shall live by faith," Luther came to a
climax in his convictions. Men were saved by the
grace of God manifested in the forgiveness of
their sins and the imputation of Christ's
righteousness. God's grace was given, not on the
basis of good works, but on the basis of absolute
faith in God's promises. However, this faith,
Luther asserted, was wholly the gift of God. On
October 31, 1517 Luther nailed his famous
Ninety-five Theses, (95 points of criticism of
the churchs practices) to the Castle Church door
in Wittenberg. This was the customary manner of
calling for a debate, but this act was the spark
which exploded the powder keg of the Protestant
Reformation. Those who wanted to reform the
Catholic Church were called Protestants, because
they protested against the power abuses of the
church. It was significant to democracy because
it encouraged people to make their own religious
judgments, or read interpret the Bible for
themselves, which in turn caused new churches to
be established. It also introduced people to
reading it exposed them to more than just
religious ideas.
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Martin Luther

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Democratic Developments in England

• England began developing democratic institutions
  that limited the power of the monarchy/king.
• Democratic traditions developed in England have
  influenced many countries, including the U.S.

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• In 1066, William, the Duke of Normandy in France,
  invaded England defeated the Anglo-Saxons at
  the Battle of Hastings. William then claimed the
  English throne. This set in motion events that
  led to
• The end of feudalism the political economic
  system of the middle ages
• The beginnings of centralized government in
  England
• The development of democracy in England.

One of Williams descendants was Henry II, who
ruled from 1154 to 1189. He controlled most of
the western half of France, as well as all of
England. Henry is considered one of the most
gifted statesmen of the 12th century.
William, the Duke of Normandy
Henry II
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One of Henrys greatest achievements was the
development of the jury trial as a means of
administering royal justice. Before then in
France England people were tried in courts of
feudal lords. In such courts, the accused would
usually have to survive a duel or some physically
painful or dangerous ordeal to be set free.
Trial by ordeal is a judicial practice by which
the guilt or innocence of the accused is
determined by subjecting them to a painful task.
If either the task is completed without injury,
or the injuries sustained are healed quickly, the
accused is considered innocent.
In this trial by ordeal, a person's innocence is
tested by his ability to withstand poison
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Trial by fire - the suspect had to carry a bar of
red-hot iron in his hands while he walked nine
marked paces. In the unlikely event of no burns
appearing on his hand, he was judged innocent.
Otherwise, he was promptly hanged. A variation
was licking red-hot iron with the tongue or,
sometimes, the suspect had to run barefoot over
nine red-hot ploughshares.
Ordeal by water the guilty would be cast into a
river with a millstone tied to his neck, if he
sank, he was guilty. If he floated, he was
supported on the surface by a divine miracle,
he was considered innocent.
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With King Henry, a royal judge would visit each
shire, or county, at least once a year. First,
the judge would review the crime that had been
committed. Then he would ask 12 men, often
neighbors of the accused, to answer questions
about the facts of the case. These people were
known as a jury. Unlike modern juries, they did
not decide guilt or innocence. People came to
prefer the jury trial to the feudal-court trial
because they found it more just.
Gradually, England was unified under a single
legal system. This was called Common Law
because it was common to the whole kingdom.
Common law reflected customs principles
established over time. Common law became the
basis of the legal systems in many
English-speaking countries, including the U.S.
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When Henry II died, his son Richard the Lion
Hearted assumed the throne.
After him, Richards brother John, who
was very
unpopular, became king.
John fought a costly war with France where
England lost many of their land holdings in
France. John also tried to raise taxes to help
pay for the war.
Richard
John
This led to conflict between the English nobles
the King. In 1215 the angry nobles rebelled
forced John to grant guarantees of certain
traditional political rights. They presented
their demands to him in written form as the MAGNA
CARTA (Great Charter)
The Magna Carta was a contract between the king
nobles of England. It contained certain
important principles that limited the power of
the king over all his subjects. It implied the
idea that kings had no right to rule in any way
they pleased. They had to govern according to
the law.
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The Magna Carta had 63 clauses. 2 Established
basic legal rights for individuals. Clause 12
declared that taxes shall be levied in our
kingdom only by the common consent of our
kingdom, which meant that the king had to ask
for popular consent before he could tax. Clause
39 declared, No man shall be arrested or
imprisonedexcept by the lawful judgment of his
peers or by the law of the land. This meant
that a person had the right to a jury trial to
the protection of the law.
The right to have the law work in known, orderly
ways is called Due Process of The Law. In
other words, the king could not willfully, or
arbitrarily, punish his subjects.
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In 1295, King Johns grandson, Edward I, needed
money to pay for another war in France. He
wanted wide support for the war, so he called
together not only lords but also lesser knights
some burgesses, or leading citizens of the towns.
Historians refer to this famous gathering as the
Model Parliament, because it established a
standard for later parliaments. They voted on
taxes helped Edward make reforms consolidate
laws. PARLIAMENT Englands national legislature
Over the next few centuries, Parliaments power
of the purse, or its right to approve certain
expenses gave it strong influence in governing.
The House of Commons (an assembly formed by
knights burgesses, which was the lower house of
Parliament) was gradually becoming the equal of
the House of Lords. Parliament increasingly
viewed itself as a partner with the king in
governing. It voted on taxes, passed laws
advised on royal policies.
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The Enlightenment Democratic Revolutions

• Enlightenment Ideas help bring about the American
  French Revolutions

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Before 1500, scholars generally decided what was
true or false by referring to an ancient Greek or
Roman author or to the Bible. Few European
scholars challenged the scientific ideas of the
ancient thinkers or the church by carefully
observing nature for themselves.
The Medieval View During the Middle Ages, most
scholars believed that the earth was an immovable
object located at the center of the universe.
According to that belief, the moon, the sun, and
the planets all moved in perfectly circular paths
around the earth. Common sense seemed to support
this view. After all, the sun appeared to be
moving around the earth as it rose in the morning
and set in the evening.
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This earth centered view of the universe was
called the geocentric theory. The idea came from
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher of the 4th
century B.C. The Greek astronomer Ptolemy (TOL a
mee) expanded the theory in the 2nd century A.D.
In addition, Christianity taught that God had
deliberately placed the earth at the center of
the universe. Earth was thus a special place on
which the great drama of life unfolded.
Aristotle
Ptolemy
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In the 17th 18th centuries, an intellectual
movement called The Enlightenment developed.
During this period, thinkers attempted to apply
the principles of reason the methods of science
to all aspects of society.
The Scientific Revolution of the 1500s 1600s
was an even more immediate source of
Enlightenment thought. New ideas about society
government developed out of it. The Scientific
Revolution caused thinkers to rely on their own
reasoning instead of merely accepting traditional
beliefs. They wanted to apply the scientific
method, which relied on observation testing of
theories, to human affairs. Methods used by
individuals such as Isaac Newton, who discovered
mechanical laws that govern the universe the
methods that go along with discovery.
Sir Isaac Newtons Laws (Laws of Inertia, Action
Reaction, Gravity, Laws of Lunar motion tides)
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Newton Studied mathematics physics at Cambridge
University. By the time he was 26, Newton was
certain that all physical objects were affected
equally by the same forces. Newtons great
discovery was that the same force ruled motion of
the planets all matter on earth in space.
The key idea that linked motion in the heavens
with motion on the earth was the law of universal
gravitation. According to this law, every object
in the universe attracts every other object. The
degree of attraction depends on the mass of the
objects and the distance between them. In 1687,
Newton published his ideas in a work called the
Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy.
It was one of the most important scientific books
ever written. The universe he described was like
a giant clock. Its parts all worked together
perfectly in ways that could be expressed
mathematically. Newton believed that God was the
creator of this orderly universe, the clockmaker
who had set everything in motion.
Sir Isaac Newton
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Hobbes, the English philosopher who was
influenced by the Scientific Revolution wrote a
book entitled Leviathan, in which he gives his
views on human nature. The horrors of the
English Civil War convinced him that all people
were by nature selfish wicked ambitious the
most appropriate kind of government for people
was a monarchy. Without governments to keep
order, he said there would be warof every man
against every man, life would be solitary,
poor, nasty, brutish short. He argued that to
escape such a bleak life, people had to hand over
their rights to a strong ruler.
Thomas Hobbes
In exchange , they gained law order. Hobbes
called this agreement by which people created a
government the SOCIAL CONTRACT. Because people
acted in their own self-interest, Hobbes said,
the ruler needed total power to keep citizens
under control. The best government was one that
had the awesome power of a leviathan (sea
monster). In Hobbess view, such a government
was an absolute monarchy, which could impose
order demand obedience.
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Another early Enlightenment thinker, John Locke,
had a more positive view on human nature. He
believed that a governments most fundamental duty
is to protect the rights of the people that all
human beings had, by nature, the right to life,
liberty property known as Natural Rights. He
also said that people had an absolute right to
rebel against a government that violated or
failed to protect these rights. He believed that
a governments power comes from the people, not
from God, therefore Kings did not have a Divine
Right. His ideas inspired people became
cornerstones of modern democratic thought.
Including the Declaration of Independence.
John Locke
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The Enlightenment reached its height in France in
the mid-1700s. Paris became the meeting place
for people who wanted to discuss politics
ideas. The social critics of this period in
France were know as Philosophes (FIHL uh sahfs).
The French word for philosophers. The
philosophes believed that people could apply
reason to all aspects of life, just as Isaac
Newton had applied reason to science. Five
concepts formed the core of their beliefs
1. Reason truth could be discovered through
reason of logical thinking.
2. Nature what is natural is also good
reasonable.
3. Happiness they rejected the medieval notion
that people should find joy in the hereafter
urged people to seek well-being on earth.
4. Progress they stressed that society
humankind could improve.
5. Liberty They called for the liberties that
the English people had won in their Glorious
Revolution and Bill of rights.
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Other famous thinkers of the Enlightenment were
Voltaire Rousseau
Probably the most brilliant influential of the
philosophes was Francois Marie Arouet. Using the
pen name Voltaire, he published more than 70
books of political essays, philosophy drama.
Voltaire argued in favor of tolerance, freedom of
religion free speech. He often targeted the
French government Christianity.
Voltaire
Rousseau (roo SOH) was perhaps the most
freethinker of the Enlightenment philosophers.
His most famous work was The Social
Contract(1762). In it, Rousseau advocated
democracy. He called the social contract an
agreement among free individuals to create a
government that would respond to the peoples
will. He argued that legitimate government came
from the consent of the governed. He argued that
all people were equal that titles of nobility
should be abolished. His ideas inspired many of
the leaders of the French Revolution who
overthrew the monarchy in 1789
Jean-Jacques Rousseau
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Another French philosopher Montesquieu, also
recognized liberty as a natural right. In The
Spirit of Laws (1748), he points out that any
person or group in power will try to increase its
power.

• Like Aristotle, he searched for ways to control
  government. He concluded that liberty could best
  be safeguarded by a separation of powers, that
  is, by dividing government into 3 separate
  branches.
• Legislative to make laws
• Executive to enforce them
• Judicial courts interpret the laws

Baron De Montesquieu
67
The beginnings of Democracy in America

• Enlightenment ideas helped to shape the U.S.
  Constitution.
• By 1700s, there were 13 British colonies in
  North America they were ruled from Britain
• France has colonies to the north West of the 13
  colonies
• 1754, Britain France go to war for control of
  North America. Called The French Indian War

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The American colonists helped Britain defeat
France in the French Indian War, which ended in
1763. The war was costly the British believed
that the colonists should help pay for the war,
so they taxed the colonists more than they were
already taxing them. This was called the Stamp
Act in 1765. The colonists protested that this
was a violation of their rights as British
citizens because
they were not represented in Parliament.
Eventually, the colonists united began to arm
themselves against what they called British
oppression. They fought for independence against
Britain called the American Revolution.
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For several years, the new nation existed as a
loose federation, or union, of states under a
plan of government called the Articles of
Confederation. Americans had wanted a weak
central government. They feared that a strong
government would lead to the kind of tyranny they
had rebelled against. They established one body,
the Congress, which was weak because it did not
have the power to collect taxes to pay war debts
or to finance the government.
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In the summer of 1787, a group of American
leaders met in Philadelphia. They had been
chosen by their state legislatures to frame, or
work out a better plan of government. The result
of their efforts was the Constitution of the
United States.
First, they agreed to set up a Representative
Government one in which citizens elect
representatives to make laws policies for
them. Second, they created a Federal System. The
powers of government were divided between the
federal government the states. Third, within
the federal government, they set up a Separation
of Powers. Power was divided among the executive,
legislative judicial branches. This was to
provide a system of checks balances to prevent
any branch from having too much power.