But first, we must go back to the Sumerians. Huh? (just keep reading;))
The Sumerians had a very simple form of
democracy, where groups of villagers would gather together and would vote in
their leaders and etc.
You’ve probably already
heard that Athens (when it was a city-state) was a true democracy, where it was
literally one vote for every man. Sound good? Maybe not so much. You had to be
freeborn, a natural born citizen of Athens, male, and over 21. That left 1/5 of
the population. So, yeah it was a true democracy, but only for 1/5 of the
people. But getting together so many people to discuss to every petty issue got
kind of tiring so they selected the Council of 500 to deal with their problems.
That became more of a democratic republic.
Then on to the Roman Republic. You
probably are familiar with the Roman Senate made up of the rich land owners. Many
years and several wars later the Assembly was formed so the middle and lower
classes could have a voice. Before that happened though, the Republic’s two Consuls
were elected out of the Senate once a year to prevent their power from growing out
of proportion. The consuls had to be in complete agreement with each other or
the other one could cancel the other out and halt the entire government. So get
along with each other, got it?
The Anglo-Saxons, those hairy brutes
from Europe who invaded England, weren’t as barbaric in some respects as
others. They had courts with juries rather than just a single judge, and
property rights. Pretty good for a bunch of drunk barbarians. Until the Normans
came along in 1066 and squarshed the whole system, converting it to the feudal
system.
Henry II (1133-1189) made
a common law, making everyone, even the king under the law to be judged by
their own peers. Another element Henry instituted was circuit courts with
traveling judges, unrelated to local towns for impartial judgments. Before that
time, judges were the local lord which of course created a very biased ruling
for the poor peasants.
John I, in
1215, was forced by the English barons to sign the Magna Carta, in the 12th
Clause says no taxation without representation.
Now we’re back to the Black Plague! Do I have you
all thoroughly confused about this? How does the Black Plague have anything to
do with America?
Well the after the Plague,
Europe and parts of Asia lost nearly 1/3 – 2/3 of their populations. Still not
getting it are you? Before the Plague’s peak in 1348-1350, peasants and workers
were a dime a dozen but after the Plague, whole villages were dead. Obviously
now workers weren’t quite so cheap and they realized they could demand better
wages and working conditions, without being killed for voicing their ideas. Once
peasants started getting more money, this gave rise to a middle class and artisans.
And if the all of the villagers pooled their money they could buy a charter for
the town.
What’s a charter you ask?
Basically, it was the right to rule their own town, under the jurisdiction of the
king.
If you think about it, if the Black Plague had
not happened peasants would not have had the chance to demand better rights we might
still be stuck in the feudal system. And if we were still stuck in the feudal system,
why would people have travelled across oceans to new lands? Any revolts under the
feudal system were quickly and easily crushed. Including, if we were still under
the feudal system, the American War of Independence.
Seriously.
Think about it. And Happy Birthday America!
