Civics – Unit 1

1. Civics – Unit 1 The Beginnings of Democratic Decision Making Pannell

2. Chapter Expectations You will learn: • How societies throughout history have made decisions • How – and where – the idea of democratic decisions making started • How – and where – modern ideas about democratic decision making began to evolve • How people won the right to participate in the decision-making process

3. Key Terms

4. Authoritarian Way Total obedience to the authority of a single person or small group Individual freedom does not exist Democratic Way The people control the process of making the rules about how they are governed Greek demos = people, kratia = rule Ways of making decisions

5. Ways of making decisions cont.

6. We were originally nomadic tribes that collected into farms, villages, towns, cities and then civilizations We did not need written rules since society was small, and individual customs were similar Everyone understood the unwritten rules they lived by Roots of Democratic Citizenship

7. When we collected in cities and then civilizations we shared our space with many others we did not know, with different customs Merging differing customs led to civic conflict – disagreements among people who live in the same community Conflict arose over land and property, purchase and sale or goods and things that would disturb public peace Roots of Democratic Citizenship We created formal ways of preventing and resolving these conflicts. These rules became laws

8. Roots of Democratic Citizenship • Successful warring cities became vast empires • Rulers dominated the lives of thousands / millions of people Monarchy When the ruler was selected through hereditary. When a ruler died their eldest (usually son) child inherited the throne • Monarchs stayed in power by persuading the people that their right to rule had been granted by their god(s) • Mesopotamia, Egypt, China, Mesoamerica……

9. China – emperors right to rule was the “mandate of Heaven”. Heaven (Chief god) was the husband of Earth. Emperors were their sons It was the emperor’s duty to carry out the will of Heaven, not the will of the people This idea of government lasted thousands of years Ancient Governments – Monarchy and Divine Right T’ai Tsung 626-649 CE

10. Ancient Athens (Greece) Originally governed by a single ruler Between 700 and 350 BCE some Greeks gradually won the right to share in decision making Polis = public affairs of the city Greek polis of Athens – cradle of democracy. Where the idea of democracy took root Citizens were expected to participate actively in the city’s affairs The Evolution of Democracy

11. Ancient Athens cont. “Funeral Oration” Our constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people. When it is a question of settling private disputes, everyone is equal before the law; when it is a question of putting one person before another in positions of public responsibility; what counts is not membership of a particular class, but the actual ability which the man possesses. No one, so long as he has it in him to be of service to the state, is kept in political obscurity because of poverty….. …(In Athens) each individual is interest not only in his own affairs but in the affairs as the state as well… Statement of classic democratic valuse Pericles - Athenian, lived about 495-429 BCE

12. Athenian Democracy • Direct democracy – Every citizen had the right to vote on decisions affecting the way the city was governed • Only citizens could participate in the city’s public affairs – Free adult men born in Athens • Slaves, women, children and those born outside Athens's city were protected by Athenian laws yet had no political rights • Therefore – most people who lived in Athens had no political rights – Athenian democracy, a nice ideal!

13. Ancient Rome • Originally ruled by kings • 509 BC, the king was driven out and Rome became a republic. Rather than being ruled by a hereditary monarchy, people from rich families took over governing. They were called patricians • Plebs (plebeian) made up everybody else. Although making up a majority, they hadno say in government

14. 494 BCE, demanding a right to participate in law making, the Plebs staged a general strike, vowing to form a new city Plebs’ strategy worked. They won the right to form an assembly that would have some say in law making However the real power belonged to a separate assembly – the Senate Ancient Rome

15. Collapse of Rome – Descent into the Dark Ages • Roman citizenship still limited to only men living in Rome – all slaves, women, country folk are not citizens • Roman democracy would go full circle • Roman Empire collapse by 410 CE • Western Europe descends into the Dark Ages • Idea of democracy virtually snuffed out Authoritarianism (dictator) Democracy of sorts

16. Dark and Middle Ages 500-1215 CE • Europe developed into small medieval city states – usually had Oligarchy rule • Eventually city states were absorbed into larger nations ruled by monarchies (England, Scotland, France, Spain…) • Ideas of democracy never truly died. There were always ideas, talk of democracy and actions taken to try to win citizen rights

17. Magna Carta 1215 CE • Britain – absolute Monarchy “divine right” • 1215 – group of nobles forced King John (tyrannical reigning monarch) to sign a document that put limits on his power • Document –Magna Carta or Great Charter • Put the law of the land above anything else

18. Magna Carta 1215 CE Examples: • no free man could be imprisoned “except by the lawful judgment of his peers and by the law of the land” • No Forcing widows to remarry • No forcing villagers to build bridges over rivers • No forcing knights to pay money to excuse themselves from guarding castles • No confiscating the horses or carts of freemen • No helping themselves to firewood that did not belong to them

19. Established shortly after the signing of the Magna Carta Gatherings of representatives of the people that discussed matters including law making and taxes British parliament split in two House of Lords (those with inherited titles – lord, duke, earl) House of Commons (commoners with no titles) Note: members of the H of C were not elected like today, but chosen by a small wealth elite Early Parliaments

20. Thomas Hobbs 1588-1679 Hobbs believed that ….life without government was “solitary, poor, nasty, brutish and short” because human beings were egotistical and selfish. • In order to avoid anarchy , the people had to surrender freedom for order • People gave up doing whatever they wanted to a ruler in return for order and stability

21. Rejected Hobbes dark vision of human nature Father of Liberalism liberalism puts the individual ahead of government. Humans were rational, not aggressive and shared natural rights 1. life 2. liberty 3. protection of property John Locke 1632-1704

22. John Locke continued • Believed that a contract existed between citizens and their rulers • The people agreed to support and assist the government and , in turn, the government agreed to protect and defend their natural rights • Should a government fail to do this, the citizens had the right (duty) to overthrow that government • Locke’s ideas gave way to the age of revolutions

23. American Revolution 1776 United States declaration of independence (from Britain) is based in Locke’s ideas • Thomas Jefferson believed that government was the instrument of the people and created a government to ensure the American people their right to life, liberty and, in stead of protection of property – pursuit of happiness • Job of government is to protect and defend its citizens rights

24. French Revolution 1789-1799 • Slogan “Liberty, Fraternity, Equality” • Upset about an unfair taxation system • French monarchs Louis XVI and his queen Marie Antoinette were executed – all nobility fled into exile • Established new republic based on Locke’s ideas

25. Mass movement of people from the country to the cities to work in factories Gave way to an entirely new class system. Instead of nobility and commoners we now have a new class system nobility rich (factory owners),. Poor (workers) This new rich class (factory workers) want access to power in decision making – government Also gave way to Marxism Industrial Revolution 1850

26. Russia – monarchy under Czar Nicholas World War 1 Vladimir Lenin and his communist party overthrow the monarchy. Monarchy executed by firing squad Attempt to create a utopian society by implementing the ideas of Karl Marx. No private ownership Everyone was supposed to be equal Slogan “From each according to his abilities; to each according to his needs.” Communist (Russian) Revolution 1917

27. Prior to depression governments had a limited involvement in economics – laissez faire Depression led to the social welfare state – now governments have an obligation to provide for all citizens Unemployment insurance… The Great Depression 1930s

28. Civil Rights movement 1960 • Rights that were granted to only white citizens would be fought for and earned by African Americans • Sit-ins and demonstrations • Martin Luther King • Nelson Mandela • Desmond Tutu