Civics

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Civics Unit 1

• The Beginnings of Democratic Decision Making
• Pannell

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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

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Key Terms
Authoritarianism Citizen Civic conflict Constitution Democracy monarchy Oligarchy Republic totalitarianism
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Ways of making decisions

• 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

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Ways of making decisions cont.
Authoritarian Governments Democratic Governments
Leaders are usually self-appointed Leaders cannot usually be replaced Citizens cannot question or speak out against leaders actions Leaders are elected by citizens Leaders term in office is limited. Elections are held at regular intervals Citizens can question and speak out against leaders actions
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Roots of Democratic Citizenship

• 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

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Roots of Democratic Citizenship

• 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

We created formal ways of preventing and
resolving these conflicts. These rules became
laws
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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

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Ancient Governments Monarchy and Divine Right

• 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 emperors duty to carry out the will
  of Heaven, not the will of the people
• This idea of government lasted thousands of years

Tai Tsung 626-649 CE
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The Evolution of Democracy

• 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 citys affairs

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Statement of classic democratic valuse

• 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

Pericles - Athenian, lived about 495-429 BCE
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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 citys
  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!

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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 had no say in
  government

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Ancient Rome

• 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

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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
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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

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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

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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

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Early Parliaments

• 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

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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

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John Locke 1632-1704

• 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

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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
• Lockes ideas gave way to the age of revolutions

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American Revolution 1776

• United States declaration of independence (from
  Britain) is based in Lockes 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

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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 Lockes ideas

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Industrial Revolution 1850

• 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

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Communist (Russian) Revolution 1917

• 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.

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The Great Depression 1930s

• 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

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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

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