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Democracy in The Classical Age Vs. The Middle Ages

Uploaded by spootyhead on Apr 18, 2007

Democracy in The Classical Age Vs. The Middle Ages

Democracy is a government ruled by the people. Throughout history, democracy has changed greatly. Many of these changes in democracy occurred during the Classical Age of the Greeks and Romans and the Middle Ages. Changes were made regarding separation of power, equality, and natural rights. Although thought significant changes were made during both the Classical Age and the Middle Ages, democracy flourished to a higher level in the Middle Ages.

Separation of power is used to prevent a single entity from becoming too powerful. In the Middle Ages, the separation of power between Parliament and the king showed that democracy was greater than during the Classical Age. During his reign, William the Conqueror changed the feudal system in England to weaken the lords. William required each feudal lord to swear allegiance to him, causing all the lords to become vassals of the king. By weakening the lords, William prevented them from uniting and becoming too powerful. If the lords did unite, they could have possibly taken over the country and rule even the king. On June 15, 1215, English nobles forced King John to accept the Magna Carta. After William’s weakening of the lords, the King gained too much power and the nobles had very few rights. The signing of the Magna Carta protected the liberties of the nobles and prohibited the king from disobeying any laws that the citizens had to obey. In 700 B.C., Greek nobles had generally overthrown the king. The nobles were counted on by the Greek government to supply cavalry and other services. When the nobles gained land and power, many small farmers were forced to sell or mortgage their farms to nobles in order to get money for food. This power over the government made the nobles very rich and too powerful. The Middle Ages had many changes between the king and Parliament to separate power equally and prevent anyone or anything from becoming too powerful. During the Classical Age, however, the nobles had more power than anyone else and could control the king. There was no separation of power at the time. This shows how undemocratic the Classical Age was. Besides separation of power, another thing that is required in a democratic society is equality....

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Uploaded by:   spootyhead

Date:   04/18/2007

Category:   European

Length:   4 pages (847 words)

Views:   5518

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