Historically, democracies have had a struggle to persist, and most of them eventually failed. I will begin my dissertation with a few important examples including their rise and fall and the precipitating causes.

PART I

Preface:

            I have been loathe to write about or speak about politics with my family, friends, neighbors, or acquaintances during the period of this extraordinarily fractious and divisive presidential election. Most of those people differ from me in their opinion about which candidate and political party should prevail and why. Terms like “hate”, “stupid”, and “crooked” abound. I do not want to argue with people who cannot fathom anything different from their own political opinion; it is religious, about morality; about the “American Way”; and my opinion is anathema when applied to politics.

However, I do believe the issues this election are probably the most important faced in our history with the exception of the time when civil war was impending. In fact, I believe we are already on the way to such strife owing to the intransigence of opinions. It is similar enough to the 1850s as they led inexorably to a shooting war over—slavery, abolitionism, preservation of the union, and allowing human chattel slavery to go on. It is also reminiscent of the worldwide arguments evinced for starting the foolhardy European war, World War I. We are approaching a brink. We  have time to change our course. The question is will we?

It is time posthumous to deal with the issues at hand with candor; and this set of essays is my coming out venture in that regard. For me as a voter there are two overriding issues that will lead to my vote: I am inalterably opposed to allowing our hard-won republican democracy to fall into a dictatorship on the one hand, and I am similarly strongly opposed to abortion on demand—the result of which has been something more than the slaughter of 70 million + innocent unborn children. It is obvious that I face a Solomon like quandary, and I must make a decision that amounts to the choice of the lesser of evils. More about that in the closing section of this set of essays.

 

Rise to Democracy in Athens:

Greece democracy is one of the earliest and most understandable for modern Americans. In brief, there were five key elements leading to the rise of the Athenian democracy, which lasted for 180 years, from 508–322 BCE. Athens–an ancient Greek city-state–began to develop a direct democracy around the 6^th century BCE. This system, known as demokratia [rule by the people].

There were several elements of Athens’ evolution into a democracy:

1. Solon’s Reforms: Facing crisis in theinternal conflict between the aristocratic elite and the common people of the city-state of Athens, Athenians turned to Solon–one of the Seven Wise Men of Greece who dominated Athenian politics for several decades. He introduced a new legal framework, including debt cancellation and expanded political participation. Here are some key events in the development of Athenian democracy: In 594 BCE, Solon was appointed as an archon or magistrate. He made reforms that included outlawing debt slavery and granting citizenship to some foreign craft workers. He also divided the assembly into four levels based on wealth. In 594 BCE, Solon was appointed as an archon or magistrate. He made reforms that included outlawing debt slavery and granting citizenship to some foreign craft workers. He also divided the assembly into four levels based on wealth.
2. Cleisthenes: Cleisthenes established the democracy in 508 BCE after the tyranny of Isagoras. It was the first known democracy in the history of the world. He successfully allied himself with the popular Assembly against the nobles and imposed democratic reform. Cleisthenes introduced a system of political reforms that included the ekklesia, the boule, and the dikasteria. The ekklesia was the sovereign governing body, the boule was a council of representatives, and the dikasteria were popular courts.

As a result of the reforms of Solon and Cleisthenes, all adult citizens were required to actively participate in government. Cleisthenes created a direct democracy, where all free male citizens had the right to vote in the Assembly (the ruling body of the city-state).

3. Pericles’ Leadership: Under Pericles, democracy advanced further, redefining citizenship and increasing voter power. It was an established Athenian practice by the late 5^th century BCE to hold a public funeral in honor of all those citizen-soldiers who had died in war. Pericles gave a profound funeral oration that celebrated the lives of soldiers who died in battle during the devastating Peloponnesian War, and the value of democracy.

 

Pericles’s Funeral Oration, as recorded in Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War constitutes a eulogy of Athens itself. The speech glorifies Athens’ achievements, designed to stir the spirits of a state still at war. Here are some pertinent excerpts from that speech that are applicable to the United States of America in the 21^st century. It describes a form of government that was about to end and not be revived for almost 2,000 years.

 

I will speak first of our ancestors, for it is right that we remember and honor them when we mourn those that have died. Our fathers and their fathers struggled to give us a free state and a great empire. And we have carried on the work of improving it at times of peace and times of war. But before I praise the dead, I want to speak of how our empire became great, because it is important to hear this from time to time. We are called a democracy since we are ruled by the hands of the many, not the hands of a few. Our government does not copy our neighbors’ for we have equal justice for all.

Our citizens are rewarded for merit. Exceptional citizens can be rewarded by joining the government. We are also free to do as we like in our private business. We trust one another and are not angered by a neighbor if he does what he likes. A man may help his country even if he is poor. We are prevented from doing wrong by respect for the authority and law. We work to protect the injured from those that would do them harm. “We Help Our Neighbors Freely With An Honest And Fearless Spirit”

… We enjoy the goods of other countries as freely as our own. Our military training is superior to that of our enemies. All may enter our city and we never expel a foreigner or prevent him from learning anything that might help our enemies. Our enemy harshly trains its youth to make them brave, however, we live at ease and are equally ready to face the dangers which they face. The proof is seen as we go alone into a neighbor’s country and have little difficulty defeating them. We can be as brave as those who never allow themselves to rest because our strength lies in what is gained by discussion that prepares us for action. …Such is the city for which these men nobly fought and the greatness of Athens is seen in those that have died for its glory. “In An Instant, They Passed From The Scene, Not In Fear But In Glory”.

These men have met evil with goodness. Our military training is superior to that of our enemies. All may enter our city and we never expel a foreigner or prevent him from learning anything that might help our enemies. Our enemy harshly trains its youth to make them brave, however, we live at ease and are equally ready to face the dangers which they face. The proof is seen as we go alone into a neighbor’s country and have little difficulty defeating them. …We think before we act, while our enemy is courageous from ignorance.

“In An Instant, They Passed From The Scene, Not In Fear But In Glory.” On the battlefield their feet stood fast, and in an instant, they passed away from the scene, not in fear but in glory. Such was the end of these worthy men of Athens, whose value cannot be expressed in words. But day by day, fix your eyes upon the greatness of Athens until you become filled with the love of her and know that this empire stands because of the men who knew their duty and freely gave their lives to their country. The bodies of these men do not lie in tombs, for the whole earth is the tomb of famous men. There is an unwritten memorial to them, not in stone but in the hearts of men. Make them your examples, knowing that courage is freedom and freedom is happiness.

Random Selection:

Officials and jurymen were selected by lot to ensure broad participation. The Athenian democracy collapsed after being defeated by Macedon in 322 BCE after fifty years of war against Sparta, an absolute monarchy ruled by two kings at the time and citizen autocrats whose work was done by slaves. The Athenian democracy collapsed and recovered multiple times, with new institutions being created each time. That rise, persistence, success, and eventual disappearance, of the democracy, has served as a warning by scholars, historians, and concerned citizens, even to the present day as a dismayed free world follows the 2024 US election with trepidation.

Rome: 

Prior to the republic, Etruscan kings–who lived nearby in central Italy–ruled Rome. Res publica Romana  [The Roman Republic] was the era of classical Roman civilization beginning with the overthrow of the Roman Kingdom, traditionally dated to 509 BCE and ending in 27 BCE with the establishment of the Roman Empire following the War of Actium. Rome’s republican government—after that of Athens–is one of the earliest examples of representative democracy in the world. During this period, Rome’s control expanded from the city’s immediate surroundings to hegemony over the entire Mediterranean world. By Roman standards, at least, the republic was a time of relative freedom and democracy.

Roman society at the time was primarily a cultural mix of Latin and Etruscan societies, as well as of Sabine, Oscan, and Greek, cultural elements, which is especially visible in the Ancient Roman religion and its Pantheon. Its political organization developed at around the same time as direct democracy in Ancient Greece, with collective and annual magistracies, overseen by a senate. There were annual elections, but the republican system [technically, a consular republic] was actually an elective oligarchy, not truly a democracy.

That is, a small number of powerful families largely monopolized the magistracies. The early republican Senate clearly held a bias towards the interests of the wealthiest citizens. Only members of the patrician class could hold office. It was something like what today’s Russia government is and had the same sort of dictatorship, not called a monarchy. Roman institutions underwent considerable changes throughout the Republic to adapt to the difficulties it faced, such as the creation of promagistracies to rule its conquered provinces, or the composition of the senate.

Rome’s wealthiest citizens established a republican government by creating various assemblies of Roman citizens. Lucius Junius Brutus was the semi-legendary founder of the Roman Republic and traditionally one of its first proconsuls in 509 BCE. The Republic began to engage in wars with its neighboring rivals, slowly eliminating threats to its superiority in the Mediterranean. By the first century BCE, the Roman Republic stood alone as the dominant power in the Mediterranean region.

Unlike the gradual devolution of other democracies, Rome went from a semi-democracy to an imperial all-powerful government in a very short time. In February of 44 BCE, Julius Caesar was declared dictator for life. That position soon became a huge object of envy; and, on March 15 [the Ides of March] he was assassinated in Curia di Pompeo in Rome by Senators Brutus and Cassius. That led to a brief period of a series of civil wars, and the constitutional government of the Republic was never fully restored.

A culminating battle of that civil war was the Battle of Actium. After defeating Mark Antony, Octavian consolidated power and was officially proclaimed the first Roman Emperor. On September  4, 31 BCE, Octavian was declared emperor—a divine right, all-powerful monarch, and on January 16, 27 BCE, he was proclaimed to be Augustus [exalted, grandeur, and venerable, signifying a status elevated to divine-like authority]. The senators and people of Rome willingly surrendered all their rights–even the rights of life and death–to the single ruler who had essentially been elevated to godhood. Even ten years earlier, no one on earth could have imagined that the Roman Republic–one of the longest-lasting, most powerful political institutions of the ancient world—would no longer exist in a matter of less than four years.

Following the Roman Republic, there were no widespread democracies in the European world for centuries. It can be argued that ideas leading to the United States Constitution and democracy derived from various indigenous peoples of the Americas including the Iroquois, a democracy founded between the years 1000–1450, that it lasted several hundred years, and that the US democratic system was continually changed and improved by the influence of Native Americans throughout North America.

The Iroquois Confederacy is the oldest living participatory democracy in the world. Founded by the Great Peacemaker in 1142, it is based around three branches of government. Chiefs are chosen from each clan to represent the tribe in the confederacy, and all major legislation had to be voted in across the whole of the confederacy. Among the Haudenosaunee [“People of the Long House”-the Six Nations, of the Mohawk, Onondaga, Oneida, Cayuga, Seneca, and Tuscarora], the Gayanashagowa [Great Law of Peace] was accepted as the  oral  constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy. The law was eventually ~1190 CE, written on wampum belts, conceived by the itinerant Dekanawidah–known as the Great Peacemaker–and his spokesman Hiawatha.  The constitution on the wampum belts came to serve a purpose as a social organization inside and among the nations, a constitution of the Iroquois Confederacy/League, ceremonies to be observed, and a binding history of peoples. Later researchers  identified 22 points shared across some two dozen versions of the narrative or parts of the narrative both direct and indirect, of which many corresponded to parts of the eventual US Constitution.

Some historians claim that the democratic ideals of the Kaianere’kó:wa provided a significant inspiration to Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, and other framers of the Constitution. They point out that the federal structure of the US Constitution was influenced by the living example of the Iroquois confederation, such as notions of individual liberty and the separation of powers. Franklin’s Albany Plan was probably influenced by his understanding of Iroquois government.

The confederacy became riven by divisions coming from the British, French, and American, wars. By the spring of 1776, most of the Iroquois were allied with the British, including the Senecas, Cayugas, and Mohawks. The Oneidas and Tuscaroras fought with the Americans, and some of the Onondagas allied with the British, but most remained neutral. In 1777, disease swept through the Iroquois population, leaving several chiefs dead. The incident brought the Confederacy to a standstill, while it was determined who the new chiefs would be. During this time, the division between the nations increased.

British General Burgoyne and his forces allied with Indian fighters in an effort to drive a wedge between the colonies. Along the way, Iroquois warriors fought with each other during the Siege of Fort Stanwix and the Battle of Oriskany. As a result, Burgoyne had to withdraw and eventually to surrender to American General Horatio Gates–the first time in history that a British Army surrendered in the field and was a major turning point in the American Revolutionary War.

In the 1783 Treaty of Paris, Britain recognized the independent United States. The Iroquois living within the borders of the United States were no longer British subjects. Many decided to move north into Canada; and some moved south into the Ohio County, where they joined with the Mingo and other tribes, creating both a physical and social division forming new communities and adopting other governmental strategies.

Like many other peoples, the Iroquois were caught up in a myriad of events in a short period of time. As the United States spread across the continent under the principle of Manifest Destiny, so did the Iroquois, further separating the six nations and the people themselves from each other. The principle of governmental democracy was largely lost in a generation. During the War of 1812, Iroquois living in Canada sided with the British, while those living in America fought with the United States; and many remained neutral, adding to the physical and social divide.

In New York, the construction of the Erie Canal led to more Americans moving out and traveling west into Iroquois lands. Some Iroquois moved further west, but many remained. Communities in places like New York, Quebec, Ontario, and Wisconsin, were sustained. Communities were also formed in Indian Territory–present-day Oklahoma. The power and influence of the Iroquois confederacy was gradually lost along with its principles of democracy.