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Originally Posted by Lothar5150
... Men who debated every form of government from Direct Democracy in Athens to British Parliament wrote the US Constitution.
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Just as a BTW, the democratic institution they had most experience with was the governance system of native Americans. For instance "King" Philip was called that because we didn't have a word for a leader who had been selected
not by bloodline.
Our new england town meetings seem to have their roots in that "everyone gets to speak, decision by acclamation" that was part of that system. I'm pretty sure Ben Franklin makes some mention of Indian governance in his biography - in the part about his attempts to organize a common colonial defense just before what we now call the French and Indian wars (sorry about vagueness, it's been 30+ years...). Note also that this was the system of the tribes in the north east - no idea what the rest of 'em were doing...