It’s hard to believe that idea of democracy is over 2000 years old, especially since we consider America to be one of earliest the democratic powerhouses. This just isn’t true, there have been many societies which have used democracy to govern its people. Although, it is worth mentioning that the democracy we see today is different from democracy in it’s earliest stages. Greece is one of the oldest societies to have records of democracy which span back to the 6th Century B.C.E. Their democracy focused on leaders who were chosen by the people, usually the elders, and worked alongside the public to manage the village or community.  This is referred to as tribalism or primitive democracy and it is very similar to our version of democracy. The only differences are that in tribalism, the leaders aren’t officially elected but rather, recommended by the people. Unlike in the current form of democracy, the leaders only interacted with people from their community, there was not a larger form of government to connect them.

The next step towards our modern democracy can be seen in Rome at around 450 B.C.E.  The last king of Rome lost his position in 510 B.C.E when a group of aristocrats acted on social unrest and removed him from power. A new constitution was crafted but it left the plebians, the middle and lower class people of the time, unsatisfied. After much backlash, Rome instituted a group of new laws, the Twelve Tables, along with a group of new leaders. Said leaders could only govern for two years but the new laws allowed the plebeians to run for political positions. This form of democracy is very complex and but somewhat similar to ours. A major difference was that there were two Consuls, the Roman equivalent of a president. Another difference is that senators had to be rich and own land to be a part of the senate. Other than that, there are few differences between our democracy and the Roman democracy. The Roman senate passed laws and policies and the assemblies, were institutions that allowed the public to cast votes.

The democracies of the past are slightly different to the form of democracy seen in the U.S. today, however, we can see the influence it has had on us. Although it would be much later until we would see the three branches of government the fundamental values were there all along. Its longevity goes to show, how effective and practical democracy truly is.