Was there a democracy before the U.S.?

Answer 1

Democracy is often in the eye of the beholder. America's founding fathers created a Federal Republic which happened to be Democratic. If you are looking for models for America's experiment in Democracy most historians would cite the following;;
The Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth which was """""""The Commonwealth was an extension of the Polish-Lithuanian Union, a personal union between those two states that had existed from 1386 (see Union of Krewo). The Commonwealth's political system, often called the Noble's democracy or Golden Freedom, was characterized by the sovereign's power being reduced by laws and the legislature (Sejm) controlled by the nobility (szlachta). This system was a precursor of the modern concepts of broader democracy[4] and constitutional monarchy[5][6][7] as well as federation.[8] The two comprising states of the Commonwealth were formally equal, although in reality Poland was a dominant partner in the union.[9] The Commonwealth was also notable for the world's second-oldest codified national constitution in modern history;[10] and, despite the massive influence of the Roman Catholic Church in the Commonwealth affairs, for the state's relative religious tolerance,[11] although the degree of it varied with time[12] Its economy was mainly based on agriculture. While the Commonwealth's first century was a golden age [7] [8] for both Poland and Lithuania, the second century was marked by military defeats, a return to serfdom for the peasants (the second serfdom phenomena[13]), and growing anarchy[7][14] in political life."

and the City States of Italy such as Venice, but the main model for the American Experiment - - - was the Dutch Republic .......

Peace................

Answer 2

If by democracy you mean voting rights for a part of he population (free men, male citizens, landowning men, taxpaying men, men of certain clans), the answer is "many". Sumer before the monarchy, Ancient Indian states like Vaishali (the world's first republic), Ancient Athens, Ancient Rome during the Republic, the Iroquois Confederacy, the San (Bushmen), Bengal, the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Althing in Iceland, certain medieval Italian city-states such as Venice, the tuatha system in early medieval Ireland, the Veche in Slavic countries, Scandinavian Things, the autonomous merchant city of Sakai in the 16th century in Japan, England since 1265.

But until a country gives voting rights to _all_ its citizens, it is technically an oligarchy, not a democracy. So it can be argued that the US became only a democracy in 1920 with the 19th amendment giving women the vote, or in 1964 when the Civil Rights Act gave African-Americans the vote in the South.

Answer 3

Athens, a city/state in ancient Greece. Ancient Greece is our way of referring to the place and time... remember in the actual century there was no Greece and just a loose collection of city/state's.

America more closely resembles a republic than a democracy.

Answer 4

I don't think early greece was a democracy but other do. The persian would disagree. The truth is that the USA is a Republic and not a democracy.

Answer 5

Yes. Greece invented Democracy and other countries used it too. America was one of the first powers to use Democracy.

Answer 6

Ancient Athens was a democracy for a time.
During the middle ages Iceland had the Althing which was democratic form of government.

Answer 7

democracies started with greece. there were lots of democracies in history. the united states is considered the first "liberal democracy" --in that it was to protect the rights of freedom and equality -- but those were really only extended to people who were already free and considered equal. little things like the abolition of slavery and womens sufferage came much later.

Answer 8

The most truely Democratic societies are hunter and gatherers.

Answer 9

Yeah. Ancient Greece for one.

Answer 10

all kinds of them the longest one has ever lasted is 300 years so far