Democracia

The Growth of Democratic Tradition: The Age of Enlightenment
|[pic] |During the Enlightenment, or Age of Reason, intellectuals began toexamine |
| |the standards by which rulers governed. The principles of this time held |
||that everything, including the government, was worth examination and |
| |scrutiny. These principles spread toour early political scientists. |
|These new liberal ideas stated that individuals had natural |[pic] |
|rights and thatgovernment was an agreement or contract between | |
|the people and their ruler. In this governmental contract both ||
|the ruler and the citizen had rights and responsibilities. ||
|[pic] |Power needed to be separated and balanced so that individuals or groups did|
||not become corrupt through those powers. The people wanted a change from |
| |absolutism and the divine rightof kings to constitutionalism. |
| |Constitutionalism was the belief that the government contract should be |
||written down, making clear what powers were given to whom. |
|The philosophers believed that the government "contract" and...