View single post by ole
 Posted: Tue Oct 7th, 2008 08:06 pm
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ole
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Mana: 
 Both documents were written with a goal of government by the people. This was a first. All governments were, until that time, run by an aristocracy.(Skipping over the "democracies" of Greece and Rome.)

After a fashion, this republic still operates on that principle. In 1860, the grand experiment was challenged. One side saw in the Declaration that it could declare itself a different nation. The other side saw that the experiment would fail if a part of it could withdraw whenever it pleased.

So we had a situation that only an armed conflict could resolve. Don't know about the rest of you, but I'm rather glad about the way it turned out.