Introduction

In this piece we will show how Anglo Saxon Democracies evolved overtime. We will show how Multi Party Democracy of UK and USA initially meant for oligarchs only, how right to elect and get elected expanded over time, how sometimes different segments of population were stripped of the right to elect and get elected and how these policies helped to shape Anglo Saxon domination over the world for last three centuries.

Evolution of Democracy in England

Crusade Wars imposed huge taxation on West Europeans. This resulted in many rebellion against tax imposition in the late 12th century especially in England. Finally in 1215, English barons and bishops rose to rebellion and forced the English King to accept the charter of Magna Carta which means bishops and barons must be consulted by the king in the Great Council before imposition of new tax. The barons of the Great Council were selected by the king till 1253 but by 1254 elected knights started to adorn the Great Council. By 1258, the Great Council meetings were regularized. In 1265 when the king refused to convene the Great Council there was a rebellion which forced the king to call the Great Council. This is often called Second Great Council or Parliament. In 1295 besides adding nobles and bishops as members of the Parliament, each of England's and Wales' counties were asked to send two elected representatives who had to be knights. In the 14th century nobles and bishops formed House of Lords while elected representatives formed House of Commons. Elected representatives in this century were mostly big estate owners and not necessarily knights. Parliament began to approve all taxation by 1362. Parliament became powerful enough to impeach the king's advisors in 1376 and even disposed King Richard II and put Henry IV in throne in 1399. King Henry IV immediately allowed elected representatives in House of Lords. His son King Henry V made law which said Parliament approval is needed for any new laws to be enacted in 1414. In the same century Henry VI formalized that big estate owners could cast votes and become elected representatives but small land owners or property-less people could not do the same. In the 16th century Parliament members Thomas More raised voice for freedom of speech while Puritan Peter Westworth called for freedom of religion but both were imprisoned. Puritans had to flee England for New World (now USA) after this incident. At the height of religious tensions between Protestantism and Catholicism, in the 17th century, English Parliament disposed king by barring any individual having Catholic faith from becoming king. English Parliament sent army for defeating French Revolutionary Republic repeatedly to prevent universal voting rights for all adults from spreading across Europe including England. In 1832 Representation of People Act was passed by the English Parliament which allowed anybody paying annual tax of Pound 10 or more would be allowed to vote and get elected. Moreover, in the same act, women were formally barred from voting or getting elected. Before this act, women of rich families could though rarely caste vote or get elected. Even after this act, in 1867 only 1 million out of 7 million adult men of England and Wales could vote and get elected. It was only in 1867 that Second Reforms Act was passed which allowed all adult men to caste vote and get elected. After World War I, in 1918 adult women got rights to vote and get elected.

Evolution of Democracy in USA

After USA got independence in 1776 only land owning adult men most of whom were white protestants could vote and get elected. Only the state of New Jersey gave voting rights to any individual both men and women having a minimum amount of property but rights of women and African Americans were cancelled in 1807. In 1790 Naturalization Law was passed where white migrants were made citizens and voters. New Hampshire wiped out property requirements for being voters in 1792. In 1848, Mexicans were given citizenship but not voting rights. In 1856 all adult white men were allowed to vote without any property ownership requirement in entire USA. In 1868, after end of US Civil War, 14th Amendment was passed granting citizenship to all former slaves who were mostly African Americans. It was up to states to decide if newly freed African American men could vote or not. In 1870 law was passed which said nobody can be barred from voting because of race. But white racists resorted to violence, literacy tests and voting taxes to exclude African Americans from voters. In 1876 US Supreme Court barred Native Americans from casting votes and in 1897 Dawes Act allowed them to be voters only if they gave up their tribal affiliations. Again, Native Americans who served US Army in World War I were granted citizenship by 1919 but voting rights were denied in 1924. In 1882 Chinese immigrants who created the great US railways were denied voting rights. In 1920, 19th Amendment allowed all American adult women to vote and get elected. Japanese and Asian Indians were denied citizenship in 1922. Even in 2000, 4.1 million people of Puerto Rico, Gaum, Virgin Islands, American Samoa were denied the right to vote.

Conclusion

From the above discussion it is clear that initially multi party democracy meant rights of electing and get elected only for oligarchies that include at least officially both white men and white women of oligarchy class. Then middle class shop owners, factory owners, traders, skilled professionals often called bourgeoisie demanded expansion of right to elect and get elected for themselves. An important point is their victory in 19th century not only expanded democratic rights for them but also eliminated all limited democratic rights enjoyed by women of oligarch class.  In 1832 UK's Representation of People Act and in 1807 USA's New Jersey state's decision show how bourgeoisie demand for expansion of democratic rights meant only for men and how even women of upper class were stripped of all the democratic rights they were enjoying. In 19th century, entire Western Europe including UK and USA scored very high birth rates which helped western whites to spread across three continents of Americas and Oceania. This high birth rate also helped Western Europeans to wage relentless wars against Africans, Asians and native Americans and also among themselves. Thus we can conclude that bourgeoisie reformation took away rights from white women and forced them to become breeding machine. Then we also see especially in USA how native Americans were denied democratic rights to elect and get elected and how these helped in their extermination in USA. So history tells us clearly that Multi Party Democracies is not a continuously expanding phenomenon. Rather it often moved ahead by curtailing rights of specific segments of societies like white women and non white people.