Democracy: Historical Perspective

Before the American Revolution the history of the world was largely the history of the wars and struggles waged by non-democratic powers against each other. But the American Revolution changed all that.

After the American Revolution the history of the world has largely been the history of the wars and struggles of democracy against any and all of the various anti-democratic powers. The whole direction and course of human history was radically changed by our revolution. This is the view of world history that was held by Jefferson and Lincoln and it is this view of the relationship of the American Revolution to the development of world history that is one of the basic doctrines of the democratic political philosophy. Stated succinctly, it was the American Revolution that gave birth to the democratic world movement.

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