"John D. Giorgis" wrote
> At 11:58 PM 5/28/01 -0000 Alberto Monteiro wrote:
> >BTW, AFAIK, in the 1812 war between England and the USA,
> >both of them were "democratic" - as far as democracy meant
> >at that time.
>
> Not being up on my British History, was there some sort of revolution that
> occurred between 1776 and 1812 in the UK? i.e. exactly when did the
> monarchy of colonial Britain turn into the Republic of modern UK today?
The UK was democratic in 1776 too, at least by the standards of the time.
In 1688 England had the glorious revolution, which established parliamentary
sovereignty.
In 1707 the UK was formed by the political union of Scotland and England.
Walpole became our first PM circa 1721.
During this period the UK was semi-democratic. The monarch was
almost powerless and parliament was responsive to public opinion.
In 1832 the first reform acts were passsed, abolishing the rotten boroughs
and extending the vote.
Around 1870 universal male suffrage was introduced.
At what point in this history Britain could first be called democratic
is endlessly debatable.
--
Robert
