HELP PLEASE!!! I do not understand the question!

Question

For what reasons did rulers establish bodies of officials appointed and empowered by themselves? How have legislatures changed the way that the population interact with governments?

Answer 1

Rulers appointed representatives for several reasons. Sometimes a ruler would appoint representatives to better control the views of local leaders and the general populace. Other times they established representatives assemblies to secure the loyalty of business leaders who aided the economy. Sometimes they were forced to such as when King John of England was forced to sign the Magna Carta which said taxes could not be established without the people's consent, and, as a result representatives were needed to speak for their people back home.

Representative assemblies eventually lead to the questioning of royal views and authority and checking of the power of the executive. In the U.S., this is how the system of checks and balances operates.

Answer 2

Hi Kayla,

In a direct democracy (like Ancient Athens), every citizen (as long as they were males and not slaves) could vote in the Assembly. However, as populations increased and issues became more complicated, people began to realize that they could not vote on every single issue. So, they elected representatives to do the voting for them. This system of government is known as an indirect democracy, or a republic. It was used in Ancient Rome as well as many systems of government today, like in the U.S.

Hope this helps!

Alex