Allderdice High School - Allderdice Yearbook (Pittsburgh, PA)

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A'iilli u . i' i 1'il'lr il?7l'1'i5i?5'li7fillll l1'llLti5iiifiIQ..i'i' ll ll l 'lii'ilIlfI'f.Fiiill- ll l ll.,- ' O M115 ' . T Q , I' T I, ' T V T l T . t . T 35.E5s5. ,f. 5 ff--5 , J x -- .5 fusyftf :gf I X, , it ,s - s H., ,f ra -Xie I5 T K ' X 1-1:7 - i T I i ' my X, 1 , I ' A 9 iq V T rf i f ' rl ll ll ll ,'l lllll' F -il y' qp i- li it ,, it .T yy A 'Tl LY ll ,A f K N Q , , ff X ,i 3 XM 5 f Q 1 'I I ii- Y . 1 1 , Y L J i 1 f, 1 ,ff , s Q :Eff ' 'SLK ,Urs Q I ,lit X fl H TSI ,fyiii K Q 'L Q gli u T T T ,Q ff l - f A zhousami years sffarce serfue to form zz .mzfeg .471 hom' may lay it in lhe dust. EVOLUTION OF DEMOCRACY HE nncix or democracy developed first in the minds of the oppressed. It meant the equality of burdens and the abolition of privileges in running the race of life. Equality is the foundation of democracy. Wlhen equality is upheld by law. democracy is established: and all rule the state. There have been instances of democratic governing ol communities, large and small, from early historic times down to the present. The peoples of the ancient Greek States were essentially democratic in their political thought. and they strove continually to improve their mode of living. Their small comnnmities, city-states, were intermittently democracies and mon- archies. One detail alone shows them to have been not true democracies in the modern sense-that was the use of slave labor. Democracy became a fact at one time in the long history ol Rome. The Roman contribution to this form of government was the creation of a legislative body of older and wiser men whose experience and counsel must necessarily be valuable in government. This was the Senate. Amlong the people, equality in full did not exist. Political corruption eventually led to dictatorship. lu l-lth century ltaly, the people developed city-states like those of ancient ..,-l...-l.. ,, .,,Y, .,,,s 7,f, ,lo 4, - -Loma BvRoN

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john Acheson Bernard Benkovitz Doris Berg Madeline Brown Virginia Burke Gene Carr Mary jane Covey Raymond Crawford Lillian iDi Lillo Robert Eckhardt Roselle Frishman Howard Groudine Margaret Gunther Associate Eclifors - June Class Shirley Hafner Elmer Hasley Rhoda Hunter john Kailer Bettie Kalish Norman Kanel William King Elsie Kristan Marjorie Levison Shirley Marcus Howard Mattes Peggy McCahill Ruth Mendoza Barbara Miller Hazel Miller Alan Perlis Adam Provan Diana Steinberg Reva Rosenberg Peggy Shombert Allan Solomon Lydia Stern Lucille Thomas Dorothy Tolochko Mary Tunney 9 ,

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Greece. This government was much like ours today: there were factions which struggled for control, and this was the beginning of the party system. The l4th century is also known as a part of the Dark Ages. During this age there was no Democracy: the feudal system with its lords and 'serfs contradicted the word equality. These city-states broke the bonds of Medieval authority. The independent-minded Swiss people, free mountaineers, left to them- selves governed their communities democratically. Finally, by the treaty of West- phalia, l648, which ended the Thirty Years NVar, Switzerland became a republic. By the same treaty, the Dutch Republic, which some years before had declared its independence from Spain, was also recognized as a free state. In the 18th century the political philosophy of Rousseau became the basis of democratic theory and it had its influence on many of the political leaders of the American and the French Revolutions. The British colonies in North America declared independence in 1776 from the mother country and founded the United States of America, a Republic, which more fulfils the ideal democratic state than any that went before. It established a republican form of governmient for all people living within its borders. Until slavery was abolished and women's suffrage put into effect, the slaves and al-l women were not recognized as citizens. Following the French Revolution which occurred shortly after the founding of our republic, France also became a Republic. The course of democracy in France has been broken twice by periods of dictatorship, the present French Re- public being called the Third. The Spanish colonies in South and Central America after a st1'uggle for inde- pendence about the time of Napoleonis .downfall in the year 1815 eventually became a number of Federal Republics. Although these states are called republics, many of them are practically dictatorships. Before the outbreak of the French Revolution a wave of liberalism swept Britain, but the bloodshed and excesses which took place in France brought a sober- ing reaction against violence. The British, therefore, accomplished their revolution peaceably by legislation. Britain tis a democratic state with a mlonarch whose power is but .n-orninal. These reforms of the early 19th century extended suffrage to the middle class, but the majority of working men, slaves and all women were excluded. Eventually through political agitation over a long period of years these groups were given the vote and suffrage became universal. In China in 1912 after many centuries of despotic rule, the people under enlightened leadership over- threw -the Manchu monarchy and formed the present Republic of China. It is the largest Republic in the world both in area and in population. Turkey in 1920 became a Republic but the governmental power was soon usurped by a dictator. Poland, another Republic born at this time, suffered the same fate. Today in the world practically all the Democracies are threatened by dictator- ships: and in Europe and Asia the lines of conflict are already drawn. The posi- tion of the United States of America in this ominous eventuality is to prevent the struggle from becoming world wide. 11