In the first American encyclopedia-- the Dobson Encyclopedia, printed between 1789 and 1798, which George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin all subscribed to, the entry for democracy is under 60 words and mostly refers to something the greeks did a few thousand years ago.
the entry for democracy in Dobson's Encyclopaedia. Letters that look like F are actually the letter 's.' I'm guessing that 'Basil' refers to Basel Switzerland.
(Image by Rob Kall) Details DMCA
I'm guessing that the volume of the encyclopedia that included Democracy was published between 1791 and 1793, so fifteen to seventeen years after the revolution-- pretty early in terms of processing the idea of modern democracy, and about the same time as the French Revolution.
The thing is, we're still figuring out what democracy is. Today, we celebrate independence day. But democracy is a living, breathing phenomenon. That means it can still grow up in different ways and it means that it must be kept alive. It can't be kept for granted. We can still define what Democracy is and what it means to each of us individually and to our nation and the world, collectively.
I believe that Democracy must include respect for the individual but it must also consider the rights and obligations of us collectively as well. Democracy is certainly a bottom-up idea, perhaps one of the most important.
On this July fourth Independence day, think about what democracy means to you and how it can still grow as an emergent phenomenon, how it can get better, smarter and more meaningful to each of us and all of us together. And please share your thoughts in the comments.
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