As by the grace of God, I declare ...

Since the beginning of human history, peoples in all parts of the world have been ruled by kings or queens, pharaohs, and sometimes emperors. The ruling families usually claimed that their position as rulers was derived from their God. Government instructions often began with the words: By the grace of God, I decree…

If the rulers were successful, the subjects had a good life, the legitimacy of the rulers was not questioned. When the success stories ended, there was a change to other families that used the same power structure to rule a country.

In Greece, as well as later in the Roman Empire, there were periods of popular governments, called republics, a Latin word known as “res publica”. Their base was founded on a completely different idea, that the governed ruled themselves. Later, in the late 18th century, the Founding Fathers of America went on with that idea and created the American Constitution.