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Ancient Democracy Vs Modern Republic

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Ancient Democracy Verses Modern Republic
This work consists of two major parts, one regarding types of governments within Nephite society and a juxtaposition of ancient American democracy and modern American republicanism. Noel B Reynolds of BYU stated in his work entitled Government and Legal History in the Book of Mormon, that
The Nephites were ruled by hereditary kings from 550 to 91 B.C., when the rule changed to a reign of judges. After the coming of Christ, two centuries of peace under the government of his Church were followed by a breakdown of society into tribal units and finally by the destruction of the Nephites. Full Article Here
Where Reynolds conducted an academic study of the types of governments for the entire record of the …show more content…

One followed the divine appointment of Nephi as the designated patriarch of the Lehites and the other followed the hereditary custom of first born succession of patriarchal power. Nephi became the protector of his people following a series of events that effectively ended the possibility of him being an operative patriarch. His group of Lehites fled away from Laman and his Lehites taking with them the sacred records and items associated with the patriarchal ruler of the clan. This caused a blood feud permanently separating the groups for centuries. Nephi’s protectorate formed a nation of Nephites beholden to his leadership and authority because the people viewed him as the rightful heir and as a prophet of God. He refused to take on the position of a King as the new Nephite citizens desired, and therefore, became a theocratic leader. Theocratic protectorate defined here consists of a state or nation under the protection of God with a representative. Nephi, being the prophet of this group and its leader civilly appeared to be a governor or …show more content…

It was the will of the people to have a king though Nephi thought it better that they should have no king, which is why he declined the title. For his service to them, the people titled their Kings Nephi I, Nephi II and so forth, which prevailed for several hundred years before a political reformation occurred under the last king, King Mosiah who gave the people a voice in the direction of their government.
Nephi appears to have had no sons to inherit a leadership role, unless he purposely never mentioned any in his record. Subsequently, consecrating a monarch for his people, Nephi separated the function of high priest or prophet from the monarchy and abdicated ecclesiastical responsibility to his brother Jacob creating a separation of religion and state. A monarchy consists of the ruling of a nation by one family usually by hereditary decreed. Traditionally, monarchies have great civic authority and provide identity for the nation.
The most revered monarch of the Nephites was King Mosiah, the last king because he granted the Nephites equal status as citizens and a ruling class instead of a single monarch to guide the government. The people elected to continue with the monarchy with the desire to compel one of the sons of Mosiah to be the next king, though all declined. This provided Mosiah the opportunity to change the nature of Nephite

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