IMO: A little bit of history can be useful for an understanding of where we, the average U.S. citizen, got where we are now - and how far we still have to go. Seeing the past may help us see the present more clearly.
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England, in 1776, was far from being a democracy. The nobility ruled England. However; small farmers, merchants, and manufactures, had gained some political power in 1670. If you wonder why I don't mention the famous House of Commons, wait until you read the second half of this text. * **Political Change in the late 1600's*
In 1670, the traditional right of trial, by a jury of the defendant's peers, became much more powerful. The King's Chief Justice ruled that a jury could not be punished for bringing in a verdict that the Judge thought was unreasonable. This gave the jury the right to nullify the law in any specific trial! It's no accident that our U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights mention trial by jury six times. Our founding fathers understood the importance of the jury to protect the citizens from any state including a republic.
*References for the Political Jury. * _WE THE JURY: The Jury System and the Ideal of Democracy_, by Jeffery Abramson, professor of politics and legal studies at Brandeis University, published 2000, Basic Books
_JURY NULLIFICATION: The Evolution of a Doctrine_, A Cato Institute Book, pub 1998, by Carolina Academic Press, Author: Clay S. Conrad
WEB LINK The Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA) http://www.fija.org/
The Political Power of the House of Commons
Although the House of Commons belonged to the propertied class, it had very little power. The House of Lords could veto any bill passed by the Commons with a simple majority vote. The only power the House of Commons had, was a negative power. It had the power to tax the propertied classes or to refuse to do so. Remember that the American revolution started with the cry, "/No taxation without representation./" The importance of this political right becomes much more obvious, when we realize that; this was about the only political power possessed by the merchant class! For the American colonists this was even more true, after the King replaced trial by jury with admiralty military courts for customs trials in the American colonies.
*Personal note:* I don't remember the name of the book I used as a source for the information in the above paragraph, but the following web location provides some decent documentation.
Quote "Until the early years of the 20th century, the House of Lords had the power to prevent legislation, as bills had to be passed by both Houses of Parliament."
http://www.parliament.uk/works/parliament.cfm#fourteenth
Jack