Like his father James, King Charles 1 of England believed that he ruled by divine right. This meant that he considered himself answerable only to God and no mortal could question him. He was also believed by English parliamentarians to be wasteful with money and was suspected of being a secret Catholic. The two sides argued over money and the right to raise taxes. In March 1642, Charles tried to arrest four rebellious members of Parliament. He failed and fled from London. The ensuing civil wars led to victory for Parliament over the king, the execution of Charles and an English republic. In 1660, Charles II was restored as monarch but the hegemony of Parliament over the monarchy had been established.
The Federal Convention convened in the State House in Philadelphia in May 1787 to revise the articles of Confederation. As negotiations progressed, it was decided that an entirely new framework for government would need to be drafted. The chief points being considered were how much power the federal government should have, the extent to which each state should be represented in Congress and whether such representatives should be elected by the people or by the state legislators. The resulting Constitution has been heralded as a model of cooperative statesmanship and compromise.
With an intellectual leadership and influenced by events in the U.S., the French Revolution began in May 1789. Through a string of events, this led to the execution of the king, Louis XVI, a reign of terror and a declaration of war on Great Britain in 1793. Perhaps more importantly, it sent shivers through the monarchies of Europe and led to the Napoleonic era of French. Although clearly not meant to embrace all races and peoples, the words associated with the Revolution were "Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity."
In November 1932 and for the second election in a row, the Nazi Party in Germany under the leadership of Adolf Hitler was the largest political party as ranked by percentages of the popular and democratic vote and by numbers of seats in the Reichstag. Although the president showed reluctance, Hitler was appointed as chancellor of Germany in January 1933.