Peter Lesson: History Of Pirates

Thomas Brosnan
History of Pirates
Dr………?
Before the French and American Revolution had occurred pirates were living according to the very same principles of liberty and freedom we know of and live by today. Pirate codes were revolutionary in their method of how they took power away from one man. Although pirates have always been looked upon as lawless tough guys and outlaws of the sea that terrorized up and down the Atlantic it is interesting to note that in the 18th century pirates had an interesting form of one of the earliest democracies to ever exist. It has been debated over the course of time between many historians whether pirates created the first democratic government. I think they not only created the first democratic

It is explained in the text that not only did pirates run a form of democracy but that they closely followed the common rules and laws of British democracy. Not all men and especially not pirates were able to get the vote of representation in 1918. It was during the Civil war in England where many radical groups emerged and amongst these groups many of them became pirates. In the book Lesson’s account of pirates and how their version of dempocracy came about because of the “Efficient Institutions View”. He explains that the pirate form of democracy came about much the same as Constitutionalism because of a common issue, which was commonly thought by pirates that if they gave their captains absolute power the captains would use it as a tool of power to be abusive to the rest of the crew

Pirates were the stealth fighters of the Age of Sail. They kept no records. No one sent out a search party if they sank. Contrary to popular myth, they didn’t mark X on maps where they buried their treasure was