外文翻译--英国和美国特许经营的演变.docVIP

毕业论文（设计）外文翻译 Evolution of the Franchise in England and the United States* By HUGH P. WILLIAMSON ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT measures of the degree and quality of freedom in any political unit is the extent of the franchise in it. When a people is wholly deprived of political self-determination its bondage is absolute. When all of the rational, responsible persons in a society have the right to exercise the franchise and do so, that society has gone far in achieving for its members the ultimate in political freedom. Since the final objective of democratic government is complete democracy, we can profit by knowing how far we, an English-speaking nation, have come from our original position of almost complete political bondage; how far we stand today from the attainment of the maximum amount of political freedom possible in a social organization; and what our position is with relation to these two extremes. To measure our progress with respect to political freedom we must study the evolution of the franchise in our own government, and in that of England, our principal political progenitor. To obtain a proper perspective, and to view the process of political evolution in its natural sequence, we should look at the second first. History of the Franchise in England THE POLITICAL HISTORY of England, prior to the signing of Magna Carta by King John in the year 1215, is the story of almost constant strife between warriors and their political factions for sovereignty and jurisdiction, with the occasional emergence of one among them strong enough to command a sullen, restive, temporary obedience from the remainder. Such a man was William the Conqueror, who died in 1085. Such a man was King John before his partial renunciation of power at Runnymede. Until 1215 all political authority exercised in England was personal, arbitrary and capricious. Political freedom for the individual scarcely existed save as he could wrest it from another by force of arms. For the masses of people