ace, _Pennsylvania: Seed of a Nation_, pp. 105-106.

[41] As previously noted, Henry Antes had been appointed judge of the
Court of Quarter Sessions in 1775, and Frederick Antes and Fleming had
been elected in 1780 and 1785, respectively. Frederick Antes was
president judge.

[42] _Pennsylvania Archives_, Second Series, III, 770.

CHAPTER SEVEN

_Democracy on the Pennsylvania Frontier_

One of the most often used and least understood words in the American
lexicon is the term "democracy." In the colonial period, it was seldom
used, except in denunciation. However, properly defined, it can help us
to evaluate the Fair Play settlers in some understandable context.
Etymologically stemming from two Greek words, _demos_, meaning "the
people," and _kratos_, meaning "authority," democracy means "authority
in the people" or, we can say, "self-determination." By
self-determination is meant the right of the people to decide their own
political, economic, and social institutions.

Self-determination in its basic, or political, context can best be
explained through James Bryce's definition of a democracy. Lord Bryce
said:

The word Democracy has been used ever since the time of Herodotus to
denote that form of government in which the ruling power of a State
is legally vested, not in any particular class or classes, but in
the members of the community as a whole.[1]

Analyzing the key phrases in Bryce's statement, we can best clarify the
meaning of political self-determination.

(1) "The ruling power of a State." Self-determination, as it is employed
here, concerns the right of the people of Fair Play society to determine
their own political institutions. Fair Play society did not constitute a
state, but it was a political community, and in that sense Bryce's
definition applies. Living outside the legal limit of settlement of
Province and Commonwealth, these people could not obtain legal authority
for their own rule, so, following the prevalent theory of the social
compact, they formed their own government. The result was the annual
election, by the people, of the Fair Play tribunal, the source of final
authority in the Fair Play territory.

(2) "Is legally vested." Fair Play society was actually illegal; that is
to say, the settlements were made in violation of the laws of the
Province. However, the extra-legal government which was formed was
created by, and responsive to, the popular will. Since