What is the New England Town Meeting?

Question

This is for my brother's AP U.S. History class, and the assignment is worded as follows:

"Define and explain The New England town meeting and how it contributed to democratic government."

Answer 1

A town meeting is a legislature of citizens, for citizens, and by citizens. The fact that each citizen of the town is also a legislator separates the New England town meeting from all other forms of democracy. This difference is huge. Town meeting democracy is not representative democracy. Representation was conceived as a natural substitute for real democracy—an effective way to insure some popular control over distant governments in large nations. Town meeting democracy is like the democracy of ancient Athens. In town meetings like the ones I study in Vermont, citizens come together and make laws face-to-face. Budgets are adjusted, passed, or defeated. Officers are elected. Town property is bought or sold. Taxes are levied. This is done legislatively under rules of procedure designed to protect minorities and to insure that the process is orderly and predictable. In recent years the national media has cast the town meeting as simply a public meeting or a candidate's forum attended by citizens. Nothing could be further from the truth ..................

said by Frank M Bryan.

He is interviewed on this site. http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chica...