In this section we find an illustration of democratic government. Jared and his Brother were advocates of democracy in all its forms, and therefore ruled in that manner. At the end of their careers, when they expected to be released from their earthly missions, they turned their God-given authority over to the people. They did not claim it as theirs, to bequeath to their heirs.
Democracy is generally understood to mean rule of the people, as opposed to monarchy, the rule of one, or aristocracy, rule of the nobility, oligarchy, the rule of a few, and we may add, mobocracy, the rule of the mob. American democracy is representative; that is to say, it is the rule of the people, by the people, for the people, by their chosen representatives.
The principle of democracy is as old as the human race. It is older than any political form of government. When our Heavenly Father turned this earth over to our first ancestors as their residence, He endowed them with sovereignty over the entire creation thereof, for themselves and their descendants, to have and to hold during their earthly existence, because they were created in His image, His likeness. (Genesis 1:26-28) "Have dominion," He said, "over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth." That was the Divine Magna Carta that gave all human beings a share in the proper management of the earth's bounties, and the responsibility accompanying proprietorship; as well as an inalienable right to the pursuit of the enjoyment of life and happiness. That is the essence and also the origin of democracy. The two Jareds understood this principle. They proved that by their anxiety to have an expression of the popular will on the government, the executive offices of which would soon be vacant.