Ackerian Reforms

The Ackerian Reform was a political reform lasting from 1801 to 1823, named after its initiator Richard Acker, Camian Regent from 1801 to 1813; it was continued by his successor Lucas Bird, leading to the formation of the Second Republic in 1823. While the First Republic included the democratic institution of the Popular Assembly (also Comitia Curiata) for the Regent, he had few formal limits and checks on his power, and the archaic form of government inherited from Themiclesia required much under-the-table dealing that was thought corrupt. Further issues the reforms sought to address were sinecures, threats to territorial security, and the responsible raising and spending of revenues.

Comitia Curiata

The Popular Assembly, or Comitia Curiata, originated as an ad hoc political device to resolve the Compact's inability to produce a successor to Sa Meh that enjoyed sufficient reputation and clout amongst the leading families of Camia to govern effectively. In imitation of Themiclesia's procedures to elect members of the Council of Protonotaries, which had a rudimentary representative faculty, the Compact pronounced through the Council of Attendants an order for "the counties to proceed to deliberate and elect the worthy amongst the Council of Correspondence" to be Regent. The argument was that such a national-scale deliberation would reveal who was most qualified to govern as national leader. Since the Council of Correspondence, the executive council, was wholly composed of the Compact's supporters or kinsmen, the Comitia Curiata could not deprive power from the Compact. This mechanism persisted for the remainder of the First Republic, though the regent was limited to 12 years in office before mandatory resignation in 1798. The change came about as a compromise between conservatives, who were concerned that a popular regent could pack the government with his supporters to effect major changes without the assent of the Compact, and reformists, who were equally concerned that a regent for life would be too far detached from the demands of his supporters as expressed at election. Since regents now had a term limit, the Comitia Curiata could be regularly summoned in anticipation for new elections. All male householders who were married, had an heir, possessed land, and paid poll taxes could make his opinions known at the county assembly, provided they were accepted as men of letters by their peers.

Nevertheless, the Comitia Curiata possessed some flaws noticed by contemporaries. The practice of clan voting dates to the 16th century in Camia and reflected the social organizations and economic relationships at that time, when most Camians were indentured tenants, and their landlords were expected to be educated men who would, theoretically, voice the concerns of his inferiors. By the end of the 18th century, Camia was urbanizing and experiencing an industrial revolution, leading to a radically different distribution of wealth and social capital than had been the underlying assumptions of the Comitia Curiata, which emphasized the agricultural aristocracy. While the urban gentry waxed in influence, most could not claim to possess land and pay poll taxes in the quantities required, and moreover were largely shut out from recognition as "men of letters" by the census department. Combined with the Comitia's power to elect Protonotaries, recruit senior members of the bureaucracy, and to appoint local officials and arbitrators, Camia's government was "discharged by the few and the little-distinguished, to the ignorance and detriment of the great and many".