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TIME History politics 5 Ways Pirate Ships Functioned as a True Democracy Hulton Archive / Getty Images A pirate ship oencounters bad weather off the Barbary Coast of North Africa, circa 1650. An engraving by A. Maisonneuve after A. Humblot. Pirates pioneered many of the features we associate with democracy History News Network

This post is in partnership with the History News Network, the website that puts the news into historical perspective. The article below was originally published at HNN.

Over time, the myth of the pirate has generated the image of a rugged, foul man with an elaborate hat, an eye patch, and a peg leg. The men of the tales are brutal and unforgiving, forcing captives to walk the plank, and mercilessly plundering ships at sea. Whats lost in this picture? That pirates made a significant contribution to the development of American democracy in the late eighteenth century. Pirate organizations predated any modern democratic government, having originated during the Golden Age of Piracy, from the 1650s to the 1730s. As an outgrowth of a diverse society that sought to maximize efficiency, Pirates formed relatively liberal, egalitarian orders based on elected officials and mutual trust.

Sailors often turned to piracy after long, abusive careers as either naval officers or ordinary seamen. In the eighteenth century, sailors were commonly beaten, overworked, and underpaid, and were often starved or diseased. Aboard ships sponsored by merchant companies, there was often a captain in place, hired by the original absentee owner. He was to ensure that the job was completed and was therefore granted absolute power, leading to a sort of dictatorship aboard ships. By centralizing power in the hands of the captain, ship owners could be sure they were minimizing pirate opportunism. Captains with unlimited and unchecked power were granted the right to punish in especially harsh manners, often leading to dissatisfaction and mutiny. One pirate testified, Our Captain and his Mate used us Barbarously. We poor Men cant have Justice done us. There is nothing said to our Commanders, let them never so much abuse us, and use us like Dogs.

This abuse is what lay behind the pirates desire for a different social order. One historian notes that the determined reorganization of space and privilege aboard the ship was crucial to the remaking of maritime social relations.

1. The pirates created an order that allowed them to vote for their captains.

The first rule of one particular pirate code reads, Every man has a vote in affairs of moment, securing, at the start, a mans right to participate in the selection of the captain and other officials. With this right in place, each crew elected a captain who was granted total power only during times of distress. The crew, rather than the captain, maintained the authority to determine where a voyage was headed, and whether to attack a particular ship or village.

2. The crew retained the right to depose their leader if they so chose.

The Pirate Council (the term used to referred to the members of the pirate crew) was responsible for removing officers from their positions, and then choosing new candidates to fill those positions. Pirate crews had the option of deposing any captain they deemed to be abusive or of exceptionally poor judgment. As one Dutch governor pointed out, Every man has as much say as the captain. A merchant captain, in utter disbelief of the system, testified, there is so little Government and Subordination among [pirates], that they are, on Occasion, all Captains, all Leaders.

3. There was a system of checks and balances.

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5 Ways Pirate Ships Functioned as a True Democracy