Consider the ratification of the current US constitution. It was debated and written in secret, ratified with no 'general public' debate on the final draft.
The Constitutional Convention began on May 25, 1787 and finished in September. It was presented to Congress (organized under the Articles of Confederation), who submitted it to vote by the States. By September 1788, 9 of the states had agreed to it, and Rhode Island was the 13th, in 1790.
The Federalist Papers were written and distributed as part of the public debate, in order to sway those with anti-Federalist leanings.
How is that "secret" and with no "'general public' debate"?
George Washington was unanimously elected president of the Convention,[9] and it was agreed that the discussions and votes would be kept secret until the conclusion of the meeting.[3]:11
Though it's been a long time since I studied it, my impression was that the actual votes and internal debate of the convention were under wraps until it was complete. This example might not match as well as I thought to OP's king->democracy proposal, though.
Ahh, yes, you're right about the "secret" part. Thanks for the link.
I still believe there was a general debate about the final draft. With the proviso of course that the modern meaning of "public" doesn't mean the same in a nation without universal adult suffrage.
> Both the Continental Congress and the Constitutional Convention met in secret. The Senate met in secret until 1794, its first rules reflecting a belief that the body’s various special roles, including providing advice and consent to the executive branch, compelled it to conduct its business behind closed doors. )
I looked through "Journals of the Continental Congress", v32 and v33. Volume 32 proposes a meeting "for the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation and perpetual Union between the United States of America and reporting to the United States in Congress assembled and to the States respectively such alterations and amendments of the said Articles of Confederation as the representatives met in such convention shall judge proper and necessary to render them adequate to the preservation and support of the Union."
Volume 33 contains a copy of the proposed constitution on page 488 (dated 20 September 1787), followed by a motion on 27 September that Congress cannot decide on matters which effectively replace the Articles of Confederation, and so this should be forwarded to the states.
In looking through the journal, I see many references to Congress's secret journal, which helps me confirm that secrecy was pretty common back in that era.
