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Main features of athenian democracy
Differences and simalarities about modern greece and ancient greece democracy
Features of Athenian democracy
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The rise of Jacksonian democracy have influenced the United States in the years of 1820s to 1830s. As a veteran of the war of 1812 and also known for being a common man his popularity has given him a spot in office. With the use of the spoil system he has given government jobs to loyal supporters which has also lead to the creation of the kitchen cabinet. Making extreme decisions like the Indian removal act, many have question his authority but are unable to do anything. Jacksonian democrats viewed themselves as guardians of the Constitution, political democracy, individual liberty, and equality of opportunity.
Considered one of the most important documents in United States history, the Constitution was the basis of a government still functioning today. In the summer of 1787, 55 delegates from eleven of the thirteen states gathered in Philadelphia to fix the first attempt at a constitution, the Acts of Confederation. The government set up by this functioned so poorly that the entire document was scrapped thus making way for the Constitution. This provided a functioning government organized in a way that would eliminate any chance of a single party or person becoming a tyrant. The Constitution created an outline for a government with powers fairly distributed between the federal government, state governments, three branches of government and small
Being Democracy The people could legislate by them self alone (Document B). Not being Democracy The voting was only held in Rome. So if you didn’t have the time or money you couldn’t vote (Document
In a true democracy, nothing is random. Everyone should have a vote and the right to voice their thoughts. With this system they have put in place, people’s roles in the government are completely arbitrary. Thus proving, Athens was not a true democracy because government roles were picked at
Unlike the Romans, Athenians had a strict but fair schedule that allowed them to enjoy citizenship equally. Equally, hard workers have brought Athens power just as much as hereditary leaders. According to Document B all citizens should be allowed to speak their opinion and have a share in election because of the hard work they do to make the city powerful. Athenians allowed poor and common men to win a position in government which was a transition from the wealthy having power to everyone having power.
The Government of Athens wasn’t known to be the best one. Compared to Oligarchy, the Athenian democracy is a poor form of government. Athenian democracy is considered weak and is run by weak-minded people. Mostly lethargic and incompetent people are brought to the power saying that they all have equal rights. It becomes an issue in democracy when we need someone strong willed to lead the rest of the people in the society.
The Romans had a system of indirect democracy where the people had the power to vote for representatives who would advocate for them on the state level. The Greeks had a government in which the people directly were involved in the governmental and legislative process. In addition, both systems were flawed in their representation of their people in their respective governments through neglecting a large portion of their population. Both societies did well to create term lengths to decrease the likelihood of corruption and abuse of power through creating accountability. However, the Greek democracy was a caliber above its counterpart.
Firstly, only male citizens had equal rights to vote, freedom of speech, and opportunities to participate directly in political arenas, which is only 12% of the population. For example Citizen women, Children of citizens, Metics, and Slaves did not have the right to vote which is the other 68%. This shows the Athenians were not democratic because not the whole population wasn 't a system of government, when not even half of them were. Also in Athen nobody had the freedom of thought and or speech. If someone
But back then they thought that the social class was bad. For example “ Social class is not allowed to interfere with someone’s merit, and poverty does not block the way”. ( document A). I think that the social class should be able to interfere the any other. That's why I think that ancient athens was truly democratic because all the people should be able to vote and own their own land.
When you look at the literal definition of democracy in the Merriam-Webster dictionary, there is a decently large explanation. When looking at this definition and trying to decide whether the Athenian democratic system was truly democratic, one would have to go with the answer no. While it has been stated that Athens is the “cradle of democracy”, and that it was better than any of the other governments in the world, it was still a work in progress. The Athenian democracy, while it did give more power to the people, still left a lot of citizens out. The current American democracy may have steamed from Athens, but they do not really have that much in common.
Is democracy the best form of government? It is mainly focused on the power of the people. A democracy is all about forming, managing, and collecting knowledge. If Athens becomes a democratic place, it will develop into a successful city-state because of it and the people, as they will be the ones ruling it. Democracy is successful since it organizes useful knowledge, making it both innovational and educational.
In his second response he discusses the importance of following the laws created by the state. Though he uses different terminology, Socrates is essentially discussing the same group of people. The state of Athens is ruled by a democracy; a government ruled by the people. In the structure of a Democracy the jurors and officials must be Athenian Citizens thirty years or older. Jurors were also required to be under oath during the proceedings (Cartwright).
Pericles, a key political figure of 5th century Athens states, “Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to others than imitators ourselves.” The Athenians had no desire to follow what appeared as mediocre government, the Athenians pushed for the best form they could find. Arete, for Athens, meant every person had a voice in politics. Politics embraces the reason of the mind as well as the emotion of the heart. Therefore, the very essence of a good human being would lie in being a politically active person.
The Greeks displayed their humanistic values through government by they utilizing an effective system of self governing. This system was a direct democracy, defined as “government by the people” or “rule of the majority.” In the Athenian Democracy, the Assembly was the regular
Democracy, a form of government, allows the people in their own nationality to vote for people in order for them to become representatives as a result to vote on new laws that would affect their own nationality. One of the many states of Greece, ancient Athens was indeed not truly democratic as a result of not inclusive, other than male citizens, to gain authority in ancient Athens, ¨Demokratia was ruled by male citizens only, excluding women, free foreigners(Metics) and slaves.¨(Document D), therefore ruling Athens was only accessible to male citizen since since women, free foreigners(Metics), and slaves were not allowed to rule as a result of not being male citizens. One of the many states of Greece, ancient Athens, was indeed not truly democratic as a result of not even using the essentials of democracy that is used today, “Thus, by our standards, it was oligarchy, not democracy.¨(Document D), therefore ancient Athens was not using democracy as their form of government, they were using oligarchy,another form of government in which a small group of people has power and control, as their form of government instead of democracy.
