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Athens Was Not A Democracy Dbq Analysis

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What was the first ever democracy? Many people think that Athens was the first democracy. Athens was a city-state in Greece. It was a very early settlement from ancient times. The city-state of Athens wasn’t a true democracy because only 12% of people could vote, government jobs were picked at random, and slaves were forced into labor against their will.
The first reason Athens was not a true democracy was because only 12% of people were able to vote. According to Professor Josiah Ober, only 29,900 people had a vote. That is 12% of the population (Doc 3). In a true democracy, everyone has a vote. All people are supposed to help decide on topics. In Athens, only citizen men were allowed to vote. This excludes 88% of the population. This …show more content…

According to Agora Museum Archives, “The machine assured random selection of the men who worked in the government. This ensured that every post, except those for generals (and a few others), was filled randomly.” (Doc 5) In a democracy, everyone gets to voice their opinion and what they think. This system makes it so that people have no control over their role in Athenian Democracy. This lottery system is completely random. That proves that Athens was not a true democracy because it is random and no one has a say. This quote, “All the magistrates (gov’t officials) that are responsible for carrying out everyday responsibilities are elected by lot (random lottery) in the Assembly.” From Aristotle, “The Athenian Constitution,” 330-322 BCE, shows that they had planned to have all government officials picked at random. 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

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