The Athenians established a direct democracy where the people voted directly on the matter at hand.” (Ancient Greek Democracy, History.com) “The Romans then created their own type of democracy, where the citizens elected leaders to represent the people’s opinion.” (Crabill, Ancient Rome) While neither the Athenian nor the Roman democracies were perfect by any means, they both
Have you ever heard of rome? Well I have, and I read roman history. The passages I read were called ‘’Influence On American Government’’,Roman architecte In Washington,Dc’’, and ‘’Roman Entertanment”. All of these passages are great.
Ancient sources were one of the major historical influences on the United States Constitution. One of the reasons that ancient sources was a large influence on the Constitution was because Romans founded the idea of republicanism. Republicanism is when people elect representatives to carry out their wishes. Elected representatives in Ancient Rome made decisions on behalf of the Roman people. The writers of the Constitution supported this idea because it would provide their country with representatives in government.
The Athenians had a direct democracy which allowed the citizens to directly decide and vote for who they wanted to rule their country. In Athens there were three bodies of the government. The Assembly is the first branch which included all citizens that showed up to cast their vote. The Assembly decided what new laws would be and they made important decisions regarding war, laws, etc.
First, Pericles strongly promoted the benefits of an organized democracy at a funeral orientation for fallen Roman soldiers. He cried, “While every citizen has an equal opportunity to serve the public, we rewarded our most distinguished citizens by asking them to make our political decisions” (2). This encouraged citizens to work hard. They elected people to office similarly to how Americans elect people for office today. The Greek democracy heavily impacted the modern day American democracy because every citizen has an equal opportunity to serve the public and make important political decisions.
Although one of their best ideas was known as the type of government they established what is now known as the republic, and since then it has been copied by other places, the united states uses and has similarity to roman republic. The U.S government is based partly on the model of Rome’s. the parts and similarity’s that we still use today are things like citizenship, legal code, legislative branch /senate, and others. The republic all started when the romans finally overthrew the Etruscan conquerors they had around (509 B.C.E) once they were free the romans came up or established the republic, a government were the citizens picked a representative to rule on their behalf. The concept of Citizenship in Rome was that males of ages 15 or older, that came from original tribes or places of Rome became citizens.
To what extent did Ancient Rome influence the formation of America and its constitution? By observing Ancient Rome, the founding fathers were able to form a country that would thrive for the coming centuries. Beginning in 625 BC, Ancient Rome made considerable leaps in how people lived. Forming new governments, and expanding the economy, Rome changed the world to a great extent.
The term, Democracy, stems from the Greek word ‘demokratia’ which means rule by the people and it wasn’t until around 500 BCE in Athens where the first examples of democracy originated. While Athens is widely regarded as the first historical example of a democratic system, some scholars believe that the Roman Empire’s republic system was more democratic than that of the Greek. As I will come to
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.
A democracy is a form of government that is ruled by the people and controlled by the people. For example, here in the United states which is a democracy, everyone is allowed to vote and have land. Also, everyone is allowed to practice a religion of their choice. Athens was truly democratic because everyone had the equal justice, people were voted into office, and one’s social class did not determine what a person could become.
Athens organized a group of Greek city states into the Delian League and eventually lead and dominated all of the city states in the League. Athens’s military prowess allowed them to look down on the other members of the League and treat them as members of an empire instead of equals. This caused some to view them with hostility which sparked the conflicts between Athens and Sparta that lead to the Peloponnesian War. The direct democracy of Athens wasn’t actually as inclusive and steady as the statement at Pericles 's funeral state, “Our Constitution is called a democracy because power is in the hands not of a minority but of the whole people (Doc C).” In fact, of the 450,000 citizens of Athens in 430 BC, only about 40,000 people had the power to vote.
2). The style in which these governments were set is called a democracy (doc. 2). In this form of government the people have a voice and cast votes for their laws ( O.I.). However in Athens there was a direct democracy where every indval voted on everything (doc. 2). This called a direct democracy ( doc. 2.).
Established on September 17, 1787, the U.S. Constitution established America’s national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed rights for its citizens. The Constitution also represents the value and principles of democracy and republicanism that the United States of American stands by. This means that the Constitution regards to the American citizen as something that is held to deserve meaning the importance, worth, or usefulness of something. It also means its citizens come first in order of importance. The Constitution represents the value and principles of democracy and republicanism by stressing liberty and inalienable rights as central values, making the people as a whole sovereign, rejecting inherited political power, expecting citizens to be independent in their performance of civic duties, and vilifies corruption.
The Greeks and Romans seem to be extremely influential on our modern civilization. Many Greek and Roman traditions and cultures play major roles in our civilization. These traditions and cultures are displayed throughout our government, education, art, architect, cultural activities, and many other things. I assert the most influential ideas the Greeks and Romans had are displayed in our government, art, and architecture. Their ideas have inspired over 25 centuries, growing and changing over time, and still remain in our modern civilization.
