Ancient Greece: Direct Democracy

Was ancient Athens truly democratic? Democracy is a system of government by the whole population or all the eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. I believe that ancient Athens supported the early stages and development of democracy. Ancient Athens contributed many thoughts, and ideas to help form the idea of a democracy.(Doc A & B) Some of these ideas and thoughts where our constitution favors the many instead of the few, social class is not allowed to interfere with someone’s merit, and the franchise is open to all men who are of citizen birth by both parents. These are all examples of how they followed democracy, and contributed to its development.

Today, much of the world’s governments have converted to democracies. In the Ancient World, there was only one truly notable example of a democratic society: The City-State of Athens. This is actually the birthplace of democracy, where instead of the rich or powerful ruling, it was the citizens of the city-state that held the power. This advanced way of government was so effective and well structured, it even laid the foundations for the development of our own democracy, right here in the United States, over 2,000 years in the future. Prior to Athens’s collapse during the Peloponnesian War, it truly had an efficient and very organized system of government.

The Archaic government of Ancient Greece and the Democratic government of the modern-day United States are very similar, for democracy originated from the Ancient Greek Archaic government; yet, their differences are quite note-worthy. To begin, we should recognize how the populace of the United States is considerably larger than that of Ancient Greece. Regardless, in Ancient Greece and in the United States, citizens were/are allowed to vote, although in Ancient Greece, but male citizens could vote; while unlike the United States, who lets all citizens over the age of 18 vote. In Ancient Greece the eligible were all treated equally, and had direct participation in government, which meant that their single vote could either serve as deciding a new law, if they should go to war, or any other issue at the time. Furthermore, in Ancient Greece, citizens could act as judges, or even address new laws, freely, without consent. In contrast, the United States' voters all have elected participation in the government, which means that they elect like-minded representatives who decide on matters for them. In the United States' democracy voters cannot decide on issues, they let their elected leaders which comprise of three individual branches to

Ancient Athens was not truly democratic because the middle class was in charge of politics. The upper and lower classes were not in politics at all. It was not democratic because the only people that could vote were men who are of citizen birth by both parents. People whose parent is a slave could not become a citizen so they could not vote. Democracy was excluding women, free foreigners and slaves.

When evaluating the government of ancient Athens, some might say that it was a democracy, however, it can be better described as an oligarchy: a form of government in which a small group of people has the power and control (Doc. D by Mogens Herman Hansen). A democracy takes all the citizens’ opinions and thoughts into account, unlike an oligarchy that only takes the male citizens’ opinions and thoughts into account. Thus, Athens is more similar to an oligarchy than a democracy. The people of Athens also decide as a whole what the best government for their city-state was, as opposed to a democracy where the people elect representatives to make decisions for them and their city-state. Athens could be seen as not a true democracy because of the lack of basic democratic rules and methods such as what they define democracy as, who is able to vote, and how they vote.

Ancient Athens prided itself upon being a democratic society, but was it really? It's true that it was ruled by the people, however only a small percentage of people. Document C states that only 12 percent of people actually vote. And who are those 12 percent? The 12 percent of the whole population that voted was men whose parents were both citizens of the city (see Document B). Slaves, women, and resident foreigners were barred from voting.

The Greeks were very well managed and they developed a government for themselves. The Ancient Greece practiced democracy and the American society is practicing democracy also. Ancient Greece was a direct democracy, meaning not everybody was allowed to vote. The males could vote, but the

During my research I have learned the ancient Athenians pursued a government where all citizens would determine how the state was run. While being troubled by the tyrannical rule of a monarchy government, the newly found country American went to seek the same preparation. However Ancient Athens was a big example of a direct democracy, allowing every citizen to vote on just about every decision made in government, and all officials were decided by random. On the other hand, America is a republic, in which citizens elect officials to represent them, and the representatives do the majority of lawmaking and

First of all, Ancient Greece and Rome have both influenced us by their ways of government. The Greeks had a democracy, which is instilled in us today. It is the fundamental belief that everyone has the right to control what goes on in their government. Without the Greek administration, many modern nations would not be run the same way and history would not be the same. The Greeks had democracy because it was able to be easily maintained. They had such small communities, or city-states, that they were always able to have direct votes with the people. Some countries, like the US, are too large to have a direct vote, so there are variations of the method. The Romans had a Senate which controlled the Romans and chose what happened to the people for them. This is most common example in western

Athenian citizens were directly involved with Democracy while America has a representative. American citizens have the right to vote for a

In Greece, the beginning of a political system was very chaotic. Around the end of the “Dark Age”, there was no real system of government that could be compared to a known system of government.

Greeks democracy has high similarity towards America today. It's Athens, made the decisions and was ruled by the wealthy and powerful men. Like today is the one percent makes the decisions with its rich and powerful people, that

Greece was one of the earliest civilizations to arise in the ancient world, and it has made humongous progress until today, the 21st century. The history of modern Greece strated when they gained independence from the Ottoman Empire. Many of the cities adopted a form of democracy and cared for the rights of the people, while exhibiting traits of a strong government. But these types of governments only could stay alive with virtuous people running it. Unfortunately, in the modern world, most politicians only worry about how laws would affect them and their money, so democracy are not the most reliable.

Democracy first appeared in Ancient Greece, in the political hive known as Athens. It soon caught on and was widely used by the whole Greek country. Granted, there were some opposers, such as Plato. Plato thought that everything about the idea of Democracy was just complete HE THOROUGHLY DISLIKED DEMOCRACY BECAUSE IT WAS HIS OWN OPINION. The reasoning behind that thinking? He thought that letting the Citizens decide would be giving the power to the masses and they’d use it for personal matters other than the general good. He also attacked Athenian Democracies for being Libertarian societies where anarchy is mistaken for freedom. Democracy WAS UNUSED AND NOT INCREDIBLY POPULAR until the 1600’s. Even still, in the 1600’s only 10~ societies

Democracy began to emerge in Greece during the archaic (800-500) and classic (500-323) period, and it has expanded through the country over time . Greeks came up with the idea of democracy through discussions among citizens and with the majority voting; this was called direct democracy as everyone could debate and vote in one place to determine new policy for the country. During this period, only men were allowed to vote and give their opinions, others were not allowed to participate in government’s decisions . However, over time, the democratic government in Greece changed to be more open for every citizen. The poor, men and women, had the same rights, and equal share of power.