Athenian Democracy Dbq

It resulted in corruption, dishonor of law and as a whole extends the frightening of the community, lessening of the control of the society over the private life of the individual. This is the reason why the principles and the institutions of the Athens democracy turned to be lifeless.

Athens had high standards and they were not going to change it. Athenian were mostly criticized for being more democratic than a democracy. And that it wasn't okay back then. After Pericles death the Athenian Democracy was brutally interrupted by Revolutions toward the end of the Revolutionary War. For example, they had a huge debate towards everyone settling down

Democracy is defined as the the rule by the people which Athens did not show in their government. The Athenian Democracy was ruled by The Ekklesia, The Boule, and The Dikasteria. The Ekklesia, Boule, and Dikasteria were made of the assemblies, council of 500, and courts, which does not include all the people of Athens. Demokratia exemplifies that all the people have the right to power/rule the government.

I believe that Athens truly was a democracy. There are pieces of evidence and proof supporting that Athens ran on a Democratic Government.

The ancient Athens was truly democratic. According to the wikipedia website , Athenian democracy developed around the fifth century BC in the Greek city state known as a polis of athens, comprising the city of Athens and the surrounding territory of Attica and is the first known democracy in the world. Other Greek cities set up democracies, most following the Athenian model, but none are as well documented as Athens.

These above evidence proved that Pericles views democracy as the best form of government are not reliable. He preached that he viewed Athens as superior to their fellow city states. In fact, Pericles sees Athens as having the ultimate possible for freedom, liberty, courage, honor, and justice. In a statement oozing with patriotism, Pericles proclaims: “We cultivate refinement without extravagance and knowledge without effeminacy; wealth we employ more for use than for show, and place the real disgrace of poverty not in owning to the fact but in declining

The American government consists of 3 branches: The Legislative Branch which makes the laws and incorporates the congress, the senate, and the house of representatives. The Executive Branch which carries out the laws and incorporates the president, the vice president, and the cabinet. The Judicial Branch which interprets laws and incorporates the Supreme court and other federal courts. The federal court system has three main levels: district courts (the trial court), circuit courts which are the first level of appeal, and the Supreme Court of the United States, the final level of appeal in the federal system. There are 94 district courts, 13 circuit courts, and one Supreme Court throughout the country.

First of all, it is feasible to say that one of the most important reasons for the Athenian defeat was due to

In the beginning of his speech, Pericles asserts that “a man may be personally ever so well off, and yet if his country be ruined he must be ruined with it (2.60.3)”. This shows that he is aware of the problem with Athens. He identifies the problem when he says “cease then to grieve for your private afflictions, and address yourselves instead to the safety of the commonwealth (2.61.4)”. This focus on self destroys the polis because once the citizens in a democracy become stuck on themselves, that self centeredness infiltrates the government, countering its purpose as the protector of all of her citizens and destroying the unity of the polis. Throughout Pericles’ speech he attempts to combat this self centeredness stating that the “flourishing commonwealth always affords chances of salvation to unfortunate individuals (2.60.3)” and that the citizens “cannot decline the burdens of empire and still expect to share its honors (2.63.1)”. However, his arguments are ineffective because he fails to realize the cause of the self centeredness; a shift in focus which places the good of the empire above the good of each individual citizen.

Athens is the city-state which is considered to be the place where democracy was created even though people often dispute whether Athens was a true democracy. Democracy is a cultural idea, justice to all people, people's power, and people having the right to vote, essentially democracy is all about the people. These characteristics make Athens a true democracy.

In Thucydides’ Funeral Oration, Pericles argues that everyone should look to Athens as an example of being a perfect state with the best institution. He describes Athens as a unified philosophical city that does not make its neighbors envious because Athenians strive towards excellence not extravagance, despite the amount of wealth Athens has obtained. Since Athens has been so successful during this time, Pericles argues one of the reasons why Athens is so superior is because their democracy is the best form of politics.

In 508 B.C, a civil war in Athens ceased; giving rise to a new democratic constitution under the leadership of Cleisthenes. The changes made under his leadership and other subsequent reforms resulted in a relatively radical form of government for the time known as democracy (Hyland Lecture, 26/09/2013). Democracy is a system of collective decision-making in which the participants have equality at least at one essential point of the decision making process (Christiano, “Democracy”). Furthermore, the term ‘democracy’, which comes from the Greeks, literally means rule by the people. The system of government, created by the Greeks, known as Democracy possessed many unique characteristics such as judicial review that have come to influence

Continuously throughout history the Greeks ideas had displayed themselves multiple times in many different ways. Most Americans had become familiar with the famous description of a democratic government by Abraham Lincoln, “a government of the people, by the people, for the people.” Although, unfortunately less known that the word democracy comes from our ancient Greek companions. Demokratia, a Greek word for “power of the people,” came to life in Athens in the 7th century BC. A democracy described itself as a government in which citizens elect representatives to advocate for them in the government. As the city-states oligarchy exploited citizens and created economic, political, and social problems, Athens became inspired by the prosperous, semi-democratic model Sparta had adopted. They turned their ways in trying to help the struggling majority

The ancient city-state of Athens has long been celebrated for the foundation of the first democracy in the 5th century B.C.E. Though it was unrivaled by any other ancient civilization in the creation of a government that offered its citizens a way to directly participate in various democratic institutions and make their voices heard, it was far from perfect. Identifying the limitations of Athenian democracy at its peak and investigating some of the events that potentially let to its subsequent demise provides a more complete understanding of the weaknesses in the democratic system. While Athenian democracy granted ordinary male citizens unprecedented political power and is celebrated for being an innovative form of government in the ancient world and a model for contemporary democracy, it was inclusive of only a small portion of the Athenian population and had inherent flaws within the system that ultimately lead to its failure.

Today democracy is often known for letting everyone have a say in government and letting people choose who represents them or letting them represent themselves. Although some aspect of democracy are prevalent in ancient Greece, there are exceptions which show how undemocratic life truly was. According to “The Oration of Pericles” written by Thucydides, “Administration is in the hands, not of the few, but of the whole people… Election to public office is made on the basis of ability, not on the basis of membership to a particular class”(Source Two). As stated by Thucydides, the people of Athens did get to vote for representatives who they saw best