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Posting:
Athenian democracy is the "founding-father of democracy from now-a-days, mainly here in the United States. The Athenian democracy paved the way for the rest of the world. It all started with Pericles wanting a government where people voted for they're officers.
There were very little flaws in this democracy, but the flaws that were there are not present in today's democracy, but they have been there before. First there was the law that women could note become citizens, which meant they could not vote, and that they had no say in what happened in the city. The same happened in the first U.S. democracy, when women weren't allowed to vote and they had no say in what happened in the U.S., that was all until the early 1920's and since the women have played major roles. Next, the slaves were not allowed to be citizens either. They were considered the property of the owner, and they did work for the owner. Even though the slaves worked with any average man, they still were thought of as lesser. The same occured in the U.S. for hundreds of years, but eventually it was ended. There were the same thoughts towards slaves in Athens as there were towards slaves in early America.
The U.S. democracy and the democracy of Athens were very alike, well the early U.S democracy anyways. The Athenian democracy allowed people to vote for the people that they believed should be in office. The same goes for today's democracy. Also, the Athenians created a republic for there people, and the same was done here in America. The Athenian government was not only the first government, but it was one of the most well run governments in history. The U.S modeled it's government from the Athenian government since the early U.S. democracy began. The ofunder of the democracy in Athens was Pericles, while the founders of the U.S. democracy were our "Founding Fathers'. No matter what way you look at either democracy, it is nearly impossible to ignore the similarities between the two democracies, and it is impossible to ignore the glory these democracies have gone through. All in all, the Athenian democracy seems to be the greatest democracy ever.
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Response To Aaron's Posting:
I agree with the information that was posted in this article. The added information of what the Spartans believed about the way the Athenians ran a democracy, and the added information that the democracy was helped being setup. The Spartans viewed Athenina as weak because they ran a democracy, and they believed that the way they ran things was the stronger way. The spartans made it so that you were taken to become a war machine at the age of 7, which meant that the child only had 7 years to be with ihs mother before being taken away. The mother would realize that right when the baby was born, the clock was ticking on her time with him. They taught the children how to do nothing but fight, these were the boys of course. In sparta if you did not listen you would be killed, and this could have helped them in their win against Athens. It probably helped them greatly because they were a great army on land, and they figured that would help more than being a great navy. They tried to avoid the seas if they could, and they used smart tactics to fight the Athenians. First they attacked their food supplies, knowing that they would starve if they didn't fight, and also knowing that no food would greatly weaken the Athenian army.
It is also added that the Athenian democracy was based on the ideas of Judaism, and Christianity. The ideas from Judaism that all people should be free was one of the reasons that women were given rights in the U.S. The ten commandments were used to help set up the Athenian democracy, and Judaism and Christianity both believed in the rights of people, and this helped the Atheninas decide to make a democracy that gave people the right to vote, and it gave the people the right to choose who should go into political office. The influences were so great that the Athenians frimly believed in the democracy, and this then helped democracy survive through other nations. The U.S. has a democracy based on that of Athens, and this means that the U.S. democracy is derived from Christianity and Judaism without most people realizing it. Either way, the idea of democracy being weak, and the religions of Judaism and Christianity greatly influenced Athens. The religions helped them build a democracy,and the belief that democracy was weak helped the Spartans defeat the Athenians.
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