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Greek democracy was much different than the ideas that Americans have. The greeks wanted the people to choose their government, and the types of people they allowed to choose were much different than what the Americans are used to. The Greeks only allowed men to vote, and not only that, but the men couldn't be foreign and the men couldn't be slaves. Also the men had to be over the age of 18, which is kind of like now, becuase you have to be 18 years old to vote in the U.S.
Nowadays, in the U.S. everyone can vote, even foreigners, but it wasn't always like this. It took years to get things the same way. At first only men could vote, and women and foreigners were not allowed to do so. This meant that both democracies were very limited. It was stated that all people should vote, but it was not really for all people. The greek democracy allowed only men over the age of 18 to vote, and even though the slaves worked with most of these men, they were not allowed to vote. The same had happened in the United Staes. At the time of slaves, the slaves were not allowed to vote. In both women were not allowed to vote, and it took over 100 years for women to be able to vote in the United States. Unfortunately for the women and slaves in Greece, they never had the opportunity to take part in voting, or to even hold a office. Un the United States, the slaves were eventually freed, and then allowed to vote later on, but in Greece they never were.
There is no doubt that both of these democracies were very much alike. It is very hard to find flaws in either of them. Of course, when I say that the two are very similair, I'm talking about the early U.S. democracy and not the one of now. There are major differences of the democracy of now and the democracy of Ancient Greece. Now, as stated, all people above the age of 18 are allowed to vote, even foreigners. In Ancient Greece only the men were. Anyway you look at it, the two are almost identical, it is hard not to see that the U.S. based their early democracy on that of Ancient Greece, and it is very obvious that the two have flaws, but any system created by man does.
URL:http://www.wsu.edu/~dee/110/8.HTM
In Ancient Greece, democracy played a huge role. The citixens made decisions and also enforced them in Athens. This democracy was the only democracy to ever allow a citizen to take such a large role in the government. Not only leaders had to take a large role in the government, but all citizens played a large role. There was access to politcal power, and meetings almost everyday. Citizens were sxpected to do more than just vote and go about their daily lives, they were expected to decide major things, and take part in their decisions. The citizens in Athens were allowed to get into matters of justice and that made sure that power stayed with all the people and not any single person could hold more power. The allowance of Greek citizens to take such a large role in the society helped the society reach great achievements.
The government of Athens was setup in two divisions, the assembly and the council. The assembly was there to make decisions for different policies, while the council was there to make sure the policies were instated and followed. Then there was the epistates, who served for one day, then never again. He called for meetings, and he got to hang on to the city seal and key to the state treasury. Then there was the political parties of aristrocrats, and of democrats. The aristrocrats wanted a few people to rule, and the democrats wanted he democracym but they were never political partiess that were established, like those of today.
The government of Athens was very well organized for the first democracy ever. Another great thing was that they stuck to their original laws and that they never changed any of their political rules./ In almost every democracy since, there have been compromises to change laws. Some of these compromises are very good, they help a lot. Compromises such as freeing slaves, and allowing women to vote. Then there are some compromises that aren;t good. But Athens never let anyone affect them in the way that they ran their government. This was probably the main reason that Athens had the greatest democracy in history.
URL:http://jnl-journeys.com/democrac.html
There were many different things that led up to the rise of a Greek democracy. Greek democracy wasn't just an idea that happened over night. There were many things that led to the development of Athenian Democracy. First of all, it all started when Solon was elected in 594 B.C. The people wanted him to reform the laws, and when he was elected there was a large amount of uneasiness for the government. There were debt bondages and they lost holdings to creditors. All this was not good for Solon, since he was just becoming the leader. After the compromises by Solon were unable to work, the ttyranny of Pisistradis took over. They were depots who took control and tried to reform things. After that Cleisthenes created a sort of democracy by telling the people that he would give them citizenship. He ended all aristrocratic rule, and he made reforms to the social organization. Prior to this there was a fight between Cleisthenes and Isagoras for power after tyranny ended. Next there was Pericles. He was mentored by Ephialtes, and he was the one who ended the political office of Aeropagus. Afterwards he started to reward the people, and he evn offered to pay the people for taking part in public office, sort of like jury duty. He dominated outside of Athens, but he allowed all of his peoples to be free. He held political office for fourteen years, and the only reason it ended was because of his death. Next there was oligarchy for 28 years, and that was interrupted twice in the years 411 and 404 B.C. During these revolutions the main goal was to end democracy. The there was rule by foreign powers. The rule was by the Romans and by the Macedonians for 120 years. Even though they were being ruled by other countries, democracy still lived on.
Anyway you look at it, the democracy of the Athenians lived on forever. Despit foreign rule, democracy continued, and it has survived until today, in the U.S., as well as other countries. It is also shown that the idea of democracy was not just some random idea, but there were many events that led up to it. Solon was the first to implement the idea of democracy, and it was further expanded by people such as Pericles, and Cleisthenes.
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_athenian_democracy_stages.htm
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