Ancient Greek Democracy Dbq Analysis

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.

The Romans had a system of indirect democracy where the people had the power to vote for representatives who would advocate for them on the state level. The Greeks had a government in which the people directly were involved in the governmental and legislative process. In addition, both systems were flawed in their representation of their people in their respective governments through neglecting a large portion of their population. Both societies did well to create term lengths to decrease the likelihood of corruption and abuse of power through creating accountability. However, the Greek democracy was a caliber above its counterpart.

In fact, if the Electoral College system was not in the Constitution, it would undoubtedly be removed due to it being unconstitutional, because using the electoral votes violates the principle of one-person, one-vote. (Black, 2012) So, while it is clear that the Electoral College was set up to ensure all states have a voice, it now seems to have the ability to take away the voice of the people. It is necessary to look at our voting process and make the necessary changes needed to ensure the process of electing our President represents the voice of the people. By switching to a majority vote we ensure that the voice of all people are not only heard, but are represented equally, which is how it should be under the one-person, one-vote

Athenians appointed Draco to create laws which established equity and stability. But his laws were harsh and started an economic crisis. Therfore, the Athenians appointed Solon who made reforms. Then Peisistratos seized Athens and it became ruled under tyranny and then he gave his sons his position after he died. Then the Athenians drove the tyrants out with the leadership of Cleisthenes and Isidoros.

Some people think that ancient Athens was truly democratic, I think not. Democracy is the rule of the whole of the people,excluding minors and maniacs only. Democracy was rule by citizens only, excluding women, free foreigners (Metics) and slaves. By our understanding it was an oligarchy, not democracy. Second, the rules were exercised directly by the people, whereas democracy today means government exercised by representatives of the people.

Such as trading with countries in which other colonies do not like or have issues with could cause trade to stop between those two colonies or multiple colonies. Another thing that is important within the Articles of confederation is that laws could be passed by 9/13 states. That sounds fine and dandy but the story behind that makes it seem like it was pointless and unfair. There was resistance for ratification of the Articles of Confederation from New York, Pennsylvania,Virginia and Rhode island which had gotten the nickname “rouge island” because of all the resistance the continental congress had encountered from Rhode island. If you do some simple math the only states that needed to approve it were the ones who didn’t offer resistance to the Articles and wanted a new government.

It was one of the first to have a separation of powers. This aspect impacted later governments. Each separation of power means that no person, group,or branch of government has all the power. For example, in ancient Rome they elected two government officials to be in power so that one person couldn’t have all the power. branches of government included the Magistrates.

In Corinth for instance, the people overthrew the oligarchy because of their harsh rule. Only in one state was there a stable oligarchic rule, Sparta. The Democracy The democracy is the type of rule where power is in the hands of the people. The word democracy comes from the Greek terms demos (meaning people) and kratos (meaning

In Document C, Samples provides a federalist argument for supporting the electoral college by stating that it gives states an important role in choosing the president and thus supporting a fundamental principle of our democracy. The problem with Sample’s argument is that the electoral college is in essence undemocratic. We know that the electoral college is undemocratic because not only are small states over represented but a citizens vote can be weighted more or less depending on the state in which they reside in. In Document F, we are told what happens in case of a tie or no one winning the electoral vote. In case of this situation occurring then the House of Representatives will decide on who becomes president where state representatives will all get an equal vote.

He condemned monarchy and aristocracy in favor of a democratic system in which people directly elected their representatives. Common Sense was an inspiring argument in favor of democracy. It rejected hereditary succession. The arguments were straightforward; he called George III “Pharaoh of England” (qtd. in Ayers et al.