Athens: The Limitations Of Athenian Democracy

The government in ancient Athens was governed by a radical democratic system from 508-322 B.C. and was very different in its size and how the system allowed all males to participate in the government. The Peloponnesian War effected their government when the oligarchy party overthrew the democracy and replaced it with the modern regime of the Five Thousand. Athenians spent almost 100 year fighting to restore democracy and defeat the Spartans and their allies the Persians. Their style of government goes back even before the Peloponnesian War around the time of 620 B.C. Before the Peloponnesian War, there was a man by the name of Draco. Draco gave the people of Athens a law code of which citizens had to listen to.

Increasing amounts of states elected the president through the people’s choice rather than legislature. In 1816, all states elected a president through legislature’s voting. By 1836, the end of his Jackson’s presidency, all but one state had shifted to electing through the people’s vote. (Document A) His staunchly democratic views helped push for all white suffrage and the satisfaction of the people in their president, which ultimately leads to a happier nation.

Most notable, however, was the democracy of Athens and the oligarchy of Sparta. The driving force behind all of Greek life and politics was this concept of arete. While arete differed between Athens and Sparta, this lust for excellence became the driving force behind their democracy and oligarchy. The geography of Greece did not allow for a strictly central government, and so, the Greeks adapted.

Many states in the South had already repaid most of their debt and they wanted to restrict centralized power, they opposed the notion; while Northern states that were still carrying heavy debt loads supported the notion. He also pointed out the country incurred a debt as whole in order to secure their independence which is what lead to the creation of a federal government in the first place. The nation’s finances were a wreck due to the Revolutionary War. Hamilton understood that in order to win the respect of the citizens of the United States as well as foreign nations, he had to prove to them that the United States could be trusted and

In other words, the Constitution, written by educated, rich men, would grant more power to those already in a high position. To add to this, the anti-Federalists stated that Constitution was not secure enough to uphold citizens’ rights. The Constitution would be responsible for the endangerments of human rights such as trial by jury and liberty of the press. The anti-Federalists opposed the Constitution because they thought it was an unfitting solution, which would lead the U.S. down the same path of injustice as Great Britain

In the South, slaves were considered property and therefore were not allowed to vote and did not have any political influence in congress. Nonetheless, Southern states with their large number of slaves wanted their slaves to be counted. Including slaves would ensure more representation in congress for the South which also meant more political influence. The Northern states which had fewer slaves than the Southern states argued that slaves should not be counted if they were not considered citizens.

What were the Black Codes? Answer: Black Codes were a tactic created and supported by Southern states to restrict African American freedmen from gaining enough wages to support their families. Although it granted them the right to marriage and owning their own property, they could not testify against whites or even vote. Punishments against African Americans were ridiculously unfair compared to the ones white landowners received for far greater offenses.

Ancient Athens used a series of magistracies both civil and military to control the populace and provide citizens of nobility more notable rank. The decisions in Athens must go through a council of representatives called the Proedrol which was selected through the nine tribes of the governing bodies in each region of the city. This is nearly identical to the Brunis praising of the representative system of the standard bearers and the good men for decision making. The majority of the political systems which he glaringly orates are updated versions of the classical age structure of Athenian

The argument for compulsory voting is basically undemocratic because the first amendment talks about how you have freedom. The freedom of choice must include the freedom not to choose. Democracy deeply values individual freedom which means if compulsory voting was mandatory, It is a clear violation of liberty and the first amendment. I argue that voting should not be mandatory in America because first, non-voters are uninformed, it doesn’t improve the democratic climate, and it requires a national database. American is one of the most powerful and big countries in the world.

He is also emphasizing the fact that since they are better educated than the rest of the population, the philosopher kings must guide the citizens of Kallipolis, for only the philosopher kings will know what is just and

A huge concern for the smaller states was of the representation and power of voice due to their size and the potential lack of representation would place dramatic and damaging affects to their future. Additionally, large parts of the population in the southern states during this time were made up of slaves while the northern states had a large population of free white men. During this time, slaves as well as women were not allowed to vote and did not have a voice when it came to making decisions about the government’s current and future stated. A major concern that placed huge risks with some of the slavery states was the fear that the northern states would take over and make their voice silent.

This can be related to C. Wright Mills idea of the power elite, in which those ruling our country have the political and economical power to make decisions that keep their power intact (Marshall, 2012). We have historically had a patriarchal society in which men have held the political power and women were prohibited from it. McCammon, Campbell, Granberg, and Mowery (2001) discuss the suffragette movement and how along with the ability to vote, it led to another the passing of laws that allowed women broader citizen rights and helped to change gender roles (p. 61). This helped with the movement’s success by changing the thoughts of those in politics about the role of women in society (McCammon et al., 2001, p. 65). A woman’s role was clearly defined as being rooted in domestic work and family life, while men’s roles were in business and politics (McCammon et al., 2001, p. 53).

Andrew Jackson presidency focused a lot on small government and pleasing the common man. He attempted to shut down national banks to make government smaller. Jackson also enforces things like the Indian Removal Policy, which strengthened the bond between Jackson and the common man. Jackson was the first and only president to make the country debt too. All of these impacted are government today very much as well as other governments around the world.

As stated before Jackson was an influential man who came from the common people. He advocated for all working Americans to be able to vote. Once the voter quota expanded, he encouraged many people to vote for him. Matter of fact, Jackson was the first president to hold strong campaigns in order to gain support. Before this moment, it was considered rude for the candidates to tell people to vote for them.

Athenian democracy only lasted around two centuries, and the system was introduced in 507 B.C by an Athenian named Cleisthenes. The democratic political system of Athens was often referred to as the "demos", which translates to "the people". This meant that it was governed by the rule of the people of Athens. The three most important parts of the system included the ekklesia (the Assembly), the council of 500 men that represented the ten Athenian tribes (The Boule) and lastly, the popular courts (The Dikasteria) that were filled by citizens and jurors. Although Athens was democratic, this did not mean that there was equality.