What was the first ever democracy? Many people think that Athens was the first democracy. Athens was a city-state in Greece. It was a very early settlement from ancient times. The city-state of Athens wasn’t a true democracy because only 12% of people could vote, government jobs were picked at random, and slaves were forced into labor against their will. The first reason Athens was not a true democracy was because only 12% of people were able to vote. According to Professor Josiah Ober, only 29,900 people had a vote. That is 12% of the population (Doc 3). In a true democracy, everyone has a vote. All people are supposed to help decide on topics. In Athens, only citizen men were allowed to vote. This excludes 88% of the population. This …show more content…
According to Agora Museum Archives, “The machine assured random selection of the men who worked in the government. This ensured that every post, except those for generals (and a few others), was filled randomly.” (Doc 5) In a democracy, everyone gets to voice their opinion and what they think. This system makes it so that people have no control over their role in Athenian Democracy. This lottery system is completely random. That proves that Athens was not a true democracy because it is random and no one has a say. This quote, “All the magistrates (gov’t officials) that are responsible for carrying out everyday responsibilities are elected by lot (random lottery) in the Assembly.” From Aristotle, “The Athenian Constitution,” 330-322 BCE, shows that they had planned to have all government officials picked at random. In a true democracy, nothing is random. Everyone should have a vote and the right to voice their thoughts. With this system they have put in place, people’s roles in the government are completely arbitrary. Thus proving, Athens was not a true democracy because government roles were picked at
No i don't think Athens was truly democratic because, all the rules of ancient Athens are very unfair with all their rules and rights for all citizens. The first reason is because Our constitution favors many instead of the few, this is also why it's called a democracy. This basically means that if you are not wetly than they won't treat us the same as wealthy people. And they only let men vote which means that only 12% in ancient Athens can vote. In Athens no one had freedom of thought and expression either.
“One of the most precious gifts of ancient Greece, which seems to have been an invention of the Athenians, is the concept of democracy: the notion that all people can and should govern themselves”(123). Democracy in Ancient Greece was very significant and impacted Greek lives. Before 500 BC, Greeks were ruled by small groups that limited citizens' power and decision making. The democratic ideas were welcoming and equal for citizens. These democratic ideas inspired many authors, philosophers and others to write about democracy.
However, only male citizens over 18 were allowed to vote on important issues and proposals; women, enslaved people, and foreigners were not allowed to vote or participate in the political process, a limitation of Athenian democracy. Overall, the decision to have a "democratic society" still was a significant development in the ancient world, as kings or oligarchies ruled many societies. The Athenian government was led by a group of officials called magistrates, who the citizens elected. The most potent magistrates were the strategoi, who was responsible for Athens's military and foreign policy. This ensured that the people had a say in how the city was governed and allowed for delegating responsibilities to those with the necessary expertise.
In Athens: Aristotle (1984) explains that Athens practiced a form of direct democracy, where all male citizens over the age of 18 had the right to participate in the Assembly. This democratic
All city-states had different governments eventually and had their own leaders, ran their own army, and had their own laws. In 508 BC the democracy was introduced by Athens. A democracy is a form of government in which citizens rule the city or country. Democracy was starting to spread around the Ancient Greek city-states.
The type of government they had in Athens was a Democracy, where only men voted for
Athens was the birthplace of democracy, which was distinctive in that all citizens had the freedom to speak and vote in the assembly where laws and decisions were decided. Democracy is a form of government in which supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly or indirectly through a system of representation, usually involving periodic free elections. The world's first democracy was founded by the ancient Greeks.
Citizens were automatically able to vote and have a role in politics. In Athens, citizenship did not come with the same advantages and rights. Only a small amount of the population was able to be involved in the politics of Athens, and both women and slaves were granted no legal rights. All these inequalities truly made it difficult for Athens to be a truly democratic city.
Democracy can be demonstrated in many different ways, for the Spartan and Athenias this was the case. In all governments there must be someone in control of the people, but certain requirements must always be met in order to have a political influence. The everyday lives of citizens and non-citizens are directly influenced by the government that controls them. Although Athens was the first and most influential Democracy, Sparta was actually a Military Dictatorship. This made the two consequently different from one another, which makes their values and communities entirely different.
The Ancient Greeks developed the concept of democracy, which continues to be a fundamental aspect of modern Western political systems. Perhaps humans all over the world have become accustomed to being ruled by the powerful, and having decisions and policies imposed on them. It was not common and may have been impossible in those ancient times for someone in power to seek the opinions of citizens or involve them in decision-making. Nevertheless, Athens was ahead of its
In the democratic government only allowed wealthy and well borne men to vote or hold public office. But as time passed this began to change and more and more individuals gained the right to vote. Athenian democracy was called a direct democracy, this meant that only citizens voted and debated on the issues. For an Athenian citizen to be ideal he must be voting with the right intention and making the right decisions for his community as he has the power to do so. Here we have the Athenian concept of Arete.
The movement against tyranny has an impact on the development of a new type of system known as democracy. Greece was one of the first countries to record the events of their democratic system. The Greek word democracy literally means the right of the people to rule. Because it was founded in the ancient Greek city-state of Athens, the first democratic government in Greece was possibly the strongest and most stable(“Democracy | Definition, History, Meaning, Types, Examples, & Facts | Britannica,” 2023) . Greek democracy had a significant impact on modern democratic methods.
There was no democracy in Sparta. Instead, there was an oligarchy where two kings ruled over the city-state. • Democracy is a system of government in which laws, policies, leadership, and major undertakings of a state or other polity are directly or indirectly decided by the “people,” a group historically constituted by only a minority of the population. Reference ThoughtCo.
Was ancient athens truly democratic No they were not democratic because first the women,children,and slaves were not allowed to vote because they thought they had no right to vote and only men were allowed to make decisions. Second,the magistrates were elected by a lottery and not the people which meant that the people had no power and no say in who will be ruling them. Also since they excluded people from voting it was considered an oligarchy not democracy. Oligarchy means that a government has a small group of people that have the power to rule and control everything.
Democracy versus Oligarchy The Greek’s political life relied on the city-state, also known was the Polis, which was a self-governing community. The Polis is described as “a clearly defined territory under the authority of a single political community” (Western Civilization Section 5). Now, Greece contained around 862 city-states, but the main three were Corinth, Sparta, and Athens (Western Civilization Section 5).