The Origins of Democracy Answers

Read the quotation from the Greek philosopher Aristotle.[A] state which becomes progressively more and more a unity will cease to be a state at all. Plurality of numbers is natural in a state; and the further it moves away from plurality towards unity, the less of a state it becomes.Aristotle believed that the citizens of a successful state must

All citizens in ancient Athens took part in government by voting in the

A republic is a form of government where

Read the passage from a speech given by the Athenian leader Pericles.Our constitution does not copy the laws of neighboring states; we are rather a pattern to be imitated than imitators ourselves. Its administration favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences. . . . [C]lass considerations [are not] allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition. Pericles claimed that the Athenian government, unlike other Greek city-states,

You shall not render an unjust judgment; you shall not be partial to the poor or defer to the great: with justice you shall judge your neighbor.

In what way did ancient Athens influence the framers of the United States Constitution?

Where did democracy begin?

The most important way in which the Greeks influenced American democracy was by allowing

In addition to Judeo-Christian principles, American government was influenced by principles first used in ancient Greece and in

A direct democracy is one in which all citizens