Greek Democracy In Ancient Greece

Virginia has a long and rich history in the United States. Throughout history there have been many different events that have taken place in Virginia which helped play a vital role in the making of our great country. Virginia’s mark on America can be seen with the first established colonies in North America by Great Britain. Let’s began in May of 1607, British Empire established the first permanent colony of North America in Virginia this settlement was name Jamestown. The name Jamestown derives from King James I of England who claimed the territory in North America between the 34th and 35th degree parallel starting from the mouth of the Charles River in currently South Carolina north to Halifax, Nova Scotia. This territory was split into

The Greeks where the first democracy in the world. There government was made up of six thousand members all of witch where male citizens. They voted on problems that needed to be solved and if a law was to pass a majority vote was needed. Now in the United States also has a democracy. Instead of having six thousand people voting and making the decisions all the people vote on a representative that makes the decisions in the country.

On March 3, 1991 Rodney King led the Los Angeles police on a high speed chase. Once the chase was over officers pulled King out of his vehicle and began to brutally beat,taze and stomp on him. The recording of the video taken by a witness standing on the other side of the street was locally broadcasted then nationally broadcasted.The reasons that police officers acted the way they did was because “Rodney King was driving while intoxicated and when officers attempted to arrest him, the large belligerent man resisted that arrest.” (Blue Knights with Lt. Dan Marcou ) It was already said that King had a criminal record of second degree robbery and out on parole so the officers were aware of who he was by now. I also believe that racial profiling was another factor that caused the police officers to act they way that they did. As stated by Connie Rice a lawyer and civil rights activist , “The LAPD at the time was almost an occupying force, partially biased against people of color.” (Sastry & Bates) Personally, I do not believe that the officers acted in an appropriate matter because instead of pulling him from his car and brutally beating him they should've just gone up to him and arrested him. I understand that he was seen as a threat during this time because of the high speed chase but there were other ways that they could have handled the situation. The use of forces that could have been appropriate for this situation were verbal commands, maybe a bit of empty hand control with the soft empty hand technique and if he resisted then that is when the use of less lethal force would of been used. Also they found out that in the first three seconds of the film were cut of and showed that “Rodney King rising up from the street to charge one officer in a clear-cut violent assault. In self defense, that officer struck King with his PR-24.” (Blue Knights with Lt. Dan Marcou.) Now with this new information I believe that the officer had a right to defend himself however not to the extent that they all went. Hitting King ith the PR-24 would have caused him to fall and during that time they could have arrested him instead. According to Biography.com, “The United States Department of Justice filed federal civil rights charges

Ancient Athens was not truly democratic because the middle class was in charge of politics. The upper and lower classes were not in politics at all. It was not democratic because the only people that could vote were men who are of citizen birth by both parents. People whose parent is a slave could not become a citizen so they could not vote. Democracy was excluding women, free foreigners and slaves.

Democracy developed in ancient Greece due to warfare between Greek city-states. The social class became an important part of warfare. In the beginning the wealthy nobles fought because they had horses. As time

Classical Greek Era, one of the most advanced eras ahead of its time. However, what made the democracy that the Greeks established so significant to the Greece’s overall development? How did they do it? How did the Greek democracy last for long as it did? What factors caused the downfall of the infamous Greek democracy?

Political parties as we know them did not begin to develop until the late 1600s. The ancient Greeks, who were pioneers in developing democracy, had no organized political parties in the modern sense. The senate of the ancient Romans had two groups that represented people with different interests — the Patricians and the Plebeians. The Patricians represented noble families. The Plebeians represented the wealthy merchants and the middle class. Although these two groups often mingled, at times they voted as factions, or parties, on particular issues that were important to the groups they represented.

On account of Athens, the idea of a democracy, or as it was called then Demokratia, ensued. The idea of a rule of the people/eligible citizens that we now have today, in example America, was originated from this. This idea concocted by this ancient civilization, provides a sound foundation in which the current government called democracy in the world today.

The legacy of democracies from Ancient Greece and Rome helped officially establish the United States’ current government. In early Greece, each polis had its own type of government, including monarchy, aristocracy, oligarchy, and democracy. Democracy, which is a government ruled by the people, started in the polis of Athens. Early Athens established the basis of democracy, where only free male adults were considered citizens and could vote. The United States’ government today has expanded to allow women to vote instead of only men. In both early Athens’ and today’s United States governments, citizens have power, so in order to receive most people’s opinions on a topic, they increased the amount of people voting in the population of the polis.

I have an keen personality because I am the honor roll from Freshman year to Senior year while being involved in many clubs from staring Amature Wrestling club and being team captain, I was founding member of the FBI Explorers, and I spent four years on Student Council and I help plan events from movie nights to school dances. This shows I could handle school and social life. Second, I take pride in my work since I have complete an hundred and forty eight hours community service for the benefit of helping others just because humane person. Since I found joy in giving out food to the elderly at the nursing home, over the weekends. Also, it was joyful to see how competitive the elderly will get when playing bingo.

Being the birthplace of democracy gives Ancient Greece a very important reputation. One of the most famous civilizations lies between three seas, the Aegean Sea, Sea of Crete, and the Ionian Sea. Such abundance of water makes Ancient Greece good in fishing and trade. Two of the biggest city-states were Athens and Sparta. While Athens was a democracy, Sparta was an oligarchy, which means ruled by few powerful and wealthy people. Ancient Greece is also known for many things like the birthplace of the first Olympics, beautiful architecture, and famous philosophers such as Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. The two biggest city-states have always had issues. Sparta and Athens are very different from the way they are administered as well as their practices. Athenians were the most scholarly types while the Spartans were more of the military type. Due to the fact that Sparta had a very military lifestyle, they were good at raising strong outspoken women in a society where women were kept at home.

During the Golden Age in Greece, many things changed. Things that changed were the diversity of political views and the social doings of the Athenians and the organization of the Athenians economy. With the Golden Age, many groups worked together that wouldn’t normally interact. The biggest example of that is the relationship between Athenians and their democracy.

Greek government lays the foundation for many different types of government we see today. Across the world, people are still using systems that the Greeks used over 2000 years ago. Starting as early 2000 BCE, and spanning four types of government systems, Greek government was always trying answer one question: who should rule and how.

This history of Democracy starts in Athens Greece in the 5th century. This was widely immitated at

one essential conviction, expressed in the word democracy itself: that power should be in the hands of the people. Although democracy today has been slightly inefficient in this idea, with the wealthy, elite class challenging this right, “it nevertheless claims for itself a fundamental validity that no other kind of society shares….” To completely understand the structure of democracy, one must return to the roots of the practice itself, and examine the origins in ancient Greece, the expansion in the Roman Empire, and how these practices combined make what we recognize as today’s democratic government.