How Did Ancient Greece Influence American Government

The word democracy comes from two Greek words: demos, meaning "the people," and kratein, meaning "to rule." These two words are joined together to form a democracy, literally meaning "rule by the people". Nowadays democracy could be referred as a rule of the majority. It is a system of government in which the citizens exercise power directly or choose delegates from among themselves to form a governing body, such as a parliament. The Greek system of government was maybe more like a true democracy or administered by the general population than any other ever. On the other hand, most American politicians with mindfulness and knowledge have realized that the U.S. is not a Democracy as a country, regardless of the way that most people declare it to be a Democracy. Greek and American democracy have some similarities such as the amount of nationalism and patriotism saw in the people when a lack of representation for a city-state or nation as a whole is seen, and they both vote for their political leaders.

Greece, Rome, and the Renaissance had a large influence on the American colonies in literature, art, and law because majority of the population brought over the ideas from the Old World to the New World looking for religious and social freedom.

The government the U.S has today is very similar to the government Greece and Rome had. Greece and Rome were very advanced in government because they had a variety of principles including democracy, checks and balances, and citizen duties. The U.S copied these principles of government from Greece and Rome and they are still used today. Democracy was used in Greece in Rome and was modeled by the U.S later on.

The United States founding fathers used many of the ideas from the ancient Roman Empire - one of history’s largest and most powerful empires. Because the United States based parts of its government on Rome’s, there are similarities between the societies. Both Rome and the United States have been predominant countries, and both have had very powerful militaries. The United States established a system of checks and balances between the legislative branch, executive branch, and judicial branch. This was based off the system of checks and balances in the Roman Republic.

Democracy is a “Government by the people”, Democracy was a central part of Athenian society and everyday life. The Athenian government held Ekklesia or assembly where citizens could go to vote on laws, issues and practically everything affecting Athenian life. They also had The Boule or council and the Dikastiria or the courts that helped make decisions and enforce laws. Through their actions the Athenians established a very early democracy.

In the winter of December 7th, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the U.S. Constitution was ratified to establish the new country of the United States as a democracy. After their victory over the British for American Independence, the United States government created the Constitution in an effort to further establish themselves as an independent nation. With a new form of government that would not allow the injustices caused by the British monarchy to occur again, the Constitution’s fundamental principles abided by many of the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian beliefs about people and government. The Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman seeds of democracy contributed to the United States’ democratic government by protecting the rights of the individual and by giving the ability for the citizens to vote on its leaders and laws.

When the Founding Fathers were developing our government they looked back to famous writing of European Enlightenment thinkers. Two main documents the Founding Fathers started relied on were “Two Treatises” by John Locke and “Leviathan” by Thomas Hobbes. When the Founding Fathers were writing the Articles of Confederation and the US Constitution, they needed starting point to base their government off of. As they were reading these documents, it became more and more obvious to be a successful independent Country they would need to create a strong government that would not only control everything but give rights to the people and let the governed have a big voice in how the government runs.

As old as the stories of the Greeks and Romans were, the founding fathers found a way to connect what they learned as they grew up to the decisions they made during their time as statesmen. In the book Greeks & Romans Bearing Gifts: How the Ancients Inspired the Founding Fathers by Carl J. Richard, it is shown how some of the historical event such as the Persian wars, the stories of the Spartans etc…. influenced our founding fathers decisions for our nation. From the stories of the Spartans they learned the importance of independence to a republic. Persian Wars taught the founding fathers to inherit the strengths of a republican government that helped to defend itself against strong governments. From the fall of Greece to Macedon and Rome

In a direct democracy, all the citizens could vote for every single issue. Athens’ direct democracy allowed each citizen to take part in the city’s government. Every ten days, the citizens who wanted to vote would gather on a hill. There, the men debated on issues, voted on laws, and listened to others speak their opinions (Frey 285). Since all citizens could participate in the Athenian government, there were a lot of different perspectives on the same issue.

The Declaration of Independence and the brand new government that had to be formed in the wake of the Revolutionary War was formulated with logical, scientific thought. The Founding Fathers applied this method of thinking to the documents which founded our country, such as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. These founding documents laid down a government that is based on a rational system, that was designed from the ground up to be fair to all. The Declaration of Independence was laid out like a mathematical proof, complete with a given, causation, and solution. The Articles of Confederation failed at achieving the goal of creating an active, stable government, but Congress and the American people did not shy away from improving it and creating a better revision: the Constitution. The Constitution laid down the foundations of a governmental formula that is still in use today, and has the capability to be changed. It was created with the intent to adapt with the people. The American government was created scientifically; It was refined through experimentation, and founds itself on the principles of the scientific method and the mindset of many of the day 's innovators.

The ancient Greeks built complex ideas around simple things, while the Romans celebrated complicated buildings and gatherings. Both helped to lay the framework of modern America. Although the Roman empire impacted the foundations of America, the Greeks gave America its roots in trade, architecture, and culture. Though the Greeks were further away in time than the Romans, the contributions the Greeks made had more lasting power on modern American society. Greece and Rome both influenced America’s techniques of trade, but Greece’s lack of resources and its way of solving the problem shines through in America.

Ancient Greece is often considered to be the birthplace of the Western World. Ancient Greece has influenced the Western Society for thousands of years and continues to do so in a vast array of different areas. Art, literature, language, education, and politics are a few of the areas that have been influenced from Ancient Greece. In American Society, architecture and politics are two of the areas that have been monumentally influenced by Ancient Greece. During the time of foundation for the United States, the founders expressed desire to create replicas of important buildings after Ancient Greece architecture.

The Athenian government was a direct democracy, meaning the citizens of the city-state take absolute control over any vote. This was the plan for the government to control their people since the citizens

The structure of Athenian Democracy is a democracy that was solely based on the people and their rights. There are many strengths to being democracy such as people creating a balance in politics by giving people the right to vote and also the act of voting itself. While there were strengths within a democracy, there were also many problems. Some of these problems were the people that were allowed and not allowed to vote. This idea of a democracy was obviously success because this political idea traveled west and is still being used today.

Government had an impact on western civilization because of Pericles. Pericles, the father of democracy, had shown us what democracy looks like and what is consist of. This is important because we now run a democratic government that consist of many people ruling over a civilization in which, most of them, participate in voting, jury duty, etc. (3).