Government in Athens

II Athens Creates a Democracy Cleisthenes = Father of Democracy

A. Democracy under Cleisthenes All citizens participated in assembly – Assembly= gathering of citizens that created the cities laws Citizens encourages to speak Voting by a show of hands or secret ballots Large size of assemblies made it hard to make decisions – Citizens served at city officials who served on smaller councils – Council decided the laws that the assembly should discuss

B. Changes in Athenian Democracy Citizens began to gain power and serve on juries for ct. cases Democracy reached its height un Pericles – Participation in gov’t as important as defending Athens during war Paid public servants Encourages ppl to spread democracy to other parts of Greece Pericles

C. End of Democracy in Athens Athenian Dem. Ends w/ conquering of Athens by Macedonians Kept Dem. But w/ limited power – Macedonian king had final say Eventually a new King took over and Dem ended for good

III Ancient Democracy Differs from Modern Democracy American Democracy differs greatly from Athenian Democracy

A. Direct Democracy (ATHENS) Direct Democracy= ALL citizens directly participate in gov’t MAJORITY rules in assembly US too large for this type of gov’t Lets order pizza (not really)

B. Representative Democracy Our founding fathers created a representative democracy or a republic Representative Democracy= citizens elect officials to represent them in gov’t Elected officials make country’s laws & enforce them – Senate & house of reps