American Government/Athens and Rome

The Congress Made up of two houses: Senate House of Representatives The Congress works together to make laws

House of Representative Elected by the people 435 representatives States are given number of representatives according to how large the state’s population is. California has 53 representatives Alaska 1 representative Two year terms

Senate The upper house of the Congress 100 Senators 2 Senators for each state elected by the people 6 year terms

President The President is elected by the people The President can veto (forbid) laws made by congress The President controls the military The President and his advisor run the country on a day-to day basis

The government of ancient Athens The world’s first true democracy Every male citizen was allowed to participate in decision making Mass meetings were held every ten days All decisions were made by voting at these meetings

Running Ancient Athens Ten elected officials ran the city on a daily basis. They were elected for one year Any male citizen could be elected as an official

Ostracism This was a system designed to prevent an official from becoming too powerful Citizens could vote on officials they thought should be kicked out of the city It took 6,000 votes to be ostracized

Roman Republic Early Rome had been ruled by a group called the Etruscans who had kings When Rome became independent they mistrusted kings and wanted a different form of government Rome formed the world’s first Republic

Roman Senate Rome was divided into social classes (Rich, poor, etc.) The Senate was made up of 300 people from the upper class who served for life Senators were chosen not elected The senate was able to make laws

Centuriate Assembly The assembly was made up of elected citizens It was structured so richer people always had more seats in the assembly The assembly had the power to elect the Roman Consuls

Consuls Two Consuls Elected each year by the centuriate assembly Ran the city and acted as generals

Dictators In emergencies situations the government would elect a dictator The dictator controlled everything in the government until the emergency was over