Ancient Greek And Roman Democracy Essay

Ancient Greek and Roman civilizations lasted for a long time, both with their own perceptions of government. The Athenians were the first to develop the concept of democracy, then followed by the Romans. Many western civilizations origins are traced back to ancient Greek and Roman contributions of their political systems, especially the U.S. All three of them followed the principles democracy, checks and balances, and rule of law. Ancient Greece, ancient Rome, and the U.S. used these principles differently each with their own distinct methods. The principle, democracy, used by the U.S. today, was modeled by Greece and Rome’s principles of democracy. Democracy is a form of a government, that is ruled by the people. In ancient Greece, the …show more content…
the principle checks and balances was used. Checks and balances is used to ensure that the branches of government all have equal power. Generally, they balance the powers of the branches by giving each one a right to elect the members or veto a decision of the other. The Athenians was divided into different branches. The branches were the assembly, council, board of generals, board of officials, and the juries. In the document, “Athenian Democracy In Action”, it states each branch and their powers. The assembly, which was made up of all the free male citizens of Athens, had the power to elect the council, board of generals and officials. The council was the executive branch, but could only serve for a year. The board of officials directed public affairs and elected the juries. This proves that checks and balances was used in ancient Athens. The Romans also had checks and balances but it was used differently than the Athenians. This is shown in document 6, “Roman Government”. The three main branches were the consuls/magistrates, senate, and the assembly. The Romans had two consuls who served for one year, and were elected by the assemblies. The assembly of centuries could elect magistrates. Magistrates had supreme administrative authority, which meant they could interpret and execute the laws. While in the U.S. the legislative branch passes the laws, and the executive branch can veto it. Therefore, …show more content…
After all these years, the U.S. modeled their government from both the Greeks and Romans. The principles democracy, checks and balances, and rule of law, was adopted by the U.S. Each was to ensure that the government democracy, ruled by the people was stable, by making sure that one branch doesn’t get too powerful, and all the citizens are equally applied to the law. The origins of U.S. legal and political systems trace way back from the contributions of the ancient Greeks and