Did you know America's democracy originated in Ancient Athens? The word democracy comes from the word demokratia, which combines Greek words, demo meaning “people”, and kratos, meaning “rule”. Put it together and get democracy. Democracy, the rule of the people. There are two kinds of democracy, representative and direct. Most democracies to this day follow representative democracy. Representative Democracy, is citizens voting on people to represent them in the legislature, which is the lawmaking body of a country or state. an assembly (the meeting of all citizens in a country or state) of elected representatives with the power and responsibility to create laws. Direct Democracy, is when the citizens (people who belong to a country and who
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Only citizens could vote in Athens, and that was a small population. In Ancient Athens only 15% of the population could actually vote! “To be a citizen you must be male, over the age of 18, and have been born in Athens with Athenian born parents.”(Document C) The other 85% of the population weren’t considered citizens of Ancient Athens. Including women, children, metics, foreigners, and slaves. Now think about that, that was 85% of the population! Now that's a lot of people whose opinions are not getting heard. Women and children are a big part of the population. And not getting their opinions is at least 48% of the population not getting what they deserve and want. Imagine this, you're a woman and say you don’t want cats to be allowed to be feral and roam around your neighborhood because they’re eating your chickens. Well guess what? Too bad only men can vote. Maybe your husband doesn’t agree with you. He likes to see the cats roam around because he thinks they are cute and their his favorite animal. Now there is less chance you will get what you want. Now that’s not fair, is it? Now times ten the problem, now there's a bad person running for government. What are you going to do? Well, you can’t do anything about it! Well that’s how you felt in Ancient Athens. Only one person's perspective on who will make the law. But in the United States, it’s more equal and fair to everybody, no matter their gender or wealth. In the United States 14 amendment it states that, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” This means that in the U.S. people are treated the same as the person next to them no matter how wealthy they are or how much land they own or what gender they are; they are treated with respect and equality. Citizens who were not born in the United States can also vote as
Only citizens could vote in Athens, and that was a small population. In Ancient Athens only 15% of the population could actually vote! “To be a citizen you must be male, over the age of 18, and have been born in Athens with Athenian born parents.”(Document C) The other 85% of the population weren’t considered citizens of Ancient Athens. Including women, children, metics, foreigners, and slaves. Now think about that, that was 85% of the population! Now that's a lot of people whose opinions are not getting heard. Women and children are a big part of the population. And not getting their opinions is at least 48% of the population not getting what they deserve and want. Imagine this, you're a woman and say you don’t want cats to be allowed to be feral and roam around your neighborhood because they’re eating your chickens. Well guess what? Too bad only men can vote. Maybe your husband doesn’t agree with you. He likes to see the cats roam around because he thinks they are cute and their his favorite animal. Now there is less chance you will get what you want. Now that’s not fair, is it? Now times ten the problem, now there's a bad person running for government. What are you going to do? Well, you can’t do anything about it! Well that’s how you felt in Ancient Athens. Only one person's perspective on who will make the law. But in the United States, it’s more equal and fair to everybody, no matter their gender or wealth. In the United States 14 amendment it states that, “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States.” This means that in the U.S. people are treated the same as the person next to them no matter how wealthy they are or how much land they own or what gender they are; they are treated with respect and equality. Citizens who were not born in the United States can also vote as