Beginning of Class Activity

Take a few minutes to answer the following question quietly in your notes…

What is pure democracy?

What are the strengths of democracy?

What are the weaknesses of democracy?

What circumstances need to occur for democracy to work?

Early Athens

Early Governments• Monarchy Oligarchy

Democracy• Oligarchy was led by a council• The council members were

called archons.Learning from Mistakes

• Sharecropping system • Leads to never-ending cycle

of debt…• Leads to Revolt• Greek leader, Solon, clears

land debt, but didn’t take away land from aristocrats…BIG PROBLEM

• New leader, Pisistratus took away land from the rich. What happened?

• REVOLT by aristocrats• Inequalities are recognized by

new leader, Cleisthenes.• His idea was to create a

council of 500 – Propose Laws

• Also created the Assembly– All male citizens were able to

vote on the laws.• Divided Attica into 10 Tribes

– Equal representation from each

1)Solon – Clears land debt for helot2) Pisistratus –Takes land from R-N3) Cleisthenes - Democracy

EARLY ATHENIAN LEADERS

Athenian democracy is then expanded further by Pericles (461-429 B.C.)

"Our administration favors the many instead of the few; this is why it is called a democracy. If we look to the laws, they afford equal justice to all in their private differences; if no social standing, advancement in public life falls to reputation for capacity, class considerations not being allowed to interfere with merit; nor again does poverty bar the way, if a man is able to serve the state, he is not hindered by the obscurity of his condition.

According to Pericles, what are the benefits of Democracy?-Pericles made rules where

•“Father of Athenian Democracy”

•Gave more power to the Assembly.

•Rotated people through office.

Overview

• 3 main parts– The Council of 500

• Discussed proposed Decrees, Laws

– The Assembly• Voted on Decrees and

Laws

– The People’s Court• Tried and convicted

criminals

Athenian Democracy: The Age of Pericles

Council of 500

• Only full-time government in Athens.• Elected officials

– Members serve 1 year terms.– Members must be approved by previous

year’s council.– 50 from each of Attica’s ten tribes

• Function– Vote on proposed Decrees or Laws to send to

the Assembly

The Assembly

• Main law making branch of Athenian government

• Open to all male citizens– Anyone could speak on a

topic regardless of social rank

• All participants paid to attend

– Why is this important?

The People’s Court• Juries made of male citizens

– Vote on guilt or innocence of defendants.– Vote on punishments for defendants

found guilty.– 501 to 1501 jurors

• Selection– At random, also randomly assigned to

cases.– Must be 30 years old.– Jurors were paid

• Cases– Each juror heard one to two speeches

from each side. – The juror then had two ballots – one for

the plaintiff and one for the defendant.– The juror would then place the ballot for

whichever side he chose in an urn. – Votes would be counted out of the urn in

public.