How is athenian democracy different from American democracy?

Answer 1

In Ancient Athens, they did not allow women and slaves to vote. But in the U.S, all the citizens (over 18 of course) have the right to vote. the democracy that we are provided in the USA is what's called representative Democracy. in Athens it was much less representative and considerably more hands-on... sort of "hey, let's just vote on that law" kinda thing.

Answer 2

Answer 1

Well, i know about 8 differences:

1. Athenians were divided into 10 tribes, however Americans are divided into 50 states

2. Athenians elected 50 men from each tribe, however Americans elect by population

3. Athenians had a direct democracy (participated directly), however Americans have a representative democracy (elect representatives)

4. Athenians had the Council of Five Hundred, however Americans have the Government

5. Athenians limited electing and voting rights to just men, however Americans have electing and voting rights to men and women

6. Athenians had slaves, however Americans don't have slaves (well, they used to until 1863 when all of the slaves were freed by Abraham Lincoln)

7. In Athens, women stayed at home and work, however in America, women participate in all kinds of daily activities, even in the Army

8. In Athens, slaves were just captured war prisoners, however in America, slaves were Africans who were treated as property due to their dark skin.

Answer 2

Athenian democracy was not the Rule of the People, but the Rule of the Demos, hence the name. Many people living in ancient Greece were not part of the demos, most prominently of course, slaves. Also, just about everything else.

Answer 3

There are two key differences between the type of democracy practices in ancient Athens, and modern American democracy.

Firstly (and, the largest difference), the Athenians practiced direct democracy - citizens were expected to vote themselves on topics facing the government (and courts). The United States is a representative democracy - citizens elect one citizen to act as their proxy (representative) in the larger government.

Secondly, citizenship in ancient Athens was significantly more restrictive, and far less than the majority of residents of Athens held citizenship. Athenian citizenship was based on age, gender, and to a certain extent tribal membership and wealth, with the right to vote being even further restricted; in addition, Athens practiced slavery. American democracy is a form of universalsuffrage, meaning that everyone is a citizen, and that the only real restriction on voting is a minimum age (though voting is restricted for certain peoples, mainly felons and the mentally incompetent).

As to the actual implementation of the governments, Athenian and American government are radically different. See the links below for a better description of both forms of government, as the structural differences are too extensive to summarize here.

Answer 4

Original Greek "democracy" and current American "democracy" have few differences. In the Greek form only the elite could participate in the process of important decisions. In the US form only tiny group of elitists may make important decisions. Neither of them are actually democracies. Democracy's original meaning was "the people" "to rule." It meant that the will of the majority of the governed would become the supreme law of the land. That condition has never existed within any country on Earth simply because humanity has never before had the technology to define the true will of a population regarding all the issues that may affect them.

Answer 3

Athens had direct democracy - the citizens voted in assembly and the council carried it out. The Us has representative democracy - the people elect parliamentarians and they do what they feel like.

Answer 4

Athens established a direct democracy, where the adult (male) citizens met in fortnightly assembly and directed the affairs of state, which was implemented by the council.

This was feasible with a population of 250,000 (35,000 adult males) which lived within walking distance of the city centre. Modern states are large in population and area and it is not feasible for them to assemble like that. So they have representative democracy, where the people elect representatives who meet in a parliament. These 'representatives' do not always represent what their electors really want, out of self interest and party political pressures.

Answer 5

The fundamental distinction between Ancient Athenian democracy and US democracy is that the Ancient Athenians had a direct democracy in which all persons entitled to vote would vote on all issues and the US has an indirect democracy in which all persons entitled to vote will vote for representatives who will then vote on all issues.

However, there are other differences. Ancient Athenian democracy was limited in several ways. The first were limits on suffrage. Only ethnic Athenian males who owned property were allowed to vote. This was less than 10% of the population of Athens. There were also limits on who could be the leaders of the state, restricting that to several noble families. Conversely, in the US, because of amendments to the Constitution any person above the age of eighteen years is entitled to vote and any person who follows the requisite conditions (which are conditions for which any citizen could qualify) can achieve any office in the country (excepting the Presidency which requires a US birth).

Answer 6

In athens democracy, only men could vote and 500 people as jury. In united states democracy, any body can vote and 12 people in jury.