Greek Government

1
Greek Government

• The Rise of Democracy

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Four Systems

• Monarchy
• Oligarchy
• Tyranny
• Democracy

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Monarchy
4
Monarchy

• 2000-800BCE most city states were monarchies
• The power to make decisions rests in the hands of
  one person
• Rulers inherit power
• Kings had councils of aristocrats, rich men
• Aristocrats owned the army (horses, weapons)
• Aristocrats began to see that they did not need
  kings and overthrew them
• By 800BCE, few city-states used a monarchy

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Oligarchy

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Oligarchy

• By 800-600 BCE oligarchies developed
• Power to make decisions is in the hands of a
  small group of men (In this case, aristocrats,
  the very rich)
• The poor farmers suffered while the aristocrats
  got richer
• Laws passed to enslave farmers that could not pay
  debts
• Poor turned to leaders in the army to overthrow
  aristocrats (Some oligarchies remained, such as
  Sparta)

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Tyranny
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Tyranny

• 600-500BCE Tyrannies developed
• Decisions rest in the hands of one man, who is
  not a king (like a dictatorship)
• Unlike kings in two ways 1)No claim to legal
  right to rule 2) Son does not usually inherit
• Some tyrants were good rulers and helped the
  poor, others were cruel
• Cruelty led to their being forced from power

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Democracy

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Democracy

• 500 BCE, Athens, fed up with previous leadership
  and cruelty of previous tyrant, decided to rule
  themselves
• Democracy Rule by the people

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Athenian Democracy
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Athenian Democracy

• Direct Democracy Every citizen could vote
• Assembly Lawmaking group
• Any free man could speak in the Assembly and vote
  (No women and no slaves)
• Council of 500 met daily, all citizens, 30 and
  older were collected and from that, 500 chosen
  Council ran day-to-day affairs
• Assembly met every 10 days on the acropolis, 6000
  men needed for meeting to take place
• Those unwilling to show, marked with red paint
• Men could debate, speak until water ran from cup

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US Democracy
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US Democracy

• Representative Democracy
• Citizens vote for representatives that make
  decisions from them

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Direct versus Representative Democracy

• Direct Everyone heard
• Direct Difficult to make decisions
• Representative A few, can be corrupted
• Representative Is it?