Athenian And Roman Democracy

360 Words2 Pages
Athenian and Roman Democracy Athens and Rome had two very different forms of government. These two forms of governing were efficient in their own ways. But success only came to the Roman Republic because of how they managed to keep control of Rome. Basically, the Romans did not let everyone participate in the government. Instead, the people chose officials to represent them. On the other hand, Athenians did let people vote on matters rather than just have representatives vote for them. The Athenian government was introduced into a set of laws that helped end local rivalries and break the power of the aristocracy. This introduction gave a structure to their government and made it a democracy. After this, all citizens could be considered equal before the law and guaranteed freedom of speech. This group of officials that carried out daily government business called an Assembly served as a supreme court. In my opinion, the Athenian democracy was very fair in giving every citizen the chance of voting and choosing what they wanted for Athens. This government was effective but it did not apply for all the people that lived in Athens so it affected the non-citizens of Athens because they were excluded from political life. Rome`s government was organized into executive and legislative branches, both of these branches were under patrician control. The executive branch was headed by two patrician officials, called consuls, elected for one-year terms. The legislative branch consisted of the Assembly of Centuries and the Senate. However, the Senate had much more power because they advised the consuls. In my opinion, this government wasn’t very fair because not everyone had the chance to voice their opinion. The Roman republic was maintained by the plebeians and the patricians giving them a not fair but very strong structure of government.
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