About 100,000 of those were citizens of Athens; the rest were slaves and foreigners
Only males over 18, who were also citizens, could vote
The city state was divided into 10 districts
Each district had the 18+ male citizens drawn by lottery (there were no elections) for the 50 member seats from each district, which would serve for 1 year in their legislature (50 x 10 districts = 500 members of the legislature ... for 100,000 citizens -- versus 535 for 300,000,000+ citizens in America today)
The legislature would propose new laws, and all the 18+ males could vote on these laws, even if they were not currently a member of the legislature
What could be called their executive branch were run by employed bureaucrats
The judicial system had courts, where the judges were also chosen by lottery (no elections) among the 18+ male citizens
It was a very unstable system, because the whims of whomever were in the legislature would change each year
The majority (of 18+ male citizens) could vote on anything they wanted, without limitation
This has come to be known as "mob rule"
Remember, this was 3,000 years ago
The system lasted for about 200 years
The original Greek democracy collapsed when Alexander the Great conquered Athens
Interestingly, Alexander was a student of Aristotle, and had an admiration for Greek philosophy, including art. He largely left the Greeks to do their own thing, as long as they did not upset his power, while he went on to conquer Persia
The original Roman republic (~ 507 BC):
Applied to the city state of Rome
Was a more complex system of government than the Greek democracy
Included checks and balances against any individual or group having too much power
Had 3 branches of government: Assembly, Senate, Magistrates
The Assembly was made up of a subset of citizens, and made laws, declared war, and appointed magistrates
The Senate was made up of the wealthy elite, and advised the actions of the Assembly
The magistrates oversaw the laws and actions of the Assembly
The Roman Republic had a written constitution, which defined the authority of the various parts of the government
The republic lasted about 300-400 years, until the age of the Roman Empire began, with dictatorial powers of the caesars, though they often paid lip service to the principles of the the Roman constitution
The British government would evolve largely on the Roman model, with a legislature that included 2 chambers: a House of Commons (the common people) and an "upper" house, the House of Lords (the king's noble buddies), with the king as the executive head. The king would lose more and more power over the years, with the legislature starting out merely as advisory to the king (in order to placate the masses who saw the king as abusive to their rights), and later to where the king had no official political power (setting aside the discussion of a hidden power in the City of London).
The American founding fathers understood the differences between these two forms of government. They rejected the Greek democracy model, and they embraced the Roman constitutional republican model, while also keeping in mind the British model that they had just rejected and fought a war over their succession. They attempted to improve on the Roman model with the American constitutional republic.
The original Greek democracy (~ 509 BC):
The original Roman republic (~ 507 BC):
The British government would evolve largely on the Roman model, with a legislature that included 2 chambers: a House of Commons (the common people) and an "upper" house, the House of Lords (the king's noble buddies), with the king as the executive head. The king would lose more and more power over the years, with the legislature starting out merely as advisory to the king (in order to placate the masses who saw the king as abusive to their rights), and later to where the king had no official political power (setting aside the discussion of a hidden power in the City of London).
The American founding fathers understood the differences between these two forms of government. They rejected the Greek democracy model, and they embraced the Roman constitutional republican model, while also keeping in mind the British model that they had just rejected and fought a war over their succession. They attempted to improve on the Roman model with the American constitutional republic.