"Tyranny is the rule of one man to the advantage of the ruler, oligarchy to the advantage of the rich, democracy to the advantage of the poor." -Aristotle

Democracy: a form of government that makes political decisions directly exercised by the whole body of citizens, under procedures of majority rule. This type of democracy is know as a direct democracy, however the form of government that citizens exercise the same right not in person but through elected representatives is known as a representative democracy. Today in the United States of America we have a representative democracy in which we appoint "representatives" through election. The founders of democracy in Athens exercised decisions through a direct democracy in which all male citizens were allowed to have direct influence on the decisions. Although in the United States today we accept democracy as a form of life it had its early beginnings in the city-states of Ancient Greece. The form of government known as democracy had its early roots in Ancient Greece but its influence has a direct connection with the type of government we have today in the United States.

The Greek city-states of antiquity did

Strauss, Barry. "American Democracy Through the Ancient Greek Eyes." History Today. April, 1994, pgs. 32-6.

As first an experiment in rule by and for the people, a democracy was something new in a culture full of traditions of absolutists, tyrannical, and oligarchic forms of government. Democracy meant strength, the authority, and the exercise of power and control by the citizens who belonged to the community of the state. This included all people of the state regardless of class, rank, standing or wealth. The control of the state was in the hands of the people and decisions of the state were reached by the mass of people. Democracy represented a form of political life of the self-governing and included every citizen of the city.

The tyrants of antiquity acted in their own interests without the consulting of others. Aristotle represents "tyranny in Politics as a "perversion" that serves the personal advantages of the ruler alone, or a "despotic monarchy of the political community" or a, "despotic rule conducted according to the ruler's personal judgement."" (McGlew, 27) The ability of a tyrant to have complete control over a city-state created an image within the eyes of the citizens as a character of horror. Thus, the power and vision of a tyrant often led him to being overthrown which ultimately led to the establishment of a democracy within the Greek city-states.

"Democracy is not only majority rule, but a regime run by the poor and ordinary people in their own interests."- Aristotle The ideals of representation have little connection with Athenian goals of democracy. Representatives rather than people themselves carry out legislation in the American democracy. Therefore Athenians might be likely to judge the American democracy closer to an oligarchy because the representatives are usually part of the elite class and the power is in the hands of fewer people. The argument could be that the Athenians created a democracy to put the power of the government in the hands of the ordinary people. Although the modern version of democracy has some of the same principles it is similar to the ancient oligarchy because power is in the hands of a few and for the most part the wealthy.

Before Americans experienced the freedom of democracy, they were under rule of Great Britain that fueled the American Founders to reject Athens. The American colonies experienced tyranny under British rule so the Founders were reluctant to impose any type of direct government. The Founders, however held a set of their own ideals some of them similar and others vastly different than the objectives of Athenian democracy. To reduce the chance of having any one-ruler gain too much power the Founders imposed a system of checks and balances. The system was placed to prevent any one person or institution to take complete control. Balance would occur between the House of Representatives and the Senate who both would provide checks over the executive branch, headed by the president, while the judicial branch would keep both the legislative and executive branches in line.

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Approximate Word count = 3839
Approximate Pages = 15 (250 words per page double spaced)