Cleisthenes and Democracy

In today's class, we learned about Cleisthenes and democracy. Cleisthenes was a member of the elite and was very rich. Additionally, he was insulated from the "hoi polloi", and he was a crafty politician.  He saw the value of tapping into the talents, intelligence, and energies of the non-aristocrats (middle class citizens). And he did not include the ideas from women or slaves. Then, a new form of government formed... Democracy! What Cleisthenes did was a huge step forward- getting "regular folks" involved in governing. But this first democracy had its limits. Citizens could participate- but only one-fifth of Athenians were citizens (free adult male property owners born in Athens). After several years, Athenians practiced direct democracy. Which consisted of the citizens voting on issues/conflicts occurring in their city or town. Therefore, we furthered our knowledge on Cleisthenes and Greek government by taking notes in class.

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