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Role and responsibilities of senate and representative
Greek and Roman influences on America
Greek and Roman influences on America
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In the 1500s the Founding Fathers began creating a vision for the United States, an ideal image of how it should run. In developing this vision, they looked to two of the strongest political systems of the past: Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome. From ancient Greece the Founding Fathers took the three branches of government, roles of courts and representative government. From Rome the Founding Fathers took the senate and the veto power of both the senate and president. Although both of these ancient civilizations crashed and burned, the Founding Fathers were looking for new ways to intertwine the rights of the people and the political placement of power from one person to all people. Athens was ruled by a pure democracy, called a ‘Demokratia’, …show more content…
Their meetings were referred to as ‘demo.’ The demo voted based on the majority and met 40 times each year to vote on civic issues. This group is comparable to the executive branch of the US government.Although the demo was ruled by a group of people instead of a group led by a single leader or president supported by a cabinet of advisors. Their branch was just the cabinet. Another difference is the roles of the groups, in ancient greece the job of the demo varied per different civic issue according to history.com where as the executive branch’s main job is to carry out laws and maintain legislation in the US …show more content…
It was a group of 500 men containing 50 random representatives per ten athenian tribes and each man would only serve a term of one year. This group met daily and did most of the day to day legislative work and hands on governing for each tribe. The US’ house of representatives is similar to the boule by containing 435 elected members proportionally divided due to population size with representatives from each state. The US senate on the other hand is not originated from athens but was originated from ancient rome. The Senate in ancient rome was a group of prestigious, elected leaders which once elected, stayed on for life. In our current government senators stay on for six years with the possibility of becoming re-elected. Which is a little different but with presidential elections every four years, it makes rational
Jefferson and Adams Thomas Jefferson and John Adams were both strong presidents who kept a stabile nation, but they differed in their methods of doing so. Adams was a federalist so he helped establish a stable government by focusing on forming a strong central government. Jefferson being a democrat-republican worked to establish stability in the US government by promoting state’s rights. They both worked for stability in different but successful ways.
The Founding Fathers were a revolutionary group, diverse in personalities and ideologies but shared the common goal of American liberty. They understood that the citizens should have a say in their government, and the government only obtains its power from the citizen’s consent. In order to avoid endless debates on issues that needed to be solved immediately, the revolutionary leaders compromised their beliefs. Joseph J. Ellis writes of the compromises that changed the constitutional debate into the creation of political parties in, The Founding Brothers. The 3 main chapters that show cased The Founding Brothers’ compromises are The Dinner, The Silence, and The Collaborators.
During and after the turmoil of the American Revolution, the people of America, both the rich and the poor, the powerful and the meek, strove to create a new system of government that would guide them during their unsure beginning. This first structure was called the Articles of Confederation, but it was ineffective, restricted, and weak. It was decided to create a new structure to guide the country. However, before a new constitution could be agreed upon, many aspects of life in America would have to be considered. The foremost apprehensions many Americans had concerning this new federal system included fear of the government limiting or endangering their inalienable rights, concern that the government’s power would be unbalanced, both within its branches and in comparison to the public, and trepidation that the voice of the people would not be heard within the government.
September 17, 1787, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; during the heat of summer, in a stuffy assembly room of Independence Hall, a group of delegates gathered. After four months of closed-door quorums, a four page, hand written document was signed by thirty-nine attendees of the Constitutional Convention. This document, has come to be considered, by many, the framework to the greatest form of government every known; the Constitution of the United States. One of the first of its kind, the Constitution laid out the frame work for the government we know today. A government of the people, by the people, and for the people; constructed of three branches; each branch charged with their own responsibilities. Article one established the Congress or Legislative branch, which would be charged with legislative powers. Article two created the Executive branch, providing chief executive powers to a president, who would act in the capacity of Commander in Chief of the Country’s military forces. The President of the United States also acts as head of state to foreign nations and may establish treaties and foreign policies. Additionally, the President and the departments within the Executive branch were established as the arm of government that is responsible for implementing and enforcing the laws written by Congress. Thirdly, under Article three of the Constitution, the Judicial branch was established, and consequently afforded the duty of interpreting the laws, determining the constitutionality of the laws, and apply it to individual cases. The separation of powers is paramount to the system of checks and balances among the three branches; however, although separate they must support the functions of the others. Because of this, the Legislative an...
The men who wrote the American constitution agreed with Thomas Hobbes that humans were naturally evil. Therefore, they agreed that in order to prevent a dictatorship or monarchy, the citizens should have influence in the government. The writers wanted a more ideal constitution, but they realized evil human motives would never change. One of the main goals of the constitution was to create a balanced government that would allow the citizens to prevent each other from being corrupt. The writers wanted to give citizens liberty, but they did not want to give people so much liberty that they would have an uncontrollable amount of power. The writers agreed that a citizen’s influence in government would be proportionate to that individual’s property.
The growth of a new nation can be a great struggle. Our founding struggled to form a perfect nation through the enactments of The Articles of Confederation, The Constitution, and also The Federalist Papers. They struggled to make a document that they could depend on in times of need, and the constitution was the one that really set the line and challenged the government to near perfection. Something can never be perfect that's why the federalist papers were created to enhance the constitution and make it something very close to perfect. All of these essays under the federalist papers were very important building blocks that helped us become the great nation that we are now.
When referring to classical antiquity period, most think of Greece and Rome dominating and flourishing in the areas of philosophy, sciences, mathematics and literature. One other admirable achievement, the establishment of early forms of democracy, came from this time period and should not be overlooked as it is the historical basis of our government today. The Founding Fathers of the United States were influenced by Greek and Roman concepts in law, government structure, and even philosophy. Concepts described in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States can be traced back historically to the classical antiquity period, and show that the United States government and law were modeled after those of Greece and Rome.
By the late eighteenth century, America found itself independent from England; which was a welcomed change, but also brought with it, its own set of challenges. The newly formed National Government was acting under the Articles of Confederation, which established a “firm league of friendship” between the states, but did not give adequate power to run the country. To ensure the young nation could continue independently, Congress called for a Federal Convention to convene in Philadelphia to address the deficiencies in the Articles of Confederation. While the Congress only authorized the convention to revise and amend the Articles the delegates quickly set out to develop a whole new Constitution for the country. Unlike the Articles of Confederation, the new Constitution called for a national Executive, which was strongly debated by the delegates. There were forces on both sides of the issue trying to shape the office to meet their ideology. The Federalists, who sought a strong central government, favored a strong National Executive which they believed would ensure the country’s safety from both internal and external threats. The Anti Federalists preferred to have more power in the hands of the states, and therefore tried to weaken the national Executive. Throughout the convention and even after, during the ratification debates, there was a fear, by some, that the newly created office of the president would be too powerful and lean too much toward monarchy.
During the construction of the new Constitution, many of the most prominent and experienced political members of America’s society provided a framework on the future of the new country; they had in mind, because of the failures of the Articles of Confederation, a new kind of government where the national or Federal government would be the sovereign power, not the states. Because of the increased power of the national government over the individual states, many Americans feared it would hinder their ability to exercise their individual freedoms. Assuring the people, both Alexander Hamilton and James Madison insisted the new government under the constitution was “an expression of freedom, not its enemy,” declaring “the Constitution made political tyranny almost impossible.” (Foner, pg. 227) The checks and balances introduced under the new and more powerful national government would not allow the tyranny caused by a king under the Parliament system in Britain. They insisted that in order achieve a greater amount of freedom, a national government was needed to avoid the civil unrest during the system under the Articles of Confederation. Claiming that the new national government would be a “perfect balance between liberty and power,” it would avoid the disruption that liberty [civil unrest] and power [king’s abuse of power in England] caused. The “lackluster leadership” of the critics of the new constitution claimed that a large land area such as America could not work for such a diverse nation.
Ancient Athens was, at first, rule aristocratically and this benefited a small group of elites. However, there began a major demand for political equality by the wealthy merchants and working class; therefore the aristocrats were forced to compromise or face a major civil war. The aristocrats gave political power to the people of Athens and this restored the power balance within the state. These events lead to the birth of democracy. In Manin’s The Principles of Representative Government, he discusses the creation of the assembly where people would come to vote on local political issues (Manin 11). Along with the assembly, they created mechanisms to avoid demagogues (ostracism and ‘graphe para nomo’) and a lottery system to choose political figures so there is equality among all citizens. Athens functioned and flourished on two core beliefs in the polis: “1. We all have an understanding of what is happening around us and fix it. 2. No one person can take away our right to govern” (Breaugh). Everyone has the ability to rule and must rule, was an essential part of the polis. Additionally, every citizen was equal to one another, within the polis. In the lecture, Breaugh mentioned, “the community would help to define you as a citizen, and the citizen helps define the community” (Breaugh). Political participation was believed to be a vital part of every man’s self-development and, most importantly,
Before the adoption of the United States Constitution, the U.S. was governed by the Articles of Confederation. These articles stated that almost every function of the government was chartered by the legislature known as Congress. There was no distinction between legislative or executive powers. This was a major shortcoming in how the United States was governed as many leaders became dissatisfied with how the government was structured by the Articles of Confederation. They felt that the government was too weak to effectively deal with the upcoming challenges. In 1787, an agreement was made by delegates at the Constitutional Convention that a national judiciary needed to be established. This agreement became known as The Constitution of the United States, which explicitly granted certain powers to each of the three branches of the federal government, while reserving other powers exclusively to the states or to the people as individuals. It is, in its own words, “the supreme Law of the Land” (Shmoop Editorial Team).
Rather than creating a government that was primarily a democracy like the Athenians, an aristocracy or a monarchy, the Roman constitution mixed these three elements, therefore creating three separate branches of government. The executives served as monarchical element, the Senate as the aristocratic and finally, the Assembly as the democratic element. A complex set of checks and balances existed between these three branches. The Executive branch enforced the law, and presided over the Senate and the legislative assemblies. They had supreme civil and military authority and held office for one year, then entered the Senate for life unless impeached. The Senate was a collection of citizens who served as the legislative branch of the government as well as an advisory body. Lastly, there was the Assembly of Tribes, which contained all citizens. Romans believed that authority comes from the people and the people 's consent is necessary, therefore, the Assembly was responsible for approved or rejected laws, decided issues of war and peace, and elected executive magistrates. Besides check and balance and separation of powers, many other concepts from Roman republicanism shaped American constitutionalism. The power to veto and filibusters, the practice of term limit, impeachment, and regularly scheduled elections were all included in the Roman’s unwritten
The United States of America was born on diversity and different beliefs. This is what many believe to be great about this country. Considering such a mixture of cultures, the United States needs a strong leader to bring the nation together. Since the time of our Founding Fathers, the political views of the nation has mended the course of history. In conjunction with an imagination and great aspects, our Founding Fathers created three political parties; the Democratic party the Republican party and the Liberal party. In times of great peril, the nation has turned to its leaders for guidance and direction. At the helm of these political parties, there has been a convincing and resilient candidate. Considering all aspects, the nation had an extremely
Even before the Constitution was ratified, strong argument were made by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison in the Federalist Papers urging the inclusion of a federal form of government to replace the failed confederation. In Federalist Paper No. 9 Hamilton states, “This form of government is a convention by which several smaller states agree to become members of a large one, which they intend to form. It is s kind of assemblage of societies that constitutes a new one, capable of increasing, by means of new associations, until they arrive to such a degree of power as to be able to provide for the security of a united body” (Usinfo.state.gov). The people of the United States needed a central government that was capable of holding certain powers over the states.
Before the introduction of Athenian democracy it is hard to know the structure and organization of the boule. The boule’s principle role was that of legislation. It produced proboulematia and this in turn was submitted to the tribes where it could be amended and later ratified. At first it legislated on its own then with time it gained a wider degree in both numbers and subjects. In the boule foreign affairs was always a place of concern with matters being addressed to them and then the people of the tribes. Around the fifth century they will have the epimenloi, which some view as the presiding committee of the council and was to reflect the number of tribes or as a prosecuting commision. There was 12 tribes at the time due to Athenian influence