3/4/13

In western civ today we talked more about the tyrant who took over Athens by using a tall pretty girl to act as Helena. Also we learned about the revolution of the lower class. They rose up against the aristocrats and overthrew their rule. This happened in 508 B.C. and was the first revolution in history. This was also the first time democracy was used as a government system. The idea of the people making the decisions is attributed to Cleisthenes who was assigned by those who started the revolution to run the new government. Before this he was ostracized. this is when you are forced to leave where you live by those with power. This is considered worse than execution and is very shameful. Although as you can  see Cleisthenes overcame this and made a huge impact on the world then and today. Our current government is based on the ideas of democracy. we are a republic which differs from a democracy because we vote for those who will represent us and make the decisions while in a democracy the people directly make the decisions. Although, in some cases we are also a democracy when it comes to voting on a few things such as same sex marriage even though it says in the pledge of allegiance that we are a republic.