Athens Society vs. Us Society

Athens and the Romans both have a important impact on the U.S political system. If you look at the way the U.S political system is laid out you can see the similarities between both the Athens and Romans influence on our government. Romans have the most impact on our political system than the Athens do.

Even though both Athens and Romans had an impact on the U.S government, the Romans had the biggest impact in shaping the political system.

Romans had the 12 Tables functioned as guiding document/source for all Roman law. These laws could be amended or added onto. This relates to the Amendments in the U.S government that can also be amended. The 12 Tables established a written law code, passed by a legislature. In the U.S in order for a law to be passed, it has to be approved by Congress. In Rome, you have the right to a trial established by the 12 Tables, and severe punishment for lying.

In the U.S political system, you also have the right to a fair trial. But lying to law enforcement or Congress can lead to jail time. In Rome, there was banned marriage between classes. But in the U.S government, interracial marriage was banned in many states until 1967, and gay marriage was banned in many states until 2015. Not only are the laws similar between the Roman government and the U.S government, but the roles in the government are also similar. Romans has Consuls, a Senate, Centuriate Assembly, a Tribal Assembly, and Praetors.

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The U.S has a president, Judicial branch, Senate, House of Reps, Congress. The president is the commander of the Army and the Navy.

The Consuls in Rome controlled the military but also controlled the legislature. In Rome, the Senate was made out of the patricians who were the higher class in Rome. Then the Centuriate Assembly was made up of all citizen soldiers, and this did include the plebians. They also were the ones that appointed the consuls but didn’t have as much power as the Senate. The U.S political government has the judicial branch, the people in the Judicial Branch get appointed by the president, but the Senate has to approve the people in the Judicial Branch. In Rome, the praetors are eight judges are chosen by the Centuriate assembly. In the U.S there are nine judges in the Judicial Branch. The Tribal Assembly is organized by plebeians and elected tribunes to the Senate, and they made laws for the common people.

Counterclaim: Athens also had a big role in the way our government was shaped. Such as how the electoral votes/college was created. Athens helped create the electoral votes with the Senate so if the representatives of the state didn’t think the vote represented what the ideal goals were for the state or region, they could change it. Which is how we the people in the U.S get to decide who we want as our president. All the men were able to vote, this didn’t exclued any man whether he was rich or not, and this was a big step in democracy in Athens. In the U.S all white men were allowed to vote until free black men were allowed to vote, which then ended where we are now where everyone can vote. Athens also had the idea were to serve in the government you had to be a 30-year-old male. Which was how it was in the U.S until 1866 when Elizabeth Cady Stanton was the first woman to run for the U.S. House of Representatives, even though she was not eligible to vote. She ran as an Independent from New York State, receiving 24 votes of 12,000 that were cast.

Refute: Not only did Women in Athens not have the most fair rights, neither did the Roman women.Freeborn women in ancient Rome were citizens (cives), but could not vote or hold political office. Because of their limited public role, women are named less frequently than men by Roman historians. As is the case with all male members of society, elite women and their politically significant deeds eclipse those of lower status in the historical record.