Jennifer Serafin Third Grade Social Studies Compare/Contrast: American Democracy vs.

Greek Democracy

Edited 4/30

CCGPS
SS3H1 The student will explain the political roots of our modern democracy in the United States of America. a. Identify the influence of Greek architecture (columns on the Parthenon, U. S. Supreme Court building), law, and the Olympic Games on the present. b. Explain the ancient Athenians idea that a community should choose its own leaders. c. Compare and contrast Athens as a direct democracy with the United States as a representative democracy SS3G1 The student will locate major topographical features. d. Locate Greece on a world map.

TAG Standards Higher Order Critical Thinking Skills 2. The student responds to questions with supporting information that reflects in-depth knowledge of a topic. 3. The student conducts comparisons using criteria. Essential Questions: How was Americas form of democracy influenced by Ancient Greeces democracy? How are Americas form of democracy and Ancient Greeces form of democracy similar? How are they different? Big theme: Is democracy sustainable? Enduring Understandings: To further comprehension and foster connections, students will compare and contrast American democracy and Greek democracy to discover the similarities, differences, and amendments inspired to our current government. Vocabulary: democracy, architecture, population, citizen, Procedure: 1. Hook: Engage students by presenting glimpses into the life in Ancient Greece as compared to today (items in person and pictures using the projector/laptop)

a. Artifacts: http://www.artic.edu/cleo/index.html (click on Greece!) b. http://www.chiddingstone.kent.sch.uk/homework/greece.html c. Buildings: Parthenon, Lincoln Memorial, etc. from the Greek PPT

d. Games: Olympics e. Theater: tragedy and comedy 2. Reflect on hook: Begin a discussion about the items, etc. as well as what was happening in the country at that time. Finally, connect this to our lives. Share with students that we will analyze the foundation of our government based on Ancient Greeces government. Ultimately we will compare and contrast both. 3. Divide into two groups: American Democracy and Ancient Greece Democracy a. Begin thought/brainstorming across a variety of areas: (see chart)
i. Influence of.. a. Time Period: b. Size of population c. Who could vote? d. Who the population was made up of? e. Who were considered citizens? f. Rights of Citizens g. Economy h. Education i. Free time j. Anything else?

b. Provide background information to further explore Ancient Greeces democracy beyond what our textbook provides. Allow both groups to use this as a jumping point to brainstorm across the noted areas. Use our textbook and http://www.congressforkids.net/Independence_democracy.htm as well as http://www.williampmeyers.org/republic.html for American Democracy information.

Greek Democracy Information Sheet

When the founding fathers of the United States created the worlds first modern democracy they claimed to take their inspiration from the classical Greek demokratia a government of the people, by the people, for the people, as Abraham Lincoln described it. But even though the United States would use the democracy of ancient Greece for inspiration, it is important to remember that there are many differences between our government in the U.S. and the government of Athens over 2000 years ago. Democracy is a form of government in which citizens take part and meet in one place to make laws for the community. The word democracy comes from the Greek words demos, meaning people, and

kratos, meaning rule or authority. The people in Athens, Greece created the idea of democracy in the
500s B.C., because they did not believe in the idea of a dictatorship, in which one person is in charge of everything for a community. The idea of a Greek democracy is different from our practice of democracy today. The Greeks had a direct democracy, which means that citizens in a community voted on all major decisions. Of course, slaves (who did most of the work) and women were not considered citizens. In a population of 250,000, only about 30,000 were considered citizens and only about 5,000 of those regularly attended assembly meetings. Certain citizens were selected by allotment to be government officials or jury members. Only generals in the military were elected. Male citizens served in the assembly for life and made the laws and policies for the government. There were no branches of government in the Greek democracy. These practices differ from a representative form of government used in most democracies today. In this form of democracy, people select representatives to govern them. The ideas in Greek democracy have spread throughout the world and throughout time. For example, even though the United States is a Constitution-based federal republic, we have a strong democratic tradition. For instance, we still use the idea of juries made up of citizens, and some small New England towns still use direct democracy to create the laws for their communities.

4. Discuss: a. After personal time to reflect and respond, begin by think-pair portion by connecting with someone from the same group. b. Finally, have a group discussion with another pair from the same perspective.

5. Jigsaw students to align one child from each perspective. Begin to share findings. Record both similarities and differences. 6. Use the column chart to synthesize your information. Discuss in pairs. 7. Final reflection: have students write 3 statements about the similarities and differences American Democracy and Ancient Greeces democracy 8. Extensions: a. how can making this compare/contrast help us better connect with the foundation of our country? b. Which democracy would you like to live in and why? c. If you could take something from both democracies and fuse them together, what would it be and why?

Name: __________________________ Compare/Contrast Ancient Greece and Americas Democracy

Based on our discussion and brainstorming, write 3 statements about the similarities and differences American Democracy and Ancient Greeces democracy.
American Democracy Differences Similarities Ancient Greece Democracy Differences

Influence of.. Time Period:

Size of population

Who could vote?

Who the population was made up of?

Who were considered citizens?

Rights of Citizens

Economy

Education

Free time Anything else?

Similarities: _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________

Differences: _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________

Extensions:

How can making this compare/contrast help us better connect with understanding the foundation of our country? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________

If you could take something from both democracies and fuse them together, what would it be and why? _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________

Which democracy, Ancient Greece or today in America, would you like to live in and why?

_______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________

Sum it up: any last thoughts: _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________

Extra Resource for more direct support! Compare and Contrast: Democracy Ancient Athens vs. United States

Athens - Direct Democracy

United States - Representative Democracy

When the founding fathers of the United States created the worlds first modern democracy they claimed to take their inspiration from the classical Greek demokratia a government of the people, by the people, for the people, as Abraham Lincoln described it. But even though the United States would use the democracy of ancient Greece for inspiration, it is important to remember that there are many differences between our government in the U.S. and the government of Athens over 2000 years ago. The three main differences between our modern democracy and the Greeks democracy are: 1. Size: There were no population censuses in ancient Athens, but the most educated modern guess puts the total population of Athens, at around 250,000 including all men, women, children, foreigners, and slaves. Of those 250,000 only around 30,000 were full citizens - the adult males of Athenian birth in good standing. The current population of the United States is approximately 300 million people (1200 times larger than Athens!). During the 2008 presidential election there were 230 million citizens eligible to vote and approximately 140 million Americans showed up to cast their vote on election day. 2. Eligibility: The second key difference is eligibility (who is allowed to participate in the government). In ancient Athens, only adult free males were considered citizens. Women, slaves, and foreigners were never allowed to participate in the government. In the United States, all people (men and women) over the age of 18 are considered citizens, foreigners who go through the citizenship process are also allowed to participate in the government. 3. Participation: Like ancient Athens, the United States has a democratic government in which the people hold the power. (Power to the People!!!) But as you probably have started to notice, the two democracies were very different. The biggest difference between the two forms of democracy was how citizens participated in their government.

Athens : Direct Democracy Athenian democracy was direct and in-your-face. All citizens gathered together (usually on an outdoor hillside) to argue, debate, and ask questions before they all voted on an issue. Each person had an equal say (one vote) in what the government would do. There was no separation of government or elected officials. The citizens of Athens used a simple majority (most votes wins) to decided what to do. The citizens directly created new laws, acted as judges, decided when to go to war, and who to make alliances with. When there were not enough people to make a decision, slaves were sent out to force citizens to show up and vote.

United States: Representative Democracy The United States uses a representative form of democracy. In this system, the citizens go and vote for people to represent them in the government. In this way, we chose who we want to speak for us in the government and who we want to make our decisions for us. In the U.S. we choose many different representatives; president, senators, congressmen, governors, judges, and mayors. In a representative government the people have the power to choose who makes their decisions but usually do not have the power to vote on individual issues like new laws and when to go to war. Our government is also divided up into 3 branches, and each branch has a different job.

________________

________________

Conclusion: ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________