Spartan Democracy Essay

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INTRODUCTION Former US President, Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) defines democracy in his Gettysburg Address delivered in 1864 as the government of the people, by the people and for the people” (Lincoln, 1864). Different authors have given several definition of the term. Among them is David Held, a renowned authority on the concept. He defined democracy as: “Democracy means a form of government in which, in contradistinction monarchies and aristocracies, the people rule. Democracy entails a political community in which there is some form of political equality among the people” (Nitisha) Democracy as a system of government has different origins to different people. Some say it originates from the French Democrat (Nitisha). Democracy no doubt, originated…show more content…
These slaves where known as Helot, and were owned by the Sparta state. They were basically doing all the things Spartan where suppose to do because male Sparta were always at war. The Helot were usually farming their own farmland and giving the proceeds to their Spartan master of which the Helot weren’t happy with, because of this, Spartan males where always on alert in case of Helot uprising. The never move to far from home for fear of the Helot fighting back. ATHENS Just like Sparta, Athens is a state in Greece with a system of government somewhat different from that of Sparta. Spartan practice dictatorship while Athens practiced something a little bit different. Athens is referred to as the birthplace of democracy. In Athens the wealthy dominated over the poor. The wealthy always took the best farm land. The poor were indebted to the wealthy to the extent that they even offered themselves as slaves to pay up. Slaves: slaves were also found in Athens, but unlike the Spartans whose slaves where owned by the states, in Athens, slaves were owned by individuals either poor or wealthy. The slaves were either citizens (those that lost their citizenship) or foreigners. This was changed by Solon that no one should use himself to pay for his debts; he then created three groups, the wealthy, merchants and the
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