The ancient Greeks first had the idea of a democracy, or government by the people. Democracy first took root in a Greek city-state called Athens which was an aristocracy at first (Page 10, P.1). However, Athens moved towards a democracy because of citizens’ discontent with the current government (Page 10, P. 2). One Athenian tyrant named Cleisthenes made his assembly a genuine legislature, which is an idea that the United States government uses today (Page 11, P. 1). Another idea that the United States government got from the ancient Greeks is the idea of a jury, which is a panel of citizens who have the authority to make the final judgment in a trial (Page 13, P. 1). This is how the ancient Greeks contributed to the democratic development of the United States, other aspects of our government were adopted from yet another civilization, the ancient Romans.
The ancient Romans set up a new government called a republic, in which the people chose some government