Ancient vs. Modern Governments
The Declaration of Independence is the founding document of the United States of America, adopted by the Continental Congress on the 4th of July, 1776. It proclaimed the secession of 13 British Colonies that were located in North America. This document was extremely valuable for the whole world as it was the manifestation of the ideals of the U.S. democracy. This document promoted equal political voice and democratically responsive government.
At first, few words about the American democracy should be mentioned. In the famous Gettysburg Address (1863), President Abraham Lincoln described it as the “direct self-government, over all the people, for the people, by the people”. The key features of American democracy include “federalism and the separation of powers”. Federalism presupposes the division of national government and state governments. The separation of powers is the sharing of powers between three main branches: legislative, executive, and judicial.
It is worth noting that the word “democracy” originated in Ancient Greece. However, its current meaning is differs greatly from the Ancient Greek. The original meaning of the noun “democracy” was “the rule by people”. Today, there arouses a feeling that Greeks had little idea of the rights of an individual (this is the core ideal of modern American democracy). Greeks granted the right of political participation to a small group of people, in other words, to elite. The key idea of the American democracy is that a government is just the servant of the nation, and it does the things, which the majority of people want. In the Ancient Greece, the situation was completely different as no one took into account the wishes of people, and all the political decisions were taken with the help of direct voting. However, it is impossible to reject the close ties between the U.S. and Ancient Greece. It should be stated that such significant for the American democracy things as...