The
summer patriotic U.S. holidays, beginning with Memorial Day, turn attention to
American government and historyt. America was founded on a democratic
government system. Here are free printable American government lessons on democracy and
core democratic values for teachers and students. PBS Kids free printable American government lessons teach that democracy is a Greek word meaning 'government by the people' ('dem' people + 'cracy'). Check that link
for more free printable Greek words and roots. The people of Ancient Greece were the first to establish the idea of common people ruling
their own country. In Greek democracy, all citizens had a right to participate
in the process of choosing who from amongst their ranks would represent them.
Typically nations were ruled by other forms of "-cracy" or
"-archy." A monarchy refers to a country ruled by one supreme head,
such as a king. "Oligarchy" refers to rule by a few elite people. In
these forms of government, people who were ruled had no say about who their
ruler would be. Leaders came to power by inheritance of a crown or by forced
military take-over. These rulers had absolute power. They made the laws that
the common man must obey. Typically the rules they made did not include
themselves.
Never
before the Greeks had a nation been ruled by a collective of people who voted
to choose representatives. Here are free printable American government lessons
on Greek democracy. Never before had a nation's people been
given a voice over who should make the laws or what those laws would be. Never
before had the rulers of a country had to obey the laws they made. The Greek
experiment with democracy, or rule by the people worked well. Here are free printable Ancient Greece and core
democratic values lesson plans to use for American government lessons.
Along
with a system of democracy and core democratic values, the people of Ancient
Greece taught gave the world philosophy, music, art, literacy, technology,
medicine, science and language. Here is music of Ancient Greece for American government lessons. Here are free printable lesson plans on the medicine of Ancient Greece to use for
American government lessons. Here are free printable Ancient
Greece lesson plans on all those subjects.
When
the founding fathers and mothers in America set out to establish a government,
they looked to the Greek form of democracy as a model. Early Americans had
experienced life under the monarchy of King George III and his predecessors.
They had lived in a colony ruled by another nation across the sea. The American
colonists knew about monarchies and oligarchies. To them, core democratic
values in rule 'by the people of the people and for the people' looked very
attractive. In the First and Second Continental Congress they drafted what a federal constitution and Bill of Rights that would become a model of democracy
outlined core democratic values for other nations as theirs was modeled after
the Greeks.
In a democracy, the
constitution lays out the rights of citizens very clearly. Every citizen has a
voice as to what goes into the constitution. When changes are made to the
constitution citizens must approve those changes. To explore democracy and
American history lessons in an interactive online games, visit Democracy
Game. To experience life in an ancient kingdom, click here for a free
download ofSeven
Kingdoms. Here are free printable
