QUESTION 1 Flashcards
(12 cards)
General Will
the will of the people as a whole. The term was made famous by 18th-century Genevan philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rousseau distinguishes the general will from the particular and often contradictory wills of individuals and groups
Short Timeline of Ancient Greece
1200 BC: Trojan War
1100-750 BC: Greek dark ages(fall of Myceneaen palatial civilization)
776 BC: First recorded Olympic Games and Greek city states(Polis) arise
800-700 BC: Lycurgus - quasi lawgiver of Sparta
621 BC: Draco - lawgiver of Athens
507 BC: Cleisthenes, Athenian lawgiver, further increases democracy.
500-400 BC: Athens’ ‘golden age’ – very democratic, butshort lived
490 BC and 480 BC: Persian Wars - Athens (490 BC) and then Athens and Sparta (480 BC) defeat invading Persian empire
470? BC: Socrates born
460 BC: Start of the Peloponnesian Wars - Athens versus Sparta
427 BC: Plato born
404 BC: End of Peloponnesian Wars - Athens loses. Sparta wins. (Athens’ loss is marked as a historical embarrassment for democracy)
399 BC: Athenian jury condemns Socrates to die
384 BC: Aristotle born
356-336 BC: Phillip of Macedon subdues modern day Greece. His son, Alexander (the Great), will press South and East.
146 BC: The Roman Republic conquers modern day Greece.
Brief Roman History
753 BCE to 509 BCE. MONARCHY. Rome is a monarchy. Brutus and Publius
toss out the last king, Targuinis Superbus, in in 509 BCE.
509 BCE to roughly 27 BCE. REPUBLIC. Rome is a republic. Around 27 BCE
Caesar Augustus becomes emperor, after a long series of factious, violent civil
wars:
Factions of Populares (the people) v. Optimates
(the Senate)
Civil Wars of Marius v. Sulla (88-81 BCE)
Civil War of Julius Caesar v. Pompey (49 BCE)
Assassination of Julius Caesar (44 BCE)
Civil War of Octavian and Marc Antony v. the
anti-Caesar Conspirators (42 BCE)
Civil War of Octavian v. Marc Antony (ends 31
BCE)
Octavian wins and becomes Caesar Augustus
and Princeps (27 BCE)
27 BCE to 476 CE. EMPIRE. Good Caesar. Bad Caesar. Good Caesar. Bad. . .
How did Classical Republican thinkers see Ancient Rome?
Renaissance and Enlightment “Classical Republican” thinkers will idolize the early
Republic, bemoan and worry about the violent fall of the late Republic, and see the
uncertainty and potential tyranny in each successive ruler “Caesar” in the Empire period
of ancient Rome. The Empire experienced good emperors, followed by terrible emperors.
For the “founders” that unpredictability highlighted the problem with “Rule of the One.”
What was the Mytilene Debate and what impression did it have on the founders
Thucydide’s account: In 428, the Mytilenians revolted against Athens, even though they had enjoyed privileged status in the Athenian empire. Much of Lesbos joined the rebellion. The Mytilenians appealed to Athens’ enemy, Sparta, for help, but the Spartans lacked control of the sea and so were unable to help. Under siege, the democratic faction in Mytilene eventually decided to give up and forced the oligarchs to surrender the city. The Athenians decreed that all adult male Mytilenians be put to death and the women and children be enslaved, but on the next day, they questioned the merit of a decree that punishes the many for the crimes of the few and reconsidered. The second vote was split pretty evenly and the result was that about 1000 Mitylenians would be killed and the walls of Mytilene were destroyed, the ships taken, and some land siezed.
Taught the founders about the dangers of democracy and its condition of indecision in use of majority rule.
What was Athen’s Sicillian Expedition and what did it teach the founders?
The Sicilian Expedition was an Athenian military expedition to Sicily, which took place from 415–413 BC during the Peloponnesian War between Athens on one side and Sparta, Syracuse and Corinth on the other. The expedition ended in a devastating defeat for the Athenian forces, severely impacting Athens.
Thucydides ctritique(and thus also the founders’ critique): argues that democracy pressures and corrupts military leaders because, if they are to retain their prominent positions, they must prioritize the political considerations over military ones. In this environment, the individual leaders matter less than the democratic system because they will all have the same political considerations. One of the prominent political considerations is how to please the people. To please the people, military leaders make decisions based on what the people believe or would believe to be true rather than what is actually true, and as a result, they often underestimate their enemies and overestimate their own military capacities.
What is the trial of the Athenian Generals? (also known as the Trial of the Generals or the result of the Battle of Arginusae) and what did the founders learn from it?
406 BC, Battle of Arginusae - won by Athens by use of unorthodox methods. After, the ships that were supposed to rescue the stranded Atheniens were stopped by a storm and a lot of sailors drowned.
The Athenians were pissed off and debated in mob fashion over the fate of the generals in charge(two of the generals had fled and six remained to be tried). On the first day the generals won the sympathies of the Assembly, but then there was the festival of the Apaturia in which families met together and were very destraught about the losses. This meant that the next time the Assembly met, they decided to treat the generals more harshly. When the generals were supposed to be tried, Socrates was chosen by lot to be epistates(president) of the assembly and said he would do nothing contrary to the constitution, refusing to put the generals’ fate to a vote. Ultimately, once Socrates was done being the epistates, his work was undone and the generals were tried en masse by vote of the assembly and executed. Later, Athenians regretted this and moved to try the people responsible for the principle instigators. They escaped before they could be tried.
Pretty sure this is the same stuff as the other democracy Athenian lessons of anti-democratic sentiment regarding bad, passionate, majority decisions.
What was the trial and execution of Socrates and what impact did it have on the founders?
399 BC, Socrates charged with impiety against the Pantheon of Athens and corruption of the youth. It is believed that an important underlying reason for these accusations was anti-democratic seniment from Socrates that may have encourages the thirty tyrants gaining power. Socrates was found guilty and drank hemlock as his method of execution.
Lessons for the founders include dangers of mob rule(especially here ruled by fear) and a support of civic obedience to the law as Socrates did not try to flee(even though he was encouraged to).
What specific benefit of confederacies did the founders see in ancient Greece?
strong confederacies of small states (Athens and Sparta together/or the 13 states together) could
defeat larger empires like Persia or Britain. James Madison in particular wrote a study in
1787, just before the federal convention, of confederacies ancient and modern.
What did the founders think about fighting with neighboring states based on ancient Greece?
The “founders” would also learn that fighting with your neighboring states spells doom. As Hamilton would write in Federalist 18:
“Athens and Sparta, inflated with the victories and the glory they had acquired, became first rivals and then enemies; and did each other infinitely more mischief than they had suffered from Xerxes. Their mutual jealousies, fears, hatreds, and injuries ended in the celebrated Peloponnesian war; which itself ended in the ruin and slavery of the Athenians who had begun it.”
Describe the Roman Republic’s constituion
The Roman Republic had an unwritten, mixed
constitution with elements of monarchical, aristocratic, and common rule. Legislative, executive, and judicial powers were separated, albiet
mperfectly. Terms of office were short, often just one year in length, requiring “rotation” in office which thwarts an office holder’s efforts to accumulate more power than granted constitutionally to the office. “Checks” on abuse of power, such as the tribune’s ability to veto legislation were also present.
What did the historians the founders read(and thus, in part, the founders) think about the Roman Republic?
The historians that the “founders” read for their knowledge of the Roman Republic, like Sallust, blamed the fall of the Republic on a loss of civic virtue caused by an influx of wealth as Rome grew from a small city state into a major power governing much of Eurupe and controlling the Meditearean Sea. The citizen soldier model of the virtuous early republic gave way to standing armies, legions of soldiers who owed their loyalty not to the Republic, but to their generals, people like Marius, Sulla, Pompey, and Caesar.
