Eli’s Mind

Ancient Greece (650 – 323 BC) made a huge impact on modern society, with decades worth of discoveries continuously feeding our education, architecture and other aspects of the world to this day, but present day society didn’t absorb every advancement the Greeks have accomplished. Liberty is one of the main aspects of Greek culture which is occasionally despised by the modern average citizen. The main idea of modern liberty is individual rights, one has the right express ones vision or opinion, use property as one sees fit, and right to have some influence over government. This system came about in the late 1700’s when citizens became furious towards the higher powers for stepping and trampling all over the American’s freedom. “In the end, popular sentiment was decisive. Recently freed from the despotic English monarchy, the American people wanted strong guarantees that the new government would not trample upon their newly won freedoms of speech, press and religion, nor upon their right to be free from warrantless searches and seizures”(“THE BILL OF RIGHTS: A BRIEF HISTORY”). On the other hand in Ancient Greece, especially Athens, the government was made up of citizens, this type of leadership led to collective liberties. For example, the right of Athens(the citizens) to decide what its foreign policy should be and the right of the assembly to decide what taxes should be levied. In conclusion Ancient Greek liberty orbits around the main idea of the collective right of the community, which is what fueled the country for centuries.