Contents: First, the peaceful "unification movement"; The second is to divide the residents into three levels: aristocrats, farmers and craftsmen. Obviously, the emergence of the rich-poor hierarchy can't be caused by great men, and theseus just acknowledged the established facts.
Second, Solon's reform:
Content: The first major measure was the promulgation of the "Release Order", which stipulated that all debts owed by civilians should be cancelled, all people who became debt slaves should be liberated, and those who were sold abroad should be redeemed at the state's expense, and land and people should never be used as collateral for debts, thus freeing Athenian civilians from the danger of becoming slaves forever.
The second important measure is to divide freemen into four grades according to their property, namely, "500 McDull Grade", "Knight Grade", "Double Cattle Grade" and "Japanese Servant Grade", and determine the rights and obligations of each grade. For example, the first three levels can hold corresponding official positions, and the fourth level can participate in civic meetings and jury courts. Double cattle provide heavy infantry, and Japanese servants provide light infantry. This policy of property, regardless of origin and background, is of course beneficial to the industrial and commercial class.
The third major measure is the reform of political institutions. Solon first restored and improved the power of the citizens' parliament, which almost lost its function, and stipulated that all citizens had the right to participate in the parliament, and all important state affairs must be passed by the parliament, while the aristocratic parliament began to exist in name only; Secondly, there is a meeting of 400 people and a jury court. The 400-member conference consists of 65,438+000 people elected by each of the four tribes. Citizens at the top three levels can be elected. It has gained a lot of power from the aristocratic meeting, and has the right to prepare and provide plans for the citizens' meeting and implement the resolutions of the citizens' meeting. It is the permanent body of the citizens' assembly. Jurors in the jury court are elected by four levels of citizens. They not only participate in regular trials, but also accept appeals, which is equivalent to the Supreme Court of Athens. Jurors have the right to pre-examine any case handled by the judge and have the right to prosecute cases that have been decided by the judge. The jury court has broken the accumulated disadvantages of the aristocratic monopoly of justice in the past.
The fourth measure is to formulate laws and regulations to promote industry and commerce, such as encouraging foreign technicians to move to Athens; Citizens must let their son learn a trade, otherwise the son can refuse to support his father; Restrict grain export and expand olive oil export; Carry out monetary reform and unify the measurement system.
Third, the reform of Cleisthenes:
Content: First of all, the traditional four blood tribes were abolished and replaced by ten regional tribes, and the new regional tribes became the electoral district of the city-state, which obviously weakened the power of clan nobles to use the influence of blood relationship.
The second is to set up a meeting of 500 people to replace the meeting of 400 people in the past, because since the four tribes have been abolished, the meeting of 400 people will be transformed. The 500-member conference consists of 50 representatives from each tribe, and its members can hold positions regardless of rank. In addition to retaining the power of meeting 400 people, it is also the highest administrative organ of the country, because 500 members are divided into 10 groups, and they are on duty in turns for more than 30 days a year. Each group of 50 people is called the "presidium", and these 50 people also take turns to be on duty. Whoever is on duty is the highest public official in Athens that day and has the right to preside over it. Citizens' meetings were also changed from 4 times a year in Solon's period to 10 times a year. In addition, on the basis of the nine consuls, the Committee of Ten Generals was added, and each tribe produced a general to command the troops in the region. The chief general of the Committee of Ten Generals later developed into the highest military and political chief in Athens. As for the aristocratic meeting, it became an ornament in political institutions.
The most distinctive measure in Cristini's reform is the "shell exile law". The specific method is that at the annual spring citizens' meeting, the citizens attending the meeting write the names of people they think are harmful to democracy on shells or pottery pieces. If the number of votes reaches a majority of 6,000, the person will be exiled for ten years and leave Athens within 10 days, but his family members will not be involved and his property will not be confiscated. When he came back, all his former rights were restored. The purpose of this method is to exile aspirants who want to be tyrants, and then put the plan into practice. This method shows that most people in Athens were literate at that time, which was obviously much more civilized than the ancient Jiuzu war. This method not only consolidated the democratic political system in Athens, but also avoided the armed conflict within the ruling class, which was beneficial to the stability of the country.
Fourth, Perikles reform:
Content:
First of all, the official business of state organs is open to all citizens. When Solon and Cleisthenes were in power, there was a hierarchy. When Pericles was in office, state organs were open to citizens from all walks of life. Obviously, did this set the privilege for a few citizens to participate in politics by virtue of wealth, and opened the way for lower-class citizens to participate in politics? In addition, in order to prevent a few people from monopolizing government affairs and give all citizens equal opportunities to participate in government affairs, Pericles stipulates that candidates for public office shall be drawn by lot and rotated, and those who are drawn by lot shall hold public office for one year, and shall not be re-elected or rotated at the expiration of the period. This gives all citizens the opportunity to hold public office in their lifetime. Of course, the lottery system also has disadvantages, which will inevitably lead to the election of some mediocre people, but because of its short term and strong supervision, it is too late to cause great consequences to the country. At the same time, in all public offices, only generals and financial officials with real power must raise their hands to be elected, and lottery is not allowed.
Secondly, the state organs implement the subsidy system for public office. Official posts at all levels are open to all citizens, which does not guarantee that citizens have the ability to participate in politics, because without subsidies, ordinary citizens can't afford to be officials, and there was no public salary during Solon and Cleisthenes, so ordinary citizens can't participate in politics. In order to change this situation, Pericles stipulates that public officials should implement a subsidy system, which helps ordinary citizens to participate in politics. Every public official has four APORs every day (so does the consul), and five APORs on duty. Jurors have two Apors in each session, and citizens have 1 apor in each session, which is equivalent to a day's meal. Soldiers and sailors in service rest three times a day. According to records, at that time, there were no fewer than 20,000 people receiving allowances (29 pages of the Chinese translation of Athens Politics), accounting for more than 1/2 of all citizens (the number of citizens was 4,200, and the recipients of allowances were 1 1,000 sailors, about 700 foreign officials and troops, 6,000 jurors, 500 parliamentarians, and so on). Obviously, the subsidy system is a fundamental change from chaebol politics to democratic politics since Solon. It should be noted that in all public offices, the ten generals and financial officers are not paid, and the lottery system is not adopted, which is a flexible policy. Otherwise, mediocre people in important positions will mistake the country and the people.
Third, the power of state organs belongs to all citizens. At that time, the important power institutions of democratic politics were citizens' assembly, 500-member meeting and jury court.
As far as the citizens' assembly is concerned, it is the highest organ of state power. During Solon's period, the citizens' assembly was held four times a year, 10 times a year in Cleisthenes and 40 times a year in Pericles, with an average of 9 days. A series of important issues, such as internal affairs, diplomacy, war, peace-making, appointment and dismissal of senior officials, were discussed and decided by the citizens' assembly. Participants in the citizens' assembly are male citizens who have reached the age of 20. They have the right to express their opinions freely and to vote on all bills submitted to the citizens' assembly. The voting method is public voting (raising hands) or secret voting (throwing shells and stones into the pot). This fully embodies that all state power belongs to all citizens and is the principle of direct democracy. The citizens' assembly is the highest legislative body of the country. All legal bills passed by the citizens' assembly must not only be serious and reliable, but also be approved by the special committee of the jury court before they can become national laws. Specifically, the motion passed by the assembly must be debated first, and both sides are allowed to speak once in each debate. When one party fails to predict, it often asks for an adjournment under the religious excuse of thunder and rain, so as to make some preparations and have another debate. However, the organizers can't just regard the town meeting as a place where the speaker can give full play to his special skills. He must be responsible for his proposal within one year. Although such a resolution is passed, there are mistakes in the implementation process, and the sponsors will be punished, ranging from fines to death penalty. In order to avoid this kind of mistake, when the citizens' assembly passed the resolution, there were still seven protective judges exercising their supervisory power at any time. They sit next to the chairman of the meeting and have the right to remind or intervene if any proposal is inconsistent with the existing law. After the resolution is passed, it is sent to the legal court for approval, making the formulation and abolition of the law as serious and reliable as a trial. In this way, it is difficult for those lucky people who are stupid in lottery to miss the country and the people. The citizens' assembly also has the highest supervisory power, as well as the judicial power of special state cases.
Judging from the meeting of 500 people, each tribe also has 50 people elected by citizens at all levels through lottery. They are responsible for implementing the relevant bills passed by the citizens' assembly and the daily affairs of the country. For the convenience of management, they are divided into 50-member committees, and take turns to serve as the presidium of the meeting within one year of110. The presidium also draws lots every day to elect an on-duty chairman (not allowed to be elected twice), who is responsible for convening a meeting of 500 people and keeping the key and seal of the vault that day. It is not difficult to see that the 500-member meeting is actually the highest administrative organ of the country, but the appearance of public officials in this administrative organ is not only open to citizens at all levels, but also, no matter how high the position, no public official can leave the citizens' meeting and decide any major government affairs without authorization. They are all under the constant supervision of the citizens' meeting and the 500-member meeting, and those who neglect their duties should be punished according to law, from dismissal from office to exile to execution.
Judging from the jury court, it is not only an institution that hears civil cases, but also participates in legislative activities. It has the final right to approve the legal bills of the citizens' assembly, the final decision on civil cases and the supervision over public officials. It is actually the highest judicial organ of the country. The jury court consists of 600 people elected by 10 tribes every year, and male citizens over 30 can be elected. In this way, the court has 6,000 members, and the reason why the jury is so large is that the court not only handles the judicial affairs of Athens, but also the judicial affairs of the Tyrol League States. The jury members are divided into 12 groups, namely 12 court, with 500 people in each group. Usually 10 court draws lots temporarily on the same day, and the other two courts make up for it. The lottery makes it difficult for both parties to have sex in advance, and the judge has no chance to practice favoritism or accept bribes. There is no lawyer system in the trial, and both parties defend themselves. People who are not good at words can ask the spokesman to write a defense and state it in court. The verdict is not based on the law, but is put forward by the plaintiff and the defendant, and then one of the 500 jurors is selected, but these jurors are not allowed to whisper to each other when voting, and they should be held in secret. The jury court has no corresponding procuratorial system and can only be prosecuted by individuals. The jury court participates in public and private law activities, or is the institution responsible for the constitution and civil law. In addition, the highest military organ of the country is the Committee of Ten Generals, which is composed of one person elected by the citizens' assembly from each of the 10 tribes. The chief general can be re-elected, but can't draw lots. He is actually the highest administrative head of Athens. As for the ancient aristocratic meeting, it was only nominal.
In addition to nine consuls and/or 10/0 generals, Athens also has 360 temporary presidents of the citizens' assembly (9 temporary presidents are selected by lot for each citizens' assembly), 365 on-duty presidents of the 500-member assembly, more than 200 officials in charge of industry and commerce and auditing, more than 700 overseas officials, 30-40 local circuit court officials, plus 500 members of the assembly and 6,000 members of the jury court. There are nearly 654,300 public officials in Athens every year. Public officials in Athens should have qualification examination before taking office, trust examination when taking office (public officials have to go through 10 performance appraisal and vote for staying or staying every 36 days, that is, they may be dismissed 1 times), and debriefing examination when leaving office. The mutual restraint of various power organs shows that this is a relatively mature system and a rare direct democracy in ancient times, which is by no means. "
Democracy in Athens reached its peak at that time. For the democratic politics in Athens, our textbooks have a general evaluation. They believe that this regime is ultimately the democratic politics of slave owners and talk about its limitations. For example, foreigners, women and slaves have no citizenship rights, and only a very small number of citizens often attend civic meetings or less than 65,438+0/65,438+00 of the total. It is impossible for farmers who live far away from Athens to give up their farm work and attend the 9-day town meeting. The most important official is not. As for the significance of Athenian democracy, it was limited to that era. It is believed that this kind of democracy only gave full play to the enthusiasm of Athenian citizens and played a positive role in the prosperity of economy and culture and the prosperity of the country at that time.