DEMOCRACY: Ancient vs Modern
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- Опубліковано 28 тра 2024
- An in-depth explanation of democracy in ancient Athens and the United States of America.
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0:00 - Intro
01:10 - The Origins of Greek Democracy
12:14 - Democracy in Athens
24:05 - The Premise of American Democracy
34:49 - Democracy in America
38:57 - Conclusion
Sources:
Pericles of Athens - Donald Kagan
The Classical Athenian Democracy - David Stockton
The Life of Greece - Will Durant
Athens on Trial - Jennifer Roberts
Origins of Democracy in Ancient Greece - Raaflaub, Ober & Wallace
The Athenian Constitution - Unknown (probably a talented student under Aristotle)
Lives - Plutarch
Politics - Aristotle
The Peloponnesian War - Thucydides
Democracy - Paul Cartledge
Preface to Democratic Theory - Robert Dahl
On Democracy - Robert Dahl
Empire of Liberty - Gordon Wood
Founding Brothers - Joseph Ellis
The Radicalism of the American Revolution - Gordon Wood
The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution - Bernard Bailyn
The Federalist - Hamilton, Madison & Jay
The Rise of American Democracy - Sean Wilentz
The Debates on the Adoption of the Federal Constitution - Jonathan Elliot
Thank you to everyone who supports these projects on Patreon. I wouldn't be able to devote so much time and so many resources to one video otherwise. I'm trying to make the best work I can and the donations really do make it possible. If you'd like to chip in and support me, check out www.patreon.com/rchapman. Video notes below.
Some took issue with the notion that the United States was the first democracy following ancient Greece. When I said 'the word democracy wouldn't be linked to another state for more than 2000 years,' that afaik is correct. Democratic practices did exist between ancient times and the American founding, and there were even local elections in America before the founding, as well as some democratic practices in England and smaller societies around Europe, but they almost entirely went by the name of republicanism. These other societies also practiced limited forms of democracy, and that was truer the bigger the society got. You could claim that some viking societies had meaningful (but still limited) democratic practices, for example, but they didn't have a state. That was also before modern nations. Nation-states at the time (with the very controversial exception of England after the 15th century) did not exist. So we're talking about societies that typically had fuzzy borders, a looser idea of who belonged within them and what their roles were as 'citizens,' no modern government state, and where the sovereign political authority is typically divine or an individual/family. Combine that with democratic practices being limited, and you have no state that was being called democratic until the U.S. founding. I chose my wording there carefully.
Given all that, the main democratic breakthroughs the U.S. had were 1) Forming a nation (strict borders, concrete and firm law extending to all citizens within) with its own sovereign, secular government that is responsive to the people, 2) Those people were to hire and fire heads of state and top representatives, 3) Practicing this on a scale of a massive nation-state, with significant cultural and ethnic differences, where citizens across the nation have no way of knowing one another, but still had to trust one another with political power. So there was some contemporary precedent for what the U.S. did, but they also significantly experimented and innovated. Democracy and an impersonal secular state were thought to be impossible in a society on the scale of the U.S. It was thought that monarchies were best for large societies and that democracies/republics were controversially well-suited for small societies, and that even then those smaller political systems needed a mixed character in order to be stable (perhaps still a monarch or divine authority). 'Pure democracies' were thought to be entirely untenable, and tended to be associated with mob rule (a judgement that affected the Founders).
To go into that last part further - the 'mixed character' model mainly came from Aristotle, through Polybius (Greek/Roman historian), and finally through Montesquieu's 'Spirit Of The Laws.' Aristotle said there were three forms of government: government by one, government by the few, government by the many (monarchy, aristocracy, democracy) and that a mixed form of government was best - one that blended aspects of those three forms in its institutions. Montesquieu influentially wrote that those institutions should have limited power and have the ability to limit the powers of each other, now known as checks and balances. That influenced the Framers, who made the executive branch roughly correspond to the 'government by one,' the senate roughly 'government by few' and the house of reps roughly 'government by many.' That also inspired the checks and balances seen in the constitution. If you're wondering why I didn't cover mixed constitution theory in the video, I think it's interesting, but the interpretation in America is somewhat loose. It's a bit of a stretch to call the executive branch 'government by one,' I think even more of a stretch to call the house of reps 'government by many,' and it leaves out the judicial. More importantly, Madison's language of politics consisting of conflicting factions was seen as a more realistic update to the classical mixed constitution theory. Basically mixed constitution theory was seen as rigidly ideological, not realistic, and warring factions was seen as practical and realistic. Theory that could be usefully guide policy. I have to make decisions about what to include and what not to include for runtime purposes, and decided to relegate mixed constitution theory to the comments and just include Madison's factions in the video.
- Ryan
You're forgetting the British Parliament and the Icelandic Alþingi before that pal.
So many people could benefit from your channel, I hope it continues to grow and reach others
@@joshuataylor3550 Britain wasn’t a democracy in 1789 pal
Stop being so handsome! 😊☺😆
It's also worth noting that what we know of Greece largely comes to us through Rome (as discussed by Prof Mary Beard). So what we know is limited to what Romans bothered to preserve and wanted to emphasise.
I feel like Ryan was the smart kid in class who didn't raise his hand to answer every question the teacher asked just to give the other students a chance.
Thank god someone was paying attention!
If he did raise his hand more, we’d be a lot smarter as a society
@@thr33shadows He's raising his hand right now!
@@CPD03 1) excellent username 2) someone get this man a bigger microphone
I feel like you are one of those many kids who make a lot of quick false assumptions about people they don't know.
If you're feeling pressured to produce more, know it's your own internal drive and not any expectation. It's always great to see a post from you, but each one is a gift. What you're putting into the world is great, and it's fine for it to happen on your time. None of us are going anywhere. Thank you for this one. :)
Hear hear, sister 👏🏽
+1
Spot on!
You just changed my life. ❤️
That is such great praise, advice and pure wisdom all in one comment. Well done 😊
Hello Ryan. A historian of antiquity here. I always enjoy hearing your insight on politics and this video is no exception, but considering all of the efforts I spent on researching ancient political processes, I think I might have some remarks that could be of interests.
- I think you have mistaken Thucydides the politician and the historian of the same name. This is a minor nit-pick but it also means that we should give more credibility to the claims on how Pericles governed over Athens
- You have touched on this, but I think it does not come across clearly enough how widely criticized was the democratic system of Athens by its contemporaries and their immediate descendants. It is also disputable how competent the demos was at governing, and it certainly was not perceived as such by our sources, who often present Athens as some sort of cautionary tale, where the power was in the hands of the mob, commonly manipulated by unsavoury individuals (like Alcibiadies), making horrible decisions (like deciding on the Sicillian expedition).
- It might be due to the time and topic constraints, but I got the sense the video is implying as if the Athenian democracy was an absolutely unique concept for the pre-modern era. This is not true. Democratic institutions on comparable scale to Athens existed way before the American Revolution. To name a few, Germanic tribes had a popular assembly for all freemen called Ting, the Slavs had Veche, and those were the primary govering bodies. The Swiss direct democracy can be traced to middle-ages. Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth had an assembly that decided on the matters of the state and technically any member could even veto the king (it was comprised of nobility, but having the title was incredibly common there - about 8% so not that far off the Athens).
- One, in my opinion major, difference that you did not mention is how communitarian the Greek society was, compared to generally individualistic American one, which also reflected on the politics. This is especially vivid in the matters of religion - the enlightenment ideals of freedom in that regard for the Greeks would simply be criminal - punishable by death even, as it was the case with Socrates. Polis was not only the city and its surroundings, but primarily it was the political community - and within that community everyone was responsible for one another - which in turn meant it was possible to single non-conforming people or groups out, to avoid the wrath of the gods and secure the prosperity of the community. This is exactly what your founding fathers sought to prevent.
Anyway, I do not think those critical remarks detract from your overall conclusions, which I feel is again interesting. All the best, and I await more videos.
Absolutely! I wrote up a pinned comment that included most the points you brought up here. I did try to hammer in at several points how widely criticized democracy as both in ancient times and at the time of the American founding. I also wrote about 60 pages of notes for this video (which translates to about 240 minutes of runtime), and have to decide what to include and what not to include. Of everything you said, the one thing I did want to talk about but just couldn't find a space for was comparing the individualistic nature of American democracy vs the communal nature of Athenian democracy. But how could I talk about that if I didn't talk about Aristotle's mixed constitution theory, or Montesquieu?
You said I implied that there was nothing resembling democracy between Greece and America, but I really tried to imply the opposite. I just said that democratic states after Rome mostly went by the name of republics, and there wasn't a nation that called itself democratic until America.
With the Thucydides mix-up yeah that regrettably just a mistake. Someone caught that a day after I uploaded this, and it almost made me take the video down and re-upload it to fix it, but I figured that it didn't detract from the main ideas of the piece. Edit: I figured out a way to just chop that line out of the piece. So, problem solved. Plutarch talked about two different people named Thucydides in his chapter on Pericles, and I didn't realize they were different people, which led to a factual mistake in the vid.
- Ryan
@@realryanchapmanI am disappointed that you left out the many republicans sanghas or states of ancient India who later destroyed by monarchist Magadha kingdom which led to great Magadha empire, which ended with dissolution of Mouryan dynasty and Sunga dynasty of Magadha empire.
In Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth kings were elected. Technically any noblemen could have been elected.
Thank you Ryan for this wonderful lesson on Democracy. The word Democracy is thrown around a lot today but I dare say that not many people understand it. This presentation certainly helped me understand more about how our version of democracy came to be.
lol it's bullshit., the USA has NEVER BEEN A DEMOCRACY. from the beginning,the founders put it on paper offically, that this federal government is a REPUBLIC. they never wanted a Democracy and DID NOT FOUND ONE.
*republic
@@codydifronzo-hayes1076did you not watch the video?
@codydifronzo-hayes1076 which is a type of democracy.
Thank you very much. As a European viewer, I really enjoy your videos as they seem well researched and calmly presented. In my opinion, they aid to understanding the US and its developement in a historical context for outsiders. Not only do I find your videos very interesting, I consider them therefore really helpful, as a compact yet thorough overview, so one does not have to spend a lot of time delving too deeply into the literary sources for one's self. I also very much enjoyed your presentations on other political and philosophical topics.
Understand, that if a topic creates a lot of waves in US public (ref. to videos on free speech, 'wokeness' etc.), the ripples in the water can usually - with some delay - be felt in non-English speaking countries over here as well. It's not always easy to understand the roots of such developements from afar, so thank you for your work.
The US did not start with the uprisings of the first half of the 1770s as a Revolution of a new form of government. They had been running their own assemblies of propertied gentlemen for well over a century, with royal London appointed Governors as a check valve. The public became larger and larger as a poor man could aquire property in America by applying his trade or by clearing wilderness.
Britain had centuries of royal v squire uprisings, provincial rebellions even civil wars.
Once the war broke out in 1775, the new Congress that has formed only to treat with Parliament as a trade union might argue grievances with the bosses hit a full stalemate. Appeals were made to George III to mediate the conflict with Tory Parliament. Instead George III sent an invasion force of regulars to "put down the riots" and hammer the subjects as they had Scotland, Wales, Ireland and the recently conquered provinces of Canada, India and the West Indies.
This is when that simple Congress started debating concepts of what would replace the Colonial Royal government, since the local legislatures were now in open war with Royal Governors, their Royal American regiments and the British Armies and mercenaries.
From 1776 to 1786 they simply tried running the states as they had as colonies, but without the Royal governors. The Congress acted as a United-States equal member assembly of ambassadors...like a UN or EU does today.
By 1787 it was clear that just renaming colonies to "states" and continuing with gentry colonial government without the Royalists was not going to work.
So the US created a hybrid version of a popular assembly based on people, a member state assembly and an executive elected by that hybrid math using one purpose non politicians (the Electoral College....a congress of non government people elected just to decide on a president, then disperse)
The popular body (House of Reps) would be wilder and more innovative with short 2 year terms.
The member body would be more elder statesmen selected by the states, 2 each, to become somewhat like the Lords or Royals checking the old Colonial assemblies.
An executive that would act like a PM and King, but not be selected by the Congress of politicians, and therefore not their servant like a PM often is.
@@STho205 correct!
And "wokeness" or at least the scholarly work or ideology often assumed of being it's start or inspiration has links to Europe.
@@chickenfishhybrid44
True, but this misses the point.
I served in the U.S. Navy for 8 years, and one thing I found in my travels abroad was that when the U.S. moves, the world is swept in its wake. This is not a statement of "lol, america wrecks everyone, get rekt world" - it is a statement of fact that the U.S. public does not want to accept responsibility for. The public lives in a dream land where they can exist in isolate from global consequences for their votes in a contest of humble-flexing hedonists.
I walked in the craters of our bombs that were the result of people making stupid decisions where the media hadn't flat-out psy-opped them.
Now, one might argue that we could just humble ourselves or sabotage our own capacities - but this is no solution. The U.S. has the economic envy of the world - vast arable land reserves, pure and plentiful ores for all strategic metals and energy resources, river networks to interconnect it all, and unparallelled access to warm water coastline for ports. The U.S. has unquestionable command over the planet everywhere but Russia - which is its own heartland lacking the convenient river network and warm water shoreline, which basically means it can only be a pocket of the world able to tell us No and make us pay dearly for insisting otherwise.
Whether we want to hold this position in global politics, or not, is irrelevant. It is our responsibility to govern the use of the most powerful geostrategic location in a just and reasonable manner.
When we let insane people begin making our policies, we give them authority over the power this nation holds. Someone will always wield the power this nation holds.
If insane european turbopoor ideas start taking hold and being advanced by frauds - we have to recognize that for the power grab it is - not just an effort to rule our lives - but, more probably, an effort to rule the lives of those abroad. A single Nimitz or Ford class carrier brings with it more aircraft and ordnance than most nations have in their entire air force and one of our pilots has more flight time than all of theirs combined. Americans do not understand how fundamentally incapable most nations are of resisting us. Just look at how many assume we can dictate the outcome of the Ukrainian conflict. The cold war was over 30 years ago and most people have grown so accustomed to the U.S. walking in and doing whatever it wants that the idea the largest rival military force on the planet could possibly win on their own doorstep is discounted as their propaganda. These people are in for a rude awakening - but the point I am making is that the cost of that awakening is an extremely costly war (for all sides).
@Aim54Delta you seem to contradict your own point towards the end there? So the US is very powerful, so much so that most cannot resist US will. But everyone is in for a rude awakening? As in if the US gets into war, it's not as strong and capable as it seems? Confusing.
How are individual Americans supposed to "accept that responsibility"? I think a lot of this stuff is outside the influence of votes or similar. Doesn't mean people shouldn't still pay attention and engage, but it's not that simple.
Ironically the US is in the position it is today because Europeans couldn't stop invading and killing each other. The US might have been bound for great power status eventually anyway but WW2 and its outcomes can be linked to the US position today. People seem to forget that Americans for a long time were not interested in foreign wars and entanglements. They assume that the attitude of NeoCons of the 2000s is like the historical attitude of Americans and its not.
Idk how much I buy into the idea of the US having global responsibility and expecting the American people to ensure that the world is a nice little place for everyone or even the majority of people. I just don't think it's possible for the US to be as powerful and influential as it is and expect things to go too much differently than they have. Don't get me wrong, I think things can be improved around the edges by better leadership and a more informed public but alot of the same things I think still would have happened.
At this point, the idea of the US just disengaging from the world stage is a non starter, it's too late for that. I would like for that to be possible. I suspect alot of the foreigners that claim to want the US to do that won't actually be that happy with the consequences of that, at least in the short term.
As a Greek, I would like to inform you that this stuff are mandatory in the Greek education system at 10 . 13. 16 and 18 years old. By the end of high school, you know this stuff by heart. Great video dude
although it makes sense that it would be pushed more in greece (we do similarly here in italy for the romans), but it baffles me that its not a thing in every 'democratic' state of the western world.
But in reality, im not baffled at all. Democracy has a weakness: the competence of the masses. Distort the competence of the masses to be null, and confidence becomes the source of power instead. Which is exactly what one can observe every day everywhere the government is 'democratic'.
@@channelname1700 aparently you are though. this level of detail is not common.
@@channelname1700 you are quite special. you pledge alligience to the flag with a speech every day at school. you know who else did that? hint: they had their right arm raised.
@@channelname1700 if my country wasn't patriotic for 1000 years now we would be called spain and speak spanish.
You don't need a speech every morning to be patriotic and proud of your country.
Cheers, from Portugal.
at that time, the turks doesn't exist, so how modern greece work compare to ancient times?
It never occurred to me that the American Founding Fathers really didn't have a good understanding of ancient Greece (or Rome for that matter) as we do now.
Or, did they too well understand Greece +
Rome + their anti democratic aspects--'
self appointed. non elected side was,
combined + democratic side.
I appreciate so much that you take the time to actually learn and teach all these important and relevant topics.
Once again you made an incredible video. I never seen a better explanation of American democracy and democracy in general. I appreciate the fact that you take your time to make theses videos with care and avoid rushing them. Keep up the good work.
Subscribed for months but first time to leave a comment. Your videos are so full of concentrated knowledge that I feel guilty just watching it for free. So +1 Patreon supporter for you Ryan. Looking forward to learning more from you.
yeah same here
I wish he had subcribe star. I don't want to support Patreon
Same here, and I'll keep subscribing if I can help Ryan produce most excellent work such as this.
Your videos is remarkably thorough and well produced. Thank you, Mr. Chapman.
Thank you. I love growing my understanding of what words mean and where they come from. This is a prime example of that
You are pure gold. Discovered you last night. I’m so happy to follow you
And to echo other comments: Don't feel pressured to have an upload schedule. I think that this kind of content, as it currently stands, isn't one that can be pushed out either in mass or quickly, without losing context and quality. Keep up the great work and just know we'll be here for the next one, regardless!
This channel is a treasure.
Enjoy your videos, as always, Ryan. You can see the amount of research you invest and the level of quality you strive for. It's also great to hear about politics and government without feeling like there's an angle or bias.
Keep up the great work.
Yes. It is so refreshing to strip the machine down so we can understand what it is supposed to do instead of just using hot takes and sound bytes. Love it!
The only problem with a new Ryan Chapman video is that I hunger for more once it's done. Stellar work as usual. Both your topics and angles of approaching them never fail to be thorough and fascinating.
discovered you today, subscribed, and recommended your content to several of my friends. your thoroughness is matched by the markings of a great teacher who not only understands the material but is able to present it in a way that is digestible, not to mention the great production value (special mention to the choice of music and your voice as well as speaking style which is soothing, easy to listen to, and makes you want to listen).
This video should be a mandatory viewing for the youth of this nation. Outstanding video!!!
I haven't watched a single second of the video but I know it's gonna be an absolute banger
Absolute banger 10/10
Funny that I checked your channel about 2 days ago, to see if I had the notifications on. Can't wait to have some time to watch this one!
Whooo! An amazing video Ryan, and deeply informative. Thank you so much for taking the time to make these videos and further our understanding of the systems we live in, as well as those that have come before.
Another masterclass Ryan. Glad to be a patron and support such fascinating work. Thank you
I learn more spending 45 minutes on your channel then I did in 4 years of highschool
For me it’s a high school refresher
Your hs was way better than mine
You never cease to amaze me with your great work. Big love ❤
This channel should be high school curriculum
@@thr33shadows
Agreed. High school and college. Wonderful content. Thank you,.
Always a good day when Ryan uploads. Thanks bro
You have been checking me for about a year and a half now. You have made it more likely for older folks to listen. Thanks!
This was really well done! Thank you for taking the time to do this.
It's strange, in school I was never interested in history, but you somehow make it interesting (despite a relatively dry presentation). The only other channel that does that for me is Kraut. Both upload very rarely, but when they do it's a treat!
I think alot of this is simply maturity. I was somewhat interested in history in school but looking back it's so easy to see how distracted I was talking or how I just couldn't or wouldn't give the lessons my undivided attention like they deserved. As I've gotten older I've become much more interested and obviously better able to focus. As they say, youth is wasted on the young.
I have yet to watch, but you’re one of the few UA-camrs that gets me excited when I see a video uploaded. I will definitely make a donation with the work you put into your content and the value I get from them. A more thoughtful comment later for the algo, cheers!
This quickly became one of my favourite youtube channels, thank you!
So great to see a new video from Ryan, today. Thank you!
I cannot stress how deeply and profoundly I appreciate the quality of your work. This world needs more people like you.
Another spectacular video Ryan, your work is important👍
I found this channel by mistake. It’s one of the best on UA-cam. Well made and informative
Hi Ryan! I wrote this response to your comment on Metatron's video. I'm a huge fan of you both, and I'm convinced there was just a misunderstanding. I have the greatest admiration for both of you as academic scholars, so my hope is to encourage a possible reconciliation.
Like I wrote in that thread, it was I who recommended this video to my friend Metatron (his given name is Raffaello). He had nearly finished his video, and asked me a few questions on Classical Greek terms and how they are pronounced in Ancient Greek.
Having seen your video come out recently, I mentioned to Metatron that he might want to take a look at your excellent work, as he wasn't aware of your channel. I thought this was an especially good idea for him to do, since his video was going to cover a lot of the same material. Due to the fact that he had researched similar resources, Metatron indeed had already made similar comparisons as yourself, but only because these comparisons are ultimately self-evident.
I would argue that ancient vs. modern democracy is well-tread material that is repeated so often in academia that the major points have become famous memes (in the pre-Internet sense of the term); for example, that Pericles quote was in my college textbook, and also occurs in the Ancient Greek language textbook I teach my students with. In my judgement, knowing the the man, and with the evidence at hand, it's my estimation that there was no plagiarism involved. Moreover, the fact that Metatron wanted to credit you and your video in his (at 8 min 50 sec), quoting your excellently phrased sentence, and encouraged his audience to see your video and subscribe to your channel, with the link to your video in the description, demonstrates to me that everything here was done in good faith. I could be wrong - but you might want to reach out to Raffaello to hear his side.
If you watch more videos by Metraton, you'll see that this video of his is one of countless similar comparisons. In fact, the video you commented on is episode 3 in a series about Ancient Greece that he had long planned. Actually, I find it remarkbale that both you and Metatron covered the same topic, a topic that has been done to death in the academic world for centuries (and rightly so due to its importance), yet your videos are so strikingly different, and you each reveal different important parts of the story. The similarities come from the fact that there are only so many facts and points of comparison. Being a scholar of Ancient Greece myself, I was very pleased to have learned new things, and different things, from each of you.
So if you get the chance to read this, I would encourage you to write a private email directly to Metatron, as he is a rigorous academic with an open heart, so you can hash out what I perceive to be a simple misunderstanding.
If my comment does not meet you well, then please forgive my butting in. I look forward to your future videos, as your essays have been extraordinarily informative to me, and I recommend them widely. Thanks again for such extraordinarily insightful research. My very best to you, sir.
- Luke Ranieri
Thank you for the clarification! I did not see this reply over on his video. I wasn’t familiar with his content and from the first 5 minutes felt like I was watching my own video. It was similar enough that I assumed plagiarism was happening. I’ve since looked at more of his content and realized it was mostly just a coincidence. I tried to reach out to him privately to make amends but he doesn’t have an email address on here or Twitter dms open. If you’re in touch with him tell him sorry for the misunderstanding, and best of luck on his work. I deleted my comment on his vid.
Democracy as it was implemented in Athens, even for a few decades, despite so many adversities on the part of the oligarchs, is truly admirable because it had no role model. First time where knowledge left the monopoly of the priests and became the property of the whole people. First time that the people had gleiche freie Meinungsäußerung gleich der Präfektur This free expression that gave birth to philosophy, art, theater, comedy. For the first time in human affairs where the citizen elects the judicial, executive and legislative power. The citizen judges and he votes, but mainly Abolishes the laws that don't concern him. But also in the economy we have innovations that mark the world to this day. We have the first property management funds. The famous sophist Antisthenes and Pasion were such managers. We have the first financial contracts, the first option, which involved the construction and transport trade of ships. We have due to geography and the autonomy of the of states with their own currencies, the first official monetary exchange rates. We have a modern economic legislation where specialized legal offices offer their services, e.g. Lysias
We care for the poor and the weak with a secular institutionalization. We have a first time and we are asking for the unifying responsibility of the municipal assembly from all the officials
You set for the first time the citizens of the Municipal Assembly to judge
Do not allow any civil punishment by any official without a court of law and without a lawyer
In the courts, the accused were able to decide on their own the punishment they deserved
Socrates could choose redemption or exile, but he did not prefer it
@@realryanchapman This video felt a lot like my grade 10 and 11 (2010-2011) high school history classes. I think the ideas and framing in this video are so widespread that there is extremely little room for originality in them, just differences in the amount of depth presenters/teachers go into on each topic.
I'm binge watching your videos. I even recommended it to my colleagues. Keep up the good work.
Nice job! I loved the way you put your source for each point in the box in the corner of the screen.
Been following for a while. Really appreciate the objective analysis and I’d like to commend your constantly increasing production value. Keep it up 🙏
You're great! Please, keep releasing more videos. Theres no one delivering the kind of quality content that you do.
Haven’t watched this yet, but super excited for your video, always so knowledgeable 😊❤❤🎉
You make this platform better with your work Ryan. Thank you.
I screenshot every book you show and add it to my reading list, best channel.
Thank you Ryan for this. Keen the videos coming! They are all great!
Another insightful video Ryan.
Time well spent. Thank you for illuminating this topic.
Very excited to watch this!
Another quality Ryan Chapman vid
Ryan your videos are such bangers.
Your content is truly refreshing.
Speaking about democracy!!!!! it would be intriguing to see you do a video on norms and how it limits our freedom
I don't know how much you Americans discuss on domestic Internet or television channels about this philosophy, but we Chinese discuss a lot. Thank you for your in-depth devotion.
I wish I had these videos were available in HS. I found my classes boring and inevitably difficult. These lectures actually make each time come life. I want to know more.
Great video man, very well produced !!!!
Excellent work. Thank you. I missed some details so I’ll be watching it again soon. I’ll also be sharing it.
Thanks for another great video. I learned a lot.
Thank you for your insightful coverage regarding the history of democracy... an important topic in these days of political polarism. Your historical background of this politic of the people is very interesting and educational
Very interesting and informative. Excellent explanation, description, discussion and appropriate supporting quotes.
Phenomenal work Ryan! Thank you!
As always your videos are an education. This one stands out as one of your best and one that absolutely necessary. Keep up thd good work!
Chapman is the only guy on YT I have the notifications on for
Very interesting. Great work Ryan!
Awesome work brother, I really appreciate your genuine commentary
Ryan, you are by far one of the best creators on this platform. Incredible work. Do you do everything by yourself or do you have a team of researchers?
Very happy to have you back!
It should be noted that why Athenians loved Democracy and many cities alied to them , but there wery many Greek states who did not think highly of democracy
Many were Oligarchy Corinth
Mix like Sparta (Kings , election , lottery and aristocracy in one system )
Monarchies like Epirus and Macedonia who had Kings
Many Democraties also fallen to Tyrants , one man rule , Athens themself once . So some Athenians dint particulary liked Democracy like Socrates believing it was vulnerable to Demagogs who could establish themselfs as Tyrants
Your videos are excellent and always worth the wait!! 🙌
THIs Content, My Friend, should be played and taught "Word for Word" In EVERY Public Civics Class (Beginning in the First Grade) Thanks You for its Clarity and Simplicity.... THIS id What I was Taught as early as I I Remember and NEVER Forgot. TODAY They Learn NONE of This Most Important Subject of OUR HISTORY. Thanks, my friend. Keep up the Great Content
I learnned little about history at school! In my mind if your interested enough in ANY subject you will spend your life studying.I am self-taught, and consider this the best option for overall knowledge!I am 64, and am still self studying! School is just for the basics, not every person wants to be smart😂
Learned a lot thanks man!
Love the way you make it so simple to understand. Keep it up.
Incredible video!
Thanks a lot for the information, you clearly spent a lot of time working on this (as you do all your videos).
Awesome video. Your content is always top Notch, but the video format this Time Is really good to watch Also. Thank you for this analysis.
I really enjoyed this video.
Keep up the great work Ryno!
Excellent concise yet comprehensive exposition.
Very good video. Well done. More of this kind of stuff
great job
Love that you used Will Durant as one of your sources, he is such a great historian!
Awesome video, very engaging and informative. Subscribed!
great channel, top notch 1% quality A-list level content
Honey wake up. New Ryan Chapman video
I’ll take great date ideas for $600
Love This. Thankyou so much for putting together
Nice work!
Very interesting Video. Thankyou❤️
Ryan - amazing work as usual. I think the British philosophers were also deeply inspired the Bible and the rule of ancient Israel that was composed of a king, prophets, judges and priests. The elders of the tribes also played a role. I wonder if you'll ever consider working on this. Yours from Jerusalem
Love this.
I like your presentations! Concise in form, accurate in fact and easy to understand. Keep it up !
Started the video, thinking I’d click away soon. Watched the whole thing through. Your level of understanding of historical and political subjects is something I aspire to attain.
Thank you for this video.
Another great video. Keep up the critical thinking and analysis!
What a great content! very well made and written video! Thank you! that was really good
Good to see you back !
Glad I was recommended another video from you, now I'm subscribed.
Such a great channel
Amazing topic
Big refresher of high school history concepts but you put it in an easier to grasp way. Thx for the vid bud! 😊
Awesome work (as always) Mr. Chapman. Thank you for making the world a bit better by shining a light of clarity on topics often poorly understood by the masses
MOM! New Ryan Chapman just came out
All of the ancient greek cities had interesting forms of governance. Sparta is also very interesting and unique.
Sparta has many parallels to the USA. Violently militaristic and Xenophobic, society run by slavers and pedophiles.
Yes, it is. Lots of slavery and inequity. Lots of lies and propaganda. And the reason that most people love sparta up until now is the movie 300. Which is not historicaly accurate and insulting (I'm Persian btw so you can't imagine how hurtful it's for me to watch that movie)
If you study about them, you completely lose hope in sparta. Athens Macedon and Boeotian league are more interesting states in greece than Sparta In every aspect. Military vise Athens had the best navy and Biotian league had the bravest warriors. The Boeotian league had a until called sacred band which all of the men in it were lovers (they were gey). So they fought to death to defend their loved ones and when they lost their lover in battle,they fought until they die too.
Spartans were good at propaganda in other hands, they were good at making their positive features bold and their weaknesses insignificant and forgotten in history. That's their only feature.
If you imagine ancient Greece like a school, Athens is like the Smart kid who has bright ideas but is not talking much, Boeotian league is like a big strong guy who had some trauma so he doesn't talk with anyone. And Sparta is the guy who is completely normal and average in every aspect, but he won't shut up about his small achievements and brag and lies to everyone to get attention. So everyone thinks that he is so cool so everyone will respect him.😂
My third lecture today my brain is full of thought Thank You, Dennis
Ryan, this is a fantastic comparative study. Thank you for sharing your sources, that is rare for content curators. I also found your connection between American political values and property especially insightful.