Social Studies Grade 7 Week of 4-6-20 1. Log Onto Clever with Your

Home , Boule (ancient Greece), Greek democracy, History of democracy, Liturgy (ancient Greece), Notion (ancient city)

Social Studies Grade 7

Week of 4-6-20

1. Log onto Clever with your BPS username and password. 2. Log into Newsela 3. Copy and paste this link into your browser: https://newsela.com/subject/other/2000220316

4. Complete the readings and assignments listed.

If you can’t access the articles through Newsela, they are saved as PDFs under the Grade 7 Social Studies folder on the BPSMA Learning Resources Site. They are:

• Democracy: A New Idea in Ancient Greece • Ancient Greece: Democracy is Born • Green Influence on U.S. Demoracy

Complete the following:

Directions: Read the three articles in the text set. Remember, you can change the reading level to what is most comfortable for you. While reading, use the following protocols:

Handling changes in your life is an important skill to gain, especially during these times. Use the following supports to help get the most out of these texts.

Highlight in PINK any words in the text you do not understand.

Highlight in BLUE anything that you have a question about. Write an annotation to ask your question.

(You can highlight right in the article. Click on the word or text with your mouse. Once you let go of the mouse, the highlight/annotation box will appear on your right. You can choose the color of the highlight and write a note or question in the annotation box).

Pre-Reading Activity:

KWL: Complete the KWL Chart to keep your information organized. You may use the one below or create your own on a piece of paper. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1OUDVcJA6hjcteIhpA0f5ssvk28WNBhlK/view

Post-Reading Activity: After reading the articles, complete a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the democracy of Ancient Greece and the United States. You may use this Venn Diagram https://www.eduplace.com/graphicorganizer/pdf/venn.pdf or you may create your own on a piece of paper. In the LEFT CIRCLE, write down information about the democracy in Ancient Greece.

In the RIGHT CIRCLE write down information about the democracy in the United States.

In the MIDDLE, write down information about democracy that is similar to BOTH Ancient Greece and the United States.

Daily Journal Prompt: After reading some the texts in this set, respond to the following question:

1) There are many similarities and differences between the democracy of Ancient Greece and the democracy of the United States today. Describe two similarities and two differences between the democracy in Ancient Greece and the democracy in the United States. Use evidence from the articles to support your claims.

Art Extension:

1) Based on the information in the articles, draw a picture or create a poster of democracy in action.

Ancient Greece: Democracy is born By USHistory.org, adapted by Newsela staff on 04.05.17 Word Count 561 Level MAX

Image 1. An illustration of the agora of Athens in Ancient Greece. The agora was a large open space in the center of the city. The assembly meetings of early Greek democracy took place here. Photo by DeAgostini/Getty Images

Ancient Greece was made up of several small city-states, including Athens and Sparta. Democracy began in Athens around 500 B.C. when democracy began. The citizens of Athens were given the right to vote.

Not everyone in Athens was considered a citizen, however. Only free, adult men enjoyed the rights and responsibility of citizenship. That meant only about 20 percent of the population of Athens were citizens. Women were not citizens and therefore could not vote or have any say in the political process. They were rarely permitted out in public and were even restricted as to where they could be within their own homes. Slaves and foreigners were not citizens, either, and also could not participate in the democracy. In the end, democracy existed only for the free men who were originally from Athens.

A Worthy Contribution

Nevertheless, the idea of democratic government is one of the most significant contributions of the ancient Greeks. The city-state of Athens had one of the largest democracies in terms of population.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Early in Athens' history (around 594 B.C.), a man named Solon enacted reforms that helped reduce the growing gap between the rich and the poor. Poor citizens gained the right to sit in the assembly and to vote.

Later, Cleisthenes expanded the democracy by giving every citizen equal rights. He also created a legislative body whose members were picked randomly from the general population of citizens.

Typically, the citizens of Athens would gather in the agora when there was an assembly meeting. The agora, a fixture of every major Greek city-state, was a large open space in the middle of the city-state that contained a marketplace as well as government buildings. There, citizens would mingle and discuss the issues of the day before gathering for the assembly meeting. During the meeting, citizens were free to express their opinions and cast their votes.

The courts, too, were usually in the agora. The juries in court cases were very large, often numbering in the hundreds and sometimes in the thousands. To be fair, Athenians wanted their juries to reflect the general population. There were no lawyers. Each citizen was expected to make his own case.

In Athens, the people governed, and the majority ruled. All citizens had equal rights and powers. Athenian democracy depended on every citizen fulfilling his role. All citizens were expected to vote, but they were also expected to serve in the government if necessary. Every citizen was required to participate or suffer punishment. This practice stands in stark contrast to modern democratic governments in which citizens can choose whether or not they wish to participate. In Athenian democracy, all citizens pulled their weight.

In a city-state as small as Athens, a pure democracy was possible. As states grew larger, the notion of electing representatives to make decisions for the public became more practical. But the idea that every citizen has a voice important enough to be heard originated in ancient Athens.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Quiz

1 Read the summary below. Choose the answer that BEST fits into the blank to complete the summary.

The first democracy began 2,500 years ago in Athens, Greece, but not everyone was able to participate in democracy. Early in the history of democracy, Solon tried to help poor citizens get the right to vote and Cleisthenes later gave all citizens in Athens equal rights.

______.

In contrast to the Athenian idea of requiring citizens to participate in government, modern democracies let their citizens choose to vote and many elect representatives to make decisions for them.

Which answer BEST completes the summary?

(A) During that time, people came together in agoras to discuss important ideas and all citizens were expected to vote.

(B) During that time, people were randomly chosen to be lawmakers and the gap between the rich and poor closed.

(D) During that time, people got the right to sit on the assembly and the government of Athens became the largest democracy ever.

2 Read the paragraph that follows the introduction [paragraphs 1-2].

Nevertheless, the idea of democratic government is one of the most significant contributions of the ancient Greeks. The city-state of Athens had one of the largest democracies in terms of population.

What is the relationship between the introduction [paragraphs 1-2] and the paragraph that follows the introduction in the article?

(A) The introduction explains how democracy was created in Athens and the following paragraph explains how democracy spread widely throughout the population of the city-state of Athens.

(B) The introduction explains how democracy excluded many people in Athens and the following paragraph explains that the idea of democracy was still important despite being imperfect.

(C) The introduction explains who was not considered a citizen in Athens and the following paragraph explains how they could still participate in the democracy of Greece.

(D) The introduction explains where the idea of the first democracy came from and the following paragraph lists all of the ways ancient Greeks have contributed to the spread of democracy.

3 Which sentence from the article highlights the idea that democracy has changed since it began in Athens 2,500 years ago?

(A) In a city-state as small as Athens, a pure democracy was possible.

(B) All citizens were expected to vote, but they were also expected to serve in the government if necessary.

(C) As states grew larger, the notion of electing representatives to make decisions for the public became more practical.

(D) But the idea that every citizen has a voice important enough to be heard originated in ancient Athens.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. 4 Read the sentence below.

In Athenian democracy, all citizens pulled their weight.

Which piece of evidence BEST explains how Athenians pulled their weight in dealing with court cases?

(A) Typically, the citizens of Athens would gather in the agora when there was an assembly meeting.

(B) There, citizens would mingle and discuss the issues of the day before gathering for the assembly meeting.

(D) The juries in court cases were very large, often numbering in the hundreds and sometimes in the thousands.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Democracy: A New Idea in Ancient Greece By History.com, adapted by Newsela staff on 01.25.17 Word Count 887 Level 1150L

A painting of the city of Athens showing the buildings ordered built by the ruler Pericles. It was painted by Leo von Klenze in 1846 and is called "Reconstruction of the Acropolis and Areus Pagus in Athens."

In the year 507 B.C., the Athenian leader Cleisthenes introduced a system of political reforms that he called demokratia, or “rule by the people.” This system was comprised of three separate institutions: the ekklesia, a governing body that wrote laws and dictated foreign policy; the boule, a council of representatives from the ten Athenian tribes; and the dikasteria, the popular courts in which citizens argued cases before a group of lottery-selected jurors. Although this Athenian democracy would survive for only two centuries, Cleisthenes’ invention was one of ancient Greece’s most enduring contributions to the modern world.

"Equality before the law"

“In a democracy,” the Greek historian Herodotus wrote, “there is, first, that most splendid of virtues, equality before the law.” It was true that Cleisthenes’ demokratia abolished the political distinctions between the Athenian aristocrats who had long controlled the political decision- making process and the middle- and working-class people who made up the army and the navy. However, the “equality” Herodotus described was limited to a small portion of the Athenian population. For example, in Athens in the middle of the fourth century there were about 100,000

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. citizens, about 10,000 metoikoi, or “resident foreigners,” and 150,000 slaves. Out of all those people, only male citizens who were older than 18 were a part of the demos. In other words, only about 40,000 people could participate in the democratic process.

The ekklesia

Athenian democracy was made up of three important institutions. The first was the ekklesia, or Assembly, the governing body of Athens. Any member of the demos – any one of those 40,000 adult male citizens – was welcome to attend the meetings of the ekklesia, which were held 40 times per year in a hillside auditorium called the Pnyx. (Only about 5,000 men attended each session of the Assembly; the rest were serving in the army or navy or working to support their families.) At the meetings, the ekklesia made decisions about war and foreign policy, wrote and revised laws and approved or condemned the conduct of public officials. (The ekklesia had the power to ostracize citizens, or expel them from the Athenian city-state for 10 years.) The group made decisions by simple majority vote.

The boule

The second important institution was the boule, or Council of Five Hundred. The boule was a group of 500 men, 50 from each of 10 Athenian tribes, who served on the Council for one year. Unlike the ekklesia, the boule met every day and did most of the hands-on work of governance. It supervised government workers and was in charge of things like navy ships and army horses. It dealt with ambassadors and representatives from other city-states. Its main function was to decide what matters would come before the ekklesia. In this way, the 500 members of the boule determined how the entire democracy would work.

Positions on the boule were chosen by lottery and not by election. This was because, in theory, a random lottery was more democratic than an election. Pure chance, after all, could not be influenced by things like money or popularity. The lottery system also prevented the establishment of a permanent class of civil servants who might be tempted to use the government to advance or enrich themselves. However, historians argue that selection to the boule was not always just a matter of chance. They note that wealthy and influential people – and their relatives – served on the council much more frequently than would be likely in a truly random lottery.

The dikasteria

The third important institution was the dikasteria, or the popular courts. Every day, more than 500 jurors were chosen by lottery from a pool of male citizens older than 30. The philosopher Aristotle argued that of all the democratic institutions, the dikasteria “contributed most to the strength of democracy” because the jury had almost unlimited power. There were no police in Athens, so it was the demos themselves who brought court cases, argued for the prosecution and the defense, and delivered verdicts and sentences by majority rule. There were also no rules about what kinds of cases could be prosecuted or what could and could not be said at trial. Athenian citizens frequently used the dikasteria to punish or embarrass their enemies.

Jurors were paid a wage for their work, so that the job could be accessible to everyone and not just the wealthy. (However, since the wage was less than what the average worker earned in a day, the typical juror was an elderly retiree.) Since Athenians did not pay taxes, the money for these payments came from customs duties, contributions from allies and taxes paid by the metoikoi. The

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. one exception to this rule was the leitourgia, or liturgy. This was a kind of tax that wealthy people volunteered to pay to support major undertakings such as the maintenance of a navy ship or a performance at the city’s annual festival.

The end of Athenian democracy

Around 460 B.C., under the rule of the general Pericles, Athenian democracy started to change. It began to develop into what would today be called an aristocracy, the rule of what Herodotus called "the one man, the best." Though democratic ideals and processes did not survive in ancient Greece, they have been influencing politicians and governments ever since.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Quiz

1 Aristotle would be MOST likely to agree with which of the following statements?

(A) A jury of the people is needed to uphold a powerful democracy.

(B) The dikasteria had too much power in Athenian democracy.

(D) Governments must charge taxes to support important programs.

2 Which two groups in Athenian democracy had the power to punish people for their conduct?

(A) the metoikoi and the boule

(B) the boule and the ekklesia

(D) the dikasteria and the metoikoi

3 A reader of the article suggested that the author included the section "Equality before the law" in order into suggest that Athenian democracy was NOT completely equal.

Is this accurate? Which line from the section supports your answer?

(A) No; “in a democracy,” the Greek historian Herodotus wrote, “there is, first, that most splendid of virtues, equality before the law.”

(B) Yes; however, the “equality” Herodotus described was limited to a small portion of the Athenian population.

(C) Yes; for example, in Athens in the middle of the fourth century there were about 100,000 citizens, about 10,000 metoikoi, or “resident foreigners, and 150,000 slaves.

(D) No; out of all those people, only male citizens who were older than 18 were a part of the demos.

4 Read the following paragraph from the article.

What does this paragraph accomplish?

(A) It refutes the idea that the ekklesia had the power to expel citizens from the city-state.

(B) It illustrates the processes that were used to select members of the Council of Five Hundred.

(D) It shows that the primary powers of governing and decision-making were concentrated in the boule.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Greek influence on U.S. democracy By National Geographic Society, adapted by Newsela staff on 06.14.19 Word Count 864 Level 1040L

_The United States has a complex political system. The central element of this system is democracy, a form of government in which the ultimate power rests with the people. In the case of the United States, that power is exercised indirectly, through elected representatives. Although the United States has been a strong promoter of democracy, we did not invent it. The true pioneers of democracy were the ancient Greeks. As the article below shows, the men who designed the structure of the U.S. government were heavily influenced by ancient Greek political thought. The democratic form of government they developed was in many ways modeled on ancient Greek democracy. _

After declaring independence from England in 1776, the founders of the United States had a unique opportunity to create a government of their choosing. To guide their decisions, they looked to what they considered the best examples of government throughout world history. Ancient Greece's system of democratic self-government soon became their primary inspiration. It provided an example that greatly influenced how the founding fathers constructed the new U.S. government.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Prior to independence, the East Coast of what is today the United States was divided into 13 separate colonies. The founders of the United States decided to keep the country divided into states rather than dissolving the colonial boundaries. They did this so that each region could be governed at a local level, with a national government acting as an authority over all. These 13 colonies would become the first states of the newly established country.

50 City-States

A U.S. state resembles the structure of an ancient Greek polis, or city-state. A polis was composed of a city center and the land surrounding it. Major city-states included Athens, Sparta, Corinth, Thebes and Syracuse. For the most part, these city-states acted independently. However, they also sometimes banded together to defend Greece from foreign invaders.

The ancient Greeks also pioneered the key democratic concept of the Rule of Law. This idea came from the philosopher Aristotle's belief in natural law. He claimed that there were certain essential rights based in nature, which stood above the laws written by humans. Aristotle believed government should be guided by natural law.

In the United States today, the Rule of Law is a core principle. It ensures that all laws are equally enforced and independently judged, and that they meet international human rights standards. The Rule of Law is important because it allows all individuals and institutions — including the government itself — to be held accountable for their actions. It prevents abuses of power by leaders who might consider themselves above the law.

A Common Standard

The written constitution was another important ancient Greek concept that influenced the formation of our own government. Aristotle recorded the Athenian constitution and gathered together the laws of many other Greek city-states. Having a written constitution creates a common standard as to how people should behave and what rules they must follow. It also establishes clear processes by which people who break the law are judged and by which those who are harmed can be given justice.

Our own U.S. Constitution is a key part of our political system. It lays out the government's structure and how its different parts relate to one another and balance each other's power. The U.S. Constitution acts as the supreme law of the land. It establishes individual citizens' rights, such as the right to free speech or the right to a trial by a jury of one's peers.

The original U.S. voting system had some similarities with that of Athens. In Athens, every citizen could speak his mind and vote at a large assembly that met to create laws. Citizens were elected to special councils to serve as organizers, decision-makers and judges. However, the only people considered citizens were males over the age of 18. Women, slaves and conquered peoples could not vote or serve on councils.

The founders of the United States similarly believed that only certain people should be allowed to vote and elect officials. They chose to structure the United States as a representative democracy. This means that citizens elect officials, such as senators and representatives, who vote on behalf of the citizens they represent in Congress. It also means that instead of each individual citizen voting for a president directly, a body called the Electoral College officially casts the votes of each state for president. As in Athens, when the United States was founded not all people were allowed to vote.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Only white, landowning men had that right. Over time, however, all U.S. citizens over the age of 18 have gained the right to vote.

A Means For Human Rights

The principles underlying ancient Greek democracy are still in use today. The United States and many other countries throughout the world have adopted democratic government to give a voice to their people. Democracy provides citizens the opportunity to elect officials to represent them, and it makes all citizens equals under the law. Today we have the Greeks to thank for introducing democracy and the Rule of Law. Both provide people around the world with a means for protecting their human rights.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com. Quiz

1 Read the paragraph from the section "50 City-States."

What conclusion is BEST supported by the paragraph above?

(A) The Rule of Law is the central idea guiding many of the rights and judgments we follow today.

(B) The Rule of Law is inconsistently enforced when it comes to holding the government accountable.

(D) Aristotle wanted to create a system of government that would survive for hundreds of years after his death.

2 Read the following statement.

The Greek model of representative democracy means that there are limits placed on the power of the people to make decisions.

Which sentence from the article provides the BEST support for the above statement?

(A) They did this so that each region could be governed at a local level, with a national government acting as an authority over all.

(B) Citizens were elected to special councils to serve as organizers, decision-makers and judges.

(C) This means that citizens elect officials, such as senators and representatives, who vote on behalf of the citizens they represent in Congress.

(D) Democracy provides citizens the opportunity to elect officials to represent them, and it makes all citizens equals under the law.

3 According to the article, why did the founders of the United States copy the structure of the ancient Greek polis?

(A) They wanted each potential state to be composed of a central city with a wider circle of land surrounding it.

(B) They wanted the colonies to become states that could govern themselves locally under wider national laws.

(D) They wanted the body called the Electoral College to officially cast the votes of each state for president.

4 Why was the concept of a written constitution central to the formation of the U.S. government?

(A) It illustrated that the ideas for national laws should be gathered from the states.

(B) It eliminated special councils where citizens had to serve as organizers or judges.

(D) It meant that only males over the age of 18 had the right to vote in the early years.

This article is available at 5 reading levels at https://newsela.com.