Loyola University Chicago Loyola eCommons Master's Theses Theses and Dissertations 1957 An Historical Comparison of the Federal Constitutions of the Achaean League and the United States of America William Henry Hogan Loyola University Chicago Follow this and additional works at: https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses Part of the History Commons Recommended Citation Hogan, William Henry, "An Historical Comparison of the Federal Constitutions of the Achaean League and the United States of America " (1957). Master's Theses. 1398. https://ecommons.luc.edu/luc_theses/1398 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses and Dissertations at Loyola eCommons. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses by an authorized administrator of Loyola eCommons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. Copyright © 1957 William Henry Hogan AX HISTORICAL COMPARISOW OF THE FEDERAL CONSTITUTIONS OF THE AOBAlWl LEAGUE OD THE Ul'ITED STATES OF AMERICA By Wl1li.. Senry Bog .., S.J. A Thesls Submitted to the Faoulty of the Graduate Sohool of Loyola University ln Partlal Fulfillment ot the Requlre.eate tor the Degree ot Xaster ot Arts Deoe.ber 195'7 VITA AUCTORIS William Henry Hogan, S.J. was born 1n Chicago, Ill1nola, December 20, 1929. ae was graduated frQm St. Ignat1us H1gh School, Ch1cago, Ill1nois, June, 1947. In August of the same year be entered the Bovitiate of the Sacred Heart, M11tord, Oh10, a. attl1iate ot xavier Un1verlity. In the summer ot 1951 he was traasterred to W.st Bade. College where he received hls degree ot Bachelor ot Arts ln June, 1952 tra. Loyola Un1versity. Dur1ng the years ot 1954 to 1957 he taught Greek and Hlstory of Modern Europe at 8t. Ignatius H1gh School, Chicago, Illlnols. ii TABLI OF COI'TEftS Cbapt.~ Page I. fBE OaIOII ABD GROWTH OF THE ACHAEAI LEAGUE •••••••••• 1 Early Hlatory ot Achaea - Barly Union amGag the oltlea - Aohaea durlng the PeloponaeeiaD War - Tyranny ot abaeron at F.llen. - Aonaea under the aucc.aaora - Final dieaolution ot the old League - Twelve original citiea - Traoea of tederal aotlon under the old League - Beginninga of the revived League - Ext.nelon of the Leagu. to all Aohae.­ Qul.t and peaceful growth of the League. II. ACBAEA. A FEDERAL OIIO••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• l? Probable enactment of the Pederal Oonatitution olraca 2?4 B.O. - D•• ocratic Oo.atitutl•• of the Leagu. - Difterenc.a b.tw.en Aoha.aa and Atheniaa 4eaooraoy - Independence ot the ••veral oltlea - 'e.4.aole. to aa.lml1ation amoDC th..... b.r. ot the VnloD both 1a Aoha.a and the Unlted Stat•• - Th. League really a natlonal government - Bo ladepend.nt dlploaatl0 aotlon 1& the •• veral oltlea. comparlaon with America - Partlcular embaaaiea by 110ence ot the feder.l government. 'j III. HISTORIOAL COMPARISOI': PART 1 •••••••••••••••••••••••• 32 The Aaaembly ot the League - Ariatocractio Ele.ent In Aoha.a - Oontralt wlth Ath.na - Achaean Oonati­ tutlon a near.r approaoh to Amerloan Conatltution· Arlatooratl0 element. ln the governmenta of Aohae. and the Unlted Statea - Practioal demooratl0 ele­ meata • Methods of voting ln Achae. and the Unlt.d State. - Short and untr.quent meetings of the .a­ aembly - Place of me.tlng. iii 1 ... IV. HISTORIOAL COMPARISOK: PART 11 ••••••••••••••••••••••• 45 The Achaean magistrate. torm a "gover.nment" - Com­ parison with America - Pederal oftlce. ot the Aohaean League - The Pre.ident or General - Com­ pari.on with the President ot the United Stat •• - CloBer approach to the Engli.h Iyatem - Memberl ot the government necessarily wealthy men - Unre­ atrained power or the Oeneral in war - Comparilon with the Prelident ot the United State. - Pre.iden­ tial interregnum - Question ot re-eleotion ot the President - Aohaean Oeneral incapable or immediate re-election - The Senate. v. OO.OLUSIO•••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• 63 General comparilon between the Achaean League and the United States - DittereDoes - Analogies aDd diversltie. in the poaition ot the Preaident - Aohaea the more demooratio in theory aDd America in practice - The American Oonstitutioa not a conacious imitation of the Achaean - Remarkable treatment ot the Achaean League in the Federaliat - ..biT's aocount ot the League tollowed bT the American writers - An unconscious likene.a to the ancient parallel more valuable than a oonscious one. BIBLIOGRAPIlY •••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• • '15 CHAPTER I THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF THE ACHAEAN LEAGUE Amoag the oitle. of Greeoe whloh had beoome di.ualted through Maoedoalan influenoe were the oltle. ot the Peloponn•• ian Aohaea. It the half mythloal hi.tory ot the Dorlan migratl0. may oe tru.ted, the Aohaeans ot P.lopo.... u. were tne only lndepen­ dent remnant ot that mighty raoe whloh, under the Pelopld Klngs of Myoenae, had ruled over many 1.landa and all Argos.l The Aohaeana flll the most promlnent plaoe 1n the Greeoe of Hom.r and ln the Greeoe of Polyblus, but ln the Greeoe of Thuoydlde. they are utterly insianlfloant. Polyblus, wlth a oommendable national prlde, oolleot••• veral lnstaaoe. to .how that, if they were In.lgnlfloant In power, they were at. least h1ghly r •• peoted for ~prlght and honorable deallng. 10 people ln Greeoe bore a hlgher oharacter elther for dlsoretlon or for good falth, and th.y were More than onoe oalled upon to aot as medlators 1n the dissenslons of more powerful .tates.S lEamer, Th. Illad, tr. A.T. Murray, (Loeb Classloal Llbrary), (New York, 19!§j, I, S, 108. 2polyblu., The Hlstorles, tr. W.R. Paton, (Loeb Classloal Llbrary), (lew tOii, 102'), II, 41. 1 2 That Achaea then conta1ned twelve citie., democratically governed, and un1ted by lome sort of tederal tie, admite ot no doubt.3 But, as in the case of moat of theee early Greek tede­ rationa, ao detailed account of the old Achaean Constltution exlsta. There is, however, no reason tor the supposltion that it was a religious rather than a polltical uaion, a mere amphic­ tyony to the temple of Poeeidon at Helioe.4 The whole history showe that a real federal union existed among th.. , and that, eveD then, the League eomet~el extended itaelf to take in citiea beyond the atrict limita ot Achaea. Early in the fourth century betore Christ the Aetolian town ot Calydon ia not only found an Aohaean possesaion, but admltted to the rights of Achaean citizen­ ahip and, oonlequently, enjoying all the political rights and 3~e~ia~~aBY st, O~~OXpB~{BV ~~v ~oAI~e{Bv. AOI~&V ~e ~O~, ~~~, xp6vou, ~lxp, ~~, AAe~dvOpou x~l .IA(~~OU OuvB~t{a' aAAo~e ~~v aAA~' 4x~el ~d ~pdy~a~'a6~o,' xa~B~a, ~ep,~dal", ~& ye ~~v XOIV&V ~OA(~tU~ xaed~ep e(p~a~ev, !v O~~oxpa~{q auv'XCIv l~e,p~v~o. ~oG~o O'~V 4x OOOatxa X&At~~V. They changed thelr government to a democracy. Atter th18, down to the reigna ot Alexander and Phl1ip, their tortunes varied accor41ng to oircumstanoes, but they always endeavoured, as I aaid to keep their League a demooraoy. Thia oonsiated of twelve cities. Ibid., II, 44. 4n ln speaking of the Achaean League .e mUlt distinguish be­ tween two periods, aa earlier and a later one. The former, though tormed tor mutual proteot1on, was malnly of a rellgious character, whereas, the latter wae pre-eminently a politlcal oon­ tederatlon to proteot the town against the domination ot Mace­ donia.ft W. Smlth, W. Wayte, and G.E. Marindin eda., HAoha.cum ft Foedua , ! Dictionary ~ Greek ~ Roman Antiquit1es, p. 8. 3 prlvileges ot the orlginal members ot the Leagu •• 5 Naupakto8 all appears as held by the Achaeans, but on what terms ls not so olear.6 In every acoount of these transaotions the Aohaean people are spoken ot as one whole, aotlng with one wll1 both 1n dlploaatio and military attairs. They placed federal garrisons in cities endangered by the enemy,7 and commissioned federal am­ bassadors to federal states other than tbeir own. 8 At tbe same time it ls easy to believe that the tederal tle may have been mucb less olosely drawn than it was in the revived contederation of later times. Still that confederation, as shall be seen presently, was looked on aa a mere revival of a past Itate of things interrupted 5Mt~d 0& ~ou~o 0' 'Axa,ol lxov~t~ K4Au~wva, ~ ~& nUAuLov A(~WA{U~ ~v, xal ROA{~U' ntno,~evo, ~ou, KUAUOWV{ou', ~pouprv 'livuyxdtov~o ~v au~fi. -. ~ Atter thll the Achaeans, who were ln pOlsel.lon of Calydon, in anclent tlmel an Aetollan town, and had made the people of Calydon Achaean citlzens, were COMpelled to keep a garr180n there. Xenopbon, Bellenica, tr. C.L. Brownson, (Loeb Clalsioa1 Library), (New York, 1927), VI, 1. 6Dem.osthenea says (Pbl1i PiC, 111-, 44) tbat Phl11p promised to take Baupaktos from the Ac Saeans and to glve lt to the Aeto- 11.. 1. .aupaktol, therefore, 1n 341 B.C. was a possesslon of tbe Achaean League. 7Xenopbon, Hellenlca, IV, 6, 1. 8~&eto~tvo, o~v ~n'u6~&v ot 'AxaLoa ~plo~el~ nl~noua,v £t~ ~~vAUxtou(lJ.ova. Therefore, belng hard pressed by them, the Achaeans sent ambassadors to Laoedaemon. ~., IV, 6, 2. 4 tor a while by toreign interferenoe. One 1s hardly entitled to judge whether it was from any laxity in the formal constitution, or only trom the fluctuations ot parties so cammon in all Greek states, that the Aohaean League did not, any more than that of Aoarnania, invariably aot as a united body throughout the Pelo­ ponnesian War. When that war broke out, all the Aohaean citie.