Group items tagged

first comprehensive, public call for independence, advancing arguments that far exceeded previous critiques of English rule in their radicalism and scope.

mass audience, extending beyond the literate public as colonists read it aloud in a wide variety of settings. George Washington, for example, was so affected by Common Sense that he relinquished all personal hop

of mending fences with England and ordered the pamphlet to be distributed to his troops.

The territory of Greece is mountainous, and as a result, ancient Greece consisted of many smaller regions each with its own dialect, cultural peculiarities, and identity. Regionalism and regional conflicts were a prominent feature of ancient Greece. Cities tended to be located in valleys between mountains, or on coastal plains, and dominated a certain area around them.

Thus, the major peculiarities of the ancient Greek political system were; firstly, its fragmentary nature, and that this does not particularly seem to have tribal origin; and secondly the particular focus on urban centres within otherwise tiny states. The peculiarities of the Greek system are further evidenced by the colonies that they set up throughout the Mediterranean Sea, which, though they might count a certain Greek polis as their 'mother' (and remain sympathetic to her), were completely independent of the founding city. Inevitably smaller poleis might be

e most important piece of writing of the American Revolution

, there was still talk of reconciliation among the colonists.

against the monarchy and British domination spread like wildfire throughout the colonies and turned the public tide toward independence. General George Washington wrote to a friend in Massachusetts: "I find that Common Sense is working a powerful change there in the minds of many men. Few pamphlets have had so dramatic an effect on political events."

Ancient Greece was not a unified nation, but a collection of poli. Poli is the plural of polis, a word often translated as city, but a polis is much more. When we think of a city, we generally think of a place. A Greek polis consisted of a small walled area that was generally no larger than a few city blocks, the farmland that surrounded it, and most importantly, the people who lived there. Today we think of the people who live in a place as citizens, but to the ancient Greeks the people were as much of the poli as the land or the buildings. The word politics is derived from the Greek polis.

Each polis was a nation of its own, but the poli of ancient Greece had many things in common. The Greek poli developed independently of one another because they were isolated by rugged mountains or were located on small islands, but the poli spoke a common language. The poli were also small and often had to depend on one another to survive. Further, the poli met every year at a great athletic contest known as the Olympics.

Types of Government After the Revolutionary War, the founding fathers got together to discuss what type of government they wanted to establish. They considered four types: monarchy, oligarchy, aristocracy, democracy. Well, you probably already know which one they picked, but, for the sake of argument, pretend you don't. We know they didn't choose a monarchy, but what is a monarchy anyway? A monarchy is a form of government in which hereditary rulers (people who share the same bloodline) better known as kings and queens, wield absolute power over everybody. Absolute power? That means that the kings and queens can pretty much do whatever they want. Well, since the founders knew the monarchy thing didn't really fly in the original American colonies, they decided against a monarchy. They also considered oligarchy. An oligarchy consists of a body of individuals possessing high levels of wealth, social or military status, or achievement. These elite guys and gals pretty much rule everything and everyone. There was also aristocracy to consider. Aristocracy is rule by a privileged few. As nice as monarchies, oligarchies, and aristocracies may sound (at least to those lucky enough to be in power!), one of the reasons the colonists fought for independence in the first place was to free themselves from government structures that left little or no popular consent to the people. So, the founding fathers set up a democracy. A democracy is a form of government in which the people hold the power to rule themselves. But it's not quite as simple as that. In fact, there are two main types of democracy: direct democracy and indirect democracy. In a direct democracy, all the people get together and have an equal say in the laws they create. In an indirect democracy (also known as a representative democracy), people vote for representatives who work on their behalf to create laws. Once chosen, these representatives then vote within a government structure, making and passing laws. This is a two-step version of democracy. The founding fathers chose… an indirect democracy! After all, they figured that at some point in time, America would become a really, really big nation. And if that happened, there'd be no way they could possibly get everyone together to vote on every single thing.

During the early Middle Ages most books were used by priests and monks for liturgical purposes. New books appeared most often when a new monastery was founded.

Most illuminators were humble craftsmen who set up shop. Some were independent, itinerant artists who traveled from place to place looking for commissions. The best held the rank of court artists at the exclusive service of a wealthy patron.

Illuminators usually belonged either to the painter’s guild or another guild involved in the book trade. Most illuminators remained anonymous until the late Middle Ages

in government, s

cience, philosophy, and the arts still influence our lives.

A city-state consisted of a city or town and the surrounding villages and farmland. The Greek city-states were fiercely independent and often quarreled among themselves.

they often quarreled with one another and were not united against Macedonia

Greece refers to the time three centuries before the classical age, between 800 B.C. and 500 B.C.

Archaic Greece saw advances in art, poetry and technology, but most of all it was the age in which the polis, or city-state, was invented.

They developed governments and organized their citizens according to some sort of constitution or set of laws.

About 20% of Greece is made up of islands. Crete is a large island located in the Mediterranean Sea. It is a popular tourist area for its beautiful mountains, coastline, and many ancient ruins.

Much of Greece is mountainous and rocky terrain, with the occasional plain.