Pericles as Founding Father: Democracy from Athens to America
I was invited to write a series of essays for Project Pericles, a national network for civic education at liberal arts colleges, in honor of their 25th anniversary on the theme of Pericles and lessons for democracy today. My initial answer: it's really complicated!
We’re surrounded these days by reminders that it’s America’s 250th birthday: it’s been 250 years since 13 colonies declared independence from Britain and decided that instead of instituting a new monarchy, they’d empower their people to govern themselves instead.
Appropriately enough, it’s also Project Pericles’ 25th birthday. Why appropriately? The obvious reason is that Project Pericles has been supporting civic learning and democratic principles since its inception, building the kind of civic culture that the founders of the United States had in mind.
But it’s also appropriate because Pericles (pronounced “PEH-ri-klees” in English) himself represented the golden age of popular government in the ancient Greek city-state of Athens, its height of power and prosperity, accomplished under democratic systems (krateia, rule, by the dêmos, people). And Athenian democracy was an important reference point or model for American lawmakers as they worked to design a constitution that would allow the United States to reach the same heights of cultural brilliance and shared material prosperity.
In 2026, as we ourselves confront an era of democratic backsliding and a historically low level of faith in democracy around the globe, the Athenian democracy of Pericles’ lifetime offers us powerful lessons, not only in its glory days but in its chaotic and destructive decline.
Continue reading on Project Pericles:
Joanna Kenty
