8. Establishing Basic Democracy
A new council, the boule, was created, in which all citizens had the right to speak. At a stroke, Cleisthenes thus not only eliminated the parochialism that had plagued Athens for generations, but also granted the entire male citizen population access to institutions and powers previously reserved for aristocrats. Another of Cleisthenes’ reforms was ostracism, whereby an annual vote would be held in which each citizen could name any person he thought was too dangerous or getting too powerful for the good of the city. The citizen receiving the most votes would be exiled for ten years, without prejudice to his property while he was gone, or to his citizenship rights upon his return. Cleisthenes’ reforms thus created the constitutional structure to which further incremental reforms were made to transform Athens into a direct democracy.
