A borderline case is the Athenian democracy, which excluded metics and slaves. Weart argues that it was a democracy since appearance alone did not decide who was a citizen, citizens became slaves and slaves became free, citizens could be poorer than slaves, and slaves could work such as in banking. The metics were even harder to tell from the citizens. Typically, the citizens and noncitizens worked together under similar conditions. Thus, noncitizens were so interwoven through the community that their views were probably represented by the citizens on most issues. Some aspects of the direct democracy that was practiced in Athens may have been more open and democratic than the representative democracy that is used today. In contrast, the Confederate States was an oligarchy.