The Athenians voted to ostracize Kimon in 462/1, and in the following decade Pericles and his associates remade Athenian democracy, removing authority from older and more conservative elements in the regime and distributing that power to common Athenians sitting on juries or serving in the Athenian council (which was chosen by lot). Pericles seems to have assumed leadership of the progressive faction soon after 462/1, since Aeschylus's Eumenides suggests that by 459/8 his supporters were seeking to distance him from the curse his family had inherited.

Probably during this period and in perhaps the most significant political maneuver of his career, Pericles proposed that Athenians should be paid for their service on the very large juries in Athens’ courts. Once established, the principle of payment for public service became fundamental to Athenian democracy, tying the profits of Athens’ empire directly to the political system. This practice arguably corrupted the Athenian political process, rendering proposals to reduce or restrict public expenditures stillborn as well as aggravating preexistent Athenian nationalism.

In 451/0 the Athenians voted – on Pericles’ recommendation – to restrict the benefits of citizenship to those who had both an Athenian mother and an Athenian father. Around the same time, the Athenians decided to use the moneys collected from their Greek allies to adorn the city of Athens, beginning construction of the Parthenon and numerous other expensive public buildings. Pericles’ central role in most (if not all) of these events illustrates one of the defining principles of his career: a willingness to foster policies that exploited non-Athenians in an effort to raise Athens to new heights.

Our sources suggest Pericles encountered a major obstacle in these years in the person of Kimon's relative and political heir, Thucydides son of Melesias. Analysis of Pericles’ victory in this conflict shows that the statesman had mastered democratic politics and the Athenians’ complex psychology, leaving his rivals frustrated in the face of his popular nationalistic policies.