The firststeps toward change were taken by Solon in 594 B. C., when he broke thearistocracy's stranglehold on elected offices by establishingwealth rather than birth as the basis of office holding, abolishingthe economic obligations of ordinary Athenians to the aristocracy, and allowingthe assembly (of which all citizens were equal members) to overrule thedecisions of local courts in certain cases. The strength of the Athenianaristocracy was furtherweakened during the rest of the century by theriseof a type of government known as a tyranny, which is a formof interim rule by a popular strongman (notrule by a ruthless dictator as the modern use of the term suggests to us). ThePeisistratids, as the succession of tyrants were called (after the founder ofthe dynasty, Peisistratos), strengthened Athenian central administration at theexpense of the aristocracy by appointing judges throughout the region,producing Athens’ first national coinage, andadding and embellishing festivals that tended to focus attentionon Athens rather than on local villages of the surrounding region. By theend of the century, the time was ripe for more change: the tyrants were driven out, and in508 B C a new reformer, Cleisthenes, gave final form to the developmentsreducing aristocratic control already under way.

问题：

According to this paragraph, an important effect of makingwealth the basis of office holding was to

A. make fewerpeople qualified to be members of the assembly

B. make it possible fornon-aristocrats to hold office

C. help the aristocrats maintain power

D. Increase economic opportunities for all Athenian citizens