Dbq Roman Citizenship System

Citizenship in Athens and Rome has similarities and differences. Being a citizen is being a native or naturalized member of a state or nation who owes allegiance to its government. Being a citizen meant different things in each empire. The relationship between the citizen and their nation varied from their system of citizenship. Rome had a better system of citizenship because they were more open to who they allowed citizenship, they gave people they conquered citizenship, and personal grudges, judgements about others/topics would not affect the Empire.

Rome had a better citizenship in terms of fairness because of their system with censors. 2 highly regarded people[censors] were elected to go around ranking people every rights and giving them political rights and other things (Doc D). This was fair because it allowed people who worked really hard to rise in the amount of political rights and people who didn’t work very hard to lose some rights which it mentions in (Doc C),“In the Roman Republic, not all citizens received the same rights or political participation.” Evidently Rome had a better citizenship in terms of fairness because of their system with censors.

Documents E and F both describe both the Athenian and the Roman assemblies and senates. The Athenian assembly was much less reliable compared to Rome’s for two reasons, its size and how it was chosen. Athens assembly was made up of every citizen which counted to about 40,000 men. This would make choosing one option very difficult amongst all the citizens since they all have different opinions; also leaders of the assembly were chosen by random lot and that could pave the way towards rigging and that would allow for a non-trustworthy person to lead 40,000 people on one decision. The Roman senate was more efficient compared to the Athenian one because it only had 300 members; these members were also very high ranking officials who belonged to some of the oldest Roman families making them more

To begin with, both of their ways that they chose the officials were similar but also differed. The Athenian Government and the Roman Republic both had the citizens of each side choose the officials, but they both had a difference in limitations on how they chose the officials. In Athens, the citizens would vote for the officials, but the people who were official citizens were the ones who were 18 or over, born in Athens, and had to be males. This means that outsiders, slaves, or women could not vote because they were not considered citizens. Additionally, the Athenian Government system for voting was organized with citizens by the name of demes or demos; who belonged to tribes and where combined with others of the same area to make a larger group, which in turn were combined to form ten tribes. (Gill, thoughtco 2017). In contrast, citizens of Rome had to be over 15 years old, male slaves could also vote if they were granted freedom, the women were considered citizens but had no voting rights. The

Athenian citizen makes more contribution to government rather than Spartans. The Athenian government allows citizen to be a member of the government except for the military position, as its stated on an article that ” each citizen can be voted for each legislation”(Echos in the past, page, print). Which signify that being in the government position means having the capability and not the wealth. In the athenian

The Athenian citizen had a further contribution to the government than Spartans citizens. The Athenian government allowed its citizens to take part in government positions, aside from military positions, as it stated on a textbook, Echoes from the Past that ”Every citizen had an equal chance to hold public office”(Newman, Echoes from the Past, page132). Which signifies that being in the government position means having the capability to rule and not wealth. In the Athenian democracy, each council member and government officials had an

This allows many people to have the opportunity to become president. This shows that Athens’s democracy was fairer than Spartan

In the Ancient World, citizenship conferred valuable rights. After the establishment of the Athenian city-state in 8th Century B.C., Athens had 200,000 inhabitants, of whom 40,000 were adult male citizens (Radulovic 27). Citizenship granted full political rights that were denied to other inhabitants of Athens. So too, if you were a citizen of Ancient Rome, you could supposedly travel throughout the Roman Empire and needed only the words "Civis Romanus sum" ("I am a Roman citizen") to protect you from harm because you had the power and swift revenge of the Roman Empire behind you (Edaburn). Consequently, the concept of citizenship that confers certain rights and duties reaches back at least as far as Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.

Free Roman men, women, children, and sons of freed slaves were all granted citizenship, unlike in Athens, where only free, native-born males were given this important status (Doc. A). Allowing more people to become citizens improved the lives of these inhabitants in innumerable ways. Citizens were less likely to be discriminated against because so many people from various places had the opportunity to become a citizen of the Roman Republic. People from foreign, conquered lands could be given full citizenship, allowing for a more welcoming and open-minded society (Doc. C). Individuals were also less likely to be pitted against outsiders, as they all had at least one common trait -- they were all citizens. Roman citizens were also offered more freedoms than Athenian citizens. In Athens, citizens had to participate in government and debate, or otherwise be ostracized and considered a hindrance on Athens (BGE, Doc. E). Roman citizens, however, could focus on other important aspects of daily life more relevant to them, such as family life or trade, and still were valued as a vital part of Roman society. (BGE) This allowed Romans more liberty when acting as a citizen who helped to make informed

Without the sharing of power between the Senate and People of Rome, the development of a republican form of government in the city would have been impossible. This is proved by Livy’s acknowledgement that the system of electing magistrates used in his time mirrors this first Roman election for king (Livy I.17.28-30). In this monarchical system of government as well as the Republic, both the Senate and the People must share power to ensure stability; a government dominated by one group, whether it be the king, the Senate, or the People, would be ruinous. The affirmation of this reality in the election of Numa served as a foundation for the system of political society that characterized the ideals of

Christ also drew upon the work of other scholars to shed a new light on a subject matter that has previously been discussed in other studies. Previous works acknowledged bad citizenship in Athenian democracy but “focused more on the institutions and ideologies that made democracy work” (Christ, 5). The scholars that have written on bad citizenship often look at the legal measures used to enforce civic obligations and do not go in-depth on the social aspect of bad citizenship. Athenians that chose to evade their civic duties were often brought before a court and charged

In Athens, citizenship was defined as being born of Athenian parents. All Athenian men were able to participate in government. Those who lived in Athens but were not born of Athenian parents, whether they were from Greece or elsewhere, were known as Metics. The Metics enjoyed the downsides of being a citizen such as taxation, paying religious tributes and military service, without the benefits of citizenship. They were not allowed to vote and were not allowed to appear in court without an Athenian citizen sponsoring them. This meant little access to the laws unless you could

The Roman republic had rights and some Romans did not have any rights at all I would give

Citizenship in Rome was an honored legal and political state. The right to be a citizen also granted the right to vote. These rights varied according to the place, service to the state, and most importantly the classification of the individual within the empire. For instance, when Gracchus was leading Rome, he attempted to give the right to vote to those allies who weren’t allowed to be part of the Roman elections. The senate did not agree with this. They feared that having too many people vote would outvote them. Therefore they demanded that people who did not have the right

Brand, P., Dr. (n.d.). Athens & Sparta: Democracy vs. Dictatorship. Retrieved February 06, 2017, from http://my.uopeople.edu/pluginfile.php/56750/mod_resource/content/2/Athens%20%20Sparta%20dictatorship%20%20democracy.pdf