Republic And Struggles Of Plebeians

From the fall of the last king of Rome, Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, in 509 BCE, to the beginning of the principate in 27 BCE, the Roman Republic thrived as a strong and relatively stable government. This was despite its two major issues that eventually led to its downfall- the class struggle between plebeians and patricians as well as the autonomy the military had that allowed for armies to become loyal to its commander rather than the Roman state. For centuries, these issues were kept under control and the Republic was able to grow throughout the Western world. However, starting with more radical figures such as Tiberius and Gaius Gracchi and continuing to Sulla, Pompey, and Caesar, these

Rome was a highly hierarchical and class-conscious society; yet, since its power extended for centuries, the distinction between different classes varied in time. In the Roman kingdom and the early Roman Republic, the most important division in Roman society was between the Patricians and the Plebeians. The struggle for power between these two classes resulted in the development of the Roman system of government (McManus, 1997).

Imagine that you were a citizen in Ancient rome. Would you be a patrician or a plebeian? Plebeians are the lower class of ancient rome and make up 95% of the population. Patricians were the upper class of ancient rome and made up 5% of the population. Having 2 different Social classes causes their to be change in the Social, Political and Economical Characteristics of Ancient Rome.

However, the real authority of the republic lay in the hands of the patricians this power could not and would not remain. The plebeians, who made up most of the army and did most of the real work, rebelled, going on strike and demanding an equal voice in the government. Out of this struggle came the Conflict of Order, a class “war” that lasted from 494 to 287 BCE. It was a fight that brought about meaningful change: a plebeian assembly, the Concilium Plebis. Through this new congress, the plebeians could elect tribunes who, like consuls, served for one year. Their primary function was to safeguard plebeian rights against patrician abuse. Their duties were in many ways like that of the consuls; however, they could veto any magistrate decision

The Roman culture was divided into two classes the Patricians and plebeians. The patricians are the 1 percent of morden U.S, meaning that they own almost everything and control a monopoly on almost all political offices excluding ‘Tribune of the plebs”. Which is a representative of the plebeian class. Almost in every scenario in which the plebs tried to get laws passed through their Tribune never worked so they turned to what they had power in, which was the military. Two Tribune of the plebs in Rome 's early history that tried to overthrow the Republic is the Gracias brother, who both died in a riot against the senators.

Therefore, the tradesman and merchants came from the plebeian class. This was a source of wealth to the plebeians. As they gained political power, this wealth gave them even greater clout with which to demand concessions from the patricians.

The Roman aristocracy was known as patricians, these was the affluent portion of the population, which controlled everything in the Roman state, including economy, government, law, the election of new rulers as well as these ones’ successors. The Roman poorest was known as plebeians, these class was forced to respond and support the call to arms when military conflict knocked on the doors of Rome. Plebeians were the portion of the population that was responsible for obeying the Patricians’ mandates, as well as constantly enduring the worst kinds of abuses by their rich citizen opposing counterparts.

Plebeians. The Patricians were the wealthy class and lived life in the lap of luxury. The Plebeians, however it may be stated, that the plebeians were poor. It is true, to an effect. The Plebeians were merely not as rich, and they didn't live in mansions or expensive houses. They had a little less money and NO say in government. The Patricians had all say in government and how the city was ruled. However, the people wanted to have a voice in said governing, they were the majority after all. The birth of the "Tribunes Of The People" which was stones that stated the rules of both Patricians and Plebeians.

It is important to remember that the rich controlled about ninety percent of the wealth in Rome. This not only extended to money, but also power. The Patricians consisted of Rome’s rich and upper class population, wielding most of the power. The Plebeians were comprised of Rome’s poor and lower class populace. Compared to the Patricians, the Plebeians’ power

The Patricians by virtual of being in power and rulers were more wealthy than the Plebeians. They lived in cities, property protected with City cities. The poverty of the Plebeians was compounded by the fact that they participated in the wars to defeat the kings. They neglected their farms during this period such that when the war ended, they were left in a very deplorable condition, and because of the greediness of the Patricians they could not live in the cities but in the country side in the small

The plebeians were considered to be the lower class among the Romans. In spite of the fact that some of them were rich, they were by default considered lower than the patricians, also known as the aristocrats. The plebeians were mostly part of the army and fought for the independence of Rome from kingship to democratization (Morey W.C., n.d.). After the way, most of them were farmers, artisans, and shopkeepers, which were the foundation to have Rome on its feet (Tartufo, n.d.).

Republic Rome’s political system was conglomeration from past great empires and the political systems they used in order to expand their empire. They had what was considered a “mixed” constitution. There were three different components where there was no result of a single lawgiver. The first part would be the consuls which held a monarchic element where one of the two would be elected in assembly by annual magistrates. Underneath them was the senate, holding an aristocratic element and finally an assembly comprising a democratic feature. However

According to Morey, W. (1901), “In Ancient Rome history development”, the patricians and plebeians made a great history by United and in their effort drive out the monarchy kingship system. This was the time the Roman populous was fed up with their tyrant Kings. The time when they were overthrowing the Kings, such as Brutus, they began to make new laws, and make many political changes such as the valerian laws. Condemning anyone claiming to be King as traitor, the formation of three voting assemblies, etc. but backtracking, even though both united in order to overthrow the Kings, Unfortunately, upon the overthrow of the kingship and the birth of the new republic, the major victories, and power fell into hands of the patricians only.

The plebeians also known as commoners, lower social class, or working class were not individually powerful people. The government and upperclass is what ruled the government. However, as we can also see today that when a group of people get together their voice and their actions become quite loud and difficult to ignore and this was a very similar situation. The governing bodies realized quickly that a revolt, and uprising, or disagreement from the social class could cause drastic problems within the government and the social structure. Naturally, the peace of the plebeians became important and their treatment became important as

The patricians and the plebeian had united to fight the enemy and after the late war, the plebeian were left in an economic hardship due to the fact that most of their properties and home were destroyed by the enemy. On the other hand, the patricians were living in the city and their properties were not affected by the wars. Due to the fact that the plebeians were mostly located out of