Social Divisions In The Early Republic

Ancient Rome was split into two classes: the aristocrats, known as the patricians, and the lower class, known as the plebeians. They lived harmoniously alongside each other for a while, but after Rome began to rise from it’s ashes the plebeians became resentful and decided to take action. To fully understand the degree of their anger some light needs to be shined on their situation, and how the patricians treated them.

Have you heard of the Patricians? The Patricians were Roman people of higher class. Then there was the Plebeians, they were of lower class, although they were lower class they were the Patricians life support. The Plebeians were the people that manded the farms and animals. They were really important to Rome. At this time in this empire the Roman people had no say in there goverment. The government was made up of 2 councils, those councils were ruled by the republic. A republic a state in which supreme power is held by the people and their elected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president rather than a monarch. I think we can all say that Rome has a very weird government, in a republic government

Patricians hold all the offices in ancient Rome and plebeians who outnumbered them were mostly farmers, craftsmen and soldiers. Therefore one can understand that practically while plebeians had no rights or knowledge, they were in an advantageous position as patricians couldn’t defend the city or do any kind of job without their help. Plebeians couldn’t tolerate the increasing debt and the abuse of patricians and demanded equality, by blackmailing the patricians

In Ancient Rome, The way society worked was much similar to America. The Roman social class is and has been very significant in the operational American social class. None of the Roman class’ was oppressed or enslaved rather they were split into two. Once the Romans defeated the Etruscans they went on to build an empire that would change the world. Their influence in today’s society is still very present. We still borrow ideas from them. They formed a government where they would elect people to represent for them, called a republic. This is still the foundation for government in most of today’s world. They formed a system of law that was completely ahead of it’s time so much so that it has become the base for many countries legal system today; one of these being The United States. The political system they built, coincidental caused a division between the Romans. Plebeians were the common people of Rome; the Patricians who were the ones of higher class could serve in the consul. This was the highest position in the senate. The Assembly was made up of Plebeians. They had gained a significant amount of importance when they were the ones given the power to elect Consuls. The Assembly head position was a tribune; he was the leader of the Assembly and had a lot of power. Then they developed the Law of Twelve Tables, a

Chapter three labeled "Empire Urban life and imperial Majesty in Rome,China,and India. In Republican Rome a man named Romulus inaugurated traditional distinction between the patricians and the plebian. The patricians were the where the land owners who were also aristocrats that served as priests, magistrates, lawyers and/or judges. The plebian were the lower classed poor people who consisted of craftsmen, merchants and laborers. In 510 BCE the roman people expelled the last Etruscan kings and decided to rule themselves with without the need for a monarchy.

The Roman Republic operated as two different society classes such as Patricians and Plebeians. Patricians were rich landowners and they had slaves that run their homes, that is how wealthy these people really were. The Plebeians were common townspeople who didn’t have a lot of money, they worked to pay the bills, taxes, and pay for food for their families. Patricians were part of the aristocratic class and the Plebeians were known as the Roman citizens, which they were not Patricians. The word Patrician comes from the word ‘Patres’ which means plural father, which is a term to designate the first members or class, which is the Senate. Now the term Plebeian means, ‘of the common people’, so this means that the Plebeians were just the common townspeople and the Patricians were the more wealthy and were higher up in the class of people. Marriage between the two class was forbidden. If a man was a Patrician he could hold or take the place in the highest part of the Republic which is known as the consul. At the beginning of the Republic, the Patricians had

The trials of political success and error throughout history, have led to more efficient and authentic ways of governing, making nations stronger over the course of time. While the United States and the Roman Republic share similar political systems, the structure of the Roman Republic is in many ways flawed compared to the modern Democratic Republic of the U.S. nation. The Roman Republic’s rigid social structure flawed their political system because there was less flexibility within the social ladder, affecting citizens and their opportunity to be elected into office. The Republic’s society was made up of two distinct and separate social classes, the Patricians and the Plebeians. “In the early years of the Roman Republic, patricians controlled all the religious and political offices; plebeians had no right of appeal against decisions of the patrician government, since no laws were codified or published.

Plebeians were able to become members of the Senate after the Conflict of Orders. The first plebeians to be elected to office were called novus homos, as they were the first of their family to serve in the senate. This term means new man. This is important because now Roman leadership could be drawn from both classes and not just patricians. For Rome to be successful, it needed the advice of all of its citizens, no matter what class they came from. Many influential Romans were novus homos. One example of an influential novus homo is Cicero. In his first speech to the Senate as consul, Cicero makes a point to announce that he is a novus homo. Cicero goes on about how proud he is of the fact that he has no consular lineage. He thinks of his consulship as a huge honor. Cicero then became an influential member of the Senate. He was known for being an excellent orator and for giving very powerful speeches. Another example of an influential novus homo was Gaius Marius. Gaius Marius was a successful Roman general and consul. The importance of Gaius Marius will be discussed later. Romans were typically set in their ways. It was already difficult to become consul for consular families and it was even more difficult for novus homos. However, political power could not remain in the hands of the wealthy for long. For the empire to succeeded they needed new leadership and new ideas. The introduction of the novus

The consuls were the supreme power of authority with one year terms and could not be elected more than two times in a row and three times total. However, in situations of crisis, the Romans were led by a dictator who had complete power in a six month term. The Republic also had a senate, picked by the two consuls. The senators held their position for life and were responsible for taxes, funding laws, and foreign affairs. Next in line were the assembly, an elected body drawn from the citizens of Rome with two year terms and no term limits. The assembly occasionally made laws that had to be approved by the senate. The common people of Rome were called the Plebeians. The Plebeians served in the army, payed taxes, and had other citizen duties, but were not allowed to hold any important positions in office, unlike the Patricians who had all the rights. The Tribunes represented the voice of the Plebeians and were elected by the Plebeians. There were two Tribunes at a time with one year terms and had the power to veto any law. The Tribunes were “sacred” and left their doors open to the public to speak to them about any problems they might have

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).

Only the highly educated and wealthy class made up the Senate. The Concilium Plebis only consisted of representatives for the Plebeians, and the Comitia Centuriata represented most of the landowning class. Both the popular assemblies were given pre-discussed debates, and any disagreements with the Senate were rare. Furthermore, the Consuls, who were the most prestigious magistrates and “the military and political heads of state” were also advised by the Senate (Gwynn, 20).

Plebeians was so important to Rome. The term Plebeian referred to all free Roman citizens who were not members of the patrician. Plebeians so important to Rome because the plebeians could elect their own government officials. They elected "tribunes" who represented the plebeians and fought for their rights. Plebeians the power to veto new laws from the Roman senate.

They claimed that their ancestry gave them authority to make laws for Rome. The plebeians were citizens of Rome with the right to vote. However, they were barred by law from holding the most important government positions. In time, Rome’s leaders allowed the plebeians to form their own assembly and elect representatives called tribunes. Tribunes protected the rights of the plebeians from unfair acts of patrician officials. (page 156)

Many would affirm that the Twelve Tables embrace a noteworthy position throughout government antiquity. After all, they constituted the initial authoritative, yet cultivated regulation for tradition and Roman laws. The order grasped bloodline relations, arrears for inhabitants, indictment systems, numerous communal episodes and sacred law. Romans categorized themselves into two classes; patricians and plebeians. patricians were essentially propertied subjects with authority, who also possessed the liberty to vote. plebeians however, were fundamentally the working-class and held no such influence. patricians assembled the majority of leadership and in turn gravitated towards making laws for their own prosperity. plebeians evidently threatened

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