The Roman Republic

The roman republic came into existence at the termination of the Roman kingship in 507 B.C.E. The last king of Rome, Tarquin the Proud, was expelled by Collatinus and Brutus, as a result of his arrogance involving the matter of one of his relations raping the wholesome Roman matron Lucretia and her subsequent suicide. The rape of Lucretia was really a representation of the frustration that the roman citizens felt regarding the kingship. The later kings had little regard for roman values and the roman populus, which they used as something of a slave labor force. Brutus and Collatinus became the first Roman Consuls, elected by popular vote.

The Roman government is very unique compared to other societies. The majority of societies were either controlled by monarchy or democracy, however the Romans found a way to have both. The Roman empire had both a senate and an emperor. The Senate was Democracy which was made up by electing officials who although made laws couldn’t finalize the law without approval from emperor. The Emperor made up the Monarchy part having the final say in all important objectives.

One of the most important things in a democracy is that everybody can vote, which is something the Roman Republic understood well. “Every adult male citizen, unless specifically disqualified, had a vote, and there was no formal exclusion of the poor. Free slaves could also vote…”. This means that almost everybody had say in the government, not just wealthy people with high social status. According to Fergus Millar, the Roman Republic was extremely democratic.

Some policies and institutions of the Roman Republic were useful to help them succeed in conquering first Italy and then the Mediterranean world. Before of the institution of the republic, the romans were a monarchy since their beginning and they were basically a pastoral people. Rome suffer several changes and improvements under the control of the Etruscan kings. The Etruscan were civilization settled north of Rome in Etruria, and they once had control over almost all the Italic peninsula. The Etruscans influences in Rome were profound, they transformed Rome from a pastoral community to a city (91). The Etruscan built the street and roads that help the development of temples, markets, shops, streets, and houses. They basically brought urbanization to Rome. It is fairly to say that the Rome republic was a fusion between the elements of the Etruscan civilization and the Rome elements. The combination of the different political institutions and policies made the Romans succeed in their conquest territories.

One of the most significant reasons that may prove that the Roman Republic is not a democracy is its system in which includes flaws that are not very democratic. In other words, the system can be viewed as rigged. According to Source C, one example of this was that all voting of the people was only held in Rome. This meant that citizens who were not very wealthy or had the ability to waste time

Most Romans had trouble with the idea of power to only a few people. The concept of power to the people settled well with many of the Romans. There were three main separate parts of the Roman Republic. These parts were the Consuls, the Senate, and the Assembly. A direct statement of their powers is given in document A by Polybius: “ The consuls (magistrates) lead the military and are the supreme masters of the government. They bring matters requiring debate before the Senate. They also call together the people’s Assemblies, and carry out whatever the majority of the Assemblies decide.” This similar to the style of the U.S democracy. Both have mass majority votes on various issues. For U.S democracy it is always for the election of someone to represent for the people. But in the Roman republic it was for people to vote directly on some issues among each other then elect someone to handle the issue in office for a

The Roman Republic received a C when it came to promote rule of law. It got a C because they created a new form of government called a republic. A republic gave citizens the right to vote. After all citizens could only vote which means if you weren’t a citizen you couldn’t vote. For instance, woman didn’t have the right to vote because they weren’t a citizen even though they lived in Rome.

Rome was growing and it was becoming incredibly wealthy after the Punic wars, but the republic was facing serious problems during this time. Many Roman politicians took bribes and they would encourage the forming violent mobs to aid them in rising to power. Soldiers returning home from the wars were unable to find employment because wealthy landlords were utilizing slaves to get work done instead of hiring Romans. During this period of time the republic was part of several civil wars. Many of the Romans wanted a strong leader to take them to glory; therefore, the way was paved for Julius Caesar.

The Roman government was democratic when it came to the citizens. The citizens could elect their own officials, and the officials were supposed to represent every level of Roman society. There were many types of officials. The two consuls were the chief officials of Rome. Once elected, they served for two years (Trueman, Chris). One of their most important powers was controlling the army (Government under Roman Republic). When they were unsure of a course of action, they were advised by the Senate, a council of around six hundred male citizens (Trueman, Chris). Those six hundred men were usually from wealthy patrician families and were the ones in charge of making the laws and controlling the spending. Contrary to the election of the other officials, the Senate was appointed by the current Consuls. Once they were appointed, they served for life. When one member died, another was chosen in their place (Government).

As Rome became independent from the Etruscan ruling, its government walked away from having a monarch and transformed into a Republic as a way to avoid the tyranny that many times comes with an absolute autocrat. Rigorous precautions were taken from the start in order to keep the power balanced. Moreover, the structure of the government was meant to be resilient to bad judgment. The structure of the Roman Republic with its government and law provided for a more just system.

The Roman Empire lasted over 500 years and got so big that it fell. The Roman empire began with Augustus Caesar when he became the first emperor of Rome in 31 BCE. It lasted until its fall in 476 C.E. How this empire influenced our world today is limitless. The Roman Empire began as a small republic and eventually became the most commonly known empire ever. The Roman Republic was also a very important time period and system which we copied off and still use today. One thing important to the Republic was its balance, the main part of this government which was a body of people chosen from elite families to set policies for the consoles.

The Roman people, a whole, were able to create a system of government that would last for five hundred years. The Roman Republican government was strong but was not strong enough and would eventually crumble like the empire itself and be replaced with the “Imperial Government”. However there were many things that made the Roman Republican government great, so great that the future would model their governments of Rome’s. The United States would model their government off of the Roman Republic, to form the democracy that we know today.

Since its start in 509 B.C., the Roman Republic was glorious until everything became corrupt. The fall of the Roman republic occurred because of many different reasons. Luckily, due to great leadership, reforms, and conquests, Rome was able to regain its fame as a well governed civilization. The city of Rome was a major place in the world with the many new developments it added to society, like how Rome had an elected Senate which governed it. This led to the rise of the Roman Empire which was ruled by Augustus Caesar.

The people of Rome wanted polical power to be distributed among themselves, instead of one individual; thus the formation of the Roman Republic. The people took away the hereditary component in governance; Hence, instead of a king, the Centuriate Assembly, or those men who served in the army, voted people into office. The army of the Roman Republic consisted of taxpaying men; men who had property, aged 17-47. Although Rome's elite successfuly overthrew the Roman monarchy and established the republic in 509 B.C.E., more challenges lay ahead (Making of the west, 101)).

Since its collapse, historians have attempted to explain the struggle for power and control over both the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire that followed. To explain the complexities of the Roman Republic, the Empire, and their political complexities can be a daunting task. For nearly ten centuries Rome would rule most of the known world before the fall of the Western Empire (Byzantine) in 476 C.E. Before that fall occurred, a fundamental change would take place that would transform the original Republic into the Roman Empire. Many factors would be directly and indirectly responsible for this transition. These would