The Senate: Political Assembly Of The Ancient Roman Republic

Democracy:is a system of government by the whole population or all of the eligible members of a state,typically through elected representatives. In the Roman Republic they were kind of a democratic because anyone who was in the democratic was allowed to vote. People who were picking the councilmen were able to know who be selected at the end and didn’t tell anyone until everyone was not voting anymore.If people did not live in the democracy they were automatically not able to vote nor would they still be in the democratic society. Democracy of historical of racism was a big deal back in the day because when people heard that there was a big problem

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 Consuls lead the military and… bring matters requiring debate before the Senate. The Senate proposes laws and has the control of the treasury. It also handles crimes requiring an investigation…. The Assemblies… have the final say in passing or repealing laws, and… they make the final decision on the question of peace or war.”. This means that the Consuls and Senate each have the control of one part of the government, while the Assemblies can stop them if needed. If Polybius’s description of the Ancient Roman constitution is correct, then the Roman Republic may have been just as democratic as we Americans are

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.

From 509 BC to about 27 BC, Rome was considered a republic. During this time there was no single leader of Rome and the government was run by elected officials. The main leaders of the Roman Republic were the consuls. There were always two consuls in power at a time. Each year new consuls were elected to serve for a one-year term. This kept any one man from becoming too powerful in the government. At the time the Senate was the most powerful governing body in Rome. The Senate had control of the state’s finances and foreign policies. Senators were elected by the people to represent them in government. The Senate was made up of 300 of the most elite and wealthiest of the Roman Republic. One of the most important roles of the Senate to undergo the checks and balances of the Roman government. Checks and balances are the “principle of government under which separate branches are empowered to prevent actions by other branches and are induced to share power” (The Editors). The checks and balances of Rome helped to stabilize the government and allowed the power to be distributed somewhat equally between the consul, the Senate, and the people. However, the fall of the Roman Empire eliminated this type aspect of government in Rome (Kagan 101-103).

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

While democracy has a simple definition, “power for the people”, the interpretations and means of executing that right by centers of power can vastly differ. In the ancient Roman republic, optimates and populares had vastly different political attitudes on who should play an active role in the government. In the name of democracy, leaders from both sides executed their power in different ways. However, optimates best represented the ideals of modern democracy through their attempts to prioritize efficiency and reduced conflict with qualified officials and have the people’s best interests at heart, with famous optimates such as Cato often standing up for the citizens against some populares’ attempts to abuse their power.

The Effectiveness of Octavian in Enlisting Senatorial Support for his New Administration in the Period 30 to 19 BC.

The Roman Republic was a “democratic” republic, which allowed first citizens to vote, and to choose their governors in the senate (Hence, their consuls). However, it was a nation ruled by its aristocracy, and, consequently, the entire Republic`s power was concentrated in a few individuals. Furthermore, the Senate was controlled by Patricians, which directed the government by using wealth to buy control and power over the decisions of the senate and the consuls. This situation aroused the inconformity of the people; as result, a civil war took place in the Republic (destroying it), and then the Roman Empire was born.

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).

The ancient Roman Senate was a government body that advised the rulers of Rome. It was the only one to survive the long history of ancient Rome. It went through many changes since it was established around 750 BC by Romulus, the founder and first king of Rome. Both the role it played and its structural makeup changed greatly as Rome went through different phases of government.

Around the year 753 B.C.E the city of Rome was discovered along the shores of the Tiber River by the mythical characters Romulus and Remus. Throughout the estimated 12 centuries of existence, Roman civilisation shifted from a monarch to a classical republic and then to an increasingly autocratic empire. During this time emperor Octavian or otherwise known as Augustus, ruled from the year 44 B.C.E until 14 A.D. Octavian’s power was considered unassailable and during 27 B.C.E the Roman Senate formally granted him overarching power and the new title Augustus , effectively marking the end of the Roman Republic.

Both Greek Democracy and the Roman Republic contributed greatly to the development of the modern world, bringing into it the notions of democracy and republic. The evolution of these concepts took them to a level much higher than one present in Ancient Greece and Rome respectively. However, modern society continues to draw on somewhat idealized accounts of the ancient world for inspiration in improving today’s governing procedures.

The Roman Republic did many good things in ancient rome. Some things were unfair, some were really unfair, and some were just plain out awful. Most of ancient rome's laws were fairly understandable, but it didn’t really protect everybody. They did many ways of getting water from long distances and getting food. Most of these ideas worked, but some of them failed. The Roman Republic was somewhat meeting the common good.

The Roman system of government was ruled by people who were born into the job. They did not just pick out random citizens who wanted the job, they only gave the position for those who were in what was known as the hereditary rule. The hereditary rule meant they had to be born within wealthy and powerful families. Even though the job was easy to get into if you were born in the correct family, it also had its down side. You could not reject or quit the job that you were given. If you wanted to get out the only way was to end your life, which to me is very intense to even imagine the pressure that was put on these people. With that being said I would have to totally agree with how important a person’s birth was when it came to the government