Roman Elections | The Roman Republic | Ancient Rome | Rise to Dominance
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The Romans established a form of government [ a republic ] that was copied
by countries for centuries In fact, the government of the United States is
based partly on Rome's model.
It all began when the Romans overthrew their Etruscan conquerors in 509 B.C.E. Centered north of Rome, the Etruscans had ruled over the Romans for hundreds of years.
Once free, the Romans established a republic, a government in which citizens elected representatives to rule on their behalf. A republic is quite different from a democracy, in which every citizen is expected to play an active role in governing the state.
https://www.ushistory.org/civ/6a.asp
Rome Under the Republic
After Tarquinius Superbus was thrown out of Rome in 509 BC, a king was not welcome. Now the Romans had to create a new form of government. That form of government is known as a republic, which means "public good." In a republic, people elect representatives to make decisions for them. The United States of America has a republic.
The ancient Roman republic had three branches of government. In the beginning, the legislative branch was the Senate, a group made up of 300 citizens from Rome's patrician class, the oldest and wealthiest families of Rome. It was the patricians, tired of obeying the king, who revolted and threw out Tarquinius Superbus. The Senate was the most powerful branch of the Roman republic, and senators held the position for life. The executive branch was made up of two consuls, elected yearly. These two consuls had almost kingly powers, and each could veto, or disapprove of the other's decision. It is quite possible that the idea of two consuls came from Sparta with its two kings. Praetors were part of the judicial branch, they were elected yearly by the people of Rome, and acted as judges.
In the beginning of the Roman republic, all officials came from the patrician, or wealthy class, this led to the plebeians, Rome's poor and middle class feeling left out. Who would care for the concerns of the plebeians? In 494 BC, an event occurred known as the "Struggle of the Orders." Most of the Roman army was made up of soldiers who came from the lower, plebeian class. The plebeians complained that they were serving as soldiers, but had very little say in the government. The plebeians refused to fight, and left the city to start their own settlement. It didn't take the patricians, Rome's wealthy, too long realize they needed the plebeians. Reforms in government followed. Tribunes were added to the legislative branch of government. Tribunes were elected yearly, and represented the concerns of the plebeians. In 451 BC, the plebeians pressured the senate to write down the laws of Rome, the result was the Twelve Tables, twelve stone tablets with written laws that were posted in the forum, or marketplace of Rome for all to see. Before the Twelve Tables, the patricians could change the laws at any time to their benefit. And then in 376 BC, the Licinian Law said that one consul must be elected from the plebeian class.
Roman Dictators
One of the disadvantages of a republic is that many officials are involved in decision-making. This can be troublesome when, at times, swift action is necessary. The Romans were prepared for this by granting one man total power in Rome in a time of crisis, called a dictator. The term of dictator was six-months. The dictator could make decisions on his own, without consulting the Senate. One early dictator of Rome was Cincinnatus. Cincinnatus was asked to be dictator in 458 BC, when Rome had an enemy army approaching. Cincinnatus was once a consul, but had retired to his farm in the country. Cincinnatus accepted the role of dictator, he led an army and defeated the foe, then he stepped down as dictator after only sixteen days. Cincinnatus could have gone the whole term of six months, which would have brought him great power, but Cincinnatus felt that the crisis was over, and he preferred to go back to his farming. Not all dictators of Rome would be as humble as Cincinnatus.
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An Early Example of Representative Democracy
The Roman Republic describes the period in which the city-state of Rome existed as a republican government, from 509 B.C. to 27 B.C. Rome’s republican government is one of the earliest examples of representative democracy in the world.
Prior to the republic, Etruscan kings who lived nearby in central Italy ruled Rome. Once the last of these kings was overthrown in 509 B.C., Rome’s wealthiest citizens established a republican government by creating various assemblies of Roman citizens. These assemblies decided important matters for the city on behalf of its population.
The early republican Senate clearly held a bias towards the interests of the wealthiest citizens. After all, only members of the patrician class could hold office. Therefore, the plebeians, who made up the majority of the soldiers in the Roman army, staged protests outside the city walls. This conflict led to the establishment of other legislative bodies, such as the Concilium Plebis or Council of Plebs, the Comitia Centuriata, and the Comita Tributa or the tribal assemblies. In the Council of Plebs and tribal assemblies, laws would be passed based on the discussion of important issues that took place in the Senate. There, senators recommended which policies to implement.
The Senate and assemblies worked together to appoint executive officials called magistrates, enacted laws, and sought to increase Rome’s territorial holdings throughout the Italian peninsula. The Republic began to engage in wars with its neighboring rivals, slowly eliminating threats to its superiority in the Mediterranean. By the first century B.C., the Roman Republic stood alone as the dominant power in the Mediterranean region.
https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/roman-republic
Political Institutions
How did Rome go from being one of many city-states in the Italian peninsula to being the center of the most powerful empire in the ancient world? Part of the answer lies in the political institutions that Rome developed early in its history. As Rome expanded its influence over more and more areas, its political institutions proved both resilient and adaptable, allowing it to incorporate diverse populations.
According to Roman tradition, the Republic began in 509 BCE when a group of noblemen overthrew the last king of Rome. The Romans replaced the king with two consuls—rulers who had many of the same powers as the king but were elected to serve one-year terms. Each consul could veto, or reject, the actions of the other consul. Although the office of consul probably did not exist in its final form until around 300 BCE, the idea behind this change—to prevent any one man from becoming too powerful—was present early on in Roman thought and shaped many of Rome’s political institutions.
Roman political institutions reflected Roman society, which was divided into two classes: the patricians, wealthy elites, and the plebeians, the common people. Initially, only the patricians were able to hold political office and make important decisions. For example, plebeians could not join the Roman Senate—an advisory body unable to create laws on its own but whose recommendations were taken seriously by the consuls. To become a senator, a Roman had to have held a political office, and plebeians could not. Over time, however, the plebeians were able to gain more influence in the political system.
Between the years 494 and 287 BCE, new political offices for plebeians were created and access to higher office, including the consulship, was opened to them. Voting assemblies and councils were established that gave plebeians more say in the politics of Rome. In 287 BCE, a law removed the last barrier to plebeian political participation by abolishing the requirement that proposed laws had to be approved by patrician senators before the Plebeian Council could consider them.
The Plebeian Council had real power and influence in Roman politics and some plebeians gained power and wealth under these new arrangements, but many remained poor. One reason that political rights did not lead to major changes was that the Comitia Centuriata—the main voting assembly that elected consuls and other important officials—was organized based on wealth. Each century—or voting group—had one vote, but the wealthy were split into smaller groups than the poor, giving the vote of a wealthy Roman more influence.
https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/world-history/ancient-medieval/roman-empire/a/roman-republic
In the late 6th century BCE, the small city-state of Rome overthrew the shackles of monarchy and created a republican government that, in theory if not always in practice, represented the wishes of its citizens.
From this basis the city would go on to conquer all of the Italian peninsula and large parts of the Mediterranean world and beyond. The Republic and its institutions of government would endure for five centuries, until, wrecked by civil wars, it would transform into a Principate ruled by emperors. Even then many of the political bodies, notably the Senate, created in the Republican period would endure, albeit with a reduction in power.
Government of the Republic
However, before it could become this dominant military force, the city had to have a stable government, and it was paramount that they avoid the possibility of one individual seizing control. In the end they would create a system exhibiting a true balance of power. Initially, after the fall of the monarchy, the Republic fell under the control of the great families – the patricians, coming from the word patres or fathers. Only these great families could hold political or religious offices. The remaining citizens or plebians had no political authority although many of them were as wealthy as the patricians. However, much to the dismay of the patricians, this arrangement could not and would not last.
Tensions between the two classes continued to grow, especially since the poorer residents of the city provided the bulk of the army. They asked themselves why they should fight in a war if all of the profits go to the wealthy. Finally, in 494 BCE the plebians went on strike, gathering outside Rome and refusing to move until they were granted representation; this was the famed Conflict of Orders or the First Succession of the Plebs. The strike worked, and the plebians would be rewarded with an assembly of their own – the Concilium Plebis or Council of the Plebs.
Although the government of Rome could never be considered a true democracy, it did provide many of its citizens (women excluded) with a say in how their city was ruled. Through their rebellion, the plebians had entered into a system where power lay in a number of magistrates (the cursus honorum) and various assemblies. This executive power or imperium resided in two consuls. Elected by the Comitia Centuriata, a consul ruled for only one year, presiding over the Senate, proposing laws, and commanding the armies. Uniquely, each consul could veto the decision of the other. After his term was completed, he could become a pro-consul, governing one of the republic's many territories, which was an appointment that could make him quite wealthy.
Magistrates & Officials
There were several lesser magistrates: a praetor (the only other official with imperium power) who served as a judicial officer with civic and provincial jurisdiction, a quaestor who functioned as the financial administrator, and the aedile who supervised urban maintenance such as roads, water and food supplies, and the annual games and festivals. Lastly, there was the highly coveted position of censor, who held office for only 18 months. Elected every five years, he was the census taker, reviewing the list of citizens and their property. He could even remove members of the Senate for improper behavior. There was, however, one final position – the unique office of dictator. He was granted complete authority and was only named in times of emergency, usually serving for only six months. The most famous one, of course, was Julius Caesar, who was named dictator for life.
Assemblies
Aside from the magistrates there were also a number of assemblies. These assemblies were the voice of the people (male citizens only), thereby allowing for the opinions of some to be heard. Foremost of all the assemblies was the Roman Senate (a remnant of the old monarchy). Although unpaid, Senators served for life unless they were removed by a censor for public or private misconduct. While this body had no true legislative power, serving only as advisors to the consul and later the emperor, they still wielded considerable authority. They could propose laws as well as oversee foreign policy, civic administration, and finances. Power to enact laws, however, was given to a number of popular assemblies. All of the Senate's proposals had to be approved by either of two popular assemblies: the Comitia Centuriata, who not only enacted laws but also elected consuls and declared war, and the Concilium Plebis, who conveyed the wishes of the plebians via their elected tribunes. These assemblies were divided into blocks and each of these blocks voted as a unit. Aside from these two major legislative bodies, there were also a number of smaller tribal assemblies.
The Concilium Plebis came into existence as a result of the Conflict of Orders – a conflict between the plebians and patricians for political power. In the Concilium Plebis, aside from passing laws pertinent to the wishes of the plebians, the members elected a number of tribunes who spoke on their behalf. Although this “Council of the Plebs” initially gave the plebians some voice in government, it did not prove to be sufficient. In 450 BCE the Twelve Tables were enacted in order to appease a number of plebian concerns. It became the first recorded Roman law code. The Tables tackled domestic problems with an emphasis on both family life and private property. For instance, plebians were not only prohibited from imprisonment for debt but also granted the right to appeal a magistrate's decision. Later, plebians were even allowed to marry patricians and become consuls. Over time the rights of the plebians continued to increase. In 287 BCE the Lex Hortensia declared that all laws passed by the Concilium Plebis were binding to both plebians and patricians.
https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Republic/
Roman Government
https://www.worldhistory.org/Roman_Government/
Roman Republic, (509–27 BCE), the ancient state centred on the city of Rome that began in 509 BCE, when the Romans replaced their monarchy with elected magistrates, and lasted until 27 BCE, when the Roman Empire was established. A brief treatment of the Roman Republic follows. For full treatment, see ancient Rome.
The Early Historical Record
The early Roman Republic (509–264 BCE) and the preceding regal period (753–509 BCE) are the most poorly documented periods of Roman history. Historical writing in Rome did not begin until the late 3rd century BCE, when Rome had already completed its conquest of Italy, established itself as a major power of the ancient world, and become involved in a gigantic struggle with Carthage for control of the western Mediterranean. The earliest Roman histories were brief résumés of facts and stories, but gradually historians embellished the sparse factual material (such as the list of annual magistrates from the beginning of the republic onward, religious records, and the texts of some laws and treaties) with both native and Greek folklore. Consequently, over time, historical facts about early Rome suffered from patriotic reinterpretation involving exaggerations of the truth, the suppression of embarrassing facts, and invention.
Ancient Roman historians initially differed over the precise date of Rome’s foundation. By the end of the republic, however, it was generally accepted that Rome had been founded in 753 BCE and that the republic had begun in 509 BCE, following the overthrow of Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the last of Rome’s seven kings. According to tradition, the first six kings had been benevolent rulers, but the last was a cruel tyrant who was overthrown by a popular uprising.
The prevalent modern view is that the monarchy at Rome was incidentally terminated through military defeat and foreign intervention. This theory sees Rome as a site highly prized by the Etruscans (the people of the central Italian region of Etruria) in the 6th century BCE. Porsenna, the Etruscan king of Clusium, defeated the Romans and expelled Tarquinius Superbus. Yet before Porsenna could establish himself as monarch, he was forced to withdraw, leaving Rome without a king. Rather than restoring their king, the Romans replaced the kingship with two annually elected magistrates called consuls.
During the early Roman Republic, important new political offices and institutions were created, and old ones were adapted to cope with the changing needs of the state. According to the ancient historians, these changes and innovations resulted from a political struggle between two social orders, the patricians and the plebeians, that began during the first years of the republic and lasted for more than 200 years. The discrepancies, inconsistencies, and logical fallacies in the account of Livy, one of Rome’s greatest historians, make it evident that this thesis of a struggle of the orders is a gross oversimplification of a highly complex series of events that had no single cause.
Early Government
The two consuls (who had come to replace the king) were primarily generals whose task it was to lead Rome’s armies in war. In times of military emergency, when unity of command was sometimes necessary, Rome appointed a dictator in place of the consuls, who, however, could not hold supreme military command for longer than six months.
The Senate, which may have existed under the monarchy and served as an advisory council for the king, now advised both magistrates and the Roman people. Although in theory the people were sovereign and the Senate only offered advice, in actual practice the Senate wielded enormous power because of the collective prestige of its members.
During the republic there were two different popular assemblies, the centuriate assembly and the tribal assembly. The centuriate assembly was military in nature; it voted on war and peace and elected all those magistrates who exercised imperium (military power). The tribal assembly was a nonmilitary civilian assembly that elected those magistrates who did not exercise imperium. It did most of the legislating and sat as a court for serious public offenses.
In 451 BCE Rome received its first written law code, inscribed upon 12 bronze tablets and publicly displayed in the forum. Its provisions concerned such matters as legal procedure, debt foreclosure, paternal authority over children, property rights, inheritance, and funerary regulations. This so-called Law of the Twelve Tables was to form the basis of all subsequent Roman private law.
https://www.britannica.com/place/Roman-Republic
Lessons in the Decline of Democracy From the Ruined Roman Republic
The U.S. Constitution owes a huge debt to ancient Rome. The Founding Fathers were well-versed in Greek and Roman History. Leaders like Thomas Jefferson and James Madison read the historian Polybius, who laid out one of the clearest descriptions of the Roman Republic’s constitution, where representatives of various factions and social classes checked the power of the elites and the power of the mob. It’s not surprising that in the United States’ nascent years, comparisons to ancient Rome were common. And to this day, Rome, whose 482-year-long Republic, bookended by several hundred years of monarchy and 1,500 years of imperial rule, is still the longest the world has seen.
Aspects of our modern politics reminded University of California San Diego historian Edward Watts of the last century of the Roman Republic, roughly 130 B.C. to 27 B.C. That’s why he took a fresh look at the period in his new book Mortal Republic: How Rome Fell Into Tyranny. Watts chronicles the ways the republic, with a population once devoted to national service and personal honor, was torn to shreds by growing wealth inequality, partisan gridlock, political violence and pandering politicians, and argues that the people of Rome chose to let their democracy die by not protecting their political institutions, eventually turning to the perceived stability of an emperor instead of facing the continued violence of an unstable and degraded republic. Political messaging during the 2018 midterm elections hinged on many of these exact topics.
Though he does not directly compare and contrast Rome with the United States, Watts says that what took place in Rome is a lesson for all modern republics. “Above all else, the Roman Republic teaches the citizens of its modern descendants the incredible dangers that come along with condoning political obstruction and courting political violence,” he writes. “Roman history could not more clearly show that, when citizens look away as their leaders engage in these corrosive behaviors, their republic is in mortal danger.”
Historians are cautious when trying to apply lessons from one unique culture to another, and the differences between the modern United States and Rome are immense. Rome was an Iron-Age city-state with a government-sponsored religion that at times made decisions by looking at the entrails of sheep. Romans had a rigid class system, relied on slave labor and had a tolerance for everyday violence that is genuinely horrifying. Then again, other aspects of the Roman Republic feel rather familiar.
The Roman people’s strong sense of patriotism was unique in the Mediterranean world. Like the United States after World War II, Rome, after winning the Second Punic War in 201 B.C. (the one with Hannibal and the elephants), became the world’s hegemon, which lead to a massive increase in their military spending, a baby boom, and gave rise to a class of super-wealthy elites that were able to use their money to influence politics and push their own agendas. Those similarities make comparisons worthwhile, even if the togas, gladiator battles and appetite for dormice seem completely foreign.
Cullen Murphy, whose 2005 book Are We Rome? makes a more head-on comparison between the fall of the Roman Empire and the U.S., argues that the changes in politics and society in Rome stemmed from one source: its growing complexity. Rome, during the Republic and Empire, had increasing and evolving responsibilities around the Mediterranean which its government constantly struggled to manage. Those challenges forced changes throughout the economy and society, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. In general terms, he sees many of the same struggles in recent U.S. history.
“I think the U.S. is experiencing this same situation—we’ve never quite recovered from our victory in World War II, which left us with the world on our shoulders; and the implications of that responsibility have skewed things in every part of our society and economy, and put our old political (and other) structures under enormous strain,” he says. “New sources of power and new forms of administration and management fill the gap—and create unease and sometimes also injustice, and at the same time create vast new sectors of wealth.”
Those types of social and economic changes also rattled the Roman Republic, leading to the moment in 130 B.C. when politics turned violent. The introduction of a secret ballot meant Roman politicians and political factions couldn’t keep tabs on (or bribe) individual voters. Instead, politicians had to build political brands that appealed to the masses, leading to something akin to modern American campaigning with big promises and populist language aimed at the poor and middle class.
Reforms to the military also meant that service was no longer reserved for the elite, who for centuries used their privilege to demonstrate their loyalty to Rome. For poorer soldiers, however, service became a path to riches. They began to count on the loot, bonuses and gifts of land they received from their often-wealthy commanders meaning that over time the loyalty of the Roman legions shifted from the empire to their generals. These changes set the stage for a new type of politics, one where whipping up the resentments of the lower classes and threatening political enemies with semi-private armies became the norm.
These trends first came to a head in 134 B.C. when...
Rome The Roman Republic
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