Citizenship In The Early Republic Essay

The Beginning of Citizenship in the early Republic
When the collapse of the monarchy and the creation of the Republic had taken place, it is when the control of Roman government was allowed to only a small groups of influential families called the patricians. The remaining residents were the plebeians. Slowly giving way to a commonwealth (res publica), a state governed by the people. The agricultural population of ancient Rome consisted of a dominant class of large landowners, the patricians, and other class of farmers and small landowners called plebeians.The plebians began not to like being second-class and started demanding to join into the affairs of their state and have their voices heard as citizens of Rome. The Conflict of the Orders also looked like the “Struggle of the
“This new concept of citizenship, however, did not mean full equality. The differences between patrician and plebian still existed. In 450 BCE the creation of the Twelve Tables, the first Roman law code, established rules that governed, among other things, the relationship between the two classes. The reward of citizenship only meant that an individual lived under the “rule of law” and had a vested interest in his government. One must wonder why there was this desire to vote or, in other words, to be a true Roman citizen” (Fiero, 2017). Even Roman slave lived in a different society; they could earn or buy their freedom or liberty and enjoy the benefits of citizenship, gaining wealth and power; his children could even hold public office one day. “With the growth of Rome and its desire to extend its boundaries beyond the city walls, the concept of Roman citizenship changed. This growth begged the question: how were these newly conquered people to be treated? Were they to become Roman citizens? Were they to be considered equals? Despite the fact that Rome had always been a city of immigrants, the acquisition of citizenship for a resident