Preview

The Roman Republic: Was Rome Democratic?

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
343 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
The Roman Republic: Was Rome Democratic?
Rome had built quite the empire before, during, and after the Conflict of Orders. The million dollar question is whether or not Rome is Democratic. I believe that the Roman Republic was Democratic in most ways, but they had many flaws that needed revising. According to Fergus Millar, “The Constitution of the Roman Republic made it a variety of democracy.” Having a Constitution does give you checks in the Democratic column, but only allowing Patricians to vote on the laws that go in this Constitution isn’t quite a Democracy characteristic. In order to be a true Democracy, all citizens (and not just Patricians) should have been able to vote. Another faulted part of this democracy is the fact that “The Consuls lead the military and are the supreme

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Best Essays

    Monarchy is defined as ‘a form of government with a monarch at the head’ and was the first arrangement of power in Rome after its founding by Romulus, who reigned from 753-715BC.1 However, by 510BC, the despotic actions of Tarquinius Superbus marked the end of a succession of increasingly tyrannical kings, and the ‘Roman Republic’ was established. This system was based on a sharing of power between, foremost, two consuls who were elected by the people and held office for only one year, then 300 senators, and two popular assemblies, the comitia curiata and the comitia centuriata. With such a spread of auctoritas, the Roman state would be at less risk from corrupt men with their aims set on an autocratic rule. The precepts of the Roman republic were honourable and upheld, in the most part, until the civil wars of 91BC onwards disturbed it, culminating in what many would consider the fall of the Republic, and thus the establishment of a monarchy, with Augustus at the battle of Actium on 2nd September 31BC.…

    • 1692 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    In the Information articles, “How Democratic was the Roman Republic?” written by Alan Ward shows the Roman Empire could not be considered democratic because the rome citizens have no likelihood of being able to cast their vote regularly, but a group of unrepresentative voters can easily dominate sovereign popular institution. So wishes of the people as a whole are not expressed.…

    • 379 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Han China Dbq Analysis

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Athens created a democracy that worked because Athens was small enough that they could have everyone come to the meetings and participate in the government. Also in Document 4 Pericles states that Athens is a true democracy because no one can be kept out of government because of their poverty or social standing. Also that in private dispute no one person will be favored over the other in front of the law. Han China had a rule of emperors instead of democracy because their civilization was so big they couldn’t have a council of all the people meet every couple of weeks to debate on the course of action Han China will take. Instead in China the emperor appointed officials to a district who in turn appointed some of their men to rule over smaller parts of the district to keep order in that district for the emperor. For another person to become the emperor he has to have the Mandate of heaven, for the man to have the Mandate of heaven the emperor has to present him to heaven and heaven decides if he is worthy through the peoples’ support or lack of…

    • 593 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    As Sallust stated, “Greed destroyed honor, honesty and taught men to be arrogant and cruel. Ambition made men false. Rome changed.” The Roman Republic was critically weakened between 78 and 49 BC. The underlying flaws within the structure of the Senate and the republic itself, political corruption and violence and the formation of the first triumvirate, which should not have been permitted under the democratic state, all contributed to its decline. Manipulating these decaying social and political conditions were significant individuals, who, despite the efforts of the senate, rose to prominence and power, which culminated in Civil war.…

    • 1044 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    The Romans began a republic which had a 2 consuls, a senate, assemblies, and officials. The consuls were similar to modern day presidents but stayed in office for only a year. The Senate led religious events and foreign policy. It also was in control of the revenue. Roman senate consisted of the wealthy men. The assemblies were created so the people other than the wealthy could have their say in the government. However the people in the assemblies had to be full citizen males, meaning no foreigners or slaves. Roman republic officials did have decent authority but there laws were made to ensure they did not get too much power, leaving more of it to the wealthy. Rome was also centralized, because of its location and saw many migrations and invasions, from Po River people and those in Sicily. At 44 B.C. Rome became an empire, led by an emperor, with senators, advisers, and of course the massive army. Over time, the Roman army became more and more powerful. When Romans would conquer and expand they would normally devastate that area. Eventually, Rome became a military monarchy. Rome then split its empire in two, having a emperor in the west, and another in the east.…

    • 502 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    AP world history

    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Rome: “republic” based on citizenship of free men; citizenship ensured loyalty to the state and brought taxes into the state treasury; emperor-dictators had to support the idea of the republic and pretend to follow what the Senate, council of elder wealthy men, decreed. Development of bureaucracy helped run empire.…

    • 576 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ancient Athens has two documents that discuss democracy. The first one is “Document A: Pericles” and the other one is “Document B: The The Athenian Constitution”. In document A, I found that is truly democratic because your social class is not allowed the interfere with someone's merit. For example, if you’re poor you’re still able to serve the state or be part of the government. In document A it also states that “you get equal justice.” And that’s the way it should be. The constitution favor many people instead of few people. It seems fair and gives equality to all regardless of social class.…

    • 255 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Democracy is a type of government that is meant to give power to the people and give them control over their government and allow their voice to be heard. The democracy in Greece was incredibly direct, citizens could vote on each individual thing, however to be qualified as a citizen you had to be a male born of Athenian parents, all citizens could hold positions of power and their roles were chosen based on chance. As a citizen you were able to participate in votes and your voice was heard giving you a great impact on the government, however the requirements for citizenship caused people who were not citizens to have little say, for them the votes weren’t democratic. Unlike Greece, Rome had a representative democracy, the citizens of Rome, both plebeians and patricians could vote on who they wanted to represent them, however only patricians could hold positions of power. The Roman republic had three tiers, patricians could hold positions in all three, while it took many years for Plebeians to be able to hold all the positions of power. When we consider democracy to be based based on the say of the people, Rome was more democratic compared to Greece.…

    • 318 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It is commonly believed that if you are in a position of power and authority you will always remain so. In his fictional short story, “The Most Dangerous Game,” Richard Connell’s characters, Sanger Rainsford and General Zaroff, had the same opinion. Like many individuals, neither men ever expected to be placed in a position of weakness. The deadly conflict that led to both Rainsford and Zaroff hunting and being hunted developed the theme, “strength and power are temporary,” because two once powerful men suddenly fell.…

    • 638 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The traditional dates for the Roman Republic are 509 to 27 B.C. The latter part of this period from 133 to 27 B.C. is known as the late Republic. It is also known as the Roman Revolution. The result of this revolution was the emergence of the Roman Empire and the catalyst has traditionally been linked to a single Roman citizen called Tiberius Gracchus. The wake of his brief political career left Rome much different than it had been. Like a crack in the wall of a dam, Tiberius revealed a weakness in the Roman system of government that would soon spider out of control until it could no longer hold back the deluge of the building political tension. What was this weakness?…

    • 2567 Words
    • 11 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Best Essays

    Roman Government

    • 2157 Words
    • 9 Pages

    What Influence did Gaius Julius Caesar and Augustus have on the reforms of the government from a Republic to an Empire?…

    • 2157 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Best Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    tried to build a more solid senate but failed to take power away from the…

    • 2425 Words
    • 10 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    The primary purpose of democratic government is of course to represent the will of the people in the form of the sovereign and its policies. In the quest for empire, however, this goal becomes difficult and potentially detrimental in the face of great political, economic, and social changes. Athens was a direct democracy, and Rome was a republic of a democratic and oligarchical mix, but the small and inefficient forms of statecraft of both civilizations were not equipped to effectively manage the empires both would become. The problem with democracy in empire is rooted in the issue that democracy itself seeks to answer – the issue of representation.…

    • 1717 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ancient Athens was not truly democratic. First off, democracy is a system of government in which power is invested in the people who rule either directly or through freely elected represenative. An example of democracy; You have two treats, the dogs can pick only one treat to eat. I will let them both pick, and not only one. Democracy is equal. Ancient Athens wasn’t.…

    • 212 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    successful behavior in every aspect of one’s life.” This is the main point that Chin-Ning Chu tries to make through this chapter and it is the underlying point for her entire book. Thick Face Black Heart is a saying that means you are not worried about criticism from others and you are willing to focus on your goal and ignore the costs of achieving your goal. To put it in the authors own words thick face is the shield and black heart is the spear. You can take this philosophy and apply it to many aspects of life. I think that I will use this way of thinking a lot more than I already do after reading this book. If I were a business man I think it would be the best way to run my business because if you only focus on your own success and you are not afraid of failure then there is no way to fail. If you let no one and nothing stand In your way and you are willing to do anything to succeed in your own personal endeavors then you will eventually succeed. This may seem to be a selfish or wrong way of thinking but if you really want to succeed you have to be willing to be selfish and take what you fell is yours. Of course this isn’t to say you should do wrong things to achieve what you want but you cant waste time thinking about everyone else’s opinions. To summarize you have to be willing to do anything necessary to succeed and to beat your competition.…

    • 858 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays