Roman Government Under the RepublicBy Frank Kachmar

Constitution of the Republic• No real written constitution of Roman Republic• Rules of how government functioned determined by government leaders• Rules of how government functioned etched into stone in Roman Forum• Laws passed by government etched into stone in Roman Forum• Republic had 4 branches of government (Executive, Senate, Legislative, and Judicial)• Very similar to our government (We have three with a combined Senate and Legislation• Got inspiration from Roman Republic• All Roman citizens could vote

Roman Citizens To be a citizen in Ancient Rome you had to: Be a free individual Be a law-abiding citizen Own property Have respect for government

Women had limited citizenship People who lived in newly conquered lands had limited citizenship They could enroll every 5 years (fee)(censors) Freedmen could buy full citizenship Most Romans born into citizenship

To be able to vote: Must be male citizen with full citizenship

Plebeians vs. PatriciansAt the beginning of the Roman Republic:

Citizens were divided into two social classes The plebeians and the patricians The patricians were the wealthy upper class of Rome To be a patrician, you had to be born into it. Clans like

Fabii, Julii, and Claudii Patricians held more government seats At beginning, only patricians could vote or hold office Plebeians were middle and lower class (laborers,

workers, businessmen, merchants, soldiers, newly enrolled citizens, etc.)

In 494 B.C. plebs. gained the right to vote, after revolt, and choose leaders, same year tribune was started.

Gradually all restrictions removed 287 B.C., Plebian Council created. Few years later

merged with Senate Finally plebs. could be senators, and magistrates too. By 200 B.C. it didn’t matter if you were a plebian or

patrician, everyone was thought of as equal, terminology was not used.

Magistrates In the Roman Republic the magistrates made up the executive

branch of government All seats held by magistrates were collegial, which meant that they

were held by at least two men, for 1 year

All magistrates were elected by Roman Committee members who were elected by Roman citizens, except dictators.

There were 2 consuls, or top magistrates that were chief civil and military commanders. They also organized and summoned Senate meetings. They were the top-ranking officials.(1 year terms)

2-8 Praetors. Administered civil law at Rome and were governors (military commanders and high judges) 1 year term, except for 6 judges 2 year term

2 Aediles. At least 1 pair had to be plebian. In charge of holidays, games, city upkeep, regulation of markets, and grain supply

2-40 Quaestors. Financial officers and administrative assistants in charge of Roman Treasury, and were military quartermasters sometimes

2-10 Tribunes. In charge of protecting life, and property of plebeians. Had right to veto. (Tiberius Gracchus)

2 Censors- Elected every 5 years to conduct census, enroll new citizens, control public morals, and revise contract protocol (18 month term) Highest position usually

Occasionally during times of crisis in the republic, a dictator was elected as a magistrate position. Had complete control. (5 month term) Could be re-elected. (Cincinnatus)

Cursus HonorumThe Cursus Honorum were the rules of how government officials could advance ranks. (Cicero achieved “Suo anno”youngest possible achievement, and achieved “Novus homo”, no ancestors as consul.)

To run for government, a male citizen had to be of senatorial status

First, had to serve 10 years in Army, at least 5 had to be in cavalry. (min. age 16 for plebs/patr)

Then could run for quaestor. (Min. age 30 for plebs/patr.) Could re-run for all, not consecutively

Had to wait one Quaestor term in between running for Aedile Could run for Aedile. (Min. age 36 pleb./patr.) After holding position of Quaestor or Aedile could run for

Praetor (Min. age 39 pleb.patr.) After being Praetor or Consul, you were required to serve one

term as governor, or provincial ruler. (Min. age for both) Exceptions were granted during shortages

After that you could run for consul top magistrate over Senate. (Min. age 40 for patr. 42 for pleb.)

After consul you again had to serve a term as governor, if you hadn’t already done so, after Praetor.

The final step of the Cursus Honorum was the title of censor Top magistate.(Min. age for patr. 42, and for pleb. 44)

If a dictator was chosen, it was usually a previous censor. But exceptions were made during shortages. Min age- (44, 46)

Senate The Senate was comprised of former magistrates

(Min. age 32 for both) Weren’t allowed to leave Italian peninsula without special permission from consul.

Once elected to a magisterial position, a Senate seat was guaranteed

No fixed number of Senate members, at beginning was 300 patricians

Senate meetings held in the pomerium on Capitoline Hill

No meeting could take place within a mile from pomerium

Senate voted on laws and various other things brought forward by magistrates

A law could only be voted on when no other senators had questions, or two senators, or a magistrate and a senator did not want to debate

After a decision was voted on it became law, Tribunes could veto law,

If that occurred it had to wait 24 hr. to revote Senate could not pass laws by themselves But, Senate could appoint governors, and makewar decisions, and decree “sentatus consulta” or give advice that a certain magistrate was expected to use Religious offerings before meeting Senate gained more power towards end of republic

Power of the Roman PeopleConsidering that the Roman Republic was a very ancient civilization, they allowed a lot of power to be held by their citizens.

Although, qualifications to obtain citizenship were restricted, the citizens were allowed to run for office, and vote. And were even allowed to have disagreements with their leaders.

The Roman people had the ability to run their own country, and to choose how their country was ran.

This type of government was not seen again, in most parts of the world until the late 1700’s.

Legislative BranchThree committees made up the Legislative Branch (All passed new laws and reformed old ones)

• Comitia Curiata:• Made of 30 curiates, usually former magistrates, or current Senators (Min. age

50) Elected for life• Effectively controlled by patricians• Made sure senior magistrates and Senators gained most power with imperium ,

imperator title, and with witnessing the religious ceremonies before Senate meetings

• Comitia Centuriata:• 3 year term• 193 centuries elected into office-Could be as young as 27 w/ no prior • Named after a centum, or a 100-man army unit• In charge of declaring war with other nations• This committee hired and trained diplomats to make war, peace, and other

deals with other nations

• Comitia Tributa:• 18 patricians, 17 plebeians. Made up of selected praetors, Quaestors, tributes,

and senators• Convened to create laws to be passed, voted on at Senate Meeting, special

cases, voted on without them.

Judicial Brancho The Judicial Branch consisted of 6 pairs of special Praetors:

o These six special Praetors would be determined by seniorityo If there were more than 6 pairs Praetors (8 pairs maximum) they

would be appointed as governors, or military commanders, during their term as Praetor

o If there were less than 6, Senate members based on seniority filled the position for the 1 year term

o These special 6 Praetors were known as the “High Judges” of all of Rome and served 2 year terms

o These high judges determined whether or not a law was fair, but they could not veto it, they could just send it back for revision

o Most laws were passed through the Judicial Branch without need for revision, just like the U.S. and its Supreme Court

o High Judges also wrote the rules for their justice system, which determined the fate of criminals, and captives of Rome. (Such as crucifying enemies, burning conquered settlements, throwing Christians into lion pits etc.) Universal throughout all of Roman lands.

o They revised the Roman justice system over timeo Being a high judge was considered an extremely high, and even

holy honor to the Romans.

Elections• The Romans did not believe that one man gets one vote.• Rather they divided citizens eligible to vote into the curiate,

centurie, and tribute committees• Voting was based on a tribe by tribe, centurie by centurie basis• The voting order was randomly selected, and the patricians

always voted before the plebeians

• Elections, or as the Romans called them the Passing of the laws or “transitus legus” was made by a majority of tribal/centurie votes, so the citizens elected people to elect their leaders, an extreme republic

• If the majority of the tribal/centurial committee’s votes counted towards one candidate or law, that law was passed or candidate elected

• The Romans thought that this was efficient, because they wanted experienced men to elect their true leaders

• If citizens were unhappy with a tribal/centurie committee’s choice, they could choose to elect different representatives to the council (Reverse plebiscite)

• Voting was done in the town’s forum• Magisterial voting by committee’s representatives were either

done in the pomerium in Rome or sometimes in the Roman Forum

• Voting by Senators or magistrates either in Forum or pomerium. For people to see what was happening

Benefits/Disadvantages• Benefits:• Since Tribal/Centurial Committees would be electing the

true leaders of Rome, skilled veterans of the Roman government would be making these decisions.

• Things could get done more quickly and efficiently (like appointing a dictator for a 5 month term in a crisis, won’t have to worry about getting in the way with a lot of the policy, like today with bad economy)

• Disadvantages:• The Romans were very exclusive on who could be a citizen• The Romans were also very exclusive on who could vote• The magistrates of the Roman Republic had a lot more

power than the elected leaders we have now• The citizens couldn’t directly vote their own leader• There was a lot more corruption in the government,

because they never wrote a single Constitution, that outlined exactly what their government was, which allowed rules and policies to constantly be changed

• You had to serve in the Army for at least 10 years before running for office

• There was unequal representation in office between plebeians and patricians

Similarities and Differences to our Government Similarities:

Executive Branch Judicial Branch Senate Judicial Branch Limits on Terms Only allowing citizens to vote Operating out of a central location General operation of Senate Representatives to vote on laws Political Terminology Architecture of Government Buildings Wore Clothing to Show political position (toga/suit with

political pin)

Differences: Unequal representation in government because of

varying socioeconomic factors Exclusion of citizenship eligibility Not allowing citizens to directly vote for their leaders

From Republic to Empire The Roman Republic lasted from 508 B.C. to 27 B.C. We can tell that it was very affective because it endured for 481 years

as the official type of government for the Romans.

But new times demanded reform in the government system, so in 27 B.C., it was replaced with the Roman Empire.

The almost 500-year old Roman Republic became corrupt, plagued with civil war, political in-fighting, greedy, illegal deals, and most of all the citizens were dissatisfied with the Senate’s progress, towards fixing the current economy.

So the Senate and Consul appointed the former censor, Julius Caesar as temporary dictator of Rome.

Caesar fixed the economy, and made peace with Rome’s enemies. At the end of his term, he refused to give up his title of dictator, he was able to do this because the majority of Romans supported him

Caesar was murdered because of this, but Caesar’s supporters killed the murderers and Caesar’s adopted son Octavian, took the title of Augustus Caesar, emperor of Rome. This is the day the Roman Republic ended.

The Roman Empire endured for over a 1,000 years, and Rome was at its peak during this time period.

Julius, and Augustus Caesar similar to Napoleon, Hitler, and maybe even U.S. in 2012, with current events going on. Could this happen to us? Conspiracy

Sourceshttp://www.utexas.edu/depts/classics/documents/RepGov.html

http://www.roman-colosseum.info/roman-empire/roman-republic.htmhttp://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_pennellhistoryofrome11.htmhttp://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_the_Ancient_Romans_hold_electionshttp://www.bible-history.com/rome/RomeThe_Republican_Government.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursus_honorumhttp://history.howstuffworks.com/ancient-rome/patrician-and-plebeian.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Senate#Senate_of_the_Roman_Republichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_citizenship