Download Latin Project-Frank Kachmar-Government Under

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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
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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
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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
At the beginning of the Roman Republic:
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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.
 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 reelected. (Cincinnatus)
The 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)
 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 make
war 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
Considering 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.
Three committees made up the Legislative Branch (All passed new laws and
reformed old ones)
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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
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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
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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.
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o The Judicial Branch consisted of 6 pairs of special Praetors:
o These six special Praetors would be determined by seniority
o 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 time
o Being a high judge was considered an extremely high, and even
holy honor to the Romans.
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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
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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
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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
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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.
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But new times demanded reform in the government system, so in 27
B.C., it was replaced with the Roman Empire.
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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.
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So the Senate and Consul appointed the former censor, Julius Caesar
as temporary dictator of Rome.
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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
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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.
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The Roman Empire endured for over a 1,000 years, and Rome was at
its peak during this time period.
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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
http://www.utexas.edu/depts/classics/documents/RepGov.html
http://www.roman-colosseum.info/roman-empire/roman-republic.htm
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_pennellhistoryofrome11.htm
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_did_the_Ancient_Romans_hold_elections
http://www.bible-history.com/rome/RomeThe_Republican_Government.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cursus_honorum
http://history.howstuffworks.com/ancient-rome/patrician-and-plebeian.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Senate#Senate_of_the_Roman_Republic
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_citizenship