Download The Romans never permanently solved this problem. At various

Can You Save the Roman
Republic?
Background Information
• When Rome conquers other territories, they bring back
captives to serve as slaves for Roman citizens.
Background Information
• When Rome conquers other territories, they bring back
captives to serve as slaves for Roman citizens.
• Criminals and debtors are used in the arenas as
gladiators, and typically die.
Background Information
• When Rome conquers other territories, they bring back
captives to serve as slaves for Roman citizens.
• Criminals and debtors are used in the arenas as
gladiators, and typically die.
• The Roman Republic suffered governmental problems
that ultimately led to the end of the Republic. The
Romans did attempt reforms. However, they were
unsuccessful.
Background Information
• When Rome conquers other territories, they bring back
captives to serve as slaves for Roman citizens.
• Criminals and debtors are used in the arenas as
gladiators, and typically die.
• The Roman Republic suffered governmental problems
that ultimately led to the end of the Republic. The
Romans did attempt reforms. However, they were
unsuccessful.
Now, let's see if you can do better than the
Romans did to generate reforms, to correct some
of Rome's major problems during the Roman
Republic and save the Republic!
Directions:
Imagine you are the Roman Senate.
They have some power, but they are not gods. They must
obey the will of the people, keep the rich happy, and still
save Rome from self-destruction.
As elected consuls, leaders of government, your (the
student's) job is to discuss and solve three major problems
facing the Republic.
Example:
Slaves are brought back from each conquered land. These
slaves are assigned jobs in the factories and on the farms,
working for much less than any free Roman can. These
slaves are putting free citizens, who are laborers and small
farmers, out of work. Poor Romans are starving to death.
What can we do?
Example:
Slaves are brought back from each conquered land. These
slaves are assigned jobs in the factories and on the farms,
working for much less than any free Roman can. These
slaves are putting free citizens, who are laborers and small
farmers, out of work. Poor Romans are starving to death.
What can we do?
The Romans never permanently solved this problem. At
various times, they tried land reform (giving land to poor
Romans), freeing the slaves (they would then conquer
another territory and get more slaves), and price controls.
They even had a welfare program. Nothing worked for
long.
Problem 1. Rome needs tax money.
The government needs to pay the legions, build roads,
sewers, aqueducts, arenas, and pay for the welfare program
in Rome. To get this tax money, Rome uses tax farmers.
Tax farmers are Romans who pay a flat fee to the Roman
Republic for the privilege of collecting taxes from a
territory. To recoup these monies, tax farmers then levy a
tax against every citizen in their territory. Tax collectors
expect to make a profit, as they are in the business of tax
collection. This is understood. However, under this system,
there are many abuses, as the government can not control
how each tax farmer runs their individual business. How
can we stop the abuses while still continuing to get
the tax money we need to run the Republic?
Problem 1. Rome needs tax money.
This problem was not solved while the Republic
existed. The emperors solved this problem by not
allowing tax collectors to make a profit. The emperors
taxed the rich and merchant classes, while giving to
the poorer Romans.