The Rise of the Roman Republic

Patricians and Plebeians Under Etruscan Rule The patricians were a small group of wealthy landowners. They elected the “fathers of the state,” who advised the Etruscan king. The plebeians were peasants, laborers, craftspeople, and shopkeepers. They had little voice in the government.

Can you think of a political group that thinks that our present system of government represents only a small group of people?

Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street

The Patricians Create a Republic All power was in the hands of the patricians. Power was in the hands of the Senate. Only patricians could be senators and consuls. Patricians elected the senators.

The Plebeians Rebel The Conflict of the Orders, was a political struggle between the plebeians and patricians lasting from 494 BC to 287 BC, in which the plebeians sought political equality with the patricians. Before 494 BCE, patricians held the power. They made the decisions and interpreted the laws to benefit themselves. The conflict began while Rome was at war with two neighboring tribes and all the plebeians refused to fight and left the city in protest of their inequality.

The Plebeians Gain Political Equality Over a couple of centuries, the plebeians won important rights. First, they gained the right to elect tribunes who represented their interests. They could veto actions by the Senate. They could elect a lawmaking body, the Council of Plebs. The Twelve Tables were written laws that were posted so that patricians could not change them. Also, a new law ordered that one consul be a plebeian. Finally in 287 BCE equality was achieved, when the plebeian assembly gained the right to pass laws for all Romans.

Rome’s Republican Legacy Rule by constitution, not by man. Elected assemblies, citizenship, and civic duty. A model of governmental bodies that could check each other’s power. Cicero wrote: “The people’s good is the highest law.” We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.