Plebeian Revolution

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Following their joint success in disposing the kings, Rome’s patricians enjoyed greater privileges and powers while the plebeians got the short end of the economic and political stick, a disparity of resource allocation that would ultimately lead to the revolt of the plebeian masses.
The Revolt
As William Morey points out in the chapter “The Struggle for Economic Rights” found in his book Outlines of
Roman History, following the kings, Rome was a republic, albeit an aristocratic one rather than a democratic one. Plebeians were barred from holding office and the patricians took on many of the power-­hungry habits of the kings they had recently deposed. (1901). An imbalance in political power, whatever its ills and causes, has been tolerated …show more content…

Following the war, although public land was supposed to be publicly held, as a resource it was monopolized by the patrician class for their use and gain and withheld from the plebeians, who unable to utilize it as a resource were further confined to their poverty (1901).
The division between the patrician and plebeian classes left the plebeians with little capital except for their role as fighters in the army. The plebeian revolt, or first secession, was simply to withholding this one resource, leaving the patricians to fight their own battles. And it worked.
In 494 BC, the plebeians marched away from the ranks of the Roman army, which the patrician generals quickly realized would lead to the destruction of Rome. Morey points out two important concessions that the plebeians won through negotiations to bring them back into the fold. The first is that all debtors who couldn’t pay had their debts forgiven and everyone in debtors’ prison was freed. This provide economic relief, the second concession, which is very important to the trajectory of the empire, was to ensure that similar economic oppression did not continue in the future, which meant giving the plebeians a political voice. This

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