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Political system in the roman republic
Democracy in ancient rome
The Roman political system
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Well, rome was a balanced mixture of three different types of government, monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy. Some can argue that it was really an oligarchy in which only a small group of wealthy, landowning families controlled the major magistracies. I am one of those people who would argue that it was mostly an oligarchy. In document B, Fergus Millar, a professor at Oxford University explains that every adult male citizen, the rich, the poor, even slaves had a vote. However, all women were excluded. All voting had to be done in Rome, this means that if you wanted to vote, you had to be able to afford the time and money to get to Rome. A historian Ramsay MacMullen said only two percent of citizens voted, which means this system of voting
was useless. Also, elected officials received no pay, so that only the independently wealthy could hold elective office. This is basically what oligarchy is, a government ruled by a small group of wealthy landowners.
As the Reconstruction Era ended, the United States became the up and coming world power. The Spanish-American war was in full swing, and the First World War was well on its way. As a result of the open-door policy, England, Germany, France, Russia, and eventually Japan experienced rapid industrial growth; the United States decided to pursue a foreign policy because of both self- interest and idealism. According to the documents, Economic self- interest, rather than idealism was more significant in driving American foreign policy from 1895 to 1920 because the United States wanted to protect their foreign trade, property and their access to recourses. While the documents also show that Nationalistic thought (idealism) was also crucial in driving American foreign policy, economic Self- interest prevailed.
Valley Forge, was the toughest obstacle the Continental Army had to face during the Revolutionary War. For about nine months in the cold winter, these soldiers stayed in this area for them to"... be close enough to Philadelphia to keep an eye on the British"(Background). By the end of the war, the colonists were victorious in gaining their independence. Regardless, I would abandon my position as a soldier at Valley Forge. My reasoning are due to the multiple hardship they endure such as living in a harsh environment, sickness that lead to death and lacked numerous resources.
Ancient Egyptians created many tools and structures with the help of people from all social classes. One of the most amazing structures of that time period was the Great Pyramid at Giza. Many people were involved in the building process of this pyramid. Document A and E both state that slaves were not the only ones involved in this long process of building the Great Pyramid at Giza. Document E tells us that around twenty-five percent of the workers were people of high status, and many peasants were required to help build this pyramid. It also tells us that the number of slaves that had helped build this pyramid is still a bit unclear. Considering the fact of how normal the idea of slaves was, it’s hard to believe none were involved whatsoever.
In document E and F you learn that Athens follows this basic idea, while Rome strays from it. Document E states that Athens allows for all of its citizens to participate and hold a seat in its assembly. One the other hand, Document F explains that Roman Senate did not allow the public to attend, and the seats were inherited, making the entire system corrupt. Athens citizens were more involved in the government than Rome’s citizens, making Athens government more effective for everyone to be able to voice their
In today’s society many countries and even citizens of the United States question the U.S. government’s decision to get in involved in nuclear warfare. These people deemed it unnecessary and state that the U.S. is a hypocrite that preaches peace, but causes destruction and death. Before and during World War II the U.S. was presented with a difficult decision on whether or not to develop and use the atomic bomb.
Sparta was known for being strong, but was it really? In case you don’t know, Sparta was a Greek city-state. Sparta only focused on war. Spartans were only taught the basics of other topics. Spartans were trained for 13 years just to fight. Reading and writing were only taught in Sparta for practical reasons. The strengths didn’t outweigh the weaknesses. There were more weaknesses to Sparta than there were strengths. The strengths of Sparta didn’t outweigh the weaknesses for three reasons. The first reason is that the babies were killed just if they looked weak. The second reason is that the Spartans barely new anything about other topics (math, reading, writing, etc). The third and final reason is that the helots outnumbered the Spartans 50 to 1.
“A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” –Marcus Garvey. The U.S. is a combination of many cultures and influences over the centuries and because of this we are alike to many of them. We could name many of these influences: the Greeks, the Chinese Dynasties but the Romans were particularly like us. We might see them as barbaric is some ways but the reality is that the U.S. takes pages from many areas of the Romans, and comparisons could be drawn between both of us. Examples include government, our religions, and in some ways entertainment. The U.S. is much like the old Roman Empire was more than a millennium ago
Rome was once one of the world's greatest empire until around 200 BCE when Rome started to crumble. The Fall of Rome did not happen suddenly, it took about 1100 years to take place. The first two centuries as an empire were named the "Pax Romana", which meant the time of Roman peace. The Romans were living the life, without a worry in the world. So how and why did Rome start to collapse, if the empire was was doing so grand and magnificent? To answer that question, the primary reasons that Rome started to decline were that the Romans had difficulty with their government which caused social problems/decay, their military was falling behind on their duties and became indolent, and natural disasters.
In the colonization period, the urge to conquer foreign territories was strong, and many lands in the Western Hemisphere were conquered. With the colonization of these areas, a mercantilist relationship was formed between the conquered civilization and the maternal country. A major part of this was the restriction of exportation of native resources only to the mother country as well as the banning of trading with colonies of other countries. In turn, there was an increasing in the number of smuggling activities during the time. According to a British sailor named William Taggart in 1760, the illegal smuggling of goods into these areas had a positive impact because it brought prosperity to the people in Monte Christi, as there were only one hundred poor families. Likewise, Dominica governor John Orde praised the trading because it created prices much lower than with its maternal country. However, British admiral David Tyrell, Roger Elletson, Dominica governor John Orde, and a 1790 Bahaman newspaper report all had similar views on the harmful effects and corruptness present in smuggling. Despite this, physician George Lipscomb and British Lieutenant Governor Thomas Bruce had neutral opinions on the matter, and only stated what they witnessed in the process.
Rome was kind of a democy it had it’s flaws but by its voting system it makes it a democy. In document C only 2% of Roman’s voted and these votes by the people even though it was few that makes it a democracy. In document C you had to be in Rome to vote which is far because they wouldn’t want an outsider to vote on things that were going on in Rome. In document B poor rich and the freed slaves could vote and for it’s time that is amazing that the poor and the freed slaves could vote. Rome definitely had it’s flaws but for it’s time it was a good democracy but in our fews we don’t think the Rome Republic was a good democy at all.
From about 50 BCE to the year 200 CE, the Roman Empire was a powerful nation. Rome was the city that became the center of the Roman Empire and by 200 BCE Rome became a powerhouse. The Romans conquered Scotland to Spain, controlled the Mediterranean Sea, and established colonies in North Africa, the Middle East, and Asia Minor. By the year 44 BCE Julius Caesar became a Roman Emperor and Rome had a great military. Then around the 5th century CE the Roman Empire began to weaken. The primary reasons for the fall of Rome was because of the Roman Emperors, the Roman Army, and foreign invasion.
Through the Renaissance time period many explorers, scientists, writers, and religious leaders allowed for the spread of religion, ideas such as individualism,and culture, all sprouting from the Renaissance. People such as Petrarch, Martin Luther, Christopher Columbus, and Galileo allowed their own doings to create massive changes in the world. With the the Renaissance lasting from the 1400s to the 1700s, many great changes reached different parts of of the world, making the Renaissance very revolutionary. So through the documents; religion, ideas such as individualism, culture, and science sprouted a revolution in the world.
Greece, originally ruled by an oligarchy ("rule of the few"), operated under the premise that those selected to rule were selected based not upon birth but instead upon wealth. Eventually, however, Greek government became democratic. Rome, on the other hand, was a republic that elected its officials, and common citizens were not allowed as many opportunities as Athenians to participate in matters of the state. While Greece had branches of government to represent citizens, Rome implemented branches of government to represent different components of society. For example, Rome had authorities to supervise public works projects, administer justice, supervise recreational activities and conduct a census (text). Rome, who, like Greece, was a polytheistic society, also appointed a priest for life who was in charge of the entire state's religion.
However, in both Greek and Roman democracy, true equality was virtually non-existent. Only native men above the age of 18 were permitted to vote, thus; women, slaves, children and immigrants were excluded. Therefore, in Athens during the 4th Century BCE only approximately 45,000 people out of an estimated population of 300,000 were eligible to vote (Patterson 2006). Similarly, estimates suggest that at the height of the Roman Empire only 30,000-70,000 Romans, the maximum capacity of The Forum, would have been able to vote - a comparatively insignificant percentage of the total Roman population (Patterson 2006). Additionally, members of the social elite were granted preferred entry to The Forum, as they were viewed as more politically astute (Patterson 2006). This indicates that, although public meetings and voting played a central role in Roman life, “those involved were likely to be a select and unrepresentative body” (Patterson 2006 pp. 355). Hence, the role of common people was largely a façade, and represented a selection between, and validation of, members of the social elite.
They were originally established with the intent to give most of the power to the people. The power to vote for the leaders and settle issues professionally. Both forms of governments had senates, which represented the people and helped the nations succeed, by not allowing one person to gain complete power like a king or emperor would. They both did not want kings ruling the entire kingdom, so they gave the people more power by allowing them a voice with some form of voting. Power was also given to representatives and officials in the republic and democracy. The Athenians were able to vote for legislation and bills, while the Romans elected officials to vote on the people’s behalf. The Roman’s established an aristocratic republic controlled by only wealthy people, so the power was not shared equally in society. On the contrary the Athenians allowed anyone to be in government as long as they were a male citizen. A form of the executive branch emerged from both systems; Rome had two consuls elected by council and Athens had a council of five hundred men. They both had different regulations on who was able to be a citizen. The Athenians only granted citizenship to native born males, while the Romans gave half citizenship to Italians allowing them to have full rights, but were not able to