The Roman Republic

1
The Roman Republic
2
The Founding of Rome

• Romulus and Remus. Video
• Think about these questions as you watch the
  video
• Who is the father of Romulus and Remus?
• What river were the babies sent to float down?
• Who watched over Romulus and Remus?
• Where did Romulus want to build his city?
• Why did Romulus kill Remus?

3
People involved in the Republic Government

• the group of common people or peasants in Rome
  who were calling for changing the government
  where they had more of a say in how the city was
  run. Plebeians held jobs like artisans,
  shopkeepers or small farm owners.
• Roman nobles who ran the government. Only they
  could be elected to office, so they held all
  political power. Patricians were wealthy land
  owners and came from Romes oldest and most
  prominent families.
• Elected government officials.
• The title of the two most powerful magistrates.
  The consuls were chosen from administrators and
  army leaders.

Plebeians Patricians Magistrates
Consuls
4
Parts of the Roman Republic

• Made up of three parts

• 1. Magistrates
• 2. Senate
• 3. Assembly

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Part 1 Magistrates

• Who are Magistrates?
• What was their role?

• were 20 elected officials who ruled for one year.
  
• The magistrates performed many duties, acting as
  judges, tax collectors, and urban planners

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Part 1 Magistrates

• Who are Consuls?
• What was their role?
• How long did they serve?

• The two highest magistrates were called Consuls.
  Was the most powerful political position in Rome.
  
• The consuls issued laws and led the army. In
  order to prevent one person from becoming too
  powerful, each consul could veto the decisions of
  the other.
• Additionally, consuls, like the other
  magistrates, only served for one year. Short
  terms prevented any one person from becoming too
  powerful.

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Part 2 Roman Senate

• Who made up the Roman Senate?
• How long did you serve?
• What was their role?

• was made up of 300 men, who at first were only
  selected from the patrician class
• Senators were elected and held their offices for
  life.
• First the Senates only job was to advise the
  consuls, but over time, it gained power.
• eventually becoming the most important part of
  the government and making decisions about laws,
  foreign policy, and finance.

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Part 3 Roman Assembly

• What did the Assembly do?
• Who was apart of the Assembly?
• What power did the Assembly have ?

• Protected the rights of the plebeians. The
  plebeians had an assembly, or lawmaking body, of
  their own called the Council of the Plebs.
• This assembly could elect ten officials, called
  tribunes, or tribunes of the plebs.
• The tribunes had the power to veto the actions of
  the consuls or the Senate.
• The veto power meant that this group of tribunes
  had the ability to limit what the Senate and the
  consuls could do, which made them very powerful.

9
Representative Government

• What is a representative government?

• leaders are elected by the people to serve in
  government and represent the views of the entire
  society.
• Rome, unlike in Athens, not everyones views were
  represented. However, the idea of elected
  officials serving the interests of the entire
  society was an important innovation in political
  thought.

10
Separation of power

• no one person, group, or branch of government has
  all the power.
• This idea was central to the creation of the
  United States government.
• The United States government is separated into
  three branchesthe legislative, executive, and
  judicial brancheseach with their own powers and
  responsibilities.

• What does this mean?
• Modern Day Example

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Office of Dictator

• The Romans believed that there were times when
  the republic needed a strong leader. In the Roman
  Republic, the consuls resigned during difficult
  or dangerous times
• The senate appointed a dictator to lead the
  people. After the crisis was over, the dictator
  was expected to give up his power, and the
  regular governments power would be restored.

• How does this version of a dictator compare with
  the dictator definition you are familiar with?

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Cincinnatus Civic Duty

• A respected Roman consul who was known for his
  loyalty to Rome. When a powerful enemy of Rome
  threatened to destroy the Roman Army, the senate
  appointed Cincinnatus as dictator.
• Messengers were sent to his farm to tell him
  about his appointment. They found him plowing his
  fields.
• He accepted the role of dictator and created an
  army.

• He led his army into battle and easily defeated
  the enemy. After marching his army back to Rome
  he resigned as dictator and returned to his farm.

• Why do you think the Romans admired Cinncinatus?

13
Civic Duty

• Civic duty is the idea that citizens have a
  responsibility to help their country.

• What civic duties do you have to your
• Community
• School
• Friends
• Family

14
First Written Laws

• Roman laws were not written down.
• Plebeians demanded laws be written down for fair
  judgement.
• In 451 B.C Rome adopted first written code of
  laws known as the Twelve Tables.
• Twelve tables supported the idea that all free
  citizenspatricians and plebeianshad the right
  to be treated equally.

• What do you think our society would be like
  without any written laws? What are some pros and
  cons?

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Twelve Tables

• If you are called to appear in court you have to
  go.  If you don't you can be arrested and forced
  to go. 
• If you need a witness in court and they refuse to
  go you can stand in front of their house and
  shout out how they are refusing to do their duty
  as a citizen.  You can do this once every three
  days.
• Should a tree on a neighbor's farm be bent by the
  wind and lean over onto your farm, you can go to
  court and get the tree cut down.
• If fruit falls from your trees it is yours no
  matter where it falls.
• If you lied in court you would be thrown off of
  the Tarpeian Rock.
• You could not hold a political or business
  meeting at night.  Dinner parties and religious
  festivals at night were ok.
• Everyone who died had to buried or burned outside
  the city.
• Rich people could not marry poor people and vice
  versa (plebeians and patricians).  This law did
  get changed later.

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Roman Justice

• The ideas found in Roman Laws are woven
  throughout the American legal system.
• The rule of law is one of the key ideas that the
  Romans passed on to the world.

• Like the Roman legal system, we assume that a
  person is innocent until proven guilty.
• The rule of law means that laws apply to everyone
  equally. It also means that the legal systems
  should treat everyone the same way.