Class%20Struggle

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Class Struggle

• Plebeians Patricians

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Class Struggle

• There was a problem with the Roman republic.
• We call it class distinction, the feeling that
  some people are "upper class" while others are
  "lower class" and inferior.

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• In Rome the senate was made up of upper class
  patricians, but the majority of Rome's people
  were plebeians.

Roman Senators
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• Plebeians included towns people, small farmers,
  merchants, laborers, and artisans.
• They had the right to vote they paid taxes, and
  served in the army, but they could not hold
  public office like the patricians.

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• The plebs resented the lack of power, because
  they knew the patricians could not maintain power
  or the republic without them.

• The republic needed its soldiers - plebs were
  soldiers. In 494 B.C. they went on strike to get
  their rights.

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• This scared the patricians.
• They met some of the plebs demands and recognized
  their representatives - the tribunes.

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• At first there were 2 tribunes, but as the city
  grew the number increased to ten.
• Tribunes could not make laws, but they could stop
  laws that were not good for the plebs. All they
  had to say was "Veto!" Latin for " I forbid!"

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• They succeeded in 451 B.C. (after long struggle)
  to get the government to engrave the Roman laws
  on 12 bronze tablets in the Roman Forum.

• These were called The Twelve Tables. They became
  the basis for all future Roman law.