Ancient Rome DBQ
Many people argue that the culture of the Ancient Romans reflect that of the United States today. While there have been many advancements over the course of the years, a few basic principles still apply and can be seen in the United States today. Although there a few key differences that can be seen between the two cultures, it is important that one focuses on similarities to see how the United States has developed as a whole. Roman culture was similar to what the United States is today by the form of government and types of entertainment. One of the first (and one of the most important) ways that the United States is similar to Ancient Rome can be seen through the form of government. Document 1 from the packet shows the
The United States Government is a government formed and influenced off of other successful governments, the Roman Republic being one of them. While the Roman Republic and our current United States Government have many similarities, they also have many differences. One example of a similarity is how the government was divided. Just like the Roman government, the United States government is divided into three parts: the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. Even though they were not called these names in Rome, they are almost the same thing.
There were many reasons why the Roman empire collapsed. Rome’s empire was in parts of Europe, Asia, and Africa. In 117 CE, Rome was the strongest empire in the world. The empire didn’t exist a few centuries later. The Roman empire collapsed because the population decreased, too many emperors were assassinated, and Rome was too big.
The Roman Empire was a success thousands of years ago, today the United States has adopted many ideas and aspects of their government. The founding fathers of the United States almost replicated the Roman Republic as an experiment to see if their system would work yet again. America’s standard set of laws reflects those of Rome's, the civil duties of citizens are very similar, and the idea of rotation of power is aligned. Luckily, their experiment of a government worked and USA is flourishing still today. There are so many similarities in the basic laws of the governments of Rome and America.
There are many specific examples which can illustrate America has more in common with the practical Romans. The first evidence is a Senate, a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances. The United States has a Senate today, which adopted many principles of Roman Republic. In the past, a Senate, which was a place for more mature attitudes to prevail, ruled Rome outright for 500 years.
The government of America is similar to Rome because they both elect their leaders. The leaders then make laws that the people of the towns vote on. The laws are there to keep citizens safe. Although they have many things in common the only thing that is different is the way they handle crime. Julius Caesar was the leader of military and had power over the people of Rome.
It ensures that not one area of government becomes too powerful. In both Rome's and the United States' governments, power divides itself among three branches of government. Both governments also use checks and balances. Checks and balances are a system of government in which no one branch of government has
Fall of Rome DBQ Including most of the Mediterranean world, Rome, a city that was growing big enough to become one of the world’s largest empire’s would soon slowly fall apart because of their problems. In 27 BC, Rome’s first emperor, Augustus Caesar, took complete power. During his time, he ruled with Pax Romana, a time of Roman peace which lasted for almost 200 years. After his death, the Roman Empire begun to break apart. The primary reasons for the fall of Rome was it being geographically too big; the population was decreasing due to plagues which led to the Roman army becoming weak, social and military issues and laziness of the military would guide the army down which led to cities being lost, and their government and leadership issues of the weak or selfish power leaders would all conduct to the breaking up of Rome.
There are many similarities that can be noticed between the American Nation and the Roman Empire such as the same founding of government and both dominated in military, and economic similarities. Rome is famous for their harsh discipline amongst their own ranks and their mercifulness brutality amongst their enemies. Rome warfare was characterized by great ferocity and the roman pursuit of victory was determined. Rome gave many good ideas; the senate was ruled by the people of Rome. The Roman Republic Government was a large complex constitution, which was secure by many checks and balances, so that no man could have complete control.
Rome and the U.S. have a very similar historical issue or backgrounds while all may not be good they still share a common ground which is a struggle and equality for all. While the United States of America was created to be the modern version of the Roman Republic which explains the similarities and even the difference, once learning from Rome’s mistakes. Rome was founded on April 21, 753BC with many advantages for development Rome was settled only a few miles from the sea which gave them a huge advantage for trade and more. The U.S. was founded on July 4, 1776, it also was built with many advantages. Just as the Roman Republic the U.S. government was built with many advantages there are many claims that the U.S. was constructed to be the modern version of Rome.
When considering the framework of ancient times and current forms of government, and considering its limited representative elements, Rome remains an outstanding example of a successful ancient government. People were divided into different classes. Patricians were wealthy citizens of Rome. When the Roman Empire started to grow and Rome became a powerful city, top government position became more and more popular. Therefore, more and more ambitious men got involved in government.
I agree that Rome was not overthrown by external enemies but was defeated by its own internal problems. The fall of Rome was mainly due to internal problems because the Romans were only fulfilling their own needs, the law were not reliable and the struggle with the right emperor led to the end of Rome. These internal problems made the empire unstable and led to external problems. For example, in document C, Marcellinus, a Roman soldier criticizes the Romans for being selfish and only worrying about themselves.
We owe much to the Romans and Greeks for our unique form of government because the U.S. Government is based on ideas from ancient Greek and Rome. Civil law and common law systems are the two major types of legal systems that developed. Civil Law jurisdictions is more common in our world today and historically goes back thousands of years in the Babylonian/Roman Empire where society was ruled by a law known as the Code of Hammurabi. The Code of Hammurabi contain rules similar to our current laws that govern different aspects of our society (i.e. criminal law, family relations etc.). We have a type of political system called democracy in which the power is vested in the people and all people of a state are involved in electing their government
The better system for citizenship between Athens and Rome was the Romans system. In Rome it didn't matter what gender you are you were able to be a citizen. If you were a slave then you couldn't be a citizen no matter what. In Athens the only way you could have been a citizen would be if you are a native adult. People in Athens had a hard time becoming citizens and if they weren't they had to be slaves or work for others.
So, how did these two societies, that both started in completely different ways, come to be so similar? Well, the truth of the matter is, how a society is built does not dictate the future for it. Rome had an economic system, a government, and a military to go along with daily life. America does, as well, although the culture has many differences, but that goes with the time period. What matters most when trying to build a society are the decisions made by each population over time that benefit or hinder the country.
Ancient Rome was a huge empire that ruled over the Mediterranean. Rome gave many gifts to other civilizations, for instance, the way the Colosseum was built was introduced to other civilizations. The Roman republic was somewhat meeting the common good. Common good meaning everyone was being affected in a good way. If I had to give Rome a grade it would be an A minus.