How Democratic Was The Roman Republic

The Roman republic, which officially became a republic in 509 BCE, became one of, if not the most significant states at the time of its inception. Although it began as a small town, it eventually grew to be among the biggest within the Italian peninsula, and with rapid growth, came the need for a new form of government. The Roman republic has many elements that classify it as a democracy, with some similarities to modern say democracies. However, it is important to understand how the republic came to be.

Before Rome was a republic, it was a Monarchy ruled by various kings, some of whom were Etruscan from birth (Boundless, 2022). The reason for the transition from monarchy to republic is due to the fact that Roman people were tired of the

The consuls were responsible for many of the functions kings of previous had, with the caveat that they had checks on their power, as there were two consuls rather than one, and they could be removed from their position if need be. Another aspect of the Roman republic that made it democratic was the existence of the Assembly of Tribes. These were officials voted for by the general population of Rome. They had the ability to vote on laws that would affect the population and had a vote on whether Rome would go to war or not (Democracy, 2021). Given the fact that Roman citizens had the right to vote on issues that affected everyday life could be seen as the most democratic aspect of the Roman republic, although there were some caveats on who had the right to vote. Although the Roman republic was a democracy in theory, there were some aspects that were just democratic in name, but aristocratic in

The senate was the advisory board to the consuls. The senate was mostly made up of Aristocrats who served for life, and they were elected by the consuls (Shiffer, 2021). The senate was un-democratic due to the fact that they typically did not allow the plebians (regular Roman population) to join their ranks, as it was only meant for the elite of Rome. The senate routinely overstepped their boundaries when it came to making decisions in Rome, due to the fac that it was made up of mostly influential individuals. This was best emphasized when the senate was able to overrule the vote of the people to go to war against the Dalmatians, as they felt it would reinvigorate the troops of Rome (Brown, 2016). Even when it came to matters of voting, the less fortunate among the Roman citizens were disenfranchised as they were often left out of the voting process, due to the fact that even though they technically did have the right to vote, they were often left out as their vote was not needed since the rich areas were allowed to vote on issues first, and once a certain number of votes were reached, they stopped the voting process, so the poorer areas were rarely called upon to vote (Brown,