Roman Republic's Influence On The US Government

The Roman Republic did not fall simply from one cause, rather many external pressures that brought on political instability and destruction. There were multiple pressures that lead to the downfall of Rome including ambitious generals, changing politics, client armies, and a desolate Senate desperate to remain prominent. Many significant people of the time, who wrote letters and speeches on ancient Rome, help to build detailed recollections of the political warfare that took place between 78-31BC.

The United States government is made up of three branches: the legislative, executive, and judicial. In order to make sure no branch has too much power, the government uses a system of checks and balances. Each branch checks the other, all the branches work together. Examples of these checks and balances are found everywhere and in almost every decision made by our government.

The United States judicial branch consists of Supreme Court Justices, appointed by the President, that serve for life and decide if laws are constitutional or if people broke the law. The Roman judicial branch consisted of Praetors, appointed by the assemblies, that served for one year that tried to ensure justice to all people. (The Ancient Roman Republic Government) The executive branch of the United States is led by a President, elected from the people by the people, who leads, at most, for two four year terms and approves laws and leads the army. The executive branch of the Roman republic consisted of two Consuls, elected from the Senate by the Assemblies, that served for one year at a time and they led the army and made big decisions.(Political Structure…) The legislative branch of the United States includes the House of Representatives and the Senate, whose members are elected by the people by the people, and their job is to work together to draft laws. The legislative branch of the Roman republic consisted of the Assemblies whose members were plebeians and sometimes patricians who joined and whose job was to make decisions on laws being passed to the Consuls.(Political Structure…) In the legislative branch there was also the Senate whose members were patricians and whose job was to help make laws. In Rome, someone

Despite the fall of Imperial Rome which was highly developed for its time, the Romans created many variations in politics, economics and social structure. When forming the United States, our founding fathers used the Romans ancient society as a structure for America. This ancient t model allowed America, early and modern alike, to spiral and become an outstanding figure in global affairs. Although the united states and rome are very different they are also alike in many ways. Rome and the United states are similar because they both have a dying middle class and they both had a generalized law. However they are different because Rome was common for emperors to have enemies killed, but murder is not accept in America.

The first government of the United States was outlined in the Articles of Confederation written in 1871. Under this system, the states operated as sovereign nations. The weak national government, which consisted of nothing more than a unicameral legislature, did not have the authority to tax the states, settle interstate disputes or effectively support a military. Following the Revolutionary War, the inadequacies of the national government became apparent. This led to the drafting of the Constitution in 1787. The constitution addressed the issues that the articles of confederation failed to do such as federalism, checks and balances, and the Elastic Clause.

Although one of their best ideas was known as the type of government they established what is now known as the republic, and since then it has been copied by other places, the united states uses and has similarity to roman republic. The U.S government is based partly on the model of Rome’s. the parts and similarity’s that we still use today are things like citizenship, legal code, legislative branch /senate, and others. The republic all started when the romans finally overthrew the Etruscan conquerors they had around (509 B.C.E) once they were free the romans came up or established the republic, a government were the citizens picked a representative to rule on their behalf. The concept of Citizenship in Rome was that males of ages 15 or older, that came from original tribes or places of Rome became citizens. A way that citizens of Rome showed or different themselves from noncitizens and slaves, was by wearing a piece of cloth called the toga, most wore white but an emperor wore a purple toga to show or symbolize himself as “first citizen.” In Rome Citizenship had varied greatly, some citizens were not allowed to vote or hold/be in a public

“When the people fear the government there is tyranny; when the government fears the people there is liberty.” James Madison said. First, I want to establish what tyranny is, tyranny is harsh absolute power in the hands of one person, a few, or many, our Constitution was created to prevent this government from occurring. The Constitution guarded against tyranny by creating Federalism so the central government and the state government did not control the same issues, separating the powers into three branches of government Legislative, Judicial, and Executive, and putting Checks and Balances on these branches to control the power of each other.

The legislative, executive, and judicial branches each have ways to check the power of another branch. Congress has the power to approve and confirm Presidential nominations, override a President’s veto, impeach the President and remove him or her from office, and impeach judges from office. The President can nominate judges and veto Congressional legislation. The Court has the rights to declare presidential acts and laws unconstitutional. “...the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they may be a check on the other…[the three branches] should not be so far separated as to have no constitutional control over each other.” (James Madison, Federalist Paper #51, 1788). This quote by James Madison shows that the Constitution basically separates powers of each branch, and gives each the right to stop the other if they feel that something isn’t fair or equal without creating a ruler or making one branch the strongest. With the concept of checks and balances, the founding fathers were able to stop soft tyranny, and keep government in a balanced and equal

Though, the Romans made undemocratic decisions, they still included the people in a lot of executive decisions. The Assemblies carried out the majority of what the people wanted and what they decided. Therefore, Rome allowed their citizens to help make important decisions about government, which made them democratic.

Rome from 71 BCE to 476 BCE and Han China from 206 BCE to 220 BCE are two very well-known classical empires. These two empires have similarities and differences in their political systems, religion, and social structure. The romans had a democratic government whereas China had a singular ruler. Imperial Rome was monotheistic and Han China was polytheistic. While they both had similar class structures, China had a three tiered social system and the Romans only had two divisions in their class structure.

The Articles of Confederation created a confederation. The National Government consisted of a single legislative body, called Congress. The National Government had certain powers for the Articles of Confederation. At first there was no judicial or executive branch under the Articles. Problems came about because the government under the Articles of Confederation didn 't have enough power. States started to print their own money behind the laws back, they participated in foreign trade negotiations, and they organized their own armed forces. All of these issues led to the Constitutional Convention. Delegates wanted to divide power in the federal government. They refused to let the powers be taken over by just one man or group. They were scared of power falling into a small groups hands and the United States being under the power

Ancient Rome had a well organized government that had many purposes that helped them create an amazing civilization. I studied 5 difference purposes of government to learn more about Ancient Rome. Those were the following: public services, protect rights, rule of law, prepare for a common defense, and support the economic system. The Roman Republic had amazing features.

The government consists of the Legislative Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Judicial branch. These three powers guard against tyranny because the building of laws is represented to be more equal. James Madison, father of the Constitution and author of the Federalist Paper #51, wrote, "…. (L)iberty requires that the three great departments of power should be separate and distinct” (Doc B). The three groups should not be associating to have more power because it is authoritarianism. So if each of them are independent, there would be a greater amount of freedom in the government. Federalist Paper #51 declared, “…the constant aim is to divide and arrange the several offices in such a manner as that they may be a check on the other….” (Doc C). Although they are all apart, they have the right to “check on each other” and their power to confirm they are all accomplishing their duties and respecting the laws. They do this by impeaching the president, checking Supreme Court power, confirming President nominations, etc. All three branches will have equal amounts of power, to guarantee that they will not have constitutional control over one another when they are accumulated. Using this system will ensure that the three branches are all following their

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.

In order to compare and contrast varying types of government within two or more countries, one must have a clear definition of Government and know the purposes it serves. Therefore, I did some research and I have established that Government is a group that exercises dominant power over a nation, state, society or other body of people. Governments are commonly responsible for constructing and implementing laws, handling money, and defending the general population from external threats, and may have other obligations or privileges. All over the world, there are many different types of government within countries. Each kind has its advantages as well as disadvantages regarding the general well-being of its peoples and economy. Some of the most common types of political systems practiced today are monarchy, democracy, republic, communism and dictatorship.