The struggle of the orders was a political conflict between the plebeians who were the commoners in Ancient Rome and the patricians who were the aristocrats. In the senate, plebeians did not have any power at the time. So in four hundred ninety four before the Common Era, the plebeians all left the city creating the first plebeian secession. As a result of this secession, the government created the plebeian tribune which is the first kind of power any plebeian was given in the Roman Senate. These plebeian tribunes were elected by other fellow plebeians instead of the people of Rome. They had the same amount of rights as any other magistrate, meaning that it was a capital offense to harm a tribune, disregard his veto, or it interfere with the tribune himself. Eventually, more and more power was given to the plebeians over time. So not long after, the senate contained not only patricians but now also plebeians. In two hundred eighty seven before the Common Era, this conflict was now resolved with having the plebeians possess just as much power as the patricians. However, the plebeians’ predicament did not change. Then in forty nine before the Common Era, Julius Caesar began a civil war against Ancient Rome. He eventually overthrows the Roman Republic and instead created the Roman Empire. The struggle of orders greatly changed the plebeians’ rights, and it also was a main component in the Constitution of the Roman Republic. Because of this conflict, plebeians now had the final power to pass or veto a law. The power of democracy now was not only controlled by the patricians, but instead the new Patricio plebeian aristocracy.
I like all the information you gave on this certain event. I never knew about Ceaser overthrowing the Roman Republic. I think you could have described what the original problem was with the struggle of the orders.
ReplyDeletehttp://pages.uoregon.edu/klio/rr/05-struggle.htm
Here is a link to the Struggle of the Orders problem.