Government and Expansion of the Roman Republic

Identify the two chief executive magistrates of the Roman Republic and state how long their term of office lasted.

The two chief magistrates were the consuls, and their term of office lasted for one year.

Name the two main social classes in early Rome and state which group held early political control.

The two classes were the patricians and the plebeians. The patricians held political control.

What major power did the Tribunes of the Plebs possess that allowed them to halt government action?

They possessed the veto (Latin for 'I forbid'), which let them block laws, decrees, and consular commands.

Explain the significance of the Lex Hortensia passed in 287 BCE.

The Lex Hortensia established that measures approved by the Plebeian Assembly applied to all citizens, including patricians, ending the formal legal inequality of the Conflict of the Orders.

Describe how Rome treated defeated Italian neighbors, and explain how this policy aided further expansion.

Rome made defeated neighbors into allies rather than taxing them directly. These allies provided troops for Rome's campaigns, expanding the pool of available soldiers for future wars.

Read the following statement by the Greek historian Polybius (c. 150 BCE): 'If we focus our attention on the power of the consuls, the government appears entirely monarchical; if on that of the Senate, it seems aristocratic; and if on the power of the people, it appears clearly democratic.' Explain one reason why a modern historian might argue that Roman government was far less democratic in reality than Polybius described.

Modern historians point out that voting assemblies were organized so that the wealthy held a voting majority, patronage ties forced poorer clients to vote with their aristocratic patrons, and holding magistracies required wealth and connections that regular plebeians did not have.