Rome Warm Up - Society and Government

Ancient Roman society was made up of three social classes: the patricians, plebeians, and slaves. The patricians were the richpeople. The plebeians were the poorer people who were free. Slaves were people captured in war, born to enslaved parents, or who owed money. Only patrician and plebeian men could be citizensin Rome. Women and slaveswere not citizens. The first type of government in Rome was a monarchy. Their last king was very cruel, so the Romans overthrewhim and said they never wanted to have a king again. Then they moved to a republic, which was a representativedemocracy. This meant that the people voted for representatives who then vote on laws. The people (male citizens) could choose the representatives.The leaders of the republic were two consuls. They were in charge of the militaryand served for one year. The Senateadvised the consuls and served for life. They were only patricians. The Assemblies were called the tribal and centuriate. They were made up of plebeians.