 In a republic, citizens elect leaders to run

their government. These elected leaders are

called consuls.
 Consuls are leaders elected by a citizen
assembly and advised by a Senate.
 So does this mean that the Roman Republic
was a democracy just because the citizens
elected their representatives?
 No it doesn’t because every citizen did not
have the same economic power.
 Citizens were divided into two classes, which
would be?
 Members of the small number of wealthy
families.
 Had the right to vote.
 Could hold political, military, or religious
offices.
 Had more rights than the plebeians.
 Laws passed by the patrician Senate applied
to everyone.
• The bulk of the population including artisans,
shopkeepers, and peasants.
• Had the right to vote.
• Withdrew from Rome and formed their own
assembly, called the Council of Plebeians.
• Laws passed by the plebeian assembly
applied only to plebeians.
• Demanded that laws passed by their
assembly apply to all citizens, plebeian and
patrician alike.
 Poor plebeians sometimes had to borrow
money from the rich to survive. When this
occurred the plebeian family was forced into
debt bondage.
 A man in debt bondage became a servant of
the man to whom he owed the money.
 He was treated as a slave and wasn’t paid
any wages. Therefore, he could never regain
his freedom because he couldn’t get the
money that was necessary to pay back.
 Took place in 450 B.C.
 The laws were engraved on 12 bronze tables
called the Twelve Tables.
 The tablets were then displayed in the
Forum so that all citizens could appeal to
them.
 However, only few citizens could actually
read them.
 So plebeians fought for their rights and to be
equal to the patricians.
 Finally, in 287 B.C., the patricians agreed to
meet the demands of the plebeians.
 Plebeians and patricians were finally equal
under Roman law.
 I know you all have experienced some type
of unfairness in your life so far just as the
Plebeians did. Therefore, you all will think of
time in which you all were faced with an
unfair situation. You will then write down
what you the unfair situation was, why it was
unfair, and what you did or could do to get
the other subject that treated you unfairly to
treat you fair. If you can’t think of a true
situation, you can make one up.
 Examples…