Roman Goverment

The Roman government (in its entire history from founding to fall) was a strange mix of a democracy and a republic. An interesting fact list that the people of Rome took many of their ideas of government from the Ancient Greeks. When the Roman Republic was first set up, in 500 B.C., the people in charge were two men called consuls. Because the Ancient Romans did not want one man to make all of the laws. Woman were not allowed to be consuls. The consuls controlled the army, and they decided whether to start a war and how much taxes to collect and what the laws were. They both had to agree in order to change anything; if one of them said "veto", then nothing would be done. The consuls got advice from the Senate, which was made up of men from wealthy families in Rome. Women were not allowed in the Senate either. Most of the time, the consuls did what the Senate advised. Once you got into the Senate, you stayed in it for life. Most consuls eventually joined the Senate because there dads and grandfathers were in it.