Roman Consul and Congress - Essay Example

However, the Roman empire was not stable in its earlier foundations, part of the Roman army mutinied against the empire and seized Reghium, a Roman city and held it against the Romans for over ten years, however, in 270 BC, a Roman commander named Hieron crushed the rebellion. In the period 443, the Roman Empire established the Consularship. This institution was to help the Roman Empire in governance and enact laws. The Roman form of government had differences and similarities to the modern system of Governance in America which has the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, each performing different kinds of work and independent of one another.

The United States congress is bicameral in nature, and it consists of the senate and House of Representatives, each playing different roles but supplementing each other (Waide, 17). This paper analyzes the features of the Roman counsel, its roles and significance to the Roman Empire. It also analyzes the features of the United States Congress, its roles and significance to the United States in regard to governance and policy making. In doing this, this paper explains major differences and some aspects of similarities between the American Congress and the Roman counsel, which is the main objective of this paper.

This paper has a conclusion, which gives brief disadvantages of these systems of government. The paper, in meeting its objectives, analyzes the roles of the consuls in the Roman Empire, and of the senate. The paper has identified the different assemblies that characterized the Roman consularship and how they relate to the senate. In doing this, the paper has managed to portray the differences between the Roman consularship and the United States Congress. A consul was the highest ranking officer in the political environment of Rome.

Each year, two consuls were appointed to govern Rome, and each had a veto against one another. This was to prevent the rise of dictatorship. With the rise of the emperors, in 27 BC, the Roman consuls lost their powers since they were subject to the emperor. Consuls were called Praetors, which meant leaders, and had authority in administrative, judicial and legislative matters. In periods of War, consuls were military commanders and were elected by Commitia Centuriata, a committee of local people who composed of one hundred men.

These men were elected by the people and had military backgrounds therefore this committee was a representation of the people. Consulship was reserved for the ethnic group of Patricians but after a long period of time, the Plebeians were allowed to become consuls. During a period of conflict, qualifications of becoming a consul was military skills and a good reputation in terms of bravery and wisdom. During a period of time, there was need to elect more consuls, and the Comita Centuriata ceased to do this, and thus the consuls were elected by the Senate.

Consuls had executive powers and were heads of government, and in the year 443 BC, several responsibilities were taken from the consuls and given to censors and praetors. Censors were responsible for taking taxes while praetors were judicial officers. Consuls were responsible for carrying out decisions of the senate and could convene the senate and attend its meetings, since they were