Daily Blog 2 Week 7

Konnor Drewen

3/15/011

How was the Struggle of the Orders influential on later Roman politics?

            First, I will explain what the Struggle of orders was. You see, during the fifth and fourth centuries of the Roman Republic, Roma faced internal class conflict. Patricians, the noble class, held claim to certain social and political rights and privileges that Plebeians, the largest portion of Roman citizens, wanted extended to their class, as well. The Struggle of the Orders lasted over two centuries of the early Roman Republic. During those years, plebeians made increasing gains toward achieving political and social rights that had before been exclusive to the Patrician class and denied them. The Struggle of the Orders caused relative peace on the social and domestic front for the century and a half following 287 BCE. Moderation had been shown on both sides. The Struggle was made up of important events which in the end caused the increase in power of the Plebeians. It caused the formation of ten man tribuni plebis and the concilium plebis whose job was to serve the needs of the Plebeian class. They created a bill that allowed the Patricians and Plebeians to marry. They also created a law that said any law passed by the tribuni plebis was binding to the whole Roman population. So, in the end the Struggle of the Orders had a major effect. It caused the formation of a different legal group, it allowed peace between the two classes, and it created an equal amount of rights to give to both classes.