Schickago

                Today in Western Civilization we continued our PowerPoint on Rome. After kings were done away with, two consuls would be elected by the populace. They dealt out justice, made laws, and commanded the army. The consuls could veto each other, dispersing power. They only had a one year term and were always aristocrats (or patricians). In 500 BC, the plebeians challenged the patricians, and plebeians consisted of 98% of the population. Plebeians were in the army, but couldn’t hold office. Plebeians also had no rights in trials or other matters and could be put into debt slavery. Lastly, Rome had no written laws, only unwritten customs, which could be interpreted by the patricians as they pleased. Plebeians refused to serve in the military until the Law of the Twelve Tables was passed. These were made public in 450 BC. Tribunes (something like a tribal leader) were elected, and the SPQR system was used, which stands for senatus populusque romanum, which means the Senate, the People, and Rome. This made Rome many different types of government, as it had a democracy (the people’s assembly and the tribunes), a monarchy (the consuls), and an aristocracy (the Senate, made of approximately 300 patricians). Rome is very similar to the US, but each have major differences in organization. Mr. Schick also put on an excellent show of pretending to have a visitor and then coming into the room and rapping about Rome. I thought this was the best rap solo I’ve seen, and YouTube should ask for Chi Cago back.