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Though much of the political institutions remained the same, the largest change which transformed Rome from a kingdom into a republic would be the replacement of the king with two consuls, who would be voted in by the Roman citizenry and would only have a one year term. This was done to dissuade anyone from desiring to rule indefinitely and from abusing their powers for personal gain and thus was to protect against the corrupting lust for unbounded power seen during the age of kings from their sons.
As noted with the period of kings, though it was remarkable that no king ever succeeded in accordance to bloodline, the temptation for a dynasty, especially by the sons of these kings, had ultimately corrupted this system. It was this very corrupting lust for unbounded power that the republic was formed to defend against.
Junius Brutus would be one of the first consuls of two, in replacing the king, of Rome. During his term, it was found out that his two sons had been caught conspiring with the exiled Tarquin family in plotting their return to the throne and the return of Rome to a kingdom. Brutus had to act as judge over his sons in their treason and sentenced them to death, for which he witnessed their executions, something that was expected of the consul. This is not to say that Brutus was a cold man, but rather that he treated his sons with no additional favour, and judged their punishment for their crimes as he would have done for anyone else. It was because of this reputation for upholding honor that Brutus became a hero in Roman history, that he not only overthrew a tyrant king and helped establish the republic, but that he embodied the noble qualities it was to represent and that nobody was above the law for the general welfare of its people.
The Roman Republic would exist from 510 BC to 27 BC, however, before we go further I would like to point out a few parallels from another time.
His Majesty Hath Cast Them OffOn June 12, 1630, after a voyage of 76 days, four ships with 800 passengers, under the command of John Winthrop, anchored in Massachusetts Bay. With more ships on the way, he was soon to preside over nearly 20, 000 colonists by 1650.
Why were so many Europeans willing to take the risk of such a long voyage to a land that they knew hardly anything about and with no assured prospects? A major factor was that Europe had been experiencing almost ongoing warfare since the hundred years war and was presently experiencing the thirty years war, thus poverty, famine and pestilence ran rampant and the death rate was horrifying. There was no future for most people in Europe, which had descended into such chaos that its continued existence was really not certain.
It was recognised that one of the core reasons for Europe's descent into madness was the unreliability of its kings, being concerned more for their personal welfare than that of their people.
Faced with constant threats by King Charles I of England to remove the rights he had accorded the colonists under the Massachusetts Bay Charter to establish a town, Winthrop replied back that if such a thing were to occur, "the common people here will conceive that his Majesty hath cast them off, and that hereby they are freed from their allegiance and subjection [to the Crown], and thereupon will be ready to confederate themselves under a new government."
The New England Confederation would be established in 1643 and John Winthrop was elected its president. Its Articles of Confederation served as the first step toward realizing a new nation under constitutional rule. Historian Graham Lowry recounts in How the Nation Was Won: America's Untold Story (1630-1751) that Benjamin Franklin would later cite these articles to the French government during the American Revolution for their support.
The Massachusetts Bay colonists had made their stand against the British Monarchy and were ready to face the consequences, from this point on, they would be the shapers of their own destiny.
A Republic if You Can Keep ItFor a little less than 300 years (5th to 2nd century BC), the Roman Republic had succeeded in upholding the oath that the people swore with Junius Brutus. And though it would be confronted with challenging times, additional heroes would follow after, such as Quinctius Cincinnatus, who became a legend not only in Roman but in American history as a representation of the ideal Roman virtue; as a man who had received absolute power in order to defend Rome at a time of crisis, and when his duty was complete and Rome was saved, returned the pre-existing political order and resumed a life as a citizen farmer.
Though Rome was in warfare for most of its existence, it should be noted that everyone was in warfare and to not be at war was not an option during these times. However, during this period, Rome treated for the most part its captured cities well and formed a sort of commonwealth to which their citizens, as Livy confirms, had pretty much equal rights to those in Rome, in fact they were called Roman citizens which was not a term taken lightly. Slavery also existed during this time, however, slavery unfortunately was prevalent in every major civilization of the time, including within Sparta, Athens, and Egypt. The point being that Rome, unlike its counterparts Athens and Sparta, did offer its citizenship to foreigners.
During these years, the Roman people regarded liberty to be the most noble above all things and respected it when they saw it in a foreign people. As Machiavelli wrote of the senate's decision to give the Privernati people citizenship in response to them stating that they will abide under Rome as long as they are treated well under her, the senate did not rule to punish them for such a response but rather to reward them with Roman rights since "men who hold their liberty above everything else were worthy of being Roman citizens."
It was only by around the 2nd century BC that Rome started to develop core fundamental problems that would lead to extensive corruption and civil unrest. They would never fully recover from this and it would spell the end of the republic in 27 BC. One factor to this, were that militaries were led by their generals for longer periods of time and elite military groups started to form, replacing the pre-existing citizens army. After long campaigns, these elite military groups would begin to hold more allegiance to their General than to the Republic. This is what made the power of Caesar and the existence of the two triumvirates possible. In addition, slavery became much more prevalent, the treatment of their slaves much more barbaric, and thus the gladiator games became popular. These horrific 'games' had only started in Rome by mid 3rd century BC, thought to have come from a foreign city that Rome conquered, but had been rather uncommon up till the 2nd century BC. The gladiator games would be a terrible corruption on the people by 1st century BC, and Spartacus would lead a successful rebellion for two years in response to this inhumanity in 73-71 BC.
Despite this fall from grace, many Roman heroes fought against this trend of corruption, such as Cato the Elder, Scipio Africanus, Cato the Younger and Cicero. Marcus Brutus thought it was in his destiny to return Rome to a republic when Caesar had seized it and crowned himself a king, just as his ancestor Junius Brutus did. However, Marcus did not learn from Junius' example and decided to take Caesar's life into his and a group of conspirators' hands rather than to the people. The death of Caesar did not return Rome to a republic but rather sealed its fate to be ruled again by the whim and folly of kings, and the age of empire was born.
Marcus Brutus failed where Junius succeeded for two main reasons; firstly because Marcus did not wait for an opportune time and did not present it to the people to decide and secondly because the people had forgotten their liberty and thus foolishly forsook it. If they could have only foreseen the monstrous tyrants they would unleash on themselves, such as; Tiberius, Caligula, and Nero, they would have shuddered at the thought and done everything in their power to fight and return the republic to its original principles. Their folly would not only prove to be the doom of Rome but that of much of the world for centuries after.
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