Position:Home>History> Research paper on ancient rome government and the us?

"Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely!." -- Lord Acton, in an 1887 letter to Bishop Creighton

My Oxford dictionary has three definitions for the word corrupt: 1) morally depraved; wicked 2) influenced by or using bribery or fraudulent activity 3) (of a text, etc!.) harmed by errors or alterations!. If I have not corrupted Lord Acton's quote, we can focus on the first two definitions as applicable to your topic!.

The comparison between ancient Rome and the modern United States is one that intrigues me!. I think you should recraft your theme around that thought!.

I see Augustus taking a little heat here!. He was a very Machiavellian kind of ruler!. That's not necessarily a bad thing, btw!. He was a masterful political operative,and he was not always a nice guy!. You did not want to be on the wrong side of Augustus!. But was Augustus wicked and morally depraved!? Did he make use of bribery!? Read up on him and draw your own conclusions!.

His two successors, however, are the very definition of corruption!. The Romans did indeed fall into a corrupt method of ruling!. So, along with the others, I will challenge your premise a bit!. I also recommend rewording it!. At least clean up the grammer!.

But let's get back to your question!.

The historian Livy wrote: "Now we trace the history of peace and war of a free nation, governed by annually elected officers of state, and subject not to the caprice of individual men!.!.!."

Rome was a republic, borrowing loosely from the Greek model!. There were elected Consuls and a Senate!. For hundreds of years this would be the case as Rome expanded her presence across the Italian penninsula, into Iberia!. There were those bitter wars with Carthage, eventually resulting in the republic's expansion across the Mediterranean!. They swallowed up Greece with ease about a century after the death of Alexander, then expanded into Asia Minor!. And the republic stood through hundreds of years of war!.

Think about how the US grew from the 13 colonies!. Overwhelming the neighboring tribes with superior technology!. Draw some parallels and contrasts!.

Both of these republics were very successful, as you say!. Why were they so effective!? Here are a few reasons that you should expand upon!.

- The force of law, and law enforced
- A robust system for assessing and collecting taxes
- infrastructure that encouraged trade and communication (Roman roads as Interstate highways!?)!.
- Military might (Rome had a practice of using overwhelming force against her neighbors!. Hasn't that been our military strategy since the days of US Grant!?)
- Inclusiveness in the process!. This is important!. People are more inclined to support your government if they have a say in it!. Clearly the Roman level of inclusiveness wasn't at our level!. Only citizens with property (the aristocracy) had the right to vote!. So it was really a kind of expanded oligarchy!. But you get how important it is, right!?
- Religious tolerance!. The Romans included all the gods of their conquered peoples into their pantheon of gods!. As long as everyone was willing to worship the Roman gods in addition to their own, there was never a problem!. (Trouble certainly came when those stubborn Jews just wouldn't get in line!.)

Even as a republic, you should not think of Rome as a corrupt-free government!. The lust for power and wealth is a human trait, to be found throughout history!. There was certainly some wicked people and plenty of palm-greasing going on!. After all, they were building an empire!. Talk about corrupt leaders, look at the US in the 2nd half of the 19th century as we built our empire of capital!? And in the 20th century; What about Nixon!? Even in our republic, they have not all been great men of wisdom and sincerety!. Not every one has been a Wilson or a Lincoln!.

What happened to Rome!?

Rome fell into a time of terrible civil war, with Roman armies and navies crashing into each other!. Sound like anything familiar in our history!? You had Julius Ceaser on one side, Marc Antony on the other, And Octavian standing in the middle!. Octavian was the last man standing!. The Senate, terrified of more civil war, proclaimed Octavian Consul for life and he became the first emperor!.

But there is a level of corruption that the republic can tolerate!. But when they hand over absolute power to one man!.!.!.

Consider a couple of other despots that grew from Republics!. What about Napoleon after the formation of the French Republic!? What happened to the Wiemar Republic in the 1930's!? It was exactly the same thing, with terrible devastation across Europe on each occasion!.

The US has yet to face the crisis that compels it to hand supreme power over to a single person!. After all, we still had an election in 1864!. And we will have one this year, also!.

Will we face that crisis someday!? Perhaps!. And who will that absolute leader be!? Will we chose well!? As long as we do not give one individual absolute power, perhaps we can resist absolute corruption!.

I do think you need to reword your theme!. I may have altered the direction a bit, but I think it works!.

Good luck!Www@QuestionHome@Com

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Hold it! You pick one of the most tyrannical rulers of Rome and expect to write about how
"acomplished , organizing the sperad of power, and not falling into a corrupt method of ruling"

!.!.!.to use your own words!.

I would advise changing your topic!. It just doesn't work! Try writing about Marcus Aurelius!. At least he wasn't corrupt, but the 'organizing the spread of power' might be problematic!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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hello!. my counterpoint-Rome grew SO large, SO wealthy, they tried to have TWO Caesars, ONE at ROME, and ONE at CONSTANTINOPLE!. the new system of Two Romes fell apart, quickly and eventually because they did not have enough income (Pillage, slaves, whatnot) to maintain their Roman Ideal!. good luck on your paper!.Www@QuestionHome@Com

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With help on the spread of power thingy, three words:

The Roman RepublicWww@QuestionHome@Com

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