Patricians and Plebeians

The Roman leaders decided to start a form of government called a republic. In a republic, citizens elect leaders to run their government. The leaders chosen to replace the king were the consuls. They (consuls) were elected by the assembly, a group of ordinary citizens. The consuls were given advice by a group of rich people called the Senate. The Roman Republic was not a democracy although the citizens elected their own representatives because not everybody had equal power. The citizens were divided into two classes, patricians and plebeians.



Patricians were members of the small amount of wealthy Roman families.


Plebeians were the majority of the population (workers, shopkeepers, and peasants).

Both Patricians and plebeians had the right to vote. But only patricians had the right to hold any political, military or religious offices. Basically all the power was in the hands of the patricians. Although the plebeians had fewer rights than the patricians they still had to serve in the army and pay taxes to the people that were oppressing them.

Most plebeians believed they should have the same rights as the patricians and some were wealthy as well. But the poor plebeians thought the same thing. When a poor plebian had to borrow money from the rich to survive, he and his family were forced into "debt bondage". A man who was in debt bondage had to be a servant of the man who let him borrow the money. He was treated like a slave and didn't get paid for it. He couldn't get the money he needed to get his freedom. And the patrician government did nothing about it.