Why Is The 12 Tables More Important Than The Plebeians

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The Romans overthrew their Etruscan kings in 509 BC, and they set up a new form of government for themselves. The Romans allowed a small number of Patrician families to fulfill the role of the government officials. The Patrician families were the wealthiest and the highest class in the Roman society. Then there were the Plebeians who were the so called working class and they made up the majority of the population at the time. So now the Romans were an Oligarchy which meant that the power was in the hand of the aristocrats. The laws back then were mostly spoken word and weren’t normally written down for everyone to see, so that's why the Twelve Tables were so important. There became many conflicts between the Patricians and the Plebeians because of the constant battle of the social classes. The Patricians had more power and rights than the Plebeians because of their wealth and social status. So that's why the Twelve Tables was created to ensure that equal rights were given to all studies. …show more content…

The people who wrote the Twelve Tables was thought to consist of ten to twelve men. The Tables were then later approved by the Centuriate Assembly. The Centuriate assembly was the Roman Army, and they were consulted on a majority of political matters. The Twelve Tables was well received among the Plebeians because they now had equal rights as the Patricians. However in the text it said the Plebeians “forced” the Patricians to create the Twelve Tables, so the Patricians were probably hesitant because they held all the political power. And this was also the first set of laws written down that the Romans had ever used, so it probably took time for them to adjust. The Twelve Tables also helped the Patricians not hold all the power in

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