Have you seen the memes claiming that men spend a lot of time thinking about “the Roman Empire?” I don’t know about the men of today, but it is true of the men who wrote our constitution.
By 100 B.C. Rome was the world’s only superpower. Roman army banners bore the insignia “SPQR,” Latin initials standing for (“the Senate and People of Rome”), and signifying Rome’s mixed republican constitution composed of an aristocratic senate, the common people, and their elected executive officials. In addition, while the senate was the primary legislative body, major decisions were usually submitted to the citizens in assembly for approval and could be vetoed by the chief magistrate or by a tribune. Tribunes were elected by the plebeian class, most of whom were poor, to protect their rights. This “republic” (literally res publica, i.e., “public thing”) of checks and balances guaranteed Roman liberty and served as one model for our own American constitutional republic.
But that liberty was lost just as Rome reached the height of its wealth and power. By 27 B.C., the republic was dead, existing in name only and replaced by a hereditary dictatorship of emperors. The first of these was Octavian, and his accession to power was preceded by decades of stress that eroded the constitutional institutions that held tyranny in check. This stress and erosion involved two things: 1. a military that became professional soldiers loyal to a leader, rather than to the republic; and 2. the use of violence and big money by politicians to intimidate voters and swing elections.
The founders’ concerns on this score are reflected in our U.S. Constitution’s separation of powers, prohibition on the quartering of soldiers, and requirement that only Congress declare war, among other provisions.
"The History of Our Freedoms" is produced by KEDT-FM in Corpus Christi. Dr. Bill Chriss is a historian and legal scholar. For more on history and the constitution, check out his blog at https://drbillchriss.substack.com/.
