How Lessons from Rome Can Save American Democracy
A populist leader causes unrest among his supporters, leading them in a march on the seat of power in the greatest republic in the world. Precedent whittles away year by year. Partisanship runs rampant. Tensions seem at an all-time high.
No, this isn’t the United States. Welcome to Rome in the first century B.C.E.
Today, America faces its greatest domestic threat since the Civil War. As partisan divides threaten to unravel American republicanism, leaders and engaged citizens alike should learn from the Roman Republic. By examining the factors (and failures) that precipitated Rome’s transformation to despotism, we can find solutions to avoid the same fate today and make a concerted effort to save our own democracy.
Mike Duncan’s The Storm Before the Storm presents the fall of Rome as a slippery slope stemming from the end of the Punic Wars. By 146 B.C.E, Rome had vanquished its last major enemy, Carthage, earning its place as the sole power in the Mediterranean. In the years leading up to Carthage’s fall, Rome had united in its vitriol against the opposing power. With the loss of an external unifying enemy, however, political divisions intensified in Rome. Unrest rooted in inequitable distributions of land and grain doles pitted the wealthy and powerful against the masses of farmers and impoverished in and around Rome. Over the following decades, partisans such as the Gracchi brothers, Marius and Sulla, and Julius Caesar took advantage of rising inequality between the patrician and plebeian classes in Rome to create conflict and gain power for themselves.
The Gracchi brothers, first Tiberius in 133 B.C.E. then Gaius in 121 B.C.E., were assassinated during mob violence after speaking out in favor of land redistribution and food programs for the poor. In their work for Rome’s marginalized citizens and allies, both brothers were willing to break political norms to stay in power. Tiberius was elected as the tribune of the plebs in 133 B.C.E., traditionally a one-year, one-term position. However, he attempted to run for a second term to be served in 132 B.C.E. His opponents, drawing on strong public sentiment against kings, used Tiberius’s decision as a spark for violence, and the elder Gracchus was beaten to death by a mob on the day of the election.
A decade later, Gaius took up his brother’s mantle and, as a tribune, restarted Tiberius’s work on land redistribution for soldiers and farmers. The Senate, many of whom were wealthy landowners negatively affected by these policies, gave absolute power in the form of the first senatus consultum ultimum (a resolution allowing individuals to ignore the law to ensure the security of the Republic) to lead an armed resistance against Gaius. The lives of the Gracchi brothers led to an increase of power consolidated in the hands of a few; their deaths opened the door for political violence throughout the republic.
The wave of violence spurred by the Gracchi brothers continued under the (again) unprecedented seven consulships (a one-year, one-term position) of Gaius Marius. During his tenure as consul, Marius expanded the role of the senatus consultum ultimum, fighting a new wave of political violence with mob violence. After a quasi-retirement, Marius’s cravings for power overwhelmed his allegiance to the republic. In the early 90s B.C.E., he forced his way into a civil war with his former lieutenant Sulla, taking Rome while Sulla was off fighting foreign wars. Upon hearing the news, Sulla marched on the Eternal City with his forces, another unprecedented move in a long line of such decisions, and kicked Marius out of the city. Marius returned the favor in 87 B.C.E. and began instituting a series of political purges, killing or marking for death any citizens who opposed him.
Marius died of natural causes in 86 B.C.E., and throughout the remainder of the 80s B.C.E., Roman fought against Roman to determine the fate of the republic. By 82 B.C.E., Sulla had defeated Marian partisans. In the following months, he instituted his own reign of terror, culling political rivals to secure his hold on power. The Senate named him dictator with no end date, breaking yet another precedent and setting the stage for the end of Roman republicanism.
Ultimately, the Roman Republic fell at the hands of Julius Caesar. His rise, however, was built on the accumulation of broken precedent in the century after the fall of Carthage. Like the Gracchi brothers, he took populist positions to get the masses on his side, redistributing land to his soldiers and offering citizenship to those outside Rome. Like Marius, he used his military power to overwhelm the Senate. Like Sulla, he was declared dictator perpetuo, cementing his claim as the one rightful ruler of Rome. Rome’s example should remind leaders today of the dangers of absolute power and the importance of putting the republic over one man.
The knowledge that large and powerful republics often fail was not lost on the Founding Fathers. As shown in Thomas Ricks’ First Principles, James Madison, the Father of the Constitution, vigorously researched the collapses of Roman and Greek republics. The fundamental ideas of checks and balances, term limits, federalism, and the concept of the United States Senate stem
from Rome’s own governmental guidelines and failures. Most importantly, Madison recognized the necessity of a flexible, amendable document that would change over generations. Rome’s downfall was in part precipitated by its inability to adapt to the times, accentuated by sharp divides between fundamentalists and progressives. Madison and the other Framers of the Constitution recognized their shortcomings and intended for future generations to continue to form a more perfect union.
Like Rome after the fall of Carthage, the United States, since the end of the Cold War, has become a global superpower. Without a unifying enemy in the same vein as the Soviet Union, political attacks have turned inward. Polarization is increasing faster in the United States than in other democracies around the world, while political violence is at its worst level since the 1960s. Attacks on public figures, such as the assault on Paul Pelosi and the attempted kidnapping of Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, coupled with an insurrection directed at the heart of American democracy, have strained the democratic process. Like the attacks on the Gracchi brothers, the common occurrence of violence and the constant coverage of such events have desensitized them in the American psyche.
How, then, can America’s leaders and citizenry respond to the crises of today? What steps need to be taken to preserve American democracy and republicanism for future generations?
For one, we need to focus less on national issues and more on involvement in state and local governments. In such a large republic, American politics has focused too much on the government in Washington, ignoring beneficial programs implemented in every city, town, and hamlet in the United States. Ricks’ book shows that, recognizing the dangers of a large republic as with the Roman example, the Founders intended for government to be divided between the federal government and state and local governments. While national issues may dominate the news, every citizen can find ways to get involved and make a difference in their city or community. When the American people focus their lenses on local issues, they may find that there is more that unites us than divides us.
Secondly, America’s leaders should utilize constitutional amendments to improve the democratic process. Madison designed the Constitution to adapt over time in response to Rome’s stagnancy. Roman republicanism declined as more wealthy and influential figures took control of power. In a similar sense, the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Citizens United v. FEC, ruling that money equals speech in elections, has created an unfair system in which wealthy citizens possess an undue influence in the electoral process. Furthermore, as the average age in Congress increases, voters are losing faith in the political system and increasingly support term limits for elected and appointed officials. Term limits in office helped the Roman Republic survive for almost 500 years; only when these precedents ended did Rome’s democracy fall. Elected officials need to recognize the deteriorating trust in American democracy and present amendments that, at a minimum, limit the amount of money private citizens can spend in elections and impose term limits on elected officials (to read more on constitutional reform in the twenty-first century, I highly recommend Larry Sabato’s A More Perfect Constitution).
The biggest takeaway Americans should get from the Roman Republic is the importance of maintaining political precedent. Rome fell as its traditions wore away over the decades. This same phenomenon has started to occur today, as far-right figures have created distrust in elections and the peaceful transfer of power. At the same time, Republicans in Congress have politicized the impeachment process, threatening the system of checks and balances, and former President Donald Trump has called for the termination of the Constitution. If leaders in Washington want to change the way our system is run, they should do so in the way Madison intended – through the amendment process. To save our republic from Rome’s fate, we need to ensure that no one man puts themselves above the Constitution.