The Roman and the United States Government
The United States Government is roughly parallel to the Roman Government. The United States Government is easily comparable to the Roman’s version of government. The Roman’s did not have a constitution, like United States citizens, but there Branches of Government is similar to the United States. The Roman government served as template for the American government. Read how the governmental structures, are similar by first making points on the American style contrasted with the Roman style of government.
First, look at the division of power within the American government by starting off with the legislative branch. The legislative branch is responsible for coming up with the laws. In Article I of the United States Constitution states, all legislative Powers shall be vested in a Congress of the United States and the House of Representatives. The United States congress is divided into the House of Representatives, known as the lower house, and the Senate, known as the upper house. The Congress' role in the government is to legislate, to make laws. The laws enacted by Congress are called statutes. The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to make laws. The idea for a statute begins as a proposal. The proposal can come from a member of the legislature or from a member of an outside source, such as a citizen, a lobbyist, and administrative agency, or the President. Then the proposal needs to be drafted into writing and the written proposition is called a bill. After the bill is introduced, it is referred to the committee and subcommittee that consider the type of legislation. The committee then investigates the bill, public hearings are held and the testimony may be heard, the bill then may go through many changes. Then we have the Executive Branch The branch of federal and state government that is broadly responsible for implementing, supporting, and enforcing the laws made by the legislative branch and interpreted by the judicial branch. When the founders, farmers of the Constitution were initially deciding what powers and responsibilities the executive branch—headed by the president, they were heavily influenced by their experience with the British government. Having seen how the king and other European monarchs tended to abuse their powers, the designers of the Constitution wanted to place strict limits on the power that the president would have. At the same time, they wanted to give the president enough power to conduct foreign policy and to run the federal government efficiently without being hampered by the squabbling of legislators from individual states. In other words, the Framers wanted to design an executive office that would provide effective and coherent leadership but that could never become a tyranny.
Last, the Judiciary explains and applies the laws. This branch does this by hearing and eventually making decisions on various legal cases.
Second, in today’s society many feel that Ancient Roman government is very similar to the United States government. Both of the empires have similar strengths and weaknesses being that the United States modeled their government off