Roman Vs United States Senate Essay

Roman VS United States senate

The Roman and United States senate are both very similar, and it is clear that the Roman Senate was a precursor to the United States Senate. As the Roman Senate came first and we could watch the history unfold, the United States made smarter decisions to create a more stable and people-serving government. Those who do not learn history repeat it, and with the advantage of time the US Senate got to learn from the Romans mistakes. I will be taking the position that the United States Senate is better and more efficient than the Roman Senate. I am going to give a light overview of each Senate, and compare and contrast them. The word “senate” came from the root word “senex”,

The rules were set and grounded right away. The requirement was 30 years of age for Senators. 100 Senators are put in place. Senators were selected by state legislators instead of citizens in the beginning, but later was changed to Senators were elected by the people for the people. Senators must live in the state that elected them, and they serve a term of six years. Though each state has different populations, each state is equally represented by two senators. The Senate has stood strong since the beginning, through weak and strong presidents. It shares many of the same powers as the House of Representatives. Alexis de Tocqueville says the Senate is “eloquent advocates, distinguished generals, wise magistrates and statesmen of note, whose language would at times do honor to the most remarkable parliamentary debates in Europe.”

However, the President does not have as much power in the Senate as the Princeps Senatus Would have had. The power is evened out, allowing the President to vote in the Senate in the case of a tie. Unlike in the Roman Senate the power of the President and Vice President is controlled by strict rules, these rules are put in place to keep Senators and leaders from overstepping their authority. The powers that the Senate has are written in the constitution, and different from the other branches of government. For example, if the house of representatives recommends an impeachment, it has to go through the Senate first. “The Constitution assigns the Senate and House equal power for declaring war, maintaining the armed forces, assessing taxes, borrowing money, minting currency, regulating commerce, and making all laws “necessary and proper” for the operation of the government. However, the Senate holds exclusive authority to advise and consent on treaties and presidential nominations.”