The+Gracci+Brothers+and+Land+Reform

__Rome's Situation: __ During the 2nd century, land became a prime investment for merchants. This was meant to be a solution for civil unrest (by inferring lower class citizens could expqand and buy land), but it really furthered the issues because only wealthy merchants could afford it. Moreover, the merchants would stop treating it like a lease, and treat it like their own land. Plebeian protests tried to put a cap on how much land could be leased (a proposed 320 acres), but the law was never actually put into play. The land was available for lease only, because it was government owned. It was considered a safe investment where one could aquire and preserve their wealth. Due to this idea and a surplus of slaves from Rome's recent conquests most latifundia that had orginally been worked on by peasants were replaced by slaves. Considering these latifundia's were almost completely run byt slave labor, this left many peasants and small owning farmers without a job, landless and in a very bad situation. [1] [1]
 * [[image:http://dante.udallas.edu/hutchison/images/Romans/gracchi.jpeg]] ||
 * The Gracchi Brothers ||

__Gracchi Brothers (populares) __: In 133 B.C. **Tiberius Gracchus **(168-133 B.C.) was elected tribune and began fighting for the rights of the landless poor. He proposed that a limit be put on the amount of land any one person could own to 500 iugera or 310 acres. The extra land would then be given to the state and rented to landless citezens. [2] This bill was seen as a major threat to many wealthy landowners but was passed by the popular assembly. However, Tiberius's opposition still tried to stop the affects of the bill from happening by refusing to fund the operation. In 133, Attalus III king of Pergamum (a kingdom in the Asia minor) died and left his kingdom to Rome. Tiberius suggested that this money be used to fund his program and the popular assembly passed another law to use it. This law ignored the Senate's traditional control of financial matters and left many of Tiberius's opposition fed up with him undermining the wealth and power in the Senate. When he announced his intention of running for tribune an additional year, which was illegal, they organized a mob which ended up murdering Tiberius and 300 of his supporters. [3] Ten years later, in 123 B.C., Tiberius' brother, **Gaius Gracchus** (159-121 B.C.) returned to Rome and was elected tribune. [4] He was considered more successful then his brother, making reforms that were more wide ranging and designed to benefit all interests, except for the Senate. He started with expanding his brother's operation by making colonies for the landless poor and creating a law that required grain to be sold in Rome and 1/2 the market price. [5] These new laws were called the //Sempronian Laws.// Not only did they reinforce the land reforms that Tiberius made but also extended his program and created many new colonies. One in particular even was out of Italy, in the destroyed city of Carthage. In addition, he changed the Roman court system to having judges drawn from the equestrian class rather then from the Senate. This loosed the amount of control the Senate had in the Roman Court System. Also, he put effort into creating new public roads and habors. Next, Gaius proposed to expand Roman citizenship to other Italian cities, allowing for him to have more supporters. While the senate was attempting to stop his radical reforms a riot occurred and a senator ended up being killed. After Gaius did not get re elected for tribune a third year he and his folowers held a mass rally on Aventine Hill. The Senate once again took action during this rally and attacked him and his followers. It is said that 3,000 of his followers were killed and Gaius, seeing how the battle was turning out, had his slave kill him. [6]  __Aftermath:__ The Gracchus brothers defined the line between two groups of Politicians in the Republic: the //populares // who advocated radical reform and the //optimates //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 5.5pt;"> who opposed it. The populares were generally supported by the common people while the optimates were made up of the wealthy and the senate. [7] The reforms also marked the use of violence for political ends. This divde and tradition of violence then set a pattern intiating "periods of anarchy and civil war" in Rome. [8] In addition, the Gracchi brothers showed the power that the popular assembly had rivalling that of the senate. Their reforms revealed that the senate could be circumvented and was no longer the dominant power it had once been. [9] <span style="color: black; display: block; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 5.5pt; text-align: center;">

<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 5.5pt;">1. ^ //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 5.5pt;">Brothers Gracchi //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 5.5pt;">, []. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 6.5pt;">2. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 5.5pt;"> ^ Brothers Gracchi, <span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 4.5pt;">[] <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 5.5pt;">. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 6.5pt;"> 3. ^ Gilbert Lawall, Ecce Romani II (Massachusetts: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005), 26. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 8pt;">4. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 6.5pt;"> ^ Doug Hutchison, "The Gracchi Brothers," //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 6.5pt;">Historiae Romanorum, //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 6.5pt;"> []. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 8pt;"> 5. ^ //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 6.5pt;">Brothers Gracchi, //<span style="color: blue; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 6pt;">[] //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 6.5pt;">. // <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 8pt;"> 6. ^ "Tiberius Gracchus & Gaius Gracchus," //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 6.5pt;">The Romans //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 6.5pt;">, []. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;">7. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 8pt;"> ^ E. Knox, "The Roman Revolution: Significance of the Gracchi," //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 8pt;">History of Western Civilization, //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 7pt;"> []. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> 8. ^ "Tiberius Gracchus & Gaius Gracchus," //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 8pt;">The Romans //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 8pt;">, []. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt;"> 9. ^ E. Knox, "The Roman Revolution: Significance of the Gracchi," //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 8pt;">History of Western Civilization, //<span style="color: black; font-family: 'Georgia','serif'; font-size: 7pt;"> []. v

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