Tarquin and the republic

Tarquin was the last king of Rome, and his family and rule was pretty messed up. After Tarquin's grandfather died, his widow named Servius Tullias. Servius has two daughters. Each daughter married a husband, however, Tullia (one of the daughters didn't like her husband so she killed her sister and husband to date Tarquin). Then, Tarquin kills Servius Tullias and becomes king. However, the story of how Tarquin came out of power is even more messed up. His son threw himself on Lucretia. When she denies him, he threatens to tell everyone that she had relations with a slave. After this encounter, she kills herself and tells her family what happened. The event got out to the people who were so disgusted they banished him and never had another king. Tarquin's awfulness sparked the republic. In a Roman republic there were two patrician consuls who could rule one year terms and they were very powerful, they acted as judges, lawmakers, and military commanders. However, each consul could deny another's laws or requests so they weren't too powerful. The patricians still had too much power though, it was unfair how they could make any laws to benefit them and most of the time the plebeians were affected by this. Plebeians wanted more say in the government so they protested and refused to fight in the military until they got their way. They were eventually given the Twelve Tables and tribunes. The Roman republic was a mix of democracy, aristocracy, and monarchy, making it much more advanced that any previous governments. In fact, this advanced form of government is actually very similar to the U.S. government. It had 3 branches (executive, legislative, and judicial) and it has a legal code. The consuls in Rome were similar to today's presidents, they both had a lot of power for a short amount of time and could propose laws and command the military. Also, both today's government and the Roman government had senates and assemblies to help discuss legal manners. And, both governments had judge like figures, Rome had Praetors and the U.S had the Supreme Court. Both judge groups were crucial when it came to crime and the legal codes. Finally, Both governments had written law codes, Rome had the Twelve Tables and the U.S. has the bill of rights. Both codes were created to protect the rights of the people. As you can see, although Tarquin was an awful person and king, he did lead to the creation of the republic, one of the most important forms of government, ever.