ROMAN EMPIRE’S CONTRIBUTION IN AMERICA’S HISTORY


Introduction

· The Roman Empire existed thousands of years ago with reference to the creation of America. However, the history and culture of the Roman Empire was such an inspiration and influence to the Founding Fathers of America.

· At the time of founding of America, there were many books about ancient Roman history and culture. So, the Founders of America read them and saw how the Empire rose and fall.

· The culture of the Roman Empire, its civilization and understanding was so inspiring that laid the foundations and paved the way for revolutionists.

Thesis statement

The purpose of this paper is to look into the reasons as to why the history and culture of the Roman Empire made considerable contributions to the founding of America.

Body

Paragraph 1

Despite the fact that present day America is very different from Rome, the Framers and Founders of America identified themselves with Rome.

Paragraph 2

American politics have borrowed a lot from the Roman Empire. It could be seen in the vocabulary used, legislative processes, and political symbols among others.

Conclusion

Concluding statement

The history and culture of the Roman Empire had a great influence on the founding of America because according to sources at essaywritingstore.com the Founding Fathers realized that the ideologies that sustained the Empire could be of great importance.

Roman Empire’s Contribution in America’s History

The Roman Empire existed thousands years ago with reference to the creation of America. However, the history and culture of the Roman Empire was such an inspiration and influence to the Founding Fathers of America. At the time of founding America, there were many books about ancient Roman history and culture. So, the founders of America read them and saw how the Empire rose and fall. It is the nature of humanity to copy what has been achieved and worked for others previously, correcting any deviations to suit their purpose. Looking closely to many aspects of America, one will find so much in common between its ideologies and those of the ancient Rome. The Framers and Founders of America deliberately identified themselves with Romans of the ancient times. The culture, their civilization and understanding was inspiring and so laid the foundations and paved the way for revolutionists. The purpose of this paper is to look into the reasons as to why the Roman Empire’s history and culture made considerable contributions to the founding of America. Rome was not just a city but also the Empire, which was built with city values. It was so different from the new America republic. Despite this, the Framers and Founders of America identified themselves with Rome (Eliav, 2010). Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, implies a hill, just like one of the Seven Hills of Rome. Political ideas of the Founders largely depended upon Roman imperial and republican ideas. The Framers of the Constitution wanted to come up with an ideal Constitution, which is mixed. It means a Constitution, which was meant to balance aristocracy, monarchy and democracy. It is a reason as to why America now is not technically a democracy. The vocabulary which is used in the American politics is actually based upon Latin words; for example, president, republic, virtue, capitol, senate and constitution. The utilized legislative processes, are Latin – sine die, veto among others. The political symbols, such as the fasces, the eagle, a coin with a leader’s image – all came from the Roman Empire (Boatwright, 2000). The Architecture of American Founding showed fondness for the Roman aesthetic sense. The monuments and buildings lining the Washington DC National Mall with their style and classical architecture do resemble one of the Roman colonies. At the same time those buildings, which were built up as additions in the 1930s continue the Roman theme. The Renaissance models, which inspired the Capitol, were based on the Roman Pantheon. Monticello, the home of Thomas Jefferson, looks like a Roman Temple. The painting and sculpture of the Founders were also based being inspired by the Roman precedents. That is why no wonder that George Washington is dressed in toga. The fall of the empire of Western Rome fascinated the Framers and founders of America. They took the lessons from the fall and applied them to the country. They realized that luxury could ruin the republican virtue. The Romans went through a transformative and dramatic passage, which the founders saw as a wisdom that was leading them to freedom. Knowing and understanding the Roman history very well, American Founders had developed ideas how they could come up with a good empire. A good example is Jefferson’s Empire of Liberty. During the reign of the Roman Empire arose dictatorial rulers who were a threat to humanity. The Founders used that knowledge to create constitutional control, which was to be powerful in order to protect Americans from such dictatorial rulers. They took a lot of care to see that the people of America were safe and that the Constitution was provided for the needs of almost all citizens. These were all lessons from the Roman Empire (Starr, 1974).

 

In conclusion, the history and culture of the Roman Empire had a great influence on the founding of America because the Founding Fathers realized that the ideologies that sustained the Empire could be of great importance. In the same light, they also realized that if they rectified mistakes that led to the fall of the Roman Empire, then they would come up with a better America. They also used the ideas behind the fall of the Empire to ruin foreign and tyrannical British Monarchy that was governing America at that time.

92 Views