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How Did Rome Have A Better System Of Citizenship Dbq

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Rome had a superior system of citizenship to Athens. In general, the significance of being a citizen is that it allows someone to vote on laws, become an active part of their government, and manage their own land. A citizen would be free to speak their mind and express their opinions. If one was a citizen of Athens, they would be expected to participate in the government, go to assemblies, vote on laws, have an education, and have been in military training for two years. One would be expected to help make Athens a better place for its people. However, a citizen of Rome would be expected to bear healthy children for the Roman army and become the best citizen they could. In Rome, someone was not expected to participate in the government but …show more content…

Firstly, Rome was generous when granting its citizenship. In Document A it says that Rome was one of the first city-states to give citizenship to females. In many city-states, only adult men could be granted citizenship. Both free native-born females and female children could become citizens of Rome, although they had fewer rights than men. Rome gave women more equality and rights and allowed them to own their own property. This was very forward-thinking at that time and was an example for other city-states to …show more content…

In Document D it says that Athens created a law to prevent its citizens from gathering too much power and influence: “Each citizen wrote the name of the man who in his opinion had the greatest power to destroy the democracy, and the man who got the largest number of ostraka was forced to go into exile from his native land for the period of ten years”. Athens wanted to prevent its citizens from changing anything in their city-state, so they exiled people who could make a difference. No matter who you were, even if you were trying to do good things for Athens, you could be exiled for ten years and die attempting to find another place to

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