Greed and Taxation Led to the Fall of Rome

Whether you prefer to say Rome fell (in 410 when Rome was sacked, or in 476 when Odoacer deposed Romulus Augustulus), or simply morphed into the Byzantine Empire and medieval feudalism, economic policies of the emperors had a heavy impact on the lives of the citizens of Rome. Primary Source Bias Although they say history is written by the victors, sometimes its just written by the elites. This is the case with Tacitus (ca. 56 to 120) and Suetonius (ca.71 to 135), our primary literary sources on the first dozen emperors. Historian Cassius Dio, a contemporary of Emperor Commodus (Emperor from 180 to 192), was also from a senatorial family (which, then as now, meant elite). Commodus was one of the emperors who, although despised by the senatorial classes, was loved by the military and lower classes. The reason is mainly financial. Commodus taxed the senators and was generous with the others. Likewise, Nero (Emperor from 54 to 68) was popular with the lower classes, who held him in the kind of reverence reserved in modern times for Elvis Presley—complete with Nero sightings after his suicide.   Inflation Nero and other emperors debased the currency in order to supply a demand for more coins. Debasing currency means that instead of a coin having its own intrinsic value, it was now the only representative of the silver or gold it had once contained. In 14 (the year of Emperor Augustus death), the supply of Roman gold and silver amounted to $1,700,000,000. By 800, this had dwindled to $165,000. Part of the problem was that the government would not permit the melting down of gold and silver for individuals. By the time of Claudius II Gothicus (Emperor from 268 to 270), the amount of silver in a supposedly solid silver denarius was only .02 percent. This was or led to severe inflation, depending on how you define inflation. Especially luxurious emperors like Commodus, who marked the end of the period of the five good emperors, depleted the imperial coffers. By the time of his assassination, the Empire had almost no money left. The 5 Good Emperors Leading to up Commodus 96 to 98: Nerva  98 to 117: Trajan  117 to 138: Hadrian  Ã‚  138 to 161: Antoninus Pius  161 to 180: Marcus Aurelius177/180 to 192: ​Commodus Land The Roman Empire acquired money by taxation or by finding new sources of wealth, like land. However, it had reached its furthest limits by the time of the second good emperor, Trajan, during the period of the high empire (96 to 180), so land acquisition was no longer an option. As Rome lost territory, it also lost its revenue base. Romes wealth was originally in the land, but this gave way to wealth through taxation. During the expansion of Rome around the Mediterranean, tax-farming went hand-in-hand with provincial government since the provinces were taxed even when Romans proper were not. Tax farmers would bid for the chance to tax the province and would pay in advance. If they failed, they lost, with no recourse to Rome, but they generally made a profit at the hand of the peasants. The diminishing importance of tax-farming at the end of the Principate was a sign of moral progress, but also meant the government couldnt tap private corporations in the event of an emergency. The means of acquiring crucial monetary funds included debasing the silver currency (seen as preferable to increasing the rate of taxation, and common), spending reserves (depleting the imperial coffers), increasing taxes (which was not done during the period of the high empire), and confiscating the estates of the wealthy elite. Taxation could be in kind, rather than coinage, which required local bureaucracies to make efficient use of perishables, and might be expected to produce reduced revenue for the seat of the Roman Empire. Emperors deliberately overtaxed the senatorial (or ruling) class in order to render it powerless. To do this, the emperors needed a powerful set of enforcers—the imperial guard. Once the wealthy and powerful were no longer either rich or powerful, the poor had to pay the bills of the state. These bills included the payment of the imperial guard and the military troops at the empires borders. Feudalism Since the military and the imperial guard were absolutely essential, taxpayers had to be compelled to produce their pay. Workers had to be tied to their land. To escape the burden of tax, some small landowners sold themselves into slavery, since slaves didnt have to pay tax and freedom from taxes was more desirable than personal liberty. In the early days of the Roman Republic, debt-bondage (nexum) was acceptable. Nexum, Cornell argues, was better than being sold into foreign slavery or death. It is possible that centuries later, during the Empire, the same sentiments prevailed. Since the Empire wasnt making money from the slaves, Emperor Valens (ca. 368) made it illegal to sell oneself into slavery. Small landowners becoming feudal serfs is one of the several economic conditions  responsible for the fall of Rome. Resources and Further Reading Barnish, S. J. B. â€Å"A Note on the ‘Collatio Glebalis.†Ã‚  Historia: Zeitschrift Fà ¼r Alte Geschichte, vol. 38, no. 2, 1989, pp. 254-256.  JSTOR.Bartlett, Bruce. â€Å"How Excessive Government Killed Ancient Rome.† Cato Journal, vol. 14, no. 2, 1994, pp. 287-303.Cornell, Tim J. The Beginnings of Rome: Italy and Rome From the Bronze Age to the Punic Wars (c. 1000-264 B.C.). Routledge, 1995.Hammond, Mason. â€Å"Economic Stagnation in the Early Roman Empire.† The Journal of Economic History, vol. 6, no. S1, 1946, pp. 63-90.Heather, Peter. Fall of the Roman Empire: A New History of Rome and the Barbarians. Oxford University, 2014.Hopkins, Keith. â€Å"Taxes and Trade in the Roman Empire (200 B.C.-A.D. 400).† Journal of Roman Studies, vol. 70, Nov. 1980, pp. 101-125.Mirković Miroslava. The Later Roman Colonate and Freedom. American Philosophical Society, 1997.West, Louis C. â€Å"The Economic Collapse of the Roman Empire.†Ã‚  The Classi cal Journal, vol. 28, no. 2, 1932, pp. 96-106.  JSTOR.Wickham, Chris. â€Å"The Other Transition: From the Ancient World to Feudalism.† Past Present, vol. 103, no. 1, 1 May 1984, pp. 3-36.Woolf, Greg. â€Å"Imperialism, Empire and the Integration of the Roman Economy.† World Archaeology, vol. 23, no. 3, 1992, pp. 283-293.

Sexual Violence and The Adam Walsh Act - 1343 Words

Sexual assault occurs every two minutes in the United States. Sexual violence against women is still endemic in the United States. Statistics show nearly one in five women have been sexually assaulted. Managing sex offenders is still an issue in the criminal justice system. Repeat offenders are extremely difficult to monitor. The national legislature monitoring system contains an absence of effective research in monitoring sex offenders. Sexual offender registration and notification Act (SORNA) operates in all the US states and territories. The objective is to monitor and track sex offenders by law enforcement. Also they provide information to the public and the communities about the offenders. For example, the National registry allows the public to be informed of a registered offender and their demographics. The Adam Walsh Act (AWA) was instilled to create greater uniformity in SORNA systems in all the US states and territories. SORNA is an essential component of the AWA. 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Basketball Game - Descriptive free essay sample

Game Day Game Day had arrived for the two rival basketball teams; the Eagles and the Tigers. The loud and passionate fans had been waiting in line for hours out in the freezing cold weather. As the warm ups started the players were getting nervous. Both teams wanted the state championship very bad and they were Just hours away from winning it. Months and months of strenuous conditioning and closely won ball games had all come down to this one game. The referee threw the perfectly round orange rubber ball in the air for the tip off and the game began. Both teams came out very aggressively. The encouraging cheers from the pumped up fans were really driving both teams to give it their all. The entertaining game was neck and neck the entire way through. Nobody could tell which team had the edge. It all came down to the final seconds of the game. We will write a custom essay sample on Basketball Game Descriptive or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The scoreboard showed that the Eagles were down 73 to 74. The star player took the ball inside against the biggest player on the Tigers. He was fouled hard and fell down onto the hardwood floor. The coaches and fans were infuriated that it was not called a technical foul. The star player was at the black painted free throw line with the potential to win the game. He shot the ball and made the first free throw Just like he had done many times before. The time came for the second free throw and there was a huge silence in the nervous crowd. He shot the ball and it was in the air for what seemed like a lifetime. It rattled around the orange rim and then went through the white roped net. The Eagles had won the state championship!

Tv...The Other Parent Essays - Dispute Resolution, Crime

Tv...The Other Parent English 111, Section 06 23 October 1999 ?TV: The Other Parent? Is it parents' fault or children's that they sit hours in front their big glowing box mesmerized, and learning violent behavior as a means of relating to others. The truth about television violence and children has been shown. Studies have been carried out and all the results point to the same conclusion: Violence on Television affects the behavior of children who are watching it. In fact, violence on TV causes children to be increasingly violent, and the effects could be life-long. ?Some psychologists and psychiatrists believe that continued exposure to violence can speed up the impact of the adult world on a child's life? (Douglas Carter T. V. Violence and the Child). Exposure to violent material can force the child into a kind of premature maturity, and make the child become bewildered and have a greater distrust towards others. It even could make the child have awkward approach to adult problems and they might even develop a desire not to become adults. Television violence can destroy a young child's mind, and the effects may be ever lasting. This is made obvious in New York, where a 16-year-old boy broke into a cellar. When the police caught him and asked him why he was wearing gloves, he said that he had learned not to leave fingerprints from TV. And even another case in Alabama where a nine-year-old received a bad report from his teacher and had plans to send her poisoned candy like he had seen the night before on a TV show (Michael Howe J. A. Television and Children). This proves that after viewing television violence the world, through a child's eyes, becomes distorted in comparison. The children create violence to help keep them-selves satisfied. The reason children are so drawn to the violence on TV today is that the characters on TV make it look fun, so the children find it fun to imitate. The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers are a prime example of kids imitating TV characters as fun. Our government has conducted an experiment where children were left alone in a room with a TV playing a videotape of other children at play, and soon things got out of hand. The kids who had just seen commercial violence accepted much higher levels of aggression than other children did. And in other research conducted, it was found that U.S. children feed off each other's aggression, academic problems, unpopularity with peers, and violence. And this promotes the violent behavior in children today. It has been found that kids who watch more television are more likely to solve their problems with violence rather than kids who don't, and sit down to talk their problems out. But as much violent programs that there are out in the TV world there were (and maybe still are) those programs that teach the right way to resolve things. Like the once popular TV series ?Little House on the Prairie?. Michael Landon taught the moral values of solving problems without the use of violence. Fixing this problem isn't easy, it will never go away, and in time will get worse. About the only way to correct this ever-growing problem is to stop it where it starts: in the home. The parents should take up the responsibility to be more into what their kids watch. The parents are the role models for the children so if the parents can teach the children that violence isn't necessary, along with keeping a close eye on what they watch, then maybe this problem soon wouldn't be as bad as it is now. After all the children are everyone's future rulers of this world and what would happen if they were all violent? English Essays