The government of the United States is based partly on the Roman Republic. It is greatly influenced by ancient Rome’s political system and philosophy.
While the United States is a democracy, it is a representative democracy—or a republic. There is another kind of democracy, a direct democracy, in which each citizen votes on laws. In the United States republic, Americans elect all sorts of officials, such as senators, congressmen, state legislators (lawmakers), mayors, and others. These elected representatives vote on the laws for their constituents, or the people they represent. This aspect of the Roman Republic forms a basis for U.S. government.
The United States government, like the Roman system of representative government, also holds leaders accountable. Presidents and members of Congress can be removed in elections or, in the case of the president and federal judges, removed from office through impeachment. Because of this, citizens have the ultimate power in a republic.
To find out more about the Roman Republic, just visit http://www.ushistory.org/civ/6a.asp and learn other similarities between ancient Rome and the United States here.
See a student's guide to the study of history at The History Guide.