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What rights did plebeians gain?
The plebeians had the rights of a Roman citizen. The law gave all Roman citizens the same rights. Social inequality was not based on the law. It was determined by differences in wealth and status.
Why were the plebeian unhappy when the republic was first set up?
In the early days of the Roman Republic the patricians (the aristocracy) monopolised political power by monopolising the seats of the senate, the consulship (the office of the two annually elected heads of the Republic) and the priesthoods. As a result of the 200-year conflict of the Orders between patricians and plebeians (the commoners), the rich plebeians obtained power-sharing and gained access to the consulship and the senate. They also gained access to the offices of state which were created as the Republic developed (the censorship and the praetorship) and to some of the priesthoods. The grievances of the poor plebeians were different from those of the rich ones. They were economic. They were (originally) the abuse of defaulting debtors by (rich) creditors, indebtedness and the interest rates of loans; and the shortage of land for peasant farmers. Traditionally, farmers were given plots of land which were just about enough for feeding their families. The rest of the land was public land which could be utilised for common use. However, the rich landlords expanded their estates at the expense of the public land. Therefore, the amount of land available to poor farmers became insufficient and there were demands for redistributing land to the poor.
