Many times in history people have challenged or continue to challenge their government for equal rights over its people. No one wants to have fewer rights than anyone else, for any reason. Everyone wants to be treated equally with the same rights. This is one of the reasons why governments have evolved significantly over time. One of the first civilizations to challenge their rule were the Romans. In 509 BC the people of Rome created a new type of government: they called it the Roman Republic. Although many things began to be different and the government was improving, women and slaves were not considered citizens of Rome. “They had no voice in government. Only free adult Roman men were citizens." The people got tired of this and challenged their government. In 451-449 BCE, Rome's first law codes, called the Twelve Tables, were created. These laws were created to protect the civil rights of patricians and plebeians. The plebeians demanded laws that were decoded fairly. “In 450 the code was formally affixed, probably on bronze tablets, in the Roman Forum. The written transcription of the law in the Twelve Tables allowed the plebeians both to know the law and to protect themselves from the abuses of power by the patricians. However, the Twelve Tables are not the first known law codes in Western civilization; there is a lot to know about them. Without them our system of government today would have been little different. To learn more about these laws, it is essential to understand and analyze their roots. While many civilizations fell and others rose, in 759 BCE Rome was beginning to form under a monarchy. The Romans detest monarch-type government, especially... middle of paper... and they also protected the plebeians from the abuses of the patricians. “The Twelve Tables prevented patrician judges from judging legal cases only according to their own will.” To keep the Roman Republic together, the Romans created this code of laws to prevent civil wars from ruining the republic. The Twelve Tablets were displayed in public for all to see. This was very important because once written, people could now know what the laws were and what was legal and what was illegal. “The Tablets themselves were pieces of stone on which writings were engraved. The main advantage of having written laws was that legislators and law enforcement could not change them at their whim.” This made a huge change in the Roman Republic, not only could people see what the laws were, but everyone was treated equally according to those laws..