Rome contributed to democracy by creating a government where the people ruled. While Rome was a republic and not a democracy, the Romans established the framework for future democratic governments. Rome had senators and tribunes elected by the people to represent their interests. Like the United States freeing themselves from Britain to become an independent, free nation, Rome freed themselves from the oppressive rule of Etruscan conquerors to create the first nation where the citizens governed the nation. Not everyone was a citizen of Rome. There were slaves and people considered noncitizens. In a modern democracy, all citizens are equal under the law and have the right to vote. When the founding fathers established the US government, they based it partly on the Roman style of government and divided the government into different branches, including the Senate, the House of Representatives, and a judicial system.
The three-fifths compromise was basically congress deeming that a slave was three fifths of a person. So I do believe that it is the first one: States representation in congress based on slave population
The main way in which the presidential election of 1912 was different from previous presidential elections is that a party was created (the Progressive Party) purely for the purpose of electing a candidate (Roosevelt).
