Aztec Government
Aztec Triple Alliance symbol
The Aztec got their governmental ideas from a civilization that came into power long before they did. They got their ideas from the Toltec. In this form of government, Aztec families would get together to share land. These groups would be calpulli. The people in a calpulli would look out for each other. Although nobility and priesthood had a lot of power, they weren't automatically put in governmental positions.The calpulli would pick a leader. When all these leaders got together, they formed the city council. It was the city council that had the true power. In the Aztec civilization, three of these city councils got together to form the famous Triple Alliance. The cities that formed this Triple Alliance were Tenochtitlan, Texcoco and Tlacopan. Tenochtitlan dominated out. In Tenochtitlan, the city council now had even more power, not only over Tenochtitlan but also Texcoco and Tlacopan. The head of the city council was called the Huey Tlatcani (a.k.a. the emperor). The Huey Tlatcani was worshiped as a god. The Huey Tlatcani did have complete power even though becoming the Huey Tlatcani did involve some democratic decisions and the Huey Tlatcani could be banished from the position of the Huey Tlatcani at any moment. Scientists don't know how the city council would decide on a Huey Tlatcani but they do know that it didn't involve hereditary. Moctezuma ll was one of the most famous Huey Tlatcani because he was Huey Tlatcani when Hernando Cortez came to defeat the Aztec. Although the Aztec government might seem like some sort of monarchism, the Aztec people had just as much say in what happened as people do in democracy led government.