The struggle of the orders lasted from about 494 – 287 BC and was the struggle between the patricians and the plebeians. The patricians were the wealthy ruling class of Roman society. You could only be a patrician if you were born into a patrician family, and intermarriage was not allowed. Plebeians were the working class of Roman society. They did not know the law and had very few rights and privileges. But they realized that they had something that the patricians did not have. They had their own physical bodies that the patricians needed to do the work and defend the city since the patricians were a small percentage of the population. So in 494 BC the plebeians seceded from Rome ,which started the struggle of the orders.
At this the patricians told them that if they came back that they would have more rights. This started with the 12 stone tables being put up in the city so that the plebeians could observe the law. They were also given their own assembly called the Conchillian assembly or the counsel of the plebs. This was made to make laws that would govern the plebeians but would eventually also affect the patricians. The office of consul was opened for the plebeians. Eventually it was required for one of the two consuls to be plebeian, and the in 94 BC both consuls were Plebeian. Intermarriage between them was allowed. Though the plebeians gained many rights the patricians still had more privileges and wealth, and had increased social status into the 1st century AD.