Aztec
An ancient empire
Politcs/Government
City Council
The Aztec empire was made up of city-states. In each city there were calpullis, and each calpulli had a leader. Within all these leaders a city council was formed in each city. These councils held lots of power in the government. Each of these councils had some sort of executive council. This was made up of four members who were chosen to lead. Out of those four people there was one tlatcani who was known as the leader of the city. This is how the government ran. The calpulli, made up of family individuals, formed the city council and out of the members of the city council, formed a Tlatcani. This system made it so that no one had complete control over power. However, the emperor did have more control then the council. The council could decide to "fire" the emperor but only with good reasoning.
Change
Throughout the lifespan of the Aztecs multiple changes have happened within their government. There first type of government was a tribal democracy. This only lastes for a little untill the empire chose to change to the government of a monarchy. The head of the monarchy was the king/emperor. In this case Tlatoani, who lived in a palace with his family, was the emperor. Along with the emperor the gods, generals, chiefs, and judges were classified as the tecuhtli - the highest ranking class of government.
Tenochtitlan
Out of all of the city-states there there were three cities that formed a Triple Alliance. The cities that formed this were called Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. Out of these cities, the leading one was Tenochtitlan. This city leaders led the empire. The tlatcan of this city-state council was the leader/emperor of the Aztecs. This emperor was called Huey Tlatcani - also known as the "Great Speaker". This emperor did not run the empire alone. The councils helped rule the empire so that everthing stayed under control.
Huey Tlatcani
The emperor, Huey Tlatcani, was the person who was worshiped as a god. This person did not have enitre power of the whole empire. The empire had a semi-democratic system, so he could be removed from being control of the empire. The power of the emperor was supported by many people. Such as, the many city councils, officials, judges, governors, and priest.
So overall, the Aztecs had a government that was mainly runned by a emperor with help from the different councils. This type of government that they had enabled them to run their empire the way they did. With the emperor/elite class having help from the councils and calpulli made the system work the way it did. The government that they had was mainly a monarchy. There leadership titles consited of mainly councils and emperors.