Cives Romani were full Roman citizens with the full protection of Roman law and the right to vote in elections in the city of Rome. Latini held Latin rights, allowing them to enter into marriage with other Latini, own land in their regions, enter into legally enforceable contracts, and automatically made them citizens of any region with Latin citizenship in which the chose to reside.

The Socii or Foederati were the people of city states under Roman control that were granted certain legal rights in exchange for allowing Rome to levy soldiers for the Roman army.

In the years 91 - 88 BC, many of the cities of Italy rose up in revolt against Roman rule in what became known as the Social War. In 90 BC, the status of cives Romani was granted to all the city states who hadn't joint the revolt or who were willing to immediately surrender. When the war ended, full Roman citizenship was extended to all of the Italian penninsula, but the regions retained their designations for leagal purposes and as common points of referrence. During the reign of Augustus, the Italian penninsula was officially designated a Roman province and reorganized into several districts for better administration.