The basis of the Aztec government began
long before the Aztec Empire began. The first piece of the government
was the family and extended family. From the family was the calpulli.
The calpulli was basically a neighborhood based government unit that
ran a school and collected taxes from the citizens under its control.
The city councils were the next level
up in the Aztec government hierarchy. The city councils were formed
from the leaders of the calpullis and held a great amount of power in
the cities. The “executive council” was a group of four city
council members and from them one would be the tlatcani, or leader of
the city, and these councils would not only control the city proper
but the surrounding areas.
By the early-mid 1400s the Triple
Alliance was formed by the three leading city-states; Tenochtitlán,
Texcoco, and Tlacopan. These cities dominated the entire central
Mexico and of the three Tenochtitlan ruled the Triple Alliance.
The city leaders in Tenochtitlan ran
the Empire. The leader of this city council was the Huey Tlatcani or
the Great Speaker. The Huey Tlatcani was an emperor who was worshiped
as a god and who ruled over the empires main administration, military
and religion. Although this ruler was chosen from the Tenochtitlan
“executive council” he was almost always selected on a heredity
basis. In other words, each emperor was related to the emperor that
came before him.
