Once transforming the Galactic Republic into
the Galactic Empire and declaring himself as Emperor, Palpatine allowed the democratically
elected senate to exist for close to 20 years during his reign. So what was the motive behind that decision? Well despite what many may think, when Palpatine
declared himself as Emperor he didn’t immediately obtain absolute power and total control of
the galaxy. Instead that was just the first step in his
long term plan of reaching ultimate, direct authority over the galaxy, and the existence
of the senate unknowingly allowed him to reach that goal by keeping things functional and
in order for the time being. When he became Emperor, Palpatine mainly expanded
his control by having all the emergency powers that he obtained in the years leading up to
and during the Clone Wars go from being temporary to becoming permanent, as they were embedded
into the newly crafted galactic constitution. These new permanent powers allowed Palpatine
to remain as ruler for the rest of his life, as well as giving him essentially ultimate
authority over the military. However, at the beginning the Imperial military
wasn’t as expansive and mightful as it needed to be to allow him to do anything he wanted
without having to worry about backlash that threatened his hold over the galaxy. So the senate remained around to give the
illusion that the people and the planetary governments that the senators represented
still had power within the new galactic government. Had Palpatine disbanded the Senate the moment
he became Emperor, then that would have resulted in another full blown galactic civil war as
all the planets that were represented within the senate would have rebelled against the
newly formed empire. A newly formed empire that didn’t have the
vast and powerful military yet to keep everyone in line through fear. And the renamed Imperial senate had a good
amount of power during the initial years of the Empire. For one they still set the budget for all
central Imperial services, including the military budget. But that didn’t really matter, as a majority
of senators were in favor of a bigger and more powerful central military, just as Palpatine
had planned through his manipulations of past events. The Clone Wars that had preceded the new Empire
had left thousands of worlds devastated and billions of beings dead. No one wanted a repeat of that. So in hopes of preventing such a massive war
the senate fully supported the idea of creating and sustaining peace and order through a large
military. On top of that, there were many separatist
holdouts and terrorist groups that still continued to wreak havoc in the outer rim and western
reaches of the galaxy, which in turn garnered even more support for the build up of a larger
military to go deal with those chaotic forces. Now although the Senate remained to have a
good amount of power during the start of the Empire’s reign, this power began to wither
slowly over the years as the senators unknowingly supported policies that took away their control
over their respective planets. For example, in the beginning senators tended
to compete with each other over Imperial contracts that sought to utilize their respective planets’
resources onto a galactic scale. Senators saw these contracts as massive investments
for their worlds that would greatly increase their planet’s prosperity as Imperial controlled
corporations began constructing infrastructure that brought in jobs and wealth to the people. On top of these investments done through the
contracts, the Imperial military tended to appear and occupy the affected planet. The Empire argued that because it had so many
of its own assets invested into the planet, it needed a big military presence to protect
them from pirates and the like. Which at the time made sense to the senators
and rulers of the planet, who openly allowed for the Imperial military to take control
and protect them. Palpatine also began to reduce the senate’s
influence by diverting more power away from the senators and giving it to the Imperial
governors, who tended to be more loyal to him than the planets that they oversaw. And lastly, Palpatine’s final step to obtaining
ultimate authority over the galaxy was to construct a weapon that would strike so much
fear into the galaxy that no one would dare stand up to him. A weapon that could obliterate any planet
in a matter of seconds. The Death Star. Palpatine believed that once the planet destroying
superweapon was completed and fully operational, he would be allowed to do anything he wished
without having to worry about entire worlds rebelling against him. Which is why once the Death Star was completed,
the senate was immediately dissolved by Palpatine. No more did he have to pretend that they had
power. With the senate gone, and an entire command
structure created that was solely loyal to him, Palpatine had finally achieved the unlimited
power he had always desired... that was until the death star got blown up. But the loss of the death star was not a crippling
blow to the Empire. All it did was severely set back any plans
Palpatine had in mind. Although both the senate and death star were
gone, he still had a massive military on his side along with all the governors and moffs
that were solely loyal to him. Plus no longer did the Imperial military have
to be bound by the rules that the senate imposed on them. Now the military was free to do whatever it
needed to fight the rebellion without having to disguise any of its methods or weapons. All Palpatine simply had to do was build another
death star and not die, and then he was set to proceed with whatever plans he had for
the galaxy as its ultimate ruler. But we all saw how that turned out.
