system
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human
[Star Wars] Why did people just accept the transition from Galactic Republic to Galactic Empire?

 I know not everyone did, but it seems pretty crazy that most people would just accept Palpatine declaring himself Emperor. I guess there are historical precedents, though.
gpt
They didn’t, Palpatine had been easing them into it for years. The whole point of him instigating the Clone Wars was so that the Republic would vote to give him war powers. They kept asking him to come back long after his term should have expired since changing leadership during wartime would be difficult, and since he controlled both sides he could manipulate events to help ensure everyone stayed happy with him being in charge. And he kept using his position to grab more and more power. 

Then finally he was ready he made his move. The Jedi technically did attack him and did plan to take over once they’d taken care of Palpatine, so he told everyone they’d become mad with power and were trying to take over. So now the Republic was left with the chaos of cleaning up after a massive war and they’d just lost their most trusted peacekeepers. So Palpatine offered a solution. Rather than having him step down since he no longer would have his war powers and deal with the chaos of transitioning leadership while things were already so chaotic, just make what had already happened official and declare Palpatine Emperor. That way he could keep doing what he was doing forever. 

So it was actually *less* of a change than having him step down at that point.