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A Democracy or Republic?Written November 2004 In today's society there are many popular issues regarding our government and possible changes to it. One example of this would be many people's desire to abolish the Electoral College. Is it not important that the people understand our government and its design before making such decisions? The Declaration of Independence says that it is the right of the people to "alter or abolish" (Declaration of Independence, 1776). Though it may sound like a form of permission to make any and all changes the people wish, the Declaration goes on to say that "[p]rudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes" (Declaration of Independence, 1776). Would not the abolition of a government in exchange for a worse one or the attempt to mold the present system into something it is not lead to disaster for its people? Is it not therefore important that the people understand their government? In order to understand what form of government the United States actually is, the definition of each possibility needs to be fully understood. Following the forming of our nation's government, Noah Webster wrote his American Dictionary of the English Language, published in 1828. This dictionary gives an insight into the thinking of the early 19th century and what the Founding Father's meant when they used the terms 'democracy' and 'republic'. According to this dictionary a democracy is "[g]overnment by the people; a form of government, in which the supreme power is lodged in the hands of the people collectively, or in which the people exercise the powers of legislation. Such was the government of Athens." To look at this definition one might call the United States of America a democracy, but Noah Webster's definition of a republic sheds a bit more light on the issue. "A commonwealth; a state in which the exercise of the sovereign power is lodged in representatives elected by the people...it differs from a democracy or democratic state, in which the people exercise the powers of sovereignty in person. Yet the democracies of Greece are often called republics". These concepts were understood by James Madison, who wrote of the "two great points of difference between a democracy and a republic" (Lewis 271). He recognized the similarities between the two, but also saw the differences. "The other point of difference is, the greater number of citizens and extent of territory which may be brought within compass of republican than of democratic government; and it is this circumstance principally which renders factious combinations less to be dreaded in the former than the latter" (Lewis 273). This is not to say that the term 'democracy' was never used, it can be found quite easily in historical texts. The Founding Fathers wrote extensively on the new nation and the courses its government could take. The results were summed up by Benjamin Franklin when he said they had given the people "a republic, if you can keep it" (qtd. in McManus). Perhaps the best explanation comes from another of James Madison's writings: The first question that offers itself is, whether the general form and aspect of the government be strictly republican? It is evident that no other form would be reconcilable with the genius of the people of America; with the fundamental principles of the Revolution; or with that honorable determination which animates every votary of freedom, to rest all our political experiments on the capacity of mankind for self-government. If the plan of the convention, therefore, be found to depart from the republican character, its advocates must abandon it as no longer defensible (Lewis 308). James Madison and Benjamin Franklin were not the only ones who understood the reasoning behind a Republic. John Marshall, the original chief justice of the Supreme Court (1801-1835), said "[b]etween a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos." (qtd. in McManus) John Adams urged for people to remember "democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not commit suicide." (qtd. in Barton 335) Gouverneur Morris referred to democracy as "savage and wild" (qtd. in Barton 335), and John Quincy Adams said that it is "the most unstable, fluctuating, and short-lived" (qtd. in Barton 335). The feeling of the Founding Fathers against democracy was addressed by John Adams when he said: [D]emocracy will soon degenerate into an anarchy, such an anarchy that every man will do what is right in his own eyes and no man's life or property or reputation or liberty will be secure, and every one of these will soon mould itself into a system of subordination of all the moral virtues and intellectual abilities, all the powers of wealth, beauty, wit, and science, to the wanton pleasures, the capricious will, and the execrable [abominable] cruelty of one or a very few (qtd. in Barton 338). In the Constitution, it says that the "United States shall guarantee to every State in the Union a republican form of government" (US Const., art.4, sec.4). Yet if you read the Constitution you will not find even one mention of the term 'democracy' or 'democratic'. Why, if the United States is a democracy, would the Constitution guarantee a republican government and not mention a democracy even once? Though the term 'democracy' has been used throughout the years by various politicians, there has never been any official document that would give credence to calling the United States such a country. Some may consider the line between 'democracy' and 'republic' to be a thin one, but the documents at the heart of the government and the writings of those who set them in place point to the United States of America being a republic. In the 20th century politicians began to call the United States a 'democracy', and whether they simply didn't know better or didn't care, the American people have begun to believe that that is truly what this country is. Yet throughout all of this, the ability to prove otherwise remains if anyone cares to do so. Even now the Encyclopaedia Britannica refers to the United States as "a federal republic" ("United States"). There is a reason the Pledge of Allegiance claims allegiance to a republic, a reason that the Constitution guarantees one, and a reason that one can find so many writings by the Founding Fathers outlining the virtues of one. America is, at its heart, a republic. Works Cited "United States." Encyclopaedia Britannica Online. 2004. Encyclopaedia Britannica. McManus, John F. "A Republic, If You Can Keep It." The New American 2 Nov. 2000: 1+. Lewis, John D., ed. Anti-Federalists versus Federalists. Scranton: Chandler Publishing Company, 1967. Barton, David. Original Intent. 2nd ed. Aledo: WallBuilder Press, 1997. "democracy." An American Dictionary of the English Language. 1st ed. 1828. "republic." An American Dictionary of the English Language. 1st ed. 1828. |
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