by Jerry Curtis

Created on: January 21, 2012   Last Updated: January 25, 2012

The United States today continues to be far more of a republic (governed by a constitution through chosen leaders) than a democracy (governed by the direct will of the people). Our founders had a deep distrust pure democracy. Mostly from the ruling elite, our founders feared “mobocracy,” which would soon run amok during the French Revolution, and they opted for a somewhat less democratic form of government – the republic. There are some current practices within our states, however, that are pure democracy, but none of those were foreseen nor sanctioned in our Federal Constitution.

♦ Republics and democracies are different forms of government.

Often the term “democracy” is used to refer to the American form of government. After all, American voters elect their representatives freely, and the representatives are accountable to the electorate. However, the United States is a republic. Here are the differences:

◊ A democracy is a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them or by their elected representatives under a free electoral system. Democracies are typically regulated by laws, often have elected parliaments, and, unlike republics, do not have formal written constitutions. In a classic democracy, the will of the majority (one vote over 50%) is supreme. Minority rights interests are essentially either disregarded or not taken into account in law-making.

One example of "democracy in action" was the trial of Socrates in ancient Athens. A majority of the 501 Athenian citizens elected to judge whether Socrates had corrupted the youth of that city state voted both his guilt and his sentence to take poison.

◊ A republic, on the other hand, is a form of government in which the supreme power rests in a body of citizens entitled to vote. Representatives are chosen directly or indirectly by the voters to exercise that power. The United States is a republic with a written constitution that limits the power of the state over the individual, and, more importantly, protects the rights of minorities against the tyranny of the majority.

There have been past examples of so-called republics in history, for example the Roman Republic. However, the Romans had no written constitution, and no method to protect the rights of minorities. The power to govern in the Roman Republic was mostly in the hands of the wealthy and elite, who ultimately ceded authority to a dictator emperor.

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