Democracy vs Republic

Why the Founders of this Great Nation chose a Republic and not a Democracy

If you listen to the media and politicians today, one would think that the US was formed as the worlds most incredible democracy.  And while that may be the narrative of the media and the desire of many politicians today, it is actually one of the most inaccurate and quite frankly irresponsible statements they can be making concerning our form of government in the USA.

The Misconception

Due to the fact that we have elections in the US, on the surface, that, to some, makes it seem as though we are a democracy, but the reality is, what the founders gave us was something far better and much different. The similarities between Democracy and a Constitutional Republic end with the election of our Representatives by “We the People”.  In fact, the founders had almost no use whatsoever for democracy, even so much that they voiced their outright disdain for Democracy.

And though we hear the term democracy used constantly in reference to our form of government, the word does not appear in either the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution of the United States, our two fundamental founding documents.

Article IV, Section 4, of the Constitution makes it clear by stating it:

"guarantees to every State in this union a Republican Form of Government."

In fact, the founders saw great danger in democracy. Tom Paine, considered democracy:

“the vilest form of government”.

When describing the purpose of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, Virginia delegate Edmund Randolph said:

"The general object was to provide a cure for the evils under which the United States labored; that in tracing these evils to their origin, every man had found it in the turbulence and follies of democracy."

Just thirty-eight years after the Declaration of Independence, John Adams warned:

"Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts, and murders itself. There never was a democracy that did not commit suicide."

John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1801 to 1835 observed;

"Between a balanced republic and a democracy, the difference is like that between order and chaos."

As late as 1928, the "Citizenship" chapter of U.S. War Department training manual TM 2000-25 expressed the opinion:

“Democracy has been repeatedly tried without success. Our Constitutional fathers made a very marked distinction between a republic and a democracy and said repeatedly and emphatically that they had founded a republic.”

One of America's notable historians, Charles Austin Beard, put it this way:

“At no time, at no place in solemn convention assembled, through no chosen agents, had the American people officially proclaimed the United States to be a democracy. The Constitution did not contain the word or any word lending countenance to it.”

Why then, do some call us a democracy, and does it even matter?  I believe you will see, there are stark differences and those differences dictate the contrast between a truly free country or one steeped in tyranny!

What is a Democracy?

Democracy comes from the Greek words demos (people) and kratos (government), meaning rule by the majority. In a democracy, laws are created by political decision-makers without restraint by a fixed body of law, leading to rule by whim rather than reason. Rights in a democracy are often based on power and majority will, not on inherent, unalienable rights. Laws tend to be inconsistent and serve the interests of powerful groups rather than justice. Political factions use the law to gain power and suppress opponents.

In a democracy, government is used to satisfy the immediate needs of the majority, sometimes at the expense of individual rights. This leads to a system where the majority imposes its will on others, and rights are conditional, often granted by the state and revocable at will.

What is a Republic?

The word “Republic” comes from Latin, meaning “everybody’s thing” or “interest.”

The Declaration of Independence outlines republican principles: The Declaration of Independence contains the principles of republican government:

“all men are created with equal, unalienable rights, that governments are formed by men to secure these rights, and that governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

Our forefathers established the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights to further limit majority rule.

A republic’s essence is the rule of law, which means the common or scientific law that is certain, unchangeable, and discovered through natural law. Human nature doesn’t change, so what was right yesterday remains so today and tomorrow. Courts enforce a higher law than political or man-made law, seeking truth, transcending politics, being reasonable, consistent, predictable, and reflecting natural justice. Government acts as a shield to punish abuses of freedoms, not the freedoms themselves. Peace officers protect everyone equally from force and fraud, while the military is used as a last resort to protect the nation.

Moral authority resides outside the political class, held to a high standard through public pressure. Government’s purpose is to protect rights and defend freedom. Taxes, voluntary assessments, fund legitimate government functions serving the common good.

This form maximizes individual freedom and responsibility. Individuals are sovereign with sacrosanct rights, free to act without permission but must consent to impose. Everyone has an equal right to compete, succeed, or fail, subject only to others’ rights. Republics reject the public interest doctrine of democracies, as John Adams articulated,

“You have rights antecedent to all earthly governments; rights that cannot be repealed or restrained by human laws; rights derived from the Great Legislator of the Universe.”

The government has limited power to carry out its functions, but is otherwise restricted. Political historian Thomas Molnar described the prevailing concept of 18th-century liberalism as the State focusing on public safety, using its armed forces only to restrain disorder and rebellion.

Power is decentralized, regulated by checks and balances, and ultimately held by the people through free elections, jury trials, and an armed citizenry. The law is neutral, with no exemptions; everyone is equal before it and fully accountable to an injured party.

Republican government is based on Tom Paine’s premise.

“Government, even in its best state, is a necessary evil; in its worst state, intolerable.”

Thomas Jefferson’s first inaugural address described republican government as: 

“A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another . . . shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.”

In a republic, government serves the people rather than regulating them, representing them rather than ruling them. When republican principles are followed, free markets emerge, leading to a growing middle class, abundance, harmony, liberty, and ethical behavior. The focus is on wealth creation rather than power accumulation as in a democracy.

Why Not a Democracy?

John Adam’s said;

“Passions are the same in all men, under all forms of simple government, and when unchecked, produce the same effects of fraud, violence and cruelty. When clear prospects are opened before vanity, pride, avarice, or ambition, for their easy gratification, it is hard for the most considerate philosophers and the most conscientious moralists to resist the temptation. Individuals have conquered themselves; nations and large bodies of men, never.”

While the states were still colonies of Great Britain, Professor Alexander Fraser Tytler, wrote  why democracies always fail:

“A Democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of Government. It can only exist until the voters discover they can vote themselves largess of the public treasury. From that moment on the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury with the result that Democracy always collapses over a loose fiscal policy, always to be followed by a Dictatorship.”

James Madison, the father of the Constitution, The Federalist No.10:

“In a pure democracy, there is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party or an obnoxious individual. Hence it is that such democracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of property; and have in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent in their deaths.”

Plato warned, in Republic, that, as a rule,

“tyranny arises from democracy.”

This is why the founders of our avoided establishing a Democracy and opted for a Constitutional Republic instead.

Why the Confusion?

Nothing new…

James Madison wrote in Federalist 14:

“The error which limits republican government seems to owe its rise and prevalence chiefly to the confounding of a republic with a democracy, applying to the former reasoning drawn from the nature of the latter”

Madison also attributed the confusion to some “celebrated authors” of the day when he said:

“…in comparison the vices and defects of the republican, and by citing as specimens of the latter the turbulent democracies of ancient Greece and modern Italy. Under the confusion of names, it has been an easy task to transfer to a republic observations applicable to a democracy only.”

The term "democracy" became widespread during the Woodrow Wilson administration in 1912, alongside the 16th (income tax) and 17th (direct election of senators) amendments and the creation of the Federal Reserve, all of which centralized power within the Federal Government. Each of which undermined in its own unique way, the foundation on which our Republic was established.

The U.S. War Department manual from that time defined the difference between a democracy and a republic. However, in the 1930s, during the Roosevelt administration, copies were withdrawn and destroyed without explanation.

Confusion between the two forms of government still harms the nation and those who look to us as a model. Understanding this difference could resolve many divisions and lead to better leadership, with a government that is less intrusive and more responsive to our collective needs. The survival of our civilization depends on recognizing the distinction between a Constitutional Republic and a Democracy.