Republicanism

The founders drew on classical and English ideas of the republic, a government in which power derives from the people and is exercised by officials they choose, as opposed to hereditary monarchy. Republican thinkers stressed civic virtue, the willingness of citizens and leaders to put the public good above private interest, and feared corruption and concentrated power. The Constitution reflects these ideas by banning titles of nobility, providing for elected officials with fixed terms, and in Article IV, Section 4, guaranteeing every state a republican form of government.

In Federalist No. 10, James Madison distinguished a republic, in which a small number of citizens are elected to govern, from a pure democracy, in which citizens assemble and govern directly, and argued that a large republic would better control the dangers of faction because many competing interests would make it harder for any one to dominate. In Federalist No. 39 he defined a republic as a government deriving its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people and administered by persons holding office for a limited period or during good behavior.

The meaning of republicanism has broadened as the franchise expanded beyond white male property owners, and Americans continue to debate how representative and how directly democratic their government should be, from the direct election of senators in 1913 to state ballot initiatives and proposals to reform the Electoral College. Some argue that the country is a republic, not a democracy, to emphasize constitutional limits on majorities, while others reply that it is a democratic republic in which representation and majority rule work together.