Key Takeaways: Republic vs. Democracy: Pure Democracy Republic Power Held by Making Laws

In both a
republic and a democracy, citizens are empowered to participate in a

representational political system. They elect people to represent and protect their
interests in how the government functions.
Key Takeaways: Republic vs. Democracy
 Republics and democracies both provide a political system in which

citizens are represented by elected officials who are sworn to protect their
interests.
 In a pure democracy, laws are made directly by the voting majority leaving
the rights of the minority largely unprotected.
 In a republic, laws are made by representatives chosen by the people and
must comply with a constitution that specifically protects the rights of the
minority from the will of the majority.
 The United States, while basically a republic, is best described as a
“representative democracy.”
In a republic, an official set of fundamental laws, like the U.S. Constitution and

Bill of Rights, prohibits the government from limiting or taking away certain
“inalienable” rights of the people, even if that government was freely chosen by a
majority of the people. In a pure democracy, the voting majority has almost
limitless power over the minority.
The United States, like most modern nations, is neither a pure republic nor a
pure democracy. Instead, it is a hybrid democratic republic.
The main difference between a democracy and a republic is the extent to which
the people control the process of making laws under each form of government.
Pure Democracy Republic

Power Held The population as a whole Individual citizens
By
Making A voting majority has almost The people elect
Laws unlimited power to make laws. representatives to make laws
Minorities have few protections according to the constraints of
from the will of the majority. a constitution.
Ruled By The majority. Laws made by elected
representatives of the people.
Protection Rights can be overridden by the A constitution protects the
of Rights will of the majority. rights of all people from the
will of the majority.
Early Athenian democracy in Greece The Roman Republic (509
Examples (500 BCE) BCE)
Even when the delegates of the United States Constitutional Convention debated
the question in 1787, the exact meanings of the terms republic and democracy
remained unsettled. At the time, there was no term for a representative form of
government created “by the people” rather than by a king. In addition, American
colonists used the terms democracy and republic more or less interchangeably, as
remains common today. In Britain, the absolute monarchy was giving way to a
full-fledged parliamentary government. Had the Constitutional Convention been
held two generations later, the framers of the U.S. Constitution, having been able
to read the new constitution of Britain, might have decided that the British
system with an expanded electoral system might allow America to meet its full
potential for democracy. Thus, the U.S. might well have a parliament rather than
a Congress today.
Founding Father James Madison may have best described the difference between

a democracy and a republic:
“It [the difference] is that in a democracy, the people meet and exercise the government
in person: in a republic, they assemble and administer it by their representatives and
agents. A democracy, consequently, must be confined to a small spot. A republic may be
extended over a large region.”
The fact that the Founders intended that the United States should function as a
representative democracy, rather than a pure democracy is illustrated in
Alexander Hamilton’s letter of May 19, 1777, to Gouverneur Morris.
“But a representative democracy, where the right of election is well secured and
regulated & the exercise of the legislative, executive and judiciary authorities, is vested
in select persons, chosen really and not nominally by the people, will in my opinion be
most likely to be happy, regular and durable.”
The Concept of a Democracy

Coming from the Greek words for “people” (dēmos) and “rule” (karatos),
democracy means “rule by the people.” As such, a democracy requires that the
people be allowed to take part in the government and its political processes. U.S.
President Abraham Lincoln may have offered the best definition of democracy as
being “…a government of the people, by the people, for the people…” in
his Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863.
Typically through a constitution, democracies limit the powers of their top rulers,
such as the President of the United States, set up a system of separation of
powers and responsibilities between branches of the government, and protect
the natural rights and civil liberties of the people.
In a pure democracy, all citizens who are eligible to vote take an equal part in the
process of making laws that govern them. In a pure or “direct democracy," the
citizens as a whole have the power to make all laws directly at the ballot box.
Today, some U.S. states empower their citizens to make state laws through a form
of direct democracy known as the ballot initiative. Put simply, in a pure
democracy, the majority truly does rule and the minority has little or no power.
The concept of democracy can be traced back to around 500 BCE in Athens,
Greece. Athenian democracy was a true direct democracy, or “mobocracy,” under
which the public voted on every law, with the majority having almost total control
over rights and freedoms.
The Concept of a Republic

Derived from the Latin phrase res publica, meaning “the public thing,” a republic
is a form of government in which the social and political affairs of the country are
considered a “public matter,” with representatives of the citizen body holding the
power to rule. Because citizens govern the state through their representatives,
republics may be differentiated from direct democracies. However, most modern
representative democracies are republics. The term republic can also be attached
to not only democratic countries but also to oligarchies, aristocracies, and
monarchies in which the head of state is not determined by heredity.
In a republic, the people elect representatives to make the laws and an executive
to enforce those laws. While the majority still rules in the selection of
representatives, an official charter lists and protects certain inalienable rights,
thus protecting the minority from the arbitrary political whims of the majority. In
this sense, republics like the United States function as “representative
democracies.”
In the U.S., senators and representatives are the elected lawmakers,

the president is the elected executive, and the Constitution is the official charter.
Perhaps as a natural outgrowth of Athenian democracy, the first documented

representative democracy appeared around 509 BCE in the form of the Roman
Republic. While the Roman Republic’s constitution was mostly unwritten and
enforced by custom, it outlined a system of checks and balances between the
different branches of government. This concept of separate governmental powers
remains a feature of almost all modern republics.
Is the United States a Republic or a Democracy?

The following statement is often used to define the United States' system of
government: "The United States is a republic, not a democracy.” This statement
suggests that the concepts and characteristics of republics and democracies can
never coexist in a single form of government. However, this is rarely the case. As
in the United States, most republics function as blended “representational
democracies” featuring a democracy’s political powers of the majority tempered
by a republic’s system of checks and balances enforced by a constitution that
protects the minority from the majority.
To say that the United States is strictly a democracy suggests that the minority is
completely unprotected from the will of the majority, which is not correct.
Republics and Constitutions

As a republic’s most unique feature, a constitution enables it to protect the
minority from the majority by interpreting and, if necessary, overturning laws
made by the elected representatives of the people. In the United States, the
Constitution assigns this function to the U.S. Supreme Court and the lower
federal courts.
For example, in the 1954 case of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme
Court declared all state laws establishing separate racially segregated public
schools for Black and White students to be unconstitutional.
In its 1967 Loving v. Virginia ruling, the Supreme Court overturned all remaining

state laws banning interracial marriages and relationships.
More recently, in the controversial Citizens United v. Federal Election

Commission case, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that federal election laws
prohibiting corporations from contributing to political campaigns violated the
corporations’ constitutional rights of free speech under the First Amendment.
The constitutionally-granted power of the judicial branch to overturn laws made

by the legislative branch illustrates the unique ability of a republic’s rule of law to
protect the minority from a pure democracy’s rule of the masses.
References
 "Definition of Republic." Dictionary.com. “a state in which the supreme power
rests in the body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by
representatives chosen directly or indirectly by them.”
 "Definition of Democracy." Dictionary.com. “government by the people; a form
of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and
exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral
system.”
 Woodburn, James Albert. “The American Republic and Its Government: An Analysis of
the Government of the United States.” G. P. Putnam, 1903
 Peacock, Anthony Arthur (2010-01-01). “ Freedom and the Rule of Law.” Rowman
& Littlefield. ISBN 9780739136188.
 Founders Online. “From Alexander Hamilton to Gouverneur Morris.” 19 May 1777.

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In both a

republic and a democracy, citizens are empowered to participate in a

Key Takeaways: Republic vs. Democracy

 Republics and democracies both provide a political system in which

In a republic, an official set of fundamental laws, like the U.S. Constitution and

Pure Democracy Republic

Founding Father James Madison may have best described the difference between

The Concept of a Democracy

The Concept of a Republic

In the U.S., senators and representatives are the elected lawmakers,

Perhaps as a natural outgrowth of Athenian democracy, the first documented

Is the United States a Republic or a Democracy?

Republics and Constitutions

In its 1967 Loving v. Virginia ruling, the Supreme Court overturned all remaining

More recently, in the controversial Citizens United v. Federal Election

The constitutionally-granted power of the judicial branch to overturn laws made

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