Americans had used the doctrine of popular sovereignty--"democracy"--as the rationale for their successful rebellion against English authority in But they had not yet worked out fully the question that has plagued all nations aspiring to democratic government ever since: how to implement principles of popular majority rule while at the same time preserving stable governments that protect the rights and liberties of all citizens.
Few believed that a new federal constitution alone would be sufficient to create a unified nation out of a collection of independent republics spread out over a vast physical space, extraordinarily diverse in their economic interests, regional loyalties, and ethnic and religious attachments.
And there would be new signs of disorder after that would remind Americans what an incomplete and unstable national structure they had created: settlers in western Pennsylvania rebelled in because of taxes on their locally distilled whiskey; in western North Carolina there were abortive attempts to create an independent republic of "Franklin" which would ally itself with Spain to insure its independence from the United States; there was continued conflict with Indians across the whole western frontier and increased fear of slave unrest, particularly when news of the slave-led revolution in Haiti reached American shores.
But as fragile as America's federal edifice was at the time of the founding, there was much in the culture and environment that contributed to a national consensus and cohesion: a common language; a solid belief in the principles of English common law and constitutionalism; a widespread commitment albeit in diverse forms to the Protestant religion; a shared revolutionary experience; and, perhaps most important, an economic environment which promised most free, white Americans if not great wealth, at least an independent sufficiency.
The American statesmen who succeeded those of the founding generation served their country with a self-conscious sense that the challenges of maintaining a democratic union were every bit as great after as they were before. Some aspects of their nation-building program--their continuing toleration of slavery and genocidal policies toward American Indians--are fit objects of national shame, not honor.
But statesmen of succeeding generations--Lincoln foremost among them--would continue the quest for a "more perfect union. Such has been our success in building a powerful and cohesive democratic nation-state in post-Civil War America that most Americans today assume that principles of democracy and national harmony somehow naturally go hand-in-hand. But as we look around the rest of the world in the post-Soviet era, we find ample evidence that democratic revolutions do not inevitably lead to national harmony or universal justice.
We'll talk about each principle in more depth below. In order to make sure that people's voices are being heard accurately, democracies have to ensure that all voting processes are "free and fair. In order for an election to be "free and fair," it has to be administered in a way that allows its citizens to vote and treats all political parties and candidates equally. That means the process 1 needs to be accessible to everyone who meets voting qualifications and 2 as unbiased as possible. Furthermore, in order to be as fair, these elections need to occur at a regular interval.
If elections are only happening every two decades, that denies people the ability to make their voices heard! Free and fair elections are important to democracy because the voting process is the way that citizens voice their opinions and, in representative forms of government, choose the people who will represent them in higher levels of government.
It also puts an important check on power. If representatives are coming up for reelection regularly, it puts pressure on them to vote in line with their constituents. Otherwise they could lose their position during the next voting cycle.
In order for democracy to function, its citizens have to participate in the process of government. That means people have to run for office, create ballot initiatives, petition for laws and causes they believe in, and vote.
Remember that the term "democracy" means that the power to rule belongs to the people. Only by exercising that power can a nation's citizens ensure that their will is reflected in the country's laws and structures.
It's also important that in a democracy, all citizens are given an equal right to participate regardless of where they live, what they do for work, or what culture they come from. If civic participation is limited to a certain class or race, the system becomes an oligarchy instead. In oligarchies, a small group of unelected people hold all the governing power. When everyone has a chance to participate, it ensures that the government accurately reflects the populace, that minority populations have a voice, and that new laws are fair for everyone.
Perhaps most notably, democracies believe in freedom. Citizens should have the right to express their opinions and participate in democracy without fear or intimidation.
Not only do democratic societies believe that creates a better life for its citizens, it also helps keep governmental power in check. If people can freely—but peacefully—express their opinions, it makes it clear when elected representatives aren't listening to the will of the people. Even more importantly, democracies believe in the protection of people's basic human rights. In the United States, these are outlined in the Bill of Rights, and they include the right to free speech, the right to bear arms, protection from the illegal seizure of property, and the right to a trial by jury.
Not familiar with the Bill of Rights? The Bill of Rights Institute breaks it down for you! In other words, democracies guarantee fundamental protections to individual citizens which allows them to live in safety, freedom, and peace. Finally, the last thing all systems of democracy have in common is the rule of law.
According to Dr. Diamond, the rule of law is fundamentally important to democracy because it protects the rights of citizens, maintains order, and limits the power of government. In other words, if elections are how citizens make their voices heard, then laws are the ways that citizens' desires are enforced. It's pretty clear how laws work in a constitutional or representative form of democracy. In a constitutional democracy, the constitution itself lays out some fundamental laws, and no other legislation can violate them.
In a representational democracy, laws are created by the elected officials in order to make sure that their constituents' concerns are being addressed. But what about a direct democracy where everyone has a voice? Well, even in ancient Athens, the oldest direct democracy, had laws to help govern the city-state. The whole point of The Assembly was to create new policies and laws that the majority of people could agree on, and those policies would govern the entire populace!
Laws, then, are a tool people can use to make sure the ideals of democracy—like freedom and basic human rights—are maintained. Now you know a lot about how democracies function and their core ideals.
Now it's time to look at a republic vs. How are they different? Well, the answer is a little bit complicated. The term "republic" comes from the Greek word politeia, which means the "rights of citizens. To do this, republics use elected officials to represent the will of their citizens within the government. In other words, republics rely on a representational form of government, just like the representational democracies we talked about earlier! Additionally, in order for a country to qualify as a republic, its head of state has to be an elected official.
That means that while countries like France and Germany—which have elected presidents as heads of state—are republics. Countries with a monarch as the head of state, like Canada and the United Kingdom, are not. So to summarize: a republic is a form of government where the power a rests with the people, b is exercised through representative government, and c has an elected head of state.
During this time, Rome had expanded to encompass most of modern-day Europe along with parts of Asia and Africa. That meant that Rome was home to many different cultures, and its citizens spoke 21 different languages! This time period also marked Rome's switch from a monarchy—where a king ruled the nation—to a constitutional government.
The Roman Senate, which was comprised of Rome's noble families, decided to institute a new type of government. The country would now be led by two elected consuls who had equal power and would serve one-year terms. These consuls were elected by legislative assemblies made up of male citizens of Rome.
These assemblies also voted on laws developed by the Roman Senate. The Roman Senate was comprised of Patricians, which were members of Rome's noble class.
The Senators were appointed by the Roman consuls, and they served as senators for life. The Senate's job was to draft new laws that would be voted on by the Assembly. Over the next few centuries, the government of Rome would develop a set of guidelines and principles to govern the expanding country, which would coalesce into the Roman Constitution. The Constitution would remain one of the foundational governing documents of the Roman Empire up until its collapse in the 5th century CE. The countries in blue, orange, yellow, and green are all classified as republics.
Remember that a republic is a nation where governmental power rests with its citizens, uses a representational government, and has an elected head of state. These are pretty general criteria, so that means there are quite a few republics today. In fact, as of , of the world's countries use the word "republic" as part of their official names!
Additionally, the loose definition of a republic means there many different types of republics functioning today. We'll briefly discuss the major types of republics here, but you can find more in-depth information about each one by following the links in each description. In a constitutional republic, the government is limited by laws established by a formal constitution , which is generally secular in nature.
Additionally, the government is run by elected officials who are voted on by the population, and those officials are required to follow the rules of government laid out by that country's constitution. For more information about republics based on religion, see the section on "theological republics. Examples of modern constitutional republics include the countries like India and South Africa.
A parliamentary republic uses a parliamentary form of government in which the head of state runs the executive branch of government and the head of parliament runs the legislature. The legislature itself is comprised of elected officials that are voted into office by the country's citizens. Examples of parliamentary republics include Greece , Hungary , and Malta.
A presidential republic allows its citizens to elect a president to serve as the country's head of state. However, in a presidential republic, the president also serves as the head of the government, too! In some cases, however, sub-sovereign states are declared republican in nature. Each of the U. The Soviet Union is another example of sub-sovereign republics. Before the s, the term republic was used to designate any state that was not an authoritarian regime.
Republic could encompass not only democratic states but also oligarchies, aristocracies, and monarchies. French philosopher Jean Bodin wrote a definition of the republic in his Six Books of the Commonwealth in The definition of a republic began shifting during the 17th and 18th centuries, with growing resistance to absolutist regimes and a series of revolutions.
These include the American Revolution and the French Revolution. Totalitarianism Military Dictatorship Autocracy Totalitarianism vs. Authoritarianism vs. Table of Contents Expand. The Concept of a Democracy. The Concept of a Republic. Is the United States a Republic or a Democracy? Republics and Constitutions. Robert Longley. History and Government Expert.
Robert Longley is a U. Facebook Facebook. Updated November 02, 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 people elect representatives to make laws according to the constraints of a constitution. Ruled By The majority. Laws made by elected representatives of the people. Protection of Rights Rights can be overridden by the will of the majority.
A constitution protects the rights of all people from the will of the majority. Featured Video. Cite this Article Format. Longley, Robert.
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