The Difference Between a Democracy and a Republic | 5 Minute Video

If you ask Americans to name their country’s form of government, most of them will say they live in a democracy. However, the real answer is more complicated (and unexpected) than that. Robert George, Professor of Jurisprudence at Princeton University, explains.

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Script:

At the close of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1789, legend has it that a woman called out to Benjamin Franklin to ask what kind of government the delegates had created. Franklin responded “…a republic, madam. If you can keep it.”

A republic?

Shouldn’t Franklin have said “a democracy”?

Isn’t that what we have in the United States?

Most people today would say “yes.”

After all, if our country isn’t a democracy, what is it? It’s not a dictatorship, the rule of one man. Or an oligarchy, rule by a small group. In America the people are in charge. That’s literally what democracy means in the original Greek—demos kratos—the people (demos) rule (kratos).

But let’s pause for a moment and consider more deeply what the word means in practice and why the delegates in Philadelphia rejected it.

That’s right—rejected it.

Our government was established by a national charter—the Constitution of the United States. We are governed by the institutions, and according to the rules and principles, created and adopted when our forebears ratified that document, making it “the Supreme Law of the land.”

Are those institutions properly speaking democratic?

The men who bequeathed our form of government to us—those we call our founding fathers—didn’t see it that way.

They understood the institutions established by the Constitution to be republic.

In fact, though the founders believed in “government of the people, by the people, for the people” as Abraham Lincoln put it in the Gettysburg Address, they did not believe in pure or unrestricted democracy. They feared that democracy, strictly speaking, contained within it the impulse to mob rule—the stifling of civil liberty, the trampling by majorities of the rights of minorities.

To put it more bluntly, pure democracy frightened them.

So, while they built into the Constitution significant democratic elements, they also built in non-democratic features to protect liberty and prevent tyranny. It wasn’t simply that they favored representative government over direct democracy, though they did; it’s that they rejected the idea that “the majority wins” was by definition the just outcome.

Indeed, in what is perhaps the most famous of the eighty-five Federalist Papers—Federalist 10—James Madison, precisely in distinguishing a democracy, which he did not favor, from a republic, which he did, noted that a crucial advantage of republicanism is “to refine…the public views by passing them through the medium of a chosen body of citizens, whose wisdom may best discern the true interests of the country…”

And, so, we have representative government, and more than that, we have a bicameral (that is, two-tiered) legislature—a Congress with a highly democratic House of Representatives and a not-very-democratic Senate.

Therefore, California, with its massive population, has fifty-two representatives in the House. Wyoming has one.

Yet Wyoming has two Senators—the same number as California and every other state.

A pure democrat would say, “that’s unfair!” Each Wyoming resident has far more power than every Californian.

But a republican would say, well, we aren’t and shouldn’t be a pure democracy. If we were large population states like California would overwhelm the needs and interests of small population states like Wyoming.

That’s why we’re called the United States of America. Each state has its own separate identity; holds its own separate elections. Just as we don’t want one person or small group of people to dominate our government, we don’t one state or a few states to dominate our government.

A republic is a way of diffusing power—and a brilliant one at that.

[effwardangerston]

Wish more people today understood the beauty of a Constitutional Republic.

[josephreynoldsii]

That's why in the Pledge of Allegiance, we say, "and to the Republic, for which it stands".

[danv]

Constitutional republic keeps everything balanced.

[philipspencer]

That is the clearest description I have ever heard of the system of government in the US. Thank you Sir! 😎👍

[huejass]

I'm from Canada and your founding fathers were absolute geniuses. I can honestly say your constitution is the envy of the world, and the country it allowed to manifest with all its opportunities is nothing short of inspirational.

Never forget the sheer amount of people who risk their lives every day just to step foot on American soil.

[sdozer]

"We have a republic and we should keep it"

[theophrastus.]

This should be broadcast once a week on all the major media.

[beverlywilliams]

This should be shown in every high school in the US!!

[jacquevanlopeznoroff]

Holy smoke! I didn’t know we still had reasonable, logic-based, historically sound professors at the Ivy League schools! Get him!

[jyu]

The founders wanted a government of moderation. They wanted a democratic component to the government (House of Representatives) but not a democracy, they wanted an aristocratic component (Senate) but not an aristocracy, they wanted a monarchial component but not a monarchy. The House was meant to be the voice of the people. Before the 17th amendment, the Senate was not a democratic body and was meant to be a body of elder statesman. The executive was to enforce the law, not create them. The founders created this government of moderation because they knew tyranny came in all forms. Tyranny can come from one person like a king or dictator, tyranny can come from the privileged few like an oligarchy, and tyranny can come from the majority trampling on the rights of the minority.

[samuelasnake]

I'm Ethiopian🇪🇹 and I live in Ethiopia. The more I learn about the founding fathers of the U.S., the more I'm amazed. They were way ahead of their time.

[FredWhosDead]

Great video. This should be played in all schools and colleges once a week.

[cmonkey]

"... if you can keep it." Wise words for out time.

[STURCASE]

“The ideal of a constitutional republic is individual liberty. In this century, great strides have been made toward the goal of subverting our republic, and transforming it into a democracy. The foremost tactic of the subverters is subversion of “language” — by calling America a democracy, until people thoughtlessly accept the term, and use the term. Totalitarians have obscured the real meanings and principles of American government.”

— Dan Smoot

[snowlothar]

If we still said The Pledge of Allegiance in school, maybe more people would know it is a Republic. "And to the Republic for which it stands."

[timothyjones]

Awesome. I’m 69 years old and I’ve never had it explained to me so clearly & succinctly as it was in this video just what the distinction is between a republic and a pure democracy.

[kaltwies]

It’s been said that in a democracy you have the privilege of electing your rulers, but in a republic you have the right to elect your servants.

[paullevine]

This is what you call important information.

[robertortiz-wilson]

I have to say, very well done on this one PragerU, very well done! Thank you.

[ryanelliot]

Honestly, I learned a lot watching this. Great video!