![]() 10), as well as other numbers of the Federalist papers. Some framing-era commentators made arguments that distinguished "democracy" and "republic" see, for instance, the Federalist (No. And the same two meanings of "democracy" (sometimes direct democracy, sometimes popular self-government more generally) existed at the founding of the republic as well. But we are a representative democracy, which is a form of democracy. Some lawmaking is done this way, on the state and local levels, but it's only a tiny fraction of all lawmaking. The United States is not a direct democracy, in the sense of a country in which laws (and other government decisions) are made predominantly by majority vote. A common definition of "democracy" is, "Government by the people, exercised either directly or through elected representatives"-we are that, too. A common definition of "republic" is, to quote the American Heritage Dictionary, "A political order in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who are entitled to vote for officers and representatives responsible to them"-we are that. I often hear people argue (often quite militantly) that the United States is a republic, not a democracy. ![]()
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