Republican Government
As Benjamin Franklin emerged from Independence Hall at the close of the Constitutional Convention in September 1787, a woman approached and asked him what form of government the Convention had produced. Franklin responded, “A republic, madam—if you can keep it.”
If one asked the average American today the question posed to Franklin - what type of government do we have?—odds are the answer would be “a democracy” and not “a republic.” The idea that the United States is a democracy is reinforced in the rhetoric of public officials and within the media, and much of American society currently sees no difference between the two. However, our Founders did. In fact, many of the Founders, such as James Madison, were suspicious of what modern Americans seemingly embrace: