Few people are willing to criticize the myth that "America is a
democracy."
- The
deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in
strict secrecy. Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside
Independence Hall when the proceedings ended in order to learn what
had been produced behind closed doors. The answer was provided
immediately. A Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin,
"Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?"
With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, "A
republic,
if you can keep it."
- This
exchange was recorded by Constitution signer James McHenry in a diary
entry that was later reproduced in the 1906 American Historical
Review.
A
Republic, If You Can Keep It - The New American
We have not kept it.
The essential difference between a Republic and a Democracy is that a
Republic is under law,
while in a democracy, "the voice of the people is the voice of
God" (vox populi, vox dei). In a Republic the People may
democratically elect their representatives, but their representatives do
not simply rubber-stamp the will of the people, but govern according to
the "organic law."
Republic
v. Democracy by David Barton, Wallbuilders.com
We have grown accustomed to hearing that we are a
democracy; such was never the intent. The form of government
entrusted to us by our Founders was a republic, not a democracy.1
Our Founders had an opportunity to establish a democracy in
America and chose not to. In fact, the Founders made clear that we
were not, and were never to become, a democracy:
[D]emocracies have ever been spectacles of turbulence and
contention; have ever been found incompatible with personal
security, or the rights of property; and have, in general, been
as short in their lives as they have been violent in their
deaths.2
James Madison
Remember, democracy never lasts long. It soon wastes, exhausts,
and murders itself. There never was a democracy yet that did not
commit suicide.3
John Adams
A democracy is a volcano which conceals the fiery materials of
its own destruction. These will produce an eruption and carry
desolation in their way.4 The
known propensity of a democracy is to licentiousness [excessive
license] which the ambitious call, and ignorant believe to be
liberty.5
Fisher Ames, Author of the House Language for the First
Amendment
We have seen the tumult of democracy terminate . . . as [it has]
everywhere terminated, in despotism. . . . Democracy! savage and
wild. Thou who wouldst bring down the virtuous and wise to thy
level of folly and guilt.6
Gouverneur Morris, Signer and Penman of the
Constitution
[T]he experience of all former ages had shown that of all human
governments, democracy was the most unstable, fluctuating and
short-lived.7
John Quincy Adams
A simple democracy . . . is one of the greatest of evils.8
Benjamin Rush, Signer of the Declaration
In democracy . . . there are commonly tumults and disorders. . .
. Therefore a pure democracy is generally a very bad government.
It is often the most tyrannical government on earth.9
Noah Webster
Pure democracy cannot subsist long nor be carried far into the
departments of state, it is very subject to caprice and the
madness of popular rage.10
John Witherspoon, Signer of the Declaration
It may generally be remarked that the more a government
resembles a pure democracy the more they abound with disorder
and confusion.11
Zephaniah Swift, Author of America's First Legal Text
Many Americans today seem to be unable to define the difference
between the two, but there is a difference, a big difference. That
difference rests in the source of authority. |
Read the rest of this fine essay here.
The
Founding Fathers were passionately OPPOSED to democracy:
1. An example of this is demonstrated in the anecdote where,
having concluded their work on the Constitution, Benjamin Franklin walked
outside and seated himself on a public bench. A woman approached him and
inquired, "Well, Dr. Franklin, what have you done for us?"
Franklin quickly responded, "My dear lady, we have given to you a
republic--if you can keep it." Taken from "America's Bill of
Rights at 200 Years," by former Chief Justice Warren E. Burger,
printed in Presidential Studies Quarterly, Vol. XXI, No. 3, Summer 1991,
p. 457. This anecdote appears in numerous other works as well.
2. Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, James Madison, The Federalist on the
New Constitution (Philadelphia: Benjamin Warner, 1818), p. 53, #10,
James Madison.
3. John Adams, The Works of John Adams, Second President of the United
States, Charles Francis Adams, editor (Boston: Charles C. Little and James
Brown, 1850), Vol. VI, p. 484, to John Taylor on April 15, 1814.
4. Fisher Ames, Works of Fisher Ames (Boston: T. B. Wait & Co., 1809),
p. 24, Speech on Biennial Elections, delivered January, 1788.
5. Ames, Works, p. 384, "The Dangers of American Liberty,"
February 1805.
6. Gouverneur Morris, An Oration Delivered on Wednesday, June 29, 1814, at
the Request of a Number of Citizens of New-York, in Celebration of the
Recent Deliverance of Europe from the Yoke of Military Despotism (New
York: Van Winkle and Wiley, 1814), pp. 10, 22.
7. John Quincy Adams, The Jubilee of the Constitution. A Discourse
Delivered at the Request of the New York Historical Society, in the City
of New York on Tuesday, the 30th of April 1839; Being the Fiftieth
Anniversary of the Inauguration of George Washington as President of the
United States, on Thursday, the 30th of April, 1789 (New York: Samuel
Colman, 1839), p. 53.
8. Benjamin Rush, The Letters of Benjamin Rush, L. H. Butterfield, editor
(Princeton: Princeton University Press for the American Philosophical
Society, 1951), Vol. I, p. 523, to John Adams on July 21, 1789.
9. Noah Webster, The American Spelling Book: Containing an Easy Standard
of Pronunciation: Being the First Part of a Grammatical Institute of the
English Language, To Which is Added, an Appendix, Containing a Moral
Catechism and a Federal Catechism (Boston: Isaiah Thomas and Ebenezer T.
Andrews, 1801), pp. 103-104.
10. John Witherspoon, The Works of John Witherspoon (Edinburgh: J. Ogle,
1815), Vol. VII, p. 101, Lecture 12 on Civil Society.
11. Zephaniah Swift, A System of the Laws of the State of Connecticut
(Windham: John Byrne, 1795), Vol. I, p. 19.
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