How do you do,
As head of a patriotic committee in my local assembly of the Knights of Columbus, I was asked to present something for knights who just came to the US to learn and think on. The topic chosen is rather the United States of America is a democracy or a republic. This topic was too good to pass up and thus I am including this in the blog. Why I put this is that most Americans believe that we are in a democracy. Very few say republic. In this blog, I am going to state and prove beyond reasonable doubt that our nation is less of a democracy and more of a republic.
Democracy
What is a democracy? Democracy is defined as a form of government in which all eligible citizens participate equally in proposal, development, and creation of laws. The word "democracy" comes from the Greek word "demokratia", meaning "rule of the people." The concept is not Socialism, which is of a different matter. Just because the people are given a voice that does not make it Socialism. No, the matters of democracy are that the people would cast lots, or votes, to decide matters of law or decide who will serve the people.
In a technical sense, any form of action that involves people casting votes is democracy. This happens when a jury makes the vote to convict someone, or when cardinals elect a pope. The process happens when one of the persons, or matters, gets voted on by a majority vote (or in case of juries, by unanimous vote). This explains the phrase "rule of majority" when talking of democracy. If one were to vote in a measure it would need a large number of votes to be supported or opposed to go anywhere. Other wise, the measure will just stay where it is and become dead.
There are definitions of "majority." The first is where the vote is solid, which is the unanimity vote. For example, it was decided by our founding fathers to make our declaration of independence vote be unaminous. If it was not, then our nation would not have come into existence. The second kind is the most common when a certain percentage is needed to count. It can be anywhere more than a half and less than all. In most cases it's three-fifths, or four-fifths.
The example of finding democracy in history has always been to look to Athens.
Athenian Democracy
More than 2500 years ago, Athens was ruled by a king. This king died and a new ruler came to power who turned down the crown. This ended the Athenian monarchy. During the 6th Century BC, Athens came under the guidance of philosopher and lawmaker, Solon. Solon came to power in a time of moral decline in Athens even under the guidance of its tyrants.
Today, the word tyrant is synonymous with oppressive and authoritative dictator. The Ancient Greeks saw it as another word for monarch. Solon was partially related to one, Pisistratus, and was appointed chief magistrate, or archon. As archon, Solon made his reforms that set the stage for Athenian democracy. He introduced the Solonian Constitution and made it possible for Athenians of all classes to serve in the Ekklesia, which were courts. These reforms did away with the tradition of only Athenians of noble birth dictating the doings of Athenian government.
In a short term, Solon's reforms were a failure but they inspired another philosopher in Athens. A generation after Solon came Cleisthenes. Cleisthenes came into the picture by overthrowing the son of Tyrant Pisistratus, Hippias. Determined to avoid the rivalry of tribes to lead to more tyrants, Cleisthenes set up additional reforms. In his reforms, the men who would rule Athens would not come so through their fathers but by the casting of lots by men. As a buffer against tyrants, Cleisthenes created Ostracism where by a vote a citizen who was a threat to democracy would be exiled.
Cleisthenes called his reforms "insomnia." However, people who came after him called it "democracy."
While the name implies that people have the voice in this matters, the democracy of Athens had some exclusions. In this time, only male Athenian citizens who owned land could vote. Everyone else did not have a say: not the landless Thetes, not the slaves, not women, and certainly not foreigners. Even with this, they stood out among most Greeks as having it, though since Spartans could remove kings made it less unique. Greek mythology is filled with scenes of democracy like actions: the twelve gods on Olympus casting votes on the entry of a new god, the kings of Greece over Helen, etc.
Not everyone agreed with democracy or how it functioned. Such cases included the famous three philosophers who critiqued the notion of democracy. Socrates viewed it as not conforming to an ideal regime. Plato, his student, wrote of democracy as "a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequaled alike" (Republic). Plato's student, Aristotle, had this to say: "one factor of liberty is to govern and be governed in turn; for the popular principle of justice is to have equality according to number, not worth...And one is for a man to live as he likes; for they say that this is the function of liberty, inasmuch as to live not as one likes is the life of a man that is a slave" (Politics). One could see what they mean for the parts of a democracy in which the majority rule can prove just as bad as having one with absolute rule over the masses. A common critique of democracy is "three hungry wolves and one sheep."
Democracy in Athens only lasted a century. During the Peloponnese War, the Athenian Democracy collapsed and the rule of the 400 came to form, in what is called the oligarchy. They ruled until 410 BC when a coup restored democracy, by which point Athens was hanging by the ropes. Spartan victory insured the death of democracy and Athens was ruled by the Thirty Tyrants. These men saw Athens into the next year before they were overthrown and democracy was restored. Athenian democracy then lasted until Greece and Macedonia merged and all of Greece was ruled by King Philip. From this point on, Athenian Democracy was not restored. Greece became part of the Roman Empire and then Greece was inherited by the Byzantines. Even when Greece became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1831, democracy would not be restored in the region. Such was the history of the Athenian Democracy.
Republic
A republic has become a commonly used term on a governing sovereignty that is considered good. Almost every nation that has come since the Enlightenment has sought to be a republic instead of a monarchy. In pop culture, we see republic used as either something to look back to with affection (like in Star Wars which features a galactic republic) or something to create in place of something detested (as in the case of The Amber Spyglass where the heroes seek to create a "republic of heaven"). Yet most people do not even know what a republic really is.
A republic is a form of government in which the powers reside in the people and the elected government officials rule by law, rather than inherited or appointed. A republic has often been made synonymous with democracy, though apart from the way they function they are not.
Another thing they have in common is they are based off of an ancient language. Republic is believed to come from the Latin phrase "res publica", attributed to Cicero and used by other writers, meaning "public affairs" or "public property." By this statement, where democracy has people partaking in the government, republic has the government be property of the people.
Roman Republic
Like Athens, Rome began as a city state. Also, like Athens, Rome was once ruled by kings. However, five centuries before Christ, Rome saw a crisis that removed its king. The King of Rome was removed by a group of Roman nobles who then set up what became a liberated form of a city-state. The events of this were later dramatized in Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucretia and, incidentally, one of the men removing the king was named Brutus.
The Roman Republic didn't immediately form the way most do. After the King of Rome was overthrown, the transition began with the election of kings, later consuls. They would elect two at a time as a way of balancing power. If one were reaching the limits, the other could put him in check. This was being tested when a crisis came a decade after the king was deposed. The Plebeians became alert to the concept of people taking part of the public good that this concept presented and used it by refusing to march against enemy soldiers. Instead, they seceded to the Aventine Hill. Negotiations were made and it was discovered that the Plebeians wanted to elect their own tribunes. The ruling Patricians agreed and the Plebeians fought for Rome. This led to the creation of that tribune, being the plebeian tribune.
This led to a calm that last more than a century. During the period, in forty-nine years that followed, the censorship was made. Today, censorship is synonymous with suppression of subversive material. In Ancient Rome, this entity not only regulated morality but also conducted the census and oversaw the finances. An assembly of men was created to act as the legislating body, called the Comitia Centuriata (Assembly of the Centuries). Then in 367 BC, there was passed a law that led to the election of at least one plebeian aedile each year.
From this work, the Roman government had a legislative body in form of the Senate, which consisted of old men, originally called patres, or fathers, and the government be led by two consuls, who check on each other during their terms. The Roman Constitution had a clause where should a crisis happen, one of the consuls would be granted emergency powers as dictator. When the crisis is abated, he has to return the powers, and the senate has the power to remove him if he fails. As dictator, a consul would have authority over the Roman Armies as well, as noted in the Punic Wars.
Where did they go?
As mentioned above, the Athenian democracy passed away in wake of the Peloponnese War, was briefly restored and removed repeatedly until Greece was conquered by Rome. The Roman Republic died through internal forces. It began in wake of the Punic Wars where the patrician class continued to grow richer as the borders expanded while the plebeians got poor. It came to a point that most elected a consul who promised them a better economic situation, as well as work, as millions were out of a job. In 133 BC, Tiberius Gracchus became tribune and set out to distribute land to the landless. This did not sit will with the aristocrats. His co-consul, Marcus Octavius, vetoed his law that would make it happen. In turn, Gracchus impeached Octavius and the law was passed.
Sadly, Gracchus was murdered for his actions. His brother, Gaius, was elected in the tribune and he set out to weaken the senate and bring in democratic powers to Rome. He took equites, or knights, and placed them in the jury courts in place of senators. He also passed the grain law and wanted to extend rights to the Italians, which drove everyone away. Gaius Gracchus then followed his brother out of office and into his grave.
Then came Rome's war with Pontus under Mithridates VI and a dictator named Sulla was sent to fight him. The once unified Roman government was fragmented now and his rivals made it hard for him to defeat Mithridates. This led to him taking on dictatorship to make constitutional reforms. Then he resigned. Years later, Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompey Magnus removed these reforms and set up a triumvirate, with Gaius Julius Caesar as the third pillar.
Caesar became the coup de grace for the republic's fall. He ended the triumvirate by turning on them, after winning a war against the Gauls. When a period of violence came on Rome, Caesar marched his troops to Rome, crossing the Rubicon, and drove Pompey from Italia. After Pompey's death, Caesar was dictator for life, passing more constitutional reforms to the delight of the people and consternation of the senate. In 44 BC, Julius Caesar was assassinated in the senate.
The moment that pronounced dead the Roman Republic was when his nephew, Octavian, followed him to power, creating and then dismantling the Second Triumvirate, and becoming the absolute ruler of the Roman Empire, with the name of Augustus. An effort to restore the Republic did come a few times but it finally crushed after Caligula's death and the ascension of Claudius.The new Roman Empire had a constitution just as the Republic. The senate still passed laws like before, the jury courts, the magistrates, and the patricians still held the top and the plebeians still worked. Yet, the main difference was the powers were now directed the emperor instead of the people. In the provinces of Rome, governors carried out the emperor's decree while the military enforced them all.
After the Fall of Rome, the concept of Democracy and Republic were treated as relics of a pagan past in the west. In 930, the Vikings created an Icelandic Commonwealth that operated like the Roman Republic. This republic lasted until the 13th Century where it was made to be reunited with Norway. However, Iceland's senate, the Althling is still in work today. During the Middle Ages, there rose a host of such in Italy and Holland in what are called Mercantile republics. They were small and were controlled by merchant class families, in a time of feudal rule. Most powerful of them were Venice and Genoa, both of whom grew rich in the Crusades. They were under the shadow of the Holy Roman Empire, yet were able to be self ruled because of their powers. One case is when the Swiss Confederacy operated beyond the powers of the Habsburg dynasty. Novgorod and Pskov also became mercantile republics until they were conquered by Moscow.
As to a democracy, the only known resemblance of it at the time could be found in the Catholic church, only in form of the election of popes. Unlike politicians, popes are elected for life instead of a few years. However, in the 13th Century, a group of nobles forced English King John to sign the Magna Carta which limited the powers of the king. This led to the creation of a parliament which could pass laws, levy armies, and make taxes, while the king, or queen, is gradually reduced to giving the final word in law. These examples don't completely resemble democracy but have planted the seeds of the modern democracy.
The Protestant Reformation led to more cases of republics. The Calvinists republics appeared in Europe, such as the Dutch Republic and even the English Commonwealth, led by puritans. Republic and democracy really returned near the end of the Age of Enlightenment. First in France in 1789, a wave of liberalism went through Europe, breaking or ending the hold of absolute monarchy and leading to formation of liberal republics. This era of such ended when Napoleon became Emperor of the French and all of Europe united to defeat him. Yet while the flames of the two died in Europe, they expanded into Latin America in the 1810s and 1820s. Some of the Latin American nations became free as empires, such as Mexico and Brazil, and only became republics later. In the 20th Century, China became a republic after ending its thousands of years of a dynastic rule, as did Portugal with a socialist government. Near the end of World War I, Russia became one also following the abdication of Czar Nicholas II. This led to an explosion of republics all around the world, some with democratically elected governments like the US and others with socialist governments. Some become so through revolutions and others through decolonization. Even in the Middle East, there are republics rising up. Except for Israel, and those who have monarchs in charge, they are all called Islamic republics, which have the banners of such while using Islamic rhetoric and Sharia laws.
Even with Calvinism, materialism, socialism, or Islam, these republics carry on the DNA of the Roman Republic, and where ever there's democracy, there are people breaking break with Athens. Each one of them has a constitution, each one has an elective legislation, each one has a consul (or president), and each one has ways of keeping a balance in power. Some of have also gotten dictators.
Conclusion: Which of the two is United States of America?
After this background information, let us look at the United States of America. When our founding fathers sought to be independent of Great Britain and make their own country, they looked to Athens and Rome for guidance. Of the two, Rome was the one most looked to. Like Rome, the United States has a constitution and multiple branches of a government. Yet, in 1787, the American equivalent of the Patrician class (being white, landowning, males) could vote. The modern plebeians: the women, the poor whites, the African Americans, the foreigners, the Native Americans, could not. This exclusion is similiar to that of Athenian Democracy. This has changed, as explained in the third paragraph.
When one looks at the definition of a democracy and of a republic, the blanket statement of the US being a democracy needs inspection. The only place in the US that resembles democracy in its true form is whenever people vote, being in election of a politician or making decisions in meetings. Of course, people concede and use the phrase "representative democracy." However, in looking at the definition, the US does not really act as a democracy. Even as people vote in a person for office, the Electoral College makes the final decision on the candidate, which sometimes has been be controversial. As to the definition of a republic, the US gets in more points. The United States government consists of three branches (legislative, executive, and judicial), all operating under the guidance of the constitution, and with all but the justices of the Supreme Court being elected for a set of years called terms. That while everything the government does or says is a "public affair." When adding these factors, the conclusion is that the United States of America is a republic. It doesn't hurt to add that the song is called "Battle Hymn of the Republic", not "Battle Hymn of the Democracy", nor does the pledge say "And to the Democracy for which it stands."
In both models, the United States is currently updated. In Athens, only free-born Greek citizen men could vote. Today, it is total suffrage for any US citizen to vote: all he or she needs is to be at least 18, be a citizen for a set number of years, and not imprisoned. Athens had method of preventing tyrants called Ostracism, where men who are threats to democracy are exiled. Today, the US merely impeaches politicians who abuse their powers and when the politician leaves office, he is allowed to live in the country though his name is sometimes ruined. In Rome, tribunes were set up between the Patricians and the Plebeians. Today, both the Senate and the House consist of members who speaks for everyone. In Rome, the elective legislative body was composed of the Senate. Today, the US has the congress consisting of the senate to speak for a state (consisting of two per state) and the House of Representatives who speak for the population (with each voting district represented by a single congressman) In Rome, two consuls were elected, who were granted the powers of a dictator during a crisis. Today, the US has one president and a counter measure called checks and balances are set up so that not one branch can be above the other. Instead of another consul to bring up impeachment, it is the Senate that votes on the articles. One important difference is in the constitution. The US has added the Bill of Rights to the Constitution during the early days, all of which guarantees the government will not infringe on your rights or make laws that do. It's important because neither Athens nor Rome included a Bill of Rights in their constitutions.
Thus concludes this food for thought. You do not have to take my word for it, you can type "democracy", "republic", "United States", etc into that search engine up in the upper right hand corner, and you can also look into your local library on the topic.
Democracy
What is a democracy? Democracy is defined as a form of government in which all eligible citizens participate equally in proposal, development, and creation of laws. The word "democracy" comes from the Greek word "demokratia", meaning "rule of the people." The concept is not Socialism, which is of a different matter. Just because the people are given a voice that does not make it Socialism. No, the matters of democracy are that the people would cast lots, or votes, to decide matters of law or decide who will serve the people.
In a technical sense, any form of action that involves people casting votes is democracy. This happens when a jury makes the vote to convict someone, or when cardinals elect a pope. The process happens when one of the persons, or matters, gets voted on by a majority vote (or in case of juries, by unanimous vote). This explains the phrase "rule of majority" when talking of democracy. If one were to vote in a measure it would need a large number of votes to be supported or opposed to go anywhere. Other wise, the measure will just stay where it is and become dead.
There are definitions of "majority." The first is where the vote is solid, which is the unanimity vote. For example, it was decided by our founding fathers to make our declaration of independence vote be unaminous. If it was not, then our nation would not have come into existence. The second kind is the most common when a certain percentage is needed to count. It can be anywhere more than a half and less than all. In most cases it's three-fifths, or four-fifths.
The example of finding democracy in history has always been to look to Athens.
Athenian Democracy
More than 2500 years ago, Athens was ruled by a king. This king died and a new ruler came to power who turned down the crown. This ended the Athenian monarchy. During the 6th Century BC, Athens came under the guidance of philosopher and lawmaker, Solon. Solon came to power in a time of moral decline in Athens even under the guidance of its tyrants.
Today, the word tyrant is synonymous with oppressive and authoritative dictator. The Ancient Greeks saw it as another word for monarch. Solon was partially related to one, Pisistratus, and was appointed chief magistrate, or archon. As archon, Solon made his reforms that set the stage for Athenian democracy. He introduced the Solonian Constitution and made it possible for Athenians of all classes to serve in the Ekklesia, which were courts. These reforms did away with the tradition of only Athenians of noble birth dictating the doings of Athenian government.
In a short term, Solon's reforms were a failure but they inspired another philosopher in Athens. A generation after Solon came Cleisthenes. Cleisthenes came into the picture by overthrowing the son of Tyrant Pisistratus, Hippias. Determined to avoid the rivalry of tribes to lead to more tyrants, Cleisthenes set up additional reforms. In his reforms, the men who would rule Athens would not come so through their fathers but by the casting of lots by men. As a buffer against tyrants, Cleisthenes created Ostracism where by a vote a citizen who was a threat to democracy would be exiled.
Cleisthenes called his reforms "insomnia." However, people who came after him called it "democracy."
While the name implies that people have the voice in this matters, the democracy of Athens had some exclusions. In this time, only male Athenian citizens who owned land could vote. Everyone else did not have a say: not the landless Thetes, not the slaves, not women, and certainly not foreigners. Even with this, they stood out among most Greeks as having it, though since Spartans could remove kings made it less unique. Greek mythology is filled with scenes of democracy like actions: the twelve gods on Olympus casting votes on the entry of a new god, the kings of Greece over Helen, etc.
Not everyone agreed with democracy or how it functioned. Such cases included the famous three philosophers who critiqued the notion of democracy. Socrates viewed it as not conforming to an ideal regime. Plato, his student, wrote of democracy as "a charming form of government, full of variety and disorder, and dispensing a sort of equality to equals and unequaled alike" (Republic). Plato's student, Aristotle, had this to say: "one factor of liberty is to govern and be governed in turn; for the popular principle of justice is to have equality according to number, not worth...And one is for a man to live as he likes; for they say that this is the function of liberty, inasmuch as to live not as one likes is the life of a man that is a slave" (Politics). One could see what they mean for the parts of a democracy in which the majority rule can prove just as bad as having one with absolute rule over the masses. A common critique of democracy is "three hungry wolves and one sheep."
Democracy in Athens only lasted a century. During the Peloponnese War, the Athenian Democracy collapsed and the rule of the 400 came to form, in what is called the oligarchy. They ruled until 410 BC when a coup restored democracy, by which point Athens was hanging by the ropes. Spartan victory insured the death of democracy and Athens was ruled by the Thirty Tyrants. These men saw Athens into the next year before they were overthrown and democracy was restored. Athenian democracy then lasted until Greece and Macedonia merged and all of Greece was ruled by King Philip. From this point on, Athenian Democracy was not restored. Greece became part of the Roman Empire and then Greece was inherited by the Byzantines. Even when Greece became independent of the Ottoman Empire in 1831, democracy would not be restored in the region. Such was the history of the Athenian Democracy.
Republic
A republic has become a commonly used term on a governing sovereignty that is considered good. Almost every nation that has come since the Enlightenment has sought to be a republic instead of a monarchy. In pop culture, we see republic used as either something to look back to with affection (like in Star Wars which features a galactic republic) or something to create in place of something detested (as in the case of The Amber Spyglass where the heroes seek to create a "republic of heaven"). Yet most people do not even know what a republic really is.
A republic is a form of government in which the powers reside in the people and the elected government officials rule by law, rather than inherited or appointed. A republic has often been made synonymous with democracy, though apart from the way they function they are not.
Another thing they have in common is they are based off of an ancient language. Republic is believed to come from the Latin phrase "res publica", attributed to Cicero and used by other writers, meaning "public affairs" or "public property." By this statement, where democracy has people partaking in the government, republic has the government be property of the people.
Roman Republic
Like Athens, Rome began as a city state. Also, like Athens, Rome was once ruled by kings. However, five centuries before Christ, Rome saw a crisis that removed its king. The King of Rome was removed by a group of Roman nobles who then set up what became a liberated form of a city-state. The events of this were later dramatized in Shakespeare's The Rape of Lucretia and, incidentally, one of the men removing the king was named Brutus.
The Roman Republic didn't immediately form the way most do. After the King of Rome was overthrown, the transition began with the election of kings, later consuls. They would elect two at a time as a way of balancing power. If one were reaching the limits, the other could put him in check. This was being tested when a crisis came a decade after the king was deposed. The Plebeians became alert to the concept of people taking part of the public good that this concept presented and used it by refusing to march against enemy soldiers. Instead, they seceded to the Aventine Hill. Negotiations were made and it was discovered that the Plebeians wanted to elect their own tribunes. The ruling Patricians agreed and the Plebeians fought for Rome. This led to the creation of that tribune, being the plebeian tribune.
This led to a calm that last more than a century. During the period, in forty-nine years that followed, the censorship was made. Today, censorship is synonymous with suppression of subversive material. In Ancient Rome, this entity not only regulated morality but also conducted the census and oversaw the finances. An assembly of men was created to act as the legislating body, called the Comitia Centuriata (Assembly of the Centuries). Then in 367 BC, there was passed a law that led to the election of at least one plebeian aedile each year.
From this work, the Roman government had a legislative body in form of the Senate, which consisted of old men, originally called patres, or fathers, and the government be led by two consuls, who check on each other during their terms. The Roman Constitution had a clause where should a crisis happen, one of the consuls would be granted emergency powers as dictator. When the crisis is abated, he has to return the powers, and the senate has the power to remove him if he fails. As dictator, a consul would have authority over the Roman Armies as well, as noted in the Punic Wars.
Where did they go?
As mentioned above, the Athenian democracy passed away in wake of the Peloponnese War, was briefly restored and removed repeatedly until Greece was conquered by Rome. The Roman Republic died through internal forces. It began in wake of the Punic Wars where the patrician class continued to grow richer as the borders expanded while the plebeians got poor. It came to a point that most elected a consul who promised them a better economic situation, as well as work, as millions were out of a job. In 133 BC, Tiberius Gracchus became tribune and set out to distribute land to the landless. This did not sit will with the aristocrats. His co-consul, Marcus Octavius, vetoed his law that would make it happen. In turn, Gracchus impeached Octavius and the law was passed.
Sadly, Gracchus was murdered for his actions. His brother, Gaius, was elected in the tribune and he set out to weaken the senate and bring in democratic powers to Rome. He took equites, or knights, and placed them in the jury courts in place of senators. He also passed the grain law and wanted to extend rights to the Italians, which drove everyone away. Gaius Gracchus then followed his brother out of office and into his grave.
Then came Rome's war with Pontus under Mithridates VI and a dictator named Sulla was sent to fight him. The once unified Roman government was fragmented now and his rivals made it hard for him to defeat Mithridates. This led to him taking on dictatorship to make constitutional reforms. Then he resigned. Years later, Marcus Licinius Crassus and Gnaeus Pompey Magnus removed these reforms and set up a triumvirate, with Gaius Julius Caesar as the third pillar.
Caesar became the coup de grace for the republic's fall. He ended the triumvirate by turning on them, after winning a war against the Gauls. When a period of violence came on Rome, Caesar marched his troops to Rome, crossing the Rubicon, and drove Pompey from Italia. After Pompey's death, Caesar was dictator for life, passing more constitutional reforms to the delight of the people and consternation of the senate. In 44 BC, Julius Caesar was assassinated in the senate.
The moment that pronounced dead the Roman Republic was when his nephew, Octavian, followed him to power, creating and then dismantling the Second Triumvirate, and becoming the absolute ruler of the Roman Empire, with the name of Augustus. An effort to restore the Republic did come a few times but it finally crushed after Caligula's death and the ascension of Claudius.The new Roman Empire had a constitution just as the Republic. The senate still passed laws like before, the jury courts, the magistrates, and the patricians still held the top and the plebeians still worked. Yet, the main difference was the powers were now directed the emperor instead of the people. In the provinces of Rome, governors carried out the emperor's decree while the military enforced them all.
After the Fall of Rome, the concept of Democracy and Republic were treated as relics of a pagan past in the west. In 930, the Vikings created an Icelandic Commonwealth that operated like the Roman Republic. This republic lasted until the 13th Century where it was made to be reunited with Norway. However, Iceland's senate, the Althling is still in work today. During the Middle Ages, there rose a host of such in Italy and Holland in what are called Mercantile republics. They were small and were controlled by merchant class families, in a time of feudal rule. Most powerful of them were Venice and Genoa, both of whom grew rich in the Crusades. They were under the shadow of the Holy Roman Empire, yet were able to be self ruled because of their powers. One case is when the Swiss Confederacy operated beyond the powers of the Habsburg dynasty. Novgorod and Pskov also became mercantile republics until they were conquered by Moscow.
As to a democracy, the only known resemblance of it at the time could be found in the Catholic church, only in form of the election of popes. Unlike politicians, popes are elected for life instead of a few years. However, in the 13th Century, a group of nobles forced English King John to sign the Magna Carta which limited the powers of the king. This led to the creation of a parliament which could pass laws, levy armies, and make taxes, while the king, or queen, is gradually reduced to giving the final word in law. These examples don't completely resemble democracy but have planted the seeds of the modern democracy.
The Protestant Reformation led to more cases of republics. The Calvinists republics appeared in Europe, such as the Dutch Republic and even the English Commonwealth, led by puritans. Republic and democracy really returned near the end of the Age of Enlightenment. First in France in 1789, a wave of liberalism went through Europe, breaking or ending the hold of absolute monarchy and leading to formation of liberal republics. This era of such ended when Napoleon became Emperor of the French and all of Europe united to defeat him. Yet while the flames of the two died in Europe, they expanded into Latin America in the 1810s and 1820s. Some of the Latin American nations became free as empires, such as Mexico and Brazil, and only became republics later. In the 20th Century, China became a republic after ending its thousands of years of a dynastic rule, as did Portugal with a socialist government. Near the end of World War I, Russia became one also following the abdication of Czar Nicholas II. This led to an explosion of republics all around the world, some with democratically elected governments like the US and others with socialist governments. Some become so through revolutions and others through decolonization. Even in the Middle East, there are republics rising up. Except for Israel, and those who have monarchs in charge, they are all called Islamic republics, which have the banners of such while using Islamic rhetoric and Sharia laws.
Even with Calvinism, materialism, socialism, or Islam, these republics carry on the DNA of the Roman Republic, and where ever there's democracy, there are people breaking break with Athens. Each one of them has a constitution, each one has an elective legislation, each one has a consul (or president), and each one has ways of keeping a balance in power. Some of have also gotten dictators.
Conclusion: Which of the two is United States of America?
After this background information, let us look at the United States of America. When our founding fathers sought to be independent of Great Britain and make their own country, they looked to Athens and Rome for guidance. Of the two, Rome was the one most looked to. Like Rome, the United States has a constitution and multiple branches of a government. Yet, in 1787, the American equivalent of the Patrician class (being white, landowning, males) could vote. The modern plebeians: the women, the poor whites, the African Americans, the foreigners, the Native Americans, could not. This exclusion is similiar to that of Athenian Democracy. This has changed, as explained in the third paragraph.
When one looks at the definition of a democracy and of a republic, the blanket statement of the US being a democracy needs inspection. The only place in the US that resembles democracy in its true form is whenever people vote, being in election of a politician or making decisions in meetings. Of course, people concede and use the phrase "representative democracy." However, in looking at the definition, the US does not really act as a democracy. Even as people vote in a person for office, the Electoral College makes the final decision on the candidate, which sometimes has been be controversial. As to the definition of a republic, the US gets in more points. The United States government consists of three branches (legislative, executive, and judicial), all operating under the guidance of the constitution, and with all but the justices of the Supreme Court being elected for a set of years called terms. That while everything the government does or says is a "public affair." When adding these factors, the conclusion is that the United States of America is a republic. It doesn't hurt to add that the song is called "Battle Hymn of the Republic", not "Battle Hymn of the Democracy", nor does the pledge say "And to the Democracy for which it stands."
In both models, the United States is currently updated. In Athens, only free-born Greek citizen men could vote. Today, it is total suffrage for any US citizen to vote: all he or she needs is to be at least 18, be a citizen for a set number of years, and not imprisoned. Athens had method of preventing tyrants called Ostracism, where men who are threats to democracy are exiled. Today, the US merely impeaches politicians who abuse their powers and when the politician leaves office, he is allowed to live in the country though his name is sometimes ruined. In Rome, tribunes were set up between the Patricians and the Plebeians. Today, both the Senate and the House consist of members who speaks for everyone. In Rome, the elective legislative body was composed of the Senate. Today, the US has the congress consisting of the senate to speak for a state (consisting of two per state) and the House of Representatives who speak for the population (with each voting district represented by a single congressman) In Rome, two consuls were elected, who were granted the powers of a dictator during a crisis. Today, the US has one president and a counter measure called checks and balances are set up so that not one branch can be above the other. Instead of another consul to bring up impeachment, it is the Senate that votes on the articles. One important difference is in the constitution. The US has added the Bill of Rights to the Constitution during the early days, all of which guarantees the government will not infringe on your rights or make laws that do. It's important because neither Athens nor Rome included a Bill of Rights in their constitutions.
Thus concludes this food for thought. You do not have to take my word for it, you can type "democracy", "republic", "United States", etc into that search engine up in the upper right hand corner, and you can also look into your local library on the topic.
