Superior to all Others

Autocracy declares the divine right of kings; its authority can not be questioned; its powers are arbitrarily or unjustly administered. Democracy is the "direct" rule of the people and has been repeatedly tried without success. Our Constitutional fathers, familiar with the strength and weakness of both autocracy and democracy, with fixed principles definitely in mind, defined a representative republican form of government. They "made a very marked distinction between a republic and a democracy * * * and said repeatedly and emphatically that they had founded a republic." Madison, in the Federalist, emphasized the fact that this government was a republic and not a democracy, the Constitution makers having considered both an autocracy and a democracy as undesirable forms of government while "a republic * * * promises the cure for which we are seeking." In a democracy the people meet and exercise the government in person. In a republic they assemble and administer it by their respective agents. - Madison. The advantage which a republic has over a democracy consists in the substitution of representatives whose enlightened views and virtuous sentiments render them superior to local prejudices and to schemes of injustice. - Madison. The American form of government is the oldest republican form of government in the world, and is exercising a pronounced influence in modifying the governments of other nations. Our Constitution has been copied in whole or in part throughout the earth.