A Republic, If You Can Keep It

At the close of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, a lady asked Benjamin Franklin "Well Doctor what have we got, a republic or a monarchy." Franklin replied, "A republic . . . if you can keep it."A republic is different from a democracy. In a pure democracy, the majority has unlimited power, whereas in a republic, a written constitution limits the majority and provides safeguards for the individual and minorities.The Founders' intent at the national level was a representative republic. The word democracy is not mentioned in the Constitution. Most of the Founders distrusted pure democracy. A Republic, if you can keep it, presents the genius of our Founding Fathers in the creation of a new form of government. It contains the author's views and the truth contained in the thoughts, writings and the original intent of the patriots who bequeathed to us this legacy of untold value.