Editing Republic (section)

=== United States ===
{{Main|Republicanism in the United States}}

A distinct set of definitions of the term "republic" evolved in the United States, where the term is often equated with "[[representative democracy]]." This narrower understanding of the term was originally developed by James Madison<ref>{{Cite web|title=Democracy - Democracy or republic?|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/democracy|access-date=2021-06-27|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=What Is a Democracy? [ushistory.org]|url=https://www.ushistory.org/gov/1c.asp|access-date=2021-06-27|website=www.ushistory.org}}</ref> and notably employed in [[Federalist No. 10|Federalist Paper No. 10]]. This meaning was widely adopted early in the history of the United States, including in [[Noah Webster]]'s dictionary of 1828.<ref>{{Cite web|title=SEARCHING -word- for [republic] :: Search the 1828 Noah Webster's Dictionary of the English Language (FREE) :: 1828.mshaffer.com|url=https://1828.mshaffer.com/d/search/word,republic|access-date=2021-06-27|website=1828.mshaffer.com}}</ref> It was a novel meaning to the term; representative democracy was not an idea mentioned by Machiavelli and did not exist in the classical republics.<ref>{{Harvcoltxt|Everdell|2000}} p. 6</ref> There is also evidence that contemporaries of Madison considered the meaning of "republic" to reflect the broader definition found elsewhere, as is the case with a quotation of [[Benjamin Franklin]] taken from the notes of [[James McHenry]] where the question is put forth, "a Republic or a Monarchy?".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bartleby.com/73/1593.html|title=1593. Benjamin Franklin (1706–1790). Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989|date=25 June 2022 }}</ref>

The term republic does not appear in the [[Declaration of Independence (United States)|Declaration of Independence]], but it does appear in Article IV of the Constitution, which "guarantee[s] to every State in this Union a Republican form of Government." What exactly the writers of the constitution felt this should mean is uncertain. The [[Supreme Court of the United States|Supreme Court]], in ''[[Luther v. Borden]]'' (1849), declared that the definition of ''republic'' was a "[[political question]]" in which it would not intervene. In two later cases, it did establish a basic definition. In ''[[United States v. Cruikshank]]'' (1875), the court ruled that the "equal rights of citizens" were inherent to the idea of a republic.

However, the term republic is not synonymous with the republican form. The republican form is defined as one in which the powers of sovereignty are vested in the people and are exercised by the people, either directly, or through representatives chosen by the people, to whom those powers are specially delegated.<ref>''In re Duncan'', 139 U.S. 449, 11 S.Ct. 573, 35 L.Ed. 219; ''Minor v. Happersett'', 88 U.S. (21 Wall.) 162, 22 L.Ed. 627.</ref><ref>GOVERNMENT (Republican Form of Government) – One in which the powers of sovereignty are vested in the people and are exercised by the people ... directly ... Black's Law Dictionary, Sixth Edition, p. 695</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=Multiple ellipses in cited quotation, reference is also specific to legal terminology, not common language.|date=December 2018}}

Beyond these basic definitions, the word republic has a number of other connotations. W. Paul Adams observes that republic is most often used in the United States as a synonym for "state" or "government," but with more positive connotations than either of those terms.<ref>W. Paul Adams "Republicanism in Political Rhetoric Before 1776". ''Political Science Quarterly'', Vol. 85, No. 3 (Sep., 1970), pp. 397–421</ref> Republicanism is often referred to as the founding ideology of the United States.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal|last=Wood|first=Gordon|date=April 1990|title=Classical Republicanism and the American Revolution|url=https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2785&context=cklawreview|journal=Chicago-Kent Law Review|volume=66|pages=13–20 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230307154456/https://scholarship.kentlaw.iit.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=2785&context=cklawreview |archive-date= Mar 7, 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last1=Hutchins|first1=Thomas|last2=Washington|first2=George|last3=Paine|first3=Thomas|last4=Jefferson|first4=Thomas|last5=Adams|first5=John|last6=Fadden|first6=Will|date=2008-04-12|title=Founded on a Set of Beliefs - Creating the United States {{!}} Exhibitions |url=https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/creating-the-united-states/founded-on-a-set-of-beliefs.html|access-date=2021-06-27|website=Library of Congress }}</ref> Traditionally scholars believed this American republicanism was a derivation of the classical liberal ideologies of [[John Locke]] and others developed in Europe.<ref name=":0" />

In the 1960s and 1970s, [[Bernard Bailyn]] began to argue that republicanism was just as, or even more important than liberalism in the creation of the United States.<ref>Bailyn, Bernard. ''The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution''. Cambridge: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1967.</ref> This issue is still much disputed and scholars like [[Isaac Kramnick]] completely reject this view.<ref>Kramnick, Isaac. ''Republicanism and Bourgeois Radicalism: Political Ideology in Late Eighteenth-Century England and America''. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990.</ref>