What Form of Government Does the USA Have? | Teen Ink

What Form of Government Does the USA Have?

January 4, 2011
By Jarrett BRONZE, Bedford, Indiana
Jarrett BRONZE, Bedford, Indiana
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America

and to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God,

indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all.”
The United States first form of government was the Articles of Confederation. Under the Articles of Confederations there was not enough power to the central government. The states had the power of setting a tariff. This would propose the problem of holding the nation together. Congress debated and came to a solution that would not give to much power to a single person. Congress gave us a Republic, if you recall, Benjamin Franklin was asked by a woman what kind of government the congress gave the American People, he responded, “A republic, madam, if you can keep it.”
People interchange the terms republic and democracy. According to a Merriam-online dictionary a democracy is a government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly. A Republic is a government in which supreme power resides in a body of citizens entitled to vote and is exercised by elected officers and representatives responsible to them and governing according to law. To conclude a definite difference from the definition a democracy is a government where the majority rules 51 beats 49, where a republic is a government designed to restrict the majority rule.
A democracy, does no good to individual rights. It is purely whatever the majority wants, they will get. There is no restriction to what can be taken away. A democracy is a mob form of government. A republic, however, helps protect individual rights. A constitution is put in place to help protect those rights.
The voting may be where people get confused about these terms. Yes, in a republic we vote for candidates. We use a democratic voting system to elect these candidates. But we don’t exactly have a vote on legislation, unless you live in a state that operates that way. We vote on policies of the candidates, which are usually changed after the vote, then the elected officials vote on the legislation. In a democracy the majority would chose right and wrong.
There have been multiple occasion where the terms democracy and republic have been interchanged. On TV; with congressmen and congresswomen, presidents, and news broadcasters. Did They not take formal US history or do they want the US to have a democracy. That could be dangerous to the peoples liberties. We are a “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” as stated in many government documents around the US.
Also, people, we must not forget the true US history. Then, there would no confusion about what this country was.


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