If you sacrifice your freedom for security
Virginia’s Edmund Randolph participated in the 1787 convention.In drafting the Constitution, they created a government of law and not of men, a republic and not a democracy.īut don’t take our word for it! Consider the words of the Founding Fathers themselves, who - one after another - condemned democracy. They had a clear understanding of the relative freedom and stability that had characterized the latter, and of the strife and turmoil - quickly followed by despotism - that had characterized the former. They had studied the history of both the Greek democracies and the Roman republic. In fact, they recognized that majority rule would quickly degenerate into mobocracy and then into tyranny. The Founding Fathers supported the view that (in the words of the Declaration of Independence) “Men … are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.” They recognized that such rights should not be violated by an unrestrained majority any more than they should be violated by an unrestrained king or monarch.
The word “republic” comes from the Latin res publica - which means simply “the public thing(s),” or more simply “the law(s).” “Democracy,” on the other hand, is derived from the Greek words demos and kratein, which translates to “the people to rule.” Democracy, therefore, has always been synonymous with majority rule. This misquote is a serious one, since the difference between a democracy and a republic is not merely a question of semantics but is fundamental. Yet in more recent years, Franklin has occassionally been misquoted as having said, “A democracy, if you can keep it.” The NRA’s Charleton Heston quoted Franklin this way, for example, in a CBS 60 Minutes interview with Mike Wallace that was aired on December 20, 1998. This exchange was recorded by Constitution signer James McHenry in a diary entry that was later reproduced in the 1906 American Historical Review. Powel of Philadelphia asked Benjamin Franklin, “Well, Doctor, what have we got, a republic or a monarchy?” With no hesitation whatsoever, Franklin responded, “A republic, if you can keep it.” Consequently, anxious citizens gathered outside Independence Hall when the proceedings ended in order to learn what had been produced behind closed doors. The deliberations of the Constitutional Convention of 1787 were held in strict secrecy.