Republican Form of Government

History of the Republican Form of Government

The Exodus from Egypt

¹³ Choose wise, understanding, and knowledgeable men from among your tribes, and I will make them heads over you.’ ¹⁴ And you answered me and said, ‘The thing which you have told us to do is good.’ ¹⁵ So I [Moses] took the heads of your tribes, wise and knowledgeable men, and made them heads over you, leaders of thousands, leaders of hundreds, leaders of fifties, leaders of tens, and officers for your tribes.
Textual source:Deuteronomy 1:13-15 NKJV
Time frame: January-February 1405 BC

Founding of Roman Republic

The Roman Republic began in 509 B.C. when the Romans expelled the Etruscan kings and set up their own government. Having witnessed the problems of the monarchy on their own land, and aristocracy and democracy among the Greeks, they opted for a mixed form of government, with three branches. This innovation became known as a republican system. The strength of the republic is the system of checks and balances, which aims to find a consensus between the desires of the various branches of government. The Roman Constitution outlined these checks and balances, but in an informal way. Most of the constitution was unwritten and laws were upheld by precedent.

The Republic lasted 450 years until the territorial gains of the Roman civilization stretched its governance to the limit. A series of strong rulers called Emperors emerged with Julius Caesar in 44 B.C., and their reorganization of the Roman form of government ushered in the Imperial period.
Gill, N.S. “The Roman Republic’s Government.” ThoughtCo, Aug. 26, 2020, thoughtco.com/the-roman-republics-government-120772.

Republican Government in America

The present republican form of government in the United States of America was the product of the Constitutional Convention of 1787. The thirteen states sought remediation through amendments to the Constitution of the confederacy. There was no aforethought intention to scrap the first constitution but after weeks of fruitless negotiations among the delegates, Founding Father Benjamin Franklin called the delegates to prayer “imploring the assistance of Heaven, and its blessings on our deliberations, be held in this Assembly every morning before we proceed to business“.

The federal Constitution, Article IV, Section 4 stipulates:

The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.

What Is The Republican Form of Government?

The preamble to the Constitution declares:
We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

The word republic means a state which is governed by representatives who are chosen by citizens in elections and is derived from Latin rēs pūblica, equivalent. to rēs thing, entity + pūblica public — the people’s thing, We the People.

Summary

Constitution signer James McHenry recorded in his diary and exchange between a Mrs. Powel of Philadelphia and 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.” Source: The New American, November 6, 2000, “A Republic, if You Can Keep It”

The Roman republic endured 450 years between the time the Romans expelled the Etruscan kings and a new monarchy arose with Julius Cesar in 44 BC.

Our American republic has endured over 230 years. But, the question of the hour is, will the rise of oligarchies, corrupted social media, leftist news media, unbridled illegal immigration, foreign interference, and official corruption in the highest seats of government in the land be our downfall?

John White
Rockwall, Texas