Delaware tribune. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1867-1877, 1867-06-27
THE REPUBLICAN FORM.


AN EXAMINATION OF THE pURrosz AND Az
t1zoArios or rHz FIRST oI-kusElS ARraIE
~ SECTION. 4, os rHE AMERICAN cossri-
TUITION. W. ss AZ
sa7ne United States sshaii g,tara,sfee
to Each Nydte d Repubtfcan Fo'mFo
Government AMERICAN CONSTITUTION,
Art. ~, Sec. 4.
We design, in this exaininatisn-
l. To inquire what is Republican. Form
of Government;
III. To show that such Form does not now
exist in certain States, Delaware being an
example;
III. To show that the remedy lies in the
National Constitution
Nv. To explain by what agency and in
what manner, the remedy may be applied.
l. TIE INTENTION OF THE CLAUSE.
The Clause under examination Is brief,
clear, and significant 1t was adopted, after
studious elaboration, by the unanimous ap-
proval of the Convention that framed the
Constitution. We have ample testimony
that 1t was not adopted without careful con-
sideration, and thorough examination of
Its purpose. This purpose was simply that
which the clause itself suggests. There is
nothing hidden in its language; there is no
obscurity to be explained by context or as
ISOLATION; but its intent is clear, distinct,
and unmistakablc. This guaranty was pur-
posely adopted, to secure homogeneous
Nation, to maintain for the people of every
section Republican liberty, and to preserve
their Equal Rights by preventing the estab
lishment in any State of Form of Govern
ment not thoroughly and completely Repub
lican.
The necessity for the guaranty was plain.
| II was wisely foreseen that 1t would not be
sufficient for a State merely to admit her
| membership In the Union, even though 1t
| might be evidenced by her sending Senators
and Representatives to the National Con-
gress, paying taxes to support the National
Government, or yielding obedience to the
application of the National Law. On the
contrary it was vitality essential, as matter
distinct and separate from these mere ac-
acknowledgements of superior authority, that
the STATE ORGANIZATION, itself, should be
a Republic in its character. 1t was clearly
a necessity that the experimenting govern
ment should possess authority to defend
the system against aristocratic or mon
/ An hi
VIC have already noted, not only to secure
the safety of all, to prevent the growth of
anomalous and antagonistic forms in the
different sections, to prevent a rupture of the
Union, and avoid the example of ancient
confederated Republics, like Greece, which,
as Montesquieu says, twas undone, as soon
"as the King of Macedon obtained seat
"among the Amphyctions, but it was re-
quired, beside, for the protection of the peo-
pie in the separate States, where such usur-
pations might threaten.
What might result without guaranty?
Hamilton declares, usurpation Knight
rear its crest in each State, and trample
"upon the liberties Of the people while the
National Government could legally do
"nothing more than behold its encroach-
"ments with indignation and regret. Il
Judge Story declares the arguments of
Hamilton to be complete and unanswerable,
and he says" without guaranty usurpation
might raise its standard and trample upon
1.-THE liberties of the people-a successful
faction might erect tyranny on the ruins
"of order and law."t
And Madison, pleading with the people
for the ratification of the Constitution, argu-
ed that none could say "what experiments
"may be produced by the caprice of partic-
" ular States, by the ambition of enterprising
leaders, or by the intrigue and influence
"of foreign powers.
The Union, then, must be homogeneous
No State can depart from the general plan,
and the tendency of any toward an Anti
Republican form must be checked by the
| National authority.
| In whatever quarter we look for evidence,
whether it be in the Debates of the Conven-
ton, in the expositions Of those who defend
ed the Constitution and urged its adoption,
or in the opinions ofthe jurists and statesmen
whose authority to cxpound our law is un-
questioned, we find nothing but indubitable
proof that this clause was deliberately and
intelligently framed for the purpose which it
indicates upon its face.
| II acas intended to prevent any State
from setting up any other than the Re
publican Form.
| 1t therefore guards and cstops every es-
sential departure from the principles of that
Form, and it stands Sentinel over the Ma
:, tional Unity, and the Peoples Rights A
single step toward aristocracy, monarchy,
, or any other Republican government,
will demand its warning, and if persisted in
its eifectual check.
II. WHAT is REPUBLICAN FORM OF GOVERN
MENTs
A Democracy and Republic are funda
mentally the same. In both the people ar,
, the sovereign power. They differ only il
the means employed to express and appl,
: the power. Neither one nor the othe
claims any authority save that of the who'll
people Neither is of nature to make dis
tinctions or inequalities, for to do SO woul
be to destroy, in that moment, its own ex
istence. The moment single distinction o
class is made among the people, Democrac,
and Republic alike end. They have III
!, existence save in the equality of all.
: That we do not assume too much in as
II serting the fundamental identity of thes
d two, we are able to justify from other opin
J. ions beside our own. Madison explicit
a says that the distinction between the tw
y forms of a Democracy and Republic,
this alone " In Democracy, the peopl
re inject and exercise the Government in pei
" "son; in Republic, they assemble and at
t. "minister it by their representatives an
d. agents A Democracy, consequently
n "must be confined to a small spot; a II,
10 public may be extended over large 7,