In Federalist 39, James Madison writes that the nation must adopt and maintain a republican form of government, for “no other form would be reconcilable with the genius of the people of America.” As Madison points out, the decisive feature of republican government is that it “derives all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people.” If the people do not ultimately rule, the country can’t have self-government.
As simple as this definition seems, Madison is here applying one of the nation’s foundational principles, stated in the Declaration of Independence: because all men are created equal and are endowed by their Creator with unalienable Rights, governments must derive “their just powers from the consent of the governed.”
Madison goes on to explain in Federalist 39 how the first three articles of the U.S. Constitution arrange the federal government to follow republicanism:
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