<p>Why the Founders Chose a Republic <br />By Karla Perry<br /><br /><img src="images/stories/OAKI-logo.png" border="0" alt="The Oak Initiative" hspace="7" align="left" />When Benjamin Franklin emerged from The Constitutional Convention that convened from May 25 to September 17, 1787 to address the problems facing post Revolutionary War America, he was asked by a passerby what was the outcome of the assembly. Franklin responded, "It's a Republic, if you can keep it."<br /><br />The great American government created by those men in 1787 was not anything akin to the current or past governments of the world. It was not just a democracy, it was a Republic, and therein lies an important distinction.<br /><br />The best source on the meaning of the Constitution and the authority on the government created by the Founders is a collection of essays written in 1787 to the average American, posted in the newspapers of the day. These essays were written under the pseudonym of Publius by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay.<br /><br />The essays were written in explanatory defense of the newly drafted Constitution because a group of people, known as anti-Federalists, opposed the creation of a centralized government and were giving speeches and writing articles which caused the Federalists to compose and publish the essays in defense of the Constitution. The Constitution required ratification by the States. Therefore, the Federalists?essays were an apologetic, a defense, for this Constitutional Republic form of government. Today, these documents are compiled into one book titled, The Federalist Papers.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.theoakinitiative.org/oak-leaf-23">Continue Reading on The Oak Initiative &gt;&gt;&gt;</a></p>