of the people of
America; with the fundamental principles of the Revolution; or with that
honorable determination which animates every votary of freedom, to
rest all our political experiments on the capacity of mankind for
self-government. If the plan of the convention, therefore, be found to
depart from the republican character, its advocates must abandon it as
no longer defensible.

What, then, are the distinctive characters of the republican form? Were
an answer to this question to be sought, not by recurring to principles,
but in the application of the term by political writers, to the
constitution of different States, no satisfactory one would ever be
found. Holland, in which no particle of the supreme authority is derived
from the people, has passed almost universally under the denomination of
a republic. The same title has been bestowed on Venice, where absolute
power over the great body of the people is exercised, in the most
absolute manner, by a small body of hereditary nobles. Poland, which is
a mixture of aristocracy and of monarchy in their worst forms, has been
dignified with the same appellation. The government of England, which
has one republican branch only, combined with an hereditary aristocracy
and monarchy, has, with equal impropriety, been frequently placed on
the list of republics. These examples, which are nearly as dissimilar
to each other as to a genuine republic, show the extreme inaccuracy with
which the term has been used in political disquisitions.

If we resort for a criterion to the different principles on which
different forms of government are established, we may define a republic
to be, or at least may bestow that name on, a government which derives
all its powers directly or indirectly from the great body of the people,
and is administered by persons holding their offices during pleasure,
for a limited period, or during good behavior. It is ESSENTIAL to such
a government that it be derived from the great body of the society, not
from an inconsiderable proportion, or a favored class of it; otherwise
a handful of tyrannical nobles, exercising their oppressions by a
delegation of their powers, might aspire to the rank of republicans,
and claim for their government the honorable title of republic. It is
SUFFICIENT for such a government that the persons administering it be
appointed, either directly or indirectly, by the people; and that
they hold their appointments by either of the tenu