These united states are not a Democracy!

You see it every where you look; from school books to TV even from our own federal government, that these united states are a Democracy.   But this is not, nor has it ever been the case.  From it's very inception this country has been a Constitutional Republic.  What's the difference? Well; in a Democracy it is rule of the majority directly or indirectly.  In a Direct Democracy every person votes on every issue and what ever the majority wants becomes law.  In an Indirect or Representative Democracy the people elect representatives who vote for them; but are still supposed to vote the way they think they people they are representing would vote, and what ever the majority wants becomes law.  On the other hand in a Constitutional Republic the people elect representatives who vote for them; but cannot make any law which abridges that of the contitution and do not need to vote how they think the people they are representing would vote.  The difference comes down to the power of the majority and collectivism.  If we define ourselves as a Democracy it is easy to do as we have been doing for past decades and assume what ever the majority wants is what should be law; say for instance in a Democracy if the majority want to own slaves, they're elected officials have no right to stop them.  However if this same place were a Constitutional Republic, even if the Constitution did not explicedly say slavery is wrong, the representatives have the right and the duty to tell the majority that slavery will be outlawed (unless of course the Constitution were to grant the right of slavery).  So, a Democracy can quickly lead to mob rule and harm the rights of others simply because the majority want to.  It may seem like a small difference, but come the time when you are in the minority, it can be a big difference.

*Republics are also explicitly categorized as not allowing monarchy, where as Democracies do not make that distinction.