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AMERICAN EDUCATION.

CHAPTER I.

THE IDEA OF A REPUBLIC.

A REPUBLIC is a civil community in which the PEOPLE govern. It is a community in which a large number of persons have common interests. It is a community governed by civil laws; that is, laws made by civil society, as an organized body, and not merely the laws of nature or religion. These laws are made by the people. But these laws may be made either by the whole people or by part of the people. When made by the whole people, then it is a DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC. Such is the United States Republic. Here the whole people govern themselves by laws made by themselves. Hence the people here are called sovereign; for each individual in the United States, as one in the government, exercises, according to the principle of the government, a part of the sovereign power, which in monarchies is exercised by the monarch.

The IDEA of republican government in the United States is the idea of A PEOPLE GOVERNING

SELVES.

THEM

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