What are the differences between a Democracy and a Republic, and which one is best represented in our Constitution?

The most commonly known form of
Democracy is the Representative Democracy,
where the people elect representatives to act as a government. In theory, every form of
a Democracy would give ultimate power to the people, in equal weight per person and in
every matter. The concept of freedom and equality of citizens has changed drastically
since the first form of Democracy in Ancient Greece; most forms today utilize some type
of Representative government.

A
Republic is superficially similar -- the people retain ultimate
control over the government and there is no "king" to rule without limits -- but most
Republics outside the United States are Sovereign or
Unitary Nations, with the governmental structures basing their
decisions entirely in the hold of power instead of legal or ethical
reasons.

The form of a Republican
Government in the United States is very similar to a Democratic
Government, and uses aspects of each in an attempt to guarantee fairness to
all citizens. Essentially, the United States Government is a Representative Democracy in
which the people, through the Constitution, indirectly control
their elected officials. The phrase Constitutional Republic is
often used today to indicate a system of government in which all official, public
positions are answerable to the people and are limited in their powers both by other
branches of government (Checks and Balances) and the arbitrating
law of the Constitution itself.

One interesting note comes
from James Madison in his essay Federalist Number
10:

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A pure democracy can admit no cure for the
mischiefs of faction. A common passion or interest will be felt by a majority, and there
is nothing to check the inducements to sacrifice the weaker party. Hence it is, that
democracies have ever been found incompatible with personal security or the rights of
property; and have, in general, been as short in their lives as they have been violent
in their deaths.

The
implication is that pure Democracy will always fall prey to majority rule, whether it is
moral and ethical or not. Alterations of definition resulting from this statement are
the root of the term "Republic" having a different meaning in the United States than
elsewhere in the world.

The bottom line is that the United
States government uses aspects of both traditional Democracy and traditional
Republicanism. The Founders, in writing the Federalist Papers, weighed the pros and cons
of each system and chose the best parts of each. Because of the changing nature of the
language, we can refer to the United States either as a Democracy (representative) or as
a Republic (constitutional) and be correct either way.