This “Democracy vs. Republic” interactive instructional media is designed to give students in grades 3-8 a basic understanding of the difference between a republic and a democracy. For over 35 years, students have been taught that we are a democracy. While our government does include democratic elements, a more accurate description is that of a republic. The Founders deliberately rejected pure democracy because history shows that democracies are often violent, fail to protect individual rights, and almost always descend into chaos, eventually leading to oppressive oligarchies.

This short interactive lesson aims to illustrate the chaos of democratic mob rule and the stability of a republican form of government.