The Constitution
democracy
Government in which political power comes from the people, exercised directly or through elected representatives. The American system is a representative democracy, and also a republic.
In full
Direct democracy means citizens vote on the measures themselves, which survives in ballot initiatives and New England town meetings. Representative democracy means they elect people to decide. The two labels people argue about, republic and democracy, are not opposites: a republic is a state without a monarch whose officials answer to the public, which describes a representative democracy.
Where to go next
Keep going
Browse every term in the glossary, or see the vocabulary in motion in the How government works walkthroughs.
A plain-language explanation for civic education, not legal advice. When in doubt, the official source named above controls.