Britt,

Thank you for your response. I am sorry for the delay in responding. I have been extremely busy this term (17 credits). I really like this online form of class taking. It allows us to bring out things we might not be able to discuss in a face-to-face meeting.

I wasn't basing the fact that our government is a republic on the pledge of allegiance. I was using it in hopes that most people would be familiar with it and would draw some kind of correlation.

I believe that the definitions I used are good and correct. I looked up the "new definitions", since mine were "outdated", and found that a "representative democracy" is just a fancy way of saying republic or republican. If I called a dog a cat, would that make it a cat? No! The founding fathers intended the U.S. to be a republican form of government:

United States Constitution - Article IV, Section 4:

" The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against invasion: and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence. "

Albeit, not everyone agreed with this form of government or how it would be implemented. Another issue was who held final authority, the federal government or the states. See "Civil War". That is a whole discussion all together.