The idea of a "stable Republic." The Founders (especially in Federalist No. 57) argued that the "Great Security" for a republic isn't just the parchment of the law, but the Civic Virtue of the people.

The Founders didn't just worry about a King; they worried about a "Demagogue"—a leader who gains power by appealing to the passions and prejudices of the people rather than their reason.

Abraham Lincoln famously warned that a republic like ours cannot be destroyed from the outside; it can only collapse from within.

"If destruction be our lot, we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen, we must live through all time, or die by suicide." — Abraham Lincoln

"A Republic is the only form of government that requires its citizens to be its own police. W ...