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WORDS MATTER
You’ll hear Democracy and Republic thrown around a lot. Is the United States a Democracy? Is it a Republic? What does it even matter?
According to the 1828 Webster’s Dictionary aka the one after our Constitution was written but before the first Black’s Law Dictionary was:
Democracy = n. people, and to possess, to govern. Government by the people; a form of government, in which the supreme power is lodged in the hands of the people collectively, or in which the people exercise the powers of legislation.
Republic = n. public affairs. 1. A commonwealth, a state in which the exercise of sovereign power is lodged in the representatives elected by the people. In modern usage, it differs from democracy or democratic state, in which the people exercise the powers of sovereignty in person.
People = n. each, every one; common people; a peasant. 1. The body of persons who compose a community, town, city or nation… 2. The vulgar; the mass of illiterate persons. 3. The commonalty, as distinct from men of rank. 4. Persons of a particular class; a part of a nation or community; as country people. 5. Persons in general; any persons indefinitely… 6. A collection or community of animals. 7. When people signifies a separate nation or tribe, it has the plural number. 8. In Scripture, fathers or kindred. 9. The Gentiles.
Person = n. …said to be compounded of per, through and by, and sonus, sound; a Latin word signifying primarily a mask used by actors on stage. 1. An individual human being consisting of body and soul. We apply the word to living beings only, possessed of a rational nature; the body when dead is not called a person. It is applied alike to a man, woman or child. A person is a thinking intelligent being. Locke. 2. A man, woman or child, considered as opposed to things, or distinct from them… 3. A human being, considered with respect to the living body or coporeal existence only. The form of her person is elegant…. 4. A human being, indefinitely; one; a man. Let a person’s attainments be never so great, he should remember he is frail and imperfect…..8. In law, an artificial person, is a corporation or body politic. Blackstone. In person, by one’s self; with bodily presence; not by representative….
Human = 1. Belonging to man or mankind; pertaining or relating to the race of man; as a human voice; human shape; human nature; human knowledge; human life. 2. Having the qualities of a man.
Man = 1. Mankind; the human race; the whole species of human beings; beings distinguished from all other animals by the powers of reason and speech, as well as by their shape and dignified aspect….
Definitions from the 1891 Black’s Law Dictionary:
Democracy = That form of government in which the sovereign power resides in and is exercised by the whole body of free citizens; as distinguished from a monarchy, aristocracy, or oligarchy. According to the theory of pure democracy, every citizen should participate directly in the business of governing, and the legislative assembly should comprise the whole people. But the ultimate lodgment of the sovereignty being the distinguishing feature, the introduction of the representative system does not remove a government of this type. However, a government of the latter kind is sometimes specifically described as a “representative democracy.”
Republic = A commonwealth; a state in which the exercise of the sovereign power is lodged in the representatives elected by the people. Webster. In a wider sense, the state, the common weal, the whole organized political community, without reference to the form of government.
Black’s Law 11th Edition (2019):
Democracy = 1. Government by the people, either directly or through representatives elected by the people; specif., a system of government in which every citizen of the country can vote to elect its government officials. 2. A country that has a government that has been elected by the people of the country. 3. A situation or system in which everyone is equal and has the right to vote, make decisions, etc.
Republic = n. (16c) A system of government in which the people hold sovereign power and elect representatives who exercise that power. •It contrasts on the one hand with a pure democracy, in which the people or community as an organized whole wield the sovereign power of government, and on the other with the rule of one person (such as a king or dictator) or of an elite group (such as an oligarchy, aristocracy, or junta).
OK, SO LET’S LOOK AT PERSON VS PEOPLE AND WHO IS SOVEREIGN IN THESE DEFINITIONS. WHAT DOES SOVEREIGN MEAN? WHY IS THAT DISTINCTION IMPORTANT?
Sovereign:
Black’s 11th = adj. (Of a state) characteristic of or endowed with supreme authority. n. 1. A person, body, or state vested with independent and supreme authority. 2. The ruler of an independent state.
Black’s 1st 1891 = A chief ruler with supreme power; a king or other ruler with limited power.
Webster 1828 = 1. Supreme in power; possessing supreme dominion… 2. Supreme; superior to all others; chief. God is the sovereign of all who love and obey him…..
People:
Black’s 11th = (13c). 1. Men, women, and children generally; persons <55 people were rescued>. 2. Persons other than oneself, often those of a particular type <the mall was full of theater people>. 3. The citizens and other permanent residents of a particular country or area <the people of Australia>. 4. Those of a particular race <people of Chinese descent>. 5. All the ordinary residents of a country or state, as opposed to the government or ruling class <the people rebelled>. 6. (usu. cap.) The citizens of a state as represented by the prosecution in a criminal case <People v. Snyder>. 7. Those that a monarch or leader rules or governs; subjects generally <the king ordered his people to stay at home>. 8. Those who work for a person or organization <the manager staffed the project with all her people>. 9. One’s relatives, esp. parents, siblings, and grandparents <my people are from West Texas>.
Black’s 1st 1891 = A state; as the people of the state of New York. A nation in its collective and political capacity. 4 Term R. 783.
Person:
Black’s 11th = (13c) 1. A human being. –Also termed natural person.
Black’s 1st 1891 = A man considered according to the rank he holds in society, with all the rights to which the place he holds entitles him, and the duties which it imposes. 1 Bouv. Inst. no. 137. A human being considered as capable of having rights and being charged with duties; while a “thing” is the object over which the rights may be exercised. Persons are divided by law into natural and artificial. Natural persons are such as the God of nature formed us; artificial are such as are created and devised by human laws, for the purposes of society and government, which are called “corporations” or “bodies politic”. 1 Bl. Comm. 123.
Human:
Black’s 11th = no available definition
Black’s 1st 1891 = no available definition
Man:
Black’s 11th = (bef 12c) 1. An adult male. 2. Humankind. –Also termed mankind. 3. A human being. 4. Hist. A vassal; a feudal tenant.
Black’s 1st 1891 = A human being. A person of the male sex. A male of the human species above the age of puberty. In feudal law. A vassal; a tenant or feudatory. The Anglo-Saxon relation of lord and man was originally purely personal, and founded on mutual contract. 1 Spence, Ch. 37.