REPUBLICS, The History of. The word republic is derived from the Latin res, a thing, and publicus, belonging to the people. The word is frequently applied to any group of in dividuals having a common interest in their pursuits, as the republic of letters. its general usage, however, is as a political designation for a state or country in which the supreme power of government is vested in rulers elected peri• odically by those of its citizens who have ac quired the right to vote. In the narrowest sense a republic is a democracy where political power rests in all the people and is wholly in their unrestricted control. It is the antithesis of a monarchy, where the power rests in one indi vidual or family and is self-perpetuating through dynastic succession. Between these two extremes of monarchic and democratic gov ernment are other forms, of oligarchic or aris tocratic character, where the right of partici pation in the direction of public affairs is in the hands of classes or of a restricted portion of the community. Strictly speaking, these are not republics, but in history nearly all authori ties agree in so regarding and placing them.
Republics may be divided into two distinct types, the centralized and the non-centralized. A centralized republic is one in which all peewee is deputed to and is exercised by the general government entirely independent of local au thority in any of the subdivisions of the coun try. France and some of the South American republics are examples of the centralized re public. When the power of the general gov ernment is derived, to a greater or less extent, from the local -constituent bodies or states which also have independent rights and powers over which the general government has no con stitutional control, we have the non-centralized republic. The Greek republics, the free cities of Germany and the United States of America are examples of the non-centralized republic.
The Earliest Republics.— In prehistoric times when men first began to feel the necessity for communal control of their affairs and inter relations, government took somewhat the form that has persisted in modern times, in the mon archy. At the beginning this was patriarchal, as history shows us at later date among the Hebrews, the Pelaggians and other early races.
The bead of the family was recognized as supreme in authority, first over his immediate i family and then over its branches. As the asso ciated families grew in number and size and expanded into tribes, the strongest family or group of families asserted its pre-eminence by force or peacefully, by common consent,1 and became the ruling power; hence the king and the dynasty. It was a reversion from this con dition that fed to the earliest republics of which history has anything to tell. Among the Israel ites, the patriarchial or family government con tinned until the time of the Egyptian serfdom When, under Moses, the people escaped from Egypt and became again free and independent, the Israelitish commonwealth or republic was established; it lasted nearly four centuries, from 1491 ac. to 1095 a.c. Under Moses and Joshua the government was of the consolidated and centralized type. AU the people, young and old, rich and poor, male and female, had a voice in public affairs and the privilege of political preferment. This is the earliest record of choosing rulers by elective franchise. Only the Priesthood was a privileged class. Laws were beneficent and wise; a general system of edu cation was- established; the military spirit was fostered so that the nation became a strong power. Usury was illegal and interest was re garded with disfavor. An agrarian law as signed to each family a small acreage of land and this was made inalienable; it could not be held- under mortgage or sale. Of this early stage of the republic it has been said that "the descendants of Abraham had reached a higher state of virtue and happiness than any other nation of that period?" Upon the death of Joshua the seeds of disintegration were sown. The different states seceded, forming independ ent confederacies, although generally aU were united for common defense. Dissensions arose patriotism weakened, officials became dishonest and finally the people, whose will was still the highest law of the land, demanded of Samuel a king. Said was anointed king in 1095 s.c, and that was the end of the Israelitish republic.