“A Republic - If You Can Keep It”

Published on LinkedIn: January 26, 2026

At the close of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin was asked what kind of government the delegates had created.

His reply was brief — and deliberately unsettling.

Franklin was asked whether the new Constitution had produced a monarchy or a republic. His answer was simple: “A republic, if you can keep it.”

The remark was not rhetorical flourish. It was a constitutional warning.

The Framers had designed a republic grounded in representation, separated powers, and the rule of law. But they knew no written document can preserve itself. Constitutional government depends on conduct — on restraint by those who hold power and vigilance by those who grant it.

A republic requires acceptance of limits. It requires adherence to elections even when outcomes disappoint. It requires respect for courts even when decisions frustrate. And it requires an understanding that law, not will, governs authority.

Franklin’s point was not that the system was weak. It was that liberty is always conditional. Self-government demands maintenance. It survives only when institutions are honored and constitutional boundaries are observed.

Franklin’s remark endures because it captures a permanent truth: constitutional government is not automatic. It must be chosen, again and again.