A Representative Democracy

Citizens elect representatives to make decisions for them.

Warm-up, learn, try it together, practice, then a quick check. About 15 minutes.

What children learn in Level 57

In the United States, the people hold the power. A government where the people rule is called a democracy. The members of our country are its citizens.
Remember New England's town meetings? Everyone in town voted on every decision. That's direct democracy. It works in a small town.
But our country has hundreds of millions of people, and many, many decisions. Everyone can't vote on everything!
So citizens elect representatives to make decisions for them. That's a representative democracy, also called a republic. The United States is a republic.
In an election, citizens who are 18 or older vote, and the person with the most votes wins. If representatives don't listen, voters can choose someone else next time.

Georgia Standards of Excellence in Social Studies:

SS3CG1 — Describe the elements of representative democracy/republic in the United States.