Republicanism in the United States
Many of the Founders did not think "democracy" was a good idea.  Their idea of "democracy" was the "pure democracy" that de Tocqueville had described.  They worried often about the problem of 'tyranny of the majority' that de Tocqueville had warned about.  They wrote many protections into the Constitution to prevent this from happening.  As historians Richard Ellis and Michael Nelson write: "The principles of republican government embedded in the Constitution represent an effort by the framers to [make sure] that the inalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness would not be [destroyed] by majorities."  Thomas Jefferson warned that "an elect[ed] despotism is not the government we fought for."