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by cryptonector 2232 days ago
The Constitution clearly sets up a Republican Form of Government for the Federal Government. Clearly, the Republican Guarantee clause's only meaning would be to limit future Amendments' scope if it were only to apply to the Federal Government. But look at more of the Article:

| The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; ...

That makes it pretty clear that this is about the States.

The Republican Guarantee is a commitment of the Federal Government to the States about the States. It means that the Federal Government will tolerate no State monarchies.
1 comments
aw1621107 2232 days ago
Perhaps I just don't understand something, but I'm still not seeing anything that would imply any restrictions on the type of government a state chooses to implement. To me, the additional clause you showed just says that the federal government shall protect the states against invasions.

> The Republican Guarantee is a commitment of the Federal Government to the States about the States.

I'm not quite sure where the "about the states" part came from. To me, Article IV just reads like a set of promises the federal government must make to the states.

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cryptonector 2231 days ago
> To me, the additional clause you showed just says that the federal government shall protect the states against invasions.

What?! How do you see that? The ", and" below is a conjunction, it's joining one commitment and another into a list of commitments made to the States:

| The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; ...

That clearly does not predicate one commitment upon the other. It's just a list of commitments.

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aw1621107 2231 days ago
> What?! How do you see that?

The key word in my comment is "additional", which was intended to indicate that I was replying to "and shall protect each of them against Invasion".

I have to admit it's also partially my fault since I didn't notice at the time that you are not the same person who made the original comment I replied to, so I left out some context.

Otherwise I agree that it is just a list of commitments.

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