USG.1.10

Explain the part of Article IV, section 4, of the US Constitution, which says:
//"The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government, and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened), against domestic Violence."//


 * Clause attributed to James Madison.[[image:http://img.tfd.com/authors/madison.jpg width="215" height="274" align="right" caption="james madison"]]
 * Known as the "guarantee clause."
 * Each state is to function as a representative government (as opposed to some other form of government like a monarchy).
 * The federal government has the power to protect the states from invasion from a foreign country or from violence that erupts within that state.
 * The legislature of each state should ask for federal help with uprisings (the executive can perform the same function of the legislature cannot meet).
 * The full meaning of the first part of the clause is still debated. Courts have not specified exactly what a "republican form of government" means.
 * For more detail, see [|Article IV, Section 4]from Annenberg Classroom.

[|The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription]

For a further definition of the terms in the article, see [|Republican Government]from the Bill of Rights Institute.