Quote:
REPUBLIC A commonwealth; that form of government in which the administration of affairs is open to all the citizens. In another sense, it signifies the state, independently of its form of government. 1 Toull. n. 28, and n. 202, note. In this sense, it is used by Ben Johnson. Those that, by their deeds make it known, whose dignity they do sustain; And life, state, glory, all they gain, Count the Republic's, not their own, Vide Body Politic; Nation; State.
Quote:
COMMONWEALTH, government. A commonwealth is properly a free state, or republic, having a popular or representative government. The term has been, applied to the government of Great Britain. It is not applicable to absolute governments. The states composing the United States are, properly, so many commonwealths.
2. It is a settled principle, that no sovereign power is amenable to answer suits, either in its own courts or in those of a foreign country, unless by its own consent. 4 Yeates, 494.
Quote:
In Leviathan, Thomas Hobbes describes an aristocracy as a commonwealth in which the representative of the people is an assembly by part. Simply put, a government when only a certain part of the general public can represent the public.
I guess the Informer wasn't just whistling Dixie through a straw hat ....