The United States is both a democracy and a republic. It is a representative democracy, which means that the government is elected by citizens, and citizens vote for their government officials. The Constitution establishes a federal democratic republic form of government, which means that the government is a democracy because people govern themselves, it is representative because people choose elected officials by free and secret ballot, and it is a republic because the government derives its power from the people. The United States is also a constitutional federal republic, which means that the government is based on a Constitution that provides the framework for how the federal and state governments are structured and places significant limits on their powers.