The distinction that Madison makes between the two is that he sees democracy as a danger but sees a republic as the way to prevent that danger from occurring.
When Madison wrote about democracy, he meant a more direct democracy where the people have a large say in the government. He thought that was a bad idea because he didn't think the people were informed enough to make good decisions.
Instead, Madison wanted a republic where there are legislators who represent the people, but who can be kind of independent of them. He thought those legislators would be better informed and would not do stupid things.
So Madison thought that too much democracy was dangerous and he thought a republic would be better because the only people with power would be the people who really knew enough to make good decisions.
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