In those days, "democracy" was sort of a dirty word. It meant something like "rule by the unenlightened masses." The Framers were really quite worried about democracy. They thought it would cause a lot of problems.
Instead, they wanted a republic. By this, they meant a government where the masses had some say, but which was really ruled more by elites than by the masses.
Not all the Framers wanted this. The Democratic-Republicans pretty much wanted democracy (this is Jefferson and his bunch) but the Federalists (Washington, Monroe, Madison) wanted a republic.
So, democracy = more power for the regular people. Republic = less power for them.
The Constitution clearly favored a republic. It had a House of Representatives elected by the people, but the President was elected by the Electoral College, the Senate by state legislatures, and the Supreme Court selected by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate -- so you can see that the people didn't control the government very directly. That's what the Framers wanted.
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