A Republic by design originally....sort of...although some leaned for a Confederation, the Republic leaning won out.
We have drifted towards a democracy and worse....the land of judicial fiat.
Neither were in the minds of the founders.
The first Republican president is responsible for destroying the bulwark of our Republic - State sovereignty and the 10th amendment. We were left with a consolidated democracy.
What the founders created was a constitutionally limited democratically elected representative republic. IF we can keep it, said Ben Franklin.