This is true. We have a democratic republic rather than a plain democracy, because the founders were (rightly) concerned that plain democracy produces a tyrannical majority, and wanted to create a free society which would only impose government authority when there was broad-based and widespread agreement.
Indeed, the founders cared so much about this that they wrote into the Constitution a guarantee not of a democratic form of government for the States, but a republican one
U.S. const. Art 4 Sec 4:
> The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
In theory, this guarantee could be satisfied by entirely nondemocratic governments, so long as they were republics. Courts have not really tackled too many of the details of this clause over the years, primarily on the grounds that the courts largely feel that they are unable to offer remedies. (https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/inte...)
Indeed, the founders cared so much about this that they wrote into the Constitution a guarantee not of a democratic form of government for the States, but a republican one
U.S. const. Art 4 Sec 4:
> The United States shall guarantee to every State in this Union a Republican Form of Government and shall protect each of them against Invasion; and on Application of the Legislature, or of the Executive (when the Legislature cannot be convened) against domestic Violence.
In theory, this guarantee could be satisfied by entirely nondemocratic governments, so long as they were republics. Courts have not really tackled too many of the details of this clause over the years, primarily on the grounds that the courts largely feel that they are unable to offer remedies. (https://constitutioncenter.org/interactive-constitution/inte...)