Describe the ideology of Revolutionary Republicanism that inspired the actions and hopes of Americans in the immediate aftermath of the Declaration of Independence. Why was a republic thought to be a radical (and even utopian) concept of government? What was thought to be the crucial ingredient necessary for a people to sustain a republic? Why was self-interest ("corruption") thought to be fatal to the republic's survival? Why, despite these dire prospects, did many Americans in 1776 believe that they would be able to successfully maintain a republic?