POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY

Sovereignty is the belief that the state is created by and therefore subject to the will of its people, who are the source of all political power. It is closely associated to the social contract philosophers, among whom are Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau.

Contents

The social contract

See also

External links

The social contract

Popular sovereignty is an idea that dates to the social contract school (mid-1600s to mid 1700s), represented by Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) and Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), author of ''The Social Contract'', a prominent literary work that clearly highlighted the ideals of "general will" and further matured the idea of popular sovereignty. The central tenet is that legitimacy of rule or of law is based on the consent of the governed. Popular sovereignty is thus a basic tenet of most democracies. Hobbes and Rousseau were the most influential thinkers of this school, all postulating that individuals choose to enter into a social contract with one another, thus voluntarily giving up some rights in return for protection from the dangers.
A parallel development of a theory of popular sovereignty can be found among the School of Salamanca (see e.g. Francisco de Vitoria (1483–1546) or Francisco Suárez (1548–1617)), who (like the theorists of the divine right of kings) saw sovereignty as emanating originally from God, but (unlike those theorists) passing from God to all people equally, not only to monarchs.
Most republics and many constitutional monarchies are theoretically based on popular sovereignty. However, a legalistic notion of popular sovereignty does not necessarily imply an effective, functioning democracy: a party or even an individual dictator may claim to represent the will of the people, and rule in its name, pretending to detain ''auctoritas''.
In U.S. history, the terms ''popular sovereignty'' and the equivalent but more disparaging ''squatter sovereignty'' refer generally to the right claimed by the squatters, or actual residents, of a territory of the United States to make their own laws. The most controversial aspect of sovereignty was the choice of residents to accept or reject slavery. The idea was championed by Stephen A. Douglas and provided a means to delay dealing with the larger issue. It was first proposed by Vice President George Dallas in 1847 and was popularized by Lewis Cass in his 1848 presidential campaign. The doctrine was incorporated into the Compromise of 1850 and four years later was an important feature of the Kansas-Nebraska Act.

See also

★ General will

★ Absolute monarchy, a monarchy where the ruler has the power to rule his or her country and citizens freely with no laws or legally-organized direct opposition.

★ Popular monarchy

★ Political absolutism, one person (generally, a monarch) should hold all power.

External links

★ Squatter sovereignty from volume II of ''Kansas: a cyclopedia of state history, embracing events, institutions, industries, counties, cities, towns, prominent persons, etc.