Sovereign of a Free People

Sovereign of a Free People

Author: James H. Read

Publisher: University Press of Kansas

Published: 2023-08-21

Total Pages: 408

ISBN-13: 0700634770

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When Abraham Lincoln was sworn into office, seven slave states had preemptively seceded rather than recognize the legitimacy of his election. In his first inaugural address on March 4, 1861, Lincoln replied to the secessionists and set forth a principled defense of majority rule as “the only true sovereign of a free people.” His immediate purpose was to argue against the legitimacy of a powerful minority forcibly partitioning the United States because it was dissatisfied with the results of a free, constitutionally conducted election. His wider purpose was to make the case that a deliberate, constitutionally checked majority, though by no means infallible, was the appropriate ultimate authority not only on routine political questions but even on the kind of difficult, deeply divisive questions—like the future of slavery—that could otherwise trigger violent contests. Sovereign of a Free People examines Lincoln’s defense of majority rule, his understanding of its capabilities and limitations, and his hope that slavery could be peacefully and gradually extinguished through the action of a committed national majority. James Read argues that Lincoln offered an innovative account of the interplay between majorities and minorities in the context of crosscutting issues and shifting public opinion. This story is particularly timely today as a new minority of dissatisfied voters has threatened and enacted violence in response to a valid election. Read offers the first book focused on Lincoln’s understanding of majority rule. He also highlights the similarities and differences between the threats to American democracy in Lincoln’s time and in our own. Sovereign of a Free People challenges common assumptions about what caused the Civil War, takes seriously the alternative path of a peaceful, democratic abolition of slavery in the United States, and offers a fresh treatment of Lincoln and race.


A Sovereign People

A Sovereign People

Author: Carol Berkin

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2017-05-02

Total Pages: 379

ISBN-13: 0465094937

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The momentous story of how George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and John Adams navigated the crises of the 1790s and in the process bound the states into a unified nation Today the United States is the dominant power in world affairs, and that status seems assured. Yet in the decade following the ratification of the Constitution, the republic's existence was contingent and fragile, challenged by domestic rebellions, foreign interference, and the always-present danger of collapse into mob rule. Carol Berkin reveals that the nation survived almost entirely due to the actions of the Federalist leadership -- George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and John Adams. Reacting to successive crises, they extended the power of the federal government and fended off foreign attempts to subvert American sovereignty. As Berkin argues, the result was a spike in nationalism, as ordinary citizens began to identify with their nation first, their home states second. While the Revolution freed the states and the Constitution linked them as never before, this landmark work shows that it was the Federalists who transformed the states into an enduring nation.


The People

The People

Author: Margaret Canovan

Publisher: Polity

Published: 2005-09-16

Total Pages: 184

ISBN-13: 9780745628219

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This groundbreaking study sets out to clarify one of the most influential but least studied of all political concepts. Despite continual talk of popular sovereignty, the idea of the people has been neglected by political theorists who have been deterred by its vagueness. Margaret Canovan argues that it deserves serious analysis, and that it's many ambiguities point to unresolved political issues. The book begins by charting the conflicting meanings of the people, especially in Anglo-American usage, and traces the concept's development from the ancient populus Romanus to the present day. The book's main purpose is, however, to analyse the political issues signalled by the people's ambiguities. In the remaining chapters, Margaret Canovan considers their theoretical and practical aspects: Where are the people's boundaries? Is people equivalent to nation, and how is it related to humanity - people in general? Populists aim to 'give power back to the people'; how is populism related to democracy? How can the sovereign people be an immortal collective body, but at the same time be us as individuals? Can we ever see that sovereign people in action? Political myths surround the figure of the people and help to explain its influence; should the people itself be regarded as fictional? This original and accessible study sheds a fresh light on debates about popular sovereignty, and will be an important resource for students and scholars of political theory.


Agents of the People

Agents of the People

Author: Pasi Ihalainen

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 547

ISBN-13: 9004183361

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Analysing parliamentary references to the people, this book provides a more nuanced interpretation of eighteenth-century re-evaluations of democracy. It shows how interaction between parliamentarians and the public sphere in different political cultures produced more modern conceptions of the legitimacy of political power.


We, the Sovereign

We, the Sovereign

Author: Gianpaolo Baiocchi

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2018-08-28

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 1509521399

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What does it mean for the people to actually rule? Formal democracy is an empty and cynical shell, while the nationalist Right claims to advance its anti-democratic project in the name of ‘the People’. How can the Left respond in a way that is true to both its radical egalitarianism and its desire to transform the real world? In this book, Gianpaolo Baiocchi argues that the only answer is a radical utopia of popular self-rule. This means that the ‘people’ who rule must be understood as a demos that is totally open, inclusive and egalitarian, constantly expanding its boundaries. But it also means that sovereignty must be absolute, possessing total power over all relevant decisions that impact the conditions of life. Only, he argues, by a process of explosive and creative tension between this radical view of the ‘we’ and an absolute idea of the ‘sovereign’ can we transform our approach to political parties and state institutions and make them instruments of total emancipation. Illustrated by the real-life experiences of movements throughout the world, from Latin America to Southern Europe, Baiocchi’s provocative vision will be essential reading for all activists who want to understand the true meaning of radical democracy in the 21st century.


Sovereign Citizen's Cut-Out Book 2.0

Sovereign Citizen's Cut-Out Book 2.0

Author: H. I. R. M. J. M. Godsent

Publisher: CreateSpace

Published: 2013-11

Total Pages: 44

ISBN-13: 9781481205283

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Designed for use with TITLE 4 FLAG SAYS YOU'RE SCHWAG! The Sovereign Citizen's Handbook, this cut-out book gives you more than 75 badges, signs, cards, and documents to give notice of the status of your sovereign estate!!! With the help of Suiti the Sui-Juris Strawman giving notice is easier than ever! Follow Suiti as he guides you through the Sovereign Citizen's Cut-Out Book 2.0, and shows you how to protect your estate with the power of political paperwork!


The Sovereign Individual

The Sovereign Individual

Author: James Dale Davidson

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2020-02-04

Total Pages: 454

ISBN-13: 1439144737

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Now featuring a new preface by Peter Thiel Two renowned investment advisors and authors of the bestseller The Great Reckoning bring to light both currents of disaster and the potential for prosperity and renewal in the face of radical changes in human history as we move into the next century. The Sovereign Individual details strategies necessary for adapting financially to the next phase of Western civilization. Few observers of the late twentieth century have their fingers so presciently on the pulse of the global political and economic realignment ushering in the new millennium as do James Dale Davidson and Lord William Rees-Mogg. Their bold prediction of disaster on Wall Street in Blood in the Streets was borne out by Black Tuesday. In their ensuing bestseller, The Great Reckoning, published just weeks before the coup attempt against Gorbachev, they analyzed the pending collapse of the Soviet Union and foretold the civil war in Yugoslavia and other events that have proved to be among the most searing developments of the past few years. In The Sovereign Individual, Davidson and Rees-Mogg explore the greatest economic and political transition in centuries—the shift from an industrial to an information-based society. This transition, which they have termed "the fourth stage of human society," will liberate individuals as never before, irrevocably altering the power of government. This outstanding book will replace false hopes and fictions with new understanding and clarified values.


Free, Sovereign, and Independent States

Free, Sovereign, and Independent States

Author: John Remington Graham

Publisher: Pelican Publishing

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781589805897

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An exhaustive study of the intended meaning of the United States Constitution as originally framed in 1787, implemented in 1789, and amended in 1791, 1798, and 1804, this expansive work traces each provision of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and the 11th and 12th Amendments to their basic roots. Taking into account the constitutional law and history of England, events of the American Revolution, debates at the Philadelphia Convention, discussions in the Federalist, and other historic events and documents, the author examines the more perfect union established in 1789 as a confederacy of free, sovereign, and independent states, exactly as King George III prescribed when he conceded American independence.


Stop Taking Sides

Stop Taking Sides

Author: Adam Mabry

Publisher: The Good Book Company

Published: 2020-09-01

Total Pages: 177

ISBN-13: 178498549X

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Love and wrath. Sovereignty and responsibility. Victory and suffering. Some of the truths we read in the Bible seem to be in opposition to each other. We naturally tend to gravitate towards a side, but when we lose sight of one truth in order to protect the other, we are in danger of becoming proud, creating division, and diminishing our faith. In this compelling, inspiring, and at times provocative book, Adam Mabry urges us to stop taking sides and refuse to participate in tribalism by mapping out a way to hold in tension truths that we so often divide over. You’ll discover how our joy and our witness rest on us learning to hold to all that the Scriptures teach and growing in virtue as we do. You’ll learn how to wrestle with all that the Scriptures say, to embrace mystery, to listen closely, and to speak with clarity.


Freedom Beyond Sovereignty

Freedom Beyond Sovereignty

Author: Sharon R. Krause

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2015-03-13

Total Pages: 260

ISBN-13: 022623472X

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What does it mean to be free? We invoke the word frequently, yet the freedom of countless Americans is compromised by social inequalities that systematically undercut what they are able to do and to become. If we are to remedy these failures of freedom, we must move beyond the common assumption, prevalent in political theory and American public life, that individual agency is best conceived as a kind of personal sovereignty, or as self-determination or control over one’s actions. In Freedom Beyond Sovereignty, Sharon R. Krause shows that individual agency is best conceived as a non-sovereign experience because our ability to act and affect the world depends on how other people interpret and respond to what we do. The intersubjective character of agency makes it vulnerable to the effects of social inequality, but it is never in a strict sense socially determined. The agency of the oppressed sometimes surprises us with its vitality. Only by understanding the deep dynamics of agency as simultaneously non-sovereign and robust can we remediate the failed freedom of those on the losing end of persistent inequalities and grasp the scope of our own responsibility for social change. Freedom Beyond Sovereignty brings the experiences of the oppressed to the center of political theory and the study of freedom. It fundamentally reconstructs liberal individualism and enables us to see human action, personal responsibility, and the meaning of liberty in a totally new light.