91-573: The London Declaration was a declaration issued by the 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference on the issue of India's continued membership of the Commonwealth of Nations , an association of independent states formerly part of the British Empire , after India's transition to a republican constitution. Drafted by the Indian statesman V. K. Krishna Menon , the declaration stated
182-496: A Commonwealth statesman, was strongly opposed. In the South African context, with which Smuts was mainly concerned, republicanism was mainly identified with Afrikaner conservatism and with tighter racial segregation. The London conference - concerned mainly with India and to some degree with Ireland, which recently declared itself a republic - did not pay much attention for the implications for South Africa. India became
273-560: A crucial role in the development of European liberalism: By abandoning English constitutionalism and creating a new republic based on the rights of the individual, the North Americans introduced a new force in the world. Ideas spread most rapidly when they have found adequate concrete expression. Thus republicanism entered our Romanic/Germanic world.... Up to this point, the conviction had prevailed in Europe that monarchy best served
364-480: A draft constitution for Paoli'se use. Similarly, Voltaire affirmed in his Précis du siècle de Louis XV (1769: chapter LX) that " Bravery may be found in many places, but such bravery only among free peoples ". But the influence of the Corsican Republic as an example of a sovereign people fighting for liberty and enshrining this constitutionally in the form of an Enlightened republic was even greater among
455-566: A friend that in England "almost sixteen thousand has gone off – and in Ireland above forty thousand". Paine may have been inclined to talk up sales of his works but what is striking in this context is that Paine believed that Irish sales were so far ahead of English ones before Part II had appeared. On 5 June 1792, Thomas Paine , author of the Rights of Man was proposed for honorary membership of
546-621: A laboratory for such political experiments, Corsica combined a number of factors that made it unique: a tradition of village democracy; varied cultural influences from the Italian city-states, Spanish empire and Kingdom of France which left it open to the ideas of the Italian Renaissance , Spanish humanism and French Enlightenment ; and a geo-political position between these three competing powers which led to frequent power vacuums in which new regimes could be set up, testing out
637-473: A regeneration of their country". By 1795, Tone's republicanism and that of the society had openly crystallized when he tells us: "I remember particularly two days thae we passed on Cave Hill. On the first Russell, Neilson, Simms, McCracken and one or two more of us, on the summit of McArt's fort, took a solemn obligation...never to desist in our efforts until we had subverted the authority of England over our country and asserted her independence." The culmination
728-668: A republic became a powerful force in Britain's North American colonies, where it contributed to the American Revolution . In Europe, it gained enormous influence through the French Revolution and through the First French Republic of 1792–1804. In Ancient Greece , several philosophers and historians analysed and described elements we now recognize as classical republicanism . Traditionally,
819-604: A republic in 1950 and remained in the Commonwealth. However, Ireland, which was in the same situation, having passed the Republic of Ireland Act 1948 , declared itself a republic on 18 April 1949, ten days before the declaration, and therefore quit the Commonwealth. The Governments of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan and Ceylon, whose countries are united as Members of
910-464: A republic was any stable well-governed political community. Both Plato and Aristotle identified three forms of government: democracy , aristocracy , and monarchy . First Plato and Aristotle, and then Polybius and Cicero, held that the ideal republic is a mixture of these three forms of government. The writers of the Renaissance embraced this notion. Cicero expressed reservations concerning
1001-616: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Republicanism Republicanism is a political ideology that encompasses a range of ideas from civic virtue , political participation , harms of corruption , positives of mixed constitution , rule of law , and others. Historically, it emphasizes the idea of self-governance and ranges from the rule of a representative minority or aristocracy to popular sovereignty . It has had different definitions and interpretations which vary significantly based on historical context and methodological approach. Republicanism may also refer to
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#17327654667281092-468: Is also sometimes called civic humanism . Beyond simply a non-monarchy, early modern thinkers conceived of an ideal republic, in which mixed government was an important element, and the notion that virtue and the common good were central to good government. Republicanism also developed its own distinct view of liberty . Renaissance authors who spoke highly of republics were rarely critical of monarchies. While Niccolò Machiavelli 's Discourses on Livy
1183-518: Is appropriately applied to the creation of a rationally designed government. Rather than being ideological, this approach focuses on applying a scientific methodology to the problems of governance through the rigorous study and application of past experience and experimentation in governance. This is the approach that may best be described to apply to republican thinkers such as Niccolò Machiavelli (as evident in his Discourses on Livy ), John Adams, and James Madison . The word "republic" derives from
1274-526: Is engaged in a direct relationship with the state , removing the need for identity politics based on local, religious, or racial identification. Républicanisme , in theory, makes anti-discrimination laws unnecessary, though some critics may argue that in republics also, colour-blind laws serve to perpetuate discrimination. Inspired by the American and French Revolutions, the Society of United Irishmen
1365-504: Is practicable or efficacious, or just which shall not include Irishmen of every religious persuasion. The declaration, then, urged constitutional reform, union among Irish people and the removal of all religious disqualifications. The movement was influenced, at least in part, by the French Revolution. Public interest, already strongly aroused, was brought to a pitch by the publication in 1790 of Edmund Burke 's Reflections on
1456-672: Is the period's key work on republics, he also wrote the treatise The Prince , which is better remembered and more widely read, on how best to run a monarchy. The early modern writers did not see the republican model as universally applicable; most thought that it could be successful only in very small and highly urbanized city-states. Jean Bodin in Six Books of the Commonwealth (1576) identified monarchy with republic. Classical writers like Tacitus , and Renaissance writers like Machiavelli tried to avoid an outspoken preference for one government system or another. Enlightenment philosophers, on
1547-461: Is the weakness of Ireland..." They adopted three central positions: (i) to seek out a cordial union among all the people of Ireland, to maintain that balance essential to preserve liberties and extend commerce; (ii) that the sole constitutional mode by which English influence can be opposed, is by a complete and radical reform of the representation of the people in Parliament; (iii) that no reform
1638-493: The Commonwealth of England in 1660 and the restoration of the monarchy under Charles II discredited republicanism among England's ruling circles. Nevertheless, they welcomed the liberalism , and emphasis on rights, of John Locke , which played a major role in the Glorious Revolution of 1688. Even so, republicanism flourished in the "country" party of the early 18th century ( commonwealthmen ), which denounced
1729-618: The Dutch Republic during and after the Eighty Years' War , which began in 1568. This anti-monarchism was more propaganda than a political philosophy; most of the anti-monarchist works appeared in the form of widely distributed pamphlets . This evolved into a systematic critique of monarchy, written by men such as the brothers Johan and Peter de la Court . They saw all monarchies as illegitimate tyrannies that were inherently corrupt. These authors were more concerned with preventing
1820-725: The Ferry Laws , which he intended to overturn the Falloux Laws by embracing the anti-clerical thinking of the Philosophes . These laws ended the Catholic Church's involvement in many government institutions in late 19th-century France, including schools. In recent years a debate has developed over the role of republicanism in the American Revolution and in the British radicalism of the 18th century. For many decades
1911-711: The British Commonwealth of Nations and owe a common allegiance to the Crown, which is also the symbol of their free association, have considered the impending constitutional changes in India. The Government of India have informed the other Governments of the Commonwealth of the intention of the Indian people that under the new constitution which is about to be adopted India shall become a sovereign independent republic. The Government of India have however declared and affirmed India’s desire to continue her full membership of
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#17327654667282002-495: The British sovereign as their head of state. The Canadian government feared that if India was not permitted to remain in the Commonwealth as an autonomous republic then Pakistan , Ceylon , and South Africa would soon leave as well, resulting in the Commonwealth's collapse. Australian prime minister Ben Chifley was on one pole during the conference, arguing for maintaining a strong British connection, while South Africa 's newly elected nationalist prime minister, D. F. Malan ,
2093-409: The Commonwealth and therefore they join. At the same time, it is made perfectly clear that each country is completely free to go its own way; it may be that they may go, sometimes go so far as to break away from the Commonwealth...Otherwise, apart from breaking the evil parts of the association, it is better to keep a co-operative association going which may do good in this world rather than break it. At
2184-473: The Commonwealth of Nations and her acceptance of The King as the symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such the Head of the Commonwealth. The Governments of the other countries of the Commonwealth, the basis of whose membership of the Commonwealth is not hereby changed, accept and recognise India’s continuing membership in accordance with the terms of this declaration. Accordingly
2275-518: The Commonwealth of Nations and her acceptance of the King as the symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and as such the Head of the Commonwealth. This formula has since been deemed to be a sufficient precedent for all other countries. The issue had been discussed at the 1948 Prime Ministers Conference , the agenda of which was dominated by the imminent decisions of two states—India and Ireland —to declare themselves republics. At
2366-584: The Commonwealth". 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers%27 Conference The 1949 Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference was the fourth meeting of the Heads of government of the Commonwealth of Nations . It was held in the United Kingdom in April 1949 and was hosted by that country's prime minister , Clement Attlee . The principal topic of the conference was the relationship of India , which
2457-532: The Commonwealth, having met and liked Nehru, but was concerned with the practicalities. News of the agreement was hailed by all those of the opposition party in the British House of Commons , including Winston Churchill and Clement Davies . By contrast, Jan Smuts , who had been defeated by Malan in the South African general election the previous year and was considered second only to Churchill as
2548-463: The Conference met, Ireland formally declared itself a republic . The other members of the Commonwealth chose to regard that declaration as terminating Ireland's membership of the Commonwealth. Ireland had not participated in Commonwealth affairs since the 1930s but this was the first conference to be held after Ireland's membership was regarded as terminated. This article about politics
2639-744: The Dublin Society of the United Irishmen. The fall of the Bastille was to be celebrated in Belfast on 14 July 1791 by a Volunteer meeting. At the request of Thomas Russell , Tone drafted suitable resolutions for the occasion, including one favouring the inclusion of Catholics in any reforms. In a covering letter to Russell, Tone wrote, "I have not said one word that looks like a wish for separation, though I give it to you and your friends as my most decided opinion that such an event would be
2730-547: The Enlightenment ideal of a written constitutional monarchy . But the perception grew that the monarchy had colluded with the invading power, a more radical group of reformers led by the Pasquale Paoli pushed for political overhaul, in the form of a constitutional and parliamentary republic inspired by the popular ideas of the Enlightenment. Its governing philosophy was both inspired by the prominent thinkers of
2821-475: The French monarchy in the 1790s, began by setting up a republic; Napoleon converted it into an Empire with a new aristocracy. In the 1830s Belgium adopted some of the innovations of the progressive political philosophers of the Enlightenment. Républicanisme is a French version of modern republicanism. It is a form of social contract , deduced from Jean-Jacques Rousseau 's idea of a general will . Each citizen
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2912-453: The Greek concept of " politeia " was rendered into Latin as res publica. Consequently, political theory until relatively recently often used republic in the general sense of "regime". There is no single written expression or definition from this era that exactly corresponds with a modern understanding of the term "republic" but most of the essential features of the modern definition are present in
3003-477: The Irish, French and American causes. During the Enlightenment, anti- monarchism extended beyond the civic humanism of the Renaissance. Classical republicanism, still supported by philosophers such as Rousseau and Montesquieu , was only one of several theories seeking to limit the power of monarchies rather than directly opposing them. Liberalism and socialism departed from classical republicanism and fueled
3094-606: The Latin noun-phrase res publica (public thing), which referred to the system of government that emerged in the 6th century BCE following the expulsion of the kings from Rome by Lucius Junius Brutus and Collatinus . This form of government in the Roman state collapsed in the latter part of the 1st century BCE, giving way to what was a monarchy in form, if not in name. Republics recurred subsequently, with, for example, Renaissance Florence or early modern Britain . The concept of
3185-562: The Radicals of Great Britain and North America , where it was popularised via An Account of Corsica , by the Scottish essayist James Boswell . The Corsican Republic went on to influence the American revolutionaries ten years later: the Sons of Liberty , initiators of the American Revolution , would declare Pascal Paoli to be a direct inspiration for their own struggle against the British;
3276-552: The Renaissance, Europe was divided, such that those states controlled by a landed elite were monarchies, and those controlled by a commercial elite were republics. The latter included the Italian city-states of Florence , Genoa , and Venice and members of the Hanseatic League . One notable exception was Dithmarschen , a group of largely autonomous villages, which confederated in a peasants' republic. Building upon concepts of medieval feudalism , Renaissance scholars used
3367-641: The Revolution in France , and Thomas Paine's response, Rights of Man , in February 1791. Theobald Wolfe Tone wrote later that, "This controversy, and the gigantic event which gave rise to it, changed in an instant the politics of Ireland." Paine himself was aware of this commenting on sales of Part I of Rights of Man in November 1791, only eight months after publication of the first edition, he informed
3458-522: The Roman Republic as an ideal system because it included features like a systematic separation of powers . Romans still called their state "Res Publica" in the era of the early emperors because, on the surface, the organization of the state had been preserved by the first emperors without significant alteration. Several offices from the Republican era, held by individuals, were combined under
3549-452: The Roman Republic constituted in such a manner that it applied the strengths of each system to offset the weaknesses of the others. In his view, the mixed system of the Roman Republic provided the Romans with a much greater level of domestic tranquillity than would have been experienced under another form of government. Furthermore, Polybius argued, the comparative level of domestic tranquillity
3640-519: The Romans enjoyed allowed them to conquer the Mediterranean. Polybius exerted a great influence on Cicero as he wrote his politico-philosophical works in the 1st century BCE. In one of these works, De re publica , Cicero linked the Roman concept of res publica to the Greek politeia . The modern term "republic", despite its derivation, is not synonymous with the Roman res publica . Among
3731-455: The United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Pakistan and Ceylon hereby declare that they remain united as free and equal members of the Commonwealth of Nations, freely co-operating in the pursuit of peace, liberty and progress. The London Declaration marked the birth of the modern Commonwealth of Nations . After the death of King George VI in 1952, the Commonwealth governments recognised Queen Elizabeth II as "Head of
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3822-466: The agreement of the prime ministers to the continued membership of India in the organization after it becomes a republic. By that declaration, the Government of India had expressed its acceptance of the king as a symbol of the free association of its independent member nations and head of the Commonwealth. The declaration dealt only with India, considered as an exceptional case, and it reaffirmed that
3913-566: The argument that the American founding fathers were more influenced by republicanism than they were by liberalism. Cornell University professor Isaac Kramnick , on the other hand, argues that Americans have always been highly individualistic and therefore Lockean. Joyce Appleby has argued similarly for the Lockean influence on America. In the decades before the American Revolution (1776), the intellectual and political leaders of
4004-467: The colonies studied history intently, looking for models of good government. They especially followed the development of republican ideas in England. Pocock explained the intellectual sources in America: The Whig canon and the neo-Harringtonians, John Milton , James Harrington and Sidney , Trenchard , Gordon and Bolingbroke , together with the Greek, Roman, and Renaissance masters of
4095-400: The composing of a republican constitution , Nehru declared in the assembly that: We join the Commonwealth obviously because we think it is beneficial to us and to certain causes in the world that we wish to advance. The other countries of the Commonwealth want us to remain there because they think it is beneficial to them. It is mutually understood that it is to the advantage of the nations in
4186-466: The conditions necessary for a functional popular sovereignty, that " There is still one European country capable of making its own laws: the island of Corsica. valour and persistency with which that brave people has regained and defended its liberty well deserves that some wise man should teach it how to preserve what it has won. I have a feeling that some day that little island will astonish Europe ."; indeed Rousseau volunteered to do precisely that, offering
4277-509: The consensus was that liberalism , especially that of John Locke , was paramount and that republicanism had a distinctly secondary role. The new interpretations were pioneered by J.G.A. Pocock , who argued in The Machiavellian Moment (1975) that, at least in the early 18th century, republican ideas were just as important as liberal ones. Pocock's view is now widely accepted. Bernard Bailyn and Gordon Wood pioneered
4368-509: The constraints of one nation. As Christopher N. Warren argues, Milton offers "a language to critique imperialism, to question the legitimacy of dictators, to defend free international discourse, to fight unjust property relations, and to forge new political bonds across national lines." This form of international Miltonic republicanism has been influential on later thinkers including 19th-century radicals Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels , according to Warren and other historians. The collapse of
4459-522: The control of a single person. These changes became permanent, and gradually conferred sovereignty on the Emperor. Cicero's description of the ideal state, in De re Publica , does not equate to a modern-day "republic"; it is more like enlightened absolutism . His philosophical works were influential when Enlightenment philosophers such as Voltaire developed their political concepts. In its classical meaning,
4550-532: The corruption of the "court" party, producing a political theory that heavily influenced the American colonists. In general, the English ruling classes of the 18th century vehemently opposed republicanism, typified by the attacks on John Wilkes , and especially on the American Revolution and the French Revolution . French and Swiss Enlightenment thinkers, such as Voltaire , Baron Charles de Montesquieu and later Jean-Jacques Rousseau , expanded upon and altered
4641-481: The day, notably the French philosophers Montesquieu and Voltaire and the Swiss theorist Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Not only did it include a permanent national parliament with fixed-term legislatures and regular elections, but, more radically for the time, it introduced universal male suffrage , and it is thought to be the first constitution in the world to grant women the right to vote, female suffrage did exist for heads of
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#17327654667284732-519: The defects that affected them. Both Livy , a Roman historian, and Plutarch , who is noted for his biographies and moral essays, described how Rome had developed its legislation, notably the transition from a kingdom to a republic , by following the example of the Greeks. Some of this history, composed more than 500 years after the events, with scant written sources to rely on, may be fictitious reconstruction. The Greek historian Polybius , writing in
4823-490: The democratic ideals of the modern world. An important distinction is that, while republicanism stressed the importance of civic virtue and the common good , liberalism was based on economics and individualism . It is clearest in the matter of private property, which, according to some, can be maintained only under the protection of established positive law . Jules Ferry , Prime Minister of France from 1880 to 1885, followed both these schools of thought. He eventually enacted
4914-525: The development of the more modern republicanism . Brazilian historiography generally identifies republican thought with the movement that was formally organized in the Empire of Brazil during the 1870s to 1880s, but republicanism was already present in the country since the First Reign (1822–1831) and the regency period (1831–1840). During Brazil's early years after its independence , the country saw
5005-477: The emergence of a republican discourse among the writings of figures such as Cipriano Barata , Frei Caneca and João Soares Lisboa, but republican ideology better developed as a political current after the emergence of the so-called radical liberal faction in the crisis of the final years of the First Reign. During the First Reign, three groups emerged on the country's political scene: the moderate liberals,
5096-579: The episode resonated across Europe as an early example of Enlightened constitutional republicanism, with many of the most prominent political commentators of the day recognising it to be an experiment in a new type of popular and democratic government. Its influence was particularly notable among the French Enlightenment philosophers: Rousseau's famous work On the Social Contract (1762: chapter 10, book II) declared, in its discussion on
5187-462: The family. It also extended Enlightened principles to other spheres, including administrative reform, the foundation of a national university at Corte , and the establishment of a popular standing army . The Corsican Republic lasted for fifteen years, from 1755 to 1769, eventually falling to a combination of Genoese and French forces and was incorporated as a province of the Kingdom of France. But
5278-467: The fashionable new ideas of the age. From the 1720s the island had been experiencing a series of short-lived but ongoing rebellions against its current sovereign, the Italian city-state of Genoa . During the initial period (1729–36) these merely sought to restore the control of the Spanish Empire; when this proved impossible, an independent Kingdom of Corsica (1736–40) was proclaimed, following
5369-471: The idea emerged that power should come from below.... These two principles are like two opposite poles, and it is the conflict between them that determines the course of the modern world. In Europe the conflict between them had not yet taken on concrete form; with the French Revolution it did. Republicanism, especially that of Rousseau , played a central role in the French Revolution and foreshadowed modern republicanism. The revolutionaries, after overthrowing
5460-484: The ideal of the militia), established churches (opposed to the Puritan and deist modes of American religion) and the promotion of a monied interest – though the formulation of this last concept was somewhat hindered by the keen desire for readily available paper credit common in colonies of settlement. A neoclassical politics provided both the ethos of the elites and the rhetoric of the upwardly mobile, and accounts for
5551-489: The ideas of the ancient world to advance their view of an ideal government. Thus the republicanism developed during the Renaissance is known as 'classical republicanism' because it relied on classical models. This terminology was developed by Zera Fink in the 1940s, but some modern scholars, such as Brugger, consider it confuses the "classical republic" with the system of government used in the ancient world. 'Early modern republicanism' has been proposed as an alternative term. It
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#17327654667285642-574: The ideas of what an ideal republic should be: some of their new ideas were scarcely traceable to antiquity or the Renaissance thinkers. Concepts they contributed, or heavily elaborated, were social contract , positive law , and mixed government . They also borrowed from, and distinguished republicanism from, the ideas of liberalism that were developing at the same time. Liberalism and republicanism were frequently conflated during this period, because they both opposed absolute monarchy. Modern scholars see them as two distinct streams that both contributed to
5733-441: The interests of the nation. Now the idea spread that the nation should govern itself. But only after a state had actually been formed on the basis of the theory of representation did the full significance of this idea become clear. All later revolutionary movements have this same goal... This was the complete reversal of a principle. Until then, a king who ruled by the grace of God had been the center around which everything turned. Now
5824-463: The islands becoming republics, particularly Bermuda . Julien Fédon and Joachim Philip led the republican Fédon's rebellion between 2 March 1795 and 19 June 1796, an uprising against British rule in Grenada . The first of the Enlightenment republics established in Europe during the 18th century occurred in the small Mediterranean island of Corsica . Although perhaps an unlikely place to act as
5915-484: The meeting, Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru proposed a Ten Point Memorandum on the settlement between India and the Commonwealth. The Cabinet Committee on Commonwealth Relations recognised that Nehru's proposals could not constitute a basis for continued Commonwealth membership, and that a further conference would be required. On 16 May 1949, during the Constituent Assembly Debates for
6006-526: The mid-2nd century BCE, emphasized (in Book 6) the role played by the Roman Republic as an institutional form in the dramatic rise of Rome's hegemony over the Mediterranean. In his writing on the constitution of the Roman Republic, Polybius described the system as being a "mixed" form of government. Specifically, Polybius described the Roman system as a mixture of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy with
6097-423: The next conference, in April 1949, Nehru, seeking above all to avoid two-tiered membership, conceded a more agreeable three-point programme, based upon common Commonwealth citizenship , a declaration of India's continued membership, and recognition of the monarch in a separate capacity than that as monarch. This met general agreement, particularly with the new South African Premier Daniel François Malan , and, during
6188-402: The next two days, the draft was crafted into a final agreement. To avoid criticism about eliminating the word British from the name of the Commonwealth, Nehru conceded a reference to the "British Commonwealth of Nations" in the opening paragraph of the document as an historically-appropriate reference. King George VI was reticently in favour of the separation of the titles of king and Head of
6279-617: The non-ideological scientific approach to politics and governance. As the republican thinker and second president of the United States John Adams stated in the introduction to his famous A Defense of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America , the "science of politics is the science of social happiness" and a republic is the form of government arrived at when the science of politics
6370-540: The other hand, expressed a clear opinion. Thomas More , writing before the Age of Enlightenment, was too outspoken for the reigning king's taste, even though he coded his political preferences in a utopian allegory. In England a type of republicanism evolved that was not wholly opposed to monarchy; thinkers such as Thomas More, John Fisher and Sir Thomas Smith saw a monarchy, firmly constrained by law, as compatible with republicanism. Anti- monarchism became more strident in
6461-401: The other members of the Commonwealth owed common allegiance to the Crown with an initial acceptance of the king as a head of the Commonwealth. However, it did establish a precedent that republicanism is compatible with membership in the organization. The declaration stated vis-à-vis India: The Government of India have ... declared and affirmed India's desire to continue her full membership of
6552-519: The political spectrum, along Jacobin lines, and defended broad reforms such as the abolition of the monarchy and the establishment of a republic, federalism, the extinction of the Moderating Power , the end of life tenure in the Senate , the separation between Church and State, relative social equality, the extension of political and civil rights to all free segments of society, including women,
6643-556: The position of Stadholder from evolving into a monarchy, than with attacking their former rulers. Dutch republicanism also influenced French Huguenots during the Wars of Religion . In the other states of early modern Europe republicanism was more moderate. In the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth , republicanism was the influential ideology. After the establishment of the Commonwealth of Two Nations, republicans supported
6734-461: The radical liberals and the caramurus . The moderates defended political-institutional reforms such as decentralization, without, however, giving up the monarchical system. Their main doctrinal references were Locke, Montesquieu, Guizot and Benjamin Constant . The radicals, in turn, formed a heterogeneous group with almost no representation within the imperial bureaucracy. They were on the left of
6825-426: The republican form of government. While in his theoretical works he defended monarchy, or at least a mixed monarchy/oligarchy, in his own political life, he generally opposed men, like Julius Caesar , Mark Antony , and Octavian , who were trying to realise such ideals. Eventually, that opposition led to his death and Cicero can be seen as a victim of his own Republican ideals. Tacitus , a contemporary of Plutarch,
6916-449: The rulers, there can be no civic peace or happiness. A number of Ancient Greek city-states such as Athens and Sparta have been classified as " classical republics ", because they featured extensive participation by the citizens in legislation and political decision-making. Aristotle considered Carthage to have been a republic as it had a political system similar to that of some of the Greek cities, notably Sparta, but avoided some of
7007-509: The several meanings of the term res publica , it is most often translated "republic" where the Latin expression refers to the Roman state, and its form of government, between the era of the Kings and the era of the Emperors. This Roman Republic would, by a modern understanding of the word, still be defined as a true republic, even if not coinciding entirely. Thus, Enlightenment philosophers saw
7098-537: The singular cultural and intellectual homogeneity of the Founding Fathers and their generation. The commitment of most Americans to these republican values made the American Revolution inevitable. Britain was increasingly seen as corrupt and hostile to republicanism, and as a threat to the established liberties the Americans enjoyed. Leopold von Ranke in 1848 claimed that American republicanism played
7189-703: The son of Ebenezer Mackintosh was named Pascal Paoli Mackintosh in his honour, and no fewer than five American counties are named Paoli for the same reason. Oliver Cromwell set up a Christian republic called the Commonwealth of England (1649–1660) which he ruled after the overthrow of King Charles I . James Harrington was then a leading philosopher of republicanism. John Milton was another important Republican thinker at this time, expressing his views in political tracts as well as through poetry and prose. In his epic poem Paradise Lost , for instance, Milton uses Satan's fall to suggest that unfit monarchs should be brought to justice, and that such issues extend beyond
7280-561: The start of the Imperial form of government in Rome). By this time, too many principles defining some powers as "untouchable" had been implemented. In Europe, republicanism was revived in the late Middle Ages when a number of states, which arose from medieval communes , embraced a republican system of government. These were generally small but wealthy trading states in which the merchant class had risen to prominence. Haakonssen notes that by
7371-531: The state, freeing it from civil wars and disorder. Tacitus was one of the first to ask whether such powers were given to the head of state because the citizens wanted to give them, or whether they were given for other reasons (for example, because one had a deified ancestor ). The latter case led more easily to abuses of power. In Tacitus' opinion, the trend away from a true republic was irreversible only when Tiberius established power, shortly after Augustus' death in 14 CE (much later than most historians place
7462-494: The status quo, of having a very weak monarch, and opposed those who thought a stronger monarchy was needed. These mostly Polish republicans, such as Łukasz Górnicki , Andrzej Wolan , and Stanisław Konarski , were well read in classical and Renaissance texts and firmly believed that their state was a republic on the Roman model, and started to call their state the Rzeczpospolita . Atypically, Polish–Lithuanian republicanism
7553-539: The staunch opposition to slavery , displaying a nationalist , xenophobic and anti-Portuguese discourse. In 1870 a group of radical liberals, convinced of the impossibility of achieving their desired reforms within the Brazilian monarchical system, met and founded the Republican Party. From its founding until 1889, the party operated in an erratic and geographically diverse manner. The republican movement
7644-464: The tradition as far as Montesquieu , formed the authoritative literature of this culture; and its values and concepts were those with which we have grown familiar: a civic and patriot ideal in which the personality was founded in property, perfected in citizenship but perpetually threatened by corruption; government figuring paradoxically as the principal source of corruption and operating through such means as patronage, faction, standing armies (opposed to
7735-487: The works of Plato , Aristotle and Polybius . These include theories of mixed government and of civic virtue . For example, in The Republic , Plato places great emphasis on the importance of civic virtue (aiming for the good) together with personal virtue ('just man') on the part of the ideal rulers. Indeed, in Book V, Plato asserts that until rulers have the nature of philosophers (Socrates) or philosophers become
7826-709: Was an uprising against British rule in Ireland lasting from May to September 1798 – the Irish Rebellion of 1798 – with military support from revolutionary France in August and again October 1798. After the failure of the rising of 1798 the United Irishman, John Daly Burk, an émigré in the United States in his The History of the Late War in Ireland written in 1799, was most emphatic in its identification of
7917-410: Was founded in 1791 in Belfast and Dublin. The inaugural meeting of the United Irishmen in Belfast on 18 October 1791 approved a declaration of the society's objectives. It identified the central grievance that Ireland had no national government: "...we are ruled by Englishmen, and the servants of Englishmen, whose object is the interest of another country, whose instrument is corruption, and whose strength
8008-411: Was intending to become a republic , to the Commonwealth, which, hitherto, had been an association of Britain and British dominions united by sharing a constitutional link by sharing the British sovereign as their head of state, in particular whether a Commonwealth state could become a republic and remain in the Commonwealth, if so, whether it had the same status in the Commonwealth as the dominions who had
8099-458: Was not concerned with whether a form of government could be analysed as a "republic" or a "monarchy". He analysed how the powers accumulated by the early Julio-Claudian dynasty were all given by a State that was still notionally a republic. Nor was the Roman Republic "forced" to give away these powers: it did so freely and reasonably, certainly in Augustus ' case, because of his many services to
8190-474: Was not the ideology of the commercial class, but rather of the landed nobility, which would lose power if the monarchy were expanded. This resulted in an oligarchy of the great landed magnates. Victor Hugues , Jean-Baptiste Raymond de Lacrosse and Nicolas Xavier de Ricard were prominent supporters of republicanism for various Caribbean islands. Edwin Sandys , William Sayle and George Tucker all supported
8281-472: Was on the other pole arguing for complete independence. In the London Declaration , Commonwealth prime ministers agreed to India's continued membership in the Commonwealth as a republic and that the King would have a new role in the Commonwealth not as a joint head of state but as "the symbol of the free association of its member nations, and as such Head of the Commonwealth ." Four days before
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