popular sovereignty

[ pop-yuh-ler sov-rin-tee, suhv-rin-tee ]

/ ˈpɒp yə lər ˈsɒv rɪn ti, ˈsʌv rɪn ti /

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noun

the doctrine that sovereign power is vested in the people and that those chosen to govern, as trustees of such power, must exercise it in conformity with the general will.

American History. (before the Civil War) a doctrine, held chiefly by the opponents of the abolitionists, that the people living in a territory should be free of federal interference in determining domestic policy, especially with respect to slavery.

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Origin of popular sovereignty

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Words nearby popular sovereignty

How to use popular sovereignty in a sentence

The core of our political dysfunction is that the Republican Party has increasingly become an anti-democratic party, which refuses to accept the legitimacy of its opponents or the supremacy of popular sovereignty that defines a democracy.
Are we entering a new era of political violence?|Sean Illing|January 7, 2021|Vox
Douglas had staked his political career on the doctrine of popular sovereignty, which granted settlers the right to establish free or enslaved territories.
Gracious losers protect our democracy. Sore ones undermine it.|Edward McClelland|January 6, 2021|Washington Post
Many had radically different ideas of what it was that popular sovereignty should be rooted in.
One U.S. Constitution Just Wasn’t Enough|Tom Arnold-Forster|July 4, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Their platform embraced “popular sovereignty”—a code for introducing slavery into the territories.
The South Has Indeed Risen Again and It’s Called the Tea Party|Jack Schwartz|December 8, 2013|DAILY BEAST

Despite its autocratic tendencies, the Iranian regime goes to great extremes to maintain popular sovereignty.
Iran's Revolutionaries Are Winning|Reza Aslan|June 9, 2010|DAILY BEAST
This is, after all, the only expression of popular sovereignty that Iranians enjoy.
Iran's Military Coup|Reza Aslan|June 15, 2009|DAILY BEAST
Their virtual assertion of popular sovereignty was temporarily smothered by imported tyranny in the shape of Sir Edmund Andros.
William Bradford of Plymouth|Albert Hale Plumb
Marcel will break him if he deviate from the right path and refuse to bow before the popular sovereignty.
The Iron Trevet or Jocelyn the Champion|Eugne Sue
But there was a chance that one or more of these four pivotal free States might cast its vote for Douglas and popular sovereignty.
A Short Life of Abraham Lincoln|John G. Nicolay
What then was the course of the champion of Popular Sovereignty?
Charles Sumner; his complete works, volume 6 (of 20)|Charles Sumner
There he uses words which reveal the limits of Popular Sovereignty.
Charles Sumner; his complete works, volume 7 (of 20)|Charles Sumner

British Dictionary definitions for popular sovereignty

popular sovereignty

noun

(in the pre-Civil War US) the doctrine that the inhabitants of a territory should be free from federal interference in determining their own domestic policy, esp in deciding whether or not to allow slavery

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012