The Question of Sovereignty in the Constitutional Controversy Between Federalists and Anti-Federalists in the Late 18th Century United States: 1787-1788.

Summary In classical political thought, federalism often appears to be incompatible with the concept of sovereignty: the division of political authority between the government of the union and the governments of the states appears to be opposed to the dogma of "one and indivisible" sovereign power, which is presented as a necessary condition for a well-organized political order. The historical study of the controversy surrounding sovereignty, during the period of the founding and ratification of the American federal constitution, highlights the creation of a political entity in which there is no longer a sovereign, neither the states, nor the union, nor even the people (whose constituent power excludes any participation in government). This analysis leads to a critique of the classical, unitary concept of sovereignty, which must be abandoned in the context of a liberal and democratic political theory, where federalism and constitutionalism both express the necessary division of power.