Sovereignity versus Liberty. The Societal Idea in the Federalist Papers and in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s Philosophy: A Comparison

Seminar paper from the year 2015 in the subject Philosophy - General Essays, Eras, grade: 1,3, Venice International University, course: Venice and the Republican Tradition, language: English, abstract: Especially in the recent 300 years, philosophers have been thinking about the relation between liberty and sovereignty extensively. Some of them were pleading for a strong leader, as for example Thomas Hobbes in his philosophical work on the Leviathan . Others, like Publius, which was actually just a synonym for the three mentors of federalism in North America, John Jay, James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, were counting on the advantages of an-to a certain extension-extensive system of government, in which the different institutions were checking each other and power was divided. This paper is focusing on The Federalist (Papers) No. 9 and 10, The Utility of the Union as a Safeguard against Domestic Faction and Insurrection and The same Subject Continued and on Rousseau’s On the Social Contract . First, there will be definitions mentioned. The terms liberty and sovereignty are used in many different cases nowadays; therefore, it is useful to define them. Then I will give a brief overview of the ideas of man in Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s work and in The Federalist. As Rousseau died about ten years before these were published, I will start with his philosophy. Afterwards, there will be a detailed comparison between the most important aspects of the ideas of liberty and sovereignty in these two philosophical works. The conclusion will give a short summary and a comparison to the actual political systems nowadays.