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popular sovereignty


popular sovereignty

noun

Definition of POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY

1
: a doctrine in political theory that government is created by and subject to the will of the people
2
: a pre-Civil War doctrine asserting the right of the people living in a newly organized territory to decide by vote of their territorial legislature whether or not slavery would be permitted there

First Known Use of POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY

1848

Other Government and Politics Terms

agent provocateur, agitprop, autarky, cabal, egalitarianism, federalism, hegemony, plenipotentiary, socialism

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