A revolutionary republic is a form of government whose main tenets are

popular sovereignty Popular sovereignty is the principle that the leaders of a state and its government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associativ ...

rule of law The essence of the rule of law is that all people and institutions within a Body politic, political body are subject to the same laws. This concept is sometimes stated simply as "no one is above the law" or "all are equal before the law". Acco ...

, and

representative democracy Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy or electoral democracy, is a type of democracy where elected delegates represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies func ...

. It is based in part on the ideas of

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

thinkers, and was favored by

revolutionaries A revolutionary is a person who either participates in, or advocates for, a revolution. The term ''revolutionary'' can also be used as an adjective to describe something producing a major and sudden impact on society. Definition The term—bot ...

during the

Age of Revolution The Age of Revolution is a period from the late-18th to the mid-19th centuries during which a number of significant revolutionary movements occurred in most of Europe and the Americas. The period is noted for the change from absolutist monarch ...

. A revolutionary republic tends to arise from the formation of a provisional government after the overthrow of an existing state and political regime. It often takes the form of a revolutionary state, which ostensibly represents the will of its constituents. The term also refers to the form of government that the

National Convention The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...

favored during the

French Revolutionary Wars The French Revolutionary Wars () were a series of sweeping military conflicts resulting from the French Revolution that lasted from 1792 until 1802. They pitted French First Republic, France against Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain, Habsb ...

, as France established republics through its occupation of neighboring territories in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. Most of these

client states A client state in the context of international relations is a state that is economically, politically, and militarily subordinated to a more powerful controlling state. Alternative terms for a ''client state'' are satellite state, associated state ...

, or sister republics, were means of controlling occupied lands through a mix of French and local authority. The institution of republican governments as a means of promoting democratic nationalism over

monarchies A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, reigns as head of state for the rest of their life, or until abdication. The extent of the authority of the monarch may vary from restricted and largely symbolic (constitutio ...

(primarily the

Bourbons The House of Bourbon (, also ; ) is a dynasty that originated in the Kingdom of France as a branch of the Capetian dynasty, the royal House of France. Bourbon kings first ruled France and Navarre in the 16th century. A branch descended from ...

and

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (; ), also known as the House of Austria, was one of the most powerful dynasties in the history of Europe and Western civilization. They were best known for their inbreeding and for ruling vast realms throughout Europe d ...

s) set the stage for the appearance of

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

sentiment across Europe, which significantly influenced the course of European history (see

1830 It is known in European history as a rather tumultuous year with the Revolutions of 1830 in France, Belgium, Poland, Switzerland and Italy. Events January–March * January 11 – LaGrange College (later the University of North Alabama) ...

and

Revolutions of 1848 The revolutions of 1848, known in some countries as the springtime of the peoples or the springtime of nations, were a series of revolutions throughout Europe over the course of more than one year, from 1848 to 1849. It remains the most widespre ...

). Today, "revolutionary republic" can refer to various governments in disparate locations. In the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, it can be defined as those who advocate for the removal of the monarch as head of state, or for the replacement of the monarch with an elected figurehead, as in

Irish nationalism Irish nationalism is a nationalist political movement which, in its broadest sense, asserts that the people of Ireland should govern Ireland as a sovereign state. Since the mid-19th century, Irish nationalism has largely taken the form of cult ...

, the self-declared

Irish Republic The Irish Republic ( or ) was a Revolutionary republic, revolutionary state that Irish Declaration of Independence, declared its independence from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland in January 1919. The Republic claimed jurisdict ...

of 1919 - 1922 is described as a revolutionary republic. In

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, revolutionary republicanism is closely tied to moderate nationalism, along with opposition to monarchy.

Revolutionary American Republic

Leading up to and during the

American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...

in the 1760s and 1770s, intellectual and political leaders in the

Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America. The Thirteen C ...

closely read history to compare forms of governments and their effectiveness. They were especially concerned with the history of

liberty Liberty is the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views. The concept of liberty can vary depending on perspective and context. In the Constitutional ...

in England and with the rights of Englishmen, which they claimed were the proper heritage of the colonists. These intellectuals were especially influenced by Britain's Country Party (which opposed the ruling

Court Party Country Party was the name employed in the Kingdom of England (and later in Great Britain) by political movements which campaigned in opposition to the Court Party (that is, the Ministers of the Crown and those who supported them). In the late 1 ...

). The Country Party relied heavily on the classical

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 ...

of Roman heritage; it celebrated the ideals of duty and virtuous citizenship. It drew heavily on ancient Greek city-state and Roman republican examples. The Country Party denounced the corruption surrounding the Court Party in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, centering on the royal court. The resulting political ideology was widespread in America by 1775. Robert Kelley called republicanism "the distinctive political consciousness of the entire Revolutionary generation".

J. G. A. Pocock John Greville Agard Pocock (; 7 March 1924 – 12 December 2023) was a New Zealand historian of political thought. He was especially known for his studies of republicanism in the early modern period (mostly in Europe, Britain, and America), h ...

explained the intellectual sources in America: American revolutionaries took a lesson from

Ancient Rome In modern historiography, ancient Rome is the Roman people, Roman civilisation from the founding of Rome, founding of the Italian city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, collapse of the Western Roman Em ...

. They were determined to avoid the luxurious lifestyles and greed that had destroyed the Roman Empire. A virtuous citizen was defined as one who ignored monetary compensation and made a commitment to resist and eradicate corruption. Republicanism required the service of those who were willing to give up their own interests for a common good. According to

Bernard Bailyn Bernard Bailyn (September 10, 1922 – August 7, 2020) was an American historian, author, and academic specializing in U.S. Colonial and Revolutionary-era History. He was a professor at Harvard University from 1953. Bailyn won the Pulitzer Pr ...

, "The preservation of liberty rested on the ability of the people to maintain effective checks on wielders of power and hence in the last analysis rested on the vigilance and moral stamina of the people." The duty of the virtuous citizen became a foundation for the ideology of the American Revolution.Bernard Bailyn, ''The Ideological Origins of the American Revolution'' (1967)

References

Sources

* * * * *{{cite book, last=Shankman, first=Andrew, title=The World of the Revolutionary American Republic: Land, Labor, and the Conflict for a Continent, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8BRgAwAAQBAJ, access-date=2015-06-06, date=2014-04-16, publisher=Routledge, isbn=978-1-317-81497-9 Republicanism Modern history of Italy * Revolution terminology Types of republics