Republicanism

Republicanism is one possible ideology of governing a society or state as a republic. The key point is that the people hold popular sovereignty, rather than the people being subjects of a king. Many countries are republics, but only those which adhere to the ideology of ""republicanism"" are covered here. Republicanism emerged as an identifiable theme in the Roman Republic, where the founders of the Republic, Lucius Junius Brutus and Collatinus, denounced the former Roman Kingdom and had the Roman people declare a solemn oath never to allow a monarchy to return again. The ideology practically vanished in ancient Rome and was revived in Renaissance Florence, and then in early modern Britain, in the British colonies in America in the causes of the American Revolution, and in France during the French Revolution. After 1800 it spread widely in Europe and European colonies. Republicanism in the United States has been a powerful force in that country since 1776.