sovereignty

/ˈsä-v(ə-)rən-tē/

Middle English soverainte, from Anglo-French sovereinté, from soverein seesovereign

noun

  1. supreme power especially over a body politic

  2. freedom from external control : autonomy

  3. controlling influence

noun

  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

noun

  1. popular sovereignty