Abstract
Based on the critical reading of Rousseau's concept of sovereignty of the people, Benjamin Constant will formulate a theory that establishes the existence of a limited social authority and regulated by constitutional institutions as an absolute condition for the survival of freedom won with the revolution. Constant will bequeath to the French liberalism a central topos, namely the inability of the classical republican liberty to account to formulate an institutional solution to the complex commercial society in Europe of lights, but also the understanding of the interpretation of history as progress whose sense of civilization emphasizes the urgency of the of the civil despite the size of the political dimension. Thus, we intend to demonstrate Constant liberalism legitimate representative regime and its implications in terms of participation and rights through a critique of the principle of Rousseaunian-Jacobin republicanism and through a progressive theory of history.
Keywords: revolution; liberalism; sovereignty of the people; progress.