ABSTRACT
The chapter is a summary of the reactions to the majoritarian abuses of the French Revolution, and cites several examples from Benjamin Constant to Joseph de Maistre to demonstrate the similarity between the “liberal” and “conservative” critique of the general will and the sovereignty of the people. Although both sides agreed that the concept of the general will was elusive, making it possible for its self-appointed representatives to exercise their tyranny in the name of the majority, liberals like Constant made serious efforts to rescue at least the concept of popular sovereignty, whereas conservatives systematically rejected the latter as well as misleading and dangerous. The second part of the chapter cites several further examples from post-revolutionary literature to illustrate the gradual development of the concept of majority tyranny in France before Tocqueville.
