ABSTRACT
Early U.S. policies pertaining to the institution of sovereignty had a decisive impact on the evolution of its rules and practices during the nineteenth century. U.S. policies spearheaded the process of replacement of dynastic solidarism with liberal pluralism as the dominant conception of the international society of states of that period, spanning the Euro–Atlantic area. This new conception centered around a distinct notion of one basic principle of sovereignty, non-intervention in the domestic affairs of foreign states, and three essential sovereignty practices: recognition of governments, neutrality vis-à-vis internal conflicts abroad, and recognition of states. Nearly forgotten today, this U.S. contribution came about as a result of gradual policy adoption by an ever-growing number of constitutional states in the Americas and Europe. The most important role in that diffusion, especially across Europe, was played by Great Britain, which embraced matching policies—partly in emulation of the United States, partly in collaboration with the United States, and partly independently of the United States but on the basis of corresponding liberal pluralist ideas.
