The European states that were constitutionally designated as “free” were of special interest for the politicized public that began to develop in the 1760s and that so intensively examined the nature of the different forms of state and government and the degree of freedom they afforded. This public sought to clarify its relationship to the existing governmental orders, critically comparing the monarchic absolutism dominant in Germany with contemporary and ancient republics. A new trend of thought began to emerge that, in a nutshell, accorded only the “republics” the attribute of “freedom,” investing this term with the meaning of “free state.” Opponents did not want to restrict the label of freedom to institutional participation of citizens in political decision making. Instead, they attempted to establish a positive relationship with the absolutist states and disputed the claim of the existing republics to the label of “free state”.

To better understand the term republic, it is illuminating to read the relevant article in Zedler’s Universallexikon, the leading encyclopedia of the time. In addition to the broad definition of “common entity,” Zedler also considered a narrower “republic in specific terms, meaning a free people, country, city, or town knowing no leader, or only one of a certain limited thought.” He distinguished three varieties: