The political thought of the German romantics covers a long period, beginning in the 1790s and extending into the 1830s. Since the most important and interesting texts from this period could not all be included in one volume, I have chosen material from a single phase of romantic thought. This is the period from 1797 to 1802, the most fertile and formative period of Romanticism, which is generally known as Frühromantik. Even within this period, it has been necessary to be selective because of the wealth of material. I have therefore concentrated upon the most important writings of three leading figures of the early romantic circle: Novalis, Schleiermacher and Friedrich Schlegel. Selecting texts from this period alone, and from these thinkers alone, provides a coherence and unity that would be impossible to achieve in a more comprehensive anthology.

Within my chosen parameters I have attempted to be as exhaustive and thorough as possible. I have included all kinds of writings relevant to the early political thought of Novalis, Schleiermacher and Schlegel: fragments, lectures, essays and treatises. No claim is made, however, to provide all the early political writings of the German romantics. I have had to exclude two major works from the early period: Schelling's Deduktion des Naturrechts (1796–7) and Schleiermacher's incomplete manuscript Versuch einer Theorie des geselligen Betragens (1799). Though these works are interesting and important, they are not suitable for an introductory edition. Schelling's Deduktion is comprehensible only to someone who has a good grasp of Fichte's early philosophy; and Schleiermacher's Versuch is best understood after reading the Monologen, which have been translated in part here.