As can be seen in the U.S., popular sovereignty can be dicy when large portions of the polity don't consider other large portions of it to properly be part of The People or people at all…and difficult for a government claiming institutional legitimacy, as opposed to 'embodying the Will of the [Properly-Hued and Believing ]People', to go beyond the limits posed by established institutions.
Good essay, but one nitpick. You've got a cliffhanger sentence:
"The governments of the communes, which supplied the majority of electors, were This lead the father of the Third Republic Léon Gambetta to remark"
As can be seen in the U.S., popular sovereignty can be dicy when large portions of the polity don't consider other large portions of it to properly be part of The People or people at all…and difficult for a government claiming institutional legitimacy, as opposed to 'embodying the Will of the [Properly-Hued and Believing ]People', to go beyond the limits posed by established institutions.