Slovenes had their first state Carinthia (Karantania) even in the
7th century. The ancient ritual of installing Carinthian dukes
carried out in the Slovene language whereby the Slovene peasantry
transferred the sovereign power to make laws for their community to
the dukes fascinated the celebrated humanist Aeneas Silvius
Piccolomini, better known as Pope Pious II. The French legal historian
and philosopher Jean Bodin, inspired by Piccolomini's tireless praise,
examined the ritual in detail and described it as an original idea for
the transfer of sovereignty that "had no parallel throughout the
world.
The ritual installation of the duke of Carinthia was conducted in
the Slovene language until the fifteenth century. The installation
helped Jefferson develop the theory of the right of people to appoint
their own leaders and of the power that emerges from the people
themselves, ideas that he drew on when writing the Declaration of
Independence.
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