It has become something of a cliché for contemporary scholars to assert that Madison turned Montesquieu on his head and thereafter give little thought to the Frenchman’s theory that republics must remain limited in territorial size. Madison did indeed present a formidable challenge to Montesquieu’s theory, but I will demonstrate in this dissertation that the authors of the Federalist Papers arrived at the extended sphere by following a theoretical pathway already cemented by the French philosopher. I will also show that Madison’s “practical sphere” ultimately concedes to Montesquieu that excessive territorial size and high levels of heterogeneity will overwhelm the citizens of a republic and enable the few to oppress the many. The importance of this dissertation is its finding that the principal mechanism devised by the Federalists for dealing with factions—the enlargement of the sphere—was crafted specifically for the purpose of moderating interests, classes, and sects within an otherwise relatively homogeneous nation. Consequently, the diverse republic that is America today may be exposed to the existential threat anticipated by Montesquieu’s theory of size—the plutocratic oppression of society by an elite class that employs the strategy of divide et impera.

La République de Pologne-Lituanie, par sa forme de gouvernement unique, a suscité l’intérêt d’auteurs français fondamentaux tels que Théodore de Bèze, Jean Bodin, Montesquieu, Voltaire et Jean-Jacques Rousseau, mais aussi de penseurs aujourd’hui moins connus, comme Jean Boucher, Claude de Rubis ou Nicolas Baudeau. La Pologne apparaît dans la littérature politique française dès 1573, date à laquelle Henri de Valois fut élu roi de Pologne, jusqu’en 1795, moment de la disparition de la carte de l’Europe de l’État polono-lituanien. Malgré cette présence continue, elle ne fut que très peu étudiée dans l’historiographie française. Pourtant, elle représente une clé de lecture passionnante pour éclairer les débats politiques français de l’époque moderne, ce qu’entreprend de démontrer cette thèse. / The Republic of Poland-Lithuania, with its unique form of government, aroused the interest of fundamental French authors such as Théodore de Bèze, Jean Bodin, Montesquieu, Voltaire or Jean-Jacques Rousseau, but also the attention of less known thinkers like Jean Boucher, Claude de Rubis or Nicolas Baudeau. Poland appeared in French political literature in 1573, when Henri of Valois was elected king of Poland, until 1795, when the Polish-Lithuanian state disappeared from the map of Europe. Despite this continuous presence, it has been insufficiently analyzed in the French historiography. Yet, it represents a fascinating key for reading the French political debates of the modern era. This thesis aims at demonstrating it.