Democratic Sentinel, Volume 19, Number 35, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1895 — “We.” [ARTICLE]

“We.”

Kant discusses the question why kings say “we” in lieu of “I,” and traces the cause to egotism, condescension and feudalism. Coleridge, on the other hand, says it is rather a relic of democracy, retained by the policy of Augustus, who, merging in one the most Important magistracies, would be addressed not as a person but as a proxy of the majority, “We,” that is the Tribunes, the Pontiff, and the Senate.