The defensive discourse on public opinion offered a medium through which anxieties about the cultural and moral devaluation of authority could be communicated. In the nineteenth century the loss of cultural support for authority was shown by the fact that it was increasingly presented as a principle that was inferior to freedom. Moreover, the couplets of Authority versus Truth and Authority versus Reason cast doubts on its moral and intellectual credibility. The erosion of cultural valuation for authority was captured rhetorically through concepts such as ‘the principle of authority’ and ‘authoritarian’.

The language through which authority was expressed had become ambiguous and evasive. This trend was exemplified in the nineteenth century through the concept ‘principle of authority’, which, though frequently used in public discussions and the press, was rarely defined. For example, London's The Times referred to the principle of authority in a manner that suggested its readers would readily understand the term. In France, the term la principe d'authorité was used by the leading anarchist Proudhon, and in Germany, the word Autoritätsprinzip was widely used by theologians and social commentators. Friedrich Engels referred to it in his article ‘On Authority’ and Rudolph Sohm, who influenced the development of Weber's theory of charisma, used the term in his 1892 discussion of charismatic authority.