The author presents definitions of the concepts ‘state’ and ‘sovereignty’, which were formed in the modern era on the grounds of the European philosophy of politics, and reads them in the context of the Polish historical and political experience. He posits that the two concepts make up an inseparable whole belonging to the European tradition of statehood, in which sovereignty is the fundamental feature of a state and of a political structure, a feature which such a structure, if it constitutes a state must, in a way, by definition, possess. Sovereignty is a unique feature of a state because it stands apart from state’s other traits, it also stands apart from the state itself. It is distinct among other features, because the latter assume its existence, as it is only a sovereign state which can have the real, authentic and lasting features which determine its identity and character.