Lesson 2: Popular Sovereignty: The Consent of the Governed

“The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse.”--James Madison, Father of the Constitution and Fourth President of the United States

In George Caleb Bingham’s The County Election (1852), the voters (at this time most white men over age 21) engage in providing their political consent to the governmental process. That is to say, the people are expressing the consent of the governed or popular sovereignty. Until the expansion of federal power under the New Deal in the 1930’s, most Americans saw government as an intensely local affair--and local politics were best expressed by the events at a rural county election.

Popular sovereignty--the consent of the governed--means that all governmental power comes from the people who consented (agreed) to give the government the power to govern them. The nation’s references to popular sovereignty began with the Declaration of Independence, were reiterated in the Constitution, and the concept has proven to be quite a controversial element in the interpretation of the powers of the Federal Government versus the powers of the people and the states. Whether you believe--as have certain infamous groups in American history--that you must explicitly (through speech or voting) give the government your consent for it to do anything or that your consent to be governed is implicit (unspoken and inferred) based upon the fact that you are living in the United States, popular sovereignty is a powerful force. In this lesson, you will identify the sources of governmental authority and explain how popular sovereignty is regarded as the source of legitimate governmental authority in the United States.

 Standard 4:

The United States is based on democratic values and principles that include liberty, individual rights, justice, equality, the rule of law, limited government, common good, popular sovereignty, majority rule and minority rights.

Benchmark 9.1.2.3.2:

Identify the sources of governmental authority; explain popular sovereignty (consent of

the governed) as the source of legitimate governmental authority in a representative democracy or republic.

Essential Question:

How and why is popular sovereignty articulated in the U.S. Constitution and other founding
documents?