Consent of the Governed

The principle that legitimate government rests on the agreement of the governed has roots in English political thought, especially John Locke's Second Treatise of Government of 1689, which argued that people form governments to protect their natural rights and may replace a government that abuses its trust. The Declaration of Independence, adopted July 4, 1776, stated that governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, and that the people may alter or abolish a government that becomes destructive of those ends.

The Constitution put the principle into practice. Its Preamble begins with We the People, and it was ratified not by state legislatures but by conventions elected for that purpose, so that it would rest on the people's direct authority. Consent is renewed through regular elections, and the Constitution can be changed through the amendment process. Supreme Court decisions in the 1960s holding that legislative districts must have roughly equal populations, the principle of one person, one vote, were grounded partly in the idea that every citizen's consent should count equally.

For much of American history, large groups were governed without being allowed to consent through the vote, including enslaved people, women, Native Americans, and others, and the expansion of voting rights through constitutional amendments and civil rights laws has been described as a fulfillment of the Declaration's promise. Debates continue over what consent requires in practice, from voting rules and representation of the District of Columbia and territories to the role of unelected officials, with some arguing that ongoing participation rather than a single founding act is what makes government legitimate.