What is popular sovereignty?
Popular sovereignty indicates that the mandate of the people
created government, and that political power comes from the people.
However, in practice, political leaders abuse their power because
they consider themselves sovereigns, instead of public
It is the basic principle of the American system of government;
that the people are the only source of any and all American
governmental power, that government must be conducted with the
consent of the governed.
Popular sovereignty is the belief that the state is created by
the mandate of its people, who are the source of all political
power. It is closely associated to the social contract
philosophers, among whom are Thomas Hobbes, John Locke and
Jean-Jacques Rousseau. The notion that power lies with the