American colonists protested the lack of representation in Parliament while under British rule. Jefferson addressed this issue by including a statement that would secure a government that is run by the consent of those who are governed.
The consent of the governed, also called popular sovereignty, is a fundamental principle that is addressed in the Declaration of Independence. Read the excerpt below from the Declaration of Independence.
Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed
English philosophers like John Locke and Thomas Hobbes expressed the importance of popular sovereignty. These philosophers believed that people are the source of political power. According to the Library of Congress "Creating the Declaration of Independence" website, "The founders of the United States believed that the government of Great Britain should rest on the principle that government depended on the consent of the governed and that any government not based on that consent should be overthrown and replaced."
Jefferson was also influenced by Common Sense, a pamphlet published in January 1776 by Thomas Paine. Common Sense shaped public opinion by illustrating why Americans needed to be independent of Great Britain. Paine felt that it did not make sense for Americans to be ruled by a king from across the sea. In essence, Common Sense campaigned for Americans to rule the country themselves.
Read the following excerpt from Paine’s Common Sense.
The members of Congress, Assemblies, or Conventions, by having had experience in national concerns, will be able and useful counselors, and the whole, by being empowered by the people, will have a truly legal authority.
According to the excerpt above, who will the people empower (give consent) to address national issues?