Popular sovereignty is a principle of legitimacy, not a promise that every national decision will be made by referendum. The people establish a constitutional system that delegates power to offices, divides authority, fixes terms, and protects rights. Officials can therefore make valid decisions that some voters oppose, provided they act through constitutional authority. The Declaration of Independence supplies the founding logic: governments derive just powers from consent, and a government destructive of its purposes may be altered or abolished. The Constitution then gives durable institutional form to popular authority. The Declaration justifies independence and announces principles; the Constitution creates the operative national framework.

Popular sovereignty and majority rule are related but not identical. Popular sovereignty identifies the original and ultimate source of authority. Majority rule is one decision rule used within the system. A majority may choose representatives, but it cannot by ordinary vote rewrite every constitutional limit. Likewise, an election demonstrates participation in the constitutional process more readily than unanimous approval of every policy.

Do not equate popular sovereignty with universal suffrage at the founding or with direct democracy. Initiatives and referenda are direct-democracy devices used mainly in state and local government; representative elections also express popular sovereignty. The people authorize a structure whose institutions exercise delegated powers on their behalf.

Video lesson: Natural rights, social contract, democracy, republicanism and limited government