The Declaration, the Constitution, and the Consent of the Governed
Consent of the governed meant more than elections — it meant limits on power.
by Donald Devine
May 23, 2026, 10:19 PM
Arecent Fund for American Studies conference asked its panelists to explain what the Founders intended when they used the phrase “consent of the governed” in the Declaration of Independence, which at first blush seemed simple for a PhD in political science and longtime lecturer on the general subject of the Founding.
But the more I thought of it, the more complex this question became.
The Declaration was certainly “intended” to justify declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Founders made their case by enumerating “repeated injuries and usurpations” by the King, resulting in “an absolute tyranny” that voided his moral right to rule. To secure the basic human rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for its people, the document continued, “governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.” And when destructive of those ends, “it is the right of the people to alter or abolish it and institute a new government.” (RELATED: The Immediate Impact and Enduring Importance of the Declaration of Independence)
But this King had already claimed to be ruling his colonies by the ultimate right, Divine Right. What moral justification could possibly trump that godly claim? The Founders’ response was that the people were endowed by their very Creator with these “unalienable rights” as derived from “the laws of Nature and Nature’s God.” So, by “appealing to the Supreme Judge of the World,” and through the “authority of the good people of these colonies,” as represented by a congress of their independent states, they did solemnly declare independence, “with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence” and upon the risk of their own lives, fortunes, and sacred honor. (RELATED: Can Liberty Survive Without a Soul?)
https://spectator.org/the-declaration-the-constitution-and-the-consent-of-the-governed/
