The Role of Popular Sovereignty

Paper Summary:

This three page undergraduate paper examines the role of popular sovereignty. The paper focuses on the time of the colonial era in America, when popular sovereignty was considered to be the foundation of political society, for government in Great Britain and her American colonies was based upon representative democracy.

From the Paper:

"During the colonial era in America, popular sovereignty was considered to be the foundation of political society, for government in Great Britain and her American colonies was based upon representative democracy. Ultimate authority was vested in the monarchy, but the people were represented in Parliament in the mother country and in colonial legislatures in America. Since the founding of the first colonial settlements in Virginia and Massachusetts Bay early in the seventeenth-century, popular sovereignty had always been a fundamental principle of colonial government, but as tensions increased between Great Britain and her colonies, patriot leaders like Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine advocated a dramatic expansion of popular sovereignty."

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