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We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America. The opening words ...
Instead, "not just a few individuals, but the 'Body of the People' had to feel concerned" before the right of revolution was justified and with most writers speaking of a " 'whole people who are the Public', or the body of the people acting in their 'public Authority', indicating a broad consensus involving all ranks of society".
In New Jersey, the governor also functioned as a member of the state's highest court and as the presiding officer of one house of the New Jersey Legislature. The president of Delaware was a member of the Court of Appeals; the presiding officers of the two houses of the state legislature also served in the executive department as vice presidents.
The head of state is typically elected or nominated by representatives. In a democratic state, power is wielded by the people of the state, typically through a mixture of elected representatives and direct voting, but in theory could happen purely by Direct democracy without elected representatives
People with a common origin, history, language, culture, customs, or religion can turn into a nation through the awakening of national consciousness. [19] A nation can exist without a state, as is exemplified by the stateless nations. Citizenship is not always the nationality of a person. [20]
Whereas authority denotes a specific position in an established government, the term legitimacy denotes a system of government—wherein government denotes "sphere of influence". An authority viewed as legitimate often has the right and justification to exercise power. Political legitimacy is considered a basic condition for governing, without ...
Nation-building is constructing or structuring a national identity using the power of the state. [1] [2] Nation-building aims at the unification of the people within the state so that it remains politically stable and viable. According to Harris Mylonas, "Legitimate authority in modern national states is connected to popular rule, to majorities ...
"Consent of the governed" is a phrase found in the 1776 United States Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson.. Using thinking similar to that of John Locke, the founders of the United States believed in a state built upon the consent of "free and equal" citizens; a state otherwise conceived would lack legitimacy and rational-legal authority.