Popular Sovereignty Definition

The American system of government keeps us safe from tyrannical oppression by distributing power among the people through collective decision making and by providing opportunity to eliminate unjust leaders.
Popular sovereignty is the skeleton that runs through the body of the American government system. A simple definition of popular sovereignty is people power. When the U.S. Constitution was written, they had this definition that still influences how our modern day system functions in mind. An example of popular sovereignty is our legislative branch. The legislative branch is made up of two large collectives of representatives elected by the people of their state; the large collectives are the House of Representatives and the Senate. This is known as Congress. Congress, because it is composed of such a range of people, allows there to be many ideas brought to attention. These groups deny opportunity for tyranny by creating a collective that distributes the power among the mass of
Congress. This separation of power allows a more democratic approach to issues at hand because the mass collectives need to vote on the validity of an issue instead of putting all the power onto a small group or a single leader. Another way the American government protects us from tyranny is the way the power is separated into three branches, and each branch can ensure the others are not over stepping their power. Judicial, executive, and legislative branches are the three branches found in our modern day system. This separation ensures that the people writing the laws are not the same people who decide whether or not they are fair. Without separation what is there to stop someone from rising to power and becoming a tyrannical leader? The branches ensure a just distribution of power is by using a concept called “checks and balances”. An example of this is that if the president is overstepping his or her power or breaks a law, the legislative branch can impeach him or her. This is drastic but necessary. This has only been done a few times but is a great indicator that our system provides opportunity to remove unjust leaders. Another aspect of our government that protects us from tyranny is that we are guaranteed a trial by a jury of our peers.
This puts the power into a mass collective of people instead of one leader. The guarantee of a trial also ensures that people cannot be put in jail without first getting to plead their case. Our judicial system requires that you are innocent until proven guilty, and having a large jury ensures that one person cannot be the one who dictates your fate. One example of why this is so effective can be seen by taking a look at colonial America. When provided a jury at his case, John Adams proved that British soldiers were not guilty of murder. This was shocking. Although these soldiers were hated by the people and the judges of the town, the jury proved them not guilty. This scenario may have panned out differently if only one leader was to decide their fate. By providing people with a jury, this separates power unto a group of people to eliminate any chance of
tyranny.