popular sovereignty

noun

Updated on: 13 Apr 2018

Definition of popular sovereignty

1 : a doctrine in political theory that government is created by and subject to the will of the people

2 : a pre-Civil War doctrine asserting the right of the people living in a newly organized territory to decide by vote of their territorial legislature whether or not slavery would be permitted there

Recent Examples of popular sovereignty from the Web

But none are as significant an obstacle to popular sovereignty as the passive suppression inherent to America’s approach to voter registration.

— eric levitz, Daily Intelligencer, "Maryland Adopts Automatic Voter Registration Over GOP Governor’s Objection," 6 Apr. 2018
Within the context of popular sovereignty, dividing a country’s citizens this way implies that some of them are enemies of the people.

— william a. galston, WSJ, "Populism’s Challenge to Democracy," 16 Mar. 2018
The Constitution is just a way of organizing popular sovereignty; the underlying truth is that the people ultimately are in charge.

— jay cost, National Review, "Trump’s DACA Repeal Is a Pause in the Trend toward Executive Overreach," 11 Sep. 2017
And yet, the idea that increasing economic inequality and sustaining popular sovereignty are incompatible endeavors wasn’t always alien to our politics.

— eric levitz, Daily Intelligencer, "Inequality Is a Bigger Threat to Our Democracy Than Putin Is," 2 Nov. 2017
The Constitution is just a way of organizing popular sovereignty

— jay cost, National Review, "Trump’s DACA Repeal Is a Pause in the Trend toward Executive Overreach," 11 Sep. 2017
Its rulings are not really subject to checks and balances, let alone popular sovereignty.

— jay cost, National Review, "Dear Supremes, Stay Out of the Gerrymandering Business," 9 Oct. 2017
Among them is Abdallah al-Maliki, author of a 2012 book on the religious legitimacy of popular sovereignty.

— stéphane lacroix, Washington Post, "Saudi Arabia finally let women drive. Don’t mistake it for democratic reform.," 5 Oct. 2017

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'popular sovereignty.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.