Popular sovereignty in the Declaration rested on nature’s laws and nature’s God

Evidence

Its first paragraph speaks of “a people” advancing from “subordination” to an “equal” station of nationhood much as the second proposition of Mason’s Declaration of Rights spoke of all power vesting in and deriving from “the people.” Any notion of the divine right of monarchs or might making right is foreign to both documents. In them, the people—not God, party, or power—are sovereign, but Jefferson’s draft quickly added that their sovereignty rested on “the laws of nature & of nature’s god.” — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 210

Categorization

• DEFINE: Shows how foundational legal-political terms — sovereignty, the people, nature’s law — were first articulated and grounded at the founding.
• XREF: connects to: Natural rights rest on divine ownership, not individual autonomy — , Second Treatise of Government and A…, 27; British monarchical rule rested on a claimed divine right

Broader Connections

• Natural rights rest on divine ownership, not individual autonomy #corroborates (0.85) — , Second Treatise of Government and A…, 27