Consent of the Governed: An American Ideal

By Joel Seppala

What does it mean to be an American?  This might seem an overused, overstated, tired, perhaps even provocative question in an age of polar politics that layer a relativist society.

I thought so too. But when I visited the American Revolution Museum at Yorktown, Virginia, I was reminded that despite our differences as individuals and those assigned or associated by demographic linkages, we share a common heritage.

Regardless of race, religion, or categorization into any number of neat boxes fit for use by advertisers and politicians, we all call the United States of America home. If that sentiment has you fitting rubber boots right about now, take a trip with me.

I walked away from the indoor/outdoor museum on the south bank of the York River appreciating the struggle for independence endured by our collective national ancestors. The American men and women of that era, inspired by the philosophical teachings of John Locke and others, decided that they would be the ones, through officials they elected, to decide how the people would henceforth live and be governed. As I toured the wholly impressive museum, complete with a reproduction naval man-of-war, I returned to one phrase in my mind: consent of the governed.

The concept of 'consent of the governed' is self-explanatory in that those appointed or elected to serve in positions of authority would be so elected or appointed by those that the officials would represent, yet the notion is profound. Athens in Ancient Greece was the first democratic society; Rome had an aristocratic Republic. Other than those blips on the world history radar, rulers were largely autocratic, and transitions of power were often defined by bloodshed and heredity--sometimes both.

I reminded myself walking through the museum that the first American warriors and colonial citizens did not have the foreknowledge of victory, as hindsight mercifully grants us. George Washington, through sheer presence and grand leadership, in fact, petitioned Congress and influenced his soldiers to see through the darkest days of the revolution.

Ultimately, despite deep and real differences among our population, there are historical jewels for all of us to collectively identify with. However, a political culture which feeds and profits off of divisiveness will not present these unifying aspects to us, it is up to us as Americans to seek out that which unites us and makes us uniquely American.