There are many views on the authority for government.
social: The earliest tribal governments derived their authority from social mores, with leadership by acclaim.
divine: Most older governments dervied their authority from religion, claiming either divine ancestry or divine approval.
[Basic Law [Constitution] for the Federal Republic of Germany, Article I:] Conscious of their responsibility before God and Men, Animated by the resolve to serve world peace as an equal partner in a united Europe, the German people have adopted, by virtue of their constituent power, this Basic Law.
The Germans in the Länder of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, North-Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia have achieved the unity and freedom of Germany in free self-determination. This Basic Law is thus valid for the entire German People.
Jay Sekulow, who filed an amicus brief on behalf of members of Congress and the Committee to Protect the Pledge, said “The Supeme Court has removed a dark cloud that has been hanging over one of the nation’s most important annd cherished traditions — the ability of students across the nation to acknowledge the fact that our freedoms in this country come from God, not government.” See Pledge of Allegiance.
royal: Many kingdoms viewed the king (or queen) as the personification of the nation and that the authority for the government flowed from the royal personage.
people: Many modern governments claim that the authority for government rests with the people and that the government exists at the consent of the people.
“Ours [United States of America] is the only country deliberately founded on a good idea.” —John Gunther
[Constitution of the Nation of Pacifica, Preamble:] We the People of the Nation of Pacifica, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, protect the environment, encourage trade, industry, and agriculture, construct and maintain infrastructure, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty, equality, community, and civilization to ourselves and our posterity, resolved to serve world peace as an equal partner in the global human community, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the Nation of Pacifica.
[Constitution of the United States, Preamble:] 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.
[Basic Law [Constitution] for the Federal Republic of Germany, Article I:] Conscious of their responsibility before God and Men, Animated by the resolve to serve world peace as an equal partner in a united Europe, the German people have adopted, by virtue of their constituent power, this Basic Law.
The Germans in the Länder of Baden-Württemberg, Bavaria, Berlin, Brandenburg, Bremen, Hamburg, Hesse, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, North-Rhine-Westphalia, Rhineland-Palatinate, Saarland, Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, Schleswig-Holstein, and Thuringia have achieved the unity and freedom of Germany in free self-determination. This Basic Law is thus valid for the entire German People.
[Constitution of the Republic of France, Preamble:] The French people solemnly proclaim their attachment to the Rights of Man and the principles of national sovereignty as defined by the Declaration of 1789, confirmed and complemented by the Preamble to the Constitution of 1946.
By virtue of these principles and that of the self-determination of peoples, the Republic offers to the overseas territories that express the will to adhere to them new institutions founded on the common ideal of liberty, equality and fraternity and conceived with a view to their democratic development.
