Expressing One’s Sovereignty Under the Constitution

The equal sovereignty of all men, under God, is the cornerstone upon which our nation was built  This fact is clearly established by the Declaration of Independence, which says:

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.  That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed."

The adoption of the Constitution of the United States and the Bill of Rights did not affect this underlying presumption, but rather represented the social contract whereby the citizens of the United States exercised their sovereign rights to covenant together to create a government to serve them.  Therefore in order to properly interpret the Constitution it is necessary to understand what it means to be a sovereign.

According to my Webster's New World Dictionary, Second College Edition, a sovereign is one who is:

"1.  above or superior to all others; chief; greatest; supreme  2.  supreme in power, rank, or authority  3.  of or holding the position of ruler; royal; reigning. . . ."

Therefore, in this nation, the citizens are the supreme authority in the land and it is from the people, which created it, that the government derives its authority.  This is what makes America unique among nations.  It is this recognition of the sovereignty of the individual under God, that distinguishes us from all other nations and is the hallmark of our liberty.

For comparison purposes, if you recall the history of England, you will remember that in England the King was sovereign.  All rights and authority granted flowed to the people from him.  In 1215, with the signing of the Magna Carta, King John agreed to grant rights to certain of the English people.  Under the English system the sovereignty of the Crown was absolute, subject only to such grants of rights as the Crown may have made (e.g. the creation of Parliament and the adoption of the English Bill of Rights).  Moreover, under the English system three classes of individuals existed.  The King who was sovereign, the freemen (i.e. the Knights, Lords and other property owners) who enjoyed various rights (i.e. the right to vote) but also had certain obligations to the King, and the serfs (i.e. the laborers) who were servants to their Lord.

In 1776 when our forefathers declared their independence from England they broke the bonds of slavery that the King represented and declared themselves free and co-equal sovereigns before God.  They covenanted together as co-equal sovereigns to create thirteen separate, independent and equal state governments.  Fearful of centralized authority the States first formed a confederacy, but realizing the shortcomings of that system they scrapped it in order to form a more perfect union under the Republican system of government created by our Constitution.

Under the Republican system of  government created by our Constitution and in keeping with the spirit of the Declaration of Independence, our forefathers turned the English system on its head.  The citizens were recognized as sovereigns, the State governments were created to serve them and the federal government was created to serve the States.  The Bill of Rights supports such an interpretation of the Constitution.  Specifically, the Ninth Amendment states that

"The enumeration in the Constitution, of certain rights, shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."

Likewise, the Tenth Amendment provides that

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

These two amendments make very clear the fact that our Founding Fathers intended to form a limited government under which the people and the states retained substantial rights, free from federal government interference.

Perhaps the best way to understand how you as a sovereign citizen can begin to exercise your sovereignty, however, is to consider the common law of principal and agent to which the Republican form of government - i.e. government by elected representatives - is closely related.  Under the common law of principal and agent a principal may, by contract,  designate a person or persons as agent(s) for the purpose of acting on his or her behalf to perform certain functions.  Under a Republican form of government the principals (i.e. the sovereign citizens), by contract (i.e. the Constitution), designate certain persons (their government officials) to act on their behalf to perform certain functions.  Under the common law, a principal may define the scope of  the agency and hold the agent accountable thereto.  Under our Republican form of government the principals (i.e. sovereign citizens) elect representatives to carry out certain directives and hold them accountable thereto (through the vote).  Under the Common law, an agent is bound by the law in the exercise of his or her authority.  In a Republic our elected representatives are bound by the Constitution in the exercise of their authority.  Finally, under the common law, a principal retains, unless expressly agreed otherwise, full authority to act on his or her own behalf, regardless of the scope of authority granted to the agent.  Likewise, then one would expect that the sovereign citizens of the United States would retain the right to act on their own behalf even in those areas that they delegated authority to their government unless expressly agreed to the contrary.  Put these principals to work and regain the sovereignty that is your God-given right!