Examples that illustrate popular sovereignty in action

Popular sovereignty began in American history with the American revolution. which was inspired by a major change in the concept of the peoples government. during the revolution the Americans decided that they didn't like king George the 3rd's way of running the government. so the American revolutionaries committed themselves to the idea that government can only be legitimate if it's based on popular sovereignty .

another example of popular sovereignty is with Bleeding Kansas. once Stephen Douglas and others pushed through their idea of allowing popular sovereignty to determine where the new line separating which states slavery would be accepted in. these men believed that the people in these states thought people should be allowed to vote whether or not slavery should be allowed in their territories. bleeding Kansas took a sharp upturn in violence in 1855 when an armed group of men who favored slavery burned down the "free soil" town of Lawrence, Kansas. the violence continued on and on for another two years finally ending in 1858 with about 200 people being killed in bleeding Kansas which was later to be considered a minor civil war.