ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

Popular sovereignty

Popular sovereignty is a way of making sure people have a say in the decisions their government makes. It's like a contract between the people and their government — the people get to make the rules and the government agrees to abide by them. Popular sovereignty means that the government cannot do anything that the people do not agree with. In other words, the people have the power to choose their own laws and the government must follow them.