Jefferson's Consent of the governed

Jefferson was devoted to the concept of government created and sustained by the consent of the governed and Lincoln later referred to the American political ideal as "government of the people, by the people, for the people." This timeless doctrine has undergone shifts, as the priorities of the governed have, from government of the people in the Jeffersonian republic, to government by the people in the purist democracy of Andrew Jackson, and finally to the New Deal welfare state based on government for the people.