Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations. 1989.
| NUMBER: | 760 |
| AUTHOR: | Jefferson Davis (1808–89) |
| QUOTATION: | Our present political position has been achieved in a manner unprecedented in the history of nations. It illustrates the American idea that governments rest on the consent of the governed, and that it is the right of the people to alter or abolish them at will whenever they become destructive of the ends for which they were established. |
| ATTRIBUTION: | Davis served in Congress 1845–1846 and 1847–1851. |
| SUBJECTS: | Government—by the people |