Two theories have been offered to justify the government’s right to the obedience of the people. The first is known as the theory of divine right. According to this idea all governmental authority was originally bestowed upon the rulers by the Creator. And having received their authority from God, the rulers were not responsible to the people. This theory of governmental authority is very old, as old as the Ten Commandments and probably older. It was argued that kings ruled and princes governed by divine right because “the powers that be are ordained of God”. This doctrine of the divine right of rulers was maintained throughout the mediaeval period and was put forth by the Stuart kings of England as a justification of their despotic rule.[17] [Sidenote: The “consent of the governed”.] The other theory, which is that government has its foundation in the “consent of the governed”, appeared in the writings of the English philosopher, John Locke, during the seventeenth century and was incorporated into the Declaration of Independence about one hundred years later. When the Stuart dynasty was finally expelled from the throne of England, the new sovereigns were declared to be rulers “according to the desire and resolution of parliament”, in other words by the consent of the English people through their representatives. Since the beginning of the nineteenth century the theory that government rests on the consent of the governed has been accepted in all democratic countries. [Sidenote: What the consent of the governed implies.] Now if we hold this doctrine to be sound, as most men do today, it follows that when people establish a government by their own consent, they are under obligation to submit to its authority. Every right imposes a duty. The right to frame a constitution and to adopt it as the basis of a new government carries the duty of supporting the constitution and upholding the hands of those who exercise authority under it. The people who claim the right to make the laws must be ready to obey these laws when they are made. When men and women by their own consent establish a government they do this because they expect to obtain some advantages such as security, peace, and order. In return for these advantages they must expect to yield obedience, pay taxes, adjust their differences in the courts, and do whatever else a government reasonably requires. [Sidenote: The social contract theory.]