Governments usually exercise their power in three basic ways in order to create and enforce public policy. It is through **legislative power, executive power, and judicial power**.

**Legislative power** allows the government to create the laws and its policies. In other words, it allows the people to exercise their will through the policies being made by the government.

**Executive power** is the power that executes the laws created and the policies of the government, making sure they are carried out, obeyed by others, and administered.

**The judicial power** settles problematic situations that arise in society, as well as explains the laws, determines their purpose so that they can be interpreted into a conclusion/solution.

**The Declaration of Independence** is based on the idea that all men are equal and have the rights to life and freedom. The government’s role is to protect and enforce this idea. Also, in case the government tries to deprive its people from these rights, the people have the right to enforce them and oppose the government.

The Declaration of Independence is based on the core values that represents **the laws of nature** and **the nature’s God substantiate**. According to these laws, eternally and by nature, everyone has a right to the natural rights (for example, the right to property and the right to have an independent opinion), equality, and justice. It is based on the belief that moral behavior is inherently in the human mind, which makes it superior to all the written laws. This means that the power of government should be based on the power of those under it, the people. Theses ideas are regarded to as one of the self-evident truths, and should be instilled in the government’s actions that are based on peoples’ preference.

There are several theories that strive to explain the origin of the state as a sovereign political organization with a defined territory and population. However, two of these theories are the most prominent ones – The Social Contract Theory and The Divine Rights of Kings Theory.

The **Social Contract Theory** was first discussed in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries by philosophers like John Locke, Thomas Hobbes, Jean Jacques Rousseau, and others, As the term “social contract” suggests, the state was created by the people themselves who’ve signed a contract which established the state.

According to the theory of Social Contract, throughout early human history, people lived in a state of nature where they experienced unlimited freedom. No human was subject to any authority at this time, a fact which was viewed differently by different philosophers. For instance, Hobbes described the natural state as a time of human suffering, whereas Locke had a much more positive outlook on the matter. Either way, people decided that, in order to protect their freedoms from harm, an entity needed to be established which would be granted sovereignty and authority so it could enforce the well-being and safety of all of them equally. This is when the state was created, according to the social contract theory.

On the other hand, the **Divine Rights of Kings Theory** was based on the idea that God created the state, just as he had created everything else. When God did so, he decided that only those with his blessing were destined to rule while others had to obey them in the same way they obeyed God. An act of defiance to the state and the monarchs was viewed as an act of defiance to God – a mortal sin. The governments of many ancient civilizations operated according to this principle to legitimize the rule of their monarchs – the Chinese, Egyptians, Aztec, Maya, Japanese, and the Europeans throughout the Middle Ages and after all adhered to the principles of the Divine Rights of Kings Theory.

People demonstrate their understanding of the responsibilities, duties, and obligations of citizenship by their behavior and actions that accord to their duties so that they may be vested with the rights and privileges of citizenship. 

**Obeying laws** issued by the government through policies that are created based on general preferences, **contributing** to the collective goals of society, and **participating in duties** such as taxes. All in purpose of the general welfare, serving and protecting the citizens. Vigilance in return for the price of freedom according to Thomas Jefferson. The **country through government provides security and liberty** to its citizens, which is reciprocally secured by actions of the citizens for the government. This applies to protecting the country from invasion or taking necessary action when the law is not just.

Every citizen has a privilege of liberty as long as it does not interfere with someone else’s liberty, therefore a citizen cannot do whatever they want. Citizens are supposed to serve the government, and the government serves its citizens by seeking justice. **Justice** is set to be the most sacred duty of the government. It is also believed that forming unions makes “us”: the government and the citizens stronger when they work together.

The federal government serves the purpose set forth for the people in the Preamble to the Constitution, and the people in return give the government its power to exercise the purpose of the Constitution.
There are several ways in which the government focuses on serving the purposes set forth in the Preamble to the Constitution.

The government serves the purpose of the Constitution by encouraging the development of **a more Perfect Union between the states** because it is believed that the government, the states, and the people have more power together.

The government **aims to establish justice** by creating laws that are fair and equal for all, that is the reason why Martin Luther King is highly regarded.

The government **provides Domestic Tranquility**, which is based on an order that aims to maintain peace in its own country, and literally home. In some parts of the Third World, for example, there is no legislative body that aims to do this, and the result is dangerous warlords across the board who control various territories. This is set to be one of the main functions of government.

The government **provides for Common Defense** and security from foreign enemies through its foreign policy. Defense is done through military forces consisting of army, navy and air force.
All with the purpose of protecting the people of the states.

The government acts as a servant of the people by **promoting the General Welfare** through services that are meant for all or most people. For example, public school is one of the ways that the government does this.

By **protecting the Blessings of Liberty** through reasonable action and the philosophy that no one can do what they want if by doing so something interferes with another’s liberty. Everyone has their duties and responsibilities that are necessary to achieve the safety and freedom of all, for example, protecting someone’s property and life. Therefore, freedom cannot be complete.

The government exercises its power under the Constitution in three basic ways. Through legislation, enforcement, and the judiciary, which are intended to give the people the sovereignty on which the Constitution bases it self around.