What does this comment mean much of the thought upon which present day democratic government rests began as a challenge to the theory of the divine right of kings?

Answer 1

At the time of the American Revolution, there were few if any governments anything like the US government. Basically there were monarchies as in Europe, or other forms of authoritarian government. Many thought that the newly emerging US should have made provisions for Washington to crowned king. The idea seems ridiculous and impossible to us today, but it was perfectly natural to the colonists who had always been subject to a king. Washington was, in fact, far down on the list of heirs to the British crown. Many would probably have used this fact to legitimize an American royal house. The divine right of kings refers to what many monarchists believed to be the God-given right of kings to rule as absolute princes; that is, with absolute authority unimpeded by parliaments or other hindrances. The US government is radically different, acknowledging that the authority to govern originates in the concent of the governed, a concept in stark contrast to the divine right of kings, and also to the broad biblical concept that all authority is given by God.