Sĕlf'-gŏv'ern-ment, n.
n. 1. The government of one's self; self-control.
Sense 2. Hence, government by the mass of a nation, or the people; democracy.
But I say to you, and to our whole country, and to all the crowned heads, and aristocratic powers, and feudal systems that exist, that it is to self-government, the great principle of popular representation and administration—the system that lets in all to participate in the counsels that are to assign the good or evil to all—that we may owe what we are and what we hope to be. D. Webster.