The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?

Why this is the answer

The Constitution announces where its authority comes from in its own opening line. Naming the people first, before any branch or office, is the whole point: with those words the Constitution says that the people set up the government, that the government works for them, and that the power to govern comes from them. That is what self-government means. The officer is listening for the three words exactly as they are written, so learn them as a phrase and not as an idea you paraphrase. Memory hook: the document opens by saying who is in charge, and it is not the government.