This chapter considers how Constant offered “representative government” as an alternative to Bonaparte and his acolytes’ version of democracy. It begins by examining Constant’s critique of Bonaparte’s plebiscitary sovereignty, then explores his alternative theory of constitutional legitimacy – one inspired by Hume’s motto that all governments rest on opinion. The chapter then traces how, from 1814 onward, Constant pragmatically redeployed that theory as political regimes changed in France. After analyzing Constant’s arguments against Bonaparte’s conception of opinion formation and presenting his own theory of “the government of opinion,” the chapter’s final two sections show how reconstructing Constant’s opinion-based theory of legitimacy helps explain why, in 1830, he defended both the French conquest of Algiers and the newly founded July Monarchy.