Henceforth, it no longer mattered whether public offices were distributed equally among citizens. It was much more important that those who held office did so through the consent of the rest. It was the manner in which power was distributed that made the outcome acceptable, whatever it was. To be sure, the concern for distributive justice in the allocation of offices had not entirely disappeared. But election as a method for conferring power was seen as substantially fairer and more egalitarian than the principle that had been in place, namely, that of heredity.