How Did The Roman Constitution Influence America

In 1787, the members of the Federal Convention knew that the Articles of Confederation were severely lacking what was essential for a successful government and nation. Knowing this, the convention looked to the past to construct a constitution for a young and ever changing country. The Founding Fathers’ were influenced by the Romans, the English and many others along the way, hoping that they would be more successful at producing liberty, order, and justice. The result is the long standing Constitution that has guided America and the government through the founding to present day.
Greco-Roman Tradition. The Roman constitution lacked a lot of the qualities that the Framers’ of the constitution we looking for. Roman’s political centralization seemed to put the classes against each other, something the Framers’ were against. Due to this the Romans were faced with wars. In regards to the Roman system only a few things stood out. “For the
American constitutional delegates at Philadelphia, the most interesting feature of the Roman Republic constitution was its system of checks upon the power of men in public authority, and its balancing power among different public offices.
English Common Law. It is easy to see the influence that the English had on America, the Constitution and its government.
“The English common law runs all the way back to Anglo-Saxon days in England, but it did not begin to take shape until late in the twelfth century during the reign of Henry II. It passed into North America with the coming of the first English settlers to the New World, and over the centuries was incorporated into the American system of laws by legislation and judicial decisions.” Two of the most popular documents that prove the influence of the English are the Magna Carta and the English Bill of Rights. “What is surprising, and counter to the usual portrayal that there is a strong and direct reliance of the U.S. Bill of Rights on the English heritage, is that only 9 out of the 26 rights in the U.S. Bill of Rights can be traced back to the Magna Carta! Similarly, 7 can be traced to the English Petition of Rights, and 6 to the English Bill of Rights.” Probably the most famous being the right of due process and trial by
jury.
Development of the Constitutional System. In 1620 before arriving at Plymouth Massachusetts, the Mayflower Compact was formed. The Compact was the basis for the government we know today. The people purposed local self-government. The Compact worked for a while, that is until the people in charge were either the privileged or the church. The country then moved to a more modern approach to government by having written form of constitutions. One of the most popular is the Fundamental Order of Connecticut. The Orders started to set in motion the election processes and restrictions. The Orders also made the election process fair by eliminating religious test and property owners were no longer the only ones in elected positions. This laid the path for the constitutional system that was revised in 1787 by the Founding Fathers.
Political Ideas of the Founding Fathers. The political ideas of the Founding Fathers can be summed up with liberty, order, and justice. The Founders’ wanted to protect the people with limited government and protecting natural rights. “The Bill of Rights illustrates that our Founders understood that for personal freedoms to be broad, the power of the federal government must be limited.” With the idea of limited government the Founders also implemented a system of checks and balances to ensure that one individual could ultimately rule. The constitution was influenced by many different documents, people and periods in time. Ultimately the Founding Fathers’ created the constitution to assist a government that supported the people not just in their time, but for generations to come. Most of us could very proudly say that they were successful.