T he Constitution of the United States is not as original as you might think. The Constitution gets most of its ideas from past documents. Without these other documents, we would not have the same constitution we have today. Without these documents, we would have a second Articles of Confederation. Without these documents, our country would be completely different.
Magna Carta
The Magna Carta is the oldest influence on the Constitution. It was signed in 1215 by a monarch that could not control his power. It was the very first time a king gave up some power so the king also had to follow laws and was not granted privileges. In fact, the Magna Carta had 63 chapters focused solely on guaranteed rights. This …show more content…
The document clearly stated that although they were leaving England and seeking religious freedom which is what the compact was trying to do, they still respected the king. We also obtained self-government although it’s more vividly stated in the Declaration than the Constitution and a social contract that loosely stated that people obeyed laws for their and other people’s survival.
English Bill of Rights
Just like we had our Bill of Rights, there was an English Bill of Rights. Obviously, this listed individual rights like our Bill of Rights. However, this document was written first, passed by parliament on December 16, 1689 to be exact. The English Bill inspired the U.S. Bill which is included in the Constitution. Ideas used in the Constitution include: list of individual rights, right to petition which was include in the Declaration also, bear arms, no cruel or unusual punishment, freedom from taxation, modern day U.S. Bill of rights. The English Bill of Rights also strengthened the Magna Carta.
John