The Constitution and its Roots
The Constitution and its RootsA case for the connection of America's colonial and
revolutionary religious and political experiences to the basic
principles of the Constitution can be readily made. One point in favor
of this conclusion is the fact that most Americans at that time had
little beside their experiences on which to base their political
ideas. This is due to the lack of advanced schooling among common
Americans at that time. Other points also concur with the main idea
and make the theory of the connection plausible.
Much evidence to support this claim can be found in the
wording of the Constitution itself. Even the Preamble has an important
idea that arose from the Revolutionary period. The first line of the
Preamble states, We the People of the United States... ." This implies
that the new government that was being formed derived its sovereignty
from the people, which would serve to prevent it from becoming corrupt
and disinterested in the people, as the framers believed Britain's
government had become. If the Bill of Rights is considered, more
supporting ideas become evident. The First Amendment's guarantee of
religious freedom could have been influenced by the colonial tradition
of relative religious freedom. This tradition was clear even in the
early colonies, like Plymouth, which was formed by Puritan dissenters
from England seeking religious freedom. Roger Williams, the proprietor
of Rhode Island, probably made an even larger contribution to this
tradition by advocating and allowing complete religious freedom.
William Penn also contributed to this idea in Pennsylvania, where the
Quakers were tolerant of other denominations.
In addition to the tradition of religious tolerance in the
colonies, there was a tradition of self-government and popular
involvement in government. Nearly every colony had a government with
elected representatives in a legislature, which usually made laws
largely without interference from Parliament or the king. Jamestown,
the earliest of the colonies, had an assembly, the House of Burgesses,
which was...
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