Political Science Midterm

Discuss the development (it's origins-historical) of the government and the development and need of the Constitution.

When our founding father's gathered to draft The Constitution they went with certain beliefs of how the young nation would be governed. These beliefs were influence by several ideas and documents from the early nation and from their mother nation, England. Among these early documents were The Magna Carta, The Mayflower Compact, The Declaration of Independence, The Articles of Confederation, and The Federalist Papers. Early colonists believed that the United States should adopt the best of the English system while adapting to new circumstances. Below you?ll find a brief description of each document and how it influenced the development of The Constitution.

The Magna Carta (1215)The Magna Carta was developed in England in 1215 to bound the king and the people to a common law. This meant that the King himself had to renounce certain rights and obey the same laws as everyone else. The earliest American settlers who came from England were not interested in a monarchist government but they did like the concepts of the Magna Carta. When our founding father's gathered to write the Constitution they recalled the Magna Carta. It influenced the development of both The Bill of Rights and The Constitution which is particularly obvious in the fifth amendment: No person shall...be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law? as well as the constitutional right that guarantees that ?No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned,...or in any other way destroyed...except by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the law of the land. To no one will we sell, to none will we deny or delay, right or justice.?Mayflower Compact (1620)Another earlier document which played an important role in the development of The Constitution was The Mayflower Compact written by the first settlers in 1620. The Pilgrims realized that earlier settlers failed to maintain order because they did not have a central government to overlook things and protect the people's rights (Sheldon pp.125- 208).

They formed a government in which all people had a voice in state and national matters. These ideas would be the foundation of which our Constitution was written.

Declaration of Independence (1776)Following the Seven Year War, the relationship between Great Britain and The United States began to deteriorate. Great Britain was deep in debt and so Parliament increased taxes on the colonies. Parliament believed that it was only fair that the colonies pay for their share of the empires costs.

Since Parliament did not actually represent the colonies they felt that the taxes were unjustified. The issues about tax increases would eventually lead to the Revolutionary War in 1775. In June of 1776, Congress appointed a Committee of Five which included John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman to draft a declaration of independence from Great Britain. After approving the declaration it was signed on July 4, 1776 (Sandoz p.259).

Articles of Confederation (1777)The Articles of Confederation were drafted ...