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1215
The Magna Carta
The Magna Carta (meaning the great charter) was a charter put in place by nobles in England to limit the power the king had over them. This is a very early example of the questioning and limiting of a ruler's power in England which would then go on to settling the US and bring the ideas of a limited ruling power to the United States. -
Mayflower Compact
The first instance of self-governance in the New World. Being a form of self-governance and the other aspects of the compact itself influenced early colonists and later the Constitution by promoting the ideas of popular sovereignty and self-governance. -
Petition of Right
The petition of right was a document from Parliament to King Charles that would later be signed into law. This document contained ideas like no martial law in peacetime, no imprisonment without reason, and no taxation without the knowledge of parliament. All of these ideas would later go on to influence the constitution. -
The fundamental orders of Connecticut
This was a document that created a system of laws and governance in Connecticut. This influenced the idea of separation of powers within the new world as it had a separate executive and legislative branch. -
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was the first English representative government in North America, this would go on to influence the United States as it too is a representative government. -
English Bill of Rights
The English Bill of Rights limited the power of the English sovereign and was written as an act of Parliament. This would further influence the ideas of limited governments in the colonies. -
Albany Plan
The Albany Plan was a proposition to form the colonies of British North America under one united government, the influence this plan had on the future of the colonies is evident even in their name, the United States. -
Stamp Act Congress
The stamp act congress would further cement the idea that it is a government's job to protect the citizen's liberties. Which then would be put into the constitution as guarantees of rights. -
First Continental Congress
The first continental congress encouraged the colonist's ideas of self-governance and popular sovereignty -
The Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress gave heavy influence to the idea of the social contract, that if people felt unjustly ruled they could create their own new government. -
Declaration of Independence
The declaration of independence would create a strong sense of liberty among the colonists and the grievances in the DoI would serve as major points to address later when the constitution was written. -
Articles of Confederation
The articles of confederation were the original document and layout of the United States Government. Many of the ideas it had would later be tweaked and put into the US constitution such as a national and state government. -
Shay's rebellion
Shay's rebellion was a strike that caused many to doubt if the federal government under the AoC was strong enough. This would directly lead to the need to write the Constitution where the federal government would be given much more power and even become sovereign over the state governments. -
The Great Compromise
The great compromise would outline how the representation of the individual states would be handled. This influenced the legislative branch which after this would be split into two sections, one given representation based on population and the other given equal representation between all states. -
Constitutional Convention
This was the convention during which the constitution would be written, though it would take a few years to be put in place. The constitution lasted much longer than the AoC and still remains the primary document that outlines the powers of the government today.