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Tuesday, 30 November 1999 00:00 |
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The Constitution
Essay submitted by Anonymous
A 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 elected by the property
owners of the colony. Maryland developed a system of government much like Britain’s,
with a representative assembly, the House of Delegates, and the governor sharing
power. The Puritan colony in Massachusetts originally had a government similar to a
corporate board of directors with the first eight stockholders, called freemen" holding
power. Later, the definition of freemen" grew to include all male citizens, and the
people were given a strong voice in their own government.
This tradition of religious and political autonomy continued into the revolutionary period.
In 1765, the colonists convened the Stamp Act Congress, which formed partly because
the colonists believed that the government was interfering too greatly with the
colonies’ right to self-government. Nine colonies were represented in this assembly. The
Sons of Liberty also protested what they perceived to be excessive interference in
local affairs by Parliament, terrorizing British officials in charge of selling the hated
stamps. Events like these served to strengthen the tradition of self-government that
had become so deeply embedded in American society.
The from of government specified by the Constitution seems to be a continuation of
this tradition. First, the Constitution specifies a federal system of government, which
gives each individual state the right to a government. Second, it specifies that each
state shall be represented in both houses of Congress. The lower house, the House of
Representative, furthermore, is to be directly elected by the people. If the Bill of Rights
is considered, the religious aspect of the tradition becomes apparent. The First
Amendment states, "Congress may make no law respecting an establishment of religion
or prohibiting the free exercise thereof... ," showing that, unlike the British government,
the new US government had no intention of naming or supporting a state church or
suppressing any religious denominations.
In conclusion, the Constitution’s basic principles are directly related to the long
tradition of self-rule and religious tolerance in colonial and revolutionary America. |
