Fundamental Orders Of 1636 Summary

Written documents proved to be a major influence on the unification of the American colonies. Beginning as early as 1620, when the Separatist Pilgrims left the jurisdiction of the Church of England and escaped the “Dutchification” of their children in Holland to go to the New World, the establishment of self-government through the Mayflower Compact became present. It was heavily based off of the Magna Carta of 1215 which provided the foundation of the rule of law. Created and signed by the adult males onboard, the document stated that the Pilgrims would “combine [themselves] together into one civil body politic, for [their] better ordering and preservation” (Document 1). It went on to declare that they would abide by the newly formed laws and elect officers. This led to the creation of town meetings, places of direct democracy where men could work together with each other to create laws.

During the early years of our nation, there was struggle to finding a government that worked for the people. In the late 18th century philosophers began to strongly criticize the governments that were being dominated by monarchy and imperialism. The new beliefs in democracy, freedom for individuals of society, and the importance of human interactions led to the makings of the Constitution. Even though the ideas coming from everyone was far from an agreement, they were certain on their admiration of direct democracy and the restraints on that democracy. Their challenge in creating a government, was to strike a balance between liberty and order. Many documents built the Declaration of Independence and the Virginia Declaration of Rights. For example, Second Treatise of Civil Government, The Spirit of Laws, Social Contract, The Virginia Declaration of Rights, and Common Sense.

Fundamental Orders of Connecticut- Settlers in the Connecticut River colony drafted the Fundamental Orders which were in essence a modern constitution. It established a regime democratically controlled by the “substantial” that elected by popular vote a governed by that legislature. Essential features were borrowed by Connecticut for its colonial charter and the state constitution.

During the Revolution, Mason led the Virginia Patriots, also drafting the state’s constitution, which carried fragments of what he would dislike about the nation’s constitution.

In the late eighteenth century, North American British Colonies worked to free themselves and create their own governing body. Some ideas stated by revolutionaries helped to unite the colonies in a single governing body and revolt against the existing government. The primary driving forces of the revolutionaries included the belief that humans had the right to freedom and to govern themselves, and that they had certain natural rights that the ruling government of Britain was not allowing them, as well as a general hatred for the ruling power of the European monarchy. These ideas that were so prevalent in the colonies were stated by many different revolutionaries, but many of them held the same idea, freedom was a right that was shared by all

First, our government follows the Fundamental Orders. The Fundamental Orders were written by Thomas Hooker, the founder of Connecticut. The Fundamental Orders are also the very first constitution in America. The Orders state that Connecticut shall have two assemblies annually (Fundamental Orders of 1639). The first assembly election is the second Thursday in April. The second election

"My contentions is that this political quartet diagnosed the systemic dysfunctions under the Articles, manipulated the political process to force a calling of the constitutional conventions, then drafted the Bill of Rights as an insurance policy to ensure state compliance with constitutional settlement" (Ellis XV). When Ellis writes this in the preface is because he feels that the four men: George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison find it important to bring everyone together. He feels that it was important enough that he had put it in the book because it is what helped lead to the transformation from a confederation to a nation. He felt that the four men collaborating and deciding what needs to be done were the first step to becoming a nation. Joseph Ellis is excellent making his case because of the way he produces the important information, taking his time and effort to make it effective.

Document One, The Mayflower Compact of 1620, declares that the colonies should enact equal and justified laws. Continuing, this document declares that they speak for the general public, as they state what should take place if the colonies were to be unified. However, the propositions that are spoken of are to be what God desires. Another document that is similar to the first is the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut as they include God as a major role in their ideal government. However, this document is more faithful to their religion as one of their primary goals is to preserve the liberty and purity of Jesus. Additionally, they declare that the united government should dispose of any affairs of the people, instead of creating justified laws.

Writers during the time, including James Winthrop, wanted more power for the state government, as well as checks and balances on the federal level. In his “Anti-Federalist Argument”, he says, “For the security of the people...the powers of the government should be lodged in different branches.” Winthrop here is pushing for a division of powers to prevent despotism. This was another idea that was popular, since they fought against Britain, who had a king. Winthrop also pushes for a representative democracy: “To promote the happiness of the people it is necessary that there should be local laws;and...those laws should be made by representatives.”

That the ideas of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness” are our birthrights as Americans and that regardless of what the government does, they must adhere and live up to protecting those freedoms for us. If the government fails to that, then, in the document’s own words, we have “the right to alter or abolish and institute new government.” The delegates to the 2nd Continental Congress believed that because King George III and Parliament had not guaranteed those essential human rights to the colonists, they had the right to break away and start again. The document lists 27 grievances, many of which related directly to the events of the 1760s and early 1770s, including forcing the colonists to house troops (the Quartering Act, one of the Intolerable Acts) and by imposing taxes without their consent. This, then gave the delegates in Congress the ability to dissolve all political connections with England and make the colonies “free and independent states.”

Also, the Chesapeake colonies didn’t have a sophisticated, well-thought out government like the New England colonies. The Chesapeake colonies depended greatly on their cash crops, tobacco, rice, and indigo, to make their money. They strived for profit instead of survival; they believed growing and selling cash crops were more important that having food to eat. The Chesapeake colonies needed many slaves to work in the fields to harvest the crops. This is how they made their money. On the other hand, the New England colonies were not as economic as the more Southern Colonies. New England had more industries like carpentry, ship building, and fishing. New England was not a plantation colony, it was more of a manufacturing colony. They New England colonies had a religious government that was well thought out. On the other hand, the Chesapeake colonies had county governments. In Document D, the article describes a list of agreements for the people of Springfield, Massachusetts. The rules relate to religion, god, and equality for everyone. This proves that the New England colonies were very passionate about their religious views. In Document E, it describes how and why the government set an annual standard for prices and wages. Some of their reasons were, “[. . .] all tradesmen and

Connar Gibbon Constitution Long Essay Question The ratification of the US Constitution was a political and economic turning point in the history of the United States. The Articles of Confederation helped display the need for a stronger Federal government which soon became apparent, and eventually led to the Constitution. Shays's Rebellion was also important in the creation of the Constitution.

Winthrop also promoted the government will do things for the good of the colony not individuals. Springfield, Massachusetts drew up the Articles of Agreements stressing the government should govern in terms of best for the good of the colony similar to Winthrop’s model (Document 4). The Chesapeake colonies lacked these compromises drawn up by the colonists because they used the English Common Law and governed by the king and a designated royal governor. The catastrophic effect of these documents was

There were several events that influenced and inspired the colonists’ ways of composing a central government. For instance, the Magna Carta was a document that was the base of British justice and law. The Magna Carta achieves justice and law by declaring that the king and government officials were required to follow the same laws as British citizens. This idea inspired the U.S Bill of Right which brought new insight to an end of unchecked powers and protected elites. Similar to the Magna Carta was the constitutional document called the Petition of Right of 1628. The petition of Right of 1628 include the law that the a king could not raise taxes without consent from Parliament, quartering of soldiers was not required, and the right to habeas

Before the Bill of Rights, the “leaders” were the ones in charge. They decided how much people had to pay for goods. They decided who got to work where. They decided what religion to live by. If the colonist didn’t like the religion they had, they would either move out or they could rebel and get killed. If they were ruled by a king it would be the same way. He or she would rule all the colonist. The leaders before the current leaders thought it would be a good idea to just have one person in control of everything with no laws set in place. They fixed that with the Bill of Rights. The first one is freedom of religion, speech, and press. Back then if they said anything that wasn’t allowed, they would probably be killed. But now we have the Bill of Rights to somewhat protect us. People weren’t allowed to say just whatever they want. These days we can say what we want, but not without consequences for our actions. Back then if they even were just talking out about how much they dislike the religion, they would be dead. They weren’t able to speak their minds as much as we can these days. If we didn’t fight the American Revolution, we wouldn’t have these rights. That’s because the American Revolution was a big step