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The United States Constitution: A Historical Representation of Political and Social Thought

Decent Essays

The kind of government created as a result of the ratification of the United States Constitution was nearly unprecedented in its day, but this does not mean that the framers of the Constitution developed their particular form of social contract out of thin air. Instead, they drew from a long line of legal and social contracts and writings in order to develop a robust system of governance meant to protect the rights of the individual while maintaining a sufficiently strong federal government. Examining some of the most important documents and ideas that the framers drew on will serve to demonstrate how the United States Constitution represents the culmination of nearly five centuries worth of political and social thought. The first precedent the framers drew on was the Magna Carta, which was first issued in 1215 and is one of the oldest written constitutional texts in history (Worcester, 2010, p. 451). The Magna Carta (or "Great Charter"), was developed by powerful feudal lords in England, and it was an attempt to limit the power of the king by forcing him to agree to certain limitations and rights. Although the Magna Carta reinforced a number of inequalities that were present in society at the time, such as class distinctions and the feudal system as a whole, it was important for the development of subsequent legal contracts, including the United States Constitution, because for perhaps the first time it included provisions explicitly designed to create a separation of

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