American Federal Government History

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A constitution is the fundamental law according to which the government [of a state] is organized, and agreeably to which the relations of individuals or moral persons to the community are determined” (Borgeand, 1892). This statement summarizes the unique task which was put in front of our founding fathers in order to form of a democratic republic and the struggles and ideals that lead to the formation of the United States Constitution.

There are many significant events that lead up to the ratification of the Constitution and each one of them played critical parts in forming a new government that would eventually lead to a democratic republic where the ideals of “for the people, by the people” would take shape. Five such events were the Mayflower Compact, Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the House of Burgesses, the First Continental Congress and the Declaration of independence. These five events established ideals such as social contract representative government, political equality, voting rights and elections and steps towards the legislative government representing the people's as we know it today.

The Mayflower compact was the start of American Democracy “the pilgrims showed how, under the bond and sanction of great ideas, a company of men of various nationalities, differing minds, social grades and hereditary tastes and temperaments could hold and work together for the common good” (Griffs,1921). On November 11, 1620, the Mayflower Compact aboard the Mayflower was signed by the 41 men aboard (women and children were excluded from signing). These early settlers were traveling to Virginia under an agreement with the Virginia Company which provided them land and an escape from religious prosecution by King James...

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...hed. The North American Review, Vol. 213, No. 782 (Jan., 1921) , pp. 44-51 www.jstor.org/stable/25120655

Heritage.org. Declaration of Independence. Retrieved March 2, 2014, from http://www.heritage.org/initiatives/first-principles/primary-sources/the-declaration-of-independence

About.com. American History. Foundation of the Constitution. Retrieved March 3, 2014, from http://americanhistory.about.com/od/colonialamerica/a/may_compact.htm

u-shistory.com. House of Burgesses, Retrieved March 3, 2014 from

http://www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1151.html

History.com. This Day In History, September 5, 1774 First Continental Congress Convenes. Retrieved March 3, 2014 from http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/first-continental-congress-convenes

Wikipedia.org. Mayflower Compact. Retrieved March 2, 2014 from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower_Compact

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