Government, the foundation of any civilization, defines both the life of its citizens as well as a tone of the country. Cicero, a roman politician and philosopher, wrote The Republic and The Laws shortly before the fall of the roman empire, which contained proposals to help fix the crumbling empire and outline justice within a democratic government. The Preamble to the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution, unlike cicero's works, were written at the genesis of the United States. They, too, however, outline the basis for a just society, founded on written law, as opposed to its natural existence. Cicero’s The Republic and The Laws outlines many aspects of modern government, many of which the Preamble of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution meet, and some of which they fall short of!
While the Preamble to both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution align with many of Cicero’s ideas, they also exclude some of his claims. For example, the Preambles to both the Declaration of Independence and the United States Constitution both do not emphasize God or religion, even though both these concepts were large factors in the early government of the United States. Cicero, on the other hand, states that religious conviction is a cornerstone of laws and a just society, as the Laws states, the provisions “are certainly in accordance with nature.”
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However, since they were written during very different circumstances, they also contain significant differences. Both place a the power of the laws in the consent of the governed, and also in the natural good of all men. The United States, in addition, secures basic inalienable rights for all citizens, which expands on cicero’s basics. Government is the cornerstone of society, and has always laid the basis for a