Origins Of American Government

Origins of American Government Since over the past several centuries, there have been many historical documents that have influenced and are key in the American Government we have today. The Magna Carta, Petition of Right, English Bill of Rights, Two Treatises on Civil Government, The Social Contract, Common Sense, Declaration of Independence, and The Articles of Confederation are all documents that have, in their own and/or similar way, shaped the American Government.
First, the Magna Carta, also called Magna Carta Libertatum (the Great Charter of Freedoms), is an English legal charter, originally issued in the year 1215. The Magna Carta established the beginning of limited government, or the belief that the monarch’s rule was not absolute.

It was a theory that originated during the Enlightenment, that addresses questions of the origin of society and the quality of the authority of the state over the individual. According to the Social Contract Theory, without a government, people live in complete freedom and man will ever be at war, so to avoid that man gives up their rights to a government that has order (however, later with John Locke, it’s said that we keep our natural rights). With this in mind, government is created because of people’s approval, not divine right, meaning that instead of monarchy there is democracy. This is where the U.S. Constitution is influenced. There is now a set of checks and balances that protect the people’s natural rights in today’s American

The D.O.I. was a legal document that announced to the world the reasons that led the 13 Colonies to separate from the British Empire and instead form a new nation of their own. “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”, is a phrase stated in the D.O.I., which is well known, suggesting that the whole purpose of “Government” is to secure the people’s rights. The D.O.I. explains the value of equality as well. The ideal of equality has influenced the course of American History and the development of our Government.
Lastly, in the years that it lasted from 1776-1787, the Articles of confederation was in use. It was the first document to govern the U.S. Voting laws increased political power among a new middle class: allowed more participation (1 vote). Eventually, it was soon that the document would hit rock bottom because it didn’t have a strong national government. However, it influenced today’s Government in that voting rights have increased and the rise of the middle