Our Constitutional Heritage

            James McClellan writes, “The American Constitution is an evolutionary rather than revolutionary document.” (McClellan, 1989) The founders of the United States of America were influenced by several political and governmental systems to include the English common law tradition, Greco-Roman, and colonial experiments such as the Mayflower Compact and the Fundamental Order of Connecticut. The framers of the Constitution sought to form “a more perfect union” (U.S. Const. pmbl.) than those that came before it. After it became obvious that the Articles of Confederation had failed, the delegates from the several states met in Philadelphia to draft a better proposal.

Greek Democracy and Roman Republics

            Most of the delegates to the Constitutional Convention were well educated in Greek philosophy and Latin literature. It was common to study the politics and history of the ancient world. “The classical past was a dynamic force in American public life well into the nineteenth century.” (McClellan, 1989)

Greek Democracy

            The founders studied Greek Democracies and determined that democracy was not sustainable. Democracy is a government in which the people truly govern themselves directly, without any representative intermediary; they legislate at will, according to the ever-changing whims of the majority. (Scaliger, 2018) Greek democracy was made up of small city-states that could meet and vote. The colonies of the United States were too large to allow such a system. “It is true that ancient Greek culture helped to shape education in America, but Greek constitutions had almost no influence in the shaping of the Constitution of the United States—except so far as Greek constitutional flaws suggested what the Framers at Philadelphia ought not to adopt.” (McClellan, 1989)

The founders wrote on several occasions of the fear they had for democratic government. Alexander Hamilton wrote “It has been observed that a pure democracy if it were practicable, would be the most perfect government. Experience has proved that no position is more false than this. The ancient democracies, in which the people themselves deliberated, never possessed one good feature of government. Their very character was tyranny; their figure deformity.”

Roman Republics

            “The Roman Republic was taken much more seriously by leading Americans in the 1780s.” (McClellan, 1989) Anyone that received higher education in the 1780s would have been taught about Roman republics. Latin was the language of political discourse at the time. Several Latin terms are used in the constitution, including president, senate, and constitution itself. 

The founders drew their inspiration from ancient Roman republican concepts such as federalism and representative government. A number of flaws would eventually lead to the collapse of ancient Roman republics. Tyranny was foreseen by the founding fathers, and they added protections against it. To prevent too much power from being consolidated in the hands of one person or a small group of people, they knew the constitution needed protections such as the separation of powers. 

English Common Law

            Although the Roman republics were influential, the largest influence on the founders was English common law and the American colonial experience. English common law was already familiar to Americans, so it was easier to adapt than a new system. The traditions of English common law were mostly unwritten. English common law was based on traditions and a few documents. The most influential of these documents were used as a basis of the American Constitution. “These are Magna Charta (1215), the Petition of Right (1628), and the Bill of Rights (1689), which constitute, in the words of the great parliamentary leader Lord Chatham, “the Bible of the English Constitution.” (McClellan, 1989) Many of the individual rights that appear in the Constitution of the United States are from these documents.

Conclusion

            The Constitution of the United States is not a wholly original document. In the sense that it is derived from many other systems of government and documents of English common law. American colonial experience also influenced the creation of the American government. Many government systems from ancient times were examined and some were discarded altogether. Others were used in limited roles as a basis of structure for government. Being already familiar with English common law, it had the most influence on the drafting of the constitution.

            “They accomplished a revolution which has no parallel in the annals of human society. They reared the fabrics of governments which have no model on the face of the globe. They formed the design of a great Confederacy, which it is incumbent on their successors to improve and perpetuate.” (Hamilton et al., 2020)

           

 

 

References

Hamilton, A., Madison, J., & Jay, J. (2020). The Federalist Papers: Large Print Unabridged 1787 Original Version. Independently published.

McClellan, James. Liberty, Order, and Justice: An Introduction to the Constitutional Principles

           of American Government. 3rd Edition. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000.

Scaliger, C. (2018, May 07). What Happens When Republics Fall? The New American, 34, 27.

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