Constitution Timeline

In the middle ages of 1200s, King John of England was a ruler, whose style of governance had changed from the old English style to an authoritative style since the Normans came to England. The type of governance change that concerned people, was the agreement of King John with Pope Innocent III to allow extortion by the pope after the king had been excommunicated and all church services were called off. For people who refused or were not able to pay taxes were dealt with ruthlessly. In 1212, King John tried to impose taxes from the Barons who had captured Anjou, Poitou, and Aquitaine; his motive was to regain those lost lands.The Barons and Stephen Langton, who were archbishops by pope`s Innocent III proposal, confronted King John after this attempt. The confrontation demanded King John to rule by the old English Law, which had prevailed long before the Normans had come. Confronting, the King forced the Barons to take up arms against him and was captured in 1215.

After the Barons captured the king, he was forced to sign the Magna Carta – a document that was written byArchbishop Stephen Langton and most of the powerful Barons of England. The purposes of drafting the Magna Carta was curb the king and take away some of his power as well as make his type of governance acceptable. The importance that the document had in making of the USA constitution was the use of Human Rights into the making of the Bill of Rights of the USA constitution. The founding fathers used the document to draft the Bill of Rights whose importance in the constitution is safe guard the rights of the people from such leaders as King John (James, 1992).

Mayflower Compact

The Pilgrims were sent to North America from England to secure land through colonization. They were to be sent there using two ships, namely Speedwell and Mayflower, which would be passenger and good ships respectively. Speedwell in what is believed to be sabotage by the members was declared unseaworthy and Mayflower was declared to transport the Pilgrims and the goods. On their way to North America, the Pilgrims found out that the contracts they had signed with the king were non-binding and decided on aborting the mission of colonizing North America. Instead, they drafted a document that they intended to use as a governing doctrine for the common good of every person they found in the land (Dennis, 2006). The document was named Mayflower Compact and was one of the most important sources, which were used in the making of the constitution. The document was used as the book of law within which constitutions and laws were to be made within which everyone had to abide. To the American citizens, the document and the law made from this document aided in maintaining order, which the founding fathers used later to draft several laws and order Caps of the constitution.

Declaration of Independence

Declaration of Independence is a document that was written by Thomas Jefferson and adapted by the Second Continental Congress. The document was written to state that Great Britain was abandoning to continue being the USA colonizers and letting the USA to govern independently. The document stated that the government was tyrannical and was violating several human rights by colonizing America among other nations. In this case, the documents that any human being should be free to make his own choice and should pursue happiness at will.

The Declaration of Independence meant that the USA had become independent and was allowed to make own decisions and laws to govern the citizens. Due to the constitution, the founding fathers used this document as reference to draft the Bill of Rights and specified how nations should relate with one another in pursuit of common grounds and happiness for their citizens. As a free country, the USA used this document to assess the margin and weight of law required to govern effectively with respect to human rights. With realization of human values, the USA used the sense of philosophical theory and practical politics to make the constitution (United States, Thomas & San, 2002).

Articles of Confederation

The articles of confederation were used as governing doctrines for the states, in which paying of taxes, land ordinances, and economic issues could be addressed among other things. Senators of different states made up the Congress in this period (1777-1785) and decision-making processes depended highly on their votes. They would declare war, peace, and make decisions that would affect the nation as a whole. Despite the independence, it was feared that if one supreme leader was put in place to lead the nation he would fall into the same categories as King George III. In this case, states were declared small independent nations governed by different leaders and united to keep the British at bay.

The articles of Confederation were both beneficial and costly to the USA in terms of their governance approach and requirements from the citizens. As a basis of drafting the constitution, the founding fathers used these articles to write chapters on land use and representation of states of the territories declared as territories of leadership (states). Reforms on some of the articles were adapted after Daniel Shays attempted to lead a rebellion, therefore stimulating the need for congress to make changes in the type and format of governance (Karen, 2004).

The Federalist Papers

The federalist papers were written by Hamilton who thought that the system of states was a kind of inappropriate, but abandoned the idea following favoring of the system by most delegates. In his quest for change in the system of governance, Hamilton proposed the division of the government into Judiciary Branch, the Executive Branch, and the Legislative Congress. Most of the delegates thought that Hamilton’s ideas at some point mirrored the government system of Britain. However, consideration was put in the system of government he had suggested, therefore, aiding in the amendments of the constitution to reflect on the governance tripartite – Executive, Legislative and Judicial. The timeline of the constitution started in early 1200s and even after drafting, major documents were used to amend specific section, therefore, making the process continuous over a vast period (Hamilton, John & James, 2006).