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The Constitution
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The Constitution
A case for the connection of America's colonial and revolutionary religious and political experiences to the basic principles of the Constitution can be readily made. One point in favor of this conclusion is the fact that most Americans at that time had little beside their experiences on which to base their political ideas. This is due to the lack of advanced schooling among common Americans at that time. Other points also concur with the main idea and make the theory of the connection plausible. Much evidence to support this claim can be found in the wording of the Constitution itself. Even the Preamble has an important idea that arose from the Revolutionary period. The first line of the Preamble states, We the People of the United States... ." This implies that the new government that was being formed derived its sovereignty from the people, which would serve to prevent it from becoming corrupt and disinterested in the people, as the framers believed Britain's government had become. If the Bill of Rights is considered, more supporting ideas become evident. The First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom could have been influenced by the colonial tradition of relative religious freedom. This tradition was clear even in the early colonies, like Plymouth, which was formed by Puritan dissenters from England seeking religious freedom. Roger Williams, the proprietor of Rhode Island, probably made an even larger contribution to this tradition by advocating ...
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