The writing of the Constitution was, as Catherine Drinker Bowen has
observed, a "Miracle at Philadelphia."  Yet, this miracle was based on
historical experience.  Trace the intellectual origins of the
Constitutions from British theory and practice through the philosophy
and current events of the late 1780's.

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Request for Question Clarification by willie-ga on 24 Oct 2002 00:36 PDT

I take it you require an essay?

This is a complex subject, with a lot of research required. $5 is not
enough to persuade me to attempt it. Sorry.

Willie-ga

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 24 Oct 2002 00:47 PDT

nikegolfer,

Thousands of volumes have been written on the subject of your
question. If you desire an adequate answer, you may want to consider
raising your price or greatly limiting the scope of the question.

These are Google's tips for pricing:

https://answers.google.com/answers/pricing.html

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Clarification of Question by nikegolfer-ga on 24 Oct 2002 07:18 PDT

This question was given to me in a high school Freshman History
course.  It does not require an essay.  I requires a (4 to 5 line
answer only).

Hello

Here is a short summary of the main British influence on the
constitution, and some links for further investigation.

When King John of England agreed, in 1215, to sign the document, the
"Magna Carta", he bound not only himself but the royal family in
perpetuity, to grant "to all freemen of our kingdom" the rights and
liberties the charter described. With Magna Carta, King John placed
himself and future sovereigns and magistrates within the rule of law.

When British Colonists arrived in the New World, they brought with
them charters guaranteeing that they and their heirs would "have and
enjoy all liberties and immunities of free and natural subjects." And
a few generations later, when these American colonists raised arms
against the British, they were fighting not for new freedoms but to
preserve liberties that they had maintained all the way back to Magna
Carta.

To quote from "Magna Carta", a site devoted to the document
( http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/4304/magnacarta-info.html
)
"When representatives of the young republic of the United States
gathered to draft a constitution, they turned to the legal system they
knew and admired--English common law as evolved from Magna Carta. The
conceptual debt to the great charter is particularly obvious: the
American Constitution is "the Supreme Law of the Land," just as the
rights granted by Magna Carta were not to be arbitrarily canceled by
subsequent English laws. "

This is apparent in the US Bill of Rights. The fifth amendment
guarantees
"No person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law"

and the sixth states 
". . . the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial,
by an impartial jury."

Compare this with the Magna Carta which declares 
"No freeman shall be taken, imprisoned, . . . or in any other way
destroyed . . . except by the lawful judgment of his peers, or by the
law of the land. To no one will we sell, to none will we deny or
delay, right or justice."

You can see exactly where the ideas underpinning the Constiution
arose.

You'll find a complete essay on the subject at "Magna Carta and Its
American Legacy"
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acropolis/4304/magnacarta-his.html

You'll also find a historian's essay on the historical and political
background to the writing of the constitution in the 1780s in "The
Origins of the Constitution by Gordon S. Wood, Brown University"
(Reprinted from This Constitution: A Bicentennial Chronicle, Fall
1985, published by Project '87 of the American Political Science
Association and American Historical Asssociation. )
http://www.apsanet.org/CENnet/thisconstitution/wood2.cfm

A bit more than 4 or 5 lines I know, but I hope it's OK

willie-ga


Google search used
"Magna Carta" influence US Constitution
"Magna Carta" influence American Constitution
"Constitution" political history background

Great Answer! Thanks Again!