Kids Edition: From Mayflower to Mohawks: How America Got Its Rulebook

The US Constitution draws inspiration from numerous sources including the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, colonial documents, and Native American governance systems. These influences shaped core American principles like federalism, representative government, and individual rights.

• Declaration of Independence (1776) established ideals of freedom, equality, and self-government
• Articles of Confederation provided lessons on balancing state and national power
• Mayflower Compact (1620) demonstrated self-governance with colonists creating fair laws
• Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639) established representative government with elected leaders
• Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776) influenced the later Bill of Rights
• Native American governance, particularly the Iroquois Confederacy, modeled federalism before the Constitution
• Federalist-Antifederalist debates led to the addition of the Bill of Rights
• Colonial constitutions and charters served as experimental blueprints

Challenge: Write your own rule or mini-constitution for your school or family and share it with a grown-up or teacher.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey there, welcome back to Civics in a Year Kids
Edition.
I'm Liz, and today we're goingto answer a really great
question when did the USConstitution come from?
Was it made up out of thin air?
Nope, it was actually inspiredby a bunch of ideas, documents
and Native American traditionsthat came before it, and in this

(00:22):
episode we're going to talkabout those that came before it.
And in this episode we're goingto talk about those.
So first we're going to startwith the big two the Declaration
and the Articles.
So the Declaration ofIndependence was written in 1776
, and it said things likeeveryone has rights, like
liberty and happiness,government should be fair and

(00:43):
people should help makedecisions.
That gave Americans a set ofbig ideas like freedom, equality
and self-government.
The next one was the Articlesof Confederation.
So these were rules for the newUS government after it became
independent from Britain, gave alot of power to the states and

(01:07):
just a little bit to thenational government.
Now, that first attempt atgovernment didn't work so well.
So later the Constitution keptthe really good parts, like
letting states have power, butmade the national government a
little bit stronger.
That's called federalism, asystem where power is shared

(01:27):
between the state and thenational government.
So, if we go back even earlier,the Constitution didn't just
come from the AmericanRevolution.
So first we have the MayflowerCompact, which in 1620, pilgrims
on the ship Mayflower made ashort agreement before they

(01:49):
landed in Plymouth,massachusetts.
They promised to stick togetherand make fair laws.
It was actually one of thefirst examples of
self-government in America.
The next inspiration is theFundamental Orders of
Connecticut, which was writtenin 1639.

(02:10):
This was a little bit of alonger plan that said towns
should choose their leaders,there should be a governor and
something called a GeneralAssembly, which is like Congress
, and people should be in charge, not the king of England.
It was a real constitution madeby everyday people.

(02:32):
Now, before there was one USConstitution, every colony,
which later they became known asstates, had its own
constitution or charter.
These were like rule books forhow their government worked.
One of the most important wasthe Virginia Declaration of
Rights, written by George Masonin 1776.

(02:54):
It talked about freedom ofreligion, right to a fair trial
and protection of people'srights.
Does that sound familiar?
That's because it inspired theBill of Rights, which are the
first 10 amendments to the USConstitution.
George Mason was even at theConstitutional Convention, but
he refused to sign theConstitution at first because it

(03:18):
didn't yet have a Bill ofRights.
Did you know that NativeAmericans also inspired our
Constitution?
The Kauai Confederacy was madeup of five nations the Mohawks,
onondaga, tiuga, oneida andSeneca.
They had their own system ofgovernment where each group made

(03:41):
its own decisions, but thenthey also made some decisions
together.
That's a lot like federalism.
Even Benjamin Franklin admiredtheir system and mentioned it in
1754 when he suggested unitingthe colonies.
Historians still debate whetherthis was a direct influence,

(04:02):
but the Iroquois had a stronggovernment with shared power
long before the US Constitutionwas written.
After the Constitution waswritten, not everyone agreed
about it.
People called Federaliststhought it was great and people
called Anti-Federalists werelike wait, what about our rights
?
The Federalist Papers wereessays that tried to explain the

(04:25):
Constitution and convincepeople to support it.
Thanks to debates, theConstitution got better.
That's how we ended up with aBill of Rights, just like George
Mason and the Anti-Federalistswanted.
Now here's your challenge.
What rule would you add if youwere writing a Constitution for
your school or your family?

(04:45):
Would it be something likeeveryone gets a turn, speak
kindly to one another or votebefore pizza toppings are
decided, you should write yourown rule or mini-constitution
and share it with your grown-upor a teacher.
So today we learned that the USConstitution wasn't just made
from scratch.

(05:06):
It was built from old ideasabout freedom and government,
early American documents likethe Mayflower Compact and state
constitutions, native Americanwisdom about shared power and a
whole lot of debate.
Thanks again for joining me forCivics in a Year Kids Edition.
See you next time for anotherstory about how our country came

(05:29):
to be and how you are a part ofit.
See you later.