In 1215 the Magna Carta challenged the right of kings and established the concept of individual rights. Forest related matters were ommitted in latter issues of the Magna Carta and reinstated by The Charter of the Forest in 1217, early in the reign of Henry III, as a supplement to Magna Carta. It was confirmed by him in 1225. The Confirmation Cartarum of 1297 reaffirmed that the Magna Carta may be pleaded as the Common Law before a court.
The Iroquois Constitution was the first known political agreement among peoples of the "New World." According to researchers, it originated somewhere between 1390 and 1500 AD.
The Mayflower Compact of 1620 was the first political agreement among the English settlers of the New World. As the colonies multiplied, confederations of colonies or companies established Public States or Commonwealths with documents like the Fundamental Orders of 1639, which defines the Laws, Rules, Orders and Decrees of colonies in the vicinity of the River of Connectecotte.
Of course the English Bill of Rights, John Locke, Edward Coke and many other authors influenced Thomas Paine and the founders, but their works are not yet available here.
The Report to King George by Edmond Burke described Americans as too well informed, suspicious and stubborn to be easily be fooled or bribed, unlike Americans since the widespread availablity of government (AKA Public) schools.
To bridge the gap between suspended English law and the first Continental Congress were the Articles of Association and the Charlotte Town Resolves were established in Mecklenburg County, North Carolina on May 31, 1775.
The Declaration and Resolves of the first Continental Congress delineated colonial complaints about the behaviour of England. On 6 July 1775 the Second Continental Congress described in the Declaration of The Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms the historical relationship between England American colonies and its eleven year decline concluding with the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, and the rationale for resisting English regulations with force. Adopted unanimously 12 June 1776 by the Virginia Convention of Delegates, the Virginia Declaration was the precursor for the 4 July 1776, Declaration of Independence, which declared the inherent right to life, liberty and property of each individual and their independence from England.
On 15 November 1777, the colonies agreed on the Articles of Confederation, which established a lose confederation of sovereign states. The Paris Peace Treaty was enacted in 1783. The Price the Founders Paid for U.S.A. independence.
Defects in the Articles of Confideration were addressed in the Annapolis Convention in the State of Maryland, which lead to a Constitutional Convention on 14 September 1786. On July 13, 1787, the Northwest Ordinance was enacted. With his "On The Faults of The Constitution" speech, Benjamin Franklin convinced the Constitutional Convention of 1787 to set aside their doubts and differences and adopt the Constitution for the United States (how to get accurate copy). On September 17, 1787 the letter of transmittal of the Constitution to the States was issued.
The Federalists and Anti-Federalists debated the merits of a federal government in a series of newspaper articles known as the Federalist Papers and the Anti-Federalist Papers. (These are being linked so you can experience the dialog.) Alexander Hamilton appealed for ratification at the Constitiutional Convention of New York,. On June 6, 1788, James Madision appealed for ratification at the Virginia Constitutional Convention. The Federalists won the argument, and the Constitution was ratified conditional upon the inclusion of a Bill of Rights. The original first and second amendments authored by James Madison were not among the first ten ratified. Subsequent amendments generally usurped the constitutional intent of the founders, particularly the 16th and 17th. Two 13th amendments preceeded the current one. One proposed by Abraham Lincolin proposed non-intervention with slavery in the southern states. The other was ratified but was replaced by the current Amendment.
Many Federalists argued that a Bill of Rights was superfluous, because the Constitution defined what the federal government could do. All else was prohibited. They feared that a Bill of Rights would eventually be construed as rights granted by the federal government to individuals, i.e. civil rights rather than inherent rights, and the Constitution would no longer be construed as limiting. ...They were correct. Politicised supreme court justices ignored the Constitution or perverted its interpretation, and allowed the federal government to grow well beyond its Constitutional limits and compromise our inherent rights as delineated in the Bill of Rights.
The Proclamation of Neutrality, 1793 by President George Washington formalized the free trade with all nations, engangling alliances with none foreign policy philosophy of the U.S.A.
The 1795 Treaty of Greenville made peace with many Indian tribes.