THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION
STATE CONSTITUTIONS
The success of the Revolution gave Americans the opportunity to give legal form to their ideals as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, and to remedy some of their griev- ances through state constitutions . As early as May 10, 1776, Congress had passed a resolution advising the colonies to form new govern- ments “such as shall best conduce to the happiness and safety of their constituents .” Some of them had al- ready done so, and within a year af- ter the Declaration of Independence, all but three had drawn up constitu- tions .
The new constitutions showed the impact of democratic ideas . None made any drastic break with the past, since all were built on the
solid foundation of colonial experi- ence and English practice . But each was also animated by the spirit of re- publicanism, an ideal that had long been praised by Enlightenment phi- losophers .
Naturally, the first objective of the framers of the state constitu- tions was to secure those “unalien- able rights” whose violation had caused the former colonies to repu- diate their connection with Britain . Thus, each constitution began with a declaration or bill of rights . Virgin- ia’s, which served as a model for all the others, included a declaration of principles: popular sovereignty, rota- tion in office, freedom of elections, and an enumeration of fundamental liberties: moderate bail and humane punishment, speedy trial by jury, freedom of the press and of con-