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 experience and English practice. But
each was also animated by the spirit of republicanism, an ideal
that had long been praised by Enlightenment philosophers.
Naturally, the first objective of the framers of the state
constitutions was to secure those "unalienable rights" whose
violation had caused the former colonies to repudiate their
connection with Britain. Thus, each constitution began with a
declaration or bill of rights. Virginia's, which served as a
model for all the others, included a declaration of principles,
such as popular sovereignty, rotation 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 conscience, and the right of the majority to reform
or alter the government.
Other states enlarged the list of liberties to guarantee freedom
of speech, of assembly and of petition, and frequently included
such provisions as the right to bear arms, to a writ of
habeas
corpus, to inviolability of domicile and to equal protection
under the law. Moreover, all the constitutions paid allegiance to
the three-branch structure of government -- executive,
legislative and judiciary -- each checked and balanced by the
others.
Pennsylvania's constitution was the most radical. In that state,
Philadelphia artisans, Scots-Irish frontiersmen and
German-speaking farmers had taken control. The provincial
congress adopted a constitution that permitted every male
taxpayer and his sons to vote, required rotation in office (no
one could serve as a representative more than four years out of
every seven) and set up a single-chamber legislature.
The state constitutions had some glaring limitations,
particularly by more recent standards. Constitutions established
to guarantee people their natural rights did not secure for
everyone the most fundamental natural right -- equality. The
colonies south of Pennsylvania excluded their slave populations
from their inalienable rights as human beings. Women had no
political rights. No state went so far as to permit universal
male suffrage, and even in those states that permitted all
taxpayers to vote (Delaware, North Carolina and Georgia, in
addition to Pennsylvania), office-holders were required to own a
certain amount of property.
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 grievances through
state constitutions. As early as May 10, 1776, Congress had
passed a resolution advising the colonies to form new governments
"such as shall best conduce to the happiness and safety of their
constituents." Some of them had already done so, and within a
year after the Declaration of Independence, all but three had
drawn up constitutions.
"Every man and every body of men on Earth,
possess the right of self-government."
-- Thomas Jefferson, 1790