states

The Americans were determined to create their own governments, not simply to have them handed down by higher authorities. Without exception, the states rejected the unwritten constitution of Britain-a jumble of precedents, common law, and statutes that Americans thought had led to arbitrary rule. The new American states produced written constitutions that carefully specified the powers and limits of government. They also wrote the natural rights philosophy of the Declaration of Independence into bills of rights that protected freedom of speech and of the press, guaranteed trial by jury, forbade searching without specific warrants, and forbade taxation without consent. Seven states appended these to their constitutions; some of the other states guaranteed these rights through clauses within their constitutions. These first state constitutions, although all republican and all demonstrating distrust of government power-particularly of the executive-varied a great deal. In Pennsylvania, radicals wrote the most democratic constitution, in 1776. It established a unicameral legislature to be chosen in annual secret-ballot elections that were open to all male taxpayers; the executive was a 12-man committee without real power.

Nearly all of the other states adopted constitutions with two-house legislatures, usually with longer terms and higher property qualifications for the upper house. They had elective governors who could veto legislation, but who lacked the arbitrary powers of prerevolutionary executives. They could not dissolve the legislature, they could not corrupt the legislature by appointing its members to executive office, and the legislature could override their vetoes. In these revolutionary constitutions-drawn up hurriedly in the midst of war-Americans were groping toward written constitutions with clearly specified powers. These constitutions featured limits for legislatures, executives, and the courts, with a clear separation of power among the three. They also guaranteed the citizens certain inalienable rights and made them the constituent power. On the whole, state constitutions reflected fear of government tyranny more than they reflected the need to create forceful, effective government. Americans began their revolution without a national government, but the Continental Congress recognized the need for a government that could conduct the war, form relations with other countries, borrow money, and regulate trade. Eight days after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a committee headed by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania submitted a blueprint for a powerful national government.

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