ABSTRACT
To trace the development of American democracy from the early settlements to an independent United States, this chapter explores the ideas that inspired the American Revolution, including the impact of European political thinking on the founding and the struggle for independence from England. The remarkable feature of the US Constitution is how it has adapted to the times, changing along with an ever-changing nation. Just as religious leaders of the day derived a notion of social compact from the natural order of life under God, a group of European philosophers known as social contract theorists reasoned that individuals existed in a state of nature before the creation of a society or an organized government. The Declaration of Independence renounced allegiance to the British Crown, and provided a philosophical basis for limited government based on popular consent. By securing a compromise on the proportional representation aspects of the Virginia Plan, they reasoned, would their states have any voice in the government.
