Essential Reading: Documents of Freedom
The Magna Carta was the first constitutional text and one of the most important documents on the path to democracy. The reason why the Magna Carta was so important in terms of the founding of the United States was that the Founding Fathers used many of the principles first codified in the Magna Carta. Many of them studied English Law and understood this document's part in guaranteeing basic rights and freedoms for the English. Up until its creation, monarchs ruled supreme. With the Magna Carta, the king, for the first time, was not allowed to be above the law. Instead, he had to respect the rule of law and not abuse his position as king.
Some have asserted that the Assize of Arms is part of the legal basis for the English Bill of Rights and the right to keep and bear arms mentioned in the United States Bill of Rights (specifically in the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution.

The Supreme Court's final judgement on the right to bear arms concluded that the writers of the second amendment had intended to create such a right, based on the early settlers experience and on the English Bill of Rights. However the court made no judgement on whether the right dated back to the Assize of Arms.
The Declaration describes what colonists viewed as the unconstitutional effort of the British Parliament to extend its jurisdiction into the colonies following the Seven Years' War.
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Objectionable policies listed in the Declaration include taxation without representation, extended use of vice admiralty courts, the several Coercive Acts, and the Declaratory Act. The Declaration describes how the colonists had, for ten years, repeatedly petitioned for the redress of their grievances, only to have their pleas ignored or rejected by the British government.
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Even though British troops have been sent to enforce these unconstitutional acts, the Declaration insists that the colonists did not yet seek independence from Britain.
The Declaration of Rights and Grievances was a document written by the First Continental Congress and passed on October 19, 1765. It declared that taxes imposed on British colonists without their formal consent were unconstitutional.
The Declaration of Rights raised fourteen points of colonial protest but was not directed exclusively at the Stamp Act of 1765, which required that documents, newspapers, and playing cards to be printed on special stamped and taxed paper.
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In addition to the specific protests of the Stamp Act taxes, it made assertions that would later be guaranteed by the Constitution.
Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms
(July 6, 1775)
While the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are of obvious importance to the United States of America; the other documents on this page also have historical significance and influenced our nation's founding documents.

They should all be studied and understood.
The Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers are a series of articles and essays written by various statesmen of the time.
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The Federalist Papers intended to promote the ratification of the United States Constitution, while the Anti-Federalist Papers argued against the Constitution's ratification.

Both serve to better understand the founder's intent and the exact meaning of every sentence of the Constitution.
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America and the document we are sworn to protect.
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The first three Articles of the Constitution establish the rules and separate powers of the three branches of the federal government: a legislature, the bicameral Congress; an executive branch led by the President; and a federal judiciary headed by the Supreme Court.
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The last four Articles frame the principle of federalism. The Tenth Amendment confirms its federal characteristics.
The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 states that established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution. The formal ratification by all 13 states was completed in early 1781.
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The Articles provided domestic and international legitimacy for the Continental Congress to direct the American Revolutionary War, conduct diplomacy with Europe and deal with territorial issues and Indian relations. Nevertheless, the weak government created by the Articles became a matter of concern for key nationalists.
The Declaration of Independence is a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Instead they now formed a new nation—the United States of America.
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John Adams was a leader in pushing for independence, which was unanimously approved on July 2. A committee had already drafted the formal declaration, to be ready when congress voted on independence.
