Documents That Influenced the U.S. Constitution: Civics Question 14

Say the Declaration of Independence. You only have to name one.

Question 14 says many documents influenced the U.S. Constitution and asks you to name one. Accepted answers include the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Federalist Papers, the Anti-Federalist Papers, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, the Mayflower Compact, and the Iroquois Great Law of Peace. Name a single one of them and stop. Listing more does not earn anything extra.

The Documents on the List

Each one shaped the Constitution in a different way.

• The Declaration of Independence. Written in 1776, it announced that the colonies were breaking away from Britain and stated the ideas the new country would be built on: people have rights, and government answers to them.
• The Articles of Confederation. This was the country’s first plan of government. It left the national government so weak that it could not raise money reliably or settle fights between states. The Constitution was written to fix those failures.
• The Federalist Papers. These were newspaper essays written to explain the new Constitution and argue that the states should approve it. They shaped how Americans understood the document and helped get it adopted.
• The Anti-Federalist Papers. The essays on the other side, written by people who thought the new government would be too strong. Their objections are the reason the Bill of Rights was added.
• The Virginia Declaration of Rights. A 1776 statement of rights from Virginia that the Bill of Rights borrowed from.
• The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut. A written frame of government from 1639, one of the earliest in the colonies.
• The Mayflower Compact. The 1620 agreement in which the Pilgrims agreed to govern themselves by rules they made together.
• The Iroquois Great Law of Peace. The constitution of a confederacy of nations that joined separate governments under one council.

Why the Officer Asks This

The Constitution did not appear out of nowhere. It came out of one revolution and one failed system of government, and the officer is checking that you know it has roots.

The question says “name one.” Applicants who start listing often stumble partway through and end up sounding unsure about the name they had right.

How to Remember One Document

Pick one name and drop the rest. The Declaration of Independence is the document most applicants already know by name before they start studying.

If you would rather hold a picture, put the three best known in the order of what they did. First the country declared itself free. Then it tried a weak government and it did not work. Then people argued in the newspapers for a stronger one. Free, failed, argued.

A Small Trap

Do not answer “the Bill of Rights.” The Bill of Rights is part of the Constitution itself, added after it, so it could not have influenced it.

“The Constitution” is not an answer here either. The question asks what influenced the Constitution, not what the Constitution is.

What to Say on Test Day

Say “the Declaration of Independence.” Then stop talking.

You do not need the year, the author, or what it says. One document name, said clearly, is a correct answer.