A case for the connection of America's colonial and revolutionary
             religious and political experiences to the basic principles of the
             Constitution can be readily made. One point in favor of this conclusion
             is the fact that most Americans at that time had little beside their
             experiences on which to base their political ideas. This is due to the
             lack of advanced schooling among common Americans at that time. Other
             points also concur with the main idea and make the theory of the
             Much evidence to support this claim can be found in the wording of
             the Constitution itself. Even the Preamble has an important idea that
             arose from the Revolutionary period. The first line of the Preamble
             states, We the People of the United States... ." This implies that the
             new government that was being formed derived its sovereignty from the
             people, which would serve to prevent it from becoming corrupt and
             disinterested in the people, as the framers believed Britain's government
             had become. If the Bill of Rights is considered, more supporting ideas
             become evident. The First Amendment's guarantee of religious freedom
             could have been influenced by the colonial tradition of relative religious
             freedom. This tradition was clear even in the early colonies, like
             Plymouth, which was formed by Puritan dissenters from England seeking
             religious freedom. Roger Williams, the proprietor of Rhode Island,
             probably made an even larger contribution to this tradition by advocating
             and allowing complete religious freedom. William Penn also contributed to
             this idea in Pennsylvania, where the Quakers were tolerant of other
             In addition to the tradition of religious tolerance in the
             colonies, there was a tradition of self-government and popular involvement
             in government. Nearly every colony had a government with elected
             representatives in a legislature, which usually made laws largely wi...