When the founders of the American Constitution met in Philadelphia in the summer of 1787, they created a political and governmental system which was both unique in world history yet had many political influences from European traditions! I believe that the “Enlightenment Period” in Europe, which has a lot to do with the major ideas, including the centrality of freedom, democracy, and reason, played a big role in the decisions that our founding fathers made in the creation of our constitution. At that time these ideas were considered some of the primary values of society. So, based upon the evidence of the “Enlightenment” period having a big influence on our founding fathers, I lean toward the opinion, that our society is very much like the political traditions observed in Europe. Also, what I have learned so far is that the English Bill of Rights of (1689) has a lot in common with the American Bill of Rights. For example, they both include the need for jury trials, the right to bear arms, the prohibition of excessive bail, and no “cruel and unusual punishment”. Another thing that I thought of is how our system was basically created by European settlers and, had pretty much nothing to do with the native Americans that were already here. That also plays a part on the influence of my first opinion.
Apart from my first thoughts, our country seems to have a certain characteristic of being rational to a lot of the problems that arise, which seems to be a significant change from the old ways of traditional European governments. When learning about the mixed government ideas of both Polybius and Aristotle, I started to realize that there were a lot of differences too. It seems that the certain establishment of our rights has led the United States to many different branches of success, including our unique market and capitalism. Our country also seems to have a considerable tolerance for different religions, which is unlike a vast majority of the rest of...