was the u.s bill of rights influenced by the magna carta or not?

Answer 1

Magna Carta was the most significant early influence on the extensive historical process that led to the rule of constitutional law today. It influenced many common law and other documents, such as the United States Constitution and Bill of Rights, and is considered one of the most important legal documents in the history of democracy.

Answer 2

The Bill of Rights was more of a condition for a few states' ratification of the Constitution than anything else. It was an effort to counter the fact that the Federalists left out of the Constitution much of the civil liberties heralded in the Declaration of Independence. A few states that were heavily in debt at the time (New York, Rhode Island, etc.) wanted to make sure that the basic rights of man were protected no matter what the status of their individual or state be.

Answer 3

There is no DIRECT influence. Rather

a) Magna Carta was the BEGINNING of the process of the development of the British Constitution with its conception or the 'rights' of Englishmen (in the first instance, of nobles) esp. as over against the monarch who is seen as himself under LAW (hence not "absolute"). Ideas in the American founding documents, including , are a much later development on this path

b) I do not believe the founders make any specific appeal to Magna Carta language or provisions.... but they DO build very much on the 17th heritage of Puritan and Whig thought behind the English Civil War and Glorious Revolution.

And it IS true that in 17th century England there was much made of the importance of Magna Carta as an ideal and foundation of British rights (not so much its historical specifics, which were sometimes thought to provide more than they actually did)

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Related to all this, the way rights are spoken or in the Bill of Rights (and for that matter the Declaration of Independence, whose heart is a list of the King's VIOLATION of those rights) more directly echoes the 17th century contribution to the British Constitution known as the "English Bill or Rights" of 1689 -- a document American are sadly unaware of, though it provides a large part of th foundation for their founding documents.

This document justifies the removal of James II, and installation of William and Mary, by listing James's VIOLATIONS of rights, and follows the list of abuses with a listing of some of those rights.

The English Bill of Rights is reflected in MANY documents of the American Revolutionary period, both in political pamphlets and in official government documents -- esp

a) the listing of violations to justify declaring independence [no longer recognizing the king's rule] in documents by various states as well as the U.S. Declaration of Independence

b) the listing of RIGHTS of the people -- seen most famously in the "Virginia Declaration of Rights" and ultimately in the "Bill of Rights" added as the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, but also in early constitutions of other states (e.g. Pennsylvania, see below)
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To see and compare these documents (I will CAPITALIZE the ones most directly related to your question) --

ENGLISH BILL OF RIGHTS (1689) --and notice its specific subtitle,
"An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown"
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/england.htm

Declaration of Independence
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/

Draft of the Virginia Constitution (May 1776, by Jefferson)*
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/jeffcons.htm

VIRGINIA DECLARATION OF RIGHTS (May 1776, George Mason)*
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/virginia.htm
-- note that the early section, with its general statements of universal natural rights, is echoed in the introduction to the Declaration of Independence, but it then goes on list SPECIFIC sorts of legal and political rights

U.S. BILL OF RIGHTS
http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/infousa/facts/funddocs/billeng.htm

* Mason's Virginia Decl. of Rights & Jefferson's draft constitution were combined to form
The Constitution of Virginia (June 1776)
http://www.teachingamericanhistory.org/library/index.asp?document=105

CONSTITUTION OF PENNSYLVANIA (Sept 1776)
http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/states/pa08.htm
(Structure - justification of independence, declaration of RIGHTS, explanation of the state's frame of government.
Thus it has the same three elements as Virginia's Constitution, though the order of the first two is reversed.)