Civics In A Year
What do you really know about American government, the Constitution, and your rights as a citizen?
Civics in a Year is a fast-paced podcast series that delivers essential civic knowledge in just 10 minutes per episode. Over the course of a year, we’ll explore 250 key questions—from the founding documents and branches of government to civil liberties, elections, and public participation.
Rooted in the Civic Literacy Curriculum from the Center for American Civics at Arizona State University, this series is a collaborative project supported by the School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership. Each episode is designed to spark curiosity, strengthen constitutional understanding, and encourage active citizenship.
Whether you're a student, educator, or lifelong learner, Civics in a Year will guide you through the building blocks of American democracy—one question at a time.
Civics In A Year
Kids Edition: From Mayflower to Mohawks: How America Got Its Rulebook
The US Constitution draws inspiration from numerous sources including the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, colonial documents, and Native American governance systems. These influences shaped core American principles like federalism, representative government, and individual rights.
• Declaration of Independence (1776) established ideals of freedom, equality, and self-government
• Articles of Confederation provided lessons on balancing state and national power
• Mayflower Compact (1620) demonstrated self-governance with colonists creating fair laws
• Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639) established representative government with elected leaders
• Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776) influenced the later Bill of Rights
• Native American governance, particularly the Iroquois Confederacy, modeled federalism before the Constitution
• Federalist-Antifederalist debates led to the addition of the Bill of Rights
• Colonial constitutions and charters served as experimental blueprints
Challenge: Write your own rule or mini-constitution for your school or family and share it with a grown-up or teacher.
Check Out the Civic Literacy Curriculum!
School of Civic and Economic Thought and Leadership
Hey there, welcome back to Civics in a Year Kids Edition. I'm Liz, and today we're going to answer a really great question when did the US Constitution come from? Was it made up out of thin air? Nope, it was actually inspired by a bunch of ideas, documents and Native American traditions that came before it, and in this episode we're going to talk about those that came before it. And in this episode we're going to talk about those.
Speaker 1:So first we're going to start with the big two the Declaration and the Articles. So the Declaration of Independence was written in 1776, and it said things like everyone has rights, like liberty and happiness, government should be fair and people should help make decisions. That gave Americans a set of big ideas like freedom, equality and self-government. The next one was the Articles of Confederation. So these were rules for the new US government after it became independent from Britain, gave a lot of power to the states and just a little bit to the national government. Now, that first attempt at government didn't work so well. So later the Constitution kept the really good parts, like letting states have power, but made the national government a little bit stronger. That's called federalism, a system where power is shared between the state and the national government. So, if we go back even earlier, the Constitution didn't just come from the American Revolution. So first we have the Mayflower Compact, which in 1620, pilgrims on the ship Mayflower made a short agreement before they landed in Plymouth, massachusetts. They promised to stick together and make fair laws. It was actually one of the first examples of self-government in America. The next inspiration is the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, which was written in 1639. This was a little bit of a longer plan that said towns should choose their leaders, there should be a governor and something called a General Assembly, which is like Congress, and people should be in charge, not the king of England. It was a real constitution made by everyday people.
Speaker 1:Now, before there was one US Constitution, every colony, which later they became known as states, had its own constitution or charter. These were like rule books for how their government worked. One of the most important was the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by George Mason in 1776. It talked about freedom of religion, right to a fair trial and protection of people's rights. Does that sound familiar? That's because it inspired the Bill of Rights, which are the first 10 amendments to the US Constitution. George Mason was even at the Constitutional Convention, but he refused to sign the Constitution at first because it didn't yet have a Bill of Rights.
Speaker 1:Did you know that Native Americans also inspired our Constitution? The Kauai Confederacy was made up of five nations the Mohawks, onondaga, tiuga, oneida and Seneca. They had their own system of government where each group made its own decisions, but then they also made some decisions together. That's a lot like federalism. Even Benjamin Franklin admired their system and mentioned it in 1754 when he suggested uniting the colonies. Historians still debate whether this was a direct influence, but the Iroquois had a strong government with shared power long before the US Constitution was written.
Speaker 1:After the Constitution was written, not everyone agreed about it. People called Federalists thought it was great and people called Anti-Federalists were like wait, what about our rights? The Federalist Papers were essays that tried to explain the Constitution and convince people to support it. Thanks to debates, the Constitution got better. That's how we ended up with a Bill of Rights, just like George Mason and the Anti-Federalists wanted.
Speaker 1:Now here's your challenge. What rule would you add if you were writing a Constitution for your school or your family? Would it be something like everyone gets a turn, speak kindly to one another or vote before pizza toppings are decided, you should write your own rule or mini-constitution and share it with your grown-up or a teacher. So today we learned that the US Constitution wasn't just made from scratch. It was built from old ideas about freedom and government, early American documents like the Mayflower Compact and state constitutions, native American wisdom about shared power and a whole lot of debate. Thanks again for joining me for Civics in a Year Kids Edition. See you next time for another story about how our country came to be and how you are a part of it. See you later.
