Founding Texts of Reform and Independence, 1789 to 1967

The French National Constituent Assembly adopted the last article of this declaration on 26 August 1789. Inspired by Enlightenment thinkers, it set out the core values of the Revolution and shaped later ideas of individual liberty and democracy in Europe and beyond.

Proclaimed on 1 January 1804 at Gonaives, it made Haiti the first independent nation in Latin America and the Caribbean, growing out of the only successful large scale slave revolt in history. Dessalines could not write French, so his secretary Louis Boisrond-Tonnerre composed and read it.

Ratified on 19 March 1812 by the Cortes of Cadiz during the war against French occupation, it was Spain's first written constitution. It placed sovereignty in the nation and extended representation to Spaniards in both hemispheres, and it became a model for liberal constitutions in Norway, Portugal and Mexico.

Announced in 1839 in Gulhane Park by Sultan Abdulmecid I, it opened the Tanzimat era of Ottoman reform and promised legal protection to all subjects whatever their religion. Its promises stayed largely unrealized, which led to the further Imperial Reform Edict of 1856.

Emperor Meiji issued these five articles on 6 April 1868 as the guiding principles of Japan's modernization, calling for deliberative assemblies and the pursuit of knowledge from around the world. Its assembly promise was not met until Japan's first parliament convened in 1890.

Promulgated on 23 December 1876 under Abdul Hamid II and drafted chiefly by Midhat Pasha, it was the Ottoman Empire's first and only written constitution. It created an appointed Senate and an elected Chamber of Deputies but left the Sultan sweeping powers, and it was suspended after 1878.

Proclaimed on 11 February 1889 and in force from 29 November 1890 until 2 May 1947, the Meiji Constitution created a mixed constitutional and absolute monarchy modeled mainly on German practice. It came twenty-one years after the Charter Oath, which had promised a deliberative assembly.

Signed by Friedrich Ebert on 11 August 1919, it created a federal semi-presidential republic with a Reichstag elected by universal suffrage. The president held supreme command of the military and broad emergency powers, and the text guaranteed freedom of speech and religion.

Written by Ho Chi Minh and read at Ba Dinh Square in Hanoi on 2 September 1945, it deliberately echoed the American and French declarations. No government recognized it at once, and fighting with France grew into the First Indochina War from December 1946.

Adopted on 26 June 1955 at Kliptown, Soweto, by the Congress Alliance, it declared that South Africa belongs to all who live in it. It became a foundational text of the anti-apartheid movement, and many of its demands were carried into the constitution after the 1994 election.

Issued by President Julius Nyerere on 5 February 1967, it set out Tanzania's policy of Ujamaa and self reliance as an alternative to both capitalism and Soviet style communism. It guided the country's development policy for the next two decades.