The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the world’s oldest written and ratified constitution still in use today. This document was also the first state constitution crafted by a constitutional convention. The drafting committee included Samuel Adams, James Bowdoin, and John Adams, though John Adams himself drafted the document. The preamble for this constitution served as a model for the Preamble to the US Constitution. Reflecting Adams’ views on individual rights, the constitution places the Declaration of Rights before the “Frame of Government,” which included the separation of power into three branches later adopted by the US Constitution.