The Magna Carta, English bill of rights, mayflower compact, and Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" all influenced the colonists views of government by providing a historical and philosophical basis for seeking to include certain principles in their new government that they sought to create. These factors helped to create a conversation about what type of government should be created, whether there should be a constitution and a bill of rights, and also how they would go about preventing monarchical type control of their new government.
