It consisted of 28 Articles and numerous sub-articles and claimed to be 'the ultimate legal authority in Mercia', stated in Article 1.1 to 'comprise its historic twenty shires ([1] Bedfordshire, [2] Buckinghamshire, [3] Cambridgeshire, [4] Cheshire, [5] Derbyshire, [6] Gloucestershire, [7] Herefordshire, [8] Hertfordshire, [9] Huntingdonshire, [10] Leicestershire, [11] Lincolnshire, [12] Middlesex, [13] Northamptonshire, [14] Nottinghamshire, [15] Oxfordshire, [16] Rutland, [17] Shropshire, [18] Staffordshire, [19] Warwickshire and [20] Worcestershire) or such of these as find a common Mercian identity and wish to be included in the region'.

[14][15][16][17][18] The Constitution offered a new holistic society in Mercia, based on organic democracy, co-operative community and ecological balance.

[19] On 29 May 2003, Jeff Kent, Joyce Millington, and David Bastable issued the "Declaration of Mercian Independence", in Victoria Square, Birmingham, in the heart of the region.

[10][20][11][21][22][23] After the declaration, the Convention renamed itself the Acting Witan of Mercia, which aimed to spearhead the full democratisation of the region and the re-establishment of its de facto independence.

[31][32] On 26 February 2010, outside the Potteries Museum & Art Gallery, in Stoke-on-Trent, the purported "convener of the Acting Witan" (Jeff Kent) and the purported "Acting Sheriff of Staffordshire" (Philip Snow) made a declaration claiming the Staffordshire Hoard to be the property of the citizens of Mercia.