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Key Documents of Liberty: Interpreting the American Constitution

This collection of Key Documents of Liberty documents the struggle to create free institutions from the ancient world to the modern. It is part of a series of Reading Lists which will include:

• Key Documents of Liberty: The Ancient and Medieval Periods
• Key Documents of Liberty: 17th Century England
• Key Documents of Liberty: 17th Century North America
• Key Documents of Liberty: the American Revolution
• Key Documents of Liberty: Writing the American Constitution
• Key Documents of Liberty: Interpreting the American Constitution

The documents were taken from the following works:

• Liberty and Order: The First American Party Struggle, ed. and with a Preface by Lance Banning (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004).
• Political Sermons of the American Founding Era: 1730-1805, 2 vols, Foreword by Ellis Sandoz (2nd ed. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1998).
• The American Republic: Primary Sources, ed. Bruce Frohnen (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002).
• James McClellan, Liberty, Order, and Justice: An Introduction to the Constitutional Principles of American Government (3rd ed.) (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000).
• The Pacificus-Helvidius Debates of 1793-1794: Toward the Completion of the American Founding, edited with and Introduction by Morton J. Frisch (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2007).
• John Marshall, The Life of George Washington. Special Edition for Schools, ed. Robert Faulkner and Paul Carrese (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000).
• James McClellan, Liberty, Order, and Justice: An Introduction to the Constitutional Principles of American Government (3rd ed.) (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000).

Additional readings and documents can be found in The Founders’ Constitution, edited by Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2001), 5 vols.

• 1790: Hamilton, The First Report on Public Credit

  Lance Banning, Liberty and Order: The First American Party Struggle, ed. and with a Preface by Lance Banning (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004). Chapter: alexander hamilton The First Report on Public Credit 14 January 1790

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/875/63835 on 2010-02-10

  The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 1790: Jefferson, Memorandum on the Compromise of 1790

  Lance Banning, Liberty and Order: The First American Party Struggle, ed. and with a Preface by Lance Banning (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004). Chapter: thomas jefferson Memorandum on the Compromise of 1790

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/875/63852 on 2010-02-10

  The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 1790: Richard Price, A DISCOURSE ON THE LOVE OF OUR COUNTRY

  Ellis Sandoz, Political Sermons of the American Founding Era: 1730-1805, 2 vols, Foreword by Ellis Sandoz (2nd ed. Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1998). Vol. 2. Chapter: 34. Richard Price, A DISCOURSE ON THE LOVE OF OUR COUNTRY

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/817/69396 on 2010-02-10

  The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 1791: Hamilton/Jefferson, On the Constitutionality of a National Bank

  Bruce Frohnen, The American Republic: Primary Sources, ed. Bruce Frohnen (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002). Chapter: Opinion against the Constitutionality of a National Bank: Opinion as to the Constitutionality of the Bank of the United States

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/669/206300 on 2010-02-10

  The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 1791: Madison’s Speech on the Bank Bill

  Lance Banning, Liberty and Order: The First American Party Struggle, ed. and with a Preface by Lance Banning (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004). Chapter: James Madison’s Speech on the Bank Bill 2 February 1791

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/875/63865 on 2010-02-10

  The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 1791: US Bill of Rights (1st 10 Amendments)

  James McClellan, Liberty, Order, and Justice: An Introduction to the Constitutional Principles of American Government (3rd ed.) (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000). Chapter: C.: The Bill Of Rights

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/679/68517 on 2010-02-10

  The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 1793: Helvidius (Madison) Number I

  Alexander Hamilton, The Pacificus-Helvidius Debates of 1793-1794: Toward the Completion of the American Founding, edited with and Introduction by Morton J. Frisch (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2007). Chapter: Helvidius Number I *

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/1910/112550 on 2010-02-10

  Material by Washington and Madison is published by permission from The Papers of Alexander Hamilton (Columbia University Press) and by Jefferson and Madison from The Papers of James Madison (University Press of Virginia).

• 1793: Pacificus (Hamilton) Number I

  Alexander Hamilton, The Pacificus-Helvidius Debates of 1793-1794: Toward the Completion of the American Founding, edited with and Introduction by Morton J. Frisch (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2007). Chapter: Pacificus Number I *

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/1910/112542 on 2010-02-10

  Material by Washington and Madison is published by permission from The Papers of Alexander Hamilton (Columbia University Press) and by Jefferson and Madison from The Papers of James Madison (University Press of Virginia).

• 1796: Washington, Farewell Address

  John Marshall, The Life of George Washington. Special Edition for Schools, ed. Robert Faulkner and Paul Carrese (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000). Chapter: V.: Farewell Address

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/849/102295 on 2010-02-10

  The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 1798-1992: US Bill of Rights (Amendments XI-XXVII)

  James McClellan, Liberty, Order, and Justice: An Introduction to the Constitutional Principles of American Government (3rd ed.) (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2000). Chapter: The Amended Constitution

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/679/68562 on 2010-02-10

  The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 1798-1799: Alien & Sedition Acts, Kentucky Resolutions, Virginia Resolutions

  Read also the Counter-Resolutions of the Other States and the Report of the Virginia House of Delegates

  Bruce Frohnen, The American Republic: Primary Sources, ed. Bruce Frohnen (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002). Chapter: The Alien and Sedition Acts June 25, 1798: Virginia Resolutions December 21, 1798: Kentucky Resolutions November 10, 1798: Counter-resolutions of Other States 1799: Report of Virginia House of Delegates 1799

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/669/206263 on 2010-02-10

  The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 1798: Jefferson’s Draft of the Kentucky Resolutions

  Lance Banning, Liberty and Order: The First American Party Struggle, ed. and with a Preface by Lance Banning (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004). Chapter: thomas jefferson Draft of the Kentucky Resolutions October 1798

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/875/63980 on 2010-02-10

  The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 1801: Jefferson First Inaugural Message

  Lance Banning, Liberty and Order: The First American Party Struggle, ed. and with a Preface by Lance Banning (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004). Chapter: thomas jefferson The First Inaugural Address 4 March 1801

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/875/63988 on 2010-02-10

  The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 1801: Jefferson First Annual Message

  Lance Banning, Liberty and Order: The First American Party Struggle, ed. and with a Preface by Lance Banning (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2004). Chapter: thomas jefferson First Annual Message 8 December 1801

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/875/63989 on 2010-02-10

  The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.

• 1802: Jefferson, Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association

  Bruce Frohnen, The American Republic: Primary Sources, ed. Bruce Frohnen (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002). Chapter: Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association

  Accessed from oll.libertyfund.org/title/669/206103 on 2010-02-10

  The copyright to this edition, in both print and electronic forms, is held by Liberty Fund, Inc.