American Liberty in Political Documents before 1787
This is a Reading List based upon a Liberty Fund Conference on “American Liberty in Political Documents Before 1787.”
American Liberty in Political Documents Before 1787
Topic
Neither American constitutionalism nor the American understanding of liberty originated with the drafting of the American Constitution in 1787 in Philadelphia. It was the result, rather, of trial and error––of earlier efforts to provide a fundamental law through the early state constitutions and Articles of Confederation. But even these documents do not tell the full story, for they were adaptations of colonial documents dating back to the seventeenth century. Each state basically took its colonial government and turned it into an independent constitutional government. Thus, we find a great deal of basic constitutional continuity between the pre- and post-independence political systems. This continuity was strongest in New England––in Massachusetts, which kept its colonial constitution until 1780, and in Connecticut and Rhode Island, which continued to live under their colonial constitutions until the mid-nineteenth century. In short, the United States Constitution has a pedigree that runs back to the founding documents of the American colonies.
Guide to the Readings
Editions used:
- Donald S. Lutz, Colonial Origins of the American Constitution: A Documentary History, ed. Charles S. Hyneman and Donald S. Lutz (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1998).
- Bruce Frohnen, The American Republic: Primary Sources, ed. Bruce Frohnen (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002).
See also in the Online Library of Liberty:
- Collections: The American Revolution and Constitution
- Collections: The Founding Fathers of the U.S. Constitution
Session I: First Attempts at Liberty
Lutz, Colonial Origins of the American Constitution
- Articles, Laws and Orders, Divine, Politic, and Martial for the Colony in Virginia (1610)
- Organization of the Government of Rhode Island (1642)
- The Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts (1647)
Session II: Early Founding Covenants
Lutz, Colonial Origins of the American Constitution
- The Mayflower Compact (1620)
- Providence Agreement (1637)
- Plantation Covenant at Quinnipiack (1638)
- Agreement of the Settlers in New Hampshire (1639).
Session III: The First Constitutions
Lutz, Colonial Origins of the American Constitution
- Pilgrim Code of Law (1636)
- Fundamental Orders of Connecticut (1639)
- Rhode Island Acts and Orders (1647)
- Fundamentals of West New Jersey (1681)
Session IV: The Move toward Liberty from Britain and Views of Liberty in Early State Constitutions
Frohnen, The American Republic:
Avalon Project (external site)
- The Mecklenburg Resolves (1775)
- New Hampshire Constitution (1776)
- South Carolina Constitution (1776)
- Virginia Constitution (1776)
- Pennsylvania Constitution (1776)
- Massachusetts Constitution (1780)
Session V: The Articles of Confederation and its Antecedents
Lutz, Colonial Origins of the American Constitution
- The New England Confederation (1643)
- William Penn’s Plan of Union (1697)
- The Albany Plan of Union (1754)
- Joseph Galloway's Plan of Union (1774)
- Articles of Confederation (1777)
Session VI: The Bill of Rights and its Pedigree
Lutz, Colonial Origins of the American Constitution
- An Act for the Liberties of the People (Maryland, 1638)
- The Massachusetts Body of Liberties (1641)
- Charter of Liberties and Frame of Government of Pennsylvania in America (1682)
Frohnen, The American Republic:
Avalon Project (external website):
Reading Lists
- Addison and Smith: Freedom and Responsibility
- American Liberty in Political Documents before 1787
- An Introduction to the Major Writings of Ludwig von Mises
- Banned Books
- British and French Sources of American Constitutionalism
- Burlamaqui, Bayle: Freedom Tolerance, Natural Law
- Cato’s Letters: Liberty and Responsibility
- Cobden: Liberty and Peace
- Constant’s Principles of Politics
- Emerson on Anti-slavery
- Eric Mack, An Introduction to the Political Thought of John Locke
- Gibbon and the Rise of Christianity and Islam
- Homer’s Iliad: Liberty and Responsibility
- Hume, Smith, and Ferguson: Wealth, Commerce, and Corruption
- Hume: History of England
- James Tyrrell on Authority and Liberty
- Jefferson-Hamilton Debate
- John Milton: Liberty in his Prose and Poetry
- Major Political Thinkers: Plato to Mill
- Mandeville: Vice, Virtue and Liberty
- Mill-Macaulay Debate on Government
- Old Testament and English Political Thought
- Political Sermons of the Founding Era
- Readings from the OLL Reader
- Rousseau and Hume: Contrasting Views of Liberty
- Shakespeare and Marlowe: Liberty in Four Plays
- Shakespeare: Liberty and Responsibility
- Socialist Tracts
- Sophocles and Aeschylus: Blood Justice and the Founding of Legal Order
- Tacitus: Liberty and Tyranny in the Annals
- The Ruling Class and the State: An Anthology
- Thomas Paine and American Liberty
- Thucydides: War, Empire, and Liberty