British and French Sources of American Constitutionalism
This is a Reading List based upon a Liberty Fund Conference on “British and French Sources of American Constitutionalism.”
British and French Sources of American Constitutionalism
Guide to the Readings
Editions used:
- John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, ed. Thomas Hollis (London: A. Millar et al., 1764).
- John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon, Cato’s Letters, or Essays on Liberty, Civil and Religious, and Other Important Subjects. Four volumes in Two, edited and annotated by Ronald Hamowy (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 1995).
- Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (London: T. Evans, 1777), 4 vols. Vol. 1.
- Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (London: T. Evans, 1777), 4 vols. Vol. 3: Persian Letters.
- Thomas Paine, The Writings of Thomas Paine, Collected and Edited by Moncure Daniel Conway (New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1894). 4 Vols. (Common Sense)
- David Hume, Essays Moral, Political, Literary, edited and with a Foreword, Notes, and Glossary by Eugene F. Miller, with an appendix of variant readings from the 1889 edition by T.H. Green and T.H. Grose, revised edition (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund 1987).
See also:
- Topic: American Revolution and Constitution
- Subject Area: Political Theory
- School of Thought: 18thC Commonwealthmen
For additional reading see:
Session I: John Locke on Ends of Politics and the Preservation of Liberty.
John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, ed. Thomas Hollis (London: A. Millar et al., 1764).
- Chapter 1, pages 3–4;
- Chapter 2, “Of the State of Nature,” pages 4–7;
- Chapter 3, “Of the State of War,” paragraphs 16–21
- Chapter 4, “Of Slavery,” paragraphs 22–24
- Chapter 5, “Of Property,” paragraphs 25–51
- Chapter 7, “Of Political or Civil Society,” paragraphs 52–76 and 77–95
Session II: John Locke on Limited Government.
John Locke, Two Treatises of Government, ed. Thomas Hollis (London: A. Millar et al., 1764).
- Chapter 8, “Of the Beginning of Political Societies” paragraphs 95–99 and115–122
- Chapter 9, “Of the Ends of Political Society and Government,” paragraphs 123–131
- Chapter 10, “Of the Forms of a Commonwealth,” paragraphs 132–133
- Chapter 11, “Of the Extent of the Legislative Power,” paragraphs 134–142
- Chapter 12, “Of the Legislative, Executive, and Federative Power of the Commonwealth” paragraphs 143–148
- Chapter 13, “Of the Subordination of the Powers of the Commonwealth,” paragraphs 149–158
- Chapter 14, “Of Prerogative,” paragraphs 159–168
- Chapter 15, “Of Paternal, Political, and Despotical Power Considered Together,” paragraphs 169–174
- Chapter 17, “Of Usurpation,” paragraphs 197–198
- Chapter 18, “Of Tyranny,” paragraphs 199–210
- Chapter 19, “Of the Dissolution of Government” paragraphs 211–230
Session III: Trenchard and Gordon on Liberty, Law, and the Essentials of Free Governments.
- Number 42, “Considerations on the Nature of Laws"
- Number 45, “Of Equality and Inequality of Men"
- Number 59, “Liberty proved to be the unalienable Right of all Mankind"
- Number 60, “All Government proved to be instituted by Men, and only to intend the general Good of Men"
- Number 61, “How free Governments are to be framed so as to last, and how they differ from such as are arbitrary"
- Number 62, “An Enquiry into the Nature and Extent of Liberty; with its Loveliness and Advantages, and the vile Effects of Slavery"
- Number 63, “Civil Liberty produces all Civil Blessings, and how; with the baneful Nature of Tyranny"
- Number 84, “Property the First Principle of Power. The Errors of our Prices who Attended Not to This"
- Number 85, “Britain incapable of any Government but a limited Monarchy; with the Defects of a neighbouring Republick”
Session IV: Forms of Government: The Nature, Principle, and Laws of Republics, Monarchies, and Despotisms as Envisioned by Montesquieu.
- Book II, “On Laws deriving directly from the nature of the government,” Chapters 1–5
- Book III, “On the principles of the three governments,” Chapters 1–11
- Book V, “That the laws given by the legislator should be relative to the principle of the government,” Chapters 1–14
Session V: Montesquieu and Paine on the English Constitution.
- Book XI, “On the laws that form political liberty in its relation with the constitution,” Chapters 1–6
- Book XIX, “On the laws in their relation with the principles forming the general spirit, the mores, and the manners of a nation,” Chapter 27
Charles Louis de Secondat, Baron de Montesquieu, The Complete Works of M. de Montesquieu (London: T. Evans, 1777), 4 vols. Vol. 3: Persian Letters.
- Common Sense, pages 65–71 and 76–81
Session VI: Hume’s View on the Principles of Government, Factions, the Ideal Commonwealth, and the True Sources of English Liberty.
Reading Lists
- American Liberty in Political Documents before 1787
- An Introduction to the Major Writings of Ludwig von Mises
- 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
- 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
- Major Political Thinkers: Plato to Mill
- Mandeville: Vice, Virtue and Liberty
- Mill-Macaulay Debate on Government
- Milton: Liberty in his Prose and Poetry
- Old Testament and English Political Thought
- Political Sermons of the Founding Era
- Rousseau and Hume: Contrasting Views of Liberty
- Shakespeare and Marlowe: Liberty in Four Plays
- Shakespeare: Liberty and Responsibility
- Sophocles and Aeschylus: Blood Justice and the Founding of Legal Order
- Tacitus: Liberty and Tyranny in the Annals
- Thomas Paine and American Liberty
- Thucydides: War, Empire, and Liberty