Exploring the Bounds of Liberty: Political Writings of Colonial British America from the Glorious Revolution to the American Revolution
- Jack P. Greene (editor)
- Craig B. Yirush (editor)
Exploring the Bounds of Liberty is a 3 vol. collection which presents a rich and extensive selection of the political literature produced in and about colonial British America during the century before the American Revolution. Most colonial political pamphlets and broadsides were printed in London, but even in the mid-seventeenth century some writings were published in New England, which then had the only printing presses in British America. With the expansion of printing to most of the colonies during the last decade of the seventeenth and the first three decades of the eighteenth century, however, the number of political polemical publications increased exponentially throughout colonial British America, from Barbados to Nova Scotia. The number of publications dealing with political questions increased in every decade after 1710, to become a veritable flood by the 1750s.
A complete ToC with links:
Exploring the Bounds of Liberty Vol. 1 (1687-1732)
- 1: William Penn, The Excellent Priviledge of Liberty and Property (Philadelphia, 1687)
- 2: [John Palmer], The Present State of New England (Boston, 1689)
- 3: Gershom Bulkeley, The People’s Right to Election (1689)
- 4: [Edward Littleton], The Groans of the Plantations (London, 1689)
- 5: [Edward Rawson], The Revolution in New England Justified (1691)
- 6: John Montague, Arguments Offer’d to the Right Honourable the Lords Commissioners (1701)
- 7: [Thomas Hodge], Plantation Justice, London (1701)
- 8: “An American” [Benjamin Harrison], An Essay upon the Government of the English Plantations on the Continent of America (London, 1701)
- 9: [William Penn], The Allegations Against Proprietary Government Considered (1701)
- 10: Reflections on the Printed Case of William Penn, Esq., in a Letter from Some Gentlemen of Pensilvania (1702)
- 11: Anonymous, A Letter from a Merchant at Jamaica to a Member of Parliament in London (London, 1709)
- 12: Anonymous, Truth Brought to Light (London, 1713)
- 13: Anonymous, Some Instances of the Oppression and Male Administration of Col. Parke (1713)
- 14: Samuel Mulford, Samuel Mulford’s Speech to the Assembly at New-York [New York, 1714]
- 15: [Robert Hunter], Androboros: A Biographical Farce in Three Acts [New York, 1714]
- 16: [James Spence and Roderick MacKenzie], The Groans of Jamaica (London, 1714)
- 17: [William Gordon], A Representation of the Miserable State of Barbadoes (London, 1719)
- 18: Elisha Cooke, Mr. Cooke’s Just and Seasonable Vindication (Boston, 1720)
- 19: Anonymous, A True State of the Case between the Inhabitants of South Carolina, and the Lords Proprietors of That Province [London, 1720]
- 20: Jeremiah Dummer, A Defence of the New-England Charters (Boston, 1721)
- 21: [Samuel Cranston and] R. Ward, A Vindication of the Governour and Government of His Majesty’s Colony of Rhode-Island (Newport, 1721)
- 22: David Lloyd, A Vindication of the Legislative Power (1725)
- 23: James Logan, The Antidote (1725)
- 24: John Bulkley, “Preface” in Roger Wolcott, Poetical Meditations (New London, 1725)
- 25: J. N., The Liberty and Property of British Subjects Asserted (London, 1726)
- 26: Daniel Dulany, The Right of the Inhabitants of Maryland to the Benefit of the English Laws (1728)
- 27: “Amicus Reipublicae,” Trade and Commerce Inculcated ([Boston], 1731)
- 28: “A Sincere Lover of Virginia” [Sir William Gooch], A Dialogue (Williamsburg, 1732)
Exploring the Bounds of Liberty Vol. 2 (1734-1755).
- 29: William Smith, Mr. Smith’s Opinion Humbly Offered to the General Assembly of the Colony of New-York (New York, 1734)
- 30: Joseph Murray, Mr. Murray’s Opinion Relating to the Courts of Justice in the Colony of New-York (New York, 1734)
- 31: Sir John Randolph, The Speech of Sir John Randolph, upon His Being Elected Speaker of the House of Burgesses (Williamsburg, 1734)
- 32: [“Americanus”], Letter to the Freeholders and Other Inhabitants of the Massachusetts-Bay (Newport, 1739)
- 33: [Maurice Moore], A True and Faithful Narrative of the Proceedings of the House of Burgesses of North-Carolina (Williamsburg, 1740)
- 34: [William Douglass], A Discourse Concerning the Currencies of the British Plantations in America (Boston, 1740)
- 35: Thomas Baxter, A Letter from a Gentleman at Barbados to His Friend (London, 1740)
- 36: Samuel Chew, The Speech of Samuel Chew, Esq. (Philadelphia, 1741)
- 37: “Remarks on the Maryland Government and Constitution,” American Magazine (1741)
- 38: [Jonathan Blenman], Remarks on Several Acts of Parliament (London, 1742)
- 39: Thomas Stephens, The Hard Case of the Distressed People of Georgia (London, 1742)
- 40: [Edward Trelawny], An Essay Concerning Slavery (London, 1746)
- 41: Samuel Nevill, Mr. Nevill’s Speech to the House of Representatives of the Colony of New-Jersey (New York Weekly Post Boy, May 19, 1746)
- 42: “A Freeholder,” “A Native of Maryland,” “Americano-Britannus,” “Philanthropos,” and Anonymous (Maryland Gazette, 1748)
- 43: [Archibald Kennedy], An Essay on the Government of the Colonies (1752)
- 44: Anonymous, The Voice of the People (Boston, 1754)
- 45: [Landon Carter], A Letter from a Gentleman in Virginia to the Merchants of Great Britain (London, 1754)
- 46: George Frye, The Case of Capt. George Frye (London, 1754)
- 47: Anonymous, A Short Account of the Interest and Conduct of the Jamaica Planters (London, 1754)
- 48: Stephen Hopkins, A True Representation of the Plan Formed at Albany, for Uniting All the British Northern Colonies (Newport, 1755)
- 49: “Philolethes” [Samuel Ward], A Short Reply to Mr. Stephen Hopkins’s Vindication (Newport, 1755)
- 50: [William Smith], A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania (London, 1755)
- 51: Anonymous, An Answer to an Invidious Pamphlet, Intituled, A Brief State of the Province of Pennsylvania (London, 1755)
- 52: “Veridicus” [Thomas Frearon], The Merchants, Factors, and Agents Residing at Kingston, Complainants, Against the Inhabitants of Spanish-Town (London, 1755)
Exploring the Bounds of Liberty Vol. 3 (1755-1774).
- 53: [William Livingston], An Address to His Excellency Sir Charles Hardy (New York, 1755)
- 54: Daniel Fowle, A Total Eclipse of Liberty (Boston, 1755)
- 55: J.W., A Letter from a Gentleman in Nova-Scotia, To a Person of Distinction on the Continent ([London], 1756)
- 56: T[homas] W[right] and [William Wragg], Letters to the South Carolina Gazette (May 13, June 5, 1756)
- 57: [Landon Carter], A Letter to a Gentleman in London, from Virginia (Williamsburg, 1759)
- 58: Richard Bland, A Letter to the Clergy of Virginia (Williamsburg, 1760)
- 59: [Joseph Galloway], A Letter to the People of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1760)
- 60: James Otis, A Vindication of the Conduct of the House of Representatives of the Province of the Massachusetts-Bay (Boston, 1762)
- 61: Massachusetts House of Representatives: Instructions to Jasper Mauduit (June 15, 1762)
- 62: John Camm, A Single and Distinct View of the Act, Vulgarly Entitled, The Two-Penny Act (Annapolis, 1763)
- 63: Richard Bland, The Colonel Dismounted: Or the Rector Vindicated (Williamsburg, 1764)
- 64: John Dickinson, A Speech, Delivered in the House of Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1764)
- 65: Joseph Galloway, The Speech of Joseph Galloway, Delivered in the House of Assembly, of the Province of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1764)
- 66: “An American” [Arthur Lee], An Essay in Vindication of the Continental Colonies of America (London, 1764)
- 67: [Nicholas Bourke], The Privileges of the Island of Jamaica Vindicated (London, 1766)
- 68: [Robert Munford], The Candidates; Or, The Humours of a Virginia Election [1770]
- 69: Anonymous, Observations upon the Report Made by the Board of Trade against the Grenada Laws (London, 1770)
- 70: John Gardiner, The Argument or Speech of John Gardiner, Esquire (St. Christopher, 1770)
- 71: “A Freeman” [John J. Zubly], Calm and Respectful Thoughts on the Negative of the Crown (Savannah, 1772)
- 72: “A Planter” [Edward Long], Candid Reflections upon the Judgement on What Is Commonly Called the Negroe-Cause (London, 1772)
- 73: Samuel Estwick, Considerations on the Negroe Cause (London, 1773)
- 74: A Member of the Assembly [John Day], An Essay on the Present State of the Province of Nova-Scotia [Halifax, 1774]
- 75: Anonymous, Considerations on the Imposition of 4½ Per Cent; Collected on Grenada, Without Grant of Parliament (London, 1774)