importance of ambition for excellence
[52] BENEVOLOUS, Poverty, CHARLESTON, 1789
The effects of poverty
[53] DAVID RAMSAY, The History of the American Revolution (Selections), PHILADELPHIA, 1789
[54] ROBERT CORAM, Political Inquiries, to which is Added A Plan for the Establishment of Schools Throughout the United States, WILMINGTON, 1791
[55] JOEL BARLOW, A Letter to the National Convention of France on the Defects in the Constitution of 1791, NEW YORK, 1792
Equality and effective popular control of government
[56] TIMOTHY STONE, Election Sermon, HARTFORD, 1792
Liberty, leadership, and community
[57] DAVID RICE, Slavery Inconsistent With Justice and Good Policy, AUGUSTA, KENTUCKY, 1792
[58] THEODORE DWIGHT, An Oration, Spoken Before the Connecticut Society, for the Promotion of Freedom and the Relief of Persons Unlawfully Holden in Bondage, HARTFORD, 1794
The effects of slavery on slaves, masters, and society
[59] [TIMOTHY FORD] AMERICANUS, The Constitutionalist: Or, An Inquiry How Far It Is Expedient and Proper to Alter the Constitution of South Carolina, CHARLESTON, 1794
Representation
[60] JAMES KENT, An Introductory Lecture to a Course of Law Lectures, NEW YORK, 1794
Justifies judicial review by Supreme Court
[61] SAMUEL WILLIAMS, The Natural and Civil History of Vermont (Chapters XIII, XIV, and XV), WALPOLE, NEW HAMPSHIRE, 1794
How material circumstances affect culture and politics
[62] [JOHN LELAND] JACK NIPS, The Yankee Spy, BOSTON, 1794
Freedom of religion
[63] PERES [PEREZ] FOBES, An Election Sermon, BOSTON, 1795
Freedom of speech, respect for public officials
[64] JUSTICE [JACOB] RUSH, The Nature and Importance of an Oath—the Charge to a Jury, RUTLAND, VERMONT, 1796
Oaths and political obligation
[65] NATHANAEL EMMONS, A Discourse Delivered on the National Fast, WRENTHAM, MASSACHUSETTS, 1799
Civil disobedience and obedience to constituted authorities
[66] JONATHAN MAXCY, An Oration, PROVIDENCE, 1799
Liberty and equality
[67] ALEXANDER ADDISON, Analysis of the Report of the Committee of the Virginia Assembly, PHILADELPHIA, 1800
Limits to freedom of the press, compact theory of government
[68] JOEL BARLOW, To His Fellow Citizens of the United States. Letter II: On Certain Political Measures Proposed to Their Consideration, PHILADELPHIA, 1801
Federalism
[69] AN IMPARTIAL CITIZEN, A Dissertation Upon the Constitutional Freedom of the Press, BOSTON, 1801
[70] JEREMIAH ATWATER, A Sermon, MIDDLEBURY, VERMONT, 1801
Liberty, republican government, human nature, and virtue
[71] JOHN LELAND, The Connecticut Dissenters’ Strong Box: No. 1, NEW LONDON, CONNECTICUT, 1802
Religious freedom
[72] ZEPHANIAH SWIFT MOORE, An Oration on the Anniversary of the Independence of the United States of America, WORCESTER, MASSACHUSETTS, 1802
Public opinion, virtue, education, and popular government
[73] NOAH WEBSTER, An Oration on the Anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, NEW HAVEN, 1802
The underlying principles and design of American government
[74] SAMUEL KENDAL, Religion the Only Sure Basis of Free Government, BOSTON, 1804
Dependence of government upon religious sentiment
[75] JAMES WILSON, On Municipal Law, PHILADELPHIA, 1804
Law, consent, and political obligation
[76] FISHER AMES, The Dangers of American Liberty, BOSTON, 1805
Equality, faction, bigness, corruption, community, virtue
A Selected List of Political Writingsby Americans Between 1760 and 1805
A List of Newspapers Examined
Collections of Writing fromthe Founding Era
Index
The political writing of the founding era is tremendous in volume. The books, pamphlets, and letters to newspapers written in the last quarter of the eighteenth century that would repay careful reading by students and teachers of American political thought would fill a few dozen volumes the size of the two that this comment introduces. And even appraisals of amount and worth take no account of the personal letters printed in the collected writings of men and women who achieved prominence and of the correspondence in manuscript preserved in archives and libraries. At least one collection of essays, The Federalist, has long been a classic of western literature. In the light of such an impressive literature, the appearance of a score, if not a half a hundred, brief essays hitherto unknown except to scholars ought to be high priority reading for political leaders and for those who make analysis and criticism of government a prime concern.
The second volume of this collection closes with the editors’ choice of five-hundred-odd items thought to represent the best analytic and polemic writing put into print in the English colonies that converted into states during the forty-five years following 1760; if printed in the type-size of this collection, they would overflow at least fifteen, and possibly eighteen, volumes the size of these two. The editors are convinced that in compiling a selected list of political writings by Americans between 1760 and 1805, they have rejected an equal amount of wordage that met tests of relevance but seemed to be less satisfying on some test of merit.
It is quite clear that a vast amount of wordage went into print during this era and that only a modest proportion of that wordage is in places where readers can get to it today. With few exceptions, what the compilers of this collection examined and considered for inclusion is confined
