The American Republic
Editorial Board
Dr. George W. Carey is Professor of Government at Georgetown University. He is the author and editor of several works, including In Defense of the Constitution (Liberty Fund, 1995). Dr. Carey is also editor of the Political Science Reviewer, an annual review of leading works in political science and related disciplines.
Dr. Danton P. Kostandarithes has served as chairman of the Social Studies Department at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, since 1996. He earned his doctoral degree in American diplomatic history from Tulane University in 1992. Dr. Kostandarithes currently teaches American history and advanced placement U.S. history at the Bolles School.
Dr. Charles Reid is Research Associate in Law and Religion at the Emory University School of Law. He holds a Ph.D. in history from Cornell University, and law and canon law degrees from the Catholic University of America. His articles have appeared in numerous law reviews and professional journals, including the Michigan Law Review, Boston College Law Review, and Studia Canonica.
Dr. Barry Alan Shain is an Associate Professor of Political Science at Colgate University. He teaches courses in modern European and American political thought. Dr. Shain is the author of The Myth of American Individualism: The Protestant Origins of American Political Thought, which is in its third printing by Princeton University Press.
This book is published by Liberty Fund, Inc., a foundation established to encourage study of the ideal of a society of free and responsible individuals.
The cuneiform inscription that serves as our logo and as a design element in Liberty Fund books is the earliest-known written appearance of the word “freedom” (amagi), or “liberty.” It is taken from a clay document written about 2300 B.C. in the Sumerian city-state of Lagash.
© 2002 by Liberty Fund, Inc.
Cover illustration: Signing of the Constitution in 1787. Undated painting by Stearns. © Bettmann/CORBIS.
This eBook edition published in 2013.
eBook ISBNs:
Kindle 978-1-61487-008-1
E-PUB 978-1-61487-126-2
Contents
Alphabetical Table of Contents
I Colonial Settlements and Societies
Virginia Articles, Laws, and Orders, 1610–11
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, 1639
The Massachusetts Body of Liberties, 1641
Charter of Liberties and Frame of Government of the Province of Pennsylvania in America, 1682
Maryland Act for Swearing Allegiance, 1638; Plymouth Oath of Allegiance and Fidelity, 1625
“Little Speech on Liberty,” JOHN WINTHROP, 1645
“Copy of a Letter from Mr. Cotton to Lord Say and Seal,” JOHN COTTON, 1636
2 Religious Society and Religious Liberty in Early America
“The Bloody Tenent, of Persecution, for Cause of Conscience,” ROGER WILLIAMS, 1644
“A Platform of Church Discipline,” JOHN COTTON, RICHARD MATHER, and RALPH PARTRIDGE, 1649
“Thanksgiving Proclamation” and Letters to Religious Associations, GEORGE WASHINGTON; 1789, 1790
“Farewell Address,” GEORGE WASHINGTON, 1796
“The Rights of Conscience Inalienable,” JOHN LELAND, 1791
“Letter to the Danbury Baptist Association,” THOMAS JEFFERSON, 1802
The English Bill of Rights, 1689
