Front cover image for Founding the Republic : a Documentary History

Founding the Republic : a Documentary History

Establishes a broad picture of the issues that confronted those who framed our government by showing how they arrived at consensus from their numerous conflicting positions. A chronology of major events is followed by seven sections of documents, organized topically. This important library and classroom tool will make it easy for students to research and debate the core political ideas and issues of the founding period. The profound arguments regarding republicanism, federalism, constitutionalism, and individual rights come to life here, contextualized with introductory explanations to stimulate analysis and appraisal of the positions. Unique to this collection are documents relating to the establishment of constitutional governments in the original 13 states, debate over the Bill of Rights, and documents reflecting a variety of alternative voices, including letters and petitions from women and African-American and Native-American leaders. This presents a broader picture of the issues that confronted those who framed our government than has ever before been available
eBook, English, 1995
Greenwood Press, Westport, Conn., 1995
Sources
1 online resource (xxiii, 272 pages)
9780313008481, 9780313292262, 9781280869143, 0313008485, 0313292264, 1280869143
51917018
Part I. The decision for independence : reasons for and against separation from Britain, 1775-1776
Declaration of the causes and necessity of taking up arms (July 6, 1775)
Proclamation by the king for suppressing rebellion and sedition (August 23, 1775)
Common sense (Thomas Paine, January 10, 1776)
The true interest of America impartially stated (published anonymously by the Reverend Charles Inglis, March 1776)
Resolution for independence (June 7, 1776)
Notes on the debate in congress on independence (Thomas Jefferson, June 7-July 4, 1776)
The Declaration of independence (July 4, 1776)
Part II. Making constitutions for the new American states : debates on models of good government, 1776-1780. The people the best governors : or a plan of government founded on the just principles of natural freedom (published anonymously in New Hampshire, 1776)
Thoughts on government: applicable to the present state of the American colonies (in a letter from a gentleman [John Adams] to his friend, April 1776)
The Virginia declaration of rights (June 12, 1776)
Preamble to the Pennsylvania constitution (August 1776)
Pennsylvania declaration of rights (August 1776)
The Essex result (Theophilus Parsons, Newburyport, Massachusetts, 1778)
Preamble to the Massachusetts constitution (1780)
The Massachusetts declaration of rights (1780). Part III. Problems of equality and liberty in the new American states, 1776-1792. Letter to John Adams (Abigail Adams, March 31, 1776)
Letter to James Sullivan (John Adams, May 26, 1776)
Petition against slavery to the General Court of Massachusetts (January 13, 1777)
Quock Walker's case (1783)
Memorial and remonstrance against religious assessments (James Madison, June 20, 1785)
The Virginia statute for religious freedom (Thomas Jefferson, January 16, 1786)
Letter from three Seneca leaders to President George Washington (1790)
A sermon against slavery (the Reverend James Dana, September 9, 1791)
Letter to Thomas Jefferson (Benjamin Banneker, August 19, 1791)
Letters to Benjamin Banneker and to the Marquis de Condorcet (Thomas Jefferson, August 30, 1791)
Part IV. The crisis of government under the Articles of confederation, 1781-1787. The Articles of confederation (1781)
Circular letter to the state governors (George Washington, June 8, 1783)
Letter to Samuel Adams (Richard Henry Lee, March 14, 1785)
Letter to George Washington (John Jay, June 27, 1786)
Letter to John Jay (George Washington, August 1, 1786)
Proceedings of the state commissioners at Annapolis, Maryland (September 11-14, 1786)
Letter to Edward Carrington (Thomas Jefferson, January 16, 1787)
Letter to James Madison (Thomas Jefferson, January 30, 1787)
Northwest ordinance (July 13, 1787). Part V. The Federal Convention and the Constitution, 1787. Letter to George Washington (James Madison, April 16, 1787)
Virginia plan (Reported by James Madison, May 29, 1787)
Debate on the Virginia plan (June 6, 1787)
Report of the committee of the whole (June 13, 1787)
New Jersey plan (June 15, 1787)
Debate on the New Jersey and Virginia plans (June 16, 1787)
Debate on slavery (August 21-22, 1787)
Signing the Constitution and concluding the convention (September 17, 1787)
The Constitution of the United States of America, signed by thirty-nine delegates to the Federal Convention (September 17, 1787)
Part VI. Debate on the Constitution : Federalists versus Anti-Federalists, 1787-1788. Essay I (Brutus, October 18, 1787)
The Federalist 1 (Publius [Alexander Hamilton], October 27, 1787)
Letter to the General Court of Massachusetts (Elbridge Gerry, November 3, 1787)
Objections to the Constitution (George Mason, November 22, 1787)
The Federalist 10 (Publius [James Madison], November 22, 1787)
Letter IV (Agrippa [James Winthrop], December 4, 1787)
The Federalist 39 (Publius [James Madison], January 16, 1788)
The Federalist 51 (Publius [James Madison], February 6, 1788)
Essay XV (Brutus, March 20, 1788)
The Federalist 78 (Publius [Alexander Hamilton], May 28, 1788). Part VII. The first federal Congress and the Bill of Rights, 1788-1792. Letter to James Madison (Thomas Jefferson, December 20, 1787)
Amendments to the U.S. Constitution proposed by the Massachusetts Ratifying Convention (February 6, 1788)
Amendments to the U.S. Constitution proposed by the New York Ratifying Convention (July 26, 1788)
Letter to Thomas Jefferson (James Madison, October 17, 1788)
Speech in the U.S. House of Representatives (James Madison, June 8, 1789)
Amendments passed by the U.S. Congress (September 25, 1789)
The Bill of Rights, Amendments I-X to the U.S. Constitution (Ratified December 15, 1791 and Certified by Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State, in a Letter to the State Governors, March 1, 1792)
Electronic reproduction, [Place of publication not identified], HathiTrust Digital Library, 2010