Foundational Documents of American Constitutionalism

Richard L. Perry noted that “The liberties of the American citizen depend upon the existence of established and known rules of law limiting the authority and discretion of men wielding the power of government.” The drama of how those rules of law developed is often the basis of much debate. One dispute centers on the question of the exact origins of these ideas. Many scholars trace this heritage back to the ancient world, focusing on the writings of Aristotle, Plato, and Polybius. Others emphasize the English struggle over governance and how it directly impacted how Americans thought about constitutionalism. Perhaps among the best compilations of the British and American colonial documentary record illustrating this evolution are Richard L. Perry and John C. Cooper’s Sources of Our Liberties and Donald S. Lutz’s Colonial Origins of the American Constitution. Philip B. Kurland and Ralph Lerner have assembled a five volume series titled The Founders’ Constitution which combines the British background through the Early American National documentary record.  Certainly the monumental Documentary History of the Ratification of the Constitution is the definitive source for documents relating to the Federalist/Antifederalist debates. To a large extent, these debates were a continuation of the debates about political power since time immemorial.    

As with any list purporting to be “the essentials,” there is and should be a debate over the selections. While we are not asserting that our selections be considered settled canon, we do propose the list below be considered a proposal of sorts as to what we might consider the essentials of the documentary record of the development of American constitutionalism.

The British Background and Colonial Period Documents

American Revolutionary Period Documents

Ratification Period Documents

Early National Period Documents