Colonial Origins of the American Constitution. Группа авторов. Читать онлайн. Newlib. NEWLIB.NET

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Издательство: Ingram
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Жанр произведения: Историческая литература
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isbn: 9781614871316
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       Colonial Originsof theAmericanConstitution

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      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.

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      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.

      © 1998 by Liberty Fund, Inc.

      This eBook edition published in 2012.

      eBook ISBN: E-PUB 978-1-61487-131-6

       www.libertyfund.org

      Contents

      NEW HAMPSHIRE

       The covenant that created Exeter’s first town government.

       An apparent legal code for the province of New Hampshire that also lays out the government’s institutions and powers.

      MASSACHUSETTS

       The oldest and most famous colonial political covenant.

       The oldest surviving citizenship oath—designed to bring post-1620 arrivals into the Mayflower Compact agreement.

       Another citizenship oath, but one that functioned for several years as the only basis for town government.

      An equivalent to the Mayflower Compact but written by the colonists in England before they set sail.

       Strictly speaking a church covenant, it is also a political covenant because the settlers were establishing a theocracy.

       The oldest colonial provision for a formal electoral process.

       Until 1631 almost all freemen had been politically bound by the church covenant. This oath covered nonchurch members.

       The first formal specification of Massachusetts political institutions and, although brief, still a protoconstitution.

       Town meetings predated this document, but it is the oldest surviving agreement formally establishing the institution.

       Establishes a town meeting and is the oldest document to create an elected council to run government between meetings.

       An ordinance passed by the town meeting creating a town council.

       A revision of, and enlargement upon, The Massachusetts Agreement on the Legislature [10], which looked like a constitution and essentially functioned as one.

       Replacement for The Oath of a Freeman [9], which reflects an evolving sense of citizenship by not requiring church membership.

       An oath for noncitizen residents.

      Ordinance establishing the town’s first civil offices.