In this collection, Samuel Rudolph elucidates the ideological core of our fundamental rights. He attempts to preserve the roots of liberty and the rationale in the minds of our ancestors through original writings, arranged by historical period, from the early Americans as well as their English precursors. Rudolph provides commentary and introductory essays. Contents: Introduction; Part I. Samuel Rudolph: European Precedents of the American Concept of Liberty; John Locke: "On the Extent of Legislative Power"; John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon: "Letters of Cato"; David Hume: "Of the Liberty of the Press"; Baron Montesquieu: Spirit of the Laws; William Blackstone: The Natural Rights of Mankind and Freedom of the Press; Edmund Burke: The Spirit of Liberty in Early America; Richard Price: Civil Liberty, Free Government and Slavery; Part II. Samuel Rudolph: American Concept of Liberty in the Revolutionary Era; Joseph Galloway: "A Letter to the People of Pennsylvania"; James Fitch: Taxation without Representation; Oxenbridge Thacher: A Common Law Right to Representation Before Taxation; James Otis: "Of the Natural Rights of Colonists"; Stephen Hopkins: New World, Old Rights: Opposition to the Acts of Parliament; Benjamin Rush: An Early Argument Against Slavery, The Peculiar Institution in America; Alexander Hamilton: Fundamental Rights and Natural Law; Thomas Jefferson: Religious Freedom in a Sovereign America; Thomas Paine: On the Origins and Rationale of Government; Part III: Samuel Rudolph: The Constitutional Debate; Richard Henry Lee: Federal Farmer Number 16; Hamilton, Madison and Jay: The Federalist on the Dangers of Faction and Parties; James Madison: Fundamental Rights in the Proposed Constitution-Explicit or Implicit? George Mason: Did We Really Need a Bill of Rights? Thomas Jefferson: Free Speech, Free Press and the Right to a Jury Trial; Part IV. Samuel Rudolph: Toward Nationhood: Early Interpretations of Our Basic Freedoms; Thomas Jefferson: On Rights and Duties-Proportional Punishments to Fit the Crimes; Zephaniah Swift: "A System of Laws of the State of Connecticut"; Calder vs. Bull: The Right of Ex Post Facto-Early Supreme Court Interpretations on the Scope of a Fundamental Right; Postscript; Appendix: 1.The English Petition of Rights (1628); Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776); The Constitution of the United States (1787); Amendments to The Constitution.