MACMILLAN Bills of Rights Before the Bill of Rights: Early State Constitutions and the American Tradition of Rights, 1776-1790

This book is a documentary history of the rights found in the American state constitutions adopted between 1776 and 1790. Despite the rich tradition of rights at the state level, rights in America have been identified almost exclusively with the national Bill of Rights. Indeed, there is no work that provides a comprehensive treatment of the early state declarations of rights. Rather, these declarations have been viewed as halting first steps towards the adoption of the national Bill of Rights in 1791. Bringing together the full text of the rights provisions from the 13 original states and Vermont, this book presents America’s first tradition of rights on its own terms and as part of this country’s heritage of rights. Early chapters will examine the sources of these rights and provide a comparative framework. An introduction to each chapter will review that state’s colonial history, focusing on any charters or legislation related to rights protections that help explain its constitutional provisions. This work will make it possible for students, scholars, and interested citizens to rediscover the first fruits of the American Revolution. Review “Scholars of American constitutionalism and political thought have long needed and will benefit a great deal from this comprehensive analysis of the original state bills of rights. In  Bills of Rights Before the Bill of Rights, Galie, Bopst, and Kirschner show that founding-era state constitutions and declarations of rights are worthy of attention not merely as precursors to the federal bill of rights but because they embody a coherent and distinctive tradition of rights protection and governance that differs in key respects from the understanding that took hold at the federal level.” ― John Dinan, Professor of Political Science, Wake Forest University, and author of  The American Constitutional Tradition   “A long tradition in constitutional law dismisses the earliest state bills of rights as amateurish documents, haphazardly drafted during the chaos of the American Revolution. This invaluable book teaches us otherwise. Through a meticulous excavation of the philosophical, religious, and legal thought of the age, the authors reconstruct a now lost set of understandings and practices that allow them to decode these documents, revealing a fascinating, internally coherent narrative of robust popular sovereignty that deserves an important place in the American constitutional family tree.”  ― James Gardner, SUNY Distinguished Professor, University of Buffalo School of Law, and author of  Interpreting State Constitutions: A Jurisprudence of Function in a Federal System    “Brilliant analysis...a very impressive work of scholarship and an important contribution to our understanding of state constitutions within our federal constitutional structure of dual sovereignty." ―Randy Holland, Associate Justice, Delaware Supreme Court (1986-2017), and author of The Delaware State Constitution   “Bills of Rights Before the Bill of Rights shows that a rich discourse of rights talk preceded the adoption of the Federal Constitution and found expression in the declarations of rights of early state constitutions. It is a major contribution to our understanding of rights in the American context.” ―G. Alan Tarr, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and former director of the Center for State Constitutional Studies, Rutgers University, and author of Understanding State Constitutions From the Back Cover This book is a documentary history of the rights found in the American state constitutions adopted between 1776 and 1790. Despite the rich tradition of rights at the state level, rights in America have been identified almost exclusively with the national Bill of Rights. Indeed, there is no work that provides a comprehensive treatment of the early state declarations of rights. Rather, these declarations have been viewed as halting first steps towards the ad