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Description
This book is a collection of primary sources from the United Kingdom and English-Speaking North America from the Magna Carta in 1215 through the middle of the 19th Century, with commentary and an introduction from Dr. Robin Ishler. The purpose of the book is not only to act as a resource for students of Early Modern British history and early American history, but also to demonstrate the deep political and philosophical connections between the United States and the larger English legal and societal context from which it emerged. Dr. Ishler argues that it is an unfortunate reality that many history and political science courses in the United States often downplay these fundamental linkages. The book aims to show the history of the so called ‘rights of Englishmen’ as they were codified, interpreted, examined, and implemented in different ways in the United Kingdom and throughout the British Empire in North America. It also explores a few representative works of English and American political philosophy. The book seeks to demonstrate how the United Kingdom and the United States are both products of the same great conversation on rights, laws, and representative government. While the colonial society in which these ideas emerged was deeply flawed, the ideas themselves evolved to become the cornerstone of contemporary democracy in their respective countries.
Publication Date
1-2025
Publisher
Open Touro
City
New York
Keywords
Primary sources, political science, history, Enlightenment political theory, early American history, Early Modern British history, American government, British government, Constitutional law, Early Modern political philosophy
Disciplines
History
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Ishler, R. B. (2025). The Rights of Englishmen, A Primary Source Reader for Students of Early Modern British History & Early American History. Retrieved from https://touroscholar.touro.edu/opentextbooks/8
