The great end of government and laws is human happiness; the rulers ought, therefore, to understand and know on what it consists; and the means of producing it. — Hon. Jesse Root, “On the Principles and End of Government” The summer of 1776 was quite productive in the annals of American intellectual and legal thought. [...]
Friday, June 7, 1776, was anything but quiet. Resolutions respecting American independence were introduced in the Continental Congress. One resolution came from Richard Henry Lee of Virginia. Mr. Lee’s resolution read: Resolved, that these United Colonies, are, and of right ought to be free, and independent States, that they are, absolved for all allegiance to [...]
Author’s Note: During my tenure as the first Supreme Court Archivist-Legal Historian to the Supreme Court of Missouri, I authored an in-house history column. Reproduced below is my July Fourth column from 2013. On July 3, 1776, John Adams wrote a letter to his wife Abigail. “My dear Friend,” , “he Second of July, 1776, [...]
