2025/09/18 by William J. Novak · 1 voice
Social Sciences · #American Constitutional Law and Politics
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0738248025101235
openalex publication_date 2025/09/18 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/05/21
Abstract This article continues a long-term investigation into the nature of legislation, regulation, and administration across United States history. In contrast to persistent myths about an original American legal and political inheritance dedicated primarily to private rights, limited government, and laissez-faire economics, this article explores the earliest roots of American public rights, popular lawmaking, and regulatory policymaking. In the very first activities of revolutionary Provincial Congresses and Committees of Safety, this article locates a surprisingly robust template for the future development of American state police power, public provisioning, general-welfare legislation, and socio-economic regulation.