American States of Nature : The Origins of Independence, 1761-1775

American States of Nature transforms our understanding of the American Revolution and the early makings of the Constitution. Surveying thousands of texts produced between 1761 and 1775, including hundreds of archival discoveries, this book shows that the state of nature was among the most crucial revolutionary concepts. The founding generation drew not only on English sources, such as Hobbes and Locke, but also on Grotius, Pufendorf, Rousseau, Vattel, and others, to develop an original and distinct American view of the state of nature as a natural community where colonists could pool their rights to self-defense and self-government.