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Seventhly, The Right of Trial by Jury in all Cases as heretofore used in this State, shall be preserved inviolate forever. Sixthly. The Extent of Territory of this State is, and shall be the same which was under the Government of the late Governor John Wentworth, Esq. Governor of New Hampshire. Reserving nevertheless our claim to the New Hampshire Grants, to. . . the West of the Connecticut River [Vermont]. Fifthly. The future Legislature of this State, shall make no Laws to infringe the Rights of Conscience, or any other of the natural unalienable Rights of Men, or Contrary to the Laws of God, or against the Protestant Religion. Fourthly. The whole and entire Power of Government of this States is vested in, and must be derived from the People whereof, and from no other Source whatsoever. Secondly. We the People of this State, are entitled to Life, Liberty, and Property; and all other Immunities and Privileges which we heretofore enjoyed. Thirdly. The common and Statute Laws of England, adopted and used here, and the Law of this State (not inconsistent with the Declaration of Independence) now are, and shall be in force here for the Welfare and good Government of the State, unless the same shall be repealed or altered by the future Legislature thereof. Whereas by the tyrannical Administration of the Government of the King and Parliament of Great Britain, this State of New Hampshire with the other United States of America, have been necessitated to reject the British Government and Declare themselves Independent States; all of which is more largely set for the Continental Congress in their Resolution and Declaration of the fourth of July A. D. 1776. And Whereas it is recommended by the said Continental Congress to each and every of the said United States to establish a form of government most conducive to he welfare thereof. We the Delegates of the said State of New Hampshire chosen for the purpose of forming a permanent plan of Government subject to the review of our Constitutions have composed the following Declaration of Rights, and Plan of Government, and recommend the same to our Constituents for the Approbation. First, We declare that we the People of the State of New Hampshire are Free and Independent of the Crown of Great Britain. Source: New Hampshire: A Declaration of Rights, and Plan of Government; 1779 Document 5

Document 6 Source: What is an American? By Hector St. Jean de Crevecoeur; 1782 I WISH I could be acquainted with the feelings and thoughts which must agitate the heart and present themselves to the mind of an enlightened Englishman, when he first lands on this continent…. He is arrived on a new continent; a modern society offers itself to his contemptation, different from what he had hitherto seen. It is not composed, as in Europe, of great lords who possess every thing and of a herd of people who have nothing. Here are no aristocratical families, no courts, no kings, no bishops, no ecclesiastical dominion, no invisible power giving to a few a very visible one; no great manufacturers employing thousands, no great refinements of luxury. The rich and the poor are not so far removed from each other as they are in Europe. Some few towns excepted, we are all tillers of the earth, from Nova Scotia to West Florida….

Document 7 SOURCE: VIRGINIA STATE LEGISLATURE; 1777 A BILL FOR ESTABLISHING RELIGIOUS FREEDOM … SECT. II. WE, the General Assembly of Virginia, do enact that no man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship, place, or ministry whatsoever, nor shall be enforced, restrained, molested, or burthened in his body or goods, nor shall otherwise suffer, on account of his religious opinions or belief; but that all men shall be free to profess, and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion, and that the same shall in no wise diminish, enlarge, or affect their civil capacities. … --Introduced by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison

Document 8 • SOURCE: Virginia State Papers, 3: 515 -17. • Message to Congress from the Chickasaw Chiefs, July 1783. "When our great father the King of England called away his warriors, he told us to take your People by the hand as friends and brothers. . . It makes our hearts rejoice to find that our great father, and his children the Americans have at length made peace, which we wish may continue as long as the Sun and Moon, And to find that our Brothers the Americans are inclined to take us by the hand, and Smoke with us at the great Fire, which we hope will never be extinguished. "

Document 9 • • • SOURCE: "The theory of the United States commissioners was that the victory over Great Britain had been simultaneously a conquest of the Indians, and that it made the Indians' lands forfeit to their conquerors. " (Francis Jennings, "The Indians Revolution, " in The American Revolution: Explorations in the History of American Radicalism , Alfred F. Young, ed. , p. 343. ) Indians leaders to Spanish Governor, 1784. "The Americans, a great deal more ambitious and numerous than the English, put us out of our lands, forming therein great settlements, extending themselves like a plague of locusts in the territories of the Ohio River which we inhabit. " ( Spain in the Mississippi Valley, vol. 3. , pt. 2, p. 117. ) Speech at the Confederate Council, 1786. "Brethren of the United States of America: It is now more than three years since peace was made between the King of Great Britain and you, but we, the Indians, were disappointed, finding ourselves not included in that peace. . . for we thought that its conclusion would have promoted a friendship between the United States and Indians. . You kindled your council fires where you thought proper, without consulting us, at which you held separate treaties and have entirely neglected our plan of having a general conference with the different nations of the confederacy. " ( American State Papers, Class II: 1, p. 8 -9. ) Corn Tassel, 1787. "I observe in every Treaty we Have had that a bound[ary] is fixt, but we always find that your people settle much faster shortly after a Treaty than Before. It is well known that you have taken almost all our Country from us without our consent. . Truth is, if we had no Land we should have Fewer Enemies. " ( Calendar of Virginia State Papers, p. 306. )