From Liberty to Liberality: The Transformation of the Pennsylvania Legislature, 1776-1820

From Liberty to Liberality takes a close look at the history of the Pennsylvania legislature in the four critical decades following Independence. In 1776, the national Congress, a fledgling institution barely two years old, possessed uncertain powers and an untested legitimacy. The state legislatures seemed better positioned, since they had long been viewed as guardians of the people’s liberty against the king. Yet this role, so central to the colonial period, proved awkward and problematic now that the king was gone, and the new political theory of republicanism did not provide a new role. Joseph shows how the Pennsylvania legislature managed to develop a new role and purpose for itself.