Existing comment:
A Free-Born Subject's Inheritance
Throughout the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, a series of laws and enactments became identified with the idea of preserving England's ancient liberties from royal overreach. These included Magna Carta, the Petition of Right, and the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, among others. Henry Care created and broadly circulated this pamphlet that contained these enactments, along with concise commentary drawn from Coke's Institutes. Care's pamphlet, which appeared in several American editions throughout the eighteenth century, was exceedingly popular in North America. This edition, from the printing press of Benjamin Franklin's older brother James, may have been typeset by Benjamin Franklin. |