Download or read book Exemplar of Liberty written by Donald A. Grinde and published by Los Angeles, Calif. : American Indian Studies Center, University of California, Los Angeles. This book was released on 1991 with total page 366 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "We attempt to trace both ideas and the events that dramatized them: life, liberty, and happiness (Declaration of Independence); government by reason and consent rather than coercion (Albany Plan and Articles of Confederation); religious toleration (and ultimately religious acceptance) instead of a state church; checks and balances; federalism (United States Constitution); and relative equality of property, equal rights before the law, and the thorny problem of creating a government that can rule equitably across a broad geographic expanse (Bill of Rights of the United States Constitution). Native America had a substantial role in shaping these ideas, as well as the events that turned the colonies into a nation of states.