accountability

Founding-era definition · Webster's 1828 American Dictionary

ACCOUNTABIL'ITY, noun 1. The state of being liable to answer for one's conduct; liability to give account, and to receive reward or punishment for actions. The awful idea of accountability 2. Liability to the payment of money or of damages; responsibility for a trust.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI

More founding-era words: liberty · virtue · republic · justice · providence · commerce · militia · arms · prudence · establishment · religion · usurpation · tyranny · citizen · unalienable · sovereign