legitimacy

Founding-era definition · Webster's 1828 American Dictionary

LEGIT'IMACY, noun [from legitimate.] 1. Lawfulness of birth; opposed to bastardy. 2. Genuineness; opposed to spuriousness. the legitimacy of his conclusions is not to be questioned.
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