Law and Institutions
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By July 4, 1776, the
colonists had agreed to a common understanding of the meaning of “the laws
of nature and of nature’s God.” They adopted this terminology as part of
their legal argument in the Declaration of Independence. American law would
rest upon this principle.
The law of nature and of nature’s God was
understood to be God’s eternal moral law, or divine law, and was based on
the same law of God described in the Old and New Testaments. The founding
fathers’ understanding of the “law of nature and of nature’s God” does not
even closely resemble the “law of nature” described by Hobbes. Hobbes
contrasted the need for law to counter the uncivilized and barbaric
existence of the beasts and the brutes. Hobbes’ law of nature needed to be
restrained. The founding fathers’ definition of the “law of nature and of
nature’s God” also stands in sharp contrast to the modern view of natural
selection and the law of the jungle. The evolutionist view of the law of
nature resembles Hobbes but presents a negative view of man, needing
protection by a greater power to protect it from itself, rather than the
positive portrayal of the aspirations of man as used in the Declaration of
Independence. From John Locke to Sir William Blackstone, the rights of
Englishmen were tied to the natural law of man found in God’s general
revelation through creation and God’s special revelation given through
Scripture. Locke and Blackstone were basic texts of political and legal
philosophy in the colonies, read and followed by all political leaders and
the courts.
Legal Rights as
Englishmen
The colonists appealed to the British authorities
for protection of their rights as Englishmen. Though they lived in the
colonies, they were still British citizens. The Resolution of the Stamp Act
Congress in 1765 rested upon the colonists’ entitlement to “all the inherent
rights and privileges of his natural born subjects within the kingdom of
Great Britain.” The colonists declared allegiance “to the crown of Great
Britain...and all due subordination to that august body, the Parliament of
Great Britain.” Despite the repeal of the Stamp Act, Parliament imposed
numerous other oppressive measures.
At the First Continental Congress in 1774, the
delegates considered and adopted the law of nature, as well as the British
Constitution, and the American Colonial Charters, as the source of colonial
rights. The Declaration of Rights in the Resolves of the First Continental
Congress specifically referred to “the immutable laws of nature.” Later,
when the Declaration of Independence was written, there was no mention of
the rights of Englishmen, as it was their purpose to sever all ties to the
British Constitution.