The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution are rightly seen as innovative documents, representing what James Madison called Americans' “manly spirit” not to let “a blind veneration for antiquity, for custom, or for names, to overrule the suggestions of their own good sense, the knowledge of their own situation, and the lessons of their own experience” (Federalist 14). But both documents are deeply rooted in unwritten common law, carried over from England and adjusted to American circumstances. Common law constituted no small part of American political experience at the time of the Founding and formed American common sense regarding liberty and justice.

From the Inaugural Conference of the Hale Institute at New Saint Andrews College entitled, The Common Law Constitution of the American Republic.