August 5, 2025 • 20 mins
The Magna Carta established the revolutionary concept that even kings must operate under the rule of law, becoming a cornerstone of American democracy despite its humble origins as a political concession in 13th-century England.
• Originally just one of many royal charters when signed by King John in 1215
• Gained importance over centuries as a symbol of English constitutional liberty
• Establishes that rulers cannot wield absolute power and must recognize certain rights
• Became central to English common law tradition that everyone is both governed by and protected under the law
• American colonists brought this legal tradition to North America in the 17th century
• Key framers like Adams and Jefferson were common law lawyers deeply informed by this tradition
• American Revolution was "moderate" because it sought to preserve constitutional principles while rejecting tyranny
• Declaration of Independence references "our constitution" meaning the British common law tradition
• Magna Carta's influence continues today as a global symbol of liberty under law
• Documents like Magna Carta demonstrate America's connection to broader historical traditions of freedom
For deeper resources on William Blackstone and the common law tradition, visit the Jack Miller Center website..
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome back everyone .
So today we're talking aboutthe Magna Carta, looking at
documents that influenced ourgovernment, so we have Dr Kreis
back to talk about this.
Dr Kreis, today's question iswhat is the and complicated
story and here's anotherdimension of it ago, it's from
the 13th century in England.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
It's a royal charter from the King of England, from
the year 1215 specifically.
And it's rather fascinating tothink here we are, over 800
years later and we care aboutthis particular piece of
parchment, this document, thisroyal charter.
So here's why, in this MagnaCarta great charter, king John
(01:10):
of England affirms or atteststhat he will be restricted, he
will abide by certain practicesand recognize particular rights
of people and institutions inhis realm.
So it's about the rule of lawand that the king is not an
absolute king, he's not anemperor, he's not a despot, he's
(01:31):
not a tyrant.
He must rule under the law.
So this is his publicattestation of this.
He recognized particular rightsof the Christian church at that
time would be the Catholicchurch in England and the rights
of several barons or lords, thearistocracy of his realm.
And in effect it was apolitical concession, it was out
(01:56):
of weakness, it was a statementof limitations on his royal
power, because he's trying tosettle a rebellion of these
several barons and he's gotleaders of the church, bishops
and others not happy with himabout particular things.
So it was important at the time, but it was not extremely
(02:17):
important.
Nobody knew in 1215, when he'ssigning this.
Oh my gosh, this is going tochange world history going
forward.
Right, there's just anotherconflict between the barons and
the church and the king.
And there were other royalcharters, right.
Why has this one become theMagna Carta, the great charter?
Why is it reissued by laterkings?
Well, over time, in thedevelopment of English political
(02:41):
history, this question becomescrucial what is the meaning of
our political kingdom?
How much is it governed by lawand how much is it governed by
the king and this royal family?
And a phrase eventuallydevelops in English political
(03:01):
thought and debate that we havea constitution, we have an
English constitution, and theMagna Carta of 1215 becomes a
crucial kind of touchstone orpillar to capture the meaning of
England.
We are a people and a land anda kingdom of political liberty
(03:25):
under law.
There are rights that the kingmust recognize under law and
historians will say a kind ofpolitical mythology develops, a
kind of political narrative orstory develops around Magna
Carta.
It was never that important inthe 13th century.
I don't want to get into allthat.
Just the reality politically isit becomes important and it
(03:50):
gets invoked, especially bycommon law jurists and thinkers
and advocates in the 16thcentury and especially in the
17th century.
And that's where America comesin, right, because 17th century,
well, that's when Americancolonists are showing up on the
shores of North America andthey're bringing this English
(04:12):
political culture and legalculture with them.
So by the late 1600s, right,there's already American
colonies.
In 1688, something happenscalled the Glorious Revolution
in England, and it's part ofthis contest over what our
(04:35):
political kingdom is.
How important is the rule oflaw, how limited is the king by
law and by the institutions ofthe constitution of England, the
parliament, the courts, thecommon law, etc.
1688 is this revolution, theglorious revolution.
When a king who has a moreabsolutist view of the king's
power abdicates, he runs away,king William and Queen Mary,
(05:00):
william and Mary take the throne, recognizing the almost
co-equal status of parliamentand they recognize the rule of
law and courts of law, et cetera.
Then this ends up being acrucial moment for American
political thinking over in thesecolonies.
This is what the EnglishConstitution means.
(05:21):
It's a balanced constitution,it's a constitutional monarchy,
or all these phrases.
And again Magna Carta isplaying a crucial political,
legal, philosophical andrhetorical role here in saying
this is what English politics,the English constitution, means.
(05:41):
The rule of law is the dominant, dominant principle and the
king is under that.
King is very important, but theking is under the rule of law.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
So really quick, when you talk about common law, can
you define that?
Because I think it was broughtup in either previous episodes
or is going to be brought upthat England doesn't have a
constitution in the sense thatwe do.
It's not written down.
Can you kind of define for ourlisteners what common law means?
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yes, you can trace it right back to the phrase
predates Magna Carta in 1215,but it captures something Magna
Carta does.
It's this idea that the king isunder the law, so the law is
common to the king and thebarons and the church.
That's what's clear from 1215and Magna Carta.
(06:34):
It's not that the king is thesole source of the law and is
above the law.
Right, it's the common lawbecause it covers the king and
the church and the barons.
Now it becomes more common overcenturies when it's clear that
the commoners, who are notaristocracy, they're not the
royal family, they're not thebishops and priests of the
(06:56):
church, the commoners also arenot just governed under the law
but protected by the law.
And this is the importantelement in the English common
law of courts of law and judgesand then juries of commoners.
Now, initially the juries werearistocracy, it was the jury of
(07:20):
your peers, was fellowaristocrats, barons, lords, etc.
But eventually becomescommoners on the juries, and so
it really means the common law.
Everyone in the realm is bothsubservient to, under, has to
comply with and also isprotected by common law.
So someone who has more poweror rank or prestige or wealth
(07:41):
wealth can't just, you know,arbitrarily rule over you.
So yes, this is the common law.
We don't think of it as asource of the Declaration and
the Constitution because it'snot a philosophy that comes from
a philosopher's book, you know,like John Locke or Montesquieu,
or even you know Sidney orHarrington or others writing
(08:02):
about republicanism.
But the common law is a crucialsource of American political
thinking in the 17th century.
But in the 18th century andleading up to the revolution,
the leading figures at the firstand second Continental Congress
have studied the common law inAmerican colleges.
John Adams is a lawyer versedin the common law.
(08:25):
Thomas Jefferson is basically alawyer versed in the common law
, and the list goes on.
So Roger Sherman, who doesn'tget much credit in the Committee
of Five drafting theDeclaration of Independence,
right Great common law lawyer.
And there are great books ofthe common law written.
Sir Edward Cook is one.
His name looks like CokeCoca-Cola to us, but it's
(08:45):
pronounced Cook.
Sir Edward Cook is a greatjurist and he's citing the Magna
Carta a lot in the 17th century.
English liberty, constitutionalliberty, the English
Constitution, english rule oflaw that's Sir Edward Cook.
And then, right before theAmerican Revolution, an English
jurist named Blackstone.
William Blackstone writescommentaries on the laws of
(09:06):
England and it's really aconstitutional commentary on the
Constitution of England.
And the trick there is thatthere's not a written as you
said, there's not a writtencharter document called the
Constitution of England.
It's the partly written, partlyunwritten Constitution of
England, and Magna Carta is oneof those important documents.
So is the English Bill ofRights from 1688, at the time of
(09:27):
that revolution.
I just talked about theGlorious Revolution.
So what's the big point here?
The takeaway the Americanframers at the First Continental
Congress, the SecondContinental Congress, then the
1787 Constitutional Convention.
Many of those leading framerswere common law lawyers.
And even if they weren't,someone like George Washington
(09:49):
has common law books on hisshelves at Mount Vernon because
he's a property holder.
He could be serving on a jury.
He's a leading figure in thecommunity.
He might be elected to thelegislature.
They've got to know about thecommon law and again, americans
take particular pride in rule oflaw and the importance of
courts, lawyers, juries, I mean.
(10:11):
Just think today.
Here we are, 800 years afterMagna Carta.
Think of how important lawyersare.
And partly we know howimportant lawyers are in
American political culturebecause we like to make jokes
about them.
Right, that's how powerful andprominent they are.
But if you're prominent andpowerful in America, well, you
wouldn't get jokes, right, solike.
So what's a polite?
(10:31):
I mean, there are lots of mean,nasty lawyer jokes.
But you know, ok, when you'reat a bar association meeting a
lawyer, a meeting of lawyers,who is the nice, polite, smiling
person?
There Answer the caterer.
The nice, polite, smilingperson there Answer the caterer.
Right, I mean lawyers are mean,nasty, powerful people.
Right, but lawyers like they'lltake pride in those judges
(10:52):
because they're a pillar of ourcivic political order and in
independent judiciary.
Americans invent it, we take itfrom the British but we really
make it official, official,separate, written constitution
with state constitutions with anindependent judicial branch,
federal constitution withindependent judicial branch.
All that's coming from thecommon law tradition.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
So you're saying essentially that this is a
particular like English-Britishhistory that shapes America's
origin.
I mean, even you say we go backto 1215, which is that's a long
time, but it's really importantfor all people anywhere who are
interested in political libertyand the rule of law, correct?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yes, I mean the display of the Magna Carta at
the American National Archives.
There's a historian, paulineMayer, who refers to the
Declaration of Independence.
She wrote a history about theDeclaration of Independence just
in the past few decades, butthe title of that book is
American Scripture and thedisplay at the National Archives
(11:57):
.
These are like sacred documents.
You know the Declaration, theConstitution, the Northwest
Ordinance of 1787.
But there's this English,medieval, 13th century English
document.
So these are crucialtouchstones for the meaning of
our political culture,constitutional order, culture,
(12:19):
constitutional order.
And then, when Magna Cartaturned 800, a decade ago in 2015
, there are celebrations, ofcourse, in England and in
America and elsewhere in theworld.
This is an important documentaround the world, not just for
the English and the British, tobe proud of, because it stands
for this principle of libertyunder law and the rule of law.
(12:44):
So you know my grandparents.
On my father's side mygrandparents came from they were
poor people from southern Italy, and on my mother's side they
came from Ireland and fromGermany.
And Americans bring, and havealways brought people from many
countries and especially in the20th century and 21st century,
(13:05):
all over the globe.
Right.
But these, this history,matters because if you want to
get to America, you want to cometo a land of liberty and the
rule of law and opportunity andMagna Carta, and then the common
law tradition and the Englishconstitution constitution is a
crucial source of that and thenonce our revolution happens well
(13:30):
, the idea starts to spread.
It's from 1776 comes the age ofrevolutions revolution in Haiti
, the French Revolution, otherrevolutions for liberty in
Europe and elsewhere in theworld.
Now I do want to say a couple ofthings Again.
The common law is a complicatedhistorical tradition.
(13:53):
13th century is not thebeginning of the common law.
It has origins earlier thanthat and it develops for four
centuries after that, till youget to America and the American
Revolution and the dispute aboutwhat the meaning of the British
Constitution is.
So it's a complicatedconstitutional tradition and
legal tradition and the commonlaw mind is comfortable with
(14:13):
putting together things that weacademics don't think easily.
Put together History andhistorical development with some
crucial philosophical principle, like rights of individuals
with some idea from Christianity, or the biblical tradition with
natural law, et cetera, right,so, and that shapes the
(14:34):
Declaration of Independence.
So if you look in the, if youhave your pocket constitution
and you have your Declaration ofIndependence.
If you look in the middle ofthe bulk of the declaration is
the charges against the king.
And then you look for thecharge where it says he has
joined with others, and that'sthe king and the parliament okay
.
And it's right there where itsays he has joined with others,
(14:58):
that there's this extraordinary.
It's's the specific phrasing ishe has combined with others to
subject us to a jurisdictionforeign to our constitution
comma and unacknowledged by ourlaws.
Now, in Jefferson's draft thatwas our constitutions plural.
But the Second ContinentalCongress in the final draft says
(15:19):
no, no, no, we mean ourconstitution, meaning the
British Constitution of Liberty,which is ours, and they over in
London, the imperial center,are violating it.
And so that constitution, ourconstitution, that's the British
common law constitution.
Well, that British common lawconstitution gives birth to the
United States.
The United States gives birthto other revolutions and claims
(15:41):
for liberty and independencefrom monarchies or empires or
tyrannies or whatever.
So this is the marvelous commonlaw mind in the American line.
You can put together John Lockeand Enlightenment, principles
about revolution and individualnatural rights, and you can put
together Montesquieu onconstitutionalism,
constitutional history, and youcan put together biblical
phrases and Christianity, puttogether natural law, and all of
(16:04):
that is a package of ideas foranybody.
You don't have to be British orEnglish or come from English
stock.
That means a tradition ofliberty and the rule of law and
constitutionalism that's open toanybody.
And then one last point this isalso why the american revolution
is the moderate revolution.
(16:28):
So again, the declaration ofindependence has striking
phrases at the beginning thelaws of nature and nature's god,
and we hold these truths to beself-evident.
All men are created equalabsolutely astounding phrase
right and individual naturalrights that are unalienable,
can't be taken away from you.
Among them, life, liberty andpursuit of happiness.
Okay, striking, revolutionary,radical statements, they said.
(16:51):
But the bulk of the document isEnglish common law, all the ways
in which the king has violatedthese, acknowledged, accepted
centuries-old principles of law.
And then this phrase in themiddle of it our Constitution.
Okay, that makes the AmericanRevolution moderate, because our
revolution is not to completelyoverturn.
(17:12):
Pull up from the roots that'swhat radical means from the
roots and start completely fromscratch.
That's eventually what happenedin the French Revolution from
1789 onward right, and otherrevolutions, the Russian
Revolution, you can think ofcompletely radical, ripping up
the roots completely, startingover.
The American Revolution is themoderate revolution, because our
claim is that, look, we all hada good thing here, london to
(17:37):
the American colonies.
You screwed it up, you peoplein London, and we have to
separate, but we want to keepthis good thing.
We have this Britishconstitution, this common law
tradition and the Enlightenmentphilosophical principles and the
biblical tradition, etc.
So we're not as radical arevolution.
(17:57):
And this common law element andthe reference to Magna Carta
helps us to see that.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
And this common law element and the reference to
Magna Carta helps us to see thatWonderful.
And I will say, as a teacher,it wasn't until later in my
career that I discovered WilliamBlackstone.
So for any educators out there,our friends at the Jack Miller
Center actually have a reallygood page on this, so I will
make sure to link it.
But, dr Kreis, as always, thankyou so much for your expertise
(18:23):
and for really getting us tounderstand that all of these
works really did affect ourfounding and how we, kind of you
know, live today.
Thank you, Thanks, Liz.
Welcome back everyone .
So today we're talking aboutthe Magna Carta, looking at
documents that influenced ourgovernment, so we have Dr Kreis
back to talk about this.
Dr Kreis, today's question iswhat is the and complicated
story and here's anotherdimension of it ago, it's from
the 13th century in England.
Speaker 2 (00:48):
It's a royal charter from the King of England, from
the year 1215 specifically.
And it's rather fascinating tothink here we are, over 800
years later and we care aboutthis particular piece of
parchment, this document, thisroyal charter.
So here's why, in this MagnaCarta great charter, king John
(01:10):
of England affirms or atteststhat he will be restricted, he
will abide by certain practicesand recognize particular rights
of people and institutions inhis realm.
So it's about the rule of lawand that the king is not an
absolute king, he's not anemperor, he's not a despot, he's
(01:31):
not a tyrant.
He must rule under the law.
So this is his publicattestation of this.
He recognized particular rightsof the Christian church at that
time would be the Catholicchurch in England and the rights
of several barons or lords, thearistocracy of his realm.
And in effect it was apolitical concession, it was out
(01:56):
of weakness, it was a statementof limitations on his royal
power, because he's trying tosettle a rebellion of these
several barons and he's gotleaders of the church, bishops
and others not happy with himabout particular things.
So it was important at the time, but it was not extremely
(02:17):
important.
Nobody knew in 1215, when he'ssigning this.
Oh my gosh, this is going tochange world history going
forward.
Right, there's just anotherconflict between the barons and
the church and the king.
And there were other royalcharters, right.
Why has this one become theMagna Carta, the great charter?
Why is it reissued by laterkings?
Well, over time, in thedevelopment of English political
(02:41):
history, this question becomescrucial what is the meaning of
our political kingdom?
How much is it governed by lawand how much is it governed by
the king and this royal family?
And a phrase eventuallydevelops in English political
(03:01):
thought and debate that we havea constitution, we have an
English constitution, and theMagna Carta of 1215 becomes a
crucial kind of touchstone orpillar to capture the meaning of
England.
We are a people and a land anda kingdom of political liberty
(03:25):
under law.
There are rights that the kingmust recognize under law and
historians will say a kind ofpolitical mythology develops, a
kind of political narrative orstory develops around Magna
Carta.
It was never that important inthe 13th century.
I don't want to get into allthat.
Just the reality politically isit becomes important and it
(03:50):
gets invoked, especially bycommon law jurists and thinkers
and advocates in the 16thcentury and especially in the
17th century.
And that's where America comesin, right, because 17th century,
well, that's when Americancolonists are showing up on the
shores of North America andthey're bringing this English
(04:12):
political culture and legalculture with them.
So by the late 1600s, right,there's already American
colonies.
In 1688, something happenscalled the Glorious Revolution
in England, and it's part ofthis contest over what our
(04:35):
political kingdom is.
How important is the rule oflaw, how limited is the king by
law and by the institutions ofthe constitution of England, the
parliament, the courts, thecommon law, etc.
1688 is this revolution, theglorious revolution.
When a king who has a moreabsolutist view of the king's
power abdicates, he runs away,king William and Queen Mary,
(05:00):
william and Mary take the throne, recognizing the almost
co-equal status of parliamentand they recognize the rule of
law and courts of law, et cetera.
Then this ends up being acrucial moment for American
political thinking over in thesecolonies.
This is what the EnglishConstitution means.
(05:21):
It's a balanced constitution,it's a constitutional monarchy,
or all these phrases.
And again Magna Carta isplaying a crucial political,
legal, philosophical andrhetorical role here in saying
this is what English politics,the English constitution, means.
(05:41):
The rule of law is the dominant, dominant principle and the
king is under that.
King is very important, but theking is under the rule of law.
Speaker 1 (05:51):
So really quick, when you talk about common law, can
you define that?
Because I think it was broughtup in either previous episodes
or is going to be brought upthat England doesn't have a
constitution in the sense thatwe do.
It's not written down.
Can you kind of define for ourlisteners what common law means?
Speaker 2 (06:12):
Yes, you can trace it right back to the phrase
predates Magna Carta in 1215,but it captures something Magna
Carta does.
It's this idea that the king isunder the law, so the law is
common to the king and thebarons and the church.
That's what's clear from 1215and Magna Carta.
(06:34):
It's not that the king is thesole source of the law and is
above the law.
Right, it's the common lawbecause it covers the king and
the church and the barons.
Now it becomes more common overcenturies when it's clear that
the commoners, who are notaristocracy, they're not the
royal family, they're not thebishops and priests of the
(06:56):
church, the commoners also arenot just governed under the law
but protected by the law.
And this is the importantelement in the English common
law of courts of law and judgesand then juries of commoners.
Now, initially the juries werearistocracy, it was the jury of
(07:20):
your peers, was fellowaristocrats, barons, lords, etc.
But eventually becomescommoners on the juries, and so
it really means the common law.
Everyone in the realm is bothsubservient to, under, has to
comply with and also isprotected by common law.
So someone who has more poweror rank or prestige or wealth
(07:41):
wealth can't just, you know,arbitrarily rule over you.
So yes, this is the common law.
We don't think of it as asource of the Declaration and
the Constitution because it'snot a philosophy that comes from
a philosopher's book, you know,like John Locke or Montesquieu,
or even you know Sidney orHarrington or others writing
(08:02):
about republicanism.
But the common law is a crucialsource of American political
thinking in the 17th century.
But in the 18th century andleading up to the revolution,
the leading figures at the firstand second Continental Congress
have studied the common law inAmerican colleges.
John Adams is a lawyer versedin the common law.
(08:25):
Thomas Jefferson is basically alawyer versed in the common law
, and the list goes on.
So Roger Sherman, who doesn'tget much credit in the Committee
of Five drafting theDeclaration of Independence,
right Great common law lawyer.
And there are great books ofthe common law written.
Sir Edward Cook is one.
His name looks like CokeCoca-Cola to us, but it's
(08:45):
pronounced Cook.
Sir Edward Cook is a greatjurist and he's citing the Magna
Carta a lot in the 17th century.
English liberty, constitutionalliberty, the English
Constitution, english rule oflaw that's Sir Edward Cook.
And then, right before theAmerican Revolution, an English
jurist named Blackstone.
William Blackstone writescommentaries on the laws of
(09:06):
England and it's really aconstitutional commentary on the
Constitution of England.
And the trick there is thatthere's not a written as you
said, there's not a writtencharter document called the
Constitution of England.
It's the partly written, partlyunwritten Constitution of
England, and Magna Carta is oneof those important documents.
So is the English Bill ofRights from 1688, at the time of
(09:27):
that revolution.
I just talked about theGlorious Revolution.
So what's the big point here?
The takeaway the Americanframers at the First Continental
Congress, the SecondContinental Congress, then the
1787 Constitutional Convention.
Many of those leading framerswere common law lawyers.
And even if they weren't,someone like George Washington
(09:49):
has common law books on hisshelves at Mount Vernon because
he's a property holder.
He could be serving on a jury.
He's a leading figure in thecommunity.
He might be elected to thelegislature.
They've got to know about thecommon law and again, americans
take particular pride in rule oflaw and the importance of
courts, lawyers, juries, I mean.
(10:11):
Just think today.
Here we are, 800 years afterMagna Carta.
Think of how important lawyersare.
And partly we know howimportant lawyers are in
American political culturebecause we like to make jokes
about them.
Right, that's how powerful andprominent they are.
But if you're prominent andpowerful in America, well, you
wouldn't get jokes, right, solike.
So what's a polite?
(10:31):
I mean, there are lots of mean,nasty lawyer jokes.
But you know, ok, when you'reat a bar association meeting a
lawyer, a meeting of lawyers,who is the nice, polite, smiling
person?
There Answer the caterer.
The nice, polite, smilingperson there Answer the caterer.
Right, I mean lawyers are mean,nasty, powerful people.
Right, but lawyers like they'lltake pride in those judges
(10:52):
because they're a pillar of ourcivic political order and in
independent judiciary.
Americans invent it, we take itfrom the British but we really
make it official, official,separate, written constitution
with state constitutions with anindependent judicial branch,
federal constitution withindependent judicial branch.
All that's coming from thecommon law tradition.
Speaker 1 (11:15):
So you're saying essentially that this is a
particular like English-Britishhistory that shapes America's
origin.
I mean, even you say we go backto 1215, which is that's a long
time, but it's really importantfor all people anywhere who are
interested in political libertyand the rule of law, correct?
Speaker 2 (11:37):
Yes, I mean the display of the Magna Carta at
the American National Archives.
There's a historian, paulineMayer, who refers to the
Declaration of Independence.
She wrote a history about theDeclaration of Independence just
in the past few decades, butthe title of that book is
American Scripture and thedisplay at the National Archives
(11:57):
.
These are like sacred documents.
You know the Declaration, theConstitution, the Northwest
Ordinance of 1787.
But there's this English,medieval, 13th century English
document.
So these are crucialtouchstones for the meaning of
our political culture,constitutional order, culture,
(12:19):
constitutional order.
And then, when Magna Cartaturned 800, a decade ago in 2015
, there are celebrations, ofcourse, in England and in
America and elsewhere in theworld.
This is an important documentaround the world, not just for
the English and the British, tobe proud of, because it stands
for this principle of libertyunder law and the rule of law.
(12:44):
So you know my grandparents.
On my father's side mygrandparents came from they were
poor people from southern Italy, and on my mother's side they
came from Ireland and fromGermany.
And Americans bring, and havealways brought people from many
countries and especially in the20th century and 21st century,
(13:05):
all over the globe.
Right.
But these, this history,matters because if you want to
get to America, you want to cometo a land of liberty and the
rule of law and opportunity andMagna Carta, and then the common
law tradition and the Englishconstitution constitution is a
crucial source of that and thenonce our revolution happens well
(13:30):
, the idea starts to spread.
It's from 1776 comes the age ofrevolutions revolution in Haiti
, the French Revolution, otherrevolutions for liberty in
Europe and elsewhere in theworld.
Now I do want to say a couple ofthings Again.
The common law is a complicatedhistorical tradition.
(13:53):
13th century is not thebeginning of the common law.
It has origins earlier thanthat and it develops for four
centuries after that, till youget to America and the American
Revolution and the dispute aboutwhat the meaning of the British
Constitution is.
So it's a complicatedconstitutional tradition and
legal tradition and the commonlaw mind is comfortable with
(14:13):
putting together things that weacademics don't think easily.
Put together History andhistorical development with some
crucial philosophical principle, like rights of individuals
with some idea from Christianity, or the biblical tradition with
natural law, et cetera, right,so, and that shapes the
(14:34):
Declaration of Independence.
So if you look in the, if youhave your pocket constitution
and you have your Declaration ofIndependence.
If you look in the middle ofthe bulk of the declaration is
the charges against the king.
And then you look for thecharge where it says he has
joined with others, and that'sthe king and the parliament okay
.
And it's right there where itsays he has joined with others,
(14:58):
that there's this extraordinary.
It's's the specific phrasing ishe has combined with others to
subject us to a jurisdictionforeign to our constitution
comma and unacknowledged by ourlaws.
Now, in Jefferson's draft thatwas our constitutions plural.
But the Second ContinentalCongress in the final draft says
(15:19):
no, no, no, we mean ourconstitution, meaning the
British Constitution of Liberty,which is ours, and they over in
London, the imperial center,are violating it.
And so that constitution, ourconstitution, that's the British
common law constitution.
Well, that British common lawconstitution gives birth to the
United States.
The United States gives birthto other revolutions and claims
(15:41):
for liberty and independencefrom monarchies or empires or
tyrannies or whatever.
So this is the marvelous commonlaw mind in the American line.
You can put together John Lockeand Enlightenment, principles
about revolution and individualnatural rights, and you can put
together Montesquieu onconstitutionalism,
constitutional history, and youcan put together biblical
phrases and Christianity, puttogether natural law, and all of
(16:04):
that is a package of ideas foranybody.
You don't have to be British orEnglish or come from English
stock.
That means a tradition ofliberty and the rule of law and
constitutionalism that's open toanybody.
And then one last point this isalso why the american revolution
is the moderate revolution.
(16:28):
So again, the declaration ofindependence has striking
phrases at the beginning thelaws of nature and nature's god,
and we hold these truths to beself-evident.
All men are created equalabsolutely astounding phrase
right and individual naturalrights that are unalienable,
can't be taken away from you.
Among them, life, liberty andpursuit of happiness.
Okay, striking, revolutionary,radical statements, they said.
(16:51):
But the bulk of the document isEnglish common law, all the ways
in which the king has violatedthese, acknowledged, accepted
centuries-old principles of law.
And then this phrase in themiddle of it our Constitution.
Okay, that makes the AmericanRevolution moderate, because our
revolution is not to completelyoverturn.
(17:12):
Pull up from the roots that'swhat radical means from the
roots and start completely fromscratch.
That's eventually what happenedin the French Revolution from
1789 onward right, and otherrevolutions, the Russian
Revolution, you can think ofcompletely radical, ripping up
the roots completely, startingover.
The American Revolution is themoderate revolution, because our
claim is that, look, we all hada good thing here, london to
(17:37):
the American colonies.
You screwed it up, you peoplein London, and we have to
separate, but we want to keepthis good thing.
We have this Britishconstitution, this common law
tradition and the Enlightenmentphilosophical principles and the
biblical tradition, etc.
So we're not as radical arevolution.
(17:57):
And this common law element andthe reference to Magna Carta
helps us to see that.
Speaker 1 (18:02):
And this common law element and the reference to
Magna Carta helps us to see thatWonderful.
And I will say, as a teacher,it wasn't until later in my
career that I discovered WilliamBlackstone.
So for any educators out there,our friends at the Jack Miller
Center actually have a reallygood page on this, so I will
make sure to link it.
But, dr Kreis, as always, thankyou so much for your expertise
(18:23):
and for really getting us tounderstand that all of these
works really did affect ourfounding and how we, kind of you
know, live today.
Thank you, Thanks, Liz.
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