The legal context for revolution: Common, constitutional, and natural law in the American colonies, 1760--1776

Beyond the generally accepted fact that the American Revolution was a watershed event in human history, there is no consensus regarding the meaning of the activities of the American Revolutionaries. The Revolution has been variously presented as an obvious extension of classical political thought, the last great act of the Renaissance, and the fulfillment of liberal political theory. The Revolutionaries themselves have been convincingly portrayed as radicals, liberals, and conservatives alike.; A careful examination of the primary documents written by the Revolutionaries themselves, however, clarifies colonial thought as the path to independence was trod. While the colonists were, to one degree or another, concerned with classical and liberal political theory, and while there were most certainly radicals, liberals, and conservatives active in the colonies in the years prior to the Revolution, they were overwhelmingly concerned with one matter above all others: law.; This concern was made manifest in three distinctly different, but ultimately related, periods. The initial stage occurred in 1760 and 1761, and was largely confined to Massachusetts. The Writs of Assistance case provided the occasion for the first significant legal tumult in the colonies, and the common law provided the context of the debate. The second stage took place between 1763 and 1770, and was defined by struggles between the colonies and Great Britain occasioned by the Sugar Act, the Stamp Act, and the Townshend Acts. These struggles occurred within a context almost wholly defined by British constitutional law. The third and final stage took place between 1773 and 1776, and was defined almost entirely by questions regarding the natural law.; A consideration of the colonists' understanding of their own legal theories in each of these three stages yields a comprehensive understanding of the colonial move to independence. The Revolution was, for the participants, the logical culmination of a process set in motion by legal questions regarding the nature of the British Empire itself, and America's place within that empire.