Blackstone’s View of Natural Law and Its Influence on America’s Founding

by Kent Schmidt, intro by Lewis Loflin

Intro by Lewis Loflin: Forget the web hacks claiming “Nature’s God” in the Declaration is some airy Deist fluff. Sir William Blackstone’s Commentaries—Christian to the core—handed Jefferson and the Founders a natural law rooted in a real Creator, not Voltaire’s “watchmaker” or Rousseau’s state-worship (see Voltaire, Rousseau). This shaped our rights, not French radicalism (see Deism).

Blackstone’s Unexpected Legacy

By Kent Schmidt

Here’s the irony: Sir William Blackstone, loyal Crown man in Parliament (1761-1770), slammed the Colonies’ rebellion. Yet his Commentaries on the Laws of England—finished during that stint—fueled their break. Aiming to codify English common law, he didn’t see it arming rebels. By 1775, Edmund Burke noted nearly as many copies sold in America as England—1,000 English editions by 1771, plus 1,500 from Philly’s Robert Bell. Colonists ate it up, turning his words against his cause.

I. Influence on the Declaration of Independence

A. Source of Law

Blackstone didn’t invent natural law—Cicero and Grotius saw it as reason’s voice. He went further: it’s God’s dictate, binding all, revealed in scripture and nature. “These precepts… are really a part of the original law of nature,” he wrote, hidden until divine nudge (Commentaries, 1:41). Jefferson’s “law of nature and of nature’s God” in the Declaration nods to this—creation’s will plus scripture’s law—not Grotius’ humanism. Still, Jefferson loathed Blackstone’s push of English common law here; he cherry-picked the good stuff.

B. Origin and Nature of Rights

The Declaration’s “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights” mirrors Blackstone: rights from God, not state whims (Commentaries, 1:129). Greeks and Romans tied rights to citizenship—slaves, women, kids got none, all state-given, state-taken. Blackstone’s Creator-rooted rights—life, liberty, happiness—broke that mold, and Jefferson ran with it: “We hold these truths to be self-evident…”

C. Morality of Insurrection

Colonists weren’t anarchists like the French (see Cult of Reason). They agonized over rebellion’s rightness. Blackstone gave them ammo: “This law of nature… dictated by God himself, is superior… no human laws are of any validity, if contrary” (Commentaries, 1:41). Paine and others spread this—self-preservation’s duty trumped Crown loyalty. Blackstone’s pen, not his Parliament rants, justified their fight.

D. Life, Liberty, Pursuit of Happiness

Blackstone’s “right of personal security” is “life… an immediate gift from God” (Commentaries, 1:129). Happiness? Tied to justice: “The Creator… has graciously reduced the rule… to ‘pursue his own true and substantial happiness’” (1:40-41). Jefferson’s “pursuit of happiness” isn’t anarchy—it’s Blackstone’s moral order, not modern distortion.

II. Influence on the Constitution

A. No Taxation Without Representation

The Declaration listed gripes—taxation without consent topped it, defying “nature’s God.” The Constitution fixes this: Article I, Section 7 puts revenue bills in the House, closest to the people. Blackstone’s shadow looms—government bows to natural law.

B. Unalienable Right to Property

Blackstone linked property to happiness: “It tends to man’s real happiness… a part of the law of nature” (Commentaries, 1:138). Denial’s “destructive” (1:140). He waffled—nature or social compact?—but landed on Genesis: God gave man “dominion” (2:3). Labor makes it yours, civil law just guards it. The Framers baked this into the Constitution’s bones.

C. Unalienable Right of Self-Defense

Blackstone’s “fifth auxiliary right” is arms for “resistance and self-preservation” (Commentaries, 1:144). The Second Amendment—“the right of the people to keep and bear arms”—echoes this. Civil jurists saw self-defense as God-given; failing it was suicide, a sin. Life’s not yours to toss—Blackstone’s logic armed the Founders.

III. Conclusion

Blackstone’s Commentaries hit England in 1765-1769; the Declaration and Constitution followed fast. That’s no fluke—his Christian natural law, not French Deist fluff, framed America’s founding. Explore more at Deism Origins.