| OT: Differences with the British were over taxation, representation, our more democratic and anti-monarchy views, our more anti-government view. They gave us fundamental political values, property rights and especially a legal tradition founded in individual rights and a strong judicial branch. Most state constitutions or statutes in fact expressly adopted English common law. For example, Texas expressly adopts the common law as of 1840. Search and seizure law, as set forth in the Bill of Rights in the U.S. Constitution and state constitutions, actually comes from British law. See, e.g., Entick vs. Carrington, a King's Bench decision, 1765. So, as you say, the colonists were very British in many ways; we just grew apart from them on others. |
