Who inspired the founders?
At Hullabaloo, guest poster Poputonian describes the arguments of Boston lawyer James Otis, a loyal British subject, against the British Writ of Assistance in 1761. The Writ of Assistance, according to the poster, was a “scurrilous document which allowed the British government access to a citizen’s home and personal records — without having first obtained a court issued warrant”.
Poputonian describes Otis’ argument at length — and it’s worth the read — but the end of the post really caught my attention:
Otis wasn’t revolutionary at that moment, but because his government continued, and accelerated its act of coercion, Otis’ disagreement with his government indeed became a revolutionary cause. Recalling the emotions he felt watching Otis on February 24, 1761, John Adams pinpointed that day as the beginning of a chain of causation:
“Otis was a flame of fire; with a promptitude of classical allusions, a depth of research, a rapid summary of historical events and dates, a profusion of legal authorities, a prophetic glance of his eyes into futurity, and a rapid torrent of impetuous eloquence, he hurried away all before him.”
“American Independence was then and there born. The seeds of patriots and heroes were then and there sown. Every man of an immense crowded audience appeared to me to go away, as I did, ready to take arms against Writs of Assistance. Then and there was the first scene of the first act of opposition to the arbitrary claims of Great Britain.”
Otis, drawing on the writings of John Locke, David Hume, Voltaire, and other Enlightenment philosophers, had begun to form the arguments that would later be used by Jefferson, Franklin, Adams, and others in shaping the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Read more about James Otis at the ever-useful Wikipedia. The entry there includes a link to a free online biography, James Otis, the pre-revolutionist.
A study was done several years ago by professors at Houston University, (one of whom was Dr. Donald S. Lutz, who published the results of this study) in which they gathered several thousands of documents that the Founding Fathers wrote. The purpose of this huge study was to discover the main source of the Founding Fathers’ philosophy. The sources quoted most often by the Founding Fathers were in this order: (1) the Holy Bible, (2) Baron Charles Montesquieu, (3) Sir William Blackstone, and (4) John Locke. Funny how we always hear about Voltaire and Rousseau doing much of the influencing. When the Founders quoted them, they quoted Voltaire and Rousseau negatively.