Before the inception of America's federal republic in 1788, the Revolutionary generation upheld a traditional republican heritage. This heritage was supported through education, religion, and the custom of law, rooted in the English common-law. The Revolutionary generation like their English brethren, upheld a tradition of liberty as well. Even before the Magna Carta in 1215, the sovereign had been brought under the law as defender of the faith and guardian of liberty.
Since time immemorial the tradition of liberty and the custom of law was upheld by the duty of the sovereign. It was this failed duty that the Revolutionary generation in 1776 was lawfully empowered by, in absolving the colonies "from all Allegiance to the British Crown"...and instituting "new government...to effect their safety and happiness."
After the inception of the federal republic, the advocates of capitalism in the early 1790's, seized control of the economy. As a political force, these advocates eventually rejected the traditional republican heritage of the Revolutionary generation. The republican vision of the Revolutionary generation was ultimately altered in the 1790's when the duty of the sovereign became the right of the sovereign.
