Between 1765 and 1769, William Blackstone published a series of his lectures in 4 volumes as Commentaries on the Laws of England, which inspired the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the U.S.  The Commentaries address the “common law” of England, which is comprised of laws not based upon any legislative action but rather due to principles and rules set forth by the Court and customs and usage by the government.  Common law has always been around, but Blackstone was the first to put them into written form, and to try to analyze them, using the scientific approach of the times.  These Commentaries were main source for the study of the law in the early years of the United States, selling the first edition printing of 1,400 in no time.  Abraham Lincoln is quoted as saying that to learn the law, one should start by reading Blackstone’s Commentaries.   While Blackstone believed that the King of England as sovereign could do no wrong, not even think wrong, the absolute rights of an Englishman described in his Commentaries formed the basis for the rights enumerated in the Declaration of Independence. His Commentaries were consulted and used as basis for many concepts contained in the US Constitution and were frequently cited in arguments during ratification of that constitution by all sides.  Blackstone certainly may have influenced Patrick Henry’s cry that ‘there shall be no taxation without representation’, he considered it an absolute right of an individual to not be taxed without consent.   Blackstone was not without his critics, one of the most famous being Thomas Jefferson, who believed that the author had presented the law in a superficial light.  He is known to have said that Blackstone’s presentation of the law would convince a lazy student that, if he understands Blackstone, he understands the whole body of the law.  As English common law was the main law upon which the fledgling nation of the United States had to rely, however, and Jefferson was opposed to adopting it as the law of this country, it is easy to see why he may have made that comment.    Another critic of the ‘Father of the Common Law’ as Blackstone became to be known was also a signer of the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution, and finally a US Supreme Court Justice.  James Wilson, while praising Blackstone as a writer of merit, damned his philosophy of the law.  However, Blackstone’s ideas were cited by the US Supreme Court as the basis for the outcome of many cases, by being both used to bolster an argument or by being decried as an incorrect view of the law of this country.   Blackstone had a clear influence some of the basic ideas of laws of this country.  An oft quoted basic tenant of American law, and one to which Clay Culhane would subscribe is Blackstone’s statement that “It is better ten guilty persons escape than one innocent suffer”