Rights of Englishmen

The rights of Englishmen are the perceived traditional rights of citizens of England. Some colonists that objected to British rule in the British colonies in North America argued that their traditional rights as Englishmen were being violated. This subsequently became a justification for the American Revolution.

The American colonies had since the 17th century been fertile ground for libertarian opinion within the spectrum of European political discourse. However, as the ratification of the Declaration of Independence approached, the issue among the colonists of which particular rights were significant became divisive. George Mason, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, stated that "We claim nothing but the liberty and privileges of Englishmen in the same degree, as if we had continued among our brethren in Great Britain."

Judge William Blackstone called them "The absolute rights of every Englishman", and explained how they had been established slowly over centuries of English history, in his book on Fundamental Laws of England, which was the first part of his influential Commentaries on the Laws of England. They were certain basic rights that all subjects of the English monarch were understood to be entitled to, such as those expressed in Magna Carta since 1215, the Petition of Right in 1628, the Habeas Corpus Act 1679 and the Bill of Rights 1689.

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