We Americans have embraced the self-evident truths of our Declaration, which proclaims that each of us has been created equal with inalienable natural rights. But we tend not to embrace the abstract method proclaimed by John Locke and other modern philosophers for establishing those truths. This is a good thing. Instead of seeing the written Constitution as grounded merely by natural rights and autonomous individuals, we have looked to a prior, unwritten — "providential" — constitution.
"Providential" here does not refer to some intervention of Divine Providence into history. It has to do with the fact that no written constitution could emerge from nothing, but is necessarily dependent on various "givens" that limit and direct what is possible for statesmen at any particular time. These givens should not be seen as oppressive constraints but civilizational accomplishments that make the written Constitution and constitutional order possible. "Providential," in this sense, means to be guided by what one is given by custom, tradition, and prior political experience, and even from philosophy and theology.
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