In construing the eleventh amendment for the purpose of ascertaining its true intent and meaning, as indeed in construing most of the provisions of the Constitution and its contemporaneous amendments, reference to the history and to the common law of England is generally the safest guide as to what was understood and intended at the time. In that history will be found the true sources of our institutions, for these are essentially and predominantly English. The legal and political institutions of England were constantly in the minds of the framers and of the people. The common law had long been regarded with affection and reverence as the birthright of Americans and the guardian at once of their private rights and their public liberties. Indeed, the Continental Congress, assembled in October, 1774, had declared the colonies entitled as of right to the common law. The theory of the immunity of a state or of the United States from suit by an individual without its consent is frequently asserted to be analogous to the monarchical principle as to the immunity of the king from suit without his consent commonly expressed in the maxim that "the king can do no wrong." The idea seems to have been that in England it would be considered an invasion of the sovereignty of the crown and derogatory to its dignity to subject the king to a suit by an individual except with his consent, to be granted or refused in his arbitrary discretion. It is very doubtful whether any such idea finds support in the common law or history of England, or in the traditional usage and experience of that country to any such extent as is often insisted upon.