The Virginia Declaration of Rights

Summary

The Virginia Declaration of Rights was adopted unanimously by the Virginia Convention at Williamsburg on 12 June 1776, three weeks before the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence. On 15 May 1776 the same convention had instructed Virginia's delegates in Congress to propose independence and appointed a committee to prepare a declaration of rights and a plan of government. George Mason, who joined the committee late in May, wrote the first draft almost alone. The committee reported a revised version on 27 May, the convention debated it for about two weeks, and the final text of sixteen sections was followed on 29 June by Virginia's first constitution. The document states principles rather than grievances. Section I holds that all men are by nature equally free and independent and have inherent rights, namely life, liberty, the means of acquiring property, and the pursuit of happiness and safety. Mason's draft had said men are born equally free; the convention changed that wording and added the phrase about entering a state of society, a qualification usually credited to Edmund Pendleton after delegates such as Robert Carter Nicholas worried about how the sentence bore on slavery. Section II places all power in the people and calls magistrates their trustees and servants. Section III says government exists for the common benefit and that a majority may reform, alter or abolish a government that fails that purpose. Sections IV through VII forbid hereditary offices, separate the legislative and executive powers from the judicial, require free elections and consent to taxation, and forbid suspending laws without the people's representatives. Sections VIII through XI protect the accused and the courts: notice of the charge, confrontation of witnesses, a speedy trial by a jury of the vicinage, no compelled self-incrimination, no excessive bail or cruel and unusual punishments, no general warrants, and the ancient civil jury. Section XII calls the freedom of the press a great bulwark of liberty; Section XIII prefers a militia to standing armies and subordinates the military to civil power; Section XIV asks for uniform government within Virginia. Section XV says free government survives only by justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, virtue and a frequent return to first principles. Section XVI, on religion, was amended at the motion of the young James Madison, who replaced Mason's promise of the fullest toleration with the equal right of all to the free exercise of religion, and it closes with the mutual duty of Christian forbearance, love and charity. The Declaration influenced Jefferson's Declaration of Independence, the declarations of rights in other states, and the amendments Madison proposed to Congress in 1789. The library text, from the Avalon Project, begins directly with Section I.

Plot or Argument

• Sections I-III: natural rights, popular sovereignty, the right to reform government

  Men are by nature equally free and independent and keep their inherent rights on entering society; all power comes from the people, and magistrates are their trustees and servants; government is instituted for the common benefit, and a majority may reform, alter or abolish one that fails.

• Sections IV-VII: offices, separated powers and consent

  No office of magistrate, legislator or judge is hereditary; legislative and executive powers stay separate from the judicative, and officeholders return to private station at fixed intervals; elections are free and taxation needs consent; no authority may suspend laws without the people's representatives.

• Sections VIII-XI: the accused and the courts

  The accused may learn the charge, confront witnesses, call evidence and have a speedy trial by an impartial local jury whose verdict must be unanimous, and cannot be forced to testify against himself; bail, fines and punishments must not be excessive or cruel; general warrants are condemned; the civil jury is to be held sacred.

• Sections XII-XIV: press, militia and uniform government

  Freedom of the press is a bulwark of liberty restrained only by despotic governments; a well regulated militia is the safe defense of a free state, standing armies in peacetime are dangerous, and the military is subordinate to civil power; no separate government may be set up within Virginia.

• Section XV: virtue and first principles

  Liberty can be preserved only by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.

• Section XVI: the free exercise of religion

  Religion, the duty owed to the Creator, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not force; all are equally entitled to its free exercise according to conscience, and all owe one another Christian forbearance, love and charity.

Characters

• George Mason, principal author

  Fairfax County planter who wrote the first draft in late May 1776.

• Edmund Pendleton, president of the convention

  Presided over the Virginia Convention and is usually credited with the qualifying phrase added to Section I.

• James Madison, delegate from Orange County

  Twenty-five-year-old delegate whose amendment to Section XVI substituted free exercise for toleration.

• Archibald Cary, committee chairman

  Chaired the committee appointed on 15 May 1776 to prepare a declaration of rights and plan of government.

• Robert Carter Nicholas, delegate and treasurer of Virginia

  Among the delegates who objected to the original wording of Section I.

Lessons

• Magistrates as trustees and servants

  Section II turns the usual picture of rulers upside down: power comes from the people, and officials hold it in trust and answer to them. Sections IV and V follow from this, forbidding hereditary offices and sending lawmakers back to private life at fixed periods so that they share the burdens they impose.

  • What does it mean to call a magistrate a trustee?
  • Why does Section V want legislators to return to private life regularly?
  • Which other sections depend on the idea that power comes from the people?

• Fair trials before liberty can be taken

  Sections VIII through XI gather old English protections into a short list: knowing the charge, facing accusers, a speedy jury trial, no forced self-accusation, no excessive bail, no general warrants. Section VIII ends with the law of the land and the judgment of peers, words that reach back to Magna Carta.

  • Which protections in Section VIII would matter most to someone wrongly accused?
  • Why were general warrants, which named no person or place, considered so dangerous?
  • Why might the authors have called the civil jury ancient and sacred?

• Virtue as the keeper of free government

  Section XV says no paper guarantee can keep a people free without justice, moderation, temperance, frugality and virtue, and a frequent return to first principles. The Declaration places the safety of its other rights in the character of citizens.

  • Why does Section XV list personal virtues in a document about government?
  • What might frequent recurrence to fundamental principles look like in a town or a school?

• From toleration to free exercise

  Mason's draft promised the fullest toleration in religion; Madison's amendment changed it to an equal right to the free exercise of religion according to conscience. Toleration is something a government grants; free exercise is a right the government recognizes. Section XVI then asks citizens to practice Christian forbearance, love and charity toward one another.

  • What is the difference between being tolerated and having a right?
  • According to Section XVI, why can religion not be directed by force?
  • Why does a legal document end with a duty of love and charity?

Context

By the spring of 1776 Virginia's royal governor, Lord Dunmore, had fled, fighting had begun in the colony, and the Virginia Convention was acting as its government. Delegates drew on the English Bill of Rights of 1689, the common law as taught by Coke and Blackstone, and writers such as Locke and Montesquieu, and they wished to state the principles of their new government before framing its constitution.

Composition

On 15 May 1776 the Fifth Virginia Convention at Williamsburg resolved to instruct its delegates in Congress to propose independence and named a committee under Archibald Cary to prepare a declaration of rights and plan of government. Mason wrote the draft in the following days; the committee reported it on 27 May, and the convention adopted the amended text unanimously on 12 June 1776. The constitution of Virginia followed on 29 June, with Patrick Henry elected governor. The committee draft was printed in Philadelphia newspapers in June, where it could be read by members of Congress.

Reception

Phrases from Section I resemble the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence, and Pennsylvania, Maryland, North Carolina, Massachusetts and other states adopted declarations of rights of their own. In 1787 Mason refused to sign the federal Constitution partly because it had none, and in 1789 Madison drafted the amendments that became the Bill of Rights, several of which follow Virginia's sections on juries, bail, warrants, the press, the militia and religion. Historians have also compared it with the French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen of 1789; how directly it shaped that document remains a matter of discussion.

Comparisons

• the-founding-documents

  Section I's life, liberty and pursuit of happiness anticipates the Declaration of Independence, and Sections VIII-XIII reappear in the Fourth through Eighth Amendments and in the Second Amendment's well regulated militia.

• virginia-statute-for-religious-freedom

  Section XVI declares the free exercise of religion; the 1786 statute turns that principle into law by forbidding compelled support of any church and civil penalties for belief.

• madison-selected-writings

  Madison's Memorial and Remonstrance (1785) quotes Section XVI's definition of religion as the duty owed to the Creator, the same section he had amended as a young delegate in 1776.

• magna-carta

  Section VIII's closing promise that no man lose his liberty except by the law of the land or the judgment of his peers echoes the wording of Magna Carta's clause 39.

• commentaries-on-the-laws-of-england

  Blackstone's absolute rights of personal security, personal liberty and property in Book I stand behind Section I's list of inherent rights and the trial protections of Section VIII.

• second-treatise-of-government

  Locke's account of men entering society to preserve their lives, liberties and estates, and of a people's right to replace a government that breaks its trust, supplies the framework of Sections I-III.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• Section I's qualifying clause, when they enter into a state of society, added by the convention to Mason's draft.
• Section II's description of magistrates as trustees and servants, and how Sections IV and V build on it.
• The list of trial protections in Section VIII and its closing reference to the law of the land.
• Section XV, where personal virtues appear in a list of political principles.
• Section XVI's shift from toleration to free exercise, and its final call to forbearance, love and charity.

Key terms and names

Inherent rights

Rights that belong to people by nature, which Section I says cannot be signed away for their descendants by any compact.

Magistrate

Any official who exercises public authority; Section II calls magistrates the people's trustees and servants.

Judicative

Mason's word in Section V for the judicial power, which must stay separate from the legislative and executive.

Vicinage

The neighborhood where a crime took place; Section VIII promises a jury drawn from it.

General warrant

An order to search places or seize persons not specifically named, condemned in Section X.

Militia

Citizens trained to arms, which Section XIII calls the proper defense of a free state in place of standing armies.

Free exercise

Madison's phrase in Section XVI for the equal right to practice religion by conscience, replacing Mason's word toleration.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension What rights does Section I list, and what does it say people cannot do to those rights by compact?
2. Comprehension According to Section III, who may reform or abolish a government, and when?
3. Comprehension Name four protections Section VIII gives a person accused of a crime.
4. Interpretation Why might the convention have added the words when they enter into a state of society to Section I?
5. Interpretation Section XIII warns that standing armies in peacetime are dangerous to liberty. Why would Virginians in 1776 have felt this strongly?
6. Interpretation How does changing toleration to free exercise in Section XVI change the relationship between the government and a believer?
7. Big Question Section XV says free government needs virtuous citizens. Can good laws protect liberty if the people themselves are not virtuous?

Faith Connections

• Romans 13:1-4 (Scripture)

  Paul calls the ruler a minister of God for good; Section II calls magistrates trustees and servants of the people, and students can weigh how the two descriptions of authority fit together.

• Colossians 3:12-14 (Scripture)

  Paul urges forbearance, forgiveness and charity, the bond of perfectness; Section XVI ends by naming Christian forbearance, love and charity as a mutual duty of all citizens.

• Lactantius, Divine Institutes V.19-20 (Church Fathers)

  Lactantius argued that religion must be defended by persuasion and not by force, because worship compelled is not worship; Section XVI says religion can be directed only by reason and conviction.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Because people are by nature free and hold inherent rights, and because all power comes from them, government exists for their common benefit and must be limited by separated powers, free elections, fair trials, a free press and the free exercise of religion; and because no paper guarantee can keep itself, liberty also depends on the virtue of the people and their return to first principles.

Rhetorical device: anaphora. Every section opens with the same word, That, so the sixteen articles read as one continuous declaration of principles, as in Section I (quote 0) and Section XV (quote 3).

Debate: Resolved: that Section XV's list of civic virtues is more important to preserving liberty than any of the Declaration's legal protections.

Memory Work

That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.

That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Choose three sections of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and trace how each one appears, changed or unchanged, in the Bill of Rights of 1791.

Comparison with The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom: Compare Section XVI of the Declaration with the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom: what does the 1786 statute add to the principle of free exercise stated in 1776?

Medical Lens

The Declaration is a statement of political and legal principles with no medical content; its sections concern rights, offices, trials, the press, the militia, virtue and religion.

Creative Prompts

• Classroom

  Give each group two sections of the Declaration and ask them to find the matching provision in the Declaration of Independence or the Bill of Rights, then report what changed in the wording.

• Dialogue

  Write the conversation in June 1776 between Mason and the young Madison about whether Section XVI should promise toleration or free exercise.

• Essay

  Explain why Section XV names temperance and frugality as necessary to free government, using at least two other sections to support your answer.

• Fiction

  Tell the story of a Williamsburg printer's apprentice in 1776 who sets the type for Section XII and wonders what it will mean for his master's newspaper.

Further Reading

• The Papers of George Mason, 1725-1792, Robert A. Rutland (ed.)

  Three-volume scholarly edition that includes Mason's drafts of the Declaration and his Objections of 1787.

• George Mason: Forgotten Founder, Jeff Broadwater

  Modern biography covering Mason's role in 1776 and his opposition to the Constitution.

• American Scripture: Making the Declaration of Independence, Pauline Maier

  Places the Virginia Declaration among the state and local declarations that preceded Jefferson's text.

• The Bill of Rights: Creation and Reconstruction, Akhil Reed Amar

  Study of the federal Bill of Rights that traces several provisions to earlier state declarations.