The Virginia Declaration of Rights Is Adopted by the House of Burgesses: June 12, 1776
- Catholic Textbook Project
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This text comes from our book, The American Venture.
By war, the former English colonies of North America had won their independence. But what they had obtained by war, they could lose in peace—if they found no effective means of governing themselves.
Revolutions often follow a predictable path in history. First, revolutionaries establish a new government; then follows a period of confusion, which ends in dictatorship. Happily, the American Revolution did not follow this pattern for the simple reason that the states already had functioning representative governments that continued to operate both during and after the war. The new “United States” did not so much overthrow their governments as remove their governments from the authority and power of the British king.
The governments of the newly independent states of North America differed in some significant ways. Some state governments, such as Connecticut and Virginia, continued to operate as they had in colonial times. Virginia’s constitution became the model for several other states. The Virginia-inspired constitutions provided for three major divisions in the government: a legislature, a council, and a governor. In such constitutions, the legislature possessed most of the powers of government. The governor’s task was to execute (that is, enforce) laws passed by the legislature. He had the power to veto laws, but only if the members of his council supported the veto. Council members were appointed by the legislature, not chosen by the governor.
Some of the state governments adopted new constitutions following independence. In 1779, John Adams drafted a constitution for Massachusetts that established what is called a “mixed” government—one where governmental power is divided among equal branches. Adams’ constitution set up a legislature, divided into two sections or “houses.” Members of the first or upper house, called the “Senate,” were elected by the wealthier members of their districts. The second, or lower house, called the “House of Representatives,” was composed of members elected by a broader section of the population. Both houses of the legislature had to approve a measure before it could become law. The constitution provided for a governor, elected by the people, who could veto acts of the legislature. The governor appointed members of a judicial court that decided whether or not government acts were in accord with the state constitution.
Adams believed that “pure” forms of government—monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy—were easily corrupted. A strong government, he thought, had to be a mixture of these pure forms. Each element of government (the monarchical, aristocratic, and democratic) would place a check on the abuses of the others. The democratic branch of the government, Adams’ House of Representatives, could stop any grab for power by the Senate, the aristocratic branch, and vice versa. The governor (the monarchical element) could veto the acts of the representative branch (the Senate and House of Representatives) and so provide a further check on both the democratic and aristocratic elements of society. Finally, the judicial branch, operating independently of any one branch of government, could make sure that all the other branches of government obeyed the constitution.
The architects of Pennsylvania’s constitution followed a very different political philosophy. Influenced by more democratic ideas than Adams, they thought that, since the people choose members of the legislature to represent them, there is no need for other branches of government to check the legislature’s power. To do so would be to thwart the will of the people. So it was that Pennsylvania’s constitution established only a one-house legislature, with no governor.
The states differed as to who had the right to vote. Every state but New Jersey permitted only white males to vote (New Jersey allowed women who owned property and free blacks to vote). Seven states allowed every white male taxpayer to vote; the other states required that a voter own property. A few states, such as New Hampshire, required that voters take oaths to keep Catholics and loyalists from the polls.
Some republican thinkers believed that state constitutions should include lists of citizens’ rights to prevent a government from abusing its power. Virginia was the first state to adopt such a list of rights. This Virginia Declaration of Rights, adopted by the House of Burgesses on June 12, 1776, declared that “all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot by any compact deprive or divest their posterity.” Among the rights the bill asserted were “the enjoyment of life and liberty,” the “means of acquiring and possessing property,” and the pursuit and obtaining of “happiness and safety.” The Virginia bill guaranteed the freedom of the press and the “free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience.”
Pennsylvania adopted a bill of rights similar to Virginia’s, but added freedom of speech and (on account of the Quakers) protection for those whose conscience would not permit them to serve in the military. In 1780, Massachusetts adopted a bill of rights that included, among other provisions, a right to a mixed government.