employed his influence to obtain its adoption. In 1789 he
Virginia, but declined the office. He was for many years a
October, 1806. He held the first rank as a lawyer and
and dexterity in argument. Edmund Pendleton is thus
of the times demanded. But no one can appreciate the perils
"On the sixth of May, forty-five members of the House of Burgesses
of Virginia met at the capitol in Williamsburg pursuant to their adjournment;
but, as they were of the opinion that the ancient Constitution had
been subverted by the King and Parliament of Great Britain, they dissolved
themselves unanimously, and thus the last vestige of the King's
authority passed away.
"The delegates of Virginia, who on the same morning assembled in
convention not less than one hundred and thirty in number, were a constituent
and an executive assembly. They represented the oldest and the
largest Colony, whose institutions had been fashioned on the model recommended
by Bacon, and whose inhabitants for nearly a hundred and seventy
years had been eminently loyal, and had sustained the Church of
England as the Establishment of the land.
"Its people, having in their origin a perceptible but never an exclusive
influence of the Cavaliers, had sprung mainly from Adventurers, who
were not fugitives for conscience' sake, or sufferers from persecution, or
passionate partisans of monarchy. The population had been recruited by
successive infusions of Scotch-Irish Presbyterians; Huguenots, and the
descendants of Huguenots; men who had been so attached to Cromwell or
to the republic that they preferred to emigrate on the return of Charles
II.; Baptists and other dissenters; and in the valley of Virginia there was
a very large German population. Beside all these, there was the great
body of the backwoodsmen, rovers from Maryland and Pennsylvania, not
caring much for the record of their lineage.
"The territory for which the convention was to act was not a limited
one like that of Sparta or Attica; beginning at the ocean, it comprised
the great Bay of the Chesapeake, with its central and southern tributaries;
the beautiful valleys on the head-springs of the Roanoke and along the
whole course of the Shenandoah; the country beyond the mountains,
including the sources of the Monongahela and the Cumberland Rivers,
and extending indefinitely to the Tennessee and beyond it. Nor that
only; Virginia insisted that its jurisdiction stretched without bounds
over all the country west and northwest of a line two hundred miles north
of Old Point Comfort, not granted to others by royal charters; and there
was no one to dispute a large part of this claim except the Province of
Quebec under an Act of Parliament which the Continental Congress had
annulled. For all this wide expanse, rich in soil, precious minerals, healing
springs, forests, convenient marts for foreign commerce, the great
pathways to the west, more fertile, more spacious than all Greece, Italy
and Great Britain, than any region for which it had ever been proposed
to establish republican liberty, a Constitution was to be framed.
"It has been discussed, whether the spirit that now prevailed was
derived from Cavaliers, and whether it sprung from the inhabitants on
tide water or was due to those of the uplands; the answer is plain: the
movement in Virginia proceeded from the heart of Virginia herself, and
represented the magnanimity of her own people. It did not spring, it
could not spring, from sentiments generated by the by-gone loyalty to the
Stuarts. The Ancient Dominion had with entire unanimity approved the
change of dynasty of 1688; with equal unanimity, had, even more readily
than the English, accepted the House of Hanover, and had been one of
the most loyal parts of the empire of the Georges; the Revolution was due
to a keen sentiment of wrong and outrage, and was joined in with a oneness
of spirit, which asked no questions about ancestry, or traditional
affinities, or religious creed, or nearness to the sea or to the mountains.
The story of the war commemorates the courage of the men of the interior;
among the "inexorable families" Dunmore especially reported
from the low country the Lees, and the whole family of Cary of Hampton,
of whom even the sisters, married to a Fairfax and a Nicholas, cheered on
their connections to unrelenting opposition. Virginia rose with as much
unanimity as Connecticut or Massachusetts, and with a more commanding
resolution.
"The purpose for which the convention was assembled appears from
the words of the county of Buckingham to Charles Patterson and John
Cabell, its Delegates: `We instruct you to cause a total and final separation
from Great Britain to take place as soon as possible; and a Constitution
to be established, with a full representation, and free and frequent
elections. As America is the last country of the world which has contended
for her liberty, so she may be the most free and happy; taking
advantage of her situation and strength, and having the experience of all
before to profit by. The Supreme Being hath left it in our power to
choose what government we please for our civil and religious happiness;
good government and the prosperity of mankind can alone be in the
divine intention; we pray therefore that, under the superintending providence
of the Ruler of the universe, a government may be established in
America, the most free, happy, and permanent that human wisdom can
contrive and the perfection of man maintain.'
"The county of Augusta represented the necessity of making the confederacy
of the united Colonies most perfect, independent, and lasting;
and of framing an equal, free and liberal government, that might bear the
test of all future ages. A petition was sent from the inhabitants of Transylvania,
declaring that they were anxious to concur with their brethren
of the united Colonies in every measure for the recovery of their rights
and liberties.
"The inhabitants on the rivers Watauga and Holston set forth that
`they were deeply impressed with a sense of the distresses of their American
brethren, and would, when called upon, with their lives and fortunes,
lend them every assistance in their power; that they begged to be considered
as a part of the Colony, and would readily embrace every opportunity
of obeying any commands from the convention.'
"To that body were chosen more than one hundred and thirty of the
ablest and most weighty men of Virginia. Among them were no rash
enthusiasts for liberty; no lovers of revolution for the sake of change; no
ambitious demagogues hoping for advancement by the overthrow of existing
institutions; they were the choice of the freeholders of Virginia, and
the majority were men of independent fortune, or even opulence. It was
afterwards remembered that of this grave Assembly the members were for
the most part men of large stature and robust frames and that a very great
proportion of them lived to exceeding old age. They were now to decide
whether Virginia demanded independence, and if so, they were to establish
a Commonwealth; in making this decision, they moved like a
pillar of fire in front of the whole country.
"When the delegates had assembled and appointed a clerk, Richard
Bland recommended Edmund Pendleton to be chosen President, and was
seconded by Archibald Cary; while Thomes Johnson of Louisa, and Bartholomew
Dandridge, proposed Thomas Ludwell Lee. For a moment
there was something like an array of parties, but it instantly subsided;
Virginia showed her greatness by her moderation, and gave to the world
new evidence that the Revolution sprung from necessity, by placing in the
chair Pendleton, the most cautious and conservative among her patriots.
After his election, he wrote to a friend: `Of all others, I own I prefer the
the true English Constitution, which consists of a proper combination of
the principles of honor, virtue, and fear.'
"The Convention, after having been employed for some days on current
business, resolved itself into a committee of the whole on the state of
the Colony; and on the fifteenth Archibald Cary reported resolutions
which had been drafted by Pendleton, offered by Nelson, and enforced by
Henry. They were then twice read at the Clerk's table, and, one hundred
and twelve members being present, were unanimously agreed to. The
preamble enumerated their chief grievances; among others, that the
King's representative in the Colony was training and employing slaves
against their masters; and, they say: `We have no alternative left but an
abject submission or a total separation'; therefore, they went on to decree,
`that their delegates in Congress be instructed to propose to that body to
declare the united Colonies free and independent states, absolved from all
allegiance or dependence upon the Crown or Parliament of Great Britain;
and that they give the assent of this Colony to such declaration, and to
measures for forming foreign alliances and a Confederation of the Colonies;
provided that the power of forming government for, and the regulation of
the internal concerns of each Colony, be left to the respective colonial Legislatures.
"This resolution was received out of doors with chimes of bells and
the noise of artillery; and the British flag, which had thus far kept its
place on the statehouse, was struck, to be raised no more.
"In the following days, a committee of thirty-two was appointed to
prepare a declaration of rights and a plan of government. Among the
members were Archibald Cary; Patrick Henry, first of all in boldly maintaining
the spirit of the resolution and influence over the members from
the upper counties; the aged Richard Bland; Edmund Randolph, son of
the attorney-general, who was then a refugee in England; Nicholas;
James Madison, the youthful delegate from Orange county; but the one
who at that moment held most sway over the mind of the convention was
George Mason, the successor of Washington in the representation of Fairfax
county. He was a devoted member of the Church of England; and
by his own account of himself, which is still preserved, `though not born
within the verge of the British isle, he had been an Englishman in his
principles, a zealous assertor of the Act of Settlement, firmly attached to
the royal family upon the throne, well affected to the King personally and
to his government, in defence of which he would have shed the last drop
of his blood; one who adored the wisdom and happiness of the British
Constitution, and preferred it to any that then existed or had ever existed.'
For ten years he claimed nothing for his countrymen beyond the liberty
and privileges of Englishmen, in the same degree as if they had still continued
among their brethren in Great Britain; but he said: `The ancient
poets, in their elegant manner of expression, have made a kind of being
of Necessity, and tell us that the gods themselves are obliged to yield to
her'; and he left the private life that he loved, to assist in the rescue of
his country from the excesses of arbitrary power to which a seeming fatality
had driven the British Ministers. He was a good speaker and an able
debater, the more eloquent now for being touched with sorrow; but his
great strength lay in his sincerity, which made him wise and bold, modest
and unchanging, while it overawed his hearers. He was severe, but his
severity was humane, with no tinge of bitterness, though he had a scorn
for everything mean, cowardly, or low; and he always spoke out his convictions
with frank directness. He had been truly loyal; on renouncing
his King, he could stand justified to his own conscience only by an unselfish
attachment to human freedom.
"On the twenty-seventh of May, Cary, from the committee, presented
to the Convention the Declaration of Rights which Mason had
drafted. For the next fortnight the great truths which it proclaimed, and
which were to form the groundwork of American institutions, employed
the thoughts of the Convention, and during several successive days were
the subject of solemn deliberation. One clause only received a material
amendment. Mason had written that all should enjoy the fullest toleration
in the exercise of religion. But toleration is the demand of the skeptic,
who has no fixed belief, and only wishes to be let alone; a firm faith,
which is too easily tempted to establish itself exclusively, can be content
with nothing less than equality. A young man, then unknown to fame,
of a bright hazel eye inclining to gray, small in stature, light in person,
delicate in appearance, looking like a pallid, sickly scholar among the
robust men with whom he was associated, proposed an amendment. He
was James Madison, the son of an Orange county planter, bred in the
school of Presbyterian dissenters under Witherspoon at Princeton, trained
by his own studies, by meditative rural life in the Old Dominion, by an
ingenuous indignation at the persecutions of the Baptists, by the innate
principles of right, to uphold the sanctity of religious freedom. He
objected to the word "toleration," because it implied an established
religion, which endured dissent only as a condescension; and, as the
earnestness of his convictions overcame his modesty, he went on to demonstrate
that `all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion,
according to the dictates of conscience.' His motion, which did but state
with better dialectics the very purpose which Mason wished to accomplish,
obtained the suffrages of his colleagues.
"A DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
MADE BY THE REPRESENTATIVES OF THE GOOD PEOPLE OF VIRGINIA,
ASSEMBLED IN FULL AND FREE CONVENTION;
WHICH RIGHTS DO PERTAIN TO THEM, AND THEIR POSTERITY,
AS THE BASIS AND FOUNDATION OF GOVERNMENT.
(Unanimously adopted June 12, 1776.)
"1. 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;
namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring
and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
"2. 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.
"3. That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common
benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community; of
all the various modes and forms of government that is best, which is capable
of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most
effectually secured against the danger of mal-administration; and that
whenever any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these
purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable,
and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such manner as
shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.
"4. That no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive or separate
emoluments or privileges from the community, but in consideration of
publick services; which, not being descendible, neither ought the offices
of magistrate, legislator, or judge to be hereditary.
"5. That the legislative and executive powers of the state should be
separate and distinct from the judiciary; and that the members of the two
first may be restrained from oppression, by feeling and participating the
burthens of the people, they should, at fixed periods, be reduced to a private
station, return into that body from which they were originally taken,
and the vacancies be supplied by frequent, certain, and regular elections,
in which all, or any part of the former members, to be again eligible, or
ineligible, as the laws shall direct.
"6. That elections of members to serve as representatives of the people,
in assembly, ought to be free; and that all men, having sufficient evidence
of permanent, common interest with, and attachment to, the community,
have the right of suffrage, and cannot be taxed or deprived of
their property for publick uses without their own consent, or that of their
representatives so elected, nor bound by any law to which they have not,
in like manner, assented, for the publick good.
"7. That all power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by
any authority without consent of the representatives of the people, is
injurious to their rights, and ought not to be exercised.
"8. That in all capital or criminal prosecutions a man hath a right to
demand the cause and nature of his accusation, to be confronted with the
accusers and witnesses, to call for evidence in his favour, and to a speedy
trial by an impartial jury of his vicinage, without whose unanimous consent
he cannot be found guilty; nor can he be compelled to give evidence
against himself; that no man be deprived of his liberty except by the law
of the land, or the judgment of his peers.
"9. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines
imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.
"10. That general warrants, whereby any officer or messenger may
be commanded to search suspected places without evidence of a fact committed,
or to seize any person or persons not named, or whose offence is
not particularly described and supported by evidence, are grievous and
oppressive, and ought not to be granted.
"11. That in controversies, respecting property, and in suits between
man and man, the ancient trial by jury is preferable to any other, and
ought to be held sacred.
"12. That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty,
and can never be restrained but by despotick governments.
"13. That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people,
trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free state;
that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided, as dangerous to
liberty; and that, in all cases, the military should be under strict subordination
to, and governed by, the civil power.
"14. That the people have a right to uniform government; and therefore,
that no government separate from, or independent of, the government
of Virginia, ought to be erected or established within the limits
thereof.
"15. That no free government, or the blessing 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.
"16. That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the
manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction,
not by force or violence, and therefore all men are equally entitled to the
free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that
it is the mutual duty of all to practise Christian forbearance, love, and
charity towards each other.
"Other colonies had framed bills of rights in reference to their relations
with Britain; Virginia moved from charters and customs to primal
principles; from a narrow altercation about facts to the contemplation of
immutable truth. She summoned the eternal laws of man's being to protest
against all tyranny. The English petition of right in 1688 was historic
and retrospective; the Virginia declaration came out of the heart of
nature, and announced governing principles for all peoples in all future
times. It was the voice of reason going forth to speak a new political
world into being. At the bar of humanity Virginia gave the name and
fame of her sons as hostages that her public life should show a likeness to
the highest ideas of right and equal freedom among men."
