Pages 1-31 
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| Pages 1-31
| Pages 57-79
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| IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776. | |
| WHEN in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. | |
| We hold these truths to be self evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. −−− That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new government, laying its foundation on such principles and organising its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate, that government long established, should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such as been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former systems of government. The history of the present King of Great-Britain, is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted for a candid world. | |
| He has refused his assent to laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. | |
| He has forbidden his governors to pass laws of immediate |
| and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. | |
| He has refused to pass other laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of representation in the legislature; a right inestimable to them, and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. | |
| He has dissolved representative houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness, his invasions on the rights of the people. | |
| He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the legislative powers, incapable of annihilation, have returned to the people at large for their exercise; the state remaining, in the mean time, exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. | |
| He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states; for that purpose obstructing the laws for naturalization of foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new appropriations of lands. | |
| He has obstructed the administration of justice, by refusing his assent to laws for establishing judiciary powers. | |
| He has made judges dependent on his will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. | |
| He has erected a multitude of new offices, and sent hither swarms of officers, to harrass our people and eat out their substance. | |
| He has kept among us, in times of peace, standing armies, without the consent of our legislatures. | |
| He as affected to render the military independent of, and superior to the civil power. |
| He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his assent to their acts of pretended legislation: | |
| For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: | |
| For protecting them, by a mock trial, from punishment for any murders which they should commit on the inhabitants of these states: | |
| For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world: | |
| For imposing taxes on us without our consent: | |
| For depriving us, in many cases, of the benefits of the trial by jury: | |
| For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses: | |
| For abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighboring province, establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its boundaries, so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these colonies: | |
| For taking away our charters, abolishing our most valuable laws, and altering fundamentally the forms of our governments: | |
| For suspending our own legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. | |
| He has abdicated government here, by declaring us out of his protection, and waging war against us. | |
| He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. | |
| He is, at this time, transporting large armies of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy, scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the head of a civilized nation. |
| He has constrained our fellow citizens, taken captive on the high seas, to bear arms against their county, to become the executioners of their friends and brethren, or to fall themselves by their hands. | |
| He has excited domestic insurrection amongst us, and has endeavored to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. | |
| In every stage of these oppressions, we have petitioned for redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. | |
| Nor have we been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them, from time to time, of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. −−− We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred, to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connnexions and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice and justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity which denounces our separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, enemies in war, in peace friends. | |
| We, therefore, the representatives of the United States of America, in general Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the name, and by the authority of the good people of these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, Free and Independent States; that they are absolved from all allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connexion between them and the state of Great-Britain, is, and ought to be, totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full power to levy war, conclude peace, contract alliances, establish commerce, and to do all other acts and things which Independent States may of right do. And for the |
| support of this declaration with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other, our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor. | |
| Signed by order and in behalf of the Congress, | |
| JOHN HANCOCK, President. | |
| Attested, | |
| CHARLES THOMSON, Secretary. |
| New-Hampshire. | James Smith, |
| Josiah Bartlett, | George Taylor, |
| William Whipple, | James Wilson, |
| Matthew Thornton. | George Ross. |
| Massachusetts-Bay. | Delaware. |
| Samuel Adams, | Cæsar Rodney, |
| John Adams, | Thomas M'Kean, |
| Robert Treat Paine, | George Read. |
| Elbridge Gerry. | Maryland. |
| Rhode-Island, &c. | Samuel Chase, |
| Stephen Hopkins, | William Paca, |
| William Ellery. | Thomas Stone, |
| Connecticut. | Charles Carroll, of Carrollton. |
| Roger Sherman, | Virginia. |
| Samuel Huntington, | George Wythe, |
| William Williams, | Richard Henry Lee, |
| Oliver Wolcott. | Thomas Jefferson, |
| New-York. | Benjamin Harrison, |
| William Floyd, | Thomas Nelson, Jun. |
| Philip Livingston, | Francis Lightfoot Lee, |
| Francis Lewis, | Carter Braxton. |
| Lewis Morris. | North-Carolina. |
| New-Jersey. | William Hooper, |
| Richard Stockton, | Joseph Hewes, |
| Francis Hopkinson, | South-Carolina. |
| John Hart, | Edward Rutledge, |
| Abraham Clark. | Thomas Heyward, Jun. |
| Pennsylvania. | Thomas Lynch, Jun. |
| Robert Morris, | Arthur Middleton. |
| Benjamin Rush, | Georgia. |
| Benjamin Franklin, | Button Gwinnett, |
| John Morton, | Lyman Hall, |
| George Clymer, | George Walton. |
| IN CONGRESS, JULY 9, 1778. | ||
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| ARTICLES OF CONFEDERATION AND PERPETUAL UNION BETWEEN |
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| ARTICLE I. | ||
| THE stile of this confederacy shall be, "The United States of America." | ||
| ARTICLE II. | ||
| Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence, and every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not by the confederation expressly delegated to the United States in Congress assembled. | ||
| ARTICLE III. | ||
| The said states hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other, for their common defence, the security of their liberties, and their mutual and general welfare, binding themselves to assist each other against all force offered to, or attacks made upon them, or any of them, on account of religion, sovereignty, trade, or any other pretence whatever. | ||
| ARTICLE IV. | ||
| Sec. 1. The better to secure and perpetuate mutual friendship and intercourse among the people of the different states in this union, the free inhabitants of each of these states, paupers, vagabonds and fugitives from justice and immunities of free citizens in the several states; and the people of each state shall have free ingress and regress to and from any other state, and shall enjoy therein all the privileges of trade and commerce, subject to the same duties, |
| impositions, and restrictions, as the inhabitants thereof respectively; provided, that such restrictions shall not extend so far as to prevent the removal of property imported into any state to any other state of which the owner is an inhabitant; provided also, that no impositions, duties, or restrictions, shall be laid by any state on the property of the United States, or either of them. | |
| Sec. 2. If any person guilty of or charged with treason, felony, or other high misdemeanor in any state, shall flee from justice, and be found in any of the United States, he shall, upon demand of the governor or executive power of the state from which he fled, be delivered up and removed to the state having jurisdiction of his offence. | |
| Sec. 3. Full faith and credit shall be given in each of these states, to the records, acts, and judicial proceedings of the courts and magistrates of every other state. | |
| ARTICLE V. | |
| Sec. 1. For the more convenient management of the general interests of the United States, delegates shall be annually appointed in such manner as the Legislature of each state shall direct, to meet in congress on the first Monday in November in every year, with a power reserved to each state to recall its delegates, or any of them, at any time within the year and to send others in their stead, for the remainder of the year. | |
| Sec. 2. No state shall be represented in Congress by less than two, nor more than seven members; and no person shall be capable of being a delegate for more than three years, in any term of six years; nor shall any person, being a delegate, be capable of holding any office under the United States, for which he, or any other for his benefit, receives any salary, fees, or emolument, of any kind. | |
| Sec. 3. Each state shall maintain its own delegates in a meeting of the states, and while they act as members of the committee of the states. | |
| Sec. 4. In determining questions in the United States in Congress assembled, each state shall have one vote. | |
| Sec. 5. Freedom of speech and debate in Congress shall not be impeached or questioned in any court or place |
| out of Congress, and the members of Congress shall be protected in their persons from arrests and imprisonments during the time of their going to and from, and attendance on Congress, except for treason, felony, or breach of the peace. | |
| ARTICLE VI. | |
| Sec. 1. No state, without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, shall send any embassy to, or receive any embassy from, or enter into any conference, agreement, alliance, or treaty, with any king, prince, or state; nor shall any person holding any office of profit or trust under the United States, or any of them, accept of any present, emolument, office, or title, of any kind whatever, from any king, prince, or foreign state; nor shall the United States in Congress assembled, or any of them, grant any title of nobility. | |
| Sec. 2. No two or more states shall enter into any treaty, confederation, or alliance whatever between them, without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, specifying accurately the purposes for which the same is to be entered into, and how long it shall continue. | |
| Sec. 3. No state shall lay any imposts or duties which may interfere with any stipulations in treaties entered into by the United States in Congress assembled, with any king, prince, or state, in pursuance of any treaties already proposed by Congress to the courts of France and Spain. | |
| Sec. 4. No vessels of war shall be kept up in time of peace by any state, except such number only as shall be deemed necessary by the United States in Congress assembled for the defence of such state, or its trade; nor shall any body of forced be kept up by any state, in time of peace, except such number only as in the judgement of the United States in Congress assembled shall be deemed requisite to garrison the forts necessary for the defence of such state; but every state shall always keep up a well regulated and disciplined militia, sufficiently armed and accoutred, and shall provide and constantly have ready for use, in public stores, a due number of field-pieces and tents, and a proper quantity of arms, ammunition, and camp equipage. | |
| Sec. 5. No state shall engage in any war without the consent of the United States in Congress assembled, unless |
| such state be actually invaded by enemies, or shall have received certain advice of a resolution being formed by some nation of Indians to invade such state, and the danger is so imminent as not to admit of a delay till the United States in Congress assembled can be consulted: nor shall any state grant commissions to any ships or vessels of war, nor letters of marque or reprisal, except it be after a declaration of war by the United States in Congress assembled, and then only against the kingdom or state and the subjects thereof against which war has been so declared, and under such regulations as shall be established by the United States in Congress assembled, unless such state be infested by pirates, in which case vessels of war may be fitted out for that occasion, and kept so long as the danger shall continue, or until the United States in Congress assembled shall determine otherwise. | |
| ARTICLE VII. | |
| When land forces are raised by any state for the common defence, all officers of or under the rank of colonel shall be appointed by the legislature of each state respectively by who such forces shall be raised, or in such manner as such state shall direct, and all vacancies shall be filled up by the state which first made the appointment. | |
| ARTICLE VII. | |
| All charges of war, and all other expenses that shall be incurred for the common defence or general welfare, and allowed by the United States in Congress assembled, shall be defrayed out of a common treasury, which shall be supplied by the several states, in proportion to the value of all land within each state, granted to or surveyed for any person, as such land and the buildings and improvements thereon shall be estimated, according to such mode as the United States in Congress assembled shall from time to time direct and appoint. The taxes for paying that proportion shall be laid and levied by the authority and direction of the legislatures of the several states within the time agreed upon by the United States in Congress assembled. |
| ARTICLE IX. | |
| Sec. 1. The United States in Congress assembled shall have the sole and exclusive right and power of determinating on peace and war, except in the cases mentioned in the sixth article; of sending and receiving ambassadors; entering into treaties and alliances, provided that no treaty of commerce shall be made, whereby the legislative power of the respective states shall be restrained from imposing such imposts and duties on foreigners, as their own people are subjected to, or from prohibiting the exportation or importation of any species of goods or commodities whatsoever; of establishing rules for deciding in all cases, what captures on land or water shall be legal, and in what manner prizes taken by land or naval forces in the service of the United States shall be divided or appropriated; of granting letters of marque and reprisal in times of peace; appointing courts for the trial of piracies and felonies committed on the high seas; and establishing courts for receiving and determining finally appeals in all cases of captures: provided, that no member of Congress shall be appointed a judge of any of the said courts. | |
| Sec. 2. The United States in Congress assembled shall also be the last resort on appeal in all disputes and differences now subsisting, or that hereafter may arise between two or more states concerning boundary, jurisdiction, or any other cause whatever; which authority shall always be exercised in the manner following: Whenever the legislative or executive authority or lawful agent of any state in controversy with another, shall present a petition, to Congress, stating the matter in question, and praying for a hearing, notice thereof shall be given by order of Congress to the legislative or executive authority of the other state in controversy, and a day assigned for the appearance of the parties by their lawful agents, who shall then be directed to appoint by joint consent commissioners or judges to constitute a court for hearing and determining the matter in question; but if they cannot agree, Congress shall name three persons out of each of the United States, and from the list of such persons each party shall alternately strike out one, the petitioners beginning, until the number shall be reduced to thirteen; and from that number not less than seven nor more than nine names as Congress shall direct, shall in the presence of Congress be drawn out by lot; and the persons whose names |
| shall be so drawn, or any five of them, shall be commissioners or judges, to hear and finally determine the controversy, so always as that a major part of the judges, who shall hear the cause, shall agree in the determination: and if either party shall neglect to attend at the day appointed, without shewing reasons which the Congress shall judge sufficient, or being present, shall refuse to strike, the Congress shall proceed to nominate three persons out of each state, and the secretary of Congress shall strike in behalf of such party absent or refusing; and the judgment and sentence of the court to be appointed in the manner before prescribed, shall be final and conclusive; and if any of the parties shall refuse to submit to the authority of such court, or to appear or defend their claim or cause, the court shall nevertheless proceed to pronounce sentence, or judgment, which shall in like manner be final and decisive; the judgment or sentence and other proceedings being in either case transmitted to Congress, and lodged among the acts of Congress, for the security of the parties concerned: Provided, that every commissioner, before he sits in judgment, shall take an oath, to be administered by one of the judges of the supreme or superior court of the state where the cause shall be tried, "well and truly to hear and determine the matter in question, according to the best of his judgment, without favor, affection, or hope of reward:" Provided also, That no state shall be deprived of territory for the benefit of the United States. | |
| Sec. 3. All controversies concerning the private right of soil claimed under different grants of two or more states, whose jurisdictions as they may respect such lands, and the states which passed such grants are adjusted, the said grants or either of them being at the same time claimed to have originated antecedent to such settlement of jurisdiction, shall on the petition of either party to the Congress of the United States, be finally determined, as near as may be, in the same manner as is before prescribed for deciding disputes respecting territorial jurisdiction between different states. | |
| Sec. 4. The United States in Congress assembled shall also have the sole and exclusive right and power of regulating the alloy and value of coin, struck by their own authority, or by that of the respective states; fixing the standard of weights and measures throughout the United |
| States; regulating the trade and managing all affairs with the Indians, not members of any of the states; provided, that the legislative right of any state within its own limits be not infringed or violates; establishing and regulating post offices from one state to another, throughout all the United States, and exacting such postage on the papers passing through the same, as may be requisite to defray the expenses of the said office; appointing all officers of the land forces in the service of the United States, excepting regimental officers; appointing all the officers of the naval forces, and commissioning all officers whatever in the service of the United States; making rules for the government and regulation of the said land and naval forces, and directing their operations. | |
| Sec. 5. The United States in Congress assembled shall have authority to appoint a committee, to sit in the recess of Congress, to be denominated, A committee of the States and to consist of one delegate from each state; and to appoint such other committees and civil officers as may be necessary for managing the general affairs of the United States under their direction; to appoint one of their number to preside; provided, That no person be allowed to serve in the office of President more than one year in any term of three years; to ascertain the necessary sums of money to be raised for the service of the United States, and to appropriate and apply the same for defraying the public expenses; to borrow money or emit bills on the credit of the United States, transmitting every half year to the respective states an account of the sums of money so borrowed or emitted; to build or equip a navy; to agree upon the number of land forces, and to make requisitions from each state for its quota, in proportion to the number of white inhabitants in each state, which requisition shall be binding; and thereupon the legislature of each state shall appoint the regimental officers, raise the men, and clothe, arm and equip them in a soldier-like manner, at the expense of the United States; and the officers and men so clothed, armed, and equipped, shall march to the place appointed, and within the time agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled: but if the United States in Congress assembled shall, on consideration of circumstances, judge proper that any state should not raise men, or should raise a smaller number than its quota, and that any other state should raise a greater number of men than the quota thereof, such extra number |
| shall be raised, officered, clothed, armed and equipped in the same manner as the quota of such state, unless the legislature of such state shall judge that such extra number as they judge can be safely spared; and the officers and men so clothed, armed, and equipped, shall march to the place appointed, and within the time agreed on by the United States in Congress assembled. | |
| Sec. 6. The United States in Congress assembled shall never engage in a war, nor grant letters of marque and reprisal in time of peace, nor enter into any treaties or alliances, nor coin money, nor regulate the value thereof, nor ascertain the sums and expenses necessary for the defence and welfare of the United States, or any of them, nor emit bills, nor borrow money on the credit of the United States, nor appropriate money, nor agree upon the number of vessels of war to be built or purchased, or the number of land or sea forces to be raised, nor appoint a commander in chief of the army or navy, unless nine states assent to the same: Nor shall a question on any other point, except for adjourning from day to day, be determined, unless by the votes of a majority of the United States in Congress assembled. | |
| Sec. 7. The Congress of the United States shall have power to adjourn to any time within the year, and to any place within the United States, so that no period of adjournment be for a longer duration than the space of six months, and shall publish the journal of their proceedings monthly, except such parts thereof relating to treaties, alliances, or military operations, as in their judgment require secrecy; and the yeas and nays of the delegates of each state, on any question shall be entered on the journal, when it is desired by any delegate; and the delegates of a state, or any of them, at his or their request shall be furnished with a transcript of the said journal, except such parts as are above excepted, to lay before the legislatures of the several states. | |
| ARTICLE X. | |
| The committee of the states, or any nine of them, shall be authorised to execute in the recess of Congress, such of the powers of Congress as the United |
| States in Congress assembled, by the consent of nine states, shall from time to time think expedient to vest them with; provided, that no power be delegated to the said committee, for the exercise of which, by the articles of confederation, the voice of nine states, in the Congress of the United States assembled, is requisite. | ||
| ARTICLE XI. | ||
| Canada acceding to this confederation, and joining in the measures of the United States, shall be admitted into, and entitled to all the advantages of this union: But no other colony shall be admitted into the same, unless such admission be agreed to by nine states. | ||
| ARTICLE XII. | ||
| All bills of credit emitted, monies borrowed, and debts contracted by, or under the authority of Congress, before the assembling of the United States, in pursuance of the present confederation, shall be deemed and considered as a charge against the United States, for payment and satisfaction whereof the said United States and the public faith are hereby solemnly pledged. | ||
| ARTICLE XIII. | ||
| Every state shall abide by the determinations of the United States in Congress assembled, on all questions which by this confederation are submitted to them. And the articles of this confederation shall be inviolably observed by every state, and the union shall be perpetual; nor shall any alteration at any time hereafter be made in any of them; unless such alteration be agreed to in a Congress of the United States, and be afterwards confirmed by the legislatures of every state. | ||
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| The aforesaid Articles of Confederation were finally ratified on the first day of March, 1781; the state of Maryland having, by the Members in Congress, on that day acceded thereto, and completed the same. | ||
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| DECLARATION OF RIGHTS | ||
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| [Agreed to nem con. June 12th, 1776. −−− See Journ. Conv. page 100] | ||
| I. 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. | Inherent rights. | |
| II. 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. | Power of the people. | |
| III. 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 when 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 | Of the object of government. What is the best form. |
| such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal. | |
| IV. That no man, or set of men, are entitled to exclusive or separate emoluments or privileges from the community, but in consideration of public services; which not being descendible, nor ought the offices of Magistrate, Legislator, or Judge, to be hereditary. | Of Exclusive privileges. |
| V. 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 will direct. | Powers of the government to be separate and
distinct. Frequent election. |
| VI. 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 public 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 public good. | Qualifications of electors. Security of property. |
| VIII. 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. | Of suspending laws. |
| VIII. 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 favor, 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. | Criminal prosecutions. |
| IX. That excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted. | Bail, fines & punishments. |
| X. That general warrants whereby an 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. | Of general warrants. |
| XI. 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. | Trial by jury. |
| XII. That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments. | Freedom of the press. |
| XIII. 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. | Of the militia and military. |
| XIV. 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. | Uniform government. |
| XV. 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. | Fundamental principles. |
| XVI. 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. | Religion. |
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| [ Unanimously adopted, June 29th, 1776. −−− See
Journal Conv. page 167.] |
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| I. WHEREAS George the third, King of Great Britain and Ireland, and Elector of Hanover, heretofore entrusted with the exercise of the kingly office in this government, hath endeavoured to pervert the same into a detestable and insupportable tyranny, by putting his negative on laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public good: by denying his Governors permission to pass laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation for his assent, and, when so suspended, neglecting to attend to them for many years: By refusing to pass certain other laws, unless the persons to be benefited by them would relinquish the inestimable right of representation in the Legislature: By dissolving Legislative Assemblies repeatedly and continually, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions of the rights of the people: When dissolved, by refusing to call others for a long space of time, thereby leaving the political system without any Legislative head: By endeavoring to prevent the population of our country, and, for that purpose, obstructing the laws for the naturalization of foreigners: By keeping among us in time of peace, standing armies and ships of war: By affecting to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power: By combining with others to subject us to a foreign jurisdiction, giving his assent to their pretended acts of Legislation: For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world: For imposing taxes on us without our consent: For depriving us of the benefits of the trial by jury: For transporting us beyond seas, to be tried for pretended offences: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever: By plundering our seas, ravaging our coasts, burning our towns, and destroying the lives of our people: By inciting insurrections of our fellow subjects, with the allurements of forfeiture and confiscation: By prompting our negroes to rise in arms among us, those very negroes, whom, by an inhuman use of his | Preamble. Enumerating instances of royal misrule. |
| negative, he hat refused us permission to exclude by law: By endeavoring to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions of existence: By transporting at this time, a large army of foreign mercenaries, to complete the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy unworthy the head of a civilized nation: By answering our repeated petitions for redress with repetition of injuries; And finally, by abandoning the helm of government, and declaring us out of his allegiance and protection. By which several acts of misrule, the government of this county, as formerly exercised under the crown of Great Britain, is totally dissolved. | Former government dissolved. |
| II. We therefore, the Delegates and Representatives of the good people of Virginia, having maturely considered the premises, and viewing with great concern the deplorable condition to which this once happy country must be reduced, unless some regular, adequate mode of civil polity is speedily adopted, and in compliance with a recommendation of the General Congress, do ordain and declare the future form of government of Virginia to be as followeth: | Another declared. |
| III. The Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary departments, shall be separate and distinct, so that neither exercise the powers properly belonging to the other; nor shall any person exercise the powers of more than one of them at the same time, except that the Justices of the county courts shall be eligible to either House of Assembly. | Legislative, Executive, &, Judiciary separated, with an exception. |
| IV. The legislative shall be formed of two distinct branches, who,
together, shall be a complete Legislature. They shall meet once or oftener, every year, and shall
be called the General Assembly of Virginia. V. One of these shall be called the House of Delegates, and consist of two Representatives to be chosen for each county, and for the district of West Augusta, annually, of such men as actually reside in and are freeholders of the same, or duly qualified according to law; and also one Delegate or Representative to be chosen annually for the city of Williamsburg, and on for the borough of Norfolk, |
Legislative formed of two Houses, called General Assembly, shall meet every year once or oftener; One of them to be called the House of Delegates, |
| and Representative for each of such other cities and boroughs as may hereafter be allowed particular representation by the Legislature; but when any city or borough shall so decrease, as that number of persons having right of suffrage therein shall have been for the space of seven years successively less than half the number of voters in some one county in Virginia, such city or borough thenceforward shall cease to send a Delegate or Representative to the Assembly. | members of which, how qualified, and for what places chosen. When a corporation's right to representation shall cease. |
| VI. The other shall be called the Senate, and consist of twenty-four members, of whom thirteen shall constitute a House to proceed on business, for whose election the different counties shall be divided into twenty-four districts, and each county of the representative district, at the time of the election of its Delegates, shall vote for one Senator, who is actually a resident and freeholder within the district, or duly qualified according to law, and is upwards of twenty-five years of age; and the sheriffs of each county, within five days at farthest after the last county election in the district, shall meet at some convenient place, and, from the poll so taken in their respective counties, return as a Senator the man who shall have the greatest number of votes in the whole district. To keep up this Assembly by rotation, the districts shall be equally divided into four classes, and numbered by lot. At the end of one year after the general election, the six members elected by the first division, shall be displaced, and the vacancies thereby occasioned supplied from such class or division, by new election, in the manner aforesaid. This rotation shall be applied to each division, according to its number, and continued in due order annually. | Of what number of members the other, called the Senate shall consist, and how they shall be chosen. |
| VII. That the right of suffrage in the election of members of both Houses shall remain as exercised at present, and each House shall choose its own Speaker, appoint its own officers, settle its own rules of proceeding, and direct writs of election for supplying intermediate vacancies. | Each house may choose its Speaker &
officers, & issue writs of supplying vacancies. |
| VIII. All laws shall originate in the house of Delegates, to be approved or rejected by the Senate, or to be amended with the consent of the House of Delegates, except money bills, which in no instance shall be altered by the Senate, but wholly approved or rejected. | Laws shall originate in the House of Delegates, but, if not money bills, amendable by the Senate. |
| IX. A GOVERNOR, or Chief Magistrate, shall be chosen annually, by joint ballot of both Houses, to be taken in each House respectively, deposited in the conference room; the boxes examined jointly by a Committee of each House; and the numbers severally reported to them, that the appointments may be entered (which shall be the mode of taking the joint ballot of both Houses in all cases) who shall not continue in that office longer than three years successively, nor be eligible until the expiration of four years after he shall have been out of that office. An adequate, but modest salary, shall be settled on him during his continuance in office; and he shall, with the advice of a Council of State, exercise the executive powers of government according to the laws of this commonwealth; and shall not under any pretence, exercise any power of prerogative by virtue of any law, statute, or custom of England: but he shall, with the advice of the Council of State, have the power of granting reprieves or pardons, except where the prosecution shall have been carried on by the House of Delegates, or the law shall otherwise particularly direct; in which cases, no reprieve or pardon shall be granted, but by resolve of the House of Delegates. | Governor, how chosen; method of balloting in this and other cases; his salary and powers; restrained from granting reprieves or pardons in certain cases. |
| X. Either House of the General Assembly may adjourn themselves respectively. The Governor shall no prorogue or adjourn the Assembly during their sitting, nor dissolve them at any time; but he shall, if necessary, either by advice of the Council of State, or on application of a majority of the House of Delegates, call them before the time to which they shall stand prorogued or adjourned. | When he may convoke the General Assembly. |
| XI. A Privy Council or Council of State, consisting of eight members, shall be chosen by joint ballot of both Houses of assembly, either from their own members or the people at large, to assist in the administration of government. They shall annually choose out fo their own members a President, who, in case of the death, inability, or necessary absence of the Governor from the government, shall act as Lieutenant Governor. Four members shall be sufficient to act, and their advice and proceedings shall be entered of record, and signed by the members present (to any par whereof any member may enter his dissent) to be laid before the General Assembly, when called for by them. This Council may appoint their own | Privy Council, number of: their duty, power, and time of continuance in office. |
| clerk, who shall have a salary settled by law, and take an oath of secrecy in such matters as he shall be directed by the Board to conceal. A sum of money appropriated to that purpose shall be divided annually among the members in proportion to their attendance; and they shall be incapable during their continuance in office, of sitting in either House of Assembly. Two members shall be removed, by joint ballot of both Houses of Assembly, at the end of every three years, and be ineligible for the three next years. These vacancies, as well as those occasioned by death or incapacity, shall be supplied by new elections, in the same manner. | |
| XII. The Delegates for Virginia to the Continental Congress shall be chosen annually, or superceded in the mean time by joint ballot of both Houses of Assembly. | Delegates to Congress, how chosen. |
| XIII. The present militia officers shall be continued, and vacancies supplied by appointment of the Governor, with the advice of the Privy Council, or recommendations from the respective County Courts; but the Governor and Council shall have a power of suspending any officer, and ordering a court-martial, on complaint of misbehaviour or inability, or to supply vacancies of officers happening when in actual service. The Governor may embody the militia, with the advice of the Privy Council, and when embodied, shall alone have the direction of the militia under the laws of the country. | Military regulations. |
| The two Houses of Assembly shall, by joint ballot, appoint Judges of the Supreme Court of Appeals, and General Court, Judges in Chancery, Judges of Admiralty, Secretary, and the Attorney General, to be commissioned by the Governor, and continue in office during good behaviour. In case of death, incapacity, or resignation, the Governor, with the advice of the Privy Council, shall appoint persons to succeed in office, to be approved or displaced by both Houses. These officers shall have fixed and adequate salaries; and, together with all others holding lucrative offices, and all Ministers of the Gospel of every denomination, be incapable of being elected members of either House of Assembly, or the Privy Council. | Courts of Appeals, General, of Equity and Admiralty, judges of; Secretary and Attorney General, how appointed, salaries of; excluded with some others, from the Legislative and Executive. |
| XV. The Governor, with the advice of the Privy Council, shall appoint Justices of the Peace for the counties; | Counties, Justices |
| and in case of vacancies, or a necessity of increasing the number hereafter, such appointments to be made upon the recommendation of the respective County Courts. The present acting Secretary in Virginia, and clerks of all the County courts, shall continue in office. In case of vacancies, either by death, incapacity, or resignation, a Secretary shall be appointed as before directed, and the clerks by the respective courts. The present and future clerks shall hold their offices during good behaviour, to be judged of and determined in the General Court. The Sheriffs and Coroners shall be nominated by the respective courts, approved by the Governor, with the advice of the Privy Council, and commissioned by the Governor. The Justices shall appoint Constables, and all fees of the aforesaid officers to be regulated by law. | of, how appointed; shall nominate their clerks, recommend sheriffs and coroners to be commissioned by Executive; and appoint constables. |
| XVI. The Governor, when he is out of office, and others offending against the state, either by mal-administration, corruption, or other means by which the safety of the state may be endangered, shall be impeachable by the House of Delegates. Such impeachment to be prosecuted by the Attorney General, or such other person or persons as the House may appoint in the General Court, according to the laws of the land. If found guilty he or they shall be either forever disabled to hold office under government, or removed from such office pro tempore, or subjected to such pains or penalties as the law shall direct. | Impeachments. |
| XVII. If all, or any of the Judges of the General Court, shall, on good grounds (to be judged of by the House of Delegates) be accused of any of the crimes or offences before mentioned, such House of Delegates may, in like manner, impeach the Judge or Judges so accused, to be prosecuted in the Court of Appeals; and he or they, if found guilty, shall be punished in the same manner as is prescribed in the preceding clause. | |
| XVIII. Commissions and grants shall run In the name of the COMMONWEALTH of VIRGINIA, and bear teste by the Governor, with the seal of the Commonwealth annexed. Writs shall run in the same manner, and bear test by the clerks of the several courts. Indictments shall conclude, Against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth. | Commissions, grants and writs, tile, and test of. Indictments, conclusion of. |
| XIX. A Treasurer shall be appointed annually, by joint ballot of both Houses. | Treasurer. |
| XX. All escheats, penalties, and forfeitures, heretofore going to the King, shall go to the Commonwealth, save only such as the Legislature may abolish, or otherwise provide for. | Escheats, penalties, forfeitures. |
| XXI. The territories contained within the charters erecting the colonies of Maryland, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, are hereby ceded, released, and forever confirmed to the people of those colonies respectively, with all the rights of property, jurisdiction, and government, and all other rights whatsoever which might at any time heretofore have been claimed by Virginia, except the free navigation and use of the rivers Potowmac and Pohomoke, with the property of the Virginia shores or strands bordering on either of the said rivers, an all improvements which have been or shall be made thereon. The western and norther extent of Virginia shall, in all other respects, stand as fixed by the charter of King James the first, in the year one thousand six hundred and nine, and by the public treaty of peace between the Courts of Great-Britain and France, in the year one thousand seven hundred an sixty-three; ;unless, by act of Legislature, one or more territories shall hereafter be laid off, and governments established westward of the Alleghany mountains. And no purchase of lands shall be made of the Indian native but on behalf of the public, by authority of the General Assembly. | Territorial limits: cession to coterminous states: future
governments west of Mount Allegheny, how to be established. No purchases from Indian natives, but for republic. |
| XXII. In order to introduce this government, the representatives of the people met in Convention shall choose a Governor and Privy Council, also such other officers directed to be chosen by both Houses as may be judged necessary to be immediately appointed. The Senate to be first chosen by the people, to continue until the last day of March next, and the other officers until the end of the succeeding session of Assembly. In case of vacancies, the Speaker of either House shall issue writs for new elections. |
| Pages 1-31
| Pages 57-79
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