repeated adoption, has long since become common civil property. It consists of sixteen articles, all of which rest for authority on the doctrine of natural rights proclaimed in the opening clause. Men cannot be deprived of their rights, nor can they deprive their posterity of them; all power is vested in the people, and is derived from them. Consequently, their representatives are their trustees and servants, and at all times amenable to them. As government is instituted for the common benefit, it must be organized in the form that is best "capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety, and is most effectually secured against the dangers of maladministration." . . . The next State to act was Virginia, which, in April, 1776, elected forty-five delegates to a provincial convention. They met at Williamsburg on the 6th of the following May, and on the 29th of June promulgated the first constitution of the commonwealth. This convention, like that of South Carolina of 1778, was a Revolutionary gathering, chosen to supplant the ancient House of Burgesses, and to establish a government that would organize all the forces of the state in opposition to Great Britain. It was not specifically empowered to make a constitution. The frame of government it adopted was destined, however, to continue in force until 1830. This constitution is famed for its bill of rights, drawn up by George Mason. F. N. THORPE, Constitutional History of the American People.1 34, 35, 37-49. CHANNING (1898) THE STATE CONSTITUTIONS, 1775, 1776. Another important step in bringing about the change in sentiment noted in the preceding section, was the necessity for making new provisions for government in the several colonies. In some cases, as in Virginia and New Hampshire, the departure of the royal governors left the people without any government; in other cases, as in Massachusetts, resistance to the royal authorities made new arrangements necessary. In the last-named colony, a revolutionary body termed the Provincial Congress had assumed charge of the government of the province. The people, however, were restless, and those in power turned to the Continental Congress for advice. On June 9, 1775, that body 1 Copyright, 1898, by Harper & Brothers. voted, that as no obedience was due to the act of Parliament altering the charter of the colony of Massachusetts, nor to a governor who would not obey the direction thereof, he should be considered as absent and the colony were advised to proceed under the charter without a governor "until a governor of his Majesty's appointment will consent to govern the colony according to the charter." . . . Among the first colonies to act under this suggestion was Virginia, which was at the moment governed by a convention elected by the people. It adopted (June, 1776) a constitution which consisted of three parts: a Bill of Rights by George Mason, a Declaration of Independence by Thomas Jefferson, and a Frame of Government. The first of these contains an admirable exposition of the American theory of government, equalled in that respect only by the Declaration of Independence of July, 1776, and by the Bill of Rights drawn by John Adams and prefixed to the Massachusetts constitution of 1780. The clause in the Virginia Bill of Rights declaring for freedom of religion was the earliest enunciation on that subject during the Revolutionary era; it was probably the work of Madison and Patrick Henry. None of these early constitutions was submitted to the people for ratification, with the exception of that of Massachusetts (1780), which was also drafted by a body especially chosen by the people for that purpose. EDWARD CHANNING, Students' History of the United States. 198, 199, 200. CHAPTER XIV DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE SUGGESTIONS THE Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, in the State House (Independence Hall), May 10, 1775. The King's Proclamation declaring the Colonies in rebellion, and calling for volunteers to force them to submit to taxation without representation, and other unjust measures, finally convinced the delegates to Congress of the impossibility of our continuing our allegiance to the English Crown. This document was authorized by the staunch patriots who met together in Philadelphia, in June of 1776, to consider the resolution of the 7th, when the Second Continental Congress resolved "That these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states." John Adams of Massachusetts seconded the motion. Later, a committee of five - Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston of New York — was appointed to draft the Declaration of Independence. Jefferson drew up the paper, though a few alterations were made in it by the Committee and by Congress. It was adopted on the evening of July 4, 1776, and signed by John Hancock, President of Congress, and Charles Thomson, Secretary. On August 2, 1776, it was signed by the members, representing the thirteen states. The text and comments upon the famous Declaration of Independence are but a beginning for the intensive work that may be done upon the document. Each article may be illustrated by referring to the earlier pieces; and it will be well for each student who is making a thorough study of the subject to look for fresh examples which will strengthen the letter of this declaration. Here again, as in the period of the Stuarts, we find a group of men standing behind the event and its issue, who in themselves were not only exponents of their era, but who helped to shape it. The principles laid down by these patriots formed a basis for civil and federal ideas which influenced the constitutional development of succeeding generations. For Outlines and Material, see Appendix A. DOCUMENT The Declaration of Independence IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776. The unanimous Beclaration of the thirteen united States of America. Facsimile of the original document in ment of When in the Course of human events, it becomes the Departnecessary for one people to dissolve the political State, Washbands which have connected them with another, and ington. 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 I. Statement self-evident, that all men are created equal, that of "selfthey are endowed by their Creator with certain truths," unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, many of Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness, - That to bedded in secure these rights, Governments are instituted the English documents. evident them em among Men, deriving their just powers from the See Virginia consent of the governed, That whenever any Bill of Form of Government becomes destructive of these Rights, 1776. 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 organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. - Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments 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 List of Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Such has 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 to 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 encommanded deavoured to prevent the population of these States; Colonial Governors to for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturaligrant no zation of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to and to allow encourage their migration hither, and raising the See Magna xvii. Assembly in England more land, |