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 blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by a 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 practice Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other.

CONSTITUTION OF
OF VIRGINIA.

Mr. Archibald Cary, from the committee appointed for the purpose, reported on the 24th of June 1776 a plan of government for the colony. It was then read the first time, read a second time on the 26th, and considered in committee of the whole on that day and on the 27th and 28th. It was then reported to the house with amendments, which were read twice and agreed to. After being fairly transcribed, it was read a third time on the 29th and passed unanimously.

*

This constitution or form of government was originally drawn up by George Mason.t Mr. Jefferson had put a draft of one into the hands of Mr. Wythe, who reached Williamsburg after the other was committed to the committee of the whole. Two or three parts of Mr. Jefferson's plan were, with little alteration, inserted in the other; and his preamble was also adopted.‡

The constitution so resolved upon may be seen in the 9th volume of Hening's Statutes at Large, page 112 to 119, and in the editions of the Code of Virginia published from 1776 to 1819. At the end of it, in the Code of 1819, will be seen a note of Mr. Leigh as to the form of the colonial government for which it was substituted. This constitution was in force until superseded by the amended constitution or form of government for Virginia, which, on the 15th of January 1830, was submitted and proposed to the people of Virginia by their delegates and representatives, in convention assembled.

This amended constitution continued in force until January 1852. A convention to form a new constitution was called. It assembled on the 14th October 1850, and the present constitution was adopted on the 1st of August 1851. It was ratified by the people on the 4th Thursday in October following. On the second Monday of the succeeding December. an election was held for the legislature, governor, lieutenant governor and attorney general. The first general assembly convened on the second Monday in January (the 12th day of the month), and the first governor and lieutenant governor qualified on the 16th of January 1852. The constitution thus formed and put into operation is as follows:

Sec.

4.

1. Force of bill of rights.

5.

ARTICLE II'

6.

7.

8.

Senate, how elected. Returning officers, when and where to meet. Senate classified. Term of service.

Senatorial districts.

Apportionment of representation. How submitted to the vote of the people.

How long polls to be kept open. When and how certified. Governor to communicate result to legislature. When again referred to the people. Reapportionment according to vote of people.

Qualification of senators and delegates. Disqualification. Removals to vacate office. Legislature, how often to meet. Sessions, how long. Adjournment, how long, and where. Quorum. How attendance enforced.

9. Speaker of house and president of senate. Officers; rules; writs of election, by whom issued. Houses to judge. of elections, &c. Members punished.

2. H use of delegates, how chosen. Number of delegates to each county, city or election district.

* Journal of the Convention.

of speech or of the press. Religious liberty.

Mr. Madison's letter in Sparks' Writings of Washington, vol. 9, page 548

Mr. Wythe's letter of the 27th of July 1776 to Mr. Jefferson. Burke's Va., vol. 4, p. 150, 151.

Whereas the delegates and representatives of the good people of Virginia, in convention assembled, on the twenty-ninth day of June, in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and seventy-six--reciting and declaring, that whereas George the Third; king of Great Britain and Ireland and elector of Hanover, before that time entrusted with the exercise of the kingly office in the government of Virginia, had endeavored 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 re

linquish 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 negative, he had 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 hither a large army of foreign mercenaries to complete the work of death, desolation and tyranny, then already begun with eircumstances of cruelty and perfidy nnworthy the head of a civilized nation; by answering our repeated petitions for redress with a 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 country, as before exercised under the crown of Great Britain, was totally dissolved-did, therefore, having maturely considered the premises, and viewing with great concern the deplorable condition to which this once happy country would be reduced, unless some regular, adequate mode of civil policy should be speedily adopted, and in compliance with the recommendation of the general congress, ordain and de-. clare a form of government of Virginia :

And whereas a convention held on the first Monday in October, in the year one thousand eight hundred and twenty-nine, did propose to the people of the commonwealth an amended constitution or form of government, which was ratified by them:

And whereas the general assembly of Virginia, by an act passed on the fourth of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty, did provide for the election, by the people, of delegates to meet in general convention, to consider, discuss and propose a new constitution, or alterations and amendments to the existing constitution of this commonwealth; and by an act passed on the thirteenth of March, in the year one thousand eight hundred and fifty-one, did further provide for submitting the same to the people for ratification or rejection:

We, therefore, the delegates of the good people of Virginia, elected and in convention assembled, in pursuance of said acts, do propose to the people the following constitution and form of government for this commonwealth:

ARTICLE I.

BILL OF Rights.

The declaration of rights, as amended and prefixed to this constitution, shall have the same relation thereto as it had to the former constitution.

ARTICLE II.

DIVISION OF POWERS.

The legislative, executive and judiciary departments shall be separate and distinct, so that neither exercise the powers properly belonging to either of the others; nor shall any person exercise the powers of more than one of them at the same time, except that justices of the peace shall be eligible to either house of assembly.

ARTICLE III.

QUALIFICATION OF VOTERS.

1. Every white male citizen of the commonwealth, of the age of twenty-one years, who has been a resident of the state for two years, and of the county, city or town where he offers to vote for twelve months next.preceding an election—and no other person-shall be qualified to vote for members of the general assembly and all officers elective by the people: but no person in the military, naval or marine service of the Confederate States shall be deemed a resident of this state, by reason of being stationed therein. And no person shall have the right to vote, who is of unsound mind, or a pauper, or a non-commissioned officer, soldier, seaman or marine in the service of the Confederate States, or who has been convicted of bribery in an election, or of any infamous offence.

2. The general assembly, at its first session after the adoption of this constitution, and afterwards as occasion may require, shall cause every city or town, the white population of which exceeds five thousand, to be laid off into convenient wards, and a separate place of voting to be established in each; and thereafter no inhabitant of such city or town shall be allowed to vote except in the ward in which he resides.

3. No voter, during the time for holding any election at which he is entitled to vote, shall be compelled to perform military service, except in time of war or public danger; to work upon the public roads, or to attend any court as suitor, juror or witness; and no voter shall be subject to arrest under any civil process during his attendance at elections, or in going to and returning from them.

4. In all elections votes shall be given openly, or viva voce, and not by ballot; but dumb persons entitled to suffrage may vote by ballot.