It all began with a tour of the 1776 capitol of Virginia, where we learned the significance of similar language of our founding documents, while King William observed from his painting.
JUNE 12, 1776 – VIRGINIA DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
Our tour guide showed us this pamphlet that is laying on the table, which contained the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which was adopted June 12, 1776.
It was here that Virginians decided to separate from England.
JULY 4, 1776 – DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE
After the Virginia Declaration of Rights was adopted, it was sent to Philadelphia and read by Thomas Jefferson, who then wrote the Declaration of Independence.
Interestingly, both documents contain similar wording.
Now that independence was declared, the other states used the Virginia Declaration of Rights as an example for drafting their own governing documents.
However, this is not the first that such language has been used.
1689 – ENGLISH BILL OF RIGHTS
The English Bill of Rights of 1689 has similar language, written because of a string of tyrant kings.
Angered with their tyrant king in 1649, the English people beheaded Charles I.
After that, Cromwell ruled, then eventually Charles II was restored to the throne.
But when his son, James II, came to the throne, he appeared to be Catholic, which would mean religious persecution for the established Protestants.
Wanting to enforce a permanent solution, the Protestant Parliament offered the crown to King James II’s daughter, Mary and her husband, William of Orange, if they agreed to the English Bill of Rights.
They must rule according to the direction of Parliament.
Thus, the Glorious Revolution ended absolute monarchy in England and began a Constitutional Monarchy.
Overlooking the table is King William of the Glorious Revolution.
The look on his face suggests a nudge to the Burgesses of Virginia.
If he had to sign an English Bill of Rights to become king, then they had to write a Virginia Bill of Rights before designing their state Constitution, when they separate from England.
And that is exactly what the Burgesses did.
King William’s view of this chamber, looking over the heads of delegates, is an old map of America on the opposite wall.
18TH CENTURY VIRGINIA MAP
On this map, Virginia stretched as far to the northwest as Ohio, and as far west as the Pacific.
Virginia was the oldest, largest, most populous and wealthiest of the English colonies.
The Burgesses represented English colonists who had a tradition of human rights, hailing back to the English Bill of Rights, and long before that the Magna Carta.
King William kept his position as king if he allowed for representative government.
However, King George III ignored representative government in his colonies.
HOUSE OF BURGESSES
In the House of Burgesses, we met with Mann Page, who helped to draft the Virginia Declaration of Rights…which he discussed in relation to his experiences, and emphasis on the need for this most important document.
SIMILAR DOCUMENTS
That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights. -Virginia Declaration of Rights
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. -Declaration of Independence
And thereupon the said Lords Spiritual and Temporal and Commons, pursuant to their respective letters and elections, being now assembled in a full and free representative of this nation, taking into their most serious consideration the best means for attaining the ends aforesaid, do in the first place (as their ancestors in like case have usually done) for the vindicating and asserting their ancient rights and liberties declare…That the pretended power of suspending the laws or the execution of laws by regal authority without consent of Parliament is illegal. -English Bill of Rights 1689
If those tenants are ignored, our government becomes a tyranny.
