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American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783) was an insurrection by which 13 of Great Britain’s North American colonies that won political independence and went on to form the United States of America.

The war followed more than a decade of growing estrangement between the British crown and a large and influential segment of its North American colonies that was caused by British attempts to assert greater control over colonial affairs after having long adhered to a policy of salutary neglect.

Until early-1778 the conflict was a civil war within the British Empire, but afterward it became an international war as France (in 1778) and Spain (in 1779) joined the colonies against Britain. Meanwhile, the Netherlands, which provided both official recognition of the United States and financial support for it, was engaged in its own war against Britain.

From the beginning, sea power was vital in determining the course of the war, lending to British strategy a flexibility that helped compensate for the comparatively small numbers of troops sent to America and ultimately enabling the French to help bring about the final British surrender at Yorktown. (Britannica)

Americans fought the war on land with essentially two types of organization: the Continental (national) Army and the state militias. The total number of the former provided by quotas from the states throughout the conflict was 231,771 men, and the militias totaled 164,087.  At any given time, however, the American forces seldom numbered over 20,000; in 1781 there were only about 29,000 insurgents under arms throughout the country.

By contrast, the British army was a reliable steady force of professionals. Since it numbered only about 42,000, heavy recruiting programs were introduced.  Many of the enlisted men were farm boys, as were most of the Americans. Others were unemployed persons from the urban slums. Still others joined the army to escape fines or imprisonment. The great majority became efficient soldiers as a result of training and discipline.

Because troops were few and conscription unknown, the British government, following a traditional policy, purchased about 30,000 troops from various German princes.

Preliminary articles of peace were signed on November 30, 1782, and the Peace of Paris (September 3, 1783) ended the US War of Independence. Great Britain recognized the independence of the United States (with western boundaries to the Mississippi River) and ceded Florida to Spain. Other provisions called for payment of US private debts to British citizens, American use of the Newfoundland fisheries, and fair treatment for American colonials loyal to Britain. (Britannica)

An estimated 6,800 Americans were killed in action, 6,100 wounded, and upwards of 20,000 were taken prisoner. Historians believe that at least an additional 17,000 deaths were the result of disease, including about 8,000–12,000 who died while prisoners of war.

Unreliable data places the total casualties for British regulars fighting in the Revolutionary War around 24,000 men. This total number includes battlefield deaths and injuries, deaths from disease, men taken prisoner, and those who remained missing. Approximately 1,200 Hessian soldiers were killed, 6,354 died of disease and another 5,500 deserted and settled in America afterward. (Battlefield)

Click the following link to a general summary about the American Revolutionary War:

Click to access American-Revolutionary-War.pdf

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Hessians

Britain possessed a professional army and the world’s greatest navy.  Furthermore, the colonists had virtually no history of cooperating with one another, even in the face of danger.

By the start of the American Revolution, the British military was spread thinly across their global empire. In 1775, in America, the total size of the British army, excluding militia, consisted of 48,647 soldiers. Of these soldiers about 39,294 were infantry, 6,869 were cavalry and 2,484 were artillery. (History of Massachusetts)

By European standards the British Army was extremely small – the French maintained a force nearly four times larger – but many in Britain did not see the need for a large army.

As the war in America dragged on the British Army expanded rapidly. At least 50,000 soldiers fought in America, with many more serving in the West Indies, Europe, and India. Britain struggled to meet these manpower needs with volunteer enlistments and soon turned to other means.

Despite having tens of thousands of troops in America throughout the war, it was still necessary to supplement their numbers by hiring foreign troops.

Landgrave (Prince) Fredrick II of Hesse-Cassel was the son in law of King George II, giving him a valuable family tie to the Hanovers.  The Landgrave’s ancestors had been involved in every major conflict Great Britain found itself in with its roots going back to the Nine Years War (1688-97).

It is also worth noting that the British brought in soldiers from other parts of the Holy Roman Empire as well, those being the principalities of Brunswick, Anspach-Bayreuth, Waldeck, and Anhalt-Zerbst, as well as Hesse-Hanau.

However, because of the Landgrave’s peacetime buildup of troops, political ties, and reputation, Hesse-Cassel was the main source of troops, hence the colonists donning them with the broad nickname ‘Hessians.’    (Journal)

Hesse-Cassel was Europe’s most militarized state, that includes Prussia, the military giant to the north. Men were trained from adolescence and continued their training well through adulthood until they were deemed unfit or too old to serve.

Much like America’s National Guard, they would take a few weeks out of every summer to drill.

The Landgrave was so enthralled with this way of life he drilled soldiers himself every day no matter the weather, and added his own ideas to a system that copied the famous Prussian military.

Two centuries of warfare had created a true military society. Most politicians, including high ranking nobles such as the Prince, had either served themselves or had sons who were officers that bolstered their families’ positions. Unique among European armies, even commoners could become officers through merit.

By 1776 thousands of Hessian soldiers were pouring into New York (although soldiers from other German states also saw action in America).  They were from the culturally and religiously diverse regions of what is now southwest Germany. Research into these soldiers contracted to fight in the war gives us an enlightening history that shows just how global a war the American Revolution really was. (Journal)

Hiring a foreign army was not unusual in the eighteenth century. For Hesse-Cassel, soldiers were a major export. By renting its army to the British, Hesse-Cassel took in an amount equal to about thirteen years’ worth of tax revenue.

This allowed the state’s prince, the Landgraf Friedrich II, to keep taxes low and public spending high. A man of the Enlightenment, Friedrich oversaw public works projects, administered a public welfare system, and encouraged education.

Even so, military needs dominated the country. When boys turned seven they were registered for military service, and each year men ages sixteen to thirty had to present themselves to an official for possible induction.

Some men were exempted because their occupations were considered vital to the state. But others, such as school dropouts, bankrupts, servants without masters, idlers, and the unemployed, were deemed “expendable people” and could be forced into service at any time.

Life in the Hessian Army was harsh. The system aimed to instill iron discipline and the punishments could be brutal.

Still, morale was generally high. Officers were well-educated, promotion was by merit, and soldiers took pride in serving their prince and their people.

Furthermore, military service provided economic benefits. The families of soldiers were exempt from certain taxes, wages were higher than in farm work, and there was the promise of booty (money earned through the sale of captured military property) and plunder (property taken from civilians).

Officially plunder was verboten (forbidden), but officers, who also had a taste for looted goods, often looked the other way.

The German soldiers who came to fight were established soldiers in their national armies who were required by their country to serve; the Landgrave of Hesse-Cassel himself pocketed the money.

This was a widely unpopular move. American Patriots and sympathizers in Europe quickly turned this against the British government.  (Journal)

The colonists had been primed: News reports described the mercenaries as blood-thirsty butchers coming to kill them. So, when their troop transport ships weighed anchor, the Continental Congress implored the colonists to “step forth” in defense of “everything they hold dear.”

Many answered the call to repel these foreign invader – and the Hessians’ presence became an accelerant that sped the transformation of the conflict in the colonies into a full-scale war to defend the homeland and secure American independence. (Smithsonian)

Thomas Jefferson included in the Declaration of Independence’s list of grievances that King George III had dispatched “foreign troops” from the German states to help the British fight the colonists.

The Declaration of Independence condemned the king for, “transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.”

Washington Crosses the Delaware to Attack Hessians at Trenton

Hessians pushed General Washington to the shores of the Delaware and looted and destroyed many of the beautiful homes that dotted New Jersey.

What many Americans identify as the most memorable moment of the American Revolution is the image of General George Washington – standing with one knee bent at the front of a ship, leading his troops to a surprise attack after crossing the Delaware River.

Washington attacked the Hessian military base (belonging to hired German soldiers who fought for the British) in Trenton, New Jersey, on Christmas Day 1776, inspiring new hope for the cause of the Patriot Army.

Provisions were low, as was morale, during this period. Washington feared more troubles were ahead for the Continental Army. As losses mounted for the Americans, it became more difficult to recruit and retain soldiers, with many choosing to desert rather than face a cold winter of battle with limited supplies.

Washington understood the importance of a much-needed victory before the year let out, and a concentration of around 1,300 – 1,500 hired Hessians at Trenton became his target. Washington and his men (around 2,400, including future president James Monroe) were part of a larger plan that included two other crossings, but only his was successful in reaching the Hessians.

Still, they arrived in Trenton with plenty of artillery and support from Col. Henry Knox, who would be stationed with men at the top of the town. Sailing on cargo vessels that ranged from 40 to 60 feet in length across the frigid icy waters of the Delaware, Washington and his soldiers were hit with a harsh rain that turned to a snow-sleet mix by midnight.

Traveling with heavy artillery, horses, and more men behind him, Washington had support from experienced seamen under the command of Col. John Glover at the crossing site. (National Geographic)

The Hessians were somewhat aware an attack was coming, thanks to the work of British spies and American deserters. Although they did not fully expect Washington to attack, they were on alert that it was at least possible.

Constant false alarms coupled with bad weather conditions gave Washington the surprise opening he and his men needed to launch a successful attack, even if it took more time than anticipated.

Once the Continental Army arrived onshore, the Hessians surrendered before morning and the Americans sustained few causalities. Stories of this bold, overwhelming American victory grew in legend as it reached other colonists who supported rebellion against the British crown.  (National Geographic)

The loss of Colonel Rall and 918 Hessians at Trenton and later hundreds more at Bennington and Saratoga were major defeats for the British during the war.  Without these Germans who intimidated the colonists and operated effectively on the field, the Revolution would have been dramatically different.  (Journal)

In total, nearly 30,000 German soldiers fought for the British in North America. Once there, they discovered a thriving German-American community of almost 200,000 people.

For many Hessians, the possibilities in this rich, new land with its growing German population was a great enticement to desertion – a fact that Americans worked hard to promote with promises of free land for Hessians willing to switch sides. An estimated 5,000 Germans stayed in this country, when their fellow countrymen returned home.  (PBS)

Click the following link to a general summary about the Hessians:

Click to access Hessians.pdf

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Declaration of Independence

Throughout the 1760s and early 1770s, the North American colonists found themselves increasingly at odds with British imperial policies regarding taxation and frontier policy.

When repeated protests failed to influence British policies, and instead resulted in the closing of the port of Boston and the declaration of martial law in Massachusetts, the colonial governments sent delegates to a Continental Congress to coordinate a colonial boycott of British goods.

Britain began to prepare for war in early 1775. The first fighting broke out in April in Massachusetts. In August, the King declared the colonists “in a state of open and avowed rebellion.” For the first time, many colonists began to seriously consider cutting ties with Britain.

When fighting broke out between American colonists and British forces in Massachusetts, the Continental Congress worked with local groups, originally intended to enforce the boycott, to coordinate resistance against the British. British officials throughout the colonies increasingly found their authority challenged by informal local governments, although loyalist sentiment remained strong in some areas.

Despite these changes, colonial leaders hoped to reconcile with the British Government, and all but the most radical members of Congress were unwilling to declare independence.

The colonists elected delegates to attend the Second Continental Congress that eventually became the governing body of the union during the Revolution. Its second meeting convened in Philadelphia in 1775. The delegates to Congress adopted strict rules of secrecy to protect the cause of American liberty and their own lives. In less than a year, most of the delegates abandoned hope of reconciliation with Britain.

Throughout the winter of 1775–1776, the members of the Continental Congress came to view reconciliation with Britain as unlikely, and independence the only course of action available to them.

When on December 22, 1775, the British Parliament prohibited trade with the colonies, Congress responded in April of 1776 by opening colonial ports – this was a major step towards severing ties with Britain.

The colonists were aided by the January publication of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense, which advocated the colonies’ independence and was widely distributed throughout the colonies.

By February of 1776, colonial leaders were discussing the possibility of forming foreign alliances and began to draft the Model Treaty that would serve as a basis for the 1778 alliance with France.

Leaders for the cause of independence wanted to make certain that they had sufficient congressional support before they would bring the issue to the vote.

On June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee introduced a resolution “that these united colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states,” acting under the instruction of the Virginia Convention. The Lee Resolution contained three parts: a declaration of independence, a call to form foreign alliances, and “a plan for confederation.”

Other members of Congress were amenable but thought some colonies not quite ready. However, Congress did form a committee to draft a declaration of independence and assigned this duty to Thomas Jefferson.

The publication of Thomas Paine’s stirring pamphlet Common Sense in early 1776 lit a fire under this previously unthinkable idea. The movement for independence was now in full swing.

On June 11, 1776, the Congress appointed three concurrent committees in response to the Lee Resolution: one to draft a declaration of independence, a second to draw up a plan “for forming foreign alliances,” and a third to “prepare and digest the form of a confederation.”

They appointed a Committee of Five to write an announcement explaining the reasons for independence. Thomas Jefferson, who chaired the committee and had established himself as a bold and talented political writer, wrote the first draft.

On June 11, 1776, Jefferson holed up in his Philadelphia boarding house and began to write. Jefferson’s writing was influenced by George Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights, as well as by his study of natural rights theory and the writings of John Locke, including Two Treatises of Government.

Jefferson later explained that “he was not striving for originality of principal or sentiment.” Instead, he hoped his words served as an “expression of the American mind.”

Through the many revisions made by Jefferson, the committee, and then by Congress, Jefferson retained his prominent role in writing the defining document of the American Revolution and, indeed, of the United States. Jefferson was critical of changes to the document and was justly proud of his role in writing the Declaration of Independence and skillfully defended his authorship of this hallowed document. (LOC)

Less than three weeks after he’d begun, the draft went to Congress. He was not pleased when Congress “mangled” his composition by cutting and changing much of his carefully chosen wording. He was especially sorry they removed the part blaming King George III for the slave trade, although he knew the time wasn’t right to deal with the issue.

On July 2, 1776, Congress voted to declare independence. Two days later, it ratified the text of the Declaration.

John Dunlap, official printer to Congress, worked through the night to set the Declaration in type and print approximately 200 copies. These copies, known as the Dunlap Broadsides, were sent to various committees, assemblies, and commanders of the Continental troops. The Dunlap Broadsides weren’t signed, but John Hancock’s name appears in large type at the bottom.

One copy crossed the Atlantic, reaching King George III months later. The official British response scolded the “misguided Americans” and “their extravagant and inadmissable Claim of Independency”.

On July 19, once all 13 colonies had signified their approval of the Declaration of Independence, Congress ordered that it be “fairly engrossed on parchment.” (To “engross” is to write in a large, clear hand.) Timothy Matlack, an assistant to the Secretary of the Congress, was most likely the penman.

On August 2, the journal of the Continental Congress records that “The declaration of independence being engrossed and compared at the table was signed.”

John Hancock, President of the Congress, signed first. The delegates then signed by state from north to south. Some signed after August 2. A few refused. George Washington was away with his troops. Ultimately, 56 delegates signed the Declaration.

Unlike the other founding documents, the Declaration of Independence is not legally binding, but it is powerful. Abraham Lincoln called it “a rebuke and a stumbling-block to tyranny and oppression.” It continues to inspire people around the world to fight for freedom and equality.

The Declaration of Independence was designed for multiple audiences: the King, the colonists, and the world.  It was also designed to multitask. Its goals were to rally the troops, win foreign allies, and to announce the creation of a new country.

The introductory sentence states the Declaration’s main purpose, to explain the colonists’ right to revolution. In other words, “to declare the causes which impel them to the separation.” Congress had to prove the legitimacy of its cause. It had just defied the most powerful nation on Earth. It needed to motivate foreign allies to join the fight.

These are the lines contemporary Americans know best: “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.”  These stirring words were designed to convince Americans to put their lives on the line for the cause.

Separation from the mother country threatened their sense of security, economic stability, and identity. The preamble sought to inspire and unite them through the vision of a better life.

The list of 27 complaints against King George III constitute the proof of the right to rebellion. Congress cast “the causes which impel them to separation” in universal terms for an international audience. Join our fight, reads the subtext, and you join humankind’s fight against tyranny.

The most important and dramatic statement comes near the end: “That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States.” It declares a complete break with Britain and its King and claims the powers of an independent country.

About the Signers

Fifty-six men from each of the original 13 colonies signed the Declaration of Independence – they mutually pledged “to each other our lives, our fortunes and our sacred honor.”

Nine of the signers were immigrants, two were brothers and two were cousins.  Eighteen of the signers were merchants or businessmen, 14 were farmers and four were doctors.  Twenty-two were lawyers and nine were judges.

The average age of a signer was 45.  Benjamin Franklin was the oldest delegate at 70.  The youngest was Thomas Lynch Jr. of South Carolina at 27.

American Revolutionary War

By the time the Declaration of Independence was adopted in July 1776, the Thirteen Colonies (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia) and Great Britain had been at war for more than a year.

That war lasted from April 19, 1775 (with the Battles of Lexington and Concord) to September 3, 1783; it lasted 8 years, 4 months, 2 weeks and 1 day.

Then, the sovereignty of the United States was recognized over the territory bounded roughly by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west.

The British captured five signers during the war.  Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward and Arthur Middleton were captured at the Battle of Charleston in 1780.  George Walton was wounded and captured at the Battle of Savannah; Richard Stockton was incarcerated at the hands of British Loyalists.

Eleven signers had their homes and property destroyed.  Francis Lewis’s New York home was razed and his wife taken prisoner. John Hart’s farm and mills were destroyed when the British invaded New Jersey, and he died while fleeing capture.

Fifteen of the signers participated in their states’ constitutional conventions, and six – Roger Sherman, Robert Morris, Benjamin Franklin, George Clymer, James Wilson and George Reed – signed the US Constitution.

Here are a couple myths about the 4th of July and the Declaration of Independence:

#1 Independence Was Declared on the Fourth of July

America’s independence was actually declared by the Continental Congress on July 2, 1776.  The Lee Resolution, also known as the resolution of independence, …

… was an act of the Second Continental Congress declaring the United Colonies to be independent of the British Empire.  Richard Henry Lee of Virginia first proposed it on June 7, 1776; it was formally approved on July 2, 1776.

So what happened on the Fourth? The document justifying the act of Congress – Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence – was adopted on the fourth, as is indicated on the document itself.

#2 The Declaration of Independence Was Signed July 4

Hanging in the grand Rotunda of the Capitol of the United States is a vast canvas painting by John Trumbull depicting the signing of the Declaration.

Both Thomas Jefferson and John Adams wrote, years afterward, that the signing ceremony took place on July 4. When someone challenged Jefferson’s memory in the early 1800s Jefferson insisted he was right.

However, David McCullough remarks in his biography of Adams, “No such scene, with all the delegates present, ever occurred at Philadelphia.”

So when was it signed? Most delegates signed the document on August 2, when a clean copy was finally produced by Timothy Matlack, assistant to the secretary of Congress. Several did not sign until later. And their names were not released to the public until January 1777.

John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Charles Carroll were the longest surviving signers of the Declaration of Independence.  Adams and Jefferson both died on July 4, 1826, the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence; Carroll was the last signer to die – in 1832 – at the age of 95.

Click the following link to a general summary about the Declaration of Independence:

Click to access Declaration-of-Independence.pdf

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Plot to Kill George Washington

On March 11, 1776, from his headquarters in Cambridge, Massachusetts, overseeing the siege of Boston, General George Washington issued a General Order to Colonels or Commanding Officers of regiments of the Continental Army.

Washington’s order directed these officers to select four men from each regiment who would form his personal guard.

General Washington had a clear idea of the type of men he was seeking and the qualifications were laid out in the General Order.

Captain Caleb Gibbs, an adjutant of the 14th Massachusetts Continental Regiment, was selected by General Washington to command the new unit, promoted to the rank of Major, and given the title Captain Commandant. The task fell to Gibbs to organize the new unit, whose motto was “Conquer or Die.”

The explicit mission of the new group was “to protect General Washington, the army’s cash and official papers.” Among Gibbs’ immediate staff officers was Lieutenant George Lewis, a nephew of General Washington.

The official designation of the new unit was “His Excellency’s Guard,” or the “General’s Guard.” Enlisted soldiers referred to the unit as “The Life Guards,” “The Washington Life Guards,” or “Washington’s Body Guard.” General Washington usually referred to the unit as “My Guards,” while Gibbs signed dispatches and unit correspondence “Commandant C-in-C, Guards.”

Within two months of the Lifeguards’ formation, several enlisted men and Non-Commissioned Officers were at the center of what became known as the Hickey mutiny.  (Mount Vernon)

A group of New York Tories had established a secret organization whose possible goal was to assassinate General Washington while he was encamped with units of the Continental Army on Manhattan Island.  (NPR)

The New York Provincial Congress had established the Committee on Conspiracies, a top-secret team of civilians with a mission to gather information about the enemy and detect and thwart the enemy’s intelligence operations. (Smithsonian)

As the plot against Washington got bigger, people started to talk, and this little committee – led by lawyer and Continental Congress delegate John Jay – wound up bringing the whole thing down. It was the beginning of America’s counterintelligence efforts.

At the start of the Revolutionary War, the governor [appointed by the royal government] and the mayor of New York, both British loyalists, successfully turned some of Washington’s personal guards against him. They were ready to strike, but Washington found out. (Smithsonian)

In June 1776, General Washington ordered the arrest of David Mathews, the Loyalist mayor of New York City, for conspiring in support of British plans to invade the city and strike the Continental Army there.

It was later learned that Mathews was also involved in a devious plot against Washington, along with  William Tryon, the British-appointed governor of New York.

The conspirators aimed to capture or assassinate Washington using traitors in his “Life Guard,” the detachment of soldiers responsible for the general’s safety.

They were foiled by the Committee for Detecting and Defeating Conspiracies, led by  John Jay, who would later gain fame as a Founder, diplomat, and jurist.

Thomas Hickey, the Continental soldier at the center of the plot, was a favorite of Washington.

An Irishman and British Army deserter, Hickey joined the colonial militia in Connecticut and was later handpicked by Washington to join his elite Life Guard.

Hickey proved a disappointment and was later jailed on suspicion of counterfeiting. While detained, he confided to fellow prisoners that he was turning his back on the cause of independence and actively recruiting others to support the British.

Hickey was court-martialed for his role in the plot against Washington, and pleaded innocent to charges of “exciting and joining in a mutiny and sedition,” and “treacherously corresponding with, enlisting among, and receiving pay from the enemies of the United Colonies.”

Hickey was found guilty on June 26, 1776.

By Washington’s orders, all soldiers who were not on duty at the time were present at the execution. Washington later wrote in a letter to the Continental Congress, “I am hopeful this example will produce many salutary consequences and deter others from entering into the like traitorous practices.”

Mere days before the passage of the Declaration of Independence, 20,000 spectators gathered in a field where Manhattan’s modern-day Chinatown lies.

All together, soldiers and citizens alike, they amassed the largest crowd to watch a public execution in the colonies at the time.

Although he was the only one executed, Hickey, it turns out, was part of a much larger scheme, one concocted by British loyalists to assassinate Washington, who at the time was commander-in-chief of the Continental Army.  (Smithsonian)

Hickey was the first individual to be executed for treason against what would become the United States.

The assassination plot is ‘hidden history.’ When the British were coming, the last thing Washington wanted to say was, “Hey, everyone, my own men just turned on me.” (Smithsonian)

Click the following link to a general summary about the Plot to Kill George Washington:

Click to access Plot-to-Kill-George-Washington.pdf

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Virginia Declaration of Rights

After the members of the Fifth Virginia Convention voted in favor of preparing a new plan of government, the Virginia Declaration of Rights was drafted by George Mason.

As a landowner and near neighbor of George Washington, George Mason took a leading part in local affairs. He also became deeply interested in Western expansion and was active in the Ohio Company, organized in 1749 to develop trade and sell land on the upper Ohio River.

At about the same time, Mason helped to found the town of Alexandria, Virginia. Because of ill health and family problems, he generally avoided public office, though he accepted election to the House of Burgesses in 1759.  Except for his membership in the Constitutional Convention at Philadelphia, this was the highest office he ever held – yet few men did more to shape US political institutions.

A leader of the Virginia patriots on the eve of the American Revolution (1775 – 1783), Mason served on the Committee of Safety and in 1776 drafted Virginia’s state constitution.  (Britannica)

Early in 1776 John Adams published Thoughts in Government, a pamphlet laying out his framework for a republican form of government that influenced colonies as they created their individual state constitutions.  Virginia, like many of the states, would include a list of rights guaranteed to its citizens.

Mason’s initial draft contained ten paragraphs that outlined rights, such as the ability to confront one’s accusers in court, to present evidence in court, protection from self-incrimination, the right to a speedy trial, the right to a trial by jury, and the extension of religious tolerance.  The final version of the Virginia Declaration of Rights consisted of sixteen sections.

The Virginia Declaration of Rights was unanimously adopted by the Virginia Convention of Delegates, on June 12, 1776.  The same Convention also framed and adopted the Virginia Constitution.

Among the delegates were Mason, the most important contributor, and twenty-five-year-old James Madison, who drafted the section on the “free exercise of religion.”

Also present at the creation of the Virginia Declaration and Constitution were John Blair and Edmund Randolph. Eleven years later, these four delegates were chosen to the seven-member Virginia delegation to the Constitutional Convention.

The Virginia Declaration of Rights was an influential document and a forerunner for many documents that followed. This declaration was the first state declaration establishing the fundamental human liberties that government was created to protect.

It was widely read by political leaders on both sides of the Atlantic.  Thomas Jefferson drew upon it when writing the Declaration of Independence and James Madison expanded on Mason’s ideas of guaranteed rights when he wrote the Bill of Rights to the United States Constitution. (Virginia-gov)

The declaration was particularly influential on later state constitutions because it represented the first protection of individual human rights under state constitutions of the American revolutionary period.

It also represented the shift from colonial charters to state constitutions, as the nation moved toward independence from Great Britain. (Middle Tennessee State University)

Declaration of Rights Is Similar to the Declaration of Independence

In language echoed later in the Declaration of Independence (it was drafted the next month by Thomas Jefferson).  Section 1 of the Virginia Declaration proclaimed that all men “are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights,” including “the enjoyment of life and liberty” and property and that of “pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.”

Section 2 recognized that the people were the source of all power, and Section 3 proclaimed the right of the people to replace governments that did not meet these needs. Section 4 reflected the republican principle that no individual is entitled to power on the basis of hereditary, while Section 5 proclaimed the idea of separation of powers.

The Rights are Similar to First Amendment Rights (Bill of Rights)

Much of the rest of the Declaration of Rights outlined rights similar to those later incorporated into the US Bill of Rights.

At least two of these rights are similar to those incorporated in the First Amendment. Section 12 proclaimed that “freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.”

Although the Virginia Declaration does not contain a provision on freedom of speech, its provision for religious freedom is actually more extensive than those incorporated in the First Amendment.

Mason had originally phrased this declaration in terms of “tolerance” for all, but, consistent with the teachings of John Witherspoon, the president of College of New Jersey (later Princeton) under whom he had studied, Madison insisted that religious practice was not a matter of majority grace but of natural rights.

Although the content of the Virginia Declaration and the later US Bill of Rights overlap in many ways, there are differences.

Madison appears to have constructed most provisions of the Bill of Rights more forcefully, so that courts could more readily protect individual rights by enforcing such provisions – for example, the First Amendment provision stating that “Congress shall make no law”.  (Middle Tennessee State University)

Click the following link to a general summary about the Virginia Declaration of Rights:

Click to access Virginia-Declaration-Of-Rights.pdf

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