Two years later, but before the proclamation of the Declaration of
Independence, Virginia adopted a written constitution and Bill of
Rights. In the preamble to the former there are set forth the reasons
which influenced the colony to cast off her allegiance to the British
King. Among the foremost was his action in "perverting his kingly
powers," ... "into a detestable and insupportable tyranny by putting
his negative on laws the most wholesome and necessary for the public
good"; and again, for "prompting our negroes to rise in arms among
us—those very negroes whom, by an inhuman use of his negative, he
hath refused us permission to exclude by law."[20]
Her Bill of Rights opened with the then novel and far reaching
declaration:
"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 contract 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."[21]
With respect to this great document, Mr. Bancroft declares:
"Other colonies had framed Bills of Rights in reference to their
relations with Britain; Virginia moved from charters and customs to
primal principles; from the altercation about facts to the
contemplation of immutable truth. She summoned the eternal laws of
man's being to protest against all tyranny. The English Petition of
Right, in 1688, was historic and retrospective; the Virginia
declaration came out of the heart of nature and announced governing
principles for all peoples in all times. It was the voice of reason
going forth to speak a new political world into being. At the bar of
humanity Virginia gave the name and fame of her sons as hostages
that her public life should show a likeness to the highest ideals of
right and equal freedom among men."[22]