MR. PRESIDENT,--Such is what I have to say on the history and
principles of the Representative System, particularly in the light of
American institutions; and this brings me to the _practical question_
at this moment. I cannot doubt that the District System, as it is
generally called, whereby the representative power will be distributed
in just proportion, according to the Rule of Three, among the voters
of the Commonwealth, is the true system, destined at no distant day
to prevail. And gladly would I see this Convention hasten the day
by presenting it to the people for adoption in the organic law. To
this end I have striven by my votes. But, Sir, I cannot forget what
has passed. The votes already taken show that the Convention is not
prepared for this radical change; and I am assured by gentlemen more
familiar with public sentiment than I can pretend to be, that the
people are not yet prepared for it.
Thus we are brought to the position occupied successively by the
Conventions of 1780 and 1820, each of which, though containing warm
partisans of the District System, shrank from its adoption--as in
Virginia, the early recommendation of Jefferson, and his vehement
support at a later day, have been powerless to produce this important
amendment. John Lowell, who appeared at the bar of the Massachusetts
Legislature in 1776 to vindicate the principle of equality in
representation, and Theophilus Parsons, author of the powerful tract
which proposed to found the Representative System on the Rule of Three,
were both members of the first Convention,--and I know not if the
District System has since had any abler defenders. To these I might
add the great name of John Adams, who early pleaded for equality of
representation, and declared, in words adopted by the Essex Convention,
that the Representative Assembly should be "an exact portrait in
miniature of the people at large."[20] In the Convention of 1820, the
District System was cherished and openly extolled by a distinguished
jurist, at that time a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United
States,--Joseph Story,--whose present fame gives additional importance
to his opinions. And yet the desire of these men failed. The corporate
representation of towns was preserved, and the District System
pronounced impracticable. In the Address put forth by the Convention of
1780, and signed by its President, James Bowdoin, these words may be
found:--
[20] Thoughts on Government: Works, Vol. IV. pp. 195, 205. Essex
Result, p. 29.
"You will observe that we have resolved that representation ought
to be founded on the principle of Equality; but it cannot be
understood thereby that each town in the Commonwealth shall have
weight and importance in a just proportion to its numbers and
property. An exact representation would be unpracticable, even
in a system of government arising from the state of Nature, and
much more so in a State already divided into nearly three hundred
corporations."[21]
[21] Journal of the Convention, p. 219.
The Convention seem to have recognized the theoretic fitness of
an "exact representation," but did not regard it as feasible in a
State already divided into nearly three hundred corporations. In the
Convention of 1820, Joseph Story, who has been quoted by my eloquent
friend [Mr. CHOATE], used language which, though not so strong
as that of the early Address, has the same result.
"In the Select Committee, I was in favor of a plan of
representation in the House founded on population, as the most just
and equal in its operation. I still retain that opinion. There
were serious objections against this system, and it was believed
by others that the towns could not be brought to consent to yield
up the corporate privileges of representation, which had been
enjoyed so long, and were so intimately connected with their pride
and their interests. I felt constrained, therefore, with great
reluctance, to yield up a favorite plan. I have lived long enough
to know, that, in any question of government, something is to be
yielded up on all sides. Conciliation and compromise lie at the
origin of every free government; and the question never was and
never can be, what is absolutely best, but what is relatively wise,
just, and expedient. I have not hesitated, therefore, to support
the plan of the Select Committee, as one that, on the whole, was
the best that, under existing circumstances, could be obtained."[22]
[22] Debates, etc., in the Convention to revise the Constitution of
Massachusetts, 1820-21, p. 136 _c._ Story's Miscellaneous Writings,
p. 518.
Sir, I am not insensible to these considerations, or to the authority
of these examples. A division of the State into districts would be a
change, in conformity with abstract principles, which would interfere
with existing opinions, habitudes, and prejudices of the towns, all of
which must be respected. A change so important in character cannot be
advantageously made, unless supported by the permanent feelings and
convictions of the people. Institutions are formed _from within_, not
_from without_. They spring from custom and popular faith, silently
operating with internal power, not from the imposed will of a lawgiver.
And our present duty here, at least on this question, may be in some
measure satisfied, if we aid this growth.
Two great schools of jurisprudence for a while divided the learned mind
of Germany,--one known as the Historic, the other as the Didactic. The
question between them was similar to that now before the Convention.
The first regarded all laws and institutions as the growth of custom,
under constant influences of history; the other insisted upon positive
legislation, giving to them a form in conformity with abstract reason.
It is clear that both were in a measure right. No lawgiver or statesman
can disregard either history or abstract reason. He must contemplate
both. He will faithfully study the Past, and will recognize its
treasures and traditions; but, with equal fidelity, he will set his
face towards the Future, where all institutions will at last be in
harmony with truth.
I have been encouraged to believe in the practicability of the District
System by its conformity with reason, and by seeing how naturally
it went into operation under the Constitution of the United States.
But there is a difference between that case and the present. A new
Government was then founded, with new powers, applicable to a broad
expanse of country; but the Constitution of Massachusetts was little
more than a continuation of preëxisting usages and institutions, with
all dependence upon royalty removed. This distinction may help us now.
If the country were absolutely new, without embarrassment from existing
corporate rights,--_claims_ I would rather call them,--it might easily
be arranged according to the most approved theory, as Philadelphia is
said to have been originally laid out on the model of the German city
which its great founder had seen in his travels.[23] But to bring our
existing system into symmetry, and to lay it out anew, would seem to
be a task--at least I am reluctantly led to this conclusion by what I
have heard here--not unlike that of rebuilding Boston, and of shaping
its compact mass of crooked streets into the regular rectangular forms
of the city of Penn. And yet this is not impossible. With each day, by
demolishing ancient houses and widening ancient ways, changes are made
which tend to this result.
[23] Julius, Nordamerikas Sittliche Zustände, Band I. p. 92.
Sir, we must recognize the existing condition of things, remedy all
practical grievances so far as possible, and set our faces towards the
true system. We must act in the Present, but be mindful also of the
Future. There are proper occasions for compromise, as most certainly
there are rights beyond compromise. But the Representative System is an
expedient or device for ascertaining the popular will, and, though well
satisfied that this can be best founded on numbers, I would not venture
to say, in the present light of political science, that the right of
each man to an equal representation, according to the Rule of Three,
and without regard to existing institutions or controlling usages, is
of that inherent and lofty character--like the God-given right to life
or liberty--which admits of no compromise.
* * * * *
Several grievances exist, which will be removed by the proposed
amendments. There is one which I had hoped would disappear, but which
is the necessary incident of corporate representation: I mean the
unwieldy size of the House.
It is generally said that a small body is more open to bribery and
corruption than a large body; but, on the other hand, I have heard
it asserted that the larger is more exposed than the smaller. I put
this consideration aside. My objection to a large House is, that it is
inconvenient for the despatch of public business. There is a famous
saying of Cardinal de Retz, that every assembly of more than one
hundred is a mob; and Lord Chesterfield applied the same term to the
British House of Commons. At the present time that body has nominally
six hundred and fifty-four members. It is called by Lord Brougham
"preposterously large"; but a quorum for business is forty only; and
it is only on rare occasions of political importance that its benches
are completely occupied. The House of Lords, nominally, has four
hundred and fifty-nine members; but a quorum in this body consists of
three only;[24] and much of its business is transacted in a very thin
attendance.
[24] According to the old rule, _Tres faciunt collegium._
The experience of Congress, as also of other States, points to a
reduction of our present number. Indeed, for many years this was
a general desire through the State. In the earliest Colonial days
every town was allowed three deputies; but in five years the number,
on reaching thirty-three, was reduced to two for each.[25] At a
later day, in 1694, a great contest in the House was decided by a
vote of twenty-six against twenty-four.[26] In the agitating period
between 1762 and 1773, covering the controversies which heralded the
Revolution, the House consisted, on an average, of one hundred and
twenty members; and only on one occasion the magnitude of the interest
is reported by Hutchinson to have drawn together so many as one hundred
and thirteen. At the last session of the Provincial Legislature, in
May, 1774, when the Revolutionary conflict was at hand, the complete
returns of the Journal show one hundred and forty. In 1776 there
was a House of three hundred and five; but this "enormous and very
unwieldy size," according to the language of the time, was assigned
as a reason for a new Constitution. I regret that we cannot profit by
this experience. A House of two hundred and fifty, or, since we are
accustomed to large congregations,[27] of three hundred at most, would
be an improvement on the present system.
[25] Records of the Governor and Company of the Massachusetts Bay,
Vol. I. pp. 118, 250, 254.
[26] Hutchinson, History of Massachusetts, Vol. II. p. 77.
[27] The House for many years numbered upwards of five hundred
members,--in 1835, '36, and '37 swelling to the truly "enormous and
unwieldy size" of 615, 619, and 635; and even under the greatly
reduced apportionment established by the Amendment of 1840, the
numbers in the two years (1851 and 1852) preceding the present
Convention were no less than 396 and 402. See Gifford and Stowe's
Manual for the General Court, (Boston, 1860,) p. 130.
There are two proposed improvements which I hail with satisfaction:
one relates to the small towns, and the other to the cities. The small
towns will have a more constant representation; and this of itself is
an approach to the true principle of representation, which should be
constant as well as equal. The cities will be divided into districts,
and this I regard of twofold importance: first, as the beginning of a
true system; and, secondly, as reducing the power which the cities, by
the large number of their representatives, chosen by general ticket,
now exercise.
A respected gentleman, now in my eye, has reminded me that in boyhood
his attention was arrested in this House by what was called "the Boston
seat," reserved exclusively for the Boston members, who sat together
on cushions, while other members were left to such accommodation as
they could find on bare benches. This discrimination ceased long
ago. But it seems to me that this reserved and cushioned seat is
typical of another discrimination, which Boston, in common with the
cities, still enjoys. Sir, in voting for forty-four representatives,
the elector in Boston exercises a representative power far exceeding
that of electors in the country; and the majority which rules Boston
and determines the whole delegation exercises a representative power
transcending far that of any similar number in the Commonwealth. This
is apparent on the bare statement, as forty-four sticks are stronger in
one compact bundle than when single or in small parcels. Thus, while
other counties are divided, the delegation from Boston is united. In
all political contests, it is like the well-knit Macedonian phalanx, or
the iron front of the Roman legion, in comparison with the disconnected
individual warriors against whom they were engaged. This abuse will be
removed; and here is the beginning, I had almost said the inauguration,
of a true electoral equality in our Commonwealth.
And now, in conclusion, while thanking gentlemen for the kind attention
with which they have honored me, let me express briefly the result to
which I have come. I have openly declared my convictions with regard
to the District System, and in accordance with these have recorded my
votes in this Convention. These votes, which reveal my inmost desires
on this matter, I would not change. But the question is not now between
the District System, which I covet so much for Massachusetts, and the
proposed amendments, but between these amendments and the existing
system. On this issue I decide without hesitation. I shall vote, Sir,
for the propositions of amendment before the Convention, should they
come to a question on their final passage, not because they are all
that I desire, not because they satisfy the requirement of principles
which I cannot deny, not because they constitute a permanent adjustment
of this difficult question, but because they are the best which I can
now obtain, because they reform grievances of the existing system, and
because they begin a change which can end only in the establishment of
a Representative System founded in reality, as in name, on _Equality_.
Their adoption will be the triumph of conciliation and harmony,
and will furnish new testimony to the well-tempered spirit of our
institutions, where
"jarring interests, reconciled, create
The according music of a well-mixed State."
BILLS OF RIGHTS: THEIR HISTORY AND
POLICY.
SPEECH ON THE REPORT FROM THE COMMITTEE ON THE BILL OF RIGHTS,
IN THE CONVENTION TO REVISE AND AMEND THE CONSTITUTION OF
MASSACHUSETTS, JULY 25, 1853.
As Chairman of the Committee on the Bill of Rights, Mr. Sumner
submitted a Report, on which, in Committee of the Whole, he spoke as
follows.
Mr. Chairman,--As Chairman of the Committee on the Preamble and Bill of
Rights, it is my duty to introduce and explain their Report. It will
be perceived that it is brief, and proposes no important changes. But
in justice to the distinguished gentlemen with whom I have the honor
of being associated on that Committee, I deem it my duty to suggest
that the extent of their labors must not be judged by this result.
It appears from the proceedings of the Convention of 1820, that the
Committee on the Bill of Rights at that time sat longer than any other
Committee. I believe that the same Committee in the present Convention
might claim the same preëminence. Their records show twenty different
sessions.
At these sessions, the Preamble and the Bill of Rights, in its thirty
different propositions, were passed in review and considered clause by
clause; the various orders of the Convention, amounting to twelve in
number, the petitions addressed to the Convention and referred to the
Committee, as also informal propositions from members of the Convention
and others were considered, some of them repeatedly and at length.
On many questions there was a decided difference of opinion, and on
a few the Committee was nearly equally divided. But after the best
consideration we could bestow in our protracted series of meetings, it
was found that the few simple propositions now on your table were all
upon which a majority of the Committee could be brought to unite. As
such I was directed to present them. Admonished by the lapse of time
and the desire to close these proceedings, I might be content with this
simple statement.
But, notwithstanding the urgency of our business, I cannot allow
the opportunity to pass--indeed, I should not do my duty--without
attempting for a brief moment to show the origin and character of this
part of our Constitution. In this way we may learn its weight and
authority, and appreciate the difficulty and delicacy of any change in
its substance or even its form. I will try not to abuse your patience.
* * * * *
The Preamble and Bill of Rights, like the rest of our Constitution,
were from the pen of John Adams,--among whose published works the
whole document, in its original draught, may be found. At the time
when he rendered this important service to his native Commonwealth and
to the principles of free institutions everywhere, he was forty-four
years of age. He was also quite prepared. The natural maturity of his
powers had been enriched by the well-ripened fruit of assiduous study
and of active life, both of which concurred in him. The examples of
Greece and Rome and the writings of Sidney and Locke were especially
familiar to his mind. The Common Law he had made his own, and mastered
well its whole arsenal of Freedom. For a long time the vigorous and
unfailing partisan of the liberal cause in Boston, throughout its
many conflicts,--then in Congress, whither he was transferred, the
irresistible champion of Independence,--and then the republican
representative of the United, but still struggling, Colonies at the
Court of France,--in the brief interval between two foreign missions,
only seven days after landing from his long ocean voyage, he was chosen
a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, and at once brought all
his varied experience, rare political culture, and eminent powers to
the task of adjusting the framework of government for Massachusetts. As
his work, it all claims our regard; and no part bears the imprint of
his mind so much as the Preamble and Bill of Rights; nor is any other
part authenticated as coming so exclusively from him.
At the time of its first adoption the Massachusetts Bill of Rights
was more ample in provisions and more complete in form than any
similar declaration in English or Colonial history. Glancing at its
predecessors, we learn something of its sources. First came, long back
in the thirteenth century, Magna Charta, with generous safeguards of
Freedom, wrung from King John by the Barons at Runnymede. From time
to time these liberties were confirmed, and, after an interval of
centuries, they were again ratified, near the beginning of the unhappy
reign of Charles the First, by a Parliamentary Declaration, to which
the monarch assented, known as the Petition of Right, which, in its
very title, reveals the humility with which the rights of the people
were then maintained. Finally, in a different tone and language, at
the Revolution of 1688, when James the Second was driven from his
dominions, a "Declaration of the true, ancient, and indubitable rights
and liberties of the people of the kingdom," familiarly known as the
Bill of Rights, was delivered by the Convention Parliament to the new
sovereigns, William and Mary, and embodied in the Act of Settlement,
by virtue of which they sat on the throne. These, Sir, are English
examples.
Their influence was not confined to England. It crossed the ocean. From
the beginning the Colonists were tenacious of the rights and liberties
of Englishmen, and at various times and in various forms declared them.
Connecticut, as early as 1639, Virginia in 1624 and 1776, Pennsylvania
in 1682, New York in 1691,--and I might mention others still,--put
forth Declarations, brief and meagre, but kindred to those of the
mother country. In the Colony of New Plymouth, the essential principles
of Magna Charta were proclaimed in 1636, under the name of "The General
Fundamentals"; and in 1641 the inhabitants of Massachusetts Bay
announced, in words worthy of careful study, that "the free fruition of
such Liberties, Immunities, and Privileges, as Humanity, Civility, and
Christianity call for, as due to every man in his place and proportion,
without impeachment and infringement, hath ever been and ever will
be the tranquillity and stability of Churches and Commonwealths, and
the denial or deprival thereof the disturbance, if not the ruin, of
both."[28] Such was the Preamble to the "Body of Liberties" of the
Massachusetts Colony in 1641. It would be difficult to find any text
more comprehensive than these remarkable words,--the object being
"Liberties, Immunities, and Privileges," to such extent "as Humanity,
Civility, and Christianity call for"; and this Declaration, broader
than Magna Charta, became the inspiration of Massachusetts, if not
of the Nation. Nor does Massachusetts stand alone in this honor.
Connecticut is by her side.[29]
[28] Preamble to the Body of Liberties of the Massachusetts Colony,
1641: Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., 3d Ser. Vol. VIII. p. 216. See also
General Laws and Liberties of the Massachusetts Colony, revised and
reprinted by Order of the General Court, 1672, p. 1.
[29] The Preamble in combination with the first Article of the
Massachusetts Body of Liberties was adopted as the Preamble to
the Connecticut Code of 1650. See Public Records of the Colony of
Connecticut, edited by J. H. Trumbull, (Hartford, 1850,) p. 509;
and compare with Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., _ut supra_.
I should not do justice to this "Body of Liberties," if I did not call
attention to at least four different declarations. There is, first,
the clause: "There shall never be any bond slavery, villenage, or
captivity amongst us, unless it be lawful captives taken in just wars,
and such strangers as willingly sell themselves or are sold to us"; and
although this provision falls short of that universal freedom which
is our present aspiration, it is a plain limitation upon Slavery, and
marks the hostility of the Colony. Another declaration sets an example
of hospitality: "If any people of other nations, professing the true
Christian religion, shall flee to us from the tyranny or oppression
of their persecutors, or from famine, wars, or the like necessary
and compulsory cause, they shall be entertained and succored amongst
us according to that power and prudence God shall give us." And it
is further declared: "Every person within this jurisdiction, whether
inhabitant or foreigner, shall enjoy the same Justice and Law that
is general for the Plantation, which we constitute and execute one
towards another, without partiality or delay." Here is nothing less
than Equality before the Law, without this compendious term. There is
another declaration, which has the same exalted character: "Every man,
whether inhabitant or foreigner, free or not free, shall have liberty
to come to any public Court, Council, or Town Meeting, and either
by speech or writing to move any lawful, seasonable, and material
question, or to present any necessary motion, complaint, petition,
bill, or information, whereof that meeting hath proper cognizance, so
it be done in convenient time, due order, and respective manner." Such
declarations as these belong to the history of Freedom.
In the animated discussions immediately preceding the Revolution,
the rights and liberties of Englishmen were constantly asserted as
the birthright of the Colonists. This was often by formal resolution
or declaration, couched at first in moderate phrase. At the outrage
of the Stamp Act, a Congress of delegates from nine Colonies, held
at New York in October, 1765, put forth a series of resolutions
embodying "_Declarations of our humble opinion_ respecting the most
essential rights and liberties of the Colonists."[30] The humility
of this language recalls the English Petition of Right under Charles
the First. This was followed in 1774 by the Declaration of the
Continental Congress, which, in another tone and with admirable force,
in ten different propositions, arrays the rights which belong to "the
inhabitants of the English Colonies in North America, by the immutable
Laws of Nature, the Principles of the English Constitution, and the
several Charters or Compacts."[31]
[30] Proceedings of the Congress at New York, p. 5. Hutchinson's
History of Massachusetts, Vol. III., Appendix, p. 479.
[31] Journals of Congress, October 14, 1774, Vol. I. p. 28.
"Time's noblest offspring is the last";
and the whole Colonial series is aptly closed by the Declaration of
Independence, announcing not merely the rights of Englishmen, but the
rights of men.
Only a few brief weeks before the Declaration of Independence,
Virginia, taking the lead of her sister Colonies, established a
Constitution, to which was prefixed an elaborate Declaration of Rights.
This remarkable document, which became the immediate precedent for
the whole country, marks an epoch in political history. Massachusetts
and Connecticut had already led the way in that early and most
comprehensive Preamble, which has been too little noticed; but in
all English Declarations of Rights, and generally even in those of
the Colonies, stress was laid upon the liberties and privileges of
Englishmen. The rights claimed even by the Continental Congress of
1774, in their masculine Declaration, were the rights of "free and
natural-born subjects within the realm of England." But the Virginia
Bill of Rights, standing at the front of its first Constitution,
discarded all narrow title from mere English precedent, planted
itself on the eternal law of God, above every human ordinance, and
openly proclaimed that "all men are by nature equally free and
independent,"--a declaration which is repeated, though in other
language, by the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights.
* * * * *
The policy of Bills of Rights is sometimes called in question. It has
been said that they were originally privileges or concessions extorted
from the king, and, though expedient in a monarchy, are of little
value in a republic. As late as 1821, in the Convention for revising
the Constitution of New York, doubts of their utility were openly
expressed by Mr. Van Buren. But they are now above question. State
after State, ending with California, follows the example of Virginia
and Massachusetts, and places its Bill of Rights in the front of its
Constitution. Nor can I doubt that much good is done by this frank
assertion of fundamental principles. The public mind is instructed,
people learn to know their rights, liberal institutions are confirmed,
and the Constitution is made stable in the hearts of the community.
Bills of Rights are lessons of political wisdom and anchors of liberty.
They are the constant index, and also scourge, of injustice and wrong.
In Massachusetts, Slavery itself disappeared before the declaration
that "all men are born free and equal," interpreted by a liberty-loving
Court.[32]
[32] See, on this subject, a paper entitled "The Extinction of
Slavery in Massachusetts," by Emory Washburn: Coll. Mass. Hist.
Soc., 4th Ser. Vol. IV. pp. 333-346.
* * * * *
In the Convention of 1780 the Bill of Rights formed a prominent subject
of interest. The necessity of such a safeguard had been pressed
upon the people, and its absence from the Constitution of 1778 was
unquestionably a reason for the rejection of that ill-fated effort.
Indeed, the Constitution was openly opposed because it had no Bill of
Rights. In the array of objections at the period was the following,
which I take from an important contemporaneous publication: "That
a Bill of Rights, clearly ascertaining and defining the rights of
conscience and that security of person and property which every member
in the State hath a right to expect from the supreme power thereof,
ought to be settled and established previous to the ratification of any
Constitution for the State."[33] Accordingly, at the earliest moment
after the organization of the Convention, a motion was made, "that
there be a Declaration of Rights prepared previous to the framing a new
Constitution of Government," which after adoption gave way to another,
"that the Convention _will prepare_ a Declaration of Rights," and this
motion prevailed by a nearly unanimous vote,--the whole number present,
as returned by the monitors, being two hundred and fifty-one, of whom
two hundred and fifty voted in the affirmative.[34] Thus emphatically
did the early fathers of Massachusetts manifest their watchfulness for
the rights of the people; and there is good reason to believe, also,
that among the motives which stimulated it was a determination in this
way to abolish Slavery.[35] The Convention then resolved to "proceed
to the framing a new Constitution of Government." A grand Committee
of thirty was chosen to perform these two important duties; and this
Committee, after extended discussion, intrusted to John Adams alone
the preparation of a Declaration of Rights, and to a Sub-Committee,
consisting of James Bowdoin, Samuel Adams, and John Adams, the
duty of preparing the Form of a Constitution, which Sub-Committee
again delegated the task to John Adams: so that to the pen of this
illustrious citizen we are indebted primarily both for the Declaration
of Rights and the Form of the Constitution.[36]
[33] Essex Result, p. 4.
[34] Journal of the Convention, pp. 22, 23.
[35] This was the testimony of the late Rev. Charles Lowell, who
had received it from his father, Hon. John Lowell, a member of
the Convention, in whose family was a tradition that the latter
obtained the insertion of the words "all men are born free and
equal," for this declared purpose. See, _ut supra_, Coll. Mass.
Hist. Soc., 4th Ser. Vol. IV. p. 340.
[36] Observations on the Reconstruction of Government in
Massachusetts during the Revolution: Works of John Adams, Vol. IV.
pp. 215, 216.
It is not difficult to trace most, if not all, of the ideas and
provisions of our Preamble and Declaration of Rights to their primitive
sources. The Preamble, where the body politic is founded on the fiction
of the Social Compact, was doubtless inspired by the writings of
Sidney and Locke, and by the English discussions at the period of the
Revolution of 1688, when this questionable theory did good service
in response to the assumptions of Filmer, and as a shield against
arbitrary power. Of different provisions in the Bill of Rights, some
are in the very words of Magna Charta,--others are derived from the
ancient Common Law, the Petition of Right, and the Bill of Rights
of 1688,--while, of the thirty Articles composing it, no less than
nineteen,[37] either wholly or in part, may be found substantially in
the Virginia Bill of Rights: but these again are in great part derived
from the earlier fountains.
[37] Namely, Articles 1, 2, 4-10, 12-18, 20, 26, 30. The Virginia
Bill of Rights consists of sixteen Articles, three of which (the
5th, 6th, and 8th) are divided in the Massachusetts Declaration,
constituting respectively the substance of Articles 30 and 8, 9 and
10, 12 and 13.
* * * * *
And now, Sir, you have before you for revision and amendment this early
work of our fathers. I do not stop to consider its peculiar merits.
With satisfaction I might point to special safeguards by which our
rights have been protected against usurpation, whether executive,
legislative, or judicial. With pride I might dwell on those words
which banished Slavery from our soil, and rendered the Declaration
of Independence here with us a living letter. But the hour does not
require or admit any such service. You have a practical duty, which I
seek to promote; and I now take leave of the whole subject, with the
simple remark, that a document proceeding from such a pen, drawn from
such sources, with such an origin in all respects, speaking so early
for Human Rights, and now for more than threescore years and ten a
household word to the people of Massachusetts, should be touched by the
Convention only with exceeding care.