The Virginia Declaration of Rights

A DECLARATION OF RIGHTS made bytherepresentatives of the good people of Virginia, assembled in full andfree convention which rights do pertain to them and their posterity,as the basis and foundation of government .

Section 1. Thatall men are by nature equally free and independent and have certaininherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society,they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity;namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means ofacquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaininghappiness and safety.

Section 2. Thatall power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people;that magistrates are their trustees and servants and at all timesamenable to them.

Section 3. Thatgovernment is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit,protection, and security of the people, nation, or community; of allthe various modes and forms of government, that is best which iscapable of producing the greatest degree of happiness and safety andis most effectually secured against the danger of maladministration.And that, when any government shall be found inadequate or contraryto these purposes, a majority of the community has an indubitable,inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish it,in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal.

Section 4. Thatno man, or set of men, is entitled to exclusive or separateemoluments or privileges from the community, but in consideration ofpublic services; which, nor being descendible, neither ought theoffices of magistrate, legislator, or judge to be hereditary.

Section 5. Thatthe legislative and executive powers of the state should be separateand distinct from the judiciary; and that the members of the twofirst may be restrained from oppression, by feeling and participatingthe burdens of the people, they should, at fixed periods, be reducedto a private station, return into that body from which they wereoriginally taken, and the vacancies be supplied by frequent, certain,and regular elections, in which all, or any part, of the formermembers, to be again eligible, or ineligible, as the laws shalldirect.

Section 6. Thatelections of members to serve as representatives of the people, inassembly ought to be free; and that all men, having sufficientevidence of permanent common interest with, and attachment to, thecommunity, have the right of suffrage and cannot be taxed or deprivedof their property for public uses without their own consent or thatof their representatives so elected, nor bound by any law to whichthey have not, in like manner, assembled for the public good.

Section 7. Thatall power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by anyauthority, without consent of the representatives of the people, isinjurious to their rights and ought not to be exercised.

Section 8. Thatin all capital or criminal prosecutions a man has a right to demandthe cause and nature of his accusation, to be confronted with theaccusers and witnesses, to call for evidence in his favor, and to aspeedy trial by an impartial jury of twelve men of his vicinage,without whose unanimous consent he cannot be found guilty; nor can hebe compelled to give evidence against himself; that no man bedeprived of his liberty except by the law of the land or the judgmentof his peers.

Section 9. Thatexcessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed,nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.

Section10. That general warrants, whereby an officer or messengermaybe commanded to search suspected places without evidence of a factcommitted, or to seize any person or persons not named, or whoseoffense is not particularly described and supported by evidence, aregrievous and oppressive and ought not to be granted.

Section11. That in controversies respecting property, and in suitsbetween man and man, the ancient trial by jury is preferable to anyother and ought to be held sacred.

Section 12.That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks ofliberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.

Section 13.That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people,trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a freestate; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided asdangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should beunder strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.

Section14. That the people have a right to uniform government; and,therefore, that no government separate from or independent of thegovernment of Virginia ought to be erected or established within thelimits thereof.

Section15. That no free government, or the blessings of liberty,can bepreserved to any people but by a firm adherence to justice,moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue and by frequentrecurrence to fundamental principles.

Section16. That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator,andthe manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason andconviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men areequally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to thedictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all topractise Christian forbearance, love, and charity toward each other.