The Declaration of Rights consists of sixteen articles. Significantly, the First Article affirms the principle of equality and the “inherent rights” of life, liberty, property, and the pursuit of happiness and safety:
That all men are by nature equally free and independent and have certain inherent rights [those unalienable rights famously referenced in the Declaration of Independence], 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 of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
The next two articles set forth the revolutionary concepts of a government by the people, for the people:
That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people…
That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation, or community…
And the justification for revolution and rejecting the tyranny of the British monarch:
And that, when any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to 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.
Further, the Rights enumerated include the freedom of the press, which Mason described as “one of the great bulwarks of liberty” (Article 12), the free exercise of religion (Article 16), and due process (Articles 8-11); and the Declaration provided the framework for a republican representative government including the separation of executive, legislative and judicial powers (Article 5), free elections and the right to vote (Article 6).
As we celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of our nation, know that Virginia led the way with George Mason’s Declaration of Rights that defined those “inherent rights” that provided the political basis for revolution; followed by Virginians Thomas Jefferson as author of the Declaration of Independence, and James Madison as the father of the U. S. Constitution and Bill of Rights.
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