Jon--

Before the thread, as threads do, strikes off into other questions, I thought I'd offer you a brief and unsatisfactory answer to your question.

To my knowledge, there is very little in the scholarly literature that attempts a direct answer to this question. All of the book length treatments with which I am familiar--Labunski, Gutzman, Banning, on Madison; Veit, on the Congressional maneuvering that culminated in the Federal Bill of Rights; Levy, Sunstein, Amar, on the constitutional meaning of the Federal Bill of Rights--takes the question you are asking for granted.

One study that does touch on it, albeit very briefly, is Jack Rakove's little book on rights, produced for Bedford:  DECLARING RIGHTS:  A BRIEF HISTORY WITH DOCUMENTS.  

An article that springs to mind that addresses the question directly is by Warren Billings--I believe it is reprinted in the recent collection of his essays, MAGISTRATES AND PIONEERS.

All best wishes,
Kevin

___________________________
Kevin R. Hardwick
Associate Professor
Department of History, MSC 8001
James Madison University
Harrisonburg, Virginia 22807
________________________________________
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history [[log in to unmask]] on behalf of Jon Kukla [[log in to unmask]]
Sent: Thursday, October 18, 2012 11:46 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: declarations of rights at the beginnings of constitutions

Is anyone aware of scholarship that explores the antecedents of the 1776
innovation of placing a declaration of rights at the beginning of a
constitution?



   We have long recognized the placement of a declaration of rights at the
beginning of a state constitution as an innovation dating from the Virginia
constitution of 1776, copied soon thereafter by Pennsylvania, Maryland,
Delaware, and North Carolina and then by Vermont in 1777, Massachusetts in
1780, and New Hampshire in 1781 (e.g., Wood, Creation, 271).



   Looking closely at the Virginia convention, the idea of placing a
statement of rights at the beginning of a written constitution seems to
originate with Meriwether Lewis’s draft resolution for independence (ca. 14
May 1776) – one of three resolutions (the others presented by Bartholomew
Dandridge and Patrick Henry) that the presiding officer, Edmund Pendleton,
consolidated into the final text calling for independence adopted on 15 May
1776 and transmitted to Congress, etc.



   - Lewis’s language urged that “a Committee ought to prepare a
   Declaration of Rights, and such a plan of *g*overnment as shall be
   judged most proper to maintain Peace & Order in this Colony & secure
   substantial and equal Liberty to the People.” (Van Schreeven, Scribner,
   Tarter, eds. Revolutionary Virginia: 7: 145n8)



   - Pendleton’s revision directed that “a Committee be appointed to
   prepare a Declaration of Rights, and such a plan of government as will be
   most likely to maintain peace and order in this colony and secure
   substantial and equal liberty to the people.” (Ibid., 143)



In that context, I would be grateful for any citations to scholarship
exploring any advocacy prior to May 1776 of the placement of a declaration
of rights at the beginning of a constitution?



Thank you.

Jon Kukla
________________
www.JonKukla.com <http://www.jonkukla.com/>

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