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
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www.JonKukla.com <http://www.jonkukla.com/>
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