|
Virginia
Constitution
29 June 1776Jefferson Papers 1:377--83
In a General Convention.
Begun and holden at the Capitol, in the City of Williamsburg, on
Monday the sixth day of May, one thousand seven hundred and seventy six,
and continued, by adjournments to the day of June following:
A CONSTITUTION, OR FORM OF GOVERNMENT,
agreed to and resolved upon by the Delegates and Representatives of the
several Counties and Corporations of Virginia.
Whereas George the Third, King of Great Britain and Ireland, and Elector
of Hanover, heretofore intrusted with the exercise of the Kingly Office
in this Government, hath endeavoured to pervert the same into a
detestable and insupportable Tyranny; by putting his negative on laws the
most wholesome and necessary for the publick good;
by denying his Governours permission to pass Laws of immediate and
pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation for his assent,
and, when so suspended, neglecting to attend to them for many Years;
by refusing to pass certain other laws, unless the persons to be
benefited by them would relinquish the inestimable right of
representation in the legislature;
by dissolving legislative assemblies repeatedly and continually, for
opposing with manly firmness his invasions of the rights of the people;
when dissolved, by refusing to call others for a long space of time,
thereby leaving the political system without any legislative head;
by endeavouring to prevent the population of our Country, and, for that
purpose, obstructing the laws for the naturalization of foreigners;
by keeping among us, in times of peace, standing Armies and Ships of war;
by affecting to render the Military independent of, and superiour to, the
civil power;
by combining with others to subject us to a foreign Jurisdiction, giving
his assent to their pretended Acts of Legislation;
for quartering large bodies of armed troops among us;
for cutting off our Trade with all parts of the World;
for imposing Taxes on us without our Consent;
for depriving us of the Benefits of Trial by Jury;
for transporting us beyond Seas, to be tried for pretended Offences;
for suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested
with power to legislate for us in all Cases whatsoever;
by plundering our Seas, ravaging our Coasts, burning our Towns, and
destroying the lives of our People;
by inciting insurrections of our fellow Subjects, with the allurements of
forfeiture and confiscation;
by prompting our Negroes to rise in Arms among us, those very negroes
whom, by an inhuman use of his negative, he hath refused us permission to
exclude by Law;
by endeavouring to bring on the inhabitants of our Frontiers the
merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of Warfare is an
undistinguished Destruction of all Ages, Sexes, and Conditions of
Existance;
by transporting, at this time, a large Army of foreign Mercenaries, to
compleat the Works of Death, desolation, and Tyranny, already begun with
circumstances of Cruelty and Perfidy unworthy the head of a civilized
Nation;
by answering our repeated Petitions for Redress with a Repetition of
Injuries;
and finally, by abandoning the Helm of Government, and declaring us out
of his Allegiance and Protection;
By which several Acts of Misrule, the Government of this Country, as
formerly exercised under the Crown of Great Britain, is totally
dissolved; We therefore, the Delegates and Representatives of the good
People of Virginia, having maturely considered the Premises, and viewing
with great concern the deplorable condition to which this once happy
Country must be reduced, unless some regular adequate Mode of civil
Polity is speedily adopted, and in Compliance with a Recommendation of
the General Congress, do ordain and declare the future Form of Government
of Virginia to be as followeth:
The legislative, executive, and judiciary departments, shall be separate
and distinct, so that neither exercise the Powers properly belonging to
the other; nor shall any person exercise the powers of more than one of
them at the same time, except that the Justices of the County Courts
shall be eligible to either House of Assembly.
The legislative shall be formed of two distinct branches, who, together,
shall be a complete Legislature. They shall meet once, or oftener, every
Year, and shall be called the General Assembly of Virginia.
One of these shall be called the House of Delegates, and consist of two
Representatives to be chosen for each County, and for the District of
West Augusta, annually, of such Men as actually reside in and are
freeholders of the same, or duly qualified according to Law, and also of
one Delegate or Representative to be chosen annually for the city of
Williamsburg, and one for the Borough of Norfolk, and a Representative
for each of such other Cities and Boroughs, as may hereafter be allowed
particular Representation by the legislature; but when any City or
Borough shall so decrease as that the number of persons having right of
Suffrage therein shall have been for the space of seven Years
successively less than half the number of Voters in some one County in
Virginia, such City or Borough thenceforward shall cease to send a
Delegate or Representative to the Assembly.
The other shall be called the Senate, and consist of twenty four Members,
of whom thirteen shall constitute a House to proceed on Business for
whose election the different Counties shall be divided into twenty four
districts, and each County of the respective District, at the time of the
election of its Delegates, shall vote for one Senator, who is actually a
resident and freeholder within the District, or duly qualified according
to Law, and is upwards of twenty five Years of Age; And the sheriff of
each County, within five days at farthest after the last County election
in the District, shall meet at some convenient place, and from the Poll
so taken in their respective Counties return as a Senator to the House of
Senators the Man who shall have the greatest number of Votes in the whole
District. To keep up this Assembly by rotation, the Districts shall be
equally divided into four Classes, and numbered by Lot. At the end of one
Year after the General Election, the six Members elected by the first
division shall be displaced, and the vacancies thereby occasioned
supplied from such Class or division, by new Election, in the manner
aforesaid. This Rotation shall be applied to each division, according to
its number, and continued in due order annually.
The right of Suffrage in the Election of Members for both Houses shall
remain as exercised at present, and each House shall choose its own
Speaker, appoint its own Officers, settle its own rules of proceding, and
direct Writs of Election for supplying intermediate vacancies.
All Laws shall originate in the House of Delegates, to be approved or
rejected by the Senate or to be amended with the Consent of the House of
Delegates; except Money Bills, which in no instance shall be altered by
the Senate but wholly approved or rejected.
A Governour, or chief Magistrate, shall be chosen annually, by joint
Ballot of both Houses, (to be taken in each House respectively, deposited
in the Conference room, the Boxes examined jointly by a Committee of each
House, and the numbers severally reported to them, that the appointments
may be entered, which shall be the mode of taking the joint Ballot of
both Houses in all Cases) who shall not continue in that office longer
than three Years successively, nor be eligible until the expiration of
four Years after he shall have been out of that office: An adequate, but
moderate Salary, shall be settled on him during his Continuance in
Office; and he shall, with the advice of a Council of State, exercise the
Executive powers of Government according to the laws of this
Commonwealth; and shall not, under any pretence, exercise any power or
prerogative by virtue of any Law, statute, or Custom, of England; But he
shall, with the advice of the Council of State, have the power of
granting reprieves or pardons, except where the prosecution shall have
been carried on by the House of Delegates, or the Law shall otherwise
particularly direct; in which Cases, no reprieve or Pardon shall be
granted but by resolve of the House of Delegates.
Either House of the General Assembly may adjourn themselves respectively:
The Governour shall not prorogue or adjourn the Assembly during their
setting, nor dissolve them at any Time; but he shall, if necessary,
either by advice of the Council of State, or on application of a Majority
of the House of Delegates, call them before the time to which they shall
stand prorogued or adjourned.
A Privy Council, or Council of State, consisting of eight Members, shall
be chosen by joint Ballot of both Houses of Assembly, either from their
own Members or the People at large, to assist in the Administration of
Government. They shall annually choose out of their own Members, a
President, who, in case of the death, inability, or necessary absence of
the Governour from the Government, shall act as lieutenant Governour.
Four Members shall be sufficient to act, and their Advice and proceedings
shall be entered of Record, and signed by the Members present (to any
part whereof any Member may enter his dissent) to be laid before the
General Assembly, when called for by them. This Council may appoint their
own Clerk, who shall have a Salary settled by Law, and take an Oath of
Secrecy in such matters as he shall be directed by the Board to conceal.
A sum of Money appropriated to that purpose shall be divided annually
among the Members, in proportion to their attendance; and they shall be
incapable, during their continuance in Office, of sitting in either House
of Assembly. Two Members shall be removed, by joint Ballot of both houses
of Assembly at the end of every three Years, and be ineligible for the
three next years. These Vacancies, as well as those occasioned by death
or incapacity, shall be supplied by new Elections, in the same manner.
The Delegates for Virginia to the Continental Congress shall be chosen
annually, or superseded in the mean time by joint Ballot of both Houses
of Assembly.
The present Militia Officers shall be continued, and Vacancies supplied
by appointment of the Governour, with the advice of the privy Council, or
recommendations from the respective County Courts; but the Governour and
Council shall have a power of suspending any Officer, and ordering a
Court-Martial on Complaint for misbehaviour or inability, or to supply
Vacancies of Officers happening when in actual Service. The Governour may
embody the Militia, with the advice of the privy Council; and, when
embodied, shall alone have the direction of the Militia under the laws of
the Country.
The two Houses of Assembly shall, by joint Ballot, appoint judges of the
supreme Court of Appeals, and General Court, Judges in Chancery, Judges
of Admiralty, Secretary, and the Attorney-General, to be commissioned by
the Governour, and continue in Office during good behaviour. In case of
death, incapacity, or resignation, the Governour, with the advice of the
privy Council, shall appoint Persons to succeed in Office, to be approved
or displaced by both Houses. These Officers shall have fixed and adequate
Salaries, and, together with all others holding lucrative Offices, and
all Ministers of the Gospel of every Denomination, be incapable of being
elected Members of either House of Assembly, or the privy Council.
The Governour, with the Advice of the privy Council, shall appoint
Justices of the Peace for the Counties; and in case of Vacancies, or a
necessity of increasing the number hereafter, such appointments to be
made upon the recommendation of the respective County Courts. The present
acting Secretary in Virginia, and Clerks of all the County Courts, shall
continue in Office. In case of Vacancies, either by death, incapacity, or
resignation, a Secretary shall be appointed as before directed, and the
Clerks by the respective Courts. The present and future Clerks shall hold
their Offices during good behaviour, to be judged of and determined in
the General Court. The Sheriffs and Coroners shall be nominated by the
respective Courts, approved by the Governour with the advice of the privy
Council, and commissioned by the Governour. The Justices shall appoint
Constables, and all fees of the aforesaid Officers be regulated by law.
The Governour, when he is out of Office, and others offending against the
State, either by Mal-administration, Corruption, or other Means, by which
the safety of the State may be endangered, shall be impeachable by the
House of Delegates. Such impeachment to be prosecuted by the Attorney
General, or such other Person or Persons as the House may appoint in the
General Court, according to the laws of the Land. If found guilty, he or
they shall be either for ever disabled to hold any Office under
Government, or removed from such Office Pro tempore, or subjected to such
Pains or Penalties as the laws shall direct.
If all, or any of the Judges of the General Court, should, on good
grounds (to be judged of by the House of Delegates) be accused of any of
the Crimes or Offences before-mentioned, such House of Delegates may, in
like manner, impeach the Judge or Judges so accused, to be prosecuted in
the Court of Appeals; and he or they, if found guilty, shall be punished
in the same manner as is prescribed in the preceding Clause.
Commissions and Grants shall run, In the Name of the Common Wealth of
Virginia, and bear teste by the Governour, with the Seal of the Common
wealth annexed. Writs shall run in the same manner, and bear teste by the
Clerks of the several Courts. Indictments shall conclude, Against the
Peace and Dignity of the Common-Wealth.
A Treasurer shall be appointed annually, by joint Ballot of both Houses.
All escheats, penalties, and forfeitures, heretofore going to the King,
shall go to the Common Wealth, save only such, as the Legislature may
abolish, or otherwise provide for.
The territories contained within the Charters erecting the Colonies of
Maryland, Pennsylvania, North and South Carolina, are hereby ceded,
released, and forever confirmed to the People of those Colonies
respectively, with all the rights of property, jurisdiction, and
Government, and all other rights whatsoever which might at any time
heretofore have been claimed by Virginia, except the free Navigation and
use of the Rivers Potowmack and Pohomoke, with the property of the
Virginia Shores or strands bordering on either of the said Rivers, and
all improvements which have been or shall be made thereon. The western
and northern extent of Virginia shall in all other respects stand as
fixed by the Charter of King James the first, in the Year one thousand
six hundred and nine, and by the publick Treaty of Peace between the
Courts of Great Britain and France in the year one thousand seven hundred
and sixty three; Unless by act of this legislature, one or more
Territories shall hereafter be laid off, and Governments established
Westward of the Allegheny Mountains. And no purchases of Land shall be
made of the Indian Natives but on behalf of the Publick, by authority of
the General Assembly.
In order to introduce this Government, the Representatives of the People
met in Convention shall choose a Governour and privy Council, also such
other Officers directed to be chosen by both Houses as may be judged
necessary to be immediately appointed. The Senate, to be first chosen by
the people, to continue until the last day of March next, and the other
Officers until the end of the succeeding Session of Assembly. In case of
Vacancies, the Speaker of either House shall issue Writs for new
Elections.
The Papers of Thomas Jefferson. Edited by Julian P. Boyd et al.
Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1950--.
|
