Beschreibung:

Virginia House of DelegatesThe Proceedings of the Convention of Delegates, Held at the Capitol, In the City of Williamsburg, In the Colony of Virginia, on Monday the 6th of May, 1776. Williamsburg: Printed by Alexander Purdie, Printer to the Commonwealth, [1776]. [Bound with:] Ordinances Passed at a General Convention of Delegates and Representatives, From the Several Counties and Corporations of Virginia, Held at the Capitol, In the City of Williamsburg, on Monday the 6th of May, Anno Dom: 1776. Williamsburg: Printed by Alexander Purdie, Printer to the Commonwealth, [1776] 2 works bound in one volume, 4to (208 x 162 mm, deckle preserved on many lower edges of Ordinances). Some browning throughout. Contemporary reverse calf, covers ruled and rolled in blind, spine lettered in ink "Journal of Convention 1776," possibly by Capt. J. H. B. Smith (see Provenance); extremities rubbed, hinges a trifle cracked with a little loss to front hinge. Blue morocco folding-case. First editions, with significant provenance, of the Proceedings and Ordinances of the fifth Virginia Convention at Williamsburg in May and June 1776, containing the Virginia Declaration of Rights, one of the most important and influential documents in American history. The Proceedings also publishes the momentous resolution of 15 May 1776 "that the delegates appointed to represent this colony in the General Congress be instructed to propose to that respectable body to declare the the United Colonies free and independent States. …" This resolution, introduced by Richard Henry Lee to the Continental Congress on 7 June 1776 —just two days after the adjournment of the Virginia Convention—led directly to the appointment of a committee to draft the Declaration of Independence. Covering the crucial period from 6 May to 5 July 1776, the Proceedings describe an integrated series of events and decisions, including the adoption of Virginia's Constitution—in which the state separately declared independence—and the election of Patrick Henry as the state's first governor. "When the convention adopted the new constitution on June 29, 1776, it transformed Virginia's political landscape by giving the people an unprecedented role in running their government" (CCC, p. 40). But the Virginia Declaration of Rights is the cornerstone of the Virginia Convention. "Written primarily by George Mason and adopted on June 12, 1776, the Virginia Declaration of Rights comprised, in the words of historian Gordon S. Wood [in The Creation of the American Republic], 'a jarring but exciting combination of ringing declarations of universal principles with a motley collection' of more specific legal customs that Americans had long prized. It began by stating that 'all men are by nature equally free and independent' and that 'all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people.' Because of this, 'a majority of the community hath an indubitable, inalienable, and indefeasible right to reform, alter, or abolish' their government whenever they deemed the current one 'inadequate.' The similarity between these phrases and those found in the Declaration of Independence was no coincidence. Jefferson eagerly drew on Mason's drafts as he composed his own text in Philadelphia. … Importantly, the Declaration of Rights did not grant the people their rights but rather guaranteed them. Since all power came from the people, their rights were not limited to what they chose to emphasize and write down at this particular moment" (CCC, pp. 37, 40). The sixteen points of the Declaration of Rights also allowed for the separation of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of government; frequent free elections; elimination of hereditary offices; the right to trial by a jury of one's peers; reasonable bail; no cruel or unusual punishment; reasonable warrants for searches; freedom of the press; subordination of the military to civil authority; and freedom of religion. This final clause was introduced by Jame