I hereby Certify, that Jas. Madison Jr, And William Moore Esqrs., Are duly Elected Delegates, for the Sd. County, to Serve in General Convention, for one year then Next following, Given Under my hand, and Seal, this 25th Day of April, 1776, Salutem Sciatis —that is, “Greeting. Let it be known.” The Convention of July 1775 at Richmond provided that on the regular “court day” in April of each...
12Case of William Aylett, [8–22 May] 1776 (Madison Papers)
[8–22 May 1776] When JM, a delegate from Orange County, took his seat in this Convention on 8 May 1776, he was at once appointed to the Committee of Privileges and Elections. This large group, ultimately numbering nearly half of the 130 delegates, concerned itself primarily with the validity of their election and with alleged instances of individual Virginians manifesting disloyalty to the...
13George Mason’s Proposed Declaration of Rights, [ca. 20–25 May 1776] (Madison Papers)
This document is probably the paper mentioned by Thomas L. Lee in his letter of 1 June 1776 to his brother, Richard Henry Lee , then in Philadelphia attending the Second Continental Congress: “I enclosed you by last post a copy of our declaration of rights nearly as it come through the committee” (Kate M. Rowland, Life of George Mason , I, 240). The articles in this copy are unnumbered. They...
14To James Madison from William Bradford, 20 May 1776—Summary (Madison Papers)
20 May 1776 . In “A Memorandum Book and Register, for the months of May & June 1776,” now in the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, William Bradford wrote on 20 May: “… went to the town meeting where notwithstanding the badness of the day ther was a great number of inhabitants & it was resolved 1. That the present Government was inefficient 2. That the Assembly could not legally form a new...
15From James Madison to William Bradford, [ca. 21 May] 1776—Summary (Madison Papers)
Ca. 21 May 1776 . In “A Memorandum Book,” Bradford noted on 28 May 1776: “This morning I recieved a Letter from Mr Maddison who is a member of the Virginia Convention, informing me of the declaration of Independency made by that body.” Since the resolution calling upon the delegates of Virginia in the Second Continental Congress to propose that “the United Colonies” be declared “free and...
16Committee’s Proposed Article on Religion, [27–28 May 1776] (Madison Papers)
When the committee laid its amended draft of George Mason’s proposed Declaration of Rights before the Convention on 27 May, that body ordered it “to be committed to a committee of the whole Convention” and “ Resolved , that this Convention will on Wednesday next [29 May], resolve itself into a committee on the said declaration; and that, in the mean time, the same be printed, for the perusal...
17Madison’s Amendments to the Declaration of Rights, [29 May–12 June 1776] (Madison Papers)
There is no certain evidence known to the editors which fixes the time when either JM’s first or second amendment was laid before the Convention or its committee of the whole. The official journal of the Convention merely reveals that the drafting committee’s report, having been printed, was debated on 29 and 30 May and 3, 4, 5, and 11 June 1776. The session of 11 June seems to be the most...
18From James Madison to James Madison, Sr., [1–15 June] 1776 (Madison Papers)
would be adviseable to make the best terms you can with him. I intend to apply myself to him on my return home. I have not had an opportunity since I red. your last of taking the opinion of Col Pendleton on Ignatius’s Queries, but I shall speak to him on the subject as soon as I can find him at leasure, which his close engagement in business occasions to be not very often the case. Col. Henry...
19To James Madison from William Bradford, 3 June 1776—Summary (Madison Papers)
3 June 1776 . In his “Memorandum Book” (see 20 May 1776) Bradford wrote: “As my friend Maddison had desired me in his last to give him a sketch of the Constitution of this province and of that of Connecticut which might be useful to him as a member of Convention, I determined to return an early answer & wrote a rough draught of a Letter for that purpose. The constitution of Connecticut I...
20Article on Religion Adopted by Convention, [12 June 1776] (Madison Papers)
16. That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator , and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore, all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practise Christian forbearance, love, and charity, towards each other.