Part 14 (1/2)
P HENRY, JR
P S Will you and S A now and then write?[247]
To this hearty and even brotherly letter John Ada reply, in the course of which he said, with respect to Henry's labors in inia: ”The subject is of infinite moment, and perhaps more than adequate to the abilities of any man in America I know of none so coinia resolutions against the Sta and concluding this great revolution Happy Virginia, whose constitution is to be framed by so masterly a builder!” Then, with respect to the aristocratic features in the Constitution, as proposed by ”A Native of the Colony,” John Adarandees, the patricians, the sacheroan, and fret, and sometimes staone forth, and it cannot be recalled, that a more equal liberty than has prevailed in other parts of the earth, must be established in America That exuberance of pride which has produced an insolent do faht down nearer to the confines of reason and moderation than they have been used to I shall ever be happy in receiving your advice by letter, until I can beyou here in person, which I hope will be soon”[248]
On the 12th of June, the convention adopted without a dissenting voice its celebrated ”declaration of rights,” a compact, luminous, and powerful statehts that were henceforth to be ”the basis and foundation of governinia, and were to stamp their character upon that constitution on which the coed Perhaps no political document of that tienesis, not only of our state constitutions, but of that of the nation likewise That the first fourteen articles of the declaration ritten by George Mason has never been disputed: that he also wrote the fifteenth and the sixteenth articles is now clairapher,[249] but in opposition to the testimony of Edmund Randolph, as a member both of the convention itself and of the particular coe of the declaration, and who has left on record the statement that those articles were the work of Patrick Henry[250] The fifteenth article was in these words: ”That no free governs of liberty, can be preserved to any people but by a firality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles” The sixteenth article is an assertion of the doctrine of religious liberty,--the first tiinia The original draft, in which the writer followed very closely the language used on that subject by the Independents in the asseion, or the duty e our Creator, and theit, can be directed only by reason and conviction, and not by force or violence; and, therefore, that all men should enjoy the fullest toleration in the exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience, unpunished and unrestrained by the ion, any man disturb the peace, the happiness, or the safety of society; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practise Christian forbearance, love, and charity towards each other”[251]
The historic significance of this stately assertion of religious liberty in Virginia can be felt only by those who reland was the established church of Virginia, and that the laws of Virginia then restrained the exercise there of every forious dissent, unless compliance had been made with the conditions of the toleration act of the first year of William and Mary At the very ed in considering the tremendous innovation contained in this article, ”sundry persons of the Baptist church in the county of Prince Willia their na the convention, ”That they be allowed to worshi+p God in their oithout interruption; that they be permitted to maintain their own ministers and none others; that they y of other denoious freedom, they be enabled to ”unite with their brethren, and to the utmost of their ability promote the common cause” of political freedom[252] Of course the adoption of the sixteenth article virtually carried with it every privilege which these people asked for The author of that article, whether it was George Mason or Patrick Henry, was a devout coinia; and thus, the first great legislative act for the reform of the civil constitution of that church, and for its deliverance from the traditional duty and curse of persecution, was an act which came from within the church itself
On Monday, the 24th of June, the coh Archibald Cary, submitted to the convention their plan of a constitution for the new State of Virginia; and on Saturday, the 29th of June, this plan passed its third reading, and was unanilance at the docule between the aristocratic and the denally triumphed It provided for a lower House of assembly, whose members were to be elected annually by the people, in the proportion of two members from each county; for an upper House of assembly to consist of twenty-four members, ere to be elected annually by the people, in the proportion of one member from each of the senatorial districts into which the several counties should be grouped; for a governor, to be elected annually by joint ballot of both houses, and not to ”continue in that office longer than three years successively,” nor then to be eligible again for the office until after the lapse of four years froht es in the several courts, all to be elected by joint ballot of the two Houses; for justices of the peace to be appointed by the governor and the privy council; and, finally, for an iovernor, and a privy council, and such other officers as overnment[253]
In accordance with the last provision of this Constitution, the convention at once proceeded to cast their ballots for governor, with the following result:--
For Patrick Henry 60 For Thoe 1
By resolution, Patrick Henry was then forinia, to continue in office until the close of that session of the asse March
On the same day on which this action was taken, he wrote, in reply to the official notice of his election, the following letter of acceptance,--a graceful,composition:--
TO THE HONORABLE THE PRESIDENT AND HOUSE OF CONVENTION
GENTLEMEN,--The vote of this day, appointing overnor of this commonwealth, has been notified to e Mason, Henry Lee, Dudley Digges, John Blair, and Bartholoh and unmerited honor conferred upon ratitude, which I trust my whole life will manifest I take this earliest opportunity to express entlement
When I reflect that the tyranny of the British king and parliahout the wide-extended continent, and in the operations of which this coreat a part, and that fro happiness or reat proportion of the human species will finally result; that, in order to preserve this coive vigor to our councils and effect to all our overnment hath been necessarily assumed and new modelled; that it is exposed to numberless hazards and perils in its infantine state; that it can never attain to uarded by affectionate assiduity, and reat abilities,--I lament my want of talents; I feel my mind filled with anxiety and uneasiness to find myself so unequal to the duties of that important station to which I am called by favor of my fellow citizens at this truly critical conjuncture The errors of my conduct shall be atoned for, so far as I am able, by unwearied endeavors to secure the freedom and happiness of our common country
I shall enter upon the duties of entle upon the knoisdom and virtue of your honorable house to supply ive perovernment which you have formed, and which is so wisely calculated to secure equal liberty, and advance huentlemen, your most obedient and very humble servant,
P HENRY, JR
WILLIAMSBURG, June 29, 1776[254]
FOOTNOTES:
[231] 4 _Am Arch_ vi 390
[232] The journal of this convention is in 4 _Am Arch_ vi
1509-1616
[233] 4 _Am Arch_ vi 406
[234] 5 _Ainia_, 645, 646, co this letter to Thomas Nelson, Jr