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The
Debates in the Several State Conventions on the Adoption
of the Federal Constitution (Elliot's Debates)
Vol.
III
VIRGINIA
Friday,
June 27, 1788.
Seven
states ratifying the Constitution proposed no amendments.
Four of the six states proposing amendments requested
provisions dealing with religion. Virginia and North
Carolina endorsed the same principle set forth below
on pg. 659. New York and New Hampshire also proposed
amendments.
RJ&L
Religious Institutions Group
Pg.
656
His
excellency, Governor RANDOLPH, reported, from the committee
appointed, according to order, a form of ratification, which
was read and agreed to by the Convention, in the words following:
VIRGINIA, TO WIT:
"We,
the delegates of the people of Virginia, duly elected in
pursuance of a recommendation from the General Assembly,
and now met in Convention, having fully and freely investigated
and discussed the proceeding of the federal Convention,
and being prepared, as well as the most mature deliberation
hath enabled us, to decide thereon, Do, in the name and
in behalf of the people of Virginia, declare and make known,
that the powers granted under the Constitution, being derived
from the people of the United States, be resumed by them
whensoever the same shah be perverted to their injury or
oppression, and that every power, not granted thereby, remains
with them, and at their will; that, therefore, no right,
of any denomination, can be cancelled, abridged, restrained,
or modified, by the Congress, by the Senate or House of
Representatives, acting in any capacity, by the President,
or any department or officer of the United States, except
in those instances in which power is given by the Constitution
for those purposes; and that, among other essential rights,
the liberty of conscience and of the press cannot be cancelled,
abridged, restrained, or modified, by any authority of the
United States.
"With
these impressions, with a solemn appeal to the Searcher
of hearts for the purity of our intentions, and under the
conviction that whatsoever imperfections may exist in the
Constitution ought rather to be examined m the mode prescribed
therein, than to bring the Union into danger by delay, with
a hope of obtaining amendments previous to the ratifications,--
"We,
the said delegates, in the name and behalf of the people
of Virginia, do by these presents, assent to and ratify
the Constitution, recommended on the seventeenth day of
September, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven,
by the federal Convention, for the government of the United
States; hereby announcing to all those whom it may concern,
that the said Constitution is binding upon the said people,
according to an authentic copy hereto annexed, in the words
following." [For
the Constitution, see the commencement of Vol. I.]
Thursday,
June 26, 1788
An
engrossed form of the ratification agreed to yesterday,
containing the proposed Constitution of government, as recommended
by the federal Convention on the seventeenth day of September,
one thousand seven
Pg.
657
hundred
and eighty-seven, being prepared by the secretary, was read
and signed by the president, in behalf of the Convention.
On
motion, Ordered, That the said ratification be transmitted
by the president, in the name of this Convention, to the
United States in Congress assembled.
On
motion, Ordered, That there be allowed to the president
of this Convention, for his services, the sum of forty shillings
per day, including his daily pay as a member; to the secretary,
the sum of forty pounds; to the chaplain, the sum of thirty-two
pounds; to the serjeant, the sum of twenty-four pounds;
to the clerk of the committee of privileges, the sum of
twenty pounds; and to each of the door-keepers, the sum
of fifteen pounds, for their respective services.
Friday,
June 27, 1788
Another
engrossed form of the ratification, agreed to on Wednesday
last, containing the proposed Constitution of government,
as recommended by the federal Convention on the seventeenth
day of September, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-seven,
being prepared by the secretary, was read and signed by
the president, in behalf of the Convention
On
motion, Ordered, That the said ratification be deposited
by the secretary of this Convention in the archives of the
General Assembly of this state.
Mr.
WYTHE reported, from the committee appointed, such amendments
to the proposed Constitution of government for the United
States as were by them deemed necessary to be recommended
to the consideration of the Congress which shall first assemble
under the said Constitution, to be acted upon according
to the mode prescribed in the 5th article thereof; and he
read the same in his place, and afterwards delivered them
in at the clerk's table, where the same were again read,
and are as follows:--
"That
there be a declaration or bill of rights asserting, and
securing from encroachment, the essential and unalienable
rights of the people, in some such manner as the following:--
*
* * *
Pg.
659
"19th.
That any person religiously scrupulous of bearing arms ought
to be exempted, upon payment of an equivalent to employ
another to bear arms in his stead. "20th.
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 have an equal, natural, and unalienable right to
the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates
of conscience, and that no particular religious sect or
society ought to be favored or established, by law, in preference
to others."
*
* * *
Pg.
661
And
the Convention do, in the name and behalf of the people
of this commonwealth, enjoin it upon their representatives
in Congress to exert all their influence, and use all reasonable
and legal methods, to obtain a ratification of the foregoing
alterations and provisions, in the manner provided by the
5th article of the said Constitution; and, in all congressional
laws to be passed in the mean time, to conform to the spirit
of these amendments, as far as the said Constitution will
admit.
*
* * *
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