Virginia’s ‘natural rights’ clause was drafted to exclude enslaved Africans.

Evidence

Mason’s draft supplied seven enumerated rights, but the committee added eight more before the convention trimmed two, leaving thirteen in all in addition to the three initial propositions. The sole major change to those three propositions came when the convention limited the protection of “natural rights” to those who “enter into a state of society”—a euphemism designed to exclude enslaved Africans. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 199

Categorization

• XREF: Core to the course’s treatment of equality/freedom tension in founding documents; also resonates with the slavery-exempting adjustments in national founding debates. — connects to: Virginia’s Declaration of Rights grounded revolution in popular sovereignty and natural rights. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 198; The Declaration’s equality promise was made legally operative only through later social movements — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 355; America’s founding freedoms were written to exclude Black, female, and lower-class subjects. — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning: The…, 275
• DEFINE: Clarifies the operative meaning of ‘enter into a state of society’ as a legal term of art designed to carry an exclusionary effect.

Broader Connections

• America’s founding freedoms were written to exclude Black, female, and lower-class subjects. #exemplifies (0.85) — Ibram X. Kendi, Stamped from the Beginning, 275