Virginia’s three constitutional documents each shaped the American Declaration of Independence

Evidence

Already burdened with governing a colony during wartime, the convention assumed the added tasks of approving a resolution on American independence, composing a Declaration of Rights justifying separation, and framing a new state constitution. To advance Virginia from royal subordination to sovereign statehood, the delegates viewed all three measures as necessary without resolving whether any of them was decisive. As it turned out, in part because of Jefferson but also due to Virginia’s outsized role as the largest and richest colony, each of these three state documents played key roles in the drafting of the American Declaration of Independence. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 192

Categorization

• XREF: Central to the course: shows state-level institutional output feeding the national founding document, and raises the question of which document type (resolution, rights declaration, constitution) was truly constitutive. — connects to: The Declaration’s tri-part structure came from the Virginia Constitution and rights declaration. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 209; Jefferson drew the draft Declaration from the prior month’s Virginia documents — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 209; Jefferson valued drafting good state constitutions over declaring independence itself — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 190 (+1 more)
• DEFINE: Distinguishes the three distinct state-level instruments — a resolution, a declaration of rights, and a constitution — as separate acts with different functions.

Broader Connections

• The Declaration’s tri-part structure came from the Virginia Constitution and rights declaration. #expands (0.95) — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 209
• Jefferson drew the draft Declaration from the prior month’s Virginia documents #expands (0.95) — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 209
• Pennsylvania’s 1776 declaration anticipated the national Declaration’s structure #contradicts (0.85) — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 184
• Jefferson valued drafting good state constitutions over declaring independence itself #qualifies (0.75) — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 190