Enlightenment · North America · Politics

1776

Virginia Declaration of Rights

June 2, 1776

George Mason drafted, and Virginia's convention adopted, a ringing declaration that all men were by nature free and independent, with inherent rights. Jefferson borrowed from it directly a month later. Every subsequent American state bill of rights - and the federal one of 1791 - would owe a debt to Mason's morning drafting in Williamsburg.

More from 1776 Enlightenment

In context

Also in 1776 (7 other events on record)

Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations · Europe · Culture
Declaration of Independence · North America · Politics
Paine's Common Sense · North America · Politics
Washington Crosses the Delaware · North America · War
Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire · Europe · Culture
Bentham's Fragment on Government · Europe · Culture

Before and after in North America

Before: June 17, 1775: Battle of Bunker Hill
After: January 2, 1777: Battle of Princeton

Before and after in Politics

Before: 1775: James Watt Partners with Matthew Boulton
After: June 14, 1777: Stars and Stripes Adopted

Era

Enlightenment (1651–1800), one of 696 events from that era on Saeculum.

Sources

Wikipedia: Virginia Declaration of Rights