Virginia Constitution of 1776

E120307

historical legal document state constitution

The Virginia Constitution of 1776 was the first state constitution adopted after the American colonies declared independence, establishing a republican form of government for Virginia and heavily influencing later U.S. constitutional principles.

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All labels observed (3)

Label	Occurrences
Virginia Constitution of 1776 canonical	2
1776 Constitution of Virginia	1
Constitution of Virginia (1776)	1

Statements (49)

Predicate	Object
instanceOf	historical legal document ⓘ state constitution ⓘ
adoptedBy	Virginia Convention ⓘ surface form: Virginia Convention of 1776
adoptionLocation	Williamsburg ⓘ surface form: Williamsburg, Virginia
appliesToJurisdiction	Virginia ⓘ surface form: Commonwealth of Virginia
associatedWithPerson	James Madison ⓘ Patrick Henry ⓘ Thomas Jefferson ⓘ
contains	Virginia Declaration of Rights ⓘ
context	American Revolutionary War ⓘ
country	United States of America ⓘ
createdOffice	Council of State ⓘ Governor of Virginia ⓘ
dateAdopted	1776-06-29 ⓘ
didNotAbolish	slavery in Virginia ⓘ
establishedPrinciple	frequent, certain, and regular elections ⓘ popular sovereignty ⓘ separation of powers ⓘ
executiveSelectionMethod	election by the legislature ⓘ
follows	colonial charter of Virginia ⓘ
governmentFormEstablished	republican form of government ⓘ
governorTermLength	one year ⓘ
governorTermLimit	no more than three successive terms ⓘ
historicalSignificance	first written constitution of an American state after declaring independence ⓘ model for later state bills of rights ⓘ
influenced	French Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen ⓘ Bill of Rights ⓘ surface form: United States Bill of Rights United States Constitution ⓘ other early American state constitutions ⓘ
influencedBy	English Bill of Rights ⓘ Enlightenment political philosophy ⓘ
language	English ⓘ
legalStatus	no longer in force ⓘ
legislatureType	bicameral legislature ⓘ
limitedSuffrageTo	white male property owners ⓘ
lowerHouseName	Virginia House of Delegates ⓘ surface form: House of Delegates of Virginia
partiallyRevisedBy	Constitution of Virginia ⓘ surface form: Virginia constitutional amendments of 1830
precededBy	Virginia Declaration of Rights ⓘ surface form: Virginia Declaration of Independence from Great Britain
principalAuthorOfDeclarationOfRights	George Mason ⓘ
religiousPolicy	ended establishment of the Church of England in Virginia in practice but not fully in law ⓘ
replacedInstitution	House of Burgesses ⓘ
rightsProtected	free exercise of religion ⓘ freedom of the press ⓘ prohibition of excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishments ⓘ right to bear arms for the common defense ⓘ trial by jury ⓘ
supersededBy	Constitution of Virginia ⓘ surface form: Virginia Constitution of 1830
upperHouseName	Virginia Senate ⓘ surface form: Senate of Virginia
yearAdopted	1776 ⓘ

Referenced by (4)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.

Virginia Declaration of Rights → partOf → Virginia Constitution of 1776 ⓘ

American state constitutions → earliestExamplesInclude → Virginia Constitution of 1776 ⓘ

this entity surface form: Constitution of Virginia (1776)

Constitution of Virginia → previousVersionAdopted → Virginia Constitution of 1776 ⓘ

this entity surface form: 1776 Constitution of Virginia

Attorney General of Virginia → officeCreatedBy → Virginia Constitution of 1776 ⓘ