We have just observed, with little fanfare, the 238th anniversary of the approval of the United States Constitution, which took place on Sept. 17, 1787.
The Constitution, which public officials and military personnel swear to protect, was written to correct weaknesses in the nation’s original organizing document, the Articles of Confederation. It laid out the division of government into legislative, executive and judicial branches, and established the checks and balances which have served our nation well over the centuries.
One of its foundational documents was the Virginia Declaration of Rights, adopted June 12, 1776 at the Fifth Virginia Convention in Williamsburg, just before delegates from all the colonies gathered in Philadelphia to create and proclaim the Declaration of Independence.
We print this Declaration of Rights, edited lightly for space, to make our readers more familiar with one of the most important founding documents of our nation. George Mason was its principal author...