That monument was, and is, the Virginia Bill of Rights. On June 12th, 1776, the Virginia Declaration of Rights, written by home-state hero George Mason, was officially adopted by the Virginia Convention of Delegates. It was the first time in human history that individual rights were granted constitutional protection.
George Mason+óGé¼Gäós document clearly influenced Thomas Jefferson+óGé¼Gäós drafting of the Declaration of Independence one month later. After all, Article I reads "all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights of which...they cannot+óGé¼-ªdivest+óGé¼-ªnamely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety." Sound familiar?
The Virginia Declaration of Rights served as the model for the U.S. Bill of Rights, adopted 13 years later. In fact, without Mason+óGé¼Gäós creation, and his stubborn insistence that the U.S. Constitution not be ratified without such a document, we might not have a Bill of Rights today. Can you imagine what America might look like today had Mason not prevailed? (Like Abu Ghraib prison, perhaps?)
230 years later in Virginia, we still use Mason+óGé¼Gäós Bill of Rights as a living document, sometimes amended, but never threatened +óGé¼GÇ£ until now. This November, Virginians get to vote on whether to turn Mason+óGé¼Gäós testament to freedom into something else entirely +óGé¼GÇ£ a document that restricts our freedoms.
In the interest of eliminating any possibility of gay unions in Virginia, the Republican state legislature has approved a referendum to amend the Virginia Bill of Rights to restrict the ability of unmarried individuals to enter into contracts that intend +óGé¼+ôto approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effects of marriage.+óGé¼-¥ Who knows how far this language could be stretched to limit the rights of unmarried individuals, of whatever gender?
Many Virginians may ignore this referendum, thinking it has nothing to do with them. But this amendment is not +óGé¼+ôjust about gays+óGé¼-¥ any more than the fight against Hitler was +óGé¼+ôjust about Jews+óGé¼-¥ or the abolition of slavery was +óGé¼+ôjust about blacks.+óGé¼-¥ We are talking here about our legacy of freedom, the legacy that so many people from so many generations have given their lives to preserve. George Mason+óGé¼Gäós gift to the world is not secure today, and the truth is, it never was and never will be unless we serve as its permanent guardians.
As that other great Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, once said, +óGé¼+ôThe price of freedom is eternal vigilance.+óGé¼-¥ Guess what, my fellow Virginians? It+óGé¼Gäós time to be vigilant again.
Yes, the overall function was somewhat different, being in general more protective of parliament. But absent the existence of this document, on what basis would the colonists' complaints of being denied the rights of Englishment had had any merit.
For what it is worth, note the following partial list of rights from the 1689 document:
* an independent judiciary (the Sovereign was forbidden to establish his own courts or to act as a judge himself),
* freedom from taxation by royal (executive) prerogative, without agreement by Parliament (legislators),
* freedom from a peace-time standing army,
* freedom [for Protestants] to bear arms for self-defence,
* freedom to elect members of Parliament without interference from the Sovereign,
* freedom of speech in Parliament,
* freedom from cruel and unusual punishments and excessive bail,
* freedom from fines and forfeitures without trial.
The last two are clear examples of items that reappear in American documents in the 18th Century.
I am an admirer of Mason, but your diary makes it seem as if he were writing in a vacuum. He was not. Things like the British Bill of Rights, Loceks two treatises, and other things (including of course the Magana Carta and the Peitition of Right) were part of the background underlying all such thinking, as was the work of some continental enlightenment figures.
I recognize that Mason drew from the British Bill of Rights, but what the Brits had was a law, that like any piece of legislation, can be changed or repealed without a whole lot of fuss (technically speaking). The Virginia Bill of Rights was the first time that these protections were incorporated into a constitution, which is by design not so easily changeable.
The Virginia Bill of Rights was a historical landmark that Virginians should not only honor, but protect. The referendum on the ballot this November is aimed at distorting this document into the opposite of what it was intended to be, a guarantee of our fundamental freedoms.