VA, USA
Virginia Adopts New State Constitution
June 29, 1776
The Virginia Convention in Williamsburg adopted the new state constitution on June 29, 1776, making Virginia one of the first colonies to formally establish an independent state government. The constitution created a bicameral legislature, a weak executive, and an independent judiciary.
Patrick Henry was elected the first governor under the new constitution. The document reflected the revolutionary generation's deep distrust of concentrated executive power — a reaction to their experience with royal governors. Virginia's constitution, along with Mason's Declaration of Rights, became a template that other states studied as they drafted their own governing documents.
People Involved
Virginia's most electrifying revolutionary orator, whose speeches in the House of Burgesses against the Stamp Act and later cry of "Give me liberty, or give me death" helped galvanize colonial resistance. He served as the first and sixth governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
Author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776, a document that influenced both the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights. Mason was a reluctant public figure whose political philosophy shaped the nation's founding documents more than most Americans realize.