The Signers The Virginia Convention
The Virginia Convention
May 15, 1776
In Williamsburg, over a period of fifty days, from May 15 to July 4, 1776, the Fifth Virginia Convention took four forceful steps that placed Virginia in the forefront of rebellion:
- instructed its delegation at the Continental Congress to propose that the American colonies declare themselves free and independent.
- adopted George Mason's resolves—sixteen articles of freedom known as the Virginia Declaration of Rights—that would later become the model for the first ten amendments of the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights.
- wrote a constitution for Virginia's new independent government Virginia, described in the Virginia Gazette on July 5
- elected Patrick Henry the first governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia.