In May 1776, the Virginia convention, meeting in Williamsburg, took three momentous steps. Its members agreed to draft a declaration of rights for Virginia, they set out to adopt a republican constitution, and they instructed Virginia’s delegates in Philadelphia to introduce a resolution for American independence. The age of rights and of constitutions was well underway.

America’s revolutionary era was one of history’s great moments. Events in America stirred intense interest throughout the Atlantic world. A new era was seen as dawning, embodying ideas of liberty and equality.

 

Citation
A. E. Dick Howard, Planting the Seeds of Liberty, Richmond Times-Dispatch (June 29, 2019).
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