Speaker Series: The Virginia Declaration of Rights at 250

 The Virginia Declaration of Rights at 250

The Virginia Declaration of Rights, adopted unanimously by Virginia’s Fifth Convention on June 12, 1776, is a seminal, post-colonial state paper affirming republican principles, limited government, and humankind’s natural rights. It is arguably the most imitated of America’s founding documents. Indeed, it is one of the most influential texts in the American constitutional tradition. Often described as the first modern declaration or bill of rights in America, it is a distillation of the great principles of liberty and constitutionalism that revolutionary Americans believed were derived from English traditions and, more generally, western culture. The Virginia Declaration informed not only core principles of the US Declaration of Independence (1776) but also the language and content of numerous subsequent bills of rights in the respective states and nation. It also made profound innovations to the way Americans viewed religious liberty.

About the Speaker:

Daniel L. Dreisbach is a professor in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, DC. He earned a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Oxford University, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar, and a Juris Doctor degree from the University of Virginia. His research interests include the intersection of religion, politics, and law in American history. He has authored or edited eleven books, including Reading the Bible with the Founding Fathers (Oxford University Press, 2017) and Thomas Jefferson and the Wall of Separation between Church and State (New York University Press, 2002). He has published numerous book chapters, reviews, and articles in scholarly journals, including American Journal of Legal History, Constitutional Commentary, Journal of Church and State, Politics and Religion, and William and Mary Quarterly. Professor Dreisbach is a past recipient of American University’s highest faculty award for teaching and research.