1776 · Charters, declarations and treaties
Virginia Declaration of Rights
Virginia (United States)
A declaration drafted by George Mason that lists the rights of the people of Virginia: that all power comes from the people, and that they have rights to life, liberty, a fair trial and a free press.
Why it matters
It was the first of the American state bills of rights, and a direct model for the federal Bill of Rights and, through it, for later declarations of rights.
Built on
Went on to shape
1776
United States Declaration of Independence
United States
its opening echoes the language of rights in Mason's draft
1789
Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen
France
echoes the rights listed in the Virginia declaration
1791
United States Bill of Rights
United States
drew directly on Mason's declaration and the other state bills of rights
Counting texts that borrowed from the texts that borrowed from this one, 49 later texts on this timeline trace back to it.
Countries in the Legal Families Atlas
TheLawToKnow Tools’s timeline lists links of influence only where the borrowing is widely documented. Historians sometimes disagree about how much one text shaped another. It is an educational overview, not legal advice.
