The Virginia Declaration of Rights–June 12, 1776

The Virginia Declaration of Rights–June 12, 1776

Cover art for June 12, 1776: portrait of George Mason created by Dominic W. Boudet. It was an 1850 copy of a 1750 original by John Hesselius that had badly deteriorated. [https://250andcounting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/1776-06-12-Cover-1024x1024.jpg] While the Virginia Declaration of Rights wasn’t adopted until today, and Thomas Jefferson only got started on writing the Declaration of Independence yesterday, it’s known that the Virginia document was one of the few references that Jefferson had with him when he first began writing. The other one we know about for sure is the draft of the Virginia Constitution, which Jefferson himself had written. The Virginia Declaration of Rights [https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/virginia-declaration-of-rights] not only served as a big chunk of Jefferson’s inspiration for the Declaration of Independence, you can definitely see echoes of it in the US Constitution [https://www.archives.gov/founding-docs/constitution], particularly the Bill of Rights. (In fact, if you read Section 13 of the Virginia Declaration, you’ll see the heart of the more contentious language from the Constitution’s Second Amendment.) The big difference between the Virginia Declaration and the Constitution is that the Constitution is the actual law, whereas George Mason’s document is more prescriptive (e.g. thus-and-such should happen, or this ought to be the situation.) Follow the links above and do a little compare-and-contrast. You might have fun! The post The Virginia Declaration of Rights–June 12, 1776 [https://250andcounting.com/2026/06/12/the-virginia-declaration-of-rights-june-12-1776/] appeared first on 250 and Counting [https://250andcounting.com].

The Declaration Begins–June 11, 1776

Cover art for June 11, 1776: "Writing the Declaration of Independence 1776" by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, 1900. via Wikimedia Commons. [https://250andcounting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/1776-06-11-Cover-1024x1024.jpg] After temporarily tabling the Lee Resolution, which called for our independence from Great Britain, the Second Continental Congress identified its Declaration Committee. Five men were chosen to articulate why we were asking King George to go screw himself in the politest possible terms. While the Committee involved five men—John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman and Robert Livingston—most of the work fell to three of them: Jefferson, Adams and Franklin. Jefferson spent a few days working on the first draft in isolation, then Adams and Franklin began reviewing and revising his work. The Declaration Committee worked steadily for over two weeks before presenting their finished product to the Congress, though John Hancock did get to see an earlier draft. The post The Declaration Begins–June 11, 1776 [https://250andcounting.com/2026/06/11/the-declaration-begins-june-11-1776/] appeared first on 250 and Counting [https://250andcounting.com].

Who Wants To Write A Declaration?–June 10, 1776

Cover art for June 10, 1776: photo of Gordon S. Wood (1933-2026) in 2008. Photo by Earl McDonald, NARA. [https://250andcounting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/1776-06-10-Cover-1024x1024.jpg] With the Lee Resolution on hold for the time being, but still a very real thing, the Continental Congress needed to get organized with regard to how this was going to be presented and effected. As we told you a few days ago [https://250andcounting.com/2026/06/07/the-question-is-called-june-7-1776/], some delegates needed hard instructions. Others needed a little more clarity regarding the structure. Still others determined that a formal declaration was necessary. Why? You have to remember, this kind of thing had never been done before. And even though some other nations saw what was going on and were sympathetic in some way, it was still necessary for us to lay out the argument, and in such a way that the entire world could look at it and say “Well yeah, that makes sense.” (Maybe not in so many words; they probably said archaic stuff like “ye” or something, but you get the idea. Also: catch me on a slow show notes day and I’ll dive into the whole “ye” thing.) Now, you may be wondering why Lee’s proposal was presented on the 7th and only on the 10th did they decide that a Declaration Committee was necessary? I have two reasons off the top of my head. First, June 7th, 1776 was a Friday, and while they did do some business on Saturday, the whole thing needed greater consideration so it was probably tabled to the 10th. Second, remember we’ve been telling you for many months that the Second Continental Congress was a very thoughtful, deliberate body of men. They considered many, many things before making decisions, and it’s likely that they had to arrive at consensus regarding the need for a declaration at all. So in that respect it does make sense. And tomorrow, while one guy gets most of the credit, we’re going to meet all of the men responsible for the declaration. The post Who Wants To Write A Declaration?–June 10, 1776 [https://250andcounting.com/2026/06/10/who-wants-to-write-a-declaration-june-10-1776/] appeared first on 250 and Counting [https://250andcounting.com].

News From All Over–June 9, 1776

Cover art for June 9, 1776: Map of New York which the British published shortly after the Battle of Long Island. [https://250andcounting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/1776-06-09-Cover-1024x1024.jpg] It was a busy day for corresponding with George Washington on this day, as three letters to Washington were sent. Each one had a bit of information that was negative at its worst and neutral at its best. But these letters were a bit of a problem, in that information took so long to get from one place to another: by the time Washington received warning that British troops were enroute, they were thisclose to actually being there. On the other hand, both sides are equally disadvantaged by the time lag, and Washington was shrewd enough to find a way to take advantage of that, as we’ll discover. The post News From All Over–June 9, 1776 [https://250andcounting.com/2026/06/09/news-from-all-over-june-9-1776/] appeared first on 250 and Counting [https://250andcounting.com].

Finally Bailing Out Of Canada–June 8, 1776

Cover art for June 8, 1776: 1759 map of Montreal, St. Lawrence River, Richelieu River at Sorel, and Three Rivers east of Lake St. Peters. This is the Trois-Rivières area referenced in today's episode. [https://250andcounting.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/1776-06-08-Cover-1-1024x1024.jpg] As a nation, we should be able to face our failures as squarely as we crow our triumphs, and make no mistake: the invasion of, and withdrawal from Canada was a botched effort from one end to the other. Perhaps the only thing that kept it from being a bigger deal was the distraction a few weeks later of the Colonies delcaring themselves to be states independent from Great Britain. We barely had an army that had any idea of how to provision its forces, yet we sent a bunch of them to the north anyway, far from home and no easy way to get there or back. We started this invasion in a blizzard! [https://250andcounting.com/2025/12/31/the-battle-of-quebec-december-31-1775/]And, perhaps even worse, our withdrawal from Canada suddenly left us open to a potential invasion from the north by British troops. I realize that I have the benefit of 250 years of hindsight on this, but this really does feel like one of those things where people said “We have to see this through to the end, which will be glorious,” and then nearly six months later, when it all falls apart, the same people say, “Wow, it was so obvious.” (forgive me, I’m having a cynical day.) The post Finally Bailing Out Of Canada–June 8, 1776 [https://250andcounting.com/2026/06/08/finally-bailing-out-of-canada-june-8-1776/] appeared first on 250 and Counting [https://250andcounting.com].