The Origins of a Free Press in Prerevolutionary ... - Web Publishing

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both Richard Henry Lee’s and John Adams’ ideas for a new government before
either the rights declaration or the new constitution were drafted. While both these
other works envision a balance of power between governmental branches, neither
envisioned a free press as a part of that balance and neither included any sort of bill
of rights. 88 Thomas Jefferson did include protection of rights in his draft
constitution, writing that “Printing presses shall be free, except so far as by
commission of private injury cause may be given of private action.” 89 However,
there is no evidence that Mason or any other committee member was able to read
Jefferson’s ideas until after the Declaration of Rights had been presented to the
entire convention. Mason completed the first draft of the Virginia Declaration of
Rights sometime before May 27. 90
While the committee—and later the full convention—modified it, this
important document remained primarily Mason’s creation. Even the biographer of
James Madison, the author of the Bill of Rights, acknowledged Mason’s
accomplishment: “There is nothing more remarkable in the political annals of
America than this paper. It has stood the rude test of every vicissitude.” 91 It was a
watershed point in government, where the rights of individuals were seen as the
home, Gunston Hall Plantation, suggested what books might be likely to have been on Mason’s
bookshelf in an unpublished list in 2000.
88 Richard Henry Lee, Government Scheme (Philadelphia: ?, [April 10], 1776), reprinted in
Virginia Gazette (Purdie, May 10, 1776), 4. John Adams, Thoughts on Government: Applicable to
the Present State of the American Colonies. In a Letter from a Gentleman to his Friend. (Philadelphia:
John Dunlap, [April 10], 1776).
89 Jefferson, “Fundamental Constitutions of Virginia,” third draft, [before June 13, 1776],
Papers of Thomas Jefferson, 1760-1776, 1: 356-364.
90 Thomas Jefferson’s draft constitution was not seen by the committee until after the
Declaration of Rights had been written, and the constitution drafted. Some of his ideas were added
to the constitution. See Tarter, Revolutionary Virginia, 7:1:9-13, and Boyd, Papers of Thomas
Jefferson, 1:364-365.
91 William C. Rives, History of the Life and Times of James Madison, reprint (Freeport, NY:
Books for Libraries Press, 1970), 1:137. Madison did edit and strengthen Mason’s clause on
religious freedom.