Most people think of the U.S. Constitution as the big one — the document that all states look up to and follow. Virginia’s Constitution, they assume, is just a smaller copy.
They have it exactly backward.
Virginia’s founding document came first. It shaped the Declaration of Independence. It gave James Madison the blueprint he used to write the Bill of Rights. The federal Constitution, in many ways, is Virginia’s document — expanded for a whole nation.
If you’re a Virginia Christian who cares about your rights, this history isn’t just interesting. Right now, in the 2026 legislative session, Virginia’s Constitution is being targeted in ways that could change it forever. To understand what’s at stake, you first have to understand what’s there — and how it got there.
One Man, One Summer, One Remarkable Document
In the spring of 1776, a Virginia planter sat down at his estate and wrote something the world had never seen before.
His name was George Mason. He lived at a place called Gunston Hall, just down the Potomac from George Washington. He was not a soldier or a politician by nature. He was a thinker — a man who had studied English common law, natural rights, and the idea that government exists to serve people, not the other way around.
In May 1776, as the American colonies were breaking away from Britain, Virginia needed a new plan of government. Mason sat down and wrote a Declaration of Rights — a list of the basic freedoms that no government could ever take away. He finished a draft in about two weeks. It was adopted by Virginia on June 12, 1776 — three weeks before the Declaration of Independence.
“That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights…” — Virginia Declaration of Rights, 1776
Those words look familiar, don’t they? They should. Thomas Jefferson read Mason’s draft while writing the Declaration of Independence the following month. Jefferson changed it slightly — “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness” — but the idea, and much of the language, came straight from Virginia.
A Young Man Makes His Mark
George Mason wasn’t the only one in the room that summer. Sitting nearby at the Virginia Convention was a 25-year-old delegate from Orange County named James Madison.
Mason’s draft said that Virginians were entitled to religious “toleration.” Madison stood up and quietly argued that the word was wrong. Toleration implies that the government is graciously allowing you to practice your faith. Madison said Virginians had the full and free exercise of religion as a right — not a favor from the government.
The Convention agreed. They changed the word.
That small change mattered enormously — and it would prove to be one of Madison’s most important contributions to American liberty. Thirteen years later, Madison would go to Philadelphia and help write the U.S. Constitution. Then he would draft the Bill of Rights — the first ten amendments. When he wrote the First Amendment’s guarantee of religious freedom, he used the same phrase: “free exercise.”
Virginia’s language came first. Virginia’s thinking shaped what became federal law.
“Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.” — 2 Corinthians 3:17
George Mason’s Great Refusal
Here is a fact that surprises most people: George Mason went to Philadelphia in 1787 for the Constitutional Convention — and then refused to sign the finished document.
His reason? It had no Bill of Rights.
Mason had already written one for Virginia. He spent months in Philadelphia helping draft the new federal government. But when it was finished, he looked at the document and saw that it said nothing about freedom of speech, freedom of the press, the right to a trial by jury, or protection from unreasonable searches. The federal government would have enormous power over citizens, and there was nothing in the document to stop it from abusing that power.
Mason refused to sign. He went home to Virginia and campaigned against ratification. He was one of the most prominent Anti-Federalists in the country.
He was also right. The Federalists promised that a Bill of Rights would be added after ratification. Madison kept that promise. In 1789, he introduced twelve amendments in the House of Representatives. Ten were ratified by the states in 1791 — and they became the Bill of Rights.
Almost every one of those ten amendments has a direct ancestor in Virginia’s Declaration of Rights.
Side by Side: Virginia’s Fingerprints on the Bill of Rights
Here is how closely the two documents mirror each other. Read the Virginia version first — remember, it came 15 years earlier:
Freedom of Press & Speech
Virginia (1776): “Freedom of the press is one of the greatest bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.”
Federal (1791): “Congress shall make no law… abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press.”
Protection from Unreasonable Search
Virginia (1776): “General warrants… are grievous and oppressive, and ought not to be granted.”
Federal (1791): “The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated.”
Right Against Self-Incrimination & Speedy Trial
Virginia (1776): “Nor be compelled to give evidence against himself; nor be put twice in jeopardy… [and has] the right to a speedy and public trial.”
Federal (1791): “No person shall be… compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself.” (5th Amendment); “the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial.” (6th Amendment)
Cruel and Unusual Punishment
Virginia (1776): “Excessive bail ought not to be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.”
Federal (1791): “Excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” (8th Amendment)
That last one isn’t just similar — it’s nearly word for word. The Founders weren’t trying to hide their source. They were building on what Virginia had started.
The Right to Bear Arms: Virginia Came First Here Too
The Second Amendment is one of the most debated parts of the U.S. Constitution. But Virginia’s right to bear arms predates it by 15 years — and it’s arguably clearer.
Virginia’s Article I, Section 13 reads: “That a well regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state, therefore, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
Notice the phrase “composed of the body of the people.” Virginia’s founders weren’t talking about a government-controlled National Guard. They meant ordinary citizens — you and your neighbors — armed and ready to defend their community and their liberty.
This is why, right now in 2026, Virginia’s gun bills (SB749, HB217, and the rest of the package moving through Richmond) face a double wall of protection. They must clear not just the federal Second Amendment — they must also pass muster under Virginia’s own Constitution, which has its own right-to-bear-arms guarantee that predates the federal one.
Virginia gun owners have two constitutional shields. The Democrats pushing these bills are attacking both at once.
Religious Liberty: Virginia’s Version Is Actually Stronger
Here’s where it gets especially relevant for Christians watching the current legislative session.
The First Amendment’s protection of religious freedom is 16 words long: “Congress shall make no law… prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Virginia’s religious liberty guarantee — Article I, Section 16 — is 238 words long. It is detailed, historically rich, and deeply rooted in the language James Madison helped craft in 1776.
In 2023, the Virginia Supreme Court ruled in a landmark case (Vlaming v. West Point School Board) that Virginia’s religious liberty provision gives Christians stronger protection than the federal First Amendment. The court found that Virginia law requires government to grant religious exemptions to sincere believers — unless their beliefs break out into overt acts against peace and good order. That is a higher standard of protection than federal law currently demands.
That case involved a French teacher who was fired for declining to use a transgender student’s preferred pronouns because it conflicted with his Christian beliefs about God’s design for men and women.
The Virginia Supreme Court said: the state Constitution protects him. Virginia’s founding document — written by men who understood that rights come from God, not from government — gave him a legal shield.
That same shield applies to every Christian in Virginia. And it’s one reason the current attacks on Virginia’s Constitution through the November 2026 ballot measures are so serious — we’ll cover that in Part 3.
“No free government, nor the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue; by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles…” — Virginia Constitution, Article I, Section 15
Why This History Matters Right Now
Virginia’s Constitution is not a footnote to the U.S. Constitution. In many ways, it is its parent. The men who gave Virginia its founding document — George Mason, James Madison, and others — understood that rights are not granted by governments. They are given by God and protected by constitutions.
Mason wrote it that way on purpose. He watched what happened when governments had unchecked power. He knew that freedom would only survive if it was written down, clearly, and if citizens understood what they had.
Virginia’s ideas even crossed an ocean. When French reformers were drafting their Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in 1789, Thomas Jefferson was serving as U.S. minister in Paris. He met regularly with French leaders and helped convey American rights ideas — deeply rooted in Virginia’s declaration — to the men shaping France’s revolution. Mason’s fingerprints reached from Gunston Hall to Paris.
Most Virginians today have never read their state Constitution. That is exactly what those who want to change it are counting on.
You can read the Virginia Constitution for yourself at law.lis.virginia.gov/constitution. It is shorter than you might think, and it belongs in every Christian household in Virginia.
What You Can Do Today
- Read it. Visit law.lis.virginia.gov/constitution and spend 20 minutes with Article I — the Bill of Rights. It will surprise you.
- Share this article with one person in your church who doesn’t know this history. Forward it to your Sunday School class. Knowledge is the first line of defense.
- Come back for Part 2: “Your Rights Are Actually Doubled — What Virginia’s Constitution Adds on Top of Federal Protections.”
Virginia Christian Alliance | vachristian.org | Part 1 of 3: Constitutional Education Series | February 2026
Virginia Christian Alliance equips Christians to engage the culture with biblical truth and political wisdom.
