ment of life and liberty, with the means
of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining
happiness and safety.

II. That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the
People; that magistrates are their trustees and servants, and at all
times amenable to them.

III. That Government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common
benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation or
community;--of all the various modes and forms of government, that is
best which is capable of producing the greatest degree of happiness
and safety, and is most effectually secured against the danger of
maladministration;--and that, whenever any Government shall be found
inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community
hath an indubitable, unalienable, and indefeasible right to reform,
alter or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive
to the public weal.[34]

[34] Rutland, Mason, I, 287-289.

In 16 articles the Declaration goes on to: prohibit hereditary offices;
separate the legislative, executive, and judicial branches; assure that
elections shall be free; prevent suspending law or executing laws without
consent of the representatives of the people; guarantee due process in
criminal prosecutions; prevent excessive bail and cruel and unusual
punishments; eliminate general warrants for search and seizure; provide
jury trials in property disputes; assert "that the freedom of the press
is one of the great bulwarks of liberty and can never be restrained but
by despotic governments"; provide for a well-regulated militia and warn
against standing armies in peacetime; declare that no government can
exist within the state independent of the government of Virginia; and
grant to all men equally "the free exercise of religion, according to the
dictates of conscience." (While this article granted free expression of
religion, it did not end the establishment of the former Church of
England as the official state church in Virginia. Full separation of
church and state did not occur until the General Assembly passed
Jefferson's famous Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786.)

The most intriguing article is XV, which is not a declaration of a right
as much as it is a reminder that citizens who do not exercise their
rights soon lose them.

XV. That no free government, or the blessing of Liberty, can be
pres