Ordered, That leave be given to bring in an Ordinance to lay off the Colony into Districts, for the choice of Senators, and for ascertaining their wages; and that Mr. Richard Henry Lee do prepare and bring in the same.

Resolved, That the Salary of the Governour of this Commonwealth be £1,000 per annum.

The Convention proceeded, by ballot, according to the Order of the Day, to the appointment of a Governour for this Commonwealth; and the Members having prepared their tickets, and put the same into the ballot-box, Mr. Wythe, Mr. Curle, Mr. Dandridge, and Mr. Madison, were appointed a Committee to examine the same, and report upon whom the majority falls; and it appearing, from their report, that the numbers stood as follows:

Resolved, therefore, That the said Patrick Henry, Jun., Esq., be Governour of this Commonwealth, to continue in that office until the end of the succeeding session of Assembly after the last of March next; and that Mr. Mason, Mr. Henry Lee, Mr. Digges, Mr. Blair, and Mr. Dandridge, be a Committee to wait upon him, and notify such appointment.

Resolved, That the sum of £1,600 per annum be the salary of the Privy Council, to be divided among the Members in proportion to their attendance.

The Convention then proceeded, by ballot, to the appointment of the Privy Council; and the Members having prepared tickets for the persons to be appointed, and put the same into the ballot box, Mr. Wythe, Mr. Curle, Mr. Dandridge, and Mr. Madison, were appointed a Committee to examine the same, and report upon whom the majority falls; and it appearing from their report, and on the question being put, that there was a majority in favour of John Page, Dudley Digges, John Tayloe, John Blair, Benjamin Harrison of Berkeley, Bartholomew Dandridge, Thomas Nelson, and Charles Carter, of Shirley, Esquires;

Resolved, therefore, That the said John Page, Dudley Digges, John Tayloe, John Blair, Benjamin Harrison of

by them would relinquish the inestimable right of representation in the Legislature:

By dissolving legislative assemblies repeatedly and continually, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions of the rights of the people:

When dissolved, by refusing to call others for a long space of time, thereby leaving the political system without any legislative head:

By endeavouring to prevent the population of our country, and for that purpose obstructing the laws for the naturalization of foreigners:

By keeping among us, in times of peace, standing armies and ships-of-war:

By affecting to render the military independent of, and superior to, the civil power:

By combining with others to subject us to a foreign jurisdiction, giving his assent to their pretended acts of legislation:

For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:

For cutting off our trade with all parts of the world:

For imposing taxes on us without our consent:

For depriving us of the benefits of trial by jury:

For transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offences:

For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever:

By plundering our seas, ravaging our coasts, burning our towns, and destroying the lives of our people:

By inciting insurrections of our fellow-subjects with the allurements of forfeiture and confiscation:

By prompting our negroes to rise in arms against us, those very negroes whom, by an inhuman use of his negative, he hath refused us permission to exclude by law:

By endeavouring to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers the merciless Indian savages, whose known rule of warfare is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes, and conditions of existence:

By transporting, at this time, a large army of foreign mercenaries to complete the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of cruelty and perfidy unworthy the head of a civilized nation:

By answering our repeated Petitions for redress with a repetition of injuries:

And, finally, by abandoning the helm of Government, and declaring us out of his allegiance and protection.

By which several acts of misrule, the Government of this country, as formerly exercised under the Crown of Great Britain, is TOTALLY DISSOLVED.

We, therefore, the Delegates and Representatives of the good people of Virginia, having maturely considered the premises, and viewing with great concern the deplorable condition to which this once happy country must be reduced, unless some regular, adequate mode of civil polity is speedily adopted, and in compliance with a recommendation of the General Congress, do ordain and declare the future form of Government of Virginia to be as followeth:

The Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary Departments, shall be separate and distinct, so that neither exercise the powers properly belonging to the other; nor shall any person exercise the powers of more than one of them at the same time, except that the Justices of the County Courts shall be eligible to either House of Assembly.

The Legislative shall be formed of two distinct branches, who, together, shall be a complete Legislature. They shall meet once, or oftener, every year, and shall be called the GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF VIRGINIA.

One of these shall be called the HOUSE OF DELEGATES, and consist of two Representatives to be chosen for each County, and for the District of West-Augusta, annually, of such men as actually reside in and are freeholders of the same, or duly qualified according to law, and also one Delegate or Representative, to be chosen annually, for the City of Williamsburgh, and one for the Borough of Norfolk, and a Representative for each of such other Cities and Boroughs as may hereafter be allowed particular representation by the Legislature; but when any City or Borough shall so decrease as that the number of persons having right of suffrage therein shall have been for the space of seven years successively less than half the number of voters in some one County in Virginia, such City or Borough thenceforward shall cease to send a Delegate or Representative to the Assembly.

The other shall be called the SENATE, and consist of twenty-four Members, of whom thirteen shall constitute a House to proceed on business; for whose election the different Counties shall be divided into twenty-four Districts, and each County of the respective District, at the time of the election of its Delegates, shall vote for one Senator, who is actually a resident and freeholder within the District, or duly qualified according to law, and is upwards of twenty-five years of age; and the Sheriffs of each County, within five days at furthest after the last County election in the District, shall meet at some convenient place, and from the poll so taken in their respective Counties, return as a Senator the man who shall have, the greatest number of votes in the whole District. To keep up this Assembly by rotation, the Districts shall be equally divided into four classes, and numbered by lot. At the end of one year after the general election, the six Members elected by the first division shall be displaced, and the vacancies thereby occasioned, supplied from such class or division, by new election, in the manner aforesaid. This rotation shall be applied to each division, according to its number, and continued in due order annually.

The right of suffrage in the election of Members for both Houses, shall remain as exercised at present; and each House shall choose its own Speaker, appoint its own officers, settle its own rules of proceeding, and direct writs of election for supplying intermediate vacancies.

All laws shall originate in the House of Delegates, to be approved or rejected by the Senate, or to be amended with the consent of the House of Delegates, except money bills, which in no instance shall be altered by the Senate, but wholly approved or rejected.

A Governour, or Chief Magistrate, shall be chosen annually, by joint ballot of both Houses, to be taken in each House respectively, deposited in the Conference room, the boxes examined jointly by a Committee of each House, and the numbers severally reported to them, that the appointments may be entered, (which shall be the mode of taking the joint ballot of both Houses in all cases,) who shall not continue in that office longer than three years successively, nor be eligible until the expiration of four years after he shall have been out of that office. An adequate, but moderate salary, shall be settled on him during his continuance in office; and he shall, with the advice of a Council of State, exercise the Executive powers of Government according to the laws of this Commonwealth; and shall not, under any pretence, exercise any power or prerogative by virtue of any law, statute, or custom, of England. But he shall, with the advice of the Council of State, have the power of granting reprieves or pardons, except where the prosecution shall have been carried on by the House of Delegates, or the law shall otherwise particularly direct; in which cases no reprieve or pardon shall be granted but by resolve of the House of Delegates.

Either House of the General Assembly may adjourn themselves respectively. The Governour shall not prorogue or adjourn the Assembly during their sitting, nor dissolve them at any time; but he shall, if necessary, either by advice of the Council of State, or on application of a majority of the House of Delegates, call them before the time to which they stand prorogued or adjourned.

A Privy Council, or Council of State, consisting of eight Members, shall be chosen by joint ballot of both Houses of Assembly, either from their own Members or the people at large, to assist in the administration of Government. They shall annually choose out of their own Members a President, who, in case of the death, inability, or necessary absence of the Governour from the Government, shall act as Lieutenant-Governour. Four Members shall be sufficient to act, and their advice and proceedings shall be entered of record, and signed by the Members present, (to any part whereof any Member may enter his dissent,) to be laid before the General Assembly, when called for by them. This Council may appoint their own Clerk, who shall have a salary settled by law, and take an oath of secrecy in such matters as he shall be directed by the Board to conceal. A sum of money appropriated to that purpose shall be divided annually among the Members, in proportion to their attendance; and they shall be incapable, during their continuance in office, of sitting in either House of Assembly. Two Members shall be removed by joint ballot of both Houses of Assembly at the end of every three years, and be ineligible for the three next years. These vacancies, as well as those occasioned by death or incapacity, shall be supplied by new elections in the same manner.

The Delegates for Virginia to the Continental Congress shall be chosen annually, or superseded in the mean time by joint ballot of both Houses of Assembly.

The present Militia officers shall be continued, and vacancies supplied by appointment of the Governour, with the advice of the Privy Council, or recommendations from the respective County Courts; but the Governour and Council shall have a power of suspending any officer, and ordering a Court-Martial on complaint of misbehaviour or inability, or to supply vacancies of officers happening when in actual service. The Governour may imbody the Militia, with the advice of the Privy Council; and, when imbodied, shall alone have the direction of the Militia under the laws of the country.