Section 12. That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic governments.
Section 13. That a well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defence of a free State; that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided, as dangerous to liberty; and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.
Section 14. That the people have a right to uniform government; and, therefore, that no government separate from, or independent of the government of Virginia, ought to be erected or established within the limits thereof.
Section 15. That no free government, or the blessings of liberty, can be preserved to any people, but by a firm adherence to justice, moderation, temperance, frugality, and virtue, and by frequent recurrence to fundamental principles.
Section 16. That religion, or the duty which we owe to our Creator, and the manner of discharging it, can be directed only by reason and conviction, not by force or violence; and therefore all men are equally entitled to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that it is the mutual duty of all to practise Christian forbearance, love and charity towards each other.
[The failure of historians to give due credit to this bill of rights is remarkable. I call attention to two illustrations.
(1) Cushing's Transition from Provincial to Commonwealth Government in Massachusetts (Columbia University Studies, VII, 1896) states incorrectly (p. 246, note 1) that the constitution of Virginia contained no preamble (cf. No. 137 below): and, on page 247 and notes, it quotes precedents from the Maryland bill of rights instead of from the Virginia document from which the Maryland statement was taken; while page 248, in referring to "others [than Massachusetts that] realized keenly the vital importance of a clear and abiding statement of the immunities and privileges of man in civil society," adds the note: "A Declaration of Rights was adopted by Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire (1784), North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Virginia" (!) The order of statement is ingeniously misleading. All the others named drew mainly from the one named last.
(2) Merriam's History of American Political Theories (1902) contains several such misleading statements. On page 49, to illustrate the fact that some State constitutions (as well as the Declaration of Independence) asserted the doctrine of "inalienable rights," including "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," reference is made in detail to the New Hampshire bill of rights (eight years later than the Declaration), but not at all to the Virginia bill of rights, which preceded the Continental Declaration. So, too, especially on page 153, a footnote is inserted expressly to show how the idea of "frequent recurrence to fundamental principles" was often expressed in Revolutionary State constitutions, as follows: "Massachusetts (1780), Art. 18; Pennsylvania (1776), Art. 14; New Hampshire, Art. 38; North Carolina, Art. 21; Vermont, Art. 16." Would it not have been well to recognize in such a list the State in whose constitution the phrase was first used?]