Happy Hour: Virginia’s Role: From English Rights to American Constitutions

Today our ESU Happy Hour takes us on a journey through the pivotal events that shaped America 250 years ago, this time in the great state of Virginia, where revolutionary ideas became constitutional action. On May 15, 1776, at the Fifth Virginia Convention in Williamsburg, delegates in Philadelphia proposed to transition Virginia from a British colony into an independent commonwealth, to establish a new state government, and urged the Continental Congress to declare full national independence from Great Britain.

Their work produced the Virginia Declaration of Rights—one of the most important documents in American history. It was a landmark statement of liberty and limited government and laid out the basic rights and freedoms that all people should have and set limits on what the government could do. The Virginia Declaration of Rights also influenced other state bills of rights, the U.S. Bill of Rights, the U.S. Declaration of Independence, and France’s Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen.

Join us for a lively step back into this revolutionary moment with Professor A.E. Dick Howard, who will present “From English Rights to American Constitutions: Americans Transcribe Their Values and Aspirations in State Constitutions.” This special ESU Happy Hour is sponsored by the ESU Charlottesville, VA Branch. The program is online, free, and open to ESU members and the public. Registration is required to receive the webinar link.

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About A.E. Dick Howard

A.E. Dick Howard is the White Burkett Miller Professor of Law and Public Affairs Emeritus at the University of Virginia. He was a Rhodes Scholar at Oxford University and served as a law clerk to Justice Hugo L. Black, at the Supreme Court of the United States. He has written prolifically on a range of historical and constitutional subjects, including The Road from Runnymede: Magna Carta and Constitutionalism in America.

Active in public affairs, Professor Howard was the chief architect of the Constitution of Virginia. He has compared notes with constitution-makers in various foreign countries, including post-communist Central and Eastern Europe. Seven universities have conferred on him an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. Washington magazine has called Professor Howard “one of the most respected educators in the nation.”  In 2015, Virginia’s General Assembly named Professor Howard as that year’s “Outstanding Virginian.”

Cocktail

As we are marking the 250^th anniversary of Independence, it would be fitting to recall the imbibing preferences of Thomas Jefferson. When he was our minister to Paris, Jefferson acquired a taste for French and Italian wine. He explored the vineyards of Burgundy and Bordeaux, hoping to replicate European viniculture in America. I propose a white burgundy for the occasion.