[woodpusher]

woodpusher quoting Virginia 1776 Constitution, adopted June 29, 1776.: "By which several acts of misrule, the government of this country, as formerly exercised under the crown of Great Britain, is TOTALLY DISSOLVED."

Part of the answer here is in the next paragraph:

"...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: "

Virginia was a member of the Continental Congress and recognized its authority.

The Continental Congress was a group of COLONIES. The King was the sovereign authority.

The State of Virginia declared the independence of the State of Virginia on JUNE 29, 1776. The State of Virginia, after JUNE 29, 1776 was a FREE, SOVEREIGN AND INDEPENDENT _______?

To what COUNTRY did the Virginia Constitution refer in JUNE 1776?

If the United States was then a country, it existed in JUNE 1776, and was made up of one free state and 12 COLONIES.

And whatever you quoted was not the next paragraph. Or the one after that. Here is my quoted paragraph, and the rest of the document. Your quote does not seem to appear in the Virginia Bill of Rights or the Virginia Constitution.

http://www.nhinet.org/ccs/docs/va-1776.htm

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 conditions 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:

These were the special delegates of Virginia to the Fifth Convention of Virginia, following a recommendation of the general Congress of Virginia, in crafting a Constitution for the people of Virginia.

[BroJoeK] But there's more to this story, which you may remember from the musical "1776"

In have not seen it and generally do not take Broadway or Hollywood as historically accurate. For example, there are many stirring examples of congressional dabate in the Spielberg movie, Lincoln. Not a word of it was taken from the verbatim records of the actual debates.

[BroJoeK] the Continental Congress requested Virginia's declaration

Cite, link, quote please.

The Journals of the Continental Congress may be found here.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifth_Virginia_Convention

The Convention sat from May 6 to July 5, 1776, meeting at the Capitol in Williamsburg. It elected Edmund Pendleton its presiding officer after his return as president of the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia. There were three parties in the Fifth Convention. The first was mainly made up of wealthy planters, who sought to continue their hold on local government as it had grown up during colonial Virginia's history. These included Robert Carter Nicholas Sr. who opposed the Declaration of Independence from King George. It dominated the convention by a malapportionment that lent an advantage to the slaveholding east. One historian maintained that this party ensured the continuation of slavery at a time when other states began gradual emancipation. It ensured the continued self-perpetuating gentry rule of county government with a franchise limited by property requirements underpinning the republican form of state government. The second party was made up of the intellectuals of the Enlightenment: lawyers, physicians and "aspiring young men". These included the older generation of George Mason, George Wythe, Edmund Pendleton, and the younger Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. The third party was a minority of young men mainly from western Virginia. This party was led by Patrick Henry and included "radicals" who had supported independence earlier than 1775.

On May 15, the Convention declared that the government of Virginia as "formerly exercised" by King George in Parliament was "totally dissolved" in light of the King's repeated injuries and his "abandoning the helm of government and declaring us out of his allegiance and protection". The Convention adopted a set of three resolutions: one calling for a declaration of rights for Virginia, one calling for the establishment of a republican constitution, and a third calling for federal relations with whichever other colonies would have them and alliances with whichever foreign countries would have them. It also instructed its delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia to declare independence. Virginia's congressional delegation was thus the only one under unconditional positive instructions to declare independence; Virginia was already independent of Parliament as the "fourth realm" of British Empire, but its convention did not want their state, in the words of Benjamin Franklin, to "hang separately." According to James Madison's correspondence for that day, Williamsburg residents marked the occasion by taking down the Union Jack from over the colonial capitol and running up a continental union flag, keeping the Union Jack of the British Empire in the canton and adding the thirteen red and white stripes of the self-governing British East India Company.

Notes of Debates in the Continental Congress, 13–15 May 1776.

[from the Diary of John Adams]

(footnotes omitted - some interesting content but subject to copyright)

[Notes of Debates in the Continental Congress, 13–15 May 1776.] 1

Mr. Duane moves that the Delegation from N. York might be read.2

When We were invited by Mass. Bay to the first Congress an Objection was made to binding ourselves by Votes of Congress.

Congress ought not to determine a Point of this Sort, about instituting Government. What is it to Congress, how Justice is administered. You have no Right to pass the Resolution—any more than Parliament has.

How does it appear that no favourable Answer is likely to be given to our Petitions? Every Account of foreign Aid, is accompanied with an Account of Commissioners.3

Why all this Haste? Why this Urging? Why this driving?—Disputes about Independence are in all the Colonies. What is this owing to, but our Indiscretion?

I shall take the Liberty of informing my Constituents that I have not been guilty of a Breach of Trust. I do protest vs. this Piece of Mechanism, this Preamble.

If the Facts in this Preamble should prove to be true, there will not be one Voice vs. Independence.

I suppose the Votes have been numbered and there is to be a Majority.4

McKean. Construes the Instructions from N. York as Mr. Sherman does, and thinks this Measure the best to produce Harmony with G. Britain. There are now 2 Governments in direct Opposition to each other. Dont doubt that foreign Mercenaries are coming to destroy Us. I do think We shall loose our Liberties, Properties and Lives too, if We do not take this Step.

S. Adams. We have been favoured with a Reading of the Instructions from N. York. I am glad of it. The first Object of that Colony is no doubt the Establishment of their Rights. Our Petitions have not been heard—yet answered with Fleets and Armies and are to be answered with Mirmidons from abroad. The Gentleman from N. York, Mr. Duane, has not objected to the Preamble, but this—he has not a Right to vote for it.5 We cant go upon stronger Reasons, than that the King has thrown us out of his Protection. Why should We support Governments under his Authority? I wonder the People have conducted so well as they have.

Mr. Wilson. Was not present in Congress when the Resolution pass’d, to which this Preamble is proposed. I was present and one of the Committee, who reported the Advice to Mass. Bay.6 N. Hampshire, Carolina and Virginia, had the same Advice, and with my hearty Concurrence.

The Claims of Parliament will meet with Resistance to the last Extremity. Those Colonies were Royal Governments. They could not subsist without some Government.

A Maxim, that all Government originates from the People. We are the Servants of the People sent here to act under a delegated Authority. If we exceed it, voluntarily, We deserve neither Excuse nor Justification.

Some have been put under Restraints by their Constituents. They cannot vote, without transgressing this Line. Suppose they should hereafter be called to an Account for it. This Province has not by any public Act, authorized us to vote upon this Question. This Province has done much and asked little from this Congress. The Assembly, largely increased, will [not]7 meet till next Monday. Will the Cause suffer much, if this Preamble is not published at this Time? If the Resolve is published without the Preamble. The Preamble contains a Reflection upon the Conduct of some People in America. It was equally irreconcileable to good Conscience Nine Months ago, to take the Oaths of Allegiance, as it is now. Two respectable Members last Febru­ary, took the Oath of Allegiance in our Assembly. Why should We expose any Gentlemen to such an invidious Reflection?

In Magna Charta, there is a Clause, which authorises the People to seize the K[ing]’s Castles, and opposes his Arms when he exceeds his duty.

In this Province if that Preamble passes there will be an immediate Dissolution of every Kind of Authority. The People will be instantly in a State of Nature. Why then precipitate this Measure. Before We are prepared to build the new House, why should We pull down the old one, and expose ourselves to all the Inclemencies of the Season.8

R. H. Lee. Most of the Arguments apply to the Resolve and not to the Preamble.

The instruction to the New York delegates stated, “to concert and determine upon such measures, as shall be judged most effectual for the preservation and reestablishment of American rights and priviledges, and for the restoration of harmony between Great Britain and the Colonies.” The New York delegates were held to this restriction until July 9, 1776.

[BroJoeK]

woodpusher: "And whatever you quoted was not the next paragraph.
Or the one after that.
Here is my quoted paragraph, and the rest of the document.
Your quote does not seem to appear in the Virginia Bill of Rights or the Virginia Constitution."

FRiend, we all make mistakes and can all sympathize when we see glaring mistakes from our "debate partners".
In this particular case, the words you claim here are not found in the "next paragraph", are in fact both quoted and highlighted by you, exactly as I said, in the next paragraph.

Like I said, we all make mistakes, so I won't rub this one by you in... too much. ;-)

woodpusher: "In have not seen it and generally do not take Broadway or Hollywood as historically accurate.
For example, there are many stirring examples of congressional dabate in the Spielberg movie, Lincoln.
Not a word of it was taken from the verbatim records of the actual debates."

In both examples, the dramatized words catch the essence of historical events.
In the case of the Lee's song, it's the fact that Congress requested a declaration from Virginia, to which Virginia responded,

"...in compliance with a recommendation of the general Congress, do ordain and declare the future form of government of Virginia "

Standard histories of the time put it this way:

"In 1775, Richard Henry Lee and John Adams began to explore how a new form of government could replace the colonial structures.
The two men were in Philadephia at the Continental Congress.
They discussed how authority could be divided among executive, legislative, and judicial branches, reducing the excessive concentration of power that made colonial governors a threat to liberty.

Lee arranged to have an anonymous handbill published that shared his ideas, while Adams published his own Thoughts on Government.
The proposals reassured reluctant revolutionaries that there would be continuity after independence, not chaos.
Colonial authority could be replaced by state authority without a massive disruption of the decision making process.
A new form of government could be established, and Virginia would not be in a "state of nature" after declaring independence from Great Britain.2

Virginia's Fifth Revolutionary Convention, meeting in the Capitol at Williamsburg between May 6-July 5, 1776, was the first in North America to write a constitution.
It defined the shape of an independent state government, one that owed no allegiance to King George III.

On May 15, 1776, the convention delegates decided in a unanimous vote to instruct Richard Henry Lee and the other Virginia delegates at the Second Continental Congress to propose that the colonies declare themselves to be independent of Great Britain.
The Fifth Revolutionary Convention also appointed a committee to draft a new form of government for the colony, and that led to adoption of Virginia's first constitution....

Jefferson prepared three drafts of a constitution for Virginia, and even proposed the Virginia delegates to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia return to Williamsburg to participate in the debate and decision process.
According to him, creating a good alternative to the royal form of government was: 'the whole object of the present controversy'. "

My point is: leadership here came from Congress and Virginians acted "in compliance" with Congress's wishes.
One historical question is whether RH Lee himself was in Virginia on May 15, 1776?
Jefferson's intentions, and, of course, the musical's lyrics, suggest he was.