On this day 250 years ago in Williamsburg, the committee chaired by Archibald Cary presented to the Virginia Convention the Declaration of Rights drafted by George Mason. After consultation with the committee, Mason had added several additional articles to his first draft including
that all men, having sufficient evidence of a permanent common interest with, and attachment to, the community, have the right of suffrage
Although not a clear statement of a universal right to suffrage, Mason’s language would have extended the vote well past the narrow electorate entitled to vote in British America.
Source: Broadwater at 83
Also on that day 250 years ago the town meeting of Dedham, Massachusetts voted unanimously to
declare their independence of the Kingdom of Great Britain [and that] they the said inhabitants will solemnly engage with their lives and fortunes to support them in this measure.
On This Day In The Revolution 