The Massachusetts Declaration of Rights The Massachusetts Declaration of Rights
March 2, 1780
INTRODUCTION
The Preamble to the Massachusetts Constitution of 1780, like the Declaration of Independence, confirmed the “right of the people to set up what government they believe will secure their safety, prosperity, and happiness.” The provisions dealing with search and seizure, self-incrimination, confrontation of witnesses, cruel and unusual punishments, freedom of the press, the right to petition, and the affirmation that no one shall be deprived of “life, liberty, or estate, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land,” were common among all the states that adopted a Bill of Rights. Massachusetts also included specific political rights of the people: the right to no ex post facto laws, to frequent elections, to an independent judiciary, and to a strict separation of governmental powers “to the end that [the government] may be a government of laws and not of men.” As was the case in Virginia and Pennsylvania, the need for “piety, justice, moderation, temperance, industry, and frugality” was listed in the Bill of Rights.
What is distinctive about Massachusetts is that the virtue of the people was to be secured by established religion (Article III). This article declared that citizens had a right to support, financially, the establishment of Protestantism as the public religion. To be sure, no one particular sect was given preference over another; all were “equally under the protection of the law,” and the “free exercise” of religion was protected.
SOURCE: F. N. THORPE, ED., THE FEDERAL AND STATE CONSTITUTIONS, COLONIAL CHARTERS, AND OTHER ORGANIC LAWS . . . , 7 VOLS. (WASHINGTON, DC: GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE, 1909), 3:1888–93, AVAILABLE ONLINE AT HTTP://OLL.LIBERTYFUND.ORG/TITLES/THORPE-THE-FEDERAL-AND-STATE-CONSTITUTIONS-VOL-III-KENTUCKY-MASSACHUSETTS.
Preamble
The end of the institution, maintenance, and administration of government, is to secure the existence of the body politic, to protect it, and to furnish the individuals, who compose it, with the power of enjoying, in safety and tranquility, their natural rights, and the blessings of life: and whenever these great objects are not obtained, the people have a right to alter the government, and to take measures, necessary for their safety, prosperity, and happiness.
The body politic is formed by a voluntary association of individuals. It is a social compact, by which the whole people covenants with each citizen, and each citizen with the whole people, that all shall be governed by certain laws for the common good. It is the duty of the people, therefore, in framing a Constitution of Government, to provide for an equitable mode of making laws, as well as for an impartial interpretation, and a faithful execution of them; that every man may, at all times, find his security in them.
We, therefore, the people of Massachusetts, acknowledging, with grateful hearts, the goodness of the Great Legislator of the Universe, in affording us, in the course of his providence, an opportunity, deliberately and peaceably, without fraud, violence or surprise, of entering into an original, explicit, and solemn compact with each other; and of forming a new Constitution of Civil Government, for ourselves and posterity; and devoutly imploring His direction in so interesting a design, do agree upon, ordain, and establish, the following Declaration of Rights, and Frame of Government, as the Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Part the First: A Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Article I. All men are born free and equal, and have certain natural, essential, and unalienable rights; among which may be reckoned the right of enjoying and defending their lives and liberties; that of acquiring, possessing, and protecting property; in fine, that of seeking and obtaining their safety and happiness.
Article II. It is the right, as well as the duty of all men in society, publicly, and at stated seasons, to worship the Supreme Being, the great Creator and Preserver of the Universe. And no subject shall be hurt, molested, or restrained, in his person, liberty, or estate, for worshipping God, in the manner and season, most agreeable to the dictates of his own conscience; or for his religious profession or sentiments; provided he doth not disturb the public peace, or obstruct others in their religious worship.
Article III. As the happiness of a people, and the good order and preservation of civil government, essentially depend upon piety, religion, and morality; and as these cannot be generally diffused through a community, but by the institution of the public worship of God, and of public instructions in piety, religion, and morality: Therefore, to promote their happiness, and to secure the good order and preservation of their government, the people of this Commonwealth have a right to invest their Legislature with power to authorize and require, and the Legislature shall, from time to time, authorize and require, the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies politic, or religious societies, to make suitable provision at their own expense, for the institution of the public worship of God, and for the support and maintenance of public protestant teachers of piety, religion, and morality, in all cases, where such provision shall not be made voluntarily.
And the people of this Commonwealth have also a right to, and do, invest their Legislature with authority, to enjoin, upon all the subjects, an attendance upon the instructions of the public teachers aforesaid, at stated times and seasons, if there be any, on whose instructions they can conscientiously, and conveniently attend.
Provided, notwithstanding, that the several towns, parishes, precincts, and other bodies politic, or religious societies, shall, at all times, have the exclusive right of electing their public teachers, and of contracting with them, for their support and maintenance.
And all monies, paid by the subject to the support of public worship, and of the public teachers aforesaid, shall, if he require it, be uniformly applied to the support of the public teacher or teachers, of his own religious sect or denomination, provided there be any, on whose instructions he attends; otherwise it may be paid towards the support of the teacher or teachers, of the parish, or precinct, in which the said monies are raised.
And every denomination of Christians, demeaning themselves peaceably, and as good subjects of the Commonwealth, shall be equally under the protection of the law: and no subordination of any one sect or denomination, to another, shall ever be established by law.
Article IV. The people of this Commonwealth have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves, as a Free, Sovereign, and Independent State; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the United States of America, in Congress assembled.
Article V. All power residing originally in the people, and being derived from them, the several magistrates, and officers of government, vested with authority, whether legislative, executive, or judicial, are their substitutes and agents, and are at all times accountable to them.
Article VI. No man, or corporation, or association of men, have any other title, to obtain advantages, or particular and exclusive privileges, distinct from those of the community, than what arises from the consideration of services rendered to the public. And this title being in nature, neither hereditary, nor transmissible to children, or descendants, or relations by blood, the idea of a man born a magistrate, lawgiver, or judge, is absurd and unnatural.
Article VII. Government is instituted for the common good; for the protection, safety, prosperity, and happiness of the people; and not for the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men: Therefore, the people alone have an incontestable, unalienable, and indefeasible right, to institute government; and to reform, alter, or totally change the same, when their protection, safety, prosperity and happiness, require it.
Article VIII. In order to prevent those, who are vested with authority, from becoming oppressors, the people have a right, at such periods, and in such manner, as they shall establish by their frame of government, to cause their public officers to return to private life; and to fill up vacant places by certain and regular elections and appointments.
Article IX. All elections ought to be free; and all the inhabitants of this Commonwealth, having such qualifications, as they shall establish by their frame of government, have an equal right to elect officers, and to be elected, for public employments.
Article X. Each individual of the society has a right to be protected by it, in the enjoyment of his life, liberty, and property, according to standing laws. He is obliged, consequently, to contribute his share to the expense of this protection; to give his personal service, or an equivalent, when necessary. But no part of the property of any individual can, with justice, be taken from him, or applied to public uses, without his own consent, or that of the representative body of the people. In fine, the people of this Commonwealth are not controllable by any other laws, than those to which their constitutional representative body have given their consent. And whenever the public exigencies require, that the property of any individual should be appropriated to public uses, he shall receive a reasonable compensation therefore.
Article XI. Every subject of the Commonwealth ought to find a certain remedy, by having recourse to the laws, for all injuries or wrongs, which he may receive, in his person, property, or character. He ought to obtain right and justice freely, and without being obliged to purchase it; completely, and without any denial; promptly, and without delay; conformably to the laws.
XII. No subject shall be held to answer for any crimes or offense, until the same is fully and plainly, substantially and formally, described to him; or be compelled to accuse, or furnish evidence against himself. And every subject shall have a right to produce all proofs that may be favorable to him; to meet the witnesses against him, face to face; and to be fully heard in his defense, by himself, or his council, at his election. And no subject shall be arrested, imprisoned, despoiled, or deprived of his property, immunities, or privileges, put out of the protection of the law, exiled, or deprived of his life, liberty, or estate, but by the judgment of his peers, or the law of the land.
And the legislature shall not make any law, that shall subject any person to a capital or infamous punishment, excepting for the government of the army and navy, without trial by jury.
XIII. In criminal prosecutions, the verification of facts, in the vicinity where they happen, is one of the greatest securities of the life, liberty and property of the citizen.
XIV. Every subject has a right to be secure from all unreasonable searches, and seizures, of his person, his houses, his papers, and all his possessions. All warrants, therefore, are contrary to this right, if the cause or foundation of them be not previously supported by oath or affirmation, and if the order, in the warrant, to a civil officer, to make search in suspected places, or to arrest one or more suspected persons, or to seize their property, be not accompanied with a special designation of the persons or objects of search, arrest, or seizure; and no warrant ought to be issued, but in cases, and with the formalities, prescribed by the laws.
Article XV. In all controversies concerning property, and in all suits between two or more persons, except in cases in which it has heretofore been otherwise used and practiced, the parties have a right to a trial by jury; and this method of procedure shall be held sacred, unless, in causes arising on the high seas, and such as relate to mariners’ wages, the Legislature shall hereafter find it necessary to alter it.
XVI. The liberty of the press is essential to the security of freedom in a State; it ought not, therefore, to be restrained in this Commonwealth.
XVII. The people have a right to keep and to bear arms for the common defense. And as, in time of peace, armies are dangerous to liberty, they ought not to be maintained, without the consent of the Legislature; and the military power shall always be held in an exact subordination to the civil authority, and be governed by it.
XVIII. A frequent recurrence to the fundamental principles of the Constitution, and a constant adherence to those of piety, justice, moderation, temperance, industry, and frugality, are absolutely necessary, to preserve the advantages of liberty, and to maintain a free government. The people ought, consequently, to have a particular attention to all those principles, in the choice of their officers and representatives: and they have a right to require of their lawgivers and magistrates, an exact and constant observance of them, in the formation and execution of the laws, necessary for the good administration of the Commonwealth.
XIX. The people have a right, in an orderly and peaceable manner, to assemble to consult upon the common good; give instructions to their representatives; and to request of the legislative body, by the way of addresses, petitions, or remonstrances, redress of the wrongs done them, and of the grievances they suffer.
Article XX. The power of suspending the laws, or the execution of the laws, ought never to be exercised, but by the legislature or, by authority derived from it, to be exercised in such particular cases only, as the legislature shall expressly provide for.
XXI. The freedom of deliberation, speech, and debate, in either house of the legislature, is so essential to the rights of the people, that it cannot be the foundation of any accusation, or prosecution, action, or complaint, in any other court or place whatsoever.
XXII. The Legislature ought frequently to assemble, for the redress of grievances, for correcting, strengthening, and confirming the laws, and for making new laws, as the common good may require.
XXIII. No subsidy, charge, tax, impost, or duties, ought to be established, fixed, laid, or levied, under any pretext whatsoever, without the consent of the people, or their representatives in the Legislature.
XXIV. Laws made to punish for actions done before the existence of such laws, and which have not been declared crimes by preceding laws, are unjust, oppressive, and inconsistent with the fundamental principles of a free government.
XXV. No subject ought, in any case, or in any time, to be declared guilty of treason or felony by the Legislature.
XXVI. No magistrate, or court of law, shall demand excessive bail, or sureties, impose excessive fines, or inflict cruel or unusual punishments.
XXVII. In time of peace, no soldier ought to be quartered in any house, without the consent of the owner; and in time of war, such quarters ought not to be made, but by the civil magistrate, in a manner ordained by the Legislature.
XXVIII. No person can, in any case, be subjected to law martial, or to any penalties or pains, by virtue of that law, except those employed in the army or navy, and except the militia, in actual service, but by authority of the Legislature.
XXIX. It is essential to the preservation of the rights of every individual, his life, liberty, property, and character, that there be an impartial interpretation of the laws, and administration of justice. It is the right of every citizen, to be tried by judges, as free, impartial, and independent, as the lot of humanity will admit. It is, therefore, not only the best policy, but for the security of the rights of the people, and of every citizen, that the judges of the Supreme Judicial Court should hold their offices as long as they behave themselves well; and that they should have honorable salaries, ascertained and established by standing laws.
XXX. In the government of this Commonwealth, the legislative department shall never exercise the executive and judicial powers, or either of them: the executive shall never exercise the legislative and judicial powers, or either of them: the judicial shall never exercise the legislative and executive powers, or either of them: to the end, it may be a government of laws, and not of men.
Study Questions
A. How do the Massachusetts Bill of Rights and Constitution provide for religious liberty, economic liberty, and political liberty? What are the roles of the Executive and Judicial branches? How is the Constitution to be ratified?
B. How is the Massachusetts version of republicanism similar to and different from that found in the Virginia Declaration of Rights and Constitution, as well as in the earlier colonial documents (The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut and Charter of Privileges Granted to the Inhabitants of Pennsylvania and Territories)?
