The Constitution of the Commonwealth of Virginia, more commonly known as the Virginia Constitution, was formally adopted on this day in 1776, after months of work.

Most of the credit for its overall structure goes to James Madison and George Mason, both of whom also worked on the US Constitution in later years. And like any good living document, it’s been through several large-scale amendments, in 1830, 1851, 1864, 1870, 1902 and 1971. Nearly all of these were in response to periods of major regional or social upheaval in Virginia. (Gee…I wonder what happened in 1864 that necessitated a Constitutional Convention?) In between, there have been minor amendments to ensure that the Virginia Constitution conforms to changes in Federal law. For instance, an amendment was passed in 2006 defining marriage as being a union “between one man and one woman” (because they didn’t learn anything from the Loving v. Virginia decision?)but was subsequently overturned by Obergefell v. Hodges in 2015.

The Virginia Constitution is still subject to criticism that the legislature may still be too powerful, but it’s actually easier to amend the document through citizen votes than through a Constitutional Convention. Go figure.

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