Imprint Record

Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom.

• Imprint Number: 1779.017
• Title: A bill for establishing religious freedom, printed for the consideration of the people.
• Sequence Number: 17
• Year: 1779
• Place Issued: Williamsburg
• Issuing Press: Dixon & Nicolson
• Author: Virginia. General Assembly.
• Notes: Earliest known version of Jefferson's celebrated act; place and date of issue established by an editorial note in the Papers of Thomas Jefferson (II: 550). The bill was one of 126 proposed laws introduced late in the Assembly of May 1779 by a committee of revisors headed by George Wythe, then Speaker of the House of Delegates and Jefferson, then governor.
  Sheet lacks printer credit; typography consistent with the press of Dixon & Nicolson, which Jefferson employed during his gubernatorial tenure, so the attribution here.
  Evans, Swem and Sabin all date this broadside to 1785, and to the General Assembly wherein Jefferson's bill was finally debated and enacted (October 17, 1785 to January 21, 1786); as a result, those authorities also attribute this title to the press of James Hayes, then the state's public printer in Richmond; however Hayes did not begin printing in Richmond until 1781, a year after the state government removed there effective May 1780.
  
  
• Related Biographies:
  • John Dixon Sr.
  • Thomas Nicolson

This version of the Index of Virginia Printing was a gift from the estate of the site's creator, David Rawson. The content contained herein will not be updated, as it is part of the Library of Virginia's personal papers collection. For more information, please see David Rawson Index of Virginia Printing website. Accession 53067. Personal papers collection, The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Virginia .