VIRGINIA LAW PORTAL

• Code of Virginia
• Virginia Administrative Code
• Constitution of Virginia
• Charters
• Authorities
• Compacts
• Uncodified Acts
• RIS Users (account required)

SEARCHABLE DATABASES

• Bills & Resolutions
  session legislation
• Bill Summaries
  session summaries
• Reports to the General Assembly
  House and Senate documents
• Legislative Liaisons
  State agency contacts

ACROSS SESSIONS

• Subject Index: Since 1995
• Bills & Resolutions: Since 1994
• Summaries: Since 1994

Developed and maintained by the Division of Legislative Automated Systems.

1998 SESSION

• history | hilite | pdf | print version

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 4 Designating January 29th as Thomas Paine Day in Virginia.

Agreed to by the Senate, February 13, 1998 Agreed to by the House of Delegates, March 12, 1998

WHEREAS, Thomas Paine, a leader of the American Revolution, one of the Founding Fathers, peer of Washington, Madison, Franklin, and Jefferson, was also a brilliant political philosopher; and

WHEREAS, the author of the inflammatory Common Sense and the inspirational Crisis series, Thomas Paine also wrote treatises on slavery, the equality of women, and human rights; and

WHEREAS, Thomas Paine's The Rights of Man, a seminal work written during the French Revolution, formed the very basis for the republican form of government and was one of the most widely circulated books in America during the 1790s; and

WHEREAS, the originality of Thomas Paine's ideas, and his inimitable flair in expressing them, made him one of the most popular, most influential, and most enduring heroes of the American Revolution; and

WHEREAS, of Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin once wrote: "Others can rule, many can fight, but only Thomas Paine can write for us the English tongue"; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED by the Senate, the House of Delegates concurring, That the General Assembly hereby designate January 29th of each year as Thomas Paine Day in Virginia, in honor of Thomas Paine's indelible contributions to liberty; and, be it

RESOLVED FURTHER, That the General Assembly urge the citizens of Virginia to take note of this day, named in honor of one of the most important, most passionate, and most brilliant men in American history.