The act provided an initial constitution for Victoria, which included a bicameral parliament and a Lieutenant-Governor as its vice-regal representative.

[3] The act received criticism in Australia for its perceived inadequacies, spearheaded in the New South Wales Legislative Council by the statesman William Wentworth.

[4] Earl Grey, the British Secretary of State for War from 1846 to 1852, helped the passage of the bill through Parliament, as he wished to promote free trade and federal system of government in the colonies.

The "Declaration and Remonstrance" declared, among other things, that "the Imperial Parliament has not, nor of right ought to have any power to tax the people of this Colony", and that "plenary powers of legislation should be conferred upon and exercised by the Colonial Legislature ... [and] no bills should be reserved" for the Imperial Parliament unless they affected the Empire.

Sir Henry Parkes later wrote of Wentworth that "His Declaration and Remonstrance is so important as one of the foundation-stones of the fabric of our constitutional liberties.