George Mason (December 11, 1725-October 7, 1792) was an American Revolutionary statesman and delegate from Virginia to the Constitutional Convention. He was a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses, a lawyer, judge, political philosopher and planter. The richest man in Virginia, George Mason owned 15,000 acres in Virginia and 80,000 acres in the Ohio area. He was the author of the Virginia Constitution and the Virginia Bill of Rights.
Although a delegate to the Constitutional Convention, George Mason refused to sign the United States Constitution as it did not abolish slavery and did not sufficiently limit the Federal Government's power from infringing on the rights of States. He disapproved strongly of the slave trade, vehemently hated paper money and disliked the idea of a strong, centralized Federal Government, fearing it would usurp the sovereignty of the individual States.
Called the "Father of the Bill of Rights," George Mason insisted that Congress add amendments to the Constitution in order to restrict the power of the federal government. Ten were passed, which are referred to as the Bill of Rights. George Mason's influence is worldwide, as virtually all succeeding constitutions have incorporated the pattern he set forth.
George Mason initial draft of Article 16 of the Virginia Declaration of Rights stated:
<That as Religion, or the Duty which we owe to our divine and omnipotent Creator, and the Manner of discharging it, can be governed only by Reason and Conviction, not by Force or Violence; and therefore that all Men shou'd enjoy the fullest Toleration in the Exercise of Religion, according to the Dictates of Conscience, unpunished and unrestrained by the Magistrate, unless, under Colour of Religion, any Man disturb the Peace, the Happiness, or Safety of Society, or of Individuals. And that it is the mutual Duty of all, to practice Christian forbearance, Love and Charity towards Each other.> 1725GM001
With the assistance of James Madison, the final approved wording of Article 16 of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, ratified June 12, 1776, was:
<Article XVI. That Religion, or the Duty which we owe our Creator, and the Manner of discharging it, can be directed only by Reason and Convictions, not by Force or Violence; and therefore all Men are equally entitled to the free exercise of Religion, according to the Dictates of Conscience; and that it is the mutual Duty of all to practice Christian Forbearance, Love, and Charity towards each other.> 1725GM002
George Mason stated before the General Court of Virginia:
<The laws of nature are the laws of God, whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth.> 1725GM003
This phrase of Mason's was mirrored in the Declaration of Independence as
<"the laws of nature and nature's God."> 1725GM004
On August 22, 1787, George Mason stated:
<Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven upon a country. As nations cannot be rewarded or punished in the next world, they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes and effects, Providence punishes national sins, by national calamities.> 1725GM005
George Mason proposed wording for the First Amendment:
<All men have an equal, natural and unalienable right to the free exercise of religion, according to the dictates of conscience; and that no particular sect or society of Christians ought to be favored or established by law in preference to others.> 1725GM006
On Tuesday, March 9, 1773, George Mason recorded his wife's death inside their 1759 Family Bible:
<About three o'clock in the morning, died at Gunston-Hall...Mrs. Ann Mason, in the thirty-ninth year of her age; after a painful and tedious illness of more than nine months, which she bore with truly Christian Patience and resignation, in faithful hope of eternal Happiness in the world to come....
For many days before her death she had lost all hopes of recovery, and endeavour'd to wean herself from the affections of this life, saying that tho' it must cost her a hard struggle to reconcile herself to the hopes of parting with her husband and children, she hoped God would enable her to accomplish it...
An easy and agreeable companion, a kind neighbor, a steadfast friend, a humane mistress, a prudent and tender mother, a faithful, affectionate and most obliging wife; charitable to the poor and pious to her Maker, her virtue and religion were unmixed with hypocrisy or ostentation.> 1725GM007
In his Last Will and Testament, George Mason stated:
<I, George Mason, of "Gunston Hall", in the parish of Truro and county of Fairfax, being of perfect and sound mind and memory and in good health, but mindful of the uncertainty of human life and the imprudence of man's leaving his affairs to be settled upon a deathbed, do make and appoint this my last Will and Testament.
My soul, I resign into the hands of my Almighty Creator, whose tender mercies are over all His works, who hateth nothing that He hath made and to the Justice and Wisdom of whose dispensation I willing and cheerfully submit, humbly hoping from His unbounded mercy and benevolence, through the merits of my blessed Savior, a remission of my sins.> 1725GM008
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American Quotations by William J. Federer, 2024, All Rights Reserved, Permission granted to use with acknowledgement.
Endnotes:
1725GM001. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). George Mason, initial draft of Article 16 of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. The Papers of George Mason, 1725-1792, ed. Robert A. Rutland, 3 vols. (Chapel Hill, NC; University of North Carolina Press, 1970), I: 278.
1725GM002. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). George Mason, June 12, 1776, Virginia Bill of Rights, Article 16. Frances Newton Thorpe, ed., Federal and State Constitutions, Colonial Charters, and Other Organic Laws of the States, Territories, and Colonies now or heretofore forming the United States, 7 vols. (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905; 1909; St. Clair Shores, MI: Scholarly Press, 1968), Vol. VII, p. 3814. Henry Steele Commager, ed., Documents of American History, 2 vols. (NY: F.S. Crofts and Company, 1934; Appleton-Century-Crofts, Inc., 1948, 6th edition, 1958; Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 9th edition, 1973), pp. 103-104. Anson Phelps Stokes and Leo Pfeffer, Church and State in the United States (NY: Harper and Row, Publishers, 1950, revised one-volume edition, 1964), p. 42. The Annals of America, 20 vols. (Chicago, IL: Encyclopedia Britannica, 1968), Vol. 2, p. 433. Charles Fadiman, ed., The American Treasury (NY: Harper & Brothers, Publishers, 1955), p. 121. Pat Robertson, America's Dates with Destiny (Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1986), pp. 80-81. "Our Christian Heritage," Letter from Plymouth Rock (Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation), p. 3. Kate Mason Rowland, The Life of George Mason, Vol. I, p. 435.
1725GM003. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). George Mason, in an address before the General Court of Virginia. Russ Walton, Biblical Principles of Importance to Godly Christians (Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1984), p. 358.
1725GM004. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). George Mason. Russ Walton, Biblical Principles of Importance to Godly Christians (Marlborough, NH: The Plymouth Rock Foundation, 1984), p. 358.
1725GM005. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). George Mason, August 22, 1787, in addressing the Continental Congress. James Madison, Notes of Debates in the Federal Convention of 1787 (1787, reprinted NY: W.W. Norton Co., 1987), p. 504. Robert A. Rutland, ed., The Papers of George Mason, 3 vols. (Chapel Hill, NC: The University of North Carolina Press, 1970), 3:1787. Marshall Foster and Mary-Elaine Swanson, The American Covenant- The Untold Story (Roseburg, OR: Foundation for Christian Self-Government, 1981; Thousand Oaks, CA: The Mayflower Institute, 1983, 1992), p. 142. Peter Marshall and David Manuel, The Glory of America (Bloomington, MN: Garborg's Heart'N Home, Inc., 1991), 1.31.
1725GM006. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). George Mason, in his proposal for the wording of the First Amendment. Kate Mason Rowland, The Life of George Mason (New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1892), Vol. I, p. 244.
1725GM007. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). George Mason, March 9, 1773, writing in their Family Bible of his wife's death. George Mason, Eulogy on Ann Mason (Lorton, VA: Gunston Hall Plantation, inscribed in original 1759 Family Bible).
1725GM008. William J. Federer, American Quotations (2014). George Mason, in his last Will and Testament. Robert C. Mason, George Mason of Virginia- citizen, Statesman and Philosopher (New York: Oscar Aurelius Morgnor, An address Commemorative of the launching of the S.S. Gunston Hall at Alexandria, Virginia, January 1919), p. 10.