George Mason

George Mason (1725-1792) was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States of America. He was an influential member of the Continental Congress, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. He was a Virginia tobacco planter who grew wealthy using slave labor.

Virginia Declaration of Rights 1776

Mason wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776; Thomas Jefferson used it as inspiration for the Declaration of Independence. The opening philosophical section is closely based on Virginia's "Declaration of Rights," a notable summary of current revolutionary philosophy, and adopted by Virginia in June 1776.^[1] Mason wrote:

That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.

Jefferson rewrote it:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

In 1788 Mason demanded that the new Constitution include a Bill of Rights; to secure adoption in Virginia James Madison agreed, and the Bil of Rights was adopted in 1791. Mason was a close friend of George Washington, but was an Antifederalist along with Patrick Henry.

A state university in Virginia George Mason University is named for him.

George Mason

Contents

Virginia Declaration of Rights 1776

Further reading

Primary sources

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