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George Mason (December 11, 1725 [O.S. November 30, 1725] – October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician, Founding Father, and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787, where he was one of three delegates who refused to sign the Constitution.
George Mason was an American patriot and statesman who insisted on the protection of individual liberties in the composition of both the Virginia and the U.S. Constitution (1776, 1787). He was ahead of his time in opposing slavery and in rejecting the constitutional compromise that perpetuated it.
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
Learn about George Mason, a prominent planter, lawyer, and politician in colonial Virginia. He was a close friend of Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, and a key figure in the Revolution and the Constitution.
Apr 30, 2000 · Learn how George Mason, a Virginian delegate to the Constitutional Convention, refused to sign the Constitution because it lacked a bill of rights. Discover how his Declaration of Rights influenced James Madison and the U.S. Bill of Rights.
- First Bill of Rights. If there is one thing that you should know George Mason for it is that he wrote the first modern bill of rights. Virginia’s Declaration of Rights was penned by Mason and delivered to the Fifth Virginia Convention on May 27, 1776.
- Early proponent of Virginia’s Wine Country. As early as 1759, Mason would invest in a plan to establish a wine industry in Virginia. Writing to encourage other prominent Virginians, Mason would buy shares into Maurice Pound’s plan to plant vines, purchase equipment, and make wine.
- Not Anti-Constitutional. Mason may be famous for refusing to sign the Constitution, declaring that he would “sooner chop off his right hand” than sign it.
- Eyes to the West. The position held and the cause he fought for longest in his life was the settlement of western lands. The Ohio Company was created with the goal to settle westward and Mason was admitted as a partner in June of 1749.
Apr 23, 2018 · George Mason was an important, albeit reluctant, Founding Father. He was held in the highest esteem by many of the most important Founders and his contributions forced the creation of the Bill of Rights. However, he left the Constitutional Convention without signing the famous document. Revolutionary Virginian.
Mason is sometimes referred to as the "Forgotten Founder," largely ignored by history books and often uncredited for originating many of the core concepts and much of the language later incorporated in both the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights.
