George Mason of Gunston Hall
(1725 - 1792)
By R. Carter Pittman
THERE is nothing so rare as a truly great man. He never thinks himself one. If he should, he would lack an essential element of magnanimity. They do not leave diaries, memoirs, autobiographies or carefully worded inscriptions for their tombs. Like Samson, they baffle the world and pass on seeming to say: “Behold, I have not told it my father nor my mother, and shall I tell it thee?”
Such a one was the author of the
Virginia Bill of Rights
and Constitution of
1776, the father of the American
Bill of Rights proposed
in 1789 and adopted
in 1791, and grandfather of every other Bill of Rights that has been adopted
in the world since that day. That the world’s grand champion of human liberty
and dignity should now be America’s most forgotten man, is as he would have it.
Of all of the great master pieces of history that flowed from his pen, his
only expression of pride of authorship is to be found in a letter addressed to
his cousin and childhood playmate and bedfellow, then in
England.(1) His reference to the
Virginia Bill of Rights in that letter would not have been written had he ever
dreamed it might be published, even as it was, 100 years after after his death.
Language has its limits. Some of the contemporaries of George Mason of
(1725-1792) grasped for the outer limits as they strived to describe him.
James Madison said of him:
George Mason possessed the greatest talents for debate of any man I have
ever seen or heard speak.(2)
Patrick Henry pronounced him and one other “the greatest statesmen I ever
The great historic characters of two worlds for a half century seemed to lay
in panorama before the discriminating mind of Thomas Jefferson, as he stood on
a pinnacle late in life. As George Washington crowded his memory, Jefferson
took his measure:
His mind was great and powerful, without being of the very first
As if by studied contrast, George Mason was,
one, most steadfast, able and zealous; who was himself a host. This was
George Mason, a man of the first order of wisdom among those who acted on the
theatre of the revolution, of expansive mind, profound judgment, cogent in
argument, learned in the lore of our former constitution, and earnest for the
republican change on democratic
Upon first conversing with George Mason, Philip Mazzei, the Florentine
physician, world traveler, and close friend of Jefferson, saw in him one of
the wonders of the world. Thirty-five years after the event he related in his
Memoirs the impression made upon him by George Mason in 1773, when he
had exclaimed to his friend, Thomas Adams:
His is one of those strong, very rare intellects, which are created only by
a special effort of nature, like that of a Dante, a Machiavelli, a Galilee,
a Newton . . . and so forth;(6)
In historic evalutations, as in religion, panegyric is vain and empty.
Actions speak louder than words. Emulation rather than rhetorical evaluation
by men of wisdom and virtue is the better test. By that rule let George
Mason be judged.
Before the Revolution George Washington called upon Mason to draw every
important state paper that ever bulged from his pockets. Mason’s
of July 1774, by way of Washington’s pockets, became the
Resolves of August. By way of other pockets they became the
of the Continental Congress on October 14th, and
of October 20, 1774.
As to the latter, one of those rare historians, willing to follow facts
wherever they lead and without respect to persons, said:
Much alike as many such papers of the time were, it is impossible to read
these two together without being convinced that the committee which framed
the Association at Philadelphia had a copy of the Fairfax instructions
George Mason went to Williamsburg in May, 1776 with something in his pocket
that revolutionized a world. His Virginia Bill of Rights was to become the
most influential constitutional document ever penned by man. Nothin in all
the annals of history had ever approached its simple delineation of the
inherent rights of men. In that document man stood forth in dignity and
freedom as the natural master of his own government, and his own destiny.
It separated the powers of government and struck the hand of executive and
legislative powers from the courts of justice, so as to set them free, that
there might be impartial justice under standing laws. For the first time in
all history the press found its freedom elevated to constitutional status
in a document that formed the basis and foundation of government. Scores of
other fox holes of liberty were reconstructed by Mason’s fabulous mind from
the bitter struggles of man to achieve liberty and dignity in all ages, and
were framed into a governmental structure by his pen for the first time,
thence to re-echo forever down the corridors of time.
As formally adopted on June 12, 1776, Mason’s Declaration of Rights was as
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.
That all Power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the People;
that Magistrates are their Trustees and Servants, and at all Times amenable
That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common Benefit,
Protection, and Security, of the People, Nation, or Community; of all the
various Modes and Forms of Government that is best, which is capable of
producing the greatest Degree of Happiness and Safety, and is most
effectually secured against the Danger of Maladministration; and that,
whenever any Government shall be found inadequate or contrary to those
Purposes, a Majority of the Community hath an indubitable, unalienable,
and indefeasible Right, to reform, alter, or abolish it, in such Manner
as shall be judged conducive to the public weal.
That no Man, or Set of Men, are entitled to exclusive or separate
Emoluments or Privileges from the Community, but in Consideration of
public Services; which, not being descendible, neither ought the
Offices of Magistrate, Legislator, or Judge, to be hereditary.
That the legislative and executive Powers of the State should be separate
and distinct from the Judicative; and, that the Members of the two first
may be restrained from Oppression, by feeling and participating the
Burthens of the People, they should at fixed Periods, be reduced to a
private Station, return into that Body from which they were originally
taken, and the Vacancies be supplied by frequent, certain, and regular
Elections, in which all, or any Part of the former Members, to be again
eligible, or ineligible, as the Laws shall direct.
That Elections of Members to serve as Representatives of the People, in
Assembly, ought to be free; and that all Men, having sufficient evidence
of permanent common Interest with, and Attachment to, the Community,
have the Right of Suffrage, and cannot be taxed or deprived of their
Property for public uses without their own Consent or that of their
Representatives so elected, nor bound by any Law to which they have not,
in like Manner, assented, for the public Good.
That all Power of Suspending Laws, or the Execution of Laws, by any
Authority without Consent of the Representatives of the People, is
injurious to their Rights, and ought not to be exercised.
That in all capital or criminal Prosecutions a Man hath a Right to
demand the Cause and Nature of his Accusation, to be confronted with
the Accusers and Witnesses, to call for Evidence in his Favour, and
to a speedy Trial by an impartial Jury of his Vicinage, without whose
unanimous Consent he cannot be found guilty, nor can he be compelled
to give Evidence against himself; that no Man be deprived of his
Liberty except by the Law of the Land, or the Judgment of his Peers.
That excessive Bail ought not to be required, nor excessive Fines
imposed; nor cruel and unusual Punishments inflicted.
That general Warrants, whereby any Officer or Messenger may be
commanded to search suspected Places without evidence of a Fact
committed, or to seize any Person or Persons not named, or whose
Offense is not particularly described and supported by Evidence,
are grievous and oppressive, and ought not to be granted.
That in Controversies respecting Property, and in Suits between Man
and Man, the ancient Trial by Jury is preferable to any other, and
ought to be held sacred.
That the Freedom of the Press is one of the greatest Bulwarks of
Liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotic Governments.
That a well regulated Militia, composed of the Body of the People,
trained to Arms, is the proper, natural, and safe Defence of a free
State; that standing Armies, in Time of Peace, should be avoided, as
dangerous to Liberty; and that, in all Cases, the Military should be
under strict Subordination to, and governed by, the civil Power.
That the People have a Right to uniform Government; and therefore,
that no Government separate from, or independent of, the Government
of Virginia, ought to erected or established within the Limits
That no free Government, or the Blessing of Liberty, can be
preserved to any People but by a firm Adherence to Justice,
Moderation, Temperance, Frugality, and Virtue, and by frequent
Recurrence to fundamental Principles.
That Religion, or the Duty which we owe to our Creator and the
Manner of discharging it, can be directed by Reason and Conviction,
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.
original draft had been published in the Virginia Gazette
of June 1, 1776. It was picked up and reprinted all over America and
beyond the seas. Philadelphia newspapers carried it on June
6th, 8th and 12th.
Jefferson was there, tediously writing and re-writing his
of Independence. He had found it easy enough to catalogue the sins of
George III and call him what he was. Indeed, Judge William Henry
Drayton of Charleston, South Carolina, had already done that for him
in his preamble to
provisional constitution of March 26th, 1776, and in his
to a grand jury
at Charleston on April 23rd 1776. Jefferson
had a circular containing that charge in his right coat pocket, when
making his first drafts.(7a)
But a declaration designed to electrify the world needed a powerful
preamble justifying that awful step with an appeal to the hearts, the
reason and sense of justice of all men. Jefferson eventually found the
answer to his problem in the news from Virginia. His left coat pocket
immediately became his library. “All men are born equally free“
became “All men are created equal.“ Man’s “unalienable right“ became
“unalienable rights.“ “The enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means
of possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety“
became the enjoyment of “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.“
On Jefferson went, plating gold with sounding brass. He knew, of course,
that all men are not “created equal.“ He knew also that without “the
means of acquiring and possessing property“ there can be no “liberty“
and the “pursuit of happiness“ is a dry-run, but what of it? He was
talking to the simple-minded peasants and philosophers of Europe, as
well as Anglo-Saxons with centuries of political experience and the
common sense lessons learned therefrom. A prime purpose of the
Declaration was to enlist the aid of the French and other peoples whose
chief characteristic, born of bondage, was that they could feel
better than they could think.*
After Virginia’s clean break and after the Declaration of Independence,
many colonies promptly assumed statehood and adopted Bills of Rights.
One by one and two by two’s they too copied the Virginia Bill of Rights
and Constitution as well. Benjamin Franklin was not as subtle as
Jefferson. He made a few slight changes and a few additions and the
Virginia Bill of Rights became the
Bill of Rights. If it was good enough for Pennsylvania it was good enough for
so too. When John Adams came to write the
Bill of Rights, the only thing he
couldn’t swallow was George Mason’s freedom of religion. His grandson
and biographer, Charles Francis Adams, says that his grandfather
copied four paragraphs from Mason’s Virginia Bill of
Rights.(8) He was eminently
correct. If he had looked a little closer he could have found at least
fifteen other provisions copied from the same paper. If it was good
enough for Massachusetts, it was good enough for
except even New Hampshire
rejected Adams’s religious feudalism and took Mason’s religious freedom.
France came next with its
Declaration of Rights
of 1789. It too
recorded many maxims of the man of Gunston Hall. But it was too rich
for the blood of a people habituated to slavery, and hence was swept
away in 1792 by the French Revolution, to be restored 154 years later
After trying out nearly every philosophy of government known to man
and falling from grandeur to pathetic grief, let us hope that poor
France may fight her way back with virtue and wisdom to keep and live
by the maxims of the man of Gunston Hall.
When George Mason rode into Williamsburg in May 1776, with his
Declaration of Rights and the outlines of his constitution, in his
pocket, the strange enthusiasm of revolution inspired and supported
the minds of men. Insurgent shocks sharpen mental faculties and
moral responsibilities. Carter Braxton, Meriwether Smith, Thomas
Jefferson, Patrick Henry and others took or sent their drafts of
constitutions to the rebel meeting, but as Edmund Randolph tersely
commented in his Manuscript History of Virginia, they
discovered the ardor of political notice, rather than ripeness in
political wisdom. That by George Mason swallowed up all the rest.
In all sanguinary struggles against despotism and the abuse of power,
those oppressed by despotic governments are the underdogs. At the
very threshold the leaders find themselves between cataclysms and
catacombs. Anxiety for self-preservation, “the first law of nature,“
renders men attentive at such times to the wisest men in their
counsils. Every ear listened to the wisest man of his generation.
Every mind assented.
But the fruits of victory, bought with blood, tend to vanish in
The struggle against power and for freedom had been water of the
dam five years before the
of 1787. The
struggle for power over liberty was on. George Mason was not a man
to put on and then shed his principles “like some shabby old coat
at the door.“ The same libertarian rode into Philadelphia in May
1787 that rode into Williamsburg in May 1776. He was in the
Convention every hour of every session. During recesses he was
tugging at the coat tails of committeemen. To one of his children
For my own part, I never felt myself in such a situation; and
declare I would not, upon pecuniary motives, serve in this
convention for a thousand pounds a day.
Others were only interested in the concentration of powers in a
super government. Mason and a precious few were determined to
preserve the integrity of the states and the liberty and dignity
of men. He and that fast diminishing few slipped out of their
roomslate of nights and held “secret meetings“ to devise means to
stem the onrushing tide of power.(10)
Mason knew that necessary powers must be given, but he was
unwilling to vest unnecessary and dangerous powers in a super
government. He knew that the only price of increaded powers is
decreased liberties. He knew that rulers are prone to oppress,
and that the lust for power is never satisfied except when the
Godess of Liberty is being ravished.
That which Mason could not accomplish to define and limit powers,
by a frontal assault, he sought to achieve by flanking movements.
Since the legislative makes, the executive executes and the
judicial judges the law, he labored to define and limit the powers
of the legislative, because to do so would ipso facto
define and limit executive and judicial powers. Definition of
legislative power is easier than the limitation of it. No
limitation was ever inserted into the Constitution until the
Convention was almost over. Before September 12, 1787, Mason was
able to get the Committee of Style to insert the words “herein
granted“ into Article I of the
so that the Congress should be expressly limited to the powers defined in the
Constitution. A jarring blow for freedom had been struck
unnoticed. Mason laid low until his two precious words were passed
over by the Committee of the Whole on the morning of September
With the Congress limited now for the first time he
proposed his Bill of Rights on the afternoon of September
Of what possible value would a Bill of Rights be, tacked on to a
Constitution without limitation of powers?
Mason’s new proposal struck like lightning. Little minds were
amazed. Power was now limited, so “why erect havens of retreat
when none can pursue“? The Bill of Rights was voted down by the
unanimous votes of the states as “unnecessary“ and with merciless
ridicule. Only Elbridge Gerry from Massachusetts supported him.
Old George Mason’s againg mind became aflame. Back to his room in
the “Indian Queen,“ where other proposals flowed from his pen,
the effect of which would have been to insert his Bill of Rights
into the Constitution piece-meal. The too were voted down
unanimously. Madison later recorded that the old man was in a bad
humor as the Convention came to a close. That was a gross
Jefferson was in France. Patrick Henry and R.H. Lee “smelt a rat“
and refused to go. Luther Martin gave up the battle as lost and
went home. Old George Mason was there to the bitter end and went
down swinging for you who read this and for me. They thought they
had him and his Bill of Rights nailed securely to a cross.
Mason refused to sign the Constitution. The first six words of
to it were heard by the friendless and helpless
on every frontier and in every hovel in America. The traditional
victims of power passed those words along: “There is no
declaration of rights“!
Washington and Madison would barely speak to him face to face. To
his back what they said of him ill-became the men we know them to
have been. From some mysterious source the word got around in
Mason’s home county of Fairfax that he was losing his mind.
James Wilson of Pennsylvania, James Iredell of North Carolina,
James Madison of Virginia, Alexander Hamilton of New York, and
many others demonstrated conclusively, to themselves at least,
that a federal Bill of Rights was not only “unnecessary“ but
downright “dangerous.“ Of course the old man was “crazy“ to seek
to refute such incomparably specious jargon.
Back in Virginia, it is said that Mason was warned that if he
valued his hide he had better stay out of Alexandria. “Fear“?
That word was not in his vocabulary! He accepted the
challenge—rode in alone and had the Sheriff proclaim that George Mason
was there to make a speech. As he warmed to the subject of the
rights of men against power a well coached heckler yelled:
“The people of Fairfax know that Colonel Mason is losing his
mind“! To this Mason replied: “If you lose yours no one will
ever know it“! When he had finished his speech to his astounded
audience he mounted his horse and rode back to Gunston Hall,
the same George Mason that never picked a fight except one
against tyranny and never ran from one of any description.
This traditional story may not be authentic. If true, it was
not the first time George Mason lost the support of his neighbors
to earn the respect of the world. The deep snows of 1770-71 almost
left the lean hard ring of that winter in the trunk of freedom.
Prior to that winter George Mason was more popular in Fairfax than
It was during that winter and spring that Mason waged a one man
crusade against big and little alike in Fairfax for the
ruthless slaughtering of deer during the deep snows. He filed
information on 18 leading citizens February 17, 1771 for the
unlawful killing of 52 deer with dogs in his neighborhood, and
promised further information
letter told a poignant story:
There has been such shameful havock made of the deer during
this snow, when the poor creatures could not get out of any
dog’s way, that I hope the magistrate and gentlemen of the
county will think it their duty to make an example of the
From that day forward George Mason walked a lonely political
road in Fairfax, and barely escaped defeat for election as a
delegate to the revolutionary convention of 1776. It was his
unhappy lot in the world to seethe in the milk of his own human
kindness. His great heart bled for “the poor creatures“ that
“could not get out of the dog’s way,“ whether the “creature“
was man or beast, or the “dogs“ human or inhuman.
At any rate, the bitterness against him for seeking to retain
the principles of the American Revolution was such in Fairfax that
it remains the everlasting honor of Stafford County, Virginia, to
have been the one to call him to the fray in the Virginia ratifying
convention of 1788. Prince William and Fauquier Counties must also
be honored. They too wanted the “crazy“ man from Fairfax to hold
their banners in the impending battle for rights over
At Richmond, Patrick Henry was at his side and so was James
Monroe, Benjamin Harrison, William Grayson and many other patriots.
More importantly, the people on the farms and frontiers of Virginia
demonstrated their distrust of an instrument of unguarded powers,
and fell into line with Mason and Henry. Madison, Randolph, Marshall,
Pendleton, Wythe, and Nicholas had more than they could handle in the
oratory of Henry, the wisdom of Mason and the patriotic zeal of the
adherents to the new “republican party“ of which Mason was the first
elected head. Only the “black satchel“ of Robert Morris of
Philadelphia could save the Constitution in Virginia, without
“previous amendments.“ On June 12, 1788, Robert Morris wrote
General Horatio Gates from Richmond boldy confessing “the
depredations that have been made on my
“Previous amendments“ were voted down in favor of “subsequent
amendments“ by a small majority at a large price.
On a hill top of history, the statesmanship of George Mason
and Patrick Henry was rendered futile by the dollarship of Robert
Morris. Freedom’s lance was broken on an armor of gold. To salvage
all possible of that freedom depredated as a result of
“depredation“ of Morris’s purse, was their final aim. Henry and
others held the battle lines and excused Mason from the hall while
for proposal to the Congress.
When the tainted verdict was rendered, the amendments prepared by
Mason were quickly
adopted for proposal
Mason and Henry kept Madison out of the United States Senate,
but failed to keep him out of the House of Representatives by reason
of Madison’s profuse promises to the people to battle for a Bill of
Rights in the first Congress. There he sponsored a
version of George Mason’s Bill of Rights in order to save the
political future of James Madison—not to save the liberties of
George Mason retired to Gunston Hall broken in health and spirit.
A divine providence had sustained him with an undergirding arm in
his final battle for the rights of men. In 1791 his
Bill of Rights
became the seal of a Constitution that should limit power as well
as confer it. He lived barely long enough to thank the God he
worshipped sincerely—then came death and oblivion.
One who loved him to the last and respected his wisdom and integrity
above all men on earth was Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson threw his
weight on the scales in favor of Mason’s Bill of Rights, both by
letters from France and by more direct methods after his return.
Jefferson fanned flickering flames into conflagration. The dying
Mason was no longer to be feared, but the living Jefferson was to be
reckoned with. He sat by Mason’s death bed in 1792 and wrote down
every halting, painful word the great Master struggled to utter as
his life ebbed away. Jefferson seized the falling torch from the
falling hands and kept it aglow.
The bill of rights and constitutions of every American state, the
federal government and more than one half of the constitutions of
the earth, this day, contain from one to many provisions that first
flowed from the pen of George Mason. For example, the privilege
against self-incrimination, which first attained the dignity of
constitutional status by the pen of George Mason, is in the bills
of rights or constitutions of every American state except Iowa and
New Jersey, is in the Federal Bill of Rights and is in the
fundamental instruments of government of many foreign nations.
George Mason does not rule the world from his grave at the edge
of an old field near Gunston Hall, but from that grave he shields
one-half of the “poor creatures“ of the earth from the lash of
tyrants, the boot, the thumb-screw, and all the instruments of
torture to be found in the museums of man’s depravity.
He broke the lions of power to bit and harness and put the people
in the drivers seats. His hand yet holds a death grip on the
heavy hands of power.
The American people are more indebted to George Mason for the
liberties they now enjoy than to any other mortal man living or
dead. Not since Christ has any one man done more for the masses
of men. Those who ride to power, and in power, rough shod over
the rights of men seem always to stand in marble on our public
squares, while those who carry the torch of freedom are soon
forgotten—perhaps to be re-discovered centuries later.
Rowland, Life of George Mason, Vol. I, p. 237.
Kennedy, Life of William Wirt, Vol. I, p. 352.
Rowland, Vol. II, 373.
Jefferson to Jones, Jan. 2, 1814. Basic Writings of Thomas
Jefferson (Philip S. Foner, ed.) (1944) p. 721.
Jefferson’s Autobiography (1821) Ibid, p. 433.
Marraro, Memoirs of Philip Mazzei 1730-1816, (N.Y. 1942)
Willis Mason West, Source Book of American History, (1931)
Gibbes, Documentary History of the American Revolution, Vol. I,
p. 273-292; A.L. Arthur Middleton to Drayton from Philadelphia,
July 10, 1776. Owned by Dr. Joseph E. Fields, Joliet, Ill.
Works of John Adams, Vol. 4, p. 220
Peaslee, Constitution of Nations, (1950), Vol. II, p. 21.
But for the fact that Oliver Ellsworth was anxious to trade
continued slavery in the south for the monopoly of trading
in those slaves by the north, and became a “peeping Tom“ to
shadow this little band of patriots that wanted to end
human slavery, those secret meetings would never have been
known. Farrand, Records of the Federal Convention, Vol. III,
Luther Martin accurately described the victorious Ellsworth
as one with “a heart which would dishonor the midnight assassin.“
Ibid, p. 284. More than 100 years later Theodore Roosevelt
took the part of the “high-minded“ George Mason, who battled
against human slavery and unerringly predicted a civil war, if it
should continue. Roosevelt lauded Mason “in shameful contrast“
with “many of the northerners; . . . in particular, Oliver
Ellsworth of Connecticut, whose name should be branded with
infamy because of the words he then uttered“ there in defense of
slavery. Roosevelt, Governeur Morris (Vol. VIII of
American Statesmen), p. 138.
Farrand, Vol. IV, 56-57; Vol. II, 590.
Mason to Alexander Henderson (Justice of the Peace) A.L.S. Feb. 17, 1771.
Sparks, Writings of Washington, Vol. IX, p. 313.
A.L.S. New York Public Library.
NOTE: Madison’s pitiful efforts in Congress
to rephrase George Mason’s proposals were usually rejected in the
committee of the whole, and Mason’s phraseology substantially
restored. One of Mason’s proposals, rejected by Congress, was
recently adopted as the 22nd Amendment—to forestall a shoe-clerk
dynasty. More than half of the 22 amendments to our Constitution
were originally penned by the hand of George Mason.