Up for auction "George Mason" Piece Of Wood From His House Encapsulated. This item is certified authentic by Todd
Mueller Autographs and comes with their Certificate of Authenticity.
ES-5084E
George Mason IV (December 11,
1725 [O.S. November
30, 1725] – October 7, 1792) was an American planter, politician and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional
Convention of 1787, one of three delegates who refused to sign
the Constitution.
His writings, including substantial portions of the Fairfax Resolves of 1774, the Virginia Declaration of
Rights of 1776, and his Objections to this Constitution
of Government (1787) opposing ratification, have exercised a
significant influence on American political thought and events. The Virginia
Declaration of Rights, which Mason principally authored, served as a basis for
the United States Bill of
Rights, of which he has been deemed the father. Mason was born in
1725, most likely in what is now Fairfax County, Virginia. His father died when he was young and his mother managed
the family estates until he came of age. He married in 1750, built Gunston Hall and lived the life of a country squire, supervising his lands, family and slaves.
He briefly served in the House of Burgesses and
involved himself in community affairs, sometimes serving with his
neighbor George Washington. As
tensions grew between Britain and the
American colonies, Mason came to support the colonial side, using his knowledge
and experience to help the revolutionary cause, finding ways to work around
the Stamp Act of 1765 and
serving in the pro-independence Fourth Virginia Convention in
1775 and the Fifth Virginia Convention in
1776. Mason prepared the first draft of the Virginia Declaration of Rights in
1776, and his words formed much of the text adopted by the final Revolutionary
Virginia Convention. He also wrote a constitution for the state; Thomas Jefferson and others sought to have the convention
adopt their ideas, but they found that Mason's version could not be stopped.
During the American Revolutionary War,
Mason was a member of the powerful House of Delegates of
the Virginia General Assembly but,
to the irritation of Washington and others, he refused to serve in the Continental Congress in
Philadelphia, citing health and family commitments. In 1787, Mason was named
one of his state's delegates to the Constitutional Convention and traveled to
Philadelphia, his only lengthy trip outside Virginia. Many clauses in the
Constitution bear his stamp, as he was active in the convention for months
before deciding that he could not sign it. He cited the lack of a bill of
rights most prominently in his Objections, but also wanted an
immediate end to the slave trade and a supermajority for navigation acts, which might force exporters of tobacco to use
more expensive American ships. He failed to attain these objectives, and again
at the Virginia Ratifying
Convention of 1788, but his prominent fight for a bill of
rights led fellow Virginian James Madison to introduce the same during the First Congress in
1789; these amendments were ratified in 1791, a year before Mason died. Obscure
after his death, Mason has come to be recognized, in the 20th and 21st
centuries, for his contributions to the early United States and to Virginia.