FFQF: George Mason on the Bill of Rights
Pop quiz! Who is known as the “Father of the Bill of Rights”? I’m sure some of my readers know the answer, and the rest are certainly smart enough to know that I have already named him.
Yes, the answer is: George Mason!
He is known as the Father of the Bill of Rights for several reasons — chiefly, because he was he who led the movement to append an official bill of rights to the Constitution. He himself was the author of the Virginia Bill of Rights of 1776, and months later, Thomas Jefferson used this document to draft the Declaration of Independence.
George Mason, a Virginian, was chosen as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. There, he worked alongside other notable Founding Fathers, and became one of the most influential Framers. However, when his motion for a constitutional provision for the immediate abolition of slavery was not passed by the convention, he refused to sign the Constitution. He also feared that without a bill of rights, the newly-created federal government could find loop-holes to exploit, and encroach upon the liberties of the people.
Here is what he had to say about the importance of a bill of rights:
There is no Declaration of Rights, and the laws of the general government being paramount to the laws and constitution of the several States, the Declarations of Rights in the separate States are no security. Nor are the people secured even in the enjoyment of the benefit of the common law. Objections to the Constitution
Now we no longer enjoy the protection of our Bill of Rights. If the people in government care not to be restricted by the Constitution they are sworn to uphold, and if the people do not know about, or place a high price on their liberties, than we should not be surprised that they are so easily trampled.
3 Responses to “FFQF: George Mason on the Bill of Rights”
February 7th, 2009 at 10:06 pm
Hey Herky!
Well you did as you thought: You definitely beat me in getting my post done. If you don’t mind, I have such a passion about the Bill of Rights, that it is an issue that is mentioned everyday; therefore, I would still like to do my part on Saturday.
Your post here is quite good and very appropriate. I understand that the next monument downtown will be of George Mason. The one they have on campus at George Mason is nothing shy of brilliant.
Also, nice new look!! As always, your friend and humbled servant,
jon-paul
February 7th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Nice post. Herky, and I like the photo. He was a funky-looking guy, eh?
February 8th, 2009 at 1:22 am
Hello everyone. Thanks for reading and leaving your comments.
JP — I don’t mind a late post.
And I share your passion. Thanks for your kind words. I’m glad you like the change of appearance. I think this color scheme works better.
Jean — thanks for your comment. Yes, I think that he did have a rather funky hairdo, but in his day it was at the height of fashion. Funny how people nowadays seem to place an almost unreachably high standard on appearance, the latest fashionable hair-style, etc. … but we forget that it was the same way 10 years ago, and 10 years before that, etc etc. And we look back on those fashions as eccentric, weird, unpractical, and yes, “funky.”
What did we accomplish by fitting with the latest fashion?
We gave posterity yet ANOTHER portrait to look at and say, “Why in the WORLD did they put their hair up like that??” LOL
(For my own part, I would wear Mason’s wig sooner than get it dyed and spiked — ugh).
Not a very impressive post, I admit. I suppose my writing juice ran dry. But I guess it was still good to present at the onset why a Bill of Rights was thought necessary int he first place.
Thanks again all for your comments!
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