George Mason, Lorton, Virginia
Posted by: flyingmoose
N 38° 39.757 W 077° 09.684
18S E 311945 N 4281554
Located within the Mason Family Cemetery at Gunston Hall.
Waymark Code: WM14CMT
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 06/12/2021
Views: 1
George Mason was an American, planter, politician and delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787. He wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776, which became the basis of the United States Bill of Rights. While not really known during his lifetime or even after his death, George Mason has slowly grown in popularity over the years, schools have been named after him, statues erected in Virginia and D.C.
"A provincial slaveholding tobacco planter took his turn as a revolutionary. In tune with some of the leading intellectual currents of the Western world, he played a central role in drafting a declaration of rights and the 1776 Virginia state constitution. For his own reasons, he fought against ratifying the handiwork of the 1787 Philadelphia convention ... Two centuries later, perhaps we can come to terms with his legacy—with how far we have come, how much we have gained, whether because of him or despite him, and, too, with how much we may have lost. Surely there is much of Mason that we cherish, wish to keep, and can readily celebrate." - Peter Wallenstein