Although George Mason: Father of the Bill of Rights, is written specifically for school students, it is heavy with detailed facts.
The biggest drawback I found was that it was a bit light on 18th century worldview.
Nevertheless, I suggested to my family that we visit Mason’s home of Gunston Hall, just south of Mount Vernon, on the Potomac River.
Ever since we tried to buy a house on Gunston Hall Drive when we moved here from Texas in 2009, we aimed to visit the home that inspired that street name in Northern Virginia.
The timing was incredible, since we visited on May 22, the anniversary of Mason’s draft of his hallmark work in 1776: the Virginia Declaration of Rights.
CONTINUAL RAINS FOR MANY DAYS…
Arriving to the property, we found everything drenched from the same twenty days of rain we received in Bristow.
In the museum, we learned the weather wasn’t much different from Mason’s, September of 1788.
18TH CENTURY APPEARANCE
One of my favorite exhibits at the museum was the display showcasing the gorgeous grandeur of the 18th century estate on the Potomac River in Northern Virginia.
GEORGE MASON INFLUENCE
While walking on the property, I reflected on all I had read about this little known Founding Father who impacted the world with the Virginia Declaration of Rights.
George Mason was a quiet man who adored his family and preferred to stay home as opposed to traveling.
Because he suffered greatly from various aches and pains, traveling was a huge discomfort on the rough roads.
However duty called often, for him to serve as burgess in Williamsburg.
When the Virginia legislature was dissolved by the royal governor, on more than one occasion, Virginia Conventions were formed to deal the the grievous tyranny.
On May 15, 1776, the Fifth Virginia Convention in Williamsburg: resolved unanimously that the delegates appointed to represent this colony in General Congress be instructed to propose to that respectable body to declare the United Colonies free and independent states…[and] that a committee be appointed to prepare a Declaration of Rights and…plan of government.
ENTER GEORGE MASON: VIRGINIA DECLARATION OF RIGHTS
Delayed by chronic illness, George Mason of Fairfax arrived at the Capitol a few days after the burgesses unanimously voted for Independence.
Virginia now needed its own Declaration of Independence and Constitution.
While others wrote their drafts, George Mason scribbled his own version in the Raleigh Tavern, while drawing upon ancient British documents: the Magna Carta, the English Petition of Right of 1628, and England’s 1689 Bill of Rights.
On June 12, 1776, George Mason’s Declaration of Rights passed in the Virginia Convention.
From his document familiar phrases resound:
That all men are by nature equally free and independent…
That all power is vested in, and consequently derived from, the people…
That government is, or ought to be, instituted for the common benefit, protection, and security of the people, nation or community…
That no free government, or the blessings 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.
During the writing of this historic document, many a communique traveled to another Virginian, Thomas Jefferson, who had been called to duty with the Continental Congress in Philadelphia.
Jefferson was completely aware of all that was happening in Williamsburg, receiving a final copy of the document in June, while drafting the Declaration of Independence, which uses similar phrases.
These Founding Fathers with a classical education had read the same freedom documents of the past…and together they penned documents of Independence for America.
GEORGE MASON WRITES THE VIRGINIA CONSITUTION
Before the approval of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, Mason began composing the Virginia Constitution.
While Thomas Jefferson continued serving the Second Continental Congress, he corresponded with Mason, sending his drafts of the Virginia Constitution, and of a preamble to the Virginia Constitution.
One of the delegates sent to Thomas Jefferson in Philadelphia a copy of the submitted Virginia Constitution with a note: the inclosed (sic) printed plan was drawn by Colo. G. Mason and by him laid before the committee.
Passed unanimously and signed on June 29, the Virginia Constitution declared the former colony would be called the Commonwealth of Virginia, because power is derived from the people.
Furthermore, the Virginia Constitution replaced the term burgesses with delegates, whom continue to represent Virginia, today.
LAFAYETTE: DECLARATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MAN AND THE CITIZEN
Mason’s worldwide influence began in 1789 France, where Lafayette crafted a declaration of independence for his country that was on the precipice of revolution.
With the help of Thomas Jefferson, who was an American dignitary in Paris at the time, Lafayette submitted his draft for the Declaration of the Rights of Man and the Citizen, which includes phrases such as:
Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.
…preservation of the natural and imprescriptible rights of man. These rights are liberty, property, security, and resistance to oppression.
INSIDE HOUSE TOUR
btw the inside of the house tour is stunningly gorgeous.
In the bookstore I purchased a picture book to reference all the beauty inside, since we aren’t allowed to take pictures.
GARDENS
Although the gardens have long since withered into nothingness, there are plans to restore them to their previous splendor, so I’m happily watching for that!
