“I would rather lose this hand before it should mark my name to the new government,” wrote an outraged George Mason, one of our founding fathers who could have but refused to sign our Constitution.
Given that the election is now behind us, it’s time for a history lesson on the Bill of Rights which is something that all Americans should agree upon.
But did you know that without George Mason, we would have neither the Constitution nor the Bill of Rights, our first ten amendments?
This is a story of how one man, who loved the Lord more than popularity, saved our nation by saying, “No!”
George Mason was the fourth "George Mason" in a line born in America. His British ancestor had fled to America in 1617, three years before the Pilgrims landed in Plymouth. Like them, he was escaping the religious wars between the Catholics and the Protestants.
At the age of ten, George Mason’s father died in a terrible drowning incident after a mighty storm. Raised by his mom and uncle, his uncle’s library provided young George his “formal” education, and he would credit his mother as his greatest teacher. She taught him how to manage their fields, keep records and accounts, but most of all to love the Lord and develop himself. By the age of 60, Mason was the wealthiest planter in Virginia, owning 100,000 acres in three states. He was active in his church parish, serving on the building committee with George Washington for 35 years. Mason was also a businessman who had experience in shipping and is today considered the father of the American merchant marines. He was a colonel in the French Indian Wars and the judge in Fairfax County, Virginia.
So, it was no surprise that a man of his influence was tapped to be part of a Committee of Safety during the cause for independence that ended up running the executive government of Virginia after the British governor Lord Dunmore departed from office. Then Colonel Mason became a member of the committee that drew up the state constitution for Virginia that was ratified unanimously in 1776, and he is considered the principal author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights. The phrase in the Declaration of Independence “Laws of Nature and Nature’s God” is said to have been written by George Mason who used this phrase as a judge serving in the Virginia court writing, “The laws of Nature are the laws of God, whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth.”
In fact, at the Constitutional Convention, delegates said that George Mason was one of the greatest minds, even surpassing that of James Madison. Thomas Jefferson wrote that George Mason had an “expansive mind, profound judgment, urgent in argument, learned in the lore of our former constitution, and earnest for the republican change in democratic principles.” He attended every session of the Convention and spoke 136 times.
So, when George Mason said that the Constitution was so flawed that he could not pen his name to it, people listened. “I would rather lose this hand before it should mark my name to the new government,” wrote an outraged George Mason. When the Convention ended in September, he raced home to begin his campaign to prevent its passage in the state conventions. Why did he take such a strong stand?
In a word, fear of tyranny.
Mason wrote, “When we reflect upon the insidious art of wicked and designing men, the various and plausible pretenses for continuing and increasing the inordinate lust of power in the few, we shall no longer be surprised that freeborn men hath been enslaved, and that those very means which were contrived for his preservation have been perverted to his ruin.”
Mason insisted the only way he could support the Constitution was if it included the principles contained in the Virginia Declaration of Rights. More limits had to be placed on the national government than what was proposed. The States and the citizens thereof created the national government, and their sovereignty had to be safeguarded.
Here were his chief objections:
Mason could not abide the “necessary and proper clause” in the Constitution. It was too vague.
He objected to ending the slave trade in 20 years. He deplored the slave trade writing, “every master of slaves is a petty tyrant.” Even though he owned slaves himself, he did not believe in slavery and wanted the Constitution to abolish it.
He did not believe there were enough protections on the right to exercise one’s religion.
Mason thought that every officeholder in the legislature and presidency could serve more than one term only they could not be consecutive terms. Our President-elect by the way is the second President to be re-elected in a non-consecutive term. Grover Cleveland was the first.
Mason feared a standing army.
He believed the legislature of each state should elect the senators.
He wanted the chief executive chosen by Congress, stating that for the people to elect a President would be like a blind man choosing a palate of colors. He said, “The extent of the country renders it impossible, that the people can have the requisite capacity to judge of the respective pretensions of the candidates.”
It was thanks to Colonel Mason that the president was required to take the oath of office. “I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States and will, to the best of my judgement and power, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.” (Article II, Sec 1)
So, in 1787, the states almost failed to ratify the Constitution because of George Mason’s objections. He felt certain that the federal government would encroach upon state and individual liberties unless there were more limits placed on the national government. How prescient he was!
James Madison, who was the primary author of the Constitution, promised to do all he could to secure a Bill of Rights. Of course, we know he succeeded. The Bill of Rights was a promise that James Madison kept to George Mason, and in so doing protected generations of Americans.
Just in case you need a refresher. The Bill of Rights are the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution.
They are written as a list of prohibitions upon the federal government.
The First Amendment prevents our government from creating laws that establish a religion or prevent citizens from exercising religion; prevents government from writing laws that restrict freedom of speech or freedom of the press; restricts the government from writing laws that would restrict the right of people to peaceably assemble or to petition the Government for grievances.
The Second Amendment guarantees our rights to bear arms.
The Third Amendment prevents the federal government from placing soldiers in our homes.
The Fourth Amendment requires the government to issue specific warrants based upon probable cause supported by an oath before they seize persons, papers, and effects.
The Fifth Amendment protects citizens in a criminal proceeding by requiring our government to follow due process.
The Sixth Amendment requires the government to provide citizens accused of a crime with a speedy and public trial, legal counsel, and the ability to confront the witnesses against him.
The Seventh Amendment protects citizens’ rights to a jury trial in civil cases.
The 8th Amendment protects people accused of a crime from excessive bail or being punished prior to conviction and punished in unusually cruel ways after conviction.
The Ninth Amendment states that the people have and retain all their rights, even those not enumerated.
The Tenth Amendment states that the Constitution gives certain limited powers to the national government and there are no other implied powers. Unless the Constitution specifically prohibits a power to the states, the states and the people retain the implied powers.
While James Madison is the author of the Bill of Rights, they derive from the Virginia Declaration of Rights written by Colonel George Mason.
Colonel Mason died less than a year after the Bill of Rights was signed into law.
In his will, he wrote a letter to God asking for the Lord’s forgiveness of his sins, “into the hands of my Almighty Creator, whose tender mercies are over all His works, who hatest nothing that he hath made and to the Justice and Wisdom of whose dispensation, I willingly and cheerfully submit.”
So, thank Colonel George Mason for sticking to his principles, for being willing to stand up and say no, to have foresight to see the dangers of a national government, and have ideas on how to fix them. We must have the ability for back-and-forth dialogue.
Without dissenting voices, bad decisions don’t get checked.
Mark your calendar to remember December 17, 1791, our Bill of Rights Day.