George Mason's Place In May 1787: The Constitutional Convention

The Constitutional Convention took place in May 1787. Delegates from all of the states except for Rhode Island met in the Philadelphia State House in the exact room that 11 years ago, the Declaration of Independence was signed. There were 55 delegates and most of them were lawyers, merchants, or planters, making them rich and educated men. The Constitutional Convention occurred because many of America’s leaders had become unsatisfied at that time with the government structure by which the Articles of Confederation created. George Mason was chosen to be one of Virginia’s delegates because he had much experience with the government. He wrote the Bill of Rights of Virginia, making him an important figure in Virginia’s history, allowing him to be a delegate.
George Mason was born on December 11, 1725 and died on October 7, 1792. He was born on a plantation on the Potomac in
Fairfax County, Virginia and was the fourth George Mason who had much land in the Virginia colony. In his early life, he had a personal tutor, who was his uncle because his father died when he was 10 by drowning in the Potomac River. He also used his uncle’s library, which was on of the most extensive in the Colonies, to educate himself. In 1750, he married Ann Eilbeck, and together they produced nine children. But after thirty years of marriage, he later married Sarah Brent in 1780.
He became a planter, slaveholder, real estate land speculator, public security investor, owned land, and he also took part in lending and investments.
Mason “took over the administration of his self-sufficient plantation” (Welling). Because of this, he became one of the richest planters in Virginia. He “was a leader of Virginia patriots and later drafted the state's constitution” (Bio.com). He was the author of the Virginia Bill of Rights and wrote a constitution, which was his most important contribution to the new state government in the May and June of 1776. He took part in the Lower House of Virginia between 1776-1780 and 1786-1787, and he participated in the Virginia State Constitutional Convention in 1776. He also took part in the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787 as one of Virginia’s seven delegates including George Washington. After the Convention, he and Patrick Henry led the Anti Federalist contingent as the Virginia ratification began in June 1788. Virginia did ratify the Constitution by an 89-79 vote, so Mason finally retired to Gunston Hall, which was the home he
built.
George Mason was one of the most active speakers in the Constitution. At first, Mason “advocated a stronger central government, but withdrew his support toward the end of the deliberations” (Gordon). Although he was a delegate from Virginia for the Constitutional Convention, he never did sign the U.S. Constitution, for he “objected to powers granted to the new government, which he believed to be ill-defined and overzealous” (Bio.com). He was in favor of the rights given to individuals and states rather than the federal government. Mason was also in favor of popular elections, unrestricted admission of new western states, and a three-part executive. His foremost objection was that “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 Declaration of Rights in the separate states are no security" (Welling). One of the few ideas in the Constitution was a compromise on slavery. The compromise permitted the slave trade to continue for another 20 years. George Mason was “particularly alarmed by the Continental Congress's appeal for the states to levy more taxes to support the army and to retire the public debt”(Life and Times Essays). He proposed to include a bill of rights in the Constitution, but it was defeated. Mason also proposed to hold a second convention because he could and did not support the final version, but it was again denied.