More handpicked essays just for you.
George Washington and his significance
The historical contribution of thomas jefferson
Chapter 9 the era of thomas jefferson
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: George Washington and his significance
George Mason was may have been born at his father’s plantation on Dogue’s Neck. But he lived in Fairfax County, Virginia. His parents were George Mason 111 and his mom was Ann Stevens Thomson. He had two spouses which were Ann Eilbeck and Sarah Brent. George Mason was born in 1725.
Mason’s model for Virginia's constitution was soon adopted by the most of the states, and it was also later transferred in part, and a water-down form, into the U.S. Constitution.
What really makes Mason apart from the other founding fathers , and what keeps him in a sense less well known than many others, is that he also vehemently objected to power granted to the new government, which he believed to be ill-defined and overzealous. He also said’’ i would sooner
chop off my right hand than put it to the Constitution as it now stands’’. George Mason was a justice of the Fairfax County court. He contested, but lost the County election for house of Burgesses in 1748. The following year,he became a partner in the Ohio Company. Mason acted as a supply agent for troops who were commanded by George Washington when war broke out on the frontier. It earned him the rank of colonel. He served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates from 1776 to 1780. Six years later he was elected again, but could not serve due to ill health. He attended the Mount Vernon Conference 1785 called by the states of Virginia and Maryland for the use of water from the Potomac River. In 1787, he attended the Federal Convention as part of of a Virginia delegation that included George Washington and Jason Mason in Philadelphia for the purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation. Mason participated in the Richmond convention in 1788. The convention was called for a ratification of the US constitution. The constitution was approved by a vote of 89 to 79. He was invited to become one of Virginia’s senators in the First US Senate, but declined and instead chose to retire to his home, where he remained until his death. He advocated for religious freedom, and won passage of the legislation repealing Virginia’s laws that punished heresy and required church attendance in 1776. He persuaded the Virginia assembly to abolish the parish tax. He was the largest slaveholder.