Today is the anniversary of the 1792 death of Founding Father George Mason, a man often overlooked in modern times but who was vital in ensuring a Bill of Rights was added to the U.S. Constitution. Mason, in fact, was full of excellent advice and warnings for his countrymen which are as educational today as they were in the 18th century.
Some of his warnings are ones which we certainly did not take in time, such as: “The augmentation of slaves weakens the states; and such a trade is diabolical in itself, and disgraceful to mankind.” Others were specifically focused on the rights safeguarded by his great gift to America, the Bill of Rights.
Many of the risks, strengths, threats, and weaknesses cited by the Founding Fathers continue to be the same as or similar to the risks, strengths, threats, and weaknesses America possesses today. Thus to whom better could we turn than the Founders for wisdom? And Mason certainly ought to be more recognized than he is. The “forgotten Founder” had a wealth of advice.
For example, Mason was very emphatic on the subject of gun rights, which were enshrined in the Second Amendment. Mason recalled:
Forty years ago, when the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great-Britain, the British parliament was advised by an artful man [Sir William Keith], who was governor of Pennsylvania, to disarm the people. - That it was the best and most effectual way to enslave them. - But that they should not do it openly; but to weaken them and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia. … This was a most iniquitous project. Why should we not provide against the danger of having our militia, our real and natural strength, destroyed?
As for what constitutes a militia, Mason told us that means “the whole people,” or, in other words, all Americans. Democrats periodically try to convince us that the constitutional right to keep and bear arms only applies to the militia, but the Founding Fathers meant by militia the entire body of citizens. Don’t buy the propaganda.
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Another area where Mason was very clear was the freedom of speech and of the press. In his Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776), Mason emphasized, “That the freedom of the press is one of the great bulwarks of liberty, and can never be restrained but by despotick governments.” This declaration was the inspiration for the constitutional Bill of Rights.
Likewise, Mason insisted on putting freedom of religion in the declaration, a right increasingly under attack by Democrat politicians, woke schools, and social media platforms. “Religion, or the Duty which we owe to our divine and omnipotent Creator, and the Manner of discharging it, can be governed only by Reason and Conviction, not by Force or Violence,” Mason wrote.
Ultimately, Mason believed firmly in popular sovereignty — that the power of ruling rests with We the People. Unlike certain modern Democrats, he knew rights come from God and belong inherently to every man, rather than coming from the government and being revocable. “When any government shall be found inadequate or contrary to these purposes, a majority of the community hath an indubitable, unalienable and indefeasible right to reform, alter or abolish it, in such manner as shall be judged most conducive to the public weal,” Mason stated.
The father of the Bill of Rights is as right today as he was 250 years ago.
