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Celebrating the Birth of Our Namesake
This month we observe the 276th birthday of George Mason, who was born on Dec.
11, 1725, at Gunston Hall in Fairfax County, Virginia. One of the leading patriots
in the United States, Mason was dedicated to individual liberties. He prepared
drafts of the Virginia Declaration of Rights and influenced the writing of the
first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution, or what we know as the Bill of Rights.
A few facts follow about George Mason, the Man:
- Mason’s father drowned while crossing the Potomac when Mason was 10 years
old. Mason’s guardians were his mother and an uncle by marriage. He was privately
tutored for three years and read the books in his uncle’s extensive library.
- Mason strove to have a varied and plentiful stock of fruit. The record of
his success is recorded, in part, in the diaries of Mason’s neighbor, George
Washington, who obtained a large portion of his fruit stock in the early years
of his ownership of Mount Vernon from Mason.
- On the road approaching Gunston Hall, Mason planted straight rows of trees
so that a person standing directly in front of them could only see the first tree.
- Mason was one of the five most prominent speakers in the debates at Philadelphia
during the Federal Convention. In the end, he campaigned against ratification
of the Declaration of Independence because it did not suffice his ideals of individual
liberty.
- Mason was a passionate and dedicated man. As he himself said, “There
is a passion natural to the mind of man, especially a free man, which renders
him impatient of restraint….” George Mason University is a tribute to
George Mason’s ideals.
—Compiled by Kiley Cogis
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