The American patriot and namesake of this university was born this month in 1725. To commemorate his birthday, we have decided to print some facts about George Mason--his career, his family, and his life. After all, it may be easy for us to forget that the man we see cast in bronze outside the Johnson Center was ever flesh and blood, but a mere 273 years ago, he was an infant, just embarking on a remarkable life.

Did You Know?

It was George Mason who proposed the language "high crimes and misdemeanors" when the framers of the U.S. Constitution were trying to determine what constitutes an impeachable offense, according to Robert T. Hawkes, Jr., History and Art History. Mason's words were incorporated into Article II, Section 4: "The President, Vice President and all Civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors."

Happy Birthday George!

When George Mason was 10 years old, his father drowned while crossing the Potomac. Thereafter, his guardians were his mother and an uncle by marriage. His education consisted of being privately tutored for three years and reading the books in his uncle's library.

Because George Mason's father died without a will, the existing laws of primogeniture decreed that all of the property and assets go to the firstborn male. Mason's mother considered this most unfair, so she devoted considerable energy toward accumulating property to ensure that all of her children had an equal inheritance.

In 1776, Mason wrote much of the Virginia constitution, including the Declaration of Rights. Thomas Jefferson incorporated concepts and language from Mason's Declaration of Rights into the first part of the Declaration of Independence.

George Mason was one of the five most frequent speakers in the debates at Philadelphia during the Federal (Constitutional) Convention, but in the end, he refused to sign the Constitution and campaigned against its ratification because it did not sufficiently guarantee protection of individual liberty.

Like his contemporary and friend Thomas Jefferson, George Mason took great pride in his gardens. On the road approaching the main house, he planted trees in rows that were so straight a person standing directly in front of them could only see the first tree of each row. Mason liked to watch people's reactions when they discovered the illusion.

Although the U.S. Constitution was ratified without all the clauses Mason wanted, his perseverance eventually paid off when the first 10 amendments, known as the Bill of Rights, were added to the document. These amendments were based upon the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which Mason had drafted years earlier. His Declaration of Rights also exerted considerable influence in France at the time of the French Revolution.

These facts were gleaned from the Concise Dictionary of American Biography; "The Life of George Mason, 1725-1792," by Kate Mason Rowland; and The Five George Masons, by Pamela C. Copeland and Richard K. MacMaster.