George Mason's groaning in his grave

[mattd]

http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues00/may00/mason.html

in September 1787 as the delegates to the Constitutional Convention 
gathered at the State House (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia to sign 
the new Constitution. Only three present refused to add their names. One of 
them was the Virginian George Mason. Because the Constitution created a 
federal government he felt might be too powerful, and because it did not 
end the slave trade and did not contain a bill of rights, he withheld his 
support from the document he had played so large a role in crafting.
In 1776, Mason, then 51, had been appointed to a committee charged with 
drafting a "Declaration of Rights" for Virginia. From the writings of 
English Enlightenment philosopher John Locke (1632-1704), Mason had come to 
a then-radical insight: that a republic had to begin with the formal, 
legally binding commitment that individuals had inalienable rights that 
were superior to any government.
One other committee member did play a significant role: Mason's young 
friend James Madison, who kept his (and Mason's) friend Thomas Jefferson 
apprised of Mason's progress in drafting the declaration. Mason's work 
began, "That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have 
certain inherent rights...namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with 
the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining 
happiness and safety." Jefferson's U.S. Declaration of Independence 
included the immortal words of what may be the most famous political 
statement in history: "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all 
men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain 
unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of 
Happiness."

In 1787, toward the end of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, 
Mason proposed that a bill of rights preface the Constitution, but his 
proposal was defeated. When he refused to sign the new Constitution, his 
decision baffled some and alienated others, including his old friend, 
George Washington. Mason's stand nonetheless had its effect. At the first 
session of the first Congress, Madison introduced a Bill of Rights that 
paralleled Mason's Declaration of Rights of 1776.

Abstract of an article by Stephan A. Schwartz, originally published in the 
May 2000 issue of Smithsonian. All rights reserved. Please read."To few 
realise the vast debt we owe george mason." harry s truman.