George Mason
George Mason
George Masonwas a Virginia planter, politician, and a delegate to the U.S. Constitutional Convention of 1787, one of three men who refused to sign. His writings, including substantial portions of the Fairfax Resolves of 1774, the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776, and his Objections to this Constitution of Governmentin opposition to ratification of the constitution, have been a significant influence on political thought and events. The Virginia Declaration of Rights served as a basis for the United States Bill...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionPolitician
Date of Birth11 December 1725
CityFairfax County, VA
CountryUnited States of America
We came equals into this world, and equals shall we go out of it.
There is a Passion natural to the Mind of man, especially a free Man, which renders him impatient of Restraint.
Happiness and Prosperity are now within our Reach; but to attain and preserve them must depend upon our own Wisdom and Virtue.
[W]hen the resolution of enslaving America was formed in Great Britain, the British Parliament was advised by an artful man, 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 weaken them, and let them sink gradually, by totally disusing and neglecting the militia.
Considering the natural lust for power so inherent in man, I fear the thirst of power will prevail to oppress the people.
Those gentlemen, who will be elected senators, will fix themselves in the federal town, and become citizens of that town more than of your state.
Nothing so strongly impels a man to regard the interest of his constituents, as the certainty of returning to the general mass of the people, from whence he was taken, where he must participate in their burdens.
Every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant. They bring the judgment of heaven on a Country. As nations can not be rewarded or punished in the next world they must be in this. By an inevitable chain of causes & effects providence punishes national sins, by national calamities.
I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials.
To disarm the people is the best and most effectual Way to enslave them.
Impeachment should be reserved for treason, bribery, and high crimes and misdemeanors where the president's actions are great and dangerous offenses or attempts to subvert the Constitution and the most extensive injustice.