Evening star., 1960-06-12
freedoms Architect

Freedoms Architect
Exactly 1874 years ago today there
was signed at Williamsburg, Colonial
capital of Virginia, document whose
stirring declaration of the inherent
rights" of the people became, in effect,
the foundation on which was built the
permanent structure of American free
dom. The document, known as the
Virginia Declaration of Rights, infiu-
enced the wording by Thomas Jefferson
of the Declaration of independence, was
adopted almost verbatim in the consti-
tutionS Of several of the original thir-
teen States and became substantially
incorporated in the American ConStitu-
tion as the Bill of Rights. The author
of the Virginia document and thus one
of the principal architects of the design
for American liberty as we know it to-
day, was George Mason, friend and
neighbor of George Washington and a
member of the Virginia Convention of
1776.
Patriot Mason's historic handiwork
might have been lost to us but for an
unusual circumstance which sent him
to a convention which he was not reg
uIarly scheduled to attend. Although
a member of the Virginia House of
BurgeSSeS, Mason had returned to his
beloved home, Gunston Hall, after ad-
journment of the House in May of 1776.
Washington, however, had planned to
attend the convention, which had been
called Immediately after adjournment
of the legislature for the purpose of
drawing up Virginia constitution. But
Washington was called away to assume
command of the Continental Army and
Mason was prevailed upon to take his
place at Williamsburg.
Because of his devotion to the prin-
cipleS of freedom which then were in
spring the coloniStS to resist British
oppression, and because of his facility
with the pen and with words, Mason
was appointed to small committee and
given the assignment of preparing the
draft of declaration of rights" A pio-
neer advocate of liberty for all men
including Slaves-Mason worked long
and aSSiduouSly to incorporate his ideas
into an acceptable preamble to a pro-
posed Virginia constitution. He labeled
it: "a declaration of rights made by
the representatives of the good people
of Virginia, assembled in full and free
convention; which rights do pertain to
them and their poSterity, as the basis
and foundation of government"
There are sixteen sections of the
declaration, all but two of which were
written by Mason. (The two relate to
search and seizure and to establish
ment of one central government in Vir-
ginia.) A reading of the rights" dis
closes the similarity of some of them to
phrases in the Declaration of Inde-
pendence. Jefferson had a copy of
MaSons declaration before him when
he penned the famous pronouncement
of American freedom.) For example,
Mason, in Section l of the Virginia
paper, wrote: THAT all men are by ma
ture equally free and independent, and
have certain inherent rights, of which,
when they enter into state of society,
they cannot, by any compact, deprive or
divest their poSterity; namely, the en-
joyment of life and liberty, with the
means of acquiring and possessing prop
erty, and pursuing and obtaining hap
piness and safety"
He held that "all power is vested in,
and consequently derived from, the peo-
ple"; that when any government shall
be found inadequate or contrary to
these purposes, a majority of the COM
munity hath an indubitable, inalienable
and indefeaSible right to reform, alter
or abolish it,; that elections "ought to
be free," that all men accused of crimes
have a right to face their accuSerS and
to be tried by jury of their peers, that
no man should be deprived of his lib
erty except by the law of the land"
and that freedom of the press and of
religion are inherent rights. {" Free
dom of the press" Mason wrote, "is one
of the great bulwarkS of liberty, and
can never be restrained but by deSpotic
governments"
In these trying times, when so
many peoples of the world are being
denied the freedoms which Mason, JEFF
ferSon and other lovers of liberty ex-
pounded and fought to secure for all
Americans, it would be we'll to read anew
George MaSon's bold Declaration of
Rights" and to proclaim them again
to all the world-even behind the
Iron Curtain wherever and whenever
feasible.