George Mason, forgotten founder
By: Jeff Broadwater
Publisher: University of North Carolina Press
Published: 2006
Place of publication: Chapel Hill
Language: eng
Number of pages: 329
ISBN-13: 9780807830536
Subjects: Constitutional history; Grondwetten; Hommes politiques; Biographies; Hommes d'État; Histoire; Histoire constitutionnelle; United States; Founding Fathers; Politicians; History; Biography; Statesmen
Description: From the Publisher:  George Mason (1725-92) is often omitted from the small circle of founding fathers celebrated today, but in his service to America he was, in the words of Thomas Jefferson, "of the first order of greatness." Jeff Broadwater provides a comprehensive account of Mason's life at the center of the momentous events of eighteenth-century America. Mason played a key role in the Stamp Act Crisis, the American Revolution, and the drafting of Virginia's first state constitution. He is perhaps best known as author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, often hailed as the model for the Bill of Rights. As a Virginia delegate to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Mason influenced the emerging Constitution on point after point. Yet when he was rebuffed in his efforts to add a bill of rights and felt the document did too little to protect the interests of the South, he refused to sign the final draft. Broadwater argues that Mason's recalcitrance was not the act of an isolated dissenter; rather, it emerged from the ideology of the American Revolution. Mason's concerns about the abuse of political power went to the essence of the American experience.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. [307]-322) and index.
Table of contents: title: Preface; title: 1:  Retreat of heroes; title: 2:  Our all is at stake; title: 3:  Fundamental principle; title: 4:  Most important of all subjects; title: 5:  Growing from bad to worse; title: 6:  Liberty and independence; title: 7:  One of the best politicians in America; title: 8:  Sanction of their names; title: 9:  That paper on the table; title: 10:  I am grown old; title: Notes; title: Bibliography; title: Index.