George mason biography
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Mason's Early Life
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It is hard to explain why George Mason has not attained the status of a cultural icon that Americans have bestowed on his Virginia colleagues such as George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison. His contemporaries certainly recognized his many talents and his historic achievements. Edmund Randolph, Virginia's governor, said that Mason ranked "behind none of the sons of Virginia in knowledge of her history and interest. At a glance he saw to the bottom of every proposition which affected her."1 A present-day historian writes that Mason was "widely acknowledged as having the most profound understanding of republican government of any man in Virginia. Madison and Jefferson always deferred to him as their mentor on matters of political theory."2
Why, then, is Mason less celebrated as a "Founding Father" and as a "Framer of the Constitution"? Why are Mason's contributions to political thought less well known? There are a
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George Mason
George Mason was born on December 11, in present day Fairfax County, Virginia. His father, George Mason III, died in when his boat capsized as he crossed the Potomac River. George IV’s mother, Ann, raised him, two younger siblings and took care of the estate holdings until George turned twenty-one.
George’s education was one of formal and informal means. He began his formal education in when his family hired a private tutor. His studies began at his mother’s home in Virginia but would soon move to a boarding house in Maryland, but by he was back home again under new tutelage. George and his brother had the luxury of Virginia lawyer John Mercer’s library. Mercer—their uncle by marriage—helped their mother raise the children. Mercer’s library was one of the largest in Virginia, and here George consulted tomes often and spoke to other book-lovers who gathered at the library, thus informally adding to his education.
George Ma
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The Patriarch of Gunston Hall
George Mason the revolutionary was the fourth George Mason in Virginia. His great-grandfather came to America from England about By the time of Mason&#;s birth on månad 11, , at Dogue&#;s Neck, the Mason family had acquired substantial landholdings in Maryland and northern Virginia. Mason&#;s father drowned crossing the Potomac River in March , and Mason, his oldest son, inherited the bulk of his estate.
In April , Mason married Ann Eilbeck, the sixteen-year-old daughter of Colonel William Eilbeck, a prominent Maryland planter and merchant. They seemed to have enjoyed a happy marriage as suggested by what Mason wrote after her death: &#;in the Beauty of her individ, and the Sweetness of her Disposition, she was equaled bygd few, and excelled by none.&#; In , the couple began construction of a new home. Gunston Hall&#;s exterior and floor plan came from period building manuals, but Mason imported two gifted English artisans as indentured servants, car