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"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 cause and effects providence punishes national sins, by national calamities."

- Bill of Rights author George Mason, at the Federal Convention of 1787 as recorded in the Official Records of the Convention Secretary James Madison

"The fact is unquestionable, that the Bill of Rights, and the Constitution of Virginia, were drawn originally by George Mason, one of our really great men, and of the first order of greatness."

- Thomas Jefferson to Augustus B. Woodward, April 3, 1825

How FAR the Democrats have fallen...

"Too few Americans realize the vast debt we owe [George Mason]. His immortal Declaration of Rights in 1776 was one of the finest and loftiest creations ever struck from the mind of man. George Mason it was who first gave concrete expression to those inalienable human rights that belong to every American citizen and that are today the bedrock of our democracy. Our matchless Bill of Rights came directly from the amazing wisdom and far- seeing vision of this patriot. Those first ten amendments to our Constitution, which we call our Bill of Rights, were based on George Mason's great Declaration of Rights. That is why I say that George Mason will forever hold a special place in our hearts. I sincerely hope that his home, Gunston Hall, will in time become a symbol of the rights of man and a mecca for all liberty-loving Americans."

- President Harry Truman to Edward Boykin, October 5, 1949