Forgotten Father
This photograph is from a copy of the only known painting made of George Mason in his lifetime.
Related Mason sites:
George Mason:Forgotten Father
Introduction
The fancy flourish of John Hancock’s signature 
burns his memory into our minds. The flaming rhetoric of Patrick Henry, “Give me liberty or give me death!” stands out sharply down through the ages.
History remembers the very visible early presidents of the United States: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and George Washington. Of course, we remember Washington not only as 
president but also as the general in the bow of the boat crossing the frozen Delaware and as the man who eventually defeated our British enemies. The relatively unknown George Mason was no less important to the American Revolution and to the success of our new nation, however, his contribution was primarily intellectual, visceral and thus more difficult to remember. A nation needs heroes and typically, we focus on a small number of people.
History has not been kind to the man who wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights, who was the “father of the Bill of Rights” and who was crucial in the creation of the United States Constitution yet refused to sign and support it. George Mason is a nearly forgotten historical figure. Once he was known as the intellectual leader of the Revolution and a great statesman, yet at one point he was so ignored that his grave was abandoned and neglected. Those who have closely analyzed his contributions agree that Mason is one of the important founders of this nation, yet for a variety of complex reasons, his contributions are frequently slighted.
A re-engineering of Quick Draw McFly (by permission.)
