George Mason’s Anti-Federalist Arguments Against the Constitution
“A monarchy, or a corrupt tyrannical aristocracy.” That’s what George Mason predicted the Constitution would produce. And his objections to ratification were some of the most influential anti-federalist writings during the debates. Mason didn’t initially oppose the...
The Founders and the Constitution: George Mason
“If the Govt. is to be lasting, it must be founded in the confidence & affections of the people …” -George Mason, at the Constitutional Convention, Aug. 13, 1787. George Mason of Virginia helped construct the Constitution. He then opposed ratifying the very...
The ideas that formed the Constitution: Virgil alone
The previous (ninth) essay in this series identified three Roman poets quoted by participants in the constitutional debates of 1787–1790—Ovid, Horace, and Virgil. The essay explained why Virgil was the most influential: “If the American Founding had a poet laureate,”...