Happy Birthday, Bill of Rights, ratified on this day in 1791

Last edited Mon Sep 17, 2018, 01:08 PM - Edit history (3)

On this day in 1791, the Bill of Rights became law when it was ratified by the Virginia General Assembly.

Perennial writer of letters to the editor Ellen Latane ( it's pronounced "laa'-tuh-nee," not "luh-tain'" ) Tabb noted this year, as she does every year, the legacy of George Mason. Oddly, the article at Wikipedia about the Bill of rights has pictures of Patrick Henry and James Madison, but not George Mason. We shall correct that omission now:



What this country needs is a good 18-cent Mason:



This year's letter by Ellen Latane Tabb hasn't gone online yet, so here's last year's letter.

Give George Mason his rightful place in American history

26 December 2013
By Ellen Latane Tabb, Alexandria

To the editor:

December 15 marked the anniversary of the adoption of the Bill of Rights in 1791.

George Mason IV, of Gunston Hall, (George Washington’s next-door neighbor on the Potomac; both considered themselves Alexandrians) is the person most responsible for its inclusion. He refused to sign the U.S. Constitution without a statement of our rights — and he also wanted it to provide for emancipation.

When the Virginia General Assembly debated its adoption, he was among the foremost opposing it for those reasons. Virginia narrowly voted to ratify the Constitution with the proviso that a Bill of Rights must accompany it.

This also is an appropriate time to remember Mason because his birthday was December 11. It should be widely observed; he was one of the most important Founding Fathers.

Mason authored the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Fairfax Resolves (ratified in Alexandria), which set the precedent of one colony supporting another in resistance to British tyranny. He was a major contributor to the discussions resulting in the creation of our federal republic.
....

And then she heads off into a diatribe, but never mind that. The big deal is that there's a reason that George Mason has an elementary school, a high school, and a university named after him.

So make sure as you spend the day, that you "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

I could say more, but it would only upset people.

Celebrate the achievement, and the birth, on December 11, 1725, of this founding father.