George Mason drafted the Virginia Declaration of Rights, an 1776 influence on the independence ideals remembered by America250.
Mason wrote the declaration in May and June 1776 for Virginia’s revolutionary convention. The convention adopted it on June 12, 1776, shortly before the Declaration of Independence. Its opening assertion that people are naturally free and possess inherent rights became one of the era’s most influential statements of political liberty.
The Virginia document influenced Jefferson’s thinking and helped shape the language of the Declaration of Independence. It also became a model for later state constitutions and for the United States Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791. Its provisions addressed equality, government accountability, religious freedom, and protections in criminal proceedings.
The declaration’s language was broad, but eighteenth-century Virginia did not apply its principles equally to women, enslaved people, or many other groups. That tension is an important part of understanding the founding era commemorated by America250. Patrick Henry was a leading revolutionary speaker, but Mason was the principal drafter.