Info Brief: George Mason and the Close of the Convention

In many ways, the battle over ratification began in the closing days of the Constitutional Convention. The Framers were debating the final details of the new Constitution. However, in the view of some of the delegates, the Framers had forgotten something very important: a Bill of Rights.

Today, Americans cherish the Bill of Rights; for many Americans, it’s the very heart of the Constitution. But the original Constitution didn’t have one. Why?

The short answer?: the Framers probably had too much on their plate. Over a hot, sticky, smelly summer in Philadelphia, the Framers had crafted an entirely new government from scratch—with a Congress, a President, and a new national judiciary (led by a Supreme Court). This difficult task led to heated debates, bitter disagreements, and hard-fought compromises. By September, the delegates were tired. They were ready to see their families and to sleep in their own beds.

The push for a Bill of Rights didn’t emerge until the closing days of the Constitutional Convention, when many of the delegates were ready to go home. An unsurprising dissenter led this final (failed) push: Virginia’s George Mason.

A neighbor of George Washington, Mason was one of the most influential members of the Founding generation. Prior to the Constitutional Convention, Mason’s main claim to fame was as author of Virginia’s own state Bill of Rights: the Virginia Declaration of Rights. Mason wrote his Declaration in June 1776—so, a month before Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence—and it influenced Jefferson and state constitution-writers throughout the nation—with many state constitutions simply copying and pasting from Mason’s Declaration, word for word!

Virginia would later nominate Mason as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. Mason was an active participant in Philadelphia—winning on some issues and losing on others. His push for a Bill of Rights was his final losing battle at the Convention.

Between September 12th and September 17th, the Framers worked to put the finishing touches on their new Constitution. During these final debates, Mason raised the idea of adding a Bill of Rights, arguing that it would “give great quiet to the people.”

Mason’s pitch was simple: He was the father of Virginia’s beloved Declaration of Rights. Just give him a few days or even a few hours, and he could put together a Bill of Rights for the new Constitution.

Massachusetts’s Elbridge Gerry agreed with Mason. He moved to create a committee for crafting a Bill of Rights. Not a single state supported Gerry’s motion. The delegates were eager to finalize the Constitution and leave Philadelphia.

On September 17, 1787, the Convention delegates signed the new Constitution. But George Mason, Elbridge Gerry, and Edmund Randolph refused. At the National Constitution Center, we affectionately refer to these three key figures as “the Dissenters.”

Why did they refuse to sign the new Constitution? Together, the three Dissenters—Mason, Randolph, and Gerry—criticized the Framers for refusing to write a Bill of Rights into the Constitution and for creating a powerful new national government that was destined to seize political power, swallow up the states, and abuse the rights of the American people.

Mason set out his own specific reasons in his “Objections to the Constitution.” Interestingly, Mason first began to scribble his key criticisms of the Constitution on his own September 12th copy of the document. Following the Convention, he would then synthesize his objections into a more polished form and share it with his allies. Finally, he printed them in a pamphlet, which would allow for even wider circulation. This pamphlet was hugely influential among Anti-Federalists—helping them build their case against the Constitution during the battle over ratification.

The Convention’s closing days were a prelude to the ratification battles to come—as Americans debated whether to ratify the new U.S. Constitution.