George Mason Memorial

No images of the real George Mason endure, so this sculpture was created by studying his descendants

NPS / Kelsey Graczyk

Quick Facts

Location:

Washington, DC

Significance:

Statesman

Designation:

Memorial

Amenities

2 listed

Historical/Interpretive Information/Exhibits, Wheelchair Accessible

Here, a statue of George Mason holds a book by Cicero, a Roman politician and orator. Mason used ideas from Cicero and others to write the Virginia Declaration of Rights in May of 1776, the first document to protect individual rights in the United States. The document served as inspiration for the Declaration of Independence written weeks later. When Mason's ideas for protecting individual rights were rejected at the 1787 Constitutional Convention he campaigned against the Constitution's passage. However, Mason's ideas lived on. James Madison borrowed heavily from Mason to write the Bill of Rights.

The memorial incorporates a decorative fountain that is the sole survivor of a set of four fountains once built on these grounds as part of a beautification effort led by First Lady Helen Taft in the 1910s. The other fountains were obliterated to make way for the highway bridge behind the memorial.

Sculptor: Wendy M. Ross

Inscriptions

entrance curb
George Mason 1725-1792 Author of America's first bill of rights.
Wall behind statue
All men are born equally free and independent. And have certain inherent natural rights...among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
George Mason May 1776
Left wall
THIS WAS GEORGE MASON. A MAN OF THE FIRST ORDER OF WISDOM, AMONG THOSE WHO ACTED ON TH ETHEATRE OF THE REVOLUTION, OF EXPANSIVE MIND, PROFOUND JUDGEMENT, COGENT IN ARGUMENT ....
THOMAS JEFFERSON 1821
REGARDING SLAVERY....THAT SLOW POISON, WHICH IS DAILY CONTAMINATING THE MINDS AND MORALS OF OUR PEOPLE. EVERY GENTLEMAN HERE IS BORN A PETTY TYRANT. PRACTICED N ACTS OF DESPOTISM & CRUELTY, WE BECOME CALLOUS TO THE DICTATES OF HUMANITY, & ALL THE FINER FEELINGS OF THE SOUL. TAUGHT TO REGARD A PART OF OUR OWN SPECIES IN THE MOST ABJECT & CONTEMPTIBLE DEGREE BELOW US, WE LOSE THAT IDEA OF THE DIGNITY OF MAN, WHICH THE HAND OF NATURE HAD IMPLANTED IN US, FOR GREAT & USEFUL PURPOSES....
GEORGE MASON JULY 1773
I RECOMMEND IT TO MY SONS ... NEVER TO LET THE MOTIVES OF PRIVATE INTEREST OR AMBITION TO INDUCE THEM TO BETRAY NOR THE TERRORS OF POVERTY AND DISGRACE OR THE FEAR OF DANGER OR OF DEATH DETER THEM FROM ASSERTING THE LIBERTY OF THEIR COUNTRY, AND ENDEAVORING TO TRANSMIT TO THEIR POSTERITY THOSE SACRED RIGHTS TO WHICH THEMSELVES WERE BORN.
GEORGE MASON MARCH 1773
Right wall
THE FIRST DECLARATION OF RIGHTS WHICH TRULY DESERVES THE NAME IS THAT OF VIRGINIA...AND ITS AUTHOR IS ENTITLED TO THE ETERNAL GRATITUTDE OF MANKIND.
MARQUIS DE CONDORCET PARIS 1789
ALL POWER IS VESTED IN, AND CONSEQUENTLY DERIVED FROM, THE PEOPLE....
GOVERNMENT IS, OR OUGHT TO BE, INSTITUTED FOR THE COMMON BENEFIT, PROTECTION, AND SECURITY OF THE PEOPLE....
THE FREEDOM OF THE PRESS IS ONE OF THE GREATES BULWARKS OF LIBERTY, AND CAN NEVER BE RESTRAINED BY DESPOTICK GOVERNMENTS.
ALL MEN ARE EQUALLY ENTITLED TO THE FREE EXERCISE OF RELIGION....
VIRGINIA DECLARATION OF RIGHTS JUNE 1776
Dedication
GEORGE MASON MEMORIAL
A GIFT OF THE BOARD OF REGENTS OF GUNSTON HALL PLANTATION, MASON NECK, VIRGINIA
AND
THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE COLONIAL DAMES OF AMERICA
DEDICATED BY
WILLIAM H. REHNQUIST
CHIEF JUSTICE OF THE UNITED STATES
APRIL 9, 2002
MEMORIAL DESIGN RHODESIDE & HARWELL, INCORPORATED
SCULPTOR WENDY M. ROSS