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We owe to our Mother-Country the Duty of Subjects but will not pay her the Submission of Slaves.

George Mason

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George Mason
Age: 66 †
Born: 1725
Born: December 11
Died: 1792
Died: October 7
Lawyer
Politician
Slaveholder
Statesman
Fairfax
Virginia
George Mason IV
Country
Submission
Slaves
Slave
Subjects
Pay
Duty
Mother

More quotes by George Mason

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As much as I value an union of all the states, I would not admit the southern states into the union, unless they agreed to the discontinuance of this disgraceful trade, because it would bring weakness and not strength to the union.
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All men are created equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity among which are the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing the obtaining of happiness and safety.
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We are now to rank among the nations of the world but whether our Independence shall prove a blessing or a curse must depend upon our own wisdom or folly, virtue or wickedness.... Justice and virtue are the vital principles of republican government.
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Every selfish motive therefore, every family attachment, ought to recommend such a system of policy as would provide no less carefully for the rights and happiness of the lowest than of the highest orders of Citizens.
George Mason
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The Laws of Nature are the Laws of God, Whose authority can be superseded by no power on earth. A legislature must not obstruct our obedience to Him from whose punishment they cannot protect us. All human constitutions which contradict His laws, we are in conscience bound to disobey.
George Mason
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Every society, all government, and every kind of civil compact therefore, is or ought to be, calculated for the general good and safety of the community.
George Mason
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In all our associations in all our agreements let us never lose sight of this fundamental maxim - that all power was originally lodged in, and consequently is derived from, the people.
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The [President's] Nomination, of Course, brings the Subject fully under the Consideration of the Senate who have then a Right to decide upon its Propriety or Impropriety.
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Slavery discourages arts and manufacturing ...[and] every master of slaves is born a petty tyrant.
George Mason
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The epithets of parent and child have been long applied to Great Britain and her colonies, [but] we rarely see anything from your side of the water except the authoritative style of a master to a school-boy.
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Who are the militia? They consist now of the whole people, except a few public officers. But I cannot say who will be the militia of the future day. If that paper on the table [the Constitution] gets no alteration, the militia of the future day may not consist of all classes, high and low, and rich and poor.
George Mason
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I retired from public Business from a thorough Conviction that it was not in my Power to do any Good, and very much disgusted with Measures, which appeared to me inconsistent with common Policy and Justice.
George Mason
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A well-regulated militia, composed of the body of the people, trained to arms, is the proper, natural, and safe defense of a free state that standing armies, in time of peace, should be avoided as dangerous to liberty and that in all cases the military should be under strict subordination to, and governed by, the civil power.
George Mason
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Slavery discourages arts and manufactures.
George Mason
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That all power of suspending laws, or the execution of laws, by any authority, without consent of the representatives of the people, is injurious to their rights, and ought not to be exercised.
George Mason
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I ask, sir, what is the militia? It is the whole people except for a few public officials.
George Mason
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Don't wait around for your life to happen to you. Find something that makes you happy, and do it. Because everything else is all just background noise.
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All power is lodged in, and consequently derived from, the people. We should wear it as a breastplate, and buckle it on as our armour.
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The question then will be, whether a consolidated government can preserve the freedom and secure the rights of the people.
George Mason
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A few years' experience will convince us that those things which at the time they happened we regarded as our greatest misfortunes have proved our greatest blessings.
George Mason