Author: Cary Hardy

George Mason University is a public institution that was founded in 1972. It has a total undergraduate enrollment of 27,105 (fall 2020), its setting is suburban, and the campus size is 817 acres. Is George Mason a large school? George Mason University is Virginia’s largest and most diverse public research […]

Alexander Hamilton became a leading voice of the Federalists who believed that the federal government needed to be strong. On the other side, Thomas Jefferson, a Republican, argued that too much power in the hands of the federal government would lead to tyranny. What issues did Thomas Jefferson and Alexander […]

Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives. Liberty may be endangered by the abuse of liberty, but also by the abuse of power. What is the main of the Madison quote? What is […]

Thomas Jefferson. Thomas Jefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence, but that’s not his handwriting on the vellum page above John Hancock’s signature and 55 others. The neat, elegant script of the Declaration belongs to Timothy Matlack, a brewer and beer bottler from Pennsylvania. Is the Declaration of Independence handwritten? The […]

the Virginia Declaration of Rights. George Mason of Fairfax County, Virginia, wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights, on which the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights are modeled. Mason refused to support the original Constitution because it failed to protect essential liberties. What document did George Mason influence? […]

In the ratification debate, the Anti-Federalists opposed to the Constitution. They complained that the new system threatened liberties, and failed to protect individual rights. What did Anti-Federalists believe was the best way to protect individual rights? Third, they believed that the liberties of the people were best protected when power […]

May 1776. A call for American independence from Britain, the Virginia Declaration of Rights was drafted by George Mason in May 1776 and amended by Thomas Ludwell Lee and the Virginia Convention. Why did George Mason wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights? The Virginia Declaration of Rights was drafted in […]

Mason’s belief in the freedoms of speech, of religion, and of assembly became the cornerstone of not only our Bill of Rights but our society’s conception of what having rights means in America. Visit the National Archives Bill of Rights webpage to learn more about the history of the founding […]

On October 2, 1789, President Washington sent copies of the 12 amendments adopted by Congress to the states. By December 15, 1791, three-fourths of the states had ratified 10 of these, now known as the “Bill of Rights.” How did the Bill of Rights get created? On June 8, 1789, […]