Blueprint for American Rights: George Mason’s Declaration

George Mason may be one of the lesser-known Founding Fathers, but his role in shaping the philosophical thought and legal documents of the United States is hard to overstate. Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights is argued to be the blueprint for three of America’s founding documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights.

Three experts, Senator Mike Lee, Professor of Law Joyce Lee Malcolm, and author William Hyland, Jr., dive into what makes George Mason such an interesting figure in American history in this short film, Blueprint for American Rights.

00:00 - Opening
02:04 - Title Card
02:10 - The Lost Founder
03:18 - Virginia Declaration of Rights
05:34 - Constitutional Convention
09:10 - Born Free
11:30 - End credits

#law #GeorgeMason #fedsocfilms #foundingfathers #americanhistory #declarationofrights #declarationofindependence #constitution #billofrights #americanfounding

As always, the Federalist Society takes no position on particular legal or public policy issues; all expressions of opinion are those of the speaker.

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Follow Senator Mike Lee: @SenMikeLee
  / senmikelee  

Learn more about Senator Lee: https://www.lee.senate.gov/public/

Follow Professor of Law Joyce Lee Malcolm: http://www.joyceleemalcolm.com/about/

Learn more about Professor Malcolm: https://www.law.gmu.edu/faculty/direc...

Learn more about William G. Hyland, Jr.: https://fedsoc.org/contributors/willi...

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Related Links & Differing views:

Virginia Declaration of Rights (Library of Congress)
https://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ou...

George Mason: Father of the Bill of Rights [Foundation for Economic Education]
https://fee.org/articles/george-mason...

George Mason: Forgotten Founder, He Conceived the Bill of Rights [Smithsonian Magazine]
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/histor...

George Mason [Bill of Rights Institute]
https://billofrightsinstitute.org/edu...

Written Out of History [Mike Lee]
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/bo...

George Mason: The Founding Father Who Gave Us the Bill of Rights [Wiliam G. Hyland, Jr.]
https://lawliberty.org/dissenting-fro...

Mason & Slavery [Gunston Hall]
https://gunstonhall.org/learn/george-...