George Mason Memorial

3D Model

In 1990, Congress authorized a memorial to George Mason in Washington, D.C. Mason’s Virginia Declaration of Rights, was influential in the creation of the United States Bill of Rights. He was also a member of the 1787 U.S. Constitutional Convention (although he was one of three who refused to sign it). The memorial was dedicated in 2002 and includes this bronze sculpture of Mason by Wendy M. Ross of Bethesda, MD. Ross relied upon contemporary accounts of Mason’s physique and a painting at his home, Gunston Hall, to sculpt his likeness. Mason is depicted sitting on a bench with Cicero’s De Officiis in his hand, with Rosseau’s Du Contrat Social and Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding beside him. The bench is inscribed:

“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”