Who was George Mason anyway
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(part of the Wikipedia entry on George Mason, sans the links)
"George Mason (December 11, 1725 – October 7, 1792) was a United States patriot, statesman, and delegate from Virginia to the U.S. Constitutional Convention. He has been called the "Father of the Bill of Rights".
Mason wrote the Virginia Declaration of Rights, which detailed specific rights of citizens. He was later a leader of those who pressed for the addition of explicitly stated individual rights as part of the U.S. Constitution. His efforts eventually succeeded in convincing the Federalists (such as James Madison) to modify the Constitution and add the Bill of Rights (the first ten amendments of the Constitution). The Bill of Rights is based on Mason's earlier Virginia Declaration of Rights. The French Revolution's Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen was also based on George Mason's work..."