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- Mason was named one of his state's delegates to the Constitutional Convention and traveled to Philadelphia, his only lengthy trip outside Virginia. Many clauses in the document bear his stamp, as he was active in the convention for months before deciding that he could not sign it. He cited the lack of a bill of rights most prominently in his Objections, but also wanted an immediate end to the slave trade and a supermajority for navigation acts, which might force exporters of tobacco to use more expensive American ships. He failed to attain those objectives there, and again at the Virginia Ratifying Convention of 1788, but his prominent fight for a bill of rights led fellow Virginian James Madison to introduce one during the First Congress in 1789, and it was ratified in 1791, a year before Mason died. Long obscure, Mason is now recognized for his contributions to the United States, and to Virginia.
Mason was one of three members of the Constitutional Convention to not sign the final document. Mason, along with Elbridge Gerry and Edmund Randolph demanded a statement of personal rights before they would sign the new Constitution. This demand morphed into the US Bill of Rights
Gerry, by the way, is the Gerry in Gerrymandering.