_To the_ REPUBLICAN.
The Objections of the / Hon. George Mason, / to the proposed Foederal
Constitution. / Addressed to the Citizens of Virginia. /..... / Printed
by Thomas Nicholas.
Folio, Broadside.
George Mason was a member of the Federal Convention, but refused to
sign the Constitution, and was a leader of the opposition to its
ratification in the Virginia Convention.
“I take the liberty to enclose to you my objections to the new
Constitution of government, which a little moderation and temper at
the end of the convention might have removed.... You will readily
observe, that my objections are not numerous (the greater part of the
enclosed paper containing reasonings upon the probable effects of
the exceptionable parts), though in my mind some of them are capital
ones.” Mason to Washington, October 7th, 1787.
Madison’s letter to Washington of October 18th, 1787, contains a
cursory answer to Mason’s “Objections,” and a more elaborate one by
James Iredell is printed in this volume.