# 1858 - 1981 18c Great Americans: George Mason

U.S. #1858
1981 18¢ George Mason
Great Americans

• 2^nd stamp in the Great Americans Series
• Honors the “Father of the Bill of Rights”
• Issued at his home, Gunston Hall, which was previously honored on a stamp

Stamp Category:  Definitive
Series:  Great Americans
Value:  18¢; first-class rate
First Day of Issue:  May 7, 1981
First Day City:  Gunston Hall, Virginia
Printed by:  Bureau of Engraving & Printing
Printing Method:  Engraved
Format:  Panes of 100
Perforations:  11 x 10.5
Color:  Dark blue

Why the stamp was issued:  To pay the first-class letter rate.  This is the first stamp to picture Mason, though his home, Gunston Hall, was previously honored on a 1958 stamp (#1108).

About the stamp design:  The portrait on this stamp was created by artist Richard Sparks.

First Day City:  The First Day ceremony for this stamp was held at Mason’s former home, Gunston Hall, in Virginia.

About the Great Americans Series:  The Great Americans Series was created to replace the Americana Series.  The new series would be characterized by a standard definitive size, simple design, and monochromatic colors. 

This simple design included a portrait, “USA,” the denomination, the person’s name, and in some cases, their occupation or reason for recognition.  The first stamp in the new series was issued on December 27, 1980.  It honored Sequoyah and fulfilled the new international postcard rate that would go into effect in January 1981.

The Great Americans Series would honor a wider range of people than the previous Prominent Americans and Liberty Series.  While those series mainly honored presidents and politicians, the Great Americans Series featured people from many fields and ethnicities.  They were individuals who were leaders in education, the military, literature, the arts, and human and civil rights.  Plus, while the previous series only honored a few women, the Great Americans featured 15 women.  This was also the first definitive series to honor Native Americans, with five stamps.

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) produced most of the stamps, but private firms printed some.  Several stamps saw multiple printings.  The result was many different varieties, with tagging being the key to understanding them.  Though there were also differences in perforations, gum, paper, and ink color.

The final stamp in the series was issued on July 17, 1999, honoring Justin S. Morrill.  Spanning 20 years, the Great Americans was the longest-running US definitive series.  It was also the largest series of face-different stamps, with a total of 63.

Click here for all the individual stamps and click here for the complete series.

History the stamp represents:  Founding Father George Mason IV was born on December 11, 1725, in Fairfax County, Virginia.

After his father died in 1735, Mason inherited his substantial estate.  He would receive schooling for several years before being named to the Fairfax County Court in 1747.

During this time Mason also became an officer in the county militia, reaching the rank of colonel.  In 1750, he got married and a few years later he began building their family home, Gunston Hall.  It is said that Mason personally oversaw every aspect of the construction.  To prevent being dependent on farming tobacco, he leased out much of the property to tenant farmers, and grew grapes for wine as well.  During this period Mason also befriended George Washington.

In 1758, Mason won a seat in the House of Burgesses, serving alongside Washington and Richard Henry Lee.  His first task was to raise a militia for the French and Indian War.  The following year he was placed on the Committee on Privileges and Elections and the Committee on Propositions and Grievances.

In the coming years Mason, like many other colonists, grew to oppose the British colonial policies.  After the passage of the Stamp Act, which required that revenue stamps be used on all papers for trade and legal purposes, many were upset.  Washington looked to Mason for advice (as Mason had left the House of Burgesses by that time).  Mason composed an act that would circumvent the British act, meaning certain legal documents could be used without using the stamps.  This led to a boycott of the stamps and the repeal of the act in 1766.

As a result of that repeal, the British then passed the Townshend Acts, which placed duties on a variety of products.  The House of Burgesses was then dissolved, but the delegates met anyway and passed a non-importation agreement based on a document written by Mason.

In 1774, the British passed the Intolerable Acts (even harsher laws introduced as punishment for the Boston Tea Party).  By this time, Mason was a widower, responsible for raising nine children on his own.  But the rising tensions and a call from George Washington kept Mason at the forefront of the revolutionary movement.  He wrote most of the Fairfax Resolves, a set of resolutions rejecting the British claim of supreme authority over the colonies and calling for a continental congress.

For the next year, Mason worked to organize a militia that would be independent of the royal government.  Then in 1775, he was elected as a delegate to the third Virginia Convention.  He was then elected to the Committee of Safety.  He tried to resign, due to poor health and duty to raise his children, but his resignation was refused.  Despite his poor health, Mason was then given the monumental task of drafting a declaration of rights and a plan of government.  Working with others, but the primary author, Mason penned the Virginia Declaration of Rights and the Constitution of Virginia.  The Declaration of Rights is considered Mason’s greatest work and it inspired a number of other documents, including the Declaration of Independence.

In 1787, Mason attended the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia.  He spoke enthusiastically, delivering 136 speeches as counted by James Madison.  Mason was then part of a committee that developed the Great Compromise (House representation based on population and equal representation in the Senate).  However, Mason wanted an immediate end to the slave trade and to pen a bill of rights.  When his requests were denied, he refused to sign the Constitution.  Eventually, a Bill of Rights was drafted and ratified, but by that time Mason had retired from public life.  He died a year later on October 7, 1792.