George Mason, known as the father of the Bill of Rights, provided a dire warning against consolidated government during the Virginia Ratification Convention of 1788--the effort to ratify the Constitution of the United States. This volume includes every word he uttered during the debate, alongside the sections of the constitution being addressed, as well as notes regarding the points made by the other participants including Patrick Henry and James Madison. A must for those wishing to understand the issues that concerned the founders, what some of them considered to be the failings of the proposed Constitution, and their prophetic vision of the harm that can occur when too much power is ceded to a central authority. Fully indexed.