Most Important Quote

“All men are by nature equally free and independent.”

Biography

Author of the Virginia Declaration of Rights, the model for the federal Bill of Rights and an inspiration for Jefferson's Declaration of Independence. Refused to sign the Constitution because it lacked a bill of rights and failed to end the slave trade — though a slaveholder himself, he denounced slavery as a 'slow Poison' on the Republic.

Stances

Anti-Federalist. Demanded an enumerated bill of rights, the abolition of the international slave trade, and stricter limits on federal power.